“When was the last time Alex Palou wasn’t leading the IndyCar Championship?”
Hey everyone, when the hell isn’t it a double header weekend when it comes to Dre’s Race Review? In the second episode of the weekend, it’s the first Round 2 of the season as IndyCar headed back to Phoenix International Raceway for the first time in eight years, backing up NASCAR for a “Desert Double” on Saturday afternoon. And with it, a reminder that IndyCar is at its best when it gets to the ovals. Let’s talk about it.
Killing The Boogeyman
Phoenix was back, but a familiar tale was already ringing by Friday night – Team Penske dominating on a short oval again. A ludicrous pole position by David Malukas, 0.8mph quicker than Josef Newgarden in 2nd, and in a massive shock, an oval breakthrough by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, with Graham Rahal 3rd, and rookie Mick Schumacher in fourth on his oval debut. A jaw dropping performance by the son of the man who vowed to never do an oval because Michael thought it was too dangerous. Ha.
Alex Palou salvaged a poor first lap to salvage 10th, but still made the field pay early by taking gambles on the outside line and cracking the Top 5 by the second restart, given we got an early caution due to a J-Turn by Dennis Hauger early on. Seriously, watch it, it’s a remarkable save that more resembles the tutorial level of “Driver” on the Playstation in the car park than an oval race.
Then the bombshell. Sometimes, you just gotta kill the boogeyman. Alex Palou and Rinus Veekay are fighting. Veekay is driving into the higher line, Palou is ahead but moves up while not fully clear, with no information from his spotter. They touch, Palou spins into the wall and is out. It was an unfortunate racing incident. Palou admitted that his spotter didn’t notice that Veekay was going quicker and Palou wasn’t clear in front anymore. Oval etiquette would have had Palou move down otherwise to cover the space and that didn’t happen. Veekay was also taking a risk driving into a gap that you can’t dictate may close, relying on the other driver to see you. A shame all round.
This pretty much opened the floodgates for a rampage from the man who’s quickly becoming IndyCar’s Mr. Excitement and a genuine elite oval runner in the series. He’s back with a vengeance, and it’s Christian Rasmussen. He took advantage of a more aggressive 4-stop strategy to take advantage of being on fresh rubber more often and he tore his way through the track, with the undercut clearly being the tactical move. But then he came in on Lap 125 and essentially switched to a 3-stopper now he had the track position to race from the lead. That got curtailed though because 20 laps later, Louis Foster hit the outside wall on Turn 4 to bring out the third caution of the race.
Rasmussen climbs back up through the field again, this time with Will Power being the net leader on sequence. In a heated fight, Rasmussen tries a chop block move form the outside of Turn 2, Power doesn’t see him, they touch, and Power’s out, with Rasmussen damaged by clattering the outside wall. Now on this one, I think it’s a little more clear cut. Power claims he couldn’t see Rasmussen around the outside, but he had way more car alongside him than Palou did with Veekay. You mean to tell me your spotter didn’t tell you he was on your right? Rough.
As much as Christian wasn’t to blame here in my opinion, I do also have to question his mentality. I get it, he’s the most aggressive IndyCar oval racer in the paddock now, and he’s got speed in abundance by being able to handle a car that’s super loose better than even Pato O’Ward can. But he failed to recognise that and lost patience and discipline by going for a super low percentage pass. If he bids his time and is patient, he’s got an easier move down the road. That needless aggression to me, cost him an easy win. Rasmussen was able to continue, but a late tyre drop off in his final stint dropped him way out of contention.
After the Rasmussen/Power clash was over, we had a 33 lap sprint to the flag, and in classic IndyCar fashion, we got a strategy split where you debate on track position or fresh tyres. Spoiler, the fresh tyres win almost every time in modern IndyCar because the series is trying really hard to create more tyre offset, like they’ve been pushing on street tracks and mandating stints. And it was Josef Newgarden doing what he does best, getting through traffic quickly nad making clean, critical passes to get through Pato O’Ward, the other top contender on his strategy, and then picking off the older tyre runners, eventually passing Kyle Kirkwood and taking a pretty comfortable victory in the end, with David Malukas third.
I’ll be real, a 1-3-8 for Penske seems pretty generous given how badly they lost control of the race in the middle portion of the running, but that late caution was a gamechanger to give the midfield effectively a free stop. But I have to praise Firestone for the tyres they brought to Phoenix, they had enough of a drop off to open up strategic options and it made for a great race.
And just like that, welcome back to Josef Newgarden the title contender? I still need to see more, but going 25th to 7th in St Pete alongside this, is huge for his confidence. He’s 35 now, towards the end of his prime years, he’s had two very rough seasons by his standards, and he’s now in a contract year. Giving himself free agency leverage would be huge in this market. Especially with a McLaren seat up for grabs. Just a thought…
Oh, and to answer the question at the top? 623 days ago, April 2024, when Alex Palou was 3rd in the standings after only finishing 5th in Barber. Colton Herta was Championship leader. Wonder what happened to him?
The Lightning Round
For what it’s worth, that was a very solid first weekend in F2 from Colton. Rough start, but a really good feature race to score points on debut. There’s something there from the American, but more likely will be required. Needs podium.
IndyCar’s debuting one-shot qualifying at Arlington this weekend for their new showpiece round. I always thought they might address this one day for one simple reason – On road courses, the Fast 6, your headline round, is just 6 minutes long. It’s great for a blitz of action, but it’s really bad as a TV product. This gives the action a little more time to breathe and you can actually promote the drivers more in what you think is going to be a showcase event. Apparently it might be a trial to make this a permanent play, and while I think one-shot is a little boring, I don’t hate it.
I do wonder though, how does Jerry Jones and Arlington feel about IndyCar revealing their Capitol Building layout during their race week, a weekend two and a half years in the making? Not ideal.
Speaking of that layout… Man. 1.66 miles and a longest straight of just 0.4 miles? Not ideal either. That’s about the length of St. Pete’s start/finish straight and that’s not normally a passing chance in IndyCar. For racing, this looks rough. Maybe one passing spot into Turn 2 if the run previously is good enough, but that might be all. Yikes.
The Verdict: 8/10 (Great) – IndyCar is at its best in oval form and this once again delivered. Great tires that promoted good racing, high and low line passes, strategic intrigue and drama. Ticks just about every box without major shenanigans. Recommended watch. Now, call me Tex.