Edmonton Preview

By: Tony Donohue

After a well deserved weekend off after a wild and crazy race at Toronto, the Indy Car Series stays north of the border for the Rexall Edmonton Indy. The 1.96 mile temporary street course set at Edmonton City Centre Airport hopes to pick up where Toronto left off.

In 2008, Paul Tracy returned to open wheel competition, finishing fourth for Vision Racing. This year's Edmonton Indy will be Paul's fifth start this season as he will once again drive for KV Racing Technology.

In the inaugural Rexall Edmonton Indy, Scott Dixon took the checkered flag on his way to winning the title later that season. Helio Castroneves and Justin Wilson rounded out the rest of the podium. Dixon and Castroneves dominated last year, leading 65 of the 91 laps around the fourteen turn course. The scheduled distance for the race is 95 laps, but last year was cut short by four laps due to a one hour and fifty minute window of racing.

The Rexall Edmonton Indy can be seen on Versus live Sunday July 26 at 5 p.m. Eastern Time. The qualifying show for the Rexall Edmonton Indy will air Saturday July 25 at 6 p.m. also on Versus.

Well my predictions are up in the air this weekend, which can be said for every other street or road course. All the pit strategy, wrecks and lap cars can all come into play on decided who wins on a road course. I hope the competition is as fierce as it was in Toronto two weeks ago. I will take Ryan Briscoe to bring home the checkers, with Dixon and Castroneves rounding out the rest of the podium. I think Andretti Green Racing is in need of some good showings out of all four cars, and I think Marco Andretti will have a great run this weekend as well. My dark horses are Mike Conway and once again Alex Tagliani. Both need to show patience, Conway had a strong run in Toronto, qualifying 6th, only to end up wrecked, and same for Tags, if he can eliminate dumb mistakes, like the wreck with Tomas Scheckter in Toronto, he could pull off a solid top 5.

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