1. I am going to try and make this quick, because this race was a mess and I have a migraine
This was the most fortunate victory of Josef Newgarden's career, but that was not going to be enough for Newgarden to overcome the championship deficit to Scott Dixon.
Alexander Rossi lost his car in the marbles while on the verge of cycling back to the lead. Colton Herta had overboost issues. James Hinchcliffe spun under caution. Andretti Autosport coughed up the ball on three separate occasions and when it landed in the lap of Team Penske's Josef Newgarden, he clutched onto to and never let go.
However, he needed Dixon to have one of his worst days of the season and after the hardship Dixon experienced in the last two rounds, that was likely not going to happen.
Bravo to Newgarden for making this championship close. I thought Dixon was going to lock it up with three races to go. I thought IndyCar was going to be in the odd position of having multiple dead rubbers to close out a season that was delay three months and the season finale occurred a month late usual.
Newgarden did his best. The Astor Cup will not bear his name for a third time, but it was an admirable title defense.
2. Patricio O'Ward came out of nowhere and finished second. The Andretti Autosport misfortune gave O'Ward another runner-up finish. This might have been at best a sixth-place finish if it wasn't for these incidents.
O'Ward doesn't get the fanfare of a rookie year. He made about two too many starts last year, but fourth in the championship in his first full season is outstanding. He has done exceptional and victories will be coming for him in 2021.
3. And our champion. Scott Dixon. Six championships.
I joked when Dixon won at Texas the season was over in June because every year Dixon has won at Texas, he has won the championship. Dixon opened the year with three consecutive victories and after his Gateway victory, his championship lead was 117 points.
Dixon used all that insurance, because his final championship margin was 16 points. Dixon was incredible this year, even if it came down to the final corner. An Indianapolis 500 eluded him. It was the one missing mark from a perfect season, but even on his worst days, he was stellar. He had one finish outside the top ten, a 12th at Road America after his three consecutive victories. We were worried when Dixon had a pair of tenth-place finishes at Mid-Ohio.
Dixon and Newgarden both completed all 1,900 laps. Both drivers won four races. They were first and second in podium finishes. They were tied for most top five finishes. They were first and second in laps led and first and second in average finish. Dixon was a little bit better. Newgarden had one too many off days and Newgarden only had two finishes outside the top ten. His worst finish was 14th, though that was the first Road America race, which Newgarden probably should have one.
This was a wonderful championship battle, even if it was not the most frantic.
In how tumultuous this year has been, a Scott Dixon championship is comforting. It is familiar. It feels right.
4. Sébastien Bourdais was fourth in his third race with A.J. Foyt Racing. Bourdais is going to do special things in 2021 with this cellar-dwelling team. This was only his second race weekend. The Harvest Grand Prix was a test session. Take two was phenomenal. Foyt could be looking at its best season in almost 20 years come 2021.
5. Ryan Hunter-Reay should not be the top Andretti Autosport finish in fifth. Hunter-Reay started 19th, though he made up ground in the early portion of the race and a top ten result was certain. Then a parade of nonstop cautions happened, the other four Andretti Autosport cars were taken out and Hunter-Reay was the last man standing. It is a good result for him, but this day could have been much better for Andretti Autosport.
6. Simon Pagenaud quietly came home in sixth. Pagenaud has to improve in qualifying next year. He had too many races where he was starting outside the top ten. His talent got him up to sixth today and many other top ten finishes, but he has got to do better at setting himself up in a better position.
7. Marcus Ericsson was seventh, and this is likely four spots better than he should have been, but this was a sneaky good year, borderline great year for Ericsson. He didn't win, nor did he stand on a podium, but he had nine top ten finishes. He had more top ten finishes than Felix Rosenqvist. If I told you Ericsson would have more top ten finishes than Rosenqvist back in January, you would have been shocked.
8. Charlie Kimball gets his best finish of the season in eighth. Kimball was not an eighth-place car today. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.
9. The Rossi caution caught out Graham Rahal. Rahal still got a ninth place finish out of it. Good day for him. Rahal piles up solid results, but victories and podium finishes are few and far between.
10. Takuma Sato ran over four guys today and still finished tenth. This was vintage Sato.
11. Colton Herta had overboost, went wide in turn four to lose second at one point to drop to fourth, got the lead after Rossi's accident, overboost bit him again, dropped him to third, he got back to second, fell to third when O'Ward took the spot and then ended up in the turn four tires but only softly got into them and he backed up to finish 11th.
I am going to handle all of Andretti Autosport here. Alexander Rossi got into the marbles during a pit cycle and his spin ruined his best race of the season. This was Rossi's race. No one was close to him and one mistake, which I don't even want to call it a mistake. He was a hair more to the left exiting turn three and he lost it. I am not sure who has had a worst year, Rossi or Kyle Busch in the NASCAR Cup Series. Both drivers have been strong and had great results, but victories have been hard to come by.
Marco Andretti had a dream race today and drove into the top ten. Andretti was ahead of Hunter-Reay. I thought he would finish seventh. And then Takuma Sato and Jack Harvey bounced into each other and Andretti was taken out. This was not a result that Andretti deserved.
For a portion of this race, it appeared it would be an Andretti 1-2-3 with James Hinchcliffe in third behind Rossi and Herta. After Rossi's issue, Hinchcliffe spun in the final corner under yellow and then drove into the side of Harvey. Hinchcliffe had a broken front wing. He was out of contention for victory, 14th would have to do.
Andretti should have had at least two podium finishes, three in the top five and at least four in the top ten if not all five. Instead, all it had was Hunter-Reay in fifth. This is worse than Indianapolis 500 qualifying when Marco Andretti saved the day with pole position.
12. Max Chilton was 12th and another top ten fell out of his grasp. Chilton is good. Carlin has good pace. We saw what the team can do on the ovals with Conor Daly. I think this team has a lot to be excited about in 2021.
13. Álex Palou gambled on fuel but had to stop with six laps to go from fifth and he finished 13th. Not the greatest rookie year from Palou, but we have seen far worse. I hope Palou returns in 2021.
14. Quickly through the rest of the field: Rinus VeeKay tangled with Scott McLaughlin and was 15th. McLaughlin's race was done. McLaughlin looked good over the two days, but he has plenty to learn ahead of his rookie season next year. Oliver Askew's miserable stint with Arrow McLaren SP ended miserably. Askew looked to be in prime position for a top ten and then he got into the tires. Conor Daly had his car step out on him under caution in turn three. Daly hit the wall and the hop of a good day was gone early.
15. Felix Rosenqvist was all over the place today. He had a flat tire that took him out of it. Rosenqvist appeared to be Ganassi's future and now it seems he will be off to AMSP to replace Askew. I hesitated to say Rosenqvist had a sophomore slump this year because he did win at Road America and he had some good days, but there were too many bad days, some were out of his control, but others did not make any sense. AMSP has a short leash. I think Rosenqvist could still be great. He has to be better.
16. Jack Harvey was hit multiple times today and he should have had a top ten finish instead of 19th. Takuma Sato got into Santino Ferrucci and ended Ferrucci's day. Will Power hit the same barrier as Daly did. Power did it while in the top five. Power was having downshift issues before that. It cost him the lead to Rossi and a handful of positions at the start. These kinds of things happen too often to Power.
17. I am going to close here. I am glad this season is over. As nice as it was to have IndyCar race into October, this year has been such a mess, I can't say I was enjoying this finish, not as much as I have in recent seasons. I was happy IndyCar was around, and we did have a longer break between races at the start of the season, but this was different, and I just want a break from life.
I am happy the season got in. It was only 14 races, but that is a sufficient season. We got a street course race in. We still had Road America, Mid-Ohio, Gateway, Iowa, Texas and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. We even had a doubleheader on the IMS road course. And we had the Indianapolis 500.
There were a couple of venues we did not get to visit, and we missed Long Beach, Barber, Portland and Laguna Seca. Unfortunately, this pandemic has taken Austin from IndyCar before it could make a second visit and the long-awaited return to Richmond will have to wait a little longer. We are losing Iowa. There is plenty of uncertainty ahead.
But we got through this year. None of the drivers caught the virus and had to miss races. None of the key crew members, team owners and officials got ill. That is the best part of finishing this season to me. For the last month it felt like IndyCar was playing with fate ad something was bound to bite the series. It got through it unscathed.
Now we can look unto 2021. For all the uncertainty, there is plenty to be excited about.
18. There are only 133 days until we are back in St. Petersburg for the 2021 season opener. If everything goes as planned. As we have seen this year, plans are subject to change.
