Stopping with 44 laps to go, it would require some help to make it, but this race was always going to provide it. Once Dixon made the stop, everyone should have been afraid. More should have anticipated Dixon's move and come with him. It would be tough for the rest of the field to do it, but if Dixon was shuffled behind a few competitors, it would at least give everyone else a better chance.
Instead, Dixon held the point as others made their final pit stops, and like Dixon does, he made enough fuel to win comfortably and even make it back to the pit lane on the cool down lap. Add to it Álex Palou's first bad day in over a year-and-a-half, and Dixon is now the championship leader. There are plenty of races to go, and Palou will not disappear, but Dixon knows how to race with a lead. It is setting up for Ganassi to control this championship to Nashville.
2. Marcus Ericsson needed a good day and he got it. This is a race where few performances will stand out. Ericsson made a run late as he had better tires and didn't have to save fuel. He was a little too far back to chase down Dixon, but coming 0.8567 seconds short considering how the last few races went, the Indianapolis 500 especially, is a boost for the Swede.
3. Marcus Armstrong clung to his first career podium finish. Armstrong was on the same strategy as Dixon, but the sophomore driver learned how difficult it is to go 44 laps to close out a Detroit race. Armstrong did a masterful job holding off Kyle Kirkwood, who looked poised to make a run for the victory. Once Kirkwood was vanquished, Ericsson pushed but Armstrong held strong, but he didn't quite have it in the final laps. Armstrong made it to the finish in third, but he did run out of fuel on the cool down lap. He did all he could. Third is a great result.
4. Kyle Kirkwood didn't have the legs at the finish. On the final restart, he looked set to get ahead of Armstrong and take the fight to Scott Dixon, but Kirkwood could not get ahead of Armstrong. Detroit is a tough place to pass, and Armstrong executed a stout defense that arguably won the race for the Dixon. It killed Kirkwood's tires and he had to let Ericsson go. Kirkwood likely feels a victory slip out of his hands, and I think it did, but fourth is a rare result for Kirkwood. It is his first top five finish that wasn't a victory. He wants to win, but he must pile up these results as well.
5. Alexander Rossi was stuck in the opening lap incident when Will Power spun, and yet he rallied to finish fifth with Will Power right behind him. That is what this race was today. Over half the top ten you wonder how they finished there. This wasn't a good race. That isn't meant to slight Rossi, but he stuck to it, a few things went his way, and he finished fifth. Good for him.
6. Will Power was spun on the opening lap, had about a half-dozen penalties today and he ended up finishing sixth. This was not Power's greatest drive ever. Power didn't stop as earlier as Dixon and Armstrong, but he stopped not long after that. It moved Power to the front. Some could say this was one of his worst performances in quite some time. It was a bad race. Many drivers had bad days. Somebody has to finish sixth. There was a good chance it would be someone with a bad day. A conversation could be had if penalties should increase in severity if a driver has multiple offenses in one race. Persistent infringement should be a thing.
7. Patricio O'Ward was seventh. I am not sure he did anything brilliant. Like Rossi, O'Ward was caught in the opening lap stack up, and it put him in the back. Then cautions went O’Ward’s way. It ended up in a top ten finish. Take it and run!
8. Felix Rosenqvist had a tire puncture on the opening lap. It could have been costly, but this race was a mess and Rosenqvist could jump up to ninth despite the setback. It makes up for Indianapolis a little bit. Unless it is a victory, you can never truly make up for a lost engine at Indianapolis, but this could have been a 17th-place finish. Eighth is a gift.
9. It was a weekend for Santino Ferrucci. Practice incidents aside, Ferrucci punted Hélio Castroneves on lap 15. It was a bit of bad driving, but with the way this race went, a stop-and-go penalty could be overcome, and Ferrucci ended up ninth. As many foolish moves he makes, this was Ferrucci's fourth top ten finish through six races. He has been getting results even if it is a long way to get there. This is the best start for an A.J. Foyt Racing driver since Takuma Sato in 2013. Ferrucci isn't going anywhere, even if he is going to run into 80% of the field.
10. Théo Pourchaire drove a damaged car to a tenth-place finish. The incident that caused the damage was pretty eye-opening for Pourchaire. He barely made the corner and used Agustín Canapino as a brake, but Pourchaire held on. It was an impressive weekend for Pourchaire. He jumped onto a new street course and was up to speed immediately. He qualified seventh and looked good enough to make the Fast Six. He wasn't really at fault for the opening lap incident. There were four cars going for one spot on the racetrack. Pourchaire took a car most would have given up on and put it in the top ten. It was likely one of the most difficult drives of his career, and he looked up for it. This was a good pickup for IndyCar.
11. Christian Lundgaard had to stop for a splash of fuel on the final lap and it cost him a top five. Lundgaard still got 11th, but he looked better than that today. Lundgaard had his own fair share of contact, most notably parking his car on Romain Grosjean in the turn three hairpin. That was a bad move on Lundgaard's part. That was after he gambled staying out when the rain started to fall. Again, plenty of drivers had bad races. Lundgaard was just another one. It was 11th for him.
12. Agustín Canapino was working on a top ten result but he was sliding backward in closing laps. A top ten would have been kind to Canapino. Matching a career-best in 12th is still generous, but he didn't really do much wrong. This was not a bad day for Canapino. He had one of the few good days.
13. We are going to breeze through the field here. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing had Pietro Fittipaldi in 13th and Graham Rahal in 15th. Lundgaard was the best RLLR driver on this day. The other two were never in the conversation. RLLR showed good street course pace last year. This wasn't bad this weekend, but it was not great either. Lundgaard is the one guy who can make it work regularly. Rahal can make it work occasionally. Fittipaldi is stuck with the slow third car.
14. Rinus VeeKay was spun on the mid-race restart when Will Power clipped him. VeeKay was off-strategy and on slick tire while others were on the wet tires. It could have worked out in VeeKay's favor. Instead, he was sent backward due to no fault of his own. At least VeeKay made it that far. Christian Rasmussen lost an engine after 25 laps. Rough day for Ed Carpenter Racing.
15. Álex Palou was all over the place today, but not in a bad way. The alternate tire was junk and Palou had to stop early to get off of that compound. The cautions fell, Palou jumped ahead and was on the wet tires, which was not the long play, but it got him track position, and right when it looked like Palou was set for a top ten and maybe even a top five, Josef Newgarden spun in turn three, Palou was balked and the top ten streak ended. Palou took 16th, but this could have been much better.
There are 11 races left this season. Palou is 18 points back. Palou will be fine, but this was the first time we have seen Palou have a bad day, and it wasn't even his fault. As long as Palou can avoid everyone else's mess, he will still be dangerous.
16. Dale Coyne Racing is not going to do much better than 17th at the moment. Jack Harvey was 17th and really didn't cause any issues. Tristan Vautier was 18th and avoided the issues. Vautier was up to third as he tried to stretch his fuel like Dixon and Armstrong. That is Dale Coyne Racing's only shot at the moment. Even then it was likely not going to shake up in their favor.
We cannot take anything from these results. Coyne has next to no resources and Vautier was called three days before practice. There will likely be a new different at Road America. This is not a recipe for success.
17. You noticed how two Andretti Global cars were in the top four? Colton Herta blew a good result today. Herta led at the start, took wet tires because he had to make a pit stop anyway and it was raining, and then Herta made a moronic move today trying to pass Palou and Vautier into turn four when the track was still damp off line. That pass was never going to stick.
It is understandable that Herta was frustrated because he led the first third of this race, wasn't challenge at any point while leading, and yet was behind cars he felt he was better than, but this was not seeing the forest from the trees. Especially after Indianapolis where Herta lost a hefty amount of points, he cannot afford to make a terrible error. He was in the top five of the championship. There are 11 races left after today. Herta might not want to be behind Palou and lose points, but it would be better to lose two points to Palou than to lose 20 points to Palou.
It worked out that Palou ended up 16th while Herta was 19th, but Herta could have been in the top ten while Palou was caught in Newgarden's spin and Herta could have gained points today. It is another case of Herta coughing up points. Andretti Global must fix that.
18. Scott McLaughlin was the only driver caught out in the rain. McLaughlin slid into the turn one tire barrier while running in a podium position. That knocked McLaughlin off the lead lap and he couldn't recover. Josef Newgarden had a bad pit stop when the fueler couldn't connect the fuel nozzle. Then Newgarden had an unsafe release penalty when he nearly bowled over Christian Lundgaard's crew. Newgarden was on the Dixon/Armstrong strategy, and he got into Kirkwood on the lap 70 restart, spinning himself out and stacking up Palou.
Newgarden kept going, but then he slapped the barrier and that ended a miserable day. With a result of 26th, this is the fourth result outside the top fifteen through six races for Newgarden in 2024. This has been a problem for Newgarden since the end of last season. He has seven results of 15th or worse in the last ten races dating back to 2023. This isn't good. He cannot bank on winning six oval races to close the season and win the championship. If you cannot finish fifth or sixth once in a while no number of victories will be enough to win the championship. He might have a second Indianapolis 500 victory, but Newgarden has work to do.
19. It is mostly stragglers from here. With all the incidents today, it should come as no surprise Sting Ray Robb ran into the barrier. Linus Lundqvist was caught in a stack up or two but I am not sure how he was 22nd. Romain Grosjean had enough today. Grosjean wanted to retire the car. The team told him to continue. This is destined to be the one and only year of the Grosjean/Juncos Hollinger Racing marriage.
Kyffin Simpson and Helio Castroneves had both of their races ruined after the Santino Ferrucci contact. Castroneves was run over. Simpson had nowhere to go and was collateral. A stop-and-go penalty doesn't quite have enough bite when the two drivers done wrong end up three laps and four laps down.
20. This wasn't a good race. This isn't a good track. Belle Isle is not walking through that door. The downtown location is better for a Detroit race. There is more to do and it is easier for people to get to. Belle Isle isn't far, but it isn't the most accessible circuit. There is also a limit on how many people can attend Belle Isle. Far more people can surround a downtown Detroit circuit. That is not changing, but this circuit isn't up to IndyCar quality.
This is a disservice to the series. I am not even going to play the "race after Indianapolis card" here. If this race was seven days after Portland or Long Beach or Gateway it would still look poor in comparison.
But it isn't going to change. This is Roger Penske's event with strong Chevrolet support. It isn't going back to Belle Isle. It isn't going to Michigan International Speedway no matter how much you cry about it. This race will stay at the foot of the Renaissance Center forever. This is a corporate picnic and it happens to be an IndyCar race.
21. At least Road America is next week.
