By Roy J. Akers- www.skyviewsports.net (Detroit, Michigan)
The whispers are there for Colton Herta. He has a reputation for crashing cars and bad racing luck and after the Indianapolis 500, he was looking to change that scenario. Herta sat on the pole for the Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear. Choosing to focus on racing instead of insults by Santino Ferrucci directed at him and most of the rest of the Indy Car circuit, he is focused on the task ahead.
Checkered Flag
Scott Dixon is the best closer in Indy Car. That is why he has won 56 times in NTT Indy Car after Sunday’s Detroit Grand Prix win trailing only the immortal AJ Foyt for the most wins in circuit history. The Honda driver took the lead on lap 66 and comfortably won the race by less than a second after building a three second+ lead for much of the final run. Dixon does not beat himself. Dixon took note that many drivers he is competing with for the championship had a tough day.
“Some of the key players (Palou, Newgarden, Power, Herta) it’s not good to see a teammate have a bad day. Alex had issues right from the start, burning the rears off the car. Haven’t spoken to him yet. Once you get back in the melee there, it can go one way or the other. Obviously he got collected in that situation. If you look at a couple of the Penske cars, heard a lot of guys you know are going to be racing for the championship had a tough day today.” Dixon leads Alex Palou by 18 points. (The complete points leaders are at the bottom of the story).
Podium Finish
Marcus Ericsson finished second at the Detroit GP on Sunday and used a closing lap pass of Marcus Armstrong to accomplish the job. Ericsson is 14th in NTT points. He did not lead a lap in Detroit, but he is happy with his second place finish being behind Dixon. “I don’t know. I mean, the tough thing is with Scott Dixon, he’s the best ever in doing what he did today, like saving the fuel, then having enough pace. If there is someone that’s hard to beat, it’s him. It was tough.”
Armstrong’s First Podium
In addition, Marcus Armstrong gave Chip Ganassi two drivers on the podium in Detroit. He improved 16 spots after qualifying 19th on the difficult passing lanes in the streets of Detroit. Armstrong earned his first career podium and as with no oval course experience, he is much more comfortable on this type of track. “Yes, I’m very pleased. I mean, in my opinion, it’s been a long time coming, even though this is my second season. Yeah, it was a difficult one. Obviously it was pretty chaotic. I think being a strategist today was more stressful than being a driver. I have to give a big shout-out to my strategist, Taylor Kiel. He always places me perfectly to maximize the situation we found. Ultimately on the last stint, I was having.”
Kirkwood’s Wild Ride to 4th Place
Kyle Kirkwood came into Detroit 10th in NTT Indy Car points. Entering Detroit with four top ten finishes, but only 3 laps led in 2024 until Sunday. Kirkwood led laps 41-64 until he pitted. Kirkwood raced himself into the fourth position. He is now 6th in NTT points.
Multiple Accidents
Romain Grosjean took a bad angle into the corner and collected Christian Lundgaard and Marcus Armstrong. Grosjean took a poor angle and a three car accident ensued. Drivers struggled with restarts on the first hairpin turn. Drivers used the hairpin as a jockeying position instead of falling into line and caused mayhem all race long.
Colton Herta led the first 33 laps of the race after winning Saturday’s pole and holding the lead. He was passed by Alex Palou on lap 46. Herta tried returning the favor and got loose and crashed into a barrier. Once again, Herta goes multiple laps down. For Herta, he won the pole and he thought it would change his luck going into the race. “it feels great. A lot on my mind after the Indy 500, so it’s good to just get here and get a race weekend underway. That’s the best way to kind of get over it.” Now Herta has another crash and people wondering when he will consistently put together a quality race.
With drivers using two different strategies due to the rain steadily picking up by lap 35 of 100, Herta led 33 laps of the race before pitting to change into rain tires. Herta’s good start to the race did not last. More on that later.
Two NTT Points Leaders Collide
Both Josef Newgarden and Alex Palou were running in the top ten when they connected on lap 70 when they connected and came to a halt. Palou piled into the driver side of the newly resigned Penske Driver’s Astermo machine. Newgarden is the back to back Indianapolis 500 and finished tenth in Detroit last year. Newgarden later hit the wall again later Sunday after his poor handling car hit the wall. Newgarden would finish in 26th place. Palou would finish a disappointing 16th.
2024 NTT Points Leaders
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Point Standings:
Dixon 216, Palou 198, Power 185, O’Ward 160, Rossi 150, Kirkwood 148, Herta 147, McLaughlin 141, Rosenqvist 140, Newgarden 128, Lundgaard 122, Ferrucci 117, Armstrong 116, Ericsson 108, VeeKay 103, Rahal 101, Grosjean 86, Lundqvist 81, Simpson 76, Canapino 74, Fittipaldi 67, Harvey 60, Pourchaire 58, Rasmussen 55, Robb 46, Tom Blomqvist 46, Callum Ilott 39, Conor Daly 21, Kyle Larson 21, Takuma Sato 19, Castroneves 15, Ed Carpenter 14, Luca Ghiotto 14, Vautier 12, Nolan Siegel 10, Colin Braun 10, Ryan Hunter-Reay 6, Marco Andretti 5, Katherine Legge 5
What is Next
June 9th- XPEL GRAND PRIX AT ROAD AMERICAROAD AMERICA
ELKHART LAKE, WISCONSIN
Roy J. Akers is a member of the National Motorsports Press Association