What’s old is new again as IndyCar gets reacquainted with Phoenix

Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel’s first call to pit the No. 6 Chevy on Tuesday led to a couple of laughs.

Thanks to the sweeping changes to Phoenix Raceway since IndyCar’s last visit in 2018, which includes a 180-degree rotation of the corner numbers where the former Turns 3 and 4 are now Turns 1 and 2, Siegel’s race strategist instructed him to pit off of Turn 3 – the former Turn 1 at all previous IndyCar races –before realizing the entry to pit lane is now off of Turn 2… the old Turn 4.

For IndyCar veterans, the renumbering of Phoenix Raceway was just part of Tuesday’s learning curve, and for newcomers like Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood, who turned his first laps at the legendary one-mile oval, the education that awaited was remarkable.

“I would say (Turns) 1, 2 is a bit easier than maybe anticipated, but there's a few nuances that have caught me out a little bit,” said Kirkwood, who was fourth fastest. “It's the sunlight at this time of day going into three (coming through the grandstands), it feels like you're driving into a cave, and you don't know where you're going to end up.

“For instance, I ended up a whole lane higher going into – on my first lap looking into the sun after I didn't run for about 20 minutes because the sun changed. I go out, and I'm instantly just in the wrong lane. So stuff like that has definitely caught me off. Pit lane is a bit hectic with the paint that they have on the inside there and how the banking gradually comes up towards the track. That's going to be a tough one, for sure.

“But, yeah, there's a handful of things. Then also remembering the corner numbers is a little bit hard too, because it's different than what it used to be, right? So naturally you think of the faster, less-banking corner, like, Gateway as being three, four, so I keep saying that's three, four down there when it's not. It's a little confusing too.”

Tuesday’s fastest driver, Team Penske’s David Malukas, also found reminders of World Wide Technology raceway (Gateway) while learning Phoenix Raceway.

“I love it. Very, very nice,” he said. “From just the difference one and two, three and four, it's almost giving me similarities to Gateway in St. Louis, just having that difference between the two and trying to get the car setup how you like it in that short time frame on the back straight and getting the car swapped with the tools that we have in the car to get that good lap time.”

The never-ending challenges posed by Phoenix’s four corners make perfect sense to Malukas.

“Every lap it's almost like you're changing, changing, changing, changing,” he said. “For me, it keeps my minds busy. For the ADHD brain, you know, I'm always stimulated. It's good.”