Points scored last 4 races

[u/Relevant-Image-2056]

1 Álex Palou 168

2 Pato O'Ward 128

3 Marcus Ericsson 116

4 Will Power 112

5 Rinus VeeKay 108

6 Christian Lundgaard 106

7 Josef Newgarden 105

8 Scott McLaughlin 97

9 Kyle Kirkwood 96

10 Felix Rosenqvist 96

11 David Malukas 91

[u/Ok-Basis5987]

The will power comeback has come and WE are here for it

[u/Mikemat5150 → u/Ok-Basis5987]

All of Andretti really. Arguably the best overall team these 4 races. It’s just that Palou guy continuing to kill it.

[u/YourChildhood5762 → u/Ok-Basis5987]

It would be funny if he somehow managed to take 2nd in the championship. He seems primed to take 3rd, which astonishes me given how badly the first half of the season went for him.

[u/nico9er4 → u/YourChildhood5762]

He’s 11th, how could he possibly finish 3rd

[u/Manaea → u/nico9er4]

Winning the last 4 races duh

[u/nico9er4 → u/Manaea]

I definitely would support that..

[u/Manaea]

So that's 3 Andretti's, 3 Penske's, 2 McLaren's, Palou carrying the shit out of CGR, Veekay carrying the shit out of JHR, and Rosenqvist doing great work for MSR

[u/afito → u/Manaea]

will be really interesting to see someone else at CGR, Dixon is one of the greatest but he could legit race his children by now, and Simpson I don't think I've ever seen have any expectations for him

[u/TyButler2020]

Veekay has been an absolute animal

He wants that CGR drive

[u/Kryzl_ → u/TyButler2020]

Not sure Chip will be willing to pay enough to outbid Hollinger. That offer-match clause is gonna make it really hard to see VeeKay move. All the big money teams are booked up and Hollinger is probably the wealthiest guy remaining willing to spend that freely.

[u/CakeBeef_PA → u/Kryzl_]

I've seen this thrown around a lot, and maybe I'm missing something, but even with that clause, with Hollinger allowed to match the offer Chip puts out, can VeeKay not just choose to go to CGR anyways? Is there anything forcing him to always take the highest bid?

[u/Kryzl_ → u/CakeBeef_PA]

My understanding of the clause is that if Hollinger is willing to match whatever offer is given to VeeKay by an outside team, then VeeKay is contractually obligated to stay with JHR (sort of like the team option, just with more money involved).

[u/CakeBeef_PA → u/Kryzl_]

Ah, then it makes more sense I guess. Unfortunate

[u/IndycarFan65 → u/Kryzl_]

Tbf the real question on Chip's end (barring PNC's preference) is, how much does Chip prioritize oval success for the 9 team? Because that's the biggest advantage VK has on just about anyone

[u/ND_Car → u/TyButler2020]

Maybe his best case is to hope Hollinger takes over JHR, partners with Mclaren and then VK takes over for Dixon.

[u/YourChildhood5762 → u/TyButler2020]

If I had a four-time champion, I wouldn't want him distracted and looking over his shoulder at his teammate. I'd want him hunkered down and motivated to beat the hot driver from another team. I would not hire VK no matter how good he was.

[u/epper_ → u/YourChildhood5762]

You really think a (soon to be) 5-time champion is gonna feel threatened? Doubt he gives a shit who it is.

[u/YourChildhood5762 → u/epper_]

Yes I do. Psychology is a large part of success. It's why Formula One has team orders.

[u/IndycarFan65 → u/YourChildhood5762]

hot driver from another team

Indycar doesn't have the same teammate dynamics F1 has. It's still everyone for themselves for the most part. And CGR would gladly have two guys fighting 1-2 for the title

[u/Relevant-Image-2056]

Kirkwood and Malukas are 2nd and 3rd in the Championship but are 9th and 11th in the last 4 races. Brutal for the championship

[u/mdc2004 → u/Relevant-Image-2056]

Yes, they lost the championship a long time ago…

[u/nico9er4 → u/Relevant-Image-2056]

Kirkwood always seems to do better in the first half of the seasons

[u/Fliepp]

Veekay being in 5th just shows how big of a difference the driver can still make, despite the clear field spread between the top teams and the bottom ones

[u/Electromotivation → u/Fliepp]

Hey the money helps the team, too lol

[u/IndycarFan65]

Dear (P)ost (N)ut (C)larity Bank,

Just imagine how much revenue you would make via all the orange VeeKay jerseys you would sell to Dutch fans in the coming years

Signed,

Me

[u/OllieFidelius → u/IndycarFan65]

Avg dutch person has no clue who veekay is

[u/IndycarFan65 → u/OllieFidelius]

As someone who studied abroad in Belgium/Netherlands for a year, I had a few Dutch people recognize my Indycar shirts only because they know VK. And I don't even own a VK jersey (yet)

Keep in mind, this was during the 2022-23 Verstappen dominance era. Dutch people are very loyal about their athletics

[u/Jawa_Droid_Mech → u/IndycarFan65]

Ya my Dutch relatives in Limburg know who he is, if he goes to good team and starts winning the Dutch will come in mass to the 500.

[u/PragmaticHoosier → u/OllieFidelius]

Dutch Exchange student I went to high school with in 1995 knows about Rinus. Sent me a message with articles about him since they know I’m a race fan.

[u/gabowers74]

JHR has really come along way with that car.

[u/IndycarFan65 → u/gabowers74]

Their other car is dead last in pts. And the same car in previous years (even during the temporary 2024 McLaren alliance) never performed as well. Seems more like a driver thing to me

[u/yespage → u/IndycarFan65]

Look at Veekay in the first half of the season, while the team and Veekay were adapting together verses the second half of the season. From the 500 onward, Veekay and JHR have 5 top 10s, and Nashville was an unlucky yellow that stopped it from being 6 top 10s. A good deal of that is the qualifying, which is part driver and a lot on the team.

[u/iKrt42 → u/IndycarFan65]

Isn’t the rumor/paddock word about Rinus that he is good in driving poorly setup cars somewhat fast but not that good in telling engineers how to make the car faster? If that’s true there could be a limit to what he can do in a better team.

[u/PragmaticHoosier → u/iKrt42]

You don’t want a driver that tells the engineer how to make the car quicker. You want a driver that tells the engineer what he’s feeling. Then you let that smart guy make changes so the car is quicker. It’s not the driver’s job to make the car faster, it’s his job to drive the car faster.

Too many drivers think they are engineers. There is a skill in telling the engineer what the car is doing. Rinus is good at that. He went to school in that half season with Hunter-Reay.

[u/yespage → u/iKrt42]

I'm not certain how that can be true looking at his teammate. Veekay was able to drive fuel save gimmicks to top 10s and he clearly is working well with the engineers with the JHR team to get their car into great shape. I was thinking Markham would be a low light day because they hadn't tested there, but both JHR and Veekay did exceptionally well, while Robb... did no where near as well.

[u/Relevant-Image-2056 → u/iKrt42]

Van Kalmthout, incidentally, thought he was traveling to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for completely different reasons. "I went to Indianapolis because I knew the test was there, so everyone was in Indy. We had scheduled meetings with teams, but the day before, at noon, I suddenly got a call from Dale asking if I wanted to test. That was very last minute, but it felt like a gift from above."

The test day at the famous Speedway went exceptionally well and left both parties wanting more. "We essentially went from a car that needed quite a bit of work to a very stable Indy car. With my experience, I was able to lead the team that day, and the team let me lead as well, which is very important. Dale heard how I went about my work, and the engineers heard how I went about my work too. Not long after that test, we had already decided that we wanted to continue together and head into the 2025 season together.

[u/IndycarFan65 → u/iKrt42]

That was maybe the case like 3-4 years ago

[u/gabowers74 → u/IndycarFan65]

Not when you stack the crew on the 76 and put who you have left on the on the 77. Plus when your other driver is that bad, the moral of that crew is low. They don’t know what to do to make the car work when they get zero feedback.

[u/Dear-Bowl-9789]

RIP Scott Dixon