1. The one guy to use an alternate strategy, stop before the competition caution and make it a two-stop race won the whole thing and it was Scott McLaughlin of all people.
McLaughlin has been one of the most talked about drivers of the IndyCar offseason. The back-to-back Supercars champion got a testing opportunity with Team Penske and he turned that test into a shot in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and potentially more races in 2020. Unfortunately, the pandemic has put those plans on the back burner but McLaughlin is showing an intense interest in IndyCar. He was racing at 5:00 a.m. in Australia. He got up at 2:00 a.m. to prepare for this race. He didn't have to do that but he is slowing making a name for himself.
We are not sure when McLaughlin will get his first race experience in an IndyCar. He may have to wait until 2021 but the wait will be worth it.
2. Will Power was second and for the second consecutive race he was on the podium after he was third at Watkins Glen. It should not be a surprise Power has a knack for this. The guy is talented. He is probably going to win one of the final four races of this series.
3. Scott Speed was third and, I will be honest, Scott Speed doesn't do anything for me. He flamed out of Formula One. He has a history of reckless driving from stock cars to iRacing itself. His only success is in a rallycross series that no longer exists. I am not going to pretend that I am interested in giving him a shot in an actually IndyCar after this event. There are plenty of other guys I would be more interested in seeing fill-in for Marco Andretti but life isn't fair and Speed drove for Andretti Autosport in rallycross. It is not about what you know but who you know.
4. Álex Palou was fourth and I must admit I forgot to mention him last week. Palou was doing well at Watkins Glen but had an issue with his pit stop. I think he was unable to get into his pit box and he had to go out and do another lap. That cost him a potential top five finish last week but this week he was clean and it was a respectable result in fourth. McLaughlin is one guy we cannot wait to see in an IndyCar but Palou seems like he is going to be strong.
5. Simon Pagenaud rounded out the top five in an uneventful day. He was strong but not a front-runner. It was a typical Simon Pagenaud day.
6. Felix Rosenqvist was fortunate to finish sixth after contact with Sage Karam. Karam had dominated the race from the start but he got caught in traffic before his pit stop and came out next to Rosenqvist. Power had leapfrogged both drivers. Rosenqvist had a great run and got ahead of Karam in turn five. The two drivers came together in turn eight. Karam continued and Rosenqvist's spin was not terminal to his race.
Karam would fall down the order, had a pit lane speeding penalty, got in an accident with Tony Kanaan and quit. At least Karam did do an in-race interview. He wasn't that bad of a sport about all of it.
Rosenqvist continued and held on for sixth. Not bad. Similar to Power, Rosenqvist is likely going to win one of these final four races.
7. Colton Herta was seventh in what was a better day than last week.
8. Robert Wickens was eighth in his first race back since his Pocono accident in August 2018. Wickens started dead last because he spun in the final corner on his qualifying lap. He picked off driver after driver in the opening laps and missed all the accidents. He had a few moments and he has only had his equipment for less than a week. This is fantastic all things considered and if he had completed his qualifying run he said he would have been starting in the middle of the top ten. Imagine what he could have done if he started there.
9. Quick run down of the rest of the field: Josef Newgarden and Santino Ferrucci rounded out the top ten. We didn't see much of Newgarden but he spent much of the race in the top ten. Ferrucci had a few incidents and still pulled off tenth.
Dalton Kellett was 11th again.
Jimmie Johnson was 12th and drove a smart race. We didn't really didn't see Johnson at all. There was no point where the broadcast focused on Johnson like a zoo animal in a cage. That is fine. Johnson is just trying to get laps and he has been successful at doing that. He also isn't getting himself in trouble and doing that alone is a big difference between finishing on the lead lap in 12th and being 24th in these events.
Sébastien Bourdais, Graham Rahal and Oliver Askew rounded out the cars on the lead lap. All had incidents, all recovered and Askew had contact from his own teammate Patricio O'Ward that sent him back. O'Ward had one too many incidents in this one.
Scott Dixon was doing well in the top ten but dropped to 16th. I am not entirely sure what happened.
James Hinchcliffe did nothing. Ed Carpenter was there and was 18th, not bad considering he has not been on a road course since 2013.
The actual Andretti Autosport drivers were awful. Zach Veach and Kyle Kirkwood both spun. Kirkwood spun coming to the green flag. Alexander Rossi had four or five incidents.
Kyle Kaiser, Conor Daly, Marcus Ericsson, Jack Harvey and Felipe Nasr also competed in today's event.
10. The format featured a slight change this weekend with a competition caution at lap 15. The Watkins Glen race was caution-free and it spread out. It felt like an IndyCar race. Sometimes you get those races where there is not a caution, the leader checks out and for the final 15 laps you know the results. This week they put in a competition caution to bunch up the field and it is a video game, who cares?
I will admit I think NASCAR might have something with the format it is using tomorrow, two heat races with a main event. For NASCAR, the heat races are just setting the grid for the main race. No one is missing out on the feature.
This is a time for experimentation and I think IndyCar should give something else a try. If there is going to be a competition caution at lap 15, let's just have two 10-lap heat races but have those be reverse grid race. Hold a qualifying session, odd-numbered qualifiers in race one, even-numbered in race two and then the results of those heats set the grid for the main race, let's say it is 25 laps.
That format could allow each race to get in without a commercial break in the middle. It would mix it up a bit. Sage Karam would have to start at the back of the field, as would Will Power. We would get to see some different names, it would be a sprint with incentives to pass and it would be easier to follow.
A downside to iRacing is it does not allow for quick camera changes. You miss a lot of incidents. On the first lap, there were incidents in turn one, five and eight and we saw none of them. Scott Speed had an issue and we didn't see it. Scott Dixon had a spin and we didn't see it. It is just the natural limitations of the broadcast. Credit to iRacing that it caught the Zach Veach spin in the penultimate corner. They had a replay of Patricio O'Ward's first spin but not when he and Oliver Askew got together. If there were only 14 or 15 cars in a race versus 29 cars it would be easier to digest.
11. I am going to do a couple of quick hits:
It is hard to keep up with the pit cycle and that is just because of how iRacing is set up. You do not see the pit stops and you are not entirely sure who has made a stop and who hasn't. You do not know when a driver last stopped.
It would be nice if there was available live timing and scoring. That is asking a lot at this time but perhaps it is possible.
I hope qualifying can be completed before the broadcast begins in the future. It is different to tune in to a race and not know the grid and the first time you find out the lineup is on the pace lap. I know qualifying was happening during the early portion of the broadcast and it might not be possible to look into the qualifying session. I know the drivers are being gracious with their time but it might work out if qualifying was a half-hour before the broadcast starts. The session could be completed and the results could be posted before the broadcast even begins.
12. The next race is going to be Michigan and it was labelled as "drivers' choice" and I am wondering did the drivers choose Michigan or did someone else choose Michigan? Not that there is a problem with Michigan. We will have a discussion below about how quickly the "drivers' choice" was announced.
I think a lot of people had buyer's remorse last week when Watkins Glen won the fan vote handily over Michigan and then saw a less than exciting race. If the appetite is there for Michigan then great and I do think one of these events should be an oval. I am glad it is an event that is not on the schedule. This is a good thing and it will be fun to watch.
13. Michigan being the next race is an interesting choice because Nate Ryan had a story about IndyCar running at Talladega in one of these IndyCar iRacing events and the reason for such as story is because Dale Earnhardt, Jr. tweeted he would be interested in competing in one of the IndyCar events. The kicker is he would do it if it is an oval.
Do I think the drivers picked Michigan? No.
Unfortunately, we will not get to see the fun IndyCar had in-store for the drivers' choice track. I was hoping we would have each driver announce their track on Twitter or have some fun vote and reveal the night before. It would have been intriguing to see what tracks were thrown out there.
Do I think this was done to try and entice a big name such as Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and perhaps a few other NASCAR guys to run? Yes.
Is there anything wrong with pandering for ratings? Depends what you value.
Earnhardt, Jr. is the most known driver in American motorsports over the last 25 years. With these races now being broadcasted on NBCSN it would be beneficial to get Earnhardt, Jr. out there from a network's point of view.
I question if IndyCar should plant one oval to get Earnhardt, Jr. in. It is for fun and having a race at Michigan or perhaps Talladega for the "non-IndyCar dream track" on May 2 would not be bad but there is no risk to Earnhardt, Jr.'s health and safety wherever the race is held. If Earnhardt, Jr. wants to compete, come and join even if it is a road course. Jimmie Johnson is getting out of his element. I don't think Earnhardt, Jr. should be afraid to take a risk.
14. Speaking of getting drivers to compete, we had 29 entries today and that is great. I do not know what the limit is for iRacing. I am sure it would not be possible to have 60 cars at Michigan next week but I do want to see a few other drivers run.
Stefan Wilson raced last night in an event and had a nice tribute livery to his brother Justin's CDW RuSport Champ Car and that would be cool to see in one of these events. Gabby Chaves has been competing in different series. James Davison has been competing. J.R. Hildebrand is available and competing in other series. I would love to see those IndyCar role-players get to run here in the IndyCar event.
I want to see Dario Franchitti in a race. He has been great in The Race's Legend Trophy events. Franchitti makes perfect sense for these IndyCar events.
I want to see Lando Norris compete with McLaren and run against his old MSA Formula teammate Colton Herta.
Let's get Hélio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya into the field.
Is Fernando Alonso available?
The barrier for entry is low. This isn't a case of Penske doesn't have a ride for Montoya. Montoya has a ride for Montoya. Castroneves has a ride for Castroneves. Franchitti has a ride for Franchitti. As long as they have the time in their schedules, let them race.
I know NASCAR has run into the problem of having too many entries and I would not want IndyCar to get to that point but IndyCar has done a better job with the invitations. If you keep the 29 guys already out there, add Franchitti, Alonso, Norris, Castroneves, Montoya, Hildebrand, Davison, Wilson and Chaves you have 38 cars, more than you would see in an IndyCar race but it is not bonkers. We had 29 cars today at Barber. We haven't seen 29 cars in an IndyCar road course race since Long Beach in 1998. Today worked out with a larger than actual field. What would be six or seven more cars with known names?
15. As stated above, on to Michigan.
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