photo by Kyle McInnes
About to board my flight. Yesterday saw a busy session. Marcus Ericsson hit tge wall. Katherine Legge spun d didn’t hit anything.
Saturday
Times Eastern Iowa is on Central time
2:15p: INDY NXT Race
3:45p: INDYCAR Qualifying Peacock, Indycar radio
5:15p: @lukecombs Concert
8p: INDYCAR Race 250 laps NBC, Peacock, Indycar Radio
Results
Photo by Kyle McInnes
Scott McLaughlin took the pole away from his teammates with a solid 234.220 mph average speed. He edged Will Power by three tenths of a second and Josef Newgarden by four tenths. The Penske trio was nearly a mile an hour ahead of fourth place Alexander Rossi.
Penske also swept the front row in 1988 when pole winner Rick Mears also won the race.
The pole shootout was anticlimactic as only the drivers kept the same positions they earned in the earlier round of 12.
As usual, all the drama took place in the Last Chance Shootout for the final three spots on the grid.
While most fans expected the drama to come down to Graham Rahal versus Nolan Siege, but it was Marcus Ericsson who created the tension.
Ericsson was on a run that would have comfortably made the field, but he lifted after taking the white flag. Ericsson went out agauin, mainky tom cool his engine. He then waited until there were about six minutes remained to make an attempt which knocked Nolan Siegel out of the race. Siegel went out for one last attempt. His first lap was too slow to make the race, and his last ditch effort ended when he hit the wall in turn 1, and slid to a stop in turn 2, ending a valiant effort by the 19 year old and his crew, who worked all night to get a car ready for qualifying after his crash on Friday.
Graham Rahal made the race on his own merit this year after being bumped in 2023 but getting to start as a replacement for Stefan Wilson.
Katherine Legge was the fastest of the Last Chance round and she will start 31st.
. I like Alexander Rossi’s chances on Race Day.
Scott McLaughlin is the future of Team Penske. This pole is the first of what I think will be many achievements accomplish at IMS.
I am becoming for a fan of the first day of qualifying than I was when this format first started. It is fun and intriguing. Day two still needs some work. I think it is confusing and a bad marketing move to have both bumping and the pole decided on the same day.
The pole should be determined on Saturday, and the pole winner should be in the broadcast booth while drivers battle for the last few spots.
I will have some more thoughts tomorrow morning. Thanks for following along this entire week.
After 12 hours of lost practice time the green flag for Indianapolis 500 practice waved a few minutes after 3 pm. The session had several interruptions for track inspections and moisture.
It turned out to be a beautiful afternoon. It finally felt like May. Tomorrow’s forecast calls for the best weather day of the week. Friday looks iffy at the moment.
From earlier
Think This Weather is Bad? Look at 1956
All 34 cars were on track in a very busy afternoon. I enjoyed getting a look at all the liveries. If you blue and orange combinations or the color pink, you will enjoy this year’s grid.
There were several yellow flags, the longest the last one for what started as sprinkles three hours after the green flag waved.
Scott McLaughlin had the fastest lap of 229.49 mph3. His Penske teammates, Will Power and Josef Newgarden are second and fourth. Colton Herta finished third.
Tomorrow’s practice begins at 10 am Eastern and runs until 6 pm.
Photo by Kyle Mcinnes
Team Penske needed a strong showing. Indycar needed a good race. Both got what they needed yesterday afternoon in the Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix.
After a week embroiled in controversy, Team Penske came out strong on Friday as Josef Newgarden led the first practice. Saturday Scott McLaughlin and Will Power swept the front row in qualifying and finished in that order yesterday.
The race behind the leaders was probably the most entertaining race I have seen at Barber. Turn five was the scene of side-by-side action, seldom gentlemanly, but very exciting. The sand trap got quite a workout.
There was some good racing in the middle of the pack. Scott Dixon made a great over and under move to pass Josef Newgarden coming out of turn five. Uncharacteristically, they were racing for fifteenth place.
The cautions were spaced far enough apart to keep things interesting as teams tried different pit strategies. In the end, McLaughlin led 42 laps and beat Power by just over a second.
The star of the race was the third member of the podium, rookie Linus Lundqvist, who earned his first career Indycar podium. It will not be his last this season.
At some point, the most popular team in the paddock needs to produce consistent race results. Pato O’Ward qualified well, but went off track trying an optimistic move in turn five, then was penalized for avoidable contact with Pietro Fittipaldi, and finished 23rd after starting fourth.
Alexander Rossi lost a wheel on lap 47 and finished 25th.
Colton Herta had a great, if quiet run to eighth place after starting 15th. The finish was enough to give him the points lead by one over Will Power.
Defending champion Alex Palou is third, just three points behind.
Newgarden trails Herta by 53 points, the amount he was docked from St.Pete.
Barber announced its best crowd in more than 10 years this weekend, 86,000 over the three days. Yhe event has grown since my first time there in 2012. With that that growth has come a creeping corporate presence, which has squeezed some vantage points for fans. A free grandstand on the backstretch is now just two small sections.
I know it’s a way to generate money, but tracks need to consider where they put their suites.
The tram system was the most efficient I have ever seen it. It appeared the track had extra tram s running. After the race yesterday, I had to wait for the third tram to arrive to board, but my wait was less than 10 minutes. I got back to my parking are on the other side of the track in less than 15 minutes.
The scoring pylon worked well for the most part, but the thing that annoyed me was the IndyNXT standing were displayed as positions 28-36. I found it frustrating to follow who was where below 10th.
Wednesday begins the greatest month of the year. Indycar begins wioth theSonsio Grand Prix on the road course May 11, and the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 26th.
Thanks for following along here this past weekend. It was difficult to cover given the limited cell service, but a story like P2P scandal is why I originally wanted to be a journalist.
Photos by Kyle McInnes
Scott McLaughlin nip teammate Will Power by 0.003 seconds to win the pole for tomorrow’s Indycar race at Barber. Motorsports Park.
The 1-2 front row for Penske comes at the end of a turbulent week for the team involved in a controversy about illegal use of push to pass in the opening race at St. Petersburg.
Results:
1. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 1:05.9490 (125.552 mph) 2. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 1:06.0460 (125.367) 3. (45) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 1:06.0818 (125.299) 4. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 1:06.2940 (124.898) 5. (60) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 1:06.4524 (124.600) 6. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 1:06.9022 (123.763) 7. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 1:06.0942 (125.276) 8. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 1:06.2908 (124.904) 9. (27) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 1:06.2959 (124.895) 10. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 1:06.3013 (124.884) 11. (77) Romain Grosjean, Chevrolet, 1:06.3526 (124.788) 12. (66) Tom Blomqvist, Honda, 1:06.3871 (124.723) 13. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 1:06.1425 (125.184) 14. (20) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 1:06.4803 (124.548) 15. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, 1:06.1481 (125.174) 16. (7) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 1:06.5054 (124.501) 17. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 1:06.2751 (124.934) 18. (28) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 1:06.5846 (124.353) 19. (8) Linus Lundqvist, Honda, 1:06.2825 (124.920) 20. (78) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 1:06.6706 (124.193) 21. (51) Luca Ghiotto, Honda, 1:06.4788 (124.551) 22. (18) Jack Harvey, Honda, 1:06.7969 (123.958) 23. (4) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 1:06.5267 (124.461) 24. (6) Theo Pourchaire, Chevrolet, 1:06.9052 (123.757) 25. (41) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 1:06.8404 (123.877) 26. (30) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, 1:07.4920 (122.681) 27. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 1:07.7392 (122.234) |
Lack of a cell signal prevented me from reporting during the day.
Rinus VeeKay led the morning practice session, but electrical issues prevented him from challenging for the Fast Six. He will start last tomorrow.
Felix Rosenqvist has made the Fast Six in every race this season. Tomorrow is the first time he will not be on the front row.
Christian Lundgaard looks very strong this weekend and he is my pick to win Sunday.
Scott Dixon starts 13th, but he will still end up in the top 10 tomorrow. He currently leads the point standings by two over Colton Herta, who rolls off 15th.
Luca Ghiotto qualified 21st in his first Indycar event.
Barber had another strong attendance day. The hill between turns 2 and 3 were fuller than i have seen them ina few years. The track seemed to have more than the usual number of trams running. They were full most of the day, and I had no issues getting around the track.
Tomorrow’s schedule: Eatsren times. Barber is ibn the Central time zone.
10:15– IndyCar warmup Peacock
11: Indy NXT race Peacock
1 pm- NBC television window begins.
1:40- Green flag Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix. NBC, Peacock
Indycar photo
Indycar awakens from its long spring nap today as practice begins for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. The series will be on track for seven of the next eight weeks, ending at Road America June 9.
If I had to limit the number of races I go to in a season, this event is one that would stay on my calendar. The entire city embraces the event, and I enjoy walking around the downtown area.
The Long Beach Grand Prix is the second longest consecutive race on the calendar. Milwaukee has run more races, but there have been several years where there were no races.
The future of Indycar at this venue was secured earlier this spring when Part owner Gerry Forsythe purchased the other half of the event from the estate of Kevin Kalkhoven.
The first two outings- St. Pete and Thermal- were not great races. The tire compound which was designed for the heavier hybrid system,which is not in the cars yet, hindered the racing at the season opener. Thermal was a format that did not work.
I hope the series has made adjustments to provide a better race. If not, the racing may not improve until Mid-Ohio when the hybrid debuts.
Can Felix Rosenqvist continue his strong start to the season? Rosenqvist started second at St. Pete, won the pole and his heat race at Thermal, and finished second in the feature at Thermal.
He appears to be enjoying his new home at Meyer Shank Racing, and so far has looked like the driver I felt he could be all along.
Andretti Global has won this crown jewel race four of the last four years. The team excelled at street courses in 2023. At St. Pete in March, they weren’t as solid, but Colton Herta finished fifth.
Herta has won at Long Beach, and teammate Kyle Kirkwood won from the pole in 2023.
I can see Herta winning Sunday.
Momentum is hard enough to keep week to week, but after a 6 week gap, can Team Penske, which finished first, third, and fourth at St. Pete, come out with another dominant team showing?
Josef Newgarden is the only driver to break up the Andretti streak here, winning in 2022. He and Scott McLaughlin have to be considered contenders.
Scott McLaughlin led as Penske 1-2 in Saturday’s practice at Portland. The defending race winner turned the fastest lap of the weekend, 58.1516 seconds, edging teammate Josef Newgarden by 0.1179 seconds..
Team Penske dominated the weekend in2022 and it appears they are looking to do it again.
Scott Dixon was third and points leader Alex Palou was fifth. Dixon has a slim chance of catching Palou for the title. He must win Sunday to keep his hopes alive.
Photo by Travis Hinkle
It was worth the wait. Qualifying for the Music City Grand Prix produced an entertaining show with a couple of surprises and some drama in the finaltwo rounds. In the end, Scott McLaughlin won the pole for the second year in a row.
It took just two days for Linus Lundqvist to prove that he belongs in a full time Indycar seat. Friday’s practice was his first time in an Indycar at a race weekend. He finished 15th in the session. Today Lundqvist advnced to round 2 of qualifying. He starts 11th tomorrow. A top 20 finish would be great, but a top 15 is not out of the question.
Four drivers in The Fast Six also made the final round at Nashville in 2022. Besides Mclaughlin, Romain Grosjean, Pato O’Ward, and Alex Palou battled for the pole last year. Like McLaughlin, Palou also starts from the same spot he took the green flag from a year ago, fourth.
David Malukas is not sure which team he will be with in 2024, but he boosted his chances of a better seat today by earning a fifth place starting spot. It has been a tough year for the Dale Coyne/HMD driver. A day like today should help his barganing power. The next race at gateway is the site of his best career finish, second place.
It is rare to see Scott Dixon in the wall during qualifying. Dixon hit the wall with 18 seconds left in the round. the other five drivers were allowed one timed lap after the track was cleared. The timing of his accident may have kept WillmPower and Josef newgarden out of The Fast Six.
One the bigger shocks of the session saw marcus Ericsson starting in 20th. The team has been fighting brake issues this weekend.
Christian Lungaard rolls off 13th tomorrow. Lundgaard won the pole and the race at Toronto. It’s a disappointing result for a team that entered Nashville with a lot of momentum.
Mclaughlin’s pole helps Alex Palou by taking a point away from Josef Newgarden.
Reminder- Tomorrow’s coverage begins at noon eastern on NBC and Peacock with the green flag at 12:30.The IndyNXT race is on Peacock at 10:15 Eastern.
1. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 01:14.6099 (101.327 mph)
2. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 01:14.9395 (100.881)
3. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, 01:15.2416 (100.476)
4. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 01:15.2462 (100.470)
5. (18) David Malukas, Honda, 01:15.8703 (99.644)
6. (28) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 01:15.9921 (99.484)
7. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 01:15.1384 (100.614)
8. (27) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 01:15.1641 (100.580)
9. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 01:15.4862 (100.151)
10. (7) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 01:15.5711 (100.038)
11. (60) Linus Lundqvist, Honda, 01:16.0715 (99.380)
12. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 01:16.7692 (98.477)
13. (45) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 01:16.0985 (99.345)
14. (6) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 01:15.4638 (100.180)
15. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 01:16.1825 (99.235)
16. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Chevrolet, 01:15.5631 (100.049)
17. (06) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 01:16.2203 (99.186)
18. (77) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 01:16.0170 (99.451)
19. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 01:16.3356 (99.036)
20. (8) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 01:16.0420 (99.419)
21. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 01:16.6416 (98.641)
22. (30) Jack Harvey, Honda, 01:16.1193 (99.318)
23. (78) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 01:16.6900 (98.579)
24. (51) Sting Ray Robb, Honda, 01:16.3907 (98.965)
25. (55) Benjamin Pedersen, Chevrolet, No Time (No Speed)
26. (29) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 01:16.4369 (98.905)
27. (20) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Chevrolet, 01:17.2417 (97.875)
In no particular order, here are some of my thoughts on today’s race. I haven’t seen the replay yet.
Today’s race was an above average race for Barber. The different strategies kept the outcome in doubt, and two asses for the lead in the last 25 laps is about as good as you’ll get on a road course.
The only thing that could have made this race better is if it therebwer no cars on a fuel save strategy. At leastfive cars did not have enough fuel to complete their cool down lap. hen Grosjean pitted on lap 59, I thought it would be a stretch for him to finish the race.
St. Pete Deja Vu– Romain Grosjean and Scott McLaughlin fighting for the lead as McLaughlin comes out of the pits. Fortunately, Barber has a lot more room to battle tham St. Pete did. I hope we see more great fights between these two this season.
How did Grosjean have no push to pass left? He shouldn’t have needed to use much since he led 57 laps.
Grosjean now has five second place finishes in his career. Only two other drivers have had more runner up finsihes without a win. Vitor Meira was an eight time runner up and never won. I think Grosjean’s time is coming,perhaps as soon as May 13.
I watched the race from the turn 15-16 area. there were many close battles for position, some wheel banging, groups of cars all day long.
I am happy to see Will Power on the podium. I was starting to think he had lost his competetive fire.
A nice job by Christian Lundgaard. His sixth place finish is the nbest for a Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver this season.
The drive of the day goes to Felix Rosenqvist. He dropped back quickly to the back at the start from his ninth place grid spot, but fought back to finish eighth.
Josef Newgarden has two finishes of 15th or worse. Like last year he will need to come on strong with a lot of victories to be in contention for the championship.
Honda and Chevy have each won two races. The engines seem more equal this season than they did in 2022 when Chevy seemed to be the better power plant.
Thanks for following along this weekend. Tomorrow is May 1. I might have a couple things to talk about for the next 30 days or so.
The Pit Window by Mike Silver 