Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...
Robert Shwartzman stunned us all winning pole position for the Indianapolis 500. Team Penske is in hot water, again. Dale Coyne Racing has a car missing the race, again. People got really sentimentally over what is likely Formula One's last trip to Imola for the foreseeable future. Red Bull hit a milestone. McLaren might have gotten in its own way. Ferrari bounced back from a poor Saturday. It rained in Tokyo. NASCAR held an exhibition race. Rally Portugal was demanding. We all know what this week is, but let's not pretend it is all roses.
I Feel Like Charlie Brown
"I won't let all this commercialism ruin my Christmas," said Charlie Brown as he carried his Christmas tree back home after the others scorn its appearance at the theatre. It might not have been the shiny, aluminum tree others had become accustomed to propping up in their homes, but with a little decorating Charlie Brown's tree had the potential to be beautiful and bring joy to the Christmas season.
I was not happy. It has not a happy period following IndyCar recently, but the negativity did not feel all that necessary.
The age old problems have been there. The gaps in the schedule and lack of races early in the season. Calendar shuffles. Oval race instability. Rating woes. None of it is new. That doesn't mean they are fine, but they are not a surprise. We would love for those to be the opposite of how they are. It felt like we went through a period where everything was turned into a negative.
Nothing was good enough. The races weren't good enough. Firestone wasn't getting the tire compounds right. The hybrid was to blame. That was the source for all the problems. Everything was going down the drain, but if you have been around long enough, it doesn't look worse.
We have seen plenty of races where a pole-sitter gets jump on the field and leads 90% of a race before winning by over ten seconds. That is nothing new. We have seen dozens of those over the years. All the greats have won those kind of races. A.J. Foyt did it. Mario Andretti did it. We could list names all day. Why did it become unacceptable in 2025?
Expectations are not realistic.
We saw Álex Palou overcome a ten-second deficit in seven laps and pass Patricio O'Ward to take the lead and eventual victory at the Thermal Club. That is a kind of drive we rarely see. A race that was a near-certain result was flipped after the final round of pit stops in the closing laps, and Palou completed a magnificent drive that not many others could repeat.
Instead of celebrating Palou, the crowd scorched earth over a race at Thermal Club.
While the Thermal Club event has its flaws and does not match with the socioeconomics of the audience IndyCar draws, it shouldn't completely blind you of the race that took place.
You can believe Thermal is a flawed event and its place on the IndyCar schedule should require the track opening up more to general spectators that are not members of the club for a reasonable price AND recognize that Palou completed a thrilling run while there were other good battles throughout the field.
Long Beach had one of its biggest crowds in the event's history. Kyle Kirkwood won from pole position but he had Palou keeping him honest over the entire race. Not the best race ever, but not the worst. Yet, there was more anger after that race.
Palou stomped the field at Barber Motorsports Park. He checked out from lap one. However, there was great racing elsewhere. Christian Lundgaard drove up to second. Scott McLaughlin and the Dale Coyne Racing entry of Rinus VeeKay battled for third. Alexander Rossi and Nolan Siegel had a good battle throughout the final stint. You would like to see the battle for the victory to go until the final lap, but sometimes that isn't the case and the battles throughout the field make up for it to an extent. Barber wasn't any different from other Barber races. Watch the 2019 Barber race as an example. That was lost on a good number of people.
Introspection is not done enough. It is constant knee-jerk reactions, and it is mostly "bad, bad, bad." There is no room for the middle anymore, but the world remains rather gray even if black-and-white is easier.
There are many things IndyCar must work on. It is frustrating that some issues have lingered longer than necessary, and confidence has been lost that series management can make a turn in an upward direction, but that shouldn't turn every race into a sulking session.
Is it really that bad or are we looking for reasons to be angry? Therapy is not a bad thing, folks. Projection is not healthy. It also isn't fair.
I am not going to let all this negativity ruin my Indianapolis 500.
We do not know what the race will be like. I doubt it will be the worst I have ever seen. I don't think it will be the best I have ever seen either. It will be in the middle, and that is ok. There will be fun moments. It might be close to the finish. There might be a late pass. It could be the case where second-place just cannot make a run on the leader. We will live either way.
Not every race can be an ultimatum on the series, life or death over how the series is trending. That is an exhausting way to live. Compartmentalize what happens on the track and what happens away from it, and remember to keep perspective. Is it really rock-bottom?
It is ok if things are just ok. Not every race is going to be better than the one before it. That is not realistic. You must find a way to accept that and live in the gray.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Robert Shwartzman, but did you know...
Max Verstappen won the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, his second victory of the season.
Jak Crawford (sprint) and Alex Dunne (feature) split the Formula Two races from Imola. Tim Tramnitz (sprint) and Santiago Ramos (feature) split the Formula Three races.
Stoffel Vandoorne and Oliver Rowland split the Tokyo ePrix.
Christopher Bell won the NASCAR All-Star Race from North Wilkesboro. Chandler Smith won the Truck Series race, his second victory of the season.
Sho Tsuboi won the Super Formula race from Autopolis.
Toprak Razgatlioglu (race one and SuperPole race) and Nicolò Bulega (race two) split the World Superbike races from Most. Jaume Masià and Can Öncü split the World Supersport races.
The #99 Random Vandals Racing BMW of Connor de Phillippi and Kenton Koch swept the GT World Challenge America races from Sebring. Memo Gidley and Kyle Washington split the GT America races. The #97 Random Vandals Racing BMW of Kenton Koch and Kevin Boehm swept the GT4 America races.
Sébastien Ogier won Rally Portugal, his second victory of the season.
Coming Up This Weekend
109th Indianapolis 500.
82nd Monaco Grand Prix
66th Coca-Cola 600
MotoGP has a holiday weekend at Silverstone.
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters will be at the Lausitzring.
