Penske’s drivers drop lovefest; it’s about time
Newgarden’s pass angers teammate
This is what the Verizon IndyCar Series and its fans have been craving. It’s finally Penske vs. Penske with some bad blood in the water.
Josef Newgarden’s controversial — and ultimately, race-deciding — pass of Simon Pagenaud late in Saturday’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 had the Frenchman irate after the race, saying he no longer trusted or respected his young teammate. Good.
For too long this season, when it came to intrasquad competition, the dominant Penske brigade played nice, pretending to be above ego and sometimes even ambition.
Every time the brigade members were asked about running up front together, their cookie-cutter answers boiled down to something like: As long as a Penske crosses the finish line first, we’re happy.
Snooze.
Also, that’s not true. How could it be? Sure, they wear the same colors off the track, but these are four superstars in the sport. Four alpha males. All four are gunning for a championship, and all the while we’re expected to believe they’re patting one another on the back every race weekend? Come on.
In what could be his final IndyCar season, Helio Castroneves is desperate to finally win a series championship; Pagenaud badly wants to defend his; Power is fighting to keep pace with legendary Scott Dixon; and Newgarden, as Townsend Bell put it, seems hellbent on “unleashing a fire and fury the likes of which IndyCar has never seen before.”
With all that on the line, how could this not turn into a game of cutthroat? Well, 141⁄ races into the year, it seemed like the sparks might never fly, but Newgarden changed everything with that pass of Pagenaud.
Good for him for not playing nice anymore. Good for him for taking a risk to lock up a crucial win. Most of all, good for him for not apologizing for it.
“It’s racing,” Newgarden said with a grin. “Simon knows that.” In other words, get over it. Right or wrong, that’s a beautiful sentiment and should be music to fans’ ears. With two races remaining and a championship on the line, we’re finally going to see these uber-talents really go at it. What a treat.
WHAT IS GOING ON AT CHIP GANASSI RACING?
Other than Scott Dixon’s championship chase, nothing seems to be going well at CGR. Let’s start with Max Chilton, who lambasted his team over the radio last week when he fell a few laps behind and they told him to pit despite having no significant mechanical problems.
“I’d love to know who is giving this instruction, because they’re brain dead,” Chilton chided over the radio. “This is the first time we’ve had a decent car in a while. Why can’t we learn? Or are we just a quitting team?”
Safe to say Chilton won’t be back with Ganassi next season, but where will be go? Smart money has Chilton leaving for Carlin Racing, which is rumored to be aiming at a full-time team next year. Chilton’s father owns a major ownership stake in that operation, which runs in a number of series, including Indy Lights.
Next up in the CGR fiasco is Tony Kanaan. Kanaan, who recently said he is not retiring and declared himself a free agent, kicked off Saturday’s race in interesting fashion, spinning out during a pace lap and hitting the wall. He returned to the track and ran a majority of the race two to three laps down before unexpectedly coming off track, jumping on his scooter and heading to his trailer.
When Kanaan was asked by the TV broadcast why his day was done, he replied simply, “Talk to Chip.”
Again, it’s safe to say Kanaan will not be back at CGR next season, but the tea leaves spelling out his next ride are harder to read. There should be plenty of seats open, and plenty of owners who would be happy to have a driver of Kanaan’s talents.
Finally, there’s Charlie Kimball. His future at CGR is up in the air too, as he’s been speaking to a number of teams about next year. He told The Indianapolis Star only that, “Everything is pretty delicate right now.”
He, like Kanaan, has not officially ruled out a return to Ganassi, but a 2018 reunion seems very unlikely.
So will Ganassi really have three seats to fill next season? Or does he plan to trim his garage? A lot of questions surround CGR right now, and there are very few answers.