So the old saying of “it doesn’t matter where you start” doesn’t really matter for the Verizon IndyCar Series when they race at Mid-Ohio right? Not exactly. You also need to have a little good fortune and some smart, savvy pit strategy as both race winner Scott Dixon and third place finisher James Hinchcliffe did Sunday afternoon.
The Dixon domination at Mid-Ohio is extraordinary. Yesterday marked his fifth win at the difficult course and the 10th overall for Chip Ganassi Racing. This one, however, will become the thing of legends as Dixon started last and went from worst to first in 90 laps.
As was illustrated during the race, the Kiwi is the best at managing his fuel consumption to achieve the mileage necessary for strategy to play out. He’s also skilled enough to do this while running very quick laps.
The good fortune and smarts came together when Dixon topped off with fuel during the early caution that piled up Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti. Things worked out again when the caution period that began on lap 38 seemed to linger a bit longer than I thought it should. No conspiracy theory suggested, but if that caution period is a lap shorter, Dixon doesn’t make it on fuel and the race result is different.
Finally some good fortune arrived for Canadian James Hinchcliffe when instead of getting collected in someone else’s troubles he managed to escape harm in the first lap incident and actually gain a tremendous amount of track position jumping 10 spots. The smart call from the team was letting Hinch stay out longer than others before making his final pit stop and putting in a couple of good laps and again coming out with favourable track position and going on to pick up his first podium finish of the season.
For Dixon and Hinchcliffe, their two teams made good choices and decisions that with some good fortune helped them to a better day than expected. That’s what top teams do.
For Josef Newgarden, a critical mistake robbed him of the opportunity for his first series victory. As the third-year driver pulled in for his final pit stop he ran over an air hose that for some reason was lying in front of his pit box. The hose flipped up and tangled up outside rear tire changer Danny Klotz, pulling him to the ground. The stop took much longer than it should have and Newgarden was out of contention.
Hey, I’m a believer you win as a team and you lose as a team but it appears for Newgarden to win it may not be with the Sarah Fisher Hartman team.
The other driver who shared the hard luck award is Helio Castroneves, who fell out of the championship points lead with a 19th place result. Before the green Castroneves has a sensor issue and while it was rectified he finished four laps down to the leaders.
Is this yet another year that the title slips away from Castroneves, who’s been close so many times? How many more opportunities will he have to win a championship? He’s won the Indy 500 three times, so his legacy is solid, but will it be somewhat lessened if he never wins a series championship?