Brad Keselowski’s frustration was hidden behind a veil of sarcasm, as he stood outside the infield care center at Daytona International Speedway.
“I’ve got to wreck more people and then they’ll stop blocking me late and behind like that. That’s my fault,” Keselowski said. “I’ll take the credit for my team and we’ll go to Talladega and we’ll wreck everybody that throws a bad block like that.”
The bad block he referred to was thrown by race leader William Byron, who shifted from the top lane to the bottom to stall Keselowski’s run on the bottom. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who was right behind him, caught his right-rear corner panel as he moved back towards the bottom and hooked him into the outside wall, triggering a 26-car wreck on Lap 54 of the Coke Zero Sugar 400.
“Ricky was doing the best he could to give me a good push and had a great run to take the lead and the car in front of me just threw a late, bad block,” Keselowski added. “I made the mistake of lifting instead of just driving through him and that’s my fault. I know better than that.”
“Yeah, I thought he (Byron) blocked him, but I did that here in February and threw an aggressive block down the back straightaway that in turn caused a big crash like that too,” Stenhouse said after the race. “I can see it from Byron’s side and from my side I was a little frustrated he threw the block, but then again I can’t be too mad because I felt like I did that in February.”
Keselowski’s car turned up the track, clipped Kurt Busch’s car and slammed into the outside wall, going into Turn 3. Chase Elliott t-boned him, veered down into the path of Denny Hamlin, which gaggled up Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano and Daniel Suarez.
“…I don’t know, I think the best I can remember Brad (Keselowski) had a pretty big run on William (Byron) and I don’t think William was clear, but he didn’t know he wasn’t clear and then Brad tried to get on the brakes really hard to stop for him. We were getting really close to the corner so he couldn’t enter on the apron and whoever was behind him hit him and turned him up the track. Not really a whole lot you can do about that.”
Officially, 26 cars suffered some level of damage in the Lap 54 incident.
For Keselowski and Busch, the wreck didn’t hamper them in points. Both leave Daytona in the Top-10. Elliott’s points loss from his 34th-place finish was compounded by teammate Alex Bowman finishing in the Top-10 and Stenhouse finishing the race. He leaves 37 points ahead of the Playoff cutoff spot.
Sitting on the pit wall in front of his team’s pit box after the race concluded, an exhausted Kevin Harvick was asked to run through the final lap of the second stage, considering teammate Kurt Busch wasn’t thrilled with how he went about it.
“I don’t know why we’d have a conversation (about it). Maybe you can tell me that,” Harvick said to Dave Burns of NBC. “I thought it was a good race there, and (we) got a stage point.”
In the closing laps of the second stage, Harvick ran down Busch and squeezed his way through, almost touching the wall exiting Turn 4 in the process, to collect the playoff point that went with winning the stage. Busch didn’t take kindly to Harvick risking both their runs to collect a single point.
“Championship. What the…I mean really?! That’s a teammate right there, everybody. Tune it into NBC live. That’s what a teammate does. Never expected that from a teammate. Never expected it, wow!”
It was the highlight of a strong run in the Overton’s 400 at Chicagoland Speedway for Harvick, who finished fifth in the first stage while dealing with a tight handling car early in it, and first in the second.
While he reeled in race leader Kyle Busch with roughly 40 laps to go, the handling of his car went back towards the tight side and couldn’t make the pass on Busch. A few laps later, Kyle Larson usurped him for second and he brought his car home to a third-place finish.
“Our car was just off all weekend. We had a tough time making the front end turn, and then we would wind up way too tight all the way through the corner or way too loose all the way through the corner. The guys did a good job and kept us in the game all day. We had a chance, we just wound up at the wrong side of it at the end.”
He led 39 of the 267 laps and earned 50 points.
Harvick leaves Chicagoland Speedway second in points, 61 behind Kyle Busch.
Kyle Busch parked his damaged car at the start/finish line, climbed out and retrieved the checkered flag, to a chorus of boos from the fans in attendance. In response, he turned to the NBC cameraman and gave a “boo-hoo” gesture.
“I don’t know what y’all are whining about,” Busch said, as he gestured towards the grandstands. “If you don’t even like that kind of racing, don’t even watch.”
He was cruising unchallenged to victory until Kyle Larson passed Kevin Harvick with less than 30 to go. Larson reeled him in but lost ground after making contact with the wall in Turn 2 with eight laps remaining. A group of lap traffic with four to go allowed Larson to pull back up to him. On the final lap, Larson pulled a slide move into Turn 1, came back up the track and put Busch into the wall. He quickly passed Busch down the backstretch, but Busch responded in part by bumping Larson in Turn 3. While he veered into the wall, Larson slid long enough for him to drive by and score his 48th career victory.
“I got really boxed in behind lapped cars and got really slowed, and I was just trying to get all I could there the last couple of laps. Larson tried to pull a slider, didn’t quite complete it. Slid up into me, used me. I kind of used him as a little bit of a brake going into (Turn) 3, and was able to come back for the victory.”
Busch wasn’t threatening for the lead most of the day, nor was he running Top-five for most of it, but his pit crew gained him track position on his final two stops to put him in position to win for the second time in his career at Chicagoland Speedway.
JOLIET, Ill. – JULY 01: Kyle Larson, driver of the #42 Credit One Bank Chevrolet, races during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Overton’s 400 at Chicagoland Speedway on July 1, 2018, in Joliet, Illinois. Photo: Matt Sullivan/Getty Images
“Great thing for this Skittles Camry and all these guys. We were horrible today, absolutely horrendous. We just never gave up. We just always kept working on it, kept making the most of it. Got to where we needed it right there in the end and I was able to lead all those laps. If it wasn’t for lap traffic, it wouldn’t even have been a race.”
Larson recovered from his spin to finish second.
“Oh man, I’m not upset,” Larson said. “I had an opportunity there to slide in front of him and I figured I wouldn’t clear him or I would allow him to drive back underneath me. So I tried to get to his door and you know I opened the door for him to retaliate into (Turn) 3. I thought it was free game. I ran into him first, he got me after that, maybe a little bit worse than I got him, but that is alright. I love racing Kyle (Busch). I know all these fans are probably mad at him, but hey we put on a hell of a show for you guys and that was a blast. I had the top rolling there. I ran the right front off of it a little bit trying to run those guys down and (seeing the replay) yeah, that has got to be one of the best NASCAR finishes of all time. I know I’m on the short end of the stick again, but you know it was fun. Our Credit One Bank Chevy was amazing. Not great on the short runs, but man, on the long runs I could really get the top going and was able to get the top of (Turns) 3 and 4 figured out and really made up some time there. Just a lot of fun. My team did a great job, the pit crew was on it again, so thanks to them. Thanks to all you fans for coming out, it was a hot weekend, really hot, but we put on a good show for you.”
Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr. and Clint Bowyer rounded out the Top-five.
Erik Jones, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Alex Bowman rounded out the Top-10.
RACE SUMMARY
JOLIET, Ill. – JULY 01: Paul Menard, driver of the #21 Menards/Sylvania Ford, and Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 PPG Ford, lead the field to the green flag to start the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Overton’s 400 at Chicagoland Speedway on July 1, 2018, in Joliet, Illinois. Photo: Matt Sullivan/Getty Images
Paul Menard led the field to green at 2:34 p.m., but Ryan Blaney cleared him exiting Turn 2 to lead the first lap. Clint Bowyer reeled in Blaney and powered by his inside to take the lead, going into Turn 1, on Lap 19. He pitted from the lead on Lap 40, handing the lead to Brad Keselowski, who too pitted from the lead on Lap 47. Austin Dillon inherited the lead but pitted on Lap 61 and the lead cycled to Aric Almirola, who drove on to win the first stage.
Back to green on Lap 87, Kevin Harvick edged out teammate Almirola at the line to lead the lap, but Almirola cleared him exiting Turn 2 to take back the lead on Lap 89. Almirola pitted from the lead on Lap 122, but thanks to pitting a lap earlier, Harvick usurped him and cycled to the top spot.
The caution flew for the second time on Lap 128 for debris. Blaney exited the pits with the lead and led the field back to green on Lap 132. Almirola’s four new tires ran down Blaney’s two and edged him out at the line to retake the lead on Lap 136. Six laps later, however, he made an unscheduled stop for a possible loose wheel. Kurt Busch assumed the race lead. While he fended off most of Harvick’s advances, his teammate powered by his outside, and all but touches the outside wall exiting Turn 4, to win the second stage.
Back to green on Lap 168, Martin Truex Jr. shoved Busch past Harvick exiting Turn 2 to retake the lead. Two laps later, Kyle Larson edged him out at the line to take the lead. Harvick powered around him entering Turn 3 to retake the lead on Lap 177.
JOLIET, Ill. – JULY 01: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 Skittles Red White & Blue Toyota, celebrates with a burnout after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Overton’s 400 at Chicagoland Speedway on July 1, 2018 in Joliet, Illinois. Photo: Dylan Buell/Getty Images
The caution flew for the fourth time on Lap 178 when Denny Hamlin got loose and spun down the track, exiting Turn 2. Keselowski exited the pits first, after taking just right-side tires, and led the field back to green on Lap 182. Harvick powered by him on the outside exiting Turn 2 to retake the lead on Lap 187.
A caution flew for the fifth time with 59 laps to go, when Corey LaJoie hit the wall in Turn 2. Kyle Busch exited pit road with the race lead.
Back to green with 55 to go, Busch maintained a half-second gap over Harvick for roughly 15 laps. But with 40 to go, right about the time the cloud cover disappeared, Harvick started to reel him in. After a few laps, Harvick radioed to his team that his car was “just too tight.” Larson usurped Harvick for second and quickly ran down Busch. He made contact with the wall in Turn 2 with eight to go and lost time to Busch. Larson made the ground back up when Busch ran into a group of lapped cars, setting up the final lap finish.
NUTS & BOLTS
The race lasted two hours, 50 minutes and 52 seconds, at an average speed of 140.636 mph. There were 24 lead changes among 10 different drivers, and five cautions for 23 laps.
Max Verstappen put his car in parc-ferme, climbed out of the car and hopped over the barrier to celebrate with his Red Bull Racing team, at the team’s home track. While not a flashy, dominant victory, he conserved his tires to mitigate Kimi Raikkonen cutting his seven-second lead to a second and a half.
“It was amazing, very hard to manage the tyres, lot of blistering, but we manged to hand on. It was amazing to win at the Red Bull Ring with so many Dutch fans here.
“I needed to catch up with the points, today was a very good day for me and I hope we can continue like this.”
Raikkonen briefly succeeded in splitting the Mercedes duo going into Turn 1 on the initial start, but ran wide rounding the turn and fell back to fourth. Waved yellows from retirements by Brendon Hartley and Daniel Ricciardo in the span of three laps allowed him to significantly reel in Verstappen, but he only cut it down to a second and a half in the remaining laps and finished second.
“I had to back off at turn one because the cars were squeezed together,” Raikkonen said. “After that, the car came good, but we just ran out of laps, and we took it easily too long. We had the right car, today, some points were a little bit difficult, but it was a good day for the team.”
Sebastian Vettel rounded out the podium and took over the championship lead, after Hamilton’s retirement in the closing laps.
“I told Max (Verstappen) he had a very good race, very consistent, no mistakes.
“Obviously it would’ve been nice to start further up, I was left with no place to go at turn one and lost the momentum.
“It was damage limitation but the pace was very good and the tyre management was very good,” Vettel said. “A positive day but it could’ve been better.”
Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen rounded out the Top-five.
Estaben Ocon, Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso, Charles Leclerc and Marcus Ericsson rounded out the Top-10.
RACE SUMMARY
Pole sitter Valtteri Bottas suffered an engine failure on the 14th lap of the race and put the circuit under virtual safety car conditions the following lap. Most of the field took advantage of it to pit onto soft tires and run the remainder of the event without a second stop. Race leader Lewis Hamilton wasn’t one of them. He pitted from the lead on Lap 26, handing it to Max Verstappen.
While second through fourth ran within two seconds of each other, Verstappen was cruising to victory, unchallenged. But after multiple laps under waved yellows conditions, due to engine failures by Daniel Ricciardo and Brendon Hartley in the waning laps, Raikkonen ate into his seven-second lead. He ran out of time, however, and Verstappen drove his way to victory.
TIDBITS
Nico Hulkenberg retired from the race with an engine failure early in the race.
Vettel leaves Austria with a one-point lead in the drivers championship, over Hamilton.
A miscommunication to the pace car sent half the field down pit road while the other half remained on track. As a result, race leader Clint Bowyer came down pit road with the pace car, while Kyle Busch went around another lap. Although timing and scoring displayed Busch as the race leader, Bowyer was declared the winner of the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
NASCAR Executive Vice-President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell took to Twitter after the race to explain the miscommunication.
Bowyer gambled for track position and took just right-side tires under the second stage break caution to take the lead on the ensuing restart. Harvick ran alongside him for the first lap on the restart, but got loose exiting Turn 4 and Bowyer drove away to his 10th career victory in 447 career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts.
“It took something crazy on a restart to be able to get Kevin (Harvick). That was a gutsy call,” Bowyer said. “When we went out there on two tires I looked in the mirror and I was so far ahead of everybody else I was like, ‘Oh man, we are in trouble!’ The rain came just in enough time. I was trying to hold him off. I was cutting him off and taking his line away pretty bad. If it wasn’t for a win you wouldn’t be doing that. He was so much faster than me in one and two. I got down in three and just had to take his line because that bear was coming.”
It was his first career victory at Michigan.
Kevin Harvick led a race high of 49 laps and won the second stage, on his way to a runner-up finish.
“It was a good day for us,” Harvick said. “Our pit crew was solid. Rodney made a good call there in the middle of the second stage to keep the track position and be able to drive away and get the stage win. They had a good pit stop to close out there, and the 14 just gambled, rolled the dice that the rain must have been going to come, and he was able to keep me on the bottom there just by a little bit on the restart. Then it was just going to take me a few laps to work back by. But he did a good job hanging onto his car and the gamble paid off for him.”
Kurt Busch led 46 laps, on his way to a third-place finish.
“We had an excellent day all the way through,” Busch said. “No big mistakes, no rough moments. Pit stops were solid, adjustments were solid. Restarts, I’d say three quarters of the time I was on the inside lane, so that might have been a little bit where we were pinned down. But you have to make do with what you have, how the chips fall. I’m happy with our effort today. To finish third, rain shortened, of course you always want to go back racing again, but to see the two cars in front of me at the end, the 4 and the 14, that’s a big day for Stewart‑Haas Racing. It’s very special to finish 1‑2‑3. Tried to get to your outside when we were on the track, maybe get a picture with the 14, 4 and 41 to symbolize such a special day at Michigan. To win at Stewart‑Haas for Ford 1‑2‑3, it’s a huge day.”
Kyle Busch and Paul Menard rounded out the Top-five.
Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott and Jamie McMurray rounded out the Top-10.
RACE SUMMARY
Scheduled to go green at 2:14 p.m., the start was delayed for two hours by rain. The field rolled onto the race track half-past the hour and went green at 4:44 p.m. Up until the final 15 laps of the first stage, Kurt Busch led un-challeneged. Blaney posed Busch his first challenge of the day, however, exiting Turn 4 on Lap 46 and drove on to win the first stage.
Darrell Wallace Jr., who opted not to pit under the stage break caution, led the field back to green on Lap 65. Exiting Turn 2, however, Kevin Harvick drove around him to take the lead and won the second stage.
Clint Bowyer exited pit road with the race lead and led the field back to green on Lap 126.
“Being at the same tires on a restart against Kevin Harvick, you know what you’re up against. He was so much faster than me in (Turns) 1 and 2. I got down in 3, and 4 and I had to chop him off, take his line away. He got loose a couple of times. I’m like, ‘Man it better rain quick, because one more lap, he’s gonna get me.’”
Caution flew three laps later for a one-car (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.) wreck in Turn 2, but rain forced NASCAR to throw the red flag.
NUTS & BOLTS
The race lasted two hours and 15 seconds, at an average speed of 132.723 mph. There were nine lead changes among seven drivers, and eight cautions for 30 laps.
Kyle Busch leaves Michigan with a 75-point lead over Joey Logano.
Martin Truex Jr. didn’t have the strongest car in the race, though he won a stage, and didn’t pitch one of his signature clinic performances. But his team gambled in the closing laps by staying out under caution, and he held off drivers with fresher tires to win at Pocono.
He, along with Kevin Harvick, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson, chose to stay out during a caution with 21 laps to go. He held off Larson on two consecutive restarts to score his 17th career victory in 455 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts.
“You’re always concerned on restarts. You just never know. So much can happen on those things, but we were luckily able to get a good one. Just can’t say enough about everyone on this team. Everybody, Cole (Pearn, crew chief) and all the guys really did a good job last night. We had a good practice yesterday. Really, it’s been a good weekend, overall. Just kind of been a sane weekend. I feel like we’re getting back to what we were doing last year.”
It’s his second career victory at Pocono Raceway.
“It’s always fun to win, but especially when you beat the best guys out there. Those two guys (Larson and Harvick) were so fast today. Honestly, we were all really equal. It was a matter of who could get out front. The 4 (Harvick) and I stayed (out) on tires. We felt like in practice, we were really fast on scuffs. So Cole made a good call there to stay out. Once we got out in clean air, this thing was like a rocket ship.”
Larson, Kyle Busch, Harvick and Brad Keselowski rounded out the Top-five.
“We weren’t quite as fast as what I thought we’d be after practice,” Larson said. “I ran probably sixth or seventh all day long and finished second. Was happy about that because I felt like obviously we were at a little bit of a disadvantage on tires there, but the track position overcame that. But I felt like if I didn’t have a good restart on any one of those, I would have fell back outside the top 5 from those guys on fresher tires. Happy we finished second but needed a lot more to kind of compete with the three guys that ran up front all day.”
“Just real unfortunate there that once we all thought we had that caution that brought us all down pit road for what we thought was the final stop of the day, we got tires, we beat everybody off pit road and was in control of the restart and then in control of the race when we were leading there, and all of a sudden about 10, 11 laps into that run, there was a caution in Turn 1 for what looked to me to be a shoe booty,” Busch said. “Somebody took their booty off, I guess, and chucked it out their window. That was kind of weird that we saw a caution for that, but safety comes first, so that just kind of derailed our strategy, if you will, and we lost this race last year on not pitting in that situation and getting beat by tires, and so we pitted this year for tires and got beat by those that didn’t pit.”
“We had a good car all day, just came down to really losing control of the race on the last pit stop,” Harvick said. “Really not pitting or pitting didn’t really seem to matter. We lost control to the 18 (Kyle Busch) and wound up losing a couple more spots on the restart starting on the inside, and that was the end of the day. Car was fast and everybody did a great job, it just didn’t work out.”
Ryan Blaney, Aric Almirola, Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano and Chase Elliott rounded out the Top-10.
“My guys kept fighting all day long,” Johnson said. “That was a hard-fought eighth place finish. We just need to keep improving, but we’re slowly chipping away at it.”
RACE SUMMARY
LONG POND, Pa. – JUNE 03: Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 Menards/Duracell Ford, and Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Beer Ford, lead the field to green for the start of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 3, 2018 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. Photo: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
Ryan Blaney led the field to green at 2:15 p.m. He led the first 11 laps, before Kevin Harvick used a run off Turn 3 to pass him down the frontstretch for the top spot. Blaney opted to pit early in the run and work the race like a road course race (fuel window was roughly 35 laps). While he was among a few drivers that pitted early in the fuel run, most of the field pitted 10 laps after Blaney, with Harvick pitting on Lap 26. Jimmie Johnson — who’d led a career total of 169,291 laps, entering this race — led his first lap of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season on Lap 27. When he pitted on Lap 29, Brad Keselowski took over the top spot. After he pitted from the lead on Lap 33, Harvick — who passed Kyle Busch exiting Turn 3 two laps prior — cycled back to the lead.
Martin Truex Jr. got a run down the short-chute to pass Harvick through Turn 3 to take the lead on Lap 43, and drove on to win the first stage on Lap 50. Keselowski took only two tires under the caution and exited pit road with the lead.
Back to green on Lap 57, Harvick got a run going into Turn 1 and took the lead back from Keselowski. Running third, Keselowski pitted on Lap 67 to short-pit the second stage. The rest of the leaders followed suite on Lap 78, with Harvick pitting from the lead the following lap, and handing the lead to Darrell Wallace Jr. Harvick ran him down and passed him to retake the lead on Lap 84, and drove on to win the second stage.
For most of the final stage, Harvick ran unchallenged. But after Derrike Cope got turned by Kyle Larson in Turn 3 with 36 laps to go, he lost the lead on pit road to Kyle Busch.
LONG POND, Pa. – JUNE 03: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s Red White & Blue Toyota, pits during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 3, 2018 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. Photo: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images
Back to green with 31 to go, Busch shot ahead of Harvick going into Turn 1. A crush panel in the middle of Turn 1 brought out the caution with 21 to go. Truex, Harvick, Chase Elliott and Larson opted to stay out, Blaney, Aric Almirola and Austin Dillon exited pits first by taking just two tires and Kyle Busch, Hamlin and Keselowski, the first cars on four new tires, rounded out the Top-10.
“…clean air is always super important here,” Larson said after the race. “He and the 4 (Harvick) were way better than I was at the end, but I was just able to kind of stay just low enough on exit I felt like to keep them tight behind me, so yeah, clean air is just important everywhere, but especially I feel like when you get to these fast tracks that are pretty flat.”
Martin Truex Jr. does celebratory burnouts on the front stretch at Pocono Raceway, to celebrate his victory in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway. Photo: Kirk Schroll/SpeedwayMedia.com
Restarting with 17 to go, Truex shot out to a lead of over a second, while Harvick was usurped for second by Larson.
“…when you’re on the outside, the leader typically chooses the outside for the launch and to get going, and so he can control the guy on his inside and not get in a bad aero spot so that just makes that lane accelerate just that instant sooner, and that momentum just kind of rolls,” Busch said. “But I thought Larson and I had a pretty good run there on that final restart where I pushed him back up to the back of the 78, and he didn’t hit him enough in order to get him up the track a little farther so I could squeak on under there and have a three‑wide battle and probably a whole bunch of fire and flames and parts on the outside of the racetrack in Turn 2, but maybe next time.”
Rounding Turn 1 with 15 to go, Hamlin got loose in Turn 1 and made contact with Alex Bowman, sending him into the wall, while he slid down and hit the inside wall.
Restarting with 10 to go, Erik Jones got turned when he jumped out of line with Joey Logano, who was pushing him on the restart, spun down the track and hit the inside wall with his left-rear corner panel.
Back to green with seven to go, Truex swung down and back up the frontstretch to block Larson’s advance and drove on to victory.
NUTS & BOLTS
The race lasted two hours and 52 minutes, at an average speed of 139.535 mph. There were 11 lead changes among seven different drivers, and six cautions for 23 laps.
INDIANAPOLIS — Two weeks ago in the Indy Grand Prix, Will Power was relieved to break his run of lackluster finishes to win for the third time at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. All week leading up to the 102nd Indianapolis 500, he was calm, collected and stoic, going into a race he’d failed to win for so many years. In victory lane, tears poured out of the “ultimate road driver” who once said he hated ovals and he was overcome with elation, because he’d finally won the ultimate road race in open-wheel racing, Indianapolis 500.
“Overwhelming. Amazing,” Power said. “It’s funny, you forget where you are, you’re so immersed in the race. You don’t even realize. On the white flag lap I started screaming because I just knew I was going to win it. Unbelievable. Never been so excited.
“I knew you drink milk here. Believe me. I’ve seen a few of my competitors do it. Yeah, no, I just hesitated a bit because I’m not supposed to eat dairy, but I didn’t care. I just drank it.
It’s his 29th career victory in 124 starts in the Verizon IndyCar Series. It’s also his fourth career victory at Indianapolis, putting him into a tie with AJ Foyt, Jimmie Johnson, Rick Mears and Al Unser for second-most wins at the Brickyard.
“…that last restart I was very determined,” Power added. “I knew that I had to get, like, a run on these guys, at least get one of them in the first turn, which I didn’t. I got Oriol I think a lap later or something. I didn’t want Carpenter to have a shot at me. He was very quick. If he had gotten by, I think it would have been game over potentially.
Very aggressive on the restarts. In clean air, I was very aggressive on the restarts. I started in a different spot every time to get a jump on Ed. I knew if we were fighting into one, it just creates a problem. Very good restarts when you look at it. Never got challenged.”
It’s the 17th Indianapolis 500 victory for team owner Roger Penske.
“All I can say is when I came here 1951, I guess something bit me,” Penske said. “I can never get rid of it for so many years.
“We started competing here, as you know, in ’69. The success we’ve had has really been all about the team members, the people we’ve had, the great drivers, sponsors, and obviously Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“As I said many times in the last couple days, to be able to race on Memorial Day in the biggest sporting event in the world, have America the way it is, that’s what I’m going to take away from this race. To see what we have, to see what Will has been able, 10 years with his engineer Dave Faustino. He’s won many road races, all sorts of poles. He won this race today because he was the best, there’s no question about the speed at the end, his out laps, the pit crew I take my hat off to, Jon, and Tim Cindric, because we had four great cars. That’s what you have to have here. You have to have four bullets, three bullets, whatever it takes.
“I’m just so thrilled. 17 wins. Now I have to worry about 18. I’m not going to look back, I’ll look forward. We have to be back next year.”
Ed Carpenter came home second.
“Yeah, you know, I’ll feel pretty good about this in a couple days, I think,” Carpenter said. “The team really did a great job all month long, all day long really. Pit stops were really good. It was almost like being out front early probably hurt us a little bit just because guys started saving fuel a little earlier. We got behind on the fuel save. Whatever segment Will got by us, went a couple laps further, my out lap we had traffic. One of those exchanges.
“Track position was everything we thought it was going to be coming into the day. You heard the drivers talk all week. Just couldn’t quite get it back from him. We were saving fuel through the middle part of the race when everyone was essentially trying to cut out a stop. That was a little odd.
“You never know how these races are going to unfold. I thought for the most part the team executed well. I thought there’s only a couple little things that I can reflect on in the short-term right now that maybe could have made a difference.
“All in all, I thought Will won the race and we ended up second, and we’ll be happy with that. Come back stronger next year.”
Scott Dixon rounded out the podium.
“Yeah, as soon as we pitted, right before the end of that caution, we tried to obviously take on as much fuel as possible, be the first in that scenario,” Dixon said. “We knew there was probably three or four others that were trying. Oriol looked like he was, a couple of others.
“But, yeah, we really struggled on restarts today. The first and second gear just seemed to be way out of sync to the pace of what everybody was restarting. First to be on a limiter, second I was like a sitting duck, wouldn’t accelerate, gear was way too long.
“Yeah, I don’t know, we lost a lot of positions in that scenario. But the Penske car felt pretty good. It was consistent. It was good in traffic. It was very difficult to pull off passes today. Yeah, so for me, to be honest, huge credit to the team. They did a superb job of trying to pull off that strategy. Obviously we have got very lucky with that caution with T.K., which was enough to give us a bit of a window to get to the end.
“Yeah, definitely a crazy day out there.”
Alexander Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay rounded out the Top-five.
Simon Pagenaud, Carlos Munoz, Josef Newgarden, Robert Wickens and Graham Rahal rounded out the Top-10.
RACE SUMMARY
Ed Carpenter led the field to green at 12:23 p.m. Compared to previous years with the DW12 package, passing was exceptionally difficult with the new universal aero package. Just as Carpenter caught the tail-end of the field, he pitted from the lead on Lap 31. Josef Newgarden, who inherited the lead, stopped the following lap. After two laps out front, Spencer Pigot pitted on Lap 34, and the lead cycled back to Carpenter.
Caution flew for the first time on Lap 47 when Takumo Sato ran over the left-rear wheel of James Davison, who was off the pace.
Zach Claman de Melo assumed the lead under the caution, but Carpenter pulled a slingshot move under him going into Turn 1 on the Lap 57 restart to retake the lead.
Caution flew for the second time on Lap 58 for Ed Jones spinning and hitting the wall in Turn 2.
Back to green on Lap 64, Tony Kanaan passed Carpenter going into Turn 1. Carpenter responded the following lap with a slingshot pass going into Turn 1.
Following Danica Patrick’s retirement from the race, following a wreck similar to Jones’s, Kanaan took back the lead from Carpenter on the ensuing restart. However, Kanaan pitted with a flat tire. After a cycle of green flag stops, Will Power cycled to the lead.
He pitted from the lead on Lap 129, followed by Ryan Hunter-Reay the next lap. Sebastian Bourdais pitted on Lap 133, and Newgarden followed suite on Lap 135. Race leader Graham Rahal ducked onto pit road to make his stop when Bourdais spun out and wrecked in Turn 4.
Carlos Munoz pitted under the caution, and the lead cycled back to Power.
Back to green with 55 laps to go, Helio Castroneves spun out, hit the outside wall, drifted down the track and slammed the inside wall near the entrance to pit road. The crowd gave him a standing ovation as he made his way on foot down pit road, on his way to the infield care center.
Back to green with 39 to go, following Sake Karem’s wreck in Turn 4, Alexander Rossi — who started the race in 32nd — worked his way into third. Power pitted from the lead with 29 to go, as did Carpenter, Simon Pagenaud and others.
In the closing laps, Oriol Servia, Stefan Wilson and Jack Harvey gambled and stretched the fuel. Even when Kanaan brought out the caution with 12 to go, they stuck to their plan and stayed out during the caution.
Servia spun the tires on the restart with seven to go and the lead was usurped by Wilson, going into Turn 1. He ran out of fuel with five to go, however, and lost the lead to Power, who drove on to score the victory.
NUTS & BOLTS
The race lasted two hours, 59 minutes and 42 seconds, at an average speed of 166.935 mph. There were 30 lead changes among 15 different drivers, and seven cautions for 41 laps.
Power leaves Indianapolis with a two-point lead over Rossi.
BRISTOL, Tenn. — In a display of her sense of humor, Angie Skinner tweeted a picture of her standing in front of a Port-A-Potty to sum up the night of her husband, Mike Skinner.
“It’s raining. We crashed. I felt this pic near the shitter was appropriate…but b4 all the crap my baby @MSTheGunslinger was bad ass!”
For most of the 100-lap JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Pro Late Model A-Feature of the Rusty Wallace Automotive Group Short Track U.S. Nationals, “The Gunslinger” was the driver to beat. With over 20 years of racing experience at Bristol Motor Speedway, he navigated his way through the Top-Five and passed defending race winner Cole Williams exiting Turn 2 to take the lead.
But even a veteran driver like Skinner fell victim to racing at Bristol, particularly drivers who don’t have a fraction of his experience at Bristol. While trying to put Tyler Hufford a lap down, the two made contact that ended Skinner’s night.
“I went to pass the guy on the outside and he (Tyler Hufford) washed up, so I had to let off the gas,” Skinner told Speed 51. “I come off of turn four over here, and I got down really low, and he hit me in the corner. I don’t feel like I had enough room, so I just waited and he washed up the track again and I hit the gas and had a clear run on the bottom.” Skinner said.
“Apparently, his spotter told him he was going to give me the outside and he just turned left and just hit us. I feel like an idiot, we had a very fast car. His spotter told my son he was going to give me the high side, and by then I was under him and he tried to pull down and be a nice guy, so I really can’t blame him, it was my own fault.” Skinner added
Skinner finished the night in 13th and the race was won by Josh Reeves.
Another Tuesday has come and gone. Another set of penalties have been dealt out by NASCAR. Another crew member has been suspended for the next few races. Another fine has been handed to the crew chief. Another points penalty has been handed out. Another encumbered, I mean L1, penalty (yes, because it’s so different from “encumbered”) was bestowed upon a driver. Another tainted finish that’s allowed to remain in the record. We’ve repeated this process too many times to count, yet teams continue breaking the rules. In the words of Mötley Crüe, “It’s the same old, same old situation.”
If you haven’t heard yet, NASCAR handed Kyle Larson’s team an L1 Penalty for an improper rear window brace. Basically, the brace that holds up the rear windows didn’t conform to NASCAR standards. His fourth-place finish in last Saturday night’s KC Masterpiece 400 at Kansas Speedway is “encumbered,” meaning the playoff point he earned from winning the second stage can’t be used in the Playoffs. Along with a $50,000 fine to crew chief Chad Johnston, car chief David Bryant will serve a two-race points. Larson’s fourth-place finish, however, remains cannon.
It’s not the first time this season that a team has been busted for this exact same thing. Kevin Harvick was hit with an L1 Penalty for this exact same thing, after his victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Chase Elliott was hit with an L1 Penalty for this exact same thing, after his 11th-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway. Just last week at Dover International Speedway, Clint Bowyer and Daniel Suarez were hit with an L1 Penalty for the exact same thing.
Something about NASCAR’s system for deterring penalties isn’t working.
I’ll give NASCAR credit, however, that they acknowledge it, as Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s executive vice-president and chief racing development officer, told Mike Bagley and Pete Pistone yesterday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s “The Morning Drive.”
“It’s become really the equivalent of a Kris Bryant (Chicago Cubs third baseman) coming to the plate with a bat you can’t use,” O’Donnell said. “The umpire says ‘you can’t use that,’ comes back with a bat you can’t use, the umpire says it again and then the third time says ‘you can’t make your plate appearance.’ Then the batter runs to the media and says, ‘I can’t believe they did this.’ At some point it’s frustrating on our end and at some point we’ve got to get the teams to be able to show up and get through tech inspection. It’s the same every week and it’s one of those things that most teams are able to do it.”
With that being said, however, what did NASCAR expect? Their system for deterring penalties is weak, at best. I pointed this out two years ago, when I said that NASCAR’s reluctance to strip drivers who fail post-race inspection of their finishing position incentivizes this, and it’s taken them until the last 24 hours to accept that the current process isn’t deterring anybody.
NASCAR’s insistence on not disqualifying drivers with cars that can’t pass post-race inspection is the textbook definition of insanity.
NASCAR, your penalties have no teeth. Teams don’t take it seriously, because what they lose in penalties is a drop in the bucket. The finish stays in the record, they keep the prize money and just move onto the next race, where they’ll probably make up those lost points.
You want this insanity to stop? Disqualify drivers who’s car can’t pass. Take the finish, points, money and wipe them from the cannon, like they weren’t even there that weekend.
And I’m sorry to those who show up for the race, as NASCAR always falls back to, but why is the insistence that Little Timmy leaves the race knowing who more important than the integrity of the rules? I understand that teams will always push the boundaries, but there’s a massive difference between working in the gray area and outright breaking rules that can’t be interpreted in any other way.
As long as teams don’t take it seriously, then the rules have no integrity.
INDIANAPOLIS — The exhausted, relieved look on Will Power’s face told the story. After spinning out/wrecking in three of four races this season, he won in strong fashion.
INDIANAPOLIS – May 12: Simon Pagenaud spins toward the gravel trap during the INDYCAR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Photo: Dana Garrett/IndyCar Photography
Power led the field to green at 3:48 p.m. Caution flew for the first time for a two-car wreck in Turn 2, involving Jordan King, Simon Pagenaud and Spencer Pigot.
Back to green on Lap 4, the race settled into a single-file train, snaking through the 13-turn road course. It was broken up by a cycle of green flag stops, on Lap 14. Power pitted from the lead on Lap 20, handing it to Sebastian Bourdais. He pitted the following lap, gave the lead to Josef Newgarden, who pitted on Lap 23 and handed the lead to Alexander Rossi. After he pitted on Lap 24, Kyle Kaiser took over the lead, before pitting on Lap 26 and the lead cycled to Robert Wickens.
The process repeated on Lap 41, when Wickens pitted. The lead went to Power and then to Graham Rahal, tying the race record for lead changes with seven. Rahal pitted and the lead cycled back to Wickens on Lap 47, setting a new record for lead changes in the race.
Power drafted him down the frontstretch and passed him on the outside, going into Turn 1, to retake the lead with 35 laps to go.
INDIANAPOLIS – May 12: Josef Newgarden spins in Turn 12 during the INDYCAR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway — Photo: Mike Young/IndyCar Photography
Josef Newgarden hopped the curb in Turn 12 and spun, bringing out the second caution with 30 to go.
The race went back to green with 24 to go. After starting 18th, Scott Dixon dove under Wickens on the frontstretch to take second, with 22 to go. But Power put distance on him and scored his 31st career victory in his 161 career Verizon IndyCar Series starts.
“Yeah, I mean, it started with him (Wickens) using reds in that second stint and I was on blacks and trying to hold him behind, and he went to go pass, there was about — it was about not letting too much damage be done, so I maintained it, got it to five seconds basically, and was able to do a very quick in lap, and by the time I got out behind him, it was only a three-second gap, and obviously he was on blacks and I was on reds, so I returned the favor and really caught him and was — had a good race with him down to Turn 1,” Power said.
“Once I got past him, it was pretty straightforward because we were much quicker because we were on the reds, and yeah, yeah, and then it went yellow, which made for a very difficult last stint, having to save a lot of fuel, and keeping a gap from Dixon so he wouldn’t use his Push-to-Pass and attack me. Yeah, drove very hard. Yeah, so many things thrown at us today, but we came out with the win.”
It was the 200th career series victory for Team Penske.
Dixon drove from 18th to a runner-up finish, his 94th career podium.
“Yeah, it was definitely a rough weekend,” Dixon said. “The heat really seemed to affect our car a lot, especially in practice 2 and then into qualifying, and we threw a big change at it for qualifying, which is probably not the smartest thing to do, and obviously that got us pretty good.
“But yeah, to qualify 18th, I think that’s probably the worst qualifying I’ve ever had on — going for it with a legit not crashing or spinning off. Definitely a frustrating start, but this morning we found quite a bit, I feel like, in the warmup, and then we kind of compromised between what we had found throughout the weekend.
“Big kudos to the team. Everybody on the PNC Bank team did a fantastic job. The pit stops were amazing. In that first stint, I think we were running almost two seconds a lap faster than the rest of the field in the mid 70s for that, and that’s where it made that big jump, and then later on in that segment, too, we were able to pass a few more just on outright speed.
“Happy with today. 18th to second, obviously we come here to win, but congratulations to Will, and obviously Penske’s 200th IndyCar win is definitely a big milestone, and it was good to see him get it.”
Wickens rounded out the podium.
“…that was the first race where I kind of felt like a true rookie there in that final stint because I’ve never had to save fuel before,” Wickens said. “We’ve kind of practiced it a little bit in warmup where you do like one lap of fuel save. But the amount of fuel that we were having to save to make that work was something that I didn’t even think was possible.
“It was tough, and obviously running in P2, I was told the number I needed to achieve, and then I was just like, okay, well, Scott is on Push-to-Pass, so I don’t know if I should use it to keep him behind or if I should hit my number, and we were actually having an issue with my Push-to-Pass all day, so it wasn’t quite working to the best that it could. No, it was a tough day, an exhausting afternoon, but really happy to finish on the podium.”
Bourdais and Rossi rounded out the Top-five.
Helio Castroneves, James Hinchcliffe, Pagenaud, Rahal and Takumo Sato rounded out the Top-10.
NUTS & BOLTS
The race lasted one hour, 49 minutes and 46 seconds, at an average speed of 113.318 mph. There were nine lead changes among seven different drivers, and two cautions for eight laps. Dixon posted the fastest lap of the race on Lap 15, at 70.569 and 124.423 mph.
Newgarden, who finished 11th, leaves with a two-point lead over Rossi.
