Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Pocono Indy 400 Recap

Hello Internet! Welcome to the Scoring Indy recap of the Pocono 400. Being as we're fairly far into the week already, I couldn't say too much about the race itself that has not already been said. I will say, however, that I derived a great deal of happiness from seeing the Gallant Fox on the podium. (By the way, after last Friday's Triple Crown Horses and IndyCar Drivers Pocono Preview, I've decided that Dario Franchitti is going to be called the Gallant Fox.) So, on to the numbers!


Pocono 400 Scores

Finish Driver Qualifying Grid Laps Led Completed ARS RSWC Points
1 Dixon 7 17 38 160 83.70 25
2 Kimball 13 12 4 160 74.10 15
3 Franchitti 18 20 0 160 75.28 18
4 Power 4 4 15 160 61.03 8
5 Newgarden 16 15 0 160 62.20 12
6 Pagenaud 9 8 0 160 55.93 4
7 Wilson 20 22 0 160 61.61 10
8 Castroneves 6 6 0 160 47.46 1
9 Carpenter 15 14 0 160 49.57 2
10 Andretti 1 1 88 160 56.65 6
11 de Silvestro 10 9 0 160 34.91
12 Jakes 14 13 0 160 36.24
13 Kanaan 5 5 15 160 34.46
14 Briscoe 23 19 0 159 39.82
15 Mann 19 21 0 159 32.62
16 Bourdais 12 11 0 159 23.02
17 Tagliani 24 24 0 158 29.43
18 Rahal 17 16 0 158 17.51
19 Vautier 11 10 0 158 7.27
20 Hunter-Reay 2 2 0 121 2.08
21 Viso 22 23 0 104 11.16
22 Sato 8 7 0 61 7.24
23 Saavedra 21 18 0 2 2.75
24 Hinchcliffe 3 3 0 0 1.39


Observations

- Obviously, the hard-luck stories of the race are RHR and Kanaan, driver error (their own, in TK's case; and Sato's in Hunter-Reay's.) Mark Wilkinson over at New Track Record wrote an excellent piece this week called "Luck at Pocono," which covers the good luck and hard luck stories from the weekend.

- The shake-up between the Top 10 positions in the race and the distribution of RSWC Points is interesting. A few quick hitters:

1) Marco Andretti gets credit for running high and leading all those laps, pulling in 6 points from P10.
2) Carpenter grabs some points on an oval. Color me unsurprised.
3) Franchitti picks up 18 points based on a dismal qualifying effort, then buoyed by the fuel mileage of the new Honda engine.

- An analogy that I haven't heard made about this race (NB: hadn't when I typed it, just saw Marshall Pruet make it), which I'd like to posit here is that it bears a striking similarity to the 2012 Indianapolis 500 (the first, last, and only IndyCar race that I've actually attended: a fact that I hope to rectify next season). Here are the similarities that I see:

1) Early domination and eventual hard luck for Marco Andretti.
2) Honda wins it based on fuel mileage. 
3) Chip Ganassi cars occupy several podium spots.
4) A surprising P7 finish for Justin Wilson.

- Really stellar performance by Josef Newgarden. Based on average running position, he had an about a P12 or so car. I believe that in a post-race interview on ABC, Jamie Little mentioned to Josef that they hadn't talked about him much at all, but that he'd had a good result. And, that was precisely my assessment of Newgarden's day. Just went out and kept chopping wood, as they say. Good run from #67.


RSWC Update

Driver RCWC Points Points Back
Castroneves 116 0
Hunter-Reay 109 -7
Dixon 89 -27
Andretti 80 -36
Sato 76 -40
Kanaan 74 -42
Pagenaud 72 -44
Franchitti 57 -59
Hinchcliffe 55 -61
Newgarden 55 -61
Wison 53 -63
Conway 43 -73
Kimball 43 -73
Viso 31 -85
Power 29 -87
Carpenter 28 -88
Rahal 23 -93
Servia 18 -98
Munoz 12 -104
Bourdais 8 -108
Jakes 8 -108
Tagliani 7 -109
de Silvestro 6 -110
Hildebrand 4 -112
Allmendinger 4 -112
Briscoe 1 -115


Observations

- I wouldn't count Scott Dixon out of the chase for the Race Score World Championship. He was a real contender for most of the first quarter of the season, and with the abundance of twisty events (like those at which he excelled early) coming up, Dixon might just make a push.

- The same could be said for Simon Pagenaud.

- Both of my favorite feel-good stories are tied at 43 points. Charlie Kimball has really shown growth this season, and hopefully Mike Conway is back to destroying worlds at Toronto this weekend.


Prediction Review

#WhatTurn4 Prediction 1) We'll see an all-Chevy podium.

VERDICT -- I meant Honda. Heck, I even meant Ganassi. I swear... 0 for 1

#WhatTurn4 Prediction 2) RHR grabs the lead in the RSWC.

VERDICT -- I'm convinced he would have if Takuma Sato hadn't gone up and over the back of his car, much like JR Hildebrand did to Will Power in St. Pete. 0 for 2

#WhatTurn4 Prediction 3) Both Schmidt cars finish ahead of either RLL cars.

VERDICT -- Pagenaud does. Vautier doesn't. 0.5 for 3

#WhatTurn4 Prediction 4) Two of Simona, Kimball, and Vautier score RSWC Points.

VERDICT -- Kimball, for sure. Vautier, not at all. Simona, close. I said 2. I got 1. 1 for 4 (with just two halves...)


Stay Tuned

- The second double-header weekend of the season is coming up! Including standing starts on Saturday!

- Just like happened in Detroit, we'll do two predictions before the first race and two before the second. Maybe going back to a twisty circuit will improve my luck on predictions.

Later!!

-- Guido

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