1. Not all victories from pole position are a straight walkover, and Álex Palou's win today in Detroit was a little bit of a test of survival. Untimely cautions didn't quite set Palou back, but it did put him in a box. A physical race in Detroit meant no driver was safe, and Palou was able to avoid the trouble, and the best driver in IndyCar didn't need such a break.
Palou had a few challenges from Kyle Kirkwood, but Palou had enough tires in the final stint that he could hold off the American, and the championship lead grew a little more for Palou.
The second stint was the biggest question, as Palou ran his first two stints on the alternate tire, and he was struggling with time. It felt like the pit cycle was going against Palou and it was lining up for Kirkwood. Then a caution came out for a spin between Rinus VeeKay and Santino Ferrucci before Kirkwood and company could make their pit stops.
Kirkwood still drove up and pressured Palou, but now Palou had the primary tires and Kirkwood was attempting to win on the alternates. Kirkwood made a push but he did not have the speed at the end of the stint.
Palou may have caught a break he did not need, but he was great today, and it is frustrating for the field.
2. Kyle Kirkwood gave it his all and he overcame being caught out when the caution came out in the middle of the pit cycle. The alternate tire choice to end the race was going to be a struggle to win the race. It felt like the race was flipping to his favor in the middle stint, but the caution allowed Palou to maintain control.
Kirkwood didn't really do anything wrong, and he drove a strong race. It was just unfortunate Palou ended up unscathed even with the number of cautions and how this race was shaken up. Kirkwood needs to beat Palou, but he also can afford to have a few races go in his favor and a few things break against Palou. That didn't happen today, we actually saw the opposite. Everything went Palou's way today. Kirkwood lost as little ground as he could, but that is still too much if he wants to be a championship challenger.
3. To give you an idea how messy this race was, Graham Rahal was spun on lap 39 in the hairpin, and through everything that happened Rahal still wound up third. Rahal made his final pit stop on the right side of the caution for contact between Rinus VeeKay and Santino Ferrucci. The caution taketh and the caution giveth.
Rahal went from zero to hero, and he now has three podium finishes this year. It wasn't his best race, but this wasn't a race where you had to be clean. You could get a good finish just avoiding trouble or at least have trouble fall in your favor at the right time. Rahal probably wasn't expecting a top ten halfway through this race, but stopping at the right time lifted him to a podium spot, and he had the speed to hold on for some silverware.
4. McLaren had a good day with Patricio O'Ward and Christian Lundgaard rounding out the top five. Neither driver felt spectacular today, but they didn't spin anyone nor were spun. For O'Ward, it was another clean day. He has been pretty darn good. Palou and Kirkwood have been a tad better though.
5. The same goes for Lundgaard. He has a few more bad days this season compared to O'Ward. Two of the last three races were not particularly great for Lundgaard. Today, he got a top five finish but never felt like a contender. It was a good day, but it feels like the championship is starting to break into a two class race. A championship fight between Palou and Kirkwood and then everyone else. If anyone else wants to get into the battle, they must start picking up victories especially with how Palou is running.
6. A sixth from 16th is a great day for Felix Rosenqvist. Rosenqvist looked good today. He had a better car than his starting position showed. He made a lot of passes. This was a great follow up to the Indianapolis 500.
7. Louis Foster got another top ten! Foster caught some breaks in this race, but he did not make any unforced errors, and as a rookie he was prone to those. He just needs to keep scoring decent results.
8. Marcus Ericsson looked racy today, and he had to settle for an eighth-place finish. That is likely fair for his form. He was definitely looking to move forward and looked comfortable with his car. It is a top ten finish. It could be worse.
9. Kyffin Simpson spun Graham Rahal, was penalized, and Simpson still recovered to finish ninth. A number of other drivers having accidents and mechanical issues allowed Simpson to finish in the top ten. Sometimes you are good, sometimes you are lucky. Simpson was in the latter category today.
10. Josef Newgarden was not in great condition this weekend with his leg injury suffered during the Indianapolis 500. To leave with a tenth-place finish is a form of a victory. Newgarden is banged up and I bet he wishes he had off next week instead of racing at Gateway. The team went off strategy and stopped on the right side of the VeeKay/Ferrucci caution. Even after that, Newgarden was still hanging on to the checkered flag. He never looked competitive and was just trying to survive. He was able to pull through and he likely was not expecting to be close to a top ten result today.
11. Marcus Armstrong was caught entering pit lane when Simpson spun Rahal. Armstrong did not get into the pit lane before the caution, and he took a penalty for emergency service in a closed pit lane, which makes 11th look a hell of a lot better. That was tough and IndyCar is now quick on the trigger for cautions, and maybe too quick today. A few extra seconds and Armstrong could have been in the fight for a victory or at least a top five result.
12. Let's run through the rest of the field.
Rinus VeeKay overcame the spin with Santino Ferrucci to finish 12th. That is about where VeeKay had been running at the time of the incident. This result doesn't feel so bad.
Dennis Hauger had a few close calls and he finished 13th. This is a good result for Hauger. It could have been better but it was not the worst result. It is Dale Coyne Racing's best finish on this circuit. He has that to hang his hat on.
Sting Ray Robb avoided trouble and finished 14th. That is it. That is the story of his day.
I am not sure Nolan Siegel or Caio Collet did anything noteworthy other than not be involved in any incidents. They were 15th and 16th respectively. It is hard to feel that positive about either of these results. Siegel lost ground from 13th on the grid. Collet moved up three spots.
13. Alexander Rossi took two penalties today. The first was for service in a closed pit lane. The second was for locking up and spinning Romain Grosjean into the barrier entering the hairpin. For a moment, it felt like Rossi was going to be in a fight for a top ten finish. Instead, he will be classified in 17th, and he will want this day back.
14. There were a number of incidents in this race.
The cautions fell in the favor of Mick Schumacher and David Malukas, and both were suddenly in the fight for the podum when they were previously fighting to crack the top twenty. Then they got together entering turn five. Both days were ruined. Malukas scored 19th and Schumacher took 21st.
Will Power had his best race of the season and he was in the fight for a podium, but contact with Scott McLaughin ended that promising run, and it hurt both drivers' day. Both should have been in the top five. McLaughlin tried to limp a wounded car home and fell short. Instead of top fives, it was 19th for McLaughlin and 22nd for Power.
Romain Grosjean was done rotten. Rossi got the braking point wrong and Grosjean could have done nothing different. This wasn't the case of Grosjean losing a top ten, but 20th is not accurate for how he raced.
15. There were a few mechanical issues. Santino Ferrucci broke down well after the contact with VeeKay. Scott Dixon suffered a hybrid failure when he looked competitive and could have been a top five finisher.
Christian Rasmussen slapped the wall early exiting turn one after nine laps. Rasmussen's track record on street courses is concerning. Incidents like this aren't because of the cars.
16. This was the first road/steet course race after the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the long delay for a full course caution when Alexander Rossi's car stopped on track.
Race control was quick to the trigger today for cautions, and it did affect the race. For a moment, Mick Schumacher and David Malukas became podium contenders and I am not sure either driver had spent a lap in the top fifteen. Holding the caution can be seen as manipulating the race, but if the pit lane is not going to remain open, the top drivers will be held at a disadvantage for having something to lose versus those who have nothing to lose.
These were not incidents that required a caution. Graham Rahal spun but he restarted quickly. Rinus VeeKay and Santino Ferrucci came together, but both cleared themselves without any damage or debris on the circuit.
This comes back to IndyCar officiating and a lack of proper local yellow rules and also a lack of Virtual Safety Car. Rahal's spin only really required a local yellow. He was pointed back in the right direction almost immediately. VeeKay and Ferrucci likely needed a VSC because it was on exit of turn five and that is a narrow part of the circuit.
Both incidents required the field to slow but did not require pace car intervention to bunch up the field. This is where IndyCar must work on how it wants to handle these minor incidents. You can be safe and keep the race moving. We don't need the pace car to come out for minor spins. There is a happy medium, but after the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, there has been a swing to just go to caution immediately and not risk anything. Admirable but too much of an overcorrection in some circumstances.
A discussion can continue, and hopefully it will after this week. We can find middle ground.
17. This Detroit circuit is conflicting because for as rough and frustrating as it can be, it allows for action and some good racing. We have plenty of passing and cars going back and forth, but then we have sloppy driving and incidents that look amateur and cars slapping the barrier almost every ten laps.
It is fun but there is something unsatisfying about it. It was the same with the IMSA race yesterday. There are great moments, but the low moments are pretty poor.
There are no signs of anything changing with this circuit. We know what it is after four years of competition, warts and all.
18. IndyCar's busy spring concludes next Sunday with a night race at Gateway. Once we conclude Gateway the season is halfway. It is not getting late early. It is already late.
