1. Colton Herta makes statements with his victories. His first career victory at Austin said he was ready for the big time. His second career victory at Laguna Seca to close his rookie season said despite all his mistakes that year he was a force for the future. More dominant victories have followed, a few have slipped through his fingers, and after having a few get away from him early in 2022, Herta needed a performance.
In changing conditions, and from 14th on the grid, Herta put together a flawless run, which included one of the most harrowing saves and passes we have ever seen. Herta nearly threw it away again, and this would have been early in the race, switching to slick tires after only three laps. He was hanging on for dear life on the out lap and about five times appeared to be heading for the runoff and running another race. But Herta held on and his out lap was quick enough to leap him up the order as the rest of the field stopped to also switch to slicks.
In a blink, Herta was in the top five and running down Patricio O'Ward, the previous leader who was out on cold slick tires. Herta had one great chance to make the pass and nearly lost the car in turn but used the curb to correct his car. With the car straight, Herta made the pass a few corners later, and that was the race.
There were plenty of times this race looked to get away from Herta. From the cautions to the pit stop for slicks when the rain had clearly started to fall and needing to switch back to wet weather tires all under one caution and then there were the few cars that stayed out on slicks to this being a timed race.
There were plenty of chances for this to get away from Herta again and get away because of something out of his control, but today went in his favor. He didn't catch the curbs and spin. He didn't have a mistimed caution knock him from the lead to 12th. He didn't have a lightning strike end the race after he made his final pit stop while a handful of cars stayed out. Everything fell into place for Herta, and he drove the best today. It ended in a served victory, oh and I believe I had that.
2. I think beside Colton Herta the only other driver who had a clean race was Simon Pagenaud and he end up finishing second. Flashbacks of 2019 came to mind when Simon Pagenaud chewed up ground in the wet and pulled off a stunning victory over Scott Dixon, saving Pagenaud's job at Team Penske (for the time) and drop kicking a stellar month of May.
Pagenaud was smart all race. He didn't put the car in dangerous positions, and it paid off for him. He didn't quite have the speed to keep up with Herta, but considering Pagenaud started 20th, he will take second.
3. Everyone from here on out has a caveat. Everyone from third to 27th could have done worse than their actual finishing position.
We start with Will Power, who was in or around the top five all race, but he faded early when everyone switched to slick tires. He pushed his teammate Josef Newgarden off the road. It looked to be a ho-hum day for Power, but still be a good one. However, with many other drivers having issues, the door opened for Power to not only get a podium result, but to take the championship lead.
And Power will enter Indianapolis 500 practice as the championship leader with five consecutive top five finishes to open the season. This is a good foundation to lay for a championship push.
4. For a moment, it looked like this was going to be another victory falling into Marcus Ericsson's lap. Because of the early tire change to slicks and the pending time limit, Ericsson was slightly off strategy and found himself in the lead as the rain was returning to the circuit. With increasing rain and possible lightning, it looked like Ericsson could be leading when a red flag would come out that could potentially end the race.
The good news is the race went to the time limit, and Ericsson didn't catch a break. He drove well in this race and earned this top five finish. A victory would have been too flattering to the Swede today.
5. Conor Daly's team nearly called this race very poorly, attempting to save fuel early in the race and letting the entire field pass him. Teams weren't saving fuel after switching to slick tires, except for Daly. It might have been the right choice, but Daly was losing time. With the race switching back to wet weather, Daly was brought back in this race.
If there weren't as many cautions, Daly might have been snuck into a top ten finish. The weather went into Daly's favor, and he gets his first top five finish since Gateway 2017 and his first top five finish on a road/street course since Watkins Glen 2016!
6. This was another race that nearly collapsed on Felix Rosenqvist. It started well and Rosenqvist was running in the top three behind Herta and his Arrow McLaren SP teammate Patricio O'Ward. Then O'Ward spun on a restart and Rosenqvist had nowhere to go and hit O'Ward before stalling his car.
But the number of cautions and the weather kept Rosenqvist in the race, and the Swede made up ground to get back into the top ten and finish sixth. For all the hardship Rosenqvist has had this season, sixth was a disservice to how he looked today, but I am sure he will take this result anyway.
7. Takuma Sato took slick tires on the same lap as Colton Herta and that also brought Sato into the top five. Sato did have a few other incidents that knocked him around the top ten. He got a piece of the AMSP-on-AMSP violence. Sato looked good for most of this race otherwise. Seventh is fair but this could have been better for Sato.
8. Callum Ilott gets his first career top ten finish and the first top ten finish for Juncos Hollinger Racing! There is some speed in this team, and Ilott looked good. He did have a notable off that knocked him down the order, but he did recover.
This is probably the best example of what IndyCar is at the moment. Ilott is driving for the smallest team on the grid and the last two races he has made the second round of qualifying while Andretti Autosport drivers and Chip Ganassi Racing drivers do not and he is running in the top ten of races. The last two races have increased my confidence in this team for the rest of the season.
9. Christian Lundgaard gets his first career top ten finish, but he did have a spin early in this race and ended up running into Ilott as the two cars crossed the finish line at the end of the race. Ninth flatters Lundgaard. He might have done well, but he wasn't the best Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver today, despite what the results say.
10. Somehow Scott Dixon pulled out a top ten finish. He ran out of fuel at the end of his first fuel stint. Then Dixon was caught a lap down. It looked like Dixon was lucky if he could get into the top fifteen, but there were enough cautions to cycle him back to the lead lap and he made up some positions to get tenth.
This still isn't the kind of weekends Dixon and his team want to have. He started 21st. He was fighting just to get into the fight. There is work that has to be done.
11. Right when its appeared Alexander Rossi was a genius, it bit him. Rossi switched to wet tires right when the rain returned to the circuit. Only Graham Rahal, Jimmie Johnson and David Malukas also took wet tires at that time. Rossi was positioned to capitalize. The only problem is the rain didn't come soon enough and Rossi had to switch back to slicks before the rest of the field had to switch to wet tires.
It was a damned if you, damned if you don't situation. Rossi was in the top ten at the time, but not really competing for the race lead. He had to do something different, but the problem is he made the call, and I have held off saying anything after the first four races, I don't think Brian Barnhart should be on the pit stand, and I cannot imagine Rossi has great confidence considering who is calling his strategy.
This was a case of Rossi taking away a result from himself because he doesn't have a strategist with a clear plan. If Tim Cindric was on Rossi's stand, Rossi isn't coming in for tires at that time. He would have waited to change to wet tires and Rossi would have likely finished better 11th, possibly in the top five, possibly on the podium.
It was a risk, but Rossi shouldn't be calling strategy in the call and this is another disappointing result after a promising start.
12. I am not sure David Malukas did anything wrong and he finished 12th. Malukas did have to make an extra pit stop for being too proactive switching to wet weather tires but considering where Malukas was running it was worth the risk. Like Rossi, Malukas did somewhat recover from the extra stop. h the extra stop, I think this result was better than where Malukas would have been if he had remained on slick tires at the time.
13. Jack Harvey had a day. First, Harvey clipped Josef Newgarden spinning the two-time champion after Harvey made an ambitious move to make it three-wide into turn 11. Then Harvey knocked Romain Grosjean off the road in turn seven and to cap it all off, Harvey made contact with someone on the pit lane and was sent to the rear of the field on lap 64, killing any hopes of a top ten result.
Harvey looked good today, but there were just too many mistakes.
14. I am not sure what Hélio Castroneves did today to finish 14th. At one point he was in the top ten after all the pit stops and cautions and then he fell back. Fourteenth feels right for him.
15. Tatiana Calderón was 15th and led her first career laps in IndyCar while also being the top A.J. Foyt Racing finisher. This wasn't a spectacular drive. This is what poise can get you especially when another dozen drivers are making mistakes, but Calderón didn't make any mistakes day and she deserves recognition for that when many others looked like fools.
16. Which brings us to Graham Rahal, who prematurely switched to the wet weather tires and to drive a nail further into his coffin, Rahal spun Kyle Kirkwood. That resulted in a penalty and Rahal lost any hope of a top ten result. Rahal deserved better today, but too many mistakes cost him.
17. Romain Grosjean was set for a top five finish before he went off road from contact with Harvey. Later in the race he needed repair and had a drive-through penalty for full service when the pit lane was closed. That knocked Grosjean off the lead lap and instead of a respectable day he gets 17th.
18. You may have forgotten what happened to Álex Palou but on lap six Palou spun in turn ten and was stuck in the grass. Palou powered through the turf to get back to the racing surface only to stall out. That effectively ended Palou's day. He was trapped a lap down from there and he could only finish 18th. It was one minor mistake with exaggerated consequences because of the weather and the timing when it occurred. Not a fair chain of events for the Spaniard.
19. Patricio O'Ward and Scott McLaughlin are a two-for because both these driver stayed out when the rest of the field came for wet weather tires on lap 61. Both were hoping the track was still going to be dry and they could either pull away and win or open a gap before they had to switch to wet tires.
McLaughlin spun under caution before we even got to the restart. He tried to drive back to the lead after the restart was waved off, but IndyCar properly placed him where he regained forward momentum. Then McLaughlin spin about three corners after that restart and brought out a caution.
O'Ward lost the lead almost immediately to Herta, but he was still holding on. Then O'Ward spun under the caution for McLaughlin's incident in turn 12. Smooth move guys, enjoy rounding out the top twenty.
20. Let's wrap this up: Devlin DeFrancesco was an innocent bystander collected in Rinus VeeKay's spin. DeFrancesco was able to continue but lost multiple laps for repairs. Jimmie Johnson brought out another unnecessary caution lap in a race. You see why I praised Tatiana Calderón above, don't you? Rinus VeeKay struggled today even before his spin today. Juan Pablo Montoya was silent for the first 65 laps of this race and then all of a sudden he was in the top ten and running sixth before he hit the barrier and ended his race, and the race in general actually because the final two laps were behind the safety car.
21. Josef Newgarden did return to the circuit after the Harvey contact spun him into the barrier, but it was race over and this became glorified test session. I thought Power did Newgarden no favors running him off the circuit. If that incident doesn't happen, Newgarden isn't in that position with Rossi and Harvey. Tough day for Newgarden.
22. Kyle Kirkwood already had one off-track excursion hurt his race. The Graham Rahal contact was a sucker punch to Kirkwood's recovery efforts. It damaged Kirkwood's gearbox and ended his race. I am not sure Kirkwood was going to do better than 15th, but 26th is a rough one for him. And in 27th was Dalton Kellett after a spin the quick turns five and six section. Kellett hadn't been noticed all race until that incident.
23. This was a silly good race. It was wet-to-dry to half-dry/half-wet to completely soak. Everyone was chasing these conditions, there was no point in saving fuel, there was no point in saving tires and there were 471 total passes, 362 passes for positions. I don't know what else you could want from a race.
There were sloppy moments and race control didn't do itself any favors with a few lengthy cautions for single car incidents, but all things considered this was a damn good race. It certainly was memorable considering Herta's save was lap four and that set the tone for the entire 75-lap affair.
24. I will touch upon race control for a second because the Dalton Kellett spin was a five-lap caution. The Jimmie Johnson spin was a nine-lap caution. It was a little flukey because of the changing conditions and the number of cars coming to pit lane at odd times, but neither of those incidents were major.
Kellett had minimal damage. I think he grazed the tire barrier. Johnson stalled the car after looping it. I understand IndyCar must get the order correct and it was tough because you had some cars staying out on slick tires when it was clear that wasn't going to work, but it was the only downside to the race. There are enough timing loops and eyewitnesses around the circuit that it shouldn't take very long to line up the cars especially when a single caution lap is over two minutes.
Race control did let them race. Harvey was in two incidents on track and got no penalties for them. The Newgarden spin should have gotten Harvey something. It was a low-percentage move and risky on the part of Harvey to put his car in that position.
25. This is approaching Indianapolis 500 post-race review levels. We need to call it. There is plenty to still talk about from this race and Indianapolis 500 practice begins Tuesday. Alleluia, it is May!
