And finally, Part 3 of my Triple Header of DRR Reviews, this time it’s for IndyCar, and it’s time to go oval racing again. This time the series heads to Gateway, now a week earlier than last year to avoid a direct Le Mans clash, for the Bommarito 500 of St. Louis. Rejoice dear heaters, for Alex Palou got boned on strategy again, the “Sultan of Sketch” was back with a vengeance (shoot me), and in the end, Josef Newgarden wins on a short oval. You’re shocked, right?
Vortex Theory
First of all, I have to mention qualifying because goodness me – Alex Palou beat the entire field by over a mile per hour and I distinctly remember half our Discord server laughing in disbelief. Even by his standards, a ridiculous run. Whisper it quietly, but in oval qualifying, this is why it goes in reverse Championship order, generally speaking it gets colder the later in the day you run and typically cars run better when it’s cold – It’s why people like to go first in Indy 500 qualifying because their guaranteed run is early morning, when the track is typically coolest. Still, a whole ass mile per hour!
Palou kept the early lead as the race started and led the first 46 laps of running, and was in control until a surge from a surprising name early on – Marcus Ericsson of all people, who quickly chopped up Kyle Kirkwood, Josef Newgarden and Alex Palou all in the space of three laps to take the lead. From there, he’d lead more laps than anyone else on the day, 114 in all in what may have been his strongest race in IndyCar – Yes, over the two 500’s he probably should have won. Going wheel-to-wheel with Newgarden again was a fun throwback (Ignoring Milwaukee that one time)
It didn’t help that Palou clipped Nolan Siegel on Lap 55, and Siegel’s contact had him glance into the outside wall at Turn 1. A lot of the fans wanted a penalty here – I disagree. Siegel turns into Palou when he’s already got a significant amount of car alongside Siegel, and by the time there’s contact, Palou has three-quarters of his car in front and Siegel needs to back out of it for preservation’s sake.
We ran pretty clean and quiet until Lap 114 as Graham Rahal spun out and into the Turn 4 wall. At the same time, the rain started coming down. The race was moved a good half-an-hour back to try and dodge it, but it would sprinkle on and off across the entire back half of the race. 28 straight laps of yellow and then a red as they lost the track briefly to moisture.
Ericsson retained the lead after we got going again, until Newgarden came back to take the lead again after a battle on pit road, Newgarden running longer. That took us to our next major flashpoint at Lap 197 when the rain came down again. Chip Ganassi had gambled on stretching the race into needing either a short fill or one less stop. Dixon was out of gas and had to take emergency service, sending him to the back of the field. Palou had seemingly made it to Lap 202 to come in when the pits opened… but he ran out on pit road himself, limping home slower pit lane speed into his box. As a result, he had to be refired in the pits, clearing the air out of the fuel system. Palou lost two laps under caution, and his day was effectively done. Barry Wanser giveth (Detroit), Barry Wanser taketh away (The two rounds before and after making a strategy sandwich where the bread’s made of shit.)
With CGR out of the running, we got another excellent battle between Newgarden and Mr Excitement, Christian Rasmussen. A huge race to prove that his new contract extension was justified (I’ve got him on fraud watch, more in the Lightning Round). They even banged wheels in classic Rasmussen on oval fashion, but both men survived, with Newgarden out on top. But just a few laps later, we got another caution for Caio Collet’s engine going bang – A crushing shame for the Brazilian who was running eighth at the time of the explosion.
That was a race-ender effectively, as the final restart provided virtually no action, and Josef Newgarden got cruise home to take his 6th win at Gateway, his 20th on an oval, and 34th in his career, tying him with Al Unser Jr. Ericsson home in second, and Rasmussen goes from 19th to 3rd in what was another exceptional IndyCar oval race. For all the shit we’ve given the hybrids and rightly so, they seem to have made the short ovals actually worth watching. This was a superb race.
As for Newgarden’s future – We’ve spoken at length about it. The problem is, a win at his best track and discipline doesn’t tell us a whole much that we didn’t already know. We know Josef’s great on ovals, it’s the part of his game that hasn’t deteriorated. It’s everything else that’s been the issue. And if that is enough for him to keep his job? I don’t know, there’s a case you can make either way. Hmmm…
The Lightning Round
We’re halfway through the season, and Palou got away with it really on this one. P17 in the end, but Kirkwood only sixth after winning last year, and Malukas was weaker than he usually was in Gateway and could only manage seventh. Palou still has a perfect round in hand with a 49-point lead, with Road America and Mid-Ohio next, two very strong Palou rounds next. Hmmm.
It says a lot that Christian Rasmussen got a podium finish and it only lifted him to 22nd in points. Yet, a contract extension. Rinus Veekay was told to kick rocks for 14th overall. Has this become the state of IndyCar where only 500 chances matter for the back half of the grid. Because a team of their standard shouldn’t have a driver barely in the Leader’s Circle.
Speaking of which, that was a monster fourth place for Rinus Veekay and Juncos Hollinger. Barring a miracle, they’re in the Leader’s Circle, 75 points above the line and a reminder that he can absolutely wheel it on an oval after finishing sixth at the 500.
Eighth place, Will Power revenge tour is back on baby, WOOO
We gotta talk about Myles Rowe. He was magnificent in the Indy NXT race, having to start from the back, passing the entire grid to get to the front by beating Lochie Hughes, and then leading the most laps to take the dub. It’s one of the greatest performances in recent NXT history… bit it also asks more difficult questions about his future. Will Buxton, host of the Speed Podcast with NASCAR’s Kevin Harvick alongside his IndyCar role (And massively guilty of over-egging the pudding at times), talked about how we desperately need him at the 500. To which I say again – Is the series all about the 500 and nothing else now?
It goes to show you how little attention the series gets. Rowe is fifth in points, in his third season in the series, and is currently being beaten by three rookies in the series (Nikita Johnson, Enzo Fittipaldi, Tymek Kucharczyk) and Max Taylor, who’s only not a rookie officially given he was part-time last year, and he’s one point ahead of Alex de Tullio, who was wiped out from the lead in Barber. If we truly want Motorsport to be the meritocracy so many want, we shouldn’t be encouraging drivers to cut the line. I hate it for Rowe because he’s a genuinely awesome personality and would be a great asset to the series but I feel like he’s used as a figure for diversity that the series doesn’t deserve.
I haven’t forgotten Ernie Francis Jr and how he was released from Force Indy without support (He seemingly doesn’t race full time anymore) and when the next black prospect hits the Road to Indy, are they going to get the same financial backing from Will Power and Roger Penske that he’s had? I wish the series had a more public and outward facing diversity programme rather than picking up and putting down Rowe whenever he gets a flash result.
The Verdict: 8.5/10 (Outstanding) – Best non-500 race of the year. This was an exceptional oval race. The fights were superb and right at the limit of fair without crossing into dangerous territory, there was strategy, intrigue and drama. The only thing missing about it was a thrilling finish at the end. IndyCar’s ovals are still kickass. We’ll see you at Road America.