I tweeted the following after the final red flag. I still stand by it.

Indycar is trying too hard to finish this race under green under 10 laps to go istoo late just to get a green finish.

If the track were blocked, if the SAFER barrier were damaged, if there is a weather situation, then yes, a red flag is warranted. But to stop the race just to have a green flag finish just isn’t right.

Yellows breed yellows, but wethe series doesn’t need to be at the point where reds breed reds. End of rant

Other than That..

This was a terrific race. The first 90 laps were green with very good racing. Fifty two lead changes is a huge number for the 500. There was passing throughout the field. The second cautionn on lap 150 caused some teams to rethink strategy. Pato o’Ward tried to pit ahead of everyone else. It might have worked had there not been another caution.

O’Ward once again became his own worst enemy with his inside pass attempt, I thought Pato was a bit slow on the restart, thus putting himself in that position.

As is typical in a 500 mile race, early contenders fallmout of contention. Alex Palou and Rinus VeeKay looked like the two strongest cars early. VeeKay made contact with Palou inn the pits, ending both their chances for the win. Palou did come back to finish fourth and retain the championship lead. VeeKay came back from the penalty to finish 10th.

jJosef Newgarden ran a very smart, steady race. He deserved the win, but would he have won with out the two red flags?As drivers often say, it is what it is.

Slaying the Dragon

It’s time for Indycar to ban the dragon move that the leaders late in the race have used the last few years. One day the leader will hit hte pit wall and possiblyn take out some cars behind him.

I would prefer to see a straight fight for the lead. i remember when drivers used to just mnake their cars a bit wider on the track.

Tether Flaw?

The accident involving Felidx Rosenqvist and Kyle Kirkwood may have exposed a flaw in the wheel tether system. I have never seen a tire sail like that since the tehers were intorduced.

Fortunately, the wheel landed in the space between the Riley suites and the grandstand and no one was injured.

I’m sure there will be an investigation and a modicfication of the sysstem.

I will have a complete race wrap up sometime tomorrow. Thanks for following this month.