(By Eric Rood) – IndyCar has already tested at Sonoma Raceway and Phoenix International Raceway this year and while there were plenty of stories to go on about from both places, we think the best way to get excited about the 2016 IndyCar season is with a peek at Josef Newgarden testing at Road America last fall after the season. This is significant, of course, because IndyCar returns to America’s National Park of Speed in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, for the first time since absorbing CART in 2008.

Of the 17 drivers on CART’s grid in 2007, only four remain in the current iteration of IndyCar. We look forward to a whole new generation of drivers tackling Road America’s rolling contours in the Kettle Moraine region. If Newgarden’s test is any indication, the newest iteration of the Dallara DW12 chassis sure looks the business at the track. Terminal speeds certainly look high, but seeing Josef rip through the Kink flat-footed in sixth gear? Good lord. We can’t wait to see 20 or more cars doing that line astern on the way down to Canada Corner.