Latest / The Indycar Dad Podcast / INDYCAR News in 5 Minutes - 3/9/26 - Ep. 15
Transcript
- Indycar Dad: Welcome to this week's IndyCar News in five minutes. I'm IndyCarDad, an IndyCar superfan that focuses on having fun at the races. I read and watch everything IndyCar from the past week and then I try to summarize it in five minutes. Let's go. ⁓ Some quick updates. The NASCAR-IndyCar combo from last weekend at Phoenix really seems to work and rumors are that it'll be continuing. So that'll be good for next year. ⁓ And the upcoming race in Arlington is gonna feature single-lap quality ⁓ Qualifying for the fast six so that means the first two segments of qualifying will be knockout You know that to establish the first the fast 12 and then there'll be a fast 12 Set up that'll be a knockout qualifying to determine the top six and then they will run the sixth fastest car We'll get one hot lap fifth fastest car one hot lap and so on to determine who's on pole So that should be exciting to watch Fox is going to broadcast 120 minutes of qualifying So a little longer broadcast to cover a little more detail. I was to do a review of the Phoenix race. I was there, it was fun. The weather was great. The crowd was big. The cars were really fast. Like an Indy car goes around there in 20 second range and a NASCAR car goes around there in 26 second range. So if they ran a 250 lap race with NASCAR cars and Indy cars, the Indy cars had finished 50 laps ahead. So they're really fast. ⁓ There was 323 on-track passes for position. So there was a lot of passing in a 250 lap race. So more than one on-track position pass per lap. So that was really good. I want to talk about some winners, losers. I'll give away some awards. Top driver awards go to Joseph Newgarden. Just an astounding display of skill. If you ever want to see something interesting on a short oval, just log on to the IndyCar app and watch Joseph's in-car camera. Dude, the guy, seems to know 10 seconds in advance what's gonna happen and reacts to it really well. So that was great. Kyle Kirkwood, also a great weekend. I remember a long time ago, Michael Andretti talking about Kyle Kirkwood was a generational talent and he's a once in a generation type of driver to come along. And this was when Kyle was struggling in the Ford car. And now at Andretti, he is really showing his skills. And then David Malukas, he won the poll. for the race. He finished third in the race. He just looks comfortable and fast. He's walking around the paddock with a smile on his face, doing all the things that I'm sure Penske is happy about, and I'm sure he's proud of himself as well. Who's punching above their weight? Graham Rahal finished ninth in the race, so that was pretty good. And RLL, team that hadn't recently been good on ovals, is looking a lot better too. They qualified Mick Schumacher for the race well too. ⁓ Let's talk about a rising star this guy Dennis Hauger He's something I mean he did so well in lights and he had an amazing save ⁓ If you haven't seen it check out YouTube just watch the save and he finished again as the top rookie 15th place because you know He was spun around at one point, but man that guy Hauger is really looking good ⁓ Who didn't live up to their potential? I'll give you two people who didn't live up to their potential one Alex Palo got in an accident which I personally think he could have easily avoided. I'm sure his spotter was in his ear telling him there was a car high, car high, car high, and he went up anyway and collided with Rinus VK. ⁓ that makes the championship chase a lot more interesting and Alex is right now in fifth in the standing. And then another person that didn't live up to his potential is Will Power. He ⁓ crashed in qualifying so he started last. And then he ran his car from last place to first place, really on speed. And he was in first place. And then he got into a tussle with Rasmussen and ended up, you know, with a cut tire. And then he finally finished 16th. So man, he had some potential. And I can't wait to see Will Power do great in an Andretti car. And at some points in the race on Sunday or Saturday, he was looking like he was doing great in an Andretti car. So. ⁓ You know, when you pick winners, you gotta pick losers, I guess. And this week's loser is Nolan Siegel. ⁓ You know, once again, he's just nowhere near his teammates. He's taken a McLaren, a top level car, and he finished 20th place. It's not really good. And I imagine he's really in the hot seat right now. And people are starting to talk about, you know, how much grace do you get when you pay for your ride? In the standings, ⁓ Joseph New Garden is in first place, Kyle Kirkwood second. Scotty Maxson third, Pato is fourth, Palo is fifth. So that's the top five. ⁓ All three of the Penske's are in the top six because Maluchas is sixth, Lundgaard, Armstrong looking good, Erickson, Rossi round out the top 10. And then in last place in the standings is Mick Schumacher. So, you know, he's had a rough start to the season, ⁓ qualifying high in the field, felt kind of really fed him to the wolves on Saturday. But hopefully he'll do well in Arlington. What's next? Arlington, Texas. It's a brand new street race held in the stadium parking lots in Dallas. And it really should be a spectacle. They have some heavy media hitters and heavy ⁓ hitters are in that community. Jerry Jones, owner of the Cowboys, is helping out. So this, think, is going to be a really well attended, ⁓ really great spectacle. I really wish I could go, but I can't. It's one of the races I can't make this week. but I look forward to it and I'll definitely be watching it. So there you go, I'm Indy Kardin, that's your Indy Kard News in five minutes. Thank you.