The NTT INDYCAR Series is back. On Saturday, 24 drivers strapped into their race cars and took to the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway for a wild two-hour practice session.

While several questions remain, some were also answered too. Would the season opener be as concerning as the drivers thought it would be?

If practice is any indication, the answer is yes.

We figured Saturday’s Genesys 300 (8 pm ET, NBC, INDYCAR Radio Network) was going to be treacherous, but hoped it would be tamer than our fears expected though. The drivers all said the right things that they were nervous heading into this weekend, but were also going to give each other plenty of room in the race itself. I mean, the last time any of these drivers were even in the cars was back in February. The last race was back in September, 258 days ago.

Now, we have an AeroScreen with most of these drivers not having driven their cars on an oval with the new device on. How will it perform? How much will it affect the setups? What about the tires? What about the rookies with zero a Indy Car starts and no experience at Texas? What about only one practice prior to the race itself?

All the concerns heading into this weekend grew further now. We saw three separate incidents in two hours of action and other than qualifying a few hours from now, the only thing left is to race.

The first incident came for rookie Rinus VeeKay who made a “rookie mistake.”

VeeKay, got too low in Turn 3 and spun as a result, making heavy impact into the Turn 4 SAFER barrier. The Ed Carpenter Racing driver just got back into the United States last week and has had limited seat time so far. That was the culprit for the crash.

“A rookie mistake getting too low,” VeeKay told NBC Gold. “It’s quite hard getting into a car without doing sim work and trying to get there as quickly as possible.”

He hasn’t been in his No. 21 Chevrolet since February and was turning just his 11th lap in the session and that includes the pit limited install laps.

The next incident was for his teammate and boss Ed Carpenter who spun exiting Turn 4 in his No. 20 Chevrolet. Luckily, he had no damage as a result of that. Then, a few minutes later, Ryan Hunter-Reay got loose exiting Turn 2 and made light contact with the wall. The contact though looks like it broke something as he hit the wall heavier on the backstretch after.

Carpenter and Hunter-Reay are two of the best on superspeedways, so their incidents are eye opening. The thing is, this practice is in the heat of the day and the only practice of the weekend. The race later is at sunset, so the track may have a little more grip. But, the drivers all say that the traction compound that the track applied for what they hoped for the NASCAR weekend in the spring remained there and was slick. You couldn’t run in it or you would get loose.

In terms of pace, Scott Dixon led all drivers with a late lap of 215.995 mph in his No. 9 Honda. Dixon, has won this race in two of the last five years (2015, 2018) to go along with a 2008 victory as well. He has four runner-ups (2003, 2006, 2011, 2011 -Duels) and three top five finishes in his last six Texas starts overall. Dixon, also has four top 10s in his last six starts there as well.

Second year driver Colton Herta was P2 in his No. 88 Honda. Herta, circled the track with a speed of 214.491 mph. A rookie at the track in Pato O’Ward (214.326 mph) was the top Chevy in third while Andretti Autosport teammates Zach Veach (214.298 mph) and Marco Andretti (214.264 mph) joined Herta up front to give the organization three cars in the top five.

Here are my main takeaways.

▪️Don’t expect qualifying speeds to rival the speeds of years past. With this being an impound race, there’s no reason to fully trim out. That’s why Practice speeds were a good 5+ mph slower than last years first session. No one worked in Qual trims because there’s no need to. You’re racing what you qualify.

▪️Ed Carpenter Racing had a rough start. VeeKay’s crash set them back to work this entire break between practice and qualifying on building the car again. Forget about setups, VeeKay only got 11 laps in and is a rookie. Their best decision now is to throw max downforce on and log laps. Then, with Carpenter’s spin, he too lacked speed and was only P18 (211.154 mph).

▪️It’s hard to take any stake into practice speeds from this session. The two-hour practice was run in the heat of the day. The race is at sunset/night. Yes, the ambient temperatures will still be high at race time, but the track will also be shaded in most areas, then see nightfall by time we finish. The guys with speed now — may not have it later. The guys without speed now — may end up with it later. Plus, each team had varying strategies. With teammates at their disposal, why put the same setups on all the cars. Why not test different things for different cars and find ground in the middle in post practice debriefs. That why I don’t put much stock in Alexander Rossi being 16th it Will Power 12th or Tony Kanaan 19th. Penske may have only been 7-8-12, but I’d be shocked if the speed is there tonight. Plus, out of the last eight Texas races, none have been won by a front row starter. In fact, we’ve only had one winner since 2012 coming from the top five even (Ed Carpenter 2014). Six of the last seven though have been won from Row 3 (twice) Row 4 (3 times) or Row 5 (once). Part of this reason is, it’s tricky to land the right amount of downforce.

▪️Honda had five of the top six speeds and seven of the top 10. So, did Honda’s advantage at Texas stay then? While Newgarden won last year in a Chevrolet powered car, Honda drivers accounted for leading 194 of the 248 completed laps and took four of the top five finishing positions including six of the top eight even. Newgarden, was the only Chevy driver to lead and he did so all at the end. In 2018, Honda led 66-percent of the laps (162 of 248) and took eight of the top nine finishing positions then as well. That’s Honda leading 72-percent of the Texas laps over the last two years and being quick out of the gates paints a pretty clear picture.

▪️Penske didn’t look the part in practice but I’m not counting them out just yet. They’ve won two of the last three races at Texas, won all three superspeedway races a year ago and six of the last eight on superspeedways’s dating back to 2017.

▪️Penske, Ganassi and Rahal have also combined to win the last five years at Texas and put six cars in the top 10 of Practice. Andretti though had three of the other four cars but hasn’t won at Texas since 2004. Still, these are the teams to beat. Combined, Penske, Ganassi and Andretti have won 27 of the last 34 (79%) races run in Indy Car competition. Furthermore, if you go back to 2015, throw in Rahal and they’ve won 72 times in 84 tries (86%).

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