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!

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.

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.

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.

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.