Tag: Pocono Raceway

Indycar Season Review- A Penske Walk in the Park

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Dominance returned to Indycar this season. Chevrolet dominated the engine battle. Drivers dominated races. Penske cars dominated the standings. Simon Pagenaud dominated the championship. Pagenaud had an early run of three straight wins and a couple second places. Will Power had a mid-season run of four wins and two second places. The difference? Power had to sit out the first race of the year due to medical issues.

While Chevrolet won more races and fourteen poles, Honda did show slight gains with two poles and more Fast Six qualifying rounds this year than last.Their two victories were well short of the six wins of 2015. With the aero-kit freeze in place for next year, Honda will focus on engine development to offset the aero disadvantage. It would be nice if the teams could work on the aerokits themselves next year.

There were several dominating drives this year. Pagenaud was clearly the class of the field at Long Beach, the Indy Grand Prix, and Sonoma. Josef Newgarden beat up on the field at Iowa. It appeared James Hinchcliffe had everyone covered at Texas, but he was nosed out at the line by Graham Rahal.  Will Powqer led virtually the entire way at road America.

Team Penske won ten of the sixteen races.  Pagenaud won half of those. His late season wins at Mid-Ohio and Sonoma were something we hadn’t seen from a series champion in a while. The last few years, the points leader won races early then hung on desperately to either win the title in the last race or lose it there.

Three classic venues returned to the schedule this year- Phoenix, Road America, and Watkins Glen. Watkins Glen was a mid-season replacement for the cancelled Boston race. It was a great upgrade from a street race. I was fortunate to be at all three. It was very exciting to have these three tracks back.

Opinion section

The best races this year, always subjective were Barber, the Indianapolis 500, Pocono, and Texas.  There is also something beautiful in the way Newgarden crushed Iowa.

The worst races- Phoenix and Sonoma.

Worst luck driver- Helio Castroneves.  He “earns” this honor with the following resume:

Indianapolis- Hit exiting the pits by Townsend Bell, then rear-ended by JR Hildebrand while he had the strongest contending car. Detroit- leading  Race 2 but waited too long to pit and was caught by a yellow. Twice at Iowa a yellow came out while he was in the pits for his scheduled stop.  At Pocono he was an innocent bystander in the Rossi/Kimball pit incident.  In spite of all this, Castroneves still managed to finish third in the standings, but not without a fight from Newgarden.

Runner-up for this category- Scott Dixon.

What broken clavicle? Josef Newgarden somehow escaped a horrific crash at Texas in the first attempt to race, ending up with a hand and clavicle fracture. He was expected to miss at least one race. Amazingly, he was back int he car at the next event at Road America. Two weeks after that came his perfect game at Iowa. The points he lost by crashing at Texas probably cost him third place. He finished two points behind in fourth.

On Wednesday, I hope to have some silly season updates and more thoughts on next year. Overall, it was a great year for Indycar’s image.

 

Power Play- Pocono Review

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Power won when power was lost. Will Power found the right downforce adjustment and took the lead late to win the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway.  What looked to be a duel to the finish between Mikhail Aleshin and Ryan Hunter-Reay failed to happen when Hunter-Reay lost power on lap 164. He was able to coast to the pits and get restarted, but his chance at victory was mostly gone. An Aleshin/Hunter-Reay duel would have been a fight between the pole sitter and the car that started last. This was one of the best races of the year.

Mikhail Aleshin appeared to have his first IndyCar victory well in hand, but he seemed to not be getting the fuel mileage the Chevrolets were. Most of stints were less than 30 laps. Will Power had early handling issues in traffic, but the car and the race came to him. He won the race off pit road on the last stop and held off a hard charging Aleshin to win.

What can you say about Ryan Hunter-Reay? He started last and came through the field to lead by lap 49.  He was then in contention all day until an electrical hiccup on lap 64 put him down a lap. Hunter-Reay then got his lap back with the late yellow and charged back to finish third. Basically, he passed the entire field twice. I know many fans don’t care for him, but I think he is one of the most under appreciated talents in Indy car. He can put a car pretty much anywhere and isn’t afraid to do it. He was definitely the driver of the day.

The worst incident of the day was a scary crash in pit lane on lap 64. Helio Castroneves was very fortunate Alexander Rossi’s car hit him where it did. A few inches more toward the cockpit would have been disastrous. I watched the replay several times. Rossi’s car was not as close to Castroneves’ cockpit as it first seemed. I saw several people on twitter calling for cockpit coverings. While I think some type of protection needs to be added, I’m not sure any device would be strong enough to keep an entire car out of that area. I am not in favor of completely enclosing the cockpit.

Power and Simon Pagenaud each now have four wins this year. Whoever wins his fifth race first will most likely win the title. Pagenaud’s oval woes continue. With one more oval next Saturday his twenty point lead could totally vanish heading to the final two races. Power has now finished first or second in six straight races. I think he has to be considered the title favorite now.

Notes:

  • Mikhail Aleshin has suddenly become a rising star in IndyCar. After his horrific crash at Fontana two years ago and sitting out last year until Sonoma, he is doing a fantastic job this season. His story is an inspiring comeback that is flying under the radar.
  • Will Texas be Ed Carpenter’s last race as a driver? He has not had a great year in the car, although Josef Newgarden continues to shine. Ed seems to reaching the point most owner-drivers eventually come to- step out of the car and run the team.
  • Andretti Autosport is unveiling a new sponsor and livery for next year at noon today.
  • Thursday is the highly anticipated announcement of Gateway Motorsports Park’s return to the IndyCar schedule. I expect a night race in August.
  • Tomorrow is the Celebration of Life for Bryan Clauson at Kokomo Speedway. The celebration is at 1 pm, followed by racing at 6:30pm the entire day is free. Please bring towels and/or blankets to the celebration to help out the local humane society. Chevy and Stew thank you. Although admission is free, a pit pass for the evening is $30.  I will share my experience there later this week