First Impressions: New Orleans 2015

1. This was the worst race in IndyCar history. It's not a negative. Let's embrace it. Let's laugh at ourselves. It was a terrible race. But laugh at ourselves. Instead of getting angry and pointing fingers, let's just laugh. And you can like this race! That's ok. It was nerve-racking. Could they complete two consecutive green flag laps? That doesn't sound good but that was the reality of the situation. Had the race been a week earlier, perhaps we have a great race in the dry. These things happen. Don't get down about it. The Long Beach sunshine awaits.

2. Congratulations to James Hinchcliffe and Honda. After it appeared Honda would struggle to get a victory, this one fell in their laps.

3. Hélio Castroneves had a great battle with James Jakes for second and both had to overcome adversity. Castroneves made contact with Francesco Dracone and Jakes spun on a restart. And they both finished on the podium

4. Someone get Simona de Silvestro a full-time ride. She showed speed at St. Petersburg, she kept it clean today and if it weren't for a puddle, she might have been on the podium.

5. Juan Pablo Montoya was fortunate the race was set by entrant points because I am not sure he would have been a factor if he started in the back.

6. Tony Kanaan overcame going off on slick to finish sixth. Will Power quietly finished seventh and Graham Rahal finished eighth, which I am sure he will take.

7. Really good day for CFH Racing with Josef Newgarden and Luca Filippi in ninth and tenth. CFH will win a race this year and all three of their drivers could get victories.

8. This was a rough for many teams. Got to give a shout out to Stefano Coletti for spinning, backing into the barrier and keeping the car going and finishing the race!

9. Francesco Dracone has to be parked. He shouldn't have been allowed to race in the first place but IndyCar officials don't have a backbone to try and keep the series little integrity intact.

10. You can't take much from this race since most of it was behind the safety car. I really wish we got to see a proper race at NOLA. IndyCar won't do this because they are IndyCar but they should go back later in the year, allow all fans who bought a ticket to this race to return for free, sell $10 tickets for new fans who want to attend and run a proper race and use it as a make up for Brasilia.

11. Off to Long Beach. Thank goodness.