First Impressions: Sonoma 2017

1. I am never sure where to start the final First Impressions of a season. Do I start with the race winner or do I start with the champion? I will start with the champion. About ten years ago I first heard about Josef Newgarden and he was one of the next American Formula One hopeful. We had Scott Speed but we had lost the United States Grand Prix and Newgarden was in that next crop of American youngsters in Europe along with Alexander Rossi and Jonathan Summerton.

Newgarden won two of the three races at first round of the 2009 Formula Palmer Audi season. I think he was the last call on Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain after that or maybe it was after he won the Team USA Scholarship that took him to the Formula Ford Festival in 2008 or maybe it was after he finished second in the British Formula Ford championship in 2009. Either way, I was hopeful because it was during a time where we kept seeing younger and younger drivers getting a shot at Formula One. First was Sebastian Vettel, then Sébastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari and I believed that one of those three Americans was bound to make it in Europe.

That didn't happen but Newgarden's career didn't flame out. He came home to the United States, got with the right Indy Lights team in Sam Schmidt Motorsports and in year one he won the championship. Newgarden entered IndyCar with the DW12 chassis and he was the first American to get to IndyCar with the recently created Road to Indy scholarship. We knew the rookie was fighting uphill. Sarah Fisher took a chance on him as she took a chance in turning her team into a full-time operation. She didn't even have an engine manufacture when she signed Newgarden but she was fortunate to get a Honda instead of a Lotus. How different would things be if Newgarden and Fisher had to run Lotus in 2012?

The first year was difficult. He didn't finish in the top ten once that rookie season. He should have finished on the podium at Toronto. Ironically, a block from Simon Pagenaud is what cost him that moment of glory. Things got much better in his sophomore season. He was fighting Takuma Sato for the win at São Paulo but an aggressive drive by Sato and borderline blocking dropped him to fifth in the final results. He would pick up his first career podium at Baltimore by finishing second to Pagenaud. Year three was a tick better and he started to find results on ovals. He had a late charge at Iowa to finish second and he had a massive drive at Milwaukee after a late pit stop put him a lap down only to un-lap himself on the track and finish fifth.

The 2015 season is when Newgarden got it. He won the fourth race of the season at Barber, his first career victory. He won again at Toronto, leading a 1-2 for CFH Racing ahead of Luca Filippi. He got his first career pole position at Milwaukee and finished fifth. He finished second again at Iowa and his second place finish at Pocono kept him alive for the championship entering the 2015 season finale at Sonoma but a mechanical issue took him out of contention early.

Newgarden didn't have a shot at the title last year entering Sonoma but he improved. He finished third at Barber and third in the Indianapolis 500. He broken his clavicle and wrist at Texas and was back for the next race at Road America and finished eighth. He won the race after that at Iowa. He finished fourth at Pocono, second at Watkins Glen and sixth at Sonoma to finish fourth in the championship.

After seeing Simon Pagenaud struggle in year one at Team Penske the questions were asked whether Newgarden would face the same fate in his first year with the team. Roger Penske made sure that wouldn't happen. He was given Penske's second-in-command in Tim Cindric to lead him from the pit stand. We won in his third start for the team at Barber; he took runner-up finishes at Belle Isle and Road America. He won again at Toronto, he dominated at Mid-Ohio, he finished second again at Pocono and he made a grab the bull by the horns move at Gateway to take the victory from his teammate Pagenaud, the man who cost him his first podium finish at Toronto in 2012.

After he slid into the pit wall on exit at Watkins Glen you had to ask whether or not the pressure was starting to break the young man. This weekend confirmed he never felt it. He won pole position and didn't let his teammates, two champions and a three-time Indianapolis 500 winner, scare him. He ran his race. He listened to Cindric and while he didn't win the race, he was always at the front today and second was good enough.

Newgarden has improved on his championship finish every year he has been in IndyCar. From 23rd to 14th to 13th to 7th to fourth to champion. He has nowhere else to go. Yes, I am sure he wants to win an Indianapolis 500 or two or three but the man has never stopped climbing. He is 26 years old, his 27th birthday is December 22nd and this was his 100th IndyCar start. What will he do in the next 100? Or the next 200? The last American to win a IndyCar championship with Team Penske was racing in NASCAR two years later. I am not sure this one is going anywhere.

2. Simon Pagenaud won the race, his second of the season and he became the second driver to complete every lap in a season. He finishes second in the championship to Newgarden by 13 points. Pagenaud knew he needed to take a risk if he wanted to win the championship. He recreated Michael Schumacher's 2004 French Grand Prix where the German pulled off a four-stop strategy and won the race. This wasn't as thrilling as that race. Schumacher barely got out ahead of Fernando Alonso, but we rarely see four-stop strategies win road/street course races in IndyCar.

Ninety-nine out of 100 IndyCar seasons, Pagenaud would be champion. Two victories, seven podium finishes, 13 top five finishes and 15 top ten finishes from 17 races on top of every lap completed. This is one of the greatest seasons in IndyCar history and it is only good enough for second in the championship. While we celebrate Newgarden, we must recognize Pagenaud. He is methodical and he is going to win another championship before he is done with IndyCar.

3. Will Power made it a 1-2-3 finish for Team Penske in this race, this first sweep of the podium for Team Penske since Sonoma in 2011. He won three races this season, the second-most to Newgarden but he finished outside the top ten in four of the first six races and he had three more finishes outside the top fifteen after that. The championship was out of reach from Power from the start but he isn't going anywhere and he isn't going to spot his teammates that many points in 2018.

4. Scott Dixon couldn't work his magic today and he finished fourth in the race and third in the championship. He only won one race this year, the fewest since 2005 when he was stuck with a crappy Toyota engine. The man has 41 victories. He ends 2017 fourth all-time in victories, one off from tying Michael Andretti for third.

This year proves how special Dixon is. He finished third in the championship with two Penske drivers ahead of him and two Penske drivers behind him. He had seven podium finishes, only Newgarden had more. He had ten top five finishes, tied with Newgarden and only Pagenaud had more. He had 16 top ten finishes from 17 races. If he doesn't run into Jay Howard and take flight in the Indianapolis 500 he probably would have won this championship. He finished 21 points behind Newgarden.

Dixon is 37 years old. He doesn't look a day over 28 years old. Dixon is on the back nine. The clubhouse isn't in sight but it is getting bigger from this point on. Appreciate Scott Dixon while we still have him.

5. Hélio Castroneves finished fifth in the race and fourth in the championship. We don't know if this will be his final race as a full-time driver. I don't think Roger Penske even knows if this was Castroneves' final race as a full-time driver. Like Dixon, Castroneves had 16 top ten finishes from 17 races but unlike Dixon, I don't think if his tire doesn't fail at Texas he would have been champion. Castroneves has been really good but greatness has eluded him. He does have three Indianapolis 500 victories but he has five victories from the last six seasons and yet he has finished in the top five in the championship eight of the last nine seasons. He isn't great but he is better than really good. I am not sure a 21st season will be the charm if the first 20 weren't good enough.

6. Graham Rahal finished sixth in the race and finished sixth in the championship. A rough start to the season kept him from finishing in the top five in the championship for a third consecutive season but the man won twice and he had seven top finishes and 12 top ten finishes from 17 races. Rahal did all this as a single-car team and that has been the case the last three seasons. It appears he will be gaining a teammate in 2018. Will take get him back into the title contention or could it be a hurdle? He is focused every week and he doesn't have the lost weekends he had for a good three or four seasons early in his career. I think he will be alright.

7. Marco Andretti finished seventh in this race and for the second time this season Andretti was the top finisher in a race for Andretti Autosport. He missed out on the top ten in the championship by 15 points. It wasn't a great year but it was better than last year and Andretti had a handful of races end because of mechanical failures, most notably Long Beach and he had to start two laps down at Barber. I wonder if he will do better with the lower downforce universal aero kit next season. He finished fifth in the 2013 championship in the original DW12 aero kit, which had less downforce than these aero kits. He may surprise many next year.

8. Ryan Hunter-Reay's season started like hell. He had an engine failure cost him victory at Long Beach and maybe Indianapolis as well. The man couldn't catch a break. However, summer came and a third at Iowa was followed by three more top ten finishes and a third at Watkins Glen was followed by an eight-place finish today. He went from 15th in the championship after Road America to ninth in the final standings. He hasn't won in the last two seasons but he isn't fading. Expect him to get back on top in 2018.

9. Sébastien Bourdais finished ninth in what was a bittersweet season. He won at St. Petersburg and led the championship for three races but he broke his hip in an accident in a car that probably was going to win pole position in the Indianapolis 500 and he missed most of this season only to comeback and pick up two top ten finishes in the final three races. I don't know if Bourdais would have been a championship contender into Sonoma but he would have finished in the top ten of the championship, maybe won another race or two and he might have won the Indianapolis 500. There is no guarantee 2018 will come close to what 2017 could have been.

10. Conor Daly finished tenth and maybe saved his job. He had three top ten finishes in the final six races for a team that was lost all season after switching to Chevrolet in a lame duck season for the aero kits. They were always going to be behind the eight ball. This was year two for him full-time in IndyCar. He deserves a year three.

11. Charlie Kimball finished 11th and he now heads into an uncertain offseason. It appears Ganassi is moving on and cutting some pieces loose and Kimball might be one of them. At least Kimball leaves with the distinction of being the only man to make Chip Ganassi fall off a pit wall.

12. Max Chitlon was a position behind Kimball in the final results and he too appears to be heading out the door with Kimball. They might continue walking together and start something together. Or Chilton might be heading to another series. We should know by Christmas.

13. Spencer Pigot had to make an early pit stop but finished 13th, the first car one lap down. After that, I can't tell you anything else about what Pigot did today. He is now a full-time IndyCar driver and will be in the car Josef Newgarden once occupied. What can he do with it?

14. J.R. Hildebrand finished behind his teammate Pigot in 14th. That sums up his season nicely. Will he get a third chance at IndyCar full-time? I hope so.

15. Carlos Muñoz finished 15th and while Daly beat him in the race, Muñoz finished ahead of the American in majority of the race and he finished ahead of Daly in the championship. Both should stay. Foyt is likely getting rid of one. Bet on Muñoz to draw the short straw.

16. Tony Kanaan had what was likely his worst season in 15 years and he still finished tenth in the championship. Unlike Castroneves, there appears to be a 21st season in Kanaan's future.

17. Zachary Claman DeMelo finished 17th in his IndyCar debut. I don't think you could ask for much more from someone who has maybe four IndyCar tests and three practice sessions under his belt.

18. Jack Harvey finished 18th. I don't know if he will be full-time but he is talented enough to be. He needs time but don't they all?

19. Ed Jones retired after 69 laps. After starting 2017 like a firecracker, he fizzled out. He failed to score a top ten finish in the final seven races and he went seventh in the championship after the first Belle Isle race to 14th. I think his growth was stunned after Bourdais was sidelined. Dale Coyne should have already signed him to a deal for 2018. I think he will be back.

20. It is unfortunate that Takuma Sato's race ended after 62 laps and that he never could overcome a tire puncture early in the race but he finished eighth in the championship. This isn't Sato turning a corner in his career. The man is 40 years old. But it was nice to see him have one respectable season in IndyCar where he rarely put a wheel wrong and consistently started and finished at the front. He deserved eighth in the champion.

21. Alexander Rossi was the top Andretti Autosport driver in the championship in seventh. He had engine issues all race today and the championship long shot was the first to call it a day. He ended the season strong and everybody and it really does seem like everybody has said this weekend that Rossi will be a championship contender in 2018. No pressure.

22. James Hinchcliffe had another season unravel at the end. His last four results were 20th after a retirement, eighth, 21st after a retirement and 22nd after a retirement. He went from eighth in the championship after the first Belle Isle race to 13th in the final standings. That Long Beach victory seems like such a long time ago.

23. We knew what we were getting. Sonoma has been on the IndyCar schedule since 2005 and every race has been crap and outside slight modifications to turn seven and the hairpin, the track is pretty much the same. The DW12 has put on decent races at Barber, Mid-Ohio and even Belle Isle but it has not been able to save Sonoma. I like Sonoma. I loved going out there in 2009 and I wish I could go there again but the on-track product is crap. They got to try something. Run the NASCAR course, run the actual hairpin, do something.

The season finale isn't going anywhere folks. Fontana isn't returning to the schedule. Chicagoland isn't returning to the schedule. The 2018 season will end at Sonoma and that is all the more reason why something needs to be done. Sonoma has been a good place to IndyCar. Not many races go back to 2005 and it is tough to move it when you want date equity but this isn't the race for the season finale and frankly a race like this isn't good enough to be on the calendar at all. Something has to change at Sonoma. It isn't going anywhere and the series mind as well try something different at the track to put on a better race.

24. A couple quick things to end on: It was weird having Leigh Diffey final the last two races. I love Leigh Diffey and he did a great job in these two races but I got used to Kevin Lee in the booth and I hope he gets the microphone full-time. There are a lot of conflicts with the Formula One calendar and Diffey called four races all season while Rick Allen did one or two (I can't remember) and Kevin Lee did at least six races. I think Lee should be NBC's IndyCar voice. There isn't a more qualified guy out there.

25. I don't know how to close. I never want it to end but I like the season ending now. I could go another week or two but IndyCar has it right. Seventeen races over 16 weekends. I want another race or two or three but let's not go too far and ruin a good thing. We get enough to fill us but not stuff us. We are satisfied but we are hungry for a little more. Another season is gone and another one is likely about six months in the distance. There are plenty of rides to fill, a television deal to get done and maybe even a race to add to the schedule. We won't be bored but we won't content.