Another new track brings more new challenges for the NTT INDYCAR SEREIES competitors, and certainly with it this weekend comes new, if not historic, backdrops.

Aside from Penske Corp. president Bud Denker, who dreamed the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. into reality, no one could have seen this new street circuit coming a year ago, which adds to this being the most anticipated new event in INDYCAR SERIES history.

The drivers themselves spent Saturday not only exploring the seven-turn, 1.7-mile circuit but navigating its nuances, and there are plenty. The city streets alongside famous monuments and museums also feature such distractions as bumps that rattle the drivers, their helmets and their hands.

Yes, Indianapolis Motor Speedway has an iconic Yard of Bricks, but no racetrack in this sport’s history has brick-lined pedestrian crosswalks to work around. And it truly is a workaround around these half-dozen pathways. Several drivers saw the rear of their cars get light transversing over such a walkway approaching Turn 2, and the unsettling of the car creates uneasiness as Pennsylvania Avenue slopes to the concrete barrier on driver’s right. That figures to be a key section to watch in Sunday’s race.

But that’s far from the only hot spot these 25 drivers will encounter. Another is approaching the hard-braking Turn 6, where another set of bumps rest ready to test car control. That left-hand corner leads to a fast-flowing zigzag that will be critical to get right as drivers work to excel – and accelerate – off Turn 7 for the straightaway featuring the start/finish line and the suites where so many influential people will be consuming the sport for the first time.

The first day of track action offered two quality passing corners and likely one or two others. Turn 2 will be the best place for overtakes, with the short run to Turn 5 – dubbed the short chute -- another. Finally, don’t sleep on people taking passing chances entering Turn 1, and there figures to be others as drivers get antsy following a slower car.

“I think there's quite a lot of passing places,” said series points leader Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing, who has won three of the five street races this season. “Turn 2, you can brake deep, super deep, so that could be a passing opportunity. I think Turns 3 and 4, it's too optimistic (to attempt a pass). But heading to Turn 5, that's for sure a passing place. Turn 6, no. Turn 1 probably.

“I think there's going to be a lot of action. I see that just having a wide track, it's just going to allow us to have more passing than (other street circuits that are) so narrow that even if you are so much faster, you can just block so much easier. Here, if you're not going to have the pace, they're going to overtake you.”

Turns 1, 2 and 6 could see a high number of damaged front wings and the like.

Palou described the “massive” bumps that can’t be avoided, and he is confident the bouncing over them “will spice things up.” And with the likelihood of twice the usual number of pit stops – four rather than two – pit strategies figure to be all over the board, which brings more contenders into the mix as Dale Coyne Racing’s Romain Grosjean was last week in finishing a season-high second in the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham.

The other high-drama part of the track is where cars come off pit road between Turns 1 and 2. They will look to blend in at a point where drivers already at speed will be in their preferred line. That will be dicey and look for some blocking there. Remember, one of those brick crosswalks will be looming.

All of this overshadows the fact this race could be the most challenging street events in these drivers’ careers, especially if the city’s humidity is high. This race will be the longest street race in more than four decades. At 250 miles, it will be 25 percent longer than the Markham race (189 miles). Consider this: It’s half the distance of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, but it could take just as long (three hours).

With the 147 laps completed in less than 1 minute each, it could test the limits at such fast paces.

“It's going to be humid, it's going to be physical -- every challenge that a street course usually throws at you,” Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward said. “It's bumpy.

“You get a bunch of sweat inside of the helmet (as) you're bouncing up and down in there. It gets pretty rough, gets pretty aggressive. Yeah, I expect it to be a tough race.”

Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C.

The overarching element to this is the setting in which it’s taking place. The federal city has so many nearby historic landmarks, highlighted by the Capitol that seems to watch over this track. Drivers might be too busy to notice the scenery, but it’s stuff everyone else can’t take their eyes off.

A special FOX pre-race show will bring the first-of-its-kind show to the television masses beginning at 11:30 a.m. ET, with Helio Castroneves, Danica Patrick, Chris Myers and Tom Rinaldi on hand to give this an Indy 500 feel. The race itself begins shortly after 1 p.m.

Said Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood, “Thirty years from now we’re going to look back and be like, ‘That was one of the coolest races we’ve ever done.’”