Welcome to the Texas Firestone 361 (you can’t fool me Eddie…) unfiltered race notes!
—Prerace—
Did you know the official mileage for Texas Motor Speedway is 1.455 miles? The more you know…
Interviews… interviews… interviews…
JPM: every week is a little more aggressive. I’m still waiting for you to make nice with the field, Mr. Montoya
TK riding a water slide. cool?
I have to admit, I’m not a huge fan of prerace… just show me the fast cars please
I *do* enjoy the previous race cuts put to music. Always well done, but could you really expect anything less from IMSP?
It’s gotten to the point where simply seeing and hearing Power on screen irks the hell out of me. Embrace the heel Mr. Power…
Extolling the virtues of Graham’s season. ha
#IndyRivals
#TeamPagenaud
In fairness, they are showing many more race cuts during the interviews today. That is how you engage *me* in the prerace show
Truck rubber. Haven’t heard much about dissimilar rubber types yet this year
Highlights package of Texas carnage and frustration. The old IRL engines REALLY belched the flames at night… those were good races…
One of Dixon’s favorite songs is “Ice Ice Baby” … Wut?
Ed looks ready for redemption
Miller: “Thank god she’s blond or yo would have never asked her out. I know your track record.” Bazinga
The video board looks as big at the hotel
30 minutes in, I’m ready to race
Very good technical breakdown of the intricacies here at Texas. Bumpy apron, Bump in T4, Camber fall off in T2
I can hear the track announcer in the background, he sounds fired up and is doing a great job with the crowd. Michael Young?
National anthem by a sax player. very *very* cool, but not very well done
No comment about the grandstands
Im out for this prerace, I’ll be back for the green
—Race—
Sun is VERY low already
Chick in the 2-seater is a hoot
Good formation
GREEN
3.5 wide. Marco high. clean start
4
YELLOW
Marco done blow’d up… and is on fire… HUUUUGE fire… Marco struts away like a boss
First of the fantasy picks bites the dust
replay of MA on the start; he looks like scheckter
Good interview from Marco
12
GREEN
TK taking no prisoners, pinching Power way down to the line
The race is packed up. 2x2x2x2. I like it. Just enough space
JPM pitted under yellow
good battles all over the track
single file. let’s see how close together they can stay through the remainder of the run
19
Ed looks loose
too much fall off from the tires. I’d still like to see more downforce. Hinch is under 200 already through 1 and 2. unacceptable from indycars at Texas
25
Newgarden’s car looks slick, can’t wait to see it under the lights.
Power disappearing into the distance
35
JPM up to tenth and marching through the field
THE RUSSIAN
Hinch having a hell of an evening already; missed pit entrance on his first time through
45
Haven’t seen the gaps yet. I have no idea how far in front of the field Power is
Lapped up to 17
51
laps clicking away
strung out
still no gap report.
Green flag pit stops.
Fire in the fuel port for Josef Newgarden
10 seconds between P1 and 2
Big lock up for Power heading into the pits
57
“comers and goers”
Gap may be 6 seconds after the stop. Not too bad
Dixon lost a lot of ground on that round of stops. Gap is much closer up front, let’s see if TK can catch him
Now the ticker is pretty constantly showing the gaps. Thank you
Fastest lap of the race… 213… lame…
65
Montoya into a legit top ten position.
TK and Pags split Kimball into T1! wowza
Lapped up to P15
THE RUSSIAN and JPM fighting it out
Montoya is slashing through the field
79
Kanaan has pulled into under 10 seconds. Stalking
200 even for the leader… still unacceptable… never under 200 and ESPECIALLY lap speeds
Hinch back in. terrible night
204…
87
RHR lost nut on RF
early green flag stops
worries of running out of rubber
lapped through 11
92
Power still looks strong; making his way through traffic very well
Slowish stop for Pags
96
No sign of power in the pits
A little red fire out of HCN’s pipes in the pits
99
Power looks like he may be the only guy to be able to run a full fuel stint
Lot’s of love for THE RUSSIAN on the broadcast, nice of them to finally catch up
Wilson’s RF tire changer is wearing a hi-viz vest. Hell yes, thats about the smartest addition to pit lane I have seen in a while. I’m sure it’s only for the night race, but still an easy and smart addition to increase safety
THE RUSSIAN ripping through the field as well. Spirited battle with RHR
114
Gave the Huertas has completed every lap stat. I’m pretty sure he’s already a lap down when they showed the stat. actually he is 2 laps down. Well done NBCSN
Sky is starting to look very beautiful
119
121
YELLOW
Seabass and Wilson into the wall
Montoya SMOKED seabasses detached front wing
bad vibration for Hinch.
If you toe out the RR, you can scrub the marbles off of the car
TK having electric issues. steering wheel change. TK had trouble getting it reattached
Wilson says Seabass blocked him all the way to the apron
Spin into the pits for Munoz, better under yellow than under green into the wall.
135
GREEN
I see JPM in row 2
racing looks good on new tires after a yellow…
RHR engine failure. awful luck
Kind of over hearing about tire degradation tonight
single file. that didn’t take long
144
no one has anything for Power. The chasers need to stay close enough to capitalize on lapped traffic
Dixon running in the 2nd lane through the corner in P3. could be a smart move. may be saving tire to make a run at the end of the stint
155
Through the field
Ed is the only one who is in the same zip code as Power. -0.7 seconds
probably not for dixon… he’s hemorrhaging time, as is JPM. -7 seconds. Having trouble seeing his pitbox
Awesome. You can see the red hot turbo on the rear wing view as well as the blue/purple exhaust tips.
You can really see the blue flames when the drivers shift. nice and dark now
170
Green flag stops
Ed still -0.6 from Power. He may have something for him
Trouble on FR for Hinch
Chevy looks like they produce more flame
174
Sato making life difficult for Ed
Montoya is playing aggressive
PT: heeelio
182
WHOOOOOOAAAAHHH ED TO THE LEAD
Freight trained
Power was held up by Power
one more stop
Will sounds surprisingly calm
leader running 211… better
Carpenter has a healthy lead
lapped though 11
194
Power within a second
Chevy top 5
Honda had a tough qualy session as well
If it stays green, Ed could do this
200
THE RUSSIAN gets the “extra mile” spotlight
Lapped though 7
last stops coming
I would stay out as long as possible and have as fresh of tires as possible for the run to the finish
I hate how they switch to “laps to go” in the tail end of the race. 1) it makes me do math in my head for this 2) it makes the race no more exciting 3) just why?
210
I still cant tell the Aleshin and Briscoe car apart in the long shots
Newgarden’s car is SPARKLY
Ed off pit lane first
sprint to the finish. 35 laps on these tires
213
Power back in. Penalty for pitlane speed violation. DUDE; come on. Melancholy Power engaged for the post race interviews. i can feel it
Ed 10 seconds ahead
218
Power comes out right ahead of Ed, he can use Power to pace himself for the rest of the race
toast
replay of pit violation. same exact mistake at Indy. Too quick entering… shame on you Power
JPM to P2
225
Ed +12.5 to JPM. let’s see if JPM can make a dent before the end
Booth talking through worst case scenarios for Ed
230
Ed +14. Damn
Lapped through 7
Quiet Bell… he can wear on me; talks a bit too much for my taste. I hate how dang agreeable him and PT are
marbles
238
Ed’s car looks like a handful
under 200 in the corners again
Ed come into traffic. Led Power pick through +17
Sato kablamo
241
No way this thing goes back to green. Everyone is laid out on pitroad
243
Montoya saying hello to Huertas
Everyone but Ed and Pags in. they could be screwed… 2 lap shoot out?
244
1 to go. 3 lap shootout
Pags in. Ed is in trouble
Scratch that, JPM, TK and Dixon on stayed out
245
GREEN
Power with a hell of a run through the field.
Ed!
Nice. Tough first 200 laps, but the race really came to us. Power looks exasperated… 4 drive throughs in 5 races. Lots of respect for Ed. This is the best Power has presented himself post race for a long, long time.
It almost seems like sitting out the road courses have focused Ed. He looks geeked. 2 wins for ECR this year. Got to love JPM pushing Power to the white line on the last turn. JPM complaining about Ed jumping the restart, but he was a pretty long way back looking for a jump of his own. Can’t feel too bad for him.
Dixon and Pags interview. Very yes. surprised TK didn’t go for tires
Aleshin says he loves the ovals, but is dizzy when he gets out of the car I LOVE THE CRAZY RUSSIAN!!
Not a super exiting first 2/3rd of the race but not too bad of a finish. Won’t go down as a historic oval race, but still not too bad at all.
Thanks for reading, and unlike my empty promises from a week ago, there actually should be a full review of the weekends action. And as always, Thank You for reading!
Eric Hall
