A pass for the lead in the first turn of the race by Graham Rahal on Alex Palou gave fans hope of a different outcome today, but it was not to be. Palou passed Rahal with27 laps to go and ran out to a five second victory over Pato O’Ward. Rahal recovered to finish sixth after an issue on his final pit stop,

The race was arguably the most interesting of the year. There were two passes for the lead and a caution period. On lap 70 David Malukas pulled into the grass and parked with wisps of smoke coming from the rear. The caution was the first of the IndyCar series since the first lap of the season 408 laps ago. The fans cheered wildly at the sight of the amber lights.

Did the Tire Rule Help?

The requirement for teams to use two sets of each tire compound out some intrigue into the race. Pato O’Ward said that he liked the rule and wished it had been used earlier.

“I liked the rule, we should use that at Detroit and should have used them at St. Pete and Thermal,” O’Ward said.

Third place finisher Will Power agreed, adding that St. Pete and Thermal would have been “very different races” with this rule.

I think it helped the race a bit. We didn’t see fuel saving, and it was fun guessing which tires would be used when.

Andretti Swings

Kyle Kirkwood turned what had been a difficult Friday into a top 10 finish. The third year driver finished eighth after starting 21st.

Meanwhile, Marcus Ericsson started 20t but dropped out after six laps with a drive train issue. Ericsson has had a string of misfortunes this year and is 16th in the points.

Movin’ on Up

Other big movers were Rinus VeeKay, from 24th to ninth, and Scott Dixon from 16th to fifth.

Today’s race was one of the better ones of this Grand Prix. I believe it was the best race of the season as far as drama and intrigue. This event is beginning to reach a place where it can stand on its own, rather than just the undercard to the Indianapolis 500.

Thanks for following along this weekend. The real fun begins Tuesday.

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