Monday, April 16, 2012

Quick Thoughts from the Couch: Long Beach


1.) Guess it doesn’t matter where Will Power starts, he’ll make up the deficit. Back-to-back excellent drives to victory give him a 24-point cushion.
2.) That hill Dario Franchitti has to climb to catch Power is looking more like a mountain – a steep one at that. Maybe he needs to borrow some Kentucky magic from Ashley.
3.) Josef Newgarden’s front-row start didn’t last long. Given that this underfunded team needs all the TV exposure it can get (even on NBC Sports Network), an overly optimistic pass attempt seconds after the green flag fell that ended up in the tire barrier wasn’t a great idea. Whether you think Franchitti nudged him or not, it’s unlikely a rookie is going to get that call against the reigning series champion.
4.) Been waiting for Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal to make some noise, and, well, they didn’t disappoint. There’s defending, there’s blocking and then there’s chopping. Rather disturbing to see a car launched again. That could have been a LOT worse.
5.) Marco needs to catch up to his teammates. James Hinchcliffe and Ryan Hunter-Reay continue to get solid results.
6.) Simon Pagenaud is something else.
7.) What happened to Justin Wilson?
8.) I have more appreciation for the smoothness and precision with which the Indianapolis Motor Speedway executes its pre-race ceremonies.
9.) Be interested to see what the ratings are. No Sprint Cup race on Sunday, not much else going on, either.
10.) One more race – Sao Paulo – before Indianapolis. Would like to see at least one oval before the 500. Would an early May event at Kentucky work?
Photo credit: Dana Garrett/Indianapolis Motor Speedway

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