They’re talking about a specific race track corner—turn two—that seems to cause more trouble than the others. The goal is to figure out what makes that corner so accident-prone.
Term
short shoot
They’re talking about a specific straight section of the track (“short shoot”). They’re wondering if something about that section—like a break or layout change—could be part of why turn two is problematic.
Concept
wind tunnel effects on track structures
They’re guessing that airflow around the track—especially near gaps in the buildings/structures—could affect what happens to the cars. In other words, it might be an aerodynamic problem, not just a rough patch of pavement.
They mention a rough spot (“bump”) at turn two that people tried to fix. But they’re saying it might not actually be the main reason cars get into trouble there.
Fuel saving is when drivers intentionally use less fuel than normal. That can make the car slower or change how they drive, especially when other cars are around.
Concept
packs work in practice
A “pack” is when several cars are running close together. When one car changes speed, the others have to react quickly, which can be risky even in practice.
In a tight pack, when one car suddenly slows, the cars behind have to react too. That can create a chain reaction where everyone’s braking timing gets messed up.
Concept
RO P or a refresher
This sounds like a warm-up or practice routine to help the car and driver get back to the right speed. If you’re not in the right “sweet spot,” the car can behave differently than you expect.
Race cars have a speed/traction sweet spot. If you go outside it, the tires and aerodynamics don’t work the way they’re supposed to, and the car can get sketchy.
“Fast 12” refers to a qualifying cut where only the top 12 cars/entries advance to the next stage. Teams plan runs around getting into that group, balancing risk versus the car’s pace. The key is that you can’t always push at maximum effort on every attempt if you want to avoid mistakes or poor lap timing.
Term
over trimmed
“Over trimmed” means the car was set up a bit too aggressively for the conditions. That can make the car feel wrong or harder to drive. The result is usually slower laps and more stress during the run.
Hybrid cars can use battery power for extra push, and they can also “charge” the battery when braking. The team has to choose when to use the battery power and when to recharge it. Doing that differently each lap can change both how fast you go and how consistent your lap is.
Term
wind velocity
“Wind velocity” is the speed of the airflow, which affects aerodynamic downforce and drag. The hosts connect it to strategy decisions because IndyCars are described as highly sensitive to wind and setup, influencing how teams plan hybrid deployment and gearing.
Term
fast Friday
“Fast Friday” is a racing weekend session where teams run multiple practice/qualifying-style runs to dial in setup and strategy. In the segment, they compare how many runs and which hybrid strategy they used during that specific day.
“Qualifying” is the session that determines starting positions, typically with timed laps. The hosts discuss using different hybrid strategies during qualifying runs, implying how energy rules affect on-track performance.
Energy limits are the race rules that cap how much battery power the car can use and how much it can recharge. If you hit the limit, you can’t keep using the extra power until the next reset window.
The “battery capacitor pack” refers to the energy storage hardware used by the hybrid system. The hosts note that IndyCar changed how quickly it drains, which directly affects how much energy can be deployed repeatedly across laps.
The hosts describe a strategy shift enabled by the updated hybrid rules: teams can both recover energy (regen) and use it (deploy) within the same lap without hitting the energy limit. That changes race tactics because it allows more frequent hybrid assist instead of saving it for later.
Term
wind and gear sensitive
“Wind and gear sensitive” describes how strongly IndyCar performance depends on both aerodynamic conditions (wind) and drivetrain gearing. The hosts use it to justify changing gear choice to manage RPM limits and hybrid energy recovery across laps.
An “engine rev limiter” is an electronic protection system that prevents the engine from exceeding a safe maximum RPM. In the segment, they mention intentionally using a shorter gear to reach the soft limiter, then leveraging that situation to recover energy via regen.
“Gear strategy” means deciding what gear to be in and when to shift while driving. Drivers do it to keep the car pulling strongly and to help the car handle better.
Term
quality sim
A “quality sim” is a serious practice session in a simulator. It’s meant to mimic qualifying so the driver can get the routine down.
A “weight jack” is about moving or adjusting weight on the car. That can change how the car grips and how it feels when you turn.
Term
bars for balance
“Bars for balance” means adjusting the anti-roll bars that help control body roll. That affects whether the car feels more stable or more eager to turn.
“Muscle memory” means your body learns a repeated routine so you can do it without thinking too hard. That helps when everything is happening fast.
Term
driver sequencing
“Driver sequencing” means doing the steps in the right order and at the right time. If the order is off, the car won’t be set up correctly when you need it.
A gearbox is the part that helps the engine deliver power efficiently by changing gear ratios. For oval races, teams set it up differently than they would for road courses.
The front wing is a piece on the front of the car that uses airflow to push the car down onto the track. More downforce generally means better grip and stability.
Race running is how the car behaves during the actual race, not just one fast lap. It’s more about staying consistent for a long time than chasing the absolute fastest moment.
Carb day practice is an Indy 500 weekend practice where teams get the car dialed in before race day. Drivers use it to confirm the setup and make sure everything feels right.
Topic
500
“The 500” refers to the Indianapolis 500, one of the biggest races in American open-wheel racing. The talk is about how practice feeds into being ready for the main race.
A Volkswagen Bus is a van made to carry several people and their stuff. It’s known for its distinctive shape and roomy interior. In the podcast, it’s mentioned because someone is talking about finding or getting to one.
LIVE
This is off track. Hello guys. How are we doing? Are you kicking this one off?
Pal? Sure. All right. Let's go. Let's do it. I got a strict time frame here. Why
you got something going on? I do. I didn't finish my sponge bath, which is why I'm
late. Tim, why were you so slow giving him a sponge bath? I, you know, I'm
savoring every moment. That's weird. That's a weird move. It's kind of gross,
actually, when you say it like that. Yeah. Oh yeah, because it was a real normal
thing to say. It was, it started off so cool. Want a biscuit? No, not yet. Just me
then. Yeah. Want a biscuit? Is anyone eating? Who ordered the meal? By round of
applause, who ordered the catfish? Very good. Thanks guys. And how good, how good
is the catfish? All right, so he chose wisely. I'm going to try a dumpling here.
You guys talk amongst yourselves. It's a dumpling. Sorry, there's no G. Yeah. Oh man, it's
so good. So good. Well, oh yeah. Sorry. I forgot to warn you guys. I might be eating
during this podcast. I know that bothers some people, but you're eating too. So you can't
judge me. Well, hello everybody and welcome to our track with Henshin Rossi. We both
decided to show up today, unlike yesterday. I mean Alex, I wasn't going to show up
regardless. You've never shown up to that. I was actually totally fine. I did Tim show up.
I was there. Okay. I mean, Alex tried his best to get out of today. I did. I did. Didn't
quite do a good enough job. You should have just hit a little harder.
Yeah. Anyways, so I mean, do we want to just address Ella foot in the room? It's here.
It is here. All right, Alex, my toes are out for everyone to see. So are you like,
are you weird about that? No, but they are eating. So Oh yeah, before we get into everything,
you know, Indy 500 and build up and all the things he would have spoken about on a normal episode.
Let's let's talk about it, guys. Let's talk about Monday morning practice. I would like to
welcome you. Was it the morning? Sorry, Monday afternoon. Yeah. Wow, this is this is what we're
going to be this specific on things. I'd like to welcome you to the crashing on the Monday
practice after qualifying on May 18th and injuring yourself club. Round of applause for Alex Rossi.
So you did mine was May 18th on the Monday. You really didn't want to do a podcast.
I had to do like years for months after that. It was great. I could have given you notes if
you really wanted to do it. So out there practicing, driving around, having a great time,
and then you were having a less great time. How was your, how was your day on Monday?
Honestly, it was, it was fine. It was just more appointments added to it than I thought. I,
I do want to talk about the drama that exists in, in turn to like, I think it's a little bit of a
mystery for everyone, including myself and James, you and I have talked about this, but
considering, as we all know, all of the corners are the exact same.
It's very weird that I would say at least in, in my career in Indy car, like aside from starts,
like more than 70% of the incidents occur in turn two. Like the, the two times that I've had it
a crash at Indy is turned two. I know that you've had issues there. I mean, aside from when you
got the car failure, but like when you've just had normal incidents, yeah, just driver failure,
right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's weird. Like, do we know why I was talking about this with Ed
and it's, it's very strange. Is there like a break in the short shoot? There's, there's a,
there's a break in the middle of the corner, right? So whoever remembers in 20, is it 22 or
23 when Kirkwood's tire exited the building? Yeah. And it went right in between the suites
and 23 stands, 23 and earned some lady a new car. That was she get to keep the tire. No,
firestone does not let you keep tires. I feel like if it totals your car, there should be an
exception. Still not. No, no. I've tried. I've tried to take tires many times. They don't like it,
but I wonder if that's got something to do with it because there is a gap in the structures
that maybe wind tunnel affects something there. So here's the thing. You know how
there was a whole YouTube series on fixing the bump and turn two. Yeah. Yes. So the bump ain't
it. That wasn't the problem. Well, no, but like the bump that I thought they were fixing.
They didn't. So they went through that whole effort multiple bumps and didn't fix
all of the bumps. But anyways, so what happened was we were just in kind of group running and
I was talking to James about this earlier today. Actually, it's a, it's kind of the lamest way
to crash, but we were fuel saving. And the way that the packs work in practice is everyone's
quite nice to each other because you're trying not to hang anyone out in a race. The cadence and
the flow is, is a lot faster and more aggressive. And so when you're in practice, you can kind of
get these big checkup effects and kind of this, this situation happened going into turn one.
And this was like the second lap of it. Like my previous lap was a 207 mile an hour lap. So
that goes to slow. I goes to show how kind of big the checkups were. And this lap was kind of
already on the same vein. And, you know, you get to the middle of the corner and it's very similar
to when you do ROP or a refresher. The cars don't work at that, at that speed. I know it
sounds counterintuitive, but there's, there's a perfect window where the cars, the cars working
well. And if you go above that, you're obviously going to have problems. And if you go below that,
I guess in some situations you also have problems. So it was actually a crash because we were going
too slow and dirty air is the moral of the story because it was about 20 miles an hour slower
than I had gone through there in practice on Tuesday with the same car. So that being said,
it was one of those incidents where you're just blown away repeatedly by the safety of
IndyCar and all of the advancements that they have made. And considering, you know, some of the
forces that went on in the first impact and then the secondary impact with Pato, the fact that
there's no head, shoulder, neck issues. And the only thing that we're dealing with is a
very small bone on the inside of my ankle, which this very large club foot will come off tomorrow.
So yes. So this all looks very dramatic, but you basically can't be weight bearing
for this process while they try and control the swelling. But assuming when they take that off,
it's as expected then car bay. Well, I mean, it's gonna be wet. So we'll see you on Sunday.
So you crashed as you were going too slow. Okay. Here, look, did you think about going faster?
At any point did that cross? No, no, okay. What about on Sunday?
You're gonna try to maybe go faster in the future. No, I meant in quals. Did you think about going
like a little faster than below? Like three tenths of an hour. Should have occurred to you? Yeah,
should have. Yeah, would have been better. We'll get to that. Maybe next time seems to be my big
issue. My failure is not going fast enough across this time. This is the first for it being too
slow. You're just running the gamut on this. They tried it on Sunday. Didn't work. Try it on
Monday. Didn't work. Third time will not be a charm. All right, let's just let's just flip the
screen real Goldilocks situation going on here. If it makes you feel better. McLaughlin crashed
going even slower than you did last year. How is that too soon? We are making fun of him for
something that happened yesterday. Thank you. Thank you. Sensitive crowd here. You guys came
to the wrong show. Okay, so I mean, he brought it up. So let's talk about it. Qualifying
Indy always awesome. Always amazing. We talk about it all the time, how it's such a rush for drivers,
scariest things that we do all year long. But one of the most rewarding and fun things that we do
all year long this year, very different format because of the rain on Saturday. I kind of liked
the format in a lot of ways. Did you? Well, here's why. I thought it was hell.
It was absolute hell for you guys. It was probably awful. But for what I was saying,
it was pretty cool. Here's why. Every one take joy in our misery. Yeah, because it's no longer
my misery. I suffered through it for a long time and now I don't have to. So it's fun. So here's
why I liked it. I liked it because every run mattered. Yeah, right. That first run through
if you thought you were quick enough to get in the top 12, you couldn't just like, all right,
well, let's just do one run, get in the show, and then we'll get in lane two and run four more times
at the heat at 330 in the afternoon and not go any faster. Every run mattered. You had to make a
decision as a team, as an engineer, as a driver. All right, how much are we laying out the wing?
How free we run in this thing? What's our strategy going to be? Because you only had one crack at
it in the top 12. You only had one shot at it in the top six. You only had one shot at it.
Every run actually mattered. We're like the old format. All the first runs matter. The format
we've been doing for 100, 109 years. Yeah. I'm not saying I want to change it,
which is annoying. That just like means I'm falling into the hole. That's how we've always
done it thing, which is like my, I hate that, but except for starter photos, apparently tradition
doesn't matter there. Actually, we won't get to that. That's the thing I want to go there.
But so that, that for me, that's why it was interesting was like, we didn't have this,
this bit of the afternoon that we always have on Saturday, which is everybody from
ninth to 18th running around, not going any faster and just kind of useless runs. Yeah.
You know what I mean? I will say that the, the first run of the day, the one to try and get you
into the fast 12 was by far the most stressful because of that reason. You know, usually you've
got a built in safety blanket, regardless of what your draw is, you know that if you miss the
downforce level or you miss the balance by a little bit for track conditions, you can just go
again towards the end of the day. And, and if you have a good car, you'll inevitably improve. So
that was where the tension honestly was, was the highest. So I guess from that standpoint,
I see what you're saying, but on the same token, you know, if you, we were fairly fortunate.
I think that there wasn't any major incident. Well, there was zero incidents, actually,
which is ironic that I'm talking about that. There was no incidents to call fine.
Don't you think that it's, it's cool? Like it's a super cool story. We're reading this
two years ago where he crashed on his first Q attempt. The team had four hours to fix the car.
He went back out, got into the fast 12 and advanced the next day. Like that part of magic of fighting
your way into the race and into the top positions is, is what makes him dequalifying what it is,
which is why I said I do not want to change it. I'm just saying for a ad hoc improved format.
I thought it thought it worked out pretty well. So just knock out qualifying that we do every
weekend. Yeah. But like with way more on the like, if you don't do a fast lab at barber,
like whatever, who cares? If you make a little mistake at barber, whatever you make a mistake
here, it matters. So yes, I thought it, I thought again, just for, for not the way we've normally
done it credit to any car for coming up with a format that was so I thought very entertaining.
Okay. Round of applause. Even though I'm not saying let's change it. Who enjoyed Sunday
by round of applause? Who did not enjoy Sunday?
I like that. Hey, you sit out. She's already sitting. Stand up. Get out. I don't know.
Overwhelming majority were happy with how it went. Tim, what did you think?
I was going to go back to let's go back to, you know, that first run. So how tough was it to make
that call with Matt Barnes, your engineer? How much you were rolling the dice? Jack Ruskell.
Oh yeah, I forgot. He doesn't do that anymore. Sorry. It kind of does. He's like the boss guy now.
We engineer by committee on the 20 car, which is kind of cool. It's a good way to do it.
But no, Jack's the, Jack's the man. And what was the question?
What was that discussion like with him for that first round? Like how much did you guys roll the
dice? Did you have more up your sleeve? Or did you kind of think like we have to really lay it
all out there? We knew that the car speed was good enough to get into the fast 12. So for us,
it was just a matter of do a run that, you know, you can, you can do. You don't have to take any
big chances. The problem is it's, it's, that's a very hard decision to make. And what did we,
even though we told ourselves for 18 hours after fast Friday, an easy run, I'll get us in
we don't have to trim that much. We can just go out and do something simple. What did we do?
We over trimmed for the conditions and it was hell. It was horrible. It was such a hard run.
But fortunately it was enough to get us in. And one thing that was, was pretty cool. And I can't
play. I'm going to say this, but it was pretty cool about qualifying this year compared to last
year is there was at least 10, maybe more different strategy, a hybrid strategies in play,
which had a significant impact in not only the, the best lap that you could do, but at what point
in the run that lap came, what your average was. And so for us, we were, we were on a different
hybrid deploy and regen strategy every single run. And it wasn't until really the last run where
we found the best one, which is what you would want. But it was a constant evolution of, you know,
managing it based on wing conditions, because certain strategies would come alive,
based on the wind direction and the wind velocity. You would see what competitors were doing.
You knew what you had done previously. So there was an unbelievable amount of work and emphasis
that went into the hybrid strategy, which added a really interesting element to qualify. I completely
agree. It was, it was way more interesting for us too, because last year, so two part question,
last year, basically, everybody did the same thing. So what changed from last year to this year
that made other strategies seem like desirable, but also you go through fast Friday. How many
runs did you do in fast Friday for four? Yeah. Did you do the same strategy all through fast Friday?
We did three and one, and then we did a new one on Sunday morning practice.
And then you did three different ones through actual qualifying. Yes. Right. So why did you not
do more on Friday? Like, did you think you guys were married to one strategy and then you saw
everybody else was doing something different? So we first question first, what changed? Sorry.
Thank you, James, dad. Maybe he didn't bring his bell a little bit. The, what changed was the way
the Indy car, so they set the energy limits, which is how much you can regen and deploy in a lap.
And they also set the rate at which you can deploy. So the speed at which the
battery capacitor pack drains and both of those were changed for this year. So what that did was
it allows you to deploy and regen on a single lap without hitting an energy limit. And it also got
rid of the option of just a super slow deploy for all four laps. So what you saw was cars were able,
because of the wind conditions, you know, these cars are incredibly wind and gear sensitive.
And so you could intentionally put a shorter six gear in the car
for the back straight. So from two to three, knowing that you would get into the soft limiter,
so the, the engine rev limiter for it, the engines protection. But while doing that,
you could use that as a way to regen some energy, which would then allow you to deploy again on,
on the next lap. So you could actually deploy and regen every single lap, whereas previous or
last year, you didn't have enough energy limits in order to do that. How did we get to where we
were? We were married to one strategy. At the end of the day on Friday, we saw someone doing something
different. We tried it and we were like, Oh, shoot, that's pretty good. And so then we tried it
again Saturday or Sunday morning for practice, knowing the conditions were different. It was
still pretty good. Then we did it in round one. It was not that good. And so then we went back
to our old strategy in round two, also not that good. So then we went to a whole different one
in round three, which is very good. So we got there. We got there in the end. So we talk a lot
in the booth throughout the, you know, roughly 4,827 hours of practice that we called
about all the stuff that a driver has to do on a quality sim or a quality run, right? So it's
depending on the wind. It's your gear strategy. It's your work in the fast jacker. You're doing
the weight jack or in the bars for balance. You're doing your hybrid deployment strategy.
And one of the things that's good about fast Friday and even in the week up to that point,
if you're ever doing a quality sim is you're getting into a rhythm, right? You're getting muscle
memory of doing all these things and making sure you don't forget something because it's
easy to do, right? There's a lot going on. How difficult was it for you? Because on the hybrid
side, you were doing it like, how difficult was it to remember? Okay, I'm doing not this
strap doing strategy D now and what that was. And does Tim know anything about what you're
saying right now? Not a word. No, I'm just trying to figure out how I can get a plate so I can try
some of the dumplings. It does make sense. It it's it added a different element for sure. Like
the first two runs of fast Friday. Like I completely screwed up the sequence whether it's
hard to get it right. Yeah, whether it was the gear strategy, whether it was the hybrid strategy,
whether. Well, the fastjack is pretty easy these days, but I didn't do a good four lap run through
the first two runs of fast Friday just from driver sequencing. But then you you would you adapt,
you get used to it and it starts to come pretty naturally. And so it's not hard by the time you
get to the end. But yeah, I mean, that's a lot of workload, you know, especially on a day like
we had Sunday with the wind being as powerful as it was, you know, you really had to chase the balance
of the car from end to end of the track. And as the run went on, you know, and you started to
slide more, you would start to fall out of a gear. And so you couldn't hold it as long. You'd have to
make a decision on the front straight. Alright, am I gonna go to six? And do I have
enough distance before turn one to actually pull that gear? Or am I gonna kind of sit in the soft
limiter and fifth and not accelerate anymore? So you're kind of going through all these mini
scenarios in your head throughout the run. And if you're in the soft, which makes it fun,
you're like, am I as well to regen a little bit and have some extra power to use kind of thing?
Like, well, usually you're already full at that point. But yeah. So it's just constantly,
it's just dynamic, right? You just have to be able to, you have to be adaptable. You're playing,
but you also have to know what to do if sure thing goes slightly off sequence. But again,
I mean, you have 4872 hours of practice around here. So I mean, I had 4871 hours of practice.
Yeah, you missed that last one. Yeah, you did. I mean, not really. I think I think we still did.
We still have way more lap totals than anyone else this month. You did a lot of laps of practice.
Yeah, you were really working on the long run stuff. Clearly didn't help. One too many. Yeah,
and did one too many. You are right. Not even one, even one, like one corner too many turns
too many. And again, you went too slow on one too many laps. Whatever you're gonna do.
Okay, so let's talk about fast six. You go out there. You do your new cool strategy.
You you I went first. Yeah. So you went first. Traditionally going later is an advantage. So
you're just you do it. You probably expecting. Okay, guys, you're gonna go faster. Yeah. So for
for us, we were sixth in the like full group qualifying and then we were sixth in the fast
twelve. So I knew that if so facto probably gonna be six. Well, I figured I figured we'd be like
fifth. I knew that we could beat Santino. I didn't think yeah. How'd you know?
Well, I did so I don't have to elaborate. But I didn't think that we had anything
for Felix. And I thought it would be close between between Pato and I. So anyways, we we did that run
and the as I said, the hybrid strategy was was a big chunk. We also took a pretty big risk on the
trim level, just knowing that we had made it as far as we could on the day. And if we crashed a
race car, so be it. Turns out it was just you weren't supposed to carry that mentality in the
month. Yeah, you were not. And so we kind of went for broke. And when we did that, I was like, Oh,
wow, that's that's gonna be on the front row. And then when we went quicker than Malukas, I was
like, man, this might actually have a shot at it. But then obviously Palo went out and his first
lap, it was like, okay, that's it's like you forgot. So you forgot who was still to go. I
didn't. But I just I didn't. I was hoping that today, yesterday, Sunday, he wasn't going to be that guy.
Boy, were you wrong? Boy was I wrong. Yeah, that's I mean in your defense, Alex Palo is not really
known for consistency or speed. Yeah. Yeah. How could you how could you have seen that coming?
How? How? Just how? Why him? Yeah, don't know. It's like what I don't. He was 11th in the group
running. I know Felix was like, yes, 10 some a mile an hour fast on everybody. That is correct.
And we even have an on board. We still can't figure it out. This is the best part, right? I
never has an on board, right? And it's it is it is a something that's very strongly insisted on by
the team. Like we try. We're like the guys winning every race that we can never show as on board.
That's bad storytelling from our part, right? But the team fights us on it all the time. I don't
know what strings were pulled to get it at this race. Well, it's probably the one where they were
like, they're not going to see anything because really everyone's doing pretty much the same
thing. So fine. You can have it, right? I bet I bet we won't have it in Detroit. I already asked
him. He said absolutely not. So there is some voodoo magic stuff that's occurring. But okay,
but I'm going to counter that. I think he's in everybody's head because there's no do you do
honestly believe there's something that they're doing with him and on his car and that he uniquely
is doing that they're not doing on Dixon. Yes, because we've got a camera on Dixon every week
100%. So you think Dixon is cool with them having something that he doesn't have? Yeah,
it's him. It's just Alex himself. Yeah, so got it. If Alex drove the nine car, he'd smoke the 10.
So then why not? Why not have a camera? What do you mean? What is what can he what can be seen
from an onboard? I know I just think that's got Dixon can't see from having the data having
the camera having all that stuff. Oh, I don't know that's. I mean, I'm sure Scott sees it. I just
don't know that you can replicate it right, but that's what I'm saying. Well, I'm sure one of you
can't replicate. Why? Why won't they let us see it? I think it's because maybe one of us can replicate
it. You think you're going to see something on a video? No, but someone might
maybe Santino. Are you
maybe this is like the secret to success?
Maybe, maybe we'll never know. We'll never know. Never know. There's never going to have an
on board true on a rudder street course. Yeah. Yeah, that was so that was qualifying.
Some shocks, some disappointments. I think very surprising. Andretti Autosport or the lack thereof
and ready global. Sorry. Yeah, huge shout out to Catherine. I think she did a great job job.
Joseph clearly having some sort of issue. Yeah, undetermined what it is, but
that didn't look normal. It But what tells me is that there's a very obvious
car problem is that when you went for a run after when you saw him immediately after just
in pit lane hanging, he was laughing because there is a point where you just can't do anything.
But you only laugh if you know what the problem is. If there's a deficit in speed and you don't
know where it's coming from, no laugh. That is not a laughing matter. That is not your reaction.
That is not his reaction. But the fact that he was kind of jovial about it makes me think.
Mr. Hunter Ray has not been laughing much this month. He's not been laughing. No,
he's not. Even though they know the problem with that program is every time he goes out,
it's a different problem, which is which is interesting because then you've got so another
guy did a great job. Connor Daly. Yeah. First time earning his way to the top 12 at the Speedway.
Best start here. And I asked Ryan this on the show that you skipped out on yesterday about
how to thing. Yeah, you had a date. I was busy. You had an appointment. I needed to have a nap.
You need a nap. Yeah. Yeah. But it was, it was, you know, you, you have, he obviously was Wittry
Red Bull last year, which pros and cons of a team that only runs one race goes to McLaren,
big powerhouse organization, lots of resource. You look at the week and month that DRR's had
versus the week that he's had on the 31 car. It's almost like looking, looking over the fence
back at your old house like, oh, that place was pretty nice. So I think that what's, what's
an issue with that program, like I said, is every time they've gone on track, it's been a different
issue, which is sometimes what you get with these extra cars, these bonus cars that are thrown
together while DRR, I think is a whole group is in a terrific job. Obviously, bummer for Jack,
they had a problem in qualifying, didn't transfer. And then the DQ kind of made it irrelevant anyway.
But we're having this debate with somebody. They said, they asked if, if the fact that he had a
problem in qualifying and he was so far back, made the DQ easier to take or harder. I said
easier. I'd rather get DQ'd from 24 than from 11, 13 or something. Yeah. So he's got to start
shock on the field. Who else? Who else?
Kyle Collette did an amazing job. Unfortunately that he's got also started.
That's much harder to swallow. Much So what was the penalty? Yes.
My understanding is that it's very similar to what Andretti got tossed for last year. So it's
basically quote unquote modifying a part you're not supposed to modify, but it's for the intention
of ease of assembly. It's not really a performance piece. And I think everybody kind of acknowledges
that. And I even spoke to someone from the Foyte team. Obviously Santino's car passed.
So it was a really slight issue, a lack of communication or miscommunication from one
side of the garage to the other. Either way, it's a real bummer for Kyle because he's been
having a really good run all week long and did a phenomenal job in qualifying.
What Alex has been your take on the group running throw practice and Monday, who is
looking good other than you because you genuinely have looked very strong and racetrack.
Your usual people, your usual suspects. I think
the three Penske cars look good. I think Pada looks reasonable. My teammate.
Well, both teammates look pretty good. Christian especially.
Um, Kirkwood is not as good as he was at the beginning of the month, which is interesting.
It's like as soon as they went high boost, all his pace disappeared, but it hasn't really come
back. They were hoping it would win it. Oh yeah. So yesterday or Monday, he wasn't very good. He
was okay, but not. He was really good at the beginning of the month. Yeah. Open test. He was
good. Yeah. Practice. He was good. The 10, the nine are great. Both MSR car through all three MSR
cars are pretty good. So Takuma is good. It's, it's like we've had this car for 16 years and so
it's the normal, the normal. This car could drive this car at the front. It's old enough. Yeah.
That's a good point. Yeah. It's going to be real depressing when this car could drink. I was just
going to say it's going to buy a beer pretty soon. In practice, you kind of mentioned it earlier.
A lot of good cars, no incidents throughout practice and qualifying. We had a,
I think, uncharacteristically cool for the whole week, week of practice. Yeah. How much do you
think the temperature plays into? Because when the track's cool and the air's cool, tires have
more grip, cars have more grip. Everybody's car feels a little better. So do you think maybe
that played into a bit of how many cars look good and also the lack of incidents? I don't know.
Because it like it was still it's still hard when you're six to eight deep and qualifying wasn't
easy. It was not easy at all with the wind. So I truly don't know. I don't know that I haven't
answered. We just getting better. Well, we just everybody just like learn how to drive. I mean
his finger and his ankle would say no. My fingers can do a lot of damage to you right now. My
ankle. What do you guys put James in the middle?
I don't have an answer for you. Maybe everyone's going too fast, too fast to crash.
I'm not. It's not how that works. I mean, it is for me. Well, yeah, I suppose it is for you. Yeah.
If you thought about going faster, I have. Thank you. Yeah. So going into the race,
you, I think it's been publicized, it's been talked about, but making sure everybody knows
you got to keep your starting spot. Yep. So it's a new car. Yeah. Well, no, different car.
Yes. It is. It is the car that I raced last year. So Speedway car. It's the car that I did the
October test with. It's a car that has been very good at the Speedway. That engine that is gone
was coming out anyways. So RIP and we have spare Speedway gearboxes. The floor and the front wing
and the underwing has all been validated in the April test. So it's going to be a car that's just
as good as the last one. So that's pretty exciting. So that was going to be my question.
How much of it? How much can you replicate, right? Because obviously you had like a very
fast car. Is it all just the setup or are there some things that are lost that you can't replicate
or is can you get it exactly the same? There's there's certainly things that are lost.
But we're very fortunate that the the super minutia detail stuff that takes months
to really perfect really only matters in qualifying. It does not matter at all in the race.
So the car, this car, if we say had to go qualify, it might be .2 tenths of a mile an hour slower
than the car that I had. But in race running that irrelevant. Let's just remember last year,
Ryan Hunter Ray took a car that was basically like a flower pot in the lobby. That is true.
And he won the damn race. It was like sitting out in front of a Kroger. I think
having a Bud Light display and they just threw an engine in and prayed and it nearly
nearly won the race. Should have won the race. So the fact that you have all of the bits and
all that stuff, not worried at all. So whether it looks like it might be a thing for the next
two on track sessions. Welcome to Indiana, bro. Welcome to Indiana and May. Normally any car
will try hard on carb day. If there is weather, they'll move stuff around. They'll try to get
you guys that session. Have you heard? Nobody cares about carb day practice is the weenie
500. Listen, I care extensively about carb day practice this year. Why did something happen?
Yeah. Yeah, he turns to left. Usually, usually I I choose like not to run carb day practice or
like do a couple of pit stops and stop. I will be running all of car day practice for obvious
reasons. But whether may have a different plan, they have said that if there's a big enough window
in the morning, they would move it up because not only has nothing to do with us, but every
every team and car puts in race engines splits the cars from final Monday practice going into
carb day. So every team wants to be able to get out there and just make sure the car was rebuilt
correctly. Nothing weird is happening. You'd hate to see something dumb that's super fixable.
Take you out of the race before it even starts just because you didn't get a chance to give it a
go and everybody's pit boxes move now. So all your reference points pit lane. It's a super
important practice to like do a few laps. So I think that they acknowledge that and they understand
that. So they're going to do what they can to adjust the schedule to make that happen.
I don't know if this the the the state of the weenie 500 I'm not sure. I
think they've got right. I have wet. Yeah, I think they've got wet. So I'm I'm cautious. Will they
run in the wet or nah? We don't do that. Well, it's it's a different sanctioning body than any car.
So I think we'll be good. I think we'll be good. I just I'm nervous about the level of puns or
where the puns will go. You're nervous. We're on network television now. I'm worried about going
to jail. Never mind getting fired. Last year we were just on YouTube. There are no rules on YouTube.
Now we have like a real audience and like government officials making sure we don't say
the wrong thing. One of us is not going to survive this. You're yeah. Yeah. You're either going
back to Canada or going to prison. It's that's those are the options. What's the difference?
I think you're here anyway. You're basically Canadian. You married a Canadian. She's American now.
There you go. See the happiness in this room. She's both
anyways. Moving on. I think that's it for us talking garbage. Tim had a great idea that he
wanted you guys to be involved in the show, but in a way that is not recorded. I mean,
we'll still record it. I'm just probably not gonna. You're not. Oh, you're just not going to
do your job. Correct. Okay. You should do less work. Oh, you're the one that left practice
early yesterday. Give me now.
You got a point. We were at the track longer than you were. What times you leave
like sit what we have. Definitely longer than I know. Let's put this way. We read the tweet
about you being transported from the track to the hospital at the track. Can I tell one
quick story before the camera? I cannot wait.
I went to the medical center after you wrecked just because I wanted to, you know,
see if I can get any updates. They're like, you're not related to him.
So no, I didn't get any updates, but somebody from your team goes. Can you go to his bus
and get an outfit so that he can change into it? I was like no problem ran to the bus lot.
I was like, I don't. I don't see the bus. It's not
it's just different color. I called Kelly. I called your wife and she's like, yeah,
we're not in that bus anymore. We're renting a different one. Look for his truck and just
go in and I got there and it wasn't locked. So I just went in and I went to the closet
and it was just a bunch of Honda gear and I was like, I am not at his bus.
Turns out you're renting Golden Hurders bus and it was his gear, but there was a moment of panic
where I was like if somebody walks in right now, I don't know how to explain this.
You didn't see all of the Java house stuff. I was a little preoccupied that I found your your
team kit and brought it over, but how lazy is cold? My doesn't clean out his closet before
you take his bus. Yeah, if anybody wants to call the country, I have it now.
What is cool in her to keep in his pantry? I'm not. I don't want to out him.
I bet it's bad. All right. Well, that's it. Hey, thank you guys for coming and I just want to
thank Droplight for helping us out with the cameras and everything in the audio. Elevate Media
for helping us out and most of all, thank you guys for coming out. Thank you guys so much.
Really appreciate it. Have a great race day, everybody.
This has been Offtrack with Hinch and Rossi. Offtrack is part of the Serious XM Sports Podcast
Network. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, please give a five-star rating and
leave a review. Subscribe today wherever you stream your podcasts. We are at Ask Offtrack on Twitter
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Find us on YouTube and subscribe to our channel for exclusive video content.
Offtrack is produced by Tim Durham and by that, we mean Thim.
About this episode
Turn two at Indy steals the spotlight, with the hosts noting “more than 70% of the incidents occur in turn two” and debating whether airflow gaps or other factors are at play. They also break down a fuel-saving crash tied to “dirty air,” plus how rain-affected qualifying made “Every run mattered.” Hybrid rules, gear/limiter decisions, and qualifying-vs-race setup sensitivity all shape strategy, while race-week logistics and even a post-wreck bus mix-up round things out.
Slow news week, huh? Hinch, Rossi, and Thim sat down at Cracker Barrel for a live show with the fans to cover Alex's impressive run at qualifying, and what happened on Monday's practice.
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Off Track is part of the SiriusXM Sports Podcast Network. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, please give a 5-star rating and leave a review. Subscribe today wherever you stream your podcasts.
