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About this episode
The hosts dive into a lively discussion about travel quirks, hotel hair dryers, and an amusing airplane encounter before shifting gears to a detailed analysis of the recent Portland IndyCar race. They explore race strategies, driver dynamics, and controversial on-track incidents involving Christian and Connor, highlighting the complexities of racing etiquette and rule interpretations. The episode also touches on the impressive performance of Alex Palou and the uncertain future of Will Power at Team Penske, offering insider perspectives on team politics and driver reputations. The conversation blends humor, technical insights, and personal anecdotes for a rich motorsport dialogue.
Topics:
hotel travel experiences
airplane passenger stories
indycar portland race analysis
turn one incidents
driver rivalries and racing etiquette
race strategy and pit stops
alex palou performance
will power team penske situation
motorsport rule interpretations
driver radio communication
Cars:
Jeep Gladiator
Hinch is home for once, while Rossi is in San Francisco post Portland. The guys recap the race from their unique perspectives, and talk about what else is to come in the final two races of the 2025 season.
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This is off track Gross.
Way worse than dc.
Oh God. It's just terrible. It's awful. Well,
Why would you do that to yourself? It tastes
Like, it tastes like, um, river water.
Carbonated river water. Um, how do you
Know what river water tastes like? Because
I've been in Geist a lot.
Fair touche. .
Um, what was I gonna say?
Because it's the only free sodas available here, so No, that makes me so upset.
I mean, a diet Coke.
Literally, beggars can't be choosers.
, uh, okay, so it's the only free diet pop where you are. Where are you?
I am in a hotel lounge in San Francisco. James,
A hotel lounge in San, why aren't you in a hotel room?
Because it's too early to check in.
We've had this conversation. I feel like even though they
have rooms available, the four people in front of me, they checked in and then I got there smiled and was like, hi.
She's like, oh yeah, it'll be four o'clock.
Sweet. I'm sure you this, I'm
To you a lot. I feel like
Always, I, I was literally just telling my dad, I don't think I've ever, I, I can't remember the last time I was allowed to check into a room before 4:00 PM That's strange, man.
I feel like I get pretty lucky with that.
I feel like I've, I mean, I've definitely, like, even if it's 50% of the time, that's not bad.
Oh dude, I'm, I'm 0% of the time.
That's crazy. And it's like, it's a Monday.
Like, come on, you ain't Full.
Yeah. It feels like they're just doing that
to exert some power over you, which Is weird considering I do have quite a lot of status.
Yeah. You're still, I mean, that's a curly chicken.
Yeah. I feel like you've been flagged.
I feel like you did something.
It's not eight to some room and you've been flagged at all Bonvoy properties or something.
I don't think it's, I don't think I've done anything to a room, but I probably, I don't know someone Off.
I see it just based on how we've traveled in the past. , you
Probably of all, first of all, Tim, those were Hilton and Hyatt properties. Very
different .
I just, I'm, I'm just thinking about Texas And mostly it's you.
Yeah. But they don't know that, right? Yeah.
Like they don't get there and clean the room after and be like, this must have been his friend, Right?
No, they would've been like, we saw the two of them checking in.
It definitely was the other one.
Yeah. Yeah. Why, why?
I have a question about hotels while we're talking about travel.
Um, how come like so many hotels put the hair dryer into a bag?
Hmm. Why are, why are hair dryers bagged everywhere?
Not everywhere, but like a lot of places Probably because the, on that it look, it looks more Like if it's in a easier Throw the bathtub, I guess.
Okay. I mean, if it's not plugged in,
that's just a waste of a hair dryer, so you gotta take it outta the bag anyway.
Mm-hmm. I don't know. Seems weird, right?
Yeah. Why, why are you messing
around with hair dryers, James?
No, I'm not, but I just noticed it. Oh, okay.
Like I, you just, I just, the other day I, my hotel in Portland.
Thank you. Or Hungary.
Oh my God. No, it was Portland.
I don't know that Europe does free blow dryers probably have to pay like five euro, The white one.
But yeah, I just saw it sitting and I was like, why is it in a bag?
And then sometimes it's like in a bag that even has hair dryer written on it.
In case someone comes to another country where they don't just keep their hair dryers in bags.
They'd be like, oh, that's where the hair dryer is.
Sure. Yeah.
Well, sometimes you see 'em when they're like, So why don't they, why don't they do different languages?
Well, it's just it, if you're not familiar and you don't naturally know that that's the hair Jack your host.
What if you don't speak it? I'm not
Open this, I'm not gonna open this weird soft black bag.
Correct. I know.
I feel like if I was in a, if I was in a country where I didn't speak the language, I'd go rifling through everything.
Just outta curiosity.
What would you do when you got to the Bible?
Well, other than read it cover to cover like I do every night.
Right? , Sam, do you not dry your hair
or does you just let that air dry?
Does it take a full day?
This is gonna sound really bad, but like I've just now started putting stuff in my hair after I shower. I've, it doesn't,
Doesn't surprise me at all.
35 years of not being that Usually it looks Horrible.
I didn't think you were doing it now.
It hasn't changed the look.
If that makes you feel worse.
I didn't do it today. I didn't
Do it today.
Oh. I don't know. It's got some more shine
and texture to it than usual.
But, but so sorry. You didn't answer the question though.
Do you, do you blow dry your hair or do you just air dry it?
Just air dry it. Well, I mean towel
and the air dry. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. So
Just, you got so much of it.
It wasn't, I wasn't sure if you needed like, outside assistance.
It takes a while. While we're on the topic of hair,
hair, lube, hair, Lube, .
This was just games getting around to asking for some No.
Does Some hair If girls, Yeah, I know what I got it. Get
Extensions, girls get extensions.
Mm-hmm . That hair is dead, right?
Yeah. It's like, what do you mean dead?
Well, it's not, it's no longer attached to a living organism.
Yeah. Yes.
So how does it stay looking alive?
Because like if I were to cut, if I were to cut a leaf off my plant, it wouldn't stay green.
Right? So leaves the hair are not the same. But if hair,
The hair doesn't lose its color.
Right? Yeah. Like it's not just sitting there.
No. But it's getting, it's getting some form, some
Kind of nutrient or something Nutrient from the body.
That's how it grows.
Yes. When it grow it grows from here.
It grows from here out.
So it's like getting something new.
You think? Think, I don't Think it's like, sure.
You gotta think of hair like fingernails, right? Yeah.
You flip off your fingernail.
It looks the same as when it was attached. It's just, it
Doesn't, it gets, it gets yellow. It grows. Does
It?
I've never kept fingernail clippings around long enough to, to Know that.
It definitely does. It gets smaller and yellow and
Dude, like, this is why like they've got locks of people's hair from like 500 years.
Hair doesn't No. My right. That's great point.
I was just wondering if like, if, if like you were to get hair extensions mm-hmm.
Do you need like, some sort of vitamin serum lube ointment to keep it like, I don't, don't think so.
No. I think you would just like wa
because you're, you're already using like shampoo and conditioner on your regular hair.
Here's how, here's how I, this thought came up.
Um, I just flew, That was gonna be my follow up .
I just flew, um, I literally was on a plane under an hour ago and the lady sitting next to me, um, most definitely had hair extensions because not only was her hair all over my shoulders, but her legs were also in my side of the little cub foot cubby thing. Yeah.
You sent a picture. I'm gonna include it right now. Yeah.
Just so you people. Yeah. She had some,
She had some boundary issues.
Oh, it's, and not only was her hair on me and her leg in my space, but like, at least she also took up both armrests and she wasn't like, this wasn't, was She in the middle?
She was in the middle, Yes.
Then those are her armrests. That's fine. You
Get armrest.
But that's not, it's not her shoulder and it's not her foot. That's
Fair.
That's her foot. Well, the fact
that her leg was in your foot well is just mind blowing to Me. That was, that was insane. That was
insane. .
And, and I, and I went over to like wake her up and she was sleep mask on passed out.
And this wasn't like a, this wasn't like a giant, this wasn't a huge person.
This was a normalized human being.
It's not like Yeah, she was seven feet tall and like, okay.
You could have some sympathy.
Like this was just, it's a normal five foot seven lady anyways, so with very long hair, So, okay.
And then, and then my favorite part of it, my favorite part of it couldn't wake up.
I wasn't gonna wake her up. It was a too
A hundred percent what? I woke her up.
So my favorite part was we land and the seatbelt sign comes off and she gets up and climbs over the person sitting on the aisle.
No. Like no one has gotten up.
Is this, This just getting up. Yeah.
Was this the, the person's first day in public, was she one of those situations Where she was this in the jungle?
Is she, I dunno. Raised by wolves.
Yeah. Has she ever been assimilated into society
Also?
Well, maybe not. Because also, um, I was on the window seat
and I had the shade open and she wanted to take pictures on an early morning flight.
Great. It was 11:00 AM
Oh, okay. Yeah.
It's That's fair. Midday.
It's perfectly okay to have a shade.
I think, I think we should make, make it more normal to have windows open on Midday flights.
And she, she was, she was leaning over me to get her phone on the window to take picture.
Did she ask first? No.
This is either my least favorite or my absolute favorite person.
And I can't, I I, I don't, I'm very clear on which one that is for me. Very
Clear.
I'm, I'm like leaning real hard, towards least favorite person.
But I kind of wanna meet her because I also just wanna meet somebody like that unencumbered by the thoughts of others.
It's like, she's just like, oh, I don't really give A shit.
It, does any of it seem freeing in a way?
It seems freeing in a way, but also seems like a really good way to get stabbed at some point. Yeah.
I feel like she just, if she needs to take a <inaudible> some more, she just lets it out.
She just doesn't, she doesn't need to follow any of society's rules.
And i's That's what, that's Where step.
That's a big stent.
That's a large leap.
She's climbing over you. She's in your footwell. I mean,
Over me public.
I don't think that's, I don't it's a linear, well, I don't That is the logical next step That is No, there's is where You go From I to come to San F.
We did come to San Francisco. So maybe Tim has a point.
There is normally a lot of human poop on the sidewalk in San Francisco. That's true.
Like, more, more than there should be given the size of the city and the population. Yeah.
Now on the topic of human feces, on sidewalks, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say Portland has actually really cleaned, its sacked up quite a bit.
Interesting. 'cause I disagree completely.
Yeah, I know you said that.
'cause you got out there earlier than I did and you sent us a text that you were getting harassed by somebody.
Something in a state of Oh, A guy Influence, shall we say?
Yeah. Yeah. Um, but we stayed downtown
and dude, I gotta say from from my four days or whatever there I saw way less open crack smoking on the sidewalk.
That's interesting. Because me
and Brian Simpson, our buddy thought it was exponentially worse than last year.
Really? Yes.
Oh wow. They must have all just like re congregated in
a different area or something?
Potentially, Yeah, because I don't know, I don't know where you guys were staying in relation to where we were staying, but yeah, we all, we all made the note that it was like surprisingly clean and horrible.
Yeah. Oh wow.
So like it digressed. I didn't see
A single intravenous needle.
I didn't see a single person, you know, lighting up a pipe.
I saw, I saw a couple people that looked like, yeah, they didn't have a super comfy bed to sleep in, but hey Brian, Brian saw a guy die on the street.
Excuse me. Brian saw a guy die on the street
This weekend.
Yeah. How did I spent most of last night with Brian?
How did this, what happened?
I don't know. Well, he killed, I mean, I don't know that,
I don't know that he died or so much as passed out on the street, but Fair Anyways.
So he was just what?
Just walking and stopped walking or was laying and stopped breathing or What?
No, he was, he was using substances.
Mm-hmm . And then passed out.
Oh yeah. He was just, he was just having a great time.
Right. Anyways, we don't need to talk about that anymore.
Okay. Oh yeah.
I was, I did want to have that conversation though.
'cause I remember what you had said in your text and then I was like, man, it was nice sir, where we were. But
Eh, well we should recap what everybody wants to hear about.
Um, I saw Jurassic Park on Friday.
Still good as there a new One or the original?
No, sorry. I saw the original on Friday. Got
It.
Is there a new one? It was good.
Yeah. There's a new Jurassic
World. Looks terrible. Terrible.
I just hate that they're taking these movie franchises and just literally squeezing every ounce of life out of them.
Like, it makes me not even like you Originally.
Yeah. How about, how about were like
Six Tarn movies in the 1920s.
Like, we've always been doing this.
We're just, it's more noticeable now. It's because
That was the only idea in the 1920s.
Um, how about the fact that F1 became the highest grossing sports movie in movie history, Sports film of all time. Yeah. Now look,
Adjusted for inflation.
No, of course. I was gonna say
there's always caveats to that right?
Population Now It would be cars too. So
Just say it's easy now for it to be like, get made more in theaters when like, the average ticket price now is like $26.
Okay. Tim. But there's no movies
that come out all the time and they're not winning the most gross movies. It's
Still impressive.
I was just say, it's probably not the highest grossing sports movie of all time adjusted for inflation.
It's Brad Pitt's highest grossing one. I bet.
I I bet you're completely wrong.
What do you think is Higher Air Bud?
Probably. That looks great.
There's nothing in the F1 handbook that says a dog can't have a super license as long as he's not American .
As long as he doesn't raise Cindy car.
Um, well you look that up Tim.
Um, wait, what were we just talking about?
Oh yeah, it was Brad's Peace was Brad Pitt's highest grossing film of all time. I mean's
Is crazy mean? That's crazy when you think about that.
Yeah, that's, that is crazy.
Like some of the movies, I mean Ocean's 11, Rocky, let's just talk about that.
When adjusted for Inflation, Rocky from 1976 is the highest grossing sports movie of all time. But
Wait, when was that report done?
'cause this just happened like last week. You
Need to ask the robots.
Don't Google. Yeah. You need to ask Chad GPT.
Yeah, you you're looking it up and it's psychia.
I get, there's like everybody who's like, oh, I'm not gonna use ai 'cause of like ethical reasons, which there's like some pretty strong arguments, but it's impossible to not use ai.
You're using it. Don't realize it. Even
Google stuff, even when Oh yeah.
I mean they, it's called Gemini.
What's Gemini? Google's Chad. GBT.
Oh, you know when Google something Now that pops up and it says Yeah, it's, yeah.
Yeah. That's Gemini old GM cricket.
Oh man. Okay. They're counting some real interesting stuff
on the Wikipedia page as sports movie.
They're saying Inside Out Two is a sports movie that's not Okay. Of course. Count
As sports movie.
No, he did play football and ping pong And run. It's
Counting all of the Fast and the Furious movies as sports movies.
Oh God. Okay. Okay. You can stop,
Stop. Yeah. Dumb.
Either way. Ones killing it.
F one's doing well for itself.
We can, we can all agree on that.
Like, let's be honest. Um, you know, I bet
F1 would also get bumped for the CFL of golf.
No, no, no. Hang on, hang on, hang on.
Okay, so now we're in Portland and Big Fox guy coming out to defend Fox.
Big Fox guy coming out to explain television.
When, when you're, when you're doing live sports, things happen.
Mm-hmm . Everything can go long. Soccer games go long.
Football games go long.
Pretend golf goes long, racing goes long. Right.
If we were before Liv Golf and we had, you know, 13 cautions because of turn one at Portland and the race took 26 minutes longer than our scheduled network window, guess what?
You would end up watching golf 26 minutes later.
That's just kind of how it works.
Like in some cases there are opportunities to bounce things to different networks, but you had a three-way playoff, like an exciting end to something.
They weren't gonna take that off of the network to miss the start.
That's completely fair To catch the start. That's fine.
And what the other thing that I wanna throw out there is I, I, IndyCar deserves a ton of credit because we actually delayed the start of the race in person, the start time at the track, even for all the fans that were there to help accommodate coming on air late so that way we could try to get the start on television.
So credit to Indy Carr for getting that done.
Fox did what Eddie and every network does when you're dealing with live sports.
These things just happen. Um, so we, the,
the start was still on tv, it was just on the a different channel.
Then we switched over to the main channel for what was ended up being a pretty exciting end to a race. How
Does it, how does it, how does it make you feel?
And you kind of just brought this up in your explanation.
How does it make you feel that, uh, ever since you stopped racing IndyCar we have no issue getting through turn one. Oh it's not great. Yeah.
It kind of feels like maybe you were The problem.
No, I feel like you were probably the issue. Yeah.
Yes. The data would suggest that that is is a thing. Yeah,
I'm just saying.
Yeah. Um, I am just like, so why
Are we so bad at turn one?
Yeah. Like it's pretty straightforward corner.
It feels like Turn.
So one of the things that we do Yeah.
Here at Portland is always play replays and packages of replays of crashes in turn one to highlight.
Sure. The potential. Right.
And one of the ones they love, love showing um, is 2021. Which
I mean you did break pretty Early is a great example of what's that?
You broke pretty early Dude.
I was in the middle of the corner when Rojan came from 400 meters back.
Completely out of control. Well
Maybe if you had Broken and wiped me out 400 meters later and would've, I would also have not made the corner .
Yeah. But only one to find out.
I still didn't so I guess it doesn't really matter.
I'll never forget the one that got me the most was actually in 2019 because 2018 was the year I think that I ended up, no, hang On.
Was it 18 the year Dixon was in the, the dust cloud with Marco?
Yeah, I think it was 'cause Yeah 'cause he won the championship that year.
So yeah, so 2018, that one was like, I made it to turn three and then Veech and I got together and caused that whole thing.
But the next year, uh, 19. Yeah.
'cause we didn't go in 20. So in 19,
I'll never forget I qualified, I don't know, eight-ish or something like that.
And I was just so hell bad on getting 51 'cause I was so mad about the year before and I'm driving around and I look and dude, I'm not kidding.
I had four, five car lengths in front of me.
I had five car lengths behind me somehow it was like an early start and I just happened to be all alone on an island.
And I was like, thank God at least I can get through.
Turn one. And I hit the brakes
and sure enough, I think it was Graham fired Veach into me mid corner and one again.
And I was just like, how did I get hit?
How did I get hit when there was nobody anywhere near me?
And he watched the replay gram's like right sides on the white line and just pla just misses it completely. Just
Dominos again. I
Think it, He broke later To me.
Alex, that sounds like it was James's fault. Is that
Honestly, is that how you Read it as a, an Expert?
There's a lot of things he could have done different. He could have not turned
I could way through.
He could have broken later. And speaking of not turning
and breaking later, it's a pretty good segue into some drama that went on during the Portland race.
Yeah. Lot of not turning going on there. Um, okay.
Or or breaking. So we're just
done talking about Jurassic Park. .
What's your favorite character in Jurassic Park?
All Of 'em. The
dinosaur ?
No, it's gotta be Jeff Gold Single.
Gotta be Jeff Goldblum mean.
I just love, and I was kidding about talking about Jurassic Park, but now I will.
I just love that multiple times in the eighties and nineties there were film executives that had to say, get me the raw sex appeal of Jeff Goldblum.
And like it worked.
I gotta be honest with you, I'm not sure that's the line they went with, but we'll never know. Are you kidding me? Um,
He, when he is got his shirt open and he is just kind of like laying there like that off off.
So you can tell we're recording early in the week because Tim is swearing a lot 'cause he knows he's got time to edit.
I got time. I got time. Yeah.
another good time. Alright,
let's do our usual format here of Alex.
You tell us about how your day went because it was a or weekend and because it was a good weekend.
It was, it was good.
It was much needed after a very hard July and some of June.
Um, but it just goes to highlight like how, how straightforward your life can be versus how hellish your life can be when like, you start the weekend and the car is in a good window car and it's just like, it's pretty easy to drive and it's predictable and it does most things well and you kind of are just having to tune on little things here and there.
But like in general, you know what you have. Right?
And so as conditions change, which, um, you know, you're always gonna get on IndyCar weekends, but especially in Portland, you know, it it it, it officially was the hottest Portland GP on record at 97 degrees.
Um, historically this is a track that is, you know, the 63 to 72 degree type temp.
Um, Friday wasn't that warm.
It was sunny, but it wasn't that warm.
Saturday morning was pretty cool, still qualifying heated up.
So I guess my point with all that is like, even as conditions are changing pretty drastically, like the car didn't really change.
It was right, it was just the same.
Like your time might be scaled differently depending on the ultimate performance that was available, but like the balance wasn't swapping ends on you and any and, and everything.
So, um, yeah, I mean that, that was really cool.
Uh, I didn't really do a great lap, um, in round two.
Um, and so we missed transferring by a hundredth, which was a little disappointing because I do think we had a pretty good shot at the front row, maybe top three-ish.
Um, I thought our single out pace was pretty good.
What it did mean though was with Christian lung guard's engine penalty.
I started sixth anyways and I actually had an extra set of the alternate tire.
We knew it was gonna be an alternate tire race.
Um, so yeah, it, uh, qualifying was successful.
We knew that it was an alternate race, so we knew that we wanted to start on primes.
Um, 85% of the grid started on primes, so a lot of people were kind of thinking the same thing.
Um, and the race was, was fairly straightforward except for as always in Portland there's always enough incidents that seemed to happen to make it go between a, well in this case a four stop and a three stop.
But really a, a two stop and a three stop if you take out the, the fake stops under yellow.
Um, and so we, we opted for the same strategy as most of the guys.
Um, there was in front of us.
So it was myself, um, lard, Patto, Felix, Lucas Dixon, we all kind of took the, the Connor yellow.
Um, and we knew that we could get home on on two more from there.
Um, there were some other guys that stayed out below power.
Um, some other guys had taken the first yellow, but ultimately what it meant was there was, there was cars that were having to save to, to do it on two more and then there was cars that were kind of flat out through the whole race.
Um, I don't think, think there was one clear strategy that was better than the other as you saw.
I mean you had the top three cars were all on a slightly different strategy.
Um, and they all finished on top of each other.
So, um, I thought it was, it was a cool race from that standpoint.
And yeah, we finished fifth, so the best result of the year, it's really annoying that it took until the basically three to go to get something like that.
'cause we've been in position for, for that for a while.
But, um, yeah, like I said, it was just a nice bounce back and, and good, good morale boost for, for the team.
And Ed took all the credit because he was the strategist on the 20 car for the first time this weekend.
And uh, he was someone, He was Strategery type race.
Yeah, yeah, no, he called a great race.
Um, for those that don't know, ed, um, took over the, those duties from, from Tim Boyles, um, for no reason other than we're getting towards the end of the year.
Um, the off season is, is fast approaching.
There's not many races left.
We're in a critical time in terms of trying to grow the organization, trying to hire people, trying to really get aggressive on that front.
Um, so it was better suited for Tim, who's ultimately the president of VCR to be focused on that.
Also have more of an oversight on both cars, um, throughout the weekend to, to identify strengths and weaknesses.
Um, because as you can imagine, if you're just on one car for the weekend, like you're, you've got tunnel vision on the 20 car, you don't really know what's going on on on the other side of the garage.
So, um, this was, this is not a permanent kind of solution, but um, at least for the end of the year, uh, it's what's happening going forward is, is Ed's on my car, which obviously is pretty plug and play considering the relationship him I already have.
Yeah, I'm sure it's pretty seamless to transition that. Yeah,
Very easy. Yeah.
So is it, is it like, is it a really, I know you said it's a morale booster to kind of get that, that first top five of the season, but is it, is it more like from your side, is it, is it relief or is it still kind of like a little bit of frustration because it's like, yeah, no, we got it, but like I don't wanna celebrate this too much because we've been in positions to do it. It just hasn't happened
Neither for me neither.
Okay. I think it's, I think it's just for the organization.
Like we haven't, we haven't had good results on paper.
We've had good races going, um, but before this, like our best result was eighth and that was thermal like a long time ago.
Oh wow. Yeah. Yeah, right.
So, um, it feels like a different season, right?
So we've had, we've had races going where, you know, we thought it was gonna be in contention for podium thought, you know, the 500 we were in contention for, for more than that, plenty of races where we were in contention for, you know, top five, top six and nothing ever ever came of it.
So I think it's just, especially when it's, you are with the team for the first time or for the first year, like it, there's a little bit of like, everyone's like, ah, we can still do this.
Right, right. I think it's, it's that sort of thing.
So yeah, I guess relief is is a fair word, but from my side it's more just like it was, and it's so often we talk about it like it was the first complete weekend we've had like just everything went smoothly from start to finish.
There was no glaring errors or issues or, or whatever.
And it just was, the car started off in a good spot.
We executed qualifying despite kind of a red flag coming out.
Um, we chose the right strategy in the race or at least the right strategy for us in the race.
Pit stops were great. Like we beat the nine car out.
Like just everything was filing, firing on all cylinders.
Yes. I, you, you bring up Dixon.
I was gonna say like, it was, for me watching, it was a really impressive run because you and Dixie were on the same strategy, which ultimately ended up, meaning you guys had to do a little bit more fuel saving than some of the other guys.
And in the pits the team performed and on track, like you, you kind of out Dixie Dixie, right?
Like that's, that's his bread and butter is those races where you gotta keep the pace up but save fuel and that's usually when he is able to make a lot of headway.
But you stayed in front of him, I mean the entire race, like you kind of had him on your gearbox until he got his penalty.
So that must be kind of a relief because you know, we, we do talk about how it seems like Honda's got a bit of a mileage advantage, but you stayed in front of him pace wise, pitted on the same lap.
So it it was really strong.
Yeah, I mean the thing is you gotta, now that's great.
That's, that's gotta back it up Like, Well no, I, it's more, you know, in video games where there's varying levels of bosses Yeah.
Like, okay, so we beat this one boss, right?
But then there's the big, big giant boss, right.
Then that's His boss's gonna take you. Right.
It's gonna take you many, many attempts to beat.
Yeah. So a lot of
Reset buttons required, like I said, it was a good day.
Happy for the team. Um,
and we will take some positivity going into Milwaukee, Nashville where I I know will be strong. So
From an outsider, one of the like relationships that's always interesting to me is between the driver and whoever's on their radio.
So like having a relationship with Ed that goes back years now and is outside of racing, was there anything unexpected having him call the race?
Or was it just all Speaks out?
No, because here's the thing, like we, we talk on the radio with each other in an airplane as much as we do .
Got it. Not on a radio. So like no, there it like, no,
It just felt it was completely locked in because I did, I don't know, it's always interesting to me because like I give a driver as much leeway as possible for any of the stuff they say on the radio during a race because I'm, I've never been in that situation. I don't,
Good thing you don't work from a Adrenaline flying and things like that.
Yeah, exactly. So like, but uh,
but also you are one of the calmest people on the radio if I'm like listening in on stuff.
So I guess it's less of an issue for you, but I would make me nervous if it was like my friend, my boss and all these different stuff.
Doesn't matter, Alex.
I can tell that it's easy. My, my bigger thing is I,
I would love to have loved to have heard that at some 0.1
of you ended a radio transmission with like November five, November eight, five, Mike, Mike, Mike . That
Would've been hilarious. . You
Guys just talk to each other and ending every combination with your tail number.
Well we kept, so he always, he always says, um, like Roger and I always say copy.
Yeah. Like on in the airplane
and during the race we were alternating back and forth .
So he would say copy and I'd say Roger and then he'd switch to Roger and I'd say Copy .
So We're kind of digging with each other a little bit.
And then, then there's someone who chucks in and write him ten four, Right?
Yeah. Affirmative. Yeah.
That's funny. Um, all right, so the race itself, we'll get
to the end 'cause that was the exciting bit.
But um, there was a, there was, well Tino's accident on like the first lap was kind of strange.
I dunno if you saw the replay that Alex, he like got loose off the last corner, but he just like, he just stayed buried in it.
And I guess he was, I assume he was maybe trying to spin it around kind of once he was going, but it was, when you watch the onboard, it's like he has a moment which often happens coming onto the front trade of Portland but just didn't crack the throttle.
I don't know if he was trying to drive out of it or like had already felt like he lost it and was trying to bury it and spin it around.
It just sounded, it sounded kind of weird.
But that was a big hit on a concrete and you know, he was lucky he wasn't a couple feet earlier.
It would've been right in the end of the attenuator and that would've been a much more uncomfortable incident.
Um, and then, yeah, and then the 21 and the 76 Raz and Connor started a little lap and a half.
We like to call that a <inaudible> swinging contest.
Yes. That is pretty accurate. That is pretty accurate.
So first incident at least that we saw on TV was the turn seven one Thoughts, questions, concerns on that one?
Um, yeah, teammate, uh, and friend.
Um, here's, here's what I will say is reality and it's, it's understandable I guess.
Um, but Connor and Reus both race Christian and I really hard Connor, and, and it's, it's obvious But Oh, okay.
Got it. Got it. Yeah. Understand.
And so there is some like unspoken tension that exists and it's even like during practice.
Yeah. Yeah. Like it's, when it's,
whenever you come out with one of those cards, you're like, great.
Right. Not because you don't,
I have nothing against Reina or Connor.
Yeah, yeah. But Reina and Con
and they don't have anything against me or Christian.
Right. I hear Connor, I now,
but they both have something pretty severely against the organization.
Yeah. Um, so I will say that, so the fact that this incident
happened doesn't really surprise me just based on that the Turn seven situation is, is a tough one because Christian Christian's car doesn't have an onboard for Fox, but there's team onboards, right?
And what happened to him was a very similar situation to what happened with Rojan and I in mid Ohio, for those of you that remember that whole shindig.
Right. And it stems from,
and we've talked about this plenty of times on the podcast.
It stems from the fact that ultimately in IndyCar you are allowed to kind of open your hands and, and run the car out.
That, that, that's the precedent that's been set.
We don't need to get into the rhyme or reason as to how we got there.
What happened in this case with Christian was his, his front left tire hit in a kind of a weird angle to Connor side pot and stuff and it ripped the wheel out of his hands.
So the, the the the overhead shot of you seeing Christian drive Connor out while taking himself off the racetrack wasn't an intentional move.
Like he wasn't turning into him out there.
His hand was off the wheel for a second.
By the time he regained control of the car and was coming off Connor, they were both out there.
So what started as an intentional, I'm gonna open my hands and run this guy wide, turned into a much more dramatic looking incident than it was.
A lot of people were comparing it to Santino and Connor in mid Ohio where Santino got a penalty.
The difference was Tino's hands didn't come off the wheel.
Remember over the crest in turn five where Santino drove himself off the curb?
Oh yes, yes. Yeah. To push Connor off. Yeah. Yeah.
Santino was actively driving out there. Yep.
In this case, Christian for a split second wasn't actually in control of the car.
So there wasn't, so Lemme just, lemme just jump in there because you say like, that's the reason he didn't get a penalty. 'cause his hands didn't,
I don't, I don't know, I don't know if that's the reason he didn't get a penalty. I'm
Assuming I was saying because Right.
But IndyCar don't have access to that onboard footage in real time. Great
Point. Didn't even think about that.
So like they would've seen the same exact same shots that we did.
Good point. And very again,
and I think I even said on the broadcast, I I, I get that that's how the rules have developed.
And I be, I'm just so firmly against how the rules are written because it allowed <inaudible> like that.
So let's say, let's say he, his hands don't, don't come off the wheel.
He still was gonna push Connor clean off the race rack, right?
Yeah. Connor was wheel to wheel,
if not frankly a tiny bit ahead.
Right. And so I just,
it just eliminates good side-by-side racing.
It eliminates guy's abilities to do that in corners like that.
And corners like turn five at mid Ohio corners, like turn five at Barber.
Yeah. But James, we, it's not your job as a driver to
create good racing if that No, no.
Is not in your best interest based on the rule book is That's why I'm saying I I, I said the broadcast, I don't like how the rule is written and I Right.
Okay. I hope that that's something
that we can address maybe in the off season just because of that.
So anyway, what what it then led to was both guys were super pissed and driving Red Mist style.
Connor did one of the most NASCAR moves I've ever seen in the, she came just like in between turn one and two was firing it over the curb and like dooring him.
It's the best that se best is to take a NASCAR turn.
He doored him in turn two, which I thought was hilarious. .
Yeah. Because it didn't affect either one of them
and like they stayed in the same position.
Like it was so like was it uncalled for it? Yes.
But it was also kind of funny in the moment, but then, yeah, the one, two, uh, into 10 little less funny. How do you see that one
Probably gonna get myself in trouble for saying this A racing incident.
Yeah. Obviously that's how IndyCar looked at it, right?
Yeah. Um, I
Mean because here here's here's the thing.
Um, there is a rule now the rule in its intent was written.
The rule is the overtaking car has the majority of the responsibility to avoid conduct.
That rule is really set up for if you're diving up the inside of someone, you can't like door them off, right?
When you're on the outside, it's much of a rarer situation that this would occur.
But the view I saw was Christian was like inside of the turn 10 apex, like there was dust that came up on the turn 10 Apex group.
This wasn't a situation where again, he didn't turn into Connor, like Connor was, was was making a, a good move.
He did the same thing on Colton, um, around the outside into 10, which we'll just set him up on the inside of 11.
The difference is Christian's, not Colton, and we know this like Christian we've seen this year, especially on the ovals.
Like he, he don't care.
Like he is, he's coming through, he's gonna pass you and his car control and ability to not crash, backs it up.
And so of all the people that you're gonna try and roll the outside of, he ain't that guy in my mind.
So, so I I I get everything you're saying and I agree with everything you're saying.
The, the two points that I wanna make are Christian has developed a reputation for being very flamboyant in his overtakes, especially on the ovals.
Uh, and not a guy to back out.
And you say that he's pulling it off and so you can't really argue with it.
I'm gonna argue that he's pulling it off.
'cause other guys are giving him the room, right?
'cause they know that he's not going to do that.
And so they're like, I'm not even gonna fight this. I'm gonna go let it go.
Okay. That's the same thing
that Santino gets celebrated for. So I,
I've never ever celebrated any driver for that.
People used to refuse that same thing of Kuma.
That's the same thing a lot of, a lot of people do.
Right? Fine. So,
but my point is it like, yeah, he, he looks like the hero until somebody doesn't, until somebody races him the way he's racing them and then it ends in an accident.
In this case, he got away with it again.
But to your point, he's on the inside.
Connor's ahead at Turnin and for, for Christian to have to put wheels on the inside of the turn, 10 curb means there's not enough room for him to be there.
He needs to back out of it. And that's what Colton did.
Colton's like, oh, if I turn in here and try to hold this, I'm gonna end up in the dirt on the inside that's gonna push me into the other guy and that's gonna end poorly.
So I think it's a, it's, it's from a, from a, the way the rules are written standpoint, I think it's more on Christian for sure.
But to your point, Connor needs to be, or any driver, when you're racing any driver, you have to be aware of who they are, how they race, and not put yourself in a position with someone that's not going to race you the way you need to be raced to make that move happen. If that makes sense.
I mean here he, let's let's play scenario for a second.
If instead of Christian, it's Joseph mm-hmm .
Are you gonna, are you gonna say the same thing about Joseph And what, which part, like would I be willing to pull that Connor move on Joseph more than I'd be willing to pull it on Christian? Yes. Because
No, But do I think Joseph should have backed out if he was Christian? Yes,
But Joseph wouldn't.
Joseph is just as aggressive if not more aggressive of an over taker. Okay,
Fine.
Okay, fine. But then you have to, you have
to know that, right?
You have to know what position You put yourself in.
But again, but again, I think, I think sometimes guys that haven't won races, haven't shown years of success, aren't driving for top organizations, don't have the, the pedigree, if you will, are accused a little bit harsher than someone like Jo Joseph.
Joseph drives people like an animal on short levels.
Like he's, he's like giving you a wheel in the straight, he'll push you up high before he turns in to turn three at Iowa.
Like he is an, he's an animal, right?
But he wins all the time.
Like look at what he did to his teammate at St.
Louis in 2017 with au right? Yeah. That
Was, But, but, okay.
But because it's Joseph Newgarden two time Indy 500 winner, two time champion, 30 time race winner, whatever he is done, right?
Versus Christian who is doing the same thing but with none of the resume, it doesn't feel like it's a fair comparison or a fair judgment.
I um, Here's the thing.
One is like, oh, this kid has a lot to learn and the other one's like, man, this guy, he's got Boss Steel and he's just, he's a, he's a gladiator.
If you go back and listen to our episode after Gateway 2017, what you'll hear me say is, I thought that move was bullshit that Joseph pulled off on, I I criticize Joseph for that move. You
Might.
So, but the, the internet doesn't.
Right? I Right. Um,
I'm just making sure we're on the same page of Okay.
Where we're coming from. So then to, to the,
to your other point, it's at that's a very valid point for sure.
A a driver that has accomplished more is gonna be given more leeway in that stuff.
Or it's gonna be looked at as like, oh, well that's how you drive as a win.
That's how a winner drives, you know, whatever.
But I am, I'm kind of coming at it for more if that's what's happening.
It's kind of on the field, it's on you guys to not make that differentiation.
Because I don't hear people after Iowa say, oh man, Joseph drove me really hard.
Joseph was this, Joseph was that.
But I hear people be like, man, did you see that move Christian did?
Like, what was that? So yes you can, I can only see
what I can see from the broadcast, but then getting feedback from the paddock, I'm just saying, I'm saying my, I completely disagree with that because there are a lot of people that have a lot of complaints off of the two car, mostly on short ovals most of the time.
Fair. I just, I said in my experience,
I haven't heard quite as much of that.
So, but I think, I think it, I think that's a very valid point.
I do think that a young driver who hasn't done X, Y, Z look, people said that about Joseph before he'd ever won a race.
Joseph in his first two years, very fast, sometimes very reckless, had some very big accidents, caused some very big problems, right?
But developed into Joseph Newgard.
So it's, it's not, it's not so much a, it's not so much a criticism of what Christian's doing or how he goes racing.
It's an understanding of the guy that you're going wheel to wheel with.
You cannot race everybody the same. And so, right.
But that, but that's on Connor not Christian.
No, no, no. That's what I'm saying. Okay.
This part is this, this is the part of response I think in the mechanics of the accident, Christian is more at fault.
Hmm. I think when you zoom out
and you look at the situation in totality and you take in to account what happened in turn seven and you take into account what happened in turn two and you take into account of their seasons together as a whole and last season and what, whose team and all that other <inaudible>, that is where Connor's responsibility comes in, is you have to be aware of the scenario you're in with the driver you're racing and make that decision, is this a good move or not?
Mm-hmm . And so look at the end
of the day, I'm just glad he is okay.
'cause that was a big hit. Yeah,
Huge Hit, big hit.
And the fact that he was like, fine.
Like I think he maybe banged his foot up a little bit or something, but like, um, for that speed, you know, like credit to any cars, credit to the track like that, that could have been a whole lot worse.
Um, anyway, we're running outta time.
Let's talk about the final stint.
Willpower, Christian linard, Alex Palolo, all on different fuel levels, different life tires, and ran with a blanket over them for like the last 20 laps.
And the, the pressure that will was under keeping those guys behind, managing the traffic in front, having to burn his push to pass, to pass lap cars that then immediately pulled outta the way for the other two.
Like it was a distinct disadvantage to be leading in some ways, but he held it together and it was a brilliant drive from start to finish and a very well deserved win. Could
You imagine being team Pensky right now? I
I might have to double check this, but I think I might be an executive there now after being shuffled up. Might,
Yeah.
So maybe, maybe that's an unfair question because we, none of us really have any clue as to what is happening behind the scenes.
But let's just, let's just say the rumors are ultimately true, right?
That will, doesn't really have a spot there next year.
Will's looking for a ride.
All these sort of things that seem to be the reality that at least the outsider knows or has been privy to.
But he is by far, like hands down your best guy.
Not just this year, but like the past couple of years he has been the benchmark at that team.
Like it is, and, and, and his frustration and some of his quotes are so warranted.
And it's like any, any driver in this series who, and this is referring to last year, who's won three races and had two polls and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, would have a contract.
And it's a, it's a wild scenario that the reality is he doesn't, that doesn't mean he is not gonna have a job next year.
Doesn't mean he is not gonna have a great job next year.
But the point is, it's a very weird kind of situation that's presented itself because it's not, and and from my understanding, this isn't a scenario where it's like, oh, he's not being resigned 'cause he is demanding some absurd amount of money.
Like this isn't a, this isn't a money sort of holdup that is preventing this.
It's, it's purely a, there's, there's an ideology shift, right?
And will's just not a part of that.
And for him to a understand that, accept that, and then still perform like he just did, is just, is phenomenal to Me.
Alex, that is beautifully put.
Um, I very much agree with all the sentiment there and there's a lot to unpack and dig into and I think, I think there's a lot of good discussion have about this.
So we're not gonna do that right now because we are outta time.
So we're gonna, we're gonna revisit this topic next week though, 'cause we don't have a race to talk about.
So we're gonna talk about that. Uh,
I think we should then also dedicate some time next week to acknowledge the greatness that as Alex Palolo as he did wrap up his fourth championship.
Why, um, we said that was happening in April.
No, I know, but like, let's look back on how he did it a little bit more.
Okay. Sorry. Um, but yes, that, that is all for this week.
And um, tune in next week for more of that good stuff and all.
We'll learn all about Alex's fun time on the golf course and all the fun things we're up to on our off week.
This has been off track with Hinch and Rossi.
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