1. From lap one of this race it didn't seem anyone had a handle on this race. There was an accident at the start that eliminated Tony Kanaan and severally hampered the day of Simon Pagenaud. The alternate tire was not the desire compound and immediately majority of the field stopped on pit road to switch to the primary tire but not Scott Dixon. Dixon stayed out and decided to give it a go on the alternate tire and for the first few laps it appeared to work but then the tires fell off and strategy was looking dire.
Dixon caught a break. The caution came out after Spencer Pigot and Sébastien Bourdais came together but Dixon was on pit road and made his pit stop without losing much ground. This was such a crazy race and it wasn't as simple as that one caution put the advantage back in Dixon's hands. He had to keep going push while the likes of Josef Newgarden, James Hinchcliffe and Alexander Rossi still quick and on a de facto three-stop strategy.
In a way, all the cautions kept it from being a three-stop vs. two-stop race. If the race had been cleaner maybe the three-stoppers have more speed down the stretch and Dixon finishes on the podium but not the top step. But with all this chaos it felt like Dixon was the man to win the race. In a race where every top driver had an error it is served up for Dixon to take. He doesn't make mistakes and yes he made one yesterday but he doesn't make the same mistake in two consecutive days. He was clinical. His last victory was at Toronto, a race where Ryan Hunter-Reay got into the barrier, Josef Newgarden got into the barrier, Alexander Rossi got into Will Power, Power got in another accident and Graham Rahal was one of the drivers involved and all those missteps cleared a path for Dixon to take victory. Basically the same thing happened today and we know Dixon gets stronger in the heat of the summer.
Foreplay is over. Dixon is ready to get it on.
2. A Swedish rookie in second in the eighth race of the season? It wasn't a Chip Ganassi Racing 1-2 but Marcus Ericsson had a superb day and for the first time in his IndyCar career he has finished ahead of his teammate James Hinchcliffe. I am not sure how Ericcson pulled this off. He didn't seem to put a wheel wrong. He avoided the first lap accident. I don't recall any of his pit stops being that timely but he was competitive today and he has been good this season. He has made a few mistakes this season but nothing egregious. It has been mostly bad timing that has gone against him. Today, he ended up in second and didn't put a wheel wrong. He deserved this result.
3. At the end of the final caution period it appeared another race was slipping from Will Power. To be frank, he was very aggressive at the start going up the inside of Felix Rosenqvist, made contact with the Swede, Power got hit from behind but he made up a lot of positions only for his gearbox to have an issue under yellow and drop him from the top ten to the verge of falling a lap down. He was able to stay on the lead lap but had an uphill battle from the rear.
I am not sure how Ericcson pulled second off and I am equally as astonished Power finished third. What helped was the caution and he rolled the diced when he did a five-lap stint on the alternate tire. It seemed like a move that was only going to lose time but the way this race went all the caution kept him from falling massively behind. Before his final stop, the likes of Takuma Sato, Hunter-Reay and Rossi could not close the gap and Power cycled out ahead of them and put him in third position. From there Power held on and after a bad race on Saturday he has an uplifting performance on Sunday.
4. Ryan Hunter-Reay had a tire puncture over the final five laps and he held on to finish fourth. Hunter-Reay did not start well but he avoided the first lap accident and made up some spots as the race went on. He gets double top five finishes from the weekend, which seems about right. He is putting together a good run of results but he hasn't really shown to be a contender for a race victory yet this year. There is still plenty of time but we are still waiting for Hunter-Reay to grab a weekend by the throat.
5. What does Alexander Rossi have to do for a victory? This race never got into a rhythm and if it did I think Rossi pulls it out. He was fortunate today driving away from a spin the turn three that took out
Newgarden and Hinchcliffe but I feel like Rossi had the best car all weekend and he didn't get a victory. It has to be frustrating for him but he gain ground today in the championship and last year when he had a day like today, finishing fifth or sixth and really had a car that should have been on the podium he seemed to lose in the overall picture. Today wasn't that and while a victory or second would have been great, he has put together a fair share of top five results. The victories are going to come for him and he is going to be in this championship fight all the way to Laguna Seca.
6. Marco Andretti was not bitten today and he was racy. He was making moves early and worked his way into the top ten. He really had a top ten car and he finished sixth in this one, which I think is a fair showing of how his day was.
7. Two Belle Isle races and a pair of seventh place finishes for Graham Rahal. Rahal was one of three drivers to start on the primary tires and he went long on his first stint but he was always going to have to take the dreaded alternate tires. He took those on his second stint and Rahal benefitted from a slew of cautions. He did not have the noticeable fall off that nearly caught out Scott Dixon and kind of led to the end of Spencer Pigot's race. I thought Rahal should have stopped a few laps earlier than he did to get off the alternate tire sooner and put him in better position should a caution come out. I think seventh is a true indicator of his form today.
8. Two Belle Isle races and a pair of eighth place finishes for Zach Veach. All the Andretti cars were strong today. I think Veach was the fourth best of the four but if that gets you a top ten result I think Veach is going to take it. He needed a good weekend because he had eight consecutive finishes outside the top ten entering Belle Isle... hmm... I am seeing a lot of eights here, Veach's number is 26, two plus six is eight... maybe Veach should change his number to eight?
9. Sébastien Bourdais ran into the back of Spencer Pigot when the American was going to stop to get off the alternate tires. Bourdais' front wing was obliterated, Pigot slid into the barrier at the entrance of the pit lane and his day was over. Bourdais kept going and things cycled into his favor. He was running near the top five and then he lost speed late in a stint on primary tires. He dropped a few spots but he managed to hold on to a spot in the top ten, his first top ten finish on a street course since he won last year at St. Petersburg.
10. Santino Ferrucci rounded out the top ten and he made a late pass on Colton Herta for tenth but this day seemed to be more promising for Ferrucci. He led after passing Dixon while the New Zealander was struggling on the alternate tires. Ferrucci kept going and I think he was caught out before he could make his first pit stop? I don't remember. This race was such a mess but he went from leading to not really in the discussion after he made his first stop. Either way it was a good day for Ferrucci.
11. Quickly through the field, Patricio O'Ward was in that first lap accident with Pagenaud and Kanaan but rallied to finish 11th, which include a pass in the final laps on Herta. Colton Herta finishes 12th for the second consecutive day at Belle Isle, not a top ten but I think Herta should be happy with finishing races and on the lead lap after the last two months. Takuma Sato was really racy today and then he fell like a rock in the closing laps and 13th is not a true representation of his day. Ed Jones did nothing and finished 14th. Max Chitlon did nothing and finished 15th.
12. Felix Rosenqvist was on the cusp of a top five finish today and was definitely going to finish in the top ten before his accident with six laps to go. Rosenqvist brushed the wall and a few corners later was in peril with bent steering. Paul Tracy was quick to be critical of Rosenqvist on the broadcast and I will defend the rookie a bit because while he has had accidents, Austin was kind of out of his hands after Hinchcliffe got into him and he was collateral damage in the accident at Indianapolis as well. This one was on him as was the accident in qualifying at Long Beach.
Has Rosenqvist had more accidents than he would like? Absolutely but he had five top ten finishes from eight races, most of the rookie field. He has five top ten starts and he has qualified ahead of Dixon in three races and in both Belle Isle races he started a spot behind Dixon. He has made some mistakes and Chip Ganassi is known for a quick trigger finger especially when rookies are tearing up equipment but I think it would be nuts for Rosenqvist to be shown the door after one year.
All the rookies have had errors this year and have torn up race cars and I think Rosenqvist has not made any monumental error that stands out above the other rookies. He is still learning but I think he will get a hang of IndyCar before the year is out.
13. Where to start on the next three drivers? Simon Pagenaud was in the wrong place at the wrong time and he somehow gained points on Newgarden today but this was not the day he was hoping for.
The incident with Newgarden, Hinchcliffe and Rossi was peculiar. Hinchcliffe had exited the pit lane and was out ahead of the two American drivers but on cold tires. Both tried to go up the inside in turn three, Newgarden made the pass but went in a little too hot and was already losing the rear, Hinchcliffe was always going to make contact with Hinchcliffe's right front but Rossi also lost his rear, either because he got on the brakes too aggressively or as an evasive action for an already spinning Newgarden and a slower Hinchcliffe, Rossi's half-spin nudged Hinchcliffe into Newgarden, burying the Penske driver into the tires and shoving the Canadian's left front tire tightly between Newgarden's right front tire and radiator opening. Rossi drove a way, the other two were pretty much done and I have to say nobody was at fault.
It wasn't a case of Rossi drove into the back of Hinchcliffe and like dominos Hinchcliffe took out Newgarden or Newgarden made contact while going pass Hinchcliffe and took both of them out or Hinchcliffe aggressively blocking and chopping into Newgarden. It was three minor errors that in any other circumstance would be no harm no foul but in one intersection led to two cars being sidelined. This was an odd race.
In other news, Matheus Leist retired due to a mechanical issue and nobody noticed. I feel for Pigot because he got hit from behind but it was a mixture of Bourdais was trying to make a move while Pigot was veering to enter the pit lane. I kind of wish IndyCar's had a blinker to signal when a driver is making a pit stop that way it could be activated three or four corners in advance and give plenty of time for drivers to note and know not to make a move around pit entrance but we all know there are flaws to that idea. This could have been another really good day for Pigot and it wasn't.
Zero laps completed for Tony Kanaan. This year has been hard to watch.
14. This was an odd weekend between the rain-shortened race yesterday to the tire barriers seeping out water and delaying the second qualifying group today nearly a full half-hour and then this race where it was a sloppy street course race, the likes we haven't seen in a long time. This entire weekend was a mess and I am not going to bash Belle Isle and I am not going to take it out on the teams but this is not a weekend we have seen in IndyCar for a while, which is a good thing. I am a little nervous heading into Texas because the last two years we have seen some, for the lack of a better term, stupid accidents. I just want a clean weekend.
15. Six days and then it will be the first night race of the season from Texas. Let's hope it is a clean night in Texas.
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