Best of the Month: July 2024

It really doesn’t hit that the year is closer to the end than the beginning than when we reach the end of July. You would think the halfway point at the end of June would do it, but it is starkest at the end of July. It could be that the remaining months can be counted on one hand. The warm days do not provide the same comfort after that realization. Many nice days are ahead of us, but we will soon notice the less daylight. Then the chill will set in. That can wait for now. 

Midseason Reset

Basically every series is off at this point in the year. With all these series on break, mostly due to the Olympics, this is chance to briefly summarize where these series are at with all at or around their halfway points. 

IndyCar:

Boy does this feel like Álex Palou’s championship to lose. With a 49-point lead with five races to go, a second consecutive and third title in four years for Palou feels inevitable, even if four of the races are at ovals. 

I don’t want to say it feels anti-climatic, but with the level of parity through the first 12 races in IndyCar, seven different winners, no driver with more than two victories, there hasn’t been a driver dominating and taking the fight to the consistency of Palou. We are in a period where unless you are smashing the competition, it will be difficult to top the Catalan driver. This could be the case for the next three or four seasons. 

It hasn’t been a bad year. It wasn’t that long ago the number of different winners was being hailed as a great positive and with five races to go, IndyCar could be looking at nine or ten different winners. Everyone loves selling IndyCar as a series with deep talent where a great number can win no matter what team they are driving for.

I think we are in an odd-year between the midseason introduction of the hybrid, Team Penske push-to-pass violation, Arrow McLaren driver rotation, an exhibition race, Nashville moving from the street course to Nashville Superspeedway over 40 minutes outside city, and now an extended summer break, there has been a lot of competition with the on-track action, unlike any other season we have seen in modern IndyCar. The hope is in the final five races the racing can take center stage and possibly a thrilling championship finale can cap things off. 

Formula One:

I want to go back to post-Hungarian Grand Prix when Lando Norris let Oscar Piastri through to win the race but Norris was arguing McLaren should have been thinking about the drivers’ championship. Norris had a point.

After the Hungarian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen had 265 points to Norris’ 189 points. 

Mathematically, if Norris had won every race after Hungary and Verstappen been second in every race and never scored fastest lap, Norris would finish on 464 points to Verstappen’s 463 points. That is without Norris winning at Hungary. Give him seven more points and he has some breathing room. 

The problem is while it is possible on paper, Norris wasn’t going to win 11 consecutive races to close out a season. As good as McLaren is this year and while Red Bull isn’t world beaters, Norris wasn’t going to win 11 consecutive races, and any less than that isn’t going to get him the championship over Verstappen. Mercedes went out and won in Belgium. There is greater competition this season. Without a dash of horrendous results for Verstappen and Red Bull, no one is catching them.

McLaren didn’t give up on Norris, it is seeing the bigger picture. The cars were going to be 1-2 at Budapest. It doesn’t matter who wins, and Piastri was given the worst strategy while also having a three-second pit stop, something out of Piastri’s control. It is a team win, essentially maximum points, but at that time it got McLaren within 51 points of Red Bull. 

After Belgium, McLaren is 42 points back. The constructors’ championship is very much in play for McLaren. Norris had to sacrifice a little, but the team is playing for what it can win and keeping harmony can go a long way. McLaren has something to play for and if it pulls off its first constructors’ championship since 1998, the mood will be greater than if Norris had not been selfless on a summer’s day in Hungary. 

MotoGP:

Sprint races are keeping this championship close. Only nine races have been completed but Francesco Bagnaia is returning from the summer break with four consecutive victories and six victories total. Yet, Bagnaia’s championship lead is ten points over Jorge Martín. 

It hasn’t been the case that Bagnaia has retired from the other three races he hasn’t won. There has been one retirement but the Italian has been no worse than fifth in the other races. It comes down to sprint races. 

Martín has two Grand Prix victories, but he has won four of nine sprint races. While Martín has six grand prix podium finishes, he has been on the podium in seven sprint races with a fourth. He has failed to score points in only one sprint race. Compare that Bagnaia, whose has won two sprint races and has one other podium finish, and Martín is chipping away points every Saturday even if Bagnaia bests him on Sunday. 

Over half the season still remains in MotoGP, but it feels like it will be Bagnaia vs. Martín again. Marc Márquez is 56 points back in third, but Márquez has yet to break through with a race victory, whether it be a sprint or a grand prix. There are still plenty of races left, but if Bagnaia continues his form and wins two-thirds of the remaining races, a third consecutive title will be his. 

NASCAR:

Doesn’t most NASCAR seasons feel kind of irrelevant when we get into August. It is starting to ramp up as the playoffs approach, but has any of these results mattered?

Kyle Larson has been the best driver this year. Larson leads on points and he has contested one fewer race than the rest of the field, but none of it really matters until September. Three bad races in the final weekends of summer could unravel a championship hope before the days cool off. There have been other good seasons. Denny Hamlin has won three races. William Byron was the first to three victories this season, but he hasn’t won since April 7. Christopher Bell has three victories, but he has finished outside the top 30 in seven races this year. 

Last year, Ryan Blaney entered August having not had a top five finish in the previous two months. Blaney would go another two months without a top five finish and he still won the championship. The first 22 races are not entirely meaningless, but they are only setting the table, not the meal itself.  

FIA World Endurance Championship:

Five races, five different winners with three different manufacturers including a privateer team winning, what else could WEC ask for? 

It has been quietly a great season for WEC, but there are only three races remaining, and there is still a month until the next round at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

This has been Porsche’s year even if it didn’t win the 24 Hours of Le Mans and didn’t have the greatest showing in France. The #6 Porsche of Kévin Estre, André Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor has finished first, second, second, fourth and second, and this has the Porsche in a comfortable lead over the #50 Ferrari which won Le Mans and is really only living off those extra points for winning the 24-hour race.

Toyota has won twice but hasn’t quite had the same consistent speed to compete with Porsche and Ferrari. Then there is Hertz Team Jota, which won at Spa-Francorchamps.

If there is any problem, it is three manufacturers lead the way and the rest are in a trailing pack. Cadillac isn’t having a great year. Alpine is having teething problems. Peugeot's car isn’t much better with a rear wing. BMW hasn’t made up any ground. Lamborghini is still in year one. Isotta Fraschini was never seen as a serious contender. 

This is kind of what everyone feared when nine manufacturers compete in one class. They cannot all win. That is especially true when there are only eight races. Hypercar has reached its greatest potential, and manufacturers aren’t going to stick around for five or six years and never win a race. There is IMSA, which provides another playground to play on, but these programs must yield some results and success to justify existing. In the next two years, we are going to see some changes that will not be celebrated but are a natural part of motorsports. 

IMSA:

Again, it has been Porsche’s year, but Cadillac is pushing. 

Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr has won twice in the #7 Porsche with five podium finishes and their worst finish being fourth in six races. The IMSA results are nearly matching the WEC result. Surprise, Porsche is good! 

Sébastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande are making it close in Chip Ganassi Racing’s Cadillac but the next closest team is the #6 Porsche with Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet. Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti has won two races, but the Acura team hasn’t been close to the consistency of the Porsches and Cadillac. Whelen Racing started strong with three runner-up finishes in the first four races, but has slid a little. BMW hasn’t been close this season. 

There are only three races left in the GTP season, two of which are endurance races. It has gotten late early. 

Meanwhile, AO Racing is the surprise championship leader in GTD Pro, but the team is seeing a change with Seb Priaulx stepping out to focus on his Multimatic commitments leaving rookie Laurin Heinrich as the lone championship leader with four GT races left. Heart of Racing Team and VasserSullivan Lexus each have a chance to pounce with experienced lineups and Corvette is not out of it, fresh off its first victory with the Z06 GT3.R. 

Winward Racing has dominated GTD. Philip Ellis and Russell Ward have won four times with a second through six races. Good luck to anyone trying catch them, though there is plenty of time to pull off a comeback. 

Formula E:

This is a review because the Formula E season ended last weekend in London. Pascal Wehrlein went from third to first to claim the championship, however the story feels more about who lost it. 

Nick Cassidy was up 25 points entering the final two rounds, both doubleheaders at Portland and London. Cassidy had eight podium finishes through the first 12 races. Wehrlein had only three podium finishes in that span. 

Cassidy ended up 19th, 13th, seventh and retired in the final race of the season after contact with António Félix da Costa. This is more than Cassidy but a Jaguar championship lost as well because Mitch Evans ended up second, six points behind Wehrlein. It felt like Jaguar was clearly the best team this season, and it did win the Teams’ championship and Manufacturers’ championship, but Wehrlein took the drivers’ title. 

Wehrlein finished in the points in 14 of 16 races, 11 of which were top five finishes, but only five of those were podium results. It doesn’t feel that impressive, but credit to Wehrlein. This is a championship Jaguar must feel was destined to be theirs and it slipped through their fingers. 

August Preview

August does lack a big event. The Olympics might have dampened the eighth month this year, but there is not that marquee event in August.

January has the 24 Hours of Daytona and the Dakar Rally. February has the Daytona 500 and Bathurst 12 Hour. There is the 12 Hours of Sebring in March as well as most seasons starting. Long Beach takes April. There is the Indianapolis 500 and Monaco Grand Prix in May, Le Mans and Dutch TT are in June, the British Grand Prix is in July, and then August is open. 

Come September, there is the Italian Grand Prix as well as the Southern 500. October has Petit Le Mans and Bathurst 1000. November is when many championships are decided and even Formula One goes into December now. 

It feels like August is missing something grand. Maybe that will change. There also doesn’t seem to be much great demand for a big event. We could be content with a light summer month. 

Other events of note in August:

IndyCar will be back with Gateway, Portland and the start of the Milwaukee weekend. 

Formula One returns at Zandvoort.

NASCAR will get to the very end of its regular season. 

MotoGP only has two races, Silverstone and Austria. It will pick up in September. 

Musings From the Weekend: Should Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year be Decided Differently?

Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...

The Olympics began. It rained. Then it was sunny. Elsewhere, it rained at Spa-Francorchamps. Then it was sunny there as well. George Russell used a one-stop strategy to hold off Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri to be first to the checkered flag, but Russell’s car was underweight post-race, leading to a disqualification and Hamilton inheriting the victory. Sergio Perez’s summer break could be indefinite. France had success outside of Paris. Ferrari is not coming to IMSA anytime soon. Some Formula E driver changes are happening. Dinner with Racers has a new documentary series out. That’s all nice, but with so little happening on track, this is a good time to have a discussion about a recently heated topic. 

Rookie Picking

It might seem like an odd time to bring up Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year at the end of July, but we have some space from this year's race, we had time to think about it, and there is nothing else going on. If there was ever a time to revisit it, this lull in the calendar is a good point to go over what has become a contentious thing over the last decade. 

This year's Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year famously went to Kyle Larson. The driver attempting The Double, who would have weather scuttle any chance of him completing 1,100 miles, didn't quite have the most outstanding Indianapolis 500. It was a fine race. Larson completed all 200 laps, he led a few laps through a pit cycle, and he finished 18th, but he had two moments that cost him dearly. On the first restart, Larson had trouble going through the gears and immediately lost a handful of positions. Later in the race, he sped entering the pit lane. 

Larson was never a threat for victory, but he was running well enough to finish in the top ten. However, his pit lane speeding penalty kept him from being the best finishing rookie. 

Christian Rasmussen was the best finishing rookie, ending up 12th after starting 24th. Rasmussen had some notable passes, and spent a fair number of laps in the top ten before settling into 12th at the checkered flag. 

Despite the result, Larson was awarded Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year, and it led to a fair amount of anger when it was announced. 

This was the second time in three years that the best finishing rookie was not awarded Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year, but only the third time in the last 14 Indianapolis 500s that it happened. The problem is in each of those three years it has happened, it has been quite a notable name that has been awarded the honor. 

In 2017, it was Fernando Alonso, who retired with an engine failure. In 2022, it was Jimmie Johnson, who crashed in turn two with eight laps remaining, but Johnson had spent majority of the race not as the best running rookie. Larson made it to the finish. Though he finished six spots behind Rasmussen, their races were more similar than they appeared and Larson had a slight edge. 

Regardless of what the data said, many took exception with the decision to recognize Larson over Rasmussen, and many calls have come for the honor of Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year to go to the best rookie finisher instead of letting journalists and other media members vote on it. 

One of the issues brought up is the number of people covering the Indianapolis 500 and voting on rookie of the year are only covering the Indianapolis 500. They aren't going to many other IndyCar races. They are not actively following the series or aware of who is competing. It is voting for a name because it is known more than voting for who was actually the best rookie. 

It is too easy to look at two of the last three years, and dwell on Alonso winning it almost a decade ago, and believe this should be a black-and-white award. 

It is actually better if there is some interpretation. 

Let's take this year. Larson ran well. He had a few errors after starting at the front, but his performance was not terrible. This was a year it could have gone to either Rasmussen or Larson. Larson had the edge of average running position and was ahead of Rasmussen after 112 of 200 laps, but Larson did make those errors that cost him. If I had a vote, I would have given it to Rasmussen but understood if Larson won. 

If we go back to the Alonso year in 2017, Alonso spent majority of the race in the top five. He was in the top ten for 173 of 179 laps he completed. He led laps on pure speed and if it wasn't for a handful of cautions that mixed up the strategy, we would have been running closer to the front in the later stages. However, Alonso's race ended due to something out of his control. He lost an engine during a race where Honda engines were dropping out of the race left and right. 

Ed Jones ended up being the best rookie finisher in third, an impressive result, especially when you consider he did it with Dale Coyne Racing, but the finishing position doesn't tell the entire story. Jones had spent majority of the race outside the top ten.  His first lap in the top ten was lap 137, under caution for Ryan Hunter-Reay losing an engine as other cars made pit stops bht Jones had stopped under the lap 122 caution for Buddy Lazier's accident. Jones then caught a break as he was on pit lane when Charlie Kimball lost his engine on lap 167. 

Alonso had an average running position of 4.949 over his 179 laps in the 2017 Indianapolis 500. Jones' average running position over the entire race was 13.525. 

Two years ago was a little more ignorant. David Malukas had an average running position of 14.43 in the Indianapolis while Johnson's was 21.32 in his 193 laps run. Malukas spent 31 laps in the top ten. Johnson spent 15. Malukas was outside the top twenty for four laps. Johnson was outside the top twenty for 111 laps. 

The reaction to Larson's Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year was rather sharp in the days after the race, but it can be blinded. Too many raged against an outsider taking something from an IndyCar regular. In the three major cases we have seen in the last decade, it appears anything short of winning the race can earn an IndyCar regular Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year when competing against a top driver from another series. 

But making it black-and-white has its down sides and will likely cause much frustration down the line as well. 

We could make it best rookie finisher but then there will be a year when the best rookie finisher doesn't deserve it. 

There is bound to be a year where one rookie qualifies in the top six while the other two rookies in the race qualify 28th and 32nd. The rookie starting in the top six will spend most of the first 100 laps in the top five, possibly even leading laps, until an engine failure ends that driver's race and is 32nd in the box score. Meanwhile the two rookies that started on the back two rows end up finishing 23rd and 29th respectably, both off the lead lap, and one of them spun into their pit stall and lost significant time. Who really should be rookie of the year in that case?

Would a rookie run like Tomas Scheckter’s in 2002 really lose out if the best finishing rookie was in 19th and had never spent a lap in top 15?

You can make it black-and-white, but then you are giving the award to a driver most people didn't even realize was in the race while the best rookie who had an unfortunate mechanical issue goes unrecognized. The day that happens, people will be screaming to reverse it to a vote. Why change anything if that will be the case?

Let's leave it as it is because it generally awards the best finishing rookie anyway. Again, 11 of the last 14 Indianapolis 500s have seen the best finishing rookie awarded rookie of the year. The exceptions are just three of the most notable non-IndyCar drivers to run the race in the last decade-and-a-half. Prior to that, the most recent non-best finishing rookie to win the award was Simona de Silvestro and I don’t hear anyone scream for justice for Mario Romancini. 

Need I remain you Romancini finished 13th while de Silvestro was 14th, but Romancini started 27th while de Silvestro started 22nd? Not many people are taking up the fight for Romancini. Prior to that, the last time outright Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year did not go to the best finishing rookie was in 1996. Tony Stewart got it after leading 44 laps despite finishing 24th due to an engine failure with only 82 laps complete. Again, no one was taking up the cause for Richie Hearn as the top finishing rookie in third, the final car on the lead lap. 

That is five times in the last 29 Indianapolis 500s that the best finishing rookie has not been recognized as Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year. Is this really a problem requiring a change? I would say a few too many jealous folk feel entitled to make this an “us- versus-them” kind of thing. 

A few things can be done differently to perhaps help the best finishing rookie. 

One, the best finishing rookie should be brought to the press conference room post-race. If the issue is the voters do not know who the best rookie finisher was, put him or her on the stage. I don't know if that would have changed the Larson/Rasmussen decision, but if the voters had a chance to speak to Rasmussen and hear about his day driving from 24th to 12th while running a bit in the top ten and making some passes, they might have voted differently.

Two, maybe we look at who is voting and emphasize those who regularly cover the series. I was surprised to hear that this was the first year NBC analyst Townsend Bell got a vote, which Bell shared during a Detroit practice session. 

I don't know if only one of the television broadcasters get a vote. I don't know if the pit reporters get a vote. I don't know if the IMS Radio broadcasters get a vote. All those people are regularly at IndyCar races. They know what they are watching. You would think those voices would get a say. I am not sure we need everyone on the television and radio broadcasts included, but I would have imagined that a handful of those people would regularly be in the voting process for Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year.

Another thing that also crossed my mind in the days after this year's race was do the veteran drivers that are competing in the Indianapolis 500 get to vote on Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year? If they aren't, I think that is a miss. The veterans on track are racing against these rookies. They know how the rookies are doing and who was challenging and who wasn't. In this year's race there were 27 veterans in this race. They should all get a vote. 

If you are worried about teammates voting for their teammate, then we could exclude those teammates. In that case, the Chip Ganassi Racing veterans, Ed Carpenter Racing veterans, Arrow McLaren veterans and Felix Rosenqvist would have been excluded from the vote, but that would have still left 19 veterans to vote. I am ok with teammates getting a vote, but either way the veterans in the race should get a say if they aren't getting one now.

I don't think we need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. As much as people want to make this black-and-white and just give it to the best finishing rookie by default, that will not be any better. The beauty is there is some interpretation and sometimes the best finisher didn't have the best performance. It is ok to leave it up to a panel, but more could be done to ensure all the contenders are properly acknowledged and made known to those deciding. We should also make sure the most informed minds are included in the decision process. 

The Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year is a meager honor in the grand procedure that is the month of May. It is a nice $50,000 bonus to one driver that quickly becomes a footnote in the history book. The track will likely not change how it awards the honor, but there are a few adjustments that could be made that would keep it in the spirit of how it has always been determined. 

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Lewis Hamilton, but did you know...

Zak O’Sullivan (sprint) and Isack Hadjar (feature) split the Formula Two races from Spa-Francorchamps. Dino Beganovic (sprint) and Callum Voisin (feature) split the Formula Three races.

The #163 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini of Marco Mapelli, Jordan Pepper and Franck Perera won the 3 Hours of Nürburgring.

On Wednesday last week, the European Le Mans Series reversed its decision to penalize the #65 Panis Racing Oreca for premature acceleration at the end of a full course caution at the 4 Hours of Imola. The #65 Oreca of Arthur Leclerc, Manuel Maldonado and Charles Milesi was reinstated as the winner of the Imola round. 

Coming Up This Weekend

MotoGP is back from its summer break with the British Grand Prix from Silverstone. 

IMSA is at Road America.

Super GT has a race at Fuji.

Rally Finland takes place.

A Look Back: IndyCar at Nashville Superspeedway - Part Two

In just under two months, the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season will conclude at Nashville Superspeedway, not the original place for this year's finale. In preparation for this return, we are looking back at IndyCar's first eight races at the circuit to get a sense of what races were like and set expectations for this year's event.

In part one, we covered the first two Indy Racing League events at the 1.333-mile concrete oval held in 2001 and 2002. This was just prior to a turning point during The Split, and the grid was not at its highest quality. 

In part two, we will look at the three races held over 2003 to 2005. During this time, Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing, Andretti Green Racing and Rahal Letterman Racing had moved fully to the IRL, bringing along a few notable drivers.

2003

It was known that passing would be hard entering year three. Scott Dixon led from pole position. Hélio Castroneves dropped from second to fourth after Gil de Ferran got under him into turn three, which allowed Tora Takagi to carry momentum through as well. 

Robbie Buhl and Scott Sharp got together on lap three as Buhl attempted to make a move to the outside, but pinched down on Sharp. Buhl's day was over. Sharp was able to continue. 

De Ferran was able to squeeze through on the inside of Dixon in turn one on lap 14 to take the lead. De Ferran stuck to the bottom down the front straightaway and carried speed through the turn while Dixon had to run a little wide. 

The second caution was nearly identical as the first. Vitor Meira was high in turn three and tried to come down but clipped Buddy Rice, spinning Meira out but both cars were able to continue. Most of the cars came to pit lane under that caution. Tony Kanaan came out ahead of de Ferran, Takagi, Castroneves and Dixon.

Scott Sharp stayed out to lead the race. Sharp would soon lose the lead to Kanaan and quickly fall down the order. Kanaan led ahead of Takagi and Alex Barron had good speed that took him up to third.

Rice was running fifth before he ran a little wide in turn two. He lost two positions to Dixon and Castroneves even before he made it through turn three, and Rice continued to drop back. De Ferran used the outside line to pass Tomas Scheckter and Al Unser, Jr. into turn one and then pass Rice entering turn three later that lap. Rice slipped back to to 12th in two laps after only one moment in turn two. About 15 laps later, Rice entered the pit lane with a mechanical issue.

Sam Hornish, Jr. carried more pace as the second stint wore on. Hornish, Jr. drove down Barron and took third with a move to the inside of turn three. A few laps later, Hornish, Jr. took second from Takagi and first from Kanaan in the same lap. Both passes came with Hornish, Jr. taking the inside line as Kanaan also was caught in a bit of traffic.

Tire wear was not overly a concern, and Bryan Herta ran a 73-lap stint, which was notable as the race entered its second half. Not long after Herta's stop, Meira was in the wall in turn two after Meira got caught in the marbles as the leaders flew through. 

Dixon and the Penske cars of Castroneves and de Ferran had to make a pit stop under that caution, but the likes of Hornish, Jr., Kanaan, Takagi and Barron had been shuffled back after stopping prior to the caution. Al Unser, Jr. inherited the lead, and Dixon was expressing concerns he lost fifth gear. 

There was a quick caution for debris after Greg Ray and Roger Yasukawa made contact. Ray had a fire while on the pit lane to check for repairs. Herta clipped the debris and suffered a cut tire. This caution put the teams in the window where they could likely make it to the finish. A number of teams made fuel-only stops. Unser, Jr., Buddy Lazier, Dan Wheldon and Takagi remained on the track. 

Takagi moved up to second and remained close to Unser, Jr. The leaders all were going to be 15-20 laps short on fuel while de Ferran was the first car relatively comfortable on fuel in fourth. Takagi took the lead after Unser, Jr. was caught behind the lapped car of A.J. Foyt IV entering turn three.

A caution came out with 32 laps remaining for debris, which brought Takagi, Unser, Jr., and Lazier to pit lane, and basically assured those that stopped under the previous caution could make it to the finish. Wheldon did stay out, though he had last stopped 17 laps prior to those that stopped under the caution for the Ray debris.

This put de Ferran back in the lead ahead of Dixon, Wheldon and Castroneves. The order remained unchanged after the restart on lap 178. With seven laps remaining, Buddy Lazier brought out a caution for a spin in turn four. Lazier hit nothing and kept running. This set up a restart with five laps to go. 

De Ferran was told don't worry about fuel as they had a quick caution. The Brazilian had a great jump and Dixon was not close. Castroneves moved up to third. On the penultimate lap, Lazier knocked down the wall in turn two and that sealed the victory for de Ferran.

Signs of the times:

Chevrolet was changing its engine design midseason and IndyCar approved it for the next race at Michigan, however, it would only be allowed with the top Chevrolet team in the championship. After Michigan, the top two Chevrolet teams would be allowed to run the new engine. Sam Hornish, Jr. and Panther Racing was the top Chevrolet team after this race. 

Scott Sharp had been called for a block and it took away what would have been a top ten finish.

Broadcasting Gems :

Kanaan noted in an "Ask the Drivers" segment that racing on concrete made the non-racing line very dusty and made it difficult for passing. 

Felipe Giaffone called into the race as he was missing Nashville due to a broken pelvis suffered at Kansas. 

This race ran long again and it meant they were not able to interview de Ferran post-race as ESPN2 had to get to Baseball Tonight.

2004

Buddy Rice's sensational 2004 season continued with Rice on pole position at Nashville, but his Rahal Letterman Racing teammate Vitor Meira shot to the lead on the opening lap in turns three and four. Dan Wheldon also made a move on Rice for second on the second lap.

The opening quarter of the race was rather uneventful. There were a pair of cautions for debris. Under the lap 35 caution, the second one for debris, everyone came in for pit stops and Meira maintained the lead while Sam Hornish, Jr. jumped up from fifth to second with Team Penske. However, Hornish, Jr. would lose two spots at the restart to Rice and Tony Kanaan. Tomas Scheckter and Hélio Castroneves got hung out on the outside in turn two on the restart and both lost significant ground. 

Ed Carpenter's accident in turn four brought the field back to pit lane and Meira maintained the lead ahead of Rice but Adrián Fernández moved up to fourth in the pit cycle.

At the halfway point, Meira led Rice, Wheldon, Fernández, Hornish, Jr., Tony Kanaan and Darren Manning. Castroneves was down in 11th, and Scott Dixon was running 12th. The field remained mostly in line. The RLR cars pulled away but Meira opened up a three-second lead over Rice. Wheldon and Fernández were rather on their own. Hornish, Jr. had Kanaan, Manning and Townsend Bell backed up behind him. 

Scheckter ran slightly high in the marbles as Mark Taylor made a pass on the inside and Scheckter collided with the turn two barrier on lap 110. 

Another caution meant another round of pit stops. Meira nearly left with the vent hose connected. He stopped but stalled. This gifted the lead to Rice ahead of Wheldon, Hornish, Jr., Kanaan and Bell.

The top five remained unchanged on the restart, but it was scattered in the middle portion of the field. Meira went on a run passing eight cars in the first four laps after the restart, including a three-wide move on the outside into turn one. Traffic backed up Wheldon as Hornish, Jr. and Kanaan each passed him. 

Rice and Meira had more pace in the middle of the stint than the others on track. Rice was six seconds clear of Hornish, Jr., who had the rest of the top five directly behind him. Meira caught and passed Castroneves for sixth before catching the top five group and moved ahead of Bell. Behind the other three cars in the top five, Meira stalled out in fifth.

Bryan Herta was caught wide in turn two and brought out another caution with 48 laps remaining. This brought everyone to pit lane for the final round of stops. Wheldon jumped to the lead ahead of Rice, Hornish, Jr. and Kanaan as Wheldon did not change tires. The belief was track position was more important than tires. Meira also lost four spots on that stop.

Rice made a move to the inside of Wheldon in turn one, but the two made contact, damaging both cars. The caution came out though neither car had an accident. Kanaan went to the outside and passed Hornish, Jr. and Rice in the process. Rice made a pit stop to change the front wing. Wheldon remained on track despite the contact. 

Kanaan went immediately to the outside of Wheldon on the ensuing restart and took the lead. Hornish, Jr. followed and immediately went up to second. Wheldon ended up losing the right rear tire three laps after the restart, proving the gamble was not worth it.

Kanaan led Hornish, Jr. and Castroneves on the restart with 12 laps remaining. Hornish, Jr. was in Kanaan's tracks with Castroneves not far behind. Manning was only about a half-second back in fourth. Despite all four running close together, no one could make a run or step out of line to attempt a pass. Hornish, Jr. made one look to the inside of turn three on the final lap, but it was not all that threatening. Kanaan held on for victory ahead of the Penske drivers with Manning taking fourth. Bell rounded out the top five, about a second back.

Signs of the times:

For a second consecutive year, no post-race interview with the race winner. No, IndyCar didn't have to hurry off for Baseball Tonight. It was for the Great Outdoor Games. Remember the Great Outdoor Games? A relic of a bygone ESPN-era. 

Broadcasting Gems :

We got the quintessential cheese grater demonstration during the broadcast with Jack Arute about what the track surface does to the tires. 

Apparently, one of Scott Dixon's hobbies is snooker. Do we believe that is still true 20 years later?

I don't know what it was about the 2000s, but they loved doing mid-race features. One early in this race was about what teams were most impressive up to that point in the season and who were struggling. It wasn't a double box feature. It was a fullscreen feature.

Panther Racing car owner Doug Boles! Look at him in a firesuit!

2005

Thunderstorms were threatening the race and the lead story for this race was... Danica Patrick! The rookie started second next to Tomas Scheckter on pole position for Panther Racing. Buddy Rice had not won yet after winning three times in 2004, and Vitor Meira was still looking for his first career victory. 

Passing was difficult and track position would be key.

Scheckter led the opening three laps but Franchitti would take the lead after starting fourth on lap four while Patrick dropped to fifth. Buddy Lazier was settled in third in a part-time third Panther Racing entry. Tony Kanaan had a great start and was up into the top five early from seventh. Hornish, Jr. was up to seventh in the opening eight laps after starting 13th. 

It was the second Panther Racing entry that got everyone's attention as Tomáš Enge had an accident in turn two on lap 28.

This caution brought the entire field to pit lane except for Bryan Herta. Kanaan came out ahead of Franchitti and the Andretti Green Racing cars were 1-2-3. Kanaan and Franchitti quickly swept ahead of Herta as Herta quickly fell down the order on worn tires. However, Herta would settle into fifth despite the older tires.

Twenty-four laps into the stint, Kanaan caught the end of the field and started lapping cars. Herta came in on lap 64. Tten laps later, Herta pulled into the pit lane after a suspension failure that took him out of the race. The lapped car of Jimmy Kite shook up the middle of the top ten, balking Dan Wheldon and allowing Scheckter and Ryan Briscoe through.

Green flag pit stops began around lap 90. Before they stopped, Kanaan and Franchitti were side-by-side for the lead. Kanaan held the lead into the pit lane. Franchitti came in the next lap. Kanaan maintained the lead after the pit cycle. Wheldon dropped out of the race during this pit cycle with a suspension failure like Herta.

Andretti Green's day took a turn for the worse on lap 117 when Kanaan's right front suspension failed entering turn one and Kanaan slid into Darren Manning, who was collateral damage in the incident. Kanaan had led 75 of the first 116 laps. Franchitti inherited the lead after Kanaan's retirement, and he was the final Andretti car running, but he felt he had a tire puncture under this caution. 

Everyone but Patrick stopped under this caution. She had last stopped on lap 91. On the restart, Franchitti took the lead on the inside of turn three. A caution quickly came out after Franchitti took the lead for debris after Ryan Briscoe brushed the wall exiting turn four and cutting down a tire. 

Alex Barron, Patrick Carpentier and Buddy Rice came in under this caution with 66 laps remaining and put these drivers on the cusp of making it to the finish. Rice dropped out after his half shaft broke on the pit stop. 

Franchitti maintained the lead and Hornish, Jr. would take a few laps to get pass Patrick for second. Hornish, Jr. slowly closed in on Franchitti with Patrick remaining close behind. Franchitti was saving fuel with rain closing in on the circuit. 

With 40 laps to go, Scheckter lost an engine and pulled off the circuit, bringing out a caution. It allowed the leaders to pit for their final stops. Franchitti got out ahead of Meira, Hélio Castroneves and Hornish, Jr., who had a slow stop getting the fuel hose removed. Patrick lost many spots on this stop as she took tires while the rest did not stopped. 

Barron and Carpentier were first and second as they stayed out. Each had stopped on lap 134, and both were hoping to stretch their fuel to the finish. The race restarted with 32 laps to go and Carpentier took the lead into turn one. Hornish, Jr. lost a number of spots on the restart. Franchitti closed in on the Cheever Racing drivers in third. Franchitti made a look to the outside of Barron in turn one but had to settle into line. Patrick was on fresh tires but she had to pick through lapped cars and was not making up many positions. 

On lap 176, Franchitti got ahead of Barron on the outside of turn one. Later that lap, in the middle of turn three, Meira made a look to the inside of Barron but Meira clipped Barron and both cars were taken out of the race. Under the caution, Kosuke Matsuura had an accident end his night. This extended the caution.

The race restarted with nine laps to go and Carpentier ahead of Franchitti, Scott Sharp, Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Lazier, Hornish, Jr. and Patrick. Franchitti made the run to the outside of Carpentier in turn one. The two cars ran side-by-side through the first two turns and into turn one, but Carpentier held on. Franchitti was able to keep Sharp behind him.

Two laps later, Franchitti made a move to the inside of Carpentier into turn three and took the lead coming to six laps to go. Hornish, Jr. went on a run from seventh to third in the first three laps after the restart. Franchitti was able to pull away and take the victory while Hornish, Jr. would pass Carpentier for second into turn three on the penultimate lap with the Canadian settling for third. 

Signs of the times:

More Doug Boles, Panther Racing co-owner! Look at him in that firesuit. M'm! M'm! No wonder Beth married him.

This was the buzzcut Dario Franchitti-era. Good look. 

All three retired Andretti Green drivers were cheering Franchitti on from the pit area. The broadcast even tried to sneak in a shot of them cheering as Franchitti took the lead. It was a bit much. Andretti Green from 2003 to 2007 might be the best team atmosphere in motorsports history.

Broadcasting Gems :

Those pit stops under the Kanaan caution were not shown live! Not even in a two-box break. 

They were able to get interviews for the top three finishers into the broadcast before getting to the Great Outdoor Games. 

The firework show post-race was rather impressive. 

Thoughts After These Three Races?

In these three races, it was pretty processional. Even fresh tires were not some great advantage.

It was an edge on restarts, and could get you two or three spots quickly, but it wasn't something where you could go from eighth to first in 15 laps. The 2005 race was the best example of that. Herta stayed out and only fell to fifth. The Cheever cars held off Franchitti mostly, but no one else was pressuring them. Simultaneously, Patrick was the one car in the top nine on fresh tires at one point and made no ground.

Track position is most crucial. 

All the action happened around the start and restarts. In those first ten laps, there could be some moves, but it mostly petered out after that. There might be a move if a driver ran slightly wide or caught lapped traffic at the wrong time, but there was barely any circumstances of 35 laps into a run someone getting a draft on someone into turn one or turn three and making a slingshot move. 

There were a few occasions where drivers were side-by-side through the turns but that was rare. Nashville didn't race like Texas, Kansas or Chicagoland. Cars wouldn't by two abreast for five laps consecutively. Someone would back out at corner entry because the high lane was not dependable. There was no certainty a driver would have the grip to make it through. About 90% of the time, if a car was running high, they had to baby it to avoid getting caught in the marbles. 

Considering the concerns with tire wear, and with reports from testing that there were tire failures, I don't think the outside lane will be there because of marbles. Concrete does not rubber up like asphalt. As we see when NASCAR runs at Dover, Bristol and Nashville, rubber gets picked up under caution. The line disappears. NASCAR is able to re-develop a high lane, but IndyCar can barely establish a second lane at most asphalt tracks. It hasn't run on a concrete oval since Nashville 2008. 

There are many unanswered questions ahead of this race and those are only increasing with the introduction of the hybrid system. This Nashville visit will be a difficult weekend for everyone, and it doesn't help that it will also be the season finale.

A Look Back: IndyCar at Nashville Superspeedway - Part One

At the very beginning of 2024, little did anyone suspect IndyCar would be racing at Nashville Superspeedway this year. After three years of racing downtown across the Cumberland River and around the grounds of Nissan Stadium, IndyCar's event in Tennessee's capital is moving to a familiar place.

Though there were plans for a new course that would take the series onto Broadway, the most notable street in Nashville, conflicts with the Tennessee Titans schedule and the construction of a new stadium on the property forced IndyCar out of the city and about 45 minutes southeast to a 1.333-mile concrete oval that last hosted the series 16 years ago. 

For eight seasons, Nashville Superspeedway hosted the Indy Racing League, joining the series in its infancy as it struggled to find footing and tracks to race on. Opened in 2001, Nashville Superspeedway was a new track primed to host a new series in an area of the country that had never hosted IndyCar before. 

It was a tumultuous time in American open-wheel racing, and Nashville became a new outpost for racing. While the market was untapped, it emerged when competition was scattered and technical sophistication was at an all-time low. 

Nashville Superspeedway returns at a choppy time for IndyCar. The series has remained unified, it was last on the schedule during the first season after reunification. There are now multiple engine manufacturers, but the series has been searching for a third for over a decade. There are 27 full-time cars, one of the largest full-time grids in series history. Driver salaries are higher than they have been in recent years. Hybrid technology has been introduced. Yet, IndyCar remains struggling for a position on the sports landscape with an audience that is no larger than when it last visited Lebanon, Tennessee in 2008. The only reason why IndyCar is racing at Nashville Superspeedway is because a street race failed to maintain a spot in the series as the infrastructure downtown changed.

This return has been celebrated, as it is another oval track added to the schedule. Nashville Superspeedway became the fifth oval track on the 2024 schedule and the seventh race, the most oval races in a single season since 2011. However, memories from my youth are not fond of Nashville Superspeedway. It was not a track that I recall being wildly celebrated. Passing was not in an abundance during the series first visit to the location. It also didn't quite become a mainstay, a true event, though crowds may have been acceptable. 

As I have done previously when IndyCar has returned to a circuit after a long absence, I went back and watched every Nashville race from the first stint at the facility. This is a chance to assess how those races were, what went right, how they were received and prepared for what we may see in 2024 while also acknowledging things are much different than they were when IndyCar was last there. What occurred two decades or so ago might not repeat but it is the measuring stick for what comes next. 

With IndyCar in the midsts of its Olympic break, we will spread out the eight Nashville races into three parts, which can actually be broke up nicely into three acts of IndyCar's time at the track. 

This first part will cover the first two Nashville Superspeedway races held in 2001 and 2002. 

2001

Concrete was still unknown in IndyCar racing. While Dover had hosted a pair of races a few seasons earlier, the series was a concern going into the race. Though high tire wear was expected, there was an anticipation that passing would be difficult. There was a sold-out crowd on hand with additional grandstand brought in and standing room tickets sold.

Greg Ray started on pole position but he was not comfortable with his car going into the race. Buddy Lazier made up four spots in first five laps and he passed Ray into turn three on lap seven. Ray lost another spot to Sam Hornish, Jr. on the front straightaway.

Hornish, Jr. took the lead into turn three on lap 20 as Lazier was balked behind some traffic. An early caution for debris had some drivers stop early while the leaders remained on track.

Jaques Lazier was making moves and used the high line to work his way into fourth around Eddie Cheever. Ray had fallen a lap down on lap 43 despite starting on pole position. Within the first 50 laps, Hornish, Jr. had lapped up to 12th. 

Hornish, Jr. was chopped trying to lap Al Unser, Jr. and this forced Hornish, Jr. to walk up the racetrack. He kept the car out of the wall, but it allowed Buddy Lazier to re-take the lead. A caution came out five laps later, which brought the leaders to the pit lane and a better pit stop put Hornish, Jr. back into first. 

For the most part, cars remained to the lower lane and only got off the bottom when it came time to pass a back-marker. Hornish, Jr. opened up a sizable lead over Lazier before a caution for Jeff Ward losing an engine. 

The Lazier brothers went wheel-to-wheel for a lap with Jaques attempting to use the outside, but Buddy was able to hold onto second. 

Cheever and Ray got together in turn two as Cheever was trying to get around the lapped car of Ray on the outside. Donnie Beechler spun attempting to avoid the accident, but he clipped Unser, Jr. Behind the incident, Mark Dismore was run over slowing down for the accident. Airton Daré did not slow sufficiently and hit the back of Dismore, taking the Brazilian's front wheels off the ground, but fortunately the car did not get airborne or into the catchfence. 

Cheever took sole responsibility for the accident and said Ray had nowhere to go on the bottom of the track. Daré said he hit the brakes but the car did not slow down.

Four of the top ten was taken out in this accident, and only 13 cars remained running out of 21 starters.

Pit stops were missed on the broadcast under caution. Hornish, Jr. lost the lead after a slow pit stop due to a wheel nut issue. This dropped him to sixth. Eliseo Salazar inherited the lead after staying out though Salazar would need to stop soon. 

Salazar made his pit stop just prior to the restart with 80 laps remaining. Buddy Lazier took the lead. Three laps into the run, Billy Boat made an ambitious move into turn one on the inside of Lazier and took the lead. Jaques Lazier dropped to fifth after unsuccessfully making a move to the inside of Scott Sharp, which slowed him and allowed Hornish, Jr. to make a run on the front straightaway. 

Boat and Lazier remained close over the stint as they started to negotiate slower traffic. With help of traffic, Lazier used Felipe Giaffone as a pick into turn three and re-took the lead. Hornish, Jr. was able to get up to third, but in the final 50 laps, he started to experience engine issues and started losing time, about 10 mph per lap. He would soon fall to fifth.

Lazier opened up a 2.2-second lead as the final pit stop window was open. Lazier and Boat made their final stop on lap 173. Both drivers had smooth stops and held their positions. There were no issues through the pit cycle and Lazier reassumed the lead with 24 laps to go. Jaques Lazier and Robby McGehee took fuel-only on their final stops in hopes of saving time. 

Buddy Lazier ran unchallenged to the checkered flag, winning by over ten seconds to Boat, the only two cars on the lead lap. Lazier backed it off in the final laps, notably after his brother Jaques took some air off Buddy's front wing when Buddy attempted to lap his brother. Coincidentally, Jaques Lazier had an accident in turn two on the final lap! 

Signs of the times:

Buddy Lazier had Tae-Bo as his sponsor. Robby McGehee picked up Pringles as an associate sponsor prior to this race. Al Unser, Jr. was sponsored by Starz. Didier André had Playstation 2 as his sponsor. 

Broadcasting Gems :

The ESPN broadcast mentioned the next race at Kentucky on ABC on lap ten. I know we want each race promoted, but lap ten seems early to mention the next race. Let's get into this one! If you thought that was early, another graphic came up promoting the Kentucky race on lap 67 and on lap 87. It should also be noted there were three weeks between Nashville and Kentucky. Nashville was the ninth of 13 races. There was more time out of sight, which meant more time out of mind. 

Vince Welch was the only pit reporter as Jake Artue had laryngitis.

2002

Airton Daré entered as the most recent winner in IndyCar after he won at Kansas and Buddy Lazier was entering Nashville not only as the defending winner of this race, but fresh off an IROC victory at Chicagoland.

Billy Boat was on pole position as 20 of the 22 starters qualified faster than the pole position speed from the year before. Boat settled into the lead early with Hélio Castroneves and Sam Hornish, Jr. holding the top three spots as they had started. Hornish, Jr. took second on lap seven after making a run on the outside into turn three. Hornish, Jr. then set his sights on Boat, and two laps later he was looking to take the lead on the outside of turn one but pulled out of it.

Hornish, Jr. took another look on the inside of Boat into turn three and Hornish, Jr. swept through to the point on lap 13. 

It was not a good race for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Sarah Fisher suffered an engine failure on lap 19. Five laps later, Robbie Buhl lost his engine and brought out a caution. 

All but two cars stopped under that caution. Debutant Tony Renna, who was substituting for Al Unser, Jr., led ahead of Eliseo Salazar with Hornish, Jr. in third. Salazar had to share his pit crew with Daré during the race because A.J. Foyt Racing only had enough pit crew members for two cars and it was a three-car team with Greg Ray as its other driver. 

Salazar held up Hornish, Jr. as Renna pulled away. Tomas Scheckter ran wide exiting turn four and lost significant ground. Hornish, Jr. fell behind Castroneves on lap 42 while Boat and Gil de Ferran rounded out the top five. De Ferran would soon be up to fourth with a move on the inside of Boat into turn three.

Greg Ray got into the wall exiting turn four just prior to Renna making his first pit stop. On the same lap, Raul Boesel had also brushed the wall. Nearly the entire field came in for pit stops under this caution. Castroneves and Hornish, Jr. were the first out ahead of Renna, but Renna spun exiting pit lane and lost three laps. 

Eddie Cheever and Alex Barron stayed out under the second caution. Between Cheever and Barron was the lapped car of Salazar. Again, Salazar backed up the field and Castroneves lost spots as the field stacked up with Hornish, Jr. and de Ferran making their way by. Barron also fell down the order. 

Once clear of Salazar, Hornish, Jr. and de Ferran took no time overtaking Cheever. Castroneves continued to struggle in traffic and could not get ahead of Barron. A caution for debris brought Cheever and Barron to pit lane. 

This ended up being a rather choppy race. There were eight total cautions, five in the final 90 laps. Cheever did not stop under the caution for Salazar getting into the wall in turn two. 

Castroneves was trying to get ahead of Cheever, but he lost momentum, allowing Daré to swing through for second and Daré took the lead immediately exiting turn four. Cheever dropped like a rock on the worn tires. Hornish, Jr. would soon get second from Castroneves.

Hornish, Jr. made a move on the inside of Daré into turn three for the lead. Hornish, Jr. got the position, but Daré was forced slightly out of the bottom lane and Daré walked up the racetrack into the wall, making it a hat-trick of accidents for A.J. Foyt Racing. Cheever made a pit stop, as did de Ferran under this caution.

Castroneves had some concern as his tire pressure was going down on the right rear and he was forced to make an early stop, though he was in the window to make it to the end of the race. The Brazilian did have a slight puncture. 

With 30 laps remaining, Tomas Scheckter got into the marbles trying to pass the lapped car of his teammate/team owner Eddie Cheever in turn two. Scheckter was in the wall and Billy Boat also walked up the track and got into the wall at the same spot. As the caution came out, George Mack did not slow down quick enough and hit the left rear tire of Hornish, Jr., puncturing the leader's tire and damaging his sidepod. Hornish, Jr. was able to limp around under caution.

Scott Sharp, Richie Hearn and Barron did not stop under this caution, and they led as the race restarted with 22 laps remaining. Sharp said he was good on fuel to the finish. A number of drivers walked up the track in turn one on that restart as Hornish, Jr. and de Ferran tried to carve through lapped traffic to get back to the front. 

Buddy Lazier would get into the wall on lap 182 after being caught on the outside when Felipe Giaffone went underneath him into turn two. 

With 11 laps remaining, Sharp and Barron restart first and second. Barron took the lead on the inside of Sharp into turn three. Sharp fell back with de Ferran and Hornish, Jr. breathing down his neck. Barron opened up a 1.5-second lead. 

Jeff Ward spun with six laps remaining exiting turn four, but Ward suffered no damage. Ward was quickly restarted, and a restart would occur with two laps remaining. De Ferran dove up the inside of Sharp for second into turn one. Barron was able to hold off de Ferran and take an upset victory for him and Blair Racing. It was Barron's first career victory. 

Signs of the times:

This isn't a fun one. Al Unser, Jr. was out of this race due to an arrest for domestic abuse and he checked into a rehabilitation center for substance abuse. Unser, Jr. has been public about his struggles with sobriety over the course of his life and this was a low period for him. 

What didn't sit well listening to this 22 years later is Paul Page paraphrasing the IRL's statement that it was "an outside problem" and "not something they would deal with." Though Page mentions Kelley Racing supported Unser, Jr., I would hope in 2024 IndyCar would step in and help a driver who was experiencing substance abuse issues. 

I don't believe motorsports in general has done a great job supporting those with substance problems. There is the understandable anger about a driver potentially racing under the influence and putting the life of that individual and fellow competitors at risk, but it is too common that a driver is outcasted. I would hope a driver undergoing treatment would have the support of the series and contemporaries through such a difficult time and not be isolated on the road to recovery alone. 

Lighter signs of the times:

I completely forgot Raul Boesel ran for Bradley Motorsports. My last memory of Boesel in American open-wheel racing was his front row start in the Indianapolis 500 earlier in 2002. I had no recollection of him running seven races for the Calkins’ family-owned team. 

This was Bradley Motorsports’ final season in IndyCar, and it’s only season with Buzz Calkins not as its driver. Shigeaki Hattori had run six of the first seven races. The team missed the season opener and did not run at Richmond prior to Boesel joined the outfit at Kansas. Boesel was fifth in this race, his 30th and final top five finish in IndyCar competition, still the most in a career without a victory. 

Broadcasting Gem:

Sarah Fisher mentioned in her interview after she retired from the race that the Infiniti Pro Series tire rubber held with track conditions. Something we should keep in mind for this year's race with Indy Lights before the IndyCar finale.

The pit stops under the first caution were not shown. There was a pit reporter on Sam Hornish, Jr.'s stop, but there were two pieces aired about the drivers racing at night, so that was something. Later in the race, another piece ran asking drivers who was their favorite country musician.

There was a rush to get to Baseball Tonight, so Alex Barron was interviewed with his helmet on as he pulled onto pit lane. 

Thoughts After These Two Races?

About a lane-and-a-half opened up for racing, and any passes that did occur were moves into the corners, usually after the car in front lost momentum. 

Other than the lap the Lazier brothers ran side-by-side, we didn't see constant side-by-side action. This didn't run like Texas, Chicagoland or Kansas where two cars could spend three to five laps wheel-to-wheel. Passes were in and out. They were not drawn out. 

For all the talk about tire wear and the worn surface, it didn't play a role in this race. Nobody seemed to lose spots due to tire wear. We saw Eddie Cheever in the 2002 race get shuffled back but he was on significantly older tires while the rest of the field had just made pit stops. Airton Daré was nearing cords after he changed tires in the middle of the race. 

We must remember these two races were each over 22 years ago. What Firestone was doing in 2002 is much different than in 2024. The cars are different. We have hybrid systems now! The right combination can be found that forces the drivers to watch their tires while also allowing them to run together and hold two lines in the corners. 

The concern is Firestone has had one test at this circuit in the buildup to the race. It struggled to bring a tire suitable for good racing at Iowa as the introduction of the hybrid has been a challenge for all those involved. 

Concrete is still an unusual surface to race on for IndyCar. We have seen IndyCar struggle to run on some ovals where it does not lend to two lanes in the corner. Iowa was crushingly bad a few weeks ago. Gateway comes to mind. Moves happen into turn one and that is it. Maybe someone tries one into ten three, but that is rare. It wasn't that long ago IndyCar had nothing but single-file racing at Phoenix. 

If there is any hope, we see tire wear on the level of Iowa prior to this year's re-pave while the cars could run side-by-side somewhat like Texas prior to when the surface was ruined with all the PJ1 traction compound laid down from NASCAR. 

There are six more past Nashville races to watch. We could see an evolution in how the track was raced over those years. 

Musings From the Weekend: An Olympic Break

Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...

The Formula One world nearly imploded over team orders. Again. Max Verstappen did his best to steal the attention from the weekend. Red Bull could be making a driver change after the summer break. NASCAR got its Hollywood-scripted return of the Brickyard 400, though there was a messy overtime. We need to talk about the overtime rules. We have time for that and can do it in a few weeks. Colton Herta got Andretti Global on the scoreboard with a victory just prior to IndyCar’s Olympic break, and the Olympic break is what we should talk about. 

An Olympic Break

I have a calendar with the events for a large number of series. Each series is color coded. This past weekend was rather full. 

IndyCar. NASCAR. Formula One. GT World Challenge America. GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup. World Superbike was competing. Supercars was in action as was Super Formula. The World Rally Championship had a round. Oh! And Formula E concluded its season. It was a busy weekend with races all hours of the day and night. 

Which is what makes the following weekend so notable. What does that look like?

Formula One. GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup.

That's it. That's the list. 

What about the weekend after that?

IMSA. MotoGP. Super GT. WRC's Rally Finland. 

Ok. That is more but that isn't close to what we just saw this past weekend. 

What about the weekend after that one? 

NASCAR from Richmond. World Superbike from Portimão.

There is only one explanation for this three-week dry spell. 

The Olympics. 

Though motorsports is not represented in the games, the Olympics dominates the sports world even if you think it doesn't. 

It is a viewership behemoth. Every country is tuning in. Some are more enthused about it than others (United States, Great Britain, Jamaica, France). A few are disinterested (Russia, Belarus, somehow also France). Either way, the world is watching, and the Olympics gives people a reason to watch. 

There is stuff on all day. From 9:00 a.m. Paris time to nearly midnight Paris time. Fifteen hours of competition. It is friendly to every corner of the global. 

For those on the United States' Eastern Seaboard, you might miss some of the early events, but if you are up at sunrise you will see about 12 hours of action. The West Coast will have a little less time, but really about nine hours to keep the kids occupied as the summer break cannot end soon enough.

Across the Pacific, many of the events will take place in the evening and throughout the night. Those getting home from work at 5:00 p.m. in Tokyo will have something on until they crash on the couch. If they wake up in the middle of the night, they can catch the final events of the night before rolling over and getting another two or three hours of shut-eye before having to get started for their day. Australia has a similar schedule with this year's Olympics.

It is basically three weeks of around the clock sports, from the familiar team sports of basketball and soccer to the obscure that you didn't realize were in the games (break dancing, ladies and gentlemen)! It is tough to compete against. It is probably best to get out of the way. 

You might not like to hear that as a motorsports fan, but who is watching? The 21st century has allowed the Olympics to take over. This isn't the days of Jim McKay and ABC’s Wide World of Sports. This isn't a day worth of competition squeezed into a two-hour primetime broadcast. Everything can be seen live. The Olympics are a full court press of sports. NBC, USA, E!, CNBC, they are all showing sports and then Peacock is showing even more. More than you can fathom. It is an overload. 

If you get someone hooked on volleyball, they will have a place to find it. Then there are the tentpole sports, swimming, track and field, and gymnastics. Those always get an audience. Good luck trying to go against those. 

Motorsports might have a fanbase, but none of them are going to draw a causal viewer at this time. The ratings will take a hit. It makes more sense to let the party happen, join the party in fact, and return when the dancing is over. 

It isn't a negative. It is good to get a break from racing for a little bit. The summer is more than racing. Getting two or three weeks to do something else can be valuable time. There is so many other wonderful things to do, some of which may include watching a sport you didn't know existed until two days before. 

In the United States, these breaks are largely led from television. NBC shows IndyCar and NASCAR. NBC is quite busy. Unless IndyCar and NASCAR want a 9:00 p.m. CNBC window or, if they are willing to have a Peacock exclusive race, they aren't going to get a prime window for a race during the Olympics. There is not enough bandwidth for an event that isn't tied to the large event. If there isn't a gold medal on the line and giving a small nation a global wave of support for an underdog, it is going to be hard to capture the hearts and minds of the average viewer.

You might be celebrating each series new television deals, as those partners are not necessarily going to clear the way for the Olympics, but don't celebrate so soon. For starters, IndyCar might be signing a new television before the start of the 2028 season. There is a chance come 2028 we could be in this situation all over again and IndyCar will be taking a few weeks off during the summer. But don't forget where the 2028 Olympics will be held.

Do you think it would be smart to compete against a Summer Olympics in Los Angeles? The games will be in the United States' backyard, and everybody will be consumed in it. There isn't going to be a narrow window for a race to get in. Unless you are willing to be completely buried and forgotten against the first Summer Olympics held in the United States in 32 years, it might be best to schedule the final three weekends in July off now and start planning your vacations accordingly. 

There is nothing wrong with accepting your place in the pecking order. The motorsports world seems to know it is best to sit this one out. Considering the number of series that are off, maybe we could have some form of motorsports represented in the Olympics. It will have to wait. The sports for 2028 have already been settled. Enjoy flag football, cricket, lacrosse and squash. 

There is always 2032 in Brisbane. I hear they used to race on the streets of the Gold Coast.

Champion from the Weekend

Pascal Wehrlein clinched the Formula E championship with finishes of first and second in London. Oliver Rowland won the second race. 

Winner From the Weekend

You know about Colton Herta and the Formula E finale, but did you know...

Kyle Larson won the Brickyard 400, his fourth victory of the season. Riley Herbst won the NASCAR Grand National Series race from Indianapolis. Ty Majeski won the Truck race from Indianapolis Raceway Park. 

Oscar Piastri won the Hungarian Grand Prix, his first career victory. 

Kush Maini (sprint) and Andrea Kimi Antonelli (feature) split the Formula Two races from the Hungaroring. Maini was awarded the sprint victory after Richard Verschoor was disqualified for rear plank being worn beyond regulation. Nikita Bedrin (sprint) and Nikola Tsolov (feature) split the Formula Three races.

Simon Sikes and Lochie Hughes split the USF Pro 2000 races from Toronto. Sam Corry and Evagaros Papasavvas split the U.S. F2000 races. 

The #63 DXDT Racing Corvette of Tommy Milner and Alec Udel and the #91 Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG of Jeff Burton and Philip Ellis split the GT World Challenge America races from Virginia International Raceway. The #28 RennSport1 - CBW Racing Porsche of John Capestro-Dubets and Eric Filgueiras swept the GT4 America races. Justin Rothberg and Johnny O’Connell split the GT America races.

The #48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG of Lucas Auer and Mario Engel and the #14 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari of Ben Green and Konsta Lappalainen split the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup races from the Hockenheimring.

Toprak Razgatlioglu swept the World Superbike races from Most, and Razgatlioglu has won ten consecutive races. Adrián Huertas swept the World Supersport races, and Huertas has won six consecutive races. 

Chaz Mostert swept the Supercars races from Sydney Motorsports Park.

Sho Tsuboi won the Super Formula race from Fuji.

Kalle Rovanperä won Rally Latvia.

Coming Up This Weekend

The Belgian Grand Prix.

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup from the Nürburgring.

First Impressions: Toronto 2024

1. It wasn’t the prettiest race in the world, but for Colton Herta, it was finally a result that reflected the speed he and the Andretti Global organization has shown this season. With the cautions early, it protected Herta and those running long on the opening stint on the two-stop strategy. Combined with the circuit, as long as Herta and company were faultless, this was their race to lose. It would require someone beating him, and nobody could on this day. 

Andretti Global should have scored a victory by now. Herta likely should have won Detroit. One slightly slow pit stop cost him at Iowa. An argument could be made he could have won Long Beach as well. Considering Herta had finished outside the top ten in his last three starts from pole position, he was more than due for a good result let alone a victory. He ended up on top, and the outside chance of a championship remains alive.

2. Colton Herta won and Kyle Kirkwood made it an Andretti Global 1-2 finish. These two led the field the entire race. If qualifying had green slightly different, it could have been Kirkwood leading 81 of 85 laps and taking the victory. This has been quietly a good season for Kirkwood. He hasn’t made a mistake. His worst finish was because he spun to avoid Alexander Rossi spinning and Sting Ray Robb flying through the air. Kirkwood could have arguably won at Detroit as well. This has been a much better season for Andretti Global, and though it only has one victory, it is likely the third-best team this year, though still significantly behind the top two.

3. Speaking of the top two, Chip Ganassi Racing had one of its worst qualifying performances in recent memory this weekend. Scott Dixon turned that around from 15th starting position, the first time Dixon failed to start in the top ten at Toronto in 18 appearances, and he finished third in a race where it felt natural to see him make up 12 positions. 

This has been a good season for Dixon, but he has had a few too many bad results. There is work to do to win the championship. It isn’t inconceivable for Dixon to go on a run, he won three of the final four races last year, but he will likely need to be better than that to even have a prayer at the 2024 title.

4. Scott Dixon’s problem, and really the problem for the entire field, is Álex Palou ended finishing fourth as a dozen cars did not see the checkered flag today, and another two cars threw away positions late when they were ahead of Palou. With how this race was going, Palou was going to finish in the top ten, the damage would not have been bad. He would not have finished fourth though, and today went from slowing the bleeding to extending his advantage. That is becoming Palou’s signature move and the field does not know how to counter it. 

5. Marcus Armstrong made it three Chip Ganassi Racing cars in the top five. Again, a little more survival than anything else. He made up four spots in the final 13 laps alone, of which only one was a legitimate pass on track and not because a Team Penske car was put in the wall by another Team Penske car, which than have to serve a penalty while another Team Penske blew a turn on worn tires. Good day for Armstrong. Not a good day for Team Penske. More on them later. Armstrong might have finished in the top ten without all the chaos. He wouldn’t have finished fifth though. 

6. David Malukas got sixth but he was struggling over the middle of this race. For a good while this looked like another good starting position bound for a 13th-place finish. However, Malukas missed the mayhem and he got sixth, exactly where he started, but this day was nowhere as near boring as the box score will suggest. 

7. It wasn’t a race victory for Christian Lundgaard, but Lundgaard made it seven Hondas in the top seven positions. This finish was going to be just on the outside of the top ten if it wasn’t for the accidents late. It must be a bittersweet feeling to go from dominating this race last year for your first career victory to not being a factor today. What looked to be a launching pad for more with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is a distant memory. Lundgaard will be with Arrow McLaren next year, exhausted after expelling so much effort at RLLR.

8. Rinus VeeKay’s top ten streak remains alive as he ended up eighth. Not much to promote for VeeKay. He missed the chaos and was eighth, which is funny because of the two drivers that finished behind him. If you keep your nose clean on days like these, a good result will come your way. It doesn’t make up for running 15th most of the race, but there is nothing wrong with robbery in this case. 

9. In ninth was Romain Grosjean. This was a little bit of a missed opportunity after Grosjean started fifth. The expectations cannot be more than a top ten finish for the likes of Grosjean and Juncos Hollinger Racing. It doesn’t have the resources to expect to go from fifth to first. He lost three spots on the first pit cycle. When you are running sixth, that is pushing into the clutches of a disappointing day. This group got a break, though it is hard to celebrate merely surviving.

10. Graham Rahal caught a break to finish in the top ten today as all three Team Penske cars tripped over one another or themselves in the closing laps. Rahal had nothing to lose taking tires late as only 12 cars were running on the lead lap. The tires didn’t get him the top ten finish, but he will take it however it comes. 

It should be noted VeeKay, Grosjean and Rahal entered this weekend tied on 177 points and these three occupied eighth, ninth and tenth last week in the second Iowa race. They took eighth, ninth and tenth again this week. 

11. Team Penske had two cars in the top five and three cars in the top seven with ten laps to go. Team Penske ended with zero cars in the top ten. The early issue was Josef Newgarden was setback with a botched final pit stop. Newgarden lost a lot of time and was stuck on used primary tires for that stint. He was skating in those closing laps and was vulnerable with those late restarts. Then he put on used alternate tires. 

Will Power punched Scott McLaughlin into the turn five wall with nine laps to go. McLaughlin was done and Power was penalized. Newgarden blew a corner making an ambitious attempt at a pass late to get something more out of this race. That didn’t work out. Newgarden took 11th, Power was 12th and McLaughlin got 16th. For a team that has arguably been the best this season, it has more unforced errors than most teams on the grid. 

This has surely been an unforgettable season for all the wrong reasons at Team Penske. 

12. We should honor the other three drivers that finished this race because only 15 guys saw the checkered flag. Linus Lundqvist and Théo Pourchaire had a moment together in turn three that cost each other time and trapped them a lap down. This was a better day than either actually ran. Pourchaire was behind as a late substitute for Alexander Rossi. It could have been worse. 

Toby Sowery had a nice save in turn eight that he can put on the highlight reel. He also caught a piece in the lap 73 accident that brought out a red flag. We will touch upon that in a moment. Sowery wasn’t going to finish in the top 20 without all the issues ahead of him. He gets a 15th-place finish to brag about. 

16. The pivotal accident was on lap 73. Patricio O’Ward spun in turn one, hoping to hold off Álex Palou. O’Ward’s car left no room for Marcus Ericsson, who parked into the side of O’Ward. Both were fine but in a precarious position. Sadly, the field didn’t get the memo of stopped cars in turn one. Pietro Fittipaldi clipped O’Ward’s front wing then Santino Ferrucci came flying in and launched over O’Ward’s car. Ferrucci flipped, grazing into the catchfence before landing on his side. Nolan Siegel had nowhere to go but be collected in the accident. Sowery had Siegel slide into his path. 

Fortunately, all drivers walked away. Sowery was able to continue. 

O’Ward spun late in the race on old tires. It happens. Ericsson was caught in a bad spot. The disappointing thing is the next three cars all had time to slow and none of them did. Things happen quick, but they had a moment to lift. I know there are the lights on the steering wheel for full-course cautions, but if IndyCar is going to hold cautions because the cars can restart on their own with the hybrid system, then there might need to be a local yellow light, something to alert a driver to slow down. 

With an incident like we saw with O’Ward, there should be a way a driver is alerted and must lay off the throttle. Just have them roll through the trouble area. O’Ward was parked at a point where drivers are returning to the throttle on corner exit. That is a point where a car rolling through the corner off the throttle would be more likely to avoid the stationary car.

If IndyCar wants to hold cautions, introduce a Virtual Safety Car system. O’Ward could spin and then a Virtual Safety Car could be called. Everyone would lift and slow down. If O’Ward were to restart his car and continue then there could be a countdown and the race could resume at full throttle after a 30-second pause. No need for a safety car. No need for bunching the field. If he couldn’t restart, then it becomes a full-course yellow. This is something IndyCar must investigate. It is already about six years behind on VSC. The technology is there. It is time to adopt it. 

Another concerns is the lack of marshals as flagman at these races. Compare Formula One to IndyCar. There are plenty of flagmen at every Formula One race. IndyCar lacks in some areas. It is better than NASCAR on a road course, but on a street course like this, with the number of blind corners, you cannot skimp on flagmen. I don’t know how you get more. These are volunteers. Unless the series is paying, it is hard to find people willing to sacrifice their weekends. 

It is just another area where IndyCar can improve. Will it be willing to pay for such improvements?

17. This lap 73 restart was set up when Kyffin Simpson hit the way in turn eight only four laps prior. Tough track, first time on the circuit for Simpson, many drivers get into that wall. It happens, rookie.

18. Felix Rosenqvist has an hybrid issue end his race. Rosenqvist had already lost many positions after a long second pit stop and then going off into the turn three runoff after a battle with Marcus Ericsson. Too many times does Rosenqvist have a top five starting spot end in a race where he wasn’t close to a top five finish. The hybrid issue isn’t on him, but the dominos had already fallen against him and he was going to be clinging to a top ten result. Meyer Shank Racing is much more competitive this season. That is for certain, but it must start scoring results that match the qualifying pace. 

19. Hunter McElrea, Sting Ray Robb, Agustín Canapino and Christian Rasmussen were early retirements. Canapino lost out running side-by-side with Scott Dixon into turn four. Canapino was in a lose-lose position and backing out would have been wise. Rasmussen was caught on the outside of turn one on the opening lap and was checked into the barrier. 

Outside of the first five laps and the final 15 laps, it was actually a pretty clean race. 

20. At least this wasn’t boring. After the last three races where the big complaint was the lack of anything interesting happening, we almost made up for it today. These type of street races happen. I would say we had two of them this season. Last year, St. Petersburg was messy. Toronto is an old street course. It is tight and rough. There is no margin for error. It is bound to happen once in a while. 

21. Toronto needs a double-sided pit lane like Detroit. This pit lane had been an abomination for closing in on a decade. This should never have been the permanent solution. Move the double-sided pit lane next to BMO Field, on the inside of the track. There is a parking lot there that could work. Move that grandstand to the other side and move the suites to along side the stadium. Move the paddock back out into the parking lot and out of the convention center. It would make the track better. It would open up the final corner and allow more speed into turn one, increasing the likelihood of passing. 

These are changes that are easy on paper and should be easy in practice. IndyCar is outgrowing Toronto. A minor change like this one would be beneficial for a race that could soon been squeezed out of the city. 

22. And now break! Go enjoy the Olympics. We all need some time off until Gateway. 

Morning Warm-Up: Toronto 2024

Colton Herta took his third pole position of the 2024 NTT IndyCar season with a lap of 59.5431 seconds in the final round of qualifying in Toronto, leading a promising qualifying session for the Honda teams. It is the seventh consecutive race Herta will be starting on one of the first two rows. He only has one podium finish during this streak. It has been 40 races since Herta’s most recent victory. His average finishing position when starting on pole position is 8.135, and he has finished outside the top ten his last three times starting on pole position. Herta has finished in the top ten in all three of his Toronto starts, and he has finished on the podium the last two years.

Kyle Kirkwood made it an Andretti Global sweep of the front row, as Kirkwood was 0.1304 seconds off his teammate Herta. This is Andretti’s first front row sweep since the 2023 St. Petersburg season opener. Kirkwood has an average finish of seventh in the three street course races this season. His career average finish on street courses is 11.384 and he has finished 22nd and 15th in his first two Toronto starts.

Felix Rosenqvist makes it three Hondas in the top three positions. Rosenqvist was 0.2821 seconds slower than Herta. This is Rosenqvist’s sixth top five starting position this season. He had started outside the top ten in four of the last six races. Rosenqvist has finished in the top ten in all three of his Toronto starts. The Swede has finished worse than his starting position in four of his five top five starts in 2024. 

Scott McLaughlin is the best Chevrolet starter in fourth. After being disqualified from St. Petersburg, which left McLaughlin with zero points, he has scored only 15 points in street races this season, ranking him 27th out of 32 drivers that have participated in street races. 

Romain Grosjean makes it two Chevrolets in the top five. This matches Grosjean’s best starting position of the season. Grosjean has finished outside the top twenty in four of the last six street races, which includes a 22nd-place finish at Toronto last year.

David Malukas survived causing a local yellow flag in the second round of qualifying to advance to the Fast Six, and Malukas will take sixth starting spot. He has yet to finish in the top ten through four races with Meyer Shank Racing. His only top ten finish in ten street course starts was tenth at St. Petersburg in 2023. Malukas' average finish in street races is 19.1.

Josef Newgarden was 0.019 seconds off making the final round of qualifying and starts seventh. Newgarden is tied for 15th in street course points this season. He has scored only 40 points in the first three street races, 33 of those points came for finishing fourth at Long Beach. Newgarden is tied with Christian Lundgaard and Pietro Fittipaldi. Newgarden has five consecutive top ten finishes at Toronto.

For the second consecutive race, Graham Rahal starts eighth. Rahal was eighth in the second Iowa race last Sunday. He has four top ten finishes in the last five Toronto races. His finishes during this stretch have been ninth, 21st, ninth, fourth and ninth.

Will Power takes ninth on the grid. After his victory last Sunday in Iowa, Power has a shot for consecutive for the first time since 2018 when he won the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the Indianapolis 500. However, Power has only eight top ten finishes in 17 Toronto starts.

Agustín Canapino benefited from a penalty on Álex Palou in the second qualifying group, allowing Canapino to advance to round two. The Argentine matches his career-best start in tenth. He started tenth in the most recent race from Iowa. Canapino has finished outside the top twenty in three consecutive races. the only time he has finished outside the top twenty in four consecutive races was from Long Beach through the Indianapolis 500 last year.

Marcus Ericsson finds himself 11th on the grid. Ericsson has finished in the top ten in five of the last seven street course races. This was only the fourth time Ericsson had made it out of the first round of qualifying this season. This is his seventh time starting outside the top ten in 2024. 

Christian Rasmussen starts 12th. Rasmussen returns for his penultimate start of the 2024 season. His final scheduled start is Portland as Ed Carpenter will run the oval races in the #20 Chevrolet. Rasmussen is currently the third-best rookie on points with 104. He is 52 points behind Linus Lundqvist and 21 points behind Kyffin Simpson. Rasmussen is 25 points ahead of Nolan Siegel in the rookie championship. 

Marcus Armstrong was 0.0258 seconds short of advancing out of group one, and Armstrong will start 13th. He was the top Chip Ganassi Racing qualifier. Armstrong scored his first career podium finish in the most recent street course race when he was third in Detroit. He started 19th in that race. 

Patricio O'Ward ended up 0.1242 seconds off making it out of group two, and the Mexican will start 14th. O’Ward had started in the top ten for four consecutive races and in eight of the first 11 races. O'Ward enters Toronto with seven consecutive top ten finishes. He has 18 top ten finishes in the lsat 21 races.

For the first time in his career, Scott Dixon starts outside the top ten at Toronto. Dixon will start 15th. He had started in the top ten in all 17 visits to Exhibition Place prior to this weekend. Dixon has 11 consecutive top ten finishes at Toronto, and he has finished in the top five in the last four Toronto races.

Defending Toronto winner Christian Lundgaard has more work to do this year, as the Dane occupies 16th on the grid. Lundgaard could become the first driver to win consecutive Toronto races since Scott Dixon swept the 2013 doubleheader weekend. Lundgaard could become the first driver to win at Toronto in consecutive years since Michael Andretti in 2000-01. Michael Andretti is responsible for three of the four times a driver has won consecutive Iowa races. Andretti won at Toronto in 1991-92 and 1994-95.

Santino Ferrucci is in 17th, his fifth time starting outside the top fifteen in the last six races. Ferrucci has finished in the top ten in two of three street course races this season. A.J. Foyt Racing has failed to have a car finish better than 17th in the last three Toronto weekends with an average finish of 21st for a Foyt entry.

After losing his fastest two laps in the first round of qualifying for blocking, Álex Palou will start 18th, his worst starting position of the season and his worst start since 22nd at Toronto in 2022. Prior to finishing 16th at Detroit in June, Palou had six consecutive top five finishes in street races, and 15 consecutive top ten finishes in street races.

Nolan Siegel makes his first Toronto start in 19th. Siegel had improved on his starting position over the previous three races. Two of Siegel's three victories in Indy Lights were on street courses. He won at Detroit in 2023 and at St. Petersburg this year.

Kyffin Simpson makes it an all-rookie row ten in 20th. This is only Simpson’s three start inside the top twenty this season. He started 23rd or worse in his first three street course races this season. Simpson never competed at Toronto in Road to Indy competition.

Toby Sowery makes it three consecutive rookies on the grid with the Dale Coyne Racing driver in 21st. Sowery is back for his second career start after finishing 13th on debut at Mid-Ohio two weeks ago. Sowery has also been confirmed for the Portland race next month in this entry. He was fifth and second in the 2019 Indy Lights race at Exhibition Place. Aaron Telitz and Oliver Askew split the victories that weekend.

Rinus VeeKay has his worst starting position since Barber Motorsports Park, as the Dutchman is in 22nd. VeeKay is coming off consecutive top ten finishes after finishing fifth and ninth at Iowa. It is his first time with consecutive top ten finishes since the opening two races of the 2022 season.

Pietro Fittipaldi is down in 23rd. This is the seventh time this season Fittipaldi is starting outside the top twenty. His best start on a street course this season was 15th at Detroit. Fittipaldi has finished 13th in two of the first three street races this season, at St. Petersburg and Detroit. Thirteenth is his best finish of the season.

Linus Lundqvist is down in 24th, his worst starting position in the last six races. Lundqvist is coming off his second-best finish of the season after he was 12th in the second Iowa race. His best finish on a street course was 13th at Long Beach. He has finished worse than his starting position on the prior two occasions he has started outside the top twenty. 

Hunter McElrea brought out a red flag on his first lap of qualifying, meaning McElrea will start 25th. McElrea makes his IndyCar debut in the #18 Honda for Dale Coyne Racing. The New Zealander becomes the ninth driver to race for Dale Coyne Racing this season, and the sixth debutant to drive for DCR in 2024. He is 92nd driver in DCR history. McElrea has not raced at Toronto since the 2019 U.S. F2000 weekend when he finished third and 13th.

A broken right thumb took Alexander Rossi out of the #7 Chevrolet after Friday practice and Théo Pourchaire returns to Arrow McLaren. Due to the late call-up, and Pourchaire being in France on Friday evening, his only laps in the car were in qualifying, and he will start 26th. Rossi misses a race for the first time in his IndyCar career. The American had made 142 consecutive starts. 

After getting his best career start at Iowa, Sting Ray Robb will start in 27th, dead last for Toronto. Prior to his accident on the final lap of the Sunday race from Iowa, Robb had four consecutive top twenty finishes, the longest top twenty finish streak of his career.

Peacock's coverage of the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto begins at 1:00 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 1:30 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 85 laps.