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IndyCar heads to its second of three 500-mile races of the year, which makes up the IndyCar Triple Crown. The Auto Club Speedway, situated at Fontana in California has seen the championship decided on the last three occasions. However, it sits towards the middle of the season this time around, but winning the event remains just as difficult as ever. The 2015 MAVTV 500 could well be an important turning point in the championship fight.
The MAVTV 500 is generally notable for having very high rates of attrition. The 2013 race in particular saw just nine cars running at the flag, of which even fewer than that was on the lead lap. Last year seemed to be an exception however, as 20 of the 21 starters were still running when the chequered flag fell, and Will Power was finally crowned champion.
A two-mile long oval with 14-degree banks on the turns will host the 250-lap race on Saturday, which will be held in the daytime (breathe a sigh of relief fans in the UK!) for the first time since returning to the calendar in 2012. Just three active drivers have won here in IndyCar in the past: Ed Carpenter, Will Power and Tony Kanaan. All three of these have won the event just once. Carlos Munoz won twice in Indy Lights, back in 2012 and 2013.
As stated before, Juan Pablo Montoya still leads the championship with just a few races remaining. However Will Power is just 27 points behind and Power has not looked too bad on the ovals as of late, especially in qualifying.
Finally, there are three driver changes from Toronto: Ed Carpenter returns to the number 20 CFH car as per usual with ovals, Pippa Mann replaces Rodolfo Gonzalez once again at Dale Coyne Racing, and Ryan Briscoe replaces Conor Daly who replaces the absent James Hinchcliffe at SPM.
