Milwaukee Indy Postscript

Bourdais dominated

Sebastien Bourdais scored his 34th career Indy car win in Sunday's ABC Supply Wisconsin 250 at Milwaukee Indyfest presented by the Metro Milwaukee Honda Dealers. Taking advantage of the decision to stay out when those ahead of him pit on lap 117, Bourdais utilized the clean air to build a lap advantage over the field by his final pit stop on lap 212.

He was able to make that final stop without surrendering the lead, and held on for victory in what was as impressive a performance as we've seen on an oval in years.

Of course, any appreciation for the victory has at this time, been at least, somewhat tainted.

Wrist Whack Wednesday

Bourdais had donut indigestion after Milwaukee

In what is fast becoming an IndyCar tradition like none other, INDYCAR handed done its post-Milwaukee infractions yesterday afternoon around 4 p.m., and Bourdais #11 Hydroxycut Chevrolet was found to be underweight in post-race inspection. The release read:

"The No. 11 KVSH Racing entry was fined $5,000 for violating Rule 14.3.1.1 of the Verizon IndyCar Series rulebook (Minimum Car Weight)."

To be clear, that is the text in its entirety. How far underweight was Bourdais' car? We don't know. Was the reason Bourdais was underweight due to something that happened during the race? We don't know. What's to stop other teams from setting up their car below specified weight in Iowa and beyond, knowing the only penalty will be a $5000 fine?

Now, if you read this space you know I have been highly critical of the methods employed by INDYCAR in administering sanctions. To me, fining Bourdais and KVSH Racing $5000 after the fact is not a deterrent to violating the rules. If anything, it shows people exactly what it costs to violate the rules: $5000. And let me tell you, every IndyCar team will write a $5000 check right now if it means they can go to victory lane this weekend in Iowa.

That said, I also realize what I think doesn't really matter much beyond the fact it’s well, what I think. The simple truth is that for 2015, the series has made its peace with his method, flawed as it may be. It's a for better or worse thing at this point.

However, what recourse now does the series have with any car that is underweight? And how far underweight is too far? After all, if Bourdais was underweight by two pounds (again, this is a hypothetical), what's to stop someone from trying to be underweight by 20 pounds or 200 pounds? Is underweight, underweight? Or is it a sliding scale?

Further, if the series has to issue harsher punitive measures, their impartiality will inevitably be questioned. If they are not making the specifics of Bourdais' infraction public, will they make public why they are issuing a harsher method? Going by precedent, that wouldn't seem appropriate.

At the end of the day, it is the method the series has chosen. I hope for the good of the sport, the series reconsiders its methods for 2016. But with a championship on the line in the next four races it is a method that has the potential to cause a real mess — one even bigger than it already has.

Ed

Moving on to a few drivers, let's start with Ed Carpenter.

It's not often that a 10th place is cause for celebration. And with the three-race win season they had in 2014, I doubt the #20 team broke out the Fuzzy's Vodka Sunday evening to toast Ed Carpenter's tenth-place finish.

But sometimes keeping all the bodywork attached to the car and grinding out a non-descript 10th place finish is exactly the kind of thing one needs to get back on track. And after the year Carpenter has had, and the fact he was really nowhere all weekend at Milwaukee, I bet the CFH team is somewhat relieved. I also imagine we’ll see a step forward from Carpenter this weekend in Iowa.

18, 19, 16, 13

RHR is so frustrated with Honda he appears to have lost his moxie

Speaking of less-than-noteworthy campaigns, the above numbers are the last four race finishes for Ryan Hunter-Reay. If you go back further, the 2012 series champion has one top-ten in his last 8 races and a best finish of 5th at Barber in 2015. And get this: RHR has only three top-5 finishes in the 25 races since winning the 2014 Indianapolis 500.

Certainly, part of the issue for RHR in 2015 has been Honda's relative lack of performance compared to Chevy. But that doesn't explain the fact Marco Andretti, who RHR clearly outperformed in recent seasons, has finished ahead of him in each of the last 7 races. Also, Carlos Munoz sits two places ahead of Hunter-Reay in the championship standings.

Now, I have great regard for what RHR has accomplished, and I'm not going to pretend I have some over-arching thesis to explain his struggles. It just seems this 'slump' has been a little more prolonged than you would expect from someone with RHR's resume.

Someone clearly not in a slump

A turnaround season for Rahal

After Graham Rahal broke a seven-year winless drought at Fontana, I wrote that if you were to grade on a curve relative to equipment, no one in the series is currently running better than Rahal. He's been the top-finishing Honda in 6 of the last 9 races, and is the only driver in the Honda camp that is currently competitive on a week-to-week basis.

Don't look now, but Rahal currently sits third in the standings. And given the way he's been driving on a week-to-week basis, he has an outside shot at winning the series championship.

Dixie

I'm not sure if this was reported, but after the Toronto race Scott Dixon was apparently upset with a combination of factors, which compromised a potentially promising result; one being stuck behind an out-of-sequence Rodolfo Gonzalez, another being the driving of Juan Pablo Montoya, which was not penalized by Race Control.

Well, apparently, Dixon was again upset with Montoya's driving at Milwaukee, and again the subsequent lack of punitive sanctions issued by Race Control.

Given the above, the longtime friction between Dixon/Ganassi and the Penske team, the fact JPM was a longtime Ganassi man, and these two are currently one-two in the championship with some tracks upcoming where Dixon should be able to gain ground, the makings of a rather explosive conclusion to the season could be brewing.

About Ganassi

I want to thank the fine people at Chip Ganassi Racing, particularly Lynzy Stover and Kelby Krauss for hosting my visit to the team shop in Indianapolis on behalf of AutoRacing1 this past Tuesday. Let me tell you, if you ever walk into that facility the 10 IndyCar championships, multiple sports car titles and however many race wins begin to make a lot of sense. Very impressive.

Looking ahead

Lucille Dust and I will be at Iowa Speedway this weekend covering all the happenings of the Iowa Corn Indy Presented By DEKALB. Stay tuned to AutoRacing1 and check out the AR1 Twitter feed @AutoRacing1.

Brian Carroccio is a senior columnist for AutoRacing1. He can be contacted at BrianC@AutoRacing1.com