David Malukas Eager to Make NTT INDYCAR SERIES Oval Debut at Texas Motor Speedway
Fort Worth, TX (Friday, March 16, 2022) – Rookie David Malukas is looking to bounce back aboard his #18 Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports Honda after a bittersweet season opening race a few weeks ago in St. Petersburg when he takes on his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES oval race this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.
• The rookie got his first taste of the 1.5-mile superspeedway oval at Texas Motor Speedway during a successful test earlier this month.
• While he’s previously competed on ovals in Indy Lights, the one-day test was the first time Malukas turned laps on an oval track aboard an Indy car.
• In his most recent outing on an oval, albeit a short oval, in Indy Lights, he picked up a couple of wins at World Wide Technology Raceway (Gateway) last year sweeping the weekend.
David Malukas, #18 Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports Honda
“We’re just a day away from being on track at Texas Motor Speedway and I’m so excited. I can’t wait for my first NTT INDYCAR SERIES race on an oval. We had a test day at the beginning of the month, and it went very well. We were able to practice different things like a qualifying sim and a race stint sim with the other rookies that were on track. It was a little tough to pass with the one-line deal but I know INDYCAR has been working to resolve that and make it better. Other than that, from my side everything with the car came quickly to me, there’s a lot more tools that you can use in an Indy car compared to what I’m used to in Indy Lights. Overall, I’m really looking forward to it. In Indy Lights in the only oval weekend, we had at Gateway last year, we swept the weekend and had a great race so hopefully we can continue that oval momentum going into Texas.”