Sonoma Review

Whew, what a race! IndyCar roared back after a long three-week layoff with a drama-filled slugfest at Sonoma. Will Power finally got a win after a long drought, and Team Penske continued its dominance at the track. But let's face it, that's not what got the most attention.

Let's start with the call that had everyone talking. Scott Dixon clipped a member of Will Power's pit crew, creating a sort of domino effect that led to several crew members lying on the ground and icing various body parts afterwards. Replays showed that one pit crew member may have been purposefully carrying a tire and leaning toward Dixon's car, enticing Dixon to hit him and ultimately serve a drive-through penalty. I first have to ask, why would someone intentionally risk getting hit? We'd have to go back and review previous pit stops to see where that crew member walked to know if it was intentional. Stupidity maybe, or lack of awareness, but intent is nearly impossible to prove without a confession. Perhaps there were other issues such as one Beaux Barfield mentioned in the post-race interview, the pit boxes were confusing.

Regardless of intent or the reason for the incident, the rule is absolutely clear: If someone gets hit, you call a penalty. I had to look it up to be sure, and in case you're wondering (and I know you were, ha!), it's rule 7.10.1.6, which says "contact with personnel" is cause for a penalty. If the tables had been turned, and Power had clipped one of Dixon's crew members, I would hope Dixon would feel a penalty was justified. In his post-race interview, as he was being shown the replay, Dixon (in addition to calling the pit crew member in question a less-than-favorable, yes-we're-on-live-TV name) complained that race control needs more consistency. Maybe on other issues, but how can you be inconsistent when it comes to someone else's safety? Show me one instance where someone has been hit in pit lane and not penalized, then we can talk about inconsistency. I understand Dixon's frustration but he showed no compassion for crew member safety in that interview. His response certainly lacked the tact that Mike Hull and Tim Cindric displayed. And I have to agree with Barfield's comment that safety is and should be more important than a few championship points.

I must add a caveat to all this, in that I did not want to see Dixon win again. I would have felt the same way had Power or any other driver won three races in a row. I just like variety and different winners. So perhaps my analysis is a little biased, but I would have liked to see a more objective review of the incident rather than the anti-race control rants we heard on NBC Sports Network and on Twitter. If you don't make that call and issue a penalty, you're basically saying it's okay to hit crew members. I know some will say that this call now creates a slippery slope, where crew members can intentionally be negligent and spiteful, trying to get lead cars penalized. But this brings me back to my original question: why would you intentionally risk serious injury or death just to get a penalty? I sincerely hope we do not head down this path. I'd like to believe that most, if not all, crew members are responsible and ethical.

Let's talk about something else, shall we? This race had plenty of other storylines. Justin Wilson was impressive, finishing second and racing cleanly next to Power on the final restart. He gave us some edge-of-your-seat thrills as he tried to pass the leaders. Ryan Hunter-Reay managed to rebound after a questionable pit strategy in which he stayed out while all the other leaders came in to pit. Most importantly, he finished ahead of Helio Castroneves (who drove a smart, safe race), so he remains in the championship hunt. I'll admit, I thought he was doomed after that initial call, when he dropped back to 16th place. At this point, it's going to be very difficult for him to win this thing, but he's still alive so kudos to him. And Graham Rahal had a strong qualifying effort, plus surviving contact in the race, to finish in 11th place. Perhaps this is the start of good finishes for him.

The race featured a lot of contact, as a record for full-course cautions was set. Surprising, considering the caution-free race we had at Mid-Ohio. The Captain, Roger Penske, could be seen scolding Marco Andretti after the race for making contact and not giving his driver enough room. There were plenty of penalties for avoidable contact, with the last one ruining Ryan Briscoe's good day. I had been reading articles and previews of Sonoma prior to this race, and most said the same thing: we should be prepared for an uneventful race on a track where passing is difficult. Well, this race was anything but uneventful! In addition to the race control drama, we saw passing aplenty, with good battles for the lead all day. Sonoma proved to be a great track, and these storylines will carry over to next year's race as well as next week's event in Baltimore.

Overall, I think most folks--except for those in Ganassi's camp--were pleased to see Will Power in victory lane once again. (Where was the victory jump, though, Will? I missed it!) Power has always been good at Sonoma, and he now has three wins at the twisty road course. It's hard to believe that Power had not won since Brazil last year, and had only been on the podium once this year prior to this race. He wanted this win, that was evident. Would Power have won without that penalty? It's difficult to say, because Dixon had nailed all the previous restarts, leaving everyone else in the dust. He clearly had a dominant car. But we shouldn't forget those intangibles like desire and determination. We'll see just how much those variables count in these last few races.