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INDYCAR: Miller’s Watkins Glen Preview
Written by: Robin Miller   
07/03/2009
Watkins Glen, NY
 
Paul Tracy has never competed at Watkins Glen. Richard Antinucci has never raced an Indy car. Ryan Hunter-Reay never saw this season coming. And Scott Dixon is never too far out of the lead on one of the country's most historic road courses.
Richard Antinucci makes his IndyCar debut this weekend with Team 3G. The American open-wheel standout will have his work cut out for him with the enthusiastic but underfunded program. (LAT) ยป More Photos
Those are some of the storylines for Sunday's Camping World Grand Prix in upstate New York as IndyCar returns to road racing this month after six consecutive oval-track shows.

Tracy, whose two appearances so far in 2009 came on the ovals at Indianapolis and Milwaukee, is back in the GEICO Special for KV Racing this month at The Glen, Toronto and Edmonoton.

"Road racing is my first love but I've never run The Glen and it looks plenty challenging," said the 40-year-old veteran from Toronto who owns 31 CART victories. "It's just good to get back in a car after watching the last few races and I just need to concentrate on good finishes.

"Going back to Toronto is always special and we had a good run (fourth) at Edmonton last year."

Antinucci, cousin of 1998 Indy winner Eddie Cheever, has had success in Indy Lights and is making his debut for 3G Racing. He tested here two weeks ago,

Hunter-Reay scored his initial IRL victory a year ago here but my how things have changed. His ride with Rahal/Letterman Racing went away during the winter when sponsor Ethanol bailed and he was a last-minute addition to Tony George's Vision Racing team prior to the season opener.

But,
with no sponsorship and George unable to secure any more family funding, RHR was farmed out to A.J. Foyt for the rest of the year.

"It's been an interesting year to say the least," said the 28-year-old native of Boca Raton, Fla. "I have a lot of great memories from last year, making that late pass to win and it was a big weekend because all the IZOD people were here.

"I love driving at Watkins Glen, it's got everything a road course should have, and I'm hoping to give A.J. a good run."

It figures everybody will be chasing Dixon, who has won three of the last four races on the scenic 3.4-mile road course. He should be on a 4-race winning streak but an uncharacteristic error (he spun last year while scrubbing his tires and got collected by Ryan Briscoe) kept the two-time IRL champ out of victory lane.

"I don't know what Dixie's secret is at The Glen but I intend to find out," said Dario Franchitti, who leads the standings by one point over his teammate and by 26 over Briscoe as IndyCar hits the halfway point of its 18-race schedule.

"I know it's a fun track to drive and I'm anxious to get back since I missed last year."

There are 21 cars entered as Milka Duno is back on track for Dreyer & Reinbold while teammate Tomas Scheckter takes this week off.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, SPEED, FOX, or NewsCorp.
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