1. It was one of those races and after the red flag for Felix Rosenqvist's accident it completely reset the race we had been watching. After developing into a chaotic battle between the teams adopting the three-stop strategy as early as possible and those who were going to try and stretch the alternate tires on the opening stint, while some start on the primary tie and were going to run two-stop strategy, Rosenqvist's accident and red flag negated all of that and instead of a 70-lap battle, it turned into a 40-lap sprint.
With everything reset, it played into the favor of Will Power, who tried to go as long as possible on the alternate tires. He had just made his stop when Rosenqvist had his accident and it positioned him for a shot at victory. Then Romain Grosjean had an accident in turn six with six laps to go. IndyCar red flagged the race for an attempt at a restart. When it was time to restart, Power's car could not re-fire, and the Australian dropped from the lead to off the lead lap.
Power's misfortune gifted the lead to Marcus Ericsson with four laps to go and Ericsson held on.
I cannot say much about Ericsson's race. He benefitted from the Rosenqvist caution and was set up for a podium finish afterward. Then Power's car fails to restart, and Ericsson just has to keep his nose clean for four laps, which he did. He has been good over the last two seasons, a regular top ten finish, but he has yet to have that stellar day where he controls a race. Even after his victory today, Ericsson has not had a race in IndyCar where he has been one of the three or four fastest cars. He only led the five laps and that is the most laps he has led in an IndyCar race.
I cannot stress this enough; Ericsson has been good in IndyCar. He has been a solid top ten driver since joining Chip Ganassi Racing and he has had a few races get away from him for things out of his control. He has had poor pit stops cost him top tens at Texas, a rear wing on the verge of failing take him out of a top five spot at Gateway and he may have been in the top five at Iowa two years ago if he doesn't have an improper pit entry.
This victory will feel good to him, but it will also feel a little hollow. I think no matter who won today this victory would have felt underwhelming.
2. I am going to level with you, this is not going to be deep analysis of this race. It is going to be more stuff from the gut and reacting to the results.
Rinus VeeKay was second. It feels like it is about ten positions better than he was going to finish. He was another guy who leaped into the top five after the Rosenqvist accident and he held off a charging Patricio O'Ward late.
3. Patricio O'Ward would have been in the top five if the Rosenqvist accident never happened, but he was on a three-stop strategy. He lost out to Alexander Rossi during the first pit cycle, but O'Ward was still going to be at the front. This result feels fitting.
4. All the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing cars overachieved today, and we will cover those in one go because they were fourth, fifth and sixth with Takuma Sato ahead of Graham Rahal and Santino Ferrucci.
Maybe one of these cars could have been in the top ten, but there was no sign all three cars would have made the top ten. Sato even had to give up a spot for blocking. Somehow, they pulled this out. Rahal needed a good result, especially after Indianapolis.
5. I wish we could have seen this race played out without the Rosenqvist accident because Alexander Rossi was incredible after his got off the alternate tires. He stopped very early and he was flying, carving up traffic. It would have been interesting to see how Rossi on a three-stopper would have battled with Scott Dixon, who was on a two-stopper and had started the race on the primary compound, in the closing laps. We didn't get to see it.
6. Scott Dixon was eighth. This is two consecutive races where a caution bites Scott Dixon while he is leading. This result is at least respectable, but it feels like things are not shaking out in his favor this season.
7. Ed Jones was ninth and he looked good all race. He qualified fourth. His team did try to go the longest on the alternate tire and he lost ground. Ninth is probably better than he would have been if the Rosenqvist accident didn't happen. Jones might have ended up 14th or 15th, but in this scenario he fought hard and had a top ten car.
8. Josef Newgarden brushed the barrier on his out lap after his first stop and it looked like he was out of this race. Newgarden only loses a lap and gets the wave around after the Rosenqvist caution and he pulled out a top ten. That sounds about right for a Team Penske driver.
9. I am going to break up the rest of the field in bunches:
Sébastien Bourdais was 11th, but he should have picked up a top ten. He didn't do anything wrong all day.
Simon Pagenaud dropped to 12th after restarting late in the top ten. I don't know if his tires were junk or if contact damaged his car. Either way, the result could have been better.
Conor Daly was 13th. That is it.
Colton Herta cannot get a break. He looked good for a possible top five finish. It just feels like every race Herta's team gets caught out on strategy or he gets caught in traffic at the worst possible time.
10. Álex Palou has struggled this weekend and he was not a factor in this one, finishing 15th. But Palou is still the championship leader!
11. Jack Harvey has been out of his element this weekend. I think 16th is where he should have finished.
James Hinchcliffe also cannot get a break. He was running second when the Rosenqvist accident happened. Hinchcliffe was out of fuel when he stopped on pit lane for the red flag. The team had to re-fuel the car and taking emergency service sent him to the rear. He never recovered and was 17th. He should have been in the top ten.
12. Dalton Kellett was 18th... good for him. I think this is the third time he has matched his career-best finish.
Scott McLaughlin is getting a workout this weekend. Belle Isle is a difficult track. Almost everybody struggles here in their first race.
13. Will Power... oof. Power was angry after this one, and I get it.
IndyCar has been red flagging races late for almost a decade. Each time we have feared what happens if someone does not start. It happened today and it just had to be the leader that could not getting fired up.
This race was a mess. It was delayed for over an hour. There was the accident late. It has been hot and humid all weekend. I thought IndyCar could have run four laps under caution and had a restart with two laps to go. Romain Grosjean's accident wasn't that serious and his car was not in a difficult position. But I understand why IndyCar red flagged it and it got an extra green flag lap out of the race.
Power did not deserve this. It is fickle trying to restart a race and making sure there is a green flag finish. It is damned if you do, damned if you don't. Should IndyCar wait until all the cars are restarted? Should IndyCar give that time?
People get on Formula One for the free tire changes under red flags, but Formula One makes sure the cars are properly taken care of so they can continue in the race. In North America, a red flag is seen as hands off. No one is allowed to touch the car. No one is allowed to alter the race. Well, not touching the cars altered the race today.
Power couldn't even get a fan on the car to cool himself and the ECU unit. If Power had gotten a fan in there from the start, perhaps his car doesn't overheat and fail to restart. This was a tough race with the conditions and the aeroscreen does make hot days worse.
I think it is time for a philosophical change from IndyCar. The car has changed with the aeroscreen, and it has changed more for the better. Drivers feel safer. That is a good thing, but with that change IndyCar must consider altering its procedures.
14. Ryan Hunter-Reay looked like a contender at the start and then he walloped the barrier on his out lap after stopping early to get off the alternate tire. Hunter-Reay overdrove the car. He could have been in the top five today. He might have been on the podium. At Indianapolis, he locked up the brakes entering pit lane, and that is not entirely his fault, but these are too many unforced errors from Hunter-Reay.
15. Max Chilton was 22nd. I don't know what happened. Jimmie Johnson had a throttle sensor issue put him behind the wall early. Johnson was able to rejoin the race, but this was a glorified test session for tomorrow, completing only 49 laps.
16. Romain Grosjean is one of probably 22 drivers that had a rough day. Grosjean looked strong at the start. He was shuffled back after the Rosenqvist caution and then contact cut down a tire and forced an extra pit stop. It only got worse from there when he got into the barrier in turn eight.
17. And we get to Felix Rosenqvist, who fortunately is fine. Rosenqvist was taken to hospital under precaution, but he was awake and alert the entire time and went to the infield medical center.
It is a scary accident when the throttle stick. It stuck in turn six. Fortunately, it didn't stick at the end of the straightaway at turn seven. This has been a tough year from Rosenqvist. The results have not been there. O'Ward has beat him every race for the most part. This doesn't help his year.
We have to wait and see if anything is found after this hospital visit. I think we are all thankful we only heard good news after this one. Ten years ago, it could have been a lot worse.
18. Let's hope tomorrow is a much calmer and quicker day. Less than 24 hours until the next race. We don't need any red flags tomorrow. I think we are sick of them.
