Arlington, Texas — Alex Palou hadn’t left a race weekend not as the INDYCAR points leader for 21 months.
So when he exited Phoenix Raceway fifth in the standings, some would think he might have lost a little swagger.
Palou knows his incredible run is over, but he qualified on the front row for the inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington, where Marcus Ericsson will lead an INDYCAR field to green for the first time in his career at a new temporary 2.73-mile street circuit that winds by both the Cowboys and Rangers stadiums (Sunday, 11:30 a.m. ET)
Here are my takeaways:
1. Palou Ready To Pounce
Palou won the last two points races on new road/street courses as he captured the first win at the new Detroit course and also won last year at Thermal. Can he make it three in a row and cut into his 19-point deficit on leader Josef Newgarden.
Alex Palou is trying to continue his run of success at new INDYCAR tracks.
[ARLINGTON PREVIEW: Everything to Know About Inaugural Race]
“[Those wins] mean nothing,” Palou said in his post-qualifying news conference. “It means more that the team does a good job not having data and being able to put the car.
“I felt good at both Detroit, Thermal, and here as well. I feel we have a good car. I feel very confident with the track.”
Both Palou and Newgarden downplayed the fact that Palou — a four-time series champion who has won the title the last three years — isn’t leading the standings two races into the season.
“It’s crazy, crazy numbers, crazy statistics,” Palou said in a news conference Friday about that streak.
2. Ericsson Long Road To Pole
This was the first pole for Marcus Ericsson in 117 career starts.
Marcus Ericsson earned the first pole of his career on Saturday.
[POWER RANKINGS: Who is on top at Arlington?]
The former Formula 1 driver and former Chip Ganassi Racing driver finished 20th in the standings last year at Andretti Global, and doesn’t hide from the fact that this will be his last year there if he doesn’t perform.
“I was very pissed off really after last year and the way I performed, especially the second half,” Ericsson said in his post-qualifying news conference. “I just felt like I didn’t recognize myself as a driver. I wasn’t aggressive, I lost confidence. I put a lot of work in in the offseason, tried to drive different things.
“I jumped in GT3 cars and all kinds of things to build up my confidence and sort of enjoyment of driving race cars again.”
3. Newgarden, McLaughlin Wreck
It was a long day for Team Penske as its mechanics had to repair cars throughout the day. Josef Newgarden wrecked in Saturday’s morning practice and Scott McLaughlin hit the wall in qualifying. Newgarden had to go to a backup car (a little bit of a surprise since the wreck didn’t appear too hard) and McLaughlin’s car will need repair.
Josef Newgarden is hoping he can rebound after crashing in Saturday’s practice session.
McLaughlin will start tail of the field in 25th while Newgarden starts 11th. While the track does appear racy enough where they can pass, they both are in somewhat significant holes.
Newgarden said he just locked up the rear wheels and “ran out of room” while McLaughlin started a turn too early.
Newgarden said on the FS1 telecast: “The speed’s been great, so hopefully it’s all good.”
No one should be surprised by the wrecks. They are all trying to maximize speed and learning the course. It is typical for those type of incidents when drivers come to a track for the first time.
4. Wind Worries
With wind gusts of up to 50 miles an hour, INDYCAR officials opted to move the race an hour earlier with a green flag in the vicinity of noon ET.
The move was made for general safety reasons — from workers and fans trying to navigate the facility, which has plenty of temporary structures, as well as lifts being used to broadcast and officiate the race.
“Sounds like a tailwind down into Turn 10 there [after the 0.9-mile backstretch] — it’s going to make it fun,” McLaughlin told me and other reporters. “A lot of slipstreaming and passing.”
4 ½. What’s Next
Drivers might get a better feel of the wind and how it could impact them in their warmup Sunday morning (9:30 a.m. ET, FS1).
They then will battle for 70 laps in what is expected to be an electric crowd to witness the inaugural race.
