“Gateway” is the name of a race track where IndyCar races happen. Like other tracks, strategy—like when to pit and how to handle cautions—can make a big difference.
A yellow flag means there’s danger on the track. Cars have to slow down and be ready for something to happen, so it can completely change race strategy—especially when deciding whether to pit.
“Pit open rules” are the race rules that say when teams are allowed to pull into the pits. If the rules open up during a caution, teams may have to pit at a different time than planned, which can swing the race.
Ganassi is the name of a racing team in IndyCar. The hosts are saying that all of their cars got caught up in the same strategy moment during the race.
“Stretch their fuel” means trying to make the fuel last longer than expected. Drivers do it by driving a bit more gently, but if it doesn’t work, they can lose the race because they’ll have to pit or run out.
A pit stop is when the race car pulls into the pits to refuel and/or change tires. How fast and when it happens can decide who wins because it affects track position.
Milwaukee is being mentioned as another race location on the calendar. The point is that there’s another event coming up, and it’ll be interesting for the championship picture.
The Indy 500 is one of the biggest races in American open-wheel racing. The hosts mention it because they’re talking about drivers who can do well on ovals and also want to prove themselves on road courses.
A street course is a race track made from regular city streets. Because the walls and barriers are close, it’s usually harder to drive aggressively without risking contact.
Permanent road courses are built specifically for racing, not adapted from city streets. They’re usually more consistent and forgiving than street tracks, so some drivers feel more comfortable pushing the car.
Toronto is referenced as a street-course stop in the IndyCar calendar, contrasting with permanent road courses. Street circuits typically have tighter confines and less forgiving run-off, which can change how drivers approach setup and driving style.
Fuel mileage is basically how efficiently the car uses gas. If a driver can stretch fuel longer, they may be able to pit less or avoid risky fuel calculations near the end of the race.
Long Beach is a famous street-race event where the track is set up on city streets. The hosts mention it to show the driver has been doing well even on street circuits.
“Yellows” are caution periods in a race when something is happening on track. Cars slow down, and that can change when teams decide to pit and how much fuel they use.
Teams plan how much gas they need to finish the race. The “fuel number” is the amount they’re aiming to have left at a certain time so they can pit at the right moment.
The pit lane is the special area next to the track where teams stop to service the car. If you pit at the wrong time, you can lose positions because you’re stuck there while others keep racing.
Road America is a famous race track with a long, twisty layout. Because it’s long, strategy—like when to pit and how cautions affect fuel—can matter a lot.
“Chaos cauldron” is a colorful way to say the race is likely to get messy and unpredictable. When cautions and strategy surprises pile up, anything can happen to the running order.
Pole position means you start the race from the very front. It’s usually earned by being fastest in qualifying, and it helps because you get track position right away.
When it’s wet, tires don’t grip as well and the track can feel different from one corner to the next. That forces teams to adjust their plan, especially around when to change tires.
They’re using Indianapolis as an example of a place where rain doesn’t hit the whole track the same way. That makes tire and strategy decisions much harder.
“Taking tires” means stopping to change tires. In rain, the timing matters because the wrong moment can leave you stuck with tires that don’t grip well.
David Malukas is a race car driver. They’re talking about how he’s doing this season with Penske and whether his results should be judged harshly or fairly.
New Garden is Josef Newgarden, a race driver. They mention he has already won twice, and that helps explain how rough the rest of the season has been for him or the team.
The timing stand is where officials set up the computers and sensors that measure each car’s lap times. Teams use that information to understand who’s fast and to plan strategy.
In motorsport, “strategy” is the plan for how to race over the whole event—most importantly when to pit, how to manage tires/fuel, and how to respond to competitors. It’s often driven by timing gaps and track position rather than just outright speed.
IndyCar is a major U.S. open-wheel racing series. It’s designed so cars are fairly evenly matched, which often leads to tight competition and strategy battles.
“Massage the rules” means the series tweaks the rulebook. The goal is usually to keep racing fair and prevent one team from getting too much of an advantage.
In turbocharged racing, boost is the extra air pressure forced into the engine to increase power. When the boost is “limited,” the series is effectively reducing how much turbo pressure (and therefore power) the engine can produce, often to reduce failures.
Hybrid racing means the race car uses both gas power and electric power. The electric part can help the car accelerate, but the rules usually limit when it can be used.
A tech freeze is when the racing rules stop teams from making big technical changes for a while. It’s meant to keep things fair, but it can also make it harder to fix problems quickly.
Concept
mechanical breakdowns
Mechanical breakdowns are failures of physical components—like the engine, hybrid hardware, cooling systems, or driveline parts—that force a car to retire or limp. The hosts are connecting these breakdowns to why drivers dislike the hybrid system and why the series is changing limits.
“Push to pass” is a race rule that lets a driver briefly get extra power to help pass another car. It’s not something the team can freely tune—it's limited by the rules and usually comes with a set amount and time. Because it’s temporary, it can strongly affect race strategy.
The Honda Civic is a small car made for everyday use. The Civic Type R is the high-performance version, and the podcast is saying a race car version used the same engine as a production Civic Type R. That’s why they’re connecting what happens on the track to what you can drive on the street.
The Honda Odyssey is a minivan, which is a family vehicle with extra room for passengers and cargo. The podcast is saying that the race car they’re talking about uses the same basic engine design as the Odyssey you can buy. That’s why they connect the two—so you can see the link between racing and a regular family car.
The Honda Accord is a larger family car than a Civic, meant for comfortable everyday driving. In the podcast, they’re saying the topic they’re discussing is not the same thing as the hybrid system in an Accord. They’re using the Accord’s hybrid as a reference point so you don’t mix up two different ideas.
Term
IMSA WEP
IMSA is a major sports-car racing organization in North America. In this context, the host is referencing the WeatherTech-branded era of IMSA racing and saying that series like IMSA were moving toward new powertrain rules around the same time. It’s part of the “everyone is trending this way” argument.
The “hybrid era” means the time when race cars started using both gasoline (or fuel) and electricity together. That electric part can help with acceleration and energy management during the race. The host is arguing that, in practice, it may have made racing less enjoyable or harder to manage.
“Battery power” means the car stores electricity and uses it during the race. That electricity can help the car accelerate or supplement the engine. The host is linking it to the hybrid rules that have been shaping modern racing.
A “V8” is a type of engine with eight cylinders. Here, the host is saying the sport may switch back to that kind of engine after years of hybrid/electric systems. It’s basically about what kind of powertrain the race cars will use next.
A “V6 hybrid” is a car that uses a V6 engine plus an electric system. The electric part can add extra help when accelerating, but it also changes how the car’s power is managed.
OEMs are the big car makers that build the vehicles. In racing, they influence what technology the series uses because they want their brands and powertrains represented.
“Virtual energy” means the electric energy in a hybrid race car is being tracked and managed by the car and shown through indicators. It can be confusing because you can’t tell just by looking how much energy is left or being used.
WEC is a major endurance racing series where cars race for a long time. The point here is that the energy/hybrid stuff can be confusing if you’re not watching closely.
It’s a steering wheel that uses screens and electronics. Instead of only simple buttons, it can show information like settings and shift timing right on the wheel.
Horsepower is a way to describe how much power the engine makes. More horsepower usually means the car can accelerate harder, especially when you’re flooring it.
The Acura NSX is a high-performance car from Acura. Here, the discussion is about racing versions of the NSX competing in top IMSA prototype categories and winning titles.
A charter is basically a guaranteed spot/entry arrangement in IndyCar. It helps teams know they can keep racing without having to re-earn their place every year.
OTA in this context is about testing logistics—getting the car ready and running tests on schedule. It’s basically how teams arrange where and when they test.
At a race track, the paddock is the team area where cars are kept and worked on. It’s usually busy and close to where team stuff is happening, so the food spots there can get crowded.
The front stretch is the big main straight on the track, usually where the race starts and finishes. They’re saying you can walk under it to get to the next area.
LIVE
Welcome back race fans to another edition of the pitch straight. I'm Kyle Benjamin along with Alex against Tom Blackburn and Wyatt Watson. We are here discussing everything Indy car and road America related road America, the beautiful a fantastic racetrack.
America's national park of speed, et cetera, et cetera, beautiful part of the country in Wisconsin there, not to waste any time as we get started today.
We all agree it's Alex Palos championship to lose. Yes.
Yep.
Yeah.
How can you not at this point. How can you not exactly. So that begs the question. Who is his biggest threat.
Kyle Kirkwood's P two and points.
But is he having a championship caliber season. You could argue that perhaps he's stringing together good solid finishes.
But he's only got the one win. So what's it going to take to unseat below.
I think it is going to be Kirkwood. I think Kirkwood has a little bit more consistency than David Malukas does right now.
Though, even though as Kyle, you always like to point out the pit stops right for Andretti are always going to be a problem for that team.
But I do feel like he has been able to put it together much more consistently on road and street courses, which are really the biggest part of the schedule.
And if he's able to continue to do that and win and get in front, then I think he's really the best shot because I think Malukas and we might get to this.
He's put together a really good year. But has he really proven that he's a championship caliber driver yet.
I don't think so. You know, the old adage is you've got to lose one to win one. You know, I think he'll he'll get close.
You know, again, he's you've got to win. You've got to beat below at his own game, I think to become an Indy car champion.
And to this point, you know, Malukas has been close, but he's he's still dealing with not only learning a new team in Penske, but he's dealing with Penske being off their game.
New Gardens win at at Gateway aside, which really was more or less gifted to him after the rain and Erickson's issues with his tires and then Genasi rare, unforced error on across the team, all three cars ran out of gas.
When was the last time you saw that happen? Yeah, there's not like Penske's suddenly dominant. They got gifted a W.
Look, you know, for the first couple years of David Malukas's career, we were just like, he's going to win at Gateway eventually, he's going to win at another short oval.
And we are starting to see David Malukas come into his own in terms of being a very all around driver. He's still an oval ace before anything else.
But, you know, we look at he was out of the top 10 at St. Petersburg, he was in the top 10 in Arlington, Alabama, Long Beach, second place on the Indy road course, etc, etc.
But we're not talking about David Malukas being a threat to win week in and week out. And forgive me, but this isn't like NASCAR Speedway racing.
When a driver is going to pick up their first win and open wheel racing, we tend to see it coming up in advance.
And aside from being a third of a car length short of winning the 500, we haven't seen that winning pace and presence from Malukas consistently yet.
And he was behind Alex Polo. Everyone was behind Alex Polo at Detroit, but if it wasn't for a mixed humocker incident, we could be talking about him getting a top five potentially in that race too.
He was on the right strategy after all.
Battling between him and Kyle Kirkwood. Kirkwood is also a mile ahead of everybody too, so you would have had Polo Kirkwood and David Malukas in that order at Detroit as well.
It's going to come down to him winning, but I'm on the opposite fence of y'all. I still think he's going to get his win in 2026.
Gateway didn't go his way. Obviously he qualified well, but then the setup wasn't the right way for him in that race.
But again, like you said it, Alex, he was a third of a car length away from capturing the Indy 500.
I had him picked as the winner for that race and he showed out and was the most dominant guy, but probably between him and Polo in that race in terms of pace.
It's going to come to him. And like you said too with Indy GP, he was battling for the win with Christian Lungard, who was also desperate for a win.
Now you go to Road America, a track that Penske has had a good history at in the past when they're on their game.
I think Penske, more or less, is more on their game than they've been in the past, especially with New Garden having two wins on the season.
But Malukas himself, it's just going to take a complete weekend to beat Polo. And it's so tough to beat Polo in any of these natural road courses as it is.
But Malukas, I still think is one of those guys you can count on to get that done if he puts out together all weekend.
But not the challenge for the championship.
That's the question.
I still think he can get into this championship battle. We're only halfway through and he's only 68 points back.
There are nine races left.
Only 68 points back. Isn't that a sentence?
Well, what if he wins? What if Malukas wins?
Everyone was 150 points back by this time last year.
And they didn't win the championship.
We're close. There's a lot more players closer.
I grant you that.
I mean, if you could even say that Christian Lungard is kind of within shouting distance, 96 back.
He grabs a win or two.
Polo has an issue. He hasn't had a perfect season. He's got a DNF.
You know, they had the issues at Gateway.
You know, what should have been, he should have won that race.
Dayway?
Yeah.
Yeah, the best car had by far should have won.
But they ran, you know, due to, again, we could wax poetic about, you know, the, the yellow flag, pit open rules and all that,
which caught all three of the ganassi cars out.
But again, they tried to, you know, they tried to stretch their fuel just a shade too long.
You know, Polo has a, has a couple other, you know, couple other issues.
I think maybe you, you get Kirkwood or Malukas into the conversation.
You know, New Gardens only 104 back awards 103 back.
Couple wins and, you know, couple wins, couple, couple bottom of the top 10 finishes below.
We might actually, you know, we might be having a different conversation in a few weeks rather than like, oh, well, Alex is on his way to his fourth straight.
I've got to play the cynic though, because when we've seen that Polo is, is imperfect, let's say, and that the 10 team is vulnerable.
But we've seen Andretti be more vulnerable on pit stops way more consistently than we've seen, than we've seen Polo make Christian Lungard should have won Alabama pit stop.
It's just, it's, we're going to need more than Polo mistakes.
We're going to need Polo mistakes and perfection that we are not consistently seeing from anybody right now.
Yeah, but shout out to Andretti who put all three of their drivers inside the top 10 at gateway.
Who saw that coming?
Oh my gosh.
No, not me.
It's not at all.
Yeah.
Will, Will Power walks away with a top 10?
I think Erickson was.
Back twice.
Yeah, Danville didn't fall on.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's, it's ironic because pit stops got another team, as you mentioned, Kyle, but it, they really didn't get Andretti at this race.
So it's like, maybe they took the monkey and put it on somebody's else's shoulders and go from there.
It's possible.
I'm going to ask you.
They passed that, they passed that off to Optica Nasty.
But you know, Andretti and Penske, all three cars in the top 10.
And then you had, the top 10 at gateway was pretty diverse, which was good.
I, the rate, you know, we were a little concerned that the race might be a little meh because of the downforce and all that.
I thought it was a fantastic race, you know, minus the, the two red flags to rain.
But, you know, Rita's VK contending for the win.
Chris Rasmussen contending for the win.
Marcus Erickson, not exactly a career day because he's won the Indy 500.
But the best performance of the season so far for him, you know, gateway continues to deliver.
I think if you're going to have, continue to have double headers in the Indy car season, gateway deserves both of those races.
I agree.
I don't disagree with that.
Like, like we used to have a double header at Detroit after the Indy 500.
I'd rather see a double header at gateway for sure.
The Belial double was always fun.
It was, yeah, it was, it was unique.
That's for sure.
Now we have the double still at Milwaukee, which will be fun.
That'd be really good.
I'd say also that was Marcus Erickson's best performance at Andretti that wasn't disqualified.
Shout out to the Indy 500 runner up that got taken away.
There's, there's that.
Yeah.
So I think we've already established that that pillow is still the favorite to win Road America.
Yes, I think so.
He runs well there.
He's really good there.
Defending race winner.
Defending race winner.
If you were to pick anybody else that would do really well there.
Christian Lungard is a road course permanent, even though he's 11 race on at Toronto on a street course, he is actually really much better on the permanent road courses versus the street courses.
His average finish is better.
So does he take, this will be the first permanent road course they visited since his win.
So does he end up being able to take that and hit the ground running and get around that four mile track really good.
I like Joseph Newgarden out of all the road courses and street courses.
This is his very best, even though he has been challenged on these types of races.
He's actually done quite well since he went winless on these since 2022, I think, and he's got a three, I think second runner up so he is maybe he ends up taking some of that momentum from Gateway and doing really, really well.
I like when I like, I like someone who was on the podium here last year and our Indy 500 winner, I like Felix Rosenclust.
He's also a former winner at Road America back in the year.
Yeah, and he he had a really good challenge last year on pillow when it came down to the fuel mileage and almost almost was able to pull it off and upset the field there.
But I think now, I mean, you saw him at Long Beach and we've seen him at road courses this year running inside the top five in the top 10.
I think this is a spot where Meyer, Shane can finally get their first win outside of the Indianapolis 500 as well.
Yeah, I agree.
I think it's a bit of a, you know, last year we had a chance.
I think it's a bit of a bet to us to just say, you know, MSR is on a roll, they're going to remain on a roll.
But if it's going to happen somewhere outside of Indy, this is the kind of weekend I would expect it to happen with that driver.
Well, and the track is so long, too, that you can you can kind of strategize your way into a race win.
Assuming that yellows, you know, you get the right breaks you need and you can, you know, you can hit your fuel number and all that.
I mean, remember last year, Scott Dixon was in position to win this race and they gambled on fuel and didn't get the yellow, they didn't get the laps they needed under yellow and he had to pit lane.
Which is also how, you know, Santino Farucci ended up on the podium and Rosenquist ran a great race.
But because of kind of those things that fell apart, pillow wins, and you've got kind of a very unique top 10.
You know, I think it's, it's hard to argue against the 10 team.
And it's really hard to look at the rest of the field and go, yeah, okay, you can have, you know, there's somebody in here who's really got this place figured out, you know, and can go get them.
I think another note from that race.
I'm looking at the results from last year.
David Malukas, I remember like spun out or gone to the grass on lap one and clawed his way back to the place that he started in and seventh.
So that was how topsy-turvy road American can be.
I'm looking the weather currently right now, obviously could change, but I think there might be rain in the forecast for Sunday.
It doesn't look good, guys.
Good.
Get the chaos cauldron out.
Great for the race.
Terrible for us at the.
Let us not forget that Louis Foster won the pole position for this race.
Right.
Did that's right.
He did.
Yeah.
So maybe and Ray Hall has done really well this year and they have, you know, the team across the board has kind of turned up, you know, they're not necessarily front runners, but they can be in the top five, top, top eight.
We'll see what happens.
Graham does.
He does enjoy road America.
So he's been there, you know, been there a lot and knows how to get around that track.
So, you know, we'll see that's why they line them up and drop the green flag so we can figure out how to sort it out.
But rain at road America, I mean, that always throws, you know, throws wrenches into the works as it were.
You know, that would be fun for sure to see.
Yeah, that track so big, it'll be like Indianapolis when it rains, one part of the track will be wet and the other parts may not be.
So that could throw in a huge wrench into when do you end up taking tires, etc.
Strategy, especially when it comes to wet weather always makes any car racing much better than it deserves to be sometimes for sure.
So I know we've talked about we've touched on Penske and how they capitalized at Gateway.
We've touched on Malukas a little bit.
If he doesn't win this year, is his first season with Penske a failure, or is that just kind of the natural progression of a driver at a new team?
You know, I mean, we kind of established or that team's just not where it needs to be.
And at some level that kind of hurts my willingness to judge Malukas too harshly based on how the year unfolds for him.
He has driven well enough, I think, to prove that he is a driver worthy of the seat that he's in this year in the number 12.
But race by race, I might be more confident saying, oh, David Malukas did this wrong or did that wrong.
But on the season, like we've said, Penske is just not what it was 34 or five years ago right now.
And Malukas is the highest Penske driver in the standings.
And New Garden has two wins. That's disturbing.
Oh, wow. Good point.
That just tells you how rough New Garden season has been.
Well, broken foot and all, yeah.
I reckon at the Indy 500 versus, again, Malukas being the second half of that photo finish.
Well, he's gotten better since the broken foot if you look at his results.
Yeah, he's won. He's got a top 10 in Detroit of all places too.
If he had finished Indianapolis, okay, he'd actually be on a really good stretch because he was fourth at the Indy GP and he would be looking much better.
It's just that one mistake at Indianapolis.
But look at Scott McLaughlin, he was winless last year and he was one of the best.
I think he was the best Penske. Yeah, he was.
He finished, I think, third or, yeah, third.
It's the previous season or fourth in the championship.
He didn't win last year.
He's seventh right now with just one runner up and two podiums.
So I guess if you analyze it from the perspective of Malukas is the best in the standings.
Is that really a failure when the only wins they have are Joseph Newgarden at short tracks, which is like Alex Polo at every other race track, right?
So you can almost guarantee he's going to be in the hunt for those while at the other tracks they don't do as well.
And he's third in the standings.
So I think it would be, I hope that the team doesn't look at him as a failure if he doesn't win because it seems like he's getting more out of that car than the other two experienced Penske guys are.
And we have documented the Penske issues company-wide across the board.
Newgarden's win two weeks ago was their first win as an organization since March.
When their IMSA team won at Sebring.
Wow.
That's, that's-
An organization through all motorsports because we're also feeding the Phoenix one.
Phoenix was before Sebring.
Okay, that's fair.
I was, I looked at the 2025 points actually, Tom and Will Power beat McLaughlin by one point and ninth.
So this is night and day when it comes to Penske.
I mean, they have multiple wins.
They've matched their wins as an organization in IndyCar this year already at two.
One with power at Portland and then of course Newgarden at the season finale at Nashville.
And now you have all your drivers above that ninth place mark with, with Malukas in third.
You have McLaughlin in the top five and you have Newgarden right there as well.
So they're, they're all competitive and they're not out of the picture when it comes to the grand scheme of nine race, nine races to go.
But like, again, Maluk, we're talking about Malukas being on the edge of this championship fight.
Whereas last year where like Will Power didn't even have, didn't even have a, barely had double the points as all exploded by the end of the year.
And they didn't win. The team didn't win until the last three races of the season and they took two of three of them.
So they haven't really carried that momentum forward.
It's, it's just not Penske perfect.
It's not.
I think it's the, the fallout of a tenuator gate and Tim Cindrick and, and all the Kyle Moyer and those guys are being.
Unceremoniously dumped.
Leadership is the important thing in racing.
You're seeing it across the board when the leaders of these guys who manage these teams are kicked out.
And he was, Cindrick was the president of their racing operations.
Even though he spent more time in IndyCar, what does that, what does that do from a day to day operational?
Hey, we need to fix this problem.
We need to address this, get the right people in the right place.
That's clearly something that has impacted them.
Yeah.
Well, and you look at New Garden and McLaughlin, they have had kind of a carousel of strategists over the last 13 months.
You know, they all lost their guys after Indy and they've, you know, Cindrick is back, but New Garden and McLaughlin both have new strategists and that, you know, that takes time to adjust to, for sure.
And Cindrick is only in that building to be on the timing stand.
He's not involved anywhere else.
He shows up on the race weekend, calls the strategy and that's it.
And I have to imagine that's to some detriment of the race teams and the organization and the driver he's working with.
So I, you know, it's better, again, better for IndyCar when Penske runs well, better for motorsport when the Penske cars run well.
You know, Ryan Blaney performing well in NASCAR is good for NASCAR.
Having Joseph New Garden, Scott McLaughlin and David Malukas contending for wins is good for IndyCar.
It gives, it gives other people, you know, I like Alex below.
I think what he's doing in IndyCar is phenomenal.
I'm, you know, in the minority thinking that the, you know, the ass kicking seed delivers on a weekly basis is a great thing.
Respect the ass kicking.
Yeah.
You know, we're watching, we're watching history being made.
This is, I think his run is better than what Seb Bourday did in the early 2000s.
Better competition for sure.
Better competition.
The cars are closer, all of that, not to discount Bourday's unbelievable run in Champcar.
But I think, you know, with respect to what Alex is doing and all that, it's, it's better if there are teams that can compete.
And at least give him a bit of a challenge.
Right.
He doesn't always have the dogs at his heels every week.
Yeah.
Yeah.
100%.
On the, on the technical side of things, IndyCar continuing to, to massage the rules.
For better, for worse.
The boost is now being limited.
The continued fallout of the decision to go hybrid racing.
You know, as we learned at Detroit, if you break it, you buy it.
Yeah.
And so now I guess the decision is let's make, make this less concerning for all parties involved.
Scott needs to be protected at all costs.
Well, and now you, you sacrifice some of the, like, like a gateway.
We sacrifice speed for hopeful, like for hybrids not breaking, but then we still have hybrids breaking at over there.
And, and we're going to continue down this path until we get to the new formula.
Cause we've, cause IndyCar has put themselves in a box with, with, with the tech, the tech freeze for next year.
And I don't, I mean, I, I understand, but I'm, but it doesn't make me happy.
That's where I'm at right here.
It's like there's this, the drivers don't like the hybrid because of the, which is interested that then the mechanical breakdowns, the series has become so consistent as far as the parts, the mechanics, all of this stuff that runs.
You go watch races back in the day, the nineties, early 2000s crap is breaking all the time.
And you just don't see that a lot.
And so now when it's happening, it's happening at this really randomness that's greatly impacting those that are fighting for the championship.
And the, so what is always asked, like, what was the whole point of this system?
If since it's been installed, there's really no financial benefit from it.
The fans and the stands have no idea when it's deployed.
The TV barely ever covers it because I think I saw Townsend belt tweet about this one time and he said, the drivers all do it at the same time.
So there's no point.
It, it basically equals out.
And so now they're going to control, lower the amount of horsepower, I think, or power that comes from it because crap's breaking and there's not enough parts.
Well, it's, it's while the series will keep going on and nothing is going to end up like causing people to tune out because of this.
It's just one of those decisions where you go, really, did you have to make this decision?
Did it really have to happen like this?
Can you change something now before it ends up impacting?
Because it has impacted the racing, but not necessarily in a good way because of the weight.
Yeah, it's, it's pushed to pass, but with a buzzword.
Yeah, it's almost as if it was a response to, you know, the OEMs are on.
They want to try to draw the parallel between the street car and the race car.
And, you know, from, from my time working around Honda, their best parallel to that was saying like, Hey, the engine that is actually in this car.
You know, the, the Civic, the Civic Type R that raced in IMSA, exact same Civic Type R, you can go to a showroom and buy.
Same engine, same race parts, but same platform, the Acura championship winning DPI, same basic engine that's in the Honda Odyssey that's sitting in my driveway.
Like that's how you draw parallels between racing and street cars is you want, you want to performance minivan.
Well, this one's got a championship winning hot, you know, pedigree.
Not, oh, look, our Indy cars got a hybrid that has nothing to do with the hybrid in your accord.
But I think it was Indy cars response to what Formula One was doing, what IMSA WEP was doing, like motorsports was trending that way across the board.
It hasn't gone well. And it's just, again, it's, we've, we've taken push to pass and we've gimmicked it up in a single source part that teams have no control over.
You know, of all the things that carried over from the champ car era, it should have been the DP01 and not push to pass.
Well, it's the best thing Kyle Benjamin has ever said.
Alex and I really got that one. That was a really good one, Kyle. Very good.
That's fantastic. No, absolutely, absolutely. Can we just talk about the DP01 for the rest of the show?
We should, we absolutely, we absolutely can do that.
You mentioned, Kyle, about, about Formula One has had moved in this, in this hybrid era and battery power.
But now in 2030, they're moving back to a V8 after a massive bunchback and, and there was even talks of maybe even tanning this, this formula that they have in that series.
And, and now they have to wait all the way till 2030.
Well, Will Buxton and others have, have said it on other podcasts, but it's, but I don't, I don't see why it would hurt ND card to look into putting a V8 and, and the cars coming in 2028.
Yeah. Maybe you have to stick out this hybrid in 2027 and now we have to turn the boost down.
But I think if you turn the boost down, we see worse quality racing.
That's going to, that's going to pressure any car into saying, do, why do we need, need this?
And they already have Honda re-signed for multi years going into 2028.
They're going to have to invest in whatever, and whatever formula comes up next.
And you find a way to make them happy, but they're also doubling down and bringing the accurate brand to, to Indie car.
So what's, again, what's the herd in trying this and trying to appease the, the OEMs into going V8 and seeing how it goes versus trying to stick out this V6 hybrid hangover as travel college.
And it, you know, it hasn't worked across the board.
It's made, it's made WEC confusing to watch with virtual energy and like the average person at home.
I mean, Le Mans last weekend, you're watching virtual energy deplete.
What is it? The average viewer at home has no idea what's going on.
The people at trackside certainly don't know what's happening.
You know, it's, it's a gimmick, the, you know, kind of the electrification of, of, you know, wet when they did that 456 years ago now.
Kind of started this trend as, as a way to like, oh, we're progressive.
We're trying to probably an overcorrection from, from the Audi Volkswagen diesel gate issues.
The PR problem they were trying to solve there, but you know, it's trickled down.
I don't think we're going to notice anything different on Sunday.
That's kind of the long edge word of it.
Turning the boost down, not great.
Oh, you know, the perception of it is bad.
Yeah.
But going from 50 horsepower, 50 horsepower push to pass to whatever they're going to be, you know, 30, 25, like we're not going to know the drivers might notice a little lack of response coming off a corner.
But I think for those of us at home, we're not going to notice, but it's again, like Indy cars, they have momentum.
They've got good races.
They're growing.
They're on Fox ratings are up.
The broadcast partner cares.
And then they, they go and step on a technical rank.
If the series can ever get out of its own way, it'll be great, but they keep, you know, again, own goals and unforced errors.
Mm hmm.
Yeah.
Well, in their defense, at least this technical decision they made was before they actually started trending in the right direction.
So this probably ended up following them while they have momentum.
So I want them to make it go away because on iracy, you have to use it.
And I'm too old for all of that pressing the button and charging it at the same time.
My son, he doesn't have the attention span for put the past hybrid.
No, he's got, he's got old hands.
Yeah.
It causes pain.
It's got arthritis.
I can't do.
There's too many buttons, man.
I just want to shift and hit the cast.
That's all I need.
Okay.
There are fewer buttons on that than the N1 Abrams.
You, you know, and love.
I'm just saying, I'm just.
I'll say that.
I had a gunner to do that.
I don't know.
Honestly, I couldn't tell you if they had a digital steering wheel or not.
I would think probably, but not that, not that many.
Uh, kind of.
So let's see if we can proceed, we can bring, I don't know,
but bring back the Ford cars worth VA.
Oh, yes.
Oh, please.
Look, it's racing horsepower.
NASCAR is in the same problem.
Horsepower, horsepower, horsepower.
All of us, we got into racing because of its rawness and it's loud and it's
authentic and you go fast.
And I get it, the technology and stuff that you're trying to do,
but when you make a decision to limit horsepower,
I never think that's a good idea unless it's safety.
That's it.
And I don't think that's the case here.
I agree.
I was watching the 1998 Daytona 500 earlier for a separate project and
the noise those cars made.
It was otherworldly.
Just like when we talked to pre Indy 500,
we were watching, watching the old ones back and listening to the war of
those engines.
It's, you know, yes.
Indy cars sound great.
You know, a cup car at full song still sounds awesome.
Like the cars, race cars sound cool period,
but the way those V eight sounded at full song at a thousand horsepower
and 10,000 RPM is just, you know, again, bring it, bring back the,
get off my lawn and bring back the speaking of,
speaking of things that are being brought back,
lead us one quest,
make it a return to Indy car as a, as a Honda simulator driver.
Something like that.
He's working for Honda.
It's good.
It's good to see him get another role for sure.
I mean, he's been, he's been around the paddock for, for since a lot,
definitely last year he's been, he's been enlisted by McLaren.
I forgot for which driver Nolan Siegel.
I think when he had his injury, if as a reserve driver for one race and
he's been on standby.
If anything happens, anything goes, he's ready to go and get suited up.
So seeing him get this role is great.
But I think what's more interesting is what lies in the future and what he
might be positioning himself in terms of the OEM Honda charter that's
coming up here soon.
I think 2028 when they enlist that with Meyer shank racing,
is he going to be able to take over that role in the future?
You know, it's two years off.
I'm not sure a driver of his caliber wants to, you know, just,
he gets next year.
The charters come in, the OEM charters come in next year.
Even better.
I have to double check that.
The Kakuno Shinota factor.
You and the Chinese, your Chinese rhetoric.
Thank you.
Whatever it is.
Yeah, stop with your head, why don't you?
Yeah, don't say whatever.
This is all like that.
He's officially Honda's Indycar development driver.
Which I, you know, speaks to his, how I guess in Honda and HRC views his
talent that they're taking a guy with one Indycar season and saying,
all right, you're going to be our, our SIM guy in, in Ohio.
To figure this out and make our cars better.
You know, does, is he able to parlay that into a full-time ride with
another Honda car?
I don't know.
Cause then you got to look at, okay, who's, you know, does Meyer Shank,
I guess with the limited charters, they can't.
But, you know, is there a way to get a third, you know, is, is the
Honda house car, a Meyer Shank entry?
Is that the, we're going to support your third Indycar entry because
we're no longer doing IMSA with you?
You know, is that, that's, okay, let's chase that for a second.
Could that be the, the result of them dialing back the Acura program?
You know, Meyer, Mike Shank built his racing empire in Grand Am and IMSA
and has always been a Honda guy for the most part.
He ran Ford's, I guess when it was the Riley, you know, program, but
transitioned to Honda engines, you know, one factory NSX, DPI championships.
He's been very loyal.
So now I went, okay, is Honda going to take their charter and help him out?
And is Linus going to be that guy?
There's absolutely no factual basis for this thinking whatsoever.
I'm just connecting some dots.
The, the specter that has haunted Linus's Indycar career is his budget.
Yep.
And while there's no doubt that he's a fantastic, he's a talented
enough driver to be an Indycar, you cannot question that.
I don't know what Meyer-Shack's finances are going to look like.
That would convince them to take that on when they've already been
bringing OTA over from Japan to test.
I want to know, we want to talk about money.
I want to know if Kiffin Simpson keeps performing at a level that makes the
sponsorship he brings worth it for Gnasi over Lundquist.
Because if Gnasi hadn't been scaling back like they were from 24 to 25,
I think Lundquist stays in that car.
And he should have.
He should have stayed in that car because he showed the first year that how
competitive he could be.
And he was passing cars.
He was racing.
He took Kiffin the whole year to really get a handle on the speed and the
weight of the Indycar.
And I do have to, I have to correct myself.
Kyle, you are right.
The charters start in 2028.
I looked it up.
I thought 2027.
So you are right about that.
So does he stick around for a whole year as a guy?
Because we're already halfway through the season.
What else is he doing?
If he parlays this, does this get him perhaps a, you know,
maybe Meyer Shank expands to a fourth car at Indianapolis.
Maybe he's able to get in with a Indy 500 bid next year.
You know, just kind of see what happens if he's able to really impress
them enough.
But the more you keep going into the years,
the more younger drivers coming in from the Indy next series,
just like he did,
is going to be more talent coming in there to compete with.
So, yeah.
And you've got to, you know, it's a budget game, right?
Unless you're with a team who can afford to subsidize your racing.
You know, Kiffin Simpson's family is fantastically wealthy.
You know, they help bring the Sonoco sponsorship to that car
and, you know, in part to this series a little bit.
I have a hard time thinking he goes somewhere.
I can't imagine ship turning down the budget,
regardless of his performance.
I think, you know, if a guy's willing to bring 20 mil to the table,
you keep him around unless he's consistently, you know,
fencing it and running up your damage bill at the Laura.
So I don't know.
It's a shame that there aren't more seats available.
That's it.
The Prima charters are still out there.
Well, they're not charters.
They weren't a charter team.
See, this is where it gets so frustrating that they made a rule
to go scale back to 25 because it's labor, man.
You are literally repressing labor opportunity for drivers and crews
and it's frustrating that they do this.
Yeah, just look at the prize money that was won by the unchartered
teams at the 500.
It's start compared to like the million everyone else got,
and they got maybe like roughly 100,000 a tenth of that, which is
insane.
130,000.
It's like 118 to 130, I think.
It's ridiculous.
It's ridiculous.
That's ridiculous.
On Lena Slumquest, I mean, we're talking about a rookie of the year
in IndyCar in that season.
And like you said with Kiffin, it took him a whole year to even
crack the top 10, five, and then crack the podium.
Yes, yes, that's Sonoko money now, and that's really big dollars
coming from them.
But another piece of the Chip Ganassi puzzle that we haven't even
mentioned yet is what's the whereabouts of Scott Dixon for next
year?
Is that number nine open?
And does that open the door maybe for Lena Slumquest to make a
return now that he's solidified with Honda?
That's another knife.
That's something I just thought about.
We're not going to talk about that.
We're not going to talk about IndyCar without Scott Dixon.
Not yet.
Not without Scott Dixon, but Scott Dixon moving like a willpower.
Jenna on her substack today that she thinks he's going to look
elsewhere outside of Ganassi.
But it's interesting.
I don't buy it yet.
I don't.
I read the article and I'm not convinced.
His exclusive, his exclusive negotiation window is closed.
So now he's, he's free to talk to whoever.
Where's he going though?
What seat is an improvement over the ones he won?
He's in.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Back to Meyer Schenck.
Oh, Scott Dixon gets demoted to double a Meyer Schenck.
He doesn't win.
Who in the number nine though?
To put who in the nine car?
Right.
Marcus Armstrong, right?
Marcus Armstrong was with Kenassi and was pond off the NSR.
So you're going to put Marcus in that car before Felix?
I'm not Chip Kenassi.
I'm not the one who made that whole deal.
Felix was with Kenassi at 1.2.
Well, this conversation is just going to hell.
Hey, if they're already winning with Alex Palo,
who cares who's in the other two cars?
It doesn't matter.
But they've been winning with Scott Dixon too.
I mean, he.
Oh,
Yeah, I don't, I don't see him.
I don't see Honda letting him go.
He's such a good ambassador for them.
And, you know, so that that leaves.
Andretti and MSR.
Yeah.
Erickson still.
Marcus Erickson.
Scott Dixon and will power his teammates.
I mean, that, you know, that'd be, that'd be something.
It'd be fun to watch for sure.
The oldest driving roster in Indy car, but it'd be, you know,
it'd be fun to watch.
All right.
So it's on a much lighter note.
Indy car is going to one of the greatest race courses.
In America.
Wisconsin is also known for a variety of culinary delights.
It's the land of beer and cheese.
The Sargento bridge,
which was always funny next to the Kohler bridge, you know,
the cheese and the toilets.
And there's a whole joke there.
For those of you who have been to Wisconsin and road America and
eating at the trackside grills.
Are the brats worth the hype?
I haven't been.
I haven't been either.
And I'll tell you, I have not ate any of the food the time that
I've gone there.
So I'm the only one who can answer this.
I sigh leg with let's talk about the road America track food.
And I'm the only one who's eating there.
I think it was about eight there.
Tell us.
I mean, I don't care.
I was just from Wisconsin and they're great.
So Culver's another podcast.
Culver's when you're hungry Culver's works.
I've eaten Culver's after the Indy 500 after a day sling and a camera.
Boy, that burger is tasty at that point.
But you know, beggars can't be choosers.
Okay.
So road America food.
You as a member of the media get gifted a, a lovely dining shit.
Whoa.
That does not cover the cost of a meal.
All right.
But you can use it at any, at any concession stand.
It will, however, cover the cost of like a burger,
but it doesn't get you the burger, the drinks or the fries.
You know, so you got to,
you got to piecemeal your, your thing together.
The cheese curds that they have at road America are fantastic.
It's also really hard to screw up a cheese curd, but they're good.
You know, you can grab a cheat.
You get, they're available everywhere.
I personally found the brats a bit like the Martinsville hot dog over
height.
Oh,
So don't go.
You know, they were, they were, it was okay.
You know, it was all right.
I've been to road America half a dozen times,
probably at this point, um, you know, when you're hungry,
it's great.
You know, when Honda hospitality has shuttered their doors for the
day and you need a quick bite after the race,
that's a real place to go.
By the way,
you know, you can't hunt hospitality is it pales in comparison
to Ford hospitality from back in the champ car era.
Oh, wow.
Oh, Ford had, uh, Toronto.
We had prime rib and lobster bisque.
It was terrific.
Ford rolled out the red carpet.
They had a couple of Michelin star chefs.
It was always fantastic.
Honda hospitality is also incredibly good,
but not quite to the level of Ford.
I digress.
Uh, yeah, road America's food is, is, you know, you're going to find
stuff that's great.
That's what you got to go for.
If you go into road America, go for the cheese curds.
If you have a choice between the brats and the curds,
go for the cheese curds.
Go for the cheese curds.
Go for the cheese curds.
Go for the cheese curds.
And the, uh, the paddock restaurants are always packed.
So go under the front stretch to the,
to the little concession stand that is next to the tower is that
very little waiting there.
Tips by Kyle Benjamin.
And the best part here, of the,
of the road America experience is they have spotted cow for you
in the media center after the race.
In the media center.
Cold beer.
Cold beer.
Yeah.
Cold beer in the media center.
That puts a smile on my face.
All right.
So there you go.
So that's, that's everything you need to know about dining at road
America.
Oh,
we're going to have a whole other, whole other podcast.
I mean, I'm going to text Tom Bowles right now and say,
we're doing a new podcast that is just racetrack media food.
That's all we're going to talk about.
I was just getting,
getting the group chat right now.
All right.
I said,
it's going to have something to say, but it will factor in.
We'll just, we'll let him, we'll let him do his thing.
All right.
Final thoughts.
Man.
That wasn't my soft weekend.
Yeah.
Wasn't it?
We need, we needed that after the 500.
That's been a long stretch for those guys.
I mean, you could just see how exhausted I saw that gateway.
Those poor guys then gateways.
That was a long day.
Yeah.
Hushing.
Sunday night.
Yeah.
Monday morning, by the way.
Yeah.
I know.
I remember I was working too.
Yeah.
So good to get to a road course and get into the summer stretch
here.
I'm looking forward to see how the rest of this picks up now
that they're, they're into what I guess you call the second season,
right?
The first half of the season leads in Indianapolis and then the
two races right afterwards.
And now,
now we're into the championship one.
We're on,
we're on the downward slip now.
Green flag this Sunday, Father's Day.
So happy Father's Day in advance to you.
Tom is the only other dad here on the, on the show.
And you too.
Thank you.
Green flag on or about probably two 30, I would say.
I think Fox comes on the air at two followed up by mid Ohio,
fourth of July weekend.
That race goes green about one o'clock a big fan of the one o'clock
Sunday start.
And then to Nashville under the lights broadcast time TBD.
Which three weeks out is a little concerning,
but I think that has more to do with the World Cup than anything
else.
They are doing a lot with that.
It's going to be pretty cool.
I think the USA.
They said they're going to have a watch party for the final there
at the track on the big screen.
Party at the track.
A dead mouse just adounced as the headliner.
So that's pretty cool.
After national.
We go to Portland a lot earlier in the year and then Toronto
adjacent in Markham, Ontario.
Then the street course in DC back to back at Milwaukee and
finishing the season.
September 6th at Laguna.
So nine races left and the championship not quite decided.
We'll see if anybody's got anything for Alex below.
That's right.
We'll see as well.
Fellas always a good time to get in here and chat open.
We'll race in with you all for those of you watching at home.
We will be back.
July 3rd.
July 7th.
We've got F1.
To talk about Ohio.
We do have F1.
So the problem with our F1 contingent.
We're getting solo.
We're getting.
I don't even know.
I'm so old and see now.
I don't even know what I'm talking about.
There's racing.
There's open.
There's cars without fenders racing on tracks around the globe.
And we'll be back to talk about them in due time.
So for Alex and Tom and Wyatt, I'm Kyle Benjamin.
Thanks for watching.
And we will holler at you the next time there's racing to discuss.
Have a good one, everybody.
About this episode
Road America becomes the backdrop for a wide-ranging IndyCar conversation: who can challenge Alex Palos, how points gaps could shape the 2026 fight, and why Road America’s big, rain-prone layout makes strategy—especially fuel and tire timing—so swingy. The hosts also revisit Gateway’s caution/pit timing and Andretti’s strong top-10 showing, then pivot into broader series talk about hybrid rules, boost limits, and how modern regulations change racing feel and viewer understanding. They close with Road America food and schedule notes.
