Indycar photo by James Black

Will Power’s strategy worked, Alexander Rossi’s plan almost worked. Power had enough of a lead that his red tires lasted 20 laps. He was helped by the race going caution free. If you like strategy races. this one was about as good as it gets. Both teams executed their plans well, and the race was decided on the track. The two best cars finished 1-2.

The win was redemption for Power, who had Race 1 last year pretty much in hand until the race was red flagged. His engine wouldn’t restart and the race resumed with Power in 20th.

I’m sad to see the race leave Belle Isle. The racing there has been really good the last few years.

Kyle Kirkwood had his best run of the season spoiled by a mistake leaving the pits. He was pretty much guaranteed a top 5. He has done fantastic work this year on a small team. I can’t wait to see how he does with Andretti next year.

The start of the race was probably the worst of the year with half the field not lined up or even close to the front of the grid. It didn’t matter in the long run, but it was not a good look.

Right Strategy, Wrong Year

Josef Newgarden’s strategy in 2021 was to end on reds with as short a stint as possible. His plan didn’t work last year as a yellow flag force him to pit and change to the alternate tire sooner than planned. Power used that strategy this year and it turned out to be the winning play.

NBC- Nothing But Commercials

I thought the broadcast was rather disjointed. The booth did a great job, but it seemed commercials breaks happened every four laps. Even with side by side it was interrupting of the flow. There were too many flashback episodes, and they were always on the larger screen when they should be on the smaller one. I’m more interested in the current action. We didn’t need to rehash what happened to Will Power last ear 10 laps from this year’s finish.

Numbers

Power is the sixth different winner after seven races.

There has been a different pole winner for each race.

The points lead has changed hands six times among five drivers. Only Scott McLaughlin has led for consecutive races. Power has regained the lead that Marcus Ericsson took last week. Power’s lead is three points over Ericsson. Josef Newgarden, in fifth place, is just 47 points behind Power.

Thanks for following along this weekend. I had another good day of improvement, but my trip to Road America is in serious jeopardy.

I’ll have some more thoughts on the weekend tomorrow.