It was a strange thing because up to that point we had seen the driver stopping earlier coming out and maintaining positions. McLaughlin had held off Newgarden on a few occasions despite Newgarden going a lap longer. On the final pit cycle, running long was the answer. When Newgarden emerged ahead of McLaughlin after going a lap longer, though Newgarden was already in the lead after McLaughlin lost time on the alternate tire, it felt like it was race over. I don't think anyone expected Power to go from third to first in the final pit cycle.
Power wasn't far off but he didn't appear to be that close to leapfrog to the lead. Was one fewer lap of fuel that much of an advantage? It played a part.
For Power, this ends a two-year slump. He had not won since the final Belle Isle race in 2022. Last year, Power's attention was split between racing and his family as his wife Liz battled illness. With the family in good shape, the job can take more focus and we are seeing it. Through seven races, Power has now finished first or second in four of them. He has two other finishes of sixth and his only bad day was 24th in the Indianapolis 500.
This is the form we saw from Power in 2022 that won him a championship. Through seven races in 2024, Power is back on top of the championship.
2. If this was the backup car, how good was the primary car for Josef Newgarden? After a massive hit in qualifying, Newgarden looked competitive today, and this felt like it was going to be his race. The cautions at the start minimized the burden of the alternate tire in the opening stint. When McLaughlin put on the alternate tire for the penultimate stint, it looked favorable for Newgarden. Those tires did not have the pace to hold onto the lead, and Newgarden was in touching distance. When Newgarden got ahead, it must have felt like his race to lose.
It is hard to say Newgarden lost this race. He came in a lap after McLaughlin's final stop and Newgarden had the back-marker of Nolan Siegel directly ahead of him. Newgarden did the right thing. If he had gone another lap and lost the lead to McLaughlin, everyone would have been saying the team made a mistake. I don't think anyone expected Power to leap ahead from how far back he was.
Going an extra lap might have kept Newgarden ahead of Power, but it doesn't mean he would have remained ahead of McLaughlin. Damned if you do, damned if you don't, but Newgarden needed a good result. Four of the first six races were results outside the top fifteen. An Indianapolis 500 victory can only cover over so much, especially since it is no longer double points. Newgarden needed a second-place finish, even if he had first in his grasp.
3. The chaos at the start allowed Scott McLaughlin to vault from eighth to first. In the opening stint, it looked like McLaughlin was going to get lucky and stomp the field. McLaughlin left everyone in his dust for the most part, but only Newgarden could close in and keep it close. Then Power clawed his way into the battle. Again, if Newgarden had his primary car, and if this race didn't start with three of the top four starters spinning, I don't think McLaughlin is close to leading as many laps as he did. I am not sure McLaughlin finishes on the podium. He took advantage of the opportunity and this ended up being Team Penske's tenth 1-2-3 finish in IndyCar competition, and its first since the 2017 season finale at Sonoma.
4. It was Team Penske and then everyone else today. It is only fitting Álex Palou led everyone else. Palou didn't do anything special. He definitely benefitted from the accident at the start. That was three fewer cars to pass, and Palou ended up finishing three spots better than he started. He isn't going to have many more bad days this season. Penske won today, but Palou leaves only five points behind Power in the championship. Palou will be back on top soon enough, and the championship will likely go through him.
5. This feels like another missed opportunity for Kyle Kirkwood and Andretti Global. It wasn't as bad as Detroit last week, but when three of the top four starters are spinning after the opening corner of the race and you are the one top four starter remaining straight, you should be thrilled. What Kirkwood did not see coming was McLaughlin flying from eighth to second and then taking the top spot on the first restart. Once McLaughlin was clear, Kirkwood could not keep up with McLaughlin or any of the Penske cars. Kirkwood still finished fifth, which is a great day for him, but this race was on a platter and he didn't take advantage of it.
6. Colton Herta was spun at the start. Josef Newgarden got into the back of Herta as Herta eased up to avoid the spinning Linus Lundqvist and Marcus Armstrong. I was surprised a penalty was not called on Newgarden. I understand the reasoning. It was a chain reaction and Newgarden had nowhere to go, but it feels like IndyCar has called that type of contact as a penalty before. It was unfair for Herta, but it would have been unfair to Newgarden as well.
Herta has all right to be upset because an all-out strategy that ended up being a five-stop race meant the best he could do was finish sixth, 28.8662 seconds back. Herta thinks he could have won the last three races. I am not sure about Indianapolis, but Detroit and Road America I will give him.
I don't know if there is a better way to redress positions when there is an incident like that.
IndyCar didn't throw the caution immediately for that spin at the start. They let almost a half a lap go before it called a caution for Armstrong's stricken car. But why couldn't IndyCar give Herta all those spots back? It wouldn't have been something that happened eight laps prior or 24 laps prior. The caution was out before a lap was completed. There could be a provision on opening lap incidents or possibly even restart incidents where if one car is significantly disadvantaged after taking evasive action to avoid an accident, he can be put back to where he was at the time of the incident.
It would be different and not how we have done it, but it is flexible to these circumstances where neither driver should be penalized, but one has been negatively affected. It requires some more thought. What if a driver has a tire puncture? Should he get to change tires and immediately be re-positioned to second or third? What if it is a restart with two laps to go? Maybe it should just be an opening lap thing, but I think there is a better way than to have one driver's chance of victory completely erased through one corner while an offending party gets no reprimand and has an improved chance of victory.
7. We have seen enough speed to know Romain Grosjean was bound to have one good day. It happened at Road America. Grosjean didn't get into any incidents. The team called a good race. It got him seventh. It hasn't been a case where Grosjean has been regularly close to the top ten with Juncos Hollinger Racing, but he likely should have one or two more than he does at the moment.
8. Patricio O'Ward was eighth. If you start 11th, you are not likely going to win. Eighth is as good as it might be. None of the Arrow McLaren cars looked great today. O'Ward wasn't a factor in this one.
9. Marcus Ericsson made it three Andretti Global cars in the top ten. Ericsson started 15th and he avoided the incidents. You are going to finish ninth if you avoid the trouble. Nothing spectacular but a good result for Ericsson after a tough end of May.
10. It is hard to celebrate a tenth-place finish, but Graham Rahal should allow him to feel good about this race. Rahal was pushed off on the opening lap, in an entirely separate accident from the Lundqvist/Armstrong/Herta mess at the front. It was bad enough Rahal was starting 24th. A trip through the gravel was not what he needed, but he had to run an aggressive strategy, like Herta, and it got Rahal tenth from 24th.
It is hard to celebrate making up 14 positions when it only gets you tenth. This has been the story of Rahal's career. Every year he has at least one if not two races where he makes up over a dozen positions and finishes in the top ten, and we all wonder if he only started a dozen spots better, he would have been competing for a victory.
11. If there is a slight consolation for Rahal, it is he was the best Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver, as Christian Lundgaard was 11th. If Rahal had been tenth but Lundgaard was sixth, it is hollow. Lundgaard did ok today, but it is tough to make up many positions at Road America if you are on a normal three-stop strategy. With Pietro Fittipaldi in 16th, it isn't a bad day for RLLR, but it isn't a great day either.
12. It is unclear how Linus Lundqvist recovered to finish 12th because after the opening lap spin, Lundqvist wasn't mentioned again. All I can say is, more pit stops, greater aggression and he can go from 25th to 12th over the final 50 laps. It is good recovery, but this was still a missed chance. This wasn't Lundqvist's fault. He didn't have the greatest start, but Marcus Armstrong was right under him through turn one.
Armstrong was much too aggressive there. Everyone wants to win a race on lap one. In someways, it is the best time to make a move in an IndyCar race, but Armstrong needed more patience. At least get through turn three. To add insult to injury, Armstrong had mechanical issue hamper his day and end his race after 35 laps.
13. I am going to jump up and finish Chip Ganassi Racing here because Ganassi had all five cars start in the top 12. It had three cars finish outside the top twenty. Besides the Lundqvist/Armstrong incident, Kyffin Simpson was spun off in the final corner on lap six when Christian Rasmussen made a boneheaded move. Simpson deserved better.
Scott Dixon had the worst blisters imaginable on his alternate tires and it forced him off-strategy on the second stint of the race. Road America does not allow for much strategy variation. It is either you pit on lap 13 of a stint, lap 14 of a stint or lap 15 of a stint. That isn't a big window. When you must pit less than ten laps into a stint because your tires are blistering, your race is over. Dixon was screwed and he ended up 21st.
Not a great day for Ganassi.
14. Théo Pourchaire was 13th. That's fine. This was a race where nobody in the middle of the field really did anything remarkable. I don't know why Pourchaire finished 13th, but it is better than 14th. I have no clue what happened to Alexander Rossi that saw him drop to 18th. It felt like McLaren made a turn over the last two weeks. Here we are wondering what the hell happened as none of its cars were a factor.
15. Felix Rosenqvist actually had a good day. Moving up eight spots from 22nd to 14th isn't brilliant. It is good. Rosenqvist was a little off-strategy and running longer than most on the opening stint. It didn't quite result in a top ten day. He felt more active than others. He did finish five spots ahead of Hélio Castroneves. This has been a better year for Meyer Shank Racing. I am excited David Malukas will be in the #66 Honda for the remainder of the season. Malukas has been out of a car for most of the year, but I want to see what MSR does with a driver who should be more competitive with Rosenqvist.
16. Santino Ferrucci was 15th and Sting Ray Robb was 17th. If you avoid doing stupid stuff, you avoid finishing last most of the time. If you were told at the start of the day A.J. Foyt Racing would finish 15th and 17th, you would say, "Yeah, that sounds about right."
17. Christian Rasmussen does get his nose dirty quite often. Rasmussen has to dial it back about 15% but Ed Carpenter Racing doesn't have a great record at developing drivers. I don't think we are going to see it get Rasmussen in line. I am not sure the team could if it tried. Rinus VeeKay had something happen and finished three laps down in 24th, four spots behind Rasmussen. It was just another day of letting down potential for ECR.
18. Luca Ghiotto ran a 55-lap test session for Dale Coyne Racing and was 22nd. Jack Harvey was four laps down in 25th. This is what Dale Coyne Racing is in 2024. It wasn't long ago it was competing for victories. It is a damn shame.
19. Nolan Siegel's unexpected second career start sees him finish 23rd, albeit a lap down. It was a difficult situation to be in for Siegel, as he found out during Indy Lights practice on Friday he would take over for Agustín Canapino. We will have a Canapino discussion at a later time, but was the 19-year-old kid with one IndyCar start to his name really the best option as a last minute substitute for Canapino?
What happened to the vast number of veterans that used to hang around IndyCar? Ten years ago, this is Oriol Servià's ride or maybe Alex Tagliani. Siegel has a future in IndyCar, but his present should be in Indy Lights. He is not getting much out of a last-minute ride with Juncos Hollinger Racing. Conor Daly would have done it. Charlie Kimball was there calling the Indy Lights race. Spencer Pigot coaches Jacob Abel, but has a history with JHR. I think there are some names being overlooked to do a one-off such as this one.
20. This is a race where I wish everyone was mandated to use each tire compound twice. This race is always a three-stopper, but if everyone had to use the alternate compound twice, it changes the complexion of the race.
Does a driver run two stints on alternates to begin the race and get them out of the way?
Does the wear of the alternate tires make this a four-stop race because everyone will need to stop for tires before fuel and they will all need a splash of gas late in the race?
Road America is fun, but I think we can open this race up a bit because we aren't going to see two-stoppers vs. three-stoppers. The pit windows are narrow. It doesn't allow for some drivers running long versus drivers taking tires late and hoping to go on a charge. Mandating using each compound twice mixes it up more.
This is where IndyCar should be more open to different strategy regulations. All Firestone must do is bring an extra set of alternate tires for 27 teams or just swap out a primary set for the extra alternate set. That doesn't seem to be much of a hurdle. For all the little things IndyCar tries, this is worth exploring at a few races. Road America is going to be a three-stop race no matter what. Why not experiment with it?
21. Everyone gets a week off. It is going to be nice to have a break. It is nice to have a race the week after the Indianapolis 500. There is such a buzz that I want to keep going. Two consecutive weeks racing after the "500" is a little bit much. Not the worst way to spend your time, but it is nice to get a breather. Yes, there is Le Mans, but most will watch that from their couch. It is two weeks until Laguna Seca.
