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Alex Palou’s Perfect Pit, Denny Hamlin's Masterclass, + Ferrari’s Shocking Reveal!

SPEED with Harvick and Buxton

Alex Palou’s Perfect Pit, Denny Hamlin's Masterclass, + Ferrari’s Shocking Reveal!

120 annotations

Hosts kick off with a fiery reaction to Ferrari’s reported $645,000 electric car, then pivot to IndyCar in Detroit where updated caution rules—“Anytime anybody's in the barrier… caution, close the pits”—turn strategy upside down. Alex Palou-style execution is contrasted with Kirkwood’s soft-tyre finish as yellows and pit timing reshape outcomes. The show also covers late-race push-to-pass drama, qualifying incidents, injury impacts on braking, and a broader driver-development and racing-week preview.

0:00 --:--

01:12

Term

caution

A “caution” is when the race slows down because something happened on the track. During a caution, teams often change plans—especially pit stops—because the race is effectively running under safer, slower conditions.

01:19

Concept

strategy for the race

“Race strategy” is the plan for when to pit and what tires to use. In this segment, the host explains that the caution rules changed, so teams ended up making different plans than they would have before.

01:24

Concept

pit cycle

The “pit cycle” is the whole process of stopping—pulling in, getting serviced, and then driving back out. If a caution happens, it can interrupt that timing and force teams to rethink when they pit.

01:32

Term

full course yellow

A “full course yellow” means the whole track is under caution, so everyone has to slow down. Because it’s system-wide, it often changes pit timing and strategy for the entire field.

01:37

Term

pit lane closed

When pit lane is closed, teams aren’t allowed to pull in for service. That means if a caution happens at the wrong time, you may have to wait and your tire and pit strategy can get thrown off.

01:45

Term

soft tyre

A “soft tyre” grips the road better, so it can help you go faster. The tradeoff is that it wears out sooner, so teams have to plan how long they can run it.

01:51

Term

hard tyre

A “hard tyre” lasts longer but usually doesn’t grip as strongly as a soft tire. Teams use it when they want to stretch a stint and save the faster, grippier tires for later.

02:12

Concept

strategy work for him

They’re talking about race strategy—basically planning when to pit and how to manage the race. Cautions and green-flag periods change the best timing, so teams try to line up their moves with what the race is likely to do next.

02:45

Term

conserving tyres

Conserving tyres means driving in a way that makes the tires last longer. Instead of pushing as hard as possible all the time, you manage wear so you can go longer before needing a tire change.

02:47

Term

conserving fuel

Conserving fuel means using less fuel than you would if you were driving flat-out. Teams do this so they can stretch the car farther before the next refueling stop.

02:59

Concept

changed their mindset

They’re saying the team changed how they approach the race. Instead of waiting and stretching the car as long as possible, they pitted earlier and used the timing to their advantage.

03:20

Topic

Detroit

“Detroit” is where this race took place. The track there is described as narrow, which usually makes it tougher to pass and easier to get stuck behind someone.

03:27

Term

push to pass

“Push to pass” is a temporary power boost a race driver can use to help them overtake. It’s limited, so drivers save it for the moment they think they can make the pass.

04:04

Term

stacked it

“Stacked it” is slang for “crashed” or “made a mistake that caused a wreck.” Here it means Schumacher’s error triggered the incident that trapped Maluchus.

04:15

Place

Indianapolis

This is talking about the Indy 500 weekend in Indianapolis. In that kind of racing, a crash in qualifying or the race can set you back a lot, so recovering afterward is a big deal.

Sounds like he's frustrated that they even put him in the suit.

Yeah, I mean, you're gonna be guarded over your seat, aren't you?

That's better than our bobbleheads, that's real.

Abomination.

What?

$645,000 that will set you back.

It's an electric Ferrari.

One thing is for sure, Enzo Ferrari is spinning so fast in his grave

that he's producing enough electricity to power that bloody thing.

Welcome to Speed with Harvick and Buxton, fueled by Poet.

Let's talk racing, my friend.

As we do every week, my man.

Yes.

We were on the streets of Detroit with IndyCar.

It was a great weekend.

Alex Polo-Pol, Alex Polo-Win, doesn't tell the full story.

No, it does not.

I watched the highlights and it looked very eventful.

Dude, it was a street brawl.

Yes.

Like proper elbows out, fisty calves.

It was great.

I loved it.

I really, really enjoyed it.

I think we had six full course cautions during the race.

Critically, after what went down at the Indy GP,

where Alexander Rossi's ECR car was left on the front stretch

for so long before they threw a caution,

IndyCar changed the methodology behind throwing cautions this weekend

and said, look, we're just going to throw a caution.

Anytime anybody's in the barrier, straight away,

like no questions asked, caution, close the pits.

And that had a massive effect on strategy for the race.

Because before they would try to just see if it's like,

can we get away with leaving the pits open for a little bit,

let people finish the pit cycle.

And then from this weekend, it was like, no,

like it's just going to be like we're on an oval.

Someone's in the barrier, full course yellow, pit lane closed.

And what that meant, critically, was we had sort of diverging strategies

and Kyle Kirkwood went to finish on the soft tyre.

So for his middle stint, he was trying to extend on the hard tyre,

go as far as he could, as long as he could,

sort of cut that gap back to Polo and ultimately try and come out

either with him or ahead of him.

And Polo was going to do his last stint on the hard tyre.

So theoretically, Kirkwood would have the advantage

in the first couple of laps of that last stint.

And then Polo would have the longevity of the tyre

for the end of the stint.

But just when Kirkwood needed the track to be green,

to make that strategy work for him, it went yellow.

And then just when Polo pitted, it went yellow again.

Perfect.

And so he was perfect.

But what that tells me is, once again,

Gnasi, the 10 crew, Barry Wanzer, they've got the whole thing figured out.

They were the most prepared for the new regulation,

sort of, well not the regulation, but the new sort of approach

to how yellows were going to be called.

It's more of a NASCAR style race.

It is, and everyone's going to kind of got to get used to that.

That's right.

But the big thing was Polo in the old days, right?

He was the master of conserving tyres, conserving fuel.

And when everyone else pitted, he'd stay out, bash in the laps.

And even if a yellow came out, they'd keep the pits open,

he'd come in, stop, win the race.

What we saw in Detroit was totally the opposite.

Polo was one of the first to stop, rather than being the last.

So they totally changed their mindset and they made it work,

as Gnasi so often does.

So brilliant run from Polo.

Kirkwood comes home second.

One of the drivers of the race for me, though, was Graham Rahall,

who got pitched into a spin on lap 41, was last,

fought his way through on Detroit, which, as you can see,

folks, if you didn't see it at home, like it's a narrow-ass track.

Fought his way through, had no push to pass left in the last lap,

so nothing left to defend against the fast McLaren's behind him.

Still came home with the podium.

Yeah, and he's done a good job this year.

I think when you look at Graham and the struggles that they've had

off and on over the last handful of years,

they look consistently good this year, which is great to see.

Three podiums.

Three already.

It's absolutely huge for them and huge for Graham.

He's having one of his best seasons in recent memory,

so really happy for him.

Also got to have a shout out for David Maluchus,

who crashed in qualifying, had to start last.

He was up and fighting for a podium place,

went a battle with Mick Schumacher, went a bit awry.

Schumacher got his break in wrong, stacked it,

and Maluchus had nowhere to go.

But he could have had a podium.

He could have even fought for the win.

And I was worried about him after Indy,

with all the emotions and everything that happened

after Indianapolis, whether a young driver like that

can recover, but he definitely had had plenty of speed,

just unfortunate.

Two crashes this weekend, one in qualifying and one in the race.

But it was, he's beating himself up.

And I don't think he needs to, because I thought Detroit,

the way he came back from that crash in qualifying,

I thought it was sublime.

I thought it was absolutely brilliant.

Speed fixes everything, Will.

Doesn't it?

If you were fast, you can overcome those things a lot easier

than if you're mediocre.

We had some battles between Scott McLaughlin and Will Power,

former teammates at Penske, now, of course,

rivals, Will Power having moved to Andretti,

getting pushed into the wall, a bit of beef between those two.

I'm sure they've, I think they've actually talked it out

after the race, and they'll be fine with each other.

But that was fun.

But one of the weird things for me with the weekend

was Joseph Newgarden, right?

So Newgarden has this big crash at the Indy 500.

And Penske and Newgarden, they're all trying to play it down.

And he turns up in this big boot on his left leg.

And if anything, you know, Alexander Rossi had the crash

before the 500 and did the 500 with his right leg in a splint.

I think Newgarden's, Newgarden's sort of injury appears worse.

For one, it's on his left leg, so it's on his brake leg.

So he's got to put huge amounts of force

through that injury to brake on a bumpy street circuit,

some huge braking moments during the lap.

100 laps.

Penske had Felipe Naza, who runs IMSA for them.

They had him on standby, plain overalls, plain helmet,

standing by, and he was actually on pit lane,

on Newgarden stand during first practice.

So not just ready to take, take part in second practice,

but if Newgarden had done like a couple of laps

and been like, screw this, I'm done,

he would have jumped in straight away, straight away.

His seat was there and ready.

He'd done sim time during the week with Penske as well,

which for me just says Penske's trying to prepare.

And be prepared as much as they can.

But it was Newgarden's comments after the race,

where he was kind of not all that optimistic

about Gateway this weekend, which is a race

where he always runs well and could very easily win

this weekend, not so much pressure on the left leg,

because there's not a lot of braking around Gateway.

But he also said, and it's a really interesting line,

he said, if the team had wanted to win,

they would have put Felipe in the car.

Not they should have, not that he was putting himself down

to say, well, you know, Felipe was here

and the team really should have put him in

and they would have had a better chance.

It was like, they would have put him in

if they wanted to win.

And I don't know if it's just a choice of words

in the moment with adrenaline running through him

after the race, because he must have been in so much pain

after that race.

But it sounds to me like, I don't know, is he?

It sounds like he's mad, like he's frustrated.

And I think when I listen to the Newgarden stuff

and we talk about everything that has happened

with Newgarden kind of becoming the villain

over the last few years, it sounds,

not knowing the inside like you do,

it sounds like he's frustrated

that they even put him in the sim.

Yeah, I mean, you're gonna be guarded over your seat,

aren't you?

And you don't want anybody to stand in.

But he was full of praise for Felipe

and talking about the great job

that Felipe would have done in that seat.

At the same time, like, is he talking himself out

of the seat for next year?

I just, I don't know where those comments come from.

So I'm gonna try and figure that out this weekend

in Gateway and see where Joseph Mellon's at.

Well, I don't think that was the most interesting part

of the race to me.

I think there was this big thing in the crowd

and it had this big picture of your face on it.

Come on.

Yeah, I mean, look at that.

Yeah, that was great.

Actually, I am...

That's better than our bobbleheads, that's real.

It's great.

It made me sign it, actually.

I signed it for him.

That was nuts.

Come on, I might, I need to issue a cease and desist on that.

That's great.

No, that was great, man.

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