As if tonight’s Genesys 300 (8 p.m. ET, NBC, INDYCAR Radio Network) wasn’t already treacherous enough, another wrinkle has surfaced. See, none of these 24 NTT INDYCAR Series drivers have been inside of their race cars since February. Their last race was 258 days ago.

We also have five drivers that have never raced at Texas before, three of them having no INDYCAR experience either. Factor in an unknown from the new Aeroscreen and the tires and under two hours of practice and you get a race that made some of the veterans of the sport nervous for.

Now, the traction compound that was applied for a past NASCAR weekend has created havoc. The compound is put in the middle to high lanes in the corners for more grip on the 1.5 mile race track in order to create more lanes of racing for the much heavier stock cars. For the INDYCARs, the compound is like driving on ice. They weigh far less than a NASCAR and are much lighter on downforce. When getting into it, your car just wants to break loose.

We saw it happen with Ed Carpenter and Ryan Hunter-Reay in practice and now Takuma Sato in qualifying.

“It’s pretty slippery,” said Graham Rahal. “If you enter too shallow, the car doesn’t want to turn at all. You dance on a fine line.”

Neither Josef Newgarden nor Scott Dixon attribute the traction compound as to what caused Sato’s crash though, but rather his line in general. They say that Sato typically runs a higher line in that area and that is what likely turned him around.

“(Takuma) Sato was running pretty high on entry last year, which can expose the rear of the car especially,” Dixon said of Sato’s crash. “Just where the track kind of flattens off before you hit the banking can be kind of weird.

“Like in the race, you can have many a moment where you’ll start to turn in, then you kind of have to turn straight again just because you lose a lot of the support from the banking of the car.”

Newgarden, Dixon and Hunter-Reay all said though that they were warned of the compound prior to the weekend but were told it was removed too. Hunter-Reay, confirmed to us that the substance was the reason for his incident in practice too. 

“Yeah, absolutely was,” says Hunter-Reay after qualifying fourth for tonight’s race. “They warned us about it earlier, saying that it’s more of a stain at the moment. There is no grip to it. There’s nothing there that’s going to help you. That’s fine. But any time anybody’s been on it now, it’s been super slick, even in turn three and four.

“It’s strange. I mean, it’s very dark, which usually all my years of racing you see dark, you think that’s going to be a quick side, that is going to be rubber, something to help you. Yeah, there’s no traction about it right now. It’s tricky.

“I think you’ll see drivers in the race really trying to tiptoe, dip their toes in the water really figuring out what they can get away with out there.”

Hunter-Reay said that there’s no way for the compound to come in as it does during a NASCAR race weekend because it hasn’t been applied in months and it’s still causing chaos. 

Newgarden and Dixon have both said that they didn’t get up in the compound during practice but noted that it does seem like it could be tough to race in. 

“I haven’t had any issues with it personally,” Newgarden said. “Honestly, I haven’t gone up there. I don’t really know. I’ve been very timid to experiment in that second lane where that patch has been run through from a couple months ago.

“What I understand, it’s not even really there. It’s more just a stain from what they’ve done to prep for the NASCAR race. But it is a different color. If you look at the way it takes temperature, that part of the track during the day is probably hotter. It could be less grip because of that.

“I haven’t been up there. I’ve been on lane one. I think most people have. I think the Sato deal, if you look in qualifying, he was just high regardless. He was going to be very high entering the corner where it’s dirty. I don’t even know that was part of the PJ1 deal. He entered really high in the dirt and dust.

“I do think people are going to be timid to get up there, just like last year. Probably poke half a car up, try to get some air, some good runs. Most people are going to be very timid I think to start this race, are going to be pinned to the bottom.

Also, Dixon notes that while he was skeptical of a pack race earlier in the week, now that they’ve had practice and he’s seen the track conditions, he doesn’t think that will occur now. 

“We were a team, one of two, that actually hadn’t tested in this configuration yet before we got here,” Dixon said. “I think if it cools off, even the race has moved up now, I think we’re green at 7 or just after 7, a shorter race. I don’t think it’s even going to get dark.

“We’ll get the sun behind the grandstands. I think sunset is around 8:30 or 8:35 tonight. We should be finishing around that time. We won’t run as long or deep into the night as we typically do where the grip level gets really high.

“I think the chances of a pack race are a little bit out the window.”

When the drivers are already trying to be cautious for the race, throw the aspect of the traction compound and now the heat in and you’re going to likely get a one groove race track. Why risk getting out of the low line and have a high chance of a crash? Even if you have a run on a car in front, if you pull out to pass in it, you’re going to lose ground by having to get off the throttle.

So, I sense the race will have a lot of single file action with some carnage for guys that tip toe out of the groove early.