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.