Long Beach 2013
Here's how things looked last year:
| Finish | Driver | Qualifying | Grid | Led | Completed | Race Score |
| 1 | Sato | 4 | 4 | 50 | 80 | 86.81 |
| 2 | Rahal | 11 | 11 | 0 | 80 | 64.81 |
| 3 | Wilson | 25 | 24 | 0 | 80 | 86.11 |
| 4 | Franchitti | 1 | 1 | 27 | 80 | 55.76 |
| 5 | Hildebrand | 12 | 12 | 0 | 80 | 55.56 |
| 6 | Servia | 18 | 18 | 0 | 80 | 62.96 |
| 7 | Andretti | 26 | 25 | 0 | 80 | 73.15 |
| 8 | Pagenaud | 17 | 17 | 0 | 80 | 53.70 |
| 9 | de Silvestro | 20 | 19 | 0 | 80 | 54.63 |
| 10 | Castroneves | 6 | 6 | 0 | 80 | 25.93 |
| 11 | Dixon | 27 | 26 | 0 | 80 | 60.19 |
| 12 | Jakes | 13 | 13 | 0 | 80 | 31.48 |
| 13 | Newgarden | 16 | 16 | 0 | 80 | 33.33 |
| 14 | Beatriz | 23 | 22 | 0 | 80 | 41.67 |
| 15 | Bourdais | 15 | 15 | 0 | 80 | 24.07 |
| 16 | Power | 3 | 3 | 2 | 80 | -0.60 |
| 17 | Vautier | 19 | 27 | 0 | 80 | 31.48 |
| 18 | Carpenter | 24 | 23 | 0 | 80 | 28.70 |
| 19 | Tagliani | 22 | 21 | 0 | 79 | 21.24 |
| 20 | Kanaan | 8 | 8 | 0 | 78 | -6.85 |
| 21 | Kimball | 9 | 9 | 0 | 78 | -8.70 |
| 22 | Viso | 10 | 10 | 0 | 53 | -3.61 |
| 23 | Allmendinger | 14 | 14 | 0 | 51 | -1.37 |
| 24 | Hunter-Reay | 2 | 2 | 1 | 49 | -17.16 |
| 25 | Conway | 5 | 5 | 0 | 38 | -12.04 |
| 26 | Hinchcliffe | 7 | 7 | 0 | 34 | -11.25 |
| 27 | Saavedra | 21 | 20 | 0 | 1 | 1.70 |
Observations
- These scores were produced by my Old Formula, which did not account for average running position. I haven't inputted everything necessary to re-score the race yet. This means that they won't be apples-to-apples with this year's numbers or with the numbers from St. Pete (either in 2013 or '14). This will also be the case at Barber unless I get that inputting done.
- These numbers can tell us a few things, however. Here are some tweet-length capsules:
Wilson -- Front to back in 2013. Can he qualify better? Where will he run? Podium certainly possible.
Sato -- Speed is there, just like St. Pete. Can he harness it? Will the strategy work like last year or last race? No attack, no chance...
Rahal -- A rare podium in 2013, how will the new team members put it together this time. Last week wasn't great.
Servia -- 4 of last 5 at Long Beach were Top 10. Late start to the season. Will he unload fast, or have to find it on the track? Could be a surprise.
Dixon -- 1 Top 10 here EVER. I don't expect it to change, but I didn't expect him to be good Round 1 either. Can the 2013 champ hang around the top?
Power -- Was 2013 the exception? Was St. Pete the exception? Will we see the dominant Power of old? I think so, but I've been wrong before.
Have another favorite driver that you want a 160-character preview of? Just tweet me @ScoringIndy and let me know.
Chase for My Heart
This is also the first round of the Chase for My Heart, wherein I pick a new (and VERY arbitrary) favorite driver before the green flag flies at the Indy 500. At Long Beach, we'll go from 16 Chasers down to 12, and I'll make that decision based on where they finish the race. I know, I'm all about not placing too much of a premium on finishing position, but you have to keep your car in the top half of the field to win me over. So, your Chasers are:
- Will Power
- Ryan Hunter-Reay
- Helio Castroneves
- Scott Dixon
- Simon Pagenaud
- Tony Kanaan
- Takuma Sato
- Justin Wilson
- Josef Newgarden
- Ryan Briscoe
- Sebastien Bourdais
- Graham Rahal
- Carlos Munoz
- James Hinchcliffe
- Charlie Kimball
- Marco Andretti
I'll be keeping a close eye on these drivers throughout the race on Sunday. Of course, this is a solid majority of the field, so I guess I'll just be keeping a close eye on the race on Sunday.
Easter Announcement
Finally, I'm sure that many (most? almost all?) of you know that Sunday, April 20 is Easter this year. I think many (though probably less) of you also know that I'm a Lutheran pastor. That means that during Holy Week, I don't have a lot of free time. I'll still try to post the Race Scores from Long Beach early in the week, and give you quick updates on the RSWC and the Chase for my Heart, but there probably won't be a post going up on Good Friday. I hope you all have a blessed Easter; and if that's not your thing, I hope you have a nice weekend. I'll be fully back in the saddle on April 25, getting us all up to speed for the Grand Prix of Alabama.
Stay Tuned
Be sure to follow me @ScoringIndy on Twitter. I'll be posting Race Predictions after qualifying. Twitter will also probably be the easiest way to reach me with questions/comments during the next week. I'll see you back here soon with Race Scores. See you then!
-- Guido
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