1. Will Power finally gets a breakthrough and after many bumps in the road over the course of the 2021 season, Power has his first victory of the season. It is a special one, number 40, and Power is just the fifth driver to reach the 40-victory milestone, breaking a tie with Al Unser for fifth all-time.
Power was clearly the best driver today. Traffic (*cough* James Hinchcliffe *cough*) and two late cautions made this race closer than it was. Power had a great start to the second stint and was able to pass Patricio O'Ward, who led from the start. Power wasn't really challenged. He led 56 laps and while Romain Grosjean and Colton Herta closed on him, none threatened him.
It has been an odd few years for Power. At no point this season has he felt like a championship threat. He still doesn't have a pole position and this weekend was the first time he has started on the front row. He tussled with two teammates last week at Nashville and it has felt he is withdrawn from the team. There is almost a sense he could walk away or be sent packing from Team Penske and neither would surprise me.
But then there are days like this. When Power is on it, few can tough him. He was consistently running laps in the high-72 second range while most couldn't even break it. Grosjean had fresher tires in the final stint and Power was still faster. Power turned 40 this year. There are fewer seasons ahead of him than behind him. Over the last five years, he has been too streaky to be a champion, but the raw pace is still there for everything to click for Power. It likely will not be this year, but it could still happen.
2. Romain Grosjean must be loving Indianapolis even more after today. Qualified third and finished second, Grosjean was flawless. He drove a smart race and kept pace with Power and Herta. He was catching Herta in the middle of the race before the first caution closed the gaps. With the fresher tires, Grosjean easily took second, but didn't have enough for Power.
That's ok. This has been a brilliant season from him and Grosjean has to come back for more in 2022. I think we all know he will. Next week, he makes his first oval start.
3. After throwing away Nashville, third is the result Colton Herta needed. Herta probably should have been second. He was second for about 85% of this race, but I don't think he was as close to Power as the gap appeared. Herta benefitted from Power being stuck behind James Hinchcliffe for ten laps. That appeared to be the only way Herta would beat Power.
Power was nine seconds in the clear. Then the gap was cut in half in a ten-lap run. It felt like Power would hold on, but Power was on the verge of boiling over. All it would have taken was one lock up and then the race was Herta's. That didn't happen. Still a good day for Herta.
4. Alexander Rossi get his best finish of the season in fourth. Every race it appears Rossi has one poor stint and goes three laps too long on a set of tires and loses a tremendous amount of time at the end of a stint. That happened today. Rossi was in the top five and then lost two spots before his second stop. He was almost two seconds slower than Power in the lead.
Rossi recovered and looked strong at the end, but too often does he have a sluggish stint and that costs a driver. I don't know if it is a strategy thing or a setup thing or a Rossi thing and he needs to adjust his driving style. It costs him too often.
5. Patricio O'Ward doesn't have great tire strategy either. O'Ward took the primary tire on the second stint and lost the lead. Not the end of the world because the alternate tire would fall off, but O'Ward never really had the car in that groove to capitalize at the end of the second stint. He slid back and never really showed that top speed again.
It hurt O'Ward at Barber and St. Petersburg. It cost him a victory at Road America last year. Strategy hurt him again today. I don't know if the team can manufacture a winning strategy from the lead. We know they can win from just off the lead, but this is something that needs to be corrected. The good news is O'Ward is now only 21 points back in the championship.
6. Why is O'Ward only 21 points back? Because Álex Palou lost an engine with 18 laps to go. Palou was in the top five, ahead of O'Ward and it looked like Palou was going to leave this race with at least a 50-point lead. I was getting ready to write that we need to start talking about Palou clinching the championship early.
Instead, Palou's lead was halved, and we go into the final four race with Palou needing to recover, but he will have to take his third grid penalty of the season and at an oval it is a nine-spot penalty, not a six. The best Palou can start at Gateway is tenth. The championship just got more interesting.
7. Jack Harvey finally had a good day and finished sixth. The team didn't screw with the strategy. Harvey didn't run into anyone or have a pit lane penalty. It was a smart day and a result Harvey needed.
8. If Graham Rahal could qualify halfway decent, he might win a race. Rahal went from 16th to seventh. He was great in the opening half of the race and then seventh was kind of the top of the mountain. The top six were too far out of sight. Rahal does this all the time! If he could average a seventh starting position instead of 14th, he would have at least one or two victories and could be in the championship discussion.
9. Josef Newgarden fought hard for eighth. Newgarden started 20th after a six-spot grid penalty and he went off course early after contact with Max Chilton. That changed the strategy and Newgarden went long on the first stint. Those long stints went in his favor. The cautions likely gave Newgarden an extra three or four spots, but considering where the day started, Newgarden must be slightly pleased with this one.
10. Marcus Ericsson and Takuma Sato rounded out the top ten. Ericsson was kind of just on the fringe on the top ten and Sato did nothing splashy and was tenth. Sato could have been eighth, but Newgarden got him late. Good days for both drivers.
11. Conor Daly was 11th almost all race. He blew turn seven while running in the top ten. It could have been better today.
12. Christian Lundgaard lost eight spots from his starting position on his IndyCar debut, but I think this was a good day. This was a new car and new tires and probably the longest race Lundgaard had ever competed in. And he ended strong. He made up positions late. Not a bad first impression even if it was down from where he started.
13. Quickly through the field: Felix Rosenqvist was racy in the middle of the field and got 13th. Ed Jones snuck into 14th. Sébastien Bourdais went off course late, but 15th was about where he was all race. Simon Pagenaud was up around Josef Newgarden for most of this race, but ending on the primary tires and the late cautions made him a sitting duck. Scott Dixon looked like he could finish 12th from 26th, but he too had to finish on the primary tires and lost spots late. Ryan Hunter-Reay was behind Bourdais all race and went off road with him. That dropped Hunter-Reay to 18th
14. Jimmie Johnson gets his first lead lap finish in 19th! It is progress. Let's not act like Johnson is rubbing elbow with the big boys. Those coattails are just a little closer now.
15. Max Chilton was Max Chilton and finished 20th. Hélio Castroneves has a lot of work to do before returning to full-time competition. He was 21st and has a lot of work to do on road courses. James Hinchcliffe is a shell of who he was two years ago. He was behind Johnson all race. He was balking Power all race. I don't get it. It would be one thing if Hinchcliffe looked this way and was driving for A.J. Foyt Racing, but he is driving for Andretti Autosport and struggles to break into the top twenty.
16. Scott McLaughlin spun Rinus VeeKay on accident. Both cars were stuck in the middle. This has been a long season for McLaughlin and VeeKay just hasn't quite had it since his collarbone injury in a cycling accident.
17. Cody Ware was two laps down in 25th. If you think Cody Ware is bad, Dalton Kellett was two laps behind him. Oof! The bar was low for Kellett, but this does not help his reputation. They both can go find other pastures in 2022.
18. RC Enerson had a mechanical issue end his race and Top Gun Racing's first race after 12 laps. It is a long road to competitiveness.
19. Overall, I have enjoyed this weekend with NASCAR. This didn't feel like IndyCar was second fiddle. It had a full day of practice and got a good time for a race. It is not ideal to race at 1:00 p.m. ET on a Saturday afternoon, but I don't think it was hidden in a NASCAR weekend. It led off Saturday. This is a full day of racing. I think we could see IndyCar and the NASCAR Cup Series race on the same day. This IndyCar race only took an hour and 49 minutes. IndyCar could start at noon on Sunday and the Cup race could begin at 3:30 p.m. I think that could be considered for the future.
20. Only seven days until Gateway, the final oval of the season and one that is more meaningful to the championship after today's race.
