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| Post 3-Round Qualifications at the 106th Running of the Indianapolis 500 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Race for 2022 - from left to right - Defending 2021 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Champion, Alex Palou, 7-Time NASCAR Champion/retiree and INDY500 Rookie Jimmie Johnson, 6-Time NTT INDYCAR SERIES Champion and NTT P1 Pole Award winner for the 106th Running of the INDY500 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing team owner Chip Ganassi, NTT INDYCAR retiree NTT INDYCAR Champion/INDY500 Winner Tony Kanaan, Formula 1 retiree and second year CGR team driver (and 2022 winner of the INDY500) Marcus Ericsson. Image Credit: Penske Entertainment via FB/META (2022) |
Chip Ganassi Racing Defines Tour-De-Force At The 106th Running Of The
INDY500
In a motorsports event environment that has recently become the cornerstone in
what can be termed "The House Of Penske", the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this Memorial Day weekend, played host to
one of the strongest showings in team work and performance to be witnessed
during The Greatest Spectacle In Racing.
Swede. former Formula 1 driver, and third year Chip Ganassi Racing's Marcus
Ericsson became the second person of Swedish decent to win the Indianapolis
500 in the one-hundred and twelve year history of this 106th 500 mile
challenge.
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| Chip Ganassi Racing's second year driver from Sweden, Marcus Ericsson, pours the winner's milk over himself in celebration on left ... on right, former Chip Ganassi Racing's driver from Sweden, Kenny Brach, congratulates a student he mentored throughout his career. Image Credit: Foto: TT via FB/META (2022) |
Many may remember the name of Kenny Brach from the open wheel days of the IRL
(Indianapolis Racing League) and CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams)
sanctioning bodies during the late 1990's. While driving for A. J. Foyt during
his second year with the team, after capturing an IRL Series Season
Championship in 1998, Kenny won the 1999 83rd Running Of The Indianapolis 500.
It turns out that Kenny was also a person of great influence through the early
years in the pursuits of Marcus Ericsson as a race car driver through Karting,
and later through conversations about driving the oval races in America.
Further, it is noted that during his career, he was a driver on a
Chip Ganassi Racing
team in 2002 along with Bruno Junqueira, Jeff Ward, and amazingly ... Scott
Dixon.
In the 2022 106th Running of the Indianapolis 500 Post-Race Press Conference,
Marcus was able to field a congratulatory ZOOM Call participation from Kenny
where Marcus shared that while he languished racing with the uncompetitive
teams in F1, he felt that he would love to race in INDYCAR because it was more
competitive and that he was comfortable with the very high-speed corners
presented throughout the circuits they raced on in F1, more so than many of
the other drivers he competed with. He always imagined to himself that he
might be good at oval racing if given a decent chance to grow and learn.
The team work on display from Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) showed itself all
during this month of May from each of the five drivers and teams entered in
the 106th Running Of The Indianapolis 500.
Chip Ganassi Racing Brain Trust Post-Race Press Conference - Mike Hull,
Chip Ganassi, & Mike O'Gara
The other members of the CGR Team begins with the other three full-time
drivers that include six-time NTT INDYCAR Series Champion and INDY500 winner
(2008) Scott Dixon, defending 2021 NTT INDYCAR Series Champion Alex Palou,
second-year and seven-time NASCAR Series Champion (coming out of retirement to
learn to race in INDYCAR including the INDY500) Jimmie Johnson, then the
addition of a one-race specialist entrant - past NTT INDYCAR Series Champion
and INDY500 winner Tony Kanaan.
The style and intention of these professionals ... as a functioning team as
opposed to five separate and singular units ... showed itself in how evenly
matched the performance of the drivers, as a group, throughout the 6-Practices
and the 3-Rounds of qualifications to set the 33 car field.
No other team, as a group, represented themselves better. After all, CGR
captured the NTT P1 Pole Position Award through having
Scott Dixon post the fastest four lap qualifications speed to capture the
pole starting position (his fifth) recorded
in the 106th running history of the INDY500 event at 234.046mph.followed by
his teammate Alex Palou at 233.499mph which, in itself, came very close to
Scott Brayton's run of 233.718 set in 1996 that had been the fastest four lap
qualifications speed for pole position recorded until 2022.
The fastest four-lap qualifying style run of all time at Indy, was set by Arie
Luyendyk, also in 1996, although because this run was not set on Pole Day,
Luyendyk was only able to post a speed that earned him a 21st position on the
grid.
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| Jimmie Johnson came close to earning the distinction of "Rookie Of The Year" for the 106th Running Of The Indianapolis 500. He led laps and ran high in the order before his late RED Flag crash. Image Credit: Penske Entertainment: Paul Hurley (2022) |
Before the race, in practice and through qualifications, all five CGR cars and
the group that supported them set performance speeds that had them at the top
of the 33 car field as a consistent dominate force to a level that may never
be matched. Combined Practice (6 sessions) CGR drivers were Dixon P2, Johnson
P3, Palou P4, Ericsson P9, Kanaan P20. Qualifications ended with Dixon P1,
Palou P2, Ericsson P5, Kanaan P6, Johnson P12.
During the race, especially throughout the first couple of pitstops, it looked
as though the two leading drivers of CGR would just go out and control the
race through swapping the lead with each other to save fuel and maintain field
pace. First Dixon would be in the lead a few laps, then Palou would pass and
tow Dixon for a few laps, then Dixon would tow Palou, and so on, and so on.
Nothing is predictable here at this 112 year old motor culture and event
center facility, however.
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| Alex Palou gave up his early race leading performance on an unforced timing error having to do with rules governing Full Course YELLOW Flag pitlane closures. Image Credit: Penske Entertainment: Matt Fraver (2022) |
The first chink in this seemingly perfect strategy came on Lap 68 when Callum
Illot driving the No. 77 Chevrolet-Powered Juncos Hollinger Racing Dallara hit
the wall on an unforced driving error (the second incident at this same
corner, Corner 2 - Rinus VeeKay driving the No. 21 Chevrolet-Powered Ed
Carpenter Racing Dallara spun on Lap 39) setting up an opportune time to pit
for the field leading Alex Palou. The problem here was that Palou was force to
drive through since the Full Course YELLOW Flag dropped just feet before the
No. 9 of Alex Palou was able to cross the limit line that defines pitlane,
having the Pits be closed to all cars during a full course caution period for
safety purposes. On the next lap around, the No. 9 car was so low on fuel,
Alex had to come in for a splash sending him to the back of the field for
restart on Lap 77.
This left Scott Dixon at the front of the field without a team mate to perform
this cooperative strategy of swapping the lead. Conor Daly, driving in a
competitive Chevrolet-Powered Ed Carpenter Racing prepared car, did step up a
couple of times, but realized that, when leading, he was giving a fuel mileage
tow advantage to the Honda-Powered GCR prepared car.
The next issue in preventing a Chip Ganassi Racing team victory came on
another driver error, this one forced, when Scott Dixon came in for his final
pitstop on Lap 175. Scott came in over the limit line too fast and violated
the pitlane speed limit that is allowed within the whole of the pitlane and
after getting his car serviced, Dixon had to drive around a full lap then come
through pitlane again, as a drive-through penalty, forcing Dixon to rejoin the
field one-lap down, at or near the back on Lap 177.
Now what?
After the field performed its pitstops, this left the lead first to Pato
O'Ward for two laps, then CGR team mate Tony Kanaan for five laps, then
another CGR team mate Alex Palou for three laps, then interrupted by Andretti
Autosport's Marco Andretti for three laps, then back to a dual CGR team mate
stint run until the end of the race with Jimmie Johnson (the only Rookie to
lead laps in this race) for two laps, and finally Marcus Ericsson for the
final 11 laps.
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| Marcus Ericsson in champion vanity shoot with hat, wreath, and Borg Warner trophy at the yard of bricks station - well earned. As Mike Hull, Managing Director of Chip Ganassi Racing, observed during the post-race press conference, "It's really difficult to teach somebody to win. There's a lot of race drivers that say if this, if that. This guy doesn't say 'if'. He said, Let's work together and make it happen." Image Credit: Penske Entertainment: Doug Mathews (2022) |
Were it not for a late race crash for Jimmie Johnson that brought out a Lap
195 RED Flag and set up the final dash to the end of 200 laps, Jimmie Johnson
may have been named "Rookie Of The Year" for finishing high and leading laps.
Again, the team work and domination by CGR was "in everyone's senses/face."
This was truly a "all hands on deck" team effort.
In the end, the team effort displayed by the personnel in support of five
drivers and cars had each of the drivers lead laps and lead the vast majority
of laps during the 200 Lap affair at leading a total of 163 Laps in the
eventual winning of the 106th Running Of The Indianapolis 500.
Scott Dixon walks away as the driver to lead the most laps, at 655, in the overall history in the 106 races run over the 112 years this 500
mile test has been held.
When it comes to Chip Ganassi Racing's Marcus Ericsson P1, Tony Kanaan P3,
Alex Palou P9, Scott Dixon P21, and Jimmie Johnson P28 ... Tour-De-Force in
team work and effort sums this Memorial Day motor culture tradition quite
nicely, n'est-ce pas?
UPDATE (click-image) - As Almost Predicted Here At The EDJE
... notes from
The EDJE
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Post Script:
During the 2022 106th Running of the Indianapolis 500 Post-Race Press
Conference which was additionally attended by writers on a virtual ZOOM
Call, Tony Kanaan also mentioned that his car was also a best of the field
at the end, just not enough to pass Arrow McLaren SP driver Pato O'Ward or
Tony's CGR team mate Marcus Ericsson, but that he had placed himself in the
best possible position to win his second INDY500 ... all it would take would
be a bump, a cut tire, a two car accident into the wall and there he sat in
P3 with a lead against the field to cross the Start/Finish Line and "Yard Of
Bricks" to deliver Chip Ganassi Racing its fifth (5th) Indianapolis 500
victory in it's history of competition.
TRANSCRIPT:
Q. With two laps to go, restart, the Indy 500 victory is right there in
front of you, all you got to do is pass this guy. What is it like in the
cockpit, in your head, to have that kind of shot and come up short?
PATO O'WARD: You clinch. You clinch a lot every corner (smiling), yeah
(smiling).
Q. That's it?
PATO O'WARD: You go flat and you hope to God the car doesn't snap.
Q. How about you, Tony?
TONY KANAAN: I had the best seat in the house. I'm like, C'mon, Pato, go,
go, go.
PATO O'WARD: You liar (laughter).
TONY KANAAN: If you guys crash, I would win (laughter). Go, go. May be my
teammate, but I didn't take him out (laughter).
He's smart enough not to do it. I was like, Oh, I guess we're finishing
third.
ENDS
Chip Ganassi pointed out during the post-race press conference in an answer
to a question on having Tony back for another try at winning the INDY500,
"In his retirement we've made him the vice president of entertainment
(smiling). And he can drive, too, yeah. He can still win this race. You saw
today with his performance. Led a little bit. Kanaan is a veteran. He's a
wily veteran. He knows his way around this place, no question. So we're not
throwing him out yet."
FEATURED ARTICLE >>>
TAGS:
Chip Ganassi Racing, CGR, Marcus Ericsson, Tony Kanaan, Alex Palou, Scott
Dixon, Jimmie Johnson, Tour-De-Force, Team Work, INDY500, The Greatest
Spectacle In Racing, The EDJE
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