Weekend wrap-up: Was first Chase elimination race an exciting one?

By Sep 29, 2014, 1:00 PM EDT
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One day after NASCAR staged its inaugural elimination race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup at Dover International Speedway, I’m still not sure how to really judge it.

With four drivers set to be knocked out of championship contention, I suppose I was expecting Sunday’s AAA 400 to play out with a certain level of intensity.

Considering that Dover’s “Monster Mile” is essentially a bigger, high-speed version of Bristol Motor Speedway, I was also expecting to see at least some Chasers’ championship hopes end in a multi-car pileup.

Instead, the Challenger Round finale turned out to be a relatively clean affair.

And outside of the late race give-and-take of the final Chase advance position between Kurt Busch and Kasey Kahne, there didn’t seem to be a lot of extra drama with the first of three elimination races in the post-season.

Those who had a solid points cushion going into Dover were able to maintain it. One of those drivers, Jeff Gordon (pictured), didn’t even bother with points and won the race to punch his ticket to the Contender Round.

Of course, the next set of three races has its cut race at Talladega Superspeedway, where pure, dumb luck can often override skill and set-up. As Jimmie Johnson touched on yesterday, woe to the drivers that enter NASCAR’s biggest track needing a win to stay alive in the Chase.

With that in mind, perhaps the intensity will perk up these next two races at Kansas and Charlotte as drivers do whatever it takes to grab a victory and avoid that ‘Dega dilemma.

MORE: Jeff Gordon claims first Dover victory since 2001…The Chasers that survived the bubble…And the Chasers that didn’t…Kevin Harvick tripped up again by flat tire.

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Stewart opens up: On Friday, Tony Stewart gave his first interview since being cleared by a grand jury of criminal charges stemming from his involvement in a fatal sprint car accident last month.

That interview was an exclusive for the Associated Press. This morning, Stewart held a full press conference and detailed what he’s had to go through since playing a role in the crash that killed 20-year-old Kevin Ward Jr.

Ever since the tragedy took place, people from inside and outside the racing world have formed their own opinions and voiced them – sometimes, very loudly – about it.

Some have said Stewart did nothing wrong. Others have said he’s a cold-blooded murderer.

But as the three-time NASCAR champion noted today, it’s worthless to pick sides – especially if you don’t have all the facts.

“Everybody’s entitled to their opinion and we know that,” he said. “But everybody – and I’ve seen this for the last seven weeks now – everybody has made their decision and picked their side off of 100 percent of the information they got. Which is about 10 percent of all the information that’s truly out there.

“We all do it. Our society does it. We do it every day. Whatever we see on the news, we make our decision as people about what we see. But I don’t think any of us, every day about whatever topic is we’re trying to come to a conclusion about, ever get all the facts. You understand why people think the way they do.

“But I think more than not, I don’t think people realize that there’s more information out there than what we all get on a daily basis, about whatever it is.”

In the end, nothing we say will be able to erase the memories of Aug. 9, bring Ward back to this world, and relieve his family and Stewart of their grief.

All we can do is continue to pray for the Ward family in their time of sorrow – and hope that Stewart can somehow, someway find peace.

MORE: Stewart appreciates support as he searches for normalcy…The healing power of racing…Ward’s aunt speaks out.

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Big move in IndyCar: Simon Pagenaud, one of the best pound-for-pound drivers in the Verizon IndyCar Series, has now joined up with Team Penske.

With this decision, Roger Penske now has an incredibly formidable foursome of drivers.

He’s got the series champion, Will Power, coming off the biggest breakthrough of his career. He has a pair of former Indianapolis 500 champions in Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya.

And now, he has Pagenaud, who elevated the smaller Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team to a regular contender for wins in his tenure there. He’s been in the hunt for championships in each of the last two seasons, and now has the elite ride he deserves.

You have to think that Penske, after finally returning to the top of the IndyCar mountain for the first time since 2006, has now taken the advantage over “Big 3” rivals Chip Ganassi Racing and Andretti Autosport for the time being.

Meanwhile, with Pagenaud’s future finally known, the IndyCar silly season can truly begin.

Next up on the list of notable free agents is James Hinchcliffe, who’s raced with Andretti Autosport for the last three seasons.

One wonders if Michael Andretti is now pushing even harder to keep Hinchcliffe in his stable after today’s news – and if SPM is doing the same in order to take “The Mayor” for their side.

MORE: The strong get stronger as Pagenaud joins Penske

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Another title twist in GRC: Red Bull Global Rallycross now has perhaps its most unlikely championship leader of the 2014 season.

The race for the title took yet another twist Saturday in Seattle, as Supercar rookie Joni Wiman’s fourth podium finish of the season and Ken Block’s disastrous final enabled the former to take the points lead from the latter.

Going into the Nov. 5 season finale on the Las Vegas Strip, Wiman holds a 12-point advantage over Block – who had an 18-point lead on Wiman before this weekend.

“It looked a bit bad in the first half of the season, but we worked hard and never gave up in the second half of the season, and that’s been really good,” Wiman said after finishing second to Sverre Isachsen in the Emerald City.

“It’s amazing to lead the championship. I’m happy now, and I want to go. It feels amazing to be here. Of course I want to win a race, but another time. It was an amazing track—when we go out there the adrenaline started to rush, and I think it was the best track of the season. I really enjoyed it.”

With his third consecutive podium in the last eight days (he had a double-podium weekend in Los Angeles), Wiman’s found consistency at the right time. Meanwhile, Block had his run of five consecutive podium finishes snapped at the worst time.

Now he joins fellow ex-points leaders Nelson Piquet Jr. (finished fourth; -28 points behind Wiman) and Scott Speed (finished sixth; -29 points behind Wiman) in the chasing pack behind Wiman, last year’s GRC Lites champion.

It’s a shame we have to wait more than a month for the conclusion to this compelling battle, but something tells me the GRC faithful will be rewarded with a jackpot of a season finale in Vegas.

MORE: Isachsen reigns in Seattle; Wiman takes points lead

Marcus Ericsson says timing of final red flag produced an unfair finish to the Indy 500

By May 28, 2023, 8:30 PM EDT
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INDIANAPOLIS – Marcus Ericsson was beaten at his own game by Josef Newgarden, but that’s not why the runner-up to Josef Newgarden felt the finish of the 107th Indy 500 was unfair.

“I think it wasn’t enough laps to go to do what we did,” Ericsson said after falling 0.0974 seconds short of earning a $420,000 bonus from BorgWarner as the first repeat Indy 500 winner in 21 years. “I don’t think it’s safe to go out of the pits on cold tires for a restart when half the field is sort of still trying to get out on track when we go green.

“I don’t think it’s a fair way to end the race. I don’t think it’s a right way to end the race. So I can’t agree with that.”

IndyCar officials threw an Indy 500-record three red flags to try to ensure a green-flag finish Sunday, and the last came with one lap remaining after a restart wreck caused the fifth and final yellow flag on Lap 196 of 200.

Three laps were run under yellow (with the field dodging the crash involving Ed Carpenter and Benjamin Pederson before the race was stopped. Cars were sent to the pits while the running order was reviewed (resulting in Newgarden being moved from fourth to second).

In an unusual procedure, after the cars were back on track, the white and green flags then were waved simultaneously for a one-lap shootout. Other sanctioning bodies (such as NASCAR) that try to guarantee green-flag finishes usually run at least two laps of green before the checkered flag.

Ericsson believed the race should have ended under yellow.

“It is what it is,” he said. “I just have to deal with it. I think I did everything I could. I did an awesome last restart. I caught Josef by surprise and kept the lead into 1, but it wasn’t enough, so for sure it’s hard to swallow.

“Yeah, I think it was just not enough laps. If they wanted red they should have called red earlier. I think when they kept it going, then I think they should have called it. But I’m sure Josef doesn’t agree with that and thinks that way, but that’s just the way I thought. I thought it was too tight to do the last red.”

Indeed after Team Penske’s record 19th Indy 500 victory, Newgarden, car owner Roger Penske and strategist Tim Cindric saw no issue with how the ending was managed by race control.

As the owner of Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IndyCar, Penske goes to lengths to avoid any involvement with competition and officiating decisions but noted that “we want to see a checkered flag, not a yellow flag.”

“I’m happy they did it to give a good finish,” Newgarden said. “Obviously if I was in Marcus’ situation, I would have said, ‘Yeah, just end it.’ That’s great.

“I’ve also been in a lot of races where you get ahead of somebody like that and the yellow just comes out, and you’re going back to the timing line of Turn 4. And I’m like, what are you talking about? We’ve been sitting here for about 5 seconds where I’m in front of this person.

“There’s so many different ways that this could have played out and you could have said this is fair or that’s fair. I’ve seen it all. At this point I’m just really thankful they did it the way they did. I’m glad I had the car. I don’t really care. I’ve seen a lot of situations where it didn’t go our way. Today went our way, and I’ll take it. I’ll take it all day.”

Said Cindric: “Each restart could have played out a different way, and when you look at the fact that we lost the lead on one of the restarts, it can kind of go either way, and that’s kind of the way this place is now. I think somebody has got to win and somebody doesn’t. We’ve been on the other side of that, too.”

IndyCar officials often remind drivers in meetings that it’ll do everything in its power to ensure a green-flag finish, and that’s become particularly evident at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The red flag first was used to help ensure a green-flag finish at the Brickyard in 2014. Tony Kanaan’s first Indy 500 victory had come in the 2013 that ended with three laps run under caution and much fan outcry.

“The biggest complaint we have every year was we shouldn’t finish a race under the yellow,” Kanaan said Sunday after finishing 16th in the final start of his IndyCar career. “Could have they called (the red flag) earlier? Yes. Could have, should have, would have, but we ended under green, and that’s what the fans kept asking us every time.

“I mean, look at this place. Do we really want to finish under yellow with all those people out there? For me, it was the right call.”

An estimated crowd of more than 300,000 was treated to a similarly memorable finish to last year when Ericsson used a move dubbed “The Dragon” to fend off Pato O’Ward.

After getting a good jump on the restart in his No. 8 Dallara-Honda, Ericsson used the same weaving maneuvers to break the draft of the trailing car.

But Newgarden still picked up enough of a tow to swing around Ericsson and into the lead on the backstretch.

The Team Penske driver began taking weaving countermeasures in his No. 2 Dallara-Chevy.

Coming off Turn 4, he dove below the white line (followed by Ericsson) and pulled just above the attenuator at the beginning of the pit lane wall on his way to the checkered flag.

“Yeah, I was about driving through pit lane,” Newgarden said. “It was legal is all I’m going to say. They were very clear that they are not enforcing that line, and they didn’t enforce it last year.

“I’m coming to the checkered flag, and I’m going to do everything I can to win this race, and I had to be as aggressive as possible, because the tow effect to just the first car was even more difficult than last year. You were just a sitting duck if you were in the lead.”

Ericsson also said a bevy of aerodynamic tweaks (intended to increase passing this year) had an adverse effect on “The Dragon.”

“The cars with the aero spec we had this month was a bit harder to lead,” he said. “I think last year was just a little bit less drag, and it was a little bit easier to be in the lead than today.

“I knew for that last restart it was going to be almost impossible to keep the lead. I did a great job there on the restart of catching him by surprise and getting a jump and not get overtaken into 1, because every restart it felt like P1 was going to P5 on every restart.

“I think I aced that restart, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough.”

Newgarden lobbied for IndyCar to make further changes that would make it harder to catch the leader (and thus help eliminate the weaving that had become “imperative because of this style of racing”).

“I think the cars should be more difficult to drive here,” he said. “It’s a terribly difficult balance for the series to walk because you want to have a good show. You want everybody to be as close together as possible and you want it to be difficult for someone to win this race, and I agree with that.

“But I think it’s not difficult in the right way. We’ve got to find a different formula where we can trim the cars out and they’re easier to follow in the pack. Basically all this downforce that we’ve added has only made it easier and easier for the first two cars, so when you’re the third car you’re still just stuck in that tow line where no one is really going anywhere. We’re all closer, but it’s only the first two that can really do something.

“So we’ve got to change that formula where it’s easier to follow in the pack, but you can also be rewarded if you’re better at driving the car with less downforce. I want to see the drivers that really excel get a better advantage. That’s why they pay us to be in the seat. That’s why they pay the engineers, to find the perfect setups that we can make an advantage. Not so we can win by two laps, but I just think the dynamic of the race, the complexion could look a little differently.”