Detroit Preview
The dust has yet to settle from the 108th Running of the Indianapolis 500, and The NTT IndyCar Series is on to another race. This time the site is downtown Detroit for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. Last year was the first year for the new circuit after the race left Belle Isle and moved back to downtown for the first time since 1991.
Before looking ahead, there are a couple of things to touch on regarding last weekend’s Indianapolis 500. First of all, I was neglectful in mentioning how good it was to run into longtime reader and commenter "Big Mac". He came over and spoke to me while I was talking to another longtime reader "Oliver W". Big Mac actually recognized Susan first, then saw me and came over to introduce himself. We talked for a couple of minutes, then he and Susan started talking. I turned my back for a moment and he was gone. Big Mac, if you’re reading – I hope you didn’t think I was rude, although looking back I probably was. And then I forgot to acknowledge meeting him Monday morning – my apologies!
The other thing I meant to mention on Monday was a complaint I had for whoever is running the video boards inside IMS during the race. Please realize that those of us who are in the stands and watching the race, actually want to watch the race. I think I speak for the vast majority of fans that we don’t really care about what is going on in the Snake Pit, while there are cars on track. If we wanted to know what was going on back there, we’d be there. Please keep the video boards focused on the action on the track.
On a positive note, I was very happy to see that Josef Newgarden chose to drink the milk and share it with his crew – as opposed to dumping it over his head, or slinging it around to douse those around him. He probably still had vivid memories of how bad his hair and driver’s suit smelled just a couple of hours later. I’m hoping against hope that Newgarden has started a new tradition for Victory Lane, and maybe the trend that Helio Castroneves started in 2001 will go away. Maybe twenty years from now, people will look back on that two-decade trend and think how stupid it was. End of rant.
Now, back to this weekend’s race in Detroit. Last year’s race unveiled a new 10-turn, 1.645-mile layout that is comprised of six 90°turns and one sort-of hairpin (Turn Three), that served as quite the bottleneck last year. Pit lane is extremely unique, as cars pit on both sides of a wide area, before merging into Turn One. It was predicted last year that the pit-lane would cause problems, but I don’t really recall anything unusual happening.
If I’m not mistaken, the Turn Three area has been tweaked a little bit, to make it a little easier to navigate.
Last year’s race was something of a crashfest, beginning on the opening lap – as Callum Ilott rammed into the back of Kyle Kirkwood in Turn Three. That was a sign of things to come as the drivers found it difficult to pass on the narrow downtown streets. Altogether, there were seven cautions in last year’s race. They accounted for 32 of the 100 laps to be run under caution.
As is typical in the second year of a new venue, teams and drivers will figure it out. I seriously doubt there will be seven cautions in Sunday’s race. If there are, it could certainly jumble up things.
Seven cautions did nothing to jumble up things last years, however. Alex Palou won from the pole and started the three-race streak of wins that pretty well cemented his championship by July Fourth. For the sake of the series, I am hopeful that Sunday’s race does not begin another such streak. Things got a little dull last summer, as no one could really muster up a challenge for Palou.
Going into the weekend, Palou already holds a twenty-point lead over Scott Dixon. After his Indianapolis 500 crash on Sunday, Will Power has slid back to third in points – twenty-six points behind Palou. Don’t look now, but the two Team Penske drivers that were disqualified from the season-opener at St. Petersburg have clawed their way back into contention.Scott McLaughlin is now sixth in points and fifty-two points behind Palou. After his second straight win in the Indianapolis 500, Josef Newgarden is sixty-one points out of first and is in seventh place in the championship.
One interesting note is that Tristan Vautier will be driving the No. 51 Dale Coyne entry this weekend. Vautier is just a couple of weeks shy from seven years since he has been in an Indy car. Vautier filled in for the injured Sebastien Bourdais at Texas for Coyne in June of 2017, and has not driven in IndyCar since.
On Tuesday we learned that Tom Blomqvist and Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) “mutually agreed” for Blomqvist to step out of the car for the next two races, Detroit and Road America next weekend. Helio Castroneves will drive the No. 66 car at those tracks. I thought that this was to be a learning year for Blomqvist. Isn’t more seat time the best way to learn? If it is about results, I don’t think Helio has been setting the world on fire on road & street courses. If it is truly the plan to put Blomqvist back in the car, this is a very curious move to me.
Friday’s opening practice will get underway at 3:00 pm EDT and will run until 4:15 pm and will be shown live on Peacock. Practice Two will run at 9:10 am EDT on Saturday, while qualifying starts at 12:15 pm EDT on Peacock. Sunday’s morning warmup will take place at 9:30 am, and the race broadcast gets underway at Noon EDT on USA Network.
So don’t go to Big NBC and wonder where the race is.
Now that the Indianapolis 500 has been settled for another year, everyone is focused on points again. Who will win this year’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix? I say it won’t be Alex Palou, but it will be someone who needs the points to be a title contender. Currently this driver sits in tenth place in points and his team is winless. The driver and team need to score big on Sunday. Who am I talking about? Kyle Kirkwood. He does well on street circuits, and he came away with a fifth-place finish last year, after getting punted at the start and having his rear wing replaced. He obviously likes this circuit. We’ll see.
George Phillips
Oilpressure 
May 31, 2024 at 8:30 am
No apology is necessary, George. I had just bought a gyro from one of the stands in Pagoda Plaza and I was looking for a place to sit down and eat it, as eating it while standing was likely to end with gyro on my shirt. After looking around for a few minutes, I found a spot–and, given the many photos of her that I’ve seen on this site, I immediately recognized that the woman sitting next to that spot was Susan. Of course, you were standing nearby, chatting with Oliver.
After we spoke, you were pretty engrossed in your conversation with Oliver and I didn’t want to interrupt, but I still had a gyro to eat, so I said goodbye to Susan and went to find a spot to sit (as the previously empty spot next to Susan was filled while we were talking). BTW, I avoided the pork tenderloin based on your advice, but the gyro was completely decent.
I’ll probably go to the Milwaukee races this year. If you’re going, maybe we can have a longer conversation then!
May 31, 2024 at 8:46 am
When it wasn’t messed with shattered carbon fiber, this track raced pretty well last year I thought. It actually had the most lead changes of any street race ever contested with an aeroscreen Indycar (along with the 3rd most % of race run under the yellow flag). The split pit lane, once we found out that the drivers could navigate it cleanly, wound up being kind of a cool thing. The scenery… well, let’s move on.
This seems like a good chance for an Andretti car to take a win. Rossi had a fine race here last year too, so perhaps he’ll finally break through for McLaren.
May 31, 2024 at 9:42 am
I’m really looking forward to this race. Last year was exciting and translated well to television. I’m thinking Palou or Rossi.
May 31, 2024 at 1:20 pm
I did notice, and was quite pleased that Newgarden did not dump the milk over his head.
My first thought after seeing that Blomqvist is being replaced for the next two races is that Malukas should be available after that. And Daly is also available.