Ok one of you was actually at this race so I gotta figure out what happened. I see Álex Palou won…back in the lead in the standings…guess he’s teammates with Jimmie Johnson? Didn’t know that. Figured Johnson was on a fringier team but I guess it makes sense that Johnson wouldn’t want that, just a little surprised Ganassi’s willing to invest in him unless they really think they need the marketing.
So it appears what happened is there was chaos again in Turn 1, as is customary:
And then gradually, Palou climbed back while Pato O’Ward faded. Do I have that right? Is that right? Alexander Rossi gave Palou a charge but Palou was too fast for him?
As it now stands, Palou’s ahead of O’Ward by 25 points with two races left. Josef Newgarden’s in third, 34 back of Palou; Scott Dixon’s in fourth, 49 back of Palou. For some context: The maximum number of points scored by a driver in an IndyCar race is 54. Generally, if you win, you can expect to gain roughly ten points on the second-place finisher and fifteen points on the guy in third (leading laps and winning the pole change things but not by a lot). I believe the last place driver is guaranteed five points, so really, the maximum you can gain is 49. In other words, there’s a chance Palou wraps this up next week and there’s also a chance Dixon wins and makes this a four-car race going into the season finale.
Ok, thank you, Mattia Binotto’s Glasses. I finally have taken the effort to understand what’s happening in IndyCar beyond, “THE INDY 500 IS AWESOME AND THERE IS MILK INVOLVED.”
Sorry.
IndieCar.
It was in Portland.
Oh hey also according to the IndyCar website Palou lives here in Austin. Wonder if I’ve ever given him a rideshare ride or delivered him food. Man. Me driving a professional racecar driver. That’d be kind of funny. He’d think we were going so slow!
Mattia Binotto’s Glasses was in attendance at the race!
It’s a funny thing, though, this attending of grands prix. One’s view of the action is limited to a (relatively) small portion of the track. This makes following the race a rather difficult proposition. True, I had ear buds in (both for hearing protection and so that I could listen to the audio of NBC’s broadcast), but still. It was a bit difficult to figure out precisely what was transpiring.
But fear not. Although I cannot provide you with a good lap-by-lap summation, I can provide you with the following list of The Best T-Shirts I Saw at the Portland Grand Prix. If you are Fargo or you are a human child and you are currently reading The Barking Crow, I ask that you please navigate away from this page. The list below is rated PG-13 for crude language and references to alcohol and carnal relations.
1. A Woman, Approximately 45 Years Old: “SURPRISE! I’m drunk!”
2. A Man, Approximately 50 Years Old: “Smile If You’d Do Me”
3. A Man, Approximately 70 Years Old: “It’s OK. I’m on 500mg of Fukitol”
Well. Did you smile?
Is il Papa Catholic?