2025 Indycar Season

Watching Palou chase down  O'Ward was pretty epic.  What was that 3 turns of over/unders with Lundgaard?

Paolo is so much faster then everyone else, it was unbelieviable, I am still giving them time to sort out the TV coverage, but I rather watch some stupid campy driver skit, then understanding whats going on in a nascab race.

A 20-minute outage in the middle of the race is... not ideal for Fox in their second-ever Indycar race, but it's telling that we really didn't miss much. Thermal is just that boring. Though I must admit, I knew Palou would be a threat at the end, but I did't expect him to reel Pato in as quickly as he did, especially given that Pato had dominated the race up to that point.

IndyCar, Thermal weighing options post-race for 2026 return  If deals are going down for sponsorship or pitch meetings are happening I can see it being worthwhile. At a racing and fan prospective, they can skip it.

In reply to trigun7469 :

I actually really like this broadcast team with Will Buxton, Townsend Bell, and James Hinchcliffe. They each bring something unique to the booth, and Hinch in particular adds a lot with his insight as a former driver. He has a great way of explaining the sport without dumbing it down, and you can tell he genuinely loves racing.

James Hinchcliffe could have had a longer career as a driver, but his journey in motorsports took a different path. He went to his first IndyCar race at just 18 months old, and that passion has never faded. There is a recent interview of his where he talks about how he got started and how he found his way into the commentary booth, which is a good read for anyone curious about his path in racing.

In reply to tarach :

Commentating hasn't been bad other then Bell and Hinch stepping over each other, but I bet they are embarrassed that they lost coverage during Thermal went to a Nascab race, which you don't even know whats going on. On top of that they really didn't bring people back to speed on whats going on. Again it's early going for Fox, but this level of incompedance  wouldn't bowed well for Indy that is only a month away. Looking forward to LB, however I think Paluo is going to dominate again.

F1TV has ruined all the other coverage of all the other race series.

I really hope to be able to pay $100 a year for Indytv flag to flag coverage soon, but I find it hard to believe an American series would ever give up on commercials.

I don't have access to the qualifying coverage I just watch the highlights on youtube. I heard on one racer comments that they do not have split times? if that is true I can't imagine paying the money to watch it. I think they applied what they did in Nascab and didn't think outside the box. Honestly if they don't improve by indy 500 I think they are going to take a big hit. I am surprised Penske team hasn't voiced their opinion yet.

I thought the race was decent but I have no clue would happened to Malikus. I wonder if they took out the ridiculousness of the tire compound if yesterday would have been a different race for some. Not sure if it brings excitment or not.

The domination that Palou and the 10 team are bringing to an almost-spec series is really impressive. It'd be easier to be enthusiastic about it if it wasn't making the series so berkeleying boring.

Been chasing the kids do haven't seen much of the senior indy race so far but watched the Indy NXT race, Dennis Hauger absolutely dominating that field. I think they said he's been the fastest in every practice session, on pole both races, lead every lap, and had fastest lap in both race's. 

That guy is good.

Oval season might change things up a bit, I suppose.

No surprise that Hauger is dominating he was in F2 for 3 seasons and F3 for 2 seasons, I am bit surprised that he didn't opt for FE, where most of his colleagues have gone. Also the talent level NXT is not good, there was a lot of money put in Myles and unfortunately he just hasn't lived up to the hype. 0 wins he has no chance of beating Hauger does he go for a 3rd season? Or does he just opt for close roof series? I would assume if Max Garcia makes the jump he is just going to dominate.

Hailie Deegan, it's not surprise that this has been a challenging season for her, it's a different discipline and is all new to her and historically she hasn't dominated a series. I think her skill would have been better with IMSA, but maybe she will be back next year.

Not a whole lot of excitement with NXT they just need to bring back indy oval race. Which would potentially help the crossovers like Deegan, USAC, Nascar Jr drivers....

snoozer at barber, this could be Paulos year to pick it up on the ovals. Dixon is finally showing some age in his driving.

trigun7469 said:

snoozer at barber, this could be Paulos year to pick it up on the ovals. Dixon is finally showing some age in his driving.

You mean maturity, or slowing down? Because he picked up 14 positions at Barber.

In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :

7th in the standings and qualified 26th, sure he picked apart people on great strategy, but I don't see out right pace being championship form. Paulo looks like he is light years ahead of him.

trigun7469 said:

In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :

7th in the standings and qualified 26th, sure he picked apart people on great strategy, but I don't see out right pace being championship form. Paulo looks like he is light years ahead of him.

To be fair, Palou is light years ahead of everyone right now.

The other notable thing about the season so far is Lundgaard kicking butt in the McLaren. Very impressive form.

Great to see Conor Daly back for his first proper full season since 2020, with his sights set on podiums and race wins. In his recent interview, he talks about how meaningful it is to represent the diabetes community while competing at the top level. He also reflects on the highs and lows of his career, the challenges he’s overcome both on and off the track, and how he's using his podcast to help grow the IndyCar fanbase.

Great drive by Graham, too bad bout the tire strategy and final pit stop.

Jim Pettengill said:

Great drive by Graham, too bad bout the tire strategy and final pit stop.

I was pulling so hard for him. Alas, Palou is inevitable.

I've decided to pretend Palou doesn't exist going forward. If you just assume he's going to win, you can enjoy the rest of the field, which is still pretty interesting and mixed up. Pato was due for the "win" that he got today, for instance. 

Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) said:

Jim Pettengill said:

Great drive by Graham, too bad bout the tire strategy and final pit stop.

I was pulling so hard for him. Alas, Palou is inevitable.

I've decided to pretend Palou doesn't exist going forward. If you just assume he's going to win, you can enjoy the rest of the field, which is still pretty interesting and mixed up. Pato was due for the "win" that he got today, for instance. 

The Verstappen '23 strategy.  It works nicely.

Was Grahams tire strategy really a bad plan?  It ended up not great, but when he was on the reds, and Palou was on blacks in the third stint, Graham was struggling at the end.  Had they not had the first caution flag of the ENTIRE SEASON, who is to say the blacks on the final stint would not have allowed him to catch and pass the Palou on deteriorating reds?  

It didn't work, obviously, but Hinch was a bit over the top in his dismissal if the strategy.

It's always interesting how well RLL is able to get around the indy GP and fall flat on it's face on every other track. I know its a unpopular opinion but I rather see a Roval over XYZ street course and the train RR like Barber. Daytona and Charolette would be interesting to see.

Streetwiseguy said:

Was Grahams tire strategy really a bad plan?  It ended up not great, but when he was on the reds, and Palou was on blacks in the third stint, Graham was struggling at the end.  Had they not had the first caution flag of the ENTIRE SEASON, who is to say the blacks on the final stint would not have allowed him to catch and pass the Palou on deteriorating reds?  

Watching the crowd's reaction to that yellow flag was hilarious. Who knew we'd be so desperate for a caution? 

In reply to trigun7469 :

I have to agree.  Rovals seem like they should be boring, but they really aren't.  Street courses... argh, just horrible.  I am sure they are there mostly because they are the most accessible to fans, but they are also generally the worst for spectating since you generally can see very little of the race (one corner many times, so you mostly just watch the monitors, you know, like at home!).

I have seen Indy cars somewhat recently in Long Beach and Laguna Seca.  Laguna Seca is a wildly, wildly better place to see a race!!!!

I am not sure what Penske is doing

In reply to trigun7469 :

Yeah, guess a former redbull prospect should be expected to be a bit quicker than the NXT field. 

Gearing up for the 500, bunch of hard hits in practice and qualifying. They're definitely pushing out there.