INDYCAR Quickly Makes Improvements In Wake Of Tire Incident at Indy

INDYCAR, along with longtime partner Dallara, provided an update on Tuesday to improve the overall strength and retention of wheel hubs on NTT INDYCAR SERIES cars.

The updated rear-wheel bearing retaining nut is being distributed to all entries in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and will be mandated for use beginning at this weekend’s Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend doubleheader at Iowa Speedway. The strength of the rear-wheel bearing retaining nut has increased by 60 percent over the previous design.

Revisions to the existing component came after a meticulous review of the incident at the 2023 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge involving the No. 27 car of Andretti Autosport and the No. 6 car of Arrow McLaren, which resulted in the loss of the left rear wheel assembly on the No. 27.

“Dallara continues to be a tremendous partner of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES,” INDYCAR President Jay Frye said. “Their thorough review process of the incident between the No. 6 and the No. 27 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway began immediately and included an extensive recreation at their headquarters in Italy.

“INDYCAR takes safety very seriously. This update is an important step in making sure an incident like this does not happen again.”

Previously, it was determined that the wheel tether system, using high-performance Zylon material, did not fail in the May 28 incident. INDYCAR was the first sanctioning body in the United States to require its use.

“It is Dallara’s mission, along with INDYCAR and all of the racing series we work with, to maintain and continuously improve safety based upon the highest standards,” Dallara CEO Stefano dePonti said. “After completing a detailed analysis of the accident during this year’s Indy 500, together with INDYCAR we have reached the conclusion that the outcome was the consequence of an unusual and never experienced set of circumstances.

“Nevertheless, we have developed and produced new components that will increase the strength of the corner in case the unlikely sequence of events repeats itself.”

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Pagenaud to Miss Iowa, Daly To Fill In

Speaking of safety, Simon Pagenaud will miss a third consecutive race weekend as he still recovers at home due to a head injury suffered in a practice crash on July 1 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

My thoughts are the same as they were last week on this in the fact that I don’t think they need to rush Pagenaud back, nor was this ever going to be a good race weekend for him to return anyways. I made mention of that last week when they announced that Tom Blomqvist would hop into the No. 60 Dallara-Honda for the Honda Indy Toronto.

I said then and I maintain that now that Iowa isn’t a good spot to make a comeback at.

Iowa is a dizzying experience in and of itself with a bullring type venue. With 2 races in 2 days in the warm conditions that they’re going to be facing, that’s asking a lot to come back there from a likely head injury that he’s suffering from right now.

So, for a driver like Pagenaud that’s by all accounts progressing, but still feeling the effects of that crash some, racing at Iowa makes little to no sense. Why not buy another weekend off, plus a week off next week too before being reevaluated for Nashville.

That would get him essentially four weekend’s off which by that point, will be a huge tale if he can comeback or not.

Which is why I also side with the decisions that MSR is making to sub for Pagenaud.

Daly was on site at Mid-Ohio and it made the upmost sense. Having Blomqvist in a tryout role last weekend made a ton of sense too. But, to bring Daly back over Blomqvist is too a wise move.

Daly was in Toronto to help so he’s basically been with this team for the last two races weekend’s. This is also a good opportunity for both Daly and MSR to test each other out to see if there’s any potential for him in 2024 with this ride.

It’s no secret that both Helio Castroneves and Pagenaud are each free agents for 2024. I’ve heard the team could keep 1 or neither but it doesn’t appear that both will return.

Blomqvist was always on the short list. Daly could emerge as a primary candidate too.

Which is why it makes sense for Iowa. This is a strong track for Daly.

He’s had seven race starts at the 0.875-mile tri-oval and a bundle of recent success. Iowa Speedway was the site of Daly’s first-ever INDYCAR SERIES pole position in 2020 as one of his three career top-three qualifying results, with the American racer earning his best race finish of eighth in 2020.

“I’m thankful to Mike and Jim to calling me up to fill in for Simon again this weekend in Iowa,” said Daly. “Obviously I’m wishing him the best and hope that he gets well soon.

“Iowa has definitely become one of my favorite tracks in the last couple of years. Obviously I have qualified really well there – qualified on the pole and started in the top three the last two years. Hopefully we can replicate that qualifying performance, but also deliver in the race. The team does an incredible job to prepare the car, so we’re going to do our best for Simon again. We’ll do everything we can to score some more points for the team and I’m thankful to drive this No. 60 car again for AutoNation and SiriusXm.

The scoring points for the team is also the final factor here. Daly is arguably the top sub you can get for this track and points is something this entry needs.

They need to get into the Top 22 in entrant points for that ever so crucial Leaders Circle bonus program. Right now, the 60 car is in 24th, 10 points behind.

With two races at stake this weekend, trying out Blomqvist on his first oval experience made little to no sense. Even if they have and eye for him in 2024, this isn’t a time to experiment. Toronto was. Not Iowa.

If Daly can come in and contribute some top 15 results, maybe even a top 10, that would do wonders for the entrant points standings which is why this was a home run hire.

Plus, MSR works closely with Andretti Autosport and it’s no secret Daly has ties to the family and team. This move makes a ton of sense in a lot of ways.

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Track Build Underway In Nashville

The track build and preparations are underway for third annual Big Machine Music City Grand Prix. The race weekend, set for August 4 – 6, is just over two weeks away from the marquee NTT INDYCAR SERIES race day as the race circuit begins taking shape in downtown Nashville.

The build of the 2.17 mile, 11-turn course, temporary street circuit, which includes the Nissan Stadium campus and Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge as focal points, will be part of the various activities going on in preparation for the green flag Sunday, August 6, 2023, for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES race that begins at 11:30am CST.

Right now, the track building process is currently underway on Korean War Veterans Memorial Boulevard and bridge that will be closed from 8:00pm – 5:00am on July 24, 26 and 27.

ROAD CLOSURE MAP, PLEASE DOWNLOAD HERE

BIKE MAP, PLEASE DOWNLOAD HERE

The action-packed, three-day festival weekend features the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, along with INDY NXT, GT America, GR Cup, the Big Machine Spiked Cooler Trans Am TA2 Series, and Stadium SUPER Trucks along with some of the biggest names in entertainment.  

Just a few weeks away from the race, fans are encouraged to plan in advance and get their tickets while they last.  All single day tickets include free admission to the concert on the coinciding day. 

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Everyone Still Chasing Palou

Alex Palou remarkably extended his NTT INDYCAR SERIES points lead last weekend in Toronto despite qualifying a disappointing 15th. At that time, he looked like he had opened the door for the Astor Cup championship trophy.

That piece of hardware had been behind a closed door that was almost deadbolted shut. Then came a cut tire in practice on Friday that relegated him to 12th on the speed charts. Struggling in qualifying left him 15th.

However, a fast car and superb pit call left him runner-up when it was all said and done. His lead extended from 110 over Scott Dixon and 116 over Josef Newgarden entering the weekend to 117 and 126 respectively leaving it. Marcus Ericsson goes from 122 down to 142. Pato O’Ward dropped from 127 back to 143.

“Yeah, it feels great,” Palou said of extending his points lead. “Honestly, we had a really fast car. We wouldn’t be here without a fast car.”

Now, if he’s ever going to be caught, it’s going to come in this next five race stretch.

He’s open that he’s not very good on short ovals. The 26-year-old Spaniard has finished 11th, 14th, 6th and 13th at Iowa and 15th, 12th, 20th and ninth in Gateway. 

However, he enters on such a strong stretch that it’s hard to just overlook him despite his past struggles.

Palou has had a top 8 finish in each of the 10 races run on the season and if you go back to last season, his last 11 finishes are 1st, 8th, 3rd, 5th, 5th, 1st, 4th, 1st, 1st, 1st and 2nd.

Mix that with coming here to test last month and you get a sense that Palou could quite possibly put the dagger in the hopes of Dixon, Newgarden and everyone else this weekend too.

“Honestly, the test was good,” Palou said. “You always want to be leading at tests, especially if big competitors are not there. They’re amazing. We know they’re going to be up there, Penskes and McLarens.”

Palou also admits that Iowa and tracks like it, well they’re not strong suits for him. However, having the points lead where it is and having a full days worth of work before showing up this weekend certainly helps his mindset and about how he can attack the .894-mile track this weekend.

“Yeah, I mean, last year was one of the worst weekends for me personally, but not for the team though. I remember it was quite exciting for the team,” he admits.

“We worked a lot on our tire deg, long runs. It’s always good if you can start P1. If you have tire deg like we had, like I had especially on my car last year, you go from third to ninth in one stint, which is what happened.

“I learned a lot on how to drive it better, how to get more confident. I think we made the right step. You always want more. It was good, it was positive. We learned some stuff. Hopefully that gives us some indications on how to make another step before the race.

“But yeah, I struggled quite a lot there. Even in 2020, my first year in INDYCAR, then last year quite a lot. Being a doubleheader it’s obviously worse because it’s double points, let’s say, on the same weekend.”

His points lead is that of two races right now. Iowa is two races so on one side, it could drop dramatically. On the other, if it remains near that two race mark, there’s only five races left leaving here.

One of which is at the World Wide Technology Raceway in late August. However, the other four are tracks that he’s recently done well at.

He was third last year in Nashville. On street courses this season, he’s finished 5th, 1st and 2nd in the last 3. At the Indy Road course, he won by nearly 20 seconds in May. In Portland, he won last year. In Laguna Seca, he won by a half minute last season too.

Palou’s last three races on natural road courses all resulted in wins.

Which is why this weekend is so important to the championship race. He’s going to be hard to catch.

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Lundgaard Gives RLL Big Jolt Heading Into Big Race Weekend

Christian Lundgaard’s win last week in Toronto was a huge jolt of momentum for the entire Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team. They needed this. Now, they head to a massive race for not only them, but their large supporter Hy-Vee who’ll help put on the three-day carnival type festival in Iowa this weekend.

“For Hy-Vee, who have stood with us through thick and thin to win this race, I mean, they’re the biggest fans we have, frankly. My phone is blowing up with people from Hy-Vee. Oh, that’s great! Now they’re going to expect that next weekend,” Bobby Rahal said in Toronto.

Rahal is a racer. Always has been. He’s won three CART titles. He won the 1986 Indy 500. His 24 career wins rank in a tie with Ralph DePalma for 18th all-time. He 18 poles are tied with Rex Mays for 17th. He knows how to win.

He also know how to be successful even without winning. His 37 runner-up finishes are fourth most ever. His 88 podiums are ninth all-time. His 119 top 10 finishes are 10th most.

So, for him to sit back and watch his team regress after spending millions on a new building in Zionsville was never going to happen. It was time to make some changes.

It was getting so bad, his own son was possibly going to move on from the family business. Graham Rahal was a free agent at seasons end and he admitted that while he didn’t want to leave, he may have to make some calls about driving elsewhere in 2024.

“Well, yeah, of course,” Bobby Rahal said of if he wanted Graham, his son, to stay.

Obviously both sides would love to make this work and have had better success. Some may think that Graham doesn’t trust RLL’s vision. That’s not true. Some may wonder if Bobby doesn’t trust Graham’s talent. That also isn’t true.

“Because you, you know, especially with him (Graham) driving for you, you know, you want your kids to be successful and achieve their dreams and their goals,” Bobby said.

Bobby feels the pressure of not only being the parent and but also in not being able to weekly supply his own flesh and blood with race contending cars. Bobby feels that weight every day on his shoulders and is trying to do something about it. Bobby not only has Graham, but he has grandkids he wants to impress too. There’s a lot of pressure being the patriarch of a racing family in a racing business and having the burden of employment for not just an entire organization of people, but also your son too.

“I think there’s, we feel more pressure there because it’s blood, you know, and because, you know, you want them to be successful,” Bobby continued.

“More than me, I think it’s just for these guys, to see the smiles on the mechanics’ faces, those guys, they’ve never had an ounce of quit in them, and they could have for years. To see them excited is worth it,” he said.

That pressure and a lack of results was getting to Bobby. So, when he watched his son get bumped from the Indy 500 field by another one of his cars, something had to be done. 3 of the 4 cars started 30th or worse.

“We weren’t fast enough and that’s what race is all about is being fast enough. What are you going to do? I feel bad for him. You know, I feel worse for the cars we gave our drivers and we’ve got to get our act in order,” Bobby told me after Indy 500 qualifying.

A broken weight jacker was the reason Graham missed out.

Then, the next time out in Detroit, they massively missed it. They finished 14-15-26.

“I struggled after Detroit just to understand what was going on because you put it on pole in the beginning of May,” said Christian Lundgaard. “We have the 500. We were absolute last. We got into Detroit, and we just can’t find our feet.”

It was at this point to where Bobby Rahal was reeling himself. Not just professionally as a boss, but personally too. This downward spiral was taking a toll on his mind and body. He was on the verge of another breakdown.

“You know, we came out of Indy really very, very disappointed and really kind of — it would have been hard — you would have been hard-pressed to believe we actually won the race two years earlier, and now we’re on the back row, and one guy didn’t make it in the race. At least in our car,” Rahal admitted.

“That kind of shook us to our core I think, but I have to say I think, frankly, the race that maybe had a bigger negative affect was Detroit because we were just — we were not good at all.

“After Indy, the month of May took — I’m 70 years old, and the month of May took a real toll on me.

“I wasn’t sleeping well at night. We’re here to win. We’re not here to fricking play around or to be part of it. We’re here to win.

“I’m telling you, it was bad. So much so that I thought my physical health had been — you know, a year ago in June I had open heart surgery. This May, I mean, it knocked me back a few steps because I’m not here just to show up. I’m here to win.

“All the effort this young man and Graham and Jack and our team, everybody is working their butt off, and it haunted me. It pained me.

“That’s why I just said right after Indy, I said, we’re going to create and instill and initiate the Indy recovery plan, which we’re in the process of doing, which is all about looking into why we performed so poorly and fixing those issues so that next May we’re fighting for the pole, and that’s our goal.

“I’ve got great people to help me do that: Steve Eriksen, Stefano Sordo, Ricardo Nault.

“Anyway, May was hell for me. That’s why we made the decisions that we made, and they weren’t easy. I think we’re getting the results of those, but I don’t take any confidence that we’re there yet.

“That’s when we decided to make the changes that we made internally.”

Those changes have sparked a nice revival.

“I think we’re finally starting to make changes with the car, as I just said, that they’re responding the right way, the way you’d expect them to, and it’s nice. It’s nice to feel that,” Rahal said.

In Road America, they qualified 7-13-24 and finished 7-11-26. They had a week off to regroup before heading to their home race in Mid-Ohio.

Graham Rahal qualified on the front row. Lundgaard started fifth. Harvey was in 11th. Lundgaard led the way with a fourth-place run, even with two bad pit stops, Rahal still came away with a seventh-place result.

Rahal said that it was nice to see the looks on everyone’s faces again.

“More than me, I think it’s just for these guys, to see the smiles on the mechanics’ faces, those guys, they’ve never had an ounce of quit in them, and they could have for years. To see them excited is worth it,” he said.

In saying that, Rahal wasn’t too optimistic heading to Toronto. He felt like Detroit worried him in regards to pace for another street race this weekend.

It’s no secret that the street course program for RLL is lacking in comparison to the natural road courses. They finished 6-9-22 in St. Pete, 12-13-14 in Long Beach and 16-17-25 in Detroit.

Lundgaard never wavered in his approach. He was looking at the bigger picture. While yes, they were down on street courses, they were though better in most areas than last. He felt like a top four finish was something he was capable of.

Boy was he right.

Lundgaard not only scored a pole, but he gave RLL their first win since 2020. Rahal came from last to finish ninth.

“I think we’ve seen the results of that change,” Bobby Rahal admitted. “We’ve had great events since then. There’s I think a very good vibe within the team. Of course, today helps that immensely. Nothing like winning; right?

“I have to tell you it was emotional for me because of the hell that we went through in the last six weeks and to have a race like we had this weekend, and to see Graham going from 27th to 9th, I mean, Jesus.

“I feel so bad for Jack. The poor guy can’t get a break. For our sponsors, HUB, geesh, not even a lap. For Hy-Vee, who have stood with us through thick and thin to win this race, I mean, they’re the biggest fans we have, frankly. My phone is blowing up with people from Hy-Vee. Oh, that’s great! Now they’re going to expect that next weekend.

“Yeah, I’m just very proud of the team, very proud of the working relationships we have within the team, whether it’s with Christian and Graham and Jack or the engineers or what have you.

“The response to the disappointment of Indy, and of course, maybe even the bigger disappointment of Detroit, really the response to that is due to their commitment to this organization and to themselves, each of them, and together.

“So yeah, I don’t want to be a pessimistic. I think we have a good chance next weekend to figure in the race. We have a reasonable test out there, but it’s like anything. I don’t think you can count anything for granted. I think you have to go in there and try to do your best every day and see what happens.”

Rahal said that even with this resurgence after making the internal changes that needed to be made, it’s not like he’s not struggling with them either.

“Well, making changes is difficult because it’s obviously affecting people’s lives, and that’s not fun,” he admitted. “When everybody says, oh, it must be great to be a president of the company; yeah, it’s great until the minute you have to let somebody go, and then you feel like crap, whether they deserved it or not.

“Just things weren’t just working. I think that we felt we just had to — you know what they say about the definition — what is it the definition of insanity is keep doing the same thing time and time again and expecting a different result. I just felt that we were at that point.

“We needed to give some people some opportunities that they maybe had been wanting for a while and hadn’t been given that opportunity. I think that contributed to this turnaround of sorts.

“Just different atmosphere. You know, again, it’s no fun making those kind of decisions. I mean, it’s no fun at all, but we have to. We’re a company. We represent great companies. We have great people within our team, and we have an obligation to those groups, to the people within our team, and to our sponsors. So you have to do what you have to do.”

While RLL is hopeful of going on another second half of the season surge, Rahal won’t admit that they’re out of the woods just yet.

“I don’t think we’re out of the woods. If you look at earlier in the year, we were not too bad in St. Pete. Graham finished 6th I think it was,” he said.

“Now, maybe it might have been some attrition ahead of him to get to 6th, but nevertheless, P6, so okay. Long Beach, we were average, at best. Barber, we were not too bad. Indy Grand Prix, pole sitter, so not too bad.

“Now, we didn’t win. We ended up 4th because to some degree I think we didn’t know. Here we are in the front role on pole, and I kind of think our guys — we haven’t been there very often, so I’m not sure we thought we knew what to do when you are up there.

“Yeah. So on road courses, not too bad. Although, as I say, Detroit really — that bothered me more than Indy because we should have been — I mean, we won Detroit several years ago, the two races. We won that race. Then to go back there and be so out of it, that just really bothered me.

“So, anyway, you have to make changes that you think are right, and thankfully we’ve had some good results since then, but we’ve got to keep doing what we’re doing. You just can’t rest on our laurels. We have to keep pushing.”

Lundgaard just wanted to get a win before seasons end, now, the sights have to be set on multiple wins.

Lundgaard feels like the momentum is there still and that most of these tracks at the end of the schedule are perfect places to finish even further up than they did a year ago.

“Honestly, right now obviously we’re optimistic, leaving Mid-Ohio,” he told me. “I think last year the best car qualified 13th, which was just not transferring from the first qualifying group. This year we had two cars in the Fast Six and one on the Front Row and me in 5th, and we had Jack up in 11th as well.

“Just looking at that specific race from last year to this year, we moved a lot, and we really struggled at Mid-Ohio last year. Now we’re coming into a track where we didn’t necessarily struggle as much, but we built a good foundation for Nashville at Toronto last year, and we were very competitive at Nashville.

“So coming in here, I do think, just looking at that, that it is sort of a turning point, at least I hope so. We want to continue building on what we’re building on now and basically don’t really leave those performances.”

RLL was able to pick up test days recently in Sebring and at Iowa too. It was the Sebring test a year ago for which propelled them forward. Does the Iowa one this year do the same?

In 2022, in the same street races preceding Toronto, RLL finished 7-11-13 in St. Pete, 7-15-18 in Long Beach and 14-15-26 in Belle Isle. They went to work at Sebring in the middle of the summer to help them learn for Toronto and Nashville.

It paid off.

RLL went 4-8-19 in Toronto and 8-10-23 in Nashville.

Rahal went on a nice run to end the season last year with 5 top 10’s over the final 8 races including a pair of top five results. He had 4 top 10’s in the previous 9 with a best finish of 7th in that span.

Lundgaard also had 5 top 10 finishes in the same final 8 races including a pair of top five finishes too but one of those was a runner-up result on the Indy road course. That’s the same place he just earned a pole at a couple of months ago and remember, we go back next month. He had 2 top 10 finishes in the first 9 races.

3 of the final 4 races this season are on natural road courses which are their strengths. If they’re stronger on these tracks this year compared to last and can get momentum rolling further and further, watch out.

This could be a sleeper team to watch the rest of the way.

“Luckily, we have another Indy GP later this year, in August, and we’ve been competitive there. I had my first podium, had my first pole there, so I might as well get my first win at the speedway,” Lundgaard said on Wednesday. “I really do think that we have that opportunity at that race. We just need to nail it during that weekend.

“Again, there might be other opportunities. We know we’ll be strong at the two road courses at the end of the year, and I do think we’ll be strong at Nashville as well. We just need to figure Iowa and St. Louis out, and I think we can at least finish around sixth or seventh in the championship if we really do things well.

“I’m definitely hoping for a podium, definitely hoping for a win. We’ve come close a couple of times this year. So I’m definitely hoping we get to that.”

Lundgaard feels the comfort in the series now too.

“I’d say I was pretty much comfortable as soon as I basically — I mean, last year we saw certain tracks where it took me a while to just figure stuff out, but I would say this year we’ve been fast in pretty much all Practice 1 sessions,” he noted to me.

“To me that just indicates I’ve been to all these tracks now. I’m comfortable in the team. I’m comfortable in the series. I’m comfortable in the car. I didn’t really need to go out early in the session just to run laps. We’re actually going out straight away with our run plan and not having to deal with all the trying to figure stuff out.

“I guess to really answer your question, I’m very comfortable in the car. I know exactly what I need, exactly what I want, and that’s where the three drivers come in, where it’s tougher for a team to fix and get a car that fits three different driving styles.”