The White Flag

Carlin Racing is in their debut year, but they have had a tough start to the year.  Carlin isn't just any first team though, in their first year they have two guys in Charlie Kimball and Max Chilton who both drove for Chip Ganassi Racing the last couple years.  Both Chilton and Kimball drove for Carlin in early in their career in Formula 3. Carlin may be new to IndyCar, but this team is well respected around the world, so it's a little shocking to see them struggling this much.  Charlie Kimball is 19th in the points, while Max Chilton stands at 20th.  Of the full time drivers, that ranks 3rd last and 2nd last.  The only driver they beat is Matheous Liest.  Ed Carpenter who has only ran one race this year, is ahead of both the Carlin drivers in the points.  In his two starts this year, Chilton has finished 19th and 18th, while Kimball has finished 20th and 17th.  In both races, neither driver finished the race on the lead lap. What's be more ...

IndyCar will return on Saturday under the lights in Phoenix for the first oval of the year.  Last year's race was an overall disappointment with little to no passing at all.  Simon Pagenaud took the race pretty easily and only a couple cars finished on the lead lap in a race that was dominated by Chevy as most short ovals were last year. A multitude of cars were taken out on the first lap last year after Mikhail Aleshin lost control and took out many cars, but after that it was pretty much a snoozer.  IndyCar raved all off season about how the passing would improve this year with the new design of the cars and we saw that at St. Petersburg a couple weeks ago and hopefully we see it again at Phoenix. 1. Josef Newgarden - He was the top Penske at St. Pete and I think he is the favorite entering this race. Chevy is strong here and Penske is always the top Chevy. Newgarden finished 6th here in 2016 driving for ECR and 9th last year.  2. Simon Pagenaud - The d...