First Impressions: Nashville 2025

1. The balance between a dream and a nightmare is razor thin. Entering today, Josef Newgarden had been living a nightmare. The 2025 season somehow was worse than 2024 when it didn't seem probable it could be, but Team Penske had its worst season of the 21st century. Every race seem to come up snake eyes for at least one if not all three of Penske's cars. Newgarden appeared to be the most bitten driver of the season. 

Today started slow for Newgarden. He didn't rocket to the front, but he slowly climbed up the order from sixth on the grid. He actually lost a spot or two at the start. He hadn't rocketed forward at Milwaukee either, but he was in the picture for the victory late a week ago. Unfortunately for Newgarden, even when it appeared things were going his way, something always found a way to go wrong. Whether it be seat belts coming up done, mechanical issues, cars spinning into his path, Scott Dixon hitting him from behind, or not taking tires under the final caution while every car behind you does, Newgarden couldn't escape misfortune in 2025. 

That was nearly the case in the season finale. Newgarden overshot his pit box for his final pit stop after he was leading the race. Newgarden went from first to third after the pit cycle. It felt like another race had gotten away from Newgarden. However, in the closing laps, Newgarden passed Álex Palou, and he went onto battle Scott McLaughlin. 

McLaughlin had a good lead, but running wide in the middle of turn one caused McLaughlin to slide up the track and brush the barrier. Newgarden inherited the lead, but there would still be 12 laps between him and victory. 

For a year where it felt like Newgarden was always battling, even when he was only battling himself, Newgarden did not face extreme pressure in the closing laps. Of all the drivers to be breathing down his neck, it was Álex Palou, a driver who had been virtually flawless all season. On this day, Palou was good, but not good enough. There was no late lunge or attack for first. Josef Newgarden got to the checkered flag a little over a half-second ahead of the 2025 champion, and a great relief fell upon the Tennessean. 

The last two seasons have been particularly eye-opening for Newgarden and the Team Penske organization. Regardless of this result, there were still seven finishes outside the top twenty this season. Not all of those were his fault, but at least half were down to driver error. For a driver who went into the 2024 season saying he cut out distractions in the offseason to improve results, things took a nosedive, and while there have been victories, including a second Indianapolis 500 triumph since, things have mostly gone downward. 

If there is any hope for Newgarden, it is this victory can turn things around in 2026. For two years, he hasn't been close to a championship contender. We know he can be a champion. We know he is a great driver. This victory put Newgarden tenth all-time in victories on his own. He has already made his mark on the record book, but this slump has been hard to ignore. At least Newgarden and his team head into an offseason not thinking about a losing streak.

2. Álex Palou closes the season with a runner-up finish. Eight victories is damn fine. It was a number not reached previously post-reunification. Scott Dixon has never reached this number of victories in a season. Will Power has never reached this number of victories in a season, neither has Newgarden. We are going to look back on one lap at Mid-Ohio and one choice not to stop under the final caution at Milwaukee as the only things being between Palou and matching the record of ten victories in a season. Even though he didn't match the record, it was still a historic and tremendous season. 

Palou had 13 podium finishes. Only five times previously has a driver had at least 13 podium finishes in a season. His 14 top five finishes are only the ninth time a driver has hit such a number in a season. He began the season with six consecutive podium finishes. He ends the season with four consecutive podium finishes. What else do you want from the guy? 

This was a brilliant season, one of the best we have ever seen. Even on a day when you would think he should not have had a sniff of victory, Palou was the main challenger in the final laps. Palou had a cut tire 52 laps into the race. That should have been curtains on his 2025 season, and he should have had 90 minutes to shower off and prepare for a trophy ceremony. Instead, Palou was able to nurse the car to pit lane and essentially lose no time. 

Palou led after the final pit cycle, but he didn't have the power to control the race and soon fell behind McLaughlin. It wasn't Palou's day, but it didn't need to be. He had won the war long ago.

3. When Scott McLaughlin and Newgarden were running 1-2, all I could think about was as close as Team Penske was to a dream ending for this dark 2025 season, but if there was anything we should have learned from this year, it was more likely McLaughlin and Newgarden were going to get together battling for the lead and taking each other out than those two finishing first and second. If anything, the nightmare was the more apt ending to this season than the dream.

Within two laps of saying that, McLaughlin slid up the track and it looked like his race would be over. However, it was only a glancing blow, and McLaughlin was able to continue. He had lost his advantage, and despite having the alternate tire for the final laps, McLaughlin could not mount a challenge to Newgarden. McLaughlin actually found himself fighting for that final podium spot with Kyffin Simpson. McLaughlin pipped it in the closing laps.

McLaughlin ends as the winless Penske driver in 2025. None of the Penske drivers had a good season. McLaughlin had some better moments, but he spent the end of spring and start of summer unable to compete for victories. He made his own mistakes as well. It isn't a victory, but with a pair of third-place results to end the season, it should be momentum to carry into 2026 just like Newgarden will have with a  victory. 

4. I don't know how Kyffin Simpson finished fourth. Simpson didn't get mentioned at all until he was suddenly in the top five. He kept it clean obviously while others had issues. Simpson did start eighth today. It isn't like he was slow. He had a good car in this race. The way things shook out, he was on the verge of a podium on an oval, but he will surely take fourth. Entering this race, Simpson's best oval result was 13th. 

It is another odd result in an encouraging if not puzzling season from Simpson. There were plenty of races where he was in the top ten on speed. He was a little fortunate to have been fifth in Detroit and third at Toronto. He was better than last season, but he still had races where he was not comfortable. He also ran over Felix Rosenqvist at the start of the Laguna Seca race, and he was stubborn traffic in a few races when you wouldn't think that would be the case. It will be curious to see how 2026 plays out.

5. Conor Daly ends the 2025 season on a high-note with a fifth-place result. Daly didn't quite have the car to challenge for the victory today. He recovered from a woeful qualifying run to spend most of the race in the top ten. This is kind of the limit for Juncos Hollinger Racing. Even at Iowa where Daly had great pace, the team couldn't be counted on for pit stops to keep him in the picture. 

This is also the limit for Conor Daly. He debuted in 2013. His first full season was in 2016. The only teams he has never driven for are Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing, and Prema, the newest team on the grid. He has never finished better than 17th in the championship, and he was 18th this season. If he had done something impressive enough to warrant a promotion up to a better team, it would have come by now. Every year is a year-by-year basis for Daly. No one knows if he will be back next year at JHR. If he isn't, Daly is likely not going to be full-time in 2026. If he isn't full-time in 2026, I don't know if he will ever be full-time again. There are many young drivers ready to break through with a lot to prove.

6. Kyle Kirkwood ended the season with a good day in sixth. Kirkwood wasn't in the picture for race victory, but he didn't stumble down the order and end up 15th with everyone scratching their heads over what the hell happened. This was not a great end to what was a promising season. Andretti Global has a lot to consider after how this season ended. It had a team that had an outside shot at the championship halfway through the season. It should have at least had a driver finishing second in the championship considering Kirkwood had won three of the first eight races. 

Andretti Global should not feel satisfied with this season. It was far better than most. It was better than Team Penske's season, but the team faded in the second half, and no one wins championship when fading away.

7. Felix Rosenqvist turned a bad day around and was seventh, which got him sixth in the championship on tiebreaker over Colton Herta, somehow matching his best championship finish and it nipped Marcus Armstrong for best Meyer Shank Racing driver in the championship. 

I think sixth in the championship is flattering to Rosenqvist. We know he is quick and can be impressive. We also know he struggles to turn qualifying pace into race results. We know if he qualifies in the top five in ten races, likely only one of those races will see him as a threat for victory. It is frustrating because he could be a sneaky driver that can be an underdog and lift a mid-pack team to the top. He arguably has done that in his two years at MSR, but I don't know if the Felix Rosenqvist who is a regular contender for race victories and could one day be champion will ever come to light, which is something we all expected when he joined the series in 2019.

8. Santino Ferrucci recovered from a mistake of his own to finish eighth. The lap 83 caution for David Malukas and Louis Foster coming together while Malukas was in second already stung A.J. Foyt Racing. To add insult to injury, Ferrucci entered the pit lane access road in turn three when making his pit stop under that caution. However, cars enter pit lane off of turn four under caution at Nashville. Ferrucci was given a pit lane violation for improper entry, which it was, and he was sent back to 24th prior to the restart. 

Ferrucci did gain ten spots in about six laps after that restart, but he never really factored in again. He ended up finishing eighth and lost a few more spots after Robert Shwartzman blocked him in the final sprint to the finish. It was nice way to end a season after Ferrucci had been in a rut for almost two months. After four consecutive top five finishes to end May and cover the month of June, Ferrucci entered this weekend with his best finish being eighth over the last seven races, one of which he missed due to a warm-up accident in Toronto. He fell out of top ten championship battle. He was ahead of at least two Penske drivers for most of first half of the season, and he ended 2025 ahead of zero Team Penske drivers. 

No bragging rights earn, and not much more than 16th in the championship. There were a few bright days, but it is a dip from last season no matter how we try to shade it.

9. Callum Ilott got ninth, and Ilott ended the season with four top ten finishes in the final five races. That is a pretty stellar ending to a first season for Prema. Ilott had a rough start to the season, but he and Prema found their legs down the stretch. The team still has work to do. Prema's drivers are ending the season ranked 21st and 24th in the championship. It is far from a good season, but it is a promising end. Prema had three top ten finishes on ovals and it won Indianapolis 500 pole position. If someone had told you Prema would have achieved that on March 1, you would have had that person locked up for insanity.

For all the celebration around Ilott, he doesn't score many outstanding results. He had about three great races with Juncos Hollinger Racing, granted they were the three best days for JHR up to that point, but if there is one knock against Ilott it is he doesn't regularly finish 12th or 13th and sneak a top ten finish every three races. If you are sneaking a top ten finish every three races you have five or six top ten finishes a season. That could get you tenth or 11th in the championship. I don't know if Prema will be capable of producing that kind of car next year. Ilott is its driver though. Can it believe in him for much greater?

10. Alexander Rossi began the season with a tenth-place finish, and Rossi ended the season with a tenth-place finish. Rossi went a little off strategy in this race and it nearly backfired on him, but the final caution for McLaughlin running wide allow Rossi to make his final pit stop without losing a lap. 

Rossi didn't have great pace this weekend. Ed Carpenter Racing figured out a way to get into the fight. This is a little disappointing of a season because Rossi opened with three top ten finishes in the first four races. I didn't expect that kind of output to continue, but I didn't expect Rossi to spend basically three months being completely out of the picture. More of that is on the team than the driver. 

It is a bit of a recovery to end this season for Rossi, but we saw ECR finish strongly with Rinus VeeKay last year, and it didn't appear to do a damn thing because we are ending another season with ECR's cars finishing between 13th and 15th in the championship, where they have been since Josef Newgarden left a decade ago.

11. Colton Herta got a bit of a raw deal in this race. Herta was penalized for an unsafe release on his penultimate pit stop when he pulled out into the path of Jacob Abel, who was a lap down at the time. No contact was made, but this season IndyCar race control appeared to have loosened its grip on unsafe release penalties. Basically it became, if there is contact there will be a penalty. If there is no contact, there will not be a penalty. There was no contact in this case, and I thought Herta would not be punished. I got that one wrong. 

The problem is we saw inconsistent unsafe release penalties at Gateway where Felix Rosenqvist received one, and later in the same race David Malukas and Scott McLaughlin appeared to do the same thing as Rosenqvist and neither driver was reprimanded. What Herta did wasn't any worse than Malukas and McLaughlin at Gateway. 

We also have Herta getting a penalty for impeding a lapped car from getting into his pit box. I had thought lapped cars had to pit the lap after lead lap cars, but I checked the pit procedures section of the rulebook, and that is not listed. 

However, can we use some common sense? A top five car lost a chance at victory because of a lapped car making a pit stop. Those two parties should not be crossing paths on the pit lane, especially under caution. Herta didn't make Abel's terrible day any worse. It doesn't mean Herta can do whatever he wants on the pit lane, but it also a situation that should never present itself. 

Herta never recovered from that. He took tires under the final caution, and I thought he would gain some ground, but he gained about two spots. None of the drivers that took tires late shot up the order, which was a bit of surprise. I thought someone would have gained five or six positions, not enough to win but enough to make a good day a lot better. For Herta, it is 11th on day, seventh on the season, no victories, and this is a bit of disappointment when you consider he left Nashville last year as the race winner and second in the championship. 

12. Scott Dixon was 12th. Dixon backed into third in the championship. Christian Lundgaard retired due to a mechanical issue. Dixon ended the season with finishes of 11th, ninth and 12th. Not the greatest end to the season. He probably should have been in the top five at Portland. Dixon only had three podium finishes this season. It wasn't a spectacular year. 

He basically got third because he finished in the top twenty of every race. He was 12th or better in every race but when he was 20th at the Indianapolis 500. That is a Scott Dixon-esque bad season. He isn't going to win often, but he isn't going to have a slew of bad results. He is just going to finish eighth and ninth and pick off a few podium finishes here and there. This wasn't the highest note to end on. Dixon will be ok.

13. Why don't we give the final lead lap finisher his due and recognize Rinus VeeKay, who was 13th on the day, but he fell to 14th in the final championship standings? 

I don't know if anyone would have believed that VeeKay could finish 14th in the championship when the season began. Dale Coyne Racing's best finish over the entire 2024 season was 13th. This year, VeeKay had two top five finishes and seven top ten finishes. He finished 13th or better nine times. 

In VeeKay's career, he has finished 14th, 12th, 12th, 14th, 13th and 14th in the championship, and he has done that with Ed Carpenter Racing and Dale Coyne Racing. It seems like VeeKay will be back at Coyne next year. Silly season appears to have taken a sharp left turn into lunacy. VeeKay might be a hot commodity when it appeared he would be stuck in place when he is clearly ready for a greater opportunity.

14. Let's cover the Rookie of the Year battle here because Robert Shwartzman was 14th, and he was in the top ten before he got penalized for a block on Ferrucci. It was a clear block and it was a right call to penalize the Prema driver. Shwartzman went from a top ten position and ten spots ahead of Louis Foster, who entered the race only eight points ahead of Shwartzman, to 14th and Rookie of the Year was lost right there. 

For most of this season, it felt like Foster was the better rookie, even though Shwartzman had two top ten finishes. If Shwartzman had ended Nashville in the top ten, it would be hard to argue he wasn't the best rookie with three top ten finishes while Foster had none. However, one costly mistake took the honor from Shwartzman. He did well this year, but outside of Indianapolis 500 qualifying, there wasn't a moment where we were really astonished with how Shwartzman raced. Even his two top ten finishes mostly came down to attrition and pit strategy. He will get better, but we didn't see the next Álex Palou either.

15. Let's jump to Louis Foster because he was  part of probably the most notable moment in this race. Foster was a lap down and was traffic to the leaders. He was in front of David Malukas, who was second. Entering turn one on lap 83, Foster was low and he turned right to get separation from the yellow line to improve corner entry, but he veered into the path of Malukas.

Malukas moved up as well, but the two came together in turn one. Malukas' race was over. Foster received a drive-through penalty. 

Foster was at fault, but Malukas wasn't blameless. Malukas still made a risky move when he could have backed out of it. Foster didn't drive up and collect Malukas. Foster made it more difficult entering the corner. Foster was still on the yellow line when entering the corner. He could not have driven any lower. 

This has been my critique on Malukas for the last three years. He makes mistakes. This wasn't 100% on him, but he could have given it a beat with a lapped car and lived to fight another day. Backing out and waiting to try again the next lap was an option. He had plenty of space to third. Malukas was not in danger of losing a position. 

We weren't even halfway through the race. There was a lot of time to go. I don't know if Malukas has the attention-span to recognize that, and Team Penske apparently thinks he is the future. 

Malukas was taken to hospital for further evaluation after this accident, and he has been released. To be fair, we must recognize Malukas did finish 11th in the championship driving for A.J. Foyt Racing. He also only had five top ten finishes in 17 races. That is fewer than VeeKay, Rossi, Ferrucci and, most notably, Will Power.

16. Let's blow through the rest of the field beause the rest of the finishers don't really matter.

Marcus Ericsson's miserable season ends with a 15th-place finish. I not only think Ericsson is on a hot seat for 2026, I think if Ericsson's form does not improve through the Indianapolis 500, Andretti Global would make a midseason driver change. 

Sting Ray Robb was 16th. Yep. That is as good as it gets for Robb. We will see if he can still find the money to stay in IndyCar. Juncos Hollinger Racing will need money to keep the lights on. 

Nolan Siegel was the top Arrow McLaren finisher because Lundgaard broke down and Patricio O'Ward blew a tire while leading. More on O'Ward later, but Siegel is also on a hot seat for being a midseason replacement in 2026. I don't care how much of daddy's money Siegel is bringing to the team. McLaren cannot stand having two cars in the top five of the championship and another car that is 22nd. Théo Pourchaire probably could have cracked the championship top ten this season.

Devlin DeFrancesco was 18th, the top Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing finisher. I don't know where DeFrancesco goes from here. I guess it depends on what RLLR does when the driver market opens up. Graham Rahal was experiencing car issues from practically the start of the race. Rahal was multiple laps down early and he ended up five laps down in 22nd. 

17. Marcus Armstrong was also penalized for blocking and this cost him a top ten finish. Armstrong wound up 19th. It also cost him a top six championship finish. Armstrong still will finish eighth in the championship in an incredible year for Meyer Shank Racing with both its drivers in the championship top ten. I bet MSR would have been thrilled to get one driver in the championship top ten. To get both, and have both cars finish ahead of all three Team Penske cars was likely unthinkable when the season started. MSR should be celebrated more for this season.

18. Speaking of Team Penske, Will Power was shot out of a cannon around the midway point, and it looked like he was set to be fighting for his second victory of the season. Then Power overshot his pit box on his penultimate pit stop, he stalled trying to leave and he lost a lap. Power could not recover and he finished 21st. 

Power will turn 45 years old on the day of next year's season opener from St. Petersburg. At some point, Team Penske will need to move on, but I don't think now is time with the driver Penske is prepared to hire. If it was an obvious upgrade, maybe Penske would have a case. It does feel like that team is about to make a downgrade for the sake of change.

19. Jacob Abel was 23rd, ten laps down. I am going to give Abel some benefit of the doubt because he was driving for Dale Coyne Racing and while Rinus VeeKay was 14th in the championship, this is the same team that could not finish better than 13th last season. The resources at Coyne are scarce on a good day. That second car might not be good, but it also might not be that bad. I don't know if it is Abel or the car or the combination. Abel didn't look bad in Indy Lights even if he didn't do anything to make you think he was a star of the future. I cannot see how he will be back in 2026. 

20. Patricio O'Ward suffered a right front tire failure while leading. O'Ward was the class of the field and he had led 116 of the first 127 laps. If O'Ward doesn't experience the tire failure, I think he wins the race. I don't think Newgarden was going to be able make the moves to pass O'Ward. I don't think Palou is a factor in the final pit cycle. If O'Ward doesn't have the tire failure, he makes his final stop and emerges clear of the competition. There is no worry of anyone jumping him in the pit cycle. 

O'Ward was pretty critical of Firestone after the failure. It has been a tough two years for Firestone at Nashville. I will say Nashville is probably the worst surface IndyCar races on, especially among ovals. Look at the bumps in the middle of turn four! IndyCar hasn't hit a bump that bad since the train tracks in Baltimore. No track should be all-concrete. There are only three ovals in the world that are all concrete. Nashville shouldn't be all concrete. 

Firestone could bring the hardest tire possible to Nashville and prevent this problem, but the racing will probably suffer. I forgive Firestone a little bit, but by next year Firestone should have this figured out and we should have tires that wear without having to worry they will fail. 

I will throw Lundgaard in here because three laps before O'Ward's spin, Lundgaard came to pit lane with his mechanical issue. What a sour turn for Arrow McLaren. Lundgaard was in good position to get third in the championship prior to this problem. Fifth in the championship is still really good in year one at McLaren. 

21. And we end with the driver we began with last week. Christian Rasmussen was first last week, and he was the first out this week. In turn two on the opening lap, Rasmussen was running high and he lost the back end, sending him into the wall. For all the risks he took last week, it bit him immediately in the next race. 

The victory last week gives Rasmussen a mulligan, and he still finished 13th in the championship despite today's result. We can laugh about it now, but next year will be key for Rasmussen and ECR. It will be year three together. Results must take a leap, something that has proven to be difficult for ECR to do.

22. I have written quite a bit for this finale, and I still have more to say.

I liked the multiple tire compounds. Maybe we should just do it at all the oval races as well as the road and street courses.

I forgot Nashville was running multiple compound and I think we all forgot about it until about Thursday. 

This is something IndyCar could have promoted. After Portland, or even after Laguna Seca, IndyCar should have promoted what was to come over the final few races. We all knew the championship was likely going to be clinched early. In the middle of an off-week, IndyCar should just get ahead on what is to come over the upcoming races. It could have been mentioned and celebrated weeks ago that Nashville would have multiple tire compounds.

This is what NASCAR does well. It takes the most inconsequential crap and makes it something worth talking about. Whether it is the All-Star Race format in the weeks leading up to that race, the in-season tournament, the throwback weekend at Darlington when they did the throwback weekend or visiting a new racetrack, you know something is coming two or three or four weeks before it will happen and the drumbeat of attention will slowly grow louder. 

That is easy to do and it cost no money. IndyCar must learn how to talk about itself. I don't need social media posting videos about how the drivers peel a mango or if they can name all the seven dwarfs from Snow White. Talk about you! Talk about the racing! And bring the drivers into the discussion. Some of IndyCar's awareness problem is down to IndyCar being unaware about itself. 

23. For all the displeasure we saw this year, I thought IndyCar ended on a good note. We had five good races to end the year after an Iowa weekend that was disappointing even if the races were better than we expected. 

Toronto saw a new winner in the season, and with how the cautions fell we had Dale Coyne Racing on the door step of a victory. Laguna Seca was a good race even if Palou smoked the competition. Portland was a great story with Power winning, Palou clinching the title and there were a number of drivers who had their best races of the season. Then we had Rasmussen taking a surprise victory in a really good race at Milwaukee, and today you had Newgarden getting off the snide in another lively race. 

This wasn't a perfect season, but for all the complaints we heard early in 2025, we aren't hearing those now. We ended with five different winners in the final five races. For the 16th consecutive season, IndyCar had at least seven different winners. We had 15 different drivers finish on the podium, the most since 2015. 

There are still things for IndyCar to work on, but we can at least acknowledge the positives. They are there even if you think there are none. 

24. It is odd going into this offseason. A month ago, it felt like very little would change. Now, it feels like things are going to be shaken up drastically. Forget Malukas knocking Power out of Penske, now Colton Herta is going to Formula Two, Álex Palou is a driver of interest for Red Bull, and Romain Grosjean is interested in a full-time return to IndyCar!

I honestly thought we were looking at an offseason where five or six seats were going to change. We still aren't going to see 14 or 15 seats change, but I don't think this offseason is going to be as simple as Malukas going to Penske, Power going to some team he doesn't really want to be at, Dennis Hauger getting a chance at Dale Coyne Racing, and then Juncos Hollinger Racing finding someone to help fund the program along side Sting Ray Robb or finding two new drivers to keep the team afloat. 

It should be an anticipated offseason, but it also feels like we are bound to see some illogical moves. 

25. At some point we will find out the 2026 calendar and whether or not IndyCar is running a combination with NASCAR at Phoenix, how the spring gap will be filled, when and where IndyCar will be racing in Canada, if Mexico City formalizes and if Iowa is retained or IndyCar moves on. We will have plenty of time to talk about that and more.

May the six-month offseason begin!

First Impressions: Milwaukee 2025

1. One spritz of rain with just over 40 laps to go completely flipped IndyCar's penultimate race of the season from Milwaukee. Álex Palou had this race in the bag. It was set to be one of Palou's most dominant performances of the season, but a quick spritz turned the race upside down, and produced a first-time winner in Christian Rasmussen almost from out of nowhere. 

For some reason, the top three drivers, Palou along with Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden, did not come to the pit lane under that final caution despite all the teams having a set of tires remaining. Every other lead lap car stopped, and it set up a thrilling finish, the likes we haven't really seen since Iowa 2014. 

Palou and company would have some buffer of the lapped cars to those on fresher tires, but with just over 30 laps to go when the race restarted, they would eventually lose that protection and it would be down to whether or not time would be on their side. 

Patricio O'Ward was in fourth, the first car on new tires, but Alexander Rossi quickly dispatched O'Ward. However, as they battled with traffic, Christian Rasmussen clawed his way forward and passed both O'Ward and Rossi, and Rasmussen was soon the leader of those on new tires. 

Rasmussen got through Newgarden and he was up to second ahead of McLaughlin with 20 laps to go. It felt like time was on Rasmussen's side, but Palou tried his best to outrun the Dane. However, the tire advantage inevitably swung in Rasmussen's favor. Palou did all he could to hold off Rasmussen, but Rasmussen made his move and took the lead with 15 laps to go.

Palou fought back and kept it close, but the tires were gone. Paou was never going to have enough to counter the pass Rasmussen had completed. 

However, Rasmussen might have been his own worst enemy and greatest obstacle to victory, pushing the car to the limit as he has become known for doing. He kept making risky moves, including lapping Felix Rosenqvist to the outside on exit of turn two. The tires were in his favor, but this race was not settled strictly because it was unclear if Rasmussen, in an unknown position, would step over the edge and cost himself the greatest day of his career. 

Despite the twitches and the quick reactionary moves, Rasmussen held on and took a stunning victory to make him the 300th winner in IndyCar history. 

He drove really well in this race and was competitive. He was making passes, and he actually had to comeback from a pit lane speeding penalty early, but that occurred under caution and all he had to do was going to the rear of the field. This was going to be a top ten day for Rasmussen, but it would not have been a victory without a brief spritz of rain. 

It is ironic enough that Rasmussen wins this race two weeks after he was under a microscope for his driving at Portland. He has essentially completed two full seasons in IndyCar, and what has stood out the most about Rasmussen is his aggression. He will put a car on the limit and take a competitor with him. There is never say die attitude from Rasmussen, but at times it can come off as unwarranted and risky to others on the track. There are plenty who are not thrilled to see him on track because he can be a little reckless. 

Over his two years, Rasmussen has had good oval races, but he has mostly been mid-pack. That is kind of where Ed Carpenter Racing has been for an extended period of time. The form hasn't been the strongest on the road courses, but when it comes to ovals, Rasmussen has shined. This year alone he has been one of the best on ovals. Entering this race, three drivers had finished in the top ten of all four oval races, Patricio O'Ward, Palou and Rasmussen. Rasmussen had an aggressive drive lead to a podium at Gateway, but I don't think anyone saw a victory coming this season, not with the competition in this field. 

Rasmussen looked good, but when you consider what the first 200 laps of this race looked like, it required an act of God for Rasmussen to win this race. It appears the Almighty wiped the sweat from his brow on this sabbath, and those drops fell on the Milwaukee Mile, blessing Rasmussen to accomplish the unthinkable.

2.  Why didn't Álex Palou stop for tires? With 40 laps to go and under caution, it felt obvious to take tires. This final stint was going to be 54 laps, a little longer than most had drive all race. Taking tires under the caution would have meant at most 32 green flag laps would be run on this new set. 

All I can think is Palou's team didn't want to be caught as the only driver to come in and restart 15th after leading all race. However, if Palou was the only car on new tires with 30 laps to go, I think he would have had a great shot of driving back to first before the checkered flag.

There was nothing Palou could do when Rasmussen got around McLaughlin. Palou drove probably the hardest he has driven all season, and the fact he was still within two seconds of Rasmussen at the checkered flag is impressive, but this one got away because Chip Ganassi Racing did not bring in Álex Palou for a set of tires that just said their unused. 

If Palou stops, I still think a dozen other drivers stop and at worse Palou is restarting fourth or fifth. It is a shame that this one got away. Gone is a potential share of the record for most victories in a season, but that is a champagne problem for Palou and company. It has still been a great season, one of the best we have ever seen in IndyCar.

3. Scott McLaughlin still held on for third on his older tires.

This is one of those cases, and we see it once or twice a season on a road or street course, where the winner had the alternate strategy but then the next two or three drivers ran the typical strategy, and it seems like either was the right choice.

We had this last year with Scott Dixon at Long Beach. Dixon won stretching the fuel, but the next five drivers ran hard and finished ahead of the next driver who was stretching fuel, and that was Will Power in sixth. Did Scott Dixon run the right strategy or was Dixon the one guy to make it the alternate work while the other strategy appears to have been better considering the rest of the finishers behind the winner?

I think taking tires was the right choice. After all, there was over nine seconds between Palou in second and McLaughlin in third. McLaughlin wasn't close to victory, but he benefitted from some of the lapped cars and only Rasmussen made it through them in a quick fashion. By the time Alexander Rossi and Patricio O'Ward got through the traffic, their tires had lost their edge and McLaughlin could hold on for a podium and a good day.

4. Considering Alexander Rossi sprinted immediately to victory lane and met Rasmussen with his helmet still on, I doubt Rossi feels any regret that he didn't win this race and blew a chance to be the man driving into victory lap, though he was positioned to be that guy. Rossi was the top driver on the new tires until Rasmussen came blazing through. Rossi couldn't even pass McLaughlin. If he couldn't pass McLaughlin, Rossi wasn't going to win this race. 

What Rossi is most excited about is he spent the entire race in the top ten and pushing for a top five result. He stopped early on the first pit cycle and it took him from the bottom of the top ten into the top five. He had to fight a bit, but he drove a stellar race. 

Perhaps age played a role and a level of aggression you don't have after years of experience and knowing better allowed Rasmussen to take the risks required to win this race. Maybe Rossi knew better while Rasmussen had no clue and acted on instinct. 

5. Patricio O'Ward came out of the pit lane first under that final caution, and he was fourth at the restart, but O'Ward lost that advantage immediately, and once it was gone, he was settled for a fight just to finish in the top five and not go for the victory. 

O'Ward took a risk like the rest of them. The opportunity was there for fresh rubber and an extra pit stop would be the only way to win this race. If that caution doesn't come out and O'Ward finishes fifth, no one is looking at it as a disappointing result. We shouldn't either.

6. Christian Lundgaard had likely his best oval race. Lundgaard stopped early on the first pit cycle and jumped into the top ten, and he spent the rest of the race in a top ten spot. It was a good day. Sixth might have been a little better than expected. He needed a day like this though as he continues to develop on ovals.

7. Josef Newgarden slipped from third to seventh on his older tires. Newgarden made a nice save that cost him a few spots though. This one hurts because Newgarden should have been on the podium today. My question is if Team Penske had two of the top three, more specifically, if it had second and third, why didn't it split its strategies and have one car take tires while the other stayed out? 

I don't understand how Penske missed that. Newgarden has had a wretched season. Why not roll the dice and be on the offensive in the closing laps? With ten or 15 laps to go, I could understand not stopping, but there was going to be about 30 laps to go when the race restarted, and those tires the top three had on were asked to go a little longer than anyone dared earlier in the race. The safe strategy was stopping. 

This stinks because it was a missed opportunity, and one the likes of Tim Cindric would not have overlooked. 

8. David Malukas salvaged his day with an eighth-place finish. Malukas ran well and was in the top five. Then in the middle of the race, an air gun issue caused Malukas to lose a lap as the team could not get the right front tire secured in a quick fashion. He spent much of the second half of the race outside the top fifteen. However, IndyCar's overly forgiving wave around rules got Malukas back on the lead lap and he could benefit from taking tires on that final caution. He drove to finish eighth but this will feel like a missed opportunity.

Malukas led early from Palou, but Palou had the better car. Malukas wasn't beating Palou in a straight-up fight. Nobody was beating Palou straight-up today. Either way, Malukas likely believed he should have been competing for a podium spot and finishing ahead of at least one Team Penske driver. Instead, he finished ahead of none. It was a good recovery for something that was out of his control.

9. Scott Dixon didn't have the best day and he finished ninth. It felt like Dixon was between 12th and 14th this entire race. He never really went forward after starting 14th due to his grid penalty. He didn't make any big moves in this race. It never was quite his day. 

10. Marcus Armstrong pulled out a miraculous tenth-place finish because the team decided not to stop with just over 100 laps to go, the only car not to stop under that caution. Armstrong went from first to about ninth in a lap and he was down to 17th in about ten laps. It looked like the dumbest decision of the season, and he was going to finish a lap or two down in 18th after being just outside the top ten for most of the race.

However, that spritz blessed more than just Rasmussen. Armstrong was back on the lead lap, he could take that extra set of new tires, and he was able to drive to a top ten finish. The team "tried something different" by not stopping under that caution when staying out meant it was still a two-stop race from that point. It was a ballsy choice when it was clearly going to fail. The pit stand caught a break today. 

11. Colton Herta was 11th and Kyle Kirkwood was 12th. This was a better day than these results will show for each driver. Herta drove up to sixth from 24th on the grid, and he appeared to be a contender for a top five finish. Kirkwood spent most of the race in the top ten. However, both drivers lost spots in that final pit cycle and it appears both drivers were elbowed out of the top ten in the sprint to the finish. I am surprised it happened to Herta because he was moving forward the entire race.

It has been an odd end of the season for Andretti Global. Herta wasn't confident in his car after practice, was upset about his qualifying spin but brushed it off because he felt he wasn't going to be starting that well anyway, and then he was probably one of the best four or five drivers on track today, only to be freight-trained in the final sprint to the finish. 

Kirkwood drove well today but not great. He was going to finish eighth or ninth without that last caution. Not a great day, but a fine day, however Kirkwood has won three times this season and he hasn't been close to a victory since he won at Gateway.

We haven't even mentioned Marcus Ericsson was nowhere to be seen and finished 19th. I don't know what went wrong for Andretti Global in the second half of the season. On the surface, it doesn't appear they did anything drastic to cost the team its form.

12. Conor Daly probably should have finished in the top ten as well, but pit stops are Juncos Hollinger Raicng's kryptonite. Daly was in the top five in the early going, then he dropped to the lower part of the top ten after this first pit stop. He didn't have a good final stop when basically the entire field stopped. Daly drove well, but there is a limit of what he can get out of Juncos Hollinger Racing. 

I guess I should mentioned Sting Ray Robb was 23rd to cover JHR's entire day. It was a typical Sting Ray Robb performance. Slow. A lap down. At least he didn't get more attention than that.

13. Santino Ferrucci was 14th, and that was a generous result for Ferrucci, which is something we do not say often about him on ovals. Ferrucci wasn't good this weekend. He didn't have the speed, and David Malukas was quicker from the very start of practice. Ferrucci probably should have been 18th, 19th or 20th. He lost a lap. The only reason Ferrucci had a chance to finish this well was IndyCar's wave around rules. If drivers could not make a pit stop after taking the wave around, every oval race would have at least two or three drivers finishing about five to six spots worse than they actually end up.

14. Rinus VeeKay spent a fair amount of this race in the top ten, and VeeKay would have been better that 15th without that final caution. He lost all his ground in the final pit cycle. At the start of the season, I would have felt better about a 15th for VeeKay and Dale Coyne Racing, but they have been competitive across the board, and VeeKay started 11th today. These are a few too many points lost. It could have been worse, but it is ok to be upset that this should have been better.

15. Let's run through the field. Devlin DeFrancesco was 16th in a race where I honestly never noticed him, but that means he did nothing wrong. DeFrancesco was a spot ahead of his teammate Louis Foster, who was the first car to finish one lap down. Foster went the longest on the first pit cycle, but that trapped him a lap down for most of the race. He was actually a two laps down for a good portion. 

Graham Rahal had a half spin early in the race, it cost him ground, but he never recovered, finishing two laps down in 24th. I don't know what happened because Rahal qualified tenth. I understand that first stint being difficult because his tires were likely shot after that move. I don't know why Rahal didn't stop for tires after that. My guess is the team didn't want to get caught out if there was a late caution, but either way, Rahal fell like a rock and never looked quick after that incident. It was strange because he sounded hopeful after qualifying.

16. Robert Shwartzman was 18th, so he only lost one point in the rookie of the year battle to Louis Foster. At least we will have that to watch at Nashville. Shwartzman didn't do anything notable today. Good because it meant he didn't wreck. Bad because it meant he was slow. 

Callum Ilott lost an engine, which ended his top ten finish streak. That was always going to end today because neither Prema car was particularly quick. 

17. Kyffin Simpson was 20th. I don't know which Kyffin Simpson to believe. I think we can acknowledge Simpson got a few breaks to finish fifth in Detroit and third in Toronto, but there have been races where he has legitimately been about tenth, 11th or 12th. But then he has races like this where he wasn't any good. Ovals are definitely something he struggles with. 

18. Jacob Abel completed 248 laps and finished 21st. That is about as good as it can get for Abel at the moment. 

Felix Rosenqvist never looked quite right after his qualifying accident yesterday. That car was never right. It was slow. Rosenqvist had to suffer to finish 22nd. 

19. There were two notable accidents. Will Power got into the wall in turn two attempting to overtake the lapped car of Kyffin Simpson, and that damage led to Power spinning in turn four. Power was in a top five position at the time. 

I don't know if Power can do anything to save his job, but throwing away a top five run was likely not the best choice. However, it is another race where something went wrong for a Penske car. At least one of them has been snake-bitten in every race this season. 

Nolan Siegel spun exiting turn four on the opening lap and he will be scored with zero laps completed for this race. Siegel gets his fair amount of attention for everything he is not doing. He isn't any better than where he was a year ago when was wrapping up running the final ten races with Arrow McLaren. I am sure it can get better next year, but I would not be surprised if it doesn't in 2026. No glimmer of hope is breaking through.

When you consider how short of a leash some other drivers have gotten with McLaren, it would surprise no one if McLaren showed the Siegel family the door in the offseason and hired a third driver it thought could run with O'Ward and Lundgaard. At the moment, Siegel is not even close to those two. 

20. This was another great Milwaukee crowd. I acknowledge that due to the size of the grandstands, and grandstands that were covered with tarps, that was likely about 20,000 people, which is still good, but I think this event has a chance to grow even more. The people have bought in, but I believe IndyCar can get more out of this race. Road America gets more than double this on race day and that is an hour further north. 

IndyCar is heading in the right direction with Milwaukee, but the goal for 2026 is for all those covered grandstands in turn one to be open and filled with people.

21. I kind of wish Milwaukee was 50 laps longer and I kind of wish Milwaukee was the season finale. Nashville Superspeedway is 45 minutes outside of Nashville. Let's not act like IndyCar is giving up some grand location if it flipped Nashville to be the penultimate race. Both are drawing about the same size crowd, Milwaukee likely has more potential growth, and we have seen some pretty good racing over two years at Milwaukee. The fans love the fair vibe, and I think IndyCar can take that to the next level. It seems like a fun race just to be at, and if it was the finale, it could be the big party to end the season without having to do much more. All the infrastructure is already there because of the fairgrounds. That is a great foundation to start with and I think a great way for IndyCar to end the season would be with a 300-lap race at a historic venue. 

Embrace the history you have, IndyCar! Give this legendary venue its chance to shine. Hell, make the finale 400 laps and go wild! People would love it. 

22. I want to end circling back to Christian Rasmussen and his victory. 

This is the beauty of IndyCar. 

In any race, pretty much any team can pull out a strategy and drive to victory. 

Rasmussen wasn't the best driver today, but he was probably one of the five best. When the race was shaken up with an unexpected caution, Rasmussen could take on an alternate strategy and drive to the front and steal a victory. This wasn't all luck. The luck was the caution. Passing all those cars and beating Álex Palou required skill even with fresher tires.

It was Rasmussen today but it could have been Alexander Rossi. It could have been Felix Rosenqvist or Marcus Armstrong with Meyer Shank Racing. It could have been Conor Daly at Juncos Hollinger Racing. It could have been David Malukas or Santino Ferrucci with A.J. Foyt Racing. 

When you consider this season we saw Graham Rahal lead the most laps and likely have a great shout for victory at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, and Felix Rosenqvist was chasing down Palou at Road America, we are looking at a season where the smallest of teams still have a shot when everything clicks on their best day. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has been struggling for years, but its best day isn't capped at potentially finishing eighth. It can be on the podium and fighting for a victory. Ed Carpenter Racing has been through its share of troubles, but it has found something where it can be a force on the ovals, and if it falls right it can drive to a win.

We are coming off one of the most dominant seasons we have ever seen for a driver in IndyCar, and yet we can still see a first-time winner for a mid-pack team and it isn't just because of a timely caution or a freak rainstorm. 

Yes, I realize both those things happened today, but Rasmussen didn't win because only because of those things. Rasmussen got a shot and could drive to the front. For all the amazing things he has done this season, in a single race he can use his talent to take a car to the front and beat the other 26 cars competing, and driving for Ed Carpenter Racing isn't keeping him from being the best. 

Many times this season we have gone into a race thinking we knew what was going to happen and Álex Palou ended up winning like we expected, but IndyCar is still capable of these days, and that is beautiful. 

23. Let's see if we can continue this high into the final week of the season. In less than seven days, the checkered flag will wave for the final time at Nashville Superspeedway, and the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season will be over.

First Impressions: Portland 2025

1. The nightmare is over (somewhat) for Team Penske as Will Power achieved a dominant victory from Portland, the first victory for both team and driver in what has been an exhausting 2025 season for both. 

Power got the lead by staying out under caution when Conor Daly spun into the barrier after contact with Christian Rasmussen. The pit window had just opened for everyone to make it on three stops, but it was still early, and everyone that stayed out could run another 20 laps or so on fuel. The leaders prior to the caution were shuffled to outside the top ten, and though they were good on a three-stop strategy, this allowed Power to fly. Over the remained of that stint, Power opened a gap that allowed him to make his first pit stop and come out ahead of the likes of Christian Lundgaard and Felix Rosenqvist. From there, the advantage was Power's until the very end, even with a stint on the primary tire still to run. 

As long as Power held the track position, he was going to win this race. Lundgaard made it tight on the penultimate stint when Lundgaard had the tire advantage running the alternate tire to Power's primary tires. On the final stint, Power had used set of alternate tires while Lundgaard had a fresh alternate set. For almost that entire final stint, Power had Lundgaard breathing down his next, and it would not be long until Álex Palou was there as well. 

Despite the tire situation and traffic holding up Power, he was able to keep the competition at arm's length even at the end of the race when tire conditions should have swung to the favor of his competitors. It was a throwback race for the 44-year-old. He won this race through shear pace and once ahead he dared the rest of the field to beat him. They came close but they could not overcome the Australian. 

Over this weekend, I was thinking about how we could be seeing the final days of Will Power in IndyCar, and I have more on the subject that can be read tomorrow, but Power should have locked down an extension after this race. His fastball might not be at 100%, but it is still better than about 90% of the grid. Power has been the bright spot for Team Penske this season. 

To extinguish the brightest light when the team will still be going through a transition in 2026 could be the most foolish decision Roger Penske has made as a car owner.

2. Christian Lundgaard had to start seventh today after serving a six-spot grid penalty for taking on his fifth engine of the season. This knocked Lundgaard from pole position, and if he had only started first, maybe this would have been Lundgaard's race to control, but it all hung on what tire he started on. Power stayed out under the Daly caution because he was on the alternate tire. Perhaps Lundgaard would have stayed out even if he had started on the primary tire from pole position, but the only other drivers to stay out on the primary tire were Álex Palou and Devlin DeFrancesco. One guy can run whatever strategy he wants and will still be there at the finish. The other is just throwing up Hail Marys.

The most frustrating thing from this race was the amount of fuel Lundgaard had to save to make it, and he ran out of fuel just after he took the checkered flag in second. I hate to point this out but the #7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet had a few notable issues with fuel mileage last season with Alexander Rossi as the driver. That timing stand might want to take a look at some of its decisions because it almost cost the driver today and it cost the previous driver.

3. Álex Palou didn't need to finish third to clinch the championship. It was clinched on lap 21 when wiring issues caused Patricio O'Ward to slow on track and effectively end O'Ward's race. 

It was inevitable that Palou was going to win this championship. He entered this weekend needing to only score 41 points over the final three races, something he could have easily done in this race alone. I was wishing for it end today so we could end the false hope that the title was alive. It hasn't been alive since April. Palou has been that ruthless and no one has come close to rivaling his output. 

Even though he finished third, Palou was probably the best driver today. At one point, he was over 20 seconds behind Power, and traffic helped close the gap, but a great majority of that deficit was overcome through Palou's driving alone. That ninth victory of the season was within touching distance. It didn't come today and sole-possession of the single season record for victories is gone, but Palou still has a chance at a share of the record. We are going to have plenty of time to recognize Palou's greatness. Today, he has locked himself a place in history that few have reached before and few will reach after. 

4. There was a caution on lap three when Santino Ferrucci spun exiting the final corner, and it allowed some drivers to take a gamble. Six drivers made a pit stop to get off of the primary tire. It was still going to require three more stops to make the finish, but Graham Rahal drove an excellent race to remain at the front and have that four-stop strategy cycle to a point he was level with the leaders. 

Rahal was seconds off the top three, but he was legitimately fourth with his pace matching though on a different strategy. For a second, it looked like it was going to backfire, but Rahal had good pace to keep the car at the front. He never got shuffled into traffic that cost him. It helped that Rahal had three sets of new alternate tires for this race. For all the struggles Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has had this year, and over the last few years, it can put together races like this where they do not look that far off and actually look better than a good number of teams ahead of them on paper. 

5. Alexander Rossi gets his first top five finish of the season on what was his and Ed Carpenter Racing's best race weekend of the season. Rossi had good speed all weekend. He just missed out on the final round of qualifying but was still starting sixth after the grid penalty to Lundgaard. Rossi was holding his own all race. He didn't quite have the stuff to compete with Power, Lundgaard and Palou, but he was a top five car all race. This should be a good boost for him, and it comes at a good time as the final two races are ovals, where he and ECR likely think they can end on a high note.

6. Like Rahal, Callum Ilott stopped on lap four under the Ferrucci caution, and for the third consecutive race, Ilott held his own on an alternate strategy. He matches Prema's best finish of sixth, which Ilott set at Laguna Seca two weeks ago. It required a gamble as neither Prema car started better than 24th, but both Prema cars were on this strategy. Ilott ended up sixth and Shwartzman was 15th. Ilott had to do some special driving today to make this work. It has been a tough year, but he is ending on a high note.

7. Scott McLaughlin was seventh on a day where Power was victorious. McLaughlin ran the same tire strategy as Power but he did not have the same pace to match Power. I bet McLaughlin wishes he finished a little higher because he restarted third after the Daly caution. It is one thing that you are not going to maintain that spot and a driver or two who stopped under that caution will cycle ahead, but at that point the aim should be for a top five. I think what McLaughlin and the rest of us did not count on was two cars that stopped on lap four making that strategy work into a top six finish. 

It is a moral victory but McLaughlin did finish four spots better than where he started. Take it when you can get it.

8. Marcus Armstrong did nothing impressive but started and finished eighth, and I think that is still a good day. It is another top ten for Armstrong and Meyer Shank Racing. It has been a banner year for both driver and team. I do not understand how these two parties cannot find a way to continue into 2026. If Team Penske was beating down the door for Armstrong, I would get how they would part, but Armstrong is running more consistent than a great number of drivers who are more celebrated than him, and there are almost no takers lining up for this New Zealander. That is a big miss. It is even bigger if MSR let him walk.

9. Even better for Armstrong is he beat his teammate as Felix Rosenqvist was ninth. For a moment, we thought this race was lining up for Rosenqvist to compete for a victory, but as we too often see in IndyCar, Rosenqvist can start in the top five but he has trouble finishing in the top five. Rosenqvist was ahead of Lundgaard after the first round of pit stops, and Rosenqvist had a chance to control this race or at least control the drivers on the strategy of stopping under the Daly caution. Instead, Rosenqvist lost ground on each stint and ended up behind his teammate, who did good but not great today. 

If MSR had to Sophie's choice its two drivers, it should keep Armstrong over Rosenqvist. Both have done great this year. There is a good chance both MSR drivers will finish in the championship top ten, something that was absurd to think about two years ago, but after seven seasons in IndyCar, Rosenqvist's shortcomings are too apparent to ignore.

10. Colton Herta was tenth in a dismal day for Andretti Global. I am going to cover all the Andretti cars here. Herta was mid-pack all race, and he was fortunate Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden got together to gift him two spots. 

Kyle Kirkwood was hanging with Herta for most of the opening stint, and it is unclear how Kirkwood lost all the ground to the point he finished a lap down in 20th. 

Even worse, Marcus Ericsson blew a top ten starting position for Andretti, and Ericsson was a lap down in 22nd, with all his screen time in this race being because he was holding up Power and allowed Palou to close in on the top two. Ericsson was the best starting Andretti car in this race and he spent most of the race running as the worst Andretti car. 

We haven't really seen this race from the Andretti Global group this season where none of the three cars look competitive. It happened today, and the team is not trending in the right direction as we approach the end of the 2025 season.

11. Despite the contact and penalty for avoidable contact, Scott Dixon was still 11th after the drive-through penalty when he spun Newgarden in turn two. Without it, Dixon may finish in the top five. Otherwise he would have been sixth or seventh. 

Newgarden was just coming out of the pit lane and on cold tires as he was slow through the chicane. Newgarden did nearly come to a complete stop in turn two and Dixon had nowhere to go but through him. I think Dixon should have had the wherewithal to back up that corner and get the run on exit especially since Newgarden was a sitting duck on cold tires.

As for Newgarden, he kind of put himself in a spot to get run over. What is worse is it took Newgarden almost two laps to get the car re-fired after a pretty lazy spin. It was a top ten finish lost, but if he gets the hybrid working immediately that car is re-fired and he is still going to finish 14th or 15th. Instead, it is 24th and another abysmal day for Newgarden in one of the worst years of his career.

12. Let's tackle the Christian Rasmussen and Conor Daly incident because Rasmussen ended up 12th in this race and never got a penalty for the contact with Daly. 

It all started with Daly's attempt to pass on the outside of turn seven. Rasmussen drove off the road, forcing Daly off as well. We saw this a little over a month ago between Daly and Santino Ferrucci at Mid-Ohio. Ferrucci drove off the road and took Daly with him. It was clearly a block and Ferrucci was penalized. Rasmussen should have gotten the same penalty today. 

What doesn't help is Daly, in all his anger, clearly went into the chicane and was fine if he hit Rasmussen and took him out. Daly didn't quite do that but it was obvious what he attempted. Rasmussen remained ahead and then we got to turns 10 and 11 and Daly spun after contact with Rasmussen, flying into the barrier. 

I think both drivers are at fault. I think both drivers should have been penalized. 

Rasmussen forced Daly off track. Daly was reckless. Even on the third incident, I don't think it is obvious as Rasmussen spun Daly. There was no clear replay angle of what happened, but I believe Daly committed to making a pass in that corner and was putting Rasmussen into a spot where Daly was coming through and it was on Rasmussen to decide whether or not he would back out to avoid contact.

Rasmussen didn't back out. There was contact. Daly had a heavy hit into the barriers. Rasmussen was able to continue. 

No penalty was issued, which leads me to believe the officials saw it as Daly made an aggressive move and the contact wasn't because Rasmussen initiated it but because Daly put Rasmussen into a position where unless Rasmussen backed out there would be contact. 

The unfortunate thing is there should have at least been a callback to Mid-Ohio and some thought that Ferrucci was penalized for running Daly off the road, which meant Rasmussen would see the same fate. But race control has been a little too inconsistent, which led Daly to boil over and take matters into his own hands. 

That isn't good because all that will lead to is incidents like this. Daly drove at an aggression level that was too far over the edge. He clearly had no problem making contact with Rasmussen. I get the sense Daly made that move thinking if there was contact both cars would have been out of the race. Instead, it was only Daly out and Rasmussen got to finish 12th.

 

I don't think Daly is as much the victim as he has made himself out to be in the immediate aftermath of the incident. Rasmussen isn't innocent either. 

Two wrongs do not make a right, and race control cannot let the driver's police themselves if they are going to be so recklessly wrong. 

13. That was a lot on the 12th-place finisher. Let's blast through the rest of the field.

Louis Foster overcame being spun on lap eight to finish 13th. It was a good race when you consider he was facing the wrong way at one point. 

Sting Ray Robb stopped on lap four and finished 14th. Ok. Robb didn't do anything notable to get that result. 

Robert Shwartzman gets his first top fifteen finish on a road/street course in 15th. Considering Shwartzman and Ilott started a position a part on track and were on the same strategy, stopping on lap four, finishing nine spots a part is a little hard to swallow. If Shwartzman could have pulled off tenth or 11th in this race, it would have been a much more positive result.

Nolan Siegel started 17th and finished 16th, and I don't think he was mentioned once on the broadcast.

14. Along with Foster being spun on lap eight, Rinus VeeKay was also spun on lap eight, but the difference is Kyffin Simpson spun Foster and got a penalty. No one else was penalized for the contact VeeKay received, and I am pretty sure one of the Prema cars got into VeeKay. That is a bit harsh. VeeKay did finish 17th, but there is nothing to celebrate with such a result.

15. Devlin DeFrancesco stayed out until lap 32, and going long on the first stint did not do DeFrancesco wonders like it did for Power and Palou. DeFrancesco dropped like a rock and at the finish he was 18th. That sounds about right for him.

David Malukas had to make an extra pit stop late in the race and it took away what was going to be a tenth-place finish. However, Malukas would have been in Colton Herta's shoes and been tenth thanks to Dixon and Newgarden's contact. Malukas spent much of this race outside the top fifteen. He lost spots at the start and wasn't holding his own against the other cars that started in the top ten. 

And Malukas is in the catbird seat to replace Will Power at Team Penske. Are you kidding me? Are we sure Roger Penske is of sound body and mind?

16. The only two finishers we have not touched upon are Kyffin Simpson, who was 21st and his day was ruined after the penalty for the contact with Foster, and Jacob Abel, who was 23rd but Abel held up Rosenqvist and Lundgaard as Power was able to cover the pit delta to make his first stop and exit the pit lane ahead of those two. If it wasn't for Abel, who stopped on lap four and ended up being a roadblock to Rosenqvist and Lundgaard, I don't think Power wins this race. 

17. Let's cover the retirees. This season was always likely going to finish with Patricio O'Ward being one spot short of a championship. If you are going to lose, you mind as well have it be one through the skull rather than a death by a thousand cuts. 

The last month has been false hope that O'Ward could take the title fight to Palou. Even if O'Ward won today, he wasn't going to win the championship. Even if he made up 48 points to Palou, the gap would still be 60 points with two races to go and O'Ward would still need to make up at least 12 more points at Milwaukee to have a sliver of a chance at Nashville. We are talking about a collapse of historic proportions just for O'Ward to have a prayer at the finale. It might have been best that the car broke down not even a quarter of the way into this race to end up the aimless hype of something that was never going to happen. 

It sucks that this is how it ended for O'Ward, but it was always going to end this way. Now the focus can be on ending on the highest note possible in the final two races and not get distracted with an unobtainable prize.

18. Santino Ferrucci's race didn't even make it two laps, and Ferrucci's spin is a little puzzling. Something happened to Ferrucci because he started 21st but he was in 26th at the end of lap one. On the exit of the final corner, Ferrucci lost the rear, and as the broadcasters said, Ferrucci decided to light it up in hopes that he would just power through the spin. Instead that led to him getting into the inside barrier on the main straightaway.

That just seems like the most immature decision to make in such a spot. It was the end of lap two. Ferrucci was in 25th. Deciding to floor it in hopes that you will spin and hit nothing is just a bad strategy. Even if he spins and hits nothing, Ferrucci is now back in 27th and with garbage tires, meaning he would need to stop next time by, and it likely would not have drawn a full course caution because Ferrucci would have continued and he would be at no risk of another car hitting hit because he would be in dead last. The closest car would have been 45 seconds away. The right move would have been to lift and live to fight another day even if it meant dropping back to 26th or 27th. 

Watching it and listening to the booth explain Ferrucci's thinking just made the entire accident appear to be unnecessary and completely avoidable. 

19. And from the final road course race of the season we head into the final off-weekend of the season. We all get a breather. Chip Ganassi Racing and Álex Palou get a week to celebrate. After that, it is Milwaukee and Nashville in consecutive weeks to close out the season. Rest up. 

First Impressions: Laguna Seca 2025

1. Yep. Álex Palou won again, and anyone who suggested his championship grip was slipping after Patricio O'Ward won last week at Toronto while Palou finished 12th is a fool. 

Come on, folks! 

Really? 

Really? 

One race and you thought O'Ward was starting to claw back power? O'Ward entered this weekend needing to outscore Palou by 24.75 points per race over the final four races. That is an extraordinary task. That is also assuming Palou wouldn't finish ahead of O'Ward in any of the final four races. Palou did finish ahead of O'Ward today, and it was another victory, and after losing 30 points last week, Palou gained 22 points back this afternoon. O'Ward went from needing to score 24.75 points over four races to overtake Palou to needing to outscore the Catalan driver by 40.333 points in each of the next three races. 

It's over. In two weeks, we will have a coronation ceremony. Palou's magic number is 42 points. He just needs to score 42 points combined over the next three races and the championship is his regardless of what O'Ward does. 

Even when there was a shakeup due to the cautions today, and a few drivers who stopped early to get off the primary tire were at the front of field, Palou had this race under control. He ran the fastest lap of the race. It was 0.6166 seconds faster than the next best fastest lap! Only eight drivers had their fastest lap within a second of Palou's. 

It is staggering what it takes to beat Palou. He has found a comfortable level on all the circuits that no one can match. He doesn't have a bad track. He isn't struggling with track surfaces and tire compounds. The man has damn near perfected every element of the IndyCar series. The rest of the competition is in big trouble. We have already known that. 

2. Christian Lundgaard had a damn good day. Running two new sets of alternate tires in the middle of the race launched him into a podium position, and Lundgaard took more with a bold move up the inside of Colton Herta into the final corner. Lundgaard has gone through a bit of a rough patch since the middle of May after having three consecutive podium finishes early in the season. We haven't seen this Lundgaard in a while. It has been a fantastic year for him even with the dip over June and most of July. This could be the start to a strong finish. 

3. Colton Herta rounded out the podium on a day where he was good, but he wasn't close to Palou. This was a race for second. Herta had a good start to get up to second place, but he was stuck the moment he got mixed into traffic when the first pit cycle had a caution. He was behind those on the alternate strategy. Herta had the car to make up ground, but Palou cut his way to the front quicker. Once Herta was clear, Palou was out of sight. Third is a good day, but boy does it feel deflating when the competition was never within touching distance. 

4. Patricio O'Ward salvaged this day with a fourth-place finish. O'Ward did not have a good start to the race, and running on two sets of used alternate tires before putting on the primary tire didn't help matters, but halfway through it looked like this was going to be a bad day. It turned into a top five finish. With how far O'Ward is behind Palou, anything less than gaining points cannot be considered a good day. It is hard to find moral victories in this one. 

5. Starting 19th meant Scott Dixon had to roll the dice. Starting on the primary tire was step one. Step two was stopping on lap 12. The way the cautions fell allowed Dixon to leap to the front of the field, and he ran at a good pace to keep himself up there, especially after he had to run a 27-lap stint, then a 28-lap stint and then another 28-lap stint to make it to the finish. It is the typical Scott Dixon day. He finds a way forward. 

6. Callum Ilott probably had the second-best race of all the drivers in the field, as Ilott ran the same strategy as Dixon and finished sixth from 24th on the grid. It is more impressive because we have seen Ilott's shortcomings this season, especially with Prema. It hurt him a little bit in this one as before his final pit stop, Ilott was ahead of O'Ward. After pit stops, Ilott was miles behind because of a slow stop. It was lost spots but this was still a sixth-place day and Ilott hung in the top ten running competitively. The team has work to do, but it has been much more competitive in the second half of the season.

7. Will Power was seventh and never much of a factor. Power started fifth and he lost a few spots, mostly due to strategy. Dixon and Ilott were ahead of him and that was because of another strategy. Either way, Power did nothing notable. He did nothing wrong, which is notable for Team Penske this season. That is progress.

8. It was another quiet top ten finish for Marcus Armstrong. Armstrong had a good car, he didn't make a mistake and it ended in an eighth-place finish. For a driver that moved from Chip Ganassi Racing to Meyer Shank Racing, he hasn't taken a step back. Armstrong has actually made a step forward. It is hard to imagine MSR moving away from Armstrong as the team is having its best season in IndyCar in large part because of his results.

9. Christian Rasmussen had a good day to finish ninth, and for a period it looked like it was going to be better than ninth. Rasmussen's third stint was on the primary tire and that did not do him wonders. All of his success has been on ovals this season. He needed a good day on a road course, and he got it. Rasmussen showed good pace in the entire race.

10. Scott McLaughlin rounded out the top ten, and he took tenth late from his teammate Josef Newgarden, who finished 11th. This is a bit of a disappointing result for Newgarden because he started fourth, but he got shuffled back on each stint. He didn't have a new set of tires until the final stint, and even then he lost ground. McLaughlin had better tires at the end, and got the position. 

Tenth was the best McLaughlin was going to be today. We never saw him look flashy. This was a better day for Team Penske, but it still wasn't a good day. None of them were close to being a contender today, and two of them started in the top five. 

11. Graham Rahal ended up 12th, which is a bit of a bummer considering he started eighth, but for a portion of this race it appeared Rahal was in for a bad day. I thought he was going to struggle to finish in the top twenty. His race turned around during the mid-way point and he ended up finishing 12th. Not great, but could be worse. 

12. Let's get through the field. David Malukas was 13th. He did not look good on the primary tire at the start. He made an extra pit stop mid-race. That didn't help him. It is hard to imagine Team Penske is this interested in Malukas when it feels too regular to see him start in the top ten and end up outside the top ten for most of the race. Malukas started sixth today, and at no point was he moving forward. 

Conor Daly went off on the opening lap after running into Robert Shwartzman. Daly rebounded to finish 14th. Daly ran himself and Shwartzman off the road. They were lucky that wasn't a bigger accident. It is a good drive for Daly, but he set himself up to be fighting from behind when he was already in a poor starting position.

Alexander Rossi ended up making an extra pit stop, which sucked because he stopped on lap 27 under the caution for the Rinus VeeKay and Kyle Kirkwood accident after he made his first stop on lap 20. On lap 20, Rossi removed the primary tire. He was good, but stopping at lap 27 didn't put him in a better spot to making it to the finish on fuel. It is curious why he had to make that stop. Rossi could have had a top ten finish today if the team didn't get off-strategy that much.

13. So we get to Kyle Kirkwood, who plain got it wrong and ran into Rinus VeeKay. This led to a penalty for Kirkwood. It has been a rough summer for Kirkwood. He hasn't had a top five finish since he won at Gateway, which came after he won Detroit the race before that. It didn't help that the team got everything wrong in qualifying and set Kirkwood to only have one flying lap. Kirkwood bobbled on the final corner of that lap and it kept him from advancing from the first round of qualifying. It hasn't been a disastrous period, but it didn't look like it would be this rough a month ago. 

14. Louis Foster ended up 17th. Foster's qualifying form is fabulous. The team's race form must improve. The driver isn't the sole reason why this team cannot take top ten starts and turn them into top ten finishes. You would think after all these top ten starting positions, Foster will eventually have a day where everything goes right and he just finishes ninth. He doesn't make a mistake. The team executes the most basic strategy flawlessly, and Foster spends the entire race in ninth and best to feel good when it is over. It is frustrating because Foster has been pretty encouraging every weekend in qualifying. We just haven't seen a race to cap off the weekend.

15. Nolan Siegel was the only other driver to lead today as he led 11 laps because he stopped on lap 12 under the Jacob Abel caution. The problem is Siegel didn't take his primary tire until lap 38, and it was a 12-lap stint. It was a bad strategy. It knocked Siegel down to 18th. 

16. If you have a clue how Sting Ray Robb and Devlin DeFrancesco finished 19th and 20th respectively, you are the only ones. 

Robert Shwartzman ended up a lap down in 21st. Other than going off course and being a back-marker in front of Palou late, I don't know if Shwartzman did much.

Santino Ferrucci spun off course and was beached at the top of the corkscrew. Ferrucci was probably going to finish around 15th today. He didn't have a great race. He was hardly noticed until his spin. 

17. Race control held the whistle twice in this races, and both were problematic. 

First, Kirkwood got into VeeKay and VeeKay was stopped off course. IndyCar held the caution for nearly two laps until we were through the pit cycle on lap 26.

Second, Marcus Ericsson spun going uphill to the corkscrew. Ericsson remained stationary for what felt like nearly a lap as cars were approaching at full speed, and the uphill section is blind. 

We have seen IndyCar wait to throw the caution during a pit cycle. The VeeKay incident was probably one of the longest periods they have held out for in a long time. The Ericsson one was unacceptable. IndyCar will wait if a car spins but doesn't hit anything because drivers can restart the cars with the hybrid system. They don't want to bring out the caution for a single-car incident. In this case, it took Ericsson a while and it didn't help that Ericsson could not find an opening to safely spin around and continue. 

There is an easy solution: Virtual Safety Car.

Ericsson's incident didn't need a full course caution and the pace car returning to the circuit, but it required the field slowing down so he could spin around without worrying about being t-boned by a car going 165 mph. 

It is embarrassing IndyCar has not adopted some sort of VSC system in 2025. It has been around for a decade in Formula One. For the Ericsson incident, all IndyCar needs is the cars not driving at full speed for 20-30 seconds. I understand not wanting to have a full course caution, but IndyCar should have something to slow the race without it fully resetting and bunching the field. There is a solution, and it is frustrating that for a decade now IndyCar has not even attempted to adopt it.

As for the VeeKay incident, I get not wanting a caution to completely mix up the race and the top five drivers dropping to 16th because they waited to make their pit stop. A VSC would allow pit stops to occur without having cars fly pass VeeKay's stranded race car at full speed. If you do have VSC, it can still mix up the running order because you will have drivers who catch it and do not lose as much time on an out lap. We have seen plenty of VSC periods shoot drivers up four or five spots. It isn't necessarily the driver who was in 16th jumping up to first because no one else has made a pit stop yet, but it can be a six or seven-spot jump.

It is 2025. The Virtual Safety Car conversation better be happening after this weekend. There are no more excuses.

18. Let's round out the rest of the field, and it can be done in two incidents.

At the start, Kyffin Simpson plowed into the back of Felix Rosenqvist. Simpson's race was over after six corners. Rosenqvist continued, but he lost a lap and had no chance to contend in this race. It is a shame because Rosenqvist should have been in the Fast Six if it wasn't for causing a local yellow when he had a qualifying lap that was already safe to making the last round. Rosenqvist was poised to be going forward in this race, and that opportunity never arose.

Jacob Abel ran off in the hairpin and Abel's race was over after ten laps. I don't know if it is the car. Rinus VeeKay has been making Dale Coyne Racing look good, but this is the same team that couldn't get a car to finish better than 13th last year. There are still deficiencies with this team, but Abel's struggles suggest it is more than the car. 

19. It was a good race, and this feels like it was the best Laguna Seca crowd since it returned to the schedule in 2019. It wasn't spectacular, but it was better. I think Laguna Seca should move to March if IndyCar needs to fill the gap early in the season. Prior to this weekend, the crowds at Laguna Seca have been so dismal that I don't think it mattered if the race was held in September, June, July or March, it would be what it was. If you aren't packing the place in June, then why not run it in March? The date wasn't making a difference.

I still feel Laguna Seca should move to March because it looks like IndyCar's early season gap will be a problem in 2026, and IndyCar doesn't need to race four consecutive weekends in July with it culminating in a trip to California. I know the issues with Laguna Seca in March. It is the rainy season, 90% of the parking is dirt, it will be muddy and a mess and a negative experience for most in attendance. 

I say it is worth it. I am sure we can figure out a way to park as many people as possible on paved surfaces. There is a chance the weather isn't terrible and it isn't a mud bowl and 2,000 people aren't requiring a tow truck to get home. You weigh the risks. For IndyCar, it loses too much at the start of the season because mostly absent over the first two months to think a month of consecutive races makes up for it. It doesn't.

IndyCar needs to be present early in the season, and run races on a regular basis. It cannot take three weeks off or four weeks off between the first two races. That is fucking stupid. Fill the gap with Laguna Seca. Spread the summer races out so teams aren't working four consecutive weekends and going all across North America. Let's not act like IndyCar making this adjustments will hurt the series. The adjustments to the current schedule are how we got to our current situation.

20. There was not a single person between Laguna Seca management and IndyCar who remembered the marine layer in Monterey doesn't burn off until about 10:00 a.m. each morning? I have only been to Laguna Seca once in my life, and it is probably the thing that stuck out the most. Twice in three days on-track activity was held because the medical helicopter could not get clearance. That was avoidable. 

We should note that part of this schedule is down to television, and it isn't about a practice being held at 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning. It is a practice being held at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time. Eastern time dictates the schedule. IndyCar could have waited, but it wouldn't get the broadcast window it desired. The series wanted the FS1 window. It got it, but no practice took place. How beneficial was that schedule after all? The same thing occurred with the second Indy Lights race, which was postponed from Sunday morning to 6:30 p.m. ET.  

This is a learning situation that shouldn't be a learning situation because there are enough adults making these decisions that should know better.

21. We get a week off, and then we are onto Portland for what will be Álex Palou's crowning weekend. 

First Impressions: Toronto 2025

1. Not every race will be pretty, and sometimes a victory comes from an early break. For Patricio O'Ward, stopping after two laps to remove the alternate tire paid dividends, as Scott McLaughlin had an accident after an unsecured tire came loose with McLaughlin attempting the same strategy. Instead of running at the back of the top ten, O'Ward lifted himself up to a better spot with three sets of fresh primary tires at his use.

The other cautions fell in O'Ward's favor as many teams were caught out on strategy. This put O'Ward in a spot to pounce and take a race victory. On the final pit stop, O'Ward crew nailed it and leaped ahead of Rinus VeeKay. From there, O'Ward ran away, untouched, and the late caution for Nolan Siegel and Felix Rosenqvist coming together in the final set of corners sealed the Mexican driver his second victory of the season. 

O'Ward ran to how the race played out. He didn't have to drive from tenth to first on the track. He had to make a few passes, but he found a way to the front and was able to make the most of how all the cautions fell. The team still had to nail its pit stop to get O'Ward to the front, and the pit stand didn't overthink it. They caught a break and didn't waste it.  

2. Rinus VeeKay took a stunning second place finish thanks to the cautions, but also to the strategy. VeeKay started on the alternate tire but ran until lap 13 instead of stopping under the McLaughlin caution. Then VeeKay did 44 laps on his middle stint to get into the window for the final round of pit stops while leading. Unfortunately, VeeKay's stop wasn't blisteringly quick. O'Ward ran a lap longer while having a better pit stop. This put O'Ward into the lead and VeeKay was fighting from behind, but never got close again to first.

It is still wonderful for VeeKay and Dale Coyne Racing. It has been a refreshing season for both parties. Dale Coyne Racing couldn't dream of a top ten finish last season let alone a podium. VeeKay did all he could and ended 2024 on a high, but time had run its course at Ed Carpenter Racing. However, VeeKay was not a hot commodity. The last driver hired for the 2025 season, VeeKay has reminded everyone how he was once seen as an emerging start. He won at 19 years old in 2021. He is still only 24, younger than O'Ward, Colton Herta, Kyle Kirkwood and Álex Palou. He has finished on the podium at least once in four of six IndyCar seasons and he has one driven for Ed Carpenter and Dale Coyne. 

I don't know how long Coyne can keep VeeKay, but top teams should be considering the Dutchman for next season.

3. Kyffin Simpson also benefitted from the cautions, but strangely, Simpson was the only Ganassi driver to start on the alternate tire. He went to lap 16 and then ran 42 laps on his middle stint. This put Simpson into a podium position, and he was little fortunate the final caution happened because Colton Herta was closing on Simpson. 

In his sophomore season, Simpson has podium, two top five finishes and five top ten results, but his best two results have been down to timely cautions in street races. He has raced well. He did well at Mid-Ohio, but I think the results have been a little flattering. It has been a strong year, but let's remember the context.

4. I don't know how Colton Herta could have been more caught out behind the eight-ball today. Starting on the alternate tire, Herta was always going to stop early. The McLaughlin caution sent Herta back into traffic, but he still in a spot where he could climb up the order. Herta made a lot of passes, but he always had work to do. Herta likely had the best car today, but sometimes it doesn't matter if you have the best car if your strategy is slightly off. 

5. Marcus Ericsson was also one of the few to stop before the McLaughlin caution, and it was a wonderful turn for the Swede. Ericsson was able to hang in the top ten for nearly the entire race. He was able to get a top five out of this and end his slump. Ericsson needed a day where nothing went against him. That was pretty much the case today. 

6. It is remarkable Kyle Kirkwood was able to recover after he was spun entering the pit lane under caution. That first pit box has its advantages. The disadvantage is an eager driver behind you can ruin your day. Marcus Armstrong got into the back of Kirkwood, and it looked like it was day over, but Kirkwood was a man on a mission. He likely was second-best to his teammate Herta today. Seeing as how things played out, that Armstrong spin likely only cost Kirkwood one spot in the final order. Perhaps he would have gotten ahead of Herta at some point. It could have been worse.

7. Graham Rahal had a quiet day and finished seventh, and I do not think Rahal minds that. We have seen plenty of races where there are incidents all over the place and Rahal is caught in something not of his doing. Today, Rahal steered clear of the chaos. The cautions didn't even cost him on strategy. He kept running in the top ten. That is a positive thing for him and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

8. Callum Ilott scores Prema's best finish one week after the team scored its best finish. Eighth is a good showing, and Ilott didn't do anything. He ended up making four stops as he made a stop on lap 38 for fuel-only, but that was after he caught a piece of the Jacob Abel-Josef Newgarden incident. The car was able to continue. Like Rahal, this is the kind of race where we usually see Ilott swept into something. Ilott nearly was, but it worked out where he was able to slip through. Ilott deserved this day.

9. David Malukas was nearly screwed. The McLaughlin caution really threw off everyone starting on the primary tire. Malukas took his alternate tire on lap 34, and he ran 15 laps, but that was about five laps too soon to make it to the finish. Malukas had to stop from third on track on lap 74, but Malukas had fresh tires and flew from about 17th to ninth in the final 26 laps. It looked like Malukas wasn't going to finish in the top 15. It turned into a top ten. He did make a little error on that final pit stop as the right rear tire was not secure. The team caught it in time though. 

10. Considering Scott Dixon was starting 17th, I understand why he started on the primary tire. Dixon had to do something different, but the flurry of cautions early kind of forced him to stay out as long as he could. He went 41 laps to open the race. The alternate tire was not going to last that long. Dixon ran 14 laps, which got him into the window for a two-stop race, but he was outside the top ten. Dixon did have better tires down the stretch and made up a few spots. It ends in a top ten, which is good, and maybe the most this team could have done with the strategy chosen and how the cautions fell.

11. I don't know where to start on Team Penske, but Will Power was its best finisher in 11th, Power seemed to be bumping into everyone despite having started fourth. He went backward quickly in this race Nothing went his way today, but he didn't look that racy out there either. Eleventh is a kind day to Power.

12. With Álex Palou finishing 12th, the championship gap to O'Ward is down to 99 points with four races remaining. I don't understand why Palou started on the primary tire, especially from second on the grid. 

Without the early cautions, everyone on the alternate compound stops within the first ten laps, which opens the door for those starting on the primary to run a 10-12 lap stint in the middle of the race. It would be a three-stopper for everyone. All I can think is Palou felt confident that he would get to the lead by lap 12 or 15 as all the primary starters would be in pit lane and he could go to lap 25 or lap 30 and then stop for the alternate tire. 

In that case, it sets up to where everyone is making their second stop at the same time. Everyone who stopped early to get rid of the alternate tire are stopping again between laps 35-40, maybe they can run to lap 45. If Palou needs a 10-15 lap stint, he is stopping between laps 35-45. It shakes out to where everyone will be together at the halfway point, but with the cautions, Palou had nowhere to go on strategy. 

Palou didn't have the greatest start, likely due to the tires, but his 12th-place result today was down to strategy, not because Chip Ganassi Racing did something wrong and the car wasn't in the ballpark. 

13. I think we need to cool it on acting like the championship is in play.

No. 

O'Ward needs to basically outscore Palou by 25 points over four consecutive races. If O'Ward wins all four, he needs Palou to finish eighth or worse in every race. If O'Ward is second in all four, he needs Palou to finish 15th or worse in every race. If O'Ward is third in all four, he needs Palou to finish 20th or worse in every race.

O'Ward isn't going to be on the podium in all four races. Palou isn't going to finish eighth or worse in all four. Two of Palou's best tracks are still ahead of him. Let's cool it. 

Mathematically, it is still alive. That doesn't mean we should suspend reason. More must be done than this one race. Is there any reason to believe that will be the case? Let's see where we are after Laguna Seca. 

14. Let's run through the field: This was an off weekend for Christian Lundgaard, and it doesn't help that his teammate won. Lundgaard struggled late as well. He nearly ended up in the barrier after contact with Conor Daly. This was a little surprising as Lundgaard has done well in street races.

Nolan Siegel was caught with nowhere to go when Felix Rosenqvist spun, but Siegel was still running about 15th when that happened. It wasn't going to be a brilliant day anyway for Siegel.

15. This was nearly a good day for Meyer Shank Racing. Both cars were in the top ten. Marcus Armstrong spun Kirkwood entering pit lane, earning Armstrong a penalty. Felix Rosenqvist blew turn three while running in the top ten, and then he spun on his own after battling front wing damage for most of the race, but which really got worse in the final stint. 

This is MSR's first truly bad day of the season. It sucks, but it also hasn't been the norm for this group. I expect MSR to bounce back at Laguna Seca.

16. Conor Daly was in a top ten spot until his tires were gone in the final stint. Daly dropped to 15th. Sting Ray Ray was a lap down in 17th, benefitting from the amount of attrition. That sounds about right for Juncos Hollinger Racing.

17. What a terrible day for Ed Carpenter Racing. Christian Rasmussen spun into the barrier after contact with Will Power in turn five. Alexander Rossi clipped the barrier exiting the final corner. Rossi's day was done. Rasmussen was able to continue but finish seven laps down. Woof!

The incident with Power was a racing incident. They were side-by-side in the corner. If we call that a penalty, no one will ever attempt a pass on a street course again.

18. I must have missed what happened to Louis Foster because his race was over after 67 laps. Devlin DeFrancesco was caught in the Abel-Newgarden incident, and DeFrancesco retired after 57 laps. At least Graham Rahal had a good day for RLLR.

19. I don't know where to begin on Team Penske. This feels surreal.

The McLaughlin accident after an unsecured tire does not happen to Team Penske. That happens to every other team. It was two laps into the race. I understand the strategy, but let's nail the first pit stop, why don't we? Take a breather. That strategy is not entirely dependent on the in-lap and out-lap. It is all about the following stint and then taking advantage of those on the primary tire on the next stint. 

Josef Newgarden had no where to go when Jacob Abel ran wide in the first corner. Of all the drivers to get caught in that incident in 2025, it is going to be Newgarden. 

I don't know how you can watch this Penske season and not be speechless. 

20. For the second consecutive Sunday, we were down a car. Santino Ferrucci had an accident in the morning warm-up, and A.J. Foyt Racing was unable to make the repairs or roll out a back-up car in time for the race. The circuit was damp, but drying, during the warm-up. 

I have long felt the warm-up session should not exist on Sundays for reasons like this. It is a negative for fans. It puts the crews in a position where they could have to thrash to re-build a car, and once done, the reward is to now do pit stops for a two-hour race. 

We saw one fewer car because there was an accident too soon to the start of the race. I also think it wasn't worth the risk to participate on a damp track when everyone knows it will be dry for the race. 

If the teams need to do a systems check, have an installation lap session at the start of the day like they have on ovals, and have the teams go out and run at 60% or 70%.  

Break the field up into four groups. Run the final four rows for five minutes. Once they are in, the next four rows go out. After that, split the final six rows into two groups of three and let them go out. 

You can still call it a warm-up. You can still have it be a broadcasted session. Turn into a race preview. Usher drivers to-and-from the Fox patio setup and have an abundance of interviews, but with the drivers. Have it be a time where the drivers can interact with fans on race morning. It can still be a session, but I don't think there is any benefit into making it a full session. Give the teams more practice time on Friday and Saturday where they can run in anger. 

21. These races happen, but they don't feel entirely satisfying. I do think it is time IndyCar increases the minimum lap amount on each tire compound to five or ten laps, and make it green flag laps. 

Does anyone understand why the limit is so low and is only two laps? That can be achieved in a caution period, and we saw that happen at St. Petersburg. There was a lot of action in this race, but something was taken away because you have a portion of the field that have to run 10-15 laps on one compound and the rest got away with doing two laps on it because of a timely yellow. That is part of the strategy but we can acknowledge the rules are flawed and could be improved. 

Either that or Toronto should have been a race where IndyCar mandated each team used both compounds twice. 

I don't understand how IndyCar ran that experiment once at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, a race that is already guaranteed to be a three-stop race, but did not try it at a street race where it would be more beneficial. Even with five additional laps, we went into this weekend thinking a two-stop strategy was still on the board. The cautions made that possible. 

I am ok with IndyCar trying things, especially things that aren't going to cost anything extra. It was willing to experiment once earlier this season, and since then it has been scared off from trying again. I hope IndyCar is open minded for 2026 because I don't think either would hurt this race and a few others.

22. The end is in sight with Laguna Seca a week away, and then a much deserved week off.

23. If forgot Robert Shwartzman! Shwartzman was 16th. I honestly don't know what he did today. There. All bases covered.