First Impressions: Belle Isle 2014 Race One

1. Due to family photos for the church directory (which could've been scheduled for tomorrow but I digress) I only got to watch the final 22 laps of race one. Didn't I say if there was ever a day for a Belle Isle winner to come from outside the top ten it would be today? It happened. Will Power from 16th. It is Will Power but Belle Isle is notorious for being difficult to pass at. Strategy played into his favor but it wasn't easy.

2. Graham Rahal put the pressure on Power and nearly picked up his first victory since 2008. Hate to rain on the parade but one result doesn't mean you have turned your season around. A string of seven, eight, nine, ten results is turning it around. He finished second at Long Beach last year and had only four top tens in the following sixteen races. It is a step in the right direction for Rahal and he and his team have a chance to capitalize on the good run tomorrow.

3. Tony Kanaan rounded out the podium. Not a bad result for him but how about Justin Wilson climbing from 19th to 4th?

4. Hélio Castroneves tried to stretch it to two stops and it backfired for only a fifth place finish. He's had the top car in qualifying. Let's see if he can repeat that result for race two.

5. James Hinchcliffe and Carlos Muñoz were sixth and seventh for Andretti Autosport with Carlos Huertas picking up his second career top ten. Huertas has quietly had a really good season.

6. Charlie Kimball and Marco Andretti rounded out the top ten with Scott Dixon in eleventh. Andretti tried to stretch the fuel mileage into a top five but had to be ultra conservative and had to settle with a top ten.

7. Juan Pablo Montoya, the KV drivers Sébastien Bourdais and Sebastián Saavedra and Ryan Briscoe rounded out the top fifteen. Briscoe was caught in a pickle. The caution came out right before he was going to pit from the lead. If he came in he was going to be back that far away. A damned if you do, damned if you don't situation for him.

8. Ryan Hunter-Reay nearly turned a brush of the wall in qualifying to a top ten before sliding into the tires on the final lap. He holds onto a three point lead heading into race two tomorrow. How quickly things can change in a week?

9. Things were rough for some in race one. Mikhail Aleshin had contact with Hinchcliffe ruin what could've been a top ten. He and Jack Hawksworth got together on the final lap. Josef Newgarden had a rough day and last year's Belle Isle winners Mike Conway and Simon Pagenuad were twenty-first and twenty-second. Two ways to look at this: 1. Perfect way to put the poor result behind you is by taking advantage of the opportunity tomorrow. 2. Already behind the 8-ball by losing so much ground and now you have to go back out there. It will be interesting to see how these drivers respond.