Pruett's cooldown lap: St Petersburg-289988

With a week to process all that took place at St. Petersburg and just over a week until we reconvene at Texas Motor Speedway for the second NTT IndyCar Series race of the season, here are a few takeaways and forward-looking items of note.

WTF?

Leaving St. Pete, we already have a number of heavy hitters looking to dig out of deficits at Texas on March 20. Against all predictions coming into Round 1, we left with Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward holding 12th in the championship, Meyer Shank Racing’s Simon Pagenaud in 15th, Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden 16th, and Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi in 20th. What in the world is going on?

Myriad issues, starting with AMSP simply missing the mark from the moment its two-car team hit the track. Along with O’Ward, teammate Felix Rosenqvist never factored in the event, although O’Ward did pull off a memorable opening lap of the race where he passed seven cars — from 16th to ninth — in half a lap.

Like many drivers, the AMSP duo were on a three-stop pit strategy on a day where the two-stop option was the one to have; O’Ward deserves credit for limiting the damage by coming home in 12th, second best among the three-stop brigade. Only Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, who worked miracles in the 100-lap contest to come home eighth, did better than O’Ward with the three-stop strategy. Rosenqvist wasn’t as fortunate, trailing home in 17th. Although P17 is not what he wanted, it represents the best start to a new season for the Swede since his IndyCar debut in 2019.

MSR’s Pagenaud and teammate Helio Castroneves were felled by the same three-stop decision, and Penske’s Newgarden also lost out due to the three-stop strategy on a day where his teammates relied on two stops that produced a win with McLaughlin and third with Will Power.

If there’s a bright side for Newgarden, who is learning to work with a race engineer who is new to the role in IndyCar, the P16 start is certainly better than the 23rd he endured last year after that lap 1 crash at Barber Motorsports Park.

Rossi was the only competitive driver on a two-stop plan to miss the big windfall. He was running eighth directly behind Graham Rahal at the time of the race’s lone caution period on lap 25. With the Andretti team’s intentional call to leave Rossi out under the yellow he inherited first, but the gamble did not pay off with a subsequent caution and he was forced to make his first stop under green on lap 37.

For a driver who needs to turn his fortunes around, the high-risk approach to Rossi’s race strategy was decidedly odd. He didn’t have the pace to win, but if you consider where he was at the time of the caution and that Rahal finished in seventh, surrendering 12 positions and losing out on a ‘go big or go home’ play made at the first race just doesn’t reconcile.

Strategy was not on Rossi's side at St Pete. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images

The good news is all of the expected title contenders who had poor starts to the season have strong records on the 1.5-mile TMS oval. O’Ward won his first IndyCar race there last year, Pagenaud had a pair of top 10s at the doubleheader, Newgarden was on the podium at one of the races and Rossi had an eighth in one round before getting tangled in the big crash that opened the second race.

The question for each driver is whether to treat the upcoming Xpel 375 at Texas — an event known for daring passes and sizable accidents — as the race to be aggressive and dig all the way out of their holes, or if a calmer approach would be best. A win could change everything just as ending up in the wall could make for a season-long recovery effort. These four will be worth watching when the green flag waves at 12:45 ET on Sunday the 20th.

MIRACLE MAN

Alex Palou worked a few miracles to turn his P10 starting spot into a podium. Takuma Sato and the Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing entry were the biggest movers in the race from 22nd to 10th, but at the sharper end where on-track improvements are exceptionally hard, it was the defending series champion who prospered with a cagey performance.

Up to sixth when David Malukas stiffed his Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports car into the Turn 3 wall, Palou made his first of two stops under the long caution where repairs to the wall were made, returned to action in 14th and made steady headway with a combination of passes and three-stoppers peeling off into the pits to move his car forward.

Sitting in second when he made his last stop on lap 65, Palou’s work in the middle segment of the race paid big dividends as he returned in fourth, took third when O’Ward pitted, second when teammate Scott Dixon pitted on lap 79, and chased McLaughlin home to take P2, 0.5095s behind the Penske driver.

It’s still early to make giant proclamations about Palou, but we’ve already seen him turn in a couple of big come-from-behind performances in his young career. From 16 races last season, Palou went forward and finished by improving from his starting position 11 times on race day, and that’s not including his win from pole at Portland and the blown motor while having a good day at the second IMS road course event. Palou’s title defense could have been sidetracked at St. Pete, but yet again, he delivered when it mattered.

WELCOME BACK RVK

Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay let it be known that he’s ready to resume his upward trajectory in IndyCar. Ninth to open the weekend in FP1, he improved to sixth in FP2, improved again with fourth in qualifying, and had a strong performance in the race where he came home sixth. Outside of the great results, the biggest positive might have been in how easy it looked for VeeKay and ECR. They were firmly seated on the struggle bus for the second half of 2021 where nothing came easily, and if St. Pete’s an indicator of what’s to come, the championship’s going to be a lot of fun to follow with the young Dutchman on the charge.

GIANT CROWD

As of Friday, the Green Savoree Race Promotions group weren’t ready to put an attendance number on the three-day event, but they did tell me it looked like one of the biggest crowds in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg’s history. The most encouraging part was how the tickets were purchased. According to GSRP, the event has always had a strong walk-up crowd with a significant number of tickets purchased at the gates, but in a shift away from this trend, pre-event sales had a massive spike, which suggests dedicated IndyCar fans were the main segment responsible for the change in buying habits.

PLEASANT START

The A.J. Foyt Racing team didn’t have the race results it wanted in St. Pete after Kyle Kirkwood’s eye-opening run to 12th in qualifying was stifled by the decision to opt for three pit stops. Dalton Kellett also saw his best day in IndyCar, where he qualified 14th, go sideways with drivetrain issues in the race. And Tatiana Calderon, who was drinking from the proverbial fire hose, was a non-factor all weekend.

Even so, St. Pete was a perfect example of how a team’s finishing record with Kirkwood in 18th, Calderon in 24th and Kellett in 25th was not received as a poor outing, and nor should it be viewed that way. Kirkwood and Kellett held their general starting positions to open the race, and while the strategy side and mechanical issues ruined their chances, both had considerable speed. The amount of optimism within the team after the race — and especially after qualifying — was hard to miss, and that hasn’t always been the case in recent years.

Ganassi veteran Scott Harner, who move to Foyt’s management team not so long ago, says Kirkwood reminds him of a young Scott Dixon, and Harner isn’t known for offering false praise. Kirkwood’s race engineer Mike Colliver also had the look of being handed a diamond in the rough with the reigning Indy Lights champion. Kirkwood’s pace, after seeing his friend and the former driver of the No. 14 Chevy Sebastien Bourdais fare well last year with a 10th-place finish at St. Pete and eighth at Long Beach, should not have come as a surprise, but it was confirmation that he’s got something special to offer as a rookie.

The most heartwarming part of the team’s weekend came with Kellett’s big run to 14th in knockout qualifying, just two spots behind his celebrated teammate. I can’t wait to see what he can come up with next month on the streets of Long Beach. And Calderon, who started off her debut season with fewer miles in an IndyCar than any other driver, ended FP1 in 26th, 2.6 seconds off the leader. In FP2 she reduced it to 2.3s, and in qualifying, she cut it to 1.4s off of McLaughlin’s pole time and earned 25th, ahead of Jimmie Johnson. With everything to learn, she made vast improvements, which is all anyone should be asking for right now.

PASSING INTEREST IN PASSING

I enjoyed the Firestone GP for how the race strategies emerged and evolved throughout the race. And then I heard and read how a meaningful number of fans weren’t particularly moved by the chess game at hand and came away feeling rather disappointed at how little passing took place among the leaders. Watching the race replay, it’s hard to argue with those who might’ve fallen asleep during the broadcast. Great day for McLaughlin, obviously, but not the most memorable event with the surprising lack of contact, cautions, passing, and drama.

MR. OR MRS. INVISIBLE

Which driver was at the race but not really in the race? Strange to see three-time St. Pete winner Helio Castroneves never factor in qualifying or the 100-lapper where he started 17th and finished 14th. Teammate Simon Pagenaud finished one position behind in 15th, but had a strong qualifying run and spent some time near the front before losing out on the three-stop plan while Castroneves left the track looking for a reboot in Texas.

Helio was definitely there. We have photos to prove it. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images

MISC

* Funniest part of the broadcast came when Julia Steinbrenner, new co-owner of the No. 29 Andretti Steinbrenner Racing Honda driven by Devlin DeFrancesco, was mentioned with the unforgettable line, “She’s the grandson of George Steinbrenner!”

* Another quality start to Will Power’s season. Since 2010, the Penske driver has been on the podium seven times at the opening round.

* There were more than a few groans heard throughout the St. Pete weekend as CGR’s Jimmie Johnson found trouble with a half-spin and grassy adventure in Turn 1, a visit to a runoff area that brought out a caution, and his unwelcome participation in the fight between McLaughlin and teammate Palou late in the race as he fought to stay on the lead lap and shrank the Penske’s driver’s comfortable margin to the other CGR driver. On the one hand, it felt nothing had been learned after 2021 when Johnson was the author of frequent errors, but on the other hand, if all Johnson did was hit his marks at St. Pete and every other track he visits for a second time, he’d show no improvement. The NASCAR legend’s extracurricular activities to open 2022 serve as a reminder that he’s not only continuing to learn, but also pushing deeper into more daunting boundaries in search of greater speed.

* IndyCar teams would be wise to keep an eye on the new NTT Data race strategy predictor that appeared during the morning warmup broadcast…

* I sure hope Romain Grosjean is taking home a nice percentage from his Andretti Autosport merchandise sales. By my informal recollection, the amount of yellow No. 28 Grosjean jerseys being worn in the paddock and grandstands dwarfed all the other drivers’ gear by a wide margin, and it should be a shock, considering how IndyCar confirmed the ex-Formula 1 driver ranked as the series’ most popular driver by a wide margin. The constant scrum of Grosjean fans waiting outside where the Andretti haulers were located served as another indicator of how much of a central figure he’s become for the series.

* Claire Bourdais and Chris Wheeler put together a secret party for Sebastien Bourdais on Sunday night at St. Pete. Since his last race of the 2021 season just might be the last of his IndyCar career, a private gathering was formed to celebrate his four championships, 37 wins, 34 poles and 57 podiums spread across Champ Car and the NTT IndyCar Series.

Plenty of members of his old Newman/Haas, KVSH Racing, and Dale Coyne with Vasser Sullivan teams turned out — some flew in for the event — and had some driver friends rock up to drink in his honor as Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, Will Power, Scott McLaughlin, Kyle Kirkwood, Dalton Kellett, and more gave Bourdais his flowers.

* I know that it’s normal to see in Formula 1 as part of its pre-race festivities, but it was mighty weird to witness 26 IndyCar drivers being taken for a hayride around the circuit behind a tractor.

* Great weekend of Road To Indy competition with Jace Denmark and Myles Rowe taking the USF2000 wins, Josh Green and Nolan Siegel earning the Indy Pro 2000 victories, and Matty Brabham being lucky and good to score his first Indy Lights win in forever after Hunter McElrea smacked the wall while holding a three-second lead and Christian Rasmussen appeared to run out of fuel while leading.

* Two of IndyCar’s biggest characters, 1996 CART champion and longtime team owner Jimmy Vasser and his partner James ‘Sulli’ Sullivan were missing from the pit lane for the first time in more than a decade. Hopes are being held for the Vasser Sullivan name to appear in some capacity on the Indy 500 entry list.

* Fans who’ve been accustomed to having Racing Electronics onsite to offer scanner rentals were disappointed to learn RE and IndyCar have ended their relationship. Solutions were covered in last week's Mailbag.

* We’ll close with some warm and tearful moments from Friday at St. Pete where the life of Honda’s longtime racing communications and manager T.E. McHale was the subject of a gathering where Dave Furst, Bobby Rahal, Melissa Fox, and Alexander Rossi paid tribute to our friend who died of colon cancer in December.