Track Walk: Barber 2024

The third round of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series will be at Barber Motorsports Park for the 14th edition of the Grand Prix of Alabama. After 42 days between championship races, IndyCar will have five races over 43 days from Long Beach through Detroit, and there will be seven races over 64 days between Long Beach and IndyCar's second trip to California, Laguna Seca in June. Last year's Barber race was the fastest in the event's history. Scott McLaughlin won with an average speed of 115.019 mph. The previous record was the year prior when Patricio O'Ward won with an average speed of 114.304 mph.

Coverage

Time: Coverage begins at 1:00 p.m. ET on Sunday April 28 with green flag scheduled for 1:40 p.m. ET.
Channel: NBC
Announcers: Leigh Diffey, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Marty Snider, Kevin Lee and Dillon Welch will work pit lane.

IndyCar Weekend Schedule

Friday:

First Practice: 3:40 p.m. ET (75 minutes)

Saturday:

Second Practice: 12:15 p.m. ET (60 minutes)
Qualifying: 3:00 p.m. ET 
Sunday:
Warm-up: 10:15 a.m. ET (30 minutes)
Race: 1:40 p.m. ET (90 laps)

* - All sessions will be available live on Peacock

Penske Penalized, Stripped of St. Petersburg Victory

On Wednesday morning, IndyCar announced Team Penske had been penalized for push-to-pass manipulation at the St. Petersburg weekend. It was found all three Penske cars had illegal availability to push-to-pass at the start and on restarts at St. Petersburg, a direct violation of the IndyCar rulebook, which states push-to-pass would not be available during such times of the race. Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin had used the push-to-pass system when neither driver was supposed to. Though Will Power had push-to-pass illegally available to him, Power did not use it at an improper time. 

IndyCar disqualified Newgarden and McLaughlin from the St. Petersburg race, stripping each driver of their respective first and third place finishes and all their points earned during the race. Newgarden does keep the point he earned for pole position that weekend. Patricio O'Ward inherited the St. Petersburg victory after the penalty to Newgarden. Power moves up from fourth to second, but Power had a ten-point penalty applied due to the push-to-pass system being illegally enabled though Power did not use it. 

All three Team Penske entries have been fined $25,000 and all prize money from St. Petersburg has been forfeited.  

With the forfeited victory, Josef Newgarden returns to 29 career victories, tied for 13th all-time with Rick Mears. O'Ward has five career victories, and his winless steak ended at 22 races. 

After the points penalties, Scott Dixon is the new championship leader on 79 points. Colton Herta moves up to second in the championship, two points behind Dixon, and Herta will be credited with two podium finishes this season, as he moves up to third in the St. Petersburg results. Álex Palou is now third in the championship, 12 points behind Dixon, and Palou moves up to fourth in the St. Petersburg results. 

O'Ward jumps to fourth in the championship on 64 points while Power settles into fifth on 59 points after his two-position promotion combined with the ten-point penalty. Felix Rosenqvist now has credit for fifth at St. Petersburg and he has 54 points, six points clear of Alexander Rossi and seven points ahead of Kyle Kirkwood. Rinus VeeKay and Marcus Ericsson round out the top ten on 40 points and 37 points respectively.

Newgarden drops from the championship lead on 87 points to 11th on 34 points, two points clear of Romain Grosjean and three points ahead of Santino Ferrucci. McLaughlin plummets down to 29th, dead last in the championship, on five points. The New Zealander had been tenth in the championship on 40 points prior to the penalty. 

Where Does This Leave McLaren

With one midweek decision, Arrow McLaren goes from entering Barber Motorsports Park having not won in the last 24 races to having only one race between now and its most recent victory. This decision still does not remove the fact that none of the Arrow McLaren drivers have led a lap this season, and the team has led only 50 combined laps in the last 12 races. McLaren led 203 combined laps over the first seven races of the 2023 season.

The penalty does not change that in the two years since O'Ward won the Grand Prix of Alabama after leap-frogging ahead of Rinus VeeKay through pit strategy, the team's only victories are the second race of the 2022 Iowa doubleheader when O'Ward won after Newgarden suffered a right rear suspension failure while leading as the race entered its closing stage, and last month's St. Petersburg race after Newgarden was disqualified. 

The revised St. Petersburg results may give McLaren a victory, but it does not cover up an inglorious weekend at Long Beach. None of the team's three entries made it out of the first round of qualifying. O'Ward hasn't started on a pole position since Mid-Ohio in 2022. Rossi has qualified in the top five only three times in 19 races with the team. O'Ward drove into the back of Rossi in the opening stint, puncturing Rossi's left rear tire and drawing O'Ward a penalty. For a moment, Rossi and O'Ward were running 26th and 27th. 

There was a slight recovery though. The timing of the Christian Rasmussen caution allowed Rossi to get on a favorable strategy and not attempt to run 33-35 laps on his final stint. With this, Rossi pulled out a top ten finish. Théo Pourchaire made up 11 spots after starting 22nd to finish 11th on debut. Even O'Ward got up to 16th after his penalty, but this result ended a streak of 11 consecutive top ten finishes for the Mexican driver. One top ten finisher isn't what McLaren is looking for, and it is a team that has been a funk even if the results say otherwise. 

Any McLaren success has likely come from O'Ward. Since joining the team in 2020, O'Ward accounts for 21 of McLaren's 26 podium finishes, including all five of the team's victories after Team Penske's penalty for St. Petersburg. The last time an Arrow McLaren driver who wasn't named Patricio O'Ward has led the most laps in a race was Robert Wickens in the 2018 St. Petersburg season opener when the team was still Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. 

If there are any reasons for optimism, it is O'Ward is now ranked fourth in the championship and Rossi is seventh through two races. Pourchaire will be back for his second race with the team in the #6 Chevrolet, and the Frenchman was the best finishing rookie last week at Long Beach despite having no test days prior to the weekend. Also, O'Ward has finished in the top five in three consecutive Barber races, and McLaren put all three cars in the top ten here last year.

Is This Dixon's Year?

After a stunning victory in Long Beach, new championship leader Scott Dixon heads to one of his best tracks, and yet probably the track that haunts him the most. 

With an average finish of 3.7692, Barber Motorsports Park ranks as Dixon's fourth best track with a minimum of three starts. It is the second best average finish among drivers with at least three starts here. However, Dixon has yet to win at Barber. 

In 13 starts, he has 13 top ten finishes. He has stood on the podium nine times, including six runner-up finishes. The only other track where Dixon has at least five runner-up finishes is Chicagoland. The only tracks where he has made more starts without a victory are St. Petersburg (20) and Iowa (19). Dixon has won at every other circuit where he has made at least ten starts, and Milwaukee is the only of that group where he has only won once. 

In 12 Barber races, he has made it to the final round of qualifying. Coincidentally, like a victory, a pole position has eluded Dixon at Barber as well. Pole positions have been eluding Dixon everywhere but Indianapolis lately. His most recent pole position on a road course was at Watkins Glen in 2016. 

Dixon hasn't started on the front row in 17 consecutive races and he has never started on a front row at Barber either. He hasn't started on the front row for a road/street course since Toronto 2022. His qualifying form has been spotty lately. In five of his last seven starts, Dixon has started outside the top ten, and he has only one top five start in that stretch. Yet, he has won four times, stood on the podium five times and finished no worse than ninth. 

Six times has Dixon entered Barber coming off a result outside the top ten. This will only be the second time he enters Barber fresh off a victory. The other time was after his first Long Beach victory in 2015. He ended up finishing third at Barber that year. But this is more than just one victory. Dixon has won four of the last six races. The only other time he has had four victories in a six-race stretch was in 2007 when he won three consecutive races between Watkins Glen, Nashville and Mid-Ohio and then won at Sonoma three races later. The only time Dixon has won multiple times in the first three races of the season was in 2020 when he won three consecutive races to open the season. 

Dixon also carries a top ten finish streak of 16 races into Alabama. This matches the longest top ten streak of his career. He went 16 consecutive from Kansas 2009 through the 2010 São Paulo season opener. 

Dixon already has the record for most different circuits with a victory. Laguna Seca became his 27th different track conquered last September. Barber would only extend that streak. The next closest driver is Will Power with 22 circuits. No other driver has won races at 15 different tracks. 

The Other Tortured Souls

Scott Dixon gets the attention for being the eternal bridesmaid of Barber Motorsports Park, but he isn't the only one who has been trying for years to win at this track and has left the Yellowhammer State empty-handed each time. 

Along with Dixon and two-time Barber winner Will Power, Graham Rahal has started all 13 Barber races. However, Rahal is 0-for-13. This place hasn't been as kind to Rahal as the other two, but he has had his moments. Rahal was runner-up in consecutive years in 2015 and 2016. In the latter year, Rahal was in a tight battle with Simon Pagenaud before suffering front wing damage in the closing laps while battling Pagenaud for the lead. The Ohioan limped home to second. However, he has not finished in the top five here since that 2016 race. Only once has he made it to the final round of qualifying. That was in 2019 when he and Takuma Sato swept the front row for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Sato won the race from pole position. Rahal retired due to an electrical issue. 

Alexander Rossi has been in just over half the Barber races. Never professed as one of Rossi's favorite tracks, his results are more pleasing than for most. He has five top ten finishes in seven appearances. This includes a streak of four consecutive races. He has started in the top ten in five consecutive Barber races. However, his best finish is only fifth, and that was in 2017 and 2019. Rossi has only led three laps out of 622 circuits around the 2.38-mile course. 

It has been a decade since Andretti Global has won at Barber Motorsports Park. Both Colton Herta and Marcus Ericsson have made four starts here. Herta has one top ten finish and an average finish of 17.5. Twice has Herta retired from this race. He has never led a lap and he has never started better than ninth. Ericsson has three top ten finishes at this place, but the Swede has never finished better than seventh, and he has only one top ten start. Andretti Global has only five top five finishes over the eight Barber races since it won in 2014 with Ryan Hunter-Reay.

The only other drivers entered this weekend with no victories and at least four Barber starts are Jack Harvey and Felix Rosenqvist. Harvey has never finished in the top ten in this race. He has never started in the top ten either. Last year, Harvey started and finished 24th. Rosenqvist has seen mixed results. He was tenth in 2019 and ninth last year, but he retired due to an accident in 2021, and he wasted a sixth place starting position with a 16th place finish in 2022.

If there is any hope for these drivers it is Barber is going through a spell of new winners. There have been five different winners in the last five Barber races. In the first eight Barber races, there were only five different winners. Prior to this streak, there had never been more than three consecutive different winners here.

Palou's Place to Pounce

The bad news for everyone is if they think Scott Dixon is great at Barber Motorsports Park, his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Álex Palou is better. 

In three starts, Palou has finished first, second and fifth. His average finish of 2.667 is the best at Barber Motorsports Park among drivers with at least three starts. The Catalan driver has started third, third and second. His average starting position of 2.667 is the best among drivers with at least three Barber starts. 

Palou led 56 laps in the 2021 race. His 60 laps led ranks Palou seventh all-time at the track. Everyone ahead of him has made at least ten Barber starts. He has led more laps at this track than Dixon and Rahal, two of the three drivers to have started every Barber race, and he has led more laps than Sébastien Bourdais, James Hinchcliffe and Tony Kanaan combined, three drivers that all started the Grand Prix of Alabama ten times. 

Considering Palou has 20 consecutive top ten finishes, this is not the place the competition was hoping to see if they were looking for Palou to cool off, especially when they will likely need Palou to come back down to Earth to have a shot at the championship. Palou received an extra bit of help after the Penske penalties lifted him to a fourth place classification at St. Petersburg. He went from sixth to third at Long Beach. If you are wondering if Palou can go from third to first at Barber, well that is what he did when he won in 2021. 

It is more than top ten finishes though. During this stretch, Palou has six victories, 12 podium finishes and 16 top five finishes. He has not gone more than two consecutive races without a top five result since a four-race stretch in 2022 that covered Toronto, the Iowa doubleheader and the summer Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course race. He has led laps in 12 of his last 20 starts, and Palou has led ten laps or more in ten of those races. 

He isn't leading the championship but 12 points is nothing after only two races with 15 remaining in the 2024 calendar. The competition does pose a threat to keep Palou down. Besides Dixon's track record, championship leader Josef Newgarden has the most Barber victories with three, but Newgarden is on a bit of a Barber slump. The American has finished 14th or worse in the last three Barber races after having five consecutive top five finishes and seven consecutive top ten finishes prior to this dip.

Over the last three Barber races, Palou has scored 124 points, the most during that span, while Newgarden has scored 40 points, 15th most, and fewer than Christian Lundgaard, who has only raced in two of those three races. 

Sixteen drivers competed in all three Barber races from 2021 to 2023. Only Jack Harvey (37 points) and Conor Daly (30 points) scored fewer points than Newgarden and started all three races. The only other drivers to have scored at least 100 points during this period are Patricio O'Ward (117 points) and Will Power (109 points).

Indy Lights

After 49 days off, Indy Lights returns to competition for its second round of the 2024 season. 

Over a month and a half ago, Nolan Siegel won the St. Petersburg race, leading all 45 laps from pole position. One week after making his IndyCar debut in Long Beach, Siegel looks to extend his Indy Lights championship lead. He was second last year at Barber. 

Fourteen points off Siegel is Jacob Abel, who now has five podium finishes in his Indy Lights career but that first career victory remains missing from Abel's résumé. Louis Foster opened the 2024 season with a third place finish, and Foster looks to continue the good start. Last year, Foster was 14th in the opening two races of the season, one of which was at Barber.

Michael d'Orlando opened the season with a fourth place finish while Reece Gold rounded out the top five and took fastest lap in the process at St. Petersburg. Jonathan Browne was a mover at St. Petersburg, going from 11th to sixth. Caio Collet took home seventh while Myles Rowe slipped down to eighth. 

Salvador de Alba and Christian Bogle rounded out the top ten. 

A few drivers are hoping to bounce back after rough season openers. Josh Pierson suffered a setback after avoidable contact with Jamie Chadwick earned him a penalty. Pierson ended up 13th while Chadwick's team fixed the car, but she was 24 laps down in 20th. Chadwick's Andretti Global teammate Bryce Aron had contact that dropped him to a 19th place finish as well. 

Siegel and Gold each have won at Barber in USF Pro 2000 Championship competition in 2022. Rowe and Yuven Sundaramoorthy each won at Barber in U.S. F2000. Rowe won the first race in 2022 while Sundaramoorthy won the first race in 2021. In four U.S. F2000 starts at Barber, d'Orlando has two podium finishes and a finish of fifth. 

Besides Siegel, the next best returning driver from last year's Barber race is James Roe, Jr., who finished fifth. The only top ten finisher from last year's race back for 2024 is Bogle, who was seventh. 

The Indy Lights race will take place at 11:15 a.m. ET on Sunday April 28, and the race is scheduled for 35 laps.

Fast Facts

This will be only the third IndyCar race to take place on April 28. The first was on April 28, 1996 when Michael Andretti won at Nazareth. The second was on April 28, 2001 when Greg Ray won at Atlanta. 

Only three times has the Barber race winner gone on to win the championship that season (Simon Pagenaud 2016, Josef Newgarden 2017, Álex Palou 2021). 

Chevrolet has won eight of 11 Barber races since returning to IndyCar in 2012.

The average starting position for a Barber winner is 3.1538 with a median of third.

The worst starting position for a Barber winner is ninth (Will Power 2012).

After having the first 12 Barber races won from an odd-numbered starting position, the last two Barber races have been won from an even-numbered starting position.

The pole-sitter has won five of 13 Barber races.

The average starting position of the last eight IndyCar races, acknowledging O'Ward won from third at St. Petersburg, is 9.125 with a median of eighth. 

Only two of the last eight races have been won from a top five starting position. 

Ten of the first 11 races of the 2023 season were won from a top five starting position.

Despite the average starting position of the last eight winners, the driver that has led the most laps has won five of the last eight races. 

The average number of lead changes in a Barber race is 6.769 with a median of seven. 

Nine of 12 Barber races have had six lead changes or more. 

Eight of 13 Barber winners have led at least half the laps in the race. 

The average number of cautions in a Barber race is 2.153 with a median of two. The average number of caution laps is 8.23 with a median of seven. 

There has never been a caution-free Barber race, but 11 of 13 races have had two cautions or fewer. The 2016 race had only one caution for one lap when the initial start was waved off.

The most cautions in a Barber race was six in 2011, which was also the only Barber race not to feature a lead change.

Predictions

Scott Dixon takes the Barber victory ahead of an angry Josef Newgarden while Álex Palou gets another podium finish. One of those drivers will not make the final round of qualifying. At least one Penske car will retire and it will draw an onslaught of "karma" messages on social media. Patricio O'Ward's top five streak at Barber ends. Théo Pourchaire will again be the top finishing rookie. Kyle Kirkwood will get his first top five finish that isn't a victory. Marcus Armstrong will make up fewer than 15 spots from his starting position. At least two cars retire. Sleeper: Christian Lundgaard.

Musings From the Weekend: Josef Newgarden - Money or Fame?

Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...

Formula One had its first sprint weekend of the season, and it went the way you expected. Shanghai re-profiled its final corner and no one knew about it until everyone got there. It wasn't the only corner re-profiled this weekend. A missing scoring pylon had many up-in-arms in Talladega. There is no longer a tie in Supercross, but it remains close with three races remaining. Imola provided a great event for the FIA World Endurance Championship. Scott Dixon won the Grand Prix of Long Beach, but it is Josef Newgarden who has been on my mind.

Josef Newgarden - Money or Fame?

It was Newgarden's 200th start this weekend at Long Beach. At one time, 200 starts was a sign of the end of an IndyCar career. If you weren't on the 18th green, you were approaching it. A driver was definitely on the back nine. 

For Newgarden, this is the halfway point. Thirty-three years old, Newgarden has 200 more starts in his future if he wants them. An average of 17 starts per season through his 45th year of life would add another 204 races to Newgarden's career total. Even then, he might not be done. But this isn't only a symbolic halfway point to the American's career. It is a pivotal moment before he enters the second half of his career.

In the final year of his contract at Team Penske, Newgarden finds himself about to hit the open market when salaries have increased around him. He already has 30 victories and two championships. The only drivers with more victories are in their 40s (Scott Dixon and Will Power). Besides the Antipodes, the only other multi-time champion in the series is the contractually complicated Álex Palou. Newgarden's value might never be higher than this moment, but does he want something Penske cannot give him?

Money far from lacks at Team Penske, but Penske hasn't felt the economic pressure from the driver market. Penske picks you rather than the driver picks Penske. It doesn't matter who is in the cars. They all win. Six of the 13 drivers with at least 30 career victories spent a chunk of their careers at Penske. Then throw in Rick Mears with 29 career victories, who effectively spent his entire career there. If a driver wants to win, and Penske calls, it would be wise to say yes.

With that place in IndyCar, Penske hasn't had to drive up driver wages, especially in the last 20 years as IndyCar shrunk in terms of interest and financial profile. Drivers would still be comfortable, but signing with Penske comes with an unspoken success tax. You might not earn the most, but you will win more times than not, and that is what the people remember. 

Newgarden is on the verge of becoming one of the most decorated drivers in IndyCar history. If he has 30 victories in 200 starts, what do you think he will do in the next 200 starts? Another 30 victories would place him in a club only A.J. Foyt currently occupies. Stick around for 225 to 240 starts could see Newgarden hit the lofty #68. However, would he remain on that trajectory changing his scenery? 

Stick with Team Penske and Newgarden has a shot. Leave and it becomes exponentially more difficult. A pay day elsewhere could come with the price of losing a place in history. Forty victories might become out of reach. It would make 50 unobtainable. 

For all that Arrow McLaren is paying its drivers, it is not the dominant force in IndyCar. Patricio O'Ward hasn't won since July 2022. Andretti Global is paying all of its drivers handsomely, but it hasn't won a drivers' championship since 2012. Colton Herta is approaching two years since his most recent victory. O'Ward and Herta are believed to be the highest paid two drivers on the grid. 

Chip Ganassi Racing is the only team matching Penske's output. Ganassi doesn't dig as deep in his pockets either as is evident with two rookies and a sophomore filling 60% of his five car team, and one of those drivers is Kyffin Simpson. 

Most of the grid cannot afford Newgarden. Most places would be a step back. It doesn't mean Newgarden will not have suitors. It also doesn't mean Newgarden isn't looking into the future. Team Penske as we know it could change in a blink. Roger Penske is 87 years old. Though the team has competed in IndyCar for 55 years, it is very much still in phase one and it will remain in phase one as long as its namesake is around. 

Does Newgarden want to be around when phase two begins? Does a Penske-less Team Penske interest him? Is the Tennesseean's foresight as good as his driving?

Newgarden is young enough where he will get another contract cycle after this, probably even two. His luster will not vanish if he has a two- or three-year slump. Once you leave the mountaintop, there is no guarantee you ever return. In two contract's time, Newgarden could have spent seven seasons firmly in the middle, gone through a few winless seasons and only once been a championship challenge, though even in that year he was a long shot. 

Sébastien Bourdais won four consecutive championships in Champ Car, and the second act of Bourdais' career saw him relegated to carrying small teams up the order in a smattering of races but never congealing a full season challenge or accomplishing enough to catch the interest of a top team. Bourdais had 31 victories in 74 starts. He won only six times in his final 153 starts. None of those were an Indianapolis 500 victory either.

Another IndyCar team didn't sway Bourdais away, as he went to Formula One, but Sébastien Bourdais never stopped being Sébastien Bourdais though no one valued him as such. The Frenchman finished ninth in a Lotus; the skill was still there. Newgarden taking the money could take him from flying on the high road to slogging it in the gutter. 

From what we have seen since the calendar flipped to 2024, Newgarden is a driver focused on winning. He has made it known he is cutting out all the distractions from his life, from the YouTube series with Scott McLaughlin to unfollowing everyone on social media, after a disappointing 2023 season, a season where all he did was win four times including the Indianapolis 500. Everything Newgarden has said and done shows he cares about only one thing. Will he feel the same way when the largest check he has ever been presented is placed in front of him?

At his highest price, does Newgarden cash in? Or does Penske offer something money cannot buy and warrant letting it ride?

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Scott Dixon, but did you know...

Max Verstappen won the Chinese Grand Prix, and Verstappen won the sprint race as well.

The #01 Cadillac Racing Cadillac of Sébastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande won the IMSA race from Long Beach. The #89 VasserSullivan Lexus of Ben Barnicoat and Parker Thompson won in GTD.

Jason Daskalos swept the GT America races at Long Beach.

Tyler Reddick won the NASCAR Cup race from Talladega. Jesse Love won the Grand National Series race, his first career victory.

The #7 Toyota of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries won the 6 Hours of Imola. The #31 Team WRT BMW of Augusto Farfus, Sean Gelael and Darren Leung won in LMGT3.

Andre Heimgartner and Will Brown split the Supercars races from Taupō.

Sébastien Ogier won Rally Croatia, his 59th World Rally Championship victory.

Nicholas Spinell (race one), Álvaro Bautista (SuperPole race) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (race two) split the World Superbike races from Assen. Adrián Huertas and Glenn van Straalen split the World Supersport races.

Jett Lawrence won the Supercross race from Nashville, his sixth victory of the season. RJ Hampshire won the East-West Showdown in the 250cc class.

Coming Up This Weekend

IndyCar keeps it up and will race at Barber Motorsports Park.

MotoGP will be at Jerez.

NASCAR goes over to Dover.

Formula E settles into Monaco.

The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters opens its season in Oschersleben.

Supercross returns to Philadelphia for the first time in 44 years.

First Impressions: Long Beach 2024

1. Scott Dixon may be the best we have ever seen. I have felt that after each of Dixon's previous three victories. It is strengthen today as Dixon ran a pair of 34-lap stints to close the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach and held off the charging trio of Colton Herta, Álex Palou and Josef Newgarden to win for the 57th victory of Dixon's career, and his 20th consecutive season with a victory.

After Dixon won on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course last August, I broke down the lap times and how Dixon won that race. This performance deserves the same treatment. It is one thing to make it to the finish saving fuel on a 34-lap stint. It is another thing to do it at the pace Dixon ran. Will Power was on the same strategy and was manhandling this race prior to the lap 15 caution for Christian Rasmussen's accident. Power ended up 15.7639 seconds behind Dixon in sixth. 

Oh! And Power was ahead of Dixon after the pivotal pit stops under caution on lap 17. Dixon didn't waste time and took the position early from Power as both drivers were conserving fuel. Only Dixon could save and go quicker. 

With the pace Josef Newgarden showed after his final pit stop with 27 laps remaining, it felt inevitable Newgarden would pass Dixon, who stopped seven laps earlier. Yet, Dixon held off Newgarden, and slight contact from Colton Herta knocked Newgarden out of a second and allowed Herta to go on the charge.

Once Dixon was leading coming to the white flag, it was curtains. Other than the 2007 season finale at Chicagoland, when has Dixon fallen a lap short on fuel? Dixon had plenty for the final lap and then some, but tire wear was in his favor. Those who stopped around 25-27 laps to go had worn their tires and could not power pass Dixon. Dixon could keep it wide and was not to be outmuscled in the closing laps. 

This race could not have happened if it wasn't for the lap 15 caution, and it looked like staying out and running out the stint distance was the right call. You look at the top five and four of those drivers did that. The only guy that didn't was the winner. I am not sure you could ask for a better split-strategy race, but if that is what it comes down to, roll with what Scott Dixon is doing.

2. Colton Herta was fortunate to finish second, but he was going to be on the podium no matter what. As for the contact with Newgarden, Herta said he got the corner wrong and didn't intent to bump Newgarden, which sent Newgarden into anti-stall, but it is overbearing if that is a penalty. 

Yes, Newgarden lost positions and it could have been much worse. Slight bumps like that can break a gearbox, but if that is a penalty, especially in the hairpin at Long Beach, there are going to be nine penalties a race. 

Herta didn't drill Newgarden with reckless abandon. It is a bump at 30 miles per hour. The location of the gearbox plays a role as well. That is something neither driver can control and IndyCar isn't going to redesign the car to re-position the gearbox. I think it is a racing incident though one that is more harsh than others. 

As for Herta's drive, he hadn't had consecutive top five finishes in over two years. He looked good today. Newgarden had a better car and did better in traffic, but Herta was there.

3. Extend the streak to 20. Álex Palou's podium finish is his 20th consecutive top ten finish. And this one wasn't all that remarkable either. Palou ran well the entire race, but this wasn't like 2022 where Palou was in the mix and was one of the contenders. He was behind Newgarden and Herta for majority of this race, and he was behind Ericsson for a bit. Palou doesn't put a wheel wrong and he gets great results. It was another podium. Until he stumbles, everyone is in trouble.

4. Josef Newgarden has a right to be frustrated. Newgarden has no way to defend himself from the contact from Herta. It was a tricky point in the race. The top four were pretty much all nose-to-tail entering the hairpin, and Dixon was directly behind four back markers. I don't think eight cars had been that close since the start of the race. That was another circumstance that played into the contact. 

Newgarden drove phenomenal today. He has already been driving motivated this year, but add this fuel to the fire after what felt like a possible victory lost, and at least a runner-up finish, he could go on a lethal tear. 

5. Marcus Ericsson needed a solid day and he got it. Ericsson was destined to finish fifth today. The issues at St. Petersburg weren't his fault, but a good result was pertinent for the Swede in race two with Andretti Global. Many likely think leaving Chip Ganassi Racing will be a detriment to his career. A day like today confirms Ericsson's ability regardless of team.

6. And now we hit Will Power. Power led the first 16 laps and was over six seconds clear of the field. That will be forgotten from today. Because Dixon won the race, most are going to say stopping on lap 17 was the right call and it was clearly better than staying out and running the stint out. But Power was on the same strategy and wound up over 15.7 seconds off winning the race. 

The strategy worked for Dixon. Considering Power was clear of the field, almost in a different zip code to Dixon in the early stint and the roles ended up completely reverse, this strategy was not a good call for Power. With Newgarden as close as he was to Dixon, you must think Power would have been better suited to win staying out on lap 17, and maybe he would have been able to topple Dixon.

7. Kyle Kirkwood was on the same strategy as Dixon and company, and Kirkwood went a lap longer than Dixon and Power before that final stop. It got Kirkwood seventh. For Andretti Global, having all three cars in the top seven and those cars get there over a split strategy in the team is a great sign. We haven't seen many of these days play out in Andretti's favor. Also, solid race for Kirkwood. Didn't overstep and looked competitive even on an alternate strategy.

8. I have no clue how Romain Grosjean ended up eighth other than he did not stop under the Rasmussen caution. Grosjean after that pit cycle under caution was about eighth, and he finished eighth. I don't know if there is a better illustration that staying out was the better strategy other than for Scott Dixon. For everyone else, they didn't gain ground from stopping early. Grosjean did gain ground staying out. 

Good result for Grosjean and Juncos Hollinger Racing. You take them however you can get them.

9. For whatever reason, Felix Rosenqvist started on used primary tires today, and he went backward immediately! That was a waste of pole position. Rosenqvist might not have been able to hold off Power on alternate tires for the lead into turn one but new primary tires likely would have kept him from sliding to sixth before you blinked. 

This has been a good start for Rosenqvist and Meyer Shank Racing. A pair of top ten finishes and a pair of front row starting positions is something MSR could not have dreamt last year, but this is another case of MSR getting strategy wrong and costing the team a result. It happened with Jack Harvey at the team. You can change the drivers all you want but if MSR continues making the same bad strategy choices then it doesn't matter who is driving.

10. Alexander Rossi likely thought he wasn't going to finish in the top ten today after about lap ten after Patricio O'Ward drilled Rossi from behind entering the fountain section, puncturing Rossi's left rear tire (that's a penalty, not Herta's contact on Newgarden). However, the way the caution fell in relation to Rossi's stop, played into his hand.

Rossi stayed out. He ended up in the top ten ahead of Power and Dixon with basically new tires and then Rossi decided to stop as if he never made a pit stop. If Rossi had decided to run the same strategy of conserving fuel, he likely finishes 20th. In an odd way, and we see this happen at least once a season in IndyCar, a untimely pit stop turned into a timely pit stop for a driver due to a caution and saved the day.

11. We are going to cover the next three drivers in one shot because Théo Pourchaire ended up 11th on the normal strategy ahead of Marcus Armstrong and Linus Lundqvist on the long final stint strategy. Pourchaire didn't do anything special but complete every lap. The team didn't put him on a fuel-save strategy on debut with only two days in the car prior tot he race. That was a great call for the team. 

Pourchaire is a contemporary to Armstrong based on their Formula Two past, and Lundqvist is a fellow rookie. This wasn't a case of Pourchaire walked in and stomped the field, but he got up to speed quickly. I hope we see him at Barber Motorsports Park next week.

12. I don't think Rinus VeeKay didn't anything particularly outstanding today to wind up 14th. Other than not stopping under the Rasmussen caution, I don't think VeeKay did more than just not stop early to get this result. The same can be said for Agustín Canapino in 15th. For Juncos Hollinger Racing, it is a great day to have both cars in the top fifteen. It doesn't mean it is a sign of things to come.

13. After his penalty, Patricio O'Ward rallied to 16th. I am not sure you can call it a rally when you didn't end up in the top half of the field. It lost O'Ward a lot of time and it didn't seem to matter what strategy he chose would get him out of that hole. That contact happened outside the top ten. Arrow McLaren was not starting this race in a great place. That is more of a sign to be worried about.

14. We are going to cover the three Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing cars here, because Graham Rahal was the best driver in 17th, but the team wasn't that bad today. Rahal had a botched final pit stop where the fuel hose was not working properly. Rahal stopped under the Rasmussen caution and was running fifth when he made his final stop. Of those drivers who ran a long final stint, the fifth best finisher of those drivers was Lundqvist in 12th.

That one issue cost Rahal about five spots. Maybe he would have ended up 11th. That is still a hell of a lot better than 17th. 

Christian Lundgaard was on the same strategy and got an unsafe release penalty after contact with Kyle Kirkwood. That was the right call and it knocked Lundgaard out of a possible top ten finish. To add insult to injury, Lundgaard had to stop for a splash of fuel on the final lap. Perhaps it would not have mattered. 

I am not sure what happened to Pietro Fittipaldi, but at one point I saw him lose about four positions on one lap and he had run a lap in the 72-second bracket, and this was mid-race. 

Lundgaard and Rahal should have been contending for top ten finishes. Fittipaldi wasn't that close though. 

15. Sting Ray Robb was 15th. That is it. 

16. We don't often see cars get lapped at Long Beach on the track at race pace, but that is what happened to Kyffin Simpson, Nolan Siegel, Santino Ferrucci and Tom Blomqvist. Simpson and Blomqvist was on the long final stint strategy, Siegel was on the normal strategy, and Ferrucci made his final stop with 16 laps to go, so I don't know what he was doing. 

17. Jack Harvey was in the wrong place and was clipped when Christian Rasmussen spun. It damaged the left side pod for Harvey and he couldn't overcome that damage. Rasmussen slightly brushed the wall a few corners before he spun exiting turn four. It wasn't an obvious mistake. It has happened to every driver. It is the kind of mistake Rasmussen doesn't want to make in race two of his career.

18. We never got word of what happened to Scott McLaughlin, but he slowed while clutching to the top ten with about 15 laps to go. McLaughlin was on the long final stint strategy. I don't know if he was going to finish better than tenth. He might have lost a few spots and ended up 11th or 12th, but this is still a blow for McLaughlin. It is tough to overcome a 26th place finish in contemporary IndyCar. 

19. Things have to fall in place for great races to happen. Everything fell the right way today. The Rasmussen caution could not have come at a better time. If it happens two laps earlier, nobody makes a pit stop. If it happens five laps later, everyone would have made pit stops. That split the strategies and it helps that the fuel windows are a decent size at Long Beach, despite being a two-stop race. You can go about 25-30 laps on. It allows wiggle room. 

Another caution falling was crucial. One caution at any point erases what we saw. There was a brief moment at lap 45 where if a caution fell nothing would have changed, at least in terms of pit stops. It would have changed intervals and shaken things up, but a caution at lap 50 and then everyone would have stopped and Dixon likely wins while the best Newgarden and Herta are racing for is ninth. 

Credit to the field for running about 65 laps without any major incidents despite the differences in strategy and lap times. Even though one team owner thinks we need about three to five fewer drivers on the grid, the abundance of competitors didn't hurt today's race. 

20. After 42 days between championship races for IndyCar, we have seven days until Barber Motorsports Park. Goody!

Morning Warm-Up: Long Beach 2024

Felix Rosenqvist claimed Meyer Shank Racing's first IndyCar pole position with a lap of 66.0172 seconds in the Fast Six session for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. It is Rosenqvist's sixth career pole positions. This is the third consecutive season Rosenqvist has won pole position for the second round of the season. In the previous two years, those races were at Texas Motor Speedway. The Swede finished outside the top twenty in each of those races, and Rosenqvist's average finish in races where he has started first is 16.6 with his best finish being eighth. Rosenqvist picked up his best Long Beach finish last year when he was seventh.

Will Power fell 0.0039 seconds short of his 71st career pole position and the 300th for Team Penske in IndyCar competition. This is Power's first front row start in a road/street course race since he was on pole position for the 2022 season finale at Laguna Seca. It is his first front row start on a street course since the 2022 season opener at St. Petersburg. Power has finished fourth in the last two races. Once before has Power had three consecutive fourth-place finishes. Those occurred over Texas, Long Beach and Barber in 2022.

Josef Newgarden made it three cars within 0.0887 seconds at the top of qualifying, Newgarden starts third. He is attempting to win consecutive races in a third consecutive season. Newgarden could become the 12th driver to win consecutive races to open since 1946, and the first since Scot Dixon won three consecutive races to open the 2020 season. Eight of the 11 drivers to open a season with cosnecutive races have gone on to win the championship. Long Beach marks the 200th start of Newgarden's career. He is the 28th driver to reach 200 starts. No driver has ever won in their 200th career start.

Colton Herta ended up 0.3612 seconds off Rosenqvist for fourth on the grid. This is the fourth time in the last five starts Herta has qualified in the top five, but he has only one top five finish in that span. He was fifth at St. Petersburg last month. Herta has not had consecutive top five finishes since he won the final two races of 2021 and then finished fourth in the 2022 season opener at St. Petersburg. He has not finished better than his starting position since he went from 14th to third at Toronto, eight races ago. 

Marcus Ericsson took fifth on the grid after falling 0.3867 seconds off his fellow Swede Rosenqvist. Ericsson has finished outside the top ten in his last two races. Ericsson has not had three consecutive results outside the top ten since he had an eight-race slump spanning the 2019 and 2020 seasons. He was third last year at Long Beach. It has been 12 starts since Ericsson's most recent podium finish, his runner-up result in the Indianapolis 500.

Álex Palou rounded out the top six. Palou won The Thermal Challenge held three weeks ago at The Thermal Club in Palm Springs, California. The previous non-championship race held in IndyCar was the 2008 Gold Coast 300, which Ryan Briscoe won. Briscoe followed that up with a victory in the succeeding IndyCar race, the 2009 season opener at St. Petersburg. Palou will look to replicate Briscoe winning the championship race following a non-championship race victory.

Christian Lundgaard was 0.0193 seconds off advancing to the final round of qualifying, and the Dane will take seventh instead. While Lundgaard won at Toronto last year, it is his only top five finish on a street course in his IndyCar career. The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver has four top ten finishes in 11 street course starts.

Scott Dixon finds himself eighth, as Dixon was 0.0305 seconds behind the sixth-place time, which would have advanced him to the final round of qualifying. Dixon has finished in the top five in the second race of the season in four consecutive years and in seven of the last eight seasons. The only time Dixon has won from eighth in his career was at Mid-Ohio in 2019.

Marcus Armstrong makes it three Chip Ganassi Racing drivers in the top ten, ending up ninth. Armstrong suffered his career worst finish at St. Petersburg, ending up 27th. Since 1946, only three times has a driver finished last in the season opener and gone on to win the championship. Tom Sneva was the first to do it after finishing 22nd in the 1978 Phoenix opener. In 1987, Bobby Rahal was 24th at Long Beach but clinched the title a race early with a victory at Laguna Seca. The following year, Danny Sullivan was 23rd at Phoenix but Sullivan went on to clinch the championship with a race to spare. 

Kyle Kirkwood rounded out the top ten, but Kirkwood was 0.0758 seconds off advancing to the Fast Six. This ends a slump of five consecutive races starting outside the top ten for the American, the final four of which were starts outside the top fifteen. Kirkwood won last year's Long Beach race from pole position having led 53 of 85 laps. Kirkwood is attempting to become the eighth driver to win consecutive Long Beach races. 

Scott McLaughlin had a streak of his own end with his 11th place qualifying effort. McLaughlin had started ten consecutive races in the top ten prior to this result. The New Zealander has two consecutive podium finishes dating back to last season. Only once has McLaughlin had three consecutive podium finishes in his IndyCar career. He was second, third and first over Nashville, Gateway and Portland in 2022. He was second at Laguna Seca last September and third at St. Petersburg last month.

Graham Rahal rounded out the second round qualifiers in 12th. This is Rahal's best starting position at Long Beach since he qualified sixth in 2019. This is his ninth time in 17 Long Beach appearances he has qualified outside the top ten. Rahal has not had a top five finish on a street course since he was fourth at Toronto in 2022, seven street races ago.

Alexander Rossi missed out on advancing from the first qualifying group by 0.0439 seconds, placing Rossi 13th. Only once has Rossi finished better than his starting position at Long Beach, and that was him going from 15th to sixth in 2021. Both of his Long Beach victories were from pole position. Rossi has finished outside the top twenty in the second race of the season in the last four years. In his previous eight seasons, Rossi has finished in the top ten only twice in the second race of the season.

Patricio O'Ward makes it an all-Arrow McLaren row seven, as O'Ward was 0.0449 seconds off advancing from group two. This is O'Ward's worst starting position at Long Beach, and it is the first time he didn't make it out of the first round of qualifying here. O'Ward opened last season with consecutive runner-up finishes. In four Long Beach starts, O'Ward has an average finish of 15.25.

Tom Blomqvist's first IndyCar race at Long Beach will see him start 15th, the best starting position of the Brit's brief IndyCar career. Blomqvist made three IMSA starts at Long Beach, but Blomqvist never finished better than fourth in class. That includes finishing seventh of eight GTLM cars in 2019 and sixth out of eight GTP cars last year.

Romain Grosjean finds himself starting 16th, his worst Long Beach starting position. Grosjean had made the final round of qualifying the previous two years here. The Frenchman could become the second driver to finish runner-up in three consecutive Long Beach races. Bobby Rahal was second at Long Beach in 1991, 1992 and 1993.

Linus Lundqvist makes his Long Beach debut from 17th on the grid. Lundqvist has finished outside the top twenty in his first two street course races in IndyCar. Lundqvist was 25th at Nashville last year and 23rd at St. Petersburg last month. Lundqvist's last three Indy Lights victories came on street courses. He swept the Detroit doubleheader and won at Nashville in 2022.

Agustín Canapino starts directly behind his Juncos Hollinger Racing teammate in 18th. Canapino was 25th in last year's Long Beach race after Hélio Castroneves squeezed Canapino into the barrier while the Argentine was leading. Canapino had stayed out and led three laps, the first laps led in his IndyCar career.

Pietro Fittipaldi makes his Long Beach debut this weekend in 19th position. Fittipaldi's grandfather Emerson made 13 Long Beach starts in IndyCar and five Formula One starts. Emerson's best Long Beach finish was second on two occasions, and his final Formula One podium was third in the 1980 race. Pietro's cousin Christian made seven Long Beach starts. Christian's best finish was fifth.

Rinus VeeKay rounds out the top twenty. This is the seventh consecutive street course race VeeKay has started outside the top ten. VeeKay was tenth at St. Petersburg. VeeKay has not had consecutive top ten finishes since the first two races of the 2022 season where he was sixth at St. Petersburg and tenth at Texas. 

Christian Rasmussen is a spot behind his Ed Carpenter Racing teammate in 21st. Ed Carpenter Racing has not had a top ten finisher in the last five Long Beach races. The team's most recent top ten here was eighth with Specner Pigot in 2017. ECR has had both cars finish 20th or worse in three of the last four Long Beach races. In 16 street course starts in Rasmussen's career, he won only three times and had six podium finishes.

Théo Pourchaire's IndyCar debut sees him start 22nd. Pourchaire becomes the first reigning champion from Intenational Formula 3000/GP2/Formula Two to start an IndyCar race since Sébastien Bourdais joined Newman-Haas Racing for the 2003 CART season after winning the 2002 International Formula 3000 championship.

Jack Harvey is back for his second race of the season after initially not being in Dale Coyne Racing's plans for Long Beach, and it sees Harvey take 23rd on the grid. Harvey has finished in the top fifteen in four of his five Long Beach starts. Dale Coyne Racing not had a top fifteen finisher the last two years at Long Beach, and DCR has not had a top ten finisher here since it had a double top ten day in 2017 with Sébastien Bourdais in second and Ed Jones in sixth.

Santino Ferrucci starts 24th, the 11th time in 19 races with A.J. Foyt Racing Ferrucci has started outside the top twenty. Ferrucci has not finished in the top ten in 12 consecutive races. Ferrucci was 11th in last year's Long Beach race, his first Long Beach appearance since 2019.

Sting Ray Robb's streak of four consecutive races starting 24th ends because Robb will start 25th at Long Beach after he lost his fastest two laps for causing a red flag. Robb has never started inside the top twenty for an IndyCar race. The Idahoan was 26th at St. Petersburg. It was Robb's worst finish on a street course. His previous worst was 22nd at Detroit last year.

Kyffin Simpson rolls off from the outside of row 13. Simpson was the best finishing rookie in the St. Petersburg season opener. Since 1979, in 54 applicable seasons of IndyCar competition between CART, Champ Car, the Indy Racing League and a unified IndyCar Series, only 22 times has the best finishing rookie in the season opener went on to win rookie of the year.

Nolan Siegel makes his IndyCar debut from 27th. Siegel becomes the 88th driver to race for Dale Coyne Racing in IndyCar competition. This is the fifth consecutive season DCR has given at least one driver their IndyCar debut, and it is the second time in four seasons Coyne has given multiple drivers a debut in a single season. 

USA's coverage of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach begins at 3:00 p.m. ET with the green flag scheduled for 3:45 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 85 laps.

Track Walk: Long Beach 2024

The second round of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season is the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, IndyCar's first championship race in 42 days. This 42-day break is the longest midseason break in IndyCar since there were 49 days between the Assen and Surfers Paradise rounds in the 2007 Champ Car season. This is the 31st time since the CART-USAC split in 1979 there have been at least 40 days between races midseason. Eighteen of those 31 40-plus-day breaks were between the race before the Indianapolis 500 and the Indianapolis 500. The most recent of those was during the 2004 Indy Racing League season. 

Coverage

Time: Coverage begins at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday April 21 with green flag scheduled for 3:45 p.m. ET.
Channel: USA
Announcers: Leigh Diffey, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Marty Snider, Kevin Lee and Dillon Welch will work pit lane.

IndyCar Weekend Schedule

Friday:

First Practice: 5:50 p.m. ET (75 minutes)

Saturday:

Second Practice: 11:25 a.m. ET (60 minutes)
Qualifying: 2:25 p.m. ET 
Sunday:
Warm-up: 12:00 p.m. ET (30 minutes)
Race: 3:45 p.m. ET (85 laps)

* - All sessions will be available live on Peacock

Can Penske Keep It Up?

The 2024 season could not have started much better for Team Penske. All three of its cars ended up in the top five at St. Petersburg with Josef Newgarden leading 92 of 100 laps on his way to victory from pole position. Scott McLauglin ended up third, his second St. Petersburg podium in the last three seasons, and Will Power was fourth.

It was the first time Team Penske had three top five finishers in a road/street course race since the July 2022 Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course race, but it was the first time Penske had three top five finishers in a street course race since the second race of the 2017 Belle Isle doubleheader. 

This St. Petersburg race came after Team Penske had only four top five finishes combined on street courses in 2023 with zero victories. 

After dominating the season opening street race, Team Penske has a chance for an encore performance at Long Beach. Last year, all three Penske cars finished in the top ten, but none finished in the top five as Power was the top driver in sixth. Before last year's race, Team Penske had a podium finisher in eight consecutive Long Beach races. Newgarden had been at the front and led 27 laps before he was forced to save fuel over his final stint, dropping him to ninth, a position ahead of McLaughlin. 

Newgarden won at Long Beach in 2022 with 32 laps led after a methodical race with Álex Palou on in- and out-laps, and then ending with holding off a late charge from Romain Grosjean. 

Since reunification, Penske has only three Long Beach victories. Along with Newgarden's victory two years ago, Will Power won in 2012 and Simon Pagenaud won in 2016.

Prior to last year's race, Newgarden had three consecutive podium finishes at Long Beach. He has eight consecutive top ten finishes in this race. Will Power has five consecutive top ten finishes in the Grand Prix of Long Beach, but he hasn't finished on the podium in this race since he was second in 2018. Since his Long Beach victory in 2012, Power has led only 12 laps over the last ten Long Beach races. In three Long Beach start, McLaughlin has finished 14th, 11th and tenth. McLaughlin has five consecutive top ten finishes in street races dating back to last season.

Only four times in Team Penske's history has it opened a season with consecutive victories. It first did it in 1982 when Rick Mears won at Phoenix and Atlanta. Penske would not do it again until 2010 when it won the first three races. Power won the first two races that year at São Paulo and St. Petersburg while Hélio Castroneves won the third race at Barber Motorsports Park. Two years later, Penske won the first four races. Castroneves won the St. Petersburg season opener and Power followed with three consecutive victories. In 2022, Team Penske opened the season with three consecutive victories. McLaughlin won at St. Petersburg and Newgarden followed it with two consecutive victories. 

Penske Shooting For 300

Team Penske hits milestones on a regular basis, but it could hit a spectacular one this weekend at Long Beach. 

The next pole position will be Team Penske's 300th in IndyCar competition. Josef Newgarden put the team within one of the milestone with his pole position at St. Petersburg, Newgarden's 16th pole position with Team Penske, and it broke a tie with Bobby Unser for fifth all-time amongst Team Penske drivers.

To the surprise of no one, Will Power leads Team Penske drivers with 64 pole positions for the organization, 15 more than Hélio Castroneves in second all-time on 49. Power has won a pole position in each of his first 15 seasons with Penske. Power has had multiple pole positions in 14 of those seasons. Rick Mears is third with 39 pole positions, and then there is a gulf of 21 pole positions between Mears and Danny Sullivan in fourth on 18 with Newgarden on 16.

Bobby Unser (15), Gil de Ferran (14), Paul Tracy (12), Ryan Briscoe (12), Simon Pagenaud (12) and Tom Sneva (10) are the other drivers to reach double figures in pole positions driving for Team Penske. Sneva was the first driver to double figures for Penske.

Emerson Fittipaldi won nine pole positions with Penske while Sam Hornish, Jr. won seven. Scott McLaughlin has won five pole positions in the last two seasons. Al Unser, Jr. and Mark Donohue are tied on four pole positions. Al Unser, Kevin Cogan and Mario Andretti each won two pole positions for the organization. Gary Bettenhausen, Johnny Rutherford and Juan Pablo Montoya were each responsible for one Penske pole position. 

Team Penske's first pole position came at what is now Sonoma Raceway on April 4, 1970 with Mark Donohue. The 100th pole position came 22 years later on August 9, 1992 with Emerson Fittipaldi at Cleveland. The 200th pole position occurred on July 10, 2011 with Will Power at Toronto. Since making its IndyCar debut in 1968, Team Penske has won a pole position in 49 seasons. Newgarden's pole position at St. Petersburg made this 25 consecutive seasons with at least one pole position for Team Penske. The team's record for most pole positions in a single season is nine, which Danny Sullivan set in 1988.

At Long Beach, Team Penske has 13 pole positions. Castroneves won four Long Beach pole positions, including three consecutive from 2015 to 2017. Power won three consecutive pole positions at Long Beach from 2009 to 2011. Sullivan won two Long Beach pole positions. Tracy, de Ferran, Briscoe and Newgarden each have one Long Beach pole position. Newgarden is responsible for Penske's pole position here, coming in 2021. While Penske has 13 pole positions in this race, it has only won one of those races. That would be Castroneves' victory in 2001, where he led every lap. 

Team Penske is 190 pole positions clear of Newman-Haas Racing in second all-time. Chip Ganassi Racing is next amongst active teams with 93 pole positions. The only other active team with more than 50 pole positions is Andretti Global with 54.

Can Ganassi Bounce Back?

After St. Petersburg, many were wondering where Chip Ganassi Racing was after it had won the Florida race the year before.

Álex Palou did end up finishing sixth, but it came after spending most of the race outside the top ten and it felt Palou's top ten finish streak would not stretch into 2024. Instead, a late flourish allowed the Catalan driver to extend his streak to 19 consecutive races. 

Besides Palou, Scott Dixon ran a nondescript race and finished ninth. Kyffin Simpson kept his nose clean and finished 14th, but Linus Lundqvist was taken out from contact with Romain Grosjean, and Marcus Armstrong got in an incident all on his own and was the first retirement of the 2024 season. 

St. Petersburg was the first time Ganassi did not have a podium finisher since the first Iowa race in 2023, ending a six-race streak. It was also Ganassi's first race without a top five finisher since the 2022 Gateway race, ending a 19-race streak.

The good news is Ganassi had a bounce back at The Thermal Challenge held at the Thermal Club last month. Palou smoked the field, leading every lap on his way to victory from pole position in his heat race and leading every lap on his way to victory from pole position in the main event. Armstrong and Lundqvist each made the final race as well. Armstrong was second to Palou in his heat race, and the New Zealander ended up fifth in the final. Lundqvist was fourth in his heat and sixth in the final. 

Dixon will be looking for a break out. Contact with Grosjean in his Thermal Club heat race sent him to the back of the field and effectively kept Dixon from ever getting close to transferring to the main event.

It has been nine years since Chip Ganassi Racing's most recent Long Beach victory. That was with Dixon. He led 44 laps from third starting position to get his so far one and only Long Beach triumph. Ganassi has had a podium finisher in six of the seven Long Beach races since Dixon's victory in 2015, and Ganassi has had at least one top five finisher in every Long Beach race since then. 

In three Long Beach starts, Palou has never finished worse than fifth. He was third in 2022. Armstrong was eighth in this race last year, his first visit to the famed street race. Dixon was taken out of last year's Long Beach race after contact with Patricio O'Ward. It was Dixon's only finish outside the top ten in the entire 2023 season. Prior to that result, Dixon had six top ten finishes in the last seven trips to Long Beach, four of which were podium results. 

This will be the Long Beach debuts for Lundqvist and Simpson. 

Chip Ganassi Racing has had five different drivers win at Long Beach. Along with Dixon, Jimmy Vasser, Alex Zanardi, Juan Pablo Montoya and Dario Franchitti are responsible for Ganassi's victories, with Zanardi having won consecutive years in 1997 and 1998.

More Debuts

It might be the second weekend of the season, but that does not mean we do not have some IndyCar debuts... well, we know of at least one, but a second could be on the horizon.

Nolan Siegel will compete in his first official IndyCar race this weekend driving the #51 Dale Coyne Racing Honda. Siegel competed in The Thermal Challenge last month at The Thermal Club for Coyne in the #18 Honda. He was seventh in the first heat race, falling one spot short of transferring to the final race.

The California is competing in his second Indy Lights season this year and he won the season opener for the series last month at St. Petersburg. Last year, Siegel won two races and stood on the podium five times as he finished third in the Indy Light championship. After starting the 2023 season with four podium finishes in the first six races, he had only one podium finish in the final eight races. Siegel has also won races in LMP2 competition between IMSA and the Asian Le Mans Series. He won at Petit Le Mans last year driving with George Kurtz and Ben Hanley for CrowdStrike Racing by APR. 

He will become the first driver to start an Indy Lights race and an IndyCar race in the same season since Patricio O'Ward and Colton Herta each made their IndyCar debuts in the 2018 IndyCar season finale at Sonoma. Sonoma occurred after the Indy Lights season had concluded where O'Ward claimed the championship at Portland the week before with Herta finishing second in the championship.

At 19 years, five months and 12 days old, Siegel would be the 16th youngest driver in IndyCar history if he starts on Sunday. If he wins, Siegel would become the third-youngest winner in IndyCar history, and he would be two days younger than Marco Andretti when Andretti won at Sonoma in 2006.

Siegel's debut was scheduled prior to the start of the season. Théo Pourchaire's debut was unexpected, but with David Malukas remaining sidelined with a wrist injury, and Callum Ilott busy competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship, Pourchaire will take over the #6 Chevrolet this weekend.

Pourchaire was the 2023 Formula Two champion with only one victory in the Bahrain feature, but ten podium finishes, 14 top five finishes and 19 points finishes over the 26 races. The Frenchman made 81 starts over four seasons in Formula Two. He won six races, five of which were feature races. He was second in the 2022 championship behind Felipe Drugovich. Pourchaire was second in the 2020 Formula Three championship, three points behind Oscar Piastri and one point ahead of Logan Sargeant. 

While still a Sauber F1 test and reserve driver, Pourchaire is competing full-time this year in the Super Formula championship driving for Team Impul. He was 18th in the Suzuka season opener on March 10. 

At 20 years, eight months and one day old, Pourchaire would become the 28th youngest driver in IndyCar history. If he wins, Pourchaire would become the sixth-youngest winner in IndyCar history, and he would be three days younger than Rinus VeeKay when VeeKay won the 2021 Grand Prix of Indianapolis. 

IMSA

Long Beach marks the third round of the IMSA season, and this weekend the GTP and GTD class will contest a 100-minute race along Shoreline Drive. Twenty-seven cars are set to compete on Saturday afternoon. 

Through two rounds, the #7 Porsche of Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr and the #40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura of Louis Delétraz and Jordan Taylor are tied for the GTP championship lead on 706 points. The #7 Porsche went first and third at Daytona and Sebring respectively while the #40 Acura did the inverse, finishing third and first over the first two rounds. 

The #31 Whelen Racing Cadillac of Jack Aitken and Pipo Derani is in third on 600 points while the #01 Cadillac of Sébastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande is on 594 points. 

The BMWs sandwich the #6 Porsche. Connor De Phillippi and Nick Yelloly have the #25 BMW points on 570 points, 25 points ahead of Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy in the #6 Porsche. Philipp Eng and Jesse Krohn are on 531 points in the #24 BMW. 

Rounding out the top ten in the championship are the #10 WTRAndretti Acura of Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor on 525 points, the #5 Proton Competition Porsche, which has Mike Rockenfeller joining Gianmaria Bruni this weekend, is on 514 points, and the #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche of Tijmen van der Helm and Richard Westbrook on 497 points. 

Jaminet and Tandy are the defending race winners while there have been five different winners in the last four Long Beach races. Prior to Porsche's overall victory last year, General Motors had won seven consecutive Long Beach races between the Corvette GP and the Cadillac DPi. 

Seventeen cars are in the GTD class, including a few one-off entries. 

Winward Racing has won the first two races with the #57 Mercedes-AMG, and it has Russell Ward and Philip Ellis leading the championship on 725 points. Among the teams entered for this weekend, Wright Motorsports is second in points with the #120 Porsche of Adam Adelson and Elliott Skeer 155 points behind the Winward Mercedes-AMG. Conquest Racing finds itself in third on 545 points with the Alberto Costa and Manny Franco. 

VasserSullivan Lexus won last year in GTD Pro at Long Beach, and Lexus will enter two cars in GTD this weekend. Lexus is splitting its normal full-time GTD lineup. Frankie Montecalvo remains in the #12 Lexus while Jack Hawksworth joins Montecalvo. Parker Thompson moves to the #89 Lexus alongside Ben Barnicoat. 

This isn't the only driver change this weekend. Heart of Racing Team has drafted in Spencer Pumpelly to pair with Roman De Angelis in the #27 Aston Martin. Pumpelly steps in for Zacharie Robichon, who has FIA World Endurance Championship responsibilities this weekend at Imola. Stevan McAleer will be in the #66 Gradient Racing Acura alongside Sheena Monk, as McAleer will replace Katherine Legge for the rest of the season. 

There is also a returning entry this weekend. Flying Lizard Racing returns to IMSA competition for the first time since 2016. Flying Lizard has entered the #28 Aston Martin for Andy Lee and Elias Sabo.

Paul Miller Racing has won the last three years in GTD, but PMR is not here as it is competing in the GTD Pro class this season. BMW has won the last two years in the class, but the only BMW entered this year is Turner Motorsport's #96 M4 GT3 with Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher. 

The IMSA race will take place at 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday April 20 with coverage on USA.

Fast Facts

This will be the seventh IndyCar race to take place on April 21 and first since Takuma Sato won at Long Beach in 2013. That remains A.J. Foyt Racing's most recent race victory. 

Only once has the Grand Prix of Long Beach taken place later in the month of April than the 21st. The 1990 Grand Prix of Long Beach was held on April 22. Al Unser, Jr. won it. It was Unser, Jr.'s third consecutive Long Beach victory. 

American drivers have combined to win five consecutive Grand Prix of Long Beach. This is the longest streak of American winners since Americans won the first nine Long Beach races under CART sanctioning.

Prior to this streak, American drivers had only won one of the previous 15 Long Beach races.

Alexander Rossi is the only repeat winner in the last ten Long Beach races.

Team Penske has the most Long Beach victories with seven. Newman/Haas Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing and Andretti Global are all tied with six.

Only twice in the 15 seasons since reunification has the Long Beach winner gone on to win the championship: Dario Franchitti 2009 and Scott Dixon 2015.

The Long Beach winner won the championship in eight of the 12 seasons preceding reunification. 

The Long Beach winner has won the championship in 13 of its 39 seasons on the IndyCar schedule.

Four drivers have had their first career IndyCar victory come at Long Beach: Paul Tracy 1993, Juan Pablo Montoya 1999, Mike Conway 2011 and Takuma Sato 2013.

Only two drivers have won the Grand Prix of Long Beach and the Indianapolis 500 in the same season (Al Unser, Jr. 1994, Hélio Castroneves 2001).

The average starting position for a Long Beach winner is 4.256 with a median of second. 

Four of the last five Long Beach races have been won from the front row. Sixteen of the last 19 Long Beach races have been won from one of the first two rows. Seventeen of the last 22 Long Beach races have been won from one of the first two rows.

The pole-sitter has won three of the last five Long Beach races. Prior to this streak, the pole-sitter had not won in the previous ten Long Beach races.

The average number of lead changes in a Long Beach race is 5.0769 with a median of six. 

The last nine Long Beach races have had five lead changes or more. 

The most recent Long Beach race with fewer than four lead changes was 2008, which only had three lead changes. 

The most recent Long Beach race with zero changes was 2001. In the IndyCar-era, only two other Long Beach races have had zero lead changes (1984 and 1987).

The average number of cautions in a Long Beach race is 2.846 with a median of three. The average number of caution laps is 11.384 with a median of 12. 

Eight of the last 12 Long Beach races have had three cautions or more. Twenty-two of the last 28 Long Beach races have had three cautions or more.

There has never been rain on race day for the Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Predictions

Álex Palou will extend his top ten finish streak to 20 races, and Palou will do it with a victory. Palou's toughest opposition will be a Team Penske driver, but Honda will take majority of the top five finishes, and Honda will have a great command over this race. Felix Rosenqvist will finish at least three spots better than his starting position and he will finish in the top ten. If Théo Pourchaire is in the race, he will be the top finishing rookie. Patricio O'Ward will not take out any cars. Romain Grosjean will not take out any cars. Alexander Rossi will not suffer a suspension failure on the final lap. Sleeper: Jack Harvey.

Musings From the Weekend: What Would 2014 Think of Today?

Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...

Maverick Viñales ended a three-year winless drought with his victory in Austin, and Viñales also won the sprint race as a bonus. Marc Márquez was quick but lost the bike almost immediately after he took the lead. Everyone wants to race with MotoGP. Formula One announced it 2025 calendar, because why wait to get through April? Formula E had some technical infractions that have left the paddock miffed. There is a tie at the top of the Supercross championship with four races remaining. A new team will be entering IndyCar, and that has me thinking about ten years in the past.

What Would 2014 Think of Today

Though there was technically testing for the Indianapolis 500 held this past week, the biggest IndyCar news did not come from a team on track. It came from one that will not be competing until 2025. 

Wednesday afternoon, Prema Racing, a long-time competitor in many European junior series, and current participant in Formula Two and Formula Three, announced it would be entering IndyCar next year with a two-car program with Chevrolet engines. The Italian team will have a shop based out of Indiana, and former Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team president Piers Phillips will lead the operation. 

With Prema's expansion to IndyCar, the IndyCar grid will likely increase to potentially 29 cars, joining the 27 cars already competing full-time in 2024. 

With nearly 30 full-time cars tentatively set for 2025, I must ask, how did we get here? 

A decade ago, two-dozen cars would have been nice. Now, 30 is a conceivable number.

In 2014, the only race outside the Indianapolis 500 that had two-dozen starters or more was the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis with 25 cars. Ten of 18 races that season only had 22 starters. There might have been 11 full-time teams, but three of those teams only fielded one full-time car. 

A year before Prema enters, there are ten multi-car teams on the grid. Every team has at least two cars. Half the teams have at least three entries. The only teams that fielded at least three cars a decade ago where Andretti Autosport, Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske. 

But isn't just the teams and their size, it is who is in the series. 

McLaren is in the series. Ten years ago, that wasn't even thinkable. Juncos Hollinger Racing has expanded from its Road to Indy roots and has funding from Argentina. Again, unlikely in 2014. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is now running three cars and has a sponsor that has committed to sponsoring two races. In 2014, the only companies sponsoring multiple race weekends were Firestone and Honda, two long-time series sponsors. HyVee entered the fold within the last three years. 

But it isn't just the teams, their size, and who is supporting these teams, it is who is driving as well. 

A decade ago, we were excited about Kurt Busch running The Double, and Jacques Villeneuve's unexpected return to the Indianapolis 500, but consider since then we have had Fernando Alonso choose the Indianapolis 500 over the Monaco Grand Prix and Jimmie Johnson ran the Indianapolis 500 not in a Double attempt but as a full-time IndyCar driver. 

Now, we have Kyle Larson, less than three years removed from his first NASCAR Cup Series championship, attempting The Double, and Larson will be doing it against a multi-time Supercars champion in Scott McLaughlin, who has since made the full-time switch to IndyCar, and a host Formula One veterans like Marcus Ericsson and Romain Grosjean while also running against some promising international talent that could not quite find a place in the world championship. 

We don't even need to go back to 2014 to see how stark the change has been. Go back to 2017. 

There were only 21 cars for the season opener seven years ago. Nine of 17 races had only 21 cars. There were only eight teams on the grid. In less than a decade, the grid has grown by 28.57%. By next year, that growth will be up to 38.09% compared to 2017. 

Less than two weeks prior to Fernando Alonso's shocking announcement of his entry into the 2017 Indianapolis 500, I lamented the lack of big names at Indianapolis, and the series not being the draw it thought it was. Alonso flipped that notion upside down quite quickly, and it hasn't changed much since that day. IndyCar might not be the first choice series to every driver in the world, but it is attracting better talent. 

Looking at the IndyCar entry list now, and especially this year's Indianapolis 500, the grid turns some heads. Someone good might miss the race, and someone will miss the race. Bumping has been regular of late. This year will likely be no different. We know at least one car will miss, but there is a good chance it will be two. Seven years ago, a decade ago, we were hopefully there might be a 34th entry just so qualifying could have meaning at the back of the grid. Now, we know there will be bumping, it is a matter of is it two cars or maybe three cars going home. 

And we haven't gotten into the drivers' salaries yet. Colton Herta is making north of $7 million per season. Patricio O'Ward could earn about $4.2 million per season based on incentives. Kyle Kirkwood and Marcus Ericsson are each reportedly making over $3 million a year. It wasn't that long ago where the best drivers weren't making more than $2 million or so a year. I am not sure how long teams can afford those salaries, but they are here now and they were complete lunacy not long ago.

If you were told ten years ago today, IndyCar would be pushing 30 full-time cars with McLaren on the grid and another European based team on the verge of joining while drivers were making over $5 million a year, and during that decade Fernando Alonso and Kyle Larson would each attempt the Indianapolis 500 while full-time drivers in Formula One and NASCAR respectively, and Jimmie Johnson would make a full-time switch to IndyCar, you would have thought IndyCar had reach the mountaintop and returned to the promised land of the pre-split, early 1990s. 

It isn't the case that IndyCar has seen a popularity boom. Coincidentally, that is Formula One, but IndyCar has come a long way in a decade. There are still concerns, some we wish did not exist. People are still unhappy about something (long gap in the schedule, exhibition race at Thermal Club, Honda wishy-washy about continued participation in the series and the only answer likely being a spec engine package) but steps have been made. The level feels considerably higher in IndyCar than it was ten years ago. 

On the surface, our past selves could not have fathomed some of the highlights of IndyCar's last decade, and we must acknowledge how far things have come. 

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Maverick Viñales, but did you know...

Sergio García won the Moto2 race from Austin ahead of American Joe Roberts. David Alonso won the Moto3 race, his second victory of the season.

Chase Elliott won the NASCAR Cup race from Texas. Sam Mayer won the Grand National Series race. Kyle Busch won the Truck race.

Oliver Rowland and Pascal Wehrlein split the Misano ePrix. Rowland was awarded victory in race one after António Félix da Costa was disqualified for using an ineligible throttle damper setting.

The #37 COOL Racing Oreca-Gibson of Ritomo Miyata, Malthe Jakobsen and Lorenzo Fluxá won the 4 Hours of Barcelona. The #8 Team Virage Ligier-Nissan of Julien Gerbi, Gillian Henrion and Bernardo Pinheiro won the LMP3 class. The #50 Formula Racing Ferrari of Conrad Laursen, Johnny Laursen and Nicklas Nielson won the GT3 class.

The #36 TGR Team au TOM’S Toyota of Sho Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita won the Super GT race from Okayama. The #2 muta Racing INGING Toyota of Yuui Tsutsumi and Hibiki Tariq won in GT300.

Cooper Webb won the Supercross race from Foxborough, his fourth victory of the season. Haiden Deegan won the 250cc race, his second victory of the season.

Coming Up This Weekend

IndyCar finally returns with Long Beach. IMSA will tag along as well.

Formula One returns to China for the first time in five years.

NASCAR is at Talladega.

The FIA World Endurance Championship has its first race ever at Imola.

Supercars has its first race ever at Taupō.

World Superbike visits Assen.

The World Rally Championship makes a stop in Croatia. 

Supercross has a round in Nashville.

What Did We Learn From Testing?

What was supposed to be two days of testing ahead of next month’s 108th Indianapolis 500 turned out to be less than six hours of track time despite all efforts IndyCar made to maximize whatever clear weather could be found at the corner of 16th and Georgetown. Undoubtedly, nobody is leaving Speedway, Indiana satisfied with the amount of track time over these two days, but this is all they will get until the middle of May. 

With the cars packed away and teams turning their attention to Long Beach, this is a chance to pick apart what little we saw from the rain-shortened test.

What did we learn?

Honestly, nothing!

We confirmed Katherine Legge will be in the #51 Dale Coyne Racing Honda, and she is bringing a notable sponsor.

Conor Daly has a sponsor that could end up being at the center of lawsuit within the next decade. 

Christian Rasmussen will use #33. 

David Malukas is still hurt. 

Théo Pourchaire was still in Indianapolis.

Everyone is frustrated that there are about 18 pink cars. There was not much we could learn from such little track time, and almost half of it was dedicated to Rookie Orientation and refresher programs. 

If you look at the time sheet, there were no surprises from the limited track time. Josef Newgarden was fastest, the fourth consecutive year Newgarden was fastest at the April test. Scott Dixon and Álex Palou were both in the top five. Colton Herta and Kyle Kirkwood each were in the top ten, as was Scott McLaughlin. The big names are all there. 

Who does the rain hurt the most?

When you are one of two Indianapolis 500-only teams, you were probably hoping to complete more than 29 combined laps over your two cars, but 29 laps is all Dreyer & Reinbold Racing got between Ryan Hunter-Reay and Conor Daly. Hunter-Reay's seven laps were the fewest any driver completed and Arrow McLaren’s Callum Ilott was the only other driver to compete under ten laps. 

Considering D&R regularly is respectable when it comes to speed, there is not too much concern with D&R. Juncos Hollinger Racing only completed 44 laps and A.J. Foyt Racing only completed 50 laps. The Dale Coyne Racing drivers of Legge and Nolan Siegel were 29th and 31st respectively. 

I would say this hurt Coyne's drivers the most because both Legge and Siegel could have used the time. They both ran more laps than most, Siegel completed 63 laps and Legge ran 59, but they likely don't have many more answers than when they started Tuesday. Two full days would have done wonders for that group.

Will Kyle Larson win the Indianapolis 500?

Two years ago, after the April test, I wrote overreactions to the test days. Here is one for 2024. 

Larson was second in the test, his fastest lap at 226.384 mph. Larson is going to win this race by nine laps. Larson is going to lead 202 of 200 laps this year. Larson's victory will unite the world and he will be carried out of Indianapolis Motor Speedway and on the backs of the people he will be brought to Charlotte Motor Speedway where the Coca-Cola 600 will be postponed for four days to allow the millions of people between the two tracks to come out on their own and offer up adoration as Larson passes. 

Alright, now with that out of the way, no one should be surprised Larson, arguably the best driver in the world, became comfortable in an IndyCar almost immediately. Has there been any race car that has befuddled Larson in his career? He slides behind the wheel and gets it quickly. Larson was suspended for practically an entire NASCAR Cup season, and he won in his fourth race back on his way to his first Cup championship that season. 

A lot of things will happen between now and the checkered flag for the 108th Indianapolis 500. Scott Dixon lost the Indianapolis 500 speeding entering the pit lane for this final pit stop. Engine fails. Unsafe releases happen. Drivers can stall the car. This is not set in stone. No one anticipated a one-lap sprint immediately after a red flag deciding last year's race. 

For anyone to think this race is clearly Larson's to lose is kidding themselves, but Larson is set up to succeed. He is driving for McLaren and has two stout teammates in the same stable. This has been far from a half-assed effort. Whether it ends in victory or not will require the same million things falling just right as with anyone else entered in this race. 

Is there anyone who should at least be happy?

I hinted at it in the testing primer, I think Felix Rosenqvist and Meyer Shank Racing should feel good even on the abbreviated day. After starting on the front row and finishing seventh at St. Petersburg and winning a heat race and finishing third overall at Thermal Club, Rosenqvist was tenth in the test with 49 laps completed. 

It isn't an exact indication where this team is because no one ran a full program and got close to going as far as they felt comfortable for an April test, but Rosenqvist ended up in the top ten should boost MSR's confidence. It is another case of the team being in a competition position a season after the team never was in that spot. 

Add in Herta and Kirkwood being in the top ten, and the Andretti Global/MSR alliance had three in the top ten. That was more than Team Penske, more than Chip Ganassi Racing and more than McLaren. I think this is a good place to start for the Andretti/MSR alliance and something to build from in a month's time. 

Do we have any answers about Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing?

Not really.

If you go based on the combined results from Wednesday, the RLLR cars were 19th (Graham Rahal), 21st (Christian Lundgaard), 23rd (Takuma Sato) and 30th (Pietro Fittipaldi), and Fittipaldi did little more than complete the refresher program. Fittipaldi completed 63 laps while the other three RLLR drivers completed a combined 63 laps.

Last year, RLLR's cars were 23rd, 26th, 28th and 33rd at the April test, and that was a full day where the three full-time RLLR cars all ran over 100 laps. 

It could be worse. That is probably the best way to look at it, but we really don't have enough to be certain. If anything, it is kind of the same scenario we saw last year with RLLR. All the cars are together. There is consistency. The problem was the consistency had three of its cars in the last chance qualifying session last year, and the fourth car was starting 30th. 

It also could have been better. I am sure one of the RLLR cars could have put up a good number and had everyone in the team confident it made a jump forward.

The questions will remain.

Can Ed Carpenter Racing get some love?

Sure! 

Ed Carpenter was seventh while Christian Rasmussen was tenth despite having to complete ROP. Rinus VeeKay was 12th. The speed the last few years at ECR has been with VeeKay in qualifying. The Dutchman has never started worse than fourth in four Indianapolis 500 appearances. Carpenter has started fourth or better in seven of the last 11 years. 

The qualifying speed will likely be there. It is the race where we need to see it. Carpenter is remembered for his runner-up finish in 2018, but his average finish in the Indianapolis 500 since running for his own team starting in 2012 is 17.25, and he has finished in the back half of the field of 33 in three of the last four years. For comparison, in Carpenter's eight "500s" not with his own team his average finish was 13.875 and he finished in the back half of the field of 33 only once. 

ECR has had 30 starters in the Indianapolis 500 since establishing in 2012 and including the 2015 season as CFH Racing. The team has three top five finishes and 13 top ten finishes. It has had at least one top ten finisher in each of the last three years and in five of the last six. 

All signs point to at least one ECR car being toward the front. Can it have a car in the lead group coming to the checkered flag? 

Is there anything else we should know?

I think that covers it. Last year, 3,108 total laps were completed in the one April test day. This year, only 1,327 laps were complete. We basically got half a test. With half a test comes half the answers. It only makes the dwindling days until IndyCar's biggest race that more tense. We will find out more in a month. Let the waiting begin!