Indy 500 Stars
#1 Star: Simon Pagenaud
Of course, Pagenaud won the race so he earned the top star, even though I think we will remember Alexander Rossi's performance more. Listening to Pagenaud explain his thinking over the last 12 laps showed why he won. He displayed patience and intelligence, and really dominated the entire race. It's always nice to see a first-time winner at IMS, and Simon is a deserving champion. He and Rossi gave us a tremendous, exhilarating finish to an enjoyable but otherwise ho-hum race.
#2 Star: Alexander Rossi
Rossi is quickly becoming an IndyCar star and a fan favorite, and his driving at the past two Indy 500s have shown why. Whether he was shaking his fist at lapped Oriol Servia for not allowing him to pass (meaning that he was driving with one hand at 220 mph!), banging on the steering wheel when his fueler couldn't get the hose into the car, or showing daredevil moves by passing as many cars as possible, Rossi was a thrill to watch. The past few races have highlighted to me that not everyone in the paddock actually wants to win--there seems to be some drivers and teams who are content with a podium or a top ten finish, as long as the car comes back clean. As a fan, that is aggravating, so it's refreshing to see someone like Rossi, who clearly wants to win every week and will do whatever it takes to get to Victory Lane. He will get his second Indy 500 win eventually, I'm pretty sure about that.
#3 Star: Santino Ferrucci
Ferrucci also gained some fans, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., with his slick driving at Indy. He raced former champ Tony Kanaan cleanly out of the pits, ultimately passing him, and he managed to avoid all the carnage caused by Sebastien Bourdais' and Graham Rahal's crash, cutting through the grass at full throttle. This solid driving garnered him a seventh place finish and Indy 500 Rookie of the Year honors. It also showed a maturing Ferrucci, who seems grateful for the second chance that IndyCar has given him, and who seems to be having the time of his life.
Side note: This really is an impressive rookie class. Every full-time rookie in the field has won something this year: Colton Herta won the race at COTA, Marcus Ericsson won the Indy 500 pit stop challenge (and a podium at Detroit), Ferrucci won Indy 500 ROTY, and Felix Rosenqvist won the pole for the Indy Grand Prix. It will be a dogfight for the overall Rookie of the Year award. Pato O'Ward, it's your turn next!
Detroit Stars
#1 Star: Scott Dixon
This was a difficult choice, because the two winners of the Dual in Detroit both had awful races along with their victories. It was shocking to see Dixon crash in Race 1, something he apparently hasn't done since 2014 (I believe it was Texas, I was there--he crashed coming out of turn 3). He took responsibility for the wreck, claiming "driver error." Then he followed it up with a clean, Dixon-like effort in Race 2. He is just an all-around amazing driver.
#2 Star: Josef Newgarden
Again, Josef won Race 1 but made an aggressive, mental error in Race 2 and did not finish. But like Dixon, he took responsibility for the error, which was refreshing. Newgarden was the beneficiary of a timely caution in race 1--he was in the pits when the yellow came out, but he managed to hold off a hard charging Rossi to win. Rossi had to be frustrated beyond words to take second place behind a Team Penske Chevrolet for the second race in a row, which may have him longing for a spot on the team. Full credit to Tim Cindric, who called Newgarden in when the track started drying, anticipating a yellow flag. I did not like how he kept telling Newgarden when Rossi was using push-to-pass, and I think that's something IndyCar may want to look at when the season's done. Not so long ago that information was secret, which keeps things more interesting and fair.
#3 Star: Marco Andretti
Marco was the first one to take off the rain tires in Race 1, and should have catapulted to the lead when the caution flag came out. But unfortunately he got inexplicably screwed by Race Control. Race Control essentially rushed to open the pits before bunching up the field, which allowed other cars to come out in front of Marco. It's a real shame for Marco, who needed and, in this race, deserved a good result. The on-board camera showing Marco skillfully driving on slick tires in still-wet conditions was fantastic. For that alone, his performance was star-worthy.
A Frustrating Blunder
That being said, I thought Detroit Race 1 was the worst race of the year, one that overall left a bad taste in my mouth. I don't understand why it became a timed race, only 75 minutes, when NBC knew its window ended at 6pm EST, and when it knew it could switch to CNBC, another network, or at the very least, the NBC Sports app. It doesn't bother me that it moved to another network--this has happened in the past with ABC and with other sports. But someone did not calculate their math correctly if they thought the race would finish by 6pm. Seasoned event planners like those at Detroit and NBC should know to plan for the worst, or at least have some ideas in place if things don't go as planned. Did the race organizers, IndyCar, and network representatives not talk about contingency plans in case of weather? Did they not look at a forecast or the radar? And then, to give fans absolutely no explanation, and to not take responsibility for this error is unacceptable. Dixon and Newgarden admitted their mistakes, the network should do the same. I feel extremely bad for anyone who bought a ticket to the race, traveled out of city or state to attend, only to have the race shortened by almost 30 laps for no good reason. I just want someone at NBC to say, "we messed up, and we will do better next time," which is what effective leaders do. Why is that so hard?
The shortened race, coupled with the failure to bunch up the field and allow Marco to at least have a chance at taking the lead, and Newgarden's lucky yellow, just made me mad and disappointed. I like to see different winners, so I'm hoping we see someone new on the podium's top step this weekend (Conor Daly, perhaps? We can dream, right? Anything is possible at Texas!). Fortunately Race 2 was much better, and we were treated to some great racing and drama. Another side note: How did Will Power take 3rd after his miserable weekend?? Incredible, and worth an honorable mention. Texas always brings nervous excitement, and I'm hoping it will also bring some redemption for a tough Detroit weekend. For now at least, it's not supposed to rain! Let's hope NBC has a plan just in case it does.
No comments:
Post a Comment