Q: Really saddened to hear that Conor Daly is out at ECR. I’ve been a fan since 2008 when he and Josef Newgarden raced and won in Formula Ford in England. He’s had lots of ups and downs, kept at it, but seemingly never found the right situation to be able to break through. If IndyCar is done with him, I’ll root for him in NASCAR, IMSA, or wherever.
This seems somewhat like what happened to Zach Veach. Does a team typically have the option to retain the sponsorship that a driver brings but fire the driver? This seems rare relative to the number of paying drivers over the years (and a bit dirty to do mid-year).
Is ECR in a similar place to Rahal and where Foyt was a few years ago? Is it the equipment or engineering? It seems like ECR hasn’t had a Michael Cannon-type hire that could bring relevant, recent experience to elevate the team.
Is Garage 56 making you a NASCAR guy?
Lee Robie, Loveland, OH
MP: Fortunately, there’s no such adage of, “Once you go Cup, you never go back.” It was quite enjoyable to be part of the G56 team — even just out on the perimeter — and to get to know a lot of the Hendrick Motorsports managers and mechanics and crew members. Same look and same approach as a Penske or Ganassi. Got to meet Mr. Hendrick, who came up and introduced himself and said he enjoyed the videos we were doing for the home team; that was a surreal thing. I’ve done this since I was 16 and I doubt I’ll ever shake the feeling that I’m a nameless race car mechanic who the Rick Hendricks of the world would have no reason to know or speak to… Blows my mind.
Back to the main question: When ECR had an elite road racing talent who gave phenomenal feedback to the engineers, the team won multiple road races with Mike Conway. When ECR had an elite road racing and oval talent who gave phenomenal feedback to the engineers, the team was a contender at almost every race with Josef Newgarden. It does not and has not had a driver who ticks all of those boxes in terms of being elite on roads/streets, ovals, and arms the engineers with race-winning information. They have had drivers who hit one or two of those targets, but not all three, in a good while.
ECR’s version of Cannon, Matt Barnes, is exceptional. Looking to the future, does the team need to widen its engineering focus to be less consumed with the Indy 500 and prioritize the other 16 races on the calendar? Yes, of course. But the team is also in that awkward position of making itself look bigger than it is; the cars are fully dressed in sponsorship, but ECR is not known to be sitting on an abundance of cash in the same way at Penske, Ganassi, McLaren, Meyer Shank, or RLL has in pocket.
That usually leads to prioritizing where engineering R&D funds get spent, and given the option, the team and its owner/driver will default towards going big for the race that matters the most. With more funding, and more engineers to offer Barnes, ECR could tackle the entire calendar with the same vigor it does at the Speedway. But when you’re forced to make compromises, be it with drivers, department sizes, or where you place your engineering emphasis, you’re going to lose out to those who aren’t dealing with such restrictions.
Q: What in the wide world of sports is going on with this re-ordering procedure under the safety car at Le Mans? There are three safety cars that collect the field for some reason, and the pits are open, then closed, then open again, and sometimes cars have to stop at the end of the pits, and then the GT cars are dropped to the back, then the LMP cars go to the front, then the Hypercars go to the front, then the Hendricks Camaro goes to the front of the GTE field, AND WILL SOMEONE PLEASE PUT ME OUT OF MY MISERY.
I clocked the reordering time during the first safety car period at 20 minutes and the safety car period at the four-hour mark at 15 minutes just to reorder the field! I felt bad that the announcers had to get out their slide rules and fill 15 minutes or more with an explanation of the reordering process every time.
Eric Lawrence
MP: It’s the hardest part to watch at the event every year and, get this, there were revised procedures this year to make things better. Three pace cars are normal, and with an 8.5-mile track, the laps behind those cars will always take a long time, but with those obvious items aside, I did spend what felt like an eternity with my friend Andrew Hall — the famed Australian photographer — out at the Arnage corner while the ACO/WEC were lost for 45 minutes trying to reorder the field. It was as bad as I’ve ever seen. Whenever I yell at IMSA for its stupid-long caution/pit procedures at the Rolex 24 each January — and it happens every year — I’ll think back to Le Mans 2023 and be reminded of the asshattery without equal.
Q: How far off from the standard Cup road course car was the Garage 56 car? If they raced the same car at Sonoma on the same day, how would it have fared?
Moonshine Dave, Nashville, TN
MP: I did a four-part video series on the differences with NASCAR VP of design (and Katherine Legge’s former Dragon Racing IndyCar race engineer) Brandon Thomas while we were at Le Mans. Might be worth watching: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.