Talk about an unpredictable race! Long Beach was full of hits, misses, and surprises, and already in 2013 we have two first-time IZOD IndyCar Series race winners. Congrats to a podium I don't think any of us saw coming: Takuma Sato, Graham Rahal, and Justin Wilson!
I was so pleased to see some different drivers in the top five. Rahal deserved a top-two finish with some aggressive, I-want-this driving. Wilson was equally impressive, driving to a third-place finish despite not having a qualifying time and starting in the very back of the field. JR Hildebrand's fifth-place finish was much-needed and will hopefully get him on the right track. But the day belonged to Sato and AJ Foyt Racing, who finally, finally earned a victory. Sato drove a fast car and didn't make a mistake all race. I think he's ready to shed that Captain Crash nickname I gave him last year!
New faces in the top five means that some drivers who are usually solid competitors fell to the back. Will Power's 16th-place finish was most surprising to me, and I still haven't heard his explanation for it. It just seemed like his car was not quite right all day, like he never got comfortable. James Hinchcliffe had another disastrous result, finishing in 26th place for the second straight race. A season that started out so promising has quickly turned to frustration and disappointment. And Ryan Hunter-Reay drove a little too aggressively, resulting in a visit with the tires and a 24th-place finish. All of this has led to an interesting, unpredictable fight for the championship. I love that we cannot predict from one week to the next who will be in the top five. Maybe it's a good thing that Speed doesn't have fantasy IndyCar racing this season, because I would be doing horribly in it!
As good as the race was, I have to say the TV coverage was not. Normally NBC Sports Network does a fantastic job, but this was not their best effort. For one, they cut away just as Charlie Kimball and Alex Tagliani were battling, to show a Target car in the pits. As a result, we missed the tie-up between Kimball and Tags. Granted, we did get to see a replay but live action like that is so intense that attention should stay focused on it. I also felt we missed a lot of action late in the race because they focused too heavily on Sato, who was so far ahead no one came close to challenging him. I still have no idea what happened to TK at the end of the race, and judging by his comments on Twitter, there's a story there. And what was with all those commercials!? I have not known NBCSN to show so many ads during a race, and especially not so late in the race. I worry that new viewers who are just starting to tune in were turned off by this lesser quality coverage. Please, NBCSN, don't be like ABC/ESPN! You're better than that.
One last surprising statistic that I was not aware of until it was mentioned on NBCSN: The Long Beach race weekend draws over 200,000 people, making it the largest sporting event in the country this weekend. Kudos to the people of Long Beach--fans, local government, businesses, and residents--for supporting such a fun festival of motorsports.
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