PLYMOUTH, Wisc — Coming into race day, on a cool Sunday morning in Wisconsin, everyone was wondering if Sunday’s Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America was going to be a sloppy one. After witnessing several drivers running off the track over the course of the race weekend, the track surface was being put to blame.

For the first time in nearly three decades, the 4.014-mile Road America racing surface was recently repaved during this offseason. The thing is, it wasn’t ready however until the first week of May to even be used. So, the racetrack was truly a green one coming into Sunday’s eighth race of the 17 race season.

As a result of that, Road America had been an unusually tough one to figure out. As usual though, the repair has caused Road America to become a one groove track and if you get outside of the racing line, you’ve become a passenger.

“This track’s terrible; when you go off, they do a terrible job here so they need to pick up their game,” Power said. “You go off, you break your back every time; done it a couple of times this weekend so they need a kick in the butt.”

With a new surface, the cars are traveling at a faster rate of speed. Because of that, you’ll be carrying more speed into the entry of all 14 corners. If you miss the mark while doing so, you better find a way to spin it around before you make contact with the wall or tire barriers.

“It’s just a very strange feeling, at least for me, inside the car,” said pole sitter, Colton Herta. “I’m sure it’s different team to team and whatnot. For me it’s a very strange feeling at the wheel. I think it shows by how many guys have been kind of trickling off the track, just having weird spins.

“For me, it’s been one of the tougher tracks to get ahold of. It’s almost like there’s very little feedback from the wheel, so you’re seeing guys spin, just don’t really know it’s going to happen, which was the way it was for me a few times.”

Herta spun multiple times on Saturday including in the second round of qualifying. He did so on purpose he said because he knew he got in too hot in Turn 1 and had to do something.

“Because it’s a lot tougher when you hit something,” said Herta on the spin. “When you just spin, go off, have a spin, it’s really not that big of a deal.”

Both drivers in Row 2 found issues on Saturday. Alex Palou crashed while Josef Newgarden spun on his final lap in the Fast Six.

As far as why, it’s because in last week’s test and all the practice and qualifying thus far, everyone is using the same line and building rubber up in those spots. As a result, there was no rubber or grip away from the racing line and it was creating chaos.

“I think obviously the following will be different to what it’s been in the last few years just because offline, the balance, the car just turns upside down if you go offline,” second place starter, Pato O’Ward, said on if he expected chaos for Sunday’s 55 lap race.

“I think that’s obviously going to make passing tricky. It will make guys trying to get a bit of cleaner air on at least half of their wing. There is a penalty to pay for that. It doesn’t seem to pay off yet.

“Yeah, I see it being there’s maybe a lane and a half of, like, very high grip. But you go off of that, and it’s like ice. I think that’s also why there’s just been a lot of excursions. You miss it by just a tad, and it’s like, What happened to the car?

“To extract the lap time, especially now with the new pavement, like there is so much more grip, but it’s only in the line. You have to commit so much into the corners where a lot of the times it kind of bites once you’re already committed. I think that’s why you see a lot of spins, a lot of guys going off, just a lot of random snaps. It makes you feel like there’s unlimited amounts of grip, but there’s obviously limits to everything.”

Herta agreed.

“It’s very treacherous off the line,” he said. “It’s going to make it interesting to see if guys are going to defend into five or if guys are going to try to pass and it’s going to happen.

“We’re braking so late now at all those corners, braking is probably 175 feet before turn feet, 180 to 60 miles an hour. The grip is insane right now that the track is producing.

“But like Pato said, it’s only the line. Once you get half a tire width off of it, you can’t recover it because you’re going so fast.”

In saying that, everyone expected chaos in Detroit and it never materialized. After another race like that on Sunday, it goes to show, we should stop questioning the process.

This was one of the best races Road America has seen. Box score states that the entire top four of the starting lineup finished in the top five and were running 1-2-3-4 until the final few laps. It also says just four different leaders.

However, sometimes, a box score is misleading. In this case, it absolutely was.

The passing stats are through the roof. 444 on-track passes in this race. 386 were for position. 110 came in the top 10 today. There were 32 in the top five. All these are smashing the numbers since INDYCAR started recording these numbers in 2016 at Road America.

“I mean, it was an unbelievable race,” said second place finisher Josef Newgarden. “I think as a driver, not always what you want. You want to be just out front, kind of green from start to finish, just an easy day. But if you’re a fan, this is a very difficult race. There was just a lot that happened.

“People were shuffling forward and backwards. Restarts were bringing different action. The tires were bringing something different for people. It was possible to pass, like very much so. It raced really well.

“There was a lot of unknowns going into the new surface on how it would race. I think today, I don’t know how you could have asked for much better of a race. From that standpoint it was more stressful for us. Hopefully the fans really enjoyed the action of it.”

Herta led 33 of the 1st 49 laps. Even with a slower second stop, he still passed his way back to the lead.

It was pit road that kept him out of it.

Herta pit a lap too soon. That decision not only took away a win, but ultimately a podium at that. As a result, it gifted the win to Sunday’s Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America to a driver who didn’t really need it.

Palou passed Herta for the win on Lap 49 and would never look back en route to his seventh career NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory including three of which in the last four races.

Palou’s first podium came here. His first win came here. Now, another feat – Ganassi’s 250th in motorsports.

Palou just kind of stalked Herta all race and did what he had to do in order to make himself in the right spot at the right time. When Herta pit on Lap 12, Palou followed. When Herta pit on Lap 26, Palou followed. However, when Herta pit on Lap 40, Palou didn’t follow. 

It was a little early in the pit window and Palou and his Chip Ganassi Racing team elected to go one more lap. By doing so, he was allowed to push the final 14 laps to the finish. Herta couldn’t. That’s why despite Herta cycling to the lead on Lap 47, Palou was right there to capitalize on Herta’s bad pit strategy. 

“Yeah, honestly the first couple of laps that he did on the blacks, he was really, really fast. I was like, Man, he’s pushing very hard. I don’t know if I can catch him,” Palou admitted.

“Once my tires were into temperature, I was able to catch him. I saw that he was struggling a little bit more. He had to save more fuel than us because he pitted one lap early. We were just a little bit better on tire deg, as well.

“I was just trying to push him to use the push to pass, then overtake him. It worked. So, yeah, he was doing a great race. I don’t know if they were struggling a lot on the alternates. Actually he was pulling away on the alternates, as well.

“Yeah, great day for us.”

Not long after Palou got by, so did Newgarden. Then came O’Ward. Finally Scott Dixon who came from 23rd by the way to finish fourth.

It was a day filled of passing that often times saw INDYCAR’s longest track race like a short track.

Everything about Sundays race delivered. Road America, on a day where rumors of a return to Milwaukee heated up, shined as bright as the summer sun.