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MP 1689: The Week In IndyCar, Listener Q&A April 8 2026
MP 1689: The Week In IndyCar, Listener Q&A April 8 2026
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About this episode
Marshall Pruett’s IndyCar listener Q&A covers Pato O’Ward’s rough Barber weekend, explaining how missed qualifying and getting shuffled back hurt his race while Christian Lundgaard’s car looked more capable forward. The discussion then shifts to Alex Palou’s dominance—speed, tire management, and especially a low error rate—plus why Penske’s 2026 results still look strong despite some setbacks. Tire strategy questions (reds vs alternates, heat cycles, qualifying tactics) lead into sponsor/livery rules and the in-car camera debate. The show closes with schedule consistency, Renus Veekay’s road-course hopes, and DC race expansion talk.
Topics:
pato o'ward barber struggles
alex palou dominance and low error rate
why consistency beats raw speed
penske 2026 performance check-in
renus veekay road course seat chatter
indycar tire strategy heat cycles
qualifying on alternates vs primaries
sponsor/livery rotation and funding
in-car camera controversy for palou
indycar schedule consistency and byes
Cars:
Dodge Challenger
It's The Week In IndyCar Listener Q&A show, which uses listener-driven comments and questions covering a variety of topics submitted by open-wheel fans via social media.
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"...ause he is looking like the best rival consistent challenger to unseat polo alex has proven he can be a champi..."
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Welcome to the Marshall Pruitt Podcast, and your week in IndyCar listener Q&A.
Still have over a week to go until we get rolling again at Long Beach, but indeed, oh boy.
So thankful to have had the ability to downshift after five straight weekends of racing dear
friends for those being IndyCar Weekends, one of them being IMSA and the mobile one
in 12 hours of seabring, but nonetheless, really awesome to not have a motor race to
cover last weekend.
Or this one.
Granted, I'd do this for a living, and I've done it for a long, long time.
So for those of you who just simply love racing and it's your number one favorite thing
in life, you're probably saying, moron, I wish there was a sixth week and a seventh
and why would you want to break?
So I totally get it.
Nonetheless, thanks to so many of y'all for the really awesome questions you sent in all
gathered by our super extra pal, Jerry Siddoth and his wife, Aaron, who put them together
for us.
So just big thanks to y'all.
Decided to sit on the questions that came in coming out of Barber and do them here
at the start of this week, recording this on a Monday at about 6.15pm.
Why did I wait?
To be honest, I just wanted to fill the time a little bit.
So going to jump into your questions here in a moment.
Big thanks as always as well to our dearest, dearest pals at the Justice Brothers, makers
of just scrumtrelescent automotive chemicals, lubricants, cleaners, just all the good things
to make your race cars, road cars, trucks, anything motorized, really, really happy.
You might pay them a visit at JusticeBrothers.com and also our friends, longstanding friends,
first ever show partner.
Actually, they are our first.
Justice Brothers came on right after that, but our good, good pals from good old Canada,
Toronto Motorsports.com, purveyors of awesome motor racing memorabilia, t-shirts, hats,
some books, but mostly models, stickers, just cool stuff.
There's the IndyCar F1, you name it, TorontoMotorsports.com, then we have our own, the PruittStore.com, where
it's mostly older racing memorabilia.
Some t-shirts, some hats, a lot of books, magazines, just older things, things I've
collected along the way over the last 40 plus years in the sport, whatever it
might be.
Trying to get rid of a lot of that.
There's a ton more to add, all to put towards buying a house and now with an unwelcome friend
having made a return into our lives to cover medical costs.
So anyways, between JusticeBrothers.com, TorontoMotorsports.com, and my own, thePruittStore.com, hoping you might
find some URLs of interest.
So before I roll into your questions, I wanted to stop for just a second up front
on the topic of cancer making a return at home.
My wife, Chabelle, doing well.
She's the best, biggest fighter that I know.
That'll never change.
So, but more than just mentioning that, I want to just say thanks to the, can't even
count how many of y'all reached out, just been great supporters with kind words.
And those of you, the select few who have actually sent things in the mail and so need
to give a lot of love to Jerry Bundle, Miss Della as well, sent through some really sweet,
sweet and encouraging things.
And they have also encouraged some friends of theirs to do the same.
Some listeners of the show, Mr. Terrell Adams sent through via the Bundle family, just truly
beautiful.
Like I know this might sound strange, but in a world of DMs and emails and similar digital
communication devices and means, it's pretty amazing to get actual handwritten things
from really, really, really sweet people.
So anyways, between them, Jason Leverman just sent through the most beautiful thing, most
beautifully written item.
And we'll keep that to between us, but just, yeah, so many of y'all who take the time.
Joe Crowley, dear friend who happens to work in the sport, but just sitting here looking
at a bunch of amazing cards, handwritten cards, mailed.
It's maybe an older communication method, if not one of the original, I guess, after the
spoken word, but just so cool, so beautiful.
So I just wanted to stop up front and thank everyone and mention that between myself
and certainly my wife.
We are so, so appreciative of y'all.
So with all of that appreciation registered noted, and I believe firmly lodged, why don't
we go ahead and fire into the show here, going to kick off with Robert Chambers and
seeing the lizards also ask this according to Jerry.
Any idea what went wrong with Pato Award at Barber, both in qualifying and the race,
any underlying causes to his slower start this year.
So say the first item here, Robert, not specific to Pato, but the team, they just missed it entirely
at Barber for what we would expect from Aaron McLaren.
Christian Lundgaard qualified 10th, Pato 12th, and I think Nolan 15th, something like that,
which was actually really impressive for Nolan, but in the race, starting towards the back,
Pato simply got shuffled backwards and easiest way to portray this is the reason you don't
want to qualify at the back, near the back, midfield, anywhere other than up towards the
sharpest end is that is where calamity tends to happen.
You get hit, taken out, or you just don't have a lot of options on where to go to place
your car at the start of the race.
I realize that wherever you are, you have some choices true.
But if you're in that first row, maybe second row, you have more options.
When you're sitting on what the sixth row, definitely not as many.
So Pato rough start, got shuffled back a bit, and then just really struggled to make progress.
Compare that to Christian Lundgaard started just one row ahead of him, but he had a car
that was far more capable of going forward and he did.
So in Pato's case, for what we expect from him and the team, definitely missed qualifying
across all three cars, Christian certainly had a race car, something for the 90 lap itself
that was light years better than his teammates, able to do big things.
Pato though, for the reasons I just mentioned, things just went sideways for sure.
Would say a thing to keep in mind, this is just a little bit of a compare and contrast
to close on this, is you look to last year through the first four races and Pato finished
11th at St. Pete, second at Thermal was on pole there, right?
Did really well.
Alex Polo snuck at everybody and got by huge tired decision victory there with a
strategy re-employed by the Gnasi team, but Pato on pole finished second was 13th at Long
Beach and then 6th at Barber.
This year, keep in mind that we still have plenty of season to go, he is, except for
that kind of high watermark being on the podium at Thermal, realize that's no longer
there, but looking at what he has achieved across the first four races, he's actually
off to a better start than he was last year.
We look at where he finished fourth at St. Pete, I'm sorry, fifth at St. Pete, fourth
at Phoenix, fifth at Arlington, three straight top fives and that is not something that
he was able to do last year during the three opening rounds, had that great podium
at Thermal, but the other two finishes are actually outside the top 10.
So just noting that Pato is not off compared to say last year, things went super sideways
as we know finished 18th at Barber, but as a kind of first sample size, doing better
than 2025, the overarching item here though is last year really ended up being the beginning,
it was Ganassi and Dreddy and McLaren, and Dreddy fell out after just a little bit past
the halfway point, our guy Kirk Kirkwood just had a terrible second half of the season.
Penske was out to lunch more often than not, so just looking to how we are framing
Pato's year, he's doing better than he was at this stage last year, but we also have to say that
the Dreddy team that stumbled a bit towards the second half of 2025 and the Penske team
that was nowhere for almost the entirety of the season rallied towards the end
left a Ganassi McLaren fight, Palo on the championship, Pato was second. Coming into this
season as we have seen, Dreddy and Penske are not farting around y'all, they are right up front,
they are making life hard for everybody, Dreddy is leading the championship with Kirk,
Palos just a couple points behind in second, Lundgard now P3 on the basis of his strong
start to the season. Right, we've got this pretty interesting dynamic with
Malukas actually being the most consistent, call it best Penske driver across all four races,
if you've averaged his performances there, New Garden P5, Pato's sixth in the standing,
seventh he got McLaughlin, just Sharon, long call with Tony Kanan talking about this,
trying to figure this stuff out and his estimation, which I don't think is wrong, is
if we're judging them how they came out at 2025, McLaren is the second best team.
Naturally, we would expect them to stay there, do the same thing or better for them hopefully,
hasn't necessarily been the case, is that because they have truly taken a step back,
lost a step, I don't know if I see that so much as I see Dreddy just coming out,
so winging and then also Penske being a force that it absolutely was not at this time last year,
but just say and if you agree, great if not, blow off everything I'm about to say, but
I'm recalibrating Aaron McLaren, you might recalibrate them a bit and Lundgaard sitting in P3,
really good start to the season, did the same last year, been on the podium twice,
Pato hasn't been far away, I would just say it's more the rise of the others making McLaren
look a little bit more average than they were last year than truly a boy, they are stumbling
out of the blocks. Craig Yarish, how are you Craig? Says, is Polo dominant because he's the
quickest and easiest on his tires or is it at least to some extent because his pit crew is better
and he usually chooses the right strategy? I ask, as Kirkwood was quicker in the Fast 12
and it looked like Lundgaard was going to come out ahead of Polo if not for that disastrous stop.
Yes, all the things you've mentioned are accurate, Polo is dominant because he is extremely fast,
he's gotten faster 2025 was really the big one year jump in outright
single lap performance, we'd never seen anything like that from him, he decided to push and do that,
so that was really cool. He is easier on his tires than just about everybody,
not necessarily everybody but just about everybody, there are quite a few races we've
seen Craig where he is the best in the field but there are times like at Barber where on the alternates
Alex went, I think it was 18 laps on new alternates and that seemed to be the high water mark
and then I took a look after the race and realized that Lundgaard went the same exact
distance and was as fast if not faster on those slightly more fragile alternate tires so
and there are others that can be as fast and as kind to their tires.
Pit crew for sure has been a huge asset for Alex, I'm not saying he's never had a problem on
Pit Lane while driving for Chip Ganassi in that number 10 Honda, I just can't think of any,
so again I'm I guarantee it's happened some point in time since he joins team went live in 2021 with
them but I can't, nothing comes to mind which tells me that it happens so infrequently that
it's just not a marker to set. The item though that I would say Craig there are two things
that make Polo a unicorn this could change our guy Kirkwood Lundgaard named some of the others
could match and exceed him this season be phenomenal if that was the case but the thing
Alex has been able to do it comes back to tires and that is being able to push whatever tires
he's on and seemingly should say seemingly factually doing a better job at a higher frequency
more consistent level of driving them up to the very edge of performance without tipping over to
abusing them and decreasing their life so written about that spoken about that for a few years now
of making up a percentage but seemingly the guy can go to 99.9 percent of those primary tires
capabilities or alternates on ovals as well on single compound if it's a single compound race
and get the most out of those tires for the duration of whatever they plan to do for that
stint length and extract the most performance from the start of that stint to the very end there are
others who can get higher performance by pushing to a hundred percent or beyond and you get crazy
blazing speeds but then they taper off way faster and your average start to finish speed in that
stint is down cranted nobody really does that anymore but their levels to who's better and best at it
the thing that separates Alex though from what I have observed and the thing that is just
fascinating to track is errors Greg that is the thing that separates Alex from seemingly everybody else
doesn't work perfectly right he still makes mistakes but he seems to make fewer than
everybody and there are races where he'll make a mistake and right we saw that at mid
Ohio last year gave the win away to Scott Dixon it certainly wasn't intentional he's a very nice person
possibly the nicest race car driver I've ever met but he's also not someone to give victories away
so he does make mistakes but it is by comparison to his rivals something that happens at a far
lower frequency so that's the thing so you take his natural speed in pushing to be even faster
you take his ability to live on that magical edge of performance entire life
and then you take his seemingly lower error rate
throwing his pit crew who are just fast and fast and fast and make so few mistakes
and it's dang near the perfect package this is the thing that
are there other drivers who are quicker over a single lap without a doubt
are there those who can do some things that are maybe more magical than him without a doubt
is there anybody that has proven this decade that they can go as fast without over consuming fuel
over consuming tires and make so few lap by lap mistakes
it's been nobody consistently in his realm that to me is where we're really really starting
to differentiate greatness right now so Scott Dixon living legend greatest of any active any car
driver will be remembered as one of the greatest of all time period end of statement we look at
some others who've achieved great things amazing things in the sport have won a indy 500 or a
championship or maybe two or whatever the number is but then you look at okay so it would appear
that you have the same speed as pillow maybe a little bit more the same like here's all these
things where you go if i am trying to come up with who has what and what's different seemingly
pillow is no different than so many of the top five top 10 indy car drivers
what makes this guy so dang hard to beat race and race out not necessarily just the ones that he
wins but where he's on the podium or second fourth fifth but just always there thereabouts
it comes back to that consistency with a absolutely ridiculous lack of errors so when
you're able to do all these things just to close at such a high high level but not trip yourself
up and set yourself back by a half spin lock in a break too much wheel spin and losing traction
and getting past overshooting your pit box under or shoot like this stuff is so insane
you me everybody else listening chuck us into an indy car and first of all we'd be
10 or 20 seconds a lap slower than any of the the great drivers 30 seconds right we'd be miles off
and we'd be missing apexes we'd be breaking too early breaking too it'd be
non-stop comedy of errors and then you realize well what is it that separates
a kirkwood pillow some of these who proving to be pretty dang consistent up front pato again
right dixon run through those who we expect to be running at the front of the championship
year in year out you go what makes them different than pick some of your other favorite drivers who
tend to be north end of the top 10 just outside the top 10 and they are in that spot
a little more often than they would want you go well there's something lacking could
be team based don't get me wrong right team certainly not going to be as good as one of the
top two or three teams in indy car but there's usually a reason some folks only have a couple of
wins they might get a championship but maybe not too they might get an indy 500 but not multiples
usually comes back to consistency with a lack of errors while achieving at a crazy high rate
in all the other categories so great question wanted to go a little bit deeper on that one craig
just because i have to acknowledge where is this excellence coming from all the factors that i've
mentioned he is not his own worst enemy too many of the other drivers that we love
we're being brutally honest pick the ones who come close often or have and are now struggling
to get close again there's usually some sort of thing that they are unable to repeat on a consistent
manner to execute at that highest level ed juris says in the pillow crossing the finish line shot
it looked like the track was littered with clag as barber become more abrasive and is that why
it turned out to be a primary tire race um not that i'm aware of main thing drivers were talking
about is cooler than expected which meant more downforce which meant cars were just flying
through the corners baked in downforce and usually when you have a of a break i guess abrasive
is a word but abrasive meaning something track wise that sticks up and would dig into a tire
that is usually a really happy thing where you get the clag the dig the marbles
tends to be when you have the tire sliding on top of the track surface and that is where
the grating effect so instead of it being abrasive and really sticking into the tire like velcro and
holding it tend to get something when it polishes a bit more becomes a bit more worn where there's
still obviously some grip but indeed it's not necessarily what you're asking about here it's
actually the opposite the tire is still being ground crazy hard across the track surface
there's just not necessarily the same amount of that velcro like grip and so you get the tires that are
being shaved grated uh each time through and that's where you tend to get the good old clag
uh chris collay what can you do and chris says what has happened to penski this year and last
um so let's separate this because penski of last year nothing like penski of this year
chris says i know new garden wanted phoenix and malukas had a top five at barber
but all their drivers used to have a chance at top tens as the fresh scrutiny on the team
led them to not being able to bend the rules as much um yeah i wouldn't say that at all chris uh
across the first three races they were looking pretty darn magic i mean i would say they've
looked really good across the first four races malukas obviously consistency being the topic killing
his left front tire into turn one with a super long brake lock up the tire bursting at saint
pete fell back to finish what 13th or so so that wasn't amazing new garden decent day for sure
7th is where he finished scott mcglacklin pole position and finished second
this was a alex polo runaway race and so i can't really fault penski or mcglacklin for
being on pole finishing second to open the season go to phoenix and had malukas on pole
so that's back to back penski poles to open the year um certainly did not have the scottie mac
amazing front running-ness as we would often come to expect knowing that he had crash and qualifying
also the first race with a new race engineer on an oval there uh been a little while since
engineers done ovals so things didn't go super extra wonderful there so i get that but still p8
not the end of the world uh malukas pole didn't end up winning but did finish third and new garden
has mentioned won the dang thing so pole position to start the season in scottie mac finishing second
so podium pole and podium uh phoenix pole two drivers on the podium victory uh arlington yet
another issue uh we had one at uh barber obviously with mcglacklin but joseph that really minuscule
looking boy that was a nothing burger of a crash poked a hole in the tub had to go to a backup
car still qualified in the firestone fast 12 which impressed the heck out of me going straight into
qualifying basically um and then yeah i mean this wasn't like the most amazing result for them but
looking at malukas finishing sixth joseph again uh didn't have a great race so understand that
he got knocked around um fair share so if not for getting hit by others i feel like he would
have had a much better finish and mcglacklin just uh yeah a bit of a not super amazing race for him
and then at barber uh second race in a row with having to go to a backup chassis between the second
practice session and qualifying uh so mcglacklin indeed who's kind of kicked a lot of butt there
just way behind ended up finishing what 15 16th in the race so that took him out wasn't able
to make the fast 12 uh and from their new garden yeah admittedly not an amazing event for him
and then malukas was p4 so i mean i hear you but this sure as heck is not what was happening
last year for them so yeah they have come out in 2026 i would say in a pretty darn strong
position uh barber being the first road course waiting to see how they and the other top teams
showed out and mcglacklin who was a rocket on friday uh obviously that big crash and then not
being able to qualify well really kind of sunk his fortune so i think they would have been far
better than they ended up proving to be had scott been able to not crash and to go qualify normally so
it seems to me like penske's doing really darn well and here we are heading to the
fifth race of the year next week at long beach a place where they have done very well joseph
winner there um and we have malukas sitting fourth in the standings uh what five ish points
behind lund guard new garden just a couple points behind davie malukas and mcglacklin
a little bit more of a challenging year so far than he would want but i think he's seventh in the
standing so i'll take fourth fifth and seventh in the championship uh at this stage for them
let me just pull this up just out of sheer curiosity to see where they were after four
races last year and my computer is giving me the middle finger which isn't totally abnormal
but let me turn that off i'm going to pause that i'm just going to leave this in by the way if
you're really bored this is time to hit the 2x or 10x button but let's pull open last year 2025
after four races how did things look with their drivers were they fourth fifth and seventh in
the standings all right the answer to the question is scott mcglacklin was fifth will
power was ninth and joseph new garden was 11th so fifth ninth and 11th versus fourth fifth
and seventh i feel pretty good about where they're at and it does feel like malukas who's really been
the instant performer i would say of the year chris new team new seemingly everything
and someone i didn't expect to really kind of get locked in until indy at the earliest totally
wrong uh he's been stupefyingly impressive um would this kid being on pole and or winning
long beach surprised me not at any way so you'll like scrutiny and whatever else i don't know if
it's a thing my friend i think they're in pretty good shape uh at mok motor sport says as a renus
v k fans or any hope you can get a top seat he says there's two races already where he is
unbelievably fast on the primary but can't with the team can't find pace on the alternates
and this is an important year it is i would say yeah uh spoke with one team owner after the checkered
flag i spoke with a couple team owners after the checkered flag very briefly at bar bird
renus's name was mentioned by one team that could have a prime seat open for next year
and i was sorry i'm losing my voice for no reason again and i was told uh that yes renus is
someone they are definitely looking at so
only other thing i'd mention here not meant in a meant to be critical it's just being honest
anything that renus does that's positive at the hunkos hauling a racing team
reflects very wonderfully on him anytime he does not do things that are amazing
he's in a pretty a pretty fortunate situation where it's been a little while since any team in
indycar has looked to hunkos hauling a racing in expected significant results connor daily obviously
impressed the snot out of folks last year on the ovals so i get that renus we know monster on ovals
we expect him to be that guy on ovals the team does not carry any expectations to impress
on road courses or street courses so just say that it is an important year for renus just like last
year was year before anything that he does where you go hey stand up and take a look at that i think
folks are going to put that down to him anytime they miss the mark which i think if you look to
barber you know did well same with arlington right finished what 14th or so 15th something like that
would say that folks are going to put that on the team for those who are looking at him and
quote shopping i think he's in a pretty enviable position where almost no blame is going to
be put on him if a result outside of the ovals doesn't really make anyone pay attention
jeremiah moral how you doing jeremiah congrats again to you and your wife sara and your first
baby on the way jeremiah says if there was an indy car draft like the nfl has and a team could
take three drivers who would the top three picks be says would it be pillow award and kirkwood
would it be dixon power and lund guard he says another way looking at this if a team could
pick three drivers who would they take if everyone was a free agent oh this is awesome i love this
would also say and i don't do this too often on the show but if you're accessing this via a social
media platform compared to pod bean the native host leave a comment like truly would love to hear
who your top three drivers assuming all 25 are free agents give us your top three in that draft
would say that you have my three in your six suggestions here jeremiah uh pillow i think
that's an obvious that if he's not p1 for everybody then we need to talk just because the
guys want three championships in a row four in the last five like there's nobody better at the moment
our guy kirk kirkwood p2 for sure uh he has been proving increasingly by each year
last year fourth in the standings year before that seventh uh he's leading the championship
this is not only the first time that he's done that but he's now done this for multiple races
nobody's done that to pillow in a super long time going to long beach a place that he torched last year
the guy has just torched a lot of things on street courses so he's going to his bread
and butter no one should be surprised if kirk wins at long beach again but i'd say kirk for
sure because he is looking like the best rival consistent challenger to unseat polo
alex has proven he can be a champion been in the series slightly longer than kirk
kirk to me is showing he had he was shown at last year showing glimpses of the year before
and even the year before that but i see the same thing between the two of them uh it's taken in
dready a little while to catch up to ganassi but it's looking like we have a reason to believe
we can go to road streets and ovals at least short of an expect parity uh equal opportunity
between them to win see what the indianapolis 500 says but i would say polo should be everyone's
p1 kirk wood for me is second in that draft and then i'm going dixon and that's because
and i'm sure that there are some younger drivers who might stand out as ones to pick right like
lundgaard pato and so i've got it i'm choosing dixon so related unrelated all right it's totally
unrelated super happy dance at home today angel reese traded by the chicago sky bit of
a dumpster fire of a wmba team last year in particular angel traded to the atlanta dream
big fan of angels have been for a long time they'll talk about it much just because i don't
know i don't really find anybody else uh within my motor racing space that's a huge wmba fan but
been a massive fan of the wmba since the debut season um stoked to see angel reese headed to the
dream why is that it's not that she didn't it's not that she totally lacked veterans at chicago
sky but for where she's headed young player going to a team with some well-established badass
mvp mvp caliber like angel with all the crazy talent she has never really had a big sis to
help coach her tune her up get the best out of her so we're doing the happy dance at home
wife and i love her um this is the scott dixon play know that dixie's again twilight of his career
mid 40s got all that looking at a pillow he's clearly received all the best that dixon has to
offer he is the example of natural talent paired with great work ethic great curiosity and
one of the all-time greats as a teammate who's willing to download improve coach tune up big
brother type situation kirk wood i didn't really had that um will power coming in power loves him
kirk loves power it's amazing but if we had to look at drafting that top three just to close
i would chuck dixon in there not only for all this amazing skills can go beyond poli dindy win
that race win other races can do all those things still so still an elite performer
but then just strictly the ability to continue be that benchmark for pillow to learn from and
there's always going to learn but specifically for kirk no one better in the series he could learn
from never really had throughout his career a big brother type scenario could you imagine
kirk wood with dixon to learn from in the same way as pillow how's this think of all that alex
has achieved with dixon right next to him all this data readily available everything to learn
from be a sponge from think of kirk more or less never had that uh since he's gotten to and ready
realize that marcus erickson certainly passing on things but marcus has never really had to be
the big bro type kirk's never had that and look how well he has done in his doing
imagine what this guy could be with a dixon also can't wait to see where he'll be at the
end of the year with the influence of a power it's going to be more if he ends up winning the
championship there will be a lot of hugs and everything between himself and power because
i know without a doubt how much he loves working with power and how much of an influence will
has just been in a matter of a couple of months anyways that's my answer and i'd love to hear
your thoughts and i'm going to move on to the next question and off we go mark founds says love the way
that ecr and their cars look the driver's last name and flag of nationality on the center spine
the rear half of the car that would be the good old engine cover says think we get indy car to
mandate that approach for all teams and drivers to help the fans especially the more casual ones
looking at the spotters guide most cars have these spaces empty and very few have minor sponsored
decals what are your thoughts totally with you mark um this is one of those things where i have
to remove myself from any vast insights i do this for a living so knowing the cars knowing the
numbers knowing the liveries it is genuinely part of my job and so for me i don't need those things
but that doesn't mean anything because it's my job to know all these things
we'll admit i still have to check every now and then i get lost a little bit between rossi
being in the 20 and razz being in the 21 sometimes in my head i get those uh switched
and i'm sure there's some other i still get a little confused with hunko's hauling or racing
the primary car was the number 77 for so long the second car was a 78 those two have been stepped
down one number so i'm still having to make little mental checks but for the most part
if i'm a fan and i do not live and breathe this stuff to a silly degree every day
i would be bewildered mark as to who the hell is in what from race to race
and as a great number of folks mentioned on this specific topic
yeah like double headers wtf y'all like saturday it raced as a blue car and then on sunday
it's a red car and huh or pick other colors but like you're changing sponsors mid weekend
what so yeah i'm with you um if nothing else excuse me as i try to get my voice back
if nothing else having something on that center spine on the engine cover
i also wonder with the new car coming could they do an even more pronounced spine
back i think it was i don't know if it was 1997 i feel like it might have been 98
and i don't remember if it was dalara or g-force this was the good old indy racing league
but they introduced what was termed the fan fin and on the engine cover we'd seen this in
the cart indy car series done purely for aerodynamic reasons uh but added basically a little fin
if your person who watches imsa for example the gtp cars lmp2 they have these ginormous
fins that take up all the engine cover go it's a massive plank standing vertically
that's actually done for aerodynamic stability in a spin so it's for safety reasons so this
wasn't anything that big but there was this little kind of duck fin thing that sprouted off towards
the back of the engine cover they called it the fan fin and i seem to recall a lot of teams putting
car numbers there i think one of the i think when it came out i was with the
genoa racing thomas nap team i think that's what we did it's been a long time y'all so i'm not
totally remembering but it was an attempt to standardize hey let's put numbers in the same
ish place don't believe there's anything related to driver names but i'm with you here because yes
i don't know how many different sponsors graham ray hall will have on that number 15 ray hall in
mainland again honda but i'm sure it's going to be five to ten
pillow i don't know how many they have but i'm guessing four to five maybe by the time the season's
over run through some other teams who go through who have multiple sponsors because they aren't
fortunate enough to have a single sponsor who pays for everything that's the norm that's the
confusing part so love the idea and if i remember if i don't forget to remember mark i will ask
indy car about this and whether they think it's possible with the new car related item here following
up patty juday she says that 12 verizon car now with malukas and before with power a steady
verizon rap both scottie mac and joseph's cars rotate with different main sponsors for the
different races does verizon pay more to be the main sponsor how does that work and patty is one of
many many of y'all who sent through super sweet things she says special prayers going up for your
beautiful wife thank you patty um yeah so difference here between i guess coming back to that
fortunate to have a single i wouldn't pretend to know what team penske's financial composition
looks like how things do or don't get paid for meaning are the sponsors that we see on the cars
all entities who send actual dollars to team penske for indy car how many of them
have some sort of business to business deal which is as we know many of them with penske
entertainment slash penske corporation through rogers many many car dealerships right oil brand
sponsoring a car is part of that deal something where they are the exclusive supplier of oil to
all dealerships or some of the dealerships and that's a huge sale and for that company but
is there a discount and run through the realm of possibilities with all the different sponsors
you see on joseph's car scottie's car and guarantee you some of them are straight
sponsor deals are all of them indy car specific or do some of them have strands say it's a
sponsor who also wants to be involved in penske's nascar program at what tier in nascar over the
years got a sports car programs are any possible connections there a lot of the questions here
and again i'm i wish i could just provide a single answer patty but for the joseph and scottie cars in
particular coming back to that livery rotation we see a heck of a bunch taking place and so
we know some if not a decent amount of them some form of business to business deal
and sponsoring the cars is part of that bigger deal
where that money ends up how it gets divvied up again i don't pretend to know on the verizon side
we tend to see and have seen that be a really consistent thing with the 12 car so i assume
their business deal is indeed a business e1 i am also aware that verizon has other connected
aspects within penske entertainment indianapolis motor speedway being one of them i don't know if
and where else verizon is involved in penske's hemisphere but i would say to your point it
gives the impression that verizon is primary singular i guess it's another wireless company
from back of the day with a letter c in front singular with an s sponsor for the car
i can't tell you how money gets exchanged but yeah i think you're on to something there
clear with the other ones though it is a myriad of funding solutions and boy if i were a
motor racing accountant this one would probably make my head spin uh donna la cagnina how are
you donna this is some tire questions if red alternate tires are usually the preferred
compound then why do drivers use black primary tires for their bank or lap during qualify so
awesome question need to think of the alternate tires the red banded alternates
99 of the time they have a shorter lifespan
need to use those in the race
their lifespan and also true peak competitiveness really a function of heat cycles
think about how many times you heat up a tire and then let it cool down
you heat it up you go for x amount of laps practice whatever it might be qualifying simulations
you come in you stop make whatever change to the car refuel it and so on
tires go out ambient temperature whatever that might be driver goes very quickly for x number of
laps bring up a lot of heat into those tires driver comes back to pit lane sits might even
be a short period that they sit but those tires cool down a bit whether it's all the way or halfway
from where they were to start called a heat cycle heat cycling is something you want to keep to a
minimum the more heat cycles into a tire the more worn out they will become the less effective
less competitive they will be and so knowing that you're wanting to minimize the heat cycling
on the alternate tires the red banded tires because they are kind of acknowledged sense
the most sensitive to losing performance lasting a shorter amount of time with the more they get
used heat cycling is something that the primary tires the more robust tires without the colored
band just the black tires as you mentioned those are more capable to withstand those heat cycles
before truly dropping off so it's really a case of two things minimizing heat cycles
since that takes away from duration the longevity of the tires also the more laps you're turning the
more heat cycling you're putting on tires you're also losing their maximum performance so that's
the reason why we're just strictly thinking about rodent street course qualifying where the
absolute peak performance from those alternate tires is what folks are looking for especially
in the second round of qualifying and then possibly going to a new set of alternates they get into the
fast six you are wanting to minimize the amount of laps you put on those alternates you're also
wanting to minimize the number of heat cycles you put into them so that's why you see teams
going out and putting in a quote banker lap really going as fast as they can on these sturdier
alternate up primaries even though they won't be as perfect in turning maximum lap times
and then once the car is warmed and ready and the drivers in rhythm it's something we need to
acknowledge most drivers need you know a lap or two maximum attack getting themselves fully
tuned up ready to be that peak performer it's much wiser to do so on the tires that are say
a little more durable a little more expendable than the ones that are more fragile and definitely
going to react in a much worse manner to multiple heat cycles that's why you often see Donna
shouldn't say often it's not uncommon to see drivers midfield tail end drivers really maybe
they've had a good practice session on Friday maybe they've had a good second practice as well
feeling like they could maybe squeeze into the fast 12 one of those rare times where they might
be able to do that during the season not totally uncommon to see them roll out into open practice
the i'm sorry the first round of qualifying on reds on the alternates and just go
maximum attack and then use possibly another new set if they can get through into the fast 12
right to do something there as well and it's kind of a hope and a prayer where and for the the
drivers who we love who we know usually are not bothering the firestone fast 12 on the weekends
where it's looking really good and feeling like they just might be able to scrape in
you'll see them maybe they'll go out briefly on the primary tires just to make sure get everything
warm just make sure everything's good but then instead of waiting to the last minute or two
like everyone else in their group they'll jump on them right away and really try and get after
it get in quick lap and push and push and push and hopefully make it through and then
burn another set if they do make it through just to try and right give themselves the best chance
possible all while knowing this is maybe the one maybe two times in the year that that would be
possible and they just intentionally burn through the faster alternate tire resource in qualifying
understanding that in the race they're going to get mollywopped so heat cycles for sure
and then just simply minimizing laps on those fragile don't have much of a peak and they don't
last very long alternates that's why you see primaries used or banker labs don also says
our teams required to use a sticker set of reds and a sticker set of blacks at least per race
they are this year you've had a change to the regulations for street courses the
six street courses where teams are required drivers are required to use
alternate tires the reds twice in each street course race but there's no mandate of new
so they don't say you have to use new that way just a case of use the alternates as you so
choose in the race but you've got to use two different sets and so this is where in particular
your first question really locks into the second one arlington saint peat coming up here at long
beach then detroit then mark them then washington dc and i'm sure i'm forgetting another one but
we have a situation where with the requirement to use two sets of alternates in the race
this is where teams are being very choosy of how many sets of alternates they use in qualifying
how many laps they turn on them no for sure that with this double alternate tire usage for reds
in the race had some strategists say for sure if we can get into the fast six
but we're not super confident that we have a car to be on pole we're probably not going to throw
another new set of alternates at the car we'll just use the used set coming out of the
second round what we used in the fast 12 to get into the fast six we'll just stick with that
if you have teams who are like hey this is looking like it's going to be an alternate race a
red race and can get in to the fast 12 they might say you know what we're going to try and just do
our fast 12 running on primaries not even go to the alternates we know we're going to qualify 12
we're going to be last but we are saving a couple of sets of new alternates for the race which
is going to help us perform even more so no mandate saying they have to be new but definitely
for the street courses pretty cool to see teams making pretty significant decisions while qualifying
is happening trying to dictate the quality of their raciness on Sunday as I have a hiccup here
um let's see and then Donna closes a couple of questions must teams return at least one set to
Firestone after practice at every track that is the case with the alternates that they are allowed
to use on Friday but that's really the only situation I recall same with rookies who are
allowed to get an extra set they have to return those at the end of Friday why is that required
try and limit the alternate running to just Friday that's why IndyCar has done this modified
scheduling for Fridays where they have everyone running 40 minutes then they stop and split
into two 12 minute groups to give teams less busy tracks so it's half the cars for the first 12
the other half the other 12 and that is really meant to be all right we're giving an opportunity
to get tuned up on the alternate tires on Friday do your simulation work overnight get
yourself ready for qualifying on Saturday um and then oh well that's sweet of you Donna
closes by saying thanks for keeping us up to date even while you're keeping up with challenges at
home that's sweet of you um all right gonna fire through the last couple of questions here and then
say good night um Chris Hoffman says he mentioned before that your wife is from Alabama is a
restaurant or meal you like to enjoy while you're in town for the IndyCar race that reminds
you of your wife well no and there's a reason and that's because well Alabama like many southern
states well known for barbecue in particular and lots of um flavorful ways of cooking
animals uh my wife has been for the most part vegetarian vegan ish for just about as long
as I've known her now granted um you know there's some when I was a younger person I heard it described
as a beady eyed vegetarian meaning fish poultry that kind of thing so that's more of of what we
eat at home but yeah for the most part what we would consider to be more traditional southern
cuisine um she definitely has southern infused way of of cooking but not the kind of stuff I would
find at a restaurant there or anywhere else so unfortunately no now doesn't mean I don't enjoy
more southern barbecue when I'm in southern states it just has no real tie to uh what I might find
at home uh Kevin Hardesty says no you couldn't get to Arlington but what have you heard I want
two friends of their first live race and they loved it I was impressed with the facilities and the
track layout also talked some locals who had a blast any word and if Arlington will be back
on the schedule next year yes without a doubt um this was always meant to be a multi-year deal
Kev so yes without a doubt uh I'll be there next year and I'll look forward to hopefully seeing you
Vincent Martinez says I'd love to see a story on how a new track layout is decided on
I would love to see that too Vincent um unfortunately I'm not taking orders on what to write
at the moment um but I appreciate your interest and if such a thing is a thing that a client
wants then gosh darn it I will indeed write that thing uh Tyler Wong says do you see any chance of
any car expanding into the northeast uh even more if the Washington DC race becomes successful
I do might have mentioned I think I mentioned it could be wrong but after the Phoenix race
the series told me conversation there with one of the executives that there's already been
inquiries from DC saying hey I know you haven't held a race here yet but we'd love to talk about
you coming back so don't know if it would be in District of Columbia proper or the DMV area in
general or who knows but yes I would have to say that even without that assuming the Freedom 250
is a good race well received entertaining this should open a lot of eyes to indie car being a
series a thing to want to bring back only little caveat here to mention is we know that with the
very late timing of this being approved and added as the 18th race
so they're gonna have granted there's a lot of call it pre-production work done before this was
announced but from the actual it's gonna happen it's gonna be in what eight months or so of non-stop
intensive work if there's going to be a we're gonna stay in the DC area and do something
at a different street layout because this one is not meant to happen a second time
like that's gotta get going pretty soon so even though the first race there hasn't been held Tyler
if it were to be DC DMV area in general like this has to get cooking right about now or
very very soon for it to be a yes and we can fit it in without everyone just exhausting
themselves and collapsing type scenario if it's at a existing racetrack name the place
somewhere in New York are you know oval road course it's a lot easier to activate but still
these conversations will need to be happening and moving along here pretty darn soon
Lance Snyder you got a question about LED wheel guns the little video feature with
IMSA on that with the Martian racing team asking if that's happening with LED wheel guns
can we get LED panels back on the car yes thank you for keeping that alight
let's see Sterling Wilson says indy car got off to a hot start with three consecutive race weekends
we're now hitting a period of several by weeks will we ever get to a place of consistent races
as many as 24 no on 24 I don't think we'll see that in my lifetime unless you start doing a
bunch of double headers but actual 20 to 24 unique tracks doubtful we're going to get there
NASCAR is the big raging successful monster and they have a bunch of races but that's because
they're a big raging successful monster and they also stay pretty tight geographically
indy car bouncing all over coast to coast road streets ovals three different types of ovals
somewhat limited into where they can race geographically right realize that indy car
starts the season off in st. Petersburg Florida end of february beginning of march
still really cold and snowing and or freezing most places in the country so where does it go next
southwest to phoenix is the next place otherwise it's usually been a big break and a big wait until
weather turns and go somewhere else so a little bit different opportunities here for NASCAR
with their size and popularity being able to do so many races go to a lot of places
in the country where it's warmer on those ovals some that they own but in general just a lot easier
for them to have a lot more races to me that's just something to accept that until indy car gets
to that place still needs tracks to go to that would fit that kind of unbroken ish string
I don't see it as too much of an issue here sterling 18 races they'll have this year
it's a big rush in the beginning right four races from five weekends then to close the year I think
it's five races and five weekends there's a doubleheader in there I apologize and maybe I'm
getting my count wrong but I mean the front end the back end it's a bunch of seemingly almost
non-stop racing it's a little softer in the middle but back in the indy car series days
when it was the popular most popular and or close ish still to NASCAR yeah 18 20 races I think slightly
over maybe but was never 24 26 anything like that so consistent I feel like what they've
happened upon here is pretty darn good the only thing I don't like is this single race in April
that part does seem like it could break the momentum but again we'll have to see what long
beaches ratings look like and then the indy grand prix again to see if those two are down
granted last year's long beach was terrible so this year's seemingly can only be up
from a rating standpoint but I hear you if I had to trade the one race to start the
year and then waiting weeks and weeks and weeks and folks forgetting about indy car and
then coming back towards the end of March or early April I'd rather do things the way they are right now
and have a little bit of a break and then charge through May late April indy open test indy GP
indy 500 Detroit I am not mad at what they have right now um Lynn underscore indy car you're
going to close the show here Lynn is what is your take on alex plow not having an in car
camera it continues to be a controversy my take I have no problem with him not having one
the team doesn't want one to show what line he is taking when he is breaking and etc it is
they're right the car is on television I love that approach here Lynn I don't disagree it's
interesting to talk to some drivers and ask them some things that I know other drivers talk about
or will readily answer and from time to time I'll get drivers who say appreciate you ask but I don't
want to talk about that how they do something how they approach something could be a technical
thing could be a mindset thing whatever it is it's something where the driver feels like hey
hey this is unique to me I don't want to share it could benefit someone else I don't know if
it actually would but I don't even want to open that up so someone to go oh he does this thing in
this way or has this mental approach or viewpoint whatever it is I feel this is unique I'm not
sharing it fair point I have the same mindset here Lynn where first thing I'm told an in car camera for
the year costs three hundred and eighty five thousand dollars that number is slightly off I
apologize but that's what I was told when I asked a team owner about it a team owner who pays for
one a couple of weeks ago so whatever the exact number is it's not too far away from four hundred
thousand American dollars that's a lot of money believe that Fox has a roaming camera it will
offer to put in cars so there's that possibility would have to assume they've offered it
would also assume it's been turned down from Palo's car but I'd just share a couple of quick
things here about this three gonna ask you cars one of them Scott Dixon is PNC bank car PNC's been
on that car for many years full season sponsor as consistent as can be Kiffin Simpson has Sonoko
this year's had other sponsors a year before by their family funded or family related business
funded well funded Palo's car this is not something the team tries to put too big of a spotlight on
but written about it before spoken about it's not a secret even though Alex has won multiple
championships in a row and is the best driver in any car currently based on results with all
that aforementioned success they have not been able to sell all races on that car to sponsors
for years come into the season with whatever the number is sold 12 or 13 of the 17 races maybe
14 but coming in where there's still some races that have not been sold don't know the reason
why again I don't have an answer to the why I can just tell you that it is a fact
so that to me stands out as a potential not something I would say is an excuse but
you're coming into a season knowing that on average an Indy car annual budget per entry
8 to 10 million creeping more towards 10 if not above it's only getting more expensive
and you do not have the car's sponsors sold found for every race
in my head I'm not signing up to spend nearly 400,000 dollars unless I know for sure I've
got a sponsor signed or multiple whatever it is but the full years budget locked in beforehand
if not locked in for multiple years just my own take I wouldn't sign up for one
then you have the competitive part where you go okay clearly the guy is really special
I would not be doing a dang thing to make it easier for anyone to see whatever it is that he does
there's the there's the part that his critics or the team's critics maybe leave out so finish on this
so while you do not have alex palo in car camera footage for rival teams to watch dissect
benchmark through visual means how he turns the car stops the car how he does some of the
things we spoke about in craig's question up front about what makes him special every team
for many years now through the sharing of onboard data which goes to the broadcasters
every team has every other teams I'll just call it primary data right zillions of
data channels on the car so I'm not talking the little wonky abstract ones but throttle brake
steering speed
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