Welcome to Infineon Raceway, home to IZOD IndyCar Series races since 2005, and the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma. One of only two road course events left on the schedule, the other taking place on the streets of Baltimore next weekend, the cars and stars of IndyCar will chase the three Team Penske cars, led by the No. 12 of Will Power, to the green flag later today. As per usual, OWA presents its pre-race opinions and predictions:

1. Should Brian Barnhart still have his job right now?
2. How will losing their appeal on the results at Loudon affect Oriol Servia and Newman/Haas for the rest of the season, if at all? By the same token, what kind of boost does that victory give Ryan Hunter-Reay’s team?
3. Dreyer & Reinbold has hired Giorgio Pantano to replace the injured Justin Wilson for the final two road course races of the season. Do you expect him to perform as well as Simon Pagenaud, or did DRR take a step back?
4. Podium picks?

Chad Smith

1. Personally, I don’t think he deserves to keep his job, but I don’t really expect him to be gone before the end of the year (unless he has another embarassing scene like in New Hampshire). I think maybe we see someone else take control after the season is over, but the series will want the headlines to be about the three guys contending for the championship, and the “challenge” at Las Vegas to end the year.

2. I think Servia and Newman/Haas will be fine. They have run better than anyone else all year (besides Dario, Power, and Dixon of course). They won’t be effected either way by the decision, and will continue to produce top ten and top five finishes. RHR will take that win, as they have had such an up-and-down season. I don’t think it will motivate them any more though.

3. For the past few years I have stated that Wilson is arguably the most underrated driver in this series. I still believe that, and it will show this weekend and D & R takes a step back. Sonoma is a tough course with a lot of elevation changes, so it won’t be easy on anybody.

4. Will Power will get the pole. He will need the points too. The past three years, the pole winner has gone on to win the race, but that will end this year. Dark horse = Kanaan.

(By the way, great to see Ho-Pin Tung back after his unfortunate incident at Indy this year. Also props to Tags for his runner-up finish in Canada last week for the Nationwide series.)

3rd – Briscoe
2nd – Power
1st – Franchitti

Catie Rinderknecht

‎1. Not sure. Let me pose this question in return: who of those who question him could do a better job than he’s doing?

2. If anything, it should make the Newman/Haas organization even more hungry for a win. Ryan Hunter-Reay’s team should get a boost, but I’m not certain that it’s the decisive win that team needs to provide a lasting confidence boost.

3. After looking at all the session results from the weekend, I’d say Pantano has performed well. In fact, the whole DRR organization has presented itself well this weekend.

4. With the Penske cars sweeping the top positions, I’m going to go with the Penske podium sweep as well, with Power winning, Briscoe 2nd, and Castroneves 3rd.

Chris Leone

1. Who wouldn’t be a better pick? Seriously, Barnhart is so (bleeping) bad that if he’s not gone by the end of the season, I sure am. Good for him owning up to a mistake – he should have been gone eight mistakes ago. Once the 2012 car is done, put Tony Cotman in; nobody ever had a problem with him when he ran the show in Champ Car.

2. Taking that win should give RHR what he needs to finish the season relatively strong. I don’t know that he’ll end up higher than where he is right now (eighth) in the final standings, but he’ll challenge. A couple more good runs and he could end up as high as sixth. As for Servia and Newman/Haas, I see this as a redux of Vitor Meira’s 2006 season, where he and Panther were the only combination that could hang with Penske and Ganassi, but just couldn’t steal a win.

3. I’ve loved Pagenaud since Champ Car, but Pantano (like Wilson) has a strong pedigree that includes limited Formula 1 experience with a lower-tier team. But that seems to be what it takes to challenge on road and street courses in IndyCar. He’ll do well.

4. Power wins because he has to. Franchitti comes second because he’s the best. Briscoe finishes third because, eh, another Penske car probably will.

(Thanks to Chad for stepping up and providing this week’s questions.)

1. Will the new track layout provide for better racing than the previous version?

Chad: Looks like the new layout will give us more speed, but it seems that the speed is giving the drivers trouble going into turn one. Many of them are having trouble braking and slide into the run off area. Still, I like the new layout.

Kyle: No, it’ll be a crash fest.

Chris: Never for the first year, but probably for the future. Check out the last ten laps of the race for what will probably be the best indicator.

Catie: We’ll see. It may. If it is better, let’s see if it stays that way consistently.

Ryan: I don’t think so, after watching quals today, I think the course is a bit too technical, whereas the old course was much faster. The course is very tight, which I think will cut down on passing. No real way to know until we see it, but I’m predicting some major crashes as guys try to pick up positions where they can’t.

2. Edmonton will still be a wide open “road” course so there shouldn’t be as many cautions. With the tempers still hot from Toronto two weeks ago, will there be some payback on Sunday?

Chad: I think we will see some payback out there, but I don’t think anyone will get “dumped”. There might be some blocking and closer side-by-side racing than we are used to, but for the most part the big guns (Power, Franchitti) should keep their emotions in check.

Kyle: Oh yeah, lots of it!

Chris: If Power can get away with it, yes. But it has to be sneaky, not hurt his chances, and it needs to work.

Catie: I’ve always had the opinion that dishing out “payback” with open wheel cars is stupid. It seems to me that there’s too much risk in screwing up ones own chances when paying others back. With that in mind, I hope not.

Ryan: There is certainly going to be some on track action. At this point, Franchitti is running away with the points lead, and Power/Team Penske may let him know their displeasure with some brake checking/blocking. Next season is already on the minds of a lot of drivers, and they are driving for their rides next year. This has lead to more tension and this will continue throughout the season.

3. Takuma Sato and EJ Viso were 1st and 3rd in final practice. Sato won the Pole for tomorrow’s race and Viso starts 5th. Will either driver record a top five finish tomorrow?

Chad: I would love to see Sato get a win, but I don’t think it will happen. I do think he can salvage a top five though. I don’t feel nearly as confident in Viso…where is TK?

Kyle: No, but Kanaan will.

Chris: Picking Sato for fourth. Remember that KVRT was pretty good here last year – I think it may have been the only race where all of their drivers finished. Viso… Eh.

Catie: Sato might, but I don’t think Viso will. Yeah, I know, I tend to pick on Viso, but still. Then again, all of the KV cars finished in the top 9 during this race last season so anything is possible.

Ryan: I hate to say it, but not a chance. Viso and Sato are similar drivers. They are both very fast and both make enough mental mistakes in each race to cost themselves any chance at a good finish. Sato is slightly better at it, but still has been unable to put all the pieces together. I’m guessing neither driver finishes this race.

4. Podium predictions…

Chad: Third – Power Second – Dixon First – Briscoe Dark horse – Rahal

Kyle: Power, Kanaan, Servia.

Chris: Dixon, Power, Franchitti. Sato for the dark horse, like I said, coming home fourth.

Catie: 1st- Dixon, 2nd- Power, 3rd- Franchitti

Ryan: I’m going to take Will Power to pick up the win. He is pretty focused after Toronto and can drive lights out when he needs to. Hunter Reay is going to pick up the second spot on the podium, because his bad luck can’t go on forever. Dixon takes third, coming up short on his first win of the season again.

The points in the OWA driver pick championship were as tight as ever heading into the Firestone Twin 275s, with only 63 points separating the entire field. But with the random draw for the second race and wildly variant luck for some of the drivers that our writers picked, the standings aren’t quite as close anymore, and we even saw some change in the standings:

1. Chris, 244 (Race 1: Alex Tagliani, Race 2: Dario Franchitti)
2. Catie, 228 (Franchitti, Tony Kanaan)
3. Chad, 226 (Ryan Briscoe, Scott Dixon)
4. Kyle, 202 (Danica Patrick, Franchitti)
5. Ryan, 170 (Briscoe, Ed Carpenter)

This weekend, the IZOD IndyCar Series returns to the Milwaukee Mile after a one-year hiatus. Anytime a series takes a break, whether or not an extended one, from a track, there are plenty of chances for unpredictability. Here’s our weekend preview: Continue Reading

Two weeks removed, and yet the incredible finish of the 95th Indianapolis 500 – Dan Wheldon stealing a surprise victory as J.R. Hildebrand saw his hopes careen into the fourth turn wall – is still burned in our memories, as it will likely remain for years. The most amazing thing about Wheldon’s win, though, wasn’t the circumstances, but the fact that, as a one-off entry, almost nobody picked him and his Bryan Herta Autosport team to win.

Well, nobody but our own Ryan Worden, that is.

Ryan nailed the race winner for 59 points, while Chris’s pick, Marco Andretti, took home ninth, but Chad, Catie, and Kyle all had 28th-place Alex Tagliani for the win. Luckily, due to their qualifying points, Tags and Andretti were even with 25 points apiece. This means the standings are even tighter heading into Texas:

1. Chris, 212
2. Chad, 192
3. Catie, 186
4. Kyle, 182
5. Ryan, 149

For the first time, Texas will be run in a doubleheader format, with the second race resorting to random starting order. The fact that American open-wheel racing hasn’t seen this format since 1981 means that nobody will quite have any idea what to expect in tonight’s event. But because it’s our job, we’ll try to predict anyway: Continue Reading