Phoenix is where IndyCar races on a short oval track. Short ovals usually mean lots of close racing and strategy, so pit timing and restarts can be huge.
Short ovals are smaller oval tracks where cars lap each other more often. That can make the race more intense and makes strategy and timing more important.
Arlington is an IndyCar street-race location in Texas. Street tracks are tight and unforgiving, so driving precision and pit calls can make the difference.
The Indy 500 is IndyCar’s biggest race at Indianapolis. It’s a long oval race where strategy and staying out of trouble are key to winning.
Place
Indy Road course
The “Indy Road course” is the road-course layout at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It’s more about technical driving than pure oval speed, so the car that handles best often wins.
Road America is a famous road course in Wisconsin where IndyCar races. It has lots of sweeping turns and hills, so handling and driver confidence matter a lot.
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Indycar Dad: Hey IndyCar family, I'm IndyCar Dad, your host for the IndyCar News in five minutes. I read and watch everything IndyCar and summarize it for you in five minutes. This is our mid-season check-in.
We're halfway done with the IndyCar season, so let's see how everyone's doing. ⁓ the big news is it's been a great season so far. The season series is very competitive, and despite Alex Below leading the series and winning four races already, the battle for the championships is still really alive.
And most importantly, every race, the battle for the race win is still alive. So Here's my fast recap of each of the races so far. In St. Pete, Pillow beat them all. It really frightened us to think, ⁓ we might be in for another boring season, but he did dominate.
Then in Phoenix, Pillow got knocked out right away, and Joseph Newgarden won a race that seemed like Rasmussen or Will Power could have won as well. So it was nice to see some competition in the short ovals.
On the streets of Arlington, a wonderful thing happened, which is Kyle Kirkwood won the race on pace despite some setbacks in the pits. Kirk would still beat Pelow, meaning we have a driver now that can outpace Alex Pelow in the number 10 team.
So that was fantastic. But back at Barber and Pelow again beat them all. So in Long Beach, Felix Rosenquist looked like he had the pace to beat Pelow. Beat him in qualifying was beat him in the race, but Pelow's pit crew won the race for him.
So and at the Indy Road course, Christian Lundgaard had the pace to beat. So we had another driver in the mix. So the series is getting very excited. ⁓ at the Indy 500, Felix Rosenquist won what I think is the best Indy 500 I've ever seen, and I'm old.
⁓ and then in but in Detroit, back to Pillow, he won the race from pole. But that was an interesting race too, because there were times when Pillow was not fastest. Will Power looked like he could have won the race, Scott McLaughlin looked like he could have won the race, and Kyle Kirkwood didn't have the right strategy, but he also had pace as well.
So, and in St. Louis, it was Joseph Newgarden again, two wins this year, and You cannot beat Newgarden's record at St. Louis. The guy is a whiz there. If anybody has been dominant at a track, I think you have to point to Newgarden and at Gateway International because he just spanks him.
So there we go. ⁓ we can run through the standings. I'll be happy to do it with you. Pelow's in the lead. Kirkwood's 49 points back, which is like one race win if Pelow didn't score hardly anything.
⁓ Lucas is 68 points back from the leader and Lungard is a 96 point back. After that, I don't think you really are in ⁓ championship contention at the moment. So we've got four guys below Kirkwood, Malucas, and Lundgar that are in contention for the championship.
Pato's in fifth and points, Newgarden's in sixth, Scotty Mack, Felix Rosenquist eighth, Marcus Erickson's doing well for himself in ninth, and Marcus Armstrong is showing well in tenth. So Graham Ray Hall's in 11th, Scott Dixon twelfth, Renus VK thirteenth.
A lot of these guys I'm gonna go on really ⁓ seem like they're belong here. Like ⁓ VK in thirteenth, Rossi 14th, Simpson 15th, Ferrucci 16th. Those guys have been in those positions before. But Will Powers down in 17th, which is unusual for him.
So the switch over to Andretti's been had a little bit of teething pains. Dennis Augers, the top rookie in eighteenth. Louis Foster, Grosjean, Siegel, Rasmussen, Kyle Cock, Stingray, Rob, those all those guys all seem like where they belong.
Rasmussen doing a little poorer than you would think. But ⁓ and then Mick Schumacher is the last place full-time runner and 25th. Everyone else after that is a part-timer. So ⁓ here's my analysis of those standings.
Scott Dixon is currently in 12th, but he finished la last year's standings in third. So we've got not a great performance for Mr. Dixon. A similar slip there for Will Power and Christian Rasmussen. They just had plenty of DNFs.
In Will Power's case, I think there's some team issues going on there and sometimes some overly aggressive driving. And and Rasmussen's situation, honestly, I just think he keeps crashing the car. So ⁓ on the upswing, we have ⁓ Kyle Kirkwood moved up.
David Malucas has moved up more than anyone. Newgarden, it sounds weird to say that Newgarden's had a huge improvement, but last year he only finished twelfth in points. So for him to be sixth is a big deal.
Graham Ray Hall's also having a great season for himself. And Marcus Erickson, too, is really seems to be finding his pace at Andretti. So ⁓ top rookie is Hauger in 18th. Despite the fact that his team couldn't get the car to run and he couldn't run at all in St.
Louis, he is leading the rookie points. Kyle Coet has looked really good, but he's had some failures and crashes, some heartbreak. And ⁓ Schumacher has been professional out there, I guess. But he does not look fast, and it's really disappointing.
I was hoping that Mick would do well, but ⁓ not so great. ⁓ every week we do winners and losers, so let's talk about some winners. Alex Pelow, of course, is a winner, and so is Kyle Kirkwood. Felix Rosenquist won the 500, so you gotta be a winner for that.
David Malucas has been hasn't won a race, but he's a winner in the standings because he's doing so well. ⁓ he's the top Penske guy. ⁓ Christian Lundgaard won a race and he's a winner because he's the only one at McLaren that won a race.
And I think everybody expected him to be the second best driver at McLaren. So and then ⁓ Joseph Newgaryn's won two races and he's looked good doing it. So ⁓ losers, I think Rasmussen, I I I hate to keep beating up on the guy, but I can't believe he got a contract renewal because he's not been good.
Anyway, ⁓ Will Power has had a rough go. Scott Dixon, I don't want to call him a loser, but he's fallen in the points. So maybe we'll see some action from him. And then Mick Schumacher, he is a loser.
He's in last place. So he's got to be calling a loser. So next week, the series is at Road America, which is one of my favorite racetracks. It's a great one to watch on TV, but it's a really great one to attend.
⁓ if you do attend, it's a great place to watch. It's a great place to see the teams, it's a great place to see the pits, it's a great place to eat because I've never had racetrack food as good as I've had at Road America.
I personally won't be there. I've attended a lot of races already this year, and I'll be celebrating Father's Day in Florida with my family, but you know darn well I'll be watching every session and of course the race from the couch.
So ⁓ I will probably do a race preview where I do an analysis of past years and tell you which drivers to watch. ⁓ really think last race I was spot on with which drivers will have an interesting race, and I think I can give you that as well.
So look for the Indy Car Dad podcast. You'll find it on YouTube, all the podcast networks, and then you can find me as IndyCar Dad on TikTok and Instagram. So thanks for following. I hope to see you at the races.
About this episode
Mid-season IndyCar update rolls through the latest points picture, calling out how DNFs impacted Will Power and Christian Rasmussen. The host also reacts to Felix Rosenquist’s Indy 500 win, describing it as the best he’s ever seen. Road America is next on the schedule, and the host shares that he won’t be there in person—he’ll watch every session and the race from home. He also plans a driver-focused preview with analysis of past years.
The mid-season check-in for the IndyCar season reveals a highly competitive series with multiple drivers contending for the championship. Standout performances, surprises, and disappointments have shaped the season so far, setting the stage for an exciting second half.
Takeaways
Highly competitive season
Standout performances and surprises
Chapters
00:00 Upcoming Race at Road America and Conclusion
