2021 For the Love of Indy Awards

We have made it to the end of another year, and this one felt a little more normal. Though we are still in the middle of a global pandemic and cannot quite escape it, the motorsports world found a way to put on countless unforgettable events. Some tracks and races returned after a year away. Others took place with at least partially full grandstands. Most championships were able to run a full slate of races. At least there were fewer cancellations, postponements, and amendments than the year before. 

Since we are looking on the bright side, let's get onto the award and recognize the best of year. There were historic seasons across the world, races that left us speechless and moments we are talking about months later.

Racer of the Year
Description: Given to the best racer over the course of 2021.
And the Nominees are:

Alessandro Pier Guidi

Shane van Gisbergen

Kyle Larson

Dominique Aegerter

Lewis Hamilton

And the winner is... Kyle Larson

Larson completed one of the most historic seasons in American motorsports history in 2021. 

It started in January with Larson winning the Chili Bowl for the second consecutive year. In February, Larson returned to NASCAR Cup Series competition after being suspended for majority of the 2020 for uttering a racial slur during an iRacing event. Larson signed with Hendrick Motorsports for the 2021 season. He was tenth in the Daytona 500, and he picked up his first victory of the season in March at Las Vegas, the fourth race of the season. 

Larson was a regular top five finisher through the first half of the season. He had three consecutive runner-up finishes in May, which led off Larson winning three consecutive races, starting with the Coca-Cola 600 before winning at Sonoma and the inaugural Nashville Superspeedway race. In the middle of that stretch, Larson won the All-Star Race for the second time in his career. 

He continued his form through the rest of the regular season, but Cup was not the only place he succeeded. Larson kept up his dirt competition and won the King's Royal at Eldora and he won the Knoxville Nationals. Overall, Larson won 29 of his 87 dirt starts. 

In the Cup Series, Larson won at Watkins Glen, and he won the regular season championship. In the playoffs, he won at Bristol, overcame an alternator issue at Charlotte to win that race when for a moment it looked like he would not advance from round two, and followed up his Charlotte victory with two more at Texas and Kansas, becoming the first driver to have two separate three-race winning streaks in a single season since Dale Earnhardt did it in 1987. 

Larson went on to win the season finale at Phoenix, his tenth victory of the season, and it earned him his first NASCAR Cup Series championship. It was the first time a driver won ten races in a season since Jimmie Johnson in 2007. Larson's 2,581 laps led were the most in a season since Jeff Gordon's 2,610 laps led in 1995, and his 28.05% laps led was the highest percentage in the modern era since Rusty Wallace led 28.588% of the laps in 1993. It was just the 15th time in NASCAR's modern era a driver led over 25% of the laps run in a season.

On the other nominees:

Pier Guidi has long been a staple in sports car racing, but 2021 was a special year for him. He won his second World Endurance GT Drivers' championship with three WEC victories, including at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, alongside AF Corse co-driver James Calado. He also won the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup championship with Iron Lynx and co-drivers Côme Ledogar and Nicklas Nielsen, with a dominant driver in the 24 Hours of Spa being a keystone result in that championship season. 

Not many drivers came close to touching van Gisbergen in 2021. He opened the season with six consecutive victories, four of which with a fractured collarbone after suffering a cycling accident. He also won in GT World Challenge Australia with his injuries. He won 14 Supercars races this season and clinched his second championship a round early, but he didn't just succeed in tin tops. Van Gisbergern won the New Zealand Grand Prix in the Toyota Racing Series to start the 2021 season. 

Aegerter might not be the biggest name in motorcycle racing, but not many riders have success in multiple series on two different types of bikes. The Swiss rider dominated the World Supersport season, winning ten of 23 races, two of which he skipped. In the 21 races he started, he never finished worse than fifth and was on the podium 16 times. Why did he skip two races? He was also in contention for the MotoE championship. He fell short in that championship and an ambition pass attempt on Jordi Torres cost Aegerter the title while Torres claimed the top prize, but Aegerter had four podium finishes from seven races and was still second in the championship. 

It might not have been a championship season, but Hamilton's 2021 results were incredible against the competition of Max Verstappen and Red Bull. In multiple races, Hamilton overcame the odds to score victories and many times did it without the aid of a teammate while Red Bull at times had four cars in the fight. Hamilton fell eight points short of the championship, but he overcame a 19-point deficit after the Mexican Grand Prix to enter the finale level on points with Verstappen, the first time the top two in the championship were tied entering the final race since 1974. After the controversial end of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Hamilton handled the defeat with humility despite being the aggrieved party. He ended the season with eight victories and 17 podium finishes. 

Past Winners
2012: Kyle Larson

2013: Marc Márquez
2014: Marc Márquez
2015: Nick Tandy
2016: Shane van Gisbergen
2017: Brendon Hartley
2018: Scott Dixon

2019: Marc Márquez

2020: Lewis Hamilton

 

Race of the Year
Description: Best Race of 2021.
And the Nominees are:

Monaco ePrix

24 Hours of Daytona

Austrian motorcycle Grand Prix

Food City 300

Brazilian Grand Prix

And the winner is... Monaco ePrix

Many believe there is no possible way the Monaco grand prix circuit can be viewed as a great circuit. From the tight nature and short straightaway, it is believed it is no longer conducive to modern motorsports machinery. It only took Formula E's first time using the full circuit to prove it still has it. 

From the time the lights went out, Formula E put on a spectacular race. Passes took place all over the 2.062-mile circuit. António Félix da Costa and Robin Frijns traded the lead throughout the race. Mitch Evans jumped up into the mix. Passes were happening all over. Evans took the lead heading up hill ahead of da Costa at Massenet. A late caution bunched the field for the final five laps, and the top three remained in lockstep for the final lap. Entering the chicane for the final time, da Costa made his move on the outside of Evans. The Portuguese driver locked up but slid in front of Evans and took the lead. 

Da Costa pulled away and won the race. Frijns nicked second at the line from Evans by 0.024 seconds. Just over 4/10ths of a second covered second to fifth. The top six finishers all started in the top six and finished where they started, but there were six lead changes. Sam Bird went from 16th to seventh. Lucas di Grassi moved up to tenth from 17th. 

It was a fitting finish for a race that never had a dull moment. 

On the other nominees:

The IMSA season could not have started with a better race, and it set the tone for the season. The 24 Hours of Daytona went to the wire in nearly every class. The top five overall finishers were on the lead lap. It was a battle between the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura and the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac before a late tire puncture forced the #01 Cadillac to make an extra start. Wayne Taylor Racing scored its third consecutive Daytona victory and this was in its first race with Acura. In LMP2, the top two finishers were on the same lap, as was the case in GT Le Mans and GT Daytona had the top five finishers in class on the lead lap. IMSA could have had four or five nominees for best race, but Daytona stood out for a race that did not let up over 24 hours. 

The skies scream of impending rain as the bikes set on the grid for MotoGP's Austrian Grand Prix. Everyone was preparing for a flag-to-flag race with a bike change mid-race. Teams made decisions based on the likelihood of a change in conditions. The leaders sprinted away just waiting for the rain, but it wasn't coming. It remained dry. Half the race was completed and still no rain when many thought it would come in the opening laps. A spritz kept everyone on edge, but it wasn't breaking through. Then it got heavier. And heavier. And finally, the leaders dove into the pit lane. Marc Márquez, Francesco Bagnaia, Jorge Martín, Joan Mir, Aleix Espargaro, Fabio Quartararo switched bikes, but Brad Binder stayed out with three laps to go. The rain started coming down harder and harder. Binder was on a razor's edge for the final laps but held on for victory, 15 seconds clear of Bagnaia on the road. 

NASCAR's second division does not always get recognized, especially at Bristol, but the September night race was one of the best of the season. Daniel Hemric, Sam Mayer, Justin Allgaier and Austin Cindric each shared the lead for a significant chunk of the race with traffic being difficult to navigate and keeping the field close together. A few late cautions set up a green-white-checkered finish. Cindric led and A.J. Allmendinger had risen to the front as other competitors fell back. Allmendinger made a great restart and found himself battling Cindric to the finish line. The two drivers banged into each other, both cars sliding across the finish line with Allmendinger ahead by 0.082 seconds. It was the only lap Allmendinger led.

The Brazilian Grand Prix had already had plenty of storylines prior to the lights extinguishing at the start of the race. Lewis Hamilton had his qualifying time disallowed after his Drag Reduction System was found to have a greater gap than allowed. Max Verstappen had touched Hamilton's Mercedes in parc fermé and was handed a fine. Hamilton had also taken on a five-grid spot penalty for a change in his internal combustion engine. Starting 20th in the sprint qualifying race, Hamilton finished fifth and was relegated to tenth for the grand prix. On an aggressive strategy, Hamilton quickly was up to second and pressuring Verstappen for the lead. Hamilton had the optimal tires for the closing stages and despite being driven off course in one battle for the lead, Hamilton came back and passed Verstappen with 13 laps to go. Hamilton took victory from tenth on the grid and the championship lead was down to 14 points. 

Past Winners
2012: Indianapolis 500
2013: British motorcycle Grand Prix
2014: Bathurst 1000
2015: Australian motorcycle Grand Prix
2016: Spanish Grand Prix
2017: All the races at the World Superbike/World Supersport weekend at Phillip Island
2018: Petit Le Mans

2019: Honda 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

2020: Turkish Grand Prix

Achievement of the Year
Description: Best success by a driver, team, manufacture, etc.
And the Nominees are:

Lewis Hamilton reaches the century mark in victories

Valentino Rossi's grand prix career

Superstars Racing Experience for completing an entire season

Max Verstappen setting single-season Formula One record for podium finishes

Team WRT's championship success across multiple series and disciplines

And the winner is... Team WRT's championship success across multiple series and disciplines

Some teams do not get the recognition they deserve. Team WRT has look been a successful program in GT3 competition, but its 2021 season went beyond its comfort zone. 

Team WRT continued to have GT3 success. In the GT World Challenge Europe season, the team won the Sprint Cup championship with Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts. The Belgian pairing won four of ten races and stood on the podium seven times. In the Endurance Cup championship, Team WRT might not have won the drivers' championship, but it did win its fifth Endurance Cup teams' championship.

But the most impressive part of Team WRT's season was not in GT3 competition. In 2021, the organization branched out to full-time LMP2 competition with entries in each the European Le Mans Series and the FIA World Endurance Championship.

It opened the ELMS season with two consecutive victories for the #41 Oreca-Gibson of Louis Delétraz, Robert Kubica and Ye Yifei. At Le Mans, Team WRT started the final lap 1-2 with the #41 Oreca leading, but Ye slowed on the circuit with a broken throttle sensor. The #31 Team WRT Oreca of Robin Frijns inherited the lead but had the Jota Oreca of Tom Blomqvist breathing now his neck. Frijns was able to hold on by just over 7/10ths of a second to score Team WRT a Le Mans class victory on its Le Mans debut. 

Frijns along with Ferdinand von Habsburg and Charles Milesi would win the final two races of the WEC season and took the Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers championship over Jota. The #41 ELMS entry would finish no worse than fifth all season and picked up a home victory at Spa-Francorchamps, clinching that series championship for Ye, Kubica and Delétraz. 

Team WRT won four championships in two different classes of racing. It had never run a full prototype season before, and it won championships in two different series. This isn't Team Penske winning an IMSA title and IndyCar title in the same season. Team WRT is a successful organization, but it isn't a behemoth with a couple hundred employees. It topped some of the best Europe's best competitions and won on the global level.

 

On the other nominees:

It was a banner year for Hamilton. Entering 2021 with 95 victories, the century mark was bound to happen. It took longer than expected, but he reached it at the Russian Grand Prix, the 15th race of the season after Hamilton made the prudent decision to switch to wet weather tires as a rainstorm came over the circuit in the final ten laps. Hamilton was able to chase down Lando Norris and take advantage of his country, who trying to skate home on slick tires. Hamilton would add three more victories before the season ended.

Rossi did not end his MotoGP on the highest note, but The Doctor's entire career deserves to be celebrated. He made 432 grand prix starts, won 115 times and was a nine-time champion. With numerous records, Rossi was the face of grand motorcycle racing for an entire generation. He raced longer than anyone once thought imaginable in the premier class. At 42 years old, Rossi made his final start, over 25 years after his first start. There will likely not be another rider matching the cultural significance of Rossi. 

It might not take itself too seriously, but the inaugural SRX season was an outstanding success. One, it completed its entire season. Many new sports ventures carry great excitement and then flame out. SRX made it and did not suffer any hiccups. Two, it averaged over a million people for each of its six network broadcasted races. That is great, better than the IndyCar and Formula One average in the United States. It was only six races, but it could have been much worse. Three, SRX raced in front of packed grandstands at famous short tracks. Each race was one you could not miss. Four, it was a good group of drivers, and the races were pretty good. People were sad to see the season end and we all wait for summer 2022 for season two. 

Lost in the shuffle of the Formula One season was Verstappen breaking a Formula One record. Entering 2021, the most podium finishes in a season was 17. Michael Schumacher did it in 2002 and he was on the podium for all 17 races. Sebastian Vettel matched it in 2011. Hamilton matched in four times in 2015-16 and 2018-19. There are more races than ever in a Formula One season, and Verstappen wasn't on the podium for every race like Schumacher in 2002, but breaking this record is remarkable considering how many great drivers came close but fell short. Oh... and Hamilton had 17 podium finishes again this season. 

Past Winners
2012: DeltaWing
2013: Sebastian Vettel for winning nine consecutive races on his way to a fourth consecutive title
2014: Marc Márquez: Setting the record for most wins in a premier class season.
2015: Justin Wilson Memorial Family Auction
2016: Jimmie Johnson for his seventh NASCAR Cup championship
2017: Jonathan Rea: For becoming the first rider to win three consecutive World Superbike championships.
2018: Robert Wickens for winning IndyCar Rookie of the Year despite missing the final three races.

2019: Joe Gibbs Racing setting single-season record for most Cup victories by a in NASCAR's modern-era.

2020: Donald Davidson for 55 years of service to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500

Moment of the Year
Description: The Most Memorable Moment in the World of Racing during the 2021 season.
And the Nominees are:

Hélio Castroneves' fourth Indianapolis 500 victory

The entire Formula One season

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Norisring finale

NASCAR Cup Series Bristol Night Race

Bubba Wallace's first Cup victory at Talladega 

And the winner is... The entire Formula One season

There was a lot of hype heading into this Formula One season and every race lived up to it. 

Looking over the 2021 season, there isn't one race that was worth missing. From the season opener when Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes outclassed Max Verstappen and Red Bull when the Austrian manufacture had come out quicker in Bahrain until the controversially final lap at Abu Dhabi, there are too many moments to pick out one. Every race was appointment viewing. 

I view a great championship as one where you are unable to pinpoint one moment where it was decided. That was the case in Formula One this season. The championship pivoted every weekend. After Mercedes topped Red Bull in Bahrain, Verstappen bounced back and took victory at Imola when Hamilton looked stronger. Hamilton won twice on the Iberian Peninsula, notably in Barcelona where Mercedes used a two-stop strategy and chased down Verstappen with fresher tiers. 

At Monaco, Verstappen took a commanding victory while Hamilton was mired in seventh. Verstappen appeared to have a comfortable victory in Azerbaijan until a tire failed on the main straightaway in the closing laps. Hamilton was up to second for the final restart, but an error with the brake bias caused him to blow the first corner and instead of finishing first or second, Hamilton scored zero points.

That is only the first six races of the season and think about how crucial each one of those results felt! 

Verstappen employed the two-stop strategy at the French Grand Prix and beat Hamilton on a one-stopper. It led off a three-race stretch of Red Bull dominance. Verstappen led all 142 laps in Austria and took a 32-point lead in the championship. 

Then came the British Grand Prix, the first sprint qualifying weekend. Verstappen won the sprint. Hamilton knew it would be crucial to get Verstappen at the start. Neither driver was giving an inch, and the championship blew up at Copse. Hamilton was on the inside. Verstappen was on the outside. Neither gave way and contact was made. Verstappen spun off course and Hamilton continued. Verstappen was out and Hamilton remained on track but had a ten-second penalty. Hamilton overcame the penalty and won the race. 

In Hungary, Hamilton was the only car on the grid for the restart as the track dried while waiting under the red flag. I have covered half the races. Look at everything that happened in the first half of the season alone!

I didn't mention the Belgian Grand Prix, a race where the history books will say one lap was completed in three hours and 27 minutes. There was a sea of orange in Zandvoort, Hamilton and Verstappen reenacted their Copse battle in first chicane at Monza, but this time neither driver continued. A late rainstorm took away victory from Lando Norris at Sochi, and while Hamilton won, Verstappen had an impressive drive late to finish second. Hamilton fought back from a grid penalty to finish fifth in Turkey before the top two drivers in the championship went at it in Austin with Verstappen coming out on top. 

In Mexico, Hamilton took a surprise pole position, but Verstappen took the lead in the first corner and never looked back. Then there was the Brazilian Grand Prix, infractions for both manufactures, Hamilton going from 20th to fifth in the final sprint race of the season and then tenth to first in the grand prix, outmaneuvering Verstappen. 

Hamilton put down a beating in Qatar. Saudi Arabia was a mess with questionable driving standards and officiating, but after 21 races, Verstappen and Hamilton were tied entering the finale, the first time the top two in the championship were tied entering the final race since 1974! 

 

The final race lived up to the first 21 races. Verstappen's opening lap pass attempt forcing Hamilton off course, Red Bull employ Sergio Pérez to back up Hamilton to Verstappen during the first pit cycle, multiple strategies Red Bull threw out hoping to beat Mercedes and then the final safety car period, restart, and officiating choice to remove lapped cars from between the top two while not exactly following regulations. Max Verstappen took the lead in the turn five hairpin. Hamilton had two cracks at retaking the top spot. Verstappen held on and won the race, securing him the world championship. 

And we are still talking about one of Formula One's most dramatic seasons over a week after it concluded. We will still be taking until the 2022 season opener at Bahrain. 

On the other nominees:

After running behind closed doors and in the month of August for the first time ever, the 105th Indianapolis 500 returned to Memorial Day weekend and 135,000 spectators were able to attend the race. Far from a packed house, it was the first sense of normalcy at a motorsports event in North America and perhaps the world in over a year. Combined with the public euphoria to be together again, we also got to see an exciting race, the fastest in Indianapolis 500 history to be specific. Incredibly, the final laps were between two of IndyCar's youngest drivers, Álex Palou and Patricio O'Ward, and an unlikely, but tested, veteran, Hélio Castroneves. Castroneves was in his first race with Meyer Shank Racing and his first Indianapolis 500 ever without Team Penske. Twelve years had passed since his third Indianapolis 500 victory, and he was knocking on the door for his fourth for the third time. With two laps to go, Castroneves took the lead from Palou entering turn one and held on to become the fourth four-time winner, 30 years after Rick Mears last joined the club. In celebration, not only did Castroneves climb the fence, but ran up and down the main straightaway. It was a celebration the masses had long been waiting for.

DTM's inaugural season with GT3 regulations had gone particularly well entering the season finale. There were healthy grid sizes, more manufactures were involved, there were quality drivers on the grid, and it was a good sign for the future. The Norisring took the season finale slot after being delayed from the summer due to on-going COVID-19 restrictions. There was a good championship battle between Audi's Kelvin van der Linde and the Red Bull-supported AF Corse Ferrari driver Liam Lawson. Mercedes's Maximilian Götz was a distant third. Götz won the first race of the weekend, but Lawson was third ahead of van der Linde and all Lawson needed was an eighth-place finish to clinch the title. Lawson was on pole position and at the start van der Linde blew the first corner and drilled Lawson. Lawson was significantly damaged and could not maintain competitive pace. Later in the race, van der Linde and Götz made contact, puncturing one of van der Linde's tires and spinning him out of a points position. With Götz left standing in third position, Mercedes drivers Philip Ellis and Lucas Auer moved out of the way in the closing laps to let Götz win the race and the championship by three points over Lawson.

NASCAR's first elimination race at Bristol was not remembered for a driver that did not make it, but two drivers that did advance. Chase Elliott was leading with under 100 laps to go but Kevin Harvick remained close and was looking for his first victory of the season. Elliott had been able to hold off Harvick, but with under 40 laps to go, Harvick made a move low into turn three. Harvick's car slid up in the middle of the corner and made contact with Elliott, cutting one of Elliott's tires and forcing a pit stop. Angered by the move, Elliott returned to the racetrack and was able to drive in front of Harvick. Elliott remained in front and backed Harvick up to Hendrick teammate Kyle Larson. Larson was able to make a move and take the lead with four laps to go. After the race, Elliott and Harvick had an extended confrontation.

On an overcast Monday, NASCAR attempted to complete its fifth race of the playoffs, though it was likely the weather would not cooperate for a full 500-mile race at Talladega. As any Talladega race goes, there was side-by-side racing, moments of single-file running, and a few accidents. After a nine-car incident on lap 99, it was clear the rain would end the race. A mad scramble ensued with everyone trying to be at the front. Ten laps after the restart, Wallace took the lead and had some help from Kurt Busch. On lap 117, a four-car accident occurred on the back straightaway. The rain started falling. There was still a window for the race to be completed, but the rain didn't stop. It intensified. NASCAR called the race and Wallace picked up his first career victory, the second NASCAR Cup Series victory for an African American driver, nearly 58 years after Wendell Scott's lone Cup victory.

Past Winners
2012: Alex Zanardi
2013: 24 Hours of Le Mans
2014: Post-race at the Charlotte and Texas Chase races.
2015: Matt Kenseth vs. Joey Logano
2016: Toyota Slows at Le Mans
2017: Fernando Alonso announcing his Indianapolis 500 ride
2018: Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson battle at Chicagoland

2019: Kyle Kaiser and Juncos Racing knocking out Fernando Alonso and McLaren and Penske Purchasing Hulman & Co.

2020: March 12-13

Pass of the Year
Description: Best pass of 2021.
And the Nominees are:

Final lap of the MX5-Cup Sebring Race One

Colton Herta on Ryan Hunter-Reay for fourth in turn eight at Nashville on lap 59

Techeetah's five corner battle at Diriyah ePrix Race Two

Shane van Gisbergen from fourth to second at Sandown

Max Verstappen third to first on the second restart at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

And the winner is... Shane van Gisbergen from fourth to second at Sandown

Van Gisbergen had to start 17th in the third race of the Supercars season, and he was doing it with a broken collarbone after a cycling accident just a few weeks earlier. 

The race started in damp conditions and van Gisbergen quickly made his way up the order. He was up five spots in the first lap. From there, van Gisbergen decided to make its pit stop as late as possible in the 36-lap race. That pit stop came with 11 laps to go, and he emerged in fifth position. He would move up to fourth and closed on the leading trio of Chaz Mostert, Cameron Waters and Jamie Whincup.

With three laps to go, Waters took the lead into turn one, Mostert and Whincup went side-by-side into the corner and with momentum on exit from the first corner, van Gisbergen was able to get a run on Mostert and Whincup into turn two. Van Gisbergen had the inside and slipped ahead of both with just slight contact on Mostert on corner exit. 

It was an unlikely move at a difficult part of the circuit, but it was crucial, as van Gisbergen was able to chase down Waters. At the start of the final lap, van Gisbergen took the lead and the fresher tires allowed van Gisbergen to take an incredible victory, broken bones and poor starting position be damned. 

On the other nominees:

I could not include one pass from the first Mazda MX5-Cup race from Sebring. The entire lap needed to be recognized. The lap started with Gresham Wagner leading Michael Carter and Selin Rollan in third. Carter took the lead in turn one after Wagner went wide. Rollan took second after Wagner dropped his right-side tires off track exiting turn three. Carter was unable to pull away and the top three remained under a blanket for the next 12 corners. Down the Ullman straight, Rollan and Wagner slipstreamed ahead of Carter. Entering the final corner, Sunset Bend, Wagner shot up the inside to take the lead and was ahead of Rollan. Exiting the corner, Rollan slid up the inside of Wagner and the two cars were side-by-side. There was still room on the inside for Carter, who made it three-wide as the cars approached the line. At the line, Rollan was ahead of Carter by 0.001 seconds with Wagner in third, 0.013 seconds back.

Herta had the best car at Nashville, but the timing of cautions shuffled Herta out of the lead and down to ninth with 28 laps to go. Herta went on a charge. He was up to seventh with 27 laps to go. From lap 58 to lap 61, Herta made up a position a lap, but the best pass was on lap 59. Trailing teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay, Herta dove up the inside of turn eight and made it stick. No one was making serious attempts in such a tight corner, but with the speed and confidence, Herta went for it. This move put Herta in fourth. In that five-lap span, Herta went from sixth on the restart to third. He would spend two laps in third before he would take second from Scott Dixon. He closed on Marcus Ericsson and perhaps overdrove the car, ending in a collision with the barriers with six laps to go, but it was a drive few in IndyCar could duplicate. 

The opening round of the 2021 Formula E had two exciting races, but race two stood out. Sam Bird and Robin Frijns occupied the top two positions while Techeetah teammates António Félix da Costa and Jean-Éric Vergne were third and fourth. On lap 18, Vergne went up the inside of da Costa into turn 18. Da Costa held the spot but ran a little wide exiting turn 19. Vergne was able to get to the inside and the two drivers were side-by-side through turns 20 and 21. The two drivers made contact but made it through and remained side-by-side down the pit lane straightaway. Vergne had the inside for turn one and took the position. 

The inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix will be remembered for many reasons, but one of the top moments will be the lap 17 restart. The third standing start of the race saw Esteban Ocon in the lead ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen after Verstappen had run wide on the lap 15 restart and improperly taken the lead and was forced to line up behind Hamilton, who had originally dropped to third when Verstappen took Hamilton wide when returning to the circuit, allowing Ocon to take the position. Hamilton had nailed the first two standing starts and now had the inside with Verstappen on the second row for the third one. Hamilton again had a good start and had the inside for turn one, but Verstappen was able to clear the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo. Verstappen was able to get to the inside of the corner and pass Hamilton. Ocon ran wide and was going to be forced to relinquish the position, but Verstappen took it for himself into turn four. 

Past Winners
2012: Simon Pagenaud at Baltimore
2013: Robert Wickens at Nürburgring and Peter Dempsey in the Freedom 100
2014: Ryan Blaney on Germán Quiroga
2015: Laurens Vanthoor from 4th to 2nd on the outside in the Bathurst 12 Hour
2016: Scott McLaughlin on Mark Winterbottom at Surfers Paradise
2017: Renger van der Zande: From second to first on Dane Cameron at Laguna Seca
2018: Alexander Rossi for all his passes in the Indianapolis 500

2019: Álex Rins on Marc Márquez in the final corner at Silverstone in the British motorcycle Grand Prix

2020: Pipo Derani on Ricky Taylor into turn one at Road Atlanta

The Eric Idle Award
Description: "When You're Chewing on Life's Gristle, Don't Grumble, Give a Whistle, And This'll Help Things Turn Out For The Best, and...  Always Look On The Bright Side of Life."
And the Nominees are:

Kevin Harvick

Liam Lawson

iRacing

Dennis Foggia

Mitch Evans

And the winner is... Liam Lawson

We touched upon the 2021 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season finale above, and Lawson could not have been on the worst side of an outcome. 

The Red Bull-supported driver entered DTM and GT3 racing while combining it with a Formula Two program. It was Lawson's first foray into sports car racing, and it did not take long to get on top. He won on debut at Monza. Through six races he had four podium finishes. He swept the Red Bull Ring races and took the championship lead at Assen with finishes of second and third. Entering the Norisring finale, Lawson led the championship with 14 points over Kelvin van der Linde, and Lawson was 26 points ahead of Maximilian Götz. 

A third in the first race of the Norisring round gave Lawson an 18-point lead over van der Linde and 19 points ahead of Götz. Pole position ahead of race two extended Lawson's lead to 20 points over Götz, who qualified second and 21 points ahead of van der Linde. All Lawson needed was an eighth-place finish to clinch the championship at 19 years old. Then the race started. Van der Linde drove up the inside into the turn two hairpin and made contact with Lawson. The damage took Lawson out of contention for a points finish, meaning he would need to rely on other results going his way. 

Van der Linde and Götz would make contact later in the race, knocking van der Linde out of the fight. Götz was the last championship contender standing, and he had Mercedes teammates more than willing to aid his championship hopes. Lawson was defenseless from lap one. He couldn't protect his championship lead, and with his only teammate Nick Cassidy out of the race as well, he didn't have anyone else out there looking out for him. 

Lawson was near flawless in DTM, not to mention he had been a regular points scorer in Formula Two. It was not the end to the season he deserved. It is one thing to lose a title, but for Lawson to have the opportunity ripped from his hands was unbefitting of his year, and he deserved better as a driver, who had shown great sportsmanship all season.

On the other nominees:

It is not good when you are nominated for this award in consecutive years, but in 2021, it is not because Harvick lost a championship late after dominating, it is because Harvick could not win at all in 2021. He went from nine victories to zero and still ended up fifth in the championship for a second consecutive year. Harvick ran well, regularly finishing in the top ten, but he didn't have the same strength we saw from 2020. 

After getting its moment in 2020, iRacing was met with much distain in 2021. NASCAR attempted an iRacing series that would run companion with the actual series, filling in open Wednesday nights as practice and qualifying was still going to be limited. NASCAR gave up halfway through. Other companion series were not received with the same enthusiasm, and fewer drivers participated. I hate to see iRacing go from this exciting alternative prospect that could complement the actual on-track series to something no one wants to touch. It was a bright spot during the pandemic, but it appears most are rejecting it having any future use, and I believe that is the wrong way to view it. 

Foggia was just hoping to stretch the Moto3 championship to the final race to have a prayer at the championship. With Pedro Acosta leading in the closing laps and Foggia in second, Foggia had to win to stay alive. Acosta led at the start of the final lap, but Foggia was going to have one or two chance to take the lead and remain alive. Instead, in turn three Darryn Binder made a desperate attempt up the inside and took out Foggia. Acosta sped away, won the race, and clinched the title. Foggia never got a chance to make a move. A career year with five victories and 11 podium finishes was ruined. 

At least Foggia made it to the final lap. Evans entered the Formula E finale five points off the championship lead in fourth, but he was the best starting championship hopeful in third. The next best starters of the top five in the championship was ninth. Evans was set to take the championship lead right at the start and just had to hold on to a top three finish with a comfortable cushion to the rest of his championship rivals. However, Evans stalled on the grid, sinking his title hopes immediately. To make matters worse, Edoardo Mortara clattered the back of Evans' stationary Jaguar, ending any chance of even fighting for the title.

Past Winners
2012: Ben Spies
2013: Sam Hornish, Jr.
2014: Alexander Rossi
2015: McLaren
2016: Toyota

2017: Nick Heidfeld
2018: Brett Moffitt

2019: Dennis Lind

2020: Marc Márquez

Comeback of the Year
Description: The Best Comeback in the 2021 season.
And the Nominees are:

Kyle Busch's victory at Pocono

Marcus Ericsson in the Music City Grand Prix

Pedro Acosta: Pit lane start to victory in the Doha Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton: Victory at the British Grand Prix

Jack Miller: Double long-lap penalty to victory at Le Mans

And the winner is... Kyle Busch's victory at Pocono

Even in contemporary motorsports, gearbox issues usually have catastrophic outcomes. When Busch started experiencing issues on lap five of 140-lap race at Pocono, the outcome was predestined before even close to the end of the first stage. The car slipped out of gear on the lap five restart and Busch had to hold the shifter in fourth gear until the next pit stops. 

The only problem was later in the race Busch's transmission ended up stuck in fourth car while leading the race. Unable to shift out of gear, this race was conceivable over before Busch reached the halfway point and while leading. He wouldn't be able to carry much speed exiting pit lane and he wouldn't be able to have the necessary acceleration on restarts. He made his second pit stop on lap 74, just prior to the end of stage two and immediately fell from the lead to outside the top ten and as one of the final cars on the lead lap. 

The crew worked a contraption to hold the car in gear and allow Busch to keep two hands on the steering wheel, but the likelihood of victory plummeted to near zero. Busch had to lay back on the restart. A few laps into the final stage, another caution came out for debris and the timing meant a driver could possibly stretch the fuel mileage to make it to the end of the race. 

Busch's team topped the car off under each lap prior to the restart. The team also held Busch so he could basically get a head-start on the restart and could build up speed instead of being trapped in the pack and potentially run over. With the strategy to run 45 laps in the final stint, Busch paced himself. Meanwhile, the rest of the field had taken a more aggressive strategy. It wasn't until the final 20 laps that the leaders started to realize they would need to make one more stop. Some tried to aggressive save fuel, but the damage had been done. 

Busch, on the other hand, was toeing the line but getting the mileage necessary to make it. He was also climbing up the order. As the laps dwindled, cars started diving to pit lane for the necessary splash of fuel to make it to the end. They all emerged behind Busch and were not going to be able to chase him down. Busch took the lead with two laps to go after Denny Hamlin conceded the lead for fuel. Busch cruised around on the final lap and took an improbable victory over 8.6 seconds clear of Kyle Larson.  

On the other nominees:

Not often does a race car, more specifically an open-wheel car, go from airborne on a street course to victorious. Ericsson pulled off the unthinkable after climbing over Sébastien Bourdais in the early laps of the inaugural Music City Grand Prix on the streets of Nashville. Ericsson even thought his race was over with his front wing trapped under his wheels. He was ready to pull over and retire, but the bodywork broke free, and the Swede was able to drive back to the pit lane. The crew made the necessary repairs and kept working on the car. Cautions kept falling and Ericsson ended up at the front not needing to stop when everyone else made their initial pit stops. Ericsson had clean air and drove away. Colton Herta made it close, but Herta overstepped and hit the barrier. Ericsson had a two-lap dash and held on for the victory. 

After being penalized for irresponsible riding in the second Friday practice, Acosta, along with six other riders, started the second Moto3 race of 2021 from the pit lane. Already on the back foot, Acosta rode up to the end of the main pack and started making up positions. In the 18-lap race, Acosta did not break into the top ten until lap 15 when he was seventh. He was fifth in lap 16 and took the lead at the end of the penultimate lap. Darryn Binder took the lead on the final lap, but Acosta fought back and crossed the line 0.039 seconds ahead of the South African. 

Touched upon above and one of the first pivotal points in the World Drivers' Championship, Hamilton and Verstappen made contact in Copse on the opening lap of the British Grand Prix. After a lengthy red flag for barrier repairs, Hamilton was penalized ten seconds for avoidable contact. Hamilton made his first pit stop and came out in fourth after the ten-second penalty, but he was over 12 seconds behind leader Charles Leclerc after the pit cycle. Hamilton chased down the Ferrari and made the pass with three laps to go. Hamilton won the race, and the championship lead was down to eight points. 

With changing conditions in the French Grand Prix, Miller was caught speeding in pit lane when switching to the wet-weather bike on lap five. It didn't help that Miller had already gone off while struggling to make it back to pit lane on slicks. Ordered to serve a double long-lap penalty for speeding, Miller lost time to leader Fabio Quartararo, but Miller and Quartararo had pulled away from the field and Miller maintained second position after serving both penalties. Meanwhile, Quartararo had his own long-lap penalty for an improper bike swap. Miller retook the lead after Quartararo served his penalty and Miller never looked back. Quartararo slipped back to third and Miller scored his second career victory, his first since the 2016 Dutch TT.

Past Winners
2013: Michael Shank Racing at the 24 Hours of Daytona
2014: Juan Pablo Montoya to IndyCar
2015: Kyle Busch
2016: Max Verstappen from 15th to 3rd in the final 18 laps in the wet in the Brazilian Grand Prix
2017: Kelvin van der Linde: From third to first after a botched pit stop in the final 20 minutes in the 24 Hours Nürburgring
2018: Billy Monger: Returning to racing after losing his legs and finishing sixth in the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship with four podium finishes and a pole position at Donington Park.

2019: MotoE: For getting to the grid after fire destroyed every motorcycle prior to the first round of the season

2020: The #7 Acura Team Penske: Coming from last in the championship to winning the IMSA DPi championship

Most Improved
Description: Racer, Team or Manufacture Who Improved The Most from 2020 to 2021.
And the Nominees are:

Álex Palou: From 16th on 238 points to first on 549 points in IndyCar

Francesco Bagnaia: From 16th on 47 points to second on 252 points in MotoGP

Laurents Hörr: From 15th on 24 points to first with 105 points in the ELMS LMP3 class

Heart of Racing: From 15th to third in the IMSA GT Daytona class and GTD Sprint Cup champions

Yuven Sundaramoorthy: From 12th on 165 points to third on 329 points in U.S. F2000

And the winner is... Francesco Bagnaia

Bagnaia's first two MotoGP seasons were rather underwhelming. He was on a year-old Ducati for Pramac Racing in 2019, finishing 15th in the championship, but he did finish fourth at Phillip Island that year. He transitioned to the factory Ducati outfit for 2020 and scored his first podium finish with a runner-up at Misano, but that was his only top five finishes of the season, he retired from six of 11 starts and missed three races due to injury, leaving him 16th in the championship on 47 points. 

 

Needing a breakout year and paired with new teammate Jack Miller, Bagnaia immediately answered the called. He won pole position for the season opener and finished third. Two more runner-up finishes came in the first four races. He scored points in nine of the first ten races, was second at the Austrian Grand Prix, and scored his first premier class victory at Aragón after a fierce battle with Marc Márquez. That Aragón was also the first of five consecutive races he started on pole position. 

He would win the next race at Misano and then finished third at Austin. He closed the season with two consecutive victories at Portimão and Valencia. Fabio Quartararo might have clinched the championship with two races remaining, but Bagnaia finished 26 points behind the Frenchman and Bagnaia was 44 points clear of 2020 champion Joan Mir. More importantly, Bagnaia was 71 points clear of teammate Miller after Miller finished 85 points ahead of Bagnaia in 2020 whilst riding for Pramac Racing. 

This season was a big turnaround for Bagnaia, and Ducati heads into 2022 with two legitimate contenders for the world championship.

On the other nominees:

Palou benefitted from joining the Chip Ganassi Racing organization after running with Dale Coyne Racing in his rookie IndyCar campaign. But while Palou showed speeding 2020 and was third in his third career start, He had three top ten finishes all season. He won his first race with Ganassi and had three podium results in the first six races. He ended the season with three victories and eight podium finishes from 16 starts on his way to becoming champion. 

Not many LMP3 drivers get mentioned, but Hörr was nearly untouchable in 2021. His best finish in ELMS competition was sixth in 2020. In 2021, he won three of six races with two different co-drivers. He was in the top five for five of six races, and he started on pole positions four times. On top of his ELMS success, Hörr won the IMSA Prototype Challenge season opener at Daytona, and he won the 24 Hours of Daytona qualifying race in LMP3 before finishing third in class. 

Staying in IMSA, Heart of Racing had two podium finishes in 2020, but it was outside the top five in four of eight starts, and it missed two races. In 2021, Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis won twice, including the season finale at Petit Le Mans. Heart of Racing had five podium finishes and never finished worse than sixth while it took the Sprint Cup championship. 

Sundaramoorthy's first two full seasons in U.S. F2000 were unremarkable. He was 12th in the championship both years. In 31 starts, he had one top five finish. There was no reason to be over-optimistic for 2021. And then Sundaramoorthy won the season opener. He won three of the first seven races and was on the podium two more times. He ended the season with four victories, tied for the most all season and he stood on the podium after nine of 18 races. His 329 points scored in 2021 was 14 more than he had scored in his first two U.S. F2000 seasons combined. 

Past Winners
2012: Esteban Guerrieri
2013: Marco Andretti
2014: Chaz Mostert
2015: Graham Rahal
2016: Simon Pagenaud
2017: DJR Team Penske
2018: Gary Paffett

2019: Cooper Webb

2020: Joan Mir

And that will do it. With 2021 behind us, there is plenty of exciting things ahead of us for 2022, and competition recommences earlier than usual it feels. We will be into the thick of the season at the start of March. I think we can agree our biggest wish for next year is more normalcy, the return of a few other significant races from around the globe and fewer postponements. This year was better than last, but there is room for it to get better. In recent weeks, it feels like we have taken a step back, but there are reasons for optimism. 

This year ends like all the others: Predictions and Christmas presents. Keep an eye out as we close out 2021.

First Impressions: IndyCar iRacing Indianapolis 2020

1. Scott McLaughlin took victory from pole position in IndyCar's First Responders 175 from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but this victory was unlike that could possibly happen.

There were four different leaders on the final lap of the race. Arrow McLaren SP held the top two positions with Oliver Askew leading Patricio O'Ward after teammate Lando Norris collided with the lapped car of Simon Pagenaud while leading. On the final lap, Askew and O'Ward were side-by-side with Marcus Ericsson making it three-wide entering turn three.

Ericsson came out with the lead but heading into turn four O'Ward rammed into the back of the Swede, taking both cars out of contention.

Askew re-inherited the lead with Santino Ferrucci on his rear, Ferrucci moved out of the slipstream to Askew's right but halfway down the straightaway he turned into the McLaren car, sending both cars tumbling toward the finish line.

With carnage unfolding to his right, McLaughlin buzzed through and took his second victory of this six-race series.

McLaughlin was the best driver in this series and perhaps should have already had a second victory under his belt. He had finishes of fourth, first, second, 24th at Motegi after being taken out while second and fourth prior to this result.

He was not mixing it at the front from the start but he ran a patient race and stayed out of the mess. It paid off.

2. Conor Daly was second! I feel like every iRacing event had two or three drivers that finished about eight to 14 spots better than they should have. Daly wasn't even close to the top five until the end where the leaders kept dropping like flies. However, like all video games, sometimes you just got to keep running. I know there have been plenty of Mario Kart races I have won or finished on the podium where I was fifth or sixth, miles in the distance at the start of the final lap only to have a string of blue shells, timely bananas and mushrooms play into my favor. Pagenaud was the blue shell, O'Ward was a green shell and Ferrucci was the banana.

3. Speaking of Ferrucci, his little stunt still got him third. It is a video game but it was a low-blow move to turn right into Askew in the middle of the straightaway. Call it desperation, call it stupidity, it was a spineless move, one suggesting if Ferrucci wasn't going to win than Askew wasn't going to win either.

4. Askew deserved better. Askew had a few rough races in this series. He has always shown speed but had trouble putting together a complete race outside of Watkins Glen. His mistake cost McLaughlin and Will Power at Motegi so he is not perfect but he had a clear shot at victory only to lose it because of a sucker punch from behind. He still finished fourth, his best result of the series.

5. O'Ward rounded out the top five but his move was marginally better than Ferrucci's. O'Ward barreled into the rear of Ericsson, purely a dump job in turn four. He wasn't even going to wait for the slipstream on the straightaway. He was looking for the easy way out and it cost him because he slid up the track following the path of the pirouetting Ericsson. His clear shot to the finish line gone. Good.

6. Every finisher from sixth on down, outside of Ericsson in 11th, I am not sure how they got there. I am going to do basic notes on them.

Sébastien Bourdais got to the front through strategy after the second caution of the race for Scott Speed turning Stefan Wilson into James Davison. Bourdais made a late stop for tires and through all the ruckus got sixth. Great for him.

Ryan Hunter-Reay and Zach Veach were not in the top ten at all until probably that final lap and were seventh and eighth, respectively. Andretti Autosport needed to end with good results.

Felix Rosenqvist benefitted from the second caution and moved up to second but got shuffled back and I am pretty sure he took tires late as well. It got him a ninth-place finish.

Scott Dixon rounded out the top ten and he wasn't mentioned once today.

Sadly, despite how well Ericsson drove and he made a phenomenal move to take the lead into turn three, he is the worst Ganassi finisher. It is 11th but it was shaping up to be significantly better.

Oh, and Alexander Rossi was 12th.

7. Graham Rahal was 13th and his race went pear-shaped when Lando Norris and Simon Pagenaud got together while battling for the lead. Norris nudged Pagenaud, Pagenaud spun, Rahal was third and had nowhere to go, suffered some damage and slid back. Rahal was competitive from the start in this one and it appeared it was going to be him and Pagenaud down the stretch before the cautions started coming.

8. Now it is time for the Norris-Pagenaud incident. It was a McLaren 1-2-3 with eight laps to go and they seemed to have a firm grasp on the top three. Norris led the way and, while both Askew and O'Ward attempted to wrestle the lead from the guest driver, Norris held on. Norris pulled away after Ericsson entered the battle with Askew and O'Ward and unless the trailing drivers could get organized Norris was set to go 2-for-2 in iRacing events.

However, the attack was not from behind but from ahead and in the middle of turn four, coming to two laps to go, Norris collided with a slow Pagenaud. Pagenaud said he was trying to make it to pit lane and did not mean it.

I don't believe Pagenaud.

After everything I saw today, I don't believe what anyone says their intentions were. There were cowardly moves made all over the place at the end of the race. There was a wide-open apron to get out of the way and make it to pit lane. There were also only two laps to go. No repairs were going to make a difference for Pagenaud at that time. By the time he would have exited pit lane the final lap would have started and he wasn't going to gain any positions. At that point in the race, Pagenaud should have stayed high in turn four and let the leaders through and then remained to the outside when the rest of the pack approached. Just ride it out with two laps to go!

Pagenaud timed it for the least amount of consequences. It wasn't the final lap, which would look downright dirty, but he did it late enough where it couldn't draw a caution and a string of replays. He stabbed Norris in the back in the middle of a crowded train station, a place where he could let the body fall to the floor but vanish into the sea of commuters and get out unseen, leaving Norris to slowly die.

9. After everything I saw today, I am worried bad habits carry over to the real world. That sounds absurd because the consequences are higher and who in their right mind would turn right into somebody in the middle of the front straightaway when going 220 MPH at Indianapolis but after running this event, I am worried the wires will be crossed in some of these guy's brains.

I am worried when the drivers get back on track, they will think back to these days playing this game and not be able to tell the simulation from the real thing. It might be preposterous but through these weeks on iRacing we heard about how much these drivers use it as a tool to learn things and apply it on the track. Who says that doesn't apply to pushing the boundaries of how much contact one can get away with?

IndyCar better be on high alert. The bold and brainless moves may bear little consequence in the simulation but it will not pass in the real world and if we ever get on track for the 2020 season and a driver is being more careless than he should be IndyCar better come down hard and fast on him to send a message.

10. I am going to hit a few other notable names:

Will Power was one of the top drivers at the start and then the pit strategy didn't fall his way. The cautions really took him out of it and somehow he was a lap down in 14th. Power didn't win a race in this series and there were probably five of them where he was one of the three best guys out there.

James Davison was really strong in this one and if it wasn't for Scott Speed, he was looking at a top five finish and potentially battling for the victory.

It was also nice to see Stefan Wilson out there and Wilson was looking at a top ten or top five finish. It is a little sad we didn't get to see more of Davison and Wilson throughout this series.

Sage Karam dominated the first race and then couldn't avoid trouble for basically the remainder of these five events. You have to first finish to finish first. He might be fast, but the speed didn't pay off nearly as much as he would have suggested.

11. We should tackle the entry list decisions because ultimately 29 spots were reserved while four spots were up for grabs. The issue was we had no clue who was locked before Wednesday's qualifying session, nor did we have an entry list of who was attempting to make the race.

IndyCar mostly kept its word that the full-time cars, the race winners (Sage Karam, Scott McLaughlin and Lando Norris) and the only other Indianapolis 500 to compete in this series (Hélio Castroneves) were locked in but there is something fuzzy about a few spots.

Felipe Nasr failed to qualify in the #31 Carlin entry, which is a full-time team. Dalton Kellett, who did contest all five prior iRacing events, drove an additional A.J. Foyt Racing car and Kellet was locked in. That is one discrepancy but Conor Daly was locked in and in real-life Daly would be in a third car for Ed Carpenter Racing. However, after Nasr failed to qualify, Daly took over the #31 Carlin entry.

We can say the #31 Carlin entry "bought" its way in and had Daly take over its car but that would mean Daly's non-full-time entry was locked in while the full-time Carlin car wasn't. This is splitting hairs but we have the time, we are still in lockdown.

Turning this into a Canadian affair for a moment because Kellett was locked in but Robert Wickens and James Hinchcliffe were not and neither Wickens nor Hinchcliffe qualified for this race. Both Wickens and Hinchcliffe attempted to run every race. Wickens missed the first race due to not getting equipment in time and Hinchcliffe had a few connection issues keeping him from starting two races but both drivers have been highly-competitive in IndyCar, both drivers have sponsors with ties to IndyCar, both are larger draws than Kellett but Kellett was locked in over those two.

It would have been nice if IndyCar had released an entry list before the qualifying session on Wednesday and an explanation that went along with it. I know it is a lockdown and IndyCar is operating with fewer hands on deck but let's not sacrifice transparency because of it.

12. Let's talk about the qualifying session itself because IndyCar did not promote it.

I understand not putting the qualifying session on television. It is difficult enough putting on one race a weekend without a full-fledged studio supporting the event but qualifying could have been streamed and the series didn't even have that.

It was also just a qualifying session, one-lap to decide the final spots and that is how it is done in the real world but this isn't the real world. None of it was going to be broadcasted on television but you could have had a ten-car sprint race to decide the final four spots between Scott Speed, Stefan Wilson, James Davison, R.C. Enerson, Robert Wickens, Kyle Busch, Spencer Pigot, Felipe Nasr, James Hinchcliffe and Kyle Kaiser for the final four spots.

The six guys who missed wasted their afternoon for four laps of qualifying. At least make it worth their while. It could have been a 20-lap race, something simple like that.

13. This was the "dream" race. It was supposed to be a non-IndyCar "dream track" but we have a narrow-minded congregation who can't see beyond 16th and Georgetown and think because its May only one track could host this video game race and nothing could have been better.

This was IndyCar's final show before the first race at Texas on June 6. Barring an additional iRacing event or a further delay to racing, IndyCar could have ended with a bang, a 39-car field that included the defending NASCAR Cup champion, Wickens, Hinchcliffe and possibly one or two more drivers who may have decided to pass on attempting to qualify on Wednesday but would have been committed to a guarantee to race on Saturday and IndyCar said no thanks.

This could have been different and brought together a few different faces at a track no one would have IndyCar experience at. Indianapolis will get its moment in August... hopefully, we didn't need this simulation today. Today could have been something we would not see this year or perhaps ever. Instead, we got more of the same.

14. I think it is time for a break. IndyCar had a great six-week period. We have another month until the scheduled season opener. Perhaps IndyCar can squeeze in one more iRacing event, maybe that final weekend of May could be used as a promotion for the start of the season at Texas on the first Saturday in June. That likely will not happen but we should not be concerned IndyCar is not hosting an event next weekend. We need a break. We need something to appreciate when it restarts.

First Impressions: IndyCar iRacing Austin 2020

1. Lando Norris came. Lando Norris saw. Lando Norris conquered. This was close but Norris, the invitee, had this one in the bag. If it wasn't for a spin exiting the final corner while running in fifth during the pit cycle, Norris would have won this race by at least ten or 15 seconds.

Norris had the field covered from the first practice race on Thursday. No one touched him that day. Today started with another pole position and blistering race pace. Norris was regularly lapping in the 1:04-range. No one else was doing that. Patricio O'Ward got down to 1:04 late but at that point the race was over.

The McLaren F1 driver is another animal when it comes to iRacing. Add to it the natural ability behind an actual race car. The combination led to stepping into the IndyCar pool and bullying the regulars. Norris almost beat himself but that was the only thing that was going to stop him today.

How should IndyCar feel about another outside winning its iRacing event? It is not real. It doesn't matter. It is only for fun.

2. Patricio O'Ward was strong and was going to be in the top five but had a bit of help to get into a runner-up position. O'Ward was strong and didn't put a wheel wrong. He found some pace late but Norris was out of reach. This was a good day and O'Ward really hasn't had a great iRacing event yet.

3. Take Norris out of the field and Felix Rosenqvist wins this race. Rosenqvist was on the one-stop and leading the way. If there is no Norris, Rosenqvist wins this by about five or six seconds. Instead, Norris is in the field, running about 7/10ths faster than Rosenqvist every lap and under the pressure Rosenqvist clips a curb and spins. He loses the lead; he loses the gap to O'Ward and he settles for third.

The way this race was laid out, 32 laps with a competition caution on lap 12, was going to mix up the strategies. Teams were only getting 15-16 laps on fuel. Stopping under caution was not going to get you to the end unless you were really conservation. Rosenqvist stayed out before the caution, did not come in under the caution and ran to lap 18. This nearly worked.

Even if Rosenqvist doesn't spin, Norris was likely going to pass him with two or three to go but Rosenqvist still would have had second.

4. Another strong day from Scott McLaughlin in fourth. I can't say much more than that but McLaughlin has been great in every race.

5. Santino Ferrucci rounded out the top five, running the same strategy as Rosenqvist. Ferrucci was good. That's about it.

6. The only way Norris spins and doesn't win is if Will Power doesn't spin on his own while leading before Power makes his one and only stop at the end of lap 18. Power was in the catbird seat after Norris spun and within a lap Power coughed it up.

Similar to Rosenqvist, he just lost it and there went the victory. Power was closer to Norris and the gap was there after Norris spun. If Power keeps it straight, he pits and gets out ahead of Rosenqvist and might have an extra second or two on Norris. In that case, Norris might fall a lap short in his charge.

Another trip to Austin and another one that got away from Power, settling for sixth.

7. Rinus VeeKay was seventh, which is actually great, considering last week was his first event. I am happy for him.

8. Rounding out the top ten was Marcus Ericsson, Álex Palou, who went the furthest of the two-stoppers, getting a splash-and-go with four to go and Josef Newgarden was tenth, after being one of the first to commit to the two-stop strategy.

9. I will be honest, there is no one that stands out that was outside the top ten.

Simon Pagenaud was 14th after winning the last two races. That was a little worse than expected.

Sage Karam had some problem and it shuffled him from sixth on the grid to dead last. I don't think Karam was going to match Norris' pace but I think he could have had a shot for a podium position.

And then there are a few drivers who are being way too hormonal. Guys, calm down and just have fun with it.

10. Honda teams are 0-for-5 going into the final race. Does that matter?

Rosenqvist has been the closest Honda driver to victory on a regular basis. Scott Dixon, who was 11th today, had a shot at Motegi, but week-to-week Rosenqvist has been carrying the Honda flag and no one else has been close.

Outside of Scott Speed at Barber, has there been a time where an Andretti Autosport driver has been in the top five?

I know this is a video game and just because Andretti Autosport drivers are struggling now doesn't mean the team will be outside the top fifteen at every race. Alexander Rossi and Colton Herta will be fine. Everyone is at a different level when it comes to iRacing. For some guys, it is a daily exercise. For Rossi, it is brand spanking new and he is years behind and that is fine.

The fact that is seems 85% of the Honda drivers are behind is a little bit of a surprise. There have been some rough races and Honda probably should have had a win by now. Rosenqvist was looking good at Barber and had a good shot at winning today but Rosenqvist has been it.

I don't think it matters but if we have learned anything from the last five weeks, this ends up mattering in one way or another.

11. Indianapolis is going to be next week... so how about that dream?

I am not going to say too much because a lot of people lack imagination and are going to love it and it is probably going to be a fun race but if IndyCar is going to promote theme weekends at the start of this series and then not see those out IndyCar should just come up with the schedule at the start and release it like IMSA did.

Don't tease something for four weeks and then completely renege.

12. If there is one fun thing IndyCar is doing with this it will determine the final spots in the field via a qualifying on Wednesday. All full-time teams, the iRacing winners (Sage Karam, Scott McLaughlin and Lando Norris) and Indianapolis 500 winners are locked in so I don't know how many spots will be available but just counting Hélio Castroneves, Juan Pablo Montoya and Dario Franchitti could be up to do this and that rough counting suggests there could be very few spots available. This could be the first misstep IndyCar has made in this entire process, but hey, five weeks is a great run.

First Impressions: IndyCar iRacing Motegi 2020

1. Simon Pagenaud did it again. While strategy played a little role this week, fortune came in the form of lapped traffic, which broke up a Penske 1-2-3, but Pagenaud positioned himself to take the lead when trouble befell the team.

Will Power dictated much of this race from the start and after the final round of pit stops Power led Scott McLaughlin with Pagenaud in third. It was looking good for the Penske trio with two seconds to Scott Dixon in fourth. In the final ten laps, the battle between teammates picked up. McLaughlin investigated taking the lead from Power and when the New Zealander made a significant move on the outside of turn three, Power had lapped traffic in the form of Oliver Askew diving in on the inside.

Askew set off the chain reaction, nudging Power up the track and Power sent McLaughlin spinning into the barrier.

Power held onto the lead but with front wing damage, Pagenaud struck and took the lead. Dixon came on through to second and put together a charge for the lead in the closing laps. Dixon's best attempt for the lead was into turn one on the start of the final lap. Pagenaud pinched him, contact was made, both cars stayed straight but Pagenaud was gone, unchallenged under the checkered flag with Dixon settling for second.

It was another race with Pagenaud stopping early in the final stint and picked up some time. He was in the top ten for most of this race. Third would have been a good finish. He was in the right place when two of his teammates were taken out. As gleeful Penske must have been for a possible 1-2-3 in the fourth event of this series, having cars in 1-2-3 allows for two mulligans though you hope neither will be necessary.

Down to the final bullet, Pagenaud hit the mark, as intended.

2. Where did Scott Dixon come from? No, really, where did he come from? The first two weeks were not the greatest for Dixon. He is not an iRacing regular. It was picked up after the birth of his third child, his son Kit, and in three weeks Dixon went from beginner to battling with the big boys.

During the second stint of this race it appeared Dixon was going to be the man to beat and drove to the lead. During the pit cycle he drop to fourth and lost a lot of ground to the three Penske drivers. It was probably fitting Dixon had a shot at victory on the final lap for how well his race had gone up until that final pit stop. Even if he had not finished second it would have been a day to be proud of with a top four finish.

3. For all his time at the front of the field Will Power has yet to score victory in this series. If this was a regular season and Power had a few podium finishes and basically been in the top five through the first four races we would be saying he has set himself up fantastically for a championship push and multiple victories are coming his way this season. There are only to rounds remaining in this series and it is hard to gauge if Power will breakthrough in one of the final two weekends or if he could be looking at another pair of top five finishes but frustration because he deserved more.

4. Marcus Ericsson was fourth and he spent almost the entire race in the top ten. Ericsson kept his nose clean and he got a top five out of it. He didn't do much stellar but after watching iRacing the last three weeks keeping it straight is more than half the battle, it is 66% of the battle. If you can do that you are going to be in the top ten.

5. Robert Wickens won pole position and finished fifth. Wickens' time at the front was short lived because he and Power had a moment exiting turn two early on and Wickens had to save the car, costing him many positions. How cruel motorsports can be where one slides backward due to actions of someone else while that person suffers no consequences. It is a pity but Wickens had another strong day and it is nothing to hang his head over.

6. Jack Harvey was another surprise today. Like Dixon, we had not seen much from Harvey in these first few races but Harvey was at the front for most of this race. The problem was he took a step back with each stint. In the first portion of the race, he was in the top three and occasionally mixing it up with Power and the leaders. After his first stop, he dropped to about five or sixth, after his second stop he was out of the picture and running seventh or eighth. Still a respectable outing but more practice will improve stamina over longer stints.

7. Sage Karam brushed the wall in qualifying and started 31st but he drove up to seventh. After two races where Karam started at the front only for incidents to sour his day this race sees him avoid all the trouble and truly drive to the front.

8. Zach Veach was in the top ten all race and was tenth. Santino Ferrucci and Graham Rahal both had strong days and rounded out the top ten.

9. Let's go over some other drivers:

Kyle Busch was 13th after spending most of the race on the tail end of the lead lap. Busch was trying to complete laps and while some drivers took different strategies or had incidents Busch climbed the order and finished solidly in the middle of the field.

Josef Newgarden stretched his fuel the longest on the final stint but he had to stop with 13 laps to go. This led to a 15th place result. Newgarden ran conservative laps to get the most distance out of his fuel but that time lost was never surmountable in the closing laps. You wonder if he stops ten laps earlier and does not have to run seven to eight-tenths slower than those behind him he could have pulled out a top ten.

A lap down and in 24th is brutal outcome for Scott McLaughlin. I do wonder if all this iRacing success inflates our expectations for when McLaughlin makes his IndyCar debut. Yes, he had a superb test at Austin and tested at Texas but his time in an actual IndyCar is slim. Simulators show only so much. He has been in the top five for every race in this iRacing series. His two oval starts have been stout. I am not sure anyone expects him to jump in and immediately be champion even for Team Penske but this is all people have to feast on and it will give the narrow-minded the wrong impression. I remain antsy for McLaughlin's first laps in an IndyCar but I worry the hoards will be angry if the results are not as glowing as seen the last few weeks.

Doubling back to Oliver Askew, I don't think that is something he would do in an actual race. It was a case of this being a simulation and a lapped car taking a risk with the only consequences being hurt feeling and not torn up race cars. Askew was at the front at the start of this race and then disappeared and that has been the case in every one of these events outside of Watkins Glen. Askew qualifies well but quickly he finds trouble and is out of the picture. I am not suggesting this is some kind of problem we will see when the IndyCar season starts but it is interesting to see the tendencies of drivers in iRacing. Some follow a consistent pattern and Askew's pattern is not flattering.

Oh, James Hinchcliffe had network connectivity issues again! And isn't Hinchcliffe's sponsor a tech company of some sorts? Not a great look.

10. This is just a side-effect of the situation but a downer in these races is the difficulty showing the pit cycles play out. Today, we had Dixon go from leading to behind the three Penske drivers and in a real race we would follow that in real time. We would watch the stops and see the Penske cars come out ahead of Dixon and note it immediately. In this arrangement it is unaddressed until five or six laps after the fact. There are limitations to this broadcast. This is being down with a skeleton crew spread around different parts of the country. Waiting to see the pit cycle play out is part of the game now but it is a change that is hard to adjust to when muscle memory has you conditioned to a rhythm.

11. It was fun to see Motegi again. I think Motegi's lack of appreciation came because it was always a race that started at midnight. Unless you stayed up late you didn't see the race and even if it was re-aired 15 hours later at 3:00 p.m. you didn't bother to watch it. It is a rare asymmetrical oval with a higher-banked turns one and two that allow for flat-out, side-by-side racing before a flatter turns three and four where cars have to lift and side-by-side racing cannot last long. It is bigger and wider than Darlington but has that feel. At is easy to clump 1.5-mile ovals into the same box but other than its length Motegi is nothing close to Homestead, Texas, Charlotte, Chicagoland, Kansas and Atlanta.

There are many hurdles in the way for a Motegi return. Unless Honda, NTT or Bridgestone wants to fund a trip for 26 IndyCar teams to go to Japan the track will not return. Roger Penske is not keen on flyaway IndyCar races. Majority of the sponsors have no business interest in Japan. Television does not want a Japanese race. It is all disappointing but it is reality. It was nice to experience it again.

12. It was great to see cars pitting entering turn three. It clear up 99% of the incidents. Thanks to Rinus VeeKay we cannot chalk this day up to one without any pit entrance problems but one spin out of 75 pit entrances is a massive improvement over last week at Michigan.

13. One caution in this one when about five cars had an accident exiting turn two on lap five. That caution happened too early for anyone to make it on two stops from there but some did use it to change up strategy. However, none of those drivers who stopped under that yellow can point to it being the main reason for their results today.

Outside of that incident there wasn't any others that really pointed to a caution being necessary. I even think the race could have gotten away with not throwing a caution for that early spin but it was at the back of the field and the leaders were coming around so it was an understandable call.

14. This was a good length in terms of the race, 113 laps or 175 miles. It was a two-stop race for everyone. We saw more tire degradation this week than Michigan. You could see drivers coming and going at the end of stints in this one.

15. Off to Austin. After two weeks of last minute announcements, we know we are going to Austin.

First Impressions: IndyCar iRacing Michigan 2020

1. Strategy played to perfection leads to a comfortable victory for Simon Pagenaud. The Frenchman making his final pit stop with 39 laps to go and from there Pagenaud played the fuel mileage game but he pulled away at the front. He was running with a bunch of drivers trying to stretch it but those drivers were doomed to fall short.

It was just how the race played out. With the length and the caution at the start, a driver could make it on one-stop while the two-stoppers were left chasing. Pagenaud ran a consistent pace and came out on top. At the start of the final lap, Pagenaud's lead was over 13 seconds and he cruised to a victory, Team Penske's second in two races and Chevrolet's third in three in what was the Chevrolet 275.

2. Over 13 seconds behind Pagenaud was teammate Scott McLaughlin, who was in the accident at the start and was behind the eight ball but he recovered with strategy. McLaughlin had to stop at the start for repairs but that stop allowed him to make it to lap 45 for his final stop. He pulled off a 40-lap final stint. What appeared to be a day ruined immediately turned into a stellar result.

3. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was third and he ran the same strategy as McLaughlin. Earnhardt, Jr. made his first stop under the first caution, made it to lap 45 and made it to the end of the race running at about 75% throttle. He was 15.337 seconds back of Pagenaud at the end. He drove a smart race. He wasn't mixing it up at the front and the way this one played out brains beat brawn.

4. Will Power was at the front all race and Power had to make a second stop. He put on a charge but the gap was too great and fourth was the best he could do, 16.863 seconds behind his teammate Pagenaud. Any other day, Power wins or finishes in the top three. Today, fourth is not bad.

5. Graham Rahal was another guy at the front all race and he rounded out the top five. If this race plays out differently, I think Rahal would have been fighting for the victory. He was hanging in there and in some of the practice races Rahal found himself mixing it up with the leaders coming to the end.

6. Jack Harvey and Alexander Rossi were sixth and seventh. Both drove smart. Ryan Hunter-Reay was stretching it and had to make his final stop in the closing laps. Despite that Hunter-Reay came home in eighth. Ed Carpenter was ninth and Carpenter was running in the top five when he spun entering the pit lane for his final stop. Without that spin, he is battling with Power and Rahal for a top five finish. Álex Palou had another solid race and finished tenth but probably should have been a little better.

7. Going over other notables:

Zach Veach came to pit lane at the start of the final lap. He went 41 laps on that stint but was a lap short. Kyle Kaiser tried to make it after being in the top ten for most of this race and coughed with a dry tank after taking the white flag in second. He deserved better than 12th.

Sage Karam was trading the lead with Will Power non-stop and something happened late because Karam was clawing his way up the order after his final stop and then at the end he was 14th. It sounds like he was caught in an accident late. That is another tough blow after a strong day.

Felipe Nasr was running third with Karam and Power for most of this one and then spun entering pit lane on his first pit stop. Nasr was really good in this one and I bet he cannot wait until he actually gets on an oval.

8. There are a couple of things we can take from this races, and all these iRacing events, and apply to the real world.

Let's go to the accident at the start.

It is a video game and I am going to lay blame at the feet of pole-sitter Marcus Ericsson. Ericsson didn't go. He was waiting and waiting and waiting and the field piled up behind him.

Technically, in iRacing, there is no restart zone or in this case start zone. Once the pace car is in you can go and Ericsson didn't go. I have a feeling he was playing it like a real start to an IndyCar race and the accordion effect took out ten cars.

We have seen this happen at many races. It happened at Pocono two years ago and Spencer Pigot was spinning before even seeing the green flag. It is a problem and a solution is needed.

People laugh at it because it is moronic to watch a dozen race cars get into an accident going at a fraction of race speed but it is embarrassing for any series.

What needs to be done?

First, spread the cars out at the start. If IndyCar was actually racing at Michigan it would be a 400-mile or 500-mile race. The field doesn't need to be under a blanket coming to the start. There is plenty of time and drivers will be able to race to the front. If when the leaders are at the line the final row is in turn four that is fine. It gives everyone room and decreases the risk of a pile up.

Second, I think we need to take the start out of the pole-sitters hand's. I have felt this way for a while and I actually put an idea to paper two days after the 2018 Pocono race. The green flag should be waved when the pace car hits the pit in line. I will repeat the points I made that day:

• It takes it out of the hands of a driver who could manipulate it to brake check the driver behind him or her and potential cause an accordion-like accident similar to the one we saw today.

• Drivers don't do the hurry and wait build up to a restart zone. There is no point in building up speed and then quickly forcing the field to decelerate and then stomp on the throttle to hope to gain an advantage. The pole-sitter or the leader is no longer in charge. If he or she wants to do that and decelerates coming to the line and the lights go green then he or she could get snuffed out and end up losing ten positions. In this scenario a driver would have to stay on edge, remain focused and be ready to go because an external force decides when the race becomes green.

• It is cut and dry. Once the pace car hits the line, the green light comes on and drivers can hit the gas. No more of this restart zone, the leader can start anywhere between two lines. It is just like a stoplight at the intersection outside your house. The light turns green and then everyone can go.

I think there is a better way to handle when a race goes green and IndyCar should use these races as opportunities to improve what we see on track in real life.

9. Watching cars spin entering pit lane has me thinking about the issues IndyCar faces if it returns to Michigan and it has me realizing pit lane entry is a common issue at other IndyCar tracks.

How many times have we seen an incident when a car is entering pit lane at Indianapolis or Pocono or even Fontana? Marcus Ericsson caused a caution spinning onto pit lane at Indianapolis last year. Takuma Sato ran over Ryan Hunter-Reay entering pit lane at Pocono in 2013. We have had numerous incidents with a car severely locking up the tires entering pit lane. Lock ups aren't good. A driver has no control over the car in those situations.

I know it is a video game and in an actual race guys would be more cautious but seeing it happen at least four or five times has me wondering if there is a safer way to do pit entry.

One issue is the difference between the speed on the racetrack and the pit lane limit. The cars are doing 220 MPH on the track. Pit lane limit is 60 MPH at the bigger ovals. That is a 160 MPH difference and these cars have to decelerate that amount of speed in a quarter-mile? That is asking for an accident.

It is easy to fix at Indianapolis because Indianapolis has the access lane on the inside of turn three and turn four. IndyCar could make pit in at turn three at Indianapolis for the race. That is already pit in for all of practice. Gateway has pit in at the entrance of turn three so it already done in an IndyCar race. Other tracks do not have as easy of an answer as Indianapolis and Gateway do. Michigan does not have an access lane and I am sure the track is not going to put one in for IndyCar.

The good news is IndyCar was already eying this problem. Last year, Texas had a two-stage pit lane where the limit was 60 MPH on pit lane and from pit lane exit to the exit of turn two it was 90 MPH. IndyCar was considering extending this two-stage pit speed to pit entry as well with teams having to be at 90 MPH at the entrance of turn three until pit lane. The series was also planning on expanding two-stage pit speed to Iowa, Richmond and Gateway.

It looks like IndyCar was already working on a solution and let's just hope when racing resumes they follow through and adjust pit lane entry at all the ovals.

10. The length played into this race being decided on strategy. The caution helped. Without the caution, this is a two-stop race for everyone. That was the only caution of the race and race control did not throw one for any other single-car or two-car incidents so I think the right decision was made.

It is tough to say IndyCar should have set the distance at a length where it was a two-stop race no matter what because this is a case where the series wants to fill the television window and not go over. The first 15 minutes were pre-race chat and ceremonies and there was a decent post-race length. The top three got interviewed, as did Rahal and James Hinchcliffe.

Without that caution at the start I am not sure how much time this race would have taken and how much time would have been left on the backend. I do know there was a 75-minute time limit for this race. Should we just race to a time limit? I know IndyCar does not do that for ovals or dry weather road/street course races but this is iRacing, a video game. If you set a clock at 75 minutes and go without any cautions you get the maximum amount of racing for the time slot. I am not sure anyone could complain in that case.

11. The next track is the "random" track and, once again, what does random mean?

There is a big push for next week to be an oval, which is fine. But how is IndyCar going to prove to us that it is "random." Random is writing every possible track on a piece of paper, throwing each one raffle drum, spin it for 30 seconds, open the latch and pulling one out. That is random.

Announcing on Twitter two days from now it is Daytona or South Boston or Monza or Silverstone is also random but we do not know how it was selected and the selection is important.

If IndyCar had said from the start this was going to be a random oval, fine. If IndyCar said now it was going to be a random oval it would be fine. I think it is important that it is actually random. This week was "drivers' choice" and yet we didn't hear what every driver wanted. We didn't really hear any driver say Michigan but we ended up racing at Michigan and it was a good race.

It will be interesting to see what "random" track we will be at next week.

12. Happy Easter to all those celebrating and Happy Passover to all those who celebrated earlier this week. Stay safe out there.

First Impressions: IndyCar iRacing Barber 2020

1. The one guy to use an alternate strategy, stop before the competition caution and make it a two-stop race won the whole thing and it was Scott McLaughlin of all people.

McLaughlin has been one of the most talked about drivers of the IndyCar offseason. The back-to-back Supercars champion got a testing opportunity with Team Penske and he turned that test into a shot in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and potentially more races in 2020. Unfortunately, the pandemic has put those plans on the back burner but McLaughlin is showing an intense interest in IndyCar. He was racing at 5:00 a.m. in Australia. He got up at 2:00 a.m. to prepare for this race. He didn't have to do that but he is slowing making a name for himself.

We are not sure when McLaughlin will get his first race experience in an IndyCar. He may have to wait until 2021 but the wait will be worth it.

2. Will Power was second and for the second consecutive race he was on the podium after he was third at Watkins Glen. It should not be a surprise Power has a knack for this. The guy is talented. He is probably going to win one of the final four races of this series.

3. Scott Speed was third and, I will be honest, Scott Speed doesn't do anything for me. He flamed out of Formula One. He has a history of reckless driving from stock cars to iRacing itself. His only success is in a rallycross series that no longer exists. I am not going to pretend that I am interested in giving him a shot in an actually IndyCar after this event. There are plenty of other guys I would be more interested in seeing fill-in for Marco Andretti but life isn't fair and Speed drove for Andretti Autosport in rallycross. It is not about what you know but who you know.

4. Álex Palou was fourth and I must admit I forgot to mention him last week. Palou was doing well at Watkins Glen but had an issue with his pit stop. I think he was unable to get into his pit box and he had to go out and do another lap. That cost him a potential top five finish last week but this week he was clean and it was a respectable result in fourth. McLaughlin is one guy we cannot wait to see in an IndyCar but Palou seems like he is going to be strong.

5. Simon Pagenaud rounded out the top five in an uneventful day. He was strong but not a front-runner. It was a typical Simon Pagenaud day.

6. Felix Rosenqvist was fortunate to finish sixth after contact with Sage Karam. Karam had dominated the race from the start but he got caught in traffic before his pit stop and came out next to Rosenqvist. Power had leapfrogged both drivers. Rosenqvist had a great run and got ahead of Karam in turn five. The two drivers came together in turn eight. Karam continued and Rosenqvist's spin was not terminal to his race.

Karam would fall down the order, had a pit lane speeding penalty, got in an accident with Tony Kanaan and quit. At least Karam did do an in-race interview. He wasn't that bad of a sport about all of it.

Rosenqvist continued and held on for sixth. Not bad. Similar to Power, Rosenqvist is likely going to win one of these final four races.

7. Colton Herta was seventh in what was a better day than last week.

8. Robert Wickens was eighth in his first race back since his Pocono accident in August 2018. Wickens started dead last because he spun in the final corner on his qualifying lap. He picked off driver after driver in the opening laps and missed all the accidents. He had a few moments and he has only had his equipment for less than a week. This is fantastic all things considered and if he had completed his qualifying run he said he would have been starting in the middle of the top ten. Imagine what he could have done if he started there.

9. Quick run down of the rest of the field: Josef Newgarden and Santino Ferrucci rounded out the top ten. We didn't see much of Newgarden but he spent much of the race in the top ten. Ferrucci had a few incidents and still pulled off tenth.

Dalton Kellett was 11th again.

Jimmie Johnson was 12th and drove a smart race. We didn't really didn't see Johnson at all. There was no point where the broadcast focused on Johnson like a zoo animal in a cage. That is fine. Johnson is just trying to get laps and he has been successful at doing that. He also isn't getting himself in trouble and doing that alone is a big difference between finishing on the lead lap in 12th and being 24th in these events.

Sébastien Bourdais, Graham Rahal and Oliver Askew rounded out the cars on the lead lap. All had incidents, all recovered and Askew had contact from his own teammate Patricio O'Ward that sent him back. O'Ward had one too many incidents in this one.

Scott Dixon was doing well in the top ten but dropped to 16th. I am not entirely sure what happened.

James Hinchcliffe did nothing. Ed Carpenter was there and was 18th, not bad considering he has not been on a road course since 2013.

The actual Andretti Autosport drivers were awful. Zach Veach and Kyle Kirkwood both spun. Kirkwood spun coming to the green flag. Alexander Rossi had four or five incidents.

Kyle Kaiser, Conor Daly, Marcus Ericsson, Jack Harvey and Felipe Nasr also competed in today's event.

10. The format featured a slight change this weekend with a competition caution at lap 15. The Watkins Glen race was caution-free and it spread out. It felt like an IndyCar race. Sometimes you get those races where there is not a caution, the leader checks out and for the final 15 laps you know the results. This week they put in a competition caution to bunch up the field and it is a video game, who cares?

I will admit I think NASCAR might have something with the format it is using tomorrow, two heat races with a main event. For NASCAR, the heat races are just setting the grid for the main race. No one is missing out on the feature.

This is a time for experimentation and I think IndyCar should give something else a try. If there is going to be a competition caution at lap 15, let's just have two 10-lap heat races but have those be reverse grid race. Hold a qualifying session, odd-numbered qualifiers in race one, even-numbered in race two and then the results of those heats set the grid for the main race, let's say it is 25 laps.

That format could allow each race to get in without a commercial break in the middle. It would mix it up a bit. Sage Karam would have to start at the back of the field, as would Will Power. We would get to see some different names, it would be a sprint with incentives to pass and it would be easier to follow.

A downside to iRacing is it does not allow for quick camera changes. You miss a lot of incidents. On the first lap, there were incidents in turn one, five and eight and we saw none of them. Scott Speed had an issue and we didn't see it. Scott Dixon had a spin and we didn't see it. It is just the natural limitations of the broadcast. Credit to iRacing that it caught the Zach Veach spin in the penultimate corner. They had a replay of Patricio O'Ward's first spin but not when he and Oliver Askew got together. If there were only 14 or 15 cars in a race versus 29 cars it would be easier to digest.

11. I am going to do a couple of quick hits:

It is hard to keep up with the pit cycle and that is just because of how iRacing is set up. You do not see the pit stops and you are not entirely sure who has made a stop and who hasn't. You do not know when a driver last stopped.

It would be nice if there was available live timing and scoring. That is asking a lot at this time but perhaps it is possible.

I hope qualifying can be completed before the broadcast begins in the future. It is different to tune in to a race and not know the grid and the first time you find out the lineup is on the pace lap. I know qualifying was happening during the early portion of the broadcast and it might not be possible to look into the qualifying session. I know the drivers are being gracious with their time but it might work out if qualifying was a half-hour before the broadcast starts. The session could be completed and the results could be posted before the broadcast even begins.

12. The next race is going to be Michigan and it was labelled as "drivers' choice" and I am wondering did the drivers choose Michigan or did someone else choose Michigan? Not that there is a problem with Michigan. We will have a discussion below about how quickly the "drivers' choice" was announced.

I think a lot of people had buyer's remorse last week when Watkins Glen won the fan vote handily over Michigan and then saw a less than exciting race. If the appetite is there for Michigan then great and I do think one of these events should be an oval. I am glad it is an event that is not on the schedule. This is a good thing and it will be fun to watch.

13. Michigan being the next race is an interesting choice because Nate Ryan had a story about IndyCar running at Talladega in one of these IndyCar iRacing events and the reason for such as story is because Dale Earnhardt, Jr. tweeted he would be interested in competing in one of the IndyCar events. The kicker is he would do it if it is an oval.

Do I think the drivers picked Michigan? No.

Unfortunately, we will not get to see the fun IndyCar had in-store for the drivers' choice track. I was hoping we would have each driver announce their track on Twitter or have some fun vote and reveal the night before. It would have been intriguing to see what tracks were thrown out there.

Do I think this was done to try and entice a big name such as Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and perhaps a few other NASCAR guys to run? Yes.

Is there anything wrong with pandering for ratings? Depends what you value.

Earnhardt, Jr. is the most known driver in American motorsports over the last 25 years. With these races now being broadcasted on NBCSN it would be beneficial to get Earnhardt, Jr. out there from a network's point of view.

I question if IndyCar should plant one oval to get Earnhardt, Jr. in. It is for fun and having a race at Michigan or perhaps Talladega for the "non-IndyCar dream track" on May 2 would not be bad but there is no risk to Earnhardt, Jr.'s health and safety wherever the race is held. If Earnhardt, Jr. wants to compete, come and join even if it is a road course. Jimmie Johnson is getting out of his element. I don't think Earnhardt, Jr. should be afraid to take a risk.

14. Speaking of getting drivers to compete, we had 29 entries today and that is great. I do not know what the limit is for iRacing. I am sure it would not be possible to have 60 cars at Michigan next week but I do want to see a few other drivers run.

Stefan Wilson raced last night in an event and had a nice tribute livery to his brother Justin's CDW RuSport Champ Car and that would be cool to see in one of these events. Gabby Chaves has been competing in different series. James Davison has been competing. J.R. Hildebrand is available and competing in other series. I would love to see those IndyCar role-players get to run here in the IndyCar event.

I want to see Dario Franchitti in a race. He has been great in The Race's Legend Trophy events. Franchitti makes perfect sense for these IndyCar events.

I want to see Lando Norris compete with McLaren and run against his old MSA Formula teammate Colton Herta.

Let's get Hélio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya into the field.

Is Fernando Alonso available?

The barrier for entry is low. This isn't a case of Penske doesn't have a ride for Montoya. Montoya has a ride for Montoya. Castroneves has a ride for Castroneves. Franchitti has a ride for Franchitti. As long as they have the time in their schedules, let them race.

I know NASCAR has run into the problem of having too many entries and I would not want IndyCar to get to that point but IndyCar has done a better job with the invitations. If you keep the 29 guys already out there, add Franchitti, Alonso, Norris, Castroneves, Montoya, Hildebrand, Davison, Wilson and Chaves you have 38 cars, more than you would see in an IndyCar race but it is not bonkers. We had 29 cars today at Barber. We haven't seen 29 cars in an IndyCar road course race since Long Beach in 1998. Today worked out with a larger than actual field. What would be six or seven more cars with known names?

15. As stated above, on to Michigan.