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Opinion
Excuse the delay. I was on the ground for both days of IndyCar Series action at Gateway, just across the Mississippi River from St Louis, Missouri – and it’s been pretty hectic. A little later than usual, here are your talking points from the last oval race of the season:
Josef Newgarden wins
The King of Gateway took his fourth victory at the egg-shaped oval, blasting by Scott McLaughlin on a restart with less than forty laps to run, after a two-hour rain delay, and was never headed again. The Tennessean showed earlier in the race that he could pass where few others dared, and got around his Penske teammate like he was standing still. Another commanding performance from a guy who led seventy-eight laps for his twenty-fifth IndyCar Series victory.
It was a case of so close yet so far for Will Power, who led a race-high 126 laps, absolutely dominating the first half of the race when the sun was out (a 5:00pm green flag) but falling short in the second, caught out by a bad strategy call, dooming him to a sixth place finish.
Rookie David Malukas beat McLaughlin home for second, executing a sensational last-lap pass in turn two, showing that he is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the years to come. Pato O’Ward was fourth for Arrow McLaren SP, Takuma Sato fifth for Dale Coyne Racing and Power in sixth. Power’s chief championship rival after last race, Scott Dixon, came home eighth but now Power has to look over his shoulder at Newgarden instead.
Gateway should always be run at night
The 260-lap contest was, in many ways, like two separate races.
A red flag for rain with forty-three to run put an end to what had been a very processional race, with barely anyone able to make a pass up front. McLaughlin had assumed the lead prior to the red, and had they not restarted, he would have scored his first oval win. But the track was dried and those of us who hung around for the end – including a group of Aussies one row in front of us – were treated to a wild finish under lights, when passing happened early and often.
If the last stanza of the race is anything to go by, the Gateway event should never again be held in the day. I get that it was brought forward from 5:30pm to 5:00pm to try and get ahead of weather in the area, but that half an hour wouldn’t have made any real difference as far as racing quality in the day went. Day versus night was like chalk and cheese. IndyCar needs to take a serious look at what works and what doesn’t. Big crowds like they had on Saturday night aren’t going to turn up to watch a procession, which was what we got for three quarters (or more) of the race. But they will turn up if the entire race is like what we saw post-red flag.
Will Power makes history
The Toowoomba Terror notched his sixty-seventh IndyCar Series pole on Friday afternoon to equal the mark set by the legendary Mario Andretti after a spectacular qualifying session that had us all on the edges of our seats. Power was very emotional afterward, as you would expect, given he has equalled one of the sport’s all-time greats.
The way Power goes about qualifying, I wouldn’t be surprised if he takes the record for himself either next time out of Portland or in the season finale at Laguna Seca.
The championship race
Will Power continues to lead the 2022 IndyCar Series championship with two races – Portland and Laguna Seca – left on the docket. Whereas Scott Dixon was his closest competitor after the Nashville weekend, it’s now Penske teammate Josef Newgarden who is stalking Power, the win at Gateway bringing him to within three. Dixon falls to third, eleven markers behind Newgarden. Marcus Ericsson is three further points back in fourth.
Defending champion Alex Palou is in fifth, forty-three points behind Power. Realistically, he needs a win or maybe two if he’s going to repeat as IndyCar Series champion.
Matthew Brabham wins the Lights race
An audacious pass on Linus Lundqvist with three laps to go on Saturday afternoon handed Sir Jack’s grandson a memorable oval win, his second of the season. I ran into a very happy, trophy-wielding Brabham in the paddock afterward. A very happy, if exhausted young man.
I was in the IndyCar Radio booth with Mark Jaynes, Nick Yeoman and Davey Hamilton to see Power take the IndyCar pole on Friday and Brabham win the Indy Lights race on Saturday. I should have someone gotten up there for the IndyCar race as well, and Power might have won.
Gateway is a fantastic event
Combine pro-active promoters and dedicated sponsors and you get one of the best events on the schedule and – at least until Hy-Vee did something similar over the double-header weekend at Iowa earlier this year – the best oval attendance outside of the Indianapolis 500.
The key is to absolutely flood the track with action, and with USAC Silver Crown, Indy Pro 2000, Indy Lights and the main 260-lap IndyCar contest, that’s exactly what happened. Crowds don’t want to travel a long way out of a population centre for one or two races. Promoters need to give fans a reason to do so – and Gateway has.
It was my second time at the event (the first time four years ago) and I remained thoroughly impressed by how nothing was left to chance.
Next stop
A week off for the teams and drivers before heading across country to Portland in the Pacific Northwest for the Grand Prix of Portland across the Labor Day weekend.
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