1. It was not quite like last year’s Laguna Seca race, but cautions played a critical role. It ultimately came down to when teams decided to make their pit stops, and for Álex Palou, he did not stop under a caution in the middle of a stint for a Luca Ghiotto accident.
Staying out allowed Palou to run flat out while those that stopped around 60 laps to go had to conserve fuel. Palou had to do some work and manage late restarts that leveled the competition, but the decision to remain on track gave Palou control of the race. That is all he needs to get victory.
Palou was pushing Kyle Kirkwood after Palou lost the lead on the initial start of the race. It felt destined for Palou to leap forward, but stopping early was more advantageous, and Palou actually lost spots, but all those cars that stopped before Palou in that first round of green flag pit stops came under the first caution for Ghiotto.
It was mid-stint and it never made much sense to go on the defensive. This was a gift for Palou and now he has a 23-point championship lead over Will Power in second. Palou is 32 points ahead of his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon.
This wasn’t a case of Palou entered this weekend up ten or 15 points and took advantage. Palou was trailing in the championship, five points behind Power, entering this race. This was a big swing in the championship and one the field likely wish didn’t happen. Palou doesn’t need much to run away from the competition. He has been given a golden opportunity.
2. The late cautions brought Colton Herta into the conversation for race victory, but he could not give Palou much of a serious threat. Herta spent basically the entire race in the top five. He stopped early, and this race was reminiscent to Long Beach. Scott Dixon won that race saying fuel but everyone behind him was driving flat out. The fuel-save strategy worked for Dixon but no one else.
This was the reverse. Palou won going all out, but the cars that had to save did have good days. Herta still finished second stretching fuel. If Herta had stayed out, it would have been better for his shot at victory. Also, the cautions did make this closer than it was. Without the late cautions, Herta might be second but eight or ten seconds behind Palou. I am surprised Andretti Global didn’t split the strategies considering Herta and Kyle Kirkwood were both at the front at that time.
3. After the first round of pit stops, this was looking like it was Alexander Rossi’s race. Rossi stopped first among the leaders and went from about fourth to first. It looked like Rossi’s team had played the right strategy for once… and then it stopped under the first caution and sacrificed control of the race. Rossi should have finished on the podium today, but if he doesn’t pit under that Ghiotto caution, I think he wins the race.
4. Romain Grosjean didn’t stop under the Ghiotto caution and that lifted Grosjean to a fourth-place finish. This was already a good weekend for Grosjean, but the decision mostly lifted Grosjean into the top five when he was right outside of it. He didn’t put a wheel wrong while others did. It was a good result for him and the Juncos Hollinger Racing team. It is actually JHR’s best finish in IndyCar.
5. I don’t think Kyle Kirkwood was going to win this race even after leading all those laps at the start. With how close Palou was, this felt like a race we have seen Scott Dixon win five or six times. Stay close during the first stint, over-cut the leader by one lap, take the lead and runaway. Of course, Kirkwood did get out ahead of Palou after the first round of pit stops, but ground was lost to Rossi. Then Kirkwood lost spots on the pit stops under the Ghiotto caution. It was still a strong drive from Kirkwood, a top five is suitable.
6. A quiet day for Scott Dixon got him sixth. Unsurprisingly, Dixon took the fuel-save strategy. He was fourth among those drivers, but he was starting behind the three drivers ahead of him. He didn’t lose ground today. Dixon made fuel and went forward.
7. Will Power didn’t quite have a great day, but still finished seventh. With the ways the cautions fell, it benefited Power, but he was never a factor in this race and the result is rather flattering. This was not a great weekend for Team Penske across the board.
8. It is hard to find any faults in an eighth-place finish but Patricio O’Ward was on the same strategy as Palou, restarted third but he had to stop eight laps before Palou and that cost O’Ward positions. O’Ward had stopped about six laps earlier than the leaders on the opening stint. He was always going to stop before Palou and he was going to have to run a little less aggressive, but it is tough to celebrate this result.
9. Santino Ferrucci used strategy again to finish in the top ten. Credit to him and A.J. Foyt Racing because it is working but he isn’t finishing ninth if he stops under the Ghiotto caution. Even with the strategy plays, Ferrucci is still picking up ninth-place results and not podium finishes or top five finishes. It is great for A.J. Foyt Racing, but we have seen this season Ferrucci make it a habit of doing stupid stuff in practice. There are plenty of drivers who could pull off this result and not bring the drama.
10. Marcus Ericsson stuck into the top ten. He wasn’t going to finish in the top ten and then he did. We will cover why in a moment. As for Ericsson, the growing pains have been a little greater than expected at Andretti Global. Not the end of the world but I don’t think we expected this many scraps to get tenth.
11. This is coming out late because Pacific Time Zone. We will be quick here. This was another race where Felix Rosenqvist started at the front, had potential, but ended up finishing significantly behind from where he started. Don’t get me wrong, 11th is good for Meyer Shank Racing considering where it was last year, but this group cannot be losing four to eight spots every race from where it started. It doesn’t sting as much when you start in the top ten but it is still wasteful.
Credit to David Malukas for completing all the laps and finishing 16th. Malukas should be improving over each weekend.
12. I don’t know how Nolan Siegel ended up 12th considering he also had a spin mid-race. Chalk it up to the cautions I guess.
13. Christian Rasmussen did make up a fair amount of spots today. It only got him 13th but that is all Ed Carpenter Racing can ask for at the moment. Rinus VeeKay had a spin on his own and then had to retire due to mechanical problems, taking 26th. One step forward, two steps back for ECR today.
14. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing had the race from hell. Pietro Fittipaldi did nothing brilliant to finish 14th. Christian Lundgaard was knocked off the road multiple times, it tarnished what was a promising starting position, and Lundgaard had his own penalty after he pushed Marcus Armstrong off track, leaving the Dane to finish 15th. Graham Rahal never had it this weekend and was collected when Kyffin Simpson spun in front of him. The next race is the home race at Mid-Ohio. It can only go up from here… right?
15. Chip Ganassi Racing’s youths did not have great days. Linus Lundqvist wasn’t competitive to begin with and hitting a pit crew member doesn’t help. Marcus Armstrong was spun and then Kyffin Simpson spun himself. These three are lucky Palou won.
16. Agustín Canapino returned to anonymity in 18th. That is all. Sting Ray Robb was 20th though he did have a spin.
17. Team Penske had a terrible weekend. Josef Newgarden nearly caught a break when the caution came out for Armstrong. Newgarden was on pit lane when it happened and came out in second. However, he lost about three spots when he ran slightly wide not long after the following restart. On the penultimate lap, Newgarden spun out from fifth. Newgarden shouldn’t have been fifth, but he shouldn’t have been 19th either. For a guy who spent a lot of time speaking about focus, this was an incident that showed a lack of focus, and a championship position of eighth with five results worse than 15th in the first eight races causes some questions to be raised
Scott McLaughlin had a top ten day going and then an ambitious move on Will Power caused contact and actually damaged McLaughlin’s car to the point it took him out of the race. This has been a messy season for Team Penske. It felt like it was back on track a month ago after Indianapolis. Apparently, that isn’t the case.
18. Along with Luca Ghiotto’s accident, Jack Harvey lost an engine. Dale Coyne Racing was 25th and 27th today. It is a bad team and the drivers are doing all they can to get something respectable.
19. Summer is here and in a fortnight Mid-Ohio will take a place in IndyCar history as it will be the debut round for the hybrid system.
