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115-403: Grid position is typically determined by a qualifying session before the race, where race participants compete to ascend to the number 1 grid slot, the driver, pilot, or rider having recorded fastest qualification time awarded the advantage of the number 1 grid slot (i.e., the pole-position) ahead of all other vehicles for the start of the race. Historically, the fastest qualifier was not necessarily

230-403: A " roval " (a blend word combining "road course" and "oval") is an oval track racing facility that features a road course in the infield (and/or outfield), that is usually linked to the oval circuit. This type of course makes for a multi-purpose track, and allows the facility to be used for both oval and road racing. A typical combined road course consists of the oval portion of the track, using

345-510: A 1/8 mile version. Perhaps the most unusual concentric oval facility is Dover Speedway- Dover Downs . The one-mile oval track encompasses a 0.625-mile harness racing track inside. Oval tracks usually have slope in both straight and in curves, but the slope on the straights is less, circuits without any slope are rare to find, low-slope are usually old or small tracks, high gradient are more common in new circuits. Circuits like Milwaukee Mile and Indianapolis Motor Speedway have 9° banking in

460-582: A 12-year split and reunite American Open Wheel racing . Meanwhile, Brian Barnhart announced that Tony George is negotiating the unification, and an inventory of available IndyCar chassis and equipment for the Champ Car teams is underway. On February 22, Cavin initially reported that no deal had been reached between the IRL and CCWS in a lengthy dinner meeting between George and CCWS president Kevin Kalkhoven

575-433: A 15-minute session, after which the top six cars move on to a final 10-minute session to determine positions one through six on the grid. The Iowa format was instituted in 2012 with major modifications (times set based on open qualifying session in second practice, positions 11th and back in odd positions raced in the inside heat, positions 12th and back in even positions raced in the outside heat, and positions 1–10 raced for

690-404: A 25-minute session (on tracks longer than 1.25 miles (2.01 km); tracks shorter than 1.25 miles have a 30-minute session), the 24 fastest cars advance to a ten-minute session, with the top 12 advancing to a final five-minute session. Starting in 2003, if a driver's team changed their car's engine after the qualifying segment was over, the car would be relegated to the rear of the 43-car field. In

805-626: A 500-lap or 400-lap distance. Short tracks in many cases have lights installed and routinely host night races. The short ovals still form the backbone of NASCAR in the feeder series. Three race tracks of this type are also represented in the Cup: Bristol, Martinsville and Richmond. Tracks with potential for future cup races are the Iowa Speedway built in 2006, the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway used until 1984 in

920-422: A concentric 1/4-mile oval layout. The 1/4-mile layout became a popular venue for legends car racing . The name "legends oval" was derived from this use. They have also seen use with go-karts, short track stock cars, and other lower disciplines. This idea was adopted by numerous tracks including Texas Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Kentucky Speedway , Las Vegas Motor Speedway , and Iowa Speedway which has

1035-652: A day after the checkered flag fell at the Indy Japan 300 . Teams which raced in ChampCars in 2007 stayed in North America for the 34th annual Long Beach Grand Prix , while teams which planned to compete in the IndyCar Series before the merger raced at Motegi . The contingent of former Champ Car teams produced a 20-car field, all using the turbocharged Cosworth / Panoz DP01 for the final time. From

1150-496: A handful of cars pitted, including Danica Patrick and rookie Jaime Camara , but most of the leaders stayed on the track. Kanaan continued to lead when debris brought out the caution again on lap 67. All of the leaders pitted, while Camara and Patrick stayed out and took the first two spots. On the restart, Camara led the field, but Buddy Rice spun and tagged the wall on the frontstretch. The field checked up, and Darren Manning , Ryan Briscoe and Bruno Junqueira were involved in

1265-468: A length of one mile or more. Since the introduction of the intermediate oval, Superspeedway is an oval race course of 2 miles or longer. There are six active superspeedways in the United States, the most famous being Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Daytona International Speedway , both 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long. These tracks were built in 1909 and 1959 respectively. Indianapolis Motor Speedway

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1380-496: A light rain. Some tracks (e.g., Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, WA) have "rain or shine" rules requiring races to be run in the rain. Safety has also been a point of difference between the two. While a road course usually has abundant run-off areas , gravel traps, and tire barriers, oval tracks usually have a concrete retaining wall separating the track from the fans. Innovations have been made to change this, however. The SAFER barrier

1495-445: A lot of oval tracks, which neither have a classical geometric shape nor still represent a modern tri-oval in the strict sense. While these courses still technically fall under the category of ovals, their unique shape, flat corners, hard braking zones, or increased difficulty, often produces driving characteristics similar to those of a road course. Some facilities feature several ovals track of different sizes, often sharing part of

1610-449: A notable exception. Many 1-mile dirt ovals were used by stock cars or champ cars before race tracks with dirt surfaces were removed from the racing calendar in the early 1970s. Many of these racetracks got the nickname "Fairgrounds” — for example Arizona State Fairgrounds , California State Fairgrounds and Michigan State Fairgrounds Speedway . The origin of these racetracks was in harness racing , which commonly used 1-mile tracks. Also,

1725-560: A race participant is designated pole-sitter, before World War II, the pace car was designated as the official pole-sitter for the Indianapolis 500 . The term has its origins in horse racing , in which the fastest qualifying horse would be placed on the inside part of the course, next to the pole marking the start line for the race. Originally in Grand Prix racing , grid positions, including pole, were determined by lottery among

1840-405: A road course, there are many different lines that can work on an oval track. The preferred line depends on many factors including track conditions, car set-up, and traffic. The oval track driver must choose which line to use each time they approach a corner. On a short track in a 25-lap feature race, a driver might not run any two laps with the same line. Both types of racing place physical demands on

1955-409: A separate crash. Camara led at the next restart, while Kanaan, Patrick, and Castroneves went 3-wide for second. Behind them in turn 2, John Andretti and Vítor Meira tangled, and crashed hard in the wall. Patrick returned to the pits, and topped off with fuel. Camara continued to lead, and impressively held off Kanaan on the restart. On lap 116, Marco Andretti caught up to Camara, and took the lead for

2070-408: A sequence of pit stops, Castroneves , Andretti and Wheldon all cycled near the front. When all pit stops were complete, Briscoe held a half-second lead over Dixon . The two battled for the lead over the final 21 laps. With less than three laps to go, Marco Andretti dove underneath Ed Carpenter in turn one. The cars touched, and both cars spun into the wall. Vítor Meira became caught up in

2185-417: A single accident. This type of accident is often called " The Big One ". Oval track racing requires different tactics than road racing. While the driver does not have to shift gears nearly as frequently, brake as heavily or as often, or deal with turns of various radii in both directions as in road racing, drivers are still challenged by negotiating the track. Where there is generally one preferred line around

2300-461: A stand-alone road course layout(s) in the infield not directly linked to the oval layout, or otherwise using only a short portion of the oval. Combined road courses combine the high speed characteristics of ovals with the technical precision of road courses . It allows road racing disciplines the unique experience of being held in the stadium style atmosphere of an oval superspeedway. Numerous combined road courses saw widespread use with sports cars in

2415-409: A standing start (the first such at Long Beach since 1983; Champ Car had used the start from June 2007), Will Power got the jump from fourth position to take the lead into turn one. Power led 81 of the 83 laps, relinquishing the top position only during pit stops. All participants entering other IndyCar races earned points towards the 2008 IndyCar Series championship. All the teams raced together again

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2530-520: A time faster than that of the pole winner on a subsequent day; however, he will be required to line up behind the previous day(s)' qualifiers. Starting in 2010, the first day is split into Q1 and Q2. At the end of Q1, positions 10–24 are set. The top nine cars will then have their times wiped out and advance to Q2 where cars will have 90 minutes to run for pole. If inclement weather causes officials to cancel Q2, positions 1–24 are set. If inclement weather in Q1

2645-435: A week later at Kansas Speedway , and for the remainder of the schedule together. The race was run under Champ Car rules, which included the standing start, option tire, two-day qualifying format, ran on time (1hr 45 mins) rather than a set number of laps. At the start, Scott Dixon took the lead from the pole position. Meanwhile, Enrique Bernoldi spun and headed to the pits. On lap 23, Will Power crashed in turn 2. While

2760-467: Is a phenomenon found on fast, high-banked superspeedways. It occurs when the vehicles racing are cornering at their limit of aerodynamic drag , but within their limit of traction . This allows drivers to race around the track constantly at wide open throttle . Since the vehicles are within their limit of traction, drafting through corners will not hinder a vehicle's performance. As cars running together are faster than cars running individually, all cars in

2875-557: Is early where Q2 is late (past 6 PM usually), drivers will have only one attempt in Q2. Since 2006 , there has been one hour-long session on Saturday where the riders have an unlimited number of laps to record a fast lap time. Simply, the rider with the fastest lap gains pole position for the race. In 2013 a new format was introduced whereby qualifying is conducted over two 15-minute sessions labelled Q1 and Q2. The fastest 10 riders over combined practice times advance automatically to Q2, while

2990-560: Is the Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama . Built in 1969, it is 2.66 miles (4.28 kilometers) long, and holds the current record for fastest speed in a stock car, lapping at an average of 216.309 mph (348.116 km/h) and reaching 228 mph (367 km/h) at the end of the backstretch. Daytona and Talladega are the pinnacle of stock car superspeedway racing, where restrictor plates are mandated by

3105-524: Is the predominant form of auto racing in the United States. According to the 2013 National Speedway Directory, the total number of oval tracks, drag strips and road courses in the United States is 1,262, with 901 of those being oval tracks and 683 of those being dirt tracks. Among the most famous oval tracks in North America are the Indianapolis Motor Speedway , Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway . Pack racing

3220-449: Is very common as vehicles may travel two and three abreast. This forces drivers to use strong mental discipline in negotiating traffic. There are drawbacks, however. Should an accident occur at the front of the pack, the results could block the track in a short amount of time. This leaves drivers at the back of the pack with little time to react and little room to maneuver. The results are often catastrophic as numerous cars may be destroyed in

3335-682: The MotoGP races were run counter-clockwise, with some reconfigured corners to fix corner apex problems. Michigan was also an example of a clockwise combined road course. Another example is the Adelaide International Raceway in Australia which combines a 2.41 km (1.50 mi) road course with an 0.805 km (0.500 mi) speedway bowl. The Bowl forms a permanent part of the road course and also runs clockwise. At many tracks, multiple configurations are available for

3450-407: The 107% rule between 1996 and 2002, a driver's pole time might affect slower cars also posting times for qualifying, as cars that could not get within 107% of the pole time were not allowed start the race unless the stewards decided otherwise. Since the reintroduction of the rule in 2011, this only applies to the quickest time in the first session of qualifying (Q1) and not the pole time. From 2014,

3565-548: The 24 Hours of Daytona . Since 2018, NASCAR has held the Bank of America Roval 400 on a combined course at Charlotte . In some rare examples, the combined road course layout is run in the opposite direction to the oval circuit. For instance, at Indianapolis the oval is run counter-clockwise, but the combined road course used during the IndyCar Series Grand Prix of Indianapolis is run clockwise. However

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3680-662: The Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Motegi . Moving that race, or postponing it, would be required in order to accommodate the Long Beach Grand Prix , which is scheduled for the same weekend. Optimism following the meeting was high. On February 19, 2008, Robin Miller reported on SPEED and Curt Cavin blogged on IndyStar.com that the managements of Indy Racing League and Champ Car have come to an agreement to become one entity. The move would effectively end

3795-424: The 1970s and early 1980s. However, their use at the professional level has since diminished considerably, since most layouts lacked the desirable topography and competitive challenges of natural road courses. In addition, most combined road course circuits offer poor sightlines for fans sitting in the grandstands. Oftentimes the challenging infield portion is obscured or not visible at all from the grandstands that line

3910-867: The 2000s were of this type. These include the Chicago Motor Speedway and the Walt Disney World Speedway , which were built during the 1990s construction boom but used for only four years. The historic Nazareth Speedway , which was paved in 1986, was completely abandoned after the 2004 season. Physically, many mile oval still exist such as the Rockingham Speedway and the Pikes Peak International Raceway . However, these racetracks have not been used by nationally important motorsports events for years. There are only three 1-mile tracks left on

4025-466: The 2008 IndyCar Series championship to those drivers and teams which moved to the IndyCar Series under the open wheel racing unification agreement between the owners of CCWS and the IRL. After qualifying, the Vision Racing qualifying times of Ed Carpenter and A. J. Foyt IV (2nd and 3rd) were disallowed, and forced to move to the rear of the field. After a crash during qualifying, Dan Wheldon

4140-683: The Cup, and the Memphis Motorsports Park, which had races of the Busch Series back then until the 2000s. The Auto Club Speedway is to be converted from a 2-mile super speedway to a 1/2 mile short track in 2024. Synonymous with the name, a 1-mile (1.61 km) oval is a popular and common length for oval track racing. The exact measurements, however, can vary by as much as a tenth of a mile and still fall into this category. Most mile ovals are relatively flat-banked, with Dover being

4255-751: The FIA awarded a trophy to the driver who won the most pole positions in a season. In 2018, the FIA Pole Trophy was discontinued and replaced with the Pirelli Pole Position Award, where the polesitter at each race as awarded a Pirelli wind tunnel tyre with the name of the polesitter and their time. (WC) indicates that the driver won the World Championship in the same season. IndyCar uses four formats for qualifying: one for most oval tracks, one for Iowa Speedway, one for

4370-436: The FIA made 6 significant changes to the qualifying procedure, each with the intention of making the battle for pole more interesting to viewers at home. Traditionally, pole was always occupied by the fastest driver due to low-fuel qualifying. The race-fuel qualifying era between 2003 and 2009 briefly changed this. Despite the changing formats, drivers attempting pole were required between 2003 and 2009 to do qualifying laps with

4485-479: The Indianapolis 500, and another for road and street circuits. Oval qualifying is almost like the Indianapolis 500, with two laps, instead of four, averaged together with one attempt, although with just one session. At Iowa, each car takes one qualifying lap, and the top six cars advance to the feature race for the pole position. Positions from 7th onward are assigned to their races, based on time, with cars in

4600-459: The IndyCar–Indy 500 double. Dixon took six victories over the course of the season but had to fend off a consistent championship challenge from Hélio Castroneves until the final round at Chicagoland Speedway . On January 23, 2008, Robin Miller reported that Tony George had offered to Champ Car management a proposal that included free cars and engine leases to Champ Car teams willing to run

4715-521: The NASCAR racing calendar: Phoenix, Loudon, and Dover. IndyCar only returned to 1-mile oval racing with the addition of the Milwaukee Mile in 2024 after 9 years of it being off the schedule. Also referred to with the general term of "speedway", these courses are 1 to 2 miles (1.6 to 3.2 km) in length, but the term is particularly reserved for 1.5-mile (2.4 km) tracks. At the beginning of

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4830-408: The back straight of the oval. As they are separate tracks, this creates a unique situation where different races can actually be run on both the oval and the full road course at the same time. Also unique is that unlike most combined circuits which use the oval track's start/finish line and pits, in the case of Calder Park it is the road course start/finish line and pits that are used. This configuration

4945-514: The cars coming towards and moving away from their vantage point. Traditional ovals (such as Indianapolis ) offered only limited linear views of the course, and required fans to look back and forth much like a tennis match. The tri-oval shape prevents fans from having to "lean" to see oncoming cars, and creates more forward sight lines. The modern tri-ovals were often called as cookie cutters because of their (nearly) identical shape and identical kind of races. Additional prominent examples: There are

5060-482: The case of multiple teams changing engines on the same weekend after a qualifying segment (although this is a rare occurrence), qualifying times from that segment are used to determine the starting order for those cars. In the Eldora Dirt Derby, practice runs are held, which determine the starting grids for five heat races of eight laps each. The top five fastest qualifiers started on pole for each heat, and

5175-415: The circumference of the oval track, so many fans choose to view from the ground level inside the infield – leaving the grandstands mostly empty and unsightly. Many combined road course layouts have been abandoned. However, some have enjoyed extended life as venues for testing, driving schools, and amateur race meets . Since 1962, the most famous race continuously held on a combined road course has been

5290-601: The combined road course layout(s). An example of an outfield combined road course can be seen at the Calder Park Raceway in Melbourne , Australia . The Calder Park complex has a 1.119 mi (1.801 km) high-banked oval speedway called the Thunderdome as well as a separate road course. The road course and the oval can be linked via two short roads that connect the front straight of the road course to

5405-402: The designated pole-sitter . Different sanctioning bodies in motor sport employ different qualifying formats in designating who starts from pole position. Often, a starting grid is derived either by current rank in the championship, or based on finishing position of a previous race. In particularly important events where multiple qualification attempts spanned several days, the qualification result

5520-444: The driver. A driver in an IndyCar race at Richmond International Raceway may be subject to as many lateral g-forces (albeit in only one direction) as a Formula One driver at Silverstone . Weather also plays a different role in each discipline. Road racing offers a variety of fast and slow corners that allow the use of rain tires . Paved oval tracks generally do not run with a wet track surface. Dirt ovals will sometimes support

5635-486: The drivers, IndyCar will no longer drive super speedways outside of Indianapolis. Michigan Speedway was part of the series from 2002 to 2007, AutoClub Speedway from 2002 to 2005 and a second time from 2012 to 2015, Pocono was used by IndyCar between 2014 and 2019. In NASCAR they are still an essential part of the racing calendar. The closed and partially demolished Texas World Speedway , was the original "sister track" to Michigan. The two-mile oval, with its 22-degree banking,

5750-597: The drivers. Before the inception of the Formula One World Championship , the first instance of grid positions being determined by qualifying times was at the 1933 Monaco Grand Prix . Since then, the FIA have introduced many different qualifying systems to Formula One. From the long-standing system of one session on each of Friday and Saturday, to the current knockout-style qualifying leaving 10 out of 20 drivers to battle for pole, there have been many changes to qualifying systems. Between 1996 and 2006,

5865-474: The early twentieth century had wood surfaces. Indianapolis Motor Speedway 's track surface used to be made entirely of bricks, and today, 3 feet (0.91 m), or one yard, of original bricks remain exposed at the start-finish line. Each was hand laid over a 2-inch (51 mm) cushion of sand, then leveled and the gaps filled with mortar. Before the work was completed, locals nicknamed the track "The Brickyard". A combined road course , colloquially referred to as

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5980-526: The early years of the Indy Racing League , the series visited several intermediate tracks. The higher-downforce, normally aspirated IRL-type cars proved to be competitive at several of the tracks. The CART series however, mostly stayed away as the faster, more powerful Champ Cars were generally thought to be too fast for this type of circuit. This became evident at the 2001 Firestone Firehawk 600 , when drivers experienced vertigo-like symptoms, and

6095-524: The entire 2008 IndyCar Series schedule in exchange for adding Champ Car's dates at Long Beach , Toronto , Edmonton , Mexico City , and Australia to the IndyCar Series schedule, effectively reuniting American open wheel racing . The offer was initially made in November 2007. On February 10, 2008, Tony George, along with IRL representatives Terry Angstadt and Brian Barnhart , plus former Honda executive Robert Clarke, traveled to Japan to discuss moving

6210-467: The fastest driver is guaranteed directly a place in front of the A-main final, the group that carries a chance of being the overall winner. The slower drivers are allocated a spot to compete in their groups to determine the overall positions. Pack racing Oval track racing is a form of motorsport that is contested on an oval-shaped race track . An oval track differs from a road course in that

6325-454: The field pitted under the caution, Justin Wilson stayed out and took the lead. Dixon took the lead back on the restart, and maintained the lead through the next series of pit stops. On lap 98, the caution came out again for a crash involving E. J. Viso and Tomas Scheckter . After another long green flag segment, Buddy Rice brought out the yellow on lap 153 with a heavy crash in turn 2. In

6440-399: The field will draft each other simultaneously in one large pack. In stock car racing this is often referred to as " restrictor plate racing " because NASCAR mandates that each car on its two longest high-banked ovals, Talladega and Daytona , use an air restrictor to reduce horsepower . The results of pack racing may vary. As drivers are forced to race in a confined space, overtaking

6555-448: The final round of pit stops. By pitting out-of-sequence Danica Patrick unlapped herself, and moved up to second place. The position was short-lived, as she was forced to pit for fuel before the end of the race. With seven laps to go, E. J. Viso spun directly in front the leader Kanaan, and clipped his right-front suspension. Kanaan attempted to limp around and hold on to the victory if the race finished under caution. With four laps to go,

6670-427: The first 40 laps. He was chased early by Scott Dixon and teammate Tony Kanaan . Graham Rahal , who started on the outside of the front row, shuffled back, but remained in the top 5 for the first half of the race. The first half was mostly green, with only a minor caution involving Oriol Servia and another for debris. Later in the first fuel segment, Andretti's handling started to suffer, and Scott Dixon took over

6785-446: The first time. Graham Rahal crashed on lap 133 in turn 4. Many of the leaders pitted, but Andretti stayed out to lead. Another restart saw only three green laps, as yet another crash occurred, this time involving Ryan Hunter-Reay and Mario Moraes . Around this time, some teams anticipated that rain might end the race early. Marco Andretti gave up the lead on lap 204 when he made his final pit stop. That put Tony Kanaan back into

6900-467: The fourth driver to win an IndyCar Series race in his first start, joining Buzz Calkins , Juan Pablo Montoya and Scott Dixon . At the start, Marco Andretti lost control in turn one due to cold tires and crashed out of the race. Meanwhile, Hélio Castroneves took the lead, and led the first 92 laps. On the 48th lap, Ed Carpenter and Danica Patrick pitted, but moments later the caution came out when Hideki Mutoh crashed. The pits became closed, and

7015-479: The fuel they would use to start the race the next day. An underfuelled slower car and driver would therefore be able to take pole ahead of a better but heavier-fueled car. In this situation, pole was not always advantageous to have in the race as the under-fueled driver would have to pit for more fuel before their rivals. With the race refueling ban introduced, low-fuel qualifying returned and these strategy decisions are no longer in play. Also, when Formula One enforced

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7130-424: The green came out, and Kanaan was forced to pull out of the way. Scott Dixon got by, and held on for the victory. Despite starting at the rear of the field, Dan Wheldon charged to the front, managed to lead 9 laps, and came home third. In addition, both Vision cars rebounded to finish in the top 10. 2008 was the last season that the series season opener held in an oval track to date until 2020. Heavy rain in

7245-552: The history of NASCAR and IndyCar, this oval size was not very common. Until 1990, there were only five examples. Two of these, the Marchbanks Speedway (1.4 miles) and the Trenton Speedway (1.5 miles), were demolished in the 1970s and 1980s, and only three—Charlotte Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Darlington Raceway—have survived to this day. All other ovals of this type were built after 1994. During

7360-401: The lap 227 restart, Marco Andretti and Scott Dixon passed Danica Patrick to take third and fourth place respectively. Over the final 15 laps, Mutoh and Andretti battled for second, with Mutoh holding off Andretti's challenge. Dan Wheldon went on to win, and Chip Ganassi Racing donated their race winnings from both cars to Iowa flood relief . After getting by Danica Patrick late in

7475-409: The last 29, to win his first Indy 500. Several cars, including Tony Kanaan , Graham Rahal , Jeff Simmons and Justin Wilson were involved in crashes. With 29 laps to go Danica Patrick was eliminated when Ryan Briscoe clipped her car exiting the pits, damaging both. They were fined $ 100,000 and placed on probation for their actions. Marco Andretti took the lead from the pole position, and led

7590-540: The layout resembles an oval with turns in only one direction, and the direction of traffic is almost universally counter-clockwise. Oval tracks are dedicated motorsport circuits, used predominantly in the United States. They often have banked turns and some, despite the name, are not precisely oval, and the shape of the track can vary. Major forms of oval track racing include stock car racing , open-wheel racing , sprint car racing , modified car racing , midget car racing and dirt track motorcycles . Oval track racing

7705-477: The lead away on lap 16, and gained a lead of roughly one second. On lap 39, Ed Carpenter brushed the outside wall in turn 2. The leaders pit, and Kanaan exited the pits as the leader. On lap 51, the green came back out, and a lap later, Castroneves got by Kanaan for the lead. Jaime Camara brought out the yellow on lap 106 when his car lost power and stopped on the course. After another sequence of pit stops, Tony Kanaan led Dan Wheldon and Marco Andretti . On

7820-420: The lead on lap 170, and held it until another yellow came out on lap 188 for a spin by Enrique Bernoldi . Most of the leaders pitted, but Dan Wheldon , Hideki Mutoh , and Danica Patrick stayed out to lead the field. On the restart Mario Moraes spun for the second time of the day, and prolonged the yellow until lap 202. On lap 212, Tony Kanaan (running third) suddenly lost control and crashed in turn 1. On

7935-465: The lead to Marco Andretti . Moments later, Enrique Bernoldi crashed in turn four. Andretti led the field back to green on lap 219. With six laps to go, Scott Dixon slipped by Andretti to take the lead. On the next lap, down the backstretch, third place Ryan Hunter-Reay dove below Andretti heading into turn three. Hunter-Reay pinched his left wheels onto the apron, lost control, and touched wheels with Andretti. Both cars spun and crashed hard into

8050-415: The lead. Hélio Castroneves took over second, and Andretti fell back as deep as tenth. On lap 130, Graham Rahal went high in turn three to pass Darren Manning . He got into the marbles, and brushed along the wall in turn four. After holding the lead for 136 laps, Dixon was finally challenged by Ryan Briscoe . Briscoe took over the lead on lap 177, and held it until a green flag pit stop on lap 194. After

8165-496: The lead. On lap 217, after a brilliant run in the top five, Jaime Camara lost control and crashed on the frontstretch. The yellow trapped Andretti a lap down, and kept Kanaan in the lead after the final sequence of pits stops. The rain held off, and Kanaan led the rest of the way for his first victory of the season. Polesitter Ryan Briscoe led from the start, but Scott Dixon , who qualified fourth, quickly passed Justin Wilson and Ryan Hunter-Reay to move into second for most of

8280-430: The mainstretch with a brake failure. The ensuing caution period set up an exciting finish due to fuel strategy, as most teams were getting 51 laps on a single tank of fuel. The top seven leaders all pitted together, with Dixon coming out in the lead once again. On lap 148, Castroneves, Patrick, and Carpenter all returned to the pits to top off their tanks, in hopes of going the distance without one last pit stop, hoping that

8395-402: The morning soaked the track, and left considerable standing water. The race was started under 10 laps of caution as the track dried. At the start, Tony Kanaan assumed the lead, but soon was passed by Justin Wilson . The early part of the race saw several spins by several cars, including Danica Patrick , Marco Andretti and Mario Moraes . On the 37th lap after a restart, rookie Graham Rahal

8510-409: The next yellow. Will Power was driving below Hélio Castroneves , lost control, and crashed in turn 4. The race finally got going on lap 21, when the green came out once again. On lap 31, A. J. Foyt IV touched wheels with John Andretti , and Foyt crashed in the wall in turn 2. His Vision Racing teammate Ed Carpenter ran over debris from the crash, and both cars were sidelined. During the caution,

8625-471: The odd-numbered finishing order starting in one race, and cars in the even-numbered finishing order starting in the second race. The finishing order for the odd-numbered race starts on the inside, starting in Row 6 (11th), and even-numbered race on the outside based on finishing position, again from Row 6 (12th), except for the top two in each race, which start in the inside and outside, respectively (Row 4 and 5) of

8740-477: The oldest oval race track, the Milwaukee Mile was originally a race track for horse racing . In NASCAR, 1-mile oval tracks are among the intermediate tracks. IndyCar rates these tracks as short ovals, since IndyCar does not usually run on ovals shorter than 3/4-mile. The 1-mile ovals have lost a great deal of their former importance for oval racing. Most of the racetracks abandoned by NASCAR or IndyCar in

8855-607: The only long, flat tracks on the schedule. Auto Club Speedway, which joined Indianapolis, Michigan and Pocono as the one of four superspeedways used in the Verizon IndyCar Series , was the site of Gil de Ferran 's qualifying lap of 241.428 mph (388.541 km/h) in the CART FedEx Championship Series in 2000 , the fastest qualifying lap recorded at an official race meeting. Due to the low number of spectators or safety concerns by

8970-448: The oval race tracks. As a result, the racetracks have lengths of different accuracy. The following table shows the values that NASCAR, IndyCar and CART/CCWS used to determine the lap speeds and track records. A typical oval track consists of two parallel straights, connected by two 180° turns. Although most ovals generally have only two radii curves, they are usually advertised and labeled as four 90° turns. While many oval tracks conform to

9085-400: The pits, Danica Patrick retired from the race with a broken wheel hub. Meanwhile, Scott Dixon , who had dominated most of the race, was shuffled back to seventh place. The race resumed after a long yellow with Dan Wheldon leading. Wheldon pulled away and led the final 49 laps to record his first IndyCar Series victory since April 2007 . Polesitter Scott Dixon led 115 laps, including

9200-489: The pole, each heat 30 laps), and non-Iowa oval format in August 2010, while the Indianapolis format was in 2010. The road course format was installed for 2008 . In prior seasons, oval qualifying ran for four laps, Indianapolis-style, from 2008, and previously two laps with the best lap used for qualification. Street and road circuits used a two-phase format similar to oval qualifying except that cars took one qualifying lap, then

9315-465: The previous evening. Later in the day, however, it was reported that the merger deal had been completed, confirmed by George, and that it would be formally announced at a press conference the following week. In an effort to enhance full-time participation, the IndyCar Series announced a revenue sharing plan entitled IndyCar TEAM (Team Enhancement and Allocation Matrix) for 2008. The following open tests were held: The original 16 race schedule, which

9430-456: The race for the pole position. The result of the feature race determines positions 1–10. All three races are 50 laps. On road and street courses, cars are drawn randomly into two qualifying groups. After each group has one twenty-minute session, the top six cars from each group qualify for a second session. The cars that finished seventh or worse are lined up by their times, with the best of these times starting 13th. The twelve remaining cars run

9545-861: The race track construction boom of the late 1990s, these tracks began to be labeled with the rather derogatory term "cookie cutter" tracks, as their differences were perceived to be minimal. In 1992, Charlotte became the first intermediate track to install lights and allow for night racing. It is now commonplace for these types of tracks to host night races. Intermediate tracks usually have moderate to steep banking. Almost all modern race tracks that are still used in NASCAR and IndyCar today are of this type. Since their size allows them to compromise high speeds with sightlines, especially tri- and quad-ovals of 1.5-mile length have become commonplace in major racing series that use oval tracks. While intermediate speedways were designed primarily with stock cars in mind, they were also believed to be suited to host Indy cars as well. In

9660-529: The race was cancelled for safety reasons. As of 2020, the IndyCar Series has only one race remaining at a high-banked intermediate track ( Texas ). These tracks began to be removed from the Indy car schedule in the late-2000s and early-2010s due to low crowds and serious crashes, including the fatal accident involving Dan Wheldon at Las Vegas in 2011. Originally a superspeedway was an oval race track with

9775-510: The race would go green to the finish. Shortly after the restart on lap 149, Patrick dropped back to seventh place (last car on the lead lap) in a fuel conservation strategy to have enough fuel to challenge the leader at the end of the race. With the race remaining green, during the final ten laps, most of the leaders, not having enough fuel to get to the end, ducked off the track for "splash-and-go" pit stops for fuel. Despite topping off his tank earlier, Ed Carpenter, getting poorer fuel economy than

9890-399: The race, A. J. Foyt IV finished in the top 5, while John Andretti just missed the top 10, working his way back to 11th. At the start, Ryan Hunter-Reay spun just before the start/finish line, which brought the yellow out immediately. The first 7 laps were run under yellow with Tony Kanaan leading from the pole position. On lap 8, the green came out, but only one lap was completed before

10005-417: The race. The lead changed hands between Hélio Castroneves , Bruno Junqueira , and Scott Dixon for the first 100 laps. Two sequences of green flag pit stops occurred under a long stretch of green flag conditions. A caution for debris came out on lap 165, sending the leaders to the pits once more. Vítor Meira stayed out to take over the lead. With 21 laps to go, Meira was forced to pit for fuel, giving up

10120-404: The remainder of the leaders had to wait to make their respective pit stops. After the field was shuffled, Castroneves still maintained the lead. On the 92nd lap, Vítor Meira brushed the wall. In the pits, Vision Racing teammates Carpenter and A. J. Foyt IV made contact in their pit stalls. Scott Dixon exited the pits first, and took over the lead. On lap 142, Roger Yasukawa stalled on

10235-482: The rest of the field competes in Q1. At the conclusion of Q1 the fastest 2 riders progress to Q2 with a chance to further improve their grid position. In 2023 a new format was introduced where the results of qualifying set the grid for a Saturday Sprint Race as well as the Sunday Grand Prix Race. Before 2001, NASCAR used a two-day qualifying format in its national series. Before 2002 only one lap

10350-489: The rest of the lead-lap cars, was forced to pit for fuel. Castroneves inherited the lead with less than 5 laps to go, with Patrick charging in second place. Castroneves slowed his pace to conserve fuel, and Patrick took the lead with 2 laps to go. Patrick held on to win, and became the first female to win a race in the history of top-level American open wheel racing . The final race of the Champ Car era took place less than

10465-421: The restart, Wheldon lost control and slid up the track, falling to 8th place. On lap 157 Mario Moraes spun into the pit apron, bringing out a caution, and the leaders pitted. John Andretti 's pitcrew had trouble engaging the fuel hose, and he dropped back the end of the running order. Prior to this he had been running in 7th place, one of the highest positions ever for a Roth Racing car. Castroneves regained

10580-447: The same front straightaway. The now defunct Ascot Speedway featured 1/2 mile and 1/4 mile dirt oval tracks, and Irwindale Speedway features 1/2 mile and 1/3 mile concentric paved oval tracks. Pocono Raceway once had a 3/4 mile oval which connected to the main stretch, and circled around the garage area. In 1991, Charlotte Motor Speedway connected the quad oval start-finish straight to the pit lane with two 180 degree turns, resulting in

10695-403: The same start/finish line, and same pit area, but a mid-course diversion to a winding road circuit in the infield (and/or outfield). At some point, the circuit leads back to the main oval, and completes the rest of the lap. On some of the faster ovals, a chicane is present on long back-straights, to keep speeds down, and create additional braking/passing zones. Some more complex facilities feature

10810-407: The similar construction boom of the baseball/football cookie-cutter stadiums of the 1960s and 1970s, and the subsequent sport-specific stadium construction boom that began in the 1990s. Most of the oval tracks are located in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. However, there are also many oval tracks elsewhere too, as listed below. 2008 IndyCar Series season The 2008 IndyCar Series

10925-494: The smoke, and rode up over Andretti, becoming airborne. He landed upright, and all drivers were uninjured. The race finished under caution with Ryan Briscoe picking up his first career IndyCar victory, and 300th overall win for the Mooresville, North Carolina -based Penske Racing in all motorsports series. In the first half, three single-car incidents involving Mario Domínguez , Justin Wilson , and Oriol Servia slowed

11040-612: The sport's ruling body to reduce the high speeds accommodated by their steep banking since 1988. Other superspeedways used by NASCAR include the Michigan International Speedway (2.0 miles), Auto Club Speedway (known as California Speedway prior to February 2008) (2.0 miles), and Pocono Raceway (2.5 miles). Auto Club Speedway and Michigan are often considered intermediate tracks by NASCAR due to their similarities with 1.5-mile tracks, while Pocono and Indianapolis are sometimes classified separately, as they are

11155-412: The time recorded by the pole-position rider. Qualifying tires may be used. In radio-controlled car racing, the term Top Qualifier (TQ) is used to determine the fastest qualifying driver, usually over a two-day, five/six rounds qualifying sessions, depending on the overall duration of the event. The result is determined by the best half of the driver's performance. As the event bring in over 100 entrants,

11270-466: The top six advanced to the ten-minute session for the pole. The pole position for the Indianapolis 500 is determined on the first day (or first full round) of time trials. Cars run four consecutive laps (10 miles), and the total elapsed time on the four laps determines the positioning. The fastest car on the first day of time trials wins the pole position. Times recorded in earlier days (rounds) start ahead of subsequent days (rounds). A driver could record

11385-407: The traditional symmetrical design, asymmetrical tracks are not uncommon. Additional prominent examples: The tri-oval is the common shape of the ovals from the construction booms of the 1960s and 1990s. The use of the tri-oval shape for automobile racing was conceived by Bill France, Sr. during the planning for Daytona. The triangular layout allowed fans in the grandstands an angular perspective of

11500-414: The turns and are considered low banked, superspeedways like Talladega have up to 33° of tilt in curves, Daytona has up to 32°, both are considered high banked. Atlanta is the intermediate track with the highest banking, 28°. Winchester has the highest banking of any active oval track with 37° Track surfaces can be dirt , concrete, asphalt, or a combination of concrete and asphalt. Some ovals in

11615-440: The two-hout time limit, the race was poised to end before the scheduled distance. On the final restart, just under 4 minutes of racing remained. Rahal held off a charging Hélio Castroneves and won his first race. At 19 years, 93 days old, Rahal became the youngest driver ever to win an Indy-style race , as well as the youngest winner in IndyCar Series history. He broke Marco Andretti 's record from 2006 . He also became

11730-420: The wall. The race finished under caution with Dixon the winner, and Hélio Castroneves slipping by the accident to finish second. At the green flag, Hélio Castroneves took the lead in turn 1 from polesitter Scott Dixon . Tony Kanaan quickly moved up to second position. Over the next 10–15 laps, Castroneves and Kanaan battled back-and-forth for the lead, side-by-side on many laps. Kanaan finally muscled

11845-467: The winner of the first heat is awarded the pole for the feature race. Superpole for Superbike is a timed event to establish starting positions for motorcycle racers in World Superbike races. For 2023 a World Superbike weekend typically consists of: The format of Superpole depends on weather conditions: To qualify for the race, riders must record a lap time no longer than 107% of

11960-596: The years. While some tracks use terms such as "speedway" or "superspeedway" in their name, they may not meet the specific definitions used in this article. A short track is an oval track less than one mile (1.6 km) long, with the majority being 0.5 miles (0.8 km) or shorter. Drivers seeking careers in oval track racing generally serve their apprenticeship on short tracks before moving up to series which compete on larger tracks. Due to their short length and fast action, these tracks are often nicknamed " bullrings ". Professional-level NASCAR races on short tracks usually use

12075-721: Was built as a facility for the automotive industry to conduct research and development. Daytona International Speedway was built as a replacement for the Daytona Beach Road Course , which combined the town's main street and its famous beach. Daytona hosts the Daytona 500 , NASCAR's most prestigious race, while the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is home to the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400 . The longest superspeedway in North America

12190-421: Was created to provide a less dangerous alternative to a traditional concrete wall. The barrier can be retrofitted onto an existing wall or may take the place of a concrete wall completely. Oval tracks are classified based upon their size, surface, banking, and shape. Their size can range from only a few hundred feet to over two and a half miles. The definitions used to differentiate track sizes have changed over

12305-403: Was forced to a back-up car at the rear of the field as well. At the start, Scott Dixon beat Danica Patrick into the first turn. Dixon went on to lead most of the way through lap 71. After a series of pit stops, Marco Andretti moved into the lead. On lap 127, Milka Duno spun in turn two, and collected Ryan Briscoe , who was running sixth. Later, Tony Kanaan moved back into the lead until

12420-422: Was hit from behind by Will Power while running 3rd. He was able to continue. Several cautions slowed the race, including a crash by Ryan Briscoe , and a multi-car incident involving Vítor Meira , Franck Perera , and Townsend Bell . On the restart that followed, Rahal-Letterman Racing driver Ryan Hunter-Reay led Graham Rahal. Rahal got the jump and took the lead into the first turn. With time running out before

12535-473: Was released on September 16, 2007, became a 19 race schedule (18 championship and 1 Non-Championship) on February 26, 2008. Some of the Champ Car races at Exhibition Place , Reliant Park , and Road America were added years later.  O  Oval speedway  R  Road course  S  Street circuit NC Non-championship race 3B – The race at Long Beach was the last event sanctioned by Champ Car World Series. Points were awarded for

12650-495: Was run on oval tracks except short tracks and restrictor plate tracks. Until 2014, the pole position has been determined by a two-lap time trial (one lap on road courses ) with the faster lap time used as the driver's qualifying speed. In 2014, NASCAR used a knockout qualifying format for all races except the Daytona 500 , non-points races, and the Camping World Truck Series ' Eldora Dirt Derby : after

12765-487: Was segmented or staggered, by which session a driver qualified, or by which particular day a driver set his qualification time, only drivers having qualified on the initial day were eligible for pole position. Some race promoters or sanctioning bodies invert their starting grid for the purpose of entertainment value (e.g., pack racing ; to artificially stimulate passing), the slowest qualifier would be designated as pole-sitter. In contrast to contemporary motorsport, where only

12880-538: Was the 92nd Indianapolis 500 on May 25. All races were televised on ABC , ESPN , ESPN2 , or ESPN Classic . All IndyCar Series broadcasts continued to use the Side-By-Side format in their first year of HD broadcasts . Races were also broadcast on the IMS Radio Network and XM for the radios. Scott Dixon driving for Chip Ganassi Racing won the first unified title in 13 years after completing

12995-505: Was the 13th season of the IndyCar Series . It was the 97th recognized season of top-level American open wheel racing . On February 26, 2008, the managements of Indy Racing League and Champ Car came to an agreement to become a single entity, ending a twelve-year split and resulting in the cancellation of the 2008 Champ Car World Series . The first race was held on March 29 at the Homestead–Miami Speedway . The premier event

13110-539: Was the site of Mario Andretti's closed-course record of 214.158 mph (344.654 km/h) which stood for 12 years. No major professional series have raced at TWS since the 1990s. The 2.5 mile Ontario Motor Speedway was known as the "Indianapolis of the West", but was bought by the Chevron Land Company in 1980 and partitioned for development. NASCAR and IndyCar use different measuring systems to measure

13225-521: Was used only twice (both in 1987) and has not been used for major motor racing since hosting Round 9 of the 1987 World Touring Car Championship . There have been two distinct oval race track construction "booms" in the United States. The first took place in the 1960s, and the second took place in the mid-to-late 1990s. The majority of tracks from the 1960s boom and the 1990s boom have survived, but some tracks failed to achieve long-term financial success. Incidentally, these two booms loosely coincided with

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