ABC Supply Wisconsin 250 at Milwaukee IndyFest
TV: NBCSN telecasts the race live (3 p.m. ET). Leigh Diffey is the chief announcer, with Townsend Bell and David Hobbs as analysts. The Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires 100-lap race will be telecast at 6 p.m. (ET).
Radio/web: The race will be broadcast on IMS Radio Network affiliates, XM 209 and Sirius 213 in addition to IndyCar.com and the INDYCAR 14 app in conjunction with real-time Timing & Scoring. I Paul Page is the chief announcer.
Twitter: @MKE_IndyFest, @IndyCar, #IndyFest
Click it: Qualifying results || Entry list
Weather forecast: Partly cloudy, high of 73
Qualifications: Will Power recorded a two-lap average of 169.262 mph in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car to earn the Verizon P1 Award. It was his third of the season and 35th of his Indy car career (sixth on the all-time list). Tony Kanaan, a two-time winner at Milwaukee, also will start on the front row. READ THE RECAP
Race laps: 250 on the 1.015-mile oval.
Tires: Firestone has supplied the same tire compound and construction as used in the 2013 race.
Fuel: 84 U.S. gallons of E85. Four pits stops were the norm in the 2013 250-lap race. Following qualifications, drivers noted that the tires will drop off after 15-20 laps, and if you're doing well, you might keep them under you 35 or 40 laps.
Engines: 2.2-liter, twin-turbocharged V6s supplied by Chevrolet and Honda ... 140 kPa turbo boost for ovals.
He said it: "If you've watched any IndyCar races this year, you know anything can happen. You think you can be all good with 10 to go, there can be a yellow. It's great to start up front. This is definitely a track-position race. But you've got to see how the yellows play out," said pole sitter Will Power.
2013: Ryan Hunter-Reay, driving for Andretti Autosport, won for the second consecutive year. He overtook race leader Takuma Sato on Lap 198 of 250 and went on to win by 4.8 seconds over Helio Castroneves. Marco Andretti (42.8584 seconds, 170.515 mph) started on the pole.
Of note: Power regained the lead in the Verizon IndyCar Series championship standings from Team Penske teammate Castroneves at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Aug. 3 and carries a five-point advantage into the race. Hunter-Reay is 64 points back in third. There are 11 drivers eligible to win the title. … There have been 10 different winners this season – one off the Indy car record set in 2000 and ‘01. … Milwaukee is the second of two short oval races this season. In July at Iowa Speedway, Hunter-Reay and Josef Newgarden used a late-race pit stop to fit fresh tires and then sped through the field in the final laps for a 1-2 Honda finish. … Michael Andretti won at Milwaukee five times in his Indy car career as a driver and has five wins as owner of Andretti Autosport. Andretti Sports Marketing is promoting the race. … Hunter-Reay (2012) and Dario Franchitti (2011) are the only drivers to win at Milwaukee and the Verizon IndyCar Series championship in the same season.
History: The Milwaukee Mile has hosted auto racing events since 1903 and sanctioned Indy car racing since 1933 (AAA sanction). Wilbur Shaw won the 100-lap race on the dirt oval in 1933 with an average speed of 79.584 mph. The oval, which has 9.25 degrees of banking in all of its turns and 2.5 degrees on the straightaways, was paved for 1954. The race is the 10th under INDYCAR sanction. Andretti Autosport has won five of the past nine races.