INDYCAR Previews

Preview – 2016 Firestone 600

By Dylan Reynolds, The Open Wheel

The Verizon IndyCar Series heads back to an oval this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway for the Firestone 600.  This race used to be one of the most exciting on the calendar years ago but has been significantly less dramatic in recent times.  However, INDYCAR continues to adjust the configurations for the cars and it’s still far from predictable so it’s always worth a watch.  Racing under the lights is always fun and I expect this weekend to be no different.

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Photo by Chris Jones/INDYCAR

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Verizon IndyCar Series Preview: Firestone 600, Saturday June 11, 2016 8:00PM (ET) NBCSN – Previous driver experience shows Helio Castroneves as the most successful driver at Texas with 4 wins in 18 appearances. Scott Dixon is the only other driver with multiple wins with 2 in 16 attempts. Ed Carpenter, Tony Kanaan, and Will Power are the only other current Verizon IndyCar Series drivers to have won at Texas. As you can see from the 2015 and 2014 box scores, Dixon and Carpenter are the last two winners at Texas. Dixon and Montoya have Top 5’s in each of the last two years while Kanaan, Castroneves, and Charlie Kimball have been in the Top 10 for the last two years. My pick to win: Tony Kanaan – TK was excellent at Indy and continued his momentum with fast showings at times in Belle Isle. He’s been running at the finish in all 16 of his races at Texas and has been in the Top 3 seven times and Top 5 nine times. He’s been strong over the last 52 weeks and is due for a win to validate all of that hard work. I like TK to grab the win this weekend.

My fantasy.indycar.com picks: Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti, Ed Carpenter – I obviously like TK as mentioned before and Dixon is always strong at Texas. He’s been quick but not up front the last few weeks but Texas should be a perfect remedy for that. Andretti and Carpenter at $18 and $15 a piece is a bargain. Each has plenty of success at Texas and are hungry for big results after struggles thus far this season.  I wanted to pick Kimball this week but at $26 I feel there are more likely options from that more expensive pool.