2018 Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix

The short, flat, and slick Phoenix International Raceway ISM Raceway hosts the second race of the Verizon IndyCar Series season as the first oval track on the calendar! High-speeds and close-quarters racing are always in store at the short ovals, and this weekend is sure to be more of the same.

The first two IndyCar races that took place here since its return to the schedule both occurred during the aerokit era. The incredible amounts of downforce produced by the old bodies complicated on-track passing, and many have been wondering if the introduction of the new-to-2018 kit (and the accompanying increase in tire degredation) will have a notable effect on the action this weekend.

Last year's running of the event saw Simon Pagenaud score his lone oval victory to date in a race that was dominated by Team Penske plus the Ed Carpenter Racing car #21 of J. R. Hildebrand. Who the contenders will be this time around, however, may not be so easy to predict without the aerokits to the help out The Captain's crew.

And although we haven't yet arrived at race day, the increased parity that we were expecting has already been exemplified. For in qualifying, Pagenaud managed to rank second, but was outdone by his countryman Sébastien Bourdais; the four-time Champ Car champion earned his first P1 Award since 2014 at Mid-Ohio after making each of his two Q laps the fastest two of the session. With car #18 coming off of another popular victory in the season-opener at St. Petersburg in March, we are continuing to witness just how formidable that the combination of Bourdais, Dale Coyne, and Craig Hampson really is. For Dale Coyne Racing, this is the first ever pole position on an oval track.

Also worthy of note, the other Coyne car is being driven this weekend by Pietro Fittipaldi. The grandson of Emerson Fittipaldi, who is making his first ever attempt at an IndyCar race, also impressed in qualifying by placing car #19 tenth on the grid.

Full qualifying results can be found here:
http://www.imscdn.com/indycar_media/documents/2018-04-06/04-06-18%20Phoenix%20unofficial%20qualifying.pdf

Coverage begins tomorrow night at 9:00 P.M. Eastern, and on NBC Sports Network for the first time this year.

Weird to see all of those top guys mess up their pit stops like that.

Can't be mad at a Newgarden win. I really wanted Wickens to win it, but new tires won out in the end.

Might as well go ahead and say it.

Robert Wickens is the real deal.