PRUETT: Texas reflections

Where does the Genesys 300 rank among the more (or less) exciting races you’ve watched in recent years? Of the two strongest groups to emerge, there’s the ‘just happy to see IndyCars in action’ side of the argument, and then have the ‘well, that wasn’t what I was hoping for’ contingent.

I have the annoying ability to find something compelling in almost every IndyCar race, so my take on Saturday night’s 200-lapper in Texas is an outlier. It certainly wasn’t a thriller, but I wasn’t overwhelmingly disappointed.

The main takeaway I found involved daredevils and their fast hands, which made for a fascinating sub-plot as the 1.5-mile track proved to be the greatest enemy the 24 drivers faced.

Forced to use a single, low line around the rapid oval, skilled drivers spent much of the race stuck behind slower counterparts in the one and only groove that wouldn’t bite. It was when the braver souls decided to flirt with danger by moving up ever so slightly onto the blackened lanes, or unwinding their hands on the exits of Turns 2 and 4 to run on the dark patches to get a run and attempt a pass, where things got interesting.

The track surface issues dominated the day, led to heavy crashes, and by no coincidence, put the unparalleled car control skills of race winner Scott Dixon on display. The guy who was born to make a hundred micro corrections to the steering wheel per lap toyed with the field, pulling out a four-second margin of victory in a four-lap sprint from yellow to checkered flag. It might not have been a classic Texas IndyCar race, but it was a classic Dixon victory.

Here’s a bunch of random brain dumps from the event:

• Let’s say a massive thank you to the men and women who turned the Genesys 300 into the Pit Lane Heroes 300. The collision of extreme heat, minimal sleep, and heavy physical exertion made for worrying times. One crew member collapsed on the starting grid, and by the end of the race, where the 35-lap tire limit more than doubled the number of pit stops, mechanics from a number of teams were taken to the infield medical center for fluids and care. The routine for the majority of the paddock involved getting up around 3:30 a.m., catching the chartered flight from Indy to Texas at 6 a.m., working all day under an unforgiving sun, racing into the night with layers of fireproof suits and facemasks and helmets in place, then packing everything away, jetting to the airport, catching the return flight, and climbing in bed somewhere around 3 a.m. It was a punishing 24 hours. If IndyCar plans on holding more one-day events, or rapid-fire doubleheaders as summer temperatures rise, we might need to think first about the hundreds of team members who make the show possible, and factor the physical toll into a more friendly schedule.

With sweltering temperatures and a 24-hour workday, the crews were put through a wringer. Image by Owens/IndyCar

• The PJ1 traction compound applied to the upper lanes at TMS for the November 2019 NASCAR race was an unexpected contributor to the problems IndyCar encountered on Saturday. Some IndyCar teams also tested at TMS earlier this year, but didn’t report the goo as an issue, which points to pre-race surface preparation. It’s more likely the track’s efforts to eliminate the goo by dragging tires across the darkened lanes had the opposite effect they were seeking. Having heard from some who got up close to the surface, plenty of dead rubber – which offers no adhesion – was found, which explains the different in colors. Dead rubber driven into the upper lanes was like black ice, and even those who tested the available grip with the soles of their shoes said the difference in available traction between the lighter low line and where the dark bands lived was obvious. One driver said venturing up to the dead rubber zone was like experiencing ‘the worst marbles you’ve ever felt.’ Did the attempt to strip the NASCAR goo from the circuit end up backfiring? Whatever the correct answer might be, the series and circuit can’t afford a repeat of the same problem in 12 months’ time.
• The home state A.J. Foyt Racing team had a statement-making and heartbreaking start to the new season, but I’ll go with the positives as the worthiest notes. Charlie Kimball was a rocket on his debut for the Chevy-powered team. With new race engineer Mike Pawlowski on the timing stand, Kimball’s No. 4 Chevy was on the way to a top-five finish until a fuel calculation error required two pit stops in the final 15 laps. A crash on the last lap was a cruel ending to such a promising debut for all involved. Tony Kanaan’s race was also struck with more drama than anyone expected as an early pit lane speed limiter issue triggered a penalty, and then he spent the rest of the race chasing the handling on the No. 14 Chevy. It wasn’t a glorious close to the event, but the overhauled team looked like it belonged in the thick of the action.
• That might have been the sneakiest fifth-place finish of Ed Carpenter’s career.
• An interesting explanation was offered from Honda on the pre-race ECU problems encountered by three of its drivers. With all cars being in a state of impound after qualifying, crews were not allowed to do more than some very basic vehicle preparation heading into the race. And to limit the overall number of personnel on the grid, Chevy and Honda agreed to keep their engine technicians on the cold side of pit lane. Outside of the rare impound/personnel reduction plan, it’s common for those engine techs to be ready and able to plug into their cars with a laptop and address any start-up issues that arise. After all the cars were fired and engines were warmed before rolling to the grid, the techs were removed from the picture, and in the cases of Ryan Hunter-Reay, Alexander Rossi, and Graham Rahal, their spec McLaren ECUs went into shutdown mode while sitting on pit lane. The shutdowns, I’m told, are a known and random issue. The solution is quick and easy: techs plug into the cars, re-send the calibration file, and cars fire. But with the impound/personnel reduction plan, the quick fixes weren’t possible without penalty. Honda sought permission from IndyCar to plug into the three cars, and received approval, but by plugging in, they were in violation of the impound/personnel rules, and the three paid the price with drive-throughs for RHR and Rossi. Rossi sped during his drive-through, and was ordered to perform a second trip down pit lane for the transgression. Rahal, whose team pulled his car off pre-grid, was given a stop-and-go during his drive-through.

• Some IndyCar drivers absolutely love the crazy speed and risks provided by Texas Motor Speedway. It appeared as though Meyer Shank Racing’s Jack Harvey, who started 21st and eventually crept up to 16th, will need a few more visits before a love affair is possible.
• Never question the heart of Hunter-Reay. Struck twice by the damned cartoon anvil on the opening day of the season, the 2012 IndyCar Series champion did the only thing he’s known since making his Champ Car debut in 2003 and drove his tail off to overcome a one-lap deficit caused by the drive-through penalty. A lot of work was required to finish on the lead lap in eighth position.
• RHR’s young teammate Colton Herta had a surprisingly quiet event. With a qualifying run to 14th and a nearly invisible run to seventh by the end of the night, the kid who brought season-long fireworks as a rookie had an inauspicious start as a full-time Andretti Autosport team member. With teammate Zach Veach leading the squad from start to finish, RHR and Rossi hampered from the outset, Marco Andretti and James Hinchcliffe showing well until they fell back for differing reasons, Herta still ended up being P2 on the Andretti depth chart.
• Team Penske fought like hell for most of the race to salvage a second for Josef Newgarden and third for Simon Pagenaud. The brilliance of holding a race with minimal practice was portrayed as the reigning champions couldn’t find the chassis setup to win and the winning CGR team couldn’t find a way to lose. The diverging fortunes gave one team an all-night headache while its closest rival was preparing to celebrate with champagne. Minus the part where the pit crews were overtaxed, count me as a fan of limited pre-race running and the curveballs it throws into the script.
• The topic of lapped cars getting in the way has been raised aplenty. As most were running within 105 percent of the leaders’ pace, IndyCar wasn’t going to intervene during green runs, and with the final caution falling within the last 15 laps, the option to re-order the field was not taken in the interest of finishing the race under green.

Carpenter had stealth mode engaged on his way to fifth. Image by Jones/IndyCar

• My first Golden Bowling Ball Award of 2020 goes to a rookie who will indeed learn and improve from dropping the ball on his foot before throwing a strike in the lane of fellow rookie Alex Palou. Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay suffered from youthful exuberance on Saturday, and if you weren’t a Carpenter fan before the race, his dry funny-serious assessment of the Dutchman’s failures to listen and apply the oval wisdom he offered made for great television. VeeKay took himself out early in practice, did it again early in the race, and gets to live with it until July 4 on the IMS road course. After the bar was set impossibly high by likes of Robert Wickens in 2018 and Herta in 2019, it’s easy to forget how much high-caliber rookies can look completely lost. We worried about Texas being the starting point for IndyCar’s rookies, and of the three, VeeKay clearly struggled, but don’t worry, he’s smart, and fast, and will rebound.
• Speaking of rebounding rockets, Felix Rosenqvist was one bad decision away from sealing a Chip Ganassi Racing 1-2 at Texas. Ambition was the Swede’s undoing as he tried the one thing that seemingly nobody wanted to experiment with, and that was attempting a pass on the tractionless black lane in the middle of Turns 1 and 2. Marco Andretti charged around the outside of James Hinchcliffe entering Turn 1, Rosenqvist wanted to follow in his wheel tracks, but the Canadian appeared to get loose and chase his car up the inside lane. Rosenqvist remained committed to the pass, and as the good lane disappeared, he stayed in the throttle and hit the black ice. And I’m not the least bit concerned for him as a result. My hope is that Ganassi does not bark at the Swede or try and pull back on the leash; it was needed last year when he was driving over his head, but Saturday night was just a bad decision, and nothing more. That first win is coming, and with 18 total IndyCar races to his credit, all while learning ovals, consider how good he looked for 190 laps.
• Carlin Racing! The only one-car team in the field was fast and steady as Conor Daly gave the team a reason to believe it can be a force on the ovals. How fun was it to watch Daly hunt down his ECR boss towards the end of the race?
• The reconstituted Arrow McLaren SP team never factored at Texas, which was a surprise. A poor qualifying for Pato O’Ward (18th) and Oliver Askew (20th) saw both drivers hover towards the bottom of the field, and with the help of penalties and attrition, a steely Askew claimed ninth on his IndyCar debut and O’Ward finished 12th, one lap down.
• Piggybacking off the AMSP note, Dale Coyne Racing cannot be pleased with two failures to finish and its drivers leaving Texas in 21st (Santino Ferrucci) and 23rd place (Palou) in points. Similar for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, with one in 17th (Rahal) and the other (Takuma Sato) last in 24th after his crash in qualifying resulted in missing the race. Of the four drivers, Palou was an unexpected standout after leading the team – on his IndyCar, and oval racing debut, no less – in qualifying and during the race prior to getting VeeKayO’d.
• Fatigue was a likely cause for ongoing mistakes on pit lane. Wheels fell off of multiple cars, others didn’t get all their fuel, wheel nuts jammed, and frankly, I’m surprised more incidents weren’t recorded as some crew members were pushed beyond their limits.
• Let’s close on a fun one. Kudos to CGR for the offseason engineering restructuring as Dixon’s championship-winning race engineer Chris Simmons was elevated to an overarching performance-improving position. Along with technical director Julian Robertson, the elevation of Simmons’ big brain had Dixie and Rosie looking unstoppable. New CGR driver Marcus Ericsson was also doing well until he ran out of fuel. And how cool was it for veteran engineer Michael Cannon, new to the team as Dixie’s new race engineer, to win on his debut? Add in Veach matching his career-best finish of fourth, Daly and Carlin kicking ass on the way to sixth, RHR flipping the bird to the cartoon anvil in eighth, Askew coming home two spots behind Herta in ninth, Kimball driving like an animal to earn 11th despite crashing on the final lap, and Palou smiling through adversity and looking unfazed by the task ahead. And if you’re looking for drama, we have the instant championship implications of title contenders Power (13th), Rossi (15th), Rahal (17th), and Rosenqvist (20th) leaving Round 1 in a shortened 14-race season in a serious hole. July can’t get here soon enough.