Photo by Kyle McInnes
It was a fun race for the first two laps. Christian Lundgaard made a great move to get past Alex Palou and led most of the first half of the race.
Cars were banging into each other, running opponents off the road, and fighting for position. Then the race fell into a processional F1 style event.
the race came down to pit strategy, and that’s where Palou gained the advantage. He made his final stop before his two closest pursuers, Lundgaard and Will Power, and didn’t look back.
The late yellow was not a problem as Palou pulled away to six second lead a the finish over Power.
Overall, it was a typical IMS road course race, a bland appetizer to what should be a delicious entree in two weeks.
Notes
Josef Newgarden has had two straight finishes below 15th place. His chances of winning the championship are fading quickly.
Colton Herta improved 17 positions to finish seventh.
The last time DHL was the sponsor on a winning car was 2018 at Sonoma. Ryan Hunter-Reay won for Andretti.
Six different teams placed cars in the top 10- Ganassi -3; Penske-2; RLL_ 2; Andretti, McLaren, and MSR 1 each.
Palou leads Power by 12 points in the championship. We have seen this movie before.
Like 2023, Palou has a chance to be the third driver to complete a May sweep. Will Power and Simon Pagenaud accomplished this feat in 2018 and 2019 erespectively.
If your last name begins with P, younhave a great shot at winning this race. Power, POagenaud, and Palou have 10 wins combined on this track.
Thanks for following along this weekend. I can’t wait for the next two weeks.