1. Where did this race come from? Takuma Sato won the Grand Prix of Portland. Of all the drivers, I am not sure Sato would have been in the top twenty choices to win this race and yet he won! This was one of those races where everything went Sato's way. Every lap, every caution, every accident ahead of him. I am not sure anyone thought he had a shot until Santino Ferrucci broke down on course and all of a sudden the man out front without needing to make one more stop was Sato. I am still not sure how it happened. He kept his nose clean and ran hard laps. He held off a late charge from Hunter-Reay and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing got the victory it deserved this season. Both Sato and Graham Rahal have been excellent this year but always seemed to but that smidge off the rest and couldn't breakthrough. Sometimes it is those days where you aren't the strongest that you end up on top and that was the case today.
2. Ryan Hunter-Reay was the one guy to stretch it on two stops and he fell just short. He was ahead of Sato before his final pit stop but the timing worked that Sato got out ahead of Hunter-Reay. The American was able to push at the end but he fell 0.6084 seconds short. You have to wonder would it have been better to push and make sure to be ahead of Sato and have to save and play defensive? The reason Hunter-Reay didn't push was the fear that going that extra bit would mean he couldn't make it. It seems inevitable a caution was going to come out. Ferrucci was stopped on the edge of the circuit. It was a cautious decision and after the summer Hunter-Reay had I don't think the team wanted to throw another promising result away. He could have won this one but he has to take what he can get.
3. This was a kooky race and Sébastien Bourdais had a poor start from fourth and damaged his front wing in the accident exiting turn three that ended the day for James Hinchcliffe, Ed Jones and Marco Andretti and he finished third? Every caution went Bourdais' way. He got his car repaired and made the stops at the right time. This looked like another race that was going to get away from Bourdais and here he is on the podium. The entire weekend was against him. He was fastest in final practice and moments after that lap he was in the barriers at the exit of turn ten and the entire Dale Coyne Racing crew scramble to get him out for qualifying. They got the job done and he qualified fourth. It was another impressive showing for Bourdais, who has five consecutive podium finishes at Portland.
4. Spencer Pigot shot into the top ten after the early accident and he was racy. He was the one surprising name in the top ten early that held his spot. Everything was timed perfectly and Pigot was making aggressive moves to finish fourth. We thought more of these races would come from Pigot this season but that wasn't the case. Last year, it seemed Pigot had a race like this every two or three times out and he was that exciting young kid that was still getting polished. I hope he is able to make a big step next year.
5. Scott Dixon never has a bad day. He was in the middle of the Hinchcliffe-Jones-Andretti-Graham Rahal accident at the start and he got out of it with a bit of orange paint scuffed off his nose. He was on the edge of the top ten. He was still in the race and then he gets a pit lane speeding penalty! He served it and dropped to 20th and then Will Power ends up in barrier and brings out a caution! And just like that he was back in it and was able to re-work strategy and he finished fifth and increased his championship lead! He didn't add much but if we know three points is enough to decide a championship.
6. Simon Pagenaud was the top Penske finisher in a day where he wasn't great and again it was strategy and cautions going his way. It was probably the least sexy top ten he has gotten when starting outside the top fifteen but I bet he will take it.
7. Charlie Kimball gets top ten finishes and he was the driver best suited for Carlin. He isn't going to light the world on fire but he can get the car home in a good position and he doesn't back down to anyone. He has six top ten finishes this season. He had five top ten finishes all of last season driving for Chip Ganassi Racing. This has been an inspiring season for Carlin. Better yet, the top seven finishers in this race represented Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Andretti Autosport, Dale Coyne Racing, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing, Team Penske and Carlin! Seven different teams were represented in the top ten. That may encapsulate how bizarre this race was.
8. At one point, Alexander Rossi was the championship leader and 42 points clear of Scott Dixon. He heads to Sonoma trailing Dixon by 29 points. Rossi should have won this race or at least finished second. He was the class of the field and then his teammate Zach Veach has his first mistake in months, causes a caution and it catches him and a few drivers out a few laps before making their second pit stops. Rossi did all he could to overcome the setback and he made a fair share of passes to get to eighth. He did the best he could to stop the bleeding but this day was better than an eighth place result and Rossi did nothing wrong except have the timing of cautions go against him.
9. Pietro Fittipaldi was on a different strategy all race and he finished ninth, his first career top ten finish. I feel like he has been improving each time out and this was Dale Coyne Racing's best race all season when you consider how quick all three cars were this weekend. He seems to have a lot of attention from all over the world. I think he would do really well if he was full-time in IndyCar next year.
10. Josef Newgarden rounded out the top ten and he was in the same boat as Rossi. He probably should have won this race or finished second. Newgarden got ahead of Rossi on the second stint when Rossi was on the primary tire and Newgarden was on the alternate tire. It would have been interesting to see how the race would have played out if the roles were reversed. Newgarden was ahead of Rossi after their final stops but Newgarden was on the primary compound and Rossi ran away from him. This was a lost day for Newgarden.
11. Tony Kanaan had a good day. He was 14th after the start and he started 24th but he had to really work today. Behind Kanaan was Carlos Muñoz, who was solid. He was in the top ten for a bit but the race got shaken up. Muñoz is one of those drivers who should be full-time. Gabby Chaves had a stout day after a few weeks out of the car. Matheus Leist was running in the top ten before he was caught out by the Veach caution and he could never get back in the discussion.
12. Jordan King and Jack Harvey were each in the top ten and competitive but both got caught out and shuffled back. Both these drivers were good enough for the top ten today. The result will never be favorable for these drivers but both had really good days. These two Brits should be full-time.
13. Quick run down through the field: Alfonso Celis, Jr. was 17th. That was about right. He didn't do anything wrong but he was the one driver who just didn't seem not to fit out there today. Max Chilton was the only driver caught out by the final caution for Ferrucci and it cost him a shot at a top ten. Zach Veach had his off and it ended a promising day. He had a bit of damage after contact with Hinchcliffe at the start but he was still holding on. Santino Ferrucci was running well before he broke down.
14. James Hinchcliffe was able to continue but he was never going to make up much ground. It is hard to cover the four guys who were taken out in the lap one accident. Graham Rahal ran four laps and made up some spots. Ed Jones needed an encouraging race and it was over before he had a shot and Marco Andretti had nowhere to go and rolled over a few cars. These are four drivers who all could use a great day before the season is out. Hinchcliffe has been fine this year. Rahal has consistently been in the top ten but has struggled to break into the top five. Jones has two podium finishes but his off days are way off and Andretti doesn't seem to get the timing down and hasn't been able to carry practice speed over to qualifying and races.
15. On to the championship picture: It is a four-horse race but two horses have broken away. Scott Dixon leads Alexander Rossi by 29 points, which is a decent lead but not much with double points. To put it this way, if Rossi wins and Dixon finishes third and doesn't score a bonus point, Rossi wins the title by a point. However, if Rossi finishes second and scores no bonus points, all Dixon needs to clinch the title is finish seventh. It is a small margin for error but Dixon has some wiggle room.
Will Power and Josef Newgarden are both still alive but both trail Dixon by 87 points and will need a Hail Mary. To put it this way, if either Penske driver scores maximum points they would need Dixon to finish 22nd or worse. This was the worst time for Power to have his mechanical gremlin from hell bite him in the ass and it happened again early. He lost first gear at the start and the gearbox issues got worse and led to him having his error and getting into the barrier exiting the final turn. I am not sure crazier things have happened but Team Penske is strong at Sonoma and you cannot rule either driver out even with the odds stacked against them.
16. Portland was a beautiful outing. The crowd looked great. It felt like the days of CART. There was an energy to the event and you could feel it through the computer and television screen. You weren't really sure what this race was going to be like. The Pacific Northwest is a bit of a foreign land to American motorsports because of how secluded it is and after 11 years of not hosting a race you do not have a clue of how the turnout will be. It is probably the one race you should travel to because it sounds more fan friendly than other options. There is a train that stops at the track gate. You don't even need to rent a car and you don't have to stay at a hotel within the vicinity of the track. It sounds pretty flexible for fans. It appears IndyCar has found the Labor Day race it has struggled to find.
And the on-track race was better than I expected. It was difficult to pass but passes were made. Turn seven was more than doubled in width and passes were made there. There were a few passes in turn ten. I think if the back straightaway was lengthened a bit and turn ten was a tighter corner we could see more passing. The good news is the fans in attendance got to see a race fitting to the crowd size.
17. This is it. One week off and then one final trip to Sonoma. The entire situation leaves me in goosebumps. The end is near. It was always going to end but I don't want it to. I want to cry and yet I am joyful for the unknown that lies ahead.
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