Baltimore 2013: First Impressions

1. What a great race. Sure, there was a lot of carnage. Sure, there were some tough calls but IndyCar had a knockout, street fight with a hell of a lot of passing, pissed off drivers and great battles all over the place. Whether you agree with the penalties or not, the race was great. It wasn't pretty race but no one ever says, "I hope we see a pretty race to day."

2. Simon Pagenaud was a man on a mission and once he got behind Marco Andretti with a broken wing, it was all but over. Pagenaud earned that win and now he has two on the season. More than Will Power, Tony Kanaan, Helio Castroneves and Dario Franchitti.

3. Remember last year when we heard rumors Roger Penske was really interested in Josef Newgarden? If Penske isn't knocking on Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing's door Tuesday morning (because Monday is a holiday) with a blank check for Newgarden and a guaranteed technical alliance with the team switching to Chevrolet for next year and the rest of eternity he mind as well sell his team and quit because Newgarden has driven his ass off the last two season and will be winning races when in the right seat.

4. How Sébastien Bourdais and Justin Wilson aren't on better teams is beyond me. I bet Paul Newman is up in Heaven, trying to get God to let him out for a year or two to resurrect Newman Haas, hire Bourdais and Wilson, get an Indianapolis 500 win, get another ten race wins and another championship or two.

5. Happy Birthday Simona de Silvestro! You get a top five. Her season hasn't be stellar but compare it to 2012 with Lotus, this year has been cloud nine for her.

6. Charlie Kimball gets a top ten as does James Hinchcliffe and Sebastián Saavedra. Good for them.

7. How Helio Castroneves got a top ten is beyond me. He has damage lap one, gets caught up in another incident and stalls, gets black flagged and still finishes every lap in ninth.

8. It looked like Marco Andretti nearly had that one but a top ten with a broken front wing is good enough.

9. This championship has been insane. Right when it looks like Scott Dixon was going to make this a great championship battle at Sonoma, s*** hits the fan. Looks like Dixon is going to cut it down to about a dozen points at Baltimore, s*** hits the fan and Will Power runs over him. Easiest way to win the title now? Sweep Houston and take Fontana.

10. Well, that's the knife to Ryan Hunter-Reay's championship hopes. Unless he wins out.

11. Another week and some more questionable driving. And it wasn't young guys either. Hell there were only three rookies in the field. Graham Rahal made a questionable move, Oriol Servià made a questionable move. Everyone needs a month off at this point.

12. I said Stefan Wilson would get a top fifteen today. He finished sixteenth. Damn.

13. Drivers who really need a month off: Dario Franchitti, Takuma Sato, Tony Kanaan, Ryan Hunter-Reay.

14. Can we have standing starts at Baltimore next year?

15. If Honda is having trouble with the heat and humidity of Baltimore, hate to see what happens at Houston. Which is a doubleheader.

16. A month off sucks. Any way IndyCar can work a deal out with NASCAR and run the Saturday afternoon before Richmond and how about the Saturday before New Hampshire as well?

17. Houston should be fun. It's due or die for everyone if they want to win the championship and beat Castroneves.