We’re back!
Well, we’ve actually never been away, it just seems like it. I think between us, Abby and I have attended most of the races this season, but haven’t done anything on the blog/podcast side.
Oh, well, it’s Monday, isn’t that when all good things start?
Anyway, yesterday was another runaway win for Alex Palou, who now has eight wins on the season, and could clinch his fourth IndyCar title before the series heads to the finale in Nashville.
Who impressed me this weekend? Who struggled?
Let’s find out.
Who impressed me
Alex Palou: Some may think he’s making the season boring, actually a lot of people do. Me? He’s my favorite driver, so I never get tired of him winning.
His eighth win is getting him close to rarified air, as two drivers have won more races in a season: AJ Foyt (1964) and Al Unser (1970) each won 10 races in a season, while Mario Andretti won nine in 1969.
Other drivers to have won eight races are Mario (1966-67), Tony Bettenhausen (1951), Michael Andretti (1991), Al Unser Jr. (1994) and Sebastien Bourdais (2007).
We can talk about his dominance being boring, or we can recognize that he is beginning to put himself in categories where only legends live. His inevitable championship will bring him to third on the all-time list, and his 19 overall wins is tied for 23rd all time.
This has all come in 96 races, and he is just 28.
It’s hard to believe that five years ago, he was worried he would even be back for a second season in the series, and three years ago, his career was in flux because of poor decisions and bad PR.
At this point how do you beat the guy?
Colton Herta: In golf, we talk about how a hole or a course “fits someone’s eye”. There is just something about the layout that feels comfortable to the player, and they usually play well there.
That’s Laguna Seca for Herta. Is it in the DNA? His dad always did well there too, but I think a lot of it is he gets a lot of energy being in his home state of California, and he loves the racetrack.
He’s won there twice, and has been on the podium in four of his six races there. His third-place finish gives him back-to-back top 5s for the first time this season. Now he heads to three tracks where he finished P4, P3 and P1 last year (he finished 22nd in the first race at Milwaukee), meaning he has a chance to finish the year in a big way and maybe move up the points standings.
McLaren: It was a great weekend for Team Papaya. Christian Lundgaard was on the podium in second, Pato O’Ward finished P4, and Nolan Siegel led the only 11 laps that Palou didn’t.
O’Ward is on a nice roll, with two wins and five straight top 5 finishes, and remains second in points while Lundgaard has had some struggles this year but is still P5 in the standings, which is by far the best in his career.
Christian Rasmussen: The season was a struggle to start, but all of the sudden he’s low-key putting together a nice 2025. Yesterday’s ninth-place finish gave him four straight top 10s in his last seven events, and he is 14th in points, one spot ahead of Josef Newgarden, and also has more points than veterans Alexander Rossi (his teammate), Graham Rahal, and Marcus Ericsson.
Who Struggled
Team Penske: To quote the great Vince Lombardi: “What the hell is going on out there?”
Can someone explain any of this to me? Truth be told, I have my opinions, which I’ll probably share soon, but when the greatest team in the history of the sport stands P9 (Will Power), P12 (Scott McLaughlin) and P15 (Newgarden), it’s a head-scratcher.
It didn’t get any better for them yesterday, with Power being the top finisher on the team in seventh.
OK, so I’ll tease what I MIGHT say in a Penske-related blog. Your best driver is the guy who may not even be with the team next year, your “star” driver has become sullen and withdrawn, and your third driver is trying so hard that he is destroying a lot of equipment.
Oh, and said second and third drivers don’t seem to like each other very much. Jesus, this sounds like a Formula 1 team.
Anyway, I think the only thing that fixes this is six months of everyone getting their crap together. And that starts at the top of the program.
Alexander Rossi: I quote the great orator Jim Halpert: “What the hell’s going on?”
I mean, what happened to this guy? He wins the 100th Indianapolis 500 in 2016, and in 2017-18 he won five times and finished second and third in the standings. Since then he’s won once and has never been better than ninth in the points.
I know he’s on a midfield team, but P18 in the standings? Your very-much-less-experienced teammate is four spots ahead, and you don’t have a top 10 since Detroit?
There have been more than a few occasions that Rossi hasn’t necessarily been put in a position to succeed, and lots of things have happened over the last few years that haven’t been his fault.
But, ball don’t lie. He’s 18th in the standings. That’s who he is right now. Like Penske, how does he fix this?
Kyffin Simpson: Simpson finished last after contact with Felix Rosenqvist on the first lap of the race, and was kind of a bummer coming off of a P3 podium finish in Toronto.
Simpson has vastly improved as the season goes along, which was why this race was such a setback. He’s really good at moving up from his starting position, so going off P14 had some potential for him on Sunday.
He’s only 20, and sometimes 20-year-olds hit people and wreck stuff. It happens, but I like what I’ve seen from him this summer.
big things at IMS
I can’t go without talking about what went on at IMS this weekend. No, I’m not much of a NASCAR fan, but when cars are on track we should at least make mention.
Saturday, rising star Connor Zilisch gave JR Motorsports its 100th win in the Xifinity Series. Zilisch, who turned 19 last Tuesday, is a big-time talent, and already has LMP2 class wins at Daytona and Sebring, and six wins in Xfinity.
Chances are he’s going to Cup next year, and Nathan Brown wrote that there is already talk of him doing the Indy 500 someday. I’d love to see it, I think he has the type of talent to transcend different forms of motorsports.
And props to Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his sister Kelley Earnhardt Miller, who have built a powerhouse organization. Junior wasn’t quite as good as he dad behind the wheel (then again, not many are), but he has his entrepreneurial genes, having built a great race team and maybe an even bigger media company.
And on Sunday, Bubba Wallace won his first crown jewel race. I could do a lot of pontificating here, but I won’t, because it would make some people mad. Maybe more than some.
Let’s just say I’m happy for Bubba, and happy that he has added his name to the history of the Speedway.
Photo credit: Penske Entertainment: Josh Hernandez
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