Q: Is this a first in racing? A driver who is classified finished behind a driver who completed fewer laps. Pato deserved his penalty for punting Teddy Porkchop at Barber, and it had the knock-on effect of Pato, who completed all 90 laps, finishing behind a driver who finished 89 laps.
Ryan, West Michigan
MP: It sure sounds like it!
Q: When does Zak make Theo Pourchaire first banana at Arrow McLaren? You can make a reasonable argument that Theo has outperformed his more experienced teammates over the past two races.
Jonathan and Cleide Morris, Ventura, CA
MP: Assuming Theo is in for the Indy GP, that to me would be the first event where we can make a real comparison of his capabilities against Pato and Rossi. The road course is smooth and flowing, and it will take Pourchaire all of three laps to figure it out. I’m thinking of what Christian Lundgaard did with RLL a few years ago to put his name in lights with a starring performance in qualifying.
We don’t know how competitive the Arrow McLarens will be, so this is all about where Theo lines up in comparison to Pato. If he’s close, he needs to become a bigger part of their plans. We know the No. 6 car needs a new driver in 2025. The No. 7 could as well.
Q: I’m sure you are so over the onslaught of P2P emails this week, but my husband came up with a pretty solid idea. In addition to DQ’ing the cars who break the law, be it for P2P violations, illegal tire pressures, etc., why not also make them pay by not allowing them to use P2P for the remainder of the year or, in the case of tire cheating, limit the sets of tires that they are allocated on any given weekend? That’ll teach ’em!
Kim Hindman
MP: I’m jealous and wish I’d come up with that, Kim! Brilliant idea.
Q: When it comes to the Penske P2P ordeal, what are your true thoughts on Newgarden’s story? My opinion means nothing, but I tend to side with Herta in that the drivers know the rules and they are reiterated in the drivers meetings.
Also, what are the other drivers saying off-camera? On camera on Peacock they were very diplomatic, but I imagine there are quite a few that are very pissed off.
Last, do you think anyone could be on the chopping block at Penske over this? I saw there was a closed door owners meeting with Roger and I would bet it wasn’t pleasant.
Joey, Florida
MP: I’d guess I spoke with 20 of the 27 drivers from Wednesday-Sunday, and more than a few wanted to talk right after it was announced, and the situation hasn’t changed: I continue to wait for the first of those 20ish, or the other seven, to say they think the Penske drivers were clueless to the situation.
After Newgarden’s presser, those I’d heard from previously doubled down (is tripling down a thing?) on Newgarden. As I mentioned in RACER’s post-qualifying video, Josef’s the least-liked driver — among drivers — in the series. And by a mile. Because, as many have said, due to his interpersonal behavior.
It makes a situation like this a tough one on Newgarden since he’s left with so few friends and allies within the paddock, and even within the Penske driver group, to lean on. It’s also, as I’ve been told for a little while now, a situation that’s of his making. As I mentioned in the video, if this was a Pato O’Ward, or a Felix Rosenqvist, the reaction would be entirely different.
Q: Wow! What a week! What a race at Barber! It was great to see the three-stoppers stick it to the two-stoppers in the end. I’m sick of the fuel mileage races, so it was very refreshing seeing the Thirsty 3’s just biting the bit, pin back the ears, and cuttin’ loose. I mean, three-second delta in lap times?! No thanks. I was entertained with how it played out.
Other thoughts: I know open-wheel cars ideally aren’t supposed to bump sidepods and tires, but wow, the elbows-out racing was entertaining. Everybody remembered Long Beach and said, “Let’s go, bro!” Kudos to Firestone. Perfect compound. The drivers had to actually drive around these corners, and the tires gave just the right combination of grip and slip to have the drivers actually drive the corners. Either they nailed it or they bit it and lost position. And anti-stall worked! So good to see cars spin out, recover, and get on their way. It was exciting those spins didn’t bring out yellows.
Looking forward to May. Just found out I’ll be at the track for Fast Friday and Day 1 qualifying. Where should I go Friday night for food?
Jordan P., St. Louis Metro East
MP: Same recommendation as last week’s Mailbag: The Workingman’s Friend for a cheeseburger and fries. Or, if you like a proper racing-themed meal, head to the Foyt Wine Vault right across from Turn 1 and dine and revel in the A.J. imagery and memorabilia. Great folks there.
Q: In a recent piece you noted that Newgarden wasn’t on everyone’s Christmas present list prior to the recent events of St. Pete and his press conference. I’ve always had the impression, and Townsend Bell touched on it during the broadcast on Sunday — if you’re racing someone hard and at the speeds of IndyCar, Josef is one of the cleaner guys to race with on track that you have a big trust factor with. I know Robin was always a big supporter and many seemed genuinely happy he got to where he is at Penske.
So where does the animosity come from towards Newgarden, if that’s the correct term for the situation that existed prior to mess from St. Pete?
Second, as a long-time fan of the series since ’93, how is it that Penske was unable to secure a Canadian TV deal for 2024? To me if the options up here for our TV don’t want to carry IndyCar, that can’t be good for the future of Toronto.
Paul
MP: The many beefs with rivals or teammates existed long before we arrived in St. Pete. As I’ve been told repeatedly, it’s had nothing to do with the on-track stuff and everything to do with interpersonal behavior.
I’ve never seen an IndyCar driver change more from the start of their career as Newgarden. I’ve said this before, but I met Helio Castroneves as a Indy Lights rookie in 1996. All these years later, he’s the same guy. Also met Tony Kanaan as a 1996 Lights rookie. Same guy today. They’ve won everything, become heroes and stars and wealthy beyond what any of us will ever know, and yet they are no different than who they were 30ish years ago.
Juan Pablo Montoya was a full-time a-hole. He knew it and owned it. And I love the guy for it — he’s as real as they come, which is why he was such a popular person to interact with and interview. Having an amazing driver who also acts like a jerk is nothing new.
Hard to say what’s changed with Newgarden, but he’s gone from being one of the favorite drivers among drivers to an outcast for most. That’s something that was kept quiet because he’s important to the series and has a solid base of fans. But with this scandal, and the firing of shots his way in public by some drivers, the effort to protect his fans from the reality of the situation behind the scenes was no longer possible.