RICHMOND, Virginia – It was a day for INDYCAR to check off the boxes at Richmond Raceway on Tuesday.

Two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden returned to his No. 2 Hitachi Chevrolet for the first time since clinching the 2019 championship during a Firestone Tire Test at the 0.750-mile Richmond Raceway on Tuesday. The Chevrolet driver for Team Penske joined five-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda on a test that have three different levels.

It was the first time Indy cars had been on the track at Richmond since the last time the series raced here on June 27, 2009. That was the 2009 SunTrust Indy Challenge, a 300-lap race won by Dixon.

It was the first time INDYCAR’s Aeroscreen has been tested on a short oval measuring under one-mile in length. The past two weeks, the effort spearhead by INDYCAR, Dallara, Red Bull Advanced Technologies and Pankl was tested at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Oct. 2 and Barber Motorsports Park on Oct. 7.

One more test remains for the driver cockpit safety screen on Nov. 5 at Sebring Raceway.

It was also a Firestone tire test as Firestone Racing engineers brought various compounds and constructions to the test to determine which tire combination will work in next June’s return to Richmond Raceway.

INDYCAR President Jay Frye said the Tuesday morning session checked off most of the boxes at Richmond Raceway. There were more boxes checked off Tuesday afternoon.

“It seemed like it went perfectly,” Frye told NTT INDYCAR Mobile. “This is Scott’s second time with this screen and Josef’s first time. Over the course of the IMS test and the Barber test, we learned a lot of things cooling-wise that we were applied here. Visually, it’s fine. Teams has integrated it more into their livery. The first test, the screen was raw, now teams have worked with it and it looks good.

“The tire test is going perfectly. Firestone does a great job. There is degradation in these tires and that will be really good for racing here. We think we’ll have a great race.

“Dennis Bickmeier and his staff have done a great job here with this facility and it’s great to be back. We have a good plan. It all seems to be coming together.

“We’ve checked some boxes today.”

Bickmeier is the president of Richmond Raceway and one of the main goals of his time at the helm of this race course was to bring the NTT IndyCar Series back to the Mid-Atlantic. It had a rather successful run of races from 2001 to 2009.

After 10 years apart, Bickmeier and Frye were able to bring the two sides together. That’s important for the sport as it returns to a part of the country that includes Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia and North Carolina within a few hours driving distance of Richmond Raceway.

“It’s great to know there's buzz from around the country for people that want to see the NTT IndyCar Series here in Richmond,” Bickmeier said. “For us, it actually was something we started discussing in 2018 about the prospects of INDYCAR coming back. We just continued to work on it with Jay (Frye) and the INDYCAR team.

“But really it was about trying to find an opportunity in the schedule. We were open to a lot of different dates. This June date is more along the traditional date where INDYCAR raced here before. We love this date. It works well between our two NASCAR races. For us, it really presents kind of a big cadence to our year as we're promoting all of our racing events here at Richmond Raceway.

“Really, it was trying to make everything work with the series and the schedule, then certainly getting that local support and the desire of some people here locally to bring INDYCAR back.

“I said this before, I'll say it again: One of the most asked questions I got in the time I've been at Richmond is, ‘When are the Indy cars coming back?’

“I'm happy to say we're able to answer that question now.”

The NTT IndyCar Series returns to Richmond on June 27, 2020. Another unique feature to the return will be practice, qualifications and the race will all be held on the same day. There will also be Friday night practice preceding the Saturday that will be full of activity.

The Firestone aspect of the test was also valuable to determine which types of compound and construction will be used for next June’s race.

“I think we've kind of been honing in on a lot of tires,” Dixon said during the mid-day break. “We've been going through 10 or 15 sets of different construction and compounds.

“The car does feel a lot different from when even we first ran here in the early 2000s to the last time we ran here, through that race as well.

“There is a lot less downforce, probably a little more power or similar power. It's quite tricky, a lot of fun to drive. Feels fairly low grip at the moment in some situations. It's hard to say, too, from a racing perspective as it's only Josef and me here, and we're mostly doing single runs at the moment.”

For Newgarden, it was a chance to get back to work with his race car after celebrating the 2019 championship that he clinched Sept. 22 in the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey.

“I'm a big fan of short-track racing, specifically with INDYCAR,” Newgarden said. “Iowa is really the only experience I have with short-track racing. I've always loved it.

“To get another one on the calendar has been very cool for me. I used to watch these races at Richmond when I was younger in karts. I always thought they were exciting races here.

“I'm excited to be here. Pretty easy morning for the most part just getting going. Like Scott said, we're kind of just running through a big program for Firestone to make sure that we get everything checked off the list for them.

“It was my first time with the (Aeroscreen). Just getting a feel for that. It honestly was pretty seamless. Honestly didn't feel that different. Perception-wise it was a little different when I got in. It took maybe 30, 40 laps, after that you're used to it. It feels kind of normal at this point.”

INDYCAR, Firestone, Dixon and Newgarden continued to check off the boxes Tuesday afternoon, providing valuable input and data during the offseason.

“We’ve learned something at every test and it’s a matter of checking the boxes,” Frye said. “All of this adds up into becoming a better show.

“Ovals are very, very important and this is one that we wanted to come back to.”