1. This might be the most delayed first impressions in the eight-year history of this blog, but life happens, and sometimes a race takes a backseat, and for good reason. We live in a DVR world. With a bit of patience and discipline, you can go a full day without knowing a result, watch a race in its entirety, fast forward through commercials and comment on it without any spoilers. Here we are today doing such for the first race of a doubleheader that wasn't supposed to be on a weekend it wasn't supposed to be held.
2. So, that was an interesting race. Josef Newgarden appeared to have this race in the bag at halfway, only to stall on his second pit stop. Just when it appeared Newgarden was set to land a big punch in his title defense, the door opened for a race we haven't seen at Road America since IndyCar returned.
With Newgarden's mistake and a timely caution right at the opening for final pit stops, it allowed Scott Dixon to take the lead on the final pit cycle under caution from Will Power, who started the race slow.
Dixon's first was sheer speed. His second victory was a great plan that a great driver executed to perfection. Today came from a bit of fortune, a great pit stop and flawlessness in the closing laps while in the lead.
The championship is over. Dixon has got it. Three victories from three races. This is the dream season for Dixon, a masterpiece in the making. With his 40th birthday ten days away, Dixon is at the peak of his career. Not only has he won three consecutive races to start a season, the first driver to do it in 14 years and only the fifth driver in IndyCar history to do it but he is one victory away from 50 career victories and he would be just the third driver to reach that milestone. It is looking very likely Dixon might surpass Mario Andretti for second most victories before 2020 is out. If Dixon doesn't pass Andretti before this year is over, he could end up tied with him.
Besides the victories, Dixon is going for a sixth championship. He is already second all-time in that category but six puts him one away from tying A.J. Foyt's record. After the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, I wrote Dixon is looking to make history on the racetrack. He is going to do it and we are here to following along. This year has already been something 99% of us have never experienced and hope to never again, but when it comes to what Dixon is doing, we must cherish it.
3. With Newgarden out of it, it opened the door for Will Power, who lost significant time in the opening stint, to pull this race out. I am not sure how Power did it. He was in the back half of the top ten at the end of the first stint. When that pit cycle was over, Power was third.
It is Penske Pit Stop Magic. I have no other way to explain it. How can a car that was about seventh or eighth and did not look competitive jump to third just through a pit cycle and then go longer on the second stint, benefit from the leader stalling and have a pit stop fast enough to get out in the lead?
Give the 20 non-Penske cars on the grid the same situation and probably only Scott Dixon can pull out the victory. One or two other cars could pull out a top five. Of the other 17 or 18 drivers, half finish exactly where they were running at the start and the other half would lose ground.
Power lost the victory with one long stop under the final caution. He held on for second, which was significantly better than it appeared his race would be in the opening laps.
4. Álex Palou finally has a good day and it is a third-place finish in his third career start. Dale Coyne Racing had never had a top five finish at Road America entering this race and now the team has a podium finish at the track.
Palou was great. He stopped early in his first stint and gained a lot of ground. In the final stint, he went toe-to-toe with Ryan Hunter-Reay and took the podium spot. Bravo to him and he gets another chance to better his result at Road America.
5. Ryan Hunter-Reay was good today and finished fourth. It wasn't great. There were times he went wide or didn't seem to have the speed on the alternate tire. It didn't appear he was going to be a contender for a victory but could get a top five. That is fine and the team can build from here.
6. Colton Herta rounded out the top five and this has been a strong year for Herta. The only problem is Dixon has won three consecutive races and Herta has yet to stand on the podium. Herta has been smart and after a slew of mechanical failures rained on his season after that early victory at Austin it is good he is stringing together strong results.
7. This was Santino Ferrucci's best road course race in IndyCar. Ferrucci started sixth, was up to fourth early and was in contention for a podium position. He lost some ground on his final pit stop. It was a slow change on the right front but what made it worse was braking to avoid Dalton Kellett entering his pit stall. It set him back, but he got sixth out of it.
8. Graham Rahal might have won this race if it were not for fuel probe issues on his first stop. That dropped Rahal from second to outside the top ten. Like Ferrucci, Rahal recovered only to be thinking this day could have been better than seventh.
9. Patricio O'Ward matches his career best finish for a second consecutive race in eighth. O'Ward notable moment was going wheel-to-wheel with Simon Pagenaud and running Pagenaud wide in turn five. It was a hard move and O'Ward deserved the position. Although, it was not O'Ward only on-track altercation. He made contact with Conor Daly, which knocked the American out of the race. Other than the contact, these three races have been a good start for O'Ward.
10. This is the second consecutive race I have no clue how Takuma Sato scored a top ten finish. Sato was ninth today. I am not sure how he did it. He was never in the discussion.
11. Marcus Ericsson rounded out the top ten, although it was nearly seventh place. Ericsson was charging for sixth on the final lap and spun in the process. Dropping to tenth is not that bad, but that is a couple of points left on the table.
12. Quickly through the rest of the field: Charlie Kimball silently climbed to 11th. Simon Pagenaud was in the top ten for a bit and he lost eighth late, but he wasn't going to be better than eighth today. Rinus VeeKay was 13th and had a great pass on Pagenaud on lap one in the carousel. Oliver Askew didn't have a good day and was 15th. Zach Veach continues to sink like a rock. Max Chilton was 17th again. Felix Rosenqvist cannot catch a break and had to get the engine cover taken off. Hondas were again having mechanical issues. Dalton Kellett made many rookie mistakes.
13. For the first half of this race Josef Newgarden had this in the bag and I thought this was Newgarden's first landed punch in his title defense. Newgarden held off the charge from Hunter-Reay at the start and benefitted when Rahal botched his first pit stop with a re-fueling issue, canceling out any chance of Rahal leapfrogging Newgarden. The race was over there. With Rahal gone, Newgarden held a nine-second lead and no one was going to run him down.
Then Newgarden made a mistake. His lead was great enough that he could have probably stalled, re-fired and retained the lead, but the team did not have a clean restart and he lost the lead. It appeared Newgarden would get back into the top five only to lock up his tires on the first restart and it forced him to make an extra stop. It dropped him to 14th and, with Dixon three-for-three, Newgarden could not afford to cough up those points.
14. Alexander Rossi is fucked. Rossi went off course on lap one in the penultimate corner. He clipped a barrier and had to make an extra pit stop. For a moment, it appeared Rossi could get back into in and might be able to salvage a top ten finish. A bad day became worse when he made contact with Chilton, knocked his toe out and deflated a tire.
Rossi is fucked because his best finish is 15th. He hasn't had a good race in over a year. This is concerning. The championship is out of the discussion. Rossi needs a great race, something that gives us confidence because right now this is not a driver I see winning races anytime soon.
15. I am going to end with the bottom two finishers. Marco Andretti went off at the same time, at the same corner with Rossi. Like Rossi, Andretti carried off banner on his front wing. This forced an early pit stop and Andretti sped on that stop. Andretti qualified tenth. He cannot get a break and then he broke down under caution. It was tough to watch because it was a promising start.
Jack Harvey lost his brakes and went off course, causing the first caution while in the top five. Harvey probably should have had a top five finish from each of the last two races. Instead, he has finishes of 17th and 23rd. That is hard to swallow and not fair.
16. Since when did Road America lose 0.034 miles? On the broadcast, it said the track was 4.014 miles and for years, I guess forever, I have known the course at 4.048 miles in length. Maybe it was the 65-year measurement and they found the track shrunk. I don't know.
17. It sucks watching a race taped because you do not have live timing and scoring and cannot keep an eye on other drivers and battles down the field. You are at the mercy of what happens on the screen and what the scoring pylon is telling you. It is a bit of an odd feeling having less resources at your disposal.
18. I liked the late afternoon start time, especially for a Saturday. You got sunlight for hours, it is great way to make the most of it.
19. We get to do this all again... in a couple of hours because this is posting in the wee hours of Sunday morning. Sunday's stuff should be on-time. No need to think you will have to wait to see it Monday morning.
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