(Photo: James Black/INDYCAR)
By Aaron Bearden
The Indianapolis 500 is the crown jewel event of the NTT IndyCar Series season.
With 33 competitors filling the field on race day, it’s also among the newsiest.
There are more stories in any given Month of May than one person could hope to track, and this year’s August shift was no different. But there were plenty of tales and notes that should be remembered from the 104th edition of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
Here are a few remaining things to note before IndyCar moves ahead to the upcoming doubleheader at World Wide Technology Raceway.
The Andretti Curse Remains in August
When he claimed a surprise pole for the Indy 500 on the opening weekend of the new-look Greatest Spectacle in Racing, Marco Andretti jokingly quipped that the Andretti Curse didn’t apply to August.
But from the moment the green flag waved on Sunday, the so-called curse seemed to be as strong as ever.
Andretti lost the lead on the opening corner of the race and quickly became an afterthought, falling outside of the top-10 by race’s end and finishing a quiet 13th.
It was a disappointing ending to a promising month, coming hours after Marco was led by his grandfather Mario and father Michael during the pace laps.
“We had high hopes coming into the race today after being fast all month,” Andretti said of the run. “But we didn’t have it today. We didn’t have the pickup we needed on the restarts. That left us a sitting duck, and we weren’t able to gain ground on pit stops to make up for anything. Everything combined left us 13th.”
No member of the Andretti family has been able to drink the milk in victory lane at Indianapolis since Mario’s lone win in 1969, a streak of 51 years and counting. Marco came as close as any among the group in 2006, when he narrowly lost out to Sam Hornish Jr. in a last lap battle to the checkered flag.
He’s yet to finish to higher than third in the 14 years since that heartbreaker. Despite the promise shown for much of August, that will still ring true heading into 2021.
James Davison’s fiery early exit
No contender in Sunday’s race had as unique of a Month of August as Australia’s James Davison.
Entering the 500 as part of a last-ditch effort fueled by Dale Coyne Racing, Indy-only runner Belardi Auto Racing and Byrd Racing, along with newcomers and NASCAR regulars Rick Ware Racing, Davison returned to Indianapolis Motor Speedway amid a unique journeyman-like year in the American racing world.
Davison had already ran in the Chili Bowl Nationals back in January and added a handful of NASCAR Cup Series starts with RWR along the way. He flew down to Daytona International Speedway after his qualifying effort to contest Sunday’s Cup race on the circuit’s road course, then returning to Indianapolis the following week for his sixth run in the 500-mile race.
Unfortunately for Davison, that run would prove to be short-lived. His right-front wheel went ablaze after just four laps, burning brightly and forcing the event’s first yellow flag as safety officials rushed to the car.
The end result was a 33rd-place result and an empty feeling given the effort that went into preparations.
“Well, that’s obviously heartbreaking to go out of the Indy 500 in the first handful of laps with a mechanical issue,” Davison said. “I’ve got to thank my team for all their hard work throughout the event. Our car felt good and we had gotten by (Fernando) Alonso, and I was pretty excited for the race ahead.
“Unfortunately, it just wasn’t meant to be, but hopefully we will be back next year with the Jacob Construction car running a bit stronger.”
RACER reported on Tuesday that a pinched or kinked brake line was the likely cause of the fire, causing clamping force from the brakes and created flame through friction.
A hand on the Astor Cup
In the immediate aftermath of the Indy 500, runner-up Scott Dixon was understandably frustrated. After leading 111 laps and dominating the race, he’d fallen just short of a second win in the race after being forced to cruise behind winner Takuma Sato under caution for the final four laps.
“This is a hard one to swallow,” Dixon admitted. “On fuel mileage, I really can’t see how (Takuma) Sato was going to make it. We pitted a lap later, and the numbers they had to get, it was going to be very difficult.
“I thought they were going to throw a red flag, which would have been interesting for the last four or five laps. Huge congrats to Sato. He drove his pants off today.”
The result was devastating. But in the grand scheme of things, Dixon’s finish makes it increasingly likely that he’ll partake in another celebration entirely later this year.
Dixon entered Indianapolis as the championship favorite after a dominant stretch to open the season, where he won the first three races. The double points nature of the Indy 500 made it an opportunity for other contenders to close ground, but instead Dixon scorned 91 points to pull a full 84 points clear of second-place Josef Newgarden.
Pato O’Ward sits and additional 33 points back in third, with Graham Rahal and Simon Pagenaud rounding out the top-five.
With just five races remaining in the 2020 season as scheduled, it’s going to be difficult for any among the frontrunners to chase down Dixon. It’ll be a challenge even if the potential re-addition of Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course comes to fruition.
Should Dixon hold on to claim the Astor Cup at season’s end, it would be his sixth title – placing him just one behind A.J. Foyt’s record of seven in Indy car competition.
Helio’s Quiet Ride
In the midst of his final season as a sports car driver for Acura Team Penske, Helio Castroneves has voiced eagerness to return to full-time NTT IndyCar Series competition in 2021.
That made his run in Indianapolis a chance for him to show that he still had pace and could pull off passes.
He did just that, but never made it close to the front of the field.
Castroneves was one of many drivers hampered by Chevrolet’s perceived lack of pace at Indy this year, qualifying 28th and having to rally through the field. A few bold moves on restarts and a consistent drive elevated him to 11th, but the 45-year-old couldn’t quite crack the top-10 by race’s end.
“I miss this thing so much,” he said. “I know I didn’t finish in the top 10. One spot behind, but let me tell you, what a great group of guys. They did a phenomenal job today. The No. 3 Pennzoil Chevrolet was not the strongest car out there, but we fought from 28th all the way up to 11th , and we did everything we could.”
With his Indy trip complete, Castroneves will return to IMSA for an upcoming trip to Road Atlanta. His search for a 2021 ride continues. Should it bear fruit, Castroneves may have made his final Indy 500 start for Team Penske on Sunday.
If that’s the case, the pairing’s tenure will have ended with an impressive collection of results over two decades – three wins, seven podiums, four poles and 305 laps led over 20 races.
Pato leads difficult rookie outing
Pato O’Ward’s strong 2020 season continued with a quietly successful outing in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, leading all race rookies and Arrow McLaren SP with a sixth-place effort.
The Mexican star ran within sight of the leaders for much of the final 100 laps, but didn’t have the pace he needed to chase down the top-five in the final run to the finish.
“Toward the end, we just didn’t have enough to get those in front of us,” he said. “I think we juiced out the car and got everything out of it. We were right behind Josef (Newgarden) in fifth for Chevrolet, so I think it was a good job for my first-ever Indy 500.
“Obviously, here the only thing that matters is winning. I’m excited to come back next year and try and get that win, as this place is pretty special. For now, just collecting and move onto Gateway.”
While he didn’t get a chance at his first IndyCar victory, O’Ward did earn some measure of redemption and continue his impressive first full season along the way.
Last year O’Ward failed to qualify for the 500, becoming the first Indy Lights scholarship winner to get knocked out on Bump Day. That effectively ended his IndyCar tenure at the time, with the then-Red Bull prospect heading overseas to compete in Super Formula before returning to Indy this year with Arrow McLaren SP.
That return has proven worthwhile thus far. O’Ward has finished no worse than 12th in seven races, with a best finish of second after leading 43 of 55 laps at Road America. He sits third in the points, trailing only five-time champion Dixon and the defending title winner, Newgarden.
The rest of the rookie class showed similar progress over the Month of August, but failed to capitalize on their potential.
Rinus VeeKay had an incident on pit road and finished 20th after leading Chevrolet’s qualifying effort in fourth. Alex Palou and Dalton Kellett each crashed on their own, and Oliver Askew spun into the inside wall off of Turn 4 after reacting to a spin from Conor Daly ahead of him.
Palou finished 28th, with Askew and Kellett following in 30th and 31st.
Final Notes
- Takuma Sato’s win was the second for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing as an organization. The first came with Buddy Rice in 2004, when he prevailed from pole in a rain-shortened race. Sato nearly scored the team’s second triumph in 2012 when he crashed battling Dario Franchitti, but had to wait eight more years for the chance to deliver them to victory lane.
- James Hinchcliffe’s up-and-down career at Indianapolis has seen him nearly killed in a practice crash, on pole for the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 and on both the receiving and giving end of Bump Day heartbreak. On Sunday it gave him quiet success, with the Canadian tallying his third top-10 in the Indy 500 with a seventh-place effort that led Andretti Autosport. “It’s funny: You see, ‘Start seventh, finish sixth,’ and it sounds like a basic day, but it really wasn’t that for us,” he said. “We had a little problem on our second pit stop, couldn’t get the car in gear and went all the way to back of the lead lap. From there, it was just kind of damage control. That was before halfway, and I got on the radio, ‘Hey, look it’s a long race, and a lot can happen.’ Luckily, on that last restart, we just got a monster restart and picked off a couple cars.”
- Defending winner Simon Pagenaud was never a factor on Sunday, getting early damage in a run-in with 2014 victor Ryan Hunter-Reay and coming home in 22nd. “We were just on the outside of Ryan Hunter-Reay and he just hit us in the front wing like we weren’t there.,” he said. “So, we had to pit for a new front wing, and it went downhill from there. At the end of the race, we were running, I think, is the fastest laps of the race. The car was really, really good and it would have been good for the last shootout, but it wasn’t our year.”
- Sage Karam showed promise in the early stages of the race, rising from the back row to inside of the top-20 in the opening 50 laps. But a stop-and-go penalty on the ensuing round of pit stops for overshooting his stall and stopping in the wrong pit box derailed his day. “I don’t know if the tires were worn or the brakes locked, but I slid by our pit box,” he said. “Then I had to get in reverse and we lost two laps. I got our one lap back and almost the other lap too. And the No.10 car stayed out and it prevented us from getting a wave-around on the next yellow flag. At the end of the race, the WIX Filters Chevy was better, but I didn’t want to ruin other guys’ races and I moved out of their way. We ran out of time trying to get the lap back, because the car could run with guys on the lead lap.”
- Tony Kanaan intends to be back next year due to this season’s Indy 500 running without fans. But should circumstances prevent it, Kanaan will leave Indianapolis on a disappointing note after a 19th-place run that he felt could have been more. “I don’t know what to say.,” he said. “We had a solid car, made a lot of positions on track and also in the pits. We went from 23rd all the way to eighth, I believe, but at the end I had to match a fuel number to make it to the checkered without a splash, and in order to do that I had to let a lot of cars go. I truly believe that we had a top-10 car. We ran up there most of the race, and it’s just disappointing that we had to settle for 19th.”
- Honda’s strength was a prevailing storyline throughout the month, and it transitioned well into the race itself. Honda-powered cars swept the top-four positions and claimed eight of the top-10 spots at race’s end. Josef Newgarden tried to lead Chevrolet into contention and ran third when final stops began, but fell back to fifth without the pace needed to compete in the closing laps.
- With his victory, Takuma Sato became the 20th driver to record multiple Indianapolis 500 victories. He was the fourth driver to accomplish the feat in the past decade, joining three-time winner Dario Franchitti (2007, 2010, 2012) and two-time champs Dan Wheldon (2005, 2011) and Juan Pablo Montoya (2000, 2015).
- As you’ve probably seen in various debates and think pieces over the days since the accident, Sunday’s Indy 500 ended under caution. It was the first edition of the event to do so since Tony Kanaan’s emotional breakthrough in the 2013 race, which was slowed by a crash shortly after a restart with three laps remaining.
