It was great to see IndyCar back on track over the weekend in St. Pete. We weren’t treated to the greatest race in history — more on that later — but winter is officially over and we have 16 more races to enjoy between now and September.
Here are a few thoughts I have from the weekend.
who won: Josef Newgarden
IndyCar has some of the best, most competitive racing in the world…unless one of its elite drivers has a weekend where nothing goes wrong.
That was the kind of weekend it was for Newgarden, who sat on pole and then led 92 of the 100 laps before crossing the stripe almost eight seconds ahead of Pato O’Ward. Newgarden won on the streets of St. Pete for the third time, and the last time he won there (2019) he went on to win the championship.
For Newgarden, it was win No. 30 in his career, and he sits just one victory behind Dario Franchitti, Helio Castroneves and Paul Tracy for 10th on the all-time list. And he’s only 33.
Lots has been said about Newgarden’s ability on ovals, and for good reason, but his career wins are split evenly — 15 on ovals, and 15 on road/street courses.
It was a great weekend for Team Penske as well, with Scott McLaughlin finishing P3 and Will Power right behind him in fourth. If that’s an foreshadowing for the season, it would mean bad things to the rest of the field.
who impressed me: cgr rookies
Kyffin Simpson and Linus Lundqvist have found themselves in a perfect spot for their first season in IndyCar: in great equipment and teammates who have combined to win eight championships.
Both drove very well Sunday. Lundqvist, who was running just the second IndyCar race of his career, was quietly putting together a decent result until Romain Grosjean punted him into the tires in Turn 10 on Lap 68.
Simpson, who started P23, was absolutely methodical. If you look at the lap chart, he was very consistent, every few laps he would move up a spot in the standings. Some of that was due to attrition, of course, but for a 19-year-old in his first IndyCar race to bring back a clean car and in 14th place, that’s a solid effort.
I also want to mention Rinus Veekay, who started seventh and finished 10th to pick up his third top 10 in five races at St. Pete.
drive of the day: scott mclaughlin
McLaughlin went from P9 to finish on the podium, which isn’t unheard of from him, but there was just something about it that caught my attention.
I think it was just how he did it, he was super aggressive when the opportunity presented itself, and picked his spots and was patient when it wasn’t there. I’m still going with my prediction of Dixon to win the title, but McLaughlin is one of those guys that I could see holding the Astor Cup in September.
That is, if he can rid himself of his kryptonite, which is Indianapolis. His best finish on the road course is P4, but his average finish is 13.1. On the oval, his average finish is 21.0. Last year alone, he lost 80 points to Palou at IMS.
With Palou winning the title last year in dominating fashion, it didn’t matter, but in a tighter championship fight, losing 80 points to the leader in just three races (plus qualifying at Indy), makes a huge difference. Consistency matters: overall McLaughlin had an outstanding season in 2023, but to make that championship leap he needs to get better at IMS.
overall st. pete grade: c+
As usual, qualifying was a banger. In each session lots of drivers had opportunities to advance, and there were some surprises in each one, especially in Fast 6, when the difference in the pole fight between Newgarden and Felix Rosenqvist was decided by .0058, or fifty-eight ten-thousandths of a second.
The race, on the other hand, featured a dominant run up front and a lot of fuel-saving. I mean, dudes were fuel-saving on the first lap of the race! I don’t know what the solution is to fix that because it’s definitely part of everyone’s strategy.
I’ve heard lots of suggestions on social media as to how that can be fixed, but no matter what would happen, but short of going to F1 regs and everyone having enough on board to finish the race, fuel saving will always be part of the equation.
That’s it for this week. With the season starting and it looking like our schedules will finally align, Abby and I hope to record a podcast this week. Look for it on Friday!
Your INDYCAR Experience 