MADISON, Illinois — IndyCar got it right with its oval package in the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway on Saturday, proving many of its critics wrong.
Most of those critics were drivers, team owners and engineers in the NTT IndyCar Series garage area.
Entering the race, the drivers predicted doom, and the engineers forecast gloom. They believed the extra weight created by the hybrid engine, combined with a harder Firestone tire was going to create single-file, follow-the-leader, processional racing turning the 1.25-mile oval into a one-groove race track.
Even more dour were their predictions that the two races at The Milwaukee Mile in the Hy-Vee Twin 250s and the season’s final race at the 1.33-mile Nashville Superspeedway would be more of the same.
They were talking about the missed opportunities of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series championship being contested with boring races where competitors couldn’t pass.
It’s probably a good idea not to take any stock tips or financial planning from this group. And don’t take any gambling advice from them, either.
Last weekend’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway turned out to be the best short oval race of the season. It may have rivaled the 108th Indianapolis 500 as the best oval race of the season.
From the drop of the green flag, it was obvious that drivers could take their cars to the outside line and pass those on the inside. Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden was the first to try that lane and teammate Will Power was a quick learner, riding the high line to pass the competition.
From the front of the field, through mid-pack, there were multi-lanes available for passing and thrilling racing.
IndyCar officials nailed the package.
Each car had the right amount of downforce for the right amount of grip to allow great racing. And Firestone created a tire that had the right amount of grip, despite being a harder compound to make up for the added weight of the hybrid engine.
By the time Newgarden took the checkered flag for his 31st career IndyCar win, the race was a record breaker for passes and lead changes with drivers using the outside line successfully in a fierce and frantic race.
There were 676 on-track passes; 254 were for position; 115 came in the top 10; 44 came in the top five. All those are IndyCar records since the series returned to the track in 2017.
There were also a record 21 lead changes, shattering the previous record of 13.
More importantly, it offers hope for the remaining oval races on the schedule, including the big finale at Nashville Superspeedway on September 15.
“Absolutely huge concern,” Big Machine CEO and race promoter Scott Borchetta told NBCSports.com on Tuesday. “The drivers are the ones in the car, and they feel everything going on. They are the ones at the end of the day who are the final test, the final box you have to check.
“But I was so pleased to see how good the racing was in St. Louis because we’re somewhat similar. We have a little bit higher bank and obviously it’s a cement surface, but just the fact that they’re getting that added weight and the downforce figured out with the tire that can handle it, it is mission critical.
“Firestone and IndyCar have already done two tire tests at the Nashville Superspeedway to make sure that finale is the great show that we all want it to be.”
What made the race so great, is it was so unexpected.
Instead of a 1.25-mile “No Passing Zone” it was a “Passing Fancy” for IndyCar.
After getting clobbered by the drivers and public perception that the highly publicized hybrid engine wasn’t the game-changer IndyCar promised, they found a way to overcome the negatives through aerodynamics and tire construction.
“It was much better,” Power told NBCSports.com in an exclusive interview. “The downforce helped and also the harder tire didn’t lay as much rubber in the higher groove.
“More downforce. Harder compound. Less marbles. Second lane.
“We had total use of the second lane. It was amazing. One of the best oval races I’ve done in years. It reminded me of the Iowa Speedway spec from the past. It was a lot of fun.
“The harder tire worked with the right amount of downforce. Man, that track came alive. They just nailed it.
“I thought it was going to be follow-the-leader. It was really good.”
Power said when he saw Newgarden using the second lane at the start of the race to pass people, he knew it was open territory for racing.
“Even before that, I was driving through traffic on the bottom lane,” Power said. “Man, really good oval race.
“They got the downforce perfect.”
Power still believes a softer tire is necessary to produce the same results at The Milwaukee Mile.
“I just hope when everyone is on track at Milwaukee, they will be able to pass, but I just don’t know,” Power said. “At Nashville in testing, we couldn’t pass anyone, but in testing at St. Louis, we couldn’t pass anyone, and we did in the race.
“It’s hard to say until we get there for the race.”
But Power sounded much more confident that IndyCar’s technical and competition departments are devising a formula for those tracks after the formula worked so well at Gateway.
Team Penske has won every oval race this season, including Newgarden’s vcitory in the Indianapolis 500, Scott McLaughlin in the Hy-Vee HomeFront 250 presented by Instacart at Iowa Speedway, Power in the Hy-Vee One Step 250 presented by Gatorade at Iowa Speedway and Newgarden in the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at Worldwide Technology Raceway.
“We make good short oval cars,” Newgarden told NBCSports.com. “This has been a stronghold for us. It has been a trend and we like coming here because it suits our package.”
Even with so much past success on short ovals, Newgarden was surprised with the tremendous racing last weekend.
“I was shocked,” Newgarden admitted. “It’s what made us good at the end. We couldn’t get to the front unless I had somewhere to go, and I had somewhere to go tonight.
“You could see it. You could see the potential when it opened up. It was really cool.
“The last thing I wanted to do was teach people how to do it. That’s what made it hard. Once people caught on to it, it got tougher. But it was really good.
“We need to come back here and have that same style of racing.
“It was frantic. Really challenging. Good to see. One of the best oval races I’ve been in, in quite a while.”
Newgarden believes better racing could happen at Milwaukee and Nashville, but the tracks are very different than Gateway.
“I don’t think this will set the recipe up for anywhere else, but we have the potential to figure it out,” Newgarden said. “It’s a new car, new weight, new system. Sometimes, it takes a while to find the recipe.
“We certainly had the recipe tonight.”
The individuals that create the right recipe are the engineers.
Ben Bretzman is Team Penske’s race engineer for driver McLaughlin, who finished second to Team Penske’s Newgarden at Gateway. He admitted he was surprised by the quality of the race.
“Oh, for sure, I think going into it we thought you would have to get a fuel number and follow-the-leader,” Bretzman told NBCSports.com. “It’s almost like Indianapolis, where it is easier to save fuel in the pack, so people were coming and going, and we saw a lot of passing.
“Man, it was good.
“The other thing that helped that was when Kyffin Simpson had his crash (on Lap 86), it was a mid-stint yellow, and you had people who had to make decisions then.
“You had guys saving fuel and not saving fuel, you had a lot of moving parts there and that made the rest of the race really exciting.”
Bretzman believes the hybrid engine will get “better and better as we go,” and that teams are learning with each race.
“The hybrid has added weight to the car, it makes the tires get used a bit more and it puts stress on the teams to understand that and Firestone brings a product for the heavier car.
“But in this scenario, IndyCar did a good job with the aero package that we brought. We added a lot of downforce, it’s almost like a road course type car, and it made you use the second lane. It started to work.
“It’s a very delicate balance of tires and teams and developing. It’s going to take a little bit of time, but this was really a good first step toward that.”
Bretzman predicts Milwaukee will be “awesome” and there will be two lanes for cars to race. He believes Nashville Superspeedway has potential and could race well.
“Both of those are going to be good, but I think Milwaukee will be very strong,” Bretzman said.
With so much positive talk, that might ruin IndyCar’s controversial image, especially with the advent of the hybrid engine.