It was just how the race played out. With the length and the caution at the start, a driver could make it on one-stop while the two-stoppers were left chasing. Pagenaud ran a consistent pace and came out on top. At the start of the final lap, Pagenaud's lead was over 13 seconds and he cruised to a victory, Team Penske's second in two races and Chevrolet's third in three in what was the Chevrolet 275.
2. Over 13 seconds behind Pagenaud was teammate Scott McLaughlin, who was in the accident at the start and was behind the eight ball but he recovered with strategy. McLaughlin had to stop at the start for repairs but that stop allowed him to make it to lap 45 for his final stop. He pulled off a 40-lap final stint. What appeared to be a day ruined immediately turned into a stellar result.
3. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was third and he ran the same strategy as McLaughlin. Earnhardt, Jr. made his first stop under the first caution, made it to lap 45 and made it to the end of the race running at about 75% throttle. He was 15.337 seconds back of Pagenaud at the end. He drove a smart race. He wasn't mixing it up at the front and the way this one played out brains beat brawn.
4. Will Power was at the front all race and Power had to make a second stop. He put on a charge but the gap was too great and fourth was the best he could do, 16.863 seconds behind his teammate Pagenaud. Any other day, Power wins or finishes in the top three. Today, fourth is not bad.
5. Graham Rahal was another guy at the front all race and he rounded out the top five. If this race plays out differently, I think Rahal would have been fighting for the victory. He was hanging in there and in some of the practice races Rahal found himself mixing it up with the leaders coming to the end.
6. Jack Harvey and Alexander Rossi were sixth and seventh. Both drove smart. Ryan Hunter-Reay was stretching it and had to make his final stop in the closing laps. Despite that Hunter-Reay came home in eighth. Ed Carpenter was ninth and Carpenter was running in the top five when he spun entering the pit lane for his final stop. Without that spin, he is battling with Power and Rahal for a top five finish. Álex Palou had another solid race and finished tenth but probably should have been a little better.
7. Going over other notables:
Zach Veach came to pit lane at the start of the final lap. He went 41 laps on that stint but was a lap short. Kyle Kaiser tried to make it after being in the top ten for most of this race and coughed with a dry tank after taking the white flag in second. He deserved better than 12th.
Sage Karam was trading the lead with Will Power non-stop and something happened late because Karam was clawing his way up the order after his final stop and then at the end he was 14th. It sounds like he was caught in an accident late. That is another tough blow after a strong day.
Felipe Nasr was running third with Karam and Power for most of this one and then spun entering pit lane on his first pit stop. Nasr was really good in this one and I bet he cannot wait until he actually gets on an oval.
8. There are a couple of things we can take from this races, and all these iRacing events, and apply to the real world.
Let's go to the accident at the start.
It is a video game and I am going to lay blame at the feet of pole-sitter Marcus Ericsson. Ericsson didn't go. He was waiting and waiting and waiting and the field piled up behind him.
Technically, in iRacing, there is no restart zone or in this case start zone. Once the pace car is in you can go and Ericsson didn't go. I have a feeling he was playing it like a real start to an IndyCar race and the accordion effect took out ten cars.
We have seen this happen at many races. It happened at Pocono two years ago and Spencer Pigot was spinning before even seeing the green flag. It is a problem and a solution is needed.
People laugh at it because it is moronic to watch a dozen race cars get into an accident going at a fraction of race speed but it is embarrassing for any series.
What needs to be done?
First, spread the cars out at the start. If IndyCar was actually racing at Michigan it would be a 400-mile or 500-mile race. The field doesn't need to be under a blanket coming to the start. There is plenty of time and drivers will be able to race to the front. If when the leaders are at the line the final row is in turn four that is fine. It gives everyone room and decreases the risk of a pile up.
Second, I think we need to take the start out of the pole-sitters hand's. I have felt this way for a while and I actually put an idea to paper two days after the 2018 Pocono race. The green flag should be waved when the pace car hits the pit in line. I will repeat the points I made that day:
- It takes it out of the hands of a driver who could manipulate it to brake check the driver behind him or her and potential cause an accordion-like accident similar to the one we saw today.
- Drivers don't do the hurry and wait build up to a restart zone. There is no point in building up speed and then quickly forcing the field to decelerate and then stomp on the throttle to hope to gain an advantage. The pole-sitter or the leader is no longer in charge. If he or she wants to do that and decelerates coming to the line and the lights go green then he or she could get snuffed out and end up losing ten positions. In this scenario a driver would have to stay on edge, remain focused and be ready to go because an external force decides when the race becomes green.
- It is cut and dry. Once the pace car hits the line, the green light comes on and drivers can hit the gas. No more of this restart zone, the leader can start anywhere between two lines. It is just like a stoplight at the intersection outside your house. The light turns green and then everyone can go.
I think there is a better way to handle when a race goes green and IndyCar should use these races as opportunities to improve what we see on track in real life.
9. Watching cars spin entering pit lane has me thinking about the issues IndyCar faces if it returns to Michigan and it has me realizing pit lane entry is a common issue at other IndyCar tracks.
How many times have we seen an incident when a car is entering pit lane at Indianapolis or Pocono or even Fontana? Marcus Ericsson caused a caution spinning onto pit lane at Indianapolis last year. Takuma Sato ran over Ryan Hunter-Reay entering pit lane at Pocono in 2013. We have had numerous incidents with a car severely locking up the tires entering pit lane. Lock ups aren't good. A driver has no control over the car in those situations.
I know it is a video game and in an actual race guys would be more cautious but seeing it happen at least four or five times has me wondering if there is a safer way to do pit entry.
One issue is the difference between the speed on the racetrack and the pit lane limit. The cars are doing 220 MPH on the track. Pit lane limit is 60 MPH at the bigger ovals. That is a 160 MPH difference and these cars have to decelerate that amount of speed in a quarter-mile? That is asking for an accident.
It is easy to fix at Indianapolis because Indianapolis has the access lane on the inside of turn three and turn four. IndyCar could make pit in at turn three at Indianapolis for the race. That is already pit in for all of practice. Gateway has pit in at the entrance of turn three so it already done in an IndyCar race. Other tracks do not have as easy of an answer as Indianapolis and Gateway do. Michigan does not have an access lane and I am sure the track is not going to put one in for IndyCar.
The good news is IndyCar was already eying this problem. Last year, Texas had a two-stage pit lane where the limit was 60 MPH on pit lane and from pit lane exit to the exit of turn two it was 90 MPH. IndyCar was considering extending this two-stage pit speed to pit entry as well with teams having to be at 90 MPH at the entrance of turn three until pit lane. The series was also planning on expanding two-stage pit speed to Iowa, Richmond and Gateway.
It looks like IndyCar was already working on a solution and let's just hope when racing resumes they follow through and adjust pit lane entry at all the ovals.
10. The length played into this race being decided on strategy. The caution helped. Without the caution, this is a two-stop race for everyone. That was the only caution of the race and race control did not throw one for any other single-car or two-car incidents so I think the right decision was made.
It is tough to say IndyCar should have set the distance at a length where it was a two-stop race no matter what because this is a case where the series wants to fill the television window and not go over. The first 15 minutes were pre-race chat and ceremonies and there was a decent post-race length. The top three got interviewed, as did Rahal and James Hinchcliffe.
Without that caution at the start I am not sure how much time this race would have taken and how much time would have been left on the backend. I do know there was a 75-minute time limit for this race. Should we just race to a time limit? I know IndyCar does not do that for ovals or dry weather road/street course races but this is iRacing, a video game. If you set a clock at 75 minutes and go without any cautions you get the maximum amount of racing for the time slot. I am not sure anyone could complain in that case.
11. The next track is the "random" track and, once again, what does random mean?
There is a big push for next week to be an oval, which is fine. But how is IndyCar going to prove to us that it is "random." Random is writing every possible track on a piece of paper, throwing each one raffle drum, spin it for 30 seconds, open the latch and pulling one out. That is random.
Announcing on Twitter two days from now it is Daytona or South Boston or Monza or Silverstone is also random but we do not know how it was selected and the selection is important.
If IndyCar had said from the start this was going to be a random oval, fine. If IndyCar said now it was going to be a random oval it would be fine. I think it is important that it is actually random. This week was "drivers' choice" and yet we didn't hear what every driver wanted. We didn't really hear any driver say Michigan but we ended up racing at Michigan and it was a good race.
It will be interesting to see what "random" track we will be at next week.
12. Happy Easter to all those celebrating and Happy Passover to all those who celebrated earlier this week. Stay safe out there.
