Chevrolet Takes Aim at Third Victory on Oval
· Team Chevy drivers have won first two oval races of season
ᴏ Josef Newgarden and Will Power prevailed at Phoenix, Indy
· 1.5-mile, variably-banked Texas Motor Speedway is next test
ᴏ Power led 180 of 248 laps in winning at track last June
· Chevrolet has won four of past six races at the fast racetrack
ᴏ Texas Motor Speedway has hosted INDYCAR since 1997
· Indy 500 pole winner Ed Carpenter back in No. 20 Chevrolet
DETROIT (June 5, 2018) – Chevrolet has triumphed in 1-mile and 2.5-mile oval tests in the first half of the Verizon IndyCar Series (VICS) season and will aim June 9 to complete the trifecta at the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway.
The DXC Technology 600 is the ninth of 17 races and third of six races on a divergent set of ovals. Reigning Verizon IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden prevailed two months ago at ISM Raceway in Arizona, and two weeks ago Will Power etched his name in history with a scintillating victory in the Indianapolis 500.
Drivers of the 2.2-liter, twin-turbocharged direct-injected V6 Chevrolet engine have won four of the six races at Texas Motor Speedway since the Bowtie brand returned to the Verizon IndyCar Series in 2012.
Power will seek to join Helio Castroneves, Arie Luyendyk, and Scott Dixon as Indy 500 winners who also won at Texas Motor Speedway in the same year.
The driver of the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet won last June on the variably-banked superspeedway in Fort Worth, Texas, leading 180 of the 248 laps. The racetrack, which has hosted the Verizon IndyCar Series every year since 1997, also was the site of Power’s first oval victory.
In the second race of a same-day doubleheader on June 11, 2011, Power started third and led 68 of the 114 laps to take the checkered flag for one of his field-high six wins during the season. He started and finished third in the first race.
“It’s a special place,” said Power, who enters the two-day event with a runner-up finish in the second of the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit races in his points cache. “The team has really been on a roll with a lot of success in the past month and we are ready to keep doing that. The No. 12 Verizon Chevy team brought home a win last year at Texas and we feel strongly that we have another good shot at it.”
Power, who earned the pole at Texas Motor Speedway in 2013, ’14, and ’15, remains atop the driver championship standings. Newgarden, who also won at Barber Motorsports Park in April in the No. 1 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, is fifth in points.
Indianapolis 500 pole winner Ed Carpenter returns to the No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevrolet. The team owner/driver, who won at Texas Motor Speedway in a Chevrolet-powered race car in 2014, competes on ovals for his namesake team.
“It’s a track that we have had success at before and we are excited to see if we can do it again. I am ready to keep the momentum going that the Fuzzy’s Vodka team built during the month of May,” Carpenter said.
The 2018 Chevrolet Grand Sport Corvette will pace the field to the green flag.