Inside Line: Hectic July Takeaways?
Today's question: The NTT INDYCAR SERIES just conducted five races in July. What is your biggest takeaway from this intense summer stretch of action?
Curt Cavin: Since I lead off this discussion, let's begin by acknowledging Alex Palou's successful month. In tennis it's called holding serve, and he actually did more than that. He entered July with a 93-point lead and exits it ahead by 121 points, thanks to four top-five finishes (two wins) in five races. Pato O'Ward did the best he could, losing only 10 points to Palou during the month, but the Arrow McLaren driver needed to do more to unseat the champ. Meanwhile, Kyle Kirkwood faded, and Scott Dixon has had too large of a points hole to climb out of it. So, July's big winner is Palou. The Astor Challenge Cup awaits him in August.
Eric Smith: How about the emergence of Pato O'Ward? Entering the month, Alex Palou and Kyle Kirkwood had won the first nine races and were considered the championship favorites. But O'Ward surged past Kirkwood in July to second in the standings, scoring 194 points -- second-most among all 27 drivers, and just 10 points shy of Palou for the month. He went head-to-head with the two-time defending series champion and delivered an impressive run: two wins (Iowa 1 and Toronto), two fifth-place finishes (Mid-Ohio and Iowa 2) and a fourth-place at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Most impressive? After a seventh-place finish in Detroit, O'Ward told me street courses had been his team's Achilles' heel. He had previously finished 11th in St. Petersburg and 13th at Long Beach. For him and his team not only to improve on street circuits but to break through with a win proves just how legitimate this team is.
Paul Kelly: Curt and Eric make solid points about Alex Palou and Pato O'Ward's winning ways in July. But I'm looking a little further down the results sheet and like what I see. It was refreshing to see some new names enter the upper echelon of the series with strong results at one or more of the five races this month. There are plenty of examples, whether it was Rinus VeeKay chasing winner O'Ward to the finish at Toronto, Kyffin Simpson's impressive first career podium at the same race, Marcus Armstrong placing third on the short oval at Iowa or Christian Lundgaard continuing his breakout season with podium finishes at Mid-Ohio and Laguna Seca. There appears to be a trend of young drivers finding their way in one of the toughest, most competitive series in the world. I won't go so far as to say this is a changing of the guard, but this field just continues to get deeper with emerging talent if you look past Palou's deserved dominance.
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