Newgarden wins after a wild weekend at Iowa Speedway

Josef Newgarden does some donuts for the fans who stayed until 1:30 a.m. to see the finish of the Iowa 300.

When I rolled into Iowa Speedway around 4:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon with my brother and dad, I wasn’t sure if I’d have enough time to fully enjoy the pre-race activities before the green flag was supposed to fly at 6:30 p.m. for the Iowa 300. We didn’t end up seeing the checkered flag until about 1:30 a.m. as Josef Newgarden stretched his championship lead to 29 points in front of a few thousand tired but die-hard fans.

Storms rolled into the Newton area around 5:30 p.m., and fans were told to stay in their cars until about 8:30 as lightning continued to light up over the sky for hours. Fans were finally let back into the grandstand before 9 p.m., and by 10 p.m. all off the cars were lined up in the pits to begin the race. Track drying continued as the night dragged on to create a true night race atmosphere for the first time in years at Iowa. The 22-car field finally took the green flag at 10:50 p.m., and it wasn’t until 1:13 a.m. that Newgarden gave the remaining fans a treat with burnouts in front of the grandstand.

Will Power was the star of the early stage of the race by passing pole sitter Simon Pagenaud on the opening corner and pulling out a 2-3 second lead on Pagenaud in the opening 20 laps. Santino Ferrucci was the biggest winner at the start by flying past six cars to go from 12th to 6th, and he battled with championship contenders like Rossi for laps at a time before eventually falling back to 12th place at race end.

Newgarden was extremely frustrated on Friday after qualifying third behind his two teammates, visibly showing more irritation in the post-qualifying interview than he ever does. He fell back to fourth after Takuma Sato made a move around him and Pagenaud in the opening laps, and it looked like it could be a tough day for him. Newgarden responded by passing Sato and Pagenaud before getting around Power as the Australian lost serious pace when he came upon lapped traffic. Newgarden’s move around Power came just before a quick rain shower brought out a red flag on lap 55, prompting some fans to leave in fear of another long wait. The showers quickly passed through and within half an hour the cars were back on track to make a run for the checkered flag.

Power kept within a second of Newgarden on a few occasions, but the Hitachi #2 car looked more comfortable taking the high line on the track and slicing through traffic effortlessly. Newgarden managed to lead 245 of the 300 laps in route to his victory for his second win at Iowa. It was the third time in the past four years that he had led at least 200 laps at “the fastest short track on the planet.”

The win also increased his championship lead to 29 points after Rossi fought through some difficult circumstances to come home sixth. A caution in the later stages of the race came out right after Newgarden had forced his way past to put Rossi a lap down, and the yellow flag resigned Rossi to have to fight for a near top-five position. Pagenaud trails Rossi by an additional 29 points after finishing in fourth. Here’s a quick look at some other winners and losers at Iowa Speedway.

Winners

The fans who stuck around. It’s easy to see why some people didn’t think the race was going to happen after two storm cells wreaked havoc around Newton and produced lightning and thunder that lasted for hours. Weather looked just as questionable for Sunday, and the organizers and safety crews pushed through to make the event happen. Drivers and fans had complained about the switch back to a “night” race after multiple years running Sunday afternoon being actually more of a dusk race with a 6:30 start time and ending right around sunset. The delays made it a true night race, and the entire atmosphere around the little track at night was something that makes me want to come back for more. The race truly provided “the show” all the drivers wanted to put on for the fans that stuck it out.
Scott Dixon. He didn’t seem to have pace at all this weekend and was lapped by Newgarden in the early stages. A late yellow flag benefited him after he lasted about 70 laps on a set of tires, and when he came in he was on a fresher set of tires than the other leaders. His drive to the end was spectacular as he passed Spencer Pigot, Pagenaud and James Hinchcliffe to rise to second before the advantage seemed to fall off in a quest to catch Newgarden. The result still has him 98 points behind Newgarden but may have kept him within the championship hunt as the series heads to Mid Ohio this next weekend. Dixon has won at the track five times, and no other active driver has won there more than once. Rossi and Newgarden have combined to take the last two wins at Mid Ohio.
Spencer Pigot. After climbing from the back of the field to a career-best second at Iowa last year, Pigot once again put in a great performance to go from 19th to 5th on Saturday. An early stop helped him propel up the field past the mid-pack, and he had some battles that almost netted him his first podium of the year.
Santino Ferrucci and Marcus Ericsson. While neither finished within the top-10, their driving in the early part of the race should be commended for rookies on their first-ever short ovals. Ericsson qualified well and ran in eighth for long stretches before a late pit penalty, and Ferrucci put on one of the best starts Iowa has seen.
James Hinchcliffe. The podium was his first since his Iowa win in 2018, and he extends his streak of top-10 finishes to three in a row as he rises to ninth in the championship standings.

Losers

Takuma Sato. He could have moved into a top-five position in the championship with a good result, but instead he had troubles with his car that dropped him from second slowly back through the field before Sage Karam made contact with him about 2/3 of the way through the race. His night came to an early conclusion.
Will Power. He seemed to have a rocket ship at the beginning of the race, and the cautions and lapped traffic fell in a way that hurt the Aussie. He still was pressuring Newgarden as clearly the second best at Iowa before a pit lane penalty caused him to perform a stop and go penalty with less than 40 laps remaining to move way down the field. Unfortunate luck has killed Power’s championship hopes this year, but I think he can still pull out a win this year to keep his streak of winning a race in every season of his IndyCar career (since 2008) alive.
Ed Carpenter. Carpenter started at the back end of the field like Pigot and put in a similarly impressive drive to slice through traffic to pressure Honda drivers like Rossi and Hinchcliffe for top positions. His spin into the turn two wall with less than 40 laps to go was a tough end to another strong run for Ed Carpenter Racing at Iowa. The lone bright spot was Pigot extending the streak of top-five finishes for ECR at Iowa to seven consecutive years.

Special thanks to my dad Mike (left) and older brother Nate (middle) for taking me to the speedway!

Are we seeing the beginning of a Newgarden/Rossi rivalry?

The NTT IndyCar Series is now past the halfway point with nine of the 17 races completed. While there have been ups and down for every driver so far this year, a brewing “rivalry” between the top two drivers in the standings may be a sign of things to come for the future of the sport.

Josef Newgarden and Alexander Rossi are both young American drivers in their late 20’s. They both have their own podcast. They have combined to win the two biggest prizes in the series, with Rossi taking the Indy 500 in 2016 and Newgarden the series championship in 2017. And boy are they both fast.

Newgarden recently held off Rossi for the final 13 laps of an electrifying race at Texas Speedway to grab his third win of the season and maintain a 25-point lead over Rossi in the championship standings heading into Road America this weekend.

Newgarden began the day in seventh and was passed by Rossi and Colton Herta early in the race to settle in around the back end of the top-10 for most of the day. A crash from Zach Veach on lap 135 opened the door for Newgarden to only lose one position by going off the leader’s pit strategy and opting for new tires and fuel to go longer during the middle stint of the race.

The strategy ultimately paid off when he was able to put in much quicker laps than the leaders as they approached 50 laps to go and he came out of the pits with the lead on lap 203 of 248. A big defense on Scott Dixon during a restart allowed him to stay in first, followed by a tense final stretch where he had to defend on Rossi every corner to come away with his first win on a super speedway. However, it was Rossi who made headlines for his one-handed save of his car after narrowly avoiding a crash between Dixon and Herta.

The race at Texas highlighted the game of inches that can determine who will raise the Astor Cup at the end of the season. The margin is extremely fine between these two, and they’ve proven to be the two to beat in the battle between Penske and Andretti this year.

The battle between the two has swung back and forth all year. Newgarden started the year off with the championship lead after some speed and solid pit strategy gave him a victory at St. Petersburg. He also got the best of Rossi at Barber Motorsports Park after starting 16th and aggressively sliding past Rossi at the hairpin in the final laps to finish fourth. Rossi bounced back by leading 80 of 85 laps at Long Beach and besting Newgarden by over 20 seconds.

Rossi has finished in second place three of the last four races, but two of those efforts have come as the runner-up to Newgarden himself. Newgarden benefited from a great strategy call at Belle Isle Race 1 to enter the pits early for slick tires in wet conditions, and a caution meant he inherited the lead. He once again had to hold off Rossi on the restart and throughout the closing laps even though Rossi had a faster car, very similar to the last race at Texas.

Newgarden took his first pole of the season in Belle Isle Race 2 with Rossi lined up next to him on the front row, but “saucy” Rossi got the best of Newgarden in the race. They both came out of the pits hot on the tail of James Hinchcliffe in the middle of the race, and Rossi began to make a move on Newgarden. Newgarden lost control of his car and took Hinchcliffe into the wall. Rossi miraculously managed to avoid any contact and saved the car by bringing it home in fifth place to significantly narrow the gap to Newgarden at the top of the standings.

The driving styles between the two also creates an exciting dynamic. While Newgarden is the bigger personality and loves the spotlight, he is more reserved in the car and tends to bide his time before striking through definitive moves or great strategy from the #2 team and race strategist Tim Cindric. Rossi is the much more reserved personality, but once he gets in the car he will use the limit of any track to attempt passes and is one of the more aggressive drivers in the whole series. Newgarden has shown some of those tendencies in big moments like on Will Power at Mid Ohio and Simon Pagenaud at Gateway in 2017, and also against Dixon in Texas this year. However, the varied style between these two makes their battle even more exciting.

Newgarden recently said on the Marshall Pruett Podcast that he doesn’t really see it as a rivalry because it implies some dislike between the two, and he feels Rossi always races him fair. Despite his kind words, any battle between two up-and-coming American drivers is going to be a battle that people want to see for years to come.

Newgarden had never won at the tracks where he claimed his first three victories this year before 2019. The rest of the schedule looks more promising for him as he won at Road America last year, Toronto, Mid Ohio and Gateway in 2017 and Iowa in 2016. Rossi will be the defending champ at Mid Ohio and Pocono in the later stages of the season.

Both will lineup within the top-four on Sunday at Road America, with Rossi in second and Newgarden right behind him in fourth. If the first half of the season has taught us anything, it’s that there will be many more opportunities for these drivers to prove who’s superior in the season’s final stretch.

Other Mid-Season Thoughts

Colton Herta has proven he’s quick, but some of his decisions and luck have shown how tough it can be to race as a teenager in IndyCar. He became the youngest race winner in series history at COTA in March, but it’s been almost all downhill since his historic feat. A crash at Long Beach, engine problems in the opening laps at the Indy 500 and crashing out Dixon from third place at Texas has dropped him all the way down to 16th in the standings. He took the pole yesterday at Road America to also become the youngest pole sitter of all-time. Let’s see if he can make that count and return to the top of the field.
I expected Santino Ferrucci to have a disappointing first year in IndyCar after a difficult past in Formula 2 racing. The young American has surprised basically everyone with five top-10 finishes so far and a career-best fourth at Texas two weeks ago. The Dale Coyne driver currently leads the Rookie of the Year standings by 12 points over the much-heralded Ganassi driver Felix Rosenqvist. He also has done an immense job to lead his teammate Sebastien Bourdais by three points entering Road America.
It’s been fun seeing Marcus Ericsson finally put together some standout performances the past two races at Belle Isle and Texas. He finished on his first podium since 2013 in Formula 2 after a shaky Formula 1 stretch, and he led laps in the past two races for the first time in his IndyCar career. A seventh place finish at Texas in only his second oval race proves he may finally be feeling comfortable in America.
Will Power has only finished on two podiums this year and has yet to win a race in 2019. Power has won at least once race in every year he’s competed in IndyCar, which stretches back to 2008. He’ll win at least one of the remaining eight races, and that could begin today as he lines up third at Road America.
Takuma Sato may be 42 years old, but he’s proving to be more competitive than ever with RLL Racing. A win at Alabama and podiums at Indy and Belle Isle has him firmly placed in the top-five in the championship standings. He’s never finished a season higher than eighth.
Scott Dixon may have run out of luck this year after an unbelievable run of form for his fifth championship last year. Crashes, mechanical problems and occasional lack of pace have fallen on the #9 car as he already trails Newgarden by almost 100 points in the standings. Dixon will have to go on a multi-win tear down the stretch if he wants to win his sixth championship.

Pagenaud Completes May Sweep

Simon Pagenaud reminded the racing world that he’s one of the best by claiming his first Indy 500 win on Sunday afternoon. Pagenaud completed a perfect month of May by winning the Indy GP on May 11, claiming pole for the Indy 500 on May 19 and winning “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” on May 26. His tremendous performance has erased any doubt of his return to Team Penske next season and moved him to first place in the championship standings.

Pagenaud seemed to have the car to beat all month, and nobody could seem to catch him as he led 116 of the 200 laps to give Team Penske their 18th win at Indianapolis. It was also the first-ever victory for a Menards-backed car, ending a decades-long drought in search of their first win at Indy.

Alexander Rossi stormed forward to finally challenge Pagenaud after the last round of pit stops, and he took the lead before a red flag session halted the action after a huge crash in the closing stages of the race. The final 14 laps featured multiple swaps of the lead between Pagenaud and Rossi, but Pagenaud reclaimed the lead on lap 199 and held off Rossi by 0.2 seconds as he took the checkered flag. He was the first pole sitter to win the race in 10 years.

Besides the obvious winner in Pagenaud, let’s take a look at the winners and losers of the 103rd Indianapolis 500.

Winners

Alexander Rossi. Despite the dejected look on his face after coming so close to claiming his second Indy 500 win, he has to be thrilled with the fact that he was even in contention after earlier issues. Two fuel issues on pit stops cost him valuable time, and if it wasn’t for a well-timed yellow flag on his 30-plus second stop, he would’ve had a race to forget. Rossi’s usually cool demeanor seemed to come unhinged during the fuel mishap, and it continued on track as he waved a salute to Oriol Servia’s lapped car for blocking him on multiple occassions. Rossi performed his usual theatrics at Indy by slicing through the field (and grass) for some spectacular passes, but in the end it wasn’t enough to pass the dominant Pagenaud. He now sits third in the championship standings.
Takuma Sato. Sato had an early problem in the pits that forced him to go a lap down, and the 2017 winner was in a mostly forgotten position for the majority of the race. He was within the top-10 at the final restart after a few yellow flags fell his way. His car seemed to be tuned up to 10 as he came out of nowhere to pass contenders like Will Power, Ed Carpenter and Josef Newgarden in the final stages. He even almost made a charge at Rossi and Pagenaud as well. His podium finish moves him up to tied for fourth in the championship standings.
Josef Newgarden. While he is now the only member of Team Penske without the elusive Indy 500 win, a top-five finish at Indy is nothing to complain about. Newgarden was fast all day but couldn’t match the speed of the front runners when it counted. He took multiple turns of front wing on his first three or four pit stops, showing the car wasn’t exactly handling the way he wanted before it seemed to fit his liking more in the final stages. However, his first win at the brickyard will have to wait at least another year. His championship lead was taken away for the first time this year as he now trails Pagenaud by a single point.
Will Power. Power almost became one of the biggest losers of the race after getting a penalty for bumping a crew member during a pit stop sent him to the back of the field. The “disgraceful” (his words) penalty gave him a tough day of working through the field. He couldn’t seem to move up for long stretches and stayed below the top-20, but he really opened it up in the final laps and clawed his way back up to fifth to remain in the championship hunt.
Santino Ferrucci. The formerly-disgraced Formula 2 driver finished in the top-10 for the third time this season and won Rookie of the Year honors at Indy for his seventh place finish. He managed to keep his head down and provide one of the best highlights of the day by diving across the grass to avoid the crash that led to the red flag. He now is ahead of much-heralded rookies like Felix Rosenqvist and Colton Herta in the championship standings.
James Hinchcliffe. After not qualifying last year and barely making the show in 32nd place this year, coming home in 11th is a job well done. His ability to skate through the middle of the five-car crash by the tremendous work of his spotter was another moment to remember.

Losers

Sebastien Bourdais and Graham Rahal. The two were running in the top-10 with less than 20 laps to go before they came together as Bourdais failed to yield enough room for Rahal’s inside move. Charlie Kimball, Zach Veach and Rosenqvist also got caught up in the damage that brought out the red flag. Rahal and Bourdais now both sit outside the top-10 of the championship standings and are over 100 points behind Pagenaud.
Marcus Ericsson. Ericsson was running within the top-10 for long stretches of the race and was set to take Rookie of the Year honors if he could hold his position. However, it all fell apart when he spun out on his own accord as he entered the pits, doing damage to his car and falling all the way to the back of the field. While Ericsson has shown stretches of promise in his first IndyCar season, he’s still having a tough time at putting full races together. As charter member of the Marcus Ericsson fan club, I can report that membership is slowly dwindling.
Helio Castroneves. His quest for a record-tying fourth Indy 500 win came to a crashing halt (literally) when he came into contact with James Davison on pit road on lap 42. Davison seemed to miss his pit box and swing a little wide, but Castroneves plowed into him and was forced to take a drive-through penalty that put him at the back of the field. He did climb back up to 18th by the end through attrition, but that mistake may have cost him in his final Indy 500.
Colton Herta. Herta qualified in the top-five in his debut 500 as the top-rated Honda. Any positive feelings quickly went out the window as his car had a mechanical failure after three laps that forced him to retire. It was also the fourth-straight finish at the back of the field after his win at COTA that probably feels like a lifetime ago for Herta.
Ed Carpenter Racing. After qualifying in second, third and fourth, Carpenter could only manage sixth, Ed Jones 13th and Spencer Pigot 14th. Whether it was tire degradation, poor restarts or a lack of pace at the end, all three cars dropped significantly below what should be expected for top-five starters.

How my picks finished

My podium picks of Bourdais, Carpenter and Rossi were looking pretty good for long stretches of the race with all three near the top-five. Bourdais’ crash eliminated my winner, and Carpenter’s late fall from third to sixth only gave me Rossi on the podium as a runner-up. I’ll have two chances to get a perfect podium this next weekend as the IndyCar series takes no breaks before traveling to Detroit for the doubleheader on Saturday and Sunday.

Indy 500 Preview

It’s finally here. The race that dwarfs the overall season for many fans and can create iconic moments that live on long after a driver retires from the sport. Foyt. Unser. Mears. Milk. Kissing the bricks. When you hear these names and traditions, you know it’s time for the Indy 500.

With the biggest race of the year also comes the biggest grid of the year, as the traditional 33 cars make up the field for the 103rd running of the Indy 500. Three cars failed to qualify last Sunday and were “bumped” from making the official field. Max Chilton and Pato O’Ward of Carlin, along with two-time Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso of McLaren (in a technical partnership with Carlin) couldn’t come ahead of underdog Kyle Kaiser of Juncos Racing.

In order to provide a preview that contains all the story lines heading into the race, I decided to organize it by going row-by-row for the starting grid.

Row 1: Simon Pagenaud, Ed Carpenter, Spencer Pigot

Pagenaud continued his renaissance during May by claiming pole after coming through with a surprising win in the rain at the Indy GP. He put together his best career finish at Indy last year with a sixth place result, and he will be looking to equal Will Power’s performance in 2018 of winning the Indy GP and Indy 500 in the same month. Carpenter almost came away with the win last year and has been on the pole three times at Indy, but last year was his first time finishing on the podium. His teammate Spencer Pigot made the Fast Nine in qualifying for the second consecutive year and put in his best-ever qualifying effort in IndyCar. He’s faced trouble in his first three appearances at Indy and has never finished higher than 18th. Pigot will be trying to build off his top-five finish at IMS earlier this month to secure his best career result at a large oval.

Row 2: Ed Jones, Colton Herta, Will Power

Jones equaled his best career starting position in IndyCar by securing fourth in qualifying behind Ed Carpenter Racing teammates Carpenter and Pigot. His road course effort this season has been in partnership with Scuderia Corsa, which allowed him to be able to run a third car for ECR in Sunday’s race. Jones had his struggles last season at Ganassi, but like Pigot put in a season-best effort of sixth at the Indy GP two weeks ago. Most notably he finished third behind Takuma Sato and Helio Castroneves at the 2017 Indy 500. Herta is the only rookie to start in the first four rows, but he didn’t look new to the speedway when he threw down a four-lap average of over 229 miles per hour on pole day. He’s faced three straight terrible results after becoming the youngest-ever IndyCar winner at COTA, so fortunes may be looking up for Herta. Power starts on the outside of row two as the defending Indy 500 champion for Team Penske. He currently sits sixth in the standings despite only one top-five finish this year, and he will undoubtedly be aggressive from the start.

Row 3: Sebastien Bourdais, Josef Newgarden, Alexander Rossi

Bourdais has never finished better than seventh at Indy, but he’s qualified within the Fast Nine the past two seasons after his horrific crash in qualifying cost him almost all of the 2017 season. He was the second fastest Honda behind Herta and is my darkhorse pick to win the race. Newgarden qualified within the first three rows for the fifth time in the last six years and is one of the top drivers still searching for that elusive Indy 500 win after finishing third in 2015. Lining up next to him is the man he couldn’t catch at the line in 2015 in Alexander Rossi. Rossi raced all the way to fourth after qualifying 32nd last year and has finished in the top-seven in his three career starts at Indy. The winner of the 100th Indianapolis 500 put himself in a much better position to start this year, and I’d be surprised to not see him on a podium.

Row 4: Marco Andretti, Conor Daly, Helio Castroneves

Marco Andretti has finished on the podium four times at the Indy 500 in his 14 starts, but he’s failed to land on any podium in the NTT IndyCar Series since 2015. With this year being the 50th anniversary of his grandfather Mario’s win at the 1969 Indy 500, Marco will be hoping for his own sake he can prove he’s still capable of top-level results in the series. Daly has always had speed but seems to never be able to find the right car or funding to take advantage of it. With support from a major team like Andretti this year, Daly will be extremely focused on bringing the car home in a good position to possibly get a chance at races with Andretti or a different team later this season. Castroneves enters the race as the only active driver to have won the race more than once, winning in 2001, 2002 and 2009. He also has three runner-up finishes to his name, notably the incredibly close result against Takuma Sato two years ago. Last year he crashed at the Indy 500 and could be heard begging team boss Roger Penske for another shot at a fourth win. This may be his final chance to join the likes of A.J. Foyt, Al Unser Sr. and Rick Mears as the only four-time winners at the legendary track.

Row 5: Marcus Ericsson, Takuma Sato, James Davison

Ericsson hasn’t impressed in all of his races since joining IndyCar from Formula 1 this season, but qualifying 19 spots ahead of his more experienced teammate James Hinchcliffe is a good start. Rossi had a difficult start to his first season in IndyCar before his success at the 500, so a good top-10 result could go a long way in giving Ericsson confidence for the rest of the season. Sato is one of seven active winners of the Indy 500 and is in one of the best stretches of his career after a win at Portland last year and a win at Barber in April. His suprising Indy win two years ago is his only time finishing within the top-10 in nine career starts. Davison is probably the biggest surprise in the top rows after qualifying 15th in his one-off effort with Dale Coyne Racing. He’s ran at the Indy 500 in four of the previous five seasons but has never finished higher than 16th in 2014. This will be the highest he’s ever qualified at Indy.

Row 6: Tony Kanaan, Graham Rahal, Scott Dixon

Kanaan has struggled mightily the past two seasons as his career comes to a close, but he did win the Indy 500 back in 2013. Rahal took a big risk in qualifying last Saturday as he dropped his original time to have one shot at not having to feature in the bump day race of six cars going for the final three spots. His risk paid off as he moved up from the final rows all the way up to 17th. Rahal made a drive from 30th to 10th at last year’s race, but it was only his third top-10 finish at Indy in 11 attempts. He will line up next to five-time series champ and 2009 Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon, who had a pretty lackluster run to only qualify 18th. He’s been on pole three times at Indy and has found himself on a podium on four occasions in 18 starts.

Row 7: Oriol Servia, Charlie Kimball, JR Hildebrand

Servia may be the oldest in the field along with Kanaan and Castroneves at 44 years old, but a good result could prolong his career in the series. He was the last driver confirmed for this year’s race as Schmidt Peterson’s third entry. However, MotoGator Team Strange Racing partnership could extend to a six-year run next season, according to a RACER magazine story on Thursday. Servia starting 19th is his second-lowest qualifying effort since 2012. Kimball is in his first part-time season with Carlin after being a full-time driver in the series since 2011. Considering every other Carlin-associated car failed to qualify for the race, Kimball putting the car 20th is pretty remarkable. It also proves he probably should be running a more complete schedule than his five races in 2019. Hildebrand will always have to face the demons of crashing on the final corner to finish second at the 2011 Indy 500. He will compete for the second time with Indy-only Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.

Row 8: Ryan Hunter-Reay, Santino Ferrucci, Matheus Leist

Hunter-Reay is starting the furthest back of any former winner in 22nd this year. He will have to slice his way through the field to catch up to his teammates starting in the top-10. When he did win the race in 2014 he climbed all the way from 19th to come across the line ahead of Castroneves. Ferrucci will be entering his first-ever Indy 500 and did a solid job to comfortably make the race beyond the final row. Leist had a good result last year by qualifying 11th and finishing 13th in his first start at Indy, and he’s coming off his first-ever finish in the top-10 with a fourth place at the Indy Grand Prix.

Row 9: Jack Harvey, Jordan King, Ben Hanley

Harvey will be making his third start at Indy after running part-time seasons in 2017 and 2018. He’s already put in some impressive performances this year with Meyer Shank Racing with three top-10’s and his first podium finish at the Indy GP. King will be entering his first Indy 500 with Rahal Letterman Lanigan this year after only running on road/street courses last season with Ed Carpenter Racing. Hanley did a great job in qualifying 27th in Dragonspeed’s first season as an IndyCar team.

Row 10: Zach Veach, Felix Rosenqvist, Pippa Mann

Veach continues to have a tough time putting together big results at Andretti by slotting in at 28th on the starting grid. He has yet to finish within the top-10 in five races this season and will need a stellar drive through the field to contend for top positions on Sunday. Rosenqvist sits atop the Rookie of the Year race so far with 106 points through five races, six points ahead of Herta. The Swede has put in exciting performances like his fourth at St. Pete’s and landing on pole two weeks ago at the Indy GP. The month of May hasn’t been as kind to him on the oval track, where he struggled in qualifying to barely avoid bump day. Pippa Mann will be especially pleased to have clinched the last spot in the 10th row after being one of two cars to be bumped from last year’s Indy 500. She ran for Dale Coyne Racing at the Brickyard the previous six seasons and managed a career-best result of 17th in in 2017.

Row 11: Sage Karam, James Hinchcliffe, Kyle Kaiser

The last row had to qualify in the high-pressure conditions of bump day on Sunday. Six drivers had one final run to make it into “the show”, and Karam came away with the best time. This will be his fourth year in a row racing with Dreyer & Reinbold at the Indy 500. Karam is well known for his work in Indy simulators and is always focused on making his one run a year at Indy count. Hinchcliffe was relieved to make the field after an up-and-down couple of years at Indy. Hinch almost lost his life during a crash in 2015, came back to win the pole in 2016 and then failed to qualify in 2018. His ability to manage the mental hurdles of possibly missing the race for a second-straight year after needing to use a backup car to qualify was an impressive feat. However, Kaiser’s run with the underfunded Juncos team to bump Fernando Alonso and McLaren out of the race drew plenty of David vs. Goliath comparisons. Juncos feared they wouldn’t be able to qualify after a crash in practice, but they were able to rebuild the car overnight and push ahead to make the field. After running no sponsors earlier in the month, sponsors have come flooding in to the tiny team as they prepare for Sunday.

Predictions

Winner: Sebastien Bourdais

Second: Ed Carpenter

Third: Alexander Rossi

A different driver has won the Indy 500 for the first time in five of the last six seasons, with many coming from former series champions as well. Bourdais qualified well to put himself in the top-seven, and I think he might be able to sneak away with a win at the Brickyard this year. Carpenter proved last year he can do more than just qualify at the top (five top-two starts) and should finish on the podium again. Rossi has proved he has a knack for slicing through traffic and drafting better than most, and I think he will be able to put in another good performance to get back on track after a tough result earlier this month. Team Penske has won 17 times at Indy, while no other owner has won more than six times (Andretti). I’ve gotten burned picking the Penske cars earlier this season, but Pagenaud, Newgarden and Power should all be finishing within the top-10 if they don’t get caught up in accidents.

Race: Sunday, May 26 at 11:30 a.m. CST, NBC

Indy GP Preview

Will Power has won the Indy GP in three of the five seasons it’s been run.

With the biggest month of the IndyCar season finally here, tomorrow will serve as the opening act for the Indy 500 on May 26. The Indianapolis Grand Prix will be run for the sixth time on Saturday in its combined road course setup of using part of the oval track along with the road course in the infield. Will Power has won the race three times and is the two-time defending winner, while also winning pole in each race win in 2015, 2017 and 2018.

Simon Pagenaud is the only other driver to win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. One came in 2014 in the inaugural event with Sam Schmidt Motorsports, and the other was in his championship-winning season with Penske in 2016. Penske has won four of the five Indy Grand Prix’s. After running 82 laps around the 2.4 mile course for the first three years, the race distance was increased to 85 laps in 2017-18 before growing to 90 laps for Saturday’s race.

Josef Newgarden has a 28-point lead atop the standings after four races through the best opening stretch of results in his career. However, the Indy GP has been one of his least successful tracks in his seven-plus years in the series. He’s never even finished within the top-10, finishing 11th the past two years after finishing 17th or worse in his first three appearances. Two seasons ago he suffered a pit limiter problem that made him serve multiple penalties late in the race, and last year he made a risky move trying to take third place from Sebastien Bourdais in the second half of the race before hitting the curb and spinning out. With one setback coming from mechanics and one from questionable driving, Newgarden needs to run a tidy race to keep his championship lead as they enter the double-points weekend on May 26.

Alexander Rossi is the only driver besides Newgarden to finish in the top-10 in every race this season, while the other contenders have each had at least one poor result to create the sizable gap to Newgarden this early in the season. But just like any season in IndyCar, one early mistake can make a lead go from feeling dominant to extremely vulnerable in a single weekend.

Race Predictions

Pole: Will Power

1st: Will Power

2nd: Ryan Hunter-Reay

3rd: Scott Dixon

While I’ve picked Power on my podium three times this season and it’s only came through once, there is no other track besides St. Petersburg that I’d feel more confident in his ability to run away with the weekend. Power has gone through a bit of a slump the past three races, which always seems to lead to successful stretches like his domination last year by completing the Indy-double of reigning victorious in the Indy GP and Indy 500.

Hunter-Reay has had a quietly strong start to the season after having his engine blow in the opening race, and he sits at fifth in the standings after three top-10 results. He’s finished on two podiums at IMS before, and I expect him to be able to race Power hard throughout the weekend as one of the leaders for Honda. Dixon has finished runner-up to Power the past two races at this track, and he should also be in contention in the closing stages of Saturday’s race.

I could see a scenario where Newgarden or Rossi have their first setback of the year after a run of limited problems in the opening months of the season. Look for Colton Herta to bounce back after two lackluster results after winning at COTA in the second race of the year. Last season he swept the two Indy Lights races at the Indy GP.

Race: Saturday, May 11 at 2:30 p.m. CST, NBC

Rossi Dominates at Long Beach

Alexander Rossi led 80 of the 85 laps on Sunday at the Long Beach Grand Prix to win his first race since Pocono last year. Rossi closed within 28 points of season leader Josef Newgarden and now sits second in the championship standings. Rossi grabbed pole on Saturday with a final lap that easily outpaced the rest of the field, and he showcased that same speed on Sunday by winning by the gigantic margin of 20 seconds on runner-up Newgarden.

Winners

Alexander Rossi. Rossi is still the only driver along with Newgarden to finish within the top-10 in every race this season, but he needed to put together a big points haul with a win to firmly get back into the championship race he was so deeply involved with last season. While he had two additional podiums to begin his 2018 season, the win at Long Beach really seemed to propel him as a legitimate front runner for most of the season before Dixon’s consistency and strong results got the better of him in 2018. He still has some work to do to catch Newgarden for the lead, so the month of May will have the usual large implications for how the rest of the season may unfold. Considering he’s finished within the top-seven in all three of his appearances at the Indy 500 (including a victory), I’d say the advantage currently goes to Rossi.
Josef Newgarden. The championship leader actually managed to extend his lead by a point after the 27-point advantage he had on Scott Dixon entering the weekend. The Honda’s were clearly the stronger cars all weekend, but Newgarden and Will Power managed to lock out the second row in qualifying for the Chevy’s. A stall by Santino Ferrucci almost ended Newgarden’s podium chances after he stayed out a few extra laps before the opening pit stop to lead for two laps. If a full-course caution would’ve came out, Newgarden would’ve suffered a similar fate to Rossi and Power at COTA last month. Luckily for him, the race stayed green and allowed him to jump two positions from fourth to second after a quick in-lap and pit stop. His fourth top-four finish to start the year has seen him at the top of the standings since his opening win at St. Pete’s, and the podium finish at Long Beach was especially important to keep a gap to his rivals.
Scott Dixon. After running in third behind Newgarden after the first cycle of pit stops, Dixon had a fuel attachment issue in the pits on his final stop that doubled his time in the pits and caused him to re-enter the field a distant fifth. He closed down Ryan Hunter-Reay with only three laps remaining, and he ran hard for Graham Rahal for the final podium position on the final lap. Rahal was out of push-to-pass and managed to slow Dixon down to narrowly take third place, but race control determined Rahal had blocked Dixon. Rahal was forced to give up the position after the checkered flag and concede his podium finish. Dixon drops to third in the standings, but he only lost six additional points to Newgarden after the poorly-timed pit error.

Losers

Will Power. Another difficult week for the defending Indy-500 winner came after an overboost error during a difficult stretch of the race. Power had just passed Dixon for third after the first cycle of pit stops, but he lost speed coming out of a corner and Dixon charged up behind him. Power tried to counter by going off line before he overshot the corner and had to go into the runoff area before coming back in eighth place. There was little passing for most of the day, but Power had a good recovery drive to finish the race in seventh. Despite an incident at three of the four races this season, Power still sits in sixth place overall. Another double-victory in Indianapolis in May might be exactly what he needs to get back into the championship hunt.
Colton Herta. After sitting in the top-five overall after his win at COTA, Herta fell all the way back to 10th overall after another last-place finish this weekend. Herta had already lost a few positions earlier in the race when a crew member forgot to get rid of his tire gun during the pit stop, and it only got worse when Herta crashed into a wall before limping back to the pits to finish in 23rd. Two-straight finishes in last place following his first career win perfectly sums up how fates can change week-to-week for small teams in IndyCar.
Marcus Ericsson. After getting plenty of praise last week after his drive to seventh place at Barber, Ericsson followed it up by hitting Jack Harvey on lap one into the flower beds surrounding the famous fountain at Long Beach. The contact caused the only caution of the entire race and forced Ericsson to take a drive-through penalty on lap five for avoidable contact. After qualifying last in his group, this is likely a week he will try to quickly forget before he heads to Indy.
Simon Pagenaud. This pick may seem strange since he finished in sixth place, but the lack of any exciting moves from Pagenaud continues to be a cause for concern. He currently sits in 11th overall in the series and hasn’t won in 23 races. Those kinds of stats aren’t going to please “The Captain” Roger Penske, and Pagenaud is beginning to run out of time to find results that may keep him at Penske for any years to come.

How my picks finished

I correctly picked Rossi to grab pole again this year, but I was slightly off by picking him to finish as runner-up to Dixon. I didn’t expect Newgarden to fare as well considering his past results at Long Beach, but I’m happy to say he proved me wrong by putting in a stellar drive. I had Dixon for the win as he finished back in third, so I was just as successful as my first week of predictions when I picked the pole sitter and two of the three podium finishers. I’ve yet to pick any of the podium finishers in their exact position, which may change when they head to the Indianapolis Grand Prix on May 11.

Long Beach Preview

Team Penske works on their cars at the 2017 Kohler Grand Prix.

The IndyCar season is now approaching a frantic pace as we head towards the month of May and the Indy 500. There’s no off-week this weekend as 23 cars will line up to take on the famous streets of Long Beach, California on Sunday for the season’s fourth race. The teams will have almost a month off following the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach before they head to the Indianapolis Road Course on May 11, followed by the Indy 500 on May 26.

Josef Newgarden enters the weekend with a 27-point lead over Scott Dixon for the championship lead. Newgarden has finished in the top-10 for his last four starts at Long Beach but has only finished on one podium in 2017. Dixon hasn’t had as much success on the street circuit as he has at many other tracks on the calendar. He’s only won once here in 2015 during the past 10 seasons, and he’s only finished within the top-five in four of those 10 races. He finished 11th at Long Beach last season for his second-worst finish of his championship season, but he finished within the top-five in 2015-17.

This circuit has one of the widest varieties of winners over the past decade, with eight current drivers having stood upon the top step of the podium. However, there’s been a first-time winner each of the past four years. Six of the current drivers (Ryan-Hunter Reay in 2010, Takuma Sato in 2013, Dixon in 2015, Simon Pagenaud in 2016, James Hinchcliffe in 2017 and Alexander Rossi in 2018) have only won the race once. Will Power was victorious in 2008 and 2012, while Sebastien Bourdais won three-straight times at the track during the Champ Car era.

With the past string of results at the track, it really is a wide-open race at this point in the season. No team has shown particular dominance at the track in the past decade, with Andretti having the highest win total of three.

Race Predictions

Pole: Alexander Rossi

Winner: Scott Dixon

2nd Place: Alexander Rossi

3rd Place: Will Power

Although it’s very early in the season, Rossi and Newgarden are the only two drivers to finish in the top-10 for all three races. Rossi grabbed a pole and win at Long Beach last season that put him ahead in the championship early in the year, and it seems like it’s time that Rossi gets back in the hunt after already trailing Newgarden by 40 points back in fourth place. Dixon already has two runner-up performances through three races, and I expect him to bounce back to show his pace from the past couple of races at Long Beach to take the win.

Power has had a tough start to the season after a mechanical problem at COTA and a spin out at Barber, but no run of tough form ever seems to be able to hold him down for long. Last week was the first time since Road America last year (nine races) that he hadn’t led at least one lap at a race. I think he will battle with the Honda leaders but just fall short in a closely-contested race.

Newgarden should be able to keep his championship lead by finishing within the top-10. Expect veteran Honda drivers like Hunter-Reay, Bourdais, Hinchcliffe and Rahal to mix it up for top-five positions after solid starts to the year. Rookies Colton Herta, Felix Rosenqvist and Marcus Ericsson have each shown one really strong result through three races, but making those finishes consistent will be key to battling with these series leaders as the season progresses.

Race: Sunday, Apr. 14 at 3:30 p.m. CST, NBC Sports Network

Sato Drives to Another Win

Takuma Sato led for 72 of the 90 laps at Barber Motorsports Park on Sunday afternoon and put in an almost flawless performance for his fourth career victory in IndyCar. Sato led from pole and only had small missteps through a long first pit stop due to a rear tire not attaching properly and going off the track with five laps to go. His slide off the track opened the door for Scott Dixon to close within one second of Sato as the Japanese driver suffered some damage to the floor of the car, but he was able to come home with the victory by almost 2.5 seconds. Sebastien Bourdais tried to close down on Dixon for second in the final lap after having significantly more Push to Pass remaining. However, Dixon held him off and took him his record sixth runner-up finish at Barber.

Rossi made a quick jump from eighth up to fifth in the early stages of the race, but he maintained a similar position for the rest of the day. James Hinchcliffe also put in a mistake-free drive but came home in sixth after a mostly uneventful day before Josef Newgarden slid past him in the closing stages of the race.

Winners

Takuma Sato. A disappointing return to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing last season was briefly forgotten due to his victory in the penultimate race at Portland in September of 2018. Sato’s win from pole at Barber is his second win in the last five races of the NTT IndyCar series, and both wins came at road courses for the first time in his career. RLL got it right in qualifying and all day on Sunday, and Sato was thoroughly pleased and grateful to his entire team after he got out of his car in victory lane. The 42-year-old isn’t showing any signs of slowing down after winning a race for the third consecutive season, and he now sits in third place in the championship as they head to Long Beach next week for the site of his first win in the series back in 2013.
Scott Dixon. The five-time series champ was in fine form again on Sunday after qualifying in third place. He didn’t put a wheel wrong all day but just wasn’t quick enough to catch the speed of Sato. The runner-up finish was his sixth time in 10 years at Barber, one of the few tracks on the calendar he has yet to come away from victorious.
Sebastien Bourdais. He was the only driver to make a two-stop pit strategy work to perfection and make his red Firestone tires last almost a full 30 laps. The caution came out at a time that was beneficial for him to make it to the end of the race on fuel, and luckily the pits didn’t close before the leaders made their way through pit lane. After suffering an engine failure early into his season opener, Bourdais has put in consecutive top-five performances to sit ahead of past champions like Hunter-Reay and Power after three races.
Josef Newgarden. While a fourth place finish is below his recent run of three victories in four years at Barber, Newgarden will be happy to escape the weekend with a maximum result after starting the race in 16th. The Chevy driver sliced his way through the field and stayed near the front of the second pack of runners after taking one of the earlier pit stops on lap 10. His wheel-to-wheel move on Rossi at the hairpin was a decisive moment in the day, along with his pass of Hinchcliffe only moments earlier to claw his way up to his third top-five finish of the year.
Marcus Ericsson. The Swede put in his best finish in an open wheel race since his final GP2 race in 2013 by finishing seventh at Barber. After qualifying all the way back in 20th, Ericsson was the first to stop for tires on lap six and put in quick lap times to get within the thick of things early. He was the biggest mover of the day and accomplished multiple passes on track that he rarely could attempt in his Formula 1 days with Sauber. His pace at COTA two weeks ago before an unsafe release showed the talent that fans knew was always there, and his drive from the back of the field makes me think he will be in IndyCar for years to come.
Honda. Seven of the top eight finishers were Honda-powered cars, while the Penske’s had problems keeping pace all day. A track that has been Chevy-dominated for years finally turned around after strong performances from RLL, Ganassi, Arrow and Dale Coyne Racing.

Losers

Colton Herta. It was going to be difficult to follow up his win at COTA in only his third career start, but he only made it a little over 30 laps before his car started to lose power and he was forced to retire from the race. Despite the 24th place finish, he is still fifth in the championship standings and is the only rookie within the top-10.
Graham Rahal. Rahal put the car just behind his teammate Sato on Saturday for an RLL 1-2 qualifying effort for the first time in over 15 years. Rahal was running well in second during the first stint before he had to take a 27-second pit stop to attempt to fix a throttle issue that saw him fall back to 16th. He ended up bringing out the only caution of the day when his car stalled on track during lap 58.
Ed Jones. The new driver for Ed Carpenter Racing has had a tough go of it this year, and his false start of about 10 cars was almost comical to watch on the replay. The error caused him to serve a drive through penalty at the beginning of the race from which he never fully recovered.
Team Penske/Chevy. Despite Newgarden climbing up to fourth place, Team Penske let good results escape from them at one of their most reliable tracks this weekend. Pagenaud and Power could only come away with ninth and 11th place, while the Chevy of Spencer Pigot slid all the way back down to 17th after serving a penalty for an unsafe release while trying to make a two-stop strategy work. It’s difficult to know where to place Power after Sunday, because despite a spin out and four pit stops, he managed to almost maintain a top-10 finish in a car that wasn’t close to the Honda’s in pace all weekend.

How my picks finished

I picked a Penske podium before the weekend began, so to say Sunday’s picks were a miss would be a bit of an understatement. Let’s hope I can look a little more intelligent this Sunday when the series makes its fourth stop of the year by traveling to California for the Long Beach Grand Prix.

Barber Preview

Team Penske checks body pieces for Simon Pagenaud and Josef Newgarden at the 2017 Kohler Grand Prix.

The NTT IndyCar series will make their third stop of the season when they travel to Barber Motorsports Park this Sunday. Josef Newgarden enters the race on top of the championship standings after finishing second at Circuit of the Americas following his win at St. Petersburg.

The biggest surprise through the first two races is Circuit of the Americas winner Colton Herta and the Harding Steinbrenner team. Outlook for the young team looked bleak after news that they had to cut ties with Pato O’Ward prior to the season due to budget issues and would be fielding a one-car entry of Herta. Herta led three of the four preseason testing sessions at COTA in February, but it’s difficult to read too much into if what happens before the opener at St. Pete’s will affect the actual season.

Will Power and Alexander Rossi were clearly the fastest at COTA, but unfortunate timing for a crash between James Hinchcliffe and Felix Rosenqvist caused the pit lane to close on a caution and allow third-place Herta to acquire the lead for the closing stretch of the race. Power had a problem leaving the pits that caused him to retire from the race, while Rossi climbed back up to ninth in the closing laps.

Newgarden will be excited to arrive at Barber this weekend after winning the race three of the past four seasons. It’s the only track where has the most career wins at on the calendar and is the closest location to his hometown of Hendersonville, Tennessee. He has finished on the podium the past four years and has finished within the top-10 in six of his seven entries at Barber.

Last year was the first season he had taken pole at the track, and he will be looking to use that advantage to get his second win of the year. He already has about a 40-point advantage to front runners like Scott Dixon, Rossi and Power after each have had a disappointing result in the first two races. A showcase of his usual dominance in Alabama will go a long way in seeing if Newgarden can chase his second championship with Penske.

The 90-lap race at Barber has been run since 2010 and has occurred in April for all nine events. Team Penske has won the race six times, with two wins coming from Ryan Hunter-Reay at Andretti and one from Newgarden when he raced for CFH Racing for a season before joining Penske. Power won at the track in 2011 and 2012 and should’ve taken the win in 2017 before a tire gauge malfunction caused the Penske team to bring Power in during the final laps as Newgarden inherited another win. Simon Pagenaud also won at Barber during his 2016 championship season.

Race Predictions

Pole: Josef Newgarden

Winner: Josef Newgarden

2nd place: Will Power

3rd place: Simon Pagenaud

Until someone breaks the streak of Penske dominance at Barber, it seems silly to predict this race to go any other way. Newgarden has his best start of his career through two races and should be poised to take pole after claiming it last season and barely missing it at St. Petersburg. Will Power is still hunting down Mario Andretti’s record of 67 career poles and is well on his way after claiming his 55th and 56th career pole at St. Pete’s and COTA to begin the season. Power could’ve had a chance at the win last season before a dangerously wet track claimed him on lap 17 of the race on a restart and forced a red flag period that wasn’t resumed until the next day. Pagenaud has only been on a podium twice in his last 19 races and should have the ability to stay competitive with his two Penske teammates at a track that has been very kind to them in recent years.

Dixon, Rossi, Hunter-Reay and the other Hondas will need to put in strong performances if they’re going to upset the Penske trio and keep them off the podium. Keep an eye on if Herta can build off his first win from two weeks ago or if Pato O’Ward can push higher than his top-10 finish at COTA. Marcus Ericsson also had tough luck with a pit penalty at COTA after running close to the top-five, and he will be on a mission to put in his first solid performance in his young IndyCar career.

Race: Sunday, Apr. 7 at 3 p.m. CST, NBC Sports Network

Newgarden Starts Year Off with Victory at St. Petersburg

Josef Newgarden used a great pit strategy and was fortunate with traffic to come away with a victory at the opening race of the 2o19 IndyCar season at St. Petersburg on Sunday afternoon. Newgarden led for the final 60 laps of the race to win for the first time at St. Petersburg.

Will Power took a record eighth pole at St. Petersburg in 10 years during qualifying on Saturday, but Newgarden was only a tenth of a second behind him in the Firestone Fast Six Shootout to determine pole. Newgarden was in second place as the 24 cars approached the green flag to begin the race, but Power rocketed forward in the lead as Felix Rosenqvist dove inside to take second place from Newgarden. The cars ran in the same order until Sebastien Bourdais had engine problems on lap 14, causing Power to dive into the pits early to avoid getting stuck on track while the pits close during a caution. However, no yellow flags came out and the rest of the leaders pitted a few laps later after Rosenqvist inherited the lead from Power.

Ryan Hunter-Reay’s mechanical failure on lap 20 brought the leaders back together on a yellow flag, and Rosenqvist used a daring move on Power to pass him at Turn 1 to take the lead. Power stayed within striking distance over the next 30 laps before pitting on lap 51 for his second stop. Rosenqvist came in only a lap later, but Power was able to narrowly avoid clashing with the Swedish driver as he exited the pits and came out in front.

Newgarden made the bold decision to stay out for multiple extra laps after the other leaders pitted, meaning a yellow flag would effectively end his race as he would be forced to pit and join the field at the back. Marco Andretti held up Power and allowed Scott Dixon and Rosenqvist to catch him as Newgarden was putting in quick laps, allowing Newgarden to claim first place after a quick pit stop. The Honda-powered cars teamed up to hold up Newgarden later in the race as well, but Newgarden was able to get around Andretti and hold onto his lead that had been cut down to less than two seconds by Dixon as the race came to a close. Penske continued their dominance at St. Pete’s by winning their ninth race at the track since 2006.

Winners

Josef Newgarden. Duh.
Will Power. After two difficult finishes at St. Pete’s the last two years, Power put together a strong weekend to grab a big points haul as they head to Circuit of the Americas in two weeks. A goal for Team Penske that was brought up time-and-time again during the weekend was to get better on street courses in 2019. Finishing in first, third and seventh should keep Roger Penske happy for the time being.
Scott Dixon. After a hectic qualifying session that almost saw him start 13th before a penalty on Takuma Sato advanced him to the next round, a competitive second place finish isn’t a bad result for the Kiwi. This was his fourth runner-up finish at St. Pete’s, and it’s one of the few tracks that’s been run for years that he hasn’t won at. He also didn’t have his drink system working properly today, so kudos to him for toughing it out in the sweltering Florida heat.
Rookies. Felix Rosenqvist put in some big moves and held with the leaders all day to look like a worthy teammate of five-time champ Dixon. Colton Herta and Santino Ferrucci also completed their first top-10 finishes in the series, taking advantage of track position and some good pace.

Losers

Ryan Hunter-Reay. The driver who can’t seem to catch a break continued to have bad luck when his engine blew on lap 19 as he was going down the main straightaway into turn 1. Being 46 points behind the leader is a tough margin after only one round for the former series champ.
Sebastien Bourdais. A trendy pick to claim his third-straight win at St. Pete’s, Bourdais had engine problems on lap 9 and had no chance to show if he could put together another drive from the back of the field.
Marcus Ericsson. The former Formula 1 driver went on a different strategy by pitting only seven laps into the race for the harder compound tires, but he was able to rise back into the top-10 by the middle stint of the race. However, a mechanical issue caused him to return to the pits on lap 54 and end his debut early. He will have a chance to bounce back in two weeks at COTA. He has more experience than the rest of the field combined through his four Formula 1 starts at the track, including a 10th place finish last season.

How my picks finished

Push2Pass fared pretty well in the first week, correctly picking Power to grab the pole and getting two of the three podium finishers correct in Dixon and Power. However, I failed to pick any of the finishers in the correct order and picked Rossi to finish second when he came home in fifth. The quest for the perfect lineup will continue when IndyCar races in Austin for the first time on March 24.