What a race!
2026 Indy 500 - WOW
- Thread starter Klutch9
- Start date
Absolutely incredible finish. Awesome race. I really enjoyed that the NASCAR Truck race was this morning, way more entertaining than F1 would have been at Monaco
Red flag at the end is crap. Made up finish.
AZjeff
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Appreciate the tech, the racing not so much. When that yellow happened 4th place was 15 seconds behind with 12 to go. What was incredible was the last lap wasn't total carnage. Surprised they don't do green/white/checker.
I felt that way initially too. But it looks like they were inspecting the barriers. Did they do a repair? Either way, I would have preferred a yellow. Clearly they didn’t need long. I think the guy who won is the guy who should have won anyhow.
I wasn’t surprised at the red flag though. It seems that they will try to have a green finish by any means possible. Just the way things are now. Not just in the 500, but in racing in general it seems.
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Any other race and it would have finished under yellow, but Indy needed the shootout to make it exciting.
Romain Grosjean finished 9th, so I'm happy. It's not easy to be a Grosjean fan.
Romain Grosjean finished 9th, so I'm happy. It's not easy to be a Grosjean fan.
Having spent too much time in the Indianapolis area since the early 2000's, and having been to the Brickyard numerous times, I had never been to race day on the Memorial Day weekend. I have to say the place was absolutely packed. They announced it was completely sold out, with 350k+ people there. It was quite the spectacle. I guess the demise of interest in Motorsports might be exaggerated.
Congrats to Felix Rosenqvist.
Congrats to Felix Rosenqvist.
Green/white would cause IndyCar fans to revolt. That's not gonna happen.
The red flag shootouts are contrived, but that ship sailed long ago.
Rosenqvist was leading and likely to win anyway, so karmic justice was served, even if it took a little more effort.
He doesn't make it any easier though his own actions. Seems like the nicest guy in the world outside of the car, but a gigantic **** inside of it, and right after he climbs out after crashing.
The red flag shootouts are contrived, but that ship sailed long ago.
Rosenqvist was leading and likely to win anyway, so karmic justice was served, even if it took a little more effort.
He doesn't make it any easier though his own actions. Seems like the nicest guy in the world outside of the car, but a gigantic **** inside of it, and right after he climbs out after crashing.
F1 was in Canada no?
I´ve been to something like 45 Indy 500 races and I don´t think I have ever seen a better one. Congrats to Rosenqvist. He´s a great driver and a class act.
What race did you watch? Rosy didn´t lead much at all today.
I have no problem with it. What I would have a problem with would be extending the race, like Nascar does. 200 laps is it. Red flag doesn´t change that. It gives it a chance to get settled on the gas instead of with pure luck.
The last finish that was this close was back in 2006, when Sam Hornish Jr. clipped Marco Andretti for the win by just under a length and a half.
The race I watched had MSR with Rosenqvist leading and Armstrong in third, sandwiching Pato in second when Collet crashed and brought out the caution and red flag with eight laps to go.
Malukas and Palou, on the primary strategy, had pitted earlier and were on fresh tires, but placed fourth (~15 seconds behind) and sixth (~17 seconds behind) respectively.
However, both were running out of laps to close that gap, with Hinch expressing his doubts on the broadcast that they could, even a couple laps earlier.
During that caution, Michael Shank lamented to Georgia (while dropping an F-bomb) how the caution had eliminated their advantage, but both could afford to push once the race resumed.
For all intents and purposes, it would have come down to Rosenqvist, Pato, and Armstrong if the race hadn't been suspended and the field closed up again, first by the Collet crash, and then Schumacher's brush with the wall that resulted in the final one lap shootout.
With the leader tending to be a sitting duck in the closing laps, Pato and Armstrong would have had a good chance, but Malukas would not likely have been in the equation at all, were it not for the cautions.
In the end Rosenqvist, who was quick all month, was leading the laps that count most, including the last, and able to pip Malukas, so in a manner of speaking, karma prevailed.
Did you watch a different race?
I just don´t see how you could say Rosenqvist was likely to win anyway. That´s the part that was interesting to me. They were in position, but there´s no most likely to win. Yeah, he was on point with strategy, but so was Armstrong, and let´s face it....yellows are VERY likely in the last 20 and especially the last 10 laps at Indy. They happen more often than not.
Anyway, it was an amazing finish.
I thought Rosenqvist´s drive reminded me of Big Al Unser´s style.
That was a great race, and I was a Hornish fan, but looking back, I kinda wish Andretti had won it. The way Hornish left Indycar left a bad taste.
He should have stayed in Indycar. Nascar never liked outsiders, unless they took a special liking to them. Hornish could have had a record book level career had he stayed. And it might have completely changed Marco´s trajectory. At a minimum, it would have been a super sweet moment for the Andretti family.
Chasing that tempting Nascar money ruined a great career. Danica should have stayed, as well. I always wonder what she might have accomplished had she stayed and in a good car.
I thought they raced Mont Tremblanc many years ago.
They were and it was a snoozefest. Usually it is Monaco this weekend before Indy. Due to weather delays the NASCAR Craftsman Truck race was held Sunday morning at about the time the Monaco GP would normally be held.
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