Musings From the Weekend: NASCAR Might Be Onto Something

The World Rally Championship season finale from Australia was cancelled because of bushfires in the area of New South Wales where the rally was located. Elsewhere in the world, MotoGP closed its season in Valencia. NASCAR closed its season in Homestead. One of NASCAR's champions did not have a race victory. Jorge Lorenzo announced his retirement. Formula One went to Brazil and McLaren got its first podium since the 2014 Australian Grand Prix. Macau was buzzing and American Logan Sargeant finished third, the first America to score a Macau podium since Richard Antinucci was second to Mike Conway in 2006. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.

NASCAR Might Be Onto Something
Another NASCAR season closed this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway and three champions were crowned based on the result of one race.

This is the sixth year NASCAR has been using this elimination format in the Cup Series, with 16 drivers being whittled down to four after three rounds of three races before a one-race, best finisher of the final four gets the title finale. The lower two national touring divisions has used this format for the fourth season.

The system is just another evolution from the Chase format introduced 15 years. What was a season split into two, a 26-race aggregate with the top ten advancing to a 10-race aggregate, has morphed into this charade. NASCAR caught the bug with championships coming down to the last lap and, like an addict needing a greater high, made sure that would always be the case.

It was a grand departure from what NASCAR was for five and a half decades and a grand departure from what every other motorsports series in the world is. The door is open for someone to win every race preceding the finale, be the first retirement in the finale and then have the champion be a driver that never won a race, which has happened anyway, even though winning is stressed in this format.

Depending on the metrics that tickle your fancy, whether or not NASCAR made the right decision is unclear. Grandstands and television ratings compared to 15 years ago tell one story. Twitter polls and surveys with leading questions will tell another. There is something about this format that does not sit right. It is contrived. It is glory chasing. It is manufactured.

However... NASCAR might be onto something.

I realize, days after a champion was crowned without scoring a victory all season, recent evidence dismisses this claim but winning does matter. If you tune into any of the final seven races in the Cup Series, you know that winner means something. The first round, not so much outside of the roval, but you know Talladega matters and Kansas matters and then you get to the semifinal round and those three races are significant.

Those winners mean something for the next few weeks. There is a great reason to watch that week and the week after that. Martin Truex, Jr. won at Martinsville, great, now who was going to win at Texas and join him in the final four spots? The same goes with Texas to Phoenix and in the finale no one can sit back.

Compare it to the IndyCar finale where Josef Newgarden entered with a championship lead and knew what he had to do to win the championship. All Newgarden really had to do was sit on the rear wing of Alexander Rossi and Newgarden would be champion. If Rossi won and Newgarden was second, Newgarden would be champion. Control was out of Rossi's hand and there was no reason for Newgarden to get ahead of Rossi.

In NASCAR, that would not be the case. Newgarden would have had to get ahead of Rossi and he would also have had to be ahead of Simon Pagenaud and Scott Dixon to be champion. He could not settle for an eighth place finish if Dixon, Pagenaud and Rossi were third, fourth and sixth respectively. In NASCAR, Pagenaud would have to get after Dixon for third. Colton Herta might have won the race and Will Power might have been second but the championship would have been the race for third. It would have gone to the wire.

Isn't that what we want? We want every lap to matter and every lap position to matter. As manipulated as it is, NASCAR has done that.

But let's dive into this a little more. It is not as simple as going to the last lap and every position mattering. Through 16 races, Newgarden built up an insurance that allowed him to stay on Rossi's rear wing and ultimately settle for an eighth place finish. The same way Newgarden built insurance; Rossi, Pagenaud and Dixon had 16 races to get a position of power in the final race. Two races here and there and any of those three could have had the advantage over Newgarden.

The one thing you can say is the IndyCar season weighs a little more than the NASCAR season. We can get amped up for all these playoff races but the truth is there is a shorter shelf life for a victory. Kyle Larson won at Dover and while that was great for a week, what did it mean in the end? Ryan Blaney won at Talladega, did it really have any role in the championship?

Extending it into the 26-race regular season, what did Joey Logano's dominance at Michigan in June or Kurt Busch's photo-finish victory over his brother Kyle Busch at Kentucky really mean at the end of the season? Ultimately, nothing. Logano was eliminated after Phoenix, a race where he was dreadful. That one race cancelled out that Michigan performance and his other victory at Las Vegas and it meant he could finish no better than fifth in the championship.

Those points Kyle Busch lost at Kentucky really didn't matter. They might have been worth something going into the final ten races or transferring from one of the rounds but in the finale itself, the five points Busch lost and the five playoff points Busch lost didn't matter in determining a championship. It all came down to his Homestead result.

In IndyCar, every race a driver didn't win is a place where something was left on the table. Alexander Rossi was runner-up to Josef Newgarden in the first Belle Isle race and Texas despite having the lead for a good portion of the race and appearing to be the better car than Newgarden. Scott Dixon hit a barrier while in a podium position in the first Belle Isle race, had a radiator puncture while in the top five at Gateway and lost power because of an electrical issue at Portland.

Those days Rossi and Dixon left points on the table haunted their seasons. There was no reset with four races to go. Their victories at Road America and Mid-Ohio were not a safety net. It still came down to the finale but it was not as simple as being the best of a four-driver group. For Rossi and Dixon, they had to be the best of the four but they also needed misfortune to befall Newgarden. It came down to the final lap but being the leader of the group was not going to be enough because the drivers carried the baggage of the previous 16 races.

Numbers might be low from NASCAR but, in this time period where people aren't really investing emotionally for the long-term, this format might be a short-term loser but a long-term winner. NASCAR isn't looking for people to invest into a 36-race schedule. It wants you to buy into the Daytona 500, the Coca-Cola 600, the two road course races, Talladega, the regular season finale, which will be at Daytona in 2020, and then the final ten races.

Just look at the final ten races for 2020: NASCAR stacked the deck.

It put the biggest races into the final ten weeks. The first round is the Southern 500, Richmond and Bristol. The second round starts at Las Vegas but Talladega and the Charlotte roval follow. The semifinal round is Kansas, Texas and Martinsville. Martinsville is the "go or go home" race.

The finale at Phoenix doesn't look good on paper but the ball is in NASCAR's court. It is the final race of the year. The championship is on the line. NASCAR has the fan base around its finger at that point. You are going to watch. You are not going to miss the final race for nearly three months.

NASCAR might be onto something but I don't want other series to copy it. I don't want NASCAR to have this format for crying out loud! The great championship fights, the ones that went to the wire, were great because of the organic nature. Some years were settled early. Some years went to the final race but only a disaster would change the championship leader. When you had a finale where two drivers were ten points apart entering or four drivers were alive and all could conceivably take the title with a victory and a tinge of help, those years stood out.

It was special because everything that happened over the prior six or seven or eight months brought you to that moment. It was the stars aligning in the sky above. We could watch and wonder how in this vast motorsports universe we could see something so spectacular?

When it becomes the norm, that specialness disappears. We know what every year is going to be like in NASCAR, and that could be a good thing. People like when they know what is coming. It is just not going to be the same as what came before and people probably do not care.

This format is not going anywhere for NASCAR but it really is a dead end. When the result of one race decides a championship there is really not much else NASCAR can do except for add more qualified drivers. It could become the best finish of six, eight or ten drivers down the road but that is it. And NASCAR controls the winds in American motorsports. If NASCAR does it and others do not do it then it is viewed as others are doing it wrong. It has been that way for 25 years.

I am curious to see how people feel in ten years. Will NASCAR have re-captured former glory? Will IndyCar and IMSA have been forced to adopt a similar format? Will the audience be satisfied?

Champions From the Weekend

Kyle Busch clinched the NASCAR Cup Series championship with a victory at Homestead. It is Busch's second Cup championship.

Tyler Reddick clinched the NASCAR Grand National Series championship with a victory at Homestead. It is Reddick's second consecutive championship.

Matt Crafton clinched the NASCAR Truck Series championship with a second place finish at Homestead. It is Crafton's third Truck Series championship.

Matteo Ferrari clinched the MotoE World Cup championship with finishes of third and fifth from Valencia.

Winners From the Weekend
You know about Kyle Busch and Tyler Reddick but did you know...

Max Verstappen won the Brazilian Grand Prix, his third victory of the season.

Marc Márquez won MotoGP's Valencian Community Grand Prix, his 12th victory of the season. Brad Binder won the Moto2 race, his third consecutive victory and his fifth victory of the season. Sergio García won the Moto3 race, his first career grand prix victory. Eric Granado swept the MotoE races and Granado is now tied with Matteo Ferrari for most MotoE victories all-time.

Austin Hill won the NASCAR Truck race, his fourth victory of the season.

Richard Verschoor won the Macau Grand Prix. Verschoor is the first Dutch winner of the Macau Grand Prix.

Yvan Muller won the first two World Touring Car Cup races from Macau with Andy Priaulx winning the third.

Coming Up This Weekend
Formula E season opener from Saudi Arabia.
The Supercar season ends in Newcastle.
The Kyalami 9 Hours is the final round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge season.
The Asian Le Mans Series season begins in Shanghai.

IndyCar's Best Drivers of the 2010s

After looking back on the best races of the 2010s for IndyCar, today we will look at the ten best drivers from IndyCar this decade.

How do you determine the best? Championships and race victories help lift some drivers above others but how do you separate the champions and the race winners from one another? It is purely subjective at that point. You start to look at the impression a driver left on the psyche. Is a driver remembered for his successes or his failures? Was this driver overcoming the limitations of the equipment or do the results undershoot the potential of the car?

I did have to set one criteria when sorting out who were the best IndyCar drivers from the 2010s. You had to win one race.

If you couldn't win one race out of 169 races held over a ten-year period then get out of here. So to save you time, if you came here looking for Vitor Meira, Simona de Silvestro, Alex Tagliani, Oriol Servià, J.R. Hildebrand, Tomas Scheckter, Gabby Chaves, Tristan Vautier, Ed Jones, James Jakes, Mikhail Aleshin, Rubens Barrichello, Francesco Dracone, Bertrand Baguette, Pippa Mann, Jack Hawksworth, Sage Karam, Conor Daly, Matheus Leist, Felix Rosenqvist, Danica Patrick or Robert Wickens they were not even considered for the list.

Twenty-four drivers won in IndyCar this decade, which means the likes of Carlos Huertas, Charlie Kimball, Mike Conway, Marco Andretti and Dan Wheldon were all up for consideration for being one of the ten best IndyCar drivers this decade. However, and this may break the hearts of many, none of those five drivers made it.

With all the parameters set, let's dive into this, shall we?

10. Sébastien Bourdais
Starts: 131
Wins: 6
Podium Finishes: 13
Top Five Finishes: 26
Top Ten Finishes: 61
Pole Positions: 3
Average Finish: 12.2
Seasons with a Victory: 5
Championships: 0

Reasons For the Ranking: One of the more underrated drivers from the decade is Sébastien Bourdais.

The numbers are not all that flashy but for a driver who never raced for Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing or Andretti Autosport, Bourdais was impressive. He won six races across five seasons and, while he competed in nine seasons, Bourdais only ran a full season six times. He only won at four different tracks.

Toronto was a condensed doubleheader weekend after the Saturday race was rained out. He won the final Milwaukee race. He won consecutive years at Belle Isle, one because of a bit of fortunate in timing of a caution and the other because he ran a more aggressive strategy and could make his final pit stop and not lose the lead. He won back-to-back years at St. Petersburg, the first being from 21st on the grid in his first race back with Dale Coyne Racing, and the other was after Robert Wickens and Alexander Rossi got together, allowing Bourdais to sweep through the door and steal a victory.

Bourdais turned Dale Coyne Racing into a contender. His best championship finish was seventh but he also had top ten championship finishes with KV Racing. He did more with less and how none of the top three teams in IndyCar swooped him up is asinine!

9. Hélio Castroneves
Starts: 139
Wins: 8
Podium Finishes: 33
Top Five Finishes: 53
Top Ten Finishes: 96
Pole Positions: 15
Average Finish: 8.8
Seasons with a Victory: 5
Championships: 0

Reasons For the Ranking: Hélio Castroneves was a consistent driver, constantly picking up top ten finishes, but we saw him do less with more and underachieve compared to his teammates.

It is hard to put a guy who was in the top five of the championship seven times in the decade in ninth but Castroneves never had flashy numbers, even in championship-contending seasons.

He had three seasons without a victory including two that were consecutive. He won multiple races in a season only twice, 2010 and 2012.

In 2013, Castroneves led the championship entering the penultimate weekend at Houston but he had only one victory, five podium finishes in 16 races and he had only six top five finishes with only one top five finish in the prior seven races to the Houston round. He was not lighting the world on fire.

With all that said, you could count on Castroneves to finish fifth to seventh. He seemed to have a knack for finishing fifth or seventh. He had 33 finishes of fifth, sixth or seventh. That is equal to his number of podium finishes! He was a good guy and he built off those good results. You can have six finishes of sixth or seventh in a season but what you do in the surrounding ten races will dictate your championship and Castroneves would have those results be fourth or third or eighth or ninth.

There were not many seasons where Castroneves was having an abundance of retirements or finishes outside the top fifteen. That deserves recognition even if it could have been better.

8. Juan Pablo Montoya
Starts: 52
Wins: 4
Podium Finishes: 12
Top Five Finishes: 22
Top Ten Finishes: 34
Pole Positions: 1
Average Finish: 9.1
Seasons with a Victory: 3
Championships: 0

Reasons For the Ranking: The return of Juan Pablo Montoya was unexpected but it gave IndyCar another glimpse of arguably the greatest drivers of this generation.

Montoya only participated in four seasons and in his final year, 2017, he only started the two Indianapolis races. Both those results were top ten finishes.

He won two more 500-mile races, including a second Indianapolis 500, 15 years after his first. He never trailed in the championship in 2015 only to lose it on tiebreaker.

It was a case of a world-class talent returning to IndyCar and, despite being slightly past his prime, Montoya was still competitive. What could have been Montoya's career if he never left IndyCar? Don't get me wrong; he made the right choice. He went to Formula One and won seven races including Monaco and Monza. He went to NASCAR and finished in the top ten of the championship with a Ganassi team that was average. He cycled back to IndyCar and showed he still had it after it appeared he would never step into a single-seater, never run the Indianapolis 500 again.

We are thankful he came back. It was a treat to see him work his craft.

7. Alexander Rossi
Starts: 67
Wins: 7
Podium Finishes: 19
Top Five Finishes: 28
Top Ten Finishes: 44
Pole Positions: 6
Average Finish: 8.3
Seasons with a Victory: 4
Championships: 0

Reasons For the Ranking: Alexander Rossi took to IndyCar like a duck to water and he is poised to be one of IndyCar's top drivers in the 2020s.

Rossi won the Indianapolis 500 on debut in fluky circumstances but Rossi matched the pace with his elder Andretti Autosport teammates all month and he had to use an alternative strategy after a botched pit stop. He has shown he is more than one fluky day in May and his performances, especially in 500-mile races, show the depths of his talent.

Rossi and Montoya are a lot alike in that both are focused drivers that are not easily mesmerized. When both made their debuts at Indianapolis they were accused of not respecting the event but it was really a case of drivers not intimidated by the place. It was another race, not that Indianapolis was not special or meaningful, but it was another race as in the objective was victory. It doesn't matter where the race is, how big the trophy is or how much money is on the line. These two drivers are cutthroat drivers with no fear and will push the line without being reckless.

In four seasons in IndyCar, Rossi has won a race in all four seasons. He has found his groove and it is unfortunate he has not already claimed his first championship. He is knocking on the door and it seems inevitable the door will open for him.

6. Ryan Hunter-Reay
Starts: 169
Wins: 15
Podium Finishes: 41
Top Five Finishes: 59
Top Ten Finishes: 93
Pole Positions: 6
Average Finish: 10.47
Seasons with a Victory: 7
Championships: 1

Reasons For the Ranking: Ryan Hunter-Reay is simultaneously one of the forgotten drivers of the decade and Hunter-Ready had one of the most forgettable decades in IndyCar.

Hunter-Reay had the third-most victories this decade and most victories for an American driver. He is one of only five drivers to reach double figures in IndyCar victories this decade. He won a championship. He won an Indianapolis 500. What else could you ask for?

The one negative to Hunter-Reay is while he won a championship, his 2012 championship was only one of two times he finished in the top five of the championship and he finished in the top ten of the championship in nine of ten seasons. He had the third-most victories but he had three winless seasons.

You would take Hunter-Reay's decade but it could have been more and we will remember Hunter-Reay for misfortune. No other driver in the 2010s had as rotten luck as Hunter-Reay. He very well could have two more Indianapolis 500 victories if his teammate Townsend Bell did not get into him on pit lane in 2016 and if his engine had not failed him in 2017. He lost the lead at Pocono in 2016 after his car had an electrical hiccup only for the car to re-boot halfway through the lap and he charged back to third.

He had a collision at Long Beach in 2014 after leading 51 laps on his out lap. In 2017, he had an engine failure at Long Beach after being the best car that day. He was the best car at Texas this year but got the strategy wrong. He very well should have won the first race of the decade at São Paulo but simply didn't have the tires in the final laps.

This all seems negative but it should be noted that Hunter-Reay was exceptional and he has nothing to be disappointed about.

5. Simon Pagenaud
Starts: 138
Wins: 14
Podium Finishes: 32
Top Five Finishes: 57
Top Ten Finishes: 100
Pole Positions: 11
Average Finish: 7.9
Seasons with a Victory: 5
Championships: 1

Reasons For the Ranking: Simon Pagenaud was one of the most consistent drivers of the decade and combined with speed it led to great results but there were plenty of times where Pagenaud could not get himself into the fight.

Let's be clear, Pagenaud was marvelous. In 138 starts this decade, he was running at the finish of 130 of them! He was on the lead lap for 116 of them! Simon Pagenaud had more victories than he had retirements in the 2010s and his number of victories was level with number of lapped finishes! That is incredible.

Pagenaud is a smart driver. He rarely oversteps the limit or puts himself in a dangerous position. The guy completed every lap in the 2017 season. In the eight full seasons, Pagenaud's lowest percentage of laps completed was 95.1% in 2013. He gets the job done and if you are always finishing on the lead lap you are likely finishing in the top ten or top five.

The one knock against Pagenaud is in five seasons with Team Penske he has twice had winless seasons. In four seasons he led fewer than 100 laps. Despite three winless seasons in his eight full seasons, Pagenaud was in the top five of the championship six times.

There are not many surefire drivers in IndyCar but Pagenaud is one. Only twice has he had multiple retirements in a season and he has never had more than two retirements in a season!

At least one more championship is bound to be Pagenaud's if he keeps up this form into the 2020s.

4. Dario Franchitti
Starts: 67
Wins: 8
Podium Finishes: 27
Top Five Finishes: 38
Top Ten Finishes: 48
Pole Positions: 11
Average Finish: 7.8
Seasons with a Victory: 3
Championships: 2

Reasons For the Ranking: Because Dario Franchitti beat his teammate Scott Dixon and Will Power in three of the four seasons he competed in this decade.

Remember this guy? Remember Dario Franchitti? You may have forgotten he raced in the 2010s but he did and he won the first two championships of this decade. He won two of the first three Indianapolis 500s this decade.

When people have the debate "who is better: Scott Dixon or Will Power?" Dario Franchitti's name has to come up because he beat both of them consistently for years.

We didn't get to see Dario Franchitti for majority of this decade. It has been six years since Franchitti's career was cut short at Houston but for the first two years of the 2010s, Franchitti was a pure winner. He figured out to win and did not make the mistakes Will Power became known for. It was almost a case if Dario Franchitti got the championship lead it was over and if he had a shot at the title going into the finale he won it.

The two championships Franchitti won this decade he was not leading the championship entering the final race and the same was true for his 2009 championship.

Franchitti was a smart driver, a genius if you will. He got better as he aged. We only got to see him drive the DW12 chassis for two years and those were two of his toughest years but then again anything after three consecutive championships is going to look mundane. We will never know if he would have figured it out but it would have been crazy to think he couldn't solve it.

3. Will Power
Starts: 168
Wins: 33
Podium Finishes: 66
Top Five Finishes: 84
Top Ten Finishes: 112
Pole Positions: 49
Average Finish: 8.6
Seasons with a Victory: 10
Championships: 1

Reasons For the Ranking: Will Power led the decade in victories, podium finishes and pole positions and but left too much on the table.

Power entered the season finale leading the championship on four occasions and only won one championship. We cannot overlook that Power led the championship going into the finale of the first three seasons of this decade and did not win any of those championships. This really could have been the decade of Will Power but mistakes cost him even when they didn't have to. Ryan Hunter-Reay was not having a great 2012 finale while Power was running around the top five. He just had to bring the car home and drive a smart race and he spun out with no pressure from anyone just a little over 100 miles into the race.

The 2012 finale should not be held as what dictates where Power is ranked but to tell the complete Will Power story we have to talk about all the times the title was in his control and he could not close the deal.

Championships aside, Power did win the most races this decade, nearly nine more than the next driver (we will get to him shortly) and he won 49 pole positions. The next closest driver was Hélio Castroneves with 15 pole positions. That is a beat down of epic proportions. Power won pole position for 28.99% of the races this decade. That is better than one in every four races.

Power's raw speed is the biggest takeaway from this decade. It got him a lot of victories but the impression Power has left on IndyCar is his ability in qualifying to go out in the Fast Six on a road or street course put down a lap that is nearly a half-second quicker than the next best guy or going out, eeking his way into the Fast Six and then winning pole position by a tenth of a second after not being in the top five of a session up to that point. And if he doesn't qualifying on pole position he is starting somewhere in the top five.

Here were Power's average starting positions by season this decade: 2.2, 3.6, 6.0, 4.3, 8.5, 4.1, 5.7, 4.4, 2.8, 5.9.

You know what is crazier though than Power's average starting positions? That year he averaged a starting position of 8.5... that was his championship year! Power's worst year statistically in terms of qualifying was his one championship! Figure that out! He was still the fourth-best qualifier that season and if you take out Ed Carpenter, who was third-best but only ran the oval races, Power moves into the top three.

There was a transformation this decade in Power. He became an oval master. His lack of oval results is arguably what cost him championships in 2010, 2011 and 2012. His average finish on ovals in those seasons were 11.375, 9.571 and 19.0 and he had only one oval victory in those three seasons. His average finish in the last three seasons on ovals were 8.5, 8.333 and 10.4 and he won five races on ovals, five of Power's eight victories in the last three seasons were on ovals. That is an incredible development over ten years.

Power was in the top five of the championship in every season this decade; no other driver can say that. He got his elusive championship and he won the Indianapolis 500 as well as four other 500-mile race victories and he is one of six drivers with at least five 500-mile race victories. His name is alongside the like of A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears, Al Unser, Bobby Unser and Johnny Rutherford. He is breathing down Mario Andretti's neck for the all-time record in pole positions.

For all his hiccups, Power had an astonishingly historic decade.

2. Josef Newgarden
Starts: 134
Wins: 14
Podium Finishes: 29
Top Five Finishes: 45
Top Ten Finishes: 75
Pole Positions: 8
Average Finish: 10.5
Seasons with a Victory: 5
Championships: 2

Reasons For the Ranking: Josef Newgarden was the American hope that lived up to expectations.

Newgarden came in as this heralded American hopeful. He had won the Team USA Scholarship, won at the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch, had good results in Europe and came home when the money got tight only to immediately win the Indy Lights championship and ended up in IndyCar.

Things started out rough. Though he showed speed, Newgarden did not have a top ten finish in his rookie year with Sarah Fisher Racing. Newgarden grew with the team and results slowly came. In his sophomore year, Newgarden could taste his first career victory at São Paulo but was out-witted. For three seasons he was developing. He probably could have gotten his first career victory in at least four or five races from 2013 and 2014.

Everything added up for 2015, he got his first career victory at Barber, his second career victory at Toronto and, as a driver for the merged CFH Racing, Newgarden entered the 2015 finale at Sonoma with a shot at the title. It was a slim shot but a shot nonetheless. He was included in the promotional material with the Team Penske drivers of Juan Pablo Montoya and Will Power, Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's Graham Rahal.

We talked above about Sébastian Bourdais doing more than less. Newgarden did the most with less. He turned Ed Carpenter Racing into a championship contender. He won at Iowa with a healing clavicle and didn't miss a race after suffering the injury at Texas. As much as people wanted Newgarden to stay with ECR and potentially win a championship there, he was always ripe for Team Penske and in year one with Team Penske he won the championship.

Newgarden really hasn't put a wheel wrong in eight seasons in IndyCar. He hasn't had the errors the likes of Power and nor has he coughed up leads in the championship. He definitely had growing pains and had periods where results just were not going his way but he has always persevered. For a guy whose back was up against the wall from the start he has always pulled through.

A lot of things went his way that many young drivers have not gotten. Sarah Fisher found a driver and stuck with him through a tough rookie year. When Fisher merged her team with Ed Carpenter's team, Newgarden stayed on board, got a victory and when Fisher pulled out of the organization, Newgarden remained in the ECR fold. He has had people behind him no matter what and that is key to his career.

It is kind of fitting one of the early Road to Indy beneficiaries won the final IndyCar championship of the decade. Newgarden came in at the right time. There was money there to get him into IndyCar and give him a significant opportunity. It was a springboard to greater things. It led to a ride with Team Penske and two championships. That is mission accomplished for the program.

Newgarden is the poster boy for the ladder system. You can enter and one day end up at Team Penske and win the championship. You are good enough. The sky is the limit.

1. Scott Dixon
Starts: 169
Wins: 24
Podium Finishes: 64
Top Five Finishes: 96
Top Ten Finishes: 126
Pole Positions: 11
Average Finish: 7.38
Seasons with a Victory: 10
Championships: 3

Reasons For the Ranking: Does this require any explanation?

Scott Dixon won three championships. He was in the top three of the championship in eight of ten seasons.

He won in every season this decade. The only other driver to do that was Will Power.

Dixon cemented himself as one of IndyCar's all-time greats in the 2010s. There were the three championships but he now sits on 46 victories, third all-time. He has 46 runner-up finishes, second all-time, ten behind Mario Andretti for the record. He has 115 podium finishes, third all-time and only four behind A.J. Foyt for second. He has 165 top five finishes, second all-time, 38 behind Mario Andretti for the record so Andretti should be safe there. He has 321 starts, sixth all-time, nine starts from passing Al Unser, Jr. for fifth. He has led 5,601 laps, sixth all-time, 201 laps behind Al Unser for fifth.

In 2013, Dixon was 49 points back of Hélio Castroneves for the championship lead with three races to go. He won that championship by 27 points, a 76-point swing. Dixon entered the 2015 finale 47 points behind Juan Pablo Montoya, won the race and won the championship on tiebreaker. His 2018 championship was the only one in which he entered after having controlled the championship for majority of the season.

Dixon did more than win championships; he had remarkable drives. He won at Mid-Ohio from 22nd, dead last on the grid, after a 39-lap final stint. He wiped the floor with the field at Watkins Glen. He held off Josef Newgarden at Road America and he had, not one, but two Texas races he manhandled. This year's victory at Mid-Ohio was another case of Dixon being better on alternate tires and when it came to a late battle he successfully fended off a charging Felix Rosenqvist.

Dixon left an impression on IndyCar this decade. Ask ten people a memorable Scott Dixon performance from this decade and you could get ten different answers. He is not going to be remembered for one moment or one race or one season. It is everything. That is the hallmark of the all-time greats. You can see or hear the name and have a flood of memories fill your mind. You could talk for an hour about that driver and never repeat the same thing.

Scott Dixon set the gold standard for IndyCar in the 2010s. He will turn 40 years old in 2020. It is hard to imagine he will run the entire decade of the 2020s but, like Dario Franchitti with this decade, Dixon could leave his mark on the 2020s in a handful of seasons.

IndyCar's Best Races of the 2010s

One hundred and sixty-six IndyCar races were held over the 2010s in four different countries, 19 states, two provinces on 14 ovals, ten permanent/natural-terrain road courses and eight street/temporary courses.

There were some remarkable moments over these 169 races and a few events standout above others. The 2010s came us some moments we are going to talk about for years to come from some of IndyCar's most famed venues to other course that will only be in IndyCar's history book from this point onward.

We are going to look back at the ten best races from this decade.

10. 2012 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
What Happened:  Every Chevrolet team took a ten-spot grid penalty for engine changes after the new twin-turbo Chevrolet V6 engine had shown some problems in test. These penalties led to one of the most mix grids in IndyCar history.

Ryan Briscoe and Will Power qualified first and second and started 11th and 12th.

Honda was spotted the first ten spots on the grid. Dario Franchitti qualified fourth and rolled off from first position. Franchitti was the only driver from the six drivers to make the final round of qualifying not to serve a grid penalty. Josef Newgarden moved up to second on the grid from eighth in qualifying.

What saw the driver responsible for the three previous IndyCar championships starting next to an American hopeful making his third IndyCar start led to a turn one accident after slight contact from Franchitti put Newgarden into the barrier.

The race saw a variety of strategies due to early cautions. Justin Wilson took the lead from Franchitti, Takuma Sato took the lead from Wilson when Wilson made a pit stop under the caution for a Sébastien Bourdais accident. Chevrolet would not lead a lap until lap 28 when Ryan Hunter-Reay clicked across the first during pit stops under the caution for the Marco Andretti-Graham Rahal incident, which saw Andretti get airborne.

These cautions played into the hands of the Chevrolet teams as the final 56 laps were under green flag conditions.

The rotation of leaders saw Will Power take the top spot with 15 laps to go after Simon Pagenaud mad his final stop. Power was stretching his fuel, as was Sato. Pagenaud meanwhile made the late charge to try and get back to the top spot. The Frenchman made significant ground on Power but the Australian beat him to the line by 0.868 seconds.

Hunter-Reay and Sato got together on the final lap. This earned Hunter-Reay a 30-second penalty, dropping him from third to sixth with James Hinchcliffe, Tony Kanaan and J.R. Hildebrand moving ahead of Hunter-Reay.

Chevrolet took five of the top six with Pagenaud being the lone Chevrolet in the mix.

How is it remembered: The race where the entire starting grid was shaken up and it ended up putting on a great race. There are people that look back on the grid penalty period in IndyCar and look at it with disgust but I don't think it was that bad and it added another layer to some of the events.

IndyCar needed a cost preventive measure to de-incentivize engine changes on a regular basis and it was a competitive balance. A team could not qualify on pole position and put in a fresh engine and get a leg up on the field. If you took a new engine you had to take a penalty. I don't think that was a bad thing.

Grid penalties gave us an unpredictable race like this one. When more than half the cars are going down the starting order the final result is not going to look like the starting result. There was a lot of movement and the Chevrolets worked to the front.

I think this was the race that eased some of our concerns about the DW12 chassis. It was not a processional race where those that took an engine penalty could not recover. Most of them did recover from starting further down the field. Power got the victory. Hunter-Reay was competitive. Seven of the top ten finishes started outside the top ten. Four of those seven started outside the top fifteen and three of those four finished in the top five.

This was also the race where any questions about Simon Pagenaud were answered. Outside of a few substitute appearances in 2011, Pagenaud had been out of single-seaters in 2007 and for almost five years was largely the dream hire for any car on the grid. He found great success in sports cars with the Acura LMP2 program and the Peugeot LMP1 program. He stepped back into a single-seater and showed not rust with Sam Schmidt's team, a relative IndyCar unknown.

9. 2018 Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix Race II at The Raceway on Belle Isle Park
What Happened: This race had an early caution when Spencer Pigot and Santino Ferrucci got together on lap one but the final 67 laps were run under green flag conditions and led to an interesting outcome.

It was the battle of the two-stoppers vs. the three-stoppers and Alexander Rossi led the two-stoppers from pole position, only passing up the lead during the pit cycles. This race was the long game and it was about what was going to happen at the end.

Ryan Hunter-Reay started tenth and after the three-stop strategy was erased in the Saturday race due to untimely cautions, Hunter-Reay had a second chance to make the three-stop strategy work and he stopped from the lead with 18 laps to go, returning to the racetrack eight-seconds behind his teammate Rossi.

Hunter-Reay proceeded to set fastest lap after fastest lap and run down his teammate, getting to Rossi's rear wing with ten laps to go. Under pressure, Hunter-Reay forced a mistake and Rossi locked up his tires into turn three, allowing Hunter-Reay to take the lead. Rossi blew a left front and had to limp back for a tire change.

Hunter-Reay cruised to victory, leading the final seven laps and finishing 11.355 seconds ahead of Will Power and Ed Jones. Other notable runs saw Tony Kanaan go from 22nd to seventh and Charlie Kimball go from 21st to seventh.

How is it remembered: Ryan Hunter-Reay's pace in the final stretch forcing Alexander Rossi into a costly error.

This was an incredible street course race when you consider some of the street course races IndyCar had seen at the start of the decade. It was also Belle Isle, a track people reviled. The 2010s should be remembered for a change in perception for Belle Isle. I am not saying every race is guaranteed to be tremendous but it is not the street course we saw in the CART days and in 2007 and 2008. It is a track where we see plenty of passing and we have seen some mixed up results with winners coming from out of nowhere.

You could not ask for more from this race. You had the conservative two-stop strategy vs. the aggressive three-stop strategy and in the closing laps they ended up nose-to-tail battling for the victory. This is what you want. You want multiple strategies bringing drivers to the same place.

In this case, Hunter-Reay forced a mistake and it was the behest of Rossi's 2018 season. There were many races in 2018 where he coughed up points. This one results did not cost him the championship but it did not help him in the end.

8. 2012 Grand Prix of Baltimore Presented by SRT at Baltimore Street Course
What Happened:  The penultimate round of the 2012 IndyCar season brought the series to the streets of Baltimore and Ryan Hunter-Reay looked to keep his championship alive. Entering 36 points ahead of Hunter-Reay, Will Power was posed to take clinch the championship one race early and he started on pole position while Hunter-Reay was starting from tenth position.

The race started dry but a quick shower forced the cars to pit for wet tires, immediately throwing all strategies up on the air. Hunter-Reay stayed on the slick tires a little longer than Power and some of the other leads and made up ground.

Takuma Sato led a good portion of the race during the wet conditions but the race went through various cycles of leaders. After Sato, Simon Pagenaud took control on the lap 36 restart, going from sixth to first, and it appeared he would get his first career victory. Power retook the lead for a moment during the pit cycle. Ryan Briscoe took the lead on lap 58 and a caution came out on lap 65 to bunch up the field.

On the lap 69 restart, Hunter-Reay took the lead from Briscoe on a blindingly quick restart. Hunter-Reay had to hold on for one more restart with three laps to go and he not only took the victory but cut the deficit to Power down to 17 points after the Australian finished sixth.

How is it remembered: If you still had concerns about the DW12 chassis on street courses after Long Beach, this Baltimore race was fantastic and should have given you a sigh of relief.

Pagenaud's move from sixth to first, aided because IndyCar still used double-file restarts was a terrific move. If anything to make those moves Pagenaud made with so many other drivers around him in such a confined space is stunning. He kept it clean. He did not bump a fellow competitor or put anyone in the wall.

And Pagenaud didn't even win.

Hunter-Reay was a little more aggressive in a race where he had to be aggressive. He had to do all he could to make sure he was in striking distance at Fontana. He rolled the dice in the drizzle and gained some ground and when he had a chance to take the lead he attacked and put himself into the top spot.

7. 2016 Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway
What Happened: Weepers pushed the race to Sunday and at the end of the first stint saw a collision between Conor Daly and Josef Newgarden in turn four. The accident broke Newgarden's clavicle and wrist and brought out the caution.

As cars cycled behind the pace car, rain clouds moved in and the rains returned. With rains scheduled for the rest of the day and most of Monday, and with a few teams and drivers needing to get to Le Mans, the race was pushed to August 27th, an open Saturday night.

The race restarted with James Hinchcliffe in the lead and the Canadian dominated most of the night. The restarted race had a 139-lap run that saw Ed Carpenter running down Hinchcliffe but Carpenter and Scott Dixon got together in turn one. Dixon's day was over but Carpenter continued. Carpenter challenged for the lead on the restart but Hinchcliffe would retake the point while Carpenter fell back. A bobble in turn sent Carpenter around ending his race.

The final caution for Jack Hawksworth and Mikhail Aleshin getting together set up a nine-lap sprint for the victory between Hinchcliffe, Graham Rahal, Tony Kanaan and Simon Pagenaud. All the drivers diced in the closing laps and an fake to the outside opened the inside for Rahal to get ahead of Hinchcliffe into turn three.

In the dash to the line, Rahal held off Hinchcliffe by 0.008 seconds, the fifth-closest finish in IndyCar history, and 0.0903 seconds covering Rahal to Kanaan in third.

How is it remembered: This is the race that will remember for taking over two months to complete but it was a breath-taking event in August.

Hinchcliffe led a significant portion of the race but there was plenty of passing throughout the field. Hinchcliffe was always going to be in the fight for the victory but it was a matter of who would be the challenger. It could have been any one of seven or eight drivers. It could have been Hinchcliffe vs. Dixon vs. Castroneves. It could have been Hinchcliffe vs. Carpenter vs. Kanaan.

In the end it was Hinchcliffe vs. Rahal vs. Kanaan vs. Pagenaud and in that closing dash, where any of those four drivers could have put a wheel wrong and this race could have ended under caution, these four danced around each other. It was a respectful finish. One driver was not going to be muscled out of the way but rather opened up and exposed.

That is what Rahal did in the final lap. He got Hinchcliffe to guess incorrectly and open the bottom. This allowed Rahal to irk out a victory at the line.

It should be noted that Hinchcliffe's car failed post-race inspection for being too low.

6. 2017 ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway
What Happened: A stunning race that started with Tony Kanaan going from fourth to first at the start and allowed him to lead the first 11 laps. The first of 42 lead changes, a Pocono record, occurred on lap 12 with Alexander Rossi taking the top spot.

There was constant passing in this race. No driver led more than 24 laps at a time. From lap 133 to lap 144, Kanaan and Graham Rahal alternated leading lap in what was a scintillating back-and-forth.

Though it seemed to be a revolving door at the front, it always appeared either Rossi or Ryan Hunter-Reay would come out on top but in the closing stages an alternate pit strategy allowed Will Power to leap to the front in what was an otherwise ho-hum race for the Australian.

During the final round of pit stops, Rossi and Newgarden cycled to the lead and Marco Andretti tried to stretch his fuel and end up in the fight. Andretti's strategy was blown in the pit stall when the fuel nozzle did not engage cleanly. This set up a ten-lap battle between Power, Newgarden and Rossi.

Power made sure to break the draft from his teammate and Rossi could not get around Newgarden. After 500 miles, 0.877 seconds covered the top four of Power, Newgarden, Rossi and Simon Pagenaud.

How is it remembered: Mesmerizing.

The way this race was run it was a thing of beauty. The passes were artistic to watch. Every move was timed out. It was easier to make a move into turn one. It is wide and you had a 0.75-mile runway into the corner but the passes into turn three required much more skill. It is a shorter straightaway and a tighter, less-banked corner but drivers still made it work.

The Kanaan-Rahal battle was incredible. How many consecutive laps could they trade the lead? It was like a rally in tennis, the kind where the crowd looses it in what should otherwise be elegant atmosphere. You were rooting for it not to stop. You wanted it to continue for every lap.

This was also a race where Team Penske stole it because Team Penske is the best team on the grid. Will Power wasn't having a great race but found an audible to victory. The strategy choice inserted him into the battle and provided a three-way fight with Newgarden and Rossi. Rossi appeared to have the most pace of the three but struggled to get ahead of Newgarden and Newgarden could not capitalize on the draft to take the lead from his teammate.

5. 2013 Indianapolis 500
What Happened: A record-obliterating 68 lead changes and a record speed of 187.433 MPH.

It was a race where anyone of ten drivers could have won, from pole-sitter Ed Carpenter to IndyCar debutant Carlos Muñoz, and those two drivers were the top two starters. It was a race of constant lead changes and moves throughout the field.

There were three single-car incidents in the first 56 laps but 133 consecutive green flag laps followed. Ryan Hunter-Reay and Marco Andretti each led their fair share of laps. Though he started 12th, Tony Kanaan quickly found himself mixing it up with the leaders.

A.J. Allmendinger was in the mix in his Indianapolis 500 debut. Allmendinger's race was upended with a loose seatbelt. It set him back and he recovered to finish seventh, the second-best Team Penske entry on the road, one spot behind Hélio Castroneves but Allmendinger was the top Penske car all race.

In the final 100 miles, there was no clear favorite to take the victory. It was anyone's race between the likes of Hunter-Reay, Andretti and Kanaan. Graham Rahal brought out the caution on lap 194 with Hunter-Reay in the lead. On the restart with three laps to go, Kanaan and Muñoz both bounced and got ahead of Hunter-Reay. Moments later, Dario Franchitti was in the turn one barrier and the race would not be restarted.

Tony Kanaan got his elusive Indianapolis 500 victory ahead of debutant Muñoz, Hunter-Reay, Andretti and Justin Wilson, the top Honda finisher in fifth.

How is it remembered: It is the race that shattered our expectations of what an Indianapolis 500 could be.

It is the fastest Indianapolis 500 in the event's history. It has 68 lead changes, the most in Indianapolis 500 history. We had never seen a race like this. Not even the Hanford Device-era Michigan and Fontana races held a candle to this.

This was Indianapolis. It is a place of speed but never before this level of passing. We had seen the record for most lead changes in Indianapolis 500 history fall the year before, a record that had stood for 52 years, but this race has turned a 30-lead change race into the norm at 16th and Georgetown, which is dangerous in terms of perception, but it is what the DW12-era has been from day one.

It is a race no one could have predicted in their wildest dreams. I think we all expected the 2013 race to match the 2012 race. I think if you had offered the fans a race that had 40 lead changes they would have taken it but 68? The record was doubled in one year.

Every race in the DW12-era has at least matched the pre-DW12-era record of 29 lead changes set in 1960.

And to have this race also break the 23-year old record for the fastest Indianapolis 500 to boot almost set the tone of what this decade was going to be. This race surpassed the speed of a time that a large following adores. People long for the days of track records and hold the 1990s as some lost time period as if every year since 1996 has been part of a de-evolution of the series.

This race showed there was a path other than this lost idea of an IndyCar that remained unified through the 1990s and into the 21st century.

And this was race that fan favorite Tony Kanaan took the victory. Kanaan was a modern-day Sam Hanks and Tom Sneva, driver that had long had success at Indianapolis Motor Speedway but had yet to make it to victory lane. It was Kanaan's finest hour.

4. 2013 Itaipava São Paulo Indy 300 Presented by Nestlé at São Paulo Street Course
What Happened: IndyCar found one of the greatest street courses ever created in São Paulo and it produced frenetic races. The 2013 affair was no different.

The race started with Ryan Hunter-Reay and the beloved Tony Kanaan trading the lead back and forth in the early laps. A few cautions cycled a few different drivers to the lead, including Sébastien Bourdais and Takuma Sato, before Hunter-Reay and Kanaan got back to the front.

It appeared the race would be one of Hunter-Reay or Kanaan taking the victory and Marco Andretti was lurking as a potential spoiler. Unfortunately for Kanaan, his engine expired on the front straightaway, bringing his car to a halt in front of the 40,000 adoring and heartbroken fans.

This engine failure mixed up the field and another caution for a Justin Wilson accident set up for Sato and Josef Newgarden to be the top two drivers with 17 laps to go. James Hinchcliffe ran in the top five all race and clawed his way into the fight.

Newgarden appeared to have a stronger car than Sato but could not get ahead of the Japanese driver. Sato did not make it easy for Newgarden into the final hairpin corner with what appeared to be constant blocks but no penalty was called from race control. Newgarden's tires were shot after multiple attempts and it allowed Hinchcliffe to take second.

Hinchcliffe found the same difficulty getting ahead of Sato and the final lap started with Sato, Hinchcliffe and Newgarden all under a blanket. Hinchcliffe fended off Newgarden and turned his attention to Sato. Getting back into range, Hinchcliffe again made a run on Sato into the run hairpin but out maneuvered Sato with an over under move to take the lead and yank a victory out of Sato's hands. Behind them, Marco Andretti and Oriol Servià charged down Newgarden and took third and fourth.

How is it remembered: One of the greatest street course races on one of the greatest street courses ver produced.

At the time, we didn't know this was going to be São Paulo's final time on the IndyCar schedule but what a way to go out on a bang.

It felt like a MotoGP race with three or four competitors fighting for it in the end and when one attempt didn't pay off it allowed for another driver to end the fight and take it to the leader.

This was Newgarden's first great race. His rookie season was rough; as he did not pick up a top ten finish despite showing tons of pace. Newgarden really needed to show us something and he fought Sato lap after lap. This was after Newgarden started 25th out of 25 cars. It was definitely our first glimpse that Newgarden was going be a competitive IndyCar driver even though it did not pan out into a podium finish on this day.

Was Newgarden unfortunate that Sato did not get called for a block? Probably but if IndyCar had told Sato to move over, à la what IndyCar did at Belle Isle in 2008 when Hélio Castroneves was told to move aside after blocking Justin Wilson and Wilson went on to take the victory, Newgarden might have won instead of finishing fifth but this race isn't in the top ten races of the decade if that happened. This race might not even be in the top half of the races of the decade.

How much race control gets involved in a race is up for debate but race control's inaction even if it should have stepped in allowed for the finish we saw, the three-way battle between Sato, Newgarden and Hinchcliffe.

It ended with a tremendous over-under move to give Hinchcliffe the victory. The Brazilian contingent went bonkers. Even Sato was enthusiastically applauding Hinchcliffe's move on the cool down lap. What a sign of respect from a fellow competitor and Hinchcliffe deserved it. He had one final chance to get a pass done and made it stick without running Sato into the barrier. Hinchcliffe had better grip on exit and left Sato in his dust.

 It was a great treat and it is sad that it is our last memory of São Paulo.

3. 2019 Honda 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
What Happened: A caution-free race with an alternate tire that would not last for all but one driver and it allowed for an incredible 90 laps with an ending that did not disappoint.

Will Power led from the start but the decision to use a two-stop strategy and go from alternate tires to primary tires backfired. On top of that, Felix Rosenqvist ended up being quicker and took the top spot. He even called an audible and switched to a three-stop strategy when he had gotten the most out of the alternate tire. The switch did take Rosenqvist out of the lead but it was a better position than if he was a two-stopper.

Scott Dixon was the one driver to make the alternate tire work over an entire stint. Dixon started on primary tires and it moved him up the order. With the alternate tire working for Dixon he ended up taking the lead and opened a gap to make his final stop without pressure from behind. Dixon's team made the decision to double up on the alternate tire to end the race and while the second stint worked, the third stint saw Dixon struggle and Rosenqvist went on a hunt.

The closing laps saw the gap between the Ganassi teammates vanish and on the final lap, Rosenqvist had a chance to make a run. The two drivers nearly got into each other in the keyhole but both stayed on the road. Rosenqvist remained in the wake of Dixon's skating Dallara through the final corners. The Swede made one final move for the lead coming to the checkered flag but Dixon held on for victory by 0.093 seconds.

Behind the leaders, lapped traffic allowed Josef Newgarden to make a move on Ryan Hunter-Reay for third into the keyhole but that move did not pay off from Newgarden and he spun into the gravel, dropping him to 14th. Elsewhere, Spencer Pigot and Graham Rahal used the three-stop strategy to get top ten finishes and Sébastien Bourdais climbed up to 11th after a spin early from contact with Colton Herta.

How is it remembered: Almost being the changing of the guard.

Dixon isn't going anywhere but Rosenqvist showed why Chip Ganassi Racing is set up for the 2020s. Dixon will soon leave us. He turns 40 next years. We are watching the final days of Scott Dixon. I could go until he is 50 but I am not expecting to see Dixon in an IndyCar come 2030.

Rosenqvist is waiting in the wings for that top seat. He has what it takes to live up to the championship culture at Ganassi. He might have lost on this day to Dixon but he showed it will not be long until he is a regular resident on the top step of the podium.

Look... the top three finishers started eighth, sixth and tenth. It was a caution-free race. The margin of victory was less than a tenth of a second. And this all happened at Mid-Ohio! There are certain races that do not need a long explanation as to why they are great.

If I had told you in 2010 that all the above would happen in one Mid-Ohio race you would not have believed me. This race encapsulates what the DW12 has done to IndyCar. It has turned Mid-Ohio into a spectacle.

2. 2015 MAVTV 500 at Auto Club Speedway
What Happened: A historic race that saw 80 lead changes and there was not a moment of idleness in this race.

There was action from the drop of the green flag with drivers moving up and down the field every lap. The width of Fontana allowed cars to run three lines, and sometimes four and other times five lines, into the corner and down the straightaways.

It was a rotating door at the front of the field and at any one point another two or three drivers were the clear front-runners but it never lasted for long. Early, it seemed like Tony Kanaan or Marco Andretti were going to be the best of the field. A little later Sage Karam climbed up there and appeared to be positioned for a stunning result.

A little after 100 miles, it was Takuma Sato out front. The Penske cars of Will Power and Hélio Castroneves traded the lead after that. Scott Dixon and Ryan Briscoe were running at the front.

Graham Rahal wasn't mentioned until lap 90 and he took the lead for a moment under caution. Kanaan and Andretti found themselves back at the front with Juan Pablo Montoya. Simon Pagenaud started on pole position and didn't lead a lap until lap 154. After three laps in front, Carlos Muñoz took the lead from Pagenaud. Ryan Hunter-Reay cycled to the front at lap 203.

It was anybody's race.

The first 135 laps were run under green flag conditions before a few cautions. Castroneves spun off exiting turn two after Power and Briscoe squeezed Castroneves. The Carpenter Fisher Hartman Racing cars of Ed Carpenter and Josef Newgarden got together exiting turn four not long after that. There were two cautions for debris that kept long green flag runs from developing.

The first debris came from Rahal after he left with the fuel nozzle still in the car. However, this did not lead to a penalty for Rahal.

These shorter green flag runs increased the intensity and the urgency. From the green flag on lap 199 to the caution on lap 221 for debris, the lead changed 14 times in 22 laps.

With ten laps to go, Power and Sato made contact and both cars were eliminated. Power had been leading four laps before the accident and his exit saw Briscoe, Rahal, Andretti and Kanaan at the front. Rahal had taken the lead from Briscoe just before the caution for the Power-Sato accident.

The red flag came out to preserve a chance to get one final restart and it came with three laps to go. Rahal had to hold off Kanaan and a late charge from Andretti, who took tires before going green. Coming to the white flag, Hunter-Reay was pinched between Karam and Montoya and Hunter-Reay spun into Briscoe sending Briscoe into a somersault and nosedive into the infield grass. Both drivers were unharmed.

Rahal took his second career victory over seven years after his maiden triumph in the wet at St. Petersburg.

How is it remembered: It is mistakenly remembered as a pack racing but after going back and watching it that was far from the case.

What people remember are the final restarts and in a three-lap dash or nine laps of green flag racing the field was tight but for the 135-lap green flag run the field did spread out. There was close racing and drivers could slipstream up on another but it wasn't pack racing in the way that IndyCar raced at Chicagoland, Texas and other 1.5-mile ovals with the previous Dallara chassis.

I remember I wrote at the time that it was a race that didn't feel like it was approaching the record for most lead changes and it was and did break it. It wasn't comical. Sometimes we worry about passing being too easy and 80 lead changes is quite a bit but I think what took our attention away from the number of lead changes were passes everywhere else in the field. There was passing everywhere and guys coming and going. One driver would get to the front and 15 laps later would be in eighth after running second. You really had to stay on it.

This falls in the same category as São Paulo in that it is unfortunate this was the final hooray for Fontana. If Fontana could have found a steady date it would still be on the schedule. The racing was superb and the crowds in 2012 and 2013 were encouraging but moving the race into the heat of the summer turned people away.

1. 2014 Indianapolis 500
What Happened: Arguably, one of the greatest IndyCar races ever. The first 149 laps were under green flag conditions and it was like having a gun to the back of your head and a knife to your throat simultaneously.

While only having 34 lead changes compared to 68 lead changes the year before, the 2014 race was just as thrilling.

It was a race that started with it looking like one of James Hinchcliffe or Ed Carpenter taking the victory. Then Will Power entered the fray and Hélio Castroneves made it feel like we were watching his fourth Indianapolis 500 victory.

Ryan Hunter-Reay started 19th but it did not take long for him to get into the top ten. Hunter-Reay made it to the lead on lap 100 and this is where the race turned into mostly a Hunter-Reay/Castroneves affair. There were some other drivers in the mix. Carpenter didn't fall out of contention. Juan Pablo Montoya was hanging around. Marco Andretti led a good chunk of laps.

The first caution came out when Charlie Kimball spun in turn two and it created a frenetic ending. A few laps later, Scott Dixon spun in turn four and simultaneously Josef Newgarden was hit from behind when Martin Plowman lost focus for a second. The race restarted with 25 laps to go and the early front-runners Carpenter and Newgarden got together in turn one.

Hunter-Reay, Andretti and Castroneves traded the lead before the final caution for a Townsend Bell spin with nine laps to go.

The Bell incident brought out an unprecedented red flag to guarantee a finish. The race went green with seven laps to go and it became a one-on-one battle between Hunter-Reay and Castroneves for the victory. The pair of yellow machines weaved into each corner and slingshot one another at every chance. Hunter-Reay made a daring pass on the inside of Castroneves into turn three and for the final four laps the American successful defended the Brazilian.

At the line, Hunter-Reay won the Indianapolis 500 by 0.060 seconds over Castroneves.

Down the order, Andretti was third ahead of the Colombians Carlos Muñoz and Juan Pablo Montoya. Kurt Busch was the sixth place finish in his Indianapolis 500 debut, the top rookie but the rookie that drew more attention was Sage Karam, who went from 31st to the top ten and then had to go from outside the top twenty back to ninth. Jacques Villeneuve returned to the Indianapolis 500 for the first time in 19 years and finished 14th.

How is it remembered: I think it is one of the greatest IndyCar races of all-time.

I went back-and-forth between this and the Fontana race above being the best of the decade. Both were 500-mile races with long green flag runs to start. What makes this one stand out is those 149 laps of green flag racing were dazzling. For a moment, it felt like we were going to have a caution-free Indianapolis 500.

It was kind of like watching nine minutes of continuous play in a hockey game. In that time there are going to be impressive saves, odd-man rushes and it is going to be end-to-end play.

There was not a dull moment over those 149 laps, 372.5 miles. When that first caution came out the entire field deserved a round of applause. You saw 33 drivers run flat out at speeds over 210 MPH and it took about two hours before anyone made a significant mistake. It was a remarkable display of racing and ability and all 33 drivers should be commended for what they did that day.

We were only 45 seconds away from this being the fastest Indianapolis 500. The late cautions slowed it up but it was a phenomenal affair and it ended with a tremendous finish.

The Hunter-Reay-Castroneves battle is up there with Wilbur Shaw vs. Ralph Hepburn, Jim Rathmann vs. Rodger Ward, A.J. Foyt vs. Eddie Sachs, Gordon Johncock vs. Rick Mears, Emerson Fittipaldi vs. Al Unser, Jr., Unser, Jr. vs. Scott Goodyear and Sam Hornish, Jr. vs. Marco Andretti.

It was two great drivers going at it and matching each other's move. Both drivers kept it clean. There was no chop blocking. Neither driver put the other in a dangerous situation.

It is the most complete race of the decade. It had everything you could ask for.


Coming up later this week, we will look at the best IndyCar drivers of the decade.

Musings From the Weekend: Reverse! Reverse!

The 12 drivers that will be fighting for NASCAR championships at Homestead have been determined. Team Penske might have had a disappointing day in Phoenix but it had a day to celebrate in Australia. Toyota is upset in China. There was a disqualification in China. Off the racetrack, McLaren's IndyCar program has a testing livery, Sébastien Bourdais can see through the aeroscreen with his glasses. Meyer Shank Racing will be full-time with Jack Harvey in IndyCar. Fernando Alonso might be getting back in bed with Andretti Autosport. Kyle Busch is going to run the 24 Hours of Daytona with Lexus' GT Daytona program. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.

Reverse! Reverse!
While Formula One finally figured out the 2021 regulations, the current topic of disagreement is the proposed reverse grid qualifying races.

The proposal is instead of the three-round knockout qualifying, a race would be held on Saturday with the grid for that qualifying race set in reverse of the drivers' championship standings. The championship leader would start dead last with dead last starting on pole position. The race would be a shorter than the grand prix and the results at the end of the set distance would set the grid for the grand prix on Sunday.

It has not been met with open arms. Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton shot it down. Romain Grosjean called it an answer to a question no one was asking. Others see it as a quick fix to a bigger problem. While reverse grid races would create a scenario with top cars having to maneuver the cars at the back of the field and possibly force top cars to then start a race in the middle of the field, Carlos Sainz, Jr. noted what needs to be fixed is bringing the field closer together rather than setting up obstacles to make the field seem closer than it actually is.

The proponents to the idea say Formula One has to evolve. It has to do something new otherwise it will continue to lose fans. People need something new. They need something a little more unpredictable.

Both sides are right.

A Formula One weekend has been static for quite sometime, two practices on Friday, a practice and a qualifying session on Saturday and a race on Sunday. There is nothing wrong with keeping a consistent schedule. Everyone knows how a race weekend plays out. The one thing NASCAR fans bemoan is the inconsistency in weekend schedules. Some races have a practice and qualifying on Friday before two Saturday practices. Other weekends have two practice sessions on Friday and a qualifying on Saturday. That isn't even getting into when inspection takes place and when the grid is actually set.

Formula One should not throw the baby out with the bath water. However, what it does over those three days remains up in the air. A reverse grid qualifying race is a big change. Qualifying races are not what a grand prix has ever used but we are approaching 2020. Qualifying wasn't always three knockout rounds. Formula One made changes. It moved on from it being an all-skate session for a set time and from single-lap runs for each car. The knockout format is an extended session but it keeps it from being monotonous.

A qualifying race could be seen as the next evolution from knockout qualifying. There is still down time in knockout qualifying. There are still periods with cars in the garage waiting. There are sessions where in the final minutes of the round it is pretty much set because the teams cannot blow through tires and if a team is in the drop zone it will not make it out. A qualifying race would get rid of that.

Every car would have to go out and run a set number of laps. You would get all 20 cars on the track at the same time. No one would be in the garages waiting for clear track. It would be a race and the incentive is to finish first.

It is an intriguing idea but it is a minor fix to a bigger problem.

Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull are going to find a way to the front. It is more just delaying the inevitable. We don't know how mixed up a grid would be but we saw Max Verstappen go off track in turn one at Mexico, cut a tire, pit, come out in 19th, 30 seconds behind the car in 18th and still end up finishing sixth.

In the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton started 21st and was up to fifth in eight laps.

It doesn't how far you set back one of those six cars. If there was a reverse grid race, depending on the length, those cars might make it into the top five. If they started in the top five then it they will likely be fighting for the before the end of lap three. It is no different then when World Superbike reversed the top nine finishers from race one for race two. It didn't take long for Jonathan Rea to get back to the top spot.

If the answer is to make sure the qualifying race is short enough to make sure the likes of Hamilton, Vettel and Verstappen cannot end up in the top five then Formula One is going to have a qualifying race that isn't worth the time.

Keep in mind that the current qualifying format takes an hour to complete. It is perfect for television. Session starts at 2:00 p.m. local time. Round one is over in 18 minutes, after a few minutes, round two starts and lasts for 15 minutes. Another break occurs and the 12-minute final round begins.

An hour is more than half of most grand prix. A qualifying race is not going to be half the grand prix length. It could be but that does not seem likely. Imagine a 22-lap race at Spa-Francorchamps the day before the 44-lap main event. Although, this year at Spa, Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas each ran 19 laps in qualifying. Vettel and Charles Leclerc each did 17 laps. Maybe the qualifying race doesn't have to fill the entire hour but fill 45 minutes and then 15 minutes could be split on either side for preview and review.

I am sure there are teams that would push back on it and would want to watch how many miles are run each race weekend.

Formula One does need to work to get the grid closer and qualifying races do not solve that problem but I do think Formula One should be open to trying it.

There is a problem in Formula One that new ideas are quickly shot down. The entire paddock can dismiss an idea without even trying it. I don't think that is a good thing and I think Formula One should try something new every now and then.

The proposal for 2020 was to use reverse grid qualifying races at France, Belgium and Russia. That has since been killed but it would have been a soft-launch. Knockout qualifying is not broken so instead of completely eliminating it to have a slow roll out of qualifying races and use the three rounds in 2020 as a test and future development was a smart idea. I wish the teams had embraced giving it a chance.

Maybe there could be a Formula One where knockout qualifying and reverse qualifying races co-exist. I know before I said the one strength to a Formula One weekend is you know the format while NASCAR's weekends can be hard to keep up with but maybe there could a handful of races that use reverse grid qualifying races while the rest use knockout qualifying. It is the best of both worlds. We keep what works but also have something new for a few races.

It could rotate. It could have been France, Belgium and Russia in 2020. In 2021, it could have been China, Spain, Hungary, Japan and Mexico. I think five races is a good total and with the schedule ballooning up to 22 races, doing something different for five races would actually be refreshing. I think an argument could be made with 22 races that six or seven races could use reverse grid qualifying races.

Reverse grid qualifying races do not fix the bigger issues in Formula One and even with the attempt to mix up the field it seems the top teams are going to end up at the front no matter what. There are many things Formula One has to do but I think the drivers and teams should be a little open and at least give something new a fair shake.

There is nothing wrong with trying something new and it could be slowly rolled out. With new regulations coming in 2021, the Formula One teams should be encourage to try reverse grid qualifying races in at least three races with maybe increasing it to four races for 2022 and five races in 2023. Before the 2024 season, Formula One and the teams can come to the table and discuss what should be done going forward.

I would rather see Formula One experiment, trying reverse grid qualifying races at 12 different circuits over a three-year period and then make a decision after the looking at the data than not trying anything at all.

Champion From the Weekend
Scott McLaughlin clinched his second consecutive Supercars championship with a ninth place finish in the Sandown 500 with Alexandre Prémat.

The #888 Tripe Eight Race Engineering Holden of Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes clinched the Supercars Enduro Cup with its victory in the Sandown 500.

Winners From The Weekend
You know about Scott McLaughlin, Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes but did you know...

Denny Hamlin won the NASCAR Cup race from Phoenix, his sixth victory of 2019. Justin Allgaier won the Grand National Series race, his first victory of the season. Stewart Friesen won the Truck race, his second victory of the season.

The #1 Rebellion Racing Rebellion R13-Gibson of Gustavo Menezes, Bruno Senna and Norman Nato won the 4 Hours of Shanghai. The #38 Jota Sports Oreca-Gibson of Anthony Davidson, Roberto Gonzàlez and António Félix da Costa won in LMP2. The #92 Porsche of Michael Christensen and Kévin Estre won in GTE-Pro after the #51 AF Corse Ferrari of James Calado and Alessandro Pier Giudi was disqualified. The #90 TF Sport Aston Martin of Jonny Adam, Salih Yoluç and Charlie Eastwood won in GTE-Am.

Coming Up This Weekend
MotoGP ends its season in Valencia.
NASCAR ends its season in Homestead.
World Rally Championship ends its season in Australia.
Formula One has its penultimate round in São Paulo.
World Touring Car Cup has its penultimate round in Macau alongside the Macau Grand Prix.

IndyCar's Worst Races of the 2010s

Over the next few weeks we are going to look back at the decade of the 2010s and we will start with IndyCar.

The decade ended for IndyCar about six weeks ago and the decade ended in a place that was better than where it started for IndyCar but it was a long and bumpy road for the series.

This decade started fresh off of reunification but with the Dallara IR05/IR07 chassis and the normally aspirated V8 Honda engines being the only allowed combination on the grid. While the DW12 chassis was introduced and saw Honda and Chevrolet become a competitive battle for eight seasons there were plenty of headaches that occurred.

I think we got to go over some of the low points for IndyCar over the last ten years, not to be negative but as a reminder of how far IndyCar has come and to appreciate the good days. We need to put every race into perspective and looking back on some of the low points make the average days seemed not as bad.

We are going to look over the worst ten races of the 2010s. Worst is subjective but it will take account of what happened on the track, how it made IndyCar appear and the response it drew.

To address the 1,000-pound gorilla in the room, you are not going to see neither the 2011 Las Vegas race nor the 2015 Pocono race on this list. I think we can all agree the deaths of Dan Wheldon and Justin Wilson were the lowest points for IndyCar over the 2010s.

10. 2019 ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway
What happened: An accident on lap one took out five cars and saw the car of Felix Rosenqvist graze the catchfence in turn two causing a 45-minute delay one year after an accident in turn two on lap three took out five cars, saw Robert Wickens get into the catchfence and put him in a wheelchair and led to a two-hour delay.

Once the race got restarted it saw Scott Dixon, Simon Pagenaud and Will Power control the race. With the race reaching the halfway point the threat of rain appeared very likely and the race had this frantic feeling with dark clouds approaching from turn three.

Power jumped out to the lead and ran away from the rest of the field when lightning strikes in the area brought out the red flag. Within the hour the rains started and due to the proximity to sunset there would be no way for the track to be dried and all 500 miles be completed. Power was declared the winner after completed 128 of the scheduled 200 laps.

How is it remembered: Despite the early deduction in cars and only completing 320 of 500 miles, the 2019 Pocono race had 19.25% more passes than the 2018 race and passes for position more than double going from 53 in 2018 to 109 in 2019.

The 2019 Pocono race was not a dreadful race but why this takes the number ten spot is because of everything that led up to it and the inevitability that Pocono would not be returning during the red flag.

The crowd was good on both days despite rain on both days and there was some hope that Pocono would stay. The track seemed open to IndyCar returning for 2020 and beyond.

Then the accident happened and another delay and people got mad on social media and the race was rain-shortened and no one left the track feeling positive other than Will Power, Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden because he increased his championship lead, as Alexander Rossi was in that lap one accident.

Pocono and IndyCar aren't splitting on bad terms. Both sides left the door open for a possible return but how things ended in 2019 left a mark.

9. 2011 Honda Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park
What happened: Will Power led 90 of 90 laps from pole position and won the race by 3.383 seconds over Scott Dixon. This race had six cautions for 20 of 90 laps. There were three cautions for incidents in turn six alone. There were two incidents that occur on the first lap after a restart and one that happened on the second lap after a restart.

How is it remembered: This wasn't a terrible race. This type of road course race happens every now and then. Tony Kanaan went from 24th to sixth. Simon Pagenaud, in relief for the injured Ana Beatriz, went from 23rd to eighth. Charlie Kimball got his first career top ten finish in tenth from 21st. This was James Hinchcliffe's debut and he got together with E.J. Viso. I remember Robin Miller preaching "hate is good" after Hinchcliffe's interview and he expressed his displeasure with Viso.

Why did this race make it? Not every beat down is going to be a great race and the start-stop nature of the race can dragged it out. It is the slowest race to take place at Barber Motorsports Park, slower than the two rain-affected races.

8. 2014 The Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston Race One at Reliant Park Street Course
What happened: A lot of rain at a shoddy street course in a parking lot.

The race started dry and Simon Pagenaud lost the lead early to Takuma Sato. An untimely caution for a Mike Conway accident shuffled James Hinchcliffe to the lead but the rain turn it into a timed-race.

Going off-strategy, the Dale Coyne Racing cars of Justin Wilson and Carlos Huertas moved up to the top two spots. Wilson had to make a pit stop after 73 laps and a caution would come out on lap 77 for Sebastián Saavedra having an accident.

Huertas was tight on fuel and time was running out. IndyCar planned for a restart with one lap to go but coming to the green flag, Graham Rahal got into the back of Tony Kanaan while both cars were in the top five. The restart was waved off, time ran out, Huertas took the checkered flag and led an all-Colombian podium ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya and Carlos Muñoz and on a day Colombia won 2-0 over Uruguay in the round of 16 in the FIFA World Cup.

How is it remembered: The race that Carlos Huertas somehow won, albeit failing inspection for fuel cell capacity and rear wing ride height.

I don't want to knock IndyCar too much but in a race where fuel mileage determined the winner, how is the penalty for a car with an improper fuel cell capacity only a $10,000 fine? Maybe IndyCar should broach disqualifying winning race cars, something that many series have been doing for decades and NASCAR just invented for the start of the 2019 season.

I digress but this race felt incomplete. The race was shortened ten laps because of rain. Houston was not a great racetrack and this race was moved from a hot weekend in early October to a boiling weekend at the end of June. The track was motocross track rough. It was not ideal.

All three podium finishers started outside the top ten. Muñoz started 23rd. Most wet races are regarded as the best but this was a mess.

7. 2016 Phoenix Grand Prix at Phoenix International Raceway
What happened: IndyCar returned to Phoenix for the first time in 11 years and produced a race with very little passing.

There were two lead changes, the first when Hélio Castroneves suffered a punctured right front tire on lap 40 and the second when Juan Pablo Montoya punctured a right front tire on lap 96. Scott Dixon took the lead from there and led the final 155 laps uncontested and the race ended under caution after Alexander Rossi brushed the barrier exiting turn four.

Though Rossi was able to continue and drive back to the pit lane and there was no apparent debris on the racetrack, a restart could not be organized in the final three laps.

How is it remembered: I am not putting it in here because the race ended under caution. Races end under caution. It happens. What sucks about this race is everyone knew this wasn't good enough and things had to change and IndyCar did nothing for 2017 and basically nothing for 2018 other than run the universal aero kit and hoped that would be enough.

Everyone had been begging for Phoenix for a decade and IndyCar returned, put on a processional race and then didn't do enough to make sure the same race didn't happen again. Phoenix is remembered as a miss for the series. The series never seemed to get it right.

6. 2010 Honda Indy Edmonton at Edmonton City Centre Airport
What happened: Will Power led from the start ahead of Hélio Castroneves. Power led 76 of the first 77 laps before Castroneves took the lead into turn one.

A caution with six laps to go gave Power a second chance to back around Castroneves. Power made his move to Castroneves on the outside of turn one but it was unsuccessful and it opened the door for Scott Dixon to get ahead of Power for second.

Castroneves maintain the lead and ran to the checkered flag only to be penalized, docked back to the last car on the lead lap and giving the victory to Scott Dixon. The penalty was originally stated as blocking but later explained as Castroneves breaking the rule that prohibits a driver from defending the inside line of the corner, which he did on Power's attempted pass for the lead that allowed Dixon to move up to second.

Dixon took the victory with Power finishing second ahead of Dario Franchitti, Ryan Briscoe and Ryan Hunter-Reay.

How is it remembered: Castroneves' meltdown that led him to shout at the flag stand and then grabbing then-IndyCar security director Charles Burns by the shirt.

Not only would we have Castroneves' meltdown but also we would have to live with IndyCar's defending rule for the next season and a half. For every road and street course through the end of the 2011 season we watched the road and street course races intently to see if anyone would defend and then nitpick what was defending, what was blocking, what was legal and so on. Keep in mind the 2010-11 regulations did not allow for the best racing on road and street courses so every potential move had heightened importance.

The rule made IndyCar feel a little amateur in regulating where a car could race on the racetrack.

5. 2011 Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma at Infineon Raceway
What happened: Will Power led 71 of 75 laps from pole position with the four laps he did not lead being during pit cycle and all four of those laps were led by Ryan Briscoe.

Hélio Castroneves was runner-up from second on the grid and Ryan Briscoe made it an all-Penske podium finish from third on the grid. Dario Franchitti was fourth after starting fourth and Scott Dixon was fifth after starting fifth. Sébastien Bourdais rounded out the top six after starting eighth. James Hinchcliffe was seventh, one spot worse than his starting position of sixth. Graham Rahal went from 13th to eighth. E.J. Viso started ninth and finished ninth. Ryan Hunter-Reay made a great improvement from 19th to tenth.

The only caution was for Ho-Pin Tung after he went off in turn nine. The margin of victory was 3.242 seconds.

How is it remembered: It was a typical Sonoma race. There was little to no passing, at least not at the front of the grid. When the top five starters finish exactly where they started it is going to be very hard to argue this was a good race. Hunter-Reay made up some ground but there was not much moving anywhere.

Charlie Kimball started and finished in 26th. Ed Carpenter started 27th and finished 25th after two cars retired, Tung and Tony Kanaan. Danica Patrick went from 25th to 21st. Simon Pagenaud, in relief for Simona de Silvestro who was not in the country due to visa issues, went from 22nd to 15th.

It was a rough race and one that again pointed that something had to be done at Sonoma. Nothing really came of it.

4. 2010 Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma at Infineon Raceway
What happened: Will Power led 73 of 75 laps from pole position with Scott Dixon leading the other two laps and finishing second from sixth on the grid.

Dario Franchitti started and finished third. Ryan Briscoe started fifth and finished fourth. Hélio Castroneves dropped from second on the grid to fifth. Justin Wilson moved up from seventh to sixth, Tony Kanaan moved up two spots from ninth to seventh and Ryan Hunter-Reay started and finished eighth. Graham Rahal went from 16th to ninth and Alex Lloyd went from 22nd to tenth.

Dan Wheldon flipped before even reaching the green flag and that was the first of four cautions. Milka Duno had an accident. J.R. Hildebrand and Marco Andretti got together. Raphael Matos, E.J. Viso and Bertrand Baguette had accident.

How is it remembered: Wheldon's flip because who saw that coming? Outside of that it was another dull Sonoma affair.

It should also be known that, in 2009, Dario Franchitti led all 75 laps from pole position while Ryan Briscoe started and finished second and Mike Conway shuffled up to third from ninth. Mario Moraes did something similar from 14th to fourth and Hideki Mutoh started and finished fifth.

In a three-year period, the pole-sitter led 219 of 225 laps. In all three races the pole-sitter won and of the 15 top five starters, 12 finished in the top five.

Sonoma wasn't much better with the DW12 chassis. There were definitely better races but far from enough to change the attitude toward the racetrack. This three-year period, the end of the IR05/IR07-era in IndyCar, combined with Sonoma showed how incompatible that car was with road courses and how unfavorable the Sonoma layout was to good racing.

3. 2012 Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix at The Raceway on Belle Isle Park
What happened: The track came apart!

James Hinchcliffe's race ended after track came apart underneath his wheels and put him into the turn seven tires. This led to a two-hour red flag after 39 laps.

The race would be shortened to 60 laps because of the delay and only seven of the final 21 laps were run under green flag conditions after two more accidents would occur in the final part of the race.

Meanwhile, Scott Dixon won unchallenged from pole position, having led all 60 laps. Dario Franchitti went from 14th to second, giving Chip Ganassi Racing its second consecutive 1-2 finish, one week after Franchitti took his third Indianapolis 500 victory ahead of Dixon. Simon Pagenaud rounded out the podium.

How is it remembered: The track came apart!

This was Belle Isle's first race since 2008. It was not a race people were dying to have back on the schedule and it could not get through 40 of 90 laps without the track ripping up. Hinchcliffe's race was over. There was no way to right this wrong. The track had to be torn up, concrete had to be poured into some of the potholes and we had to wait two hours for the conclusion.

Need I remind everyone this race went from ABC to the finish being shown on ESPNNEWS!

However, and I think if you have any fears over what Roger Penske's leadership of IndyCar will look like, everything improved at Belle Isle since this race.

Belle Isle was resurfaced but not only resurfaced, IndyCar returned to the larger Belle Isle layout. The 2012 layout was 2.07-mile. It did not feature the long straightaway from turn two to turn three that we all know and love today. Turn three was much closer turn two. Instead of being a series of straightaways connected by 90-degree corners, the 2012 layout saw turns three, four, five and six being much more flowing corners.

Belle Isle returned to the larger layout and the races have been greater than any preceding Belle Isle races. Belle Isle is a doubleheader weekend and it is the one major curveball on the schedule.

Roger Penske had a bad event and not only fixed it but made it better. Penske took this low point for IndyCar and turned it into something greater than anyone could have first imagined.

2. 2011 MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225 at New Hampshire International Speedway
What happened: In IndyCar's first trip to Loudon since 1998, Dario Franchitti led from pole position and had a comfortable lead while Tomas Scheckter went from 18th to third in the first 15 laps, albeit it ten of those laps were under caution. Oriol Servià, James Hinchcliffe and Ryan Hunter-Reay were having a good battle in the top five.

Rain showers hampered this race and at lap 75 a drizzle forced a yellow flag that lasted 32 laps. Once the conditions cleared and the track was deemed good enough to race, the race restarted. Not long after that period Scheckter, Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti got together with Scheckter and Kanaan both retiring from the race.

Franchitti had led 115 of the first 117 before he and Takuma Sato came together on the lap 118 restart. Franchise's race was done and it opened the door for anyone to take this race.

Hunter-Reay inherited the lead but different strategies made the race outcome uncertain. Will Power and Takuma Sato cycled to the lead before Hunter-Reay retook the point ahead of Servià. Rains forced another yellow flag on lap 206 of 225.

The race appeared destined to end early but cars lined up with a restart despite raindrops continuing to fall. Some cars struggled to line up and it led to one restart being waved off. While drivers complained the rain was getting worse, a second restart was attempted and Danica Patrick spun and collected Power, Sato, Sarah Fisher and Ana Beatriz. The red flag was immediately displayed.

This led to confusion and disgruntled drivers and team owners. IndyCar official reverted back to the running order at the end of lap 215 as the final result giving Ryan Hunter-Reay the victory over Oriol Servià, Scott Dixon, James Hinchcliffe, Power, Patrick and Sato.

How is it remembered: Will Power flipping off Brian Barnhart with both middle fingers. IndyCar restarting an oval race in the rain when every driver was adamant it should not be restarted. This led to the end of the Barnhart-era in race control.

This was actually a pretty good race and I think IndyCar would put on a good race at Loudon if the series was to ever return but the missteps over the final restart have forever shaded this race as nothing but a blunder.

It was one of IndyCar's most inept moments. Any Barnhart defender could not justify this decision. It appeared clear the paddock had lost faith in race control.

On top of all that, Servià felt robbed because a restart had happened and he took the lead from Hunter-Reay. With IndyCar reverting the results prior to the failed restart, Servià was demoted to second and Hunter-Reay got the victory. This led to more Zapruder-esque film breakdowns that IndyCar was hoping to escape after the 2002 Indianapolis 500.

It was a brutal display for IndyCar and it all occurred on ABC.

Also, what the hell was MoveThatBlock.com? It was a mismanaged race with a shady title sponsor. What a great day for IndyCar.

1. 2015 Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana at NOLA Motorsports Park
What happened: The inaugural trip to NOLA Motorsports Park had rain pretty much wash out all of Saturday's action and delay Sunday's proceedings.

Qualifying was rained out and the race was delayed to allow drivers some track time with a warm-up session.

The first 15 laps went well and the track started to dry. However, it fell to pieces after that.

Drivers switched to slicks and it did not work out. The dry line was not wide enough and the length of the following green flag runs were one lap, one lap, one lap, two laps and one lap.

Twenty-six of 47 laps were under caution.

The fractured nature of the race led drivers to roll the dice on strategy as the race was going to end early because of the time limit. James Hinchcliffe inherited the lead on lap 33 when Juan Pablo Montoya made his second pit stop under caution. Hinchcliffe would lead the final 15 laps, of which only three were under green flag conditions. James Jakes made it a Schmidt Peterson Motorsports 1-2 finish with Hélio Castroneves in third.

How is it remembered: This is prime contender for worst race in IndyCar history, let alone the decade.

I do wonder if cars had stayed on the wet weather tires for another five to ten laps how the race would have played out. It could not have been worse than what we actually saw.

It also didn't help that NOLA Motorsports Park was perceived as a diamond in the rough. IndyCar was racing just outside of New Orleans, a place where there was no other major motorsports events for miles. There was a lot of hope this could become an IndyCar market.

This wet weekend exposed NOLA Motorsports Park as being underprepared for such an event. It was not a big venue, only about 8,000 spectators could be handled. The racetrack did not have the proper draining. It was a mess. It led to a lawsuit between Michael Andretti and Andretti Sports Marketing partners John Lopes and A. Starke Taylor.

It was IndyCar's only trip to the Bayou. Looking back at it in hindsight, you have the one doomed NOLA round and starting in 2016 you had Road America return, in 2017 you had Gateway return and in 2018 you had Portland return. We saw IndyCar try to go to unexplored territory and spread the word of IndyCar and what we have seen in seasons since is what has raised IndyCar's profile is going back to places where it has roots. Maybe under different circumstances NOLA Motorsports Park could still work for IndyCar but looking at the schedule now IndyCar has learned from previous mistakes and has found its identity.

We have gone over IndyCar's lowest moments but we will soon be looking at some of IndyCar's brightest spots from this decade.