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It’s always bittersweet to wrap up Memorial Day weekend. When the checkered flag has fallen on the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500 and the NASCAR Cup Series’ Coca-Cola 600, it’s hard to be happy it happened rather than being sad that it’s over. Even when rain delays one event and cuts another short, the significance of this weekend to the racing community is hard to ignore.
On a reflective episode of The Pit Straight, Alex Gintz and Tom Blackburn, both fresh out of the Indianapolis 500 weekend, break down the biggest stories from a hectic running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. Josef Newgarden‘s last lap pass for his second consecutive Indy 500 win, Pato O’Ward‘s heartbreaking run to second from being less than a lap away from the victory, Kyle Larson‘s march to Rookie of the Year honors in Indianapolis and many, many more storylines make for an episode which very well could have been a series of its own.
Across the pond, Charles Leclerc finally won his home Grand Prix in Monaco. And although a home win is always special, one cannot ignore that a few moments throughout Leclerc’s career, as well as that of another driver from years gone by, makes this moment particularly important in the history of the sport.
The Pit Straight is Frontstretch‘s open-wheel racing podcast, available during the racing season weekly on Tuesdays on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and right here on the web.
Alex is the IndyCar Content Director at Frontstretch, having initially joined as an entry-level contributor in 2021. He also serves as Managing Director of The Asia Cable, a publication focused on the international affairs and politics of the Asia-Pacific region which he co-founded in 2023. With previous experience in China, Japan and Poland, Alex is particularly passionate about the international realm of motorsport and the politics that make the wheels turn - literally - behind the scenes.