Edmonton: Round 14 preview

TRANSITION DRIVERS LOOK FOR ADVANTAGE AT EDMONTON

FAST FACTS
Rexall Edmonton Indy

Date / Time
Saturday, July 26
5 p.m. (EDT)

Track
Edmonton City Centre Airport

Distance
95 laps / 186.2 miles

TV
ESPN (Live)

Radio
IMS Radio Network / XM Satellite Radio
(Live)

Edmonton City Centre Airport
14-turn, 1.96-mile street circuit

Inaugural event
Rexall Edmonton Indy

Race Notes:

This is the first IndyCar Series event at Edmonton although eight drivers entered combined to make 18 Champ Car starts at the circuit in the last three years. Mario Dominguez, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Bruno Junqueira, Will Power, Graham Rahal, Oriol Servia, Paul Tracy and Justin Wilson each made at least one start at Edmonton.

Team Penske drivers have won the last two pole positions on road/street courses. Ryan Briscoe won the pole at Watkins Glen, and Helio Castroneves won the pole at Mid-Ohio.

Mid-Ohio was the first race this season where none of the four Andretti Green Racing cars finished in the top five.

Andretti Green Racing driver Tony Kanaan won the pole at this season's only other street race (St. Petersburg in April).

Season-to-Date:

* Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon are the only drivers to finish in the top five in nine of the 11 races this season.

* Helio Castroneves is the only driver running at the finish of every race in 2008.

* Seven drivers have won races in 2008. The IndyCar Series record is nine drivers in 1996/97, 2002, 2003 and 2005.

Milestones & Records:

* Helio Castroneves will attempt to make his 110th career IndyCar Series start. It would also be his 108th consecutive start.

* Helio Castroneves can establish an IndyCar Series record for most consecutive seasons with at least one win should he win the Rexall Edmonton Indy. Castroneves is tied with Scott Sharp with victories in seven consecutive seasons.

* Helio Castroneves extended his IndyCar Series record for consecutive seasons with a pole to seven when he won the PEAK Motor Oil Pole Award at Nashville. His pole at Mid-Ohio was the 25th of his career.

* Tony Kanaan finished fourth at Nashville, giving him the 63rd top-five finish of his career, an IndyCar Series record.

* Scott Dixon needs to lead 32 laps to become the fifth driver to lead 2,000 laps in his career. The others to lead at least 2,000 laps are Sam Hornish Jr. (3,428), Helio Castroneves (2,833), Dan Wheldon (2,735) and Tony Kanaan (2,478).

* Scott Dixon has led 686 laps this season. The record for most laps led in a season is 889 by Tony Kanaan in 2004.

* Helio Castroneves has led laps in 66 IndyCar Series races, second only to Sam Hornish Jr., who led laps in 67 races.

* Vitor Meira has gone 88 starts without a victory in the IndyCar Series, the longest drought of any IndyCar Series driver.

Schedule (local time):

July 24
1:15-2:45 p.m. - IndyCar Series practice
4:45-5:45 p.m. - IndyCar Series practice

July 25
10:30-11:30 a.m. - IndyCar Series practice (two groups)
3:15-4:45 p.m. - PEAK Motor Oil Pole Award Qualifying presented by Canadian Tire

July 26
9:55-10:25 a.m. - IndyCar Series warm-up
2 p.m. - Rexall Edmonton Indy pre-race
3 p.m. - Rexall Edmonton Indy (95 laps/186.2 miles)

-credit: irl