Now, I tell you this so that I can make a humblebrag (which is also a snarkbrag) about how very proud of myself I am that I DIDN'T open my mouth (virtual or physical) prior to the Firestone 550 at Texas Motor Speedway. You see, I have a lot of Facebook friends. About two of them watch IndyCar. Way more than two of them watch NASCAR. I had an idea about the middle of last week that I should put a message on Facebook, asking my friends, who watch NASCAR, to tune in for the Texas race on Saturday. Boy, am I glad that I didn't. Now, I still have hope that I can make open-wheel fans out of them at some point.
The fact of the matter is that I expected a NASCAR-ish race at Texas (by NASCAR-ish I mean these things: 1) Lots of cars on the lead lap 2) Passes for the lead 3) Drafting for position. By these criteria, the Indy 500, for example, was NASCAR-ish).
Instead we got an F1-ish race (F1-ish means, to me, 1) Tire or tyre management is crucial 2) The winner is decided mostly by pit stops 3) People, lots of people, get lapped).
Let me be clear: THIS IS NOT AN INHERENTLY BAD THING. It is, simply, a thing. I ENJOYED Texas. But, in fairness, I also enjoy F1. Also, in fairness, I enjoy scoreless ties in soccer (provided they're well played). As a youth, I loved pitchers' duels, while my friends watched the McGuire/Sosa home run battles. In summation, I'm glad I watched the Texas race. I loved it. I realize that this is not everyone's cup of tea, so I'm glad I kept my trap shut and didn't tell my NASCAR-loving friends to watch.
Onward! To Data!
Firestone 550 Scores
Here's how we scored the race in Texas:
| Driver | Qualifying | Grid | Laps Led | Completed | A.R.S. | RSWC Points |
| Castroneves | 6 | 6 | 132 | 228 | 91.31 | 25 |
| Hunter-Reay | 3 | 3 | 35 | 228 | 67.71 | 15 |
| Kanaan | 15 | 13 | 0 | 228 | 70.50 | 18 |
| Carpenter | 9 | 9 | 0 | 228 | 61.48 | 12 |
| Andretti | 2 | 2 | 57 | 228 | 59.70 | 10 |
| Franchitti | 4 | 4 | 0 | 227 | 45.92 | 4 |
| Power | 1 | 1 | 4 | 227 | 44.68 | 1 |
| Newgarden | 7 | 7 | 0 | 227 | 44.94 | 2 |
| Hinchcliffe | 13 | 12 | 0 | 227 | 47.02 | 6 |
| Viso | 5 | 5 | 0 | 227 | 36.82 | |
| Sato | 23 | 21 | 0 | 227 | 54.11 | 8 |
| Jakes | 10 | 10 | 0 | 227 | 36.82 | |
| Pagenaud | 14 | 23 | 0 | 226 | 34.82 | |
| Saavedra | 20 | 18 | 0 | 226 | 33.31 | |
| Wilson | 22 | 20 | 0 | 226 | 43.34 | |
| de Silvestro | 12 | 22 | 0 | 226 | 26.31 | |
| Kimball | 8 | 8 | 0 | 226 | 13.97 | |
| Vautier | 24 | 24 | 0 | 225 | 25.63 | |
| Servia | 18 | 16 | 0 | 225 | 15.92 | |
| Bourdais | 17 | 15 | 0 | 224 | 11.98 | |
| Rahal | 19 | 17 | 0 | 223 | 6.23 | |
| Tagliani | 16 | 14 | 0 | 223 | 1.70 | |
| Dixon | 11 | 11 | 0 | 61 | 3.77 | |
| Mann | 21 | 19 | 0 | 2 | 1.36 |
Observations
Here are my observations (apart from that opening editorial) about the race:
- My three "drivers to watch" from my preview post (Jakes, Newgarden, and Carpenter) all performed admirably. Jakes had an average running position of 9.43 and was still least impressive. Newgarden stayed the course, starting P7 and finishing P8, but ran up high in stints (due to good tire work). Carpenter reminded me why I said that he would be Top 10 in the RSWC by bagging 12 big points.
- My three "drivers who can't get a break" from my preview (Bourdais, Tagliani, Saavedra) continued to not catch a break. None of them ran particularly well: all in the bottom half, as far as Aggregate Race Scores go.
- I continue to be impressed with Marco Andretti's season.
- I'm less and less sure what to make of Vautier and Bourdais. I'm confused about Vautier because he looked so dang good on the first two road courses this year, but hasn't shown me much since Barber. I'm confused about Bourdais because he has tons of race wins, but I've never seen him look like he was contending. Is this my fault for missing the '04-'07 CART (or whatever it was called then) seasons? Or, is Dragon Racing that bad?
Prediction Review
Time to do this again...
- #Firestone550 Prediction 1) The race will look lifted from 2011, with Power and Franchitti running Top 5 as long as they're running.
- VERDICT - Half right. Power's A.R.P was 5.19, but Dario only managed 8.87. 0.5 for 1.
- #Firestone550 Prediction 2) Simona has the best finish of anyone in the last 3 rows.
- VERDICT - Nope. To review, the last three rows consisted of: Vautier, Pagenaud, de Silvestro, Sato, Wilson, and Mann. The best finish went to Sato, who also had the best Aggregate Race Score of the bunch. 0.5 for 2.
- #Firestone550 Prediction 3) I will feel yet even more validated in my Honda Boost Theory.
- VERDICT - I give this one an incomplete. The Hondas certainly qualified better. Three Hondas scored RSWC points. Several Hondas moved up in the field. But, this is an incomplete because of two things. 1) No Hondas finished on the lead lap. 2) The race was more about tires than it was about engines. We'll say half a point for the incomplete: 1 for 3.
- #Firestone550 Prediction 4) Marco Andretti opens up a lead of 10 or more in the Race Score World Championship.
- VERDICT - Absolutely not. I felt good about this early in the race, but superb pit strategy and tire management by Helio Castroneves, means that Helio actually opens up the 10+ point lead. 1 for 4. (I take back all the things I've ever mumbled about an even oval/twisty split...)
Speaking of RSWC points...
Race Score World Championship
Here's an updated snapshot of the RSWC:
| Driver | RCWC Points | Points Back |
| Castroneves | 88 | 0 |
| Hunter-Reay | 76 | -12 |
| Andretti | 73 | -15 |
| Pagenaud | 60 | -28 |
| Kanaan | 59 | -29 |
| Dixon | 58 | -30 |
| Sato | 58 | -30 |
| Conway | 43 | -45 |
| Newgarden | 43 | -45 |
| Wison | 41 | -47 |
| Franchitti | 31 | -57 |
| Kimball | 28 | -60 |
| Hinchcliffe | 26 | -62 |
| Viso | 15 | -73 |
| Rahal | 13 | -75 |
| Carpenter | 13 | -75 |
| Munoz | 12 | -76 |
| Servia | 12 | -76 |
| Power | 11 | -77 |
| Bourdais | 8 | -80 |
| Jakes | 8 | -80 |
| Tagliani | 7 | -81 |
| de Silvestro | 6 | -82 |
| Hildebrand | 4 | -84 |
| Allmendinger | 4 | -84 |
| Briscoe | 1 | -87 |
I'll probably have some witty explanations and observations here after Milwaukee (since that's sort of a half-way point). But, for now, enjoy that Mike Conway remains a destroyer of worlds, with more RSWC points than Franchitti and Power combined. Take that 2007-2011.
Stay Tuned
Same time tomorrow, friends! At that time, we'll preview this weekend's race at the Historic Milwaukee Mile in the beautiful state of Wisconsin! There will also be Twitter predictions coming up after qualifying, so keep your screens locked on @ScoringIndy on Twitter!
Until approximately 24 hours from now!
-- Guido
P.S. Hoff and I are hopefully working on something a little fun. That is if Hoff can quit watching hockey long enough to write...
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