INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard and Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage announced last August that almost 20 years after Rick Mears won both races at Atlanta Motor Speedway that the IZOD IndyCar Series would revisit the twin race format.
The Firestone Twin 275s at Texas Motor Speedway will be identical in almost every way when the IZOD Indycar Series race twice in the same day this summer, with one significant exception. Both will pay half the points and half the bonus prizes for the event, but the field for the second race will be set by a blind draw, INDYCAR officials announced today the rules for the June 11 race.
Event: Firestone Twin 275s
Location: Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth
Track: 1.5-mile oval
Laps: 114 laps (each race)
Miles: 171 miles (each race)
Race: Saturday, June 11 at 8 p.m. (ET)
TV Broadcast: 7:45 p.m. Firestone Twin 275 #1, 9:45 p.m. Firestone
Twin 275 #2 on VERSUS
Radio Broadcast: XM Channel 94 and Sirius 212
The IZOD IndyCar Series will make history this weekend at the Texas Motor Speedway when the 1.5-mile, high-banked oval plays host to Firestone Twin 275s doubleheader on Saturday evening. The Twin 275s will be the open wheel series’ first two-race event since its debut.
Conquest Racing’s No. 34 entry will be one of 30 cars entered in the Firestone Twin 275s — the largest field ever at Texas. This will be rookie Sebastian Saavedra’s first IndyCar race at Texas, where the racing action is always exciting. The 20-year-old Colombian will also face the challenge of racing under the lights in this first night race of the season.
Traditional two-lap qualifying Friday will set the field for the first race. The field for the second race will be set by a blind draw on the frontstretch stage immediately after the first race.
The Firestone Twin 275s (formerly the Firestone 550k) on June 11 will consist of two full-field races on the 1.5-mile, high-banked oval. Traditional oval qualifying will be held to set the grid for the first race, and the starting positions for the second race will be determined by a blind draw conducted immediately following the conclusion of Race 1. Teams will have one hour of preparation time between the first and second race.
