Paul Menard benefits from Joey Logano’s misfortune, wins Nationwide race at Michigan

By Jun 14, 2014, 4:13 PM EDT
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Sprint Cup regular Paul Menard earned his second career Nationwide Series victory (and first since 2006), capturing Saturday’s Ollie’s Bargain Outlet 250 at Michigan International.

“Man, it’s good to be back to victory lane,” Menard told ESPN after the race. “Win No. 2 and I think we finished second or third a ton the last couple years, so this feels good.”

Menard led just 18 of the event’s 125 laps, but the big story of his win was being in the right place at the right time.

With five laps to go, race-leader Joey Logano was forced to pit after suffering a flat right rear tire, costing him the win and allowing Menard to assume the lead, holding on for the checkered flag.

“I ran over something at some point, it pretty much sucks,” said Logano, who finished 16th. “We had a real good Ford the whole race. … I hate giving them away like that, you know. To look for the silver lining, we had a fast race car and we should have won the race. You win some this way, and you lose some this way, and today we lost one that way.

“That’s racing for you. Sometimes you’re the bug, sometimes you’re the windshield.”

Menard, who has one career Sprint Cup win (2011 Indianapolis), could empathize with Logano’s frustration, as he has been in that spot a few times himself.

“I was trying to run him down, we were catching up just a little bit, but I wasn’t going to get him,” Menard said of Logano. “I thought that the best car was going to finish second again. We had this happen to us a couple of times last year. … The best car won today. … I hate to wish bad luck on Joey, but we’ll take it.”

Sam Hornish Jr. finished second, followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. (making his final appearance on the Nationwide circuit this season), pole-sitter Kyle Busch and Brian Scott in fifth.

Sixth through 10th were Chase Elliott, Regan Smith, Kyle Larson, Ty Dillon and Chris Buescher.

With less than 25 laps, Elliott Sadler was running second when a large piece of debris became wedged in the front end of his Toyota. Sadler tried to get behind Earnhardt to hopefully suck the debris off the grill, but it didn’t work.

As a result, Sadler was forced to pit to remove the debris, which was causing his motor to be on the verge of overheating, and went from second-place to 23rd upon exiting pit road, albeit still on the lead lap.

The only significant wreck in the race occurred on Lap 80 when Trevor Bayne and Dylan Kwasniewski got together. It appeared Kwasniewski’s car wiggled and then slid up into Bayne, putting both of their cars into the wall.

Kwasniewski, who turned 19 two weeks ago, continues to struggle in his rookie season on the Nationwide series circuit. He’s managed just one top-10 finish in 13 starts, and Saturday is now his third DNF in 2014.

Regan Smith continued to hold on to his lead in the season standings, increasing his edge to 14 points over second-ranked Elliott Sadler (unofficial points standings are listed below Saturday’s race finishing order).

The series moves to Road America in Wisconsin next Saturday, followed by Kentucky Speedway on June 27, Daytona on July 4, New Hampshire on July 12 and Chicagoland on July 19.

 

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Here’s the finishing order for Saturday’s Ollie’s Bargain Outlet 250 at Michigan International Speedway:

1 Paul Menard

2 Sam Hornish Jr.

3 Dale Earnhardt Jr.

4 Kyle Busch

5 Brian Scott

6 Chase Elliott

7 Regan Smith

8 Kyle Larson

9 Ty Dillon

10 Chris Buescher

 

11 Ryan Reed

12 Ross Chastain

13 Ryan Sieg

14 Landon Cassill

15 James Buescher

16 Joey Logano

17 Elliott Sadler

18 Mike Bliss

19 Dakoda Armstrong

20 Jeremy Clements

 

21 JJ Yeley

22 Brendan Gaughan

23 Jeff Green

24 Blake Koch

25 Jeffrey Earnhardt

26 Josh Wise

27 Joey Gase

28 Mike Harmon

29 Ryan Ellis

30 Trevor Bayne

 

31 Dylan Kwasniewski

32 Harrison Rhodes

33 Jamie Dick

34 Carl Long

35 Derrike Cope

36 Tanner Berryhill

37 Matt Carter

38 Tommy Joe Martins

39 Kevin Lepage

40 Tim Schendel

 

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Unofficial Nationwide Series points standings after Saturday’s Ollie’s Bargain Outlet 250 at Michigan International Speedway:

1 Regan Smith

2 Elliott Sadler -14

3 Chase Elliott -20

4 Ty Dillon -35

5 Trevor Bayne -50

6 Brian Scott -55

7 Brendan Gaughan -122

8 Chris Buescher -123

9 James Buescher -124

10 Ryan Reed -152

 

11 Landon Cassill -153

12 Dylan Kwasniewski -169

13 Dakoda Armstrong -171

14 Mike Bliss -175

15 Jeremy Clements -225

16 Jeffrey Earnhardt -240

17 JJ Yeley -249

18 Joey Gase -264

19 Ryan Sieg -280

20 Eric McClure -282

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Will Power says IndyCar field toughest in world: ‘F1’s a joke as far as competition’

By Jun 4, 2023, 1:46 PM EDT
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DETROIT – With the 2023 Formula One season turning into a Red Bull runaway, Will Power believes the NTT IndyCar Series deserves respect as the world’s most difficult single-seater racing series.

“It’s so tough, an amazing field, the toughest field in the world, and people need to know it, especially compared to Formula One,” the defending IndyCar champion told NBC Sports during a media luncheon a few days ahead of Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. “Formula One’s a joke as far as competition, but not as far as drivers. They have amazing drivers. And I feel sorry for them that they don’t get to experience the satisfaction we do with our racing because that is the top level of open-wheel motorsport.

“I think Formula One would be so much better if they had a formula like IndyCar. I love the technology and the manufacturer side of it. I think that’s awesome. But from a spectator watching, man, how cool would it be if everyone had a Red Bull (car)?”

INDYCAR IN DETROIT: Entry list, schedule, TV info for this weekend

It probably would look a lot different than this season, which has been dominated by two-time defending F1 champion Max Verstappen.

The Dutchman won Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix from the pole position by 24 seconds over seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton. It’s the fifth victory in seven races for Verstappen, whose 40 career wins are one shy of tying late three-time champion Aryton Senna.

Along with being a virtual lock to tie Senna’s mark for titles, Verstappen is poised to break his own record for single-season victories (15) that he set last year.

“You simply know Max is going to win every race if something doesn’t go wrong,” Power said. “Imagine being a guy coming out as a rookie, and you probably could win a race. It would be really cool to see. But you know that would never happen with the politics over there.”

Verstappen’s F1 dominance has been a stark contrast to IndyCar, where Josef Newgarden just became the first repeat winner through six races this season with his Indy 500 victory.

Team Penske (with Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin), Chip Ganassi Racing (with Palou and Marcus Ericsson) and Andretti Autosport (with Kyle Kirkwood) each have visited victory lane in 2023. Arrow McLaren (which has past winners Pato O’Ward, Alexander Rossi and Felix Rosenqvist) is certain to join them at some point.

Meanwhile, Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez (two wins) have won every F1 race this season with the two Red Bull cars combining to lead more than 95% of the laps.

The primary differences are in the rulesets for each series.

While F1 teams virtually have complete autonomy to build their high-tech cars from scratch, IndyCar has what is known as a spec series in which the cars have a large degree of standardization.

IndyCar teams all use the Dallara DW12 chassis, which is in its 12th season. The development of the car largely has been maximized, helping put a greater emphasis on driver skill as a differentiator (as well as other human resources such as whip-smart strategists and engineers).

Alex Palou, who will start from the pole position at Detroit, harbors F1 aspirations as a McLaren test driver, but the Spaniard prefers IndyCar for competitiveness because talent can be such a determinant in results.

“Racing-wise, that’s the best you can get,” Palou said a few days before winning the pole for the 107th Indy 500 last month. “That’s pure racing, having chances to win each weekend.”

Of course, F1 is the world’s most popular series, and the 2021 IndyCar champion believes its appeal doesn’t necessarily stem from being competitive.

Though the ’21 championship battle between Hamilton and Verstappen was epic, F1 has grown its audience in recent years with the help of the “Drive To Survive” docuseries on Netflix that has showcased their stars’ personalities along with the cutthroat decisions of its team principals (IndyCar started its own docuseries this year).

“I don’t think the beauty of F1 is the race itself,” Palou said. “I’d say the beauty is more the development that they have and everything around the races, and that they go different places. But when we talk about pure spectacle, you cannot get better than (IndyCar).

“You can feel it as a driver here when you first come and jump in a car. When I was in Dale Coyne (Racing), we got a podium my rookie year. It wasn’t the best team, but we were able to achieve one of the best cars at Road America (where he finished third in 2020). It’s not that I was driving a slow car. I was driving a really fast car. I think we can see that across all the teams and the drivers.”

Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, who will start second at Detroit, is in his third season of IndyCar after winning three championships in Supercars.

The New Zealander said recently that IndyCar has been “the most enjoyment I’ve ever had in my career. I had a lot of fun in Supercars, but there were still things like different uprights, engines, all that stuff. (IndyCar) is spec. Really the only things you can change are dampers and the engine differences between Honda and Chevy.

“I have a blast,” McLaughlin said. “Trying to extract pace and winning in this series is better than I’ve ever felt ever. I’m surprised by how satisfied it feels to win an IndyCar race. It’s better than how it ever has felt in my career. I’ve always liked winning, but it’s so satisfying to win here. That’s why it’s so cool. There are no bad drivers. You have to have a perfect day.”

Qualifying might be the best example of the series’ competitiveness tightness. The spread for the Fast Six final round of qualifying on Detroit’s new nine-turn, 1.645-mile downtown layout was nearly eight 10ths of a second – which qualifies as an eternity these days.

Last month, the GMR Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course produced a spread of 0.2971 seconds from first to sixth – the fourth-closest Fast Six in IndyCar history since the format was adopted in 2008. Three of the seven closest Fast Six fields have happened this season (with the Grand Prix of Long Beach ranking sixth and the Alabama Grand Prix in seventh).

While the technical ingenuity and innovation might be limited when compared to F1, there’s no arguing that more IndyCar drivers and teams have a chance to win.

“The parity’s great, and no one has an advantage, basically,” Power said. “The two engine manufacturers (Honda and Chevrolet) are always flipping back and forth as they develop, but we’re talking like tenths of a second over a lap. There’s not a bad driver in the field, and there are 20 people all capable of being in the Fast Six every week. Maybe more. It’s incredibly competitive. There isn’t a more competitive series in the world. I’m sure of that.

“If you want the ultimate driver’s series, this is it I’m from a big team that would benefit massively from opening the rules up, but I don’t think (IndyCar officials) should. I think this should always be about the team and driver getting the most out of a piece of equipment that everyone has a chance to do so. That’s the ultimate driver series. Who wants to win a championship when you’re just given the best car? It’s just ridiculous.”

Power believes the talented Verstappen still would be the F1 champion if the equipment were spec, but he also thinks there would be more challengers.

“There’s got to be a bunch of those guys that must just be frustrated,” Power said. “Think about Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Lando Norris, (Fernando) Alonso. Those are some great drivers that don’t get a chance to even win. They’re just extracting the most out of the piece of equipment they have.

“All I can say is if everyone had a Red Bull car, there’s no way that Max would win every race. There are so many guys who would be winning races. It’d just be similar to (IndyCar) and different every week, which it should be that way for the top level of the sport.”