IndyCar: Honda looking to sweep Chevrolet in Chevrolet’s backyard yet again

By Asher Fair | Jun 1, 2019

DETROIT, MI - MAY 31: Mike Conway of England, drives the #18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda during practice for the IZOD IndyCar Series Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit at the Raceway at Belle Isle Park on May 31, 2013 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images) /

This weekend, Honda will be looking for their third consecutive sweep of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix going back to the 2017 IndyCar season.

Following a four-year hiatus, the Detroit Grand Prix returned to the IndyCar schedule in the 2012 season, and with Chevrolet as the title sponsor of the race in their own backyard.

Starting in the 2013 season, the 14-turn, 2.35-mile (3.782-kilometer) Raceway on Belle Isle temporary street circuit on the streets of Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan has hosted a doubleheader, so a total of 13 races have been contested at the track since it returned to the IndyCar schedule seven years ago.

Entering this weekend’s doubleheader at the Raceway on Belle Isle, Chevrolet has something to prove.

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Ever since Scott Dixon led every lap of the lone race there in the 2012 season, a season during which Honda drivers won only four of the 15 races, in his #9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, six doubleheaders have been contested at the track, and three have been swept by Honda drivers, including the last two.

In the inaugural doubleheader in the 2013 season, Mike Conway drove his #18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda to a dominant victory. The next day, Simon Pagenaud drove his #77 Schmidt Peterson Hamilton HP Motorsports Honda to a victory, which was the first victory of his IndyCar career.

After Chevrolet swept the doubleheader in the 2014 season, Honda and Chevrolet split it in the 2015 season before Chevrolet swept it again in the 2016 season, a season during which Chevrolet drivers won 14 of the 16 races on the schedule.

But since then, it has been all Honda in Chevrolet’s backyard.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal became the first driver to win both races of this doubleheader when he drove his #15 Honda to victory lane twice in the 2017 season. Last season, Dixon won again in his #9 Honda before Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay drove his #28 Honda to victory lane.

Team Penske’s Will Power, who won the second race at the track in the 2016 season, is the most recent Chevrolet driver to win a race in the manufacturer’s backyard. He and several other hungry bowtie drivers will be looking to end Honda’s run there this weekend.

It is worth noting that Dixon topped the speed chart in the opening practice session for this race in his #9 Honda, but with Power close behind in his #12 Chevrolet, and Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi topped the speed chart in the second and final practice session for this race in his #27 Honda, but with Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden close behind in his #2 Chevrolet.

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Both races of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix are set to be broadcast live on NBC beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET, and both races, which are the seventh and eighth races of the 2019 IndyCar season, are scheduled to begin at 3:50 p.m. ET, so be sure not to miss them.