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Fernando Alonso sputters in his Indy test

INDIANAPOLIS — Helio Castroneves and Fernando Alonso kept waiting around Wednesday. Now both international stars have some unfinished business to take care before qualifying for this year's Indianapolis 500. After enduring a rain delay of more than four hours then watching IndyCar regulars turn laps at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for two more hours, Castroneves and Alonso finally made it onto the track — but couldn't quite complete their refresher course. "Happy to be back here because this place is great," Alonso said after posting a fast lap of 218.690 mph — the slowest of the nine-driver evening session. "We were slow because the weather and some of the decisions people made on running time and things like that." He faced a bevy of problems in his first trip back to Indy since an impressive rookie performance in 2017. The rain delay forced organizers into rescheduling the one-day test, moving the rookie and refresher driver time from midday to the evening, cutting a significant amount of practice time for Alonso and the others. And when the green flag finally waved, Alonso's No. 66 car stalled in the warmup lane forcing the two-time Formula One champion from Spain to be towed back to pit lane where his crew worked feverishly to fix an electrical problem while sat in the cockpit. Eventually, he did get out and passed the first of two refresher phases. He'll have to wait until opening practice of the 500 on May 14 to pass the second. "It was frustrating for everyone because it was a brand new chassis and a brand new car, so we expected to run a lot," said Alonso, who drives for McLaren Racing. "If we could have had this at midday, you could work on your issues in the afternoon and then go out again." To put his day in perspective, Takuma Sato, the 2017 Indy winner from Japan, posted the fastest lap of the day at 226.993 mph and Colton Herta was the fastest rookie at 226.108. Castroneves, as usual, was good right from the start and posted a fast lap of 225.565. The three-time Indianapolis 500 winner looked smooth and fast on his favorite track and wasted no time passing the first phase. That much should have been expected from the popular Brazilian, who has recorded seven top-three finishes in 18 Indy starts and will make his season debut May 11 in the IndyCar Grand Prix. The weather and yellow flags prevented four of the five veterans — Castroneves, Alonso, Oriol Servia and JR Hildebrand — from passing phase two. Only Indy native Conor Daly made it.

Chevy Silverado Midnight Edition, Custom ready to stand out in pickup line

Chevrolet spent its Chicago Auto Show introducing a pair of fullsize pickups that promise image-conscious buyers a truck experience that goes beyond the standard range, with the murdered-out Midnight Edition and the um, not murdered-out, Custom. Let's start with the Custom, which adds 20-inch alloys, as well as chrome bumpers, mirror caps and door handles to the Silverado LS. Available in both V6 and V8 varieties, and with the customer's choice of two- or four-wheel drive, the Silverado Custom is the decidedly mellower example of Chevy's special edition styling. The Midnight Edition, meanwhile, throws subtlety out the window with a menacing set of visual upgrades. Based on the Z71, the Midnight adds 18-inch wheels, a spray-in bedliner and unique Z71 and Bowtie badges, all in black, of course. The front and rear bumpers, headlamp bezels, tow hooks, mirror caps and door handles, are also finished in the stealthy shade. Check out our live images of both special edition trucks, and let us know what you think down in Comments.

2016 Chevrolet Camaro First Drive [w/video]

The Autoblog gang was downright stoked to learn the 2016 Chevy Camaro was next on our test-car docket. Then we found out it was the V6 model. Buzzkill. We were hoping for the snorting V8, or at least the spunky new turbo four-cylinder. The V6? Meh. We've been driving V6 Camaros for, like, six years. It's what you buy if you can't afford anything better, or so say horsepower snobs as they wrinkle their noses and cut their coffee with 93 octane. But after a week with the six-pot Camaro, we'll admit it: we were wrong. The all-new 3.6-liter V6 is strong, sounds good, and is damn fun to drive. Its 335 horsepower and 284 pound-feet of torque appear modest by modern standards, but they power the Camaro to 60 miles per hour in 5.1 seconds with the automatic, or in the case of our manual-equipped test car, 5.2 seconds. That's almost half a second quicker than the new turbo four-cylinder model. Yes, it has the same displacement as the old V6. No, it's not the same engine. Upon closer inspection, the V6's potency shouldn't come as a surprise. This engine is from General Motors' newest family of dual-overhead cam powerplants that launched in the Cadillac CTS and ATS. Yes, it has the same displacement as the old V6. No, it's not the same engine. Don't be fooled, and don't underestimate it at stoplights. The strapping V6 is unsuspectingly good, but it's just one of many improvements for the sixth-generation Camaro. Chevy's coupe is lighter, faster, and more modern looking inside and out. It starts with a rear-wheel-drive chassis donated from the Cadillac ATS, though about 70 percent of the components are unique to the Camaro. The 2016 model is about two inches shorter in length (thanks to a shorter wheelbase) and about an inch has been removed from height and width compared to the 2015 model. These lighter underpinnings jumpstarted the Camaro's weight-loss plan, and thanks to extensive use of aluminum, the V6 with the new eight-speed automatic transmission weighs 3,435 pounds – 294 less than its predecessor (the manual-transmission V6 Camaro weighs 3,448 pounds). The V8, meanwhile, sheds 223 pounds. One by one, these elements would merely enhance how the Camaro drives, but taken collectively, they invigorate the new model. It feels much more confident and agile in all circumstances. Put simply, it's a sportier car. View 32 Photos Grab second, let the revs build, and the dual-mode exhaust changes its tune from a low buzz to a rumble, then a growl.