Hello Wisconsin!

Hello Internet! This Saturday, I will wake up as early as possible and hit the road, heading east toward Milwaukee. Then, sadly, I will drive through/past Milwaukee and to Michigan, because we're going to a wedding on Sunday. I am a little disappointed that I won't be at the Mile. I'm even more disappointed that I won't be able to follow the race as closely as I'd normally like to. But, I love me a wedding, so off to Michigan with me!


Milwaukee 2012

Here's how last year's Milwaukee race was scored:

Race Finish	Driver	Qualifying	Grid	Laps Led	Completed	A.R.S.
1	Hunter-Reay	3	2	84	225	71.67
2	Kanaan	10	6	0	225	60.00
3	Hinchcliffe	13	8	1	225	61.22
4	Servia	22	20	0	225	78.00
5	Viso	8	5	27	225	51.00
6	Castroneves	6	4	50	225	49.11
7	Tagliani	18	13	0	225	55.00
8	Carpenter	23	22	0	225	65.00
9	Rahal	17	11	0	225	44.00
10	Barrichello	5	3	0	225	20.00
11	Dixon	11	21	0	225	40.00
12	Power	4	14	0	225	22.00
13	Pagenaud	12	7	0	224	19.03
14	Briscoe	9	19	0	224	24.00
15	Andretti	15	9	0	224	16.03
16	Conway	25	25	0	224	37.92
17	Kimball	21	18	0	224	22.98
18	Legge	19	15	0	220	14.04
19	Franchitti	1	1	63	193	-4.87
20	Sato	14	24	0	107	11.05
21	Jakes	20	16	0	106	7.17
22	Hildebrand	16	10	0	105	-0.40
23	Wilson	2	12	0	93	-7.23
24	de Silvestro	24	23	0	62	3.72
25	Newgarden	7	17	0	48	-3.55

- Here's the obligatory disclaimer: last year's scores only account for race finish, gaining positions, leading, and completing laps. This year's scores also account for average running position, so our recap will look different than this preview. (It will also be WAY more work, done whining).

- Here is the list of things that I like from last year's score-sheet: almost half the field finishing on the lead lap; Carpenter and Tagliani (even Conway, destroyer of worlds but not ovals) gaining mondo-positions; the name Barichello; the car finishing P4 scoring P1; that my spell-check knows how to spell Andretti

- Here is the list of things that I don't like: most of the drivers that I'd say that I "cheer" for did not finish 200 laps; yeah, that's about it: I liked Milwaukee last year.

Looking Ahead

This year, Milwaukee jumps up to 250 laps, which will make anything that I could call "free time" next week disappear. But, other than that (and the fact that I said I was done whining earlier) I'm excited for more racing. More racing is good. So, here are the questions that I'm pondering as we anticipate this weekend:

- How will Briscoe's second outing in the #4 National Guard car go?

- Am I wrong to have a good feeling about Marco Andretti this week?

- A Penske won last week, will a Ganassi win this week? (It's not like Dixon, Franchitti, or Kimball have had bad years...)

- Will the race turn out to be more F1-ish or NASCAR-ish? (for definitions see yesterday's post)

Stay Tuned

I'm looking forward to the racing this weekend. I'm hoping to catch as much as possible, hopefully qualifying tonight at minimum. That means Twitter predictions are likely going up tonight. Follow @ScoringIndy on Twitter to see my predictions flounder on an oval again this week.

See you tonight on Twitter for predictions and next week here for the recap.

-- Guido