well, the race just ended and I must say I was happy with the late yellows because it made for a better finish, although I certainly didn't like to see Figge (or anybody else for that matter) crash their cars. But, it did allow the gap to narrow and also for Will Power to make that pass on Tag. It was a great pass and with the help of the Power to pass button and it allowed him to get valuable points and also maintain his championship lead. He's definitely going to be competing for the Vanderbilt Cup. But my friends, right now its looking like the Sebastian Bourdais show. Like one of the broadcast crew member said during the race, they were almost trying too hard in Vegas and in the off-season. Instead of making sure the car was fundamentally sound, they tweaked it for speed and it backfired. This race here in Long Beach was a great example of what Newman/Haas/Lanigan is all about. They dominated the race. absolutely dominated. I know this is not a spec series by any stretch of the imagination, but how can one driver get up to a 10 second lead on his competition? Bourdais is THAT good and the team is that capable. Things looked bad for NHL Racing after Vegas, but you'd be silly not to think that they are the favorites for a 4th championship right now.

I was happy to see Justin Wilson finish 4th, as things looked awful following Long Beach and this finish should give his team and himself some confidence. This partnership with Tag was questioned by a lot of people and most see it as a huge disadvantage for Wilson. I don't know about that, I don't know any of the politics behind the creation of Rsports. All I know is that Wilson is in very good hands with people like Jeremy Dale and obviously Tagliani is most comfortable at Rocketsports. Why couldn't it worked with them together? Today's results were positive and hopefully they can carry the momentum to Houston and beyond.

I feel bad for Pagenaud who continues to drive well all weekend and run into bad luck on Sunday. he's definitely going through some rookie-tough times, making mistakes he won't be making for too much longer in his career. I'm happy for Rahal, who can't expect to be fastest all the time, but needs to finish first and get good results secondly. He now has his first champ car race under his belt.
Nice to see Jani be competitive and while he won't be fighting for the Vanderbilt Cup, there is no reason to believe that himself and his boss Jimmy won't be fighting for the Rookie of the year.

I think the big winner in todays race was the DP01. Only Halliday suffered a mechanical breakdown and of course you can expect one or two mechanical breakdowns a race. I spoke with Minardi engineer prior to the race and he basically told me he expected his car to hold up amidst all the fuel cell issues and as far as he had heard, expected the same from most teams. He also talked about Tracy just being involved in the "perfect" hit. It was just one of those rare hits where the nose hit the wall head on at the perfect spot causing the car to do what it did. that was his prognosis anyway.

So, Oriol jumps in the number 3 car on an emergency-fill basis. in 2005 he jumped in the Newman/Haas seat on an emergency basis. In 2005, the decision to have Oriol was done less than 3 days before he went qualifying. both today and at the Mile he finished on the podium. They then decided to keep him for the next couple of races. Right now he's scheduled to race in Houston. in 2005 he finished second because he kept getting great results and Newman/Haas couldn't let him go. Servia gets a podium his first race with Forsythe. What happens when he gets another in Houston??? In 2008, will a really powerful team please sign this guy in the off-season so the guy can compete for the Vanderbilt Cup with every race of the season under his belt!

Expect the first Overheard at the track of the season to hit the champcar.ws website this week. It was fun getting back into the groove of shooting it. Also, I am hoping that on Thursday I will be able to do a podcast with the Clerk of the course Jim Swintal. I have to be honest, it took me several hours this weekend trying to figure out how to do a podcast. I think I figured it out. I am also hoping to make this a regular gig prior to every race we attend and hopefully bring in guests and whanot. Jim and I have a very dynamic relationship and I think this will be quite entertaining. The goal is to eventually have it on champcar.ws, but for the time being its going to be on this blog site and his. Champcar.ws will have a highly entertaining podcast with Bill Stevens and Rick Benjamin.