“The unexpected is commonplace.”
Paul Page’s commentary on IndyCar racing to open the 1982 Michigan 500 broadcast on NBC was meant for a time when mechanical trouble or other random happenings more often than not played a hand in who won races.
Nowadays, that statement rings true, but almost as much for off-track reasons as for what takes place between the painted lines of a racing surface.
And if you’re looking for something on that part of the weekend, it’ll be at the end.
On Friday morning (June 7), all seemed normal. Road America had its typical support series action taking place while the NTT IndyCar Series’ drivers had their autograph session. Shortly afterward, the unexpected started happening.
While the Indy NXT championship had its opening practice session, Nolan Siegel‘s session was over after turning seven laps. Unexpected for someone who’s third in the Indy NXT points going into the weekend. What was even more unexpected was hearing that he was going to race for Juncos Hollinger Racing in the No. 78 Chevrolet in place of Agustin Canapino and skip the remaining part of the Indy NXT race weekend.
The team decided it was in Canapino’s best interest to sit the weekend out after what can only be described as a rather chaotic week. Social media discourse surrounding the on-track incident between the Argentinian and Theo Pourchaire reached a boiling point between each fan base, culminating in JHR and Arrow McLaren’s commercial partnership dissolving during the week.
Unexpected? Yeah, you can say that.
As for Siegel, he goes out and turns 18 laps in practice while his teammate Romain Grosjean completes one before crashing heavily in turn 14. The Californian goes just under two seconds slower than session leader Alex Palou, which for some people would be a disappointment.
But Siegel went into the session with no pre-event briefings. No run plans. No session walk-throughs. Hell, he probably didn’t even know everybody’s names until maybe Sunday morning at the earliest. But to go through not only Friday’s sessions but also through qualifying and the race without putting a single wheel wrong while others spun, crashed and stalled was really impressive from the rookie.
Siegel handled the pressure incredibly well. Then again, anybody who saw him at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after his Fast Friday crash could see how well he handled everything during qualifying for the Indianapolis 500, especially after his crash during the Last Chance Qualifier Session.
I’d expect to see more of Siegel if the opportunities present themselves, but who knows how that all will play out.
Moving to Saturday (June 8), a morning rain shower caused some significant schedule changes which affected the rest of the weekend, but it provided one of the more exciting sessions of the weekend as the track dried up during the second round of qualifying.
Everyone left the pits on slicks tires as the dry line became more and more pronounced throughout the session. The more a driver was willing to hang it all out on the line as the session clock counted down, the faster that driver would go. But there was a lot more risk involved with slick tires on a track that was mostly damp.
Josef Newgarden was the unfortunate racer that pushed the envelope just a little bit too far when he crashed at The Kink (turn 11). The two-time Indianapolis 500 winner put his left side tires on the curb that lined the straight before the corner, and water still on that curb pitched the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet into the SAFER Barrier lining the wall on the outside of the circuit.
Road America added that barrier ahead of the 2019 race, and it might have kept Newgarden in the car this weekend. NBC reported before the race that the impact was 95Gs. Given the sound the car made when it hit the barrier, a hit against bare concrete would have been much, much worse for the Tennessee native.
As for the race itself, Will Power proved that he hasn’t lost the speed that he’s displayed throughout his career as he used an overcut strategy to snatch the lead from Newgarden when he exited the pits late in the race.
Power turned the race’s fastest leading lap on lap 43 and had a monster in-lap that was on pace to be even faster than his fastest leader lap.
Going through the micro-sector data, Power’s micro-sectors leading up to the pit commit line on his fastest lap added up to a time of 1:31.3653. On the following lap, his micro-sector time to the same point was 1:31.1588.
Power’s pace on that lap turned out to be the race’s fastest in-lap. Palou was second on that chart, nearly a half second off of Power’s pace when he turned that lap on lap 17.
Power saved up just a little bit of grip in his red-sidewalled, alternate compound tires and put them to tremendous use when it mattered most. That’s how Power eliminated Newgarden’s lead of 2.4391 seconds with a little bit of help when the race leader caught Siegel shortly before his pit stop.
The Australian’s drive to snatch the lead away from his teammate was remarkable. But another driver had an equally remarkable day after bad circumstances at the start of the race dropped him down the order.
It’s time to talk about Colton Herta.
Herta set the second-fastest time in the Firestone Fast Six basically at the same time Newgarden hit the wall, vaulting him to the front row from fourth on the grid. However, Herta’s lap was wasted, as Newgarden hit the rear of the No. 26 Andretti Global Honda after Herta slowed for the first corner collision between Linus Lundqvist and Marcus Armstrong.
Two laps later, Lundqvist hit Herta in turn 3, putting the Californian’s car off into a spin outside the corner. The 2018 Freedom 100 winner was now last until Christian Rasmussen hit Kyffin Simpson, causing Simpson’s car to spin into the wall outside of turn 14.
Herta pitted under the following caution, and then the charge was on from last place, again. Herta didn’t need to save any fuel for the rest of the race, climbing from 21st to 15th during the first full-field pit stop sequence, up to 10th after the second pit stop sequence and then blending out of the pits in sixth place after his last pit stop on lap 48 of 55.
That was an impressive drive. He was in last place of all running cars on two separate occasions in the first 20% of the race and yet still finished just under four seconds behind Kyle Kirkwood in fifth.
Herta was livid when speaking to Frontstretch after the race.
“I think I’ll have to bring a gun and shoot somebody in the head,” he said. “And that’s the only way I can get a penalty [called] in this series. So like, it’s ridiculous. It’s insane to me.”
Much has been made about Herta’s comments after the race, but there shouldn’t be any punishment coming in from IndyCar for his remarks.
Yes, Herta said what he said when he was frustrated. He was upset with how the race ended up despite putting in a comeback drive that was, quite frankly, well executed. However, nearly every memorable motorsports soundbite involves a driver who was, quite frankly, extremely mad.
Hell, A. J. Foyt has three of them by himself:
And Big Tex by no means had a monopoly on the craft.
The only real punishment in that whole sequence? Ward Burton was $5,000 lighter in his wallet after throwing his heat shields at Dale Earnhardt Jr.‘s car at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2002 before saying what he said above.
Point being, Herta shouldn’t be fined or made to do any notable service for what he said. It has been reported that Herta spoke with INDYCAR the day after the race about what was said, but that should really be the end of it. If Jay Frye reminds Herta of Rick Mears‘ rule for his sons Clint and Cole, that should be enough.
“Be angry inside your helmet, then when your helmet comes off, I better not see you angry any more.”
Herta isn’t a violent person. Having covered his racing career since 2018 and after performing numerous post-race interviews with him, I believe it’s safe to say that out of the entire field, Herta’s one of the last drivers that I believe would ever outright go after somebody with the intent to cause physical harm.
Then again, with how upset everybody in IndyCar racing has been lately between teams, drivers, IndyCar itself and most combinations of the three, maybe what the series needs is a good old-fashioned fist fight to get it all out of their systems and then everyone grab some beers after the race and have a laugh about it all.
Just make sure there’s enough Uber or Lyft drivers nearby to bring everybody home.
About the author
Christopher DeHarde has covered IndyCar racing and the Road to Indy for various outlets since 2014. In addition to open wheel racing, DeHarde has also covered IMSA and various short track racing events around Indiana. Originally from New Orleans, DeHarde moved to the Indianapolis area in 2017 to further pursue a career as a motorsports writer.
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