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Whether it’s subconscious or not, I’m always trying to talk up IndyCar at work to all of my co-workers. Those that have been around me for a while are immune to it, but those that are fairly new are sometimes intrigued at my life outside of the office. There were a few newer employees that seemed to be open to the idea of spending the first morning of Daylight Saving Time lounging around and tuning in to the start of the new season for the NTT IndyCar Series.

When the NBC telecast started off, this really came off as a big-time event. The water shots looked inviting, the pre-race grid was packed and NBC did a really nice job of selling the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. It was topped off with a montage narrated by Jon Bon Jovi, who was also a passenger in the two-seater driven by Helio Castroneves. NBC made it look like we were about to watch a world-clas event, which was obviously must-see TV.

And then the race started.

The start at St. Petersburg is always interesting, as we saw last year. This year there were a few interesting moments in mid-pack, but everyone got through cleanly. That is, everyone other than Christian Lundgaard, who suffered a right-rear puncture from a punt by Alex Palou.

By the end of Lap Two, the field had already strung out to where it was pole-sitter Josef Newgarden and front-row starter Felix Rosenqvist, with everyone else already a healthy distance behind.

For twenty-seven laps, the race was a static parade. There was little passing and nothing was changing up-front. I could only imagine what my co-workers were probably texting to each other – “This is what he is so nuts over?” or “Am I missing something? Why does he love this?”

Then Marcus Armstrong clipped the tire-barrier, bringing out a full-course caution. I figured this was where things were going to get interesting. Everyone will be pitting and something will happen to spice things up. Sure enough, Newgarden had a hiccup in the pits and came out third, behind Rosenqvist and Colton Herta. Lundgaard stayed out, so he showed as the leader during those laps with those three behind. It didn’t matter. Newgarden quickly passed the other two, then tucked in behind Lundgaard waiting for him to pit. From there, Newgarden led all but one lap after the last set of pit stops to dominate the field in winning the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg for the third time in his career.

Altogether, Newgarden led ninety-two of the one-hundred laps in yesterday’s race. He won from the pole, meaning he maxed out on all possible points in the first round of the championship; serving notice that the second half of last season was not indicative of his abilities. The car that was clearly the fastest, won the race yesterday.

If you are a Josef Newgarden fan, you probably loved yesterday’s race. If you are a fan of another driver or just a racing fan of wanting to see a good race – you probably walked away from your television with an empty feeling. After such a big buildup and waiting since last September to see a race, you wanted more. That’s not a slap to Newgarden, but there was not a ton of suspense yesterday. It was more like watching a Red Bull/Max Verstappen beatdown than it was an edge-of-your-seat IndyCar race that happens fairly often.

IndyCar beatdowns happen fairly often too, and yesterday was one of those. It happens, so I’m not too worried.

TV Coverage: For the first race out of the gate, I thought NBC had a good weekend overall. It wasn’t perfect, but the booth had few gaffes and the pit reporters did a good job. I was glad to see Georgia Henneberry in the pits. She’s been used sparingly by NBC for IndyCar coverage. She does a good job, and I hope they continue to utilize her more.

Coming out of a commercial break, they ran a promo for the upcoming Summer Olympics that I thought ran way too long. They were also unlucky that Armstrong’s crash happened while they were away for commercial, but those things happen and can’t be helped. It did seem they cut away from the commercials early, so we should be thankful for that.

One thing I did notice that NBC bailed as soon as the race was over. That’s not that unusual, since they were bumping up against their next programming. But normally in that situation, they throw an extended post-race show over to Peacock. That did not seem to be an option yesterday. Some fans on social media interpreted that as a sign that NBC would not be back after this year. I’m not sure about that, but it did seem to be a very abrupt halt to the weekend of racing.

National Anthem: I irritate some fans by my seemingly constant complaining about some renditions of our National Anthem before races. I will do no complaining this week. I thought that the PCCA Nova Vox Chamber Choir did an outstanding job performing The Star-Spangled Banner. It was well sung, with no over-the-top “look at me” moments. It was straight-forward, and no-nonsense – the way it should be performed, in my opinion. Well done!

Better late, than never: Gil de Ferran was a two-time IndyCar champion and an Indianapolis 500 winner. He was a former IndyCar broadcaster, car-owner and overall great ambassador for the series. He passed away suddenly at the age of 56, at the end of 2023. I was expecting some sort of video tribute to him throughout the weekend Peacock broadcasts and also at the start of Sunday’s race broadcast. There was nothing until Leigh Diffey mentioned his passing with less than seven laps to go in the race, with his boothmates chiming in afterwards. I’m not sure if this was an intentional omission or a neglectful oversight. I guess a late-race mention is better than nothing. I am hopeful he gets more than an afterthought mention during the Month of May.

On top of their game: Team Penske served notice that they don’t intend to be embarrassed by Alex Palou and Chip Ganassi anymore. The only team that had no changes to their driver lineup, showed the value of consistency by placing first (Newgarden), third (Scott McLaughlin) and fourth (Will Power) in yesterday’s race. Chevy flexed their muscle too. Not only do they power the three Penske entries, they are also under the cowling of Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, who finished second.

The Other Big-Three: These days, we now speak more of the Big Four, than the Big Three. Penske and Ganassi clearly make up the Top-Two, but Andretti Global and Arrow McLaren have both earned their way into the conversation, to some extent. While Sunday was clearly a day for Team Penske, the other three teams didn’t fare so well. While McLaren took second (O’Ward), Andretti took fifth (Herta) and Ganassi took sixth (Palou) – it was not a memorable day or weekend for any of the other teams.

Andretti’s Kyle Kirkwood finished a forgettable twelfth, while Marcus Ericsson went out at the halfway point with mechanical issues. Arrow McLaren was glad to see O’Ward on the podium, but Alexander Rossi did well to finish eighth, after qualifying fifteenth. Callum Ilott was not heard from most of the day, as he started sixteenth and finished a quiet thirteenth. Palou finished a respectable sixth for Chip Ganassi, while Scott Dixon had a quiet ninth-place finish. Marcus Armstrong and Linus Lundqvist both tagged the Turn Ten tire-barrier, while young Kyffin Simpson finished fourteenth in his IndyCar debut. That’s good for him, but that result is nothing to celebrate at Chip Ganassi Racing.

Arrow McLaren, Chip Ganassi Racing and Andretti Global will need to pick up their game by the time the series gets to Long Beach, or this championship fight may be between three Penske drivers. Hopefully, they can all learn something at The Thermal Club. The pressure will be off, with no points on the line.

Early Disappointments: What everyone loves about season-openers is that it’s like starting the season with a clean sheet of paper. For many teams, it doesn’t take long for the story to sound too familiar. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLLR) comes to mind. Optimism was everywhere around this team. They were shaking off the doldrums of the past two years and good times were ahead.

After Saturday’s qualifying, they were back in the woods. Christian Lundgaard was their best qualifier with a mid-pack starting spot of twelfth. By the end of Lap One, a cut tire had already sealed his fate for the day. Lundgaard finished twentieth. Their best finish of the day came from the newest RLLR driver – Pietro Fittipaldi, who finished fifteenth after starting twenty-sixth. Graham Rahal was hardly mentioned all weekend, as he qualified twenty-second and finished sixteenth.

I was ready to put AJ Foyt Racing in the same category. Santino Ferrucci missed all of Practice Two and appeared to be headed nowhere. But he qualified fourteenth and finished a respectable eleventh. Sting Ray Robb wasn’t so lucky. The second-year driver started twenty-fourth and finished twenty-sixth. Ouch! Just finishing out of the Top-Ten, it looks like Ferrucci may be the beneficiary of Robbs big budget and the technical alliance with Team Penske.

Juncos Hollinger Racing was expecting great things with Romain Grosjean coming on board. The former Formula One driver performed well through the weekend and qualified fifth. But he steadily slid backwards after the start, hovering between thirteenth and ninth for most of the day. Then he was penalized for avoidable contact on Lap 73, when he helped Linus Lundqvist find the wall a few laps earlier. He eventually went out with a mechanical issue on Lap 82, finishing a very forgettable twenty-fourth after such a promising start to the weekend. His teammate, Augustin Canapino, had a very forgettable weekend, starting twentieth and finishing eighteenth.

Early surprise: I think it’s fair to say that most people were not expecting a whole lot from Felix Rosenqvist at Meyer Shank Racing (MSR). I know I wasn’t. I wished him well, but after he was jettisoned from a difficult time at Arrow McLaren and then signing with a team that seemed lost last season – I expected Rosenqvist and MSR to be an afterthought or a field-filler, at best.

Instead, Rosenqvist was fast out of the box on Friday afternoon and never let up. For a minute, it looked as if he was putting his car on the pole, until Newgarden nipped him at the last second. Rosenqvist started on the front row and was running among the Top-Three for most of the first half of the race. Rosenqvist finished seventh, which was the lowest he ran all day.

Still, you can’t help but root for Rosenqvist and MSR. No disrespect intended for the still recovering Simon Pagenaud, but that car was vastly underperforming before his frightening crash at Mid-Ohio. I don’t know if they revamped their engineering staff or if having a new face has refreshed this team. But I’m hoping MSR can take the momentum from this weekend and build on it.

Not sold yet: One theme from the weekend was how Ed Carpenter Racing’s (ECR) Rinus VeeKay has turned over a new leaf. Excuse my skepticism, but I’ll believe it when I see it. Starting seventh in a race that seemed to favor Chevy power, and finishing tenth is not the sign of a new leaf to me. VeeKay is in his fifth season now, and is now the veteran driver on his team. I’m not saying he is sure to implode this season, as he has done in the past – but I want to see sustained improvement from the Dutch driver over several races, before I’ll be ready to put him in the group of the very good.

Drive of the Day: Some drivers moved up the charts more than this driver, but none salvaged a mediocre day to score as many points. Most readers here know I am not an Alex Palou fan, but I will give credit when it is due. If it weren’t for changing sponsors to DHL in the offseason, and so much airtime was devoted to his snazzy new paint scheme – I’m not sure the reigning champion would’ve generated a single headline all weekend, even at the halfway point. Palou and most of his Ganassi teammates seemed a little lost all weekend.

But just like his veteran teammate Scott Dixon has done for so many years, Palou took a mediocre car and patiently worked with it and earned a sixth place finish with it. While finishing sixth is not outstanding, Palou started thirteenth and was languishing most of the day. Then suddenly he started moving up and got himself a respectable finish. If that’s what he does for an “off” weekend, imagine how it will be when he and the team find their way.

All in all: St. Petersburg has produced some great and memorable races in the past, like last year for instance. There have also been a few duds to come from the Gulf Coast area. It just so happens that yesterday’s race was closer to a dud than great. That’s OK…it happens. The race cars were colorful and shiny, except for the matte black on Lundgaard’s car, the weather was great and it really looked like a big event on television. The crowd looked outstanding, and made me wish we had decided to go. Best of all, the IndyCar season is now underway. Who can complain about that?

George Phillips

This entry was posted on March 11, 2024 at 4:01 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.