Yellow Shirt Preview: 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series

And so it begins...The cars are in the paddock, the drivers are going over their final offseason notes, and the fans is Sao Paulo are ready to head to the parade grounds to get the 2010 season rolling.

Say what you will about the financial state of the series or the current IRL formula or the lack of American drivers (and then feel free to go over to Robin Miller's mailbag to read a lot of opinions that agree with yours); I feel as though there is a marked improvement in this offseason over last year, and I am genuinely excited to see the first race this weekend.

There are new teams and drivers that weren't there before, some of whom are fully deserving of the rides they now have (Simona de Silvestro, anyone?). The ride-buyers are still out there, but there's not much that can really be done about that until the sponsorship dollars begin flooding in again.

There is a new face at the top of the leadership ladder in the IndyCar Series with the installment of new CEO Randy Bernard who, by all accounts, hit the ground running a week and a half ago and has impressed members of the media (including Miller, which is tough) and did damn-all to get Graham Rahal a two-race ride with Sarah Fisher Racing -- a partnership that could end up being good for Rahal, but spectacular for SFR, who is always in desperate need of a good result. Bernard took a niche sport in rodeo/bull-riding and, while not exactly making it mainstream, made its niche a good bit bigger and brought money into the sport. Let's see if he can do the same with the IndyCars.

Finally, the media, blogosphere and the participants are abuzz over what the field will look like two years from now. Five different companies have put designs forth for the new generation of car, from the familiar look of the Lola and Dallara designs to the wild and futuristic DeltaWing. For a series that, if you believe some of the louder voices out there, is dying, it seems like there are quite a few people who are interested in keeping it alive. Hopefully the buzz can remain alive for the next two years.

As for the on-track product in 2010, I see it being similar to 2009, but slightly more interesting. Yes, the red cars will dominate -- er, the red cars and the black cars now. Yes, that's not necessarily a good thing, even though having Dixon, Franchitti, Castroneves, Briscoe and Power are pretty good people to have battling it out for the title. I do think we'll see some fresh faces in victory lane on a couple of occasions, though. I'm not sure exactly who, but I feel as though the Andretti Autosport cars, in spite of how weak they look in testing and how disorganized they sometimes look; Tony Kanaan should find his way back into victory lane at least once this season. I also expect to see a yellow car carrying #67 find its way towards the sharp end of the field at St. Petersburg and Barber -- again, Rahal being in the car will only be good for Sarah Fisher Racing.

My picks for the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series:

Champion: Will Power Power showed us what he is capable of last year at Edmonton: flat out domination. He's a very good driver in a very good car, and I see no reason that he will not come out of the gate swinging. If he isn't involved in a wreck or slowed by bad fortune, Will Power should be a top five finisher at just about every race. Consistency like that wins championships.

Championship Dark Horse: Helio Castroneves Always a little strange to put Helio's name in a "dark horse" category, but he certainly did not have a very strong season in 2009 (apart from Indianapolis, of course). Teammate Briscoe slid past Helio last year in every measurable aspect and became top dog on that team. Helio is starting to get up there in age and has to be looking at his job security with Team Penske. He'll want to get the results in his home country this weekend, in his home state races at St. Petersburg and Homestead, and in a quest to join the open-wheel elite with a fourth Indianapolis win.

Ninja Dark Horse (so dark, you can't even see him/her): Tony Kanaan To see Tony Kanaan have no victories last season was very tough and very disheartening. Sometimes he was on fire (like...literally on fire), sometimes the car simply wasn't good, and sometimes the rear suspension would break halfway down the back straight at Indy and pitch him into the wall. Tony should be a man on a mission this year with a hopefully re-focused team and a little help from his teammates -- especially new teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Danica Watch! Oh, she's that stock car driver, isn't she? Kidding aside, I must do my obligation as an unofficial member of the media and keep track of the series' golden egg. Mrs. Hospenthal will be as fast and aggressive as she always was, but it's hard to know where her team will end up. She was quite slow at the Barber Motorsports Park test. However, there is one place that Danica is always fast: Indianapolis. Here's Danica's Indianapolis record: fourth, eighth, eighth, DNF (crash that wasn't her fault), third. Give her two weeks at a track and she can knock it dead. She'll be fast on some other roundy-round tracks too. Will she repeat her Motegi triumph of 2008? Probably not, but that bright green and black car may see quite a bit of the sharper end of the field this year. Remember, she was the first driver behind the red cars in the points last year.

Practice and qualifying from Sao Paulo begin in just about 24 hours! Quite frankly...I'm pretty stoked for the drop of the green flag on Sunday and I hope you are as well.