1. Felix Rosenqvist's first career victory was coming. There were plenty of opportunities as a rookie, but rookies do not normally win. It takes time and Rosenqvist picked up valuable experiences. His charge on Scott Dixon last year at Mid-Ohio came into play today.
Last year, Rosenqvist was there, he had a faster car on fresher tires, but the defensive Dixon held off the Swede on the final lap. It was devastatingly close. Who loses by less than a tenth of a second at Mid-Ohio? Rosenqvist was brilliant but fell a few feet short.
Nearly a year later, Rosenqvist was in the same spot. Fresher tires, faster car and chasing down Patricio O'Ward, who was marvelous from pole position. Rosenqvist had made some mistakes earlier in the race. A slow pit stop cost him a great chance in the middle of the proceedings, but Rosenqvist stayed in reaching distance and it came down to a 13-lap sprint. O'Ward held the gap but Rosenqvist had legs and again went on the chase.
While O'Ward huffed and puffed, sliding around the track, he ran into traffic to make his day worse. First, it was Conor Daly, who was on fresher tires and drove back to the lead lap. Then it was Dalton Kellett. Kellett did get out of the way, but these minor disruptions were all Rosenqvist needed.
After O'Ward tapped Daly off track in turn seven yesterday, Rosenqvist made the final pass for the lead in the same corner. He scooted through and drove into the distance.
Rosenqvist coughed up a lot of points through the first three races. He should have been second at Texas and he was lost in the next two races. This season was shaping up to be a questionable sophomore year for Rosenqvist. Chip Ganassi wasn't going to accept a slump this year from Rosenqvist. He might not have fired him, though Ganassi is known for a quick trigger, but the pressure was going to be higher. Rosenqvist sealed the deal today and more is expected for the rest of the season. He is off the snide and looking to continue to soar.
2. You lost today Patricio O'Ward, but that doesn't mean you have to like it.
O'Ward's first career victory was in his fingers. He drove exceptional today. From his first career pole position, O'Ward was the man for 90% of today. He didn't put a wheel wrong and he didn't lose this race. It would be easy to toss the crew under the bus for putting on scuffed alternate tires on the car under the final pit stop while Rosenqvist took fresh primary tires. Last year, Colton Herta lost a lot of ground on alternate tires in the final stint. Herta went from fourth to eighth.
History suggests O'Ward's team made the wrong call, but today was different. After everyone who stopped early in the Saturday race had the advantage after pit stops, today favored the drivers that stopped later in a run. The team felt better on the alternate tire and they fell 2.8699 seconds short. It was a great day. It didn't pay off when it looked to be set for something tremendous. Arrow McLaren SP took a big step today. Not everything comes at once and the team has a good pilot in O'Ward.
3. Alexander Rossi finally had a good day, and it was a third-place finish. Rossi had a good car over the entire race. He was good on the alternate tire and the primary tire. He didn't have the pace of O'Ward and Rosenqvist, but he was the third best car today.
Other than yesterday, none of Rossi's poor results have been his fault. If his car starts at Texas and the fuel pressure issue doesn't happen at Indianapolis, he probably gets a top ten in both races. He might not have won but he at least finishes seventh or eighth in each. If he starts the year with a seventh, eighth and third in three of the first four races we are saying Rossi has been consistent, is off to a good start and if he strings together some victories, he will be in the title fight.
That is not the case in 2020. He is 18th in the championship over 100 points back. This shook the monkey off his back. Iowa has not been one of Rossi's better tracks, but he will need another pair of strong days.
4. Marcus Ericsson has been one of the most improved drivers in IndyCar this season. It was a little odd when Ericsson joined Ganassi. The Swede had not set the world on fire in his rookie year. He had many good runs, but those didn't always result in finishes. That is the antithesis of a Ganassi driver. The team brought him in and he has been stout. Outside of Texas, where Ericsson ran well only to have re-fueling issues cost him a top ten, he has been one of the top five drivers this season. With how he has raced, I would not be shocked in all three Ganassi drivers get a victory this season.
5. Another race, another top five finish for Colton Herta. Herta is reeling off solid finish after solid finish. After last year, he has to be enjoying these days. He had too many bad days, most of which were out of his hands. Having a car that he can trust will do wonders for his confidence and he has yet to be one of the top two or three cars in a race weekend, but he is there and will do more over the course of the season.
6. New day, same result with Santino Ferrucci in sixth, but this result was much different. Ferrucci got into the back of Jack Harvey at the start and was sent to the back of the field. This penalty was a setback, but it still allowed him to go off-strategy to get back into the race. He stopped under the cautions and stretch his stints to get a sixth-place result.
It was odd that the penalties that were end of the line for contact instead of a drive-through. I would guess that is because of the size of Road America, but putting a car at the end of the line does not have much teeth compared to making a driver lose 30 to 40 seconds and then having a gap to overcome. End of the line is setting a car back about 15 seconds and an early pit stop or different strategy and be used to circumvent the punishment.
If pit lane speeding is a drive-through, why isn't knocking a car off track through avoidable contact?
7. Álex Palou struggled in the middle of the race on tires and it dropped him from a podium contender to outside the top ten at one point. Palou rebounded and pulled out a seventh-place finish. This was a great weekend for him.
8. Three races and three times I am not sure how Takuma Sato picked up a top ten finish. All I can say is Ryan Hunter-Reay and Graham Rahal were taken out on lap one and a handful of other cars had issues during the race. Sato didn't and it allowed him to finish eighth instead of 13th. Sato's finishes are tenth, ninth and eighth. You know where he will finish in the Iowa races.
9. Josef Newgarden was on the wrong tires at the start and he lost ground he could not pick up. The primary tires set him back and he got off them as soon as he could, but he was not making his way through the field at the same rate of other drivers. It was a good recovery from yesterday and he is heading to Iowa. He will be fine.
10. Charlie Kimball does what Charlie Kimball does. He buckles down and takes an average car into the top ten. Foyt has work to do on road courses and Kimball is the right guy to have in the team. This was the team's first top ten finish at Road America since 1991 when Mike Groff finished eighth. It was a step in the right direction.
11. Will Power made contact with Hunter-Reay's left rear tire entering turn one, sending the American into the barrier and ending this race. Before the caution could be displayed for that contact, Power hip-checked Rahal in turn three, Rahal high-sided the curbs, made contact with Rosenqvist and then the barrier.
I thought the first contact with Hunter-Reay was a racing incident. It was a case of not a lot of room entering a corner and Hunter-Reay looked outside and Power was there. It happens. After that though, seconds later, Power shows no regard for human life and pinballs into Rahal. Taking out one car can slide on lap one. Taking out two? No, a penalty is needed.
Is dropping to the rear of the field enough? No. That should be a lap penalty. Tony Kanaan took out half the field at Texas a few years ago and lost two laps. I don't think seven cars should be the minimum for getting a one-lap penalty. Power took out two in one lap. If he was put down a lap right then and there, he finishes 19th, maybe he gets back on the lead lap, but he would likely still finish outside the top fifteen. There needed to be a little more bite to these penalties today.
12. When you win the first three races, you are allowed a bad day. Scott Dixon was 12th. He stalled twice on a pit stop and dropped from a top ten finish to 12th. Dixon struggled today with his rear tires. It was unusual to see considering how he drove yesterday and how his teammates did today. Either way, he is still a race victory clear of the field. He will be fine. He can keep his hands on the Astor Cup.
13. Through the rest of the field: Simon Pagenaud was nowhere this weekend and I cannot explain it. Rinus VeeKay went from 15th to sixth without a full lap of green flag racing but he faded over the entirety of the race. Guess who was 15th? Correct, it was Max Chilton. Zach Veach is settling in to being 16th for the rest of the season. Jack Harvey had another promising day crushed. Conor Daly had front wing damage at the start and could never recover. Marco Andretti was nowhere today. Dalton Kellett was there and slow. Oliver Askew got the strategy wrong, which isn't a good look when his teammate finished second.
14. Tough blows for Ryan Hunter-Reay and Graham Rahal. Both could have been top five finishers or podium finishers. I think both will recover at Iowa, but this field is better this year. Rosenqvist is winning races and Ericsson is in the top five on speed. Both Dale Coyne cars were strong in both races. Sato keeps sneaking into the top ten. Kimball is dragging A.J. Foyt Racing into the top ten. This series got tougher.
15. We did not see the usual Road America races. We kind of did. Both races saw the pole-sitter dominate, but Newgarden stalled and gave away a surefire victory and O'Ward was chased down. We had multiple incidents in each race. Alternate strategies worked. We did not get the typical Road America race where everyone is forced to stop for fuel either 12, 13, 14 or 15 laps into a stint and we go from there. We had two chances for that this weekend and neither played out that way. Only five of the first 29 Road America races had winners starting outside the five. Both winners started outside the top five this weekend. Road America works as a doubleheader weekend. I get it if it doesn't return in 2021, but I would not be against it.
16. And we race in five days, a 250-lap race at Iowa with another 250-lap race the day after that. Dixon's winning streak is over but Chip Ganassi's streak continues, four-for-four and looking to extend it to six-for-six.
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