Oilpressure

And just like that, we are heading into the season finale for the NTT IndyCar Series. How is that even possible? It seems like it was just about a month ago that Romain Grosjean and Scott McLaughlin came together, while battle for the race win at St. Petersburg to open the season. Now the series has gathered for the final time this season at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

For years, this venue was the location for the CART season finale. Remember when it was also the site of the Marlboro Challenge – an all-star race of sorts, that took the race winners and pole winners of the season, along with the previous year’s series champion. The goal was to have a ten-car field. If they still needed more drivers, they would turn to the point standings. They would race on Saturday for a shot at $1 Million (provided they had won two other designated races in the season.

Most of the Marlboro Challenges in my feeble memory took place at Laguna Seca, although I seem to recall one at Nazareth. The one that stands out in my mind was 1991 at Laguna Seca. Rick Mears was leading Michael Andretti. Coming out of the final corner, Mears momentarily lost fuel pressure and sputtered – giving Michael enough time to pass him for the win. It would be a precursor for the next day, when Andretti would win his only CART title – when Bobby Rahal fell out with mechanical issues midway through the race.

There will be no such championship drama this weekend, but that doesn’t mean there is nothing intriguing about the weekend. Alex Palou clinched his second championship in three years last weekend at Portland, by winning the race. Many think he will win Sunday’s race, since the pressure is off and he won this race last year in dominating fashion.

First and second place in the championship is already locked up. But positions third, fourth and fifth are still up in the air; with Josef Newgarden, Pato O’Ward and Scott McLaughlin sitting in those respective positions all separated by a mere twenty-two points.

Positions in the final standings are not all that are at stake this weekend. Many seats have already been announced as filled. We now know that Felix Rosenqvist will be joining Tom Blomqvist at Meyer Shank Racing; and Linus Lundqvist will be replacing Marcus Ericsson at Chip Ganassi Racing. It was confirmed yesterday that Marcus Armstrong will be returning fulltime to Ganassi; while Marcus Ericsson has been confirmed at Andretti (soon to be) Global. But there are still lots of other seats to be determined. Many drivers will either be driving for their jobs to stay with their respective teams, or auditioning for other possible teams this weekend.

Romain Grosjean has confirmed he will not be returning to Andretti. Might there be a spot for him at Ed Carpenter Racing, or would he be welcomed back at Dale Coyne Racing? Or is a fulltime ride with Lamborghini in his future. Stya tuned on that one. David Malukas is expected to be named to the No. 6 car at McLaren. Sting Ray Robb may or may not be a free-agent after Sunday. Devlin DeFrancesco has been shopping his services for the last six weeks or so. Jack Harvey will not be in the field this weekend, but he has stated his desire to return to the series next season. There is a lot to be determined going forward.

Since the NTT IndyCar Series returned to Laguna Seca in 2019, the track has not produced the most exciting races we’ve seen. It’s possible that could change on Sunday. The track went through a complete repave recently, and speed records are expected to be shattered this weekend. Will that improve the racing? We’ll see.

There was actually a five-hour test yesterday, to acclimate the drivers to the new pavement. Like the new pavement at Road America a couple of months ago; drivers found the going very fast, but slick just off the racing line. There were several cars off-course, including Palou.

We are going to see some good looking liveries this weekend. Not only will Colton Herta be running a look reminiscent of his father’s Shell colors from the late 90s, Alex Palou will be sporting chromed sidepods, and Graham Rahal will be carrying the dark-green/lime-green colors of iPacket.

The fact that hardly anyone will be “points racing”, brings some excitement to this weekend’s race. With no race in the coming weeks, protecting equipment will be on no one’s mind. This has the potential to be sort of an exhibition barn-burner. Things could get very interesting on Sunday. Don’t be surprised if we have a different looking Firestone Fast Six on Saturday, as well as a different looking podium on Sunday.

With that said, I will stick to that theme in picking a race winner. I predict that Sunday’s winner will not come from the Penske or Ganassi camp. I also predict that Arrow McLaren will remain winless for the 2023 season. I am going with a driver who has had some very rough times this season, but has been knocking on the door recently. Graham Rahal will win Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey, and use that as a springboard into 2024.

Practice One will get underway this afternoon at 5:30 EDT and will be shown live on Peacock. Saturday morning’s practice takes place at 1:00 pm EDT, with Qualifying beginning at 5:00 pm EDT – both on Peacock. The Sunday morning warm-up will run at Noon EDT, with the race broadcast (with a 55-minute pre-race show) beginning at 2:30 pm EDT on Big NBC.

Enjoy the race! It’ll be a while before we see another one.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on September 8, 2023 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.