Fast Facts leading to Pocono Raceway and the ABC Supply 500

This weekend Pocono Raceway hosts the ABC Supply 500.. The NTT IndyCar Series drivers face 200 laps of 2.5 mile oval.

“The Tricky Triangle… Pocono is really fast and produces great Indy car racing,” commented Scott Dixon. “It’s such a unique challenge to get everything right.

“The team swept the podium in 2013 and that is a perfect example of things going your way here when you get everything right. It’s a long race and it’s now time to roll the dice and take chances.

“Race wins are all that matter at this stage in the season if you want to have a shot at defending this championship title. I hope we come ready to race in the PNC Bank car and fight for the win.”

Here are the Fast Facts from Indycar.com leading up to the race that gets underway on Sunday at 2:45pm local time (6:45am NZ time)

Josef Newgarden leads the NTT IndyCar Series championship with four races to go for the second time in his career. He also led the championship with four to go when he won the title in 2017. Newgarden has led the championship after every round this season with the exception of the Indianapolis 500.

Josef Newgarden leads Alexander Rossi by 16 points with Indianapolis 500 winner Simon Pagenaud (-43) in third and defending series champion Scott Dixon (-62) in fourth.

There are 10 drivers still mathematically eligible for the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series championship, assuming all drivers compete in the last four races: Josef Newgarden, Alexander Rossi, Simon Pagenaud, Scott Dixon, Will Power, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Takuma Sato, Graham Rahal, Felix Rosenqvist and James Hinchcliffe. Any driver who trails the points leader by 213 points or more following the race will be eliminated from contention.

Since the first Indy car race at Pocono in 1971, the winning driver has won the Indy car championship six times: Joe Leonard (1972), A.J. Foyt (1975 and 1979), Tom Sneva (1977), Rick Mears (1982) and Scott Dixon (2013).

There have been six different winners in 13 NTT IndyCar Series races in 2019: Josef Newgarden (Streets of St. Petersburg, Raceway at Belle Isle Park-1, Texas Motor Speedway and Iowa Speedway), Colton Herta (Circuit of The Americas), Takuma Sato (Barber Motorsports Park), Alexander Rossi (Streets of Long Beach and Road America), Simon Pagenaud (Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Oval and Streets of Toronto) and Scott Dixon (Raceway at Belle Isle Park-2 and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course). The record for most different winners in a season is 11 in 2000, 2001 and 2014.

There have been seven different NTT P1 Award winners in 2019. Will Power (Streets of St. Petersburg, Circuit of The Americas and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course), Takuma Sato (Barber Motorsports Park and Texas Motor Speedway), Alexander Rossi (Streets of Long Beach, Raceway at Belle Isle Park-1), Felix Rosenqvist (Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course) Simon Pagenaud (Indianapolis Motor Speedway Oval, Streets of Toronto and Iowa Speedway), Josef Newgarden (Raceway at Belle Isle Park-2) and Colton Herta (Road America) have won poles in 2019. The record for most pole winners in a season is 12 set in the 1999 CART season.

The ABC Supply 500 will be the 26th Indy car race at Pocono Raceway. Alexander Rossi won the race in 2018. Mark Donohue won the first Indy car race at Pocono in 1971.

The ABC Supply 500 will be the fourth race on an oval in 2019. The first three oval races were won by Team Penske drivers. Simon Pagenaud won the Indianapolis 500 and Josef Newgarden won at Texas Motor Speedway and Iowa Speedway.

A.J. Foyt, who fields the cars of Matheus Leist and Tony Kanaan, is the winningest driver at Pocono Raceway with four victories (1973, 1975, 1979 and 1981). Rick Mears won at Pocono three times, while Al Unser and Will Power have won at Pocono twice. Past winners Scott Dixon (2013), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2015), Power (2016 and 2017) and Alexander Rossi (2018) are entered this year.

Five drivers have won the Pocono race from the pole – Mark Donohue (1971), A.J. Foyt (1979 and 1981), Bobby Unser (1980), Rick Mears (1982 and 1985) and Juan Pablo Montoya (2014).

Team Penske has won 10 times at Pocono. Penske’s winning drivers are Mark Donohue (1971), Tom Sneva (1977), Bobby Unser (1980), Rick Mears (1982, 1985 and 1987), Danny Sullivan (1989), Juan Pablo Montoya (2014) and Will Power (2016 and 2017).

Andretti Autosport, owned by Michael Andretti of nearby Nazareth, Pennsylvania, has two wins at Pocono. The team won at Pocono in 2015 with Ryan Hunter-Reay and in 2018 with Alexander Rossi. Chip Ganassi Racing, owned by Pittsburgh’s Chip Ganassi, has one win at Pocono when it swept the podium in 2013 with Scott Dixon, Charlie Kimball and Dario Franchitti.

Eighteen drivers entered in the event have competed in past Indy car races at Pocono. Marco Andretti, Ed Carpenter, Scott Dixon, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Tony Kanaan, Charlie Kimball, Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Graham Rahal and Takuma Sato each have six starts, most among the entered drivers. Fourteen entered drivers have led laps at the track (Alexander Rossi 228, Power 191, Kanaan 147, Andretti 97, Dixon 95, Newgarden 73, Hunter-Reay 72, Pagenaud 31, Rahal 9, Kimball 5, Sebastien Bourdais 4, James Hinchcliffe 3, Sato 3 and Ed Carpenter 1). Power has led in each of his six previous starts.

Four rookies – Marcus Ericsson, Santino Ferrucci, Colton Herta and Felix Rosenqvist – are expected to compete. None of the rookies has made an Indy car start at Pocono Raceway.

Tony Kanaan seeks to start his 314th consecutive race this weekend, which would extend his Indy car record streak that began on June 2001 at Portland. Kanaan is second all-time in career starts after making his 370th start at Road America on June 23. Mario Andretti holds the record with 407.

Scott Dixon has made 254 consecutive starts heading into the weekend, which is the second-longest streak in Indy car racing. Marco Andretti has made 230 consecutive starts, which is the third-longest streak in Indy car racing.

Scott Dixon, the longest-tenured driver for Chip Ganassi Racing, is third on the all-time Indy car victory list with 46 wins. Sebastien Bourdais is sixth on the all-time list with 37 wins and Will Power is tied with Bobby Unser for seventh on the all-time list with 35 wins.