“Well that’s one way to deal with the Alex Palou problem…”
Hello again folks, Dre here with another bookend of a Race Review Double Header, and it’s now time to get into the meat and potatoes of the IndyCar season now the 500’s over. And like most years, the fry up after the hangover is bacon with a side helping of Detroit’s Grand Prix from GM’s headquarters. And well, one driver had an executive order to carry out on the reigning Champion, while the only other man to win a race this season, doubled up. Let’s talk about it.
Street King
It was a race where the early story was told via qualifying. By the end of Saturday, the field was so adamant it was going to be a Primary tyre race, that teams were doing double stints in early rounds to save them for the race. By the Fast 6, just three drivers had a genuine shot at pole on a fresh set of alternates, and Colton Herta took pole for the second year in a row.
If you started on the Alternates, you probably wanted an early caution to have a reason to dump them early, as they were only good for around 15 laps, not the 20 the data people had predicted. With the race being 100 laps, it took the 2-stopper out of the window and a 3-stopper was the strategy, especially when the race stayed quiet early on, the first caution not dropping until Lap 14 when both Meyer Shank cars hit each other at the final chicane. It hung Scott McLaughlin out to dry as he hadn’t changed tyres yet as an alternate starter, and split the field on strategy, with the Primary tyre starters like Christian Rasmussen and Scott Dixon shuffled up to the front.
Readers, is it a good sign when your Discord server has an over/under of Cautions to 6.5 and it’s a pleasant surprise when the under lands? Caution #2 had Devlin DeFrancesco lose a wheel at his pitstop, it also led to another loose wheel in the stops for front runner Graham Rahal. The poor man cannot catch a break.
We had a good green run in the middle of the race, where Kyle Kirkwood pushed to the front of the Alternate runners, ahead of Will Power who had got in sequence through the pitstops, Herta, and Alex Palou, with David Malukas close behind. And with tyre wear worse than expected, the 2-stopper wasn’t viable as the hard tyre was only good for around 35 laps and not the ideal 43-45. Callum Illot pulled out Caution #3 on Lap 67 with another loose wheel pitstop putting the Prema into the wall – Essentially forcing most of the field into the pits to have their final stop with 30 or so to go, but it shook out so that Kyffin Simpson, Santino Ferrucci and Marcus Armstrong shuffled to the front. Their tyres were 8 laps older, but they could easily make the end.
Then the big one. Cautions breed cautions, and on the next restart, David Malukas misses his braking point, and hits Alex Palou, putting him into the wall. The reigning Champion, running a net 4th, out in P25. Of course, his first bad race of the year wasn’t even the Spaniard’s fault. Execute Order 4 – I’d be surprised if Malukas’ merch stand wasn’t sold out by race end.
One more caution came with 14 to go, as Louis Foster’s RLL car suffered a suspension failure at 180mph, exploding the front right of his car and careering into the wall, taking Felix Rosenqvist’s MSR car with him. Thankfully, both drivers were fine after a hellacious accident, with Felix only suffering a bang to the knee after hitting his wheel on his way to the wall.
Race was red flagged to fix the barriers, and we got an 11 lap dash for the cash, and Kyle Kirkwood quickly dispatched the older tyre traffic to take the led, push it out to 4 seconds and never really look back. Despite doing his best Palou in Toronto impression after contact with another car that dangled his front wing endplate, Kirkwood still won comfortably to retain his status as the only other man to win a race in IndyCar this season. He and Andretti in general have become outstanding on street courses, with Colton Herta also on the podium in third, even if he couldn’t find a way around Santino Ferrucci, holding on for his best ever series finish in second.
Given Andretti were humiliated with two of their cars disqualified from the Indy 500 after their battery covers were modified, they needed something to get their season back on track, and Kirkwood’s second win of the year certainly helps. Only 102 points to go…
The Lightning Round
Am I the only one who found it really weird and a tad concerning that Will Power deliberately drove into the back of Kyle Kirkwood in practice, pushed him around the back end of the track and then faced no further action?! I know they all laughed about it, but it was really unnecessary, dangerous driving from a driver in his 19th season of IndyCar. (Makes me wonder if half the shit Max Verstappen gets is because he’s Max Verstappen, not the action itself…)
While I understand some conflicts of interest in Motorsport are unavoidable, it’s a small, relatively niche circle in many series1 – Townsend Bell was shameful at the end of the race. Gratitious glazing of Santino Ferrucci towards the end of the race where it felt like there was more excitement over the fact he was second, than Kirkwood’s win, while watching from a Krispy Kreme donut shop. It’s almost like he’s the latter’s mana- *shot*
Alex Palou has a DNF and still has a 90 point lead. It’s more or less two races. Man…
Scott McLaughlin followed up the lowlight of his IndyCar career to date by taking out Nolan Siegel for no good reason. Welp. It’s a more playful beef – But seriously, when was the last time an active Team Principal in Motorsport (Tony Kanaan), openly shit-talked a driver, WHILE HE’S ON TRACK?! McLaren’s get down is so weird, and they were in the right to be pissed given Nolan Siegel was a victim. This has been arguably their best season so far since coming back (2nd and 4th in the standings right now), but I wonder if losing the 500 and the Astor Cup being very far away is causing some more tension. And/or, if Zak Brown’s involved – A man who has never seen a fight he won’t pick.
Fun RJ Fact: First time since Champ Car in 2006 that just two men exactly have won the first seven races in an open-wheeled season2.
Reminder: If Colton Herta wants any shot at a Cadillac F1 drive, he needs fourth in the standings. After his first podium of the season, he sits 9th, 48 points away. Hardly unthinkable given how strong he finished next year3.
So, does anyone have a good reason as to why IndyCar couldn’t race in Gateway next week? They could have used its free week to get their crossover drivers over to Le Mans instead. It’s annoying that IndyCar waxes lyrical when Kyle Larson wants to run in their race, but the moment its own talent has a chance to go elsewhere, they make life needlessly difficult.
The Verdict: 7/10 (Good) – A genuine contender for the best IndyCar race of 2025. I can’t deny, I’m not a fan of Detroit as a track, but this was a good, entertaining race which had some strategic intrigue as the field switched from a two to a three-stopper, and generally, the drivers actually behaved themselves on track this time. I’ll take it. See you in a fortnight’s time at Gateway.
