re: 2022 IndyCar Season Thread - Last Race: Laguna Seca 9/11 3:00 PM ET (NBC)

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It's a pretty terrible track.

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But the view of them racing on the bridge is so camera-friendly.

Can Mclaughlin and Grosjean finish top 3 with all their push to pass?

Kind of a dick move.

I guess they're going to try to get two green laps to finish this off.

Oh wait it said 4 laps, now it says 3 laps left. So only one green lap.

It's getting spicy on the twitter. Newgarden took out Grosjean and was unapologetic about it in his interview. He said "Welcome to IndyCar. Don’t know what else to tell him." Lively conversation on Twitter. People calling Newgarden an arse. Newgarden responding defiantly:

twitter.com/josefnewgarden/status/1556430011460194304

But the negativity towards Grosjean among drivers is becoming more public. At first it was just Graham Rahal speaking out, now...



I think people are pointing out that Ericsson and Grosjean have their own history in F1.

Oh wait, other people are pointing out that Grosjean did the same thing to Ericsson in this race, that's what Ericsson is talking about.

Race 14 Nashville

Official results and points

2022 Big Machine Music City Grand Prix - 80 laps

P01 Scott Dixon (#9 Ganassi / Honda)
P02 Scott McLaughlin (#3 Penske / Chevy)
P03 Alex Palou (#10 Ganassi / Honda)
P04 Alexander Rossi (#27 Andretti / Honda)
P05 Colton Herta (#26 Andretti / Honda)
P06 Josef Newgarden (#2 Penske / Chevy)
P07 Felix Rosenqvist (#7 McLaren / Chevy)
P08 Christian Lundgaard [R] (#30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan / Honda)
P09 Simon Pagenaud (#60 Meyer Shank / Honda)
P10 Jack Harvey (#45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan / Honda)
P11 Will Power (#12 Penske / Chevy)
P12 Rinus VeeKay (#21 Carpenter / Chevy)
P13 Hélio Castroneves (#06 Meyer Shank / Honda)
P14 Marcus Ericsson (#8 Ganassi / Honda)
P15 Callum Ilott [R] (#77 Juncos Hollinger / Chevy)
P16 Romain Grosjean (#28 Andretti / Honda)
P17 Conor Daly (#20 Carpenter / Chevy)
P18 Jimmie Johnson (#48 Ganassi / Honda) - 72 laps Contact
P19 Kyle Kirkwood [R] (#14 AJ Foyt / Chevy) - 63 laps Contact
P20 David Malukas [R] (#18 Coyne / Honda) - 63 laps Contact
P21 Takuma Sato (#51 Coyne / Honda) - 32 laps Contact
P22 Devlin DeFrancesco [R] (#29 Andretti / Honda) - 32 laps Contact
P23 Graham Rahal (#15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan / Honda) - 29 laps Contact
P24 Pato O'Ward (#5 McLaren / Chevy) - 25 laps Contact
P25 Dalton Kellett (#4 AJ Foyt / Chevy) - 25 laps Contact
P26 Simona De Silvestro (#16 Paretta / Chevy) - 25 laps Contact

With just three races left, the top seven drivers are still in contention! Amazingly, two of the oldest drivers on the grid are at the top. Four of the seven are former (or defending) champions.

P01 Will Power (Penske / Chevy) 450 pts
P02 Scott Dixon (Ganassi / Honda) 444 pts
P03 Marcus Ericsson (Ganassi / Honda) 438 pts
P04 Josef Newgarden (Penske / Chevy) 428 pts
P05 Alex Palou (Ganassi / Honda) 417 pts
P06 Scott McLaughlin (Penske / Chevy) 392 pts
P07 Pato O'Ward (McLaren / Chevy) 391 pts

Here’s the grid order. I show where the top 7 guys in the championship standings qualified. I only show the top 7 because they are the only guys with a reasonable chance to win the championship with only 3 races left.

Will Power’s 67th pole position ties Mario Andretti’s record for IndyCar pole positions. (At the last race at Nashville, Scott Dixon’s 53rd victory surpassed Mario for 2nd on the all-time wins list.) Power’s pole speed was 182.7 mph. The pole record at Gateway was also set by Power at 189.7 mph in 2017, the last year of the high-downforce manufacturer aero-kit era. Wow, those cars were fast!

Race 15 Gateway Qualifying

P01 Will Power (#12 Penske / Chevy) - P1 champ
P02 Marcus Ericsson (#8 Ganassi / Honda) - P3 champ
P03 Josef Newgarden (#2 Penske / Chevy) - P4 champ
P04 Scott McLaughlin (#3 Penske / Chevy) - P6 champ
P05 Alex Palou (#10 Ganassi / Honda) - P5 champ
P06 Scott Dixon (#9 Ganassi / Honda) - P2 champ
P07 Pato O'Ward (#5 McLaren / Chevy) - P7 champ
P08 Takuma Sato (#51 Coyne / Honda)
P09 Romain Grosjean (#28 Andretti / Honda)
P10 Devlin DeFrancesco [R] (#29 Andretti / Honda)
P11 Alexander Rossi (#27 Andretti / Honda)
P12 Colton Herta (#26 Andretti / Honda)
P13 David Malukas [R] (#18 Coyne / Honda)
P14 Simon Pagenaud (#60 Meyer Shank / Honda)
P15 Jack Harvey (#45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan / Honda)
P16 Conor Daly (#20 Carpenter / Chevy)
P17 Graham Rahal (#15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan / Honda)
P18 Hélio Castroneves (#06 Meyer Shank / Honda)
P19 Christian Lundgaard [R] (#30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan / Honda)
P20 Kyle Kirkwood [R] (#14 AJ Foyt / Chevy)
P21 Jimmie Johnson (#48 Ganassi / Honda)
P22 Callum Ilott [R] (#77 Juncos Hollinger / Chevy)
P23 Rinus VeeKay (#21 Carpenter / Chevy)
P24 Dalton Kellett (#4 AJ Foyt / Chevy)
P25 Ed Carpenter (#33 Carpenter / Chevy)
P26 Felix Rosenqvist (#7 McLaren / Chevy) - No speed, crashed