The 2015

Firestone 600 The IndyCar Series held auto racing events at Texas Motor Speedway, near Fort Worth, Texas, from 1997 until 2023. The races had a variety of different title sponsors and distances over the years, and therefore the Texas round has changed names fr ...

was the ninth round of the

2015 IndyCar Series season The 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series was the 20th season of the IndyCar Series and the 104th season of American open wheel racing. Its premier event was the 2015 Indianapolis 500, 99th Indianapolis 500, which was held on May 24. Will Power returned ...

. It took take place on Saturday, June 6. The race was contested over 248 laps at the

Texas Motor Speedway Texas Motor Speedway (formerly known as Texas International Raceway from September to December 1996) is a quad-oval Oval track racing#Intermediate, intermediate speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. It has hosted various major races since its inaugura ...

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, and was televised by

NBCSN NBCSN (also known as NBC Sports Network) was an American sports television television channel, channel owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It originally launched on July 1, 1995, as the Outdoor Lif ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It marked the 27th

IndyCar IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with the Indianapolis ...

race held at the speedway since it was first held there in 1997.

Background

The second race in last week's rounds 7 and 8 in the IndyCar series marked the first time all season that a race finished without a

Penske Penske Corporation, Inc. () is an American diversified transportation services company based in Bloomfield Township, Oakland County, Michigan. Roger Penske is the founder and chairman of the privately held company, and Rob Kurnick is the presid ...

or Ganassi driver among the top two places. The top performance by either of the super teams was a third-place showing by Penske’s

Simon Pagenaud Simon Pierre Michel Pagenaud (; born 18 May 1984) is a French professional racing driver, who last drove the No. 60 Honda for Meyer Shank Racing in the NTT IndyCar Series. After a successful career in sports car racing that saw him taking the ...

in first race of the dual in Detroit on Saturday. It also marked the best showing by

Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

cars with the manufacturer taking 1-2 in the first race, and 2-3 in the second race.

Report

Qualifying

Initial practice and qualifying took place in the afternoon on Friday June 5, 2015 with a final practice occurring later that evening.

Race summary

The race took place on the evening of Saturday June 6, 2015 and was the fastest IndyCar Series race ever run at the

with an average speed of 191.940 mph. It was a relative clean contest with only one caution occurring between laps 84 to 96, which was due to non-contact debris on the front stretch of the track, during the entire 248 lap race. Pole driver

Will Power William Steven Power (born 1 March 1981) is an Australian racing driver who competes in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 12 Dallara-Chevrolet for Team Penske. He won the 2018 Indianapolis 500 and has won the IndyCar Championship twice, in ...

had the lead for the first 7 laps of the race, when

took the lead from him and held it for the next 59 laps of the race. Multiple pit stops by others further back in the field to make wing and tire adjustments shuffled the order and put several drivers one to three laps down. Finding the right balance of downforce and tire wear and press would prove pivotal in the race. In lap 67,

Tony Kanaan Antoine Rizkallah "Tony" Kanaan Filho (born 31 December 1974), nicknamed "TK", is a Brazilian racing driver who is the team principal of Arrow McLaren. He is best known for racing in Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) from 1998 to 2002, an ...

took the lead. During the caution beginning in lap 84, pretty much the entire field pitted, and pit times resulted in a major reshuffling of order once again with

Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán (; born 20 September 1975) is a Colombian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to , IndyCar between 1999 and 2022, and the NASCAR Cup Series between 2006 and 2024. Montoya won seven Formula One Grand ...

holding the lead when the race resumed on lap 96, with Kanaan retaking the lead on lap 103. As cars pitted for fuel beginning in lap 138, the lead was again reshuffled, with the lead passing to

Scott Dixon Scott Ronald Dixon (born 22 July 1980) is a New Zealand racing driver who races the 9 Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) Dallara DW12-Honda car in the IndyCar Series. He is a six-time drivers' champion of the IndyCar Series, having claimed the title in ...

Hélio Castroneves Hélio Castroneves (; born Hélio Alves de Castro Neves; 10 May 1975) is a Brazilian auto racing driver. He competes part-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 06 Dallara-Honda for Meyer Shank Racing. He is one of four drivers to have w ...

James Jakes James Jakes (born 4 August 1987 in Leeds, West Yorkshire) is a British professional racing driver. Career T-Cars Jakes started his racing career in 2002 competing in 5 rounds of the T-Car Championship. In 2003 James continued in T-cars, ...

and then back to Dixon. Another round of pitting for fuel again reshuffled the lead over a ten lap period, with Kanaan, then Castroneves and then

Marco Andretti Marco Michael Andretti (born March 13, 1987) is an American professional auto racing driver. He last competed part-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 98 Dallara- Chevrolet for Andretti Global. He formerly drove in the IndyCar Series fo ...

taking the lead. Dixon re-took the lead on lap 194 and would maintain lead for the rest of the race with the except of his taking his final pit stop for fuel on lap 228 end up having the lead for a total of 97 laps, eclipsing his season total of 59 in laps led in one race. He would go on to win the race, which his

Chip Ganassi Racing Chip Ganassi Racing, LLC (CGR), also sometimes branded as Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, is an American auto racing organization competing in the NTT IndyCar Series. They have formerly competed in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series, Global Rally ...

teammate Kanaan taking second, and Castroneves taking the third podium position for

Team Penske Team Penske (formerly Penske Racing) is an American professional auto racing organization, competing in the IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship. Debuting at the 1966 24 Hours of Day ...

. The top 4 finishers were all

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

cars which dominated the race and the top finishers suggest high downforce will be the way to success on oval courses for the remainder of the season.

Race results

Championship standings after the race

;Drivers' standings * Note: Only the top five positions are included.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Firestone 600 2015 in IndyCar 2015 in sports in Texas 2015 Firestone 600 Firestone 600