DETROIT - Lots of nuggets to cover in the intervening hours before today’s second of two Chevrolet Dual in Detroit Presented by Quicken Loans races.
To start, the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix event has released an update on the status of injured Stadium SUPER Trucks driver Matt Mingay, who remains in serious but stable condition.
Here’s the update:
“UPDATE #SST driver, Matt Mingay, remains hospitalized and listed in serious, but stable condition, according to a hospital spokesperson. Mingay’s family reports that he underwent surgery last night for facial injuries suffered in the accident. We will continue to update.”
UPDATE #SST driver, Matt Mingay, remains hospitalized and listed in serious, but stable condition, according to a hospital spokesperson.
— Detroit Grand Prix (@detroitgp) June 5, 2016
Mingay's family reports that he underwent surgery last night for facial injuries suffered in the accident. We will continue to update.
— Detroit Grand Prix (@detroitgp) June 5, 2016
Here’s some additional updates from the INDYCAR paddock:
- David Letterman made a last minute appearance in Saturday’s first race of the weekend to support the No. 15 United Rentals Honda team for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (above). He is not on site for today’s second race of the weekend. Graham Rahal looks to extend his Detroit race weekend podium streak to three years running if he can end top-three today.
- Speaking of United Rentals, they were in the news earlier this weekend for good reason: On Friday, INDYCAR announced a multiyear agreement with United Rentals, the world’s largest equipment rental provider and a team partner with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, to become the official equipment rental company of INDYCAR and the Verizon IndyCar Series.
- Further meetings are expected this week between NAPA and Andretti Autosport officials to determine how much longer NAPA Auto Parts will continue on the No. 98 Honda for Indianapolis 500 champion Alexander Rossi.
- Max Chilton’s crew got his No. 8 Gallagher Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet repaired in time for qualifying and the Englishman will start 19th today. An apparent steering column issue helped send him into the wall in Saturday’s first race.
- Whereas for Saturday’s race only Carlos Munoz started on Firestone’s black primary tires, five drivers have opted to start on primaries today. Those five are Juan Pablo Montoya, Charlie Kimball, Takuma Sato, Josef Newgarden and Marco Andretti.
- Montoya called teammate Will Power’s move at Turn 3 on Saturday a “desperate” move. “Just Will I think is a little desperate right now for results, so he’ll do anything. That’s what it is. It’s the truth,” said the driver of the No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, who will start 10th today.
- Conor Daly kicked off his first ever IndyCar podium press conference making sure to thank his team: “I mean, yeah, Dale Coyne Racing puts me in positions far greater than I deserve at times. Gosh, they do all the right things strategically. Dale is a wizard, I think. He’s up there calculating everything in his head. Maybe he can see the future, I don’t know. But it was awesome,” said the driver of the No. 18 Jonathan Byrd’s Hospitality Honda, who starts 21st today.
- Among the items Sebastien Bourdais addressed in his press conference on Saturday was how much he thanked his team for the strategy calls, led by strategist and team co-owner Jimmy Vasser. “I’m not sure I know the scenario actually because I think I missed a couple of steps how we got from 13th to 16th to 18th to last pretty much, 13th again, then jumping into the lead. It was a rather interesting day and a great team effort from the 11 crew, Hydroxycut. To do that for Chevrolet here means a heck of a lot,” said the driver of the No. 11 Team Hydroxycut KVSH Racing Chevrolet, who starts 12th today.
- Best starts of the season today for Ryan Hunter-Reay (second) Mikhail Aleshin (fifth) and Gabby Chaves (15th).
- With only two cautions for eight laps on Saturday, that marked the fewest number of cautions since this race weekend became a doubleheader race weekend in 2013.
Here is the grid for Sunday’s race two:
