The NTT IndyCar Series will provide its teams with more options to generate downforce at its superspeedway events in Indianapolis, Pocono, and Dallas-Fort Worth.

The change in philosophy comes after consulting IndyCar’s drivers and race engineers on the best way to create more dynamic racing at the Indianapolis 500 and the Pocono 500, in particular, with its new-for-2018 universal aero kit.

Both marquee events fell short of expectations after teams complied with rules calling for reduced downforce; a narrow range of aerodynamic tuning options, especially at the back of the cars with strict limits on rear wing angles, made it difficult to achieve an aero balance that met each driver’s needs.

The new solution offered by IndyCar is to provide more aero tuning freedom in superspeedway trim, specifically through downforce-adding Gurney flaps atop the spec rear wing element at the rear of the Chevy- and Honda-powered Dallara DW12s.

Three 3/8-inch tall flaps, which are optional, have been approved for use that vary in width and downforce production. The first, 13.2 inches wide, adds 50 pounds of downforce. The second, at 24.5 inches wide, provides a 100-pound increase in downforce. And the third, which spans the full width of the wing, offers 200 pounds of downforce.

IndyCar has approved the 50- and 100-pound flaps for Indy, and all three for Pocono. The pieces are not permitted at Texas Motor Speedway.

“They give pretty substantial amounts of downforce because the rear wing is so small,” Simon Pagenaud’s Team Penske Chevy engineer Ben Bretzman told RACER. “This is in response to how we’re going to make the racing better, and I think some of that will also be achieved by the tires Firestone is bringing. I know IndyCar is trying to get to a downforce level where we can have more overall downforce and grip, and this gives us more options to make the cars handle better — especially in traffic.”

Extreme heat at the Indy 500 exacerbated the problem. Teams piled on all the downforce allowed in the rules, and yet, with the hot air serving to reduce overall downforce, all manner of handling imbalances — and numerous crashes — were seen. Bretzman believes the options to add rear downforce, which can be balanced by adding more front wing angle, should improve the situation without giving teams the ability to run excessive downforce.

“It was so hot in the race, and we were maxed out on downforce, so there were things that made it challenging to cope,” he said. “It was very tough to run behind people, and this solution comes from everyone working on it to help improve the show. We’ve had a lot of downforce levels we’ve run at Indy with the DW12, and we have an idea of what we need to put on that good racing, which IndyCar is aiming to hit with the UAK18 kit and these changes.”

Complementing the new rear downforce options the IndyCar Series has given its teams on superspeedways, one downforce addition and one wing modification have also been ratified for 2019.

With teams calling for an increase in rear downforce, and those requests having been met, a similar need for more front downforce has been met with the option of installing a third piece to the ‘Pocono’ front wing extensions. Despite its small size, the 3/8-inch tall and 5.5-inch wide Gurney flap will generate more downforce across the front axle, and can be used — asymmetrically, if desired — to help improve aerodynamic balance.

“To place more power on the front wing, they’ve allowed the extensions for all tracks, and that should give us the better ability to add downforce if we feel it’s warranted,” Scott Dixon’s championship-winning race engineer Chris Simmons told RACER. “And it’s also meant to improve a driver’s ability to pass on the big ovals by giving that extra front grip.”

Harder racing should come as a byproduct of making more front and rear downforce options available on the superspeedways, and in an effort to curb the problems caused last year when pursuing cars lost front downforce while running in turbulent air, the series has instructed its teams to notch the outer portion of the front speedway wings.

“We did some testing with IndyCar late last year and tried this change,” Simmons added. “IndyCar did some CFD work to find why it wasn’t easy to follow other cars, and one of the studies found the air separated at the edge of the wing next to the end plate, where it stalls, and the solution they came up with was to shorten the chord at the ends of the wing by cutting out the notches, which reduces the stall, cleans up the air and makes the front wing more efficient and consistent for the drivers in traffic.”

Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports rookie Marcus Ericsson competed at Circuit of The Americas last November in a Sauber Formula 1 car, and tells RACER’s Marshall Pruett about the differences found with his No. 7 Dallara-Honda Indy car.

Fernando Alonso will run the number 66 on his return to the Indianapolis 500 with McLaren this year.

Alonso - who returns to complete the Indy 500 as the final part of his bid for the 'Triple Crown' of motorsport - used #29 for his debut in 2017.

He has opted to use #66 given it is the number with which McLaren took its first Indy 500 victory with Mark Donohue in 1972.

Donohue used #66 in all five of his Indy 500 appearances with Roger Penske and both of his starts with a McLaren chassis.

His only victory came in 1972 when, after a race of high attrition, he was able to lead the final 13 laps and deliver a win that included a new average speed record.

Alonso's McLaren entry for the Indy 500 will be powered by Chevrolet's twin-turbocharged V6.

Chevrolet is the defending winner of the race, having taken Will Power's Penske entry to victory last May.

Alonso starred in his first attempt on the Indy 500 in 2017, as he qualified on the second row and then led 27 laps before his Honda engine expired.

Mark Miles, CEO of Hulman & Company, owners of IndyCar, has confirmed that the series is in talks with promoters Grupo OSD about a race at the Circuito San Juan Villicum in Argentina.

Stephen Starks, IndyCar’s VP of promoter and media partner relations, has visited the track, which hosted its first World Superbike event last year, while OSD has been in St. Petersburg for the NTT IndyCar Series season opener.

Miles told Motorsport.com: “We are exploring possibilities and the potential promoters [Grupo OSD] were here yesterday, but I’d emphasize it’s still early days. They’re a great promoter, they’ve had a great successful event in WSBK and it’s a great track.

“We don’t yet have TV in Argentina but we will, and it would be a spectacular venue for the NTT IndyCar Series.

“It’s a very prosperous region, almost immune to any national economic challenges or difficulties. It’s mining-based.

“[OSD] say motorsport is very important in the region, they get very good crowd numbers and although it’s quite an out-of-the-way place, it’s not hard to get to.”

Team owner Ricardo Juncos, an Argentine native, told Motorsport.com: “It is a fantastic construction and then everything to do with hotels in the city of San Juan is pretty good too, so it is positive in that sense. Now it's up to IndyCar to see if the value they need is achievable or not.

“I got together with IndyCar and the discussion was to evaluate a little what the value of IndyCar is commercially, what they think it is worth, if fans are going to go, and how much to charge for tickets.”

Juncos also confirmed the importance of IndyCar sorting out a TV deal for Argentina.

“Unfortunately, IndyCar is not being shown in Argentina as it was in recent years. That also hurts the product. IndyCar definitely has to analyze that part and understand it in order to reach an agreement that works for everyone.”

A wrecker truck carrying Fernando Alonso's mangled McLaren Racing Chevy IndyCar suffered a bizarre accident when it crashed into the famous Gasoline Alley at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. For unknown reasons, the truck driver and on-hand safety marshals failed to take note of the height of the crane carrying the orange racer, causing it to collide with a massive steel beam supporting the Alley's roof.

A photo of the not catastrophic but rather embarrassing "oopsie" was posted to Instagram by former racing driver and NBC Sports commentator Paul Tracywith the caption: "A bad day gets worse when the Alonso wrecker wrecked in the garage and got stuck."

As the photo shows, the red flatbed appears to be making its way out of the Speedway's pit area when the hydraulic arm of the crane hit the roof of Gasoline Alley. I'm certainly not a wrecker truck expert, but by the looks of it, the crane could've been lowered another foot or so in order to help it clear the ceiling. This becomes even more apparent in the photo below taken by IndyCar and IMS photographer Chris Owens, which shows the crane fully extended and sitting much lower than it did when going under the bridge. By the time this second photo was taken, Alonso's car was already being dropped off at its garage, which means they successfully navigated their way out of Gasoline Alley.

It's unclear if the truck suffered any considerable damage to its hydraulic mechanism, but what's more than evident is that the McLaren is going to need quite a few hours of work before it turns laps at over 224 miles per hour once again.