Road America Recap

 I was surprised that this year's Road America IndyCar race was not a doubleheader, especially after Toronto was canceled, but I understand that two doubleheaders in a row would be incredibly difficult. The crowd and the racing this past weekend though showed that this track is perfect for IndyCar. It was a fantastic race with lots of wheel banging and passing, and some late, unexpected drama. Let's take a look.

Three Stars of the Race

#1 Star: Alex Palou

Palou was the beneficiary of a late caution and a mechanical issue for Josef Newgarden, who dominated the race and led the most laps. However, he showed some patience and mojo by attempting some passes of Newgarden and staying close to him for most of the race. With two wins and three podiums on the season, he now holds a 28-point lead in the championship over Pato O'Ward, which I don't think any of us foresaw. Scott Dixon finally has a legitimate teammate championship contender, for the first time in a decade. And IndyCar has another young, bona fide star. Meanwhile, last year's driver in this car, who got his first (and so far only) IndyCar win at Road America last year, Felix Rosenqvist, has struggled in what seems to be a cursed #7 Arrow McLaren car. I wonder if he regrets his decision at all?

#2 Star: Josef Newgarden

Newgarden looked like he would cruise to victory, leading 32 of 55 laps. However, a spin by Ed Jones in the closing laps brought out a full course yellow, resulting a restart with two laps to go. Newgarden could not shift the car into sixth gear, and Palou, along with many others, passed him easily. He wound up finishing 21st, another heartbreaking defeat for Team Penske, who is still searching for their first win of the year. Honestly, this team has had some uncharacteristic problems this year, but the past two weeks they have gotten screwed over by others' mistakes, most notably by a red flag that should not have happened in Detroit. If Jones had not spun, who knows if Newgarden would have made it to the end on fuel or if Palou would have been able to pass him? In any case, he drove the wheels off all weekend, starting on pole as well, and deserved a better fate.

#3 Star: Romain Grosjean

This was a tough decision, because there weren't really any other dominant drives of the weekend. But Grosjean made some nifty passes in the race, and finished fifth. His F1 experience clearly seems to be paying off on road courses. He seems right at home in IndyCar, and the smiles on his face throughout the weekend show how happy he is to be here.

Honorable mentions to Alexander Rossi, who was finally racy again and fun to watch, Oliver Askew, who led two laps on an alternate strategy and had a solid weekend filling in for Rinus Veekay, and Marcus Ericsson, who started way in the back and overcame a mid-race spin to finish sixth. The Ganassi cars (minus Jimmie Johnson; more on him in a minute) have been strong all year.

Three Stories of the Race

#1 Story: IndyCar Newbies

Former F1 and current IMSA driver Kevin Magnussen filled in for Felix Rosenqvist, who is still recovering from a nightmarish crash at Detroit, and performed well. He led six laps before being forced to retire with a mechanical issue (again, that #7 car seems cursed!). NASCAR driver Cody Ware also impressed in his first IndyCar race, finishing 19th, ahead of four IndyCar full-timers. Admittedly, both drivers exceeded my expectations. And both would be welcome in IndyCar again.

#2 Story: Jimmie Johnson

Speaking of IndyCar newbies, it's time to talk about Mr. 7-Time. I understand he brings sponsorship and notoriety to IndyCar, which is desperately needed. I also understand he is new to open-wheel cars and has not has much seat time in them. He has mostly kept within 1-2 seconds of the leaders in practice and qualifying, which is impressive. I admire what he is doing at 45 years old. But during the race he spun and brought out a full-course yellow again. While I agree that he mostly stays out of other drivers' way and doesn't seem to be endangering anyone (yet), the caution flags can and often do affect the outcome of a race. If any other driver had spun as much as Johnson in these races, we would be calling for them to be parked. But I feel like drivers are reluctant to call him out on this. Is he really having fun driving around at the back of the pack each week? And will he be asked to "spin" and help one of his teammates win the championship at the end of the year? (I wouldn't put it past Chip Ganassi, who pulled something similar with Max Chilton some years ago.) I just would like to see some improvement by him, and some competition. The real test will be at the next Indy Road Course race in August--it will be a track with which he is now familiar in an IndyCar and a co-NASCAR weekend. For the good of the series, other drivers, and Jimmie, I hope he does well there--a top-ten finish would be awesome.

#3 Story: TV Coverage

I already ranted about this on Twitter and to my partner, so I'll tone it down a bit here. But it seems like NBC has one foot out the door with IndyCar already and at this point I'm ready to say good riddance. We saw countless promos for the NASCAR race at Nashville all weekend, with the promos all indicating that coverage would begin at 3pm Eastern time. The IndyCar race ended right on time, around 1:35 Central time, allowing for about 20 minutes of post-race, driver interviews, and celebration, and a few commercials. But instead NBC cut to the NASCAR pre-race 15 minutes before the time they had promoted all weekend. The NASCAR race then started 10 minutes late because of traffic and parking problems in Nashville. Did you really need a 75-90-minute pre-race when you had shown practices and talked about every story imaginable all weekend? An interview with Newgarden, after he'd had a little time to cool off, was certainly warranted and would be must-see TV. I was so furious with NBC I turned off my TV and didn't watch a single minute of the NASCAR race, which I had planned to do. I don't hate NASCAR, and I believe it helps both series to have them on the same network. And I know it was NBC's first NASCAR race of the year. But it was so flipping disrespectful and unnecessary to have only a hurried interview with Palou and no post-race show--not even on Peacock! I watched the SRX race on CBS Saturday night, and thought they did a good job (though they need to enlarge the font on the lap numbers). I know CBS was in the running for a new IndyCar contract, and I would welcome them. I like NBC's coverage and its announcers but that was just ridiculous. And I'm sure they didn't promote the upcoming IndyCar race in Nashville at all during the NASCAR race. If we are stuck with NBC next year, I hope they listen to the angry fans on social media (and I saw a lot of them) and realize that when all motorsports (including IMSA and MotoGP, which they also televise) are given proper coverage, everyone wins. End of rant.

Next Race: Mid-Ohio, July 4, 12:00pm ET.

Helio Makes History

The 2021 Indy 500 was one for the ages, one I will not soon forget. Not only was it the largest sporting event since the pandemic began, with allegedly 135,000 fans in attendance (it looked like much more than that on TV), but we witnessed history as Helio Castroneves joined the four-time winners club. It is an exclusive club, with only three other members--AJ Foyt, Al Unser, Sr., and Rick Mears. Helio has tried for a long time to achieve this milestone, and go figure it happened in his first Indy 500 without Team Penske. Simon Pagenaud, along with others, have noted that the Speedway seems to pick its winner each year. I found myself reflecting on his comment this year and finding some truth in it. Helio was the perfect winner for 2021. He is a popular driver, this is a feel-good win and after the past year we could all use something to feel good about. It also seems appropriate to capture that elusive fourth win in front of fans. It felt like every driver in the paddock enthusiastically congratulated Helio during the longest trip to the Indy 500 Victory Lane we've probably ever seen. And what an amazing spectacle to see fans climbing the fence to salute Helio as he completed his victory lap. It was a special, special moment, and I think the ghosts of Indianapolis Motor Speedway chose the right winner this year.

Three Stars of the Race

#1 Star: Helio Castroneves

I had remarked about halfway through the race that we should keep an eye on Helio, who was running in P3 at the time. He started in the fast nine, has the experience needed in a long race of this caliber, and stayed near the front for the entire race. Somehow he was able to avoid the empty fuel tank issues that struck Scott Dixon and Alexander Rossi on the first pit stop. After Stefan Wilson crashed in the pits on lap 34 (more on that later), the first caution waved and the pits closed. Dixon and Rossi both ran out of fuel and had to pit for emergency service. However, the engine wouldn't refire immediately, resulting in lengthy stops for both. Dixon eventually gained his lap back, but Rossi never did. Regardless, Helio never had to worry about this issue. He also displayed patience and mastery, timing his last-lap pass of Alex Palou perfectly. As Helio remarked in his post-race interview, 2021 has been a good year for the "old guys," with 40-year-old Tom Brady winning another "big game," 50-year-old Phil Mickelson capturing the PGA Championship, and 40-year-old Scott Dixon starting on the Indy 500 pole. Palou will likely be reliving the last few laps in his head for a long time, but he has nothing to be ashamed of, finishing second to a four-time champ in only his second Indy 500. The teacher schooled the student.

#2 Star: Mike Shank

It has been a long arduous journey to full-time IndyCar racing for Michael Shank. In 2012 he had a chassis but was unable to secure an engine for it. From there he had to slowly enter the series, starting with Indy 500-only entries, much like Paretta Autosport this year. Though he has had quite a bit of success in sports car racing, the team had primarily run a partial schedule prior to last year, consistently with Jack Harvey as its driver. A technical partnership with Andretti Autosport and a committed sponsorship from AutoNation and Sirius XM (with former CEO Jim Meyer co-owning the race team) allowed Meyer Shank Racing to field a full-time IndyCar for the first time in 2020 and add a second driver (Helio) for six races in 2021. They are no longer a small team on the sidelines, as Racer noted in an article after Harvey and Graham Rahal tussled at Texas, but are legitimate contenders. This was Meyer Shank Racing's first IndyCar win, and it certainly won't be their last. IndyCar needs these stories, they serve as inspiration for other teams aspiring to enter the series or find success on a smaller team.

#3 Star: Conor Daly

Daly received a HUGE ovation from the crowd when he took the lead on lap 50, and he ended up leading a race-high 40 laps. There was something very 'Murica with hometown favorite Daly leading in a U.S. Air Force car on Memorial Day weekend. Unfortunately Daly's good day was derailed when Rahal's loose tire clipped the front of his car, knocking the front wing out of balance and affecting the car's speed and aerodynamics for the rest of the race. Daly wound up finishing 13th, a result not really depicting the good car and drive he showed for much of the day. Hopefully he will get a podium and his first IndyCar win before the year is over.

Honorable Mentions: Sage Karam, who started on the last row and charged to a seventh-place finish, Simon Pagenaud, the highest-placing Penske driver who might have won had this been the Indy 502 instead of the Indy 500, and Santino Ferrucci, who now has three top ten finishes in three Indy 500s.

Three Stories of the Race

#1 Story: Brake Issues

What in the world happened with the brakes in these cars? Four separate instances from four different teams caused problems for drivers having decent days, and they all reported the same issue: the brake pedal went straight to the floor. First, it was Stefan Wilson. Then it was Will Power, who spun around in the pits and could not recover, ultimately finishing 30th. Ryan Hunter-Reay, who had been running in the top five for much of the day and was a legitimate threat to challenge for the lead, had problems on lap 175 and also receive a pit speed penalty, effectively ending his day. He finished an unremarkable 22nd, the last car on the lead lap. Simona De Silvestro also spun in pit lane, clipping the pit wall and resulting in a DNF. Listening to Power's radio during the race, he claimed that the brakes were so bad that he would not be able to stop if there was an incident in front of him, which is terrifying. Thankfully we didn't have to worry about that, but these brake problems definitely need to be investigated further before the next oval (St. Louis in August).

#2 Story: Fastest Indy 500 in History

With only two cautions during the race, the 2021 Indy 500 set the record for the fastest ever, at an average speed of 190.690. The cooler temperatures may have helped, but I must also commend the drivers, mechanics, and teams. Other than the brake problems, there were no mechanical issues leading to DNFs. No engines going kablammo or electrical concerns as has been the case in some previous races. Now, Rahal's tire blunder was big, and frightening. It appeared that the left rear tire changer could not get the tire on, for whatever reason, but the jack dropped and Rahal took off before the tire was fully attached. It's not clear what or who was most to blame for Rahal leaving early, but his tire fell off as he exited the pits and he slammed into the wall on lap 119. What a scary moment, and a gutting feeling for Rahal, who was in an excellent position to win this race. He had been running near the front and making perfect fuel mileage. But the Speedway didn't pick you this year, Graham. Hopefully it will someday. 

#3 Story: Engine Battle

The Honda competitive edge was apparent throughout the entire month, yet somehow Ed Carpenter Racing with Chevy engines managed to put two cars into the Fast Nine. Pato O'Ward noted that his car did not seem to have the power or speed to catch up to Palou and Castroneves in the closing laps, though he was eventually passed by Pagenaud, also in a Chevy. Honda has now won four of the first six races, including the biggest one of the year, and Team Penske is still unbelievably without a win, so they hold the advantage for now. But you have to figure that Chevy is coming, especially with their hometown race in Detroit next up on the schedule.

It should also be noted that IndyCar now has six different winners from six different countries in the first six racing. The unpredictability and parity within the series is one of its most exciting assets. I predict we will have another different winner in Detroit. It would be fantastic if it was another first-time IndyCar winner too.