Oilpressure

Do you remember when the NTT IndyCar Series race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca was a bit of a snoozer? It appears those days are gone. I wouldn’t say that yesterday’s race was a racing clinic, but it was a lot more entertaining than some of the races I’ve seen there over the years.

One group that did put on a clinic was Chip Ganassi Racing and the team of Alex Palou. About halfway through the race, it appeared they had bungled pit strategy and tire strategy. But Barry Wanser and Alex Palou had the last laugh…from Victory Lane of all places. Not only did Alex Palou pick up his eleventh career win, he reassumed the points lead from Will Power.

It was certainly not a clean race. It wasn’t on the scale of the most recent race at Detroit or the first two Nashville street races, But there were five cautions during the race, accounting for fourteen laps run under the yellow. Many of these weren’t simply for stalled cars – there were heavy crashes. Fortunately no one came away injured, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Graham Rahal ends up with some sort of hand injury after he collided unavoidably with the out-of-control car of Kyffin Simpson on Lap 87.

There were also a lot of spins and cars flying through and over The Corkscrew and through signs on the side of the track that did not bring out the caution. Sometimes a delayed caution benefited some more than others, but that’s another discussion for another day.

But as the race drew to a close, I felt very entertained – and I guess that’s what it is all about. However, unlike some races – I had a pretty good idea who was going to win when the race was about two-thirds complete. That’s how good Palou is. You knew that somehow he and his crew had persevered. Not only did Palou win the race, he collected maximum points for winning the pole, winning the race and leading the most laps. It was not a bad weekend on a track he has dominated over the past four seasons. Four podiums that include two wins, is what I would call a mastery for Palou at Laguna Seca.

TV Coverage: As the NASCAR rain delay at New Hampshire dragged on, NBC/USA relegated the start of the IndyCar coverage to Peacock only. After the race started. It was announced that the race was about to be joined over on CNBC. It happens, but you can’t help but wonder if IndyCar might have been given a little more priority, had they been able to retain the contract.

It was already planned, but Leigh Diffey’s absence from the booth (to cover Olympic Track & Field Trials) could not have worked out any better for Kevin Lee. With his status up in the air for next season, he was able to put together a live audition for FOX. While many have tabbed Adam Alexander as the IndyCar voice for FOX next season, it dawned on me in yesterday’s telecast that not only should Kevin Lee be considered for pit-reporter – why not as lead booth announcer? I thought he did a superb job in that role yesterday, and has in the past when given the chance.

You know who else I am very impressed with? Georgia Henneberry. She has moved up rather quickly with NBC, and for good reason – she is outstanding. She is very knowledgeable about racing, and loves the sport. She is also very pleasant on the air. I’ve never met her personally, but I hear from friends I know that work with her that she is just as pleasant off the air. Add her to my list of those I want to see migrate over to FOX next season. That list now includes Lee, Henneberry, James Hinchcliffe and Russ Thompson.

Bad Penske Weekend: What a difference two weeks makes. When the series packed up and left Road America two weeks ago, Team Penske had two out of three cars in the Firestone Fast Six, they had a 1-2-3 finish, with Will Power winning the race and taking the lead in the points standings. This past weekend, they had no cars in the Fast Six, and only one of their cars (Scott McLaughlin) advance to Round Two in qualifying.

It didn’t get much better in the race results either. After a rough start, Will Power managed to claw his way back to a seventh-place finish, after starting fifteenth. McLaughlin collided with Power late in the race and was issued a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact. After starting seventh, McLaughlin finished twenty-first.

Josef Newgarden was all over the place, He qualified fourteenth, and finished nineteenth. In that time; he spun early, made his way up to second under a caution, led for five laps late in the race, spun shortly after a restart and then spun again with a couple of laps to go – allowing most of the field to get by. Power moved to second in points, while McLaughlin and Newgarden slid to eighth and ninth respectively.

Impressive Debuts: If you simply looked at the box score without knowing anything, the results of Nolan Siegel finishing twelfth and David Malukas finishing sixteenth would not catch your eye. But knowing they are both young drivers making their debuts with the their respective teams – I came away pretty impressed with both.

Coincidentally, they are both connected. Siegel was driving the car that was originally intended for Malukas. I don’t know which one I was more impressed with; Siegel jumping in the car for only his third IndyCar start after a surprise signing earlier in the week, or Malukas who had not raced since the season finale at Laguna Seca last season. After his mountain bike injury sidelined him, the No. 6 has had three different drivers in it – and none of them were name Malukas. I am looking forward to following the progress of both of these young drivers for the rest of the season.

Wild Ride: After a stellar qualifying session on Saturday that saw Christian Lundgaard put his car in the Firestone Fast Six; Sunday was a day to forget. It seemed that every time I looked up Lundgaard was flying through and over The Corkscrew. He ended up being penalized for doing a Zanardi-like move late in the race, that say his Hy-Vee Honda go airborne as he tried to find a new way through. For good measure, he took out a sign on the side of the track to mark braking points. That sign stayed on his front wing until he made a pity stop many laps later. Lundgaard did well to finish fifteenth, after such a wild ride.

Drive of the Day: It occurred to me during qualifying that Marcus Ericsson had been mostly invisible throughout the weekend. He was unnoticed during both practice sessions and qualified a forgettable eighteenth, as he didn’t come close to getting out of the first round. I noticed him for the wrong reasons on Sunday, going off-track and falling back. But by the end of the race he had fought his way to a Top-Ten finish. His first season at Andretti has not gone particularly well. Hopefully, he can turn things around in the second half of the season. His turnaround has already begun, by earning the Oilpressure.com Drive of the Day.

All in All: To be honest, I entered the weekend with relatively low expectations. I based that on some of the previous IndyCar races I’ve seen from the historic venue at Monterey, but also the chaotic race we saw last year. Yesterday’s race had some chaos, but nothing to rival that of the race there last fall.

Instead, this race had some surprises that kept things interesting, but it also featured some decent passing opportunities. I mean, how often have we seen four-wide heading into The Corkscrew? In the end, we had a very entertaining race that predictable winner who earned and deserved his win. From a fan’s perspective – I just hope this isn’t the start of another Palou stranglehold on the championship. I really want things to be undecided when the series gets to Nashville in September.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on June 24, 2024 at 4:04 am and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.