Long Beach: Preview

The IZOD IndyCar Series heads to Southern California for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach this weekend, and even though it’s just the third race of the season, there are plenty of story lines to keep an eye on.  Here’s what to watch for this weekend:

• Last season’s protagonists, Dario Franchitti and Will Power, have picked up where they left off — each has a win and both are looking strong. Who comes out with the most points this weekend?
• New names have mixed into the top ten the last two races. Will Penske and Ganassi place more cars at the top this weekend, or will the mix-up continue?
• Newman/Haas is rebuilding nicely, with strong performances from Oriol Servia and James Hinchcliffe. Will one of them pull off a podium finish?
• Dragon Racing reappears this weekend with veteran Paul Tracy at the wheel. How will this reorganized team do in its first outing?
• There has been a lot of carnage in the first two races. How will the double-file restarts play out at this tough, narrow track? How many cars will be running at the end?
• On a similar note, E. J. Viso has had more incidents in two race weekends that some multi-car teams have in a season. How many times will Viso’s team have to patch his car back together at Long Beach?
• How will Sebastien Bourdais fare at the course where he won three times in Champ Car?

These are just a few of the threads we’ll be following as the weekend unfolds. The forecast calls for sun and temperatures in the 70s all three days, so there should be no delays in the wall-to-wall action with IndyCar, Firestone Indy Lights, ALMS and WCC races as well as multiple drifting demonstrations. Follow us at @MoreFrontWing for links to our daily recaps and follow @SpeedFreakBash for the Twitter play-by-play (AT&T willing), all weekend long.