2013 Houston Race 2 Scores
| Race Finish | Driver | Grid | Laps Led | Completed | Race Score | RSWC Points |
| 1 | Power | 9 | 51 | 90 | 94.23 | 25 |
| 2 | Dixon | 2 | 29 | 90 | 73.69 | 18 |
| 3 | Hinchcliffe | 8 | 0 | 90 | 64.74 | 15 |
| 4 | Wilson | 6 | 0 | 90 | 58.89 | 8 |
| 5 | Bourdais | 13 | 0 | 90 | 62.59 | 12 |
| 6 | Pagenaud | 3 | 0 | 90 | 46.91 | 2 |
| 7 | Servia | 21 | 0 | 90 | 62.53 | 10 |
| 8 | Kimball | 10 | 0 | 90 | 45.94 | 1 |
| 9 | Conway | 16 | 0 | 90 | 49.43 | 6 |
| 10 | de Silvestro | 17 | 0 | 90 | 42.41 | |
| 11 | Vautier | 22 | 0 | 90 | 45.59 | |
| 12 | Saavedra | 24 | 0 | 90 | 48.92 | 4 |
| 13 | Newgarden | 14 | 0 | 90 | 31.60 | |
| 14 | Sato | 15 | 0 | 89 | 34.86 | |
| 15 | Franchitti | 7 | 0 | 89 | 14.75 | |
| 16 | Viso | 12 | 0 | 89 | 26.82 | |
| 17 | Jakes | 20 | 0 | 89 | 27.11 | |
| 18 | Rahal | 19 | 0 | 88 | 15.49 | |
| 19 | Filippi | 23 | 0 | 88 | 20.90 | |
| 20 | Andretti | 4 | 0 | 88 | -6.02 | |
| 21 | Hunter-Reay | 5 | 0 | 87 | -4.38 | |
| 22 | Carpenter | 18 | 0 | 61 | 5.86 | |
| 23 | Castroneves | 1 | 10 | 53 | -9.16 | |
| 24 | Kanaan | 11 | 0 | 32 | 2.79 |
Observations
- First of all, I actually observed this race, so I can make some comments based on what I saw, in addition to the raw data.
- A quick note on method, since the field was set via entrant points coming into the weekend, I've just scored the race against the starting grid. For instance, Sato and Franchitti are scored as having started P15 and P7 on grid respectively. Now, the two of them were moved to the back of the grid for the second and "official" start, and this gets reflected in their Average Running Position numbers, but not the grid.
- Two climbers of note:
1) Servia. This is what Oriol Servia does. He gains positions over the course of races. He did it last season. He did it at Long Beach this year, then again at Sao Paulo. The question for the man from Pals is this: is that enough? I suppose that's also the question for any team owner looking to hire Servia: is it enough that he gains spots on track? Does it matter that he's only won a single major open-wheel race (a 2005 Champ Car tilt in Montreal)? I hope it is enough.
2) Sebastian Saavedra. Saavedra doesn't really impress me, as a general rule. BUT, this was an impressive strategic outing from the #6 team. They used a smart strategy pitting early in the first window (which didn't cost anything, since Saavedra has only slightly more entrant points than I do), and that allowed them to run as high as P3, and running as high as P3 does wonders for one's Average Running Position. The yellows didn't fall their way from there, but it still sneaked the young Columbian into the 12th place in the box score.
- Two climbers who will be quickly noted:
1) Vautier up 11 spots.
2) Bourdais up 8.
- Someone give Dale Coyne a winning lottery ticket. Please. Justin Wilson has had an Above-the-Conway-Line year. Mike Conway has run in 7 races this year: scoring RSWC points in 5 of them. 5 of 7 is 71%. Dixon has scored in 12 of 18 races; that's 67%. Castroneves: 67% as well. RHR: 44%. Pagenaud: 67%. Marco: 72%. Do we sense a pattern? Dale has great drivers, who have turned in great performances this year (as I pointed out in the Team RSWC article). Now, if he had the money (which he famously lacks) to develop and test the same as the big teams, his cars could really challenge.
- Josef Newgarden, despite finishing the race with a different nose than he started with, and serving a drive-through, finishes on the lead lap. I'd say that's the definition of respectable. Good weekend from (rapidly becoming) my favorite driver without an Italian name. (Maybe I'll start calling him Giuseppe...)
- Now, on to the coronation:
RSWC Update
| Driver | RCWC Points | Points Back |
| Dixon | 186 | 0 |
| Castroneves | 154 | -32 |
| Pagenaud | 128 | -58 |
| Hunter-Reay | 126 | -60 |
| Andretti | 116 | -70 |
| Wilson | 108 | -78 |
| Franchitti | 101 | -85 |
| Hinchcliffe | 90 | -96 |
| Power | 89 | -97 |
| Newgarden | 84 | -102 |
| Kimball | 83 | -103 |
| Bourdais | 83 | -103 |
| Kanaan | 79 | -107 |
| Sato | 76 | -110 |
| Conway | 71 | -115 |
| Viso | 43 | -143 |
| de Silvestro | 43 | -143 |
| Rahal | 33 | -153 |
| Carpenter | 29 | -157 |
| Servia | 28 | -158 |
| Saavedra | 16 | -170 |
| Jakes | 14 | -172 |
| Munoz | 12 | -174 |
| Tagliani | 7 | -179 |
| Hildebrand | 4 | -182 |
| Allmendinger | 4 | -182 |
| Briscoe | 1 | -185 |
- Dixon's done it. As you can see, with 25 being the maximum points available in any given racing weekend, Scott Dixon has clinched the Race Score World Championship. He might as well stay home at Fontana.
- On second thought, he might not want to do that. I'm sure winning an IndyCar Series championship pays way better than winning a fake championship given out by a guy with less than 50 Twitter followers...
- We'll take a deeper look at Mr. Dixon's drive to the top in the weeks after the Series finale.
- I sort of hope that Helio wins the IndyCar title now, so that I can have some fun doing compare-contrast.
- One last thing before we leave Houston.
The Wreck
- Just some bullets here. It's still pretty raw.
- Seeing the replay of Dario's crash reminded me WAY too much of October 16, 2011. I'm sure it was that way for many IndyCar fans. When I texted Hoff (who was watching football) to tell him that we almost lost Dario (because that is how I felt), the best way I had to describe the wreck was that it "looked a lot like Dan's."
- I had a pretty good idea that Dario wasn't in bad shape by the time that I saw the crash itself, however. NBCSN did a good job of showing Dario moving inside the cockpit, even if this was overshadowed by the horrific nature of the accident itself.
- Any more speculation about the future of the Gallant Fox (I'm on record with him being my favorite motor racing driver ever, right? If not, I am now. That's why this is so tough.) can wait until later. For now, get well Dario. I cried when you won the 500 in 2012. I'll cry the day you hang them up, but it'll be nothing like what would have happened if we'd lost you back in Houston.
Stay Tuned
- Coming up on Friday, an opinion piece: Scoring Indy's One-Man IndyCar Fantasy Draft. Then, on October 18, my Fontana preview. The week after that, I'll have race and season reviews.
- After that, however, I'm going to start running short on material. I'll play around with silly season stuff some, but without race data, a race data blog starts to get malnourished. So, I'm turning to you, the (I'm assuming) seven (totally arbitrary number) people who read this: what do you want from Scoring Indy during the off season? Seriously. No case too big. No case too small. Let me know.
- The best way to let me know, of course, is on Twitter. Follow me @ScoringIndy for blog updates, sometimes predictions, and always opinions.
Later!
-- Guido
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