(Photo: Joe Skibinski/INDYCAR)
By Aaron Bearden

Post-race review and analysis from the NTT IndyCar Series race at Circuit of the Americas.

*Writer not present at the track this week. Observations are from afar.

Who Won?

Colton Herta. The rookie ran a clean race and shocked the field to secure his first win in just his third series start.

Who Else Made the Podium?

Josef Newgarden and Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Full Race Results

Top Stories

History

The NTT IndyCar Series field was given a sampling of what 18-year-old Colton Herta could do at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) when he dominated February’s preseason testing at the track.

Little did they know that was just a taste of what was to come.

Herta put together one of the best rookie drives in recent history in Sunday’s inaugural INDYCAR Classic at COTA, qualifying fourth and rising as high as second in the early stages of the race.

With 20 to go the young star seemed poised to deliver a pleasant podium, but a decision from the Harding Steinbrenner Racing crew to pit Herta on Lap 44 — before leaders Will Power and Alexander Rossi — paid off in a huge way when an opportune caution flew moments later.

Power, Rossi and the rest of the drivers that stayed out were forced to pit under the yellow. That allowed Herta to cycle through to the race lead, and he held it through the ensuing restart and final 15 laps to secure his first-career IndyCar victory.

The triumph came just six days before his 19th birthday. Making him the youngest winner in series history. Herta’s reaction matched the shocking nature of the moment – happiness excitement mixed with absolute surprise.

“Just to be up with the names of people that have won (a) race, I’m going to live and die an Indy car winner, which is spectacular in itself,” Herta said. “Yeah, it’s a great record at a young age. To be standing up here kind of feels surreal.

“We were not expecting (to win). I think we were going to get a podium (top-three finish) – I think we had the pace for that – but holy crap, man! … It’s spectacular!”

The victory placed Herta on the same list of IndyCar winners occupied by his father – Bryan Herta, who had four victories in a 12-year career. It gave Harding Steinbrenner Racing its first IndyCar victory as a team, securing a shoutout from the New York Yankees in the process. Team co-owner George M. Steinbrenner IV is the son of Yankees part-owner Henry George “Hank” Steinbrenner IV.

“He did a phenomenal job,” Steinbrenner said. “Colton hit all his marks, he did everything right, the crew did everything they needed to do to keep us out in front of (Newgarden’s) car the whole time. Everything went pretty much perfectly.

“I really can’t believe we’re sitting here. I’m shaking and it’s a dream come true.”

Herta’s triumph also came after more preparation than might first meet the eye. The rookie has endured a similar path to IndyCar as 2017 champion and Sunday runner-up Josef Newgarden, racing in Europe for two seasons before coming back to America to compete in Indy Lights.

The young star won a combined six races in two Indy Lights seasons from 2017-18, showcasing his ability and honing his craft on the top rung of the Road to Indy ladder system. Three races into his IndyCar career, Herta has a historic victory after a strong race that showed those Road to Indy results were no fluke.

He’ll forever be an IndyCar winner. Now all eyes will be on the phenom to see what he can accomplish next.

Costly yellow

The yellow that deliver Herta an unexpected victory doomed the races of the two drivers that seemed poised to fight for the win just moments earlier.

Will Power entered Sunday with a chance at a $100,000 bonus offered by the track for winning from the pole. With the race winding down, Power was in position to attempt to do just that – defending against a charging Alexander Rossi for the race lead with less than 20 laps remaining.

The pair were more than eight seconds clear of third-place Herta before the final round of stops began. Only an untimely caution, mechanical failure or a pit road mistake could knock them out of contention.

Then the worst-case scenario happened. James Hinchcliffe and Felix Rosenqvist made contact, Rosenqvist spun into the wall at pit entrance and a full-course yellow flew.

Power and Rossi were two of many forced to surrender track position and pit on the ensuing yellow – victim to IndyCar’s policies for pitting under yellow.

A frustrated Power voiced his frustrations with the rules after the race.

“I hate the way the series does this pits closed BS,” Power told NBC afterward. “You can be the best guy out there, lead all day and a yellow can fall and someone can just fall into a lottery. It’s the only series in the world that does it this way, and it needs to change.”

The bad moment turned much worse for Power moments later. His No. 12 Chevrolet stalled in his pit box after the stop with mechanical issues, and his car wouldn’t fire even after an old-school push start from his Team Penske pit crew. The Australian was forced to climb out of the wounded machine 14 laps from the checkered flag, finishing in last despite leading a race-high 45 laps.

“I’m massively disappointed, man; like you lead all those laps and worked so hard all weekend to put yourself into position,” he said. “If the yellow (flag) didn’t get us, the driveshaft did.

“Another hole at the beginning of the season. But the guys have done a great job. We’re quick every weekend.

“Oh, I just want to have a good run, man. I just want to have a normal run in a season without this sort of crap.”

Rossi continued on to the finish, but found himself mired well outside of the top 10 on the ensuing restart. The Californian rallied in the closing laps to salvage a ninth-place finish.

He shared in Power’s disappointment after the race.

“Will (Power) and I were in a league of our own,” Rossi said. “For the first two-thirds of the race, it was just me and Will – especially in the third stint, we were both fast and were able to gap ourselves from the rest of the field.

“It was going to be a pretty awesome race between the two of us there on new (Firestone) reds, but never got the opportunity with the yellow. From there the day was kind of over. It’s unfortunate we never got a shot to play it out.”

Overshadowed excellence

While Herta was driving off to an unexpected win, the driver originally meant to be his teammate was showcasing talent of his own just a few spots behind.

Patricio O’Ward made his second-career IndyCar start on Sunday at COTA, running with Carlin Racing in a car funded by the scholarship he earned by beating Herta for the 2018 Indy Lights championship.

The car wasn’t decked out with sponsors. It instead carried a livery adorned with the colors and logos of O’Ward’s personal brand, with a Road to Indy decal above the number for good measure.

But what the entry lacked in sponsorship O’Ward made up for in pace and excitement.

After qualifying a respectable eighth, O’Ward spent the majority of Sunday’s 60-lap race inside of the top-10. He and Graham Rahal put on one of the great battles of the entire event in the early stages, testing each other’s will in a duel that O’Ward ultimately prevailed in.

The Mexican’s day ebbed and flowed from there. He rose well inside of the top 10 in various stages of the event, and fell closer to mid-pack at other times. In the end O’Ward landed on the right side of the varying pit strategies to come home in eighth, giving him two top-10s in as many starts.

“I think it was a pretty good race for us,” O’Ward said. “We ended exactly where we started (eighth) and didn’t go backwards, so I’d say that was a successful day. We ran a clean race and we were right on pace, but after that yellow came out we needed one more lap under yellow to be able to push as hard as we wanted to.”

The 19-year-old was happy with his Carlin machine’s pace, and felt like he could have put together a better run. But he felt a lack of fuel forced him to allow competitors by in the closing laps.

“I was having to save a lot of fuel to make it to the end, so it was just impossible to keep Marco (Andretti) and Takuma (Sato) behind me coming full power,” he said. “I know the No. 31 Carlin Chevrolet had a top-five finish in it today and even though we couldn’t make it happen, it’s nice to know that we have the pace and can be fighting up front with the veteran drivers.”

Other Notes

  • Josef Newgarden put together a quiet second-place run to maintain the points lead heading to Barber Motorsports Park. He was content with the result given his lack of pace. “A second place is big for us,” he said. “We talked about the fact that you need to have podium finishes if you aren’t winning races and this goes a long way to our championship run.”
  • Ryan Hunter-Reay hasn’t pulled into victory lane since Belle Isle last June, but the Floridian has carried consistent pace through the past several races dating back to last year. Hunter-Reay has qualified sixth or better in each of the past 10 races, and finished on the podium in three of his last four starts after Sunday’s third-place run.
  • Graham Rahal reversed a trend of subpar performances in COTA, rolling through an aggressive race to slot in fourth and secure his first top-five since that same COTA race Hunter-Reay won. Rahal carried a 13.1 average finish in the 10 races separating the two top-fives.
  • Jack Harvey and Meyer Shank Racing continue to make small gains as their involvement in the series steadily increases. Harvey secured his second top-10 of 2019 on Sunday, an impressive feat given that he’d finished no better than 12th in nine-career starts preceding the stretch.
  • For a time, Sunday seemed to be a day for the rookies. The quartet of Herta, O’Ward, Rosenqvist and Marcus Ericsson all ran inside of the top 10 for a large portion of the race. The Swiss half of the group ultimately faded, with Rosenqvist suffering the race-altering shunt after contact with Hinchcliffe, and Ericsson being forced to drop to the tail of the field on the ensuing restart for an unsafe pit release.
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Aaron Bearden Alexander Rossi Circuit of the Americas Colton Herta Featured NTT IndyCar Series Patricio O'Ward Will Power