Holy Sao Paulo!

If you didn't watch the Indy Sao Paulo race this weekend, you missed one hell of a race. The last 10-15 laps in particular were some of the best racing I have ever seen. It was full of passing, intense action, and last-lap drama. Despite the record number of cautions in the race, it never felt like the action lagged. The restarts kept you on your toes and showed who the raciest drivers were. And what a thrilling finish!

The race started off normally enough, until Will Power's car caught on fire. Sadly, this put an end to his quest to four-peat in Brazil, and also dealt a huge blow to his championship hopes. Will's had some hard luck this year, with most of his problems not his own doing, and his year-long winless streak continued. With a stretch of ovals looming over the next two months, you have to figure this stretch will continue. Ovals are not Power's strength, and he'll be the first to admit that. Then again, in a year full of surprises so far, maybe, just maybe, he can pull off a win at Indianapolis.

Bad luck also struck hometown hero Tony Kanaan, who had the lead at one point until running out of gas. How did his team allow that to happen? Still, TK showed he's a fighter by starting his 200th consecutive race, with an injured right hand no less.

What has gotten into Marco Andretti? Another third-place finish and second place in the points standings? This is great news for him as we head into the oval-heavy portion of the schedule. Marco's always been stronger on ovals than road & street courses, so the fact that he has had success on the non-ovals demonstrates his off-season commitment to improvement. I'm not the biggest Marco fan, but good for him. It's funny that he's been on the podium twice now for Hinch's wins--his other third place finish came at St. Pete, where Hinch also went to victory lane.

The big story of the race, though, happened toward the end. Takuma Sato appeared to block Josef Newgarden, preventing him from passing for the lead. A few laps later, he did it again to James Hinchcliffe. Sato seemed to be swerving all over the track so much you'd swear he was a drunk driver. But after reviewing both moves, race control decided no penalty was necessary. This decision to let the drivers settle it on the track was certainly controversial, and sets a serious precedent for the rest of the year. The decision would have been more controversial had Sato won, and I'm even more grateful that Hinch pulled off that last-lap pass of Sato for the victory. I have mixed feelings on the issue of blocking, because I think drivers should be allowed to defend their position, but they also have to let other drivers make moves safely. Sato's swerving pushed Newgarden into the wall, so I think that first move was more blatant blocking than the move on Hinchcliffe. And the biggest bummer of all is that it cost Josef his first IZOD IndyCar Series podium. However, it was enormously gratifying to see him place in the top five, his best finish ever.

I don't always finish races, but when I do, l prefer to win.

— James Hinchcliffe (@Hinchtown) May 5, 2013

It has been one wild season for the Mayor of Hinchtown. Two victories and two last-place finishes. Like he said, he wins every race he finishes! The move he made on Sato for the win was nothing short of awesome. Just like the entire Sao Paulo race. And now it's on to the grand go-daddy race of them all....#indy500 or bust!