We know this is O’Ward’s level. When it comes going toe-to-toe, he can beat the best of them. He did it last year at Mid-Ohio when Álex Palou dominated the first 2/3rds before the final pit stop and O’Ward cycled to the lead but had to defend mightily. Arrow McLaren won this race today, and deservedly so.
2. It wasn’t a victory, but Team Penske needed this day. Josef Newgarden needed this day. It is one that got away, but Penske and Newgarden needed a race where it showed it still had it. It wasn’t a victory but 232 laps led from pole position shows not all is lost.
It was one slow pit stop that cost them. Newgarden nearly had O’Ward on the Mexican’s out-lap. This race really came down to fractions. A pit stop that was 0.2 seconds faster might have kept Newgarden ahead. He didn’t need a second.
3. Will Power had a strong day to finish third. Power made passes on track to get to third. He overtook Álex Palou and Conor Daly. There was a fair amount of distance between the top two and the rest of the field, but Power led the way. Even if you go back to his championship season in 2022, Power has this ability to just be fifth every race, and sometimes it nets him a few more spots and he is on the podium without being flashy.
4. There was not an abundance of passing today, but Scott McLaughlin did his fair share. In the opening stint, I watched McLaughlin almost exclusively. In a backup car, he could have struggled, but I think a Penske backup car is a top five car in the paddock. Maybe Ganassi could have achieved something like this. McLaughlin was a force from the start. Cautions aided in his ascendancy. Fourth is an honorable result. Now he has to do it all over again tomorrow.
5. Álex Palou lost 20 points to Patricio O’Ward today, but Palou was still fifth and he has nothing to worry about. Palou hung in the top five all race. The pressure is on O’Ward to do that again. Palou is starting on pole position tomorrow. If O’Ward wants to pick up some more points, he will have to go through Palou. Easier said than done.
6. I don’t know if the broadcast caught it, but in the first stint of the race, Christian Rasmussen had a big moment in the middle of turns three and four and nearly had his race end before he could complete 50 laps. He caught the car, lost some spots, but Rasmussen gained those and then some. The Dane was spectacular today. He made some daring passes, and the sophomore has been the darling on the ovals this season.
7. Conor Daly didn’t do bad, but he didn’t quite hang with the leaders. Daly lost ground on pit stops and he was shuffled back. He held onto a top ten spot the entire race and earned a moral victory beating Santino Ferrucci in a race to finish seventh. It is a small token for the day but a missed opportunity.
8. As noted, Santino Ferrucci was eighth. Ferrucci was in the top ten all race, but never got higher than sixth. Colton Herta’s spin at the start might have taken away Ferrucci’s chance to make a big move at the start and gain four or five spots, but he still had multiple restarts and never made that big move we expected. Good day but not a great day for Ferrucci.
9. Marcus Armstrong quietly finished ninth today. He didn’t make many waves, but he hung in position and he ran long on his last stint, led some laps, and ended up ninth. We have about four or five drivers up for unsung driver of the year. Armstrong is one of them.
10. At one moment, it looked like Scott Dixon was set to finish in the top five. Then Dixon faded and in the final pit cycle he was outside the top ten. In the final run to the line, Dixon got tenth. Not his greatest day. It could have been worse.
11. Graham Rahal had a quiet run to finish 11th.
David Malukas should be a little disappointed finishing 12th.
Colton Herta somewhat recovered from spinning at the start to finish 13th. Andretti Global didn’t really show any speed today from the start of practice.
Louis Foster was 14th and for a moment was in a top ten spot.
Marcus Ericsson cannot get out of that hole between 12th and 15th.
Rinus VeeKay didn’t have a good qualifying run but climbed to 16th.
Bad day for Felix Rosenqvist. Rosenqvist kept dropping through the field and he started third. He starts second tomorrow. Hopefully the team learned something.
I don’t know if Kyffin Simpson, Devlin DeFranceso or Robert Shwartzman did anything noteworthy.
Bad day for Christian Lundgaard. One pit lane penalty for speeding on his first spot knocked him out of the top twenty and he never got back there.
Sting Ray Robb was 22nd. Yep. Sounds about right.
12. He had five retirements.
Callum Ilott hit the wall late. Ilott made the most passes in this race. It was because he was a lap down and took tires when the field had older rubber. Ilott was fun to watch though the passes were for nothing.
Nolan Siegel threw away a top ten result he could not afford to throw away. O’Ward really saved Arrow McLaren’s day.
Alexander Rossi had a mechanical failure knock him out of the race. He had a good race early as well.
Kyle Kirkwood knocked down the turn two wall and it effectively killed whatever slim championship hopes Kirkwood had. It was a rough day with a practice accident as well. Hopefully, things look up on Sunday.
Jacob Abel had an early accident as he was struggling at the end of the first stint. It is a tough way to learn.
13. It was a better race than I expected. It wasn’t outstanding. There was some passing, but we know what Iowa once was and it is far from that. It helped that there was drama in a late shakeup during the final pit cycle, and O’Ward and Newgarden had a battle to the end. Sometimes it doesn’t matter about the total number of passes, but the right time for a pass. In the final laps, it felt possible Newgarden could make a move and claim victory. That is what it was like at Texas in 2022. Passing was difficult and felt unlikely, but Newgarden made a move coming to the checkered flag and we had a photo-finish.
It is still tough to watch the leader ride around the tail of the field for 45 laps. There were passes when one car ran a little too wide but no one was making runs on their own.
I will also admit, watching a bad race at the race track is still watching a race at the race track. It is a good day. There wasn’t much going on, but you scan the field and watch a few battles. Watch a few cars get close. Sometimes you see the move happen. That is why I focused on McLaughlin at the start. That was worth it even if nothing happened between positions fifth through 14th. The cars buzzing by at 185 mph. How can it be a bad day?
That doesn’t excuse how things have been, but IndyCar has done all it could after last year’s re-pave. As I watched the race and walked back to the car, I toyed with things IndyCar could have tried. It isn’t going to change before tomorrow. At least tomorrow’s race will be on a track that is rubbered up and it should be better. Better still might not be that thrilling. It helps that the grid is mixed up. All hope is on tomorrow.
14. We can go over bigger picture things later, but we have another race in last than 24 hours and we really do not know what could happen.
