IndyCar Returns To The Milwaukee Mile For A Tire Test

Linus Lundqvist heads out on track at the Milwaukee Mile to test tires for Firestone. [John Wiedemann Photo]

West Allis, WI – Preparing for the return of the NTT IndyCar Series return to the Milwaukee Mile in 2024, Firestone held a tire test at the historic track. With temperatures heading into the sixty degree zone and rain in the forecast, Will Power in a Team Penske Chevrolet and Linus Lundqvist in the #8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda helped Firestone put their tires through laps on the bumpy and worn surface of the one mile oval.

Power, a veteran series champion and winner at the Mile in 2014, is at a vastly different experience level than Lundqvist who has completed just three races in the series including the World Wide Technology Raceway, a mile and a quarter oval.

“It felt exactly the same,” explained Power at the lunchtime break. “The track has not changed very much. It felt very similar to the last race here almost ten years ago. It’s a long time ago but it was good.”

Lundqvist got the call in Florida yesterday to fly up to Milwaukee for the test and was happy for the seat time. “For me as a rookie to get the extra milage is always nice.”

His first impressions were, “It’s pretty bumpy and pretty fast, it really is a short oval.”

Comparing to his run earlier this season at World Wide Technology Raceway /Gateway he explained, “It’s similar in a sense that it’s a short oval, but I think the surface and the non-smoothness that this place reminds me more of Iowa than Gateway. The surface and the bumps are very similar to that, it’s just that this has less banking which puts a little more stress on the car and the driver.”

The NTT IndyCar Series will return to the Milwaukee Mile on Labor Day weekend of 2024 for a double-header event. The last time the series raced at the one mile oval was in 2015.

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