Photo- Josef Newgarden leads Christian Rasmussen and David Malukas- by Jos Skibinski, Penske entertainment.

Adjectives fail me. I can’t think pf which ones would do yesterday’s race at Phoenix Raceway justice. In one of the best races I have ever seen, Josef Newgarden used a late pit stop for fresh tires to take the lead with just eight laps to go to win the Good Ranchers 250.

IndyCar and Firestone came up with the exact package needed to make the Phoenix track as racy as possible, and they got it right. Passing was plentiful, contenders came and went, cautions were few enough to allow for a flow, drama abounded, and a late yellow provided the intrigue to create a wild finish.

Here are some random musings:

Dennis Hauger provided an early thrill when he spun on lap 11 then rolled backwards down the backstretch, turned the car around and kept going. he finished 15th on the lead lap. At first, I though a scene from the new F1 movie was being filmed. I have never seen anyone do that before.

Whose Fault?

I can’t assign blame in the Alex Palou/Rinus VeeKay incident which took out the points leader. it was simply a racing incident, although I wonder why the spotters didn’t give their drivers any advice. Palou had led the points since June 23, 2024.

Will Power was definitely at fault in the incident involving race leader Christian Rasmussen. Power was having a very good race after crashing in qualifying on Friday, and at one point was in the top three. Rasmussen was running away with the race at that point, but Power was mot allowing the ECR driver to get by him. Rasmussen tried to go outside, but Power slid up the track. both cars suffered damage.

Power finished 16th, a lap down. after coming in to change a cut tire. Rasmussen kept his wounded car on track, fading from a sure win to 14th.

Rasmussen started 18th after a poor qualifying effort, but he first took the lead on lap 73. It was obvious that Rasmussen had the fastest car in the field.

A visibly upset Rasmussen told FOX’s Georgia Henneberry after the race, “We were the class of the field today – best car out there,” Rasmussen said. “It’s so frustrating because we should have won the race today.”

Rising from the Ashes

IndyCar first began racing at Phoenix in 1964. The track was a one groove ribbon in those days, and the racing wasn’t great. When IndyCar returned in2016 for a three year run, the racing was even less than not great, and virtually nobody came to watch.

On Saturday, it was hard to believe this was the same track. Everything came together to produce a fantastic show. I have heard that IndyCar will return in2027. I certainly hope so. I hope this race opens the door to more short ovals, although I think the shared nascar weekends neeed to be limited to two per season.

FOX Fumbles

If there was any downside to the IndyCar program at Phoenix, it was the FOX broadcasts on Friday and Saturday.

On Friday I heard way too much NASCAR talk on the practice and qualifying shows. The practice show began, but we didn’t see a car on track for seven minutes.

On Saturday they had a NASCAR driver in the booth, and while he actually did fine, I found it offensive.

For the race, there was no lap counter or scoring pylon except during commercials. The lap wasn’t even displayed until lap 25. I didn’t like the split screens with NASCAR interviews and other features while FOX could have been showing racing on full screen.

I did notice one interesting thing. After about 50 laps, when everyone realized what a fantastic race was brewing, the NASCAR talk seemed to stop.

FOX owns one third of the series, and it is a travesty that they treated a property they have a stake in with a poor broadcast like this weekend’s effort.

I have enjoyed the broadcasts up until now. There was a bit of a rough start as they began covering the races last year, but since they smoothed things out, they have been fine. Will Buxton called perhaps his best race Saturday, and Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe did their usual fine job. The problem was with production and directing.

There is no time to relax. the series goes halfway back across the country to Texas for the inaugural Arlington street race.

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