This is track side with Kirk Cavin and Kevin Lee on ninety three five and one oh seven five the fans on brash shake one of the back and that is Nolan Siegel into the wall.

Yeah, I don't know what happened.

I'm sorry for.

The Lucas solid stop for the A.

J.

Foy raising team, but it's taking time.

They've got a problem and losing.

All kinds of precious time.

And occurred is.

Backup on the.

Jacks's polow comes down and the yellow has come out.

Oh and that's will power.

Will Power is off and on track.

And wouldn't you know it, the lot for Alex below shows no sign of disappearing.

Made it in just in time.

Before that yellow flag.

He's right with him.

He's gonna have to go the long way round grabs, he's it stuck in.

Rasby Sin is gutsy, Rasbysin is braved.

H hands on, they run high.

Has the lead.

Holy cow, what a pass.

We're all love this championship.

I love short over is Christian Rasmussen.

Even the great Alex Polo has to tip his hat to that move.

Coming into this weekend, there was a feeling that we could have a first time winner, and it's gonna be one of the most electrifying.

Tribes that we have.

In the NTC INDIECA Series.

He's a us F two thousand champion, He's an Indie Pro two.

Thousand champion and Indy Next champion with one two minutes ago.

Christian Rasmussen is.

Now had Indy cal race win a sensational Provo Provo highlights from the snap On Tools two point fifty from the Milwaukee Mile from yesterday afternoon courtesy of Fox Sports.

Do we have a Race of the Year candidate we'll discuss coming up?

Also?

Is Alex Pollo headed to Red Bull in F one?

Is Colton Hurda going to F two to get a super license to learn F one tracks as well?

Where's Will Power going?

What about David Malucas?

How about the IndyCars schedule which will include a pairing with the NASCAR Truck Series at Saint Pete.

Could there be more combinations with NASCAR?

Some of your Twitter questions are coming up at Kevin Lee twenty three.

In our number two, Kurk Cavin will join us along with Eric Smith of Indiecar dot Com.

They'll break down some of the stories this weekend as well.

Hello, welcome, thanks for joining us landon coons Is in our studio.

I'm Kevin Lee.

We're on sparate schedules.

Kurt's not available this evening, so he taped a segment, actually a couple of segments.

We'll divide and conquer throughout the day, so he'll give his thoughts on the race and chat with Eric and more, and we'll get into some of the rumors.

I heard some wild stuff this weekend, and now some of it has been in prints over the last couple of days.

Actually been hearing a few things for a few weeks, and I like people to do the proper sourcing to get some things out there.

And I feel a little more comfortable discuss it because I know they've vetted things a little more than me just hearing it from a friend and so on and so forth.

So we'll get into that, but first let's talk for just a moment about the racing, which was awesome.

The event was awesome.

Wish you could have been there.

The great thing is for those of us that would like to see more ovals, feel super confident about this one.

I didn't have concerns about this one going in I didn't feel like this was one where we had to see how it went, like we said, going into Iowa before it would be safe.

On the twenty twenty six calendar, my assumption has been this is one of the unquestioned events for twenty twenty six.

And I think I even saw something in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that they expect a date in late August, and soon they'll start talking about twenty twenty seven.

But it's the right size venue.

If things are going awesome, you have the ability to add even more.

There are some spots where you could take off the tarps used for sponsor logos in turn one turn two, but that main grand stand was filled and was more filled than it was last year, so that's huge.

And I think I mentioned this the right sized venue, which I think Iowa is as well.

It's tough to fill a fifty thousand seed stadium for anything other than football.

So you know, I don't know what that grand stand hold.

Is it fifteen thousand, is it twenty thousand, whatever it is, but it looked good.

It looked good.

And I went back and took a look at race two from last year, the Sunday Race, and this was more full, and they even had a little bit of a tarp that they had planned that weekend towards Turn one of that main grand stand, which they started selling tickets around and had some people above that tarp and below it.

Because it went better than expected last year, didn't even have it there this year.

This is good.

So the dream would be, hey, can we start to spread out and get rid of one of those tarps going into Turn one or something else?

But felt good, and then I'm going to guess there were still people behind the grandstand as well.

If you watch some of the Fox broadcasts.

I mentioned a couple of times, and I think Will and the booth guys did too.

About the free fan zone.

Their state Fair is an atmosphere, and we know Wisconsin people know how to tailgate, they know how to enjoy refreshments, and they've got some cool looking pubs and bars.

They're right behind the scene with plenty of TVs.

And the young people and sometimes the older people like to just go out and be part of an events.

But that's an opportunity to simply go because we've done this before.

You've gone to probably a football game and you don't go inside.

You're having a good time tailgating, and you don't get inside until the second quarter, and then you come out out again at halftime and you don't get back until the fourth quarter.

I feel like he kind of wasted buying the seat.

You could actually go to that race and just simply sit outside the entire time and feel like you've been there.

It's part of the event, and it's all free.

Other than what you're going to spend on food and drink.

The event is still profiting off of that, so wonderful atmosphere.

And by the way, great race.

I'm gonna have to do some thinking to say if that's the race of the year.

I know some people would say that, and maybe it is.

But it was good.

And then we had that caution come out at the right time at the end of the race, bringing about the question mark do you pit?

Do you not pit?

So essentially it goes this way.

David Malucas gets to the front early on.

He and Plo seemed to be the class the field.

There are others, there are others that are going to be factors.

Unfortunately, Malucas has a very long pit stop.

The right front wheel gun broke.

The crew member's fault it didn't work, and they were pretty on it to go and have another one ready and get out there as quick as they can, and they missed by about a second and a half of beating Polo, who came out a lap later, came in a lap later.

Had they gotten in front of Polo, they would have stayed on the lead lap.

They didn't.

Caution later got Malucas back on the lead lap, but unfortunately he didn't have a chance to win the race and Polo was in charge.

Okay, he didn't win the race.

He finished second to Christian Rasmussen, who becomes the first first time winner in a couple of years since Christian Lungard did at Toronto in twenty three.

But Polo ticked off another box.

I know he didn't get to win, but wins pull by a bunch controls this race.

He's running fast laps and let's get to the end now, So you've got this decision.

When it starts sprinkling, and it had been like a weird misted for a few minutes, but it was so sunny that I doubt any moisture was even reaching the ground and was going to go away, But all of a sudden, it was in the middle of a report I was doing, and I just said, hey, I'm feeling rain drops and then within five seconds the caution comes out.

And that was the right call at that point.

And then it also added a little bit to the entertainment because it did sprinkle for a few minutes, it didn't stop immediately, and they just liked to make certain and then you get a chance to I presume they swept the track at that point, and I think there were seventeen cars on the lead lap, and I knew if you were at the back of the lead lap, easy choice.

And by the way, everyone had tires.

Everyone went into the race with six new sets of tires.

The Penske cars had seven.

So if you wonder why the Penske cars didn't come in, it's not because they didn't have tires.

They did.

I think maybe there were one or two cars that had five sets, but everybody still had a set there at the end of the race.

So I'm thinking tenth on back.

That's pretty much a no brainer because we saw a lot of tire wear and if you could have new tires, you could move your way through.

But if only the top, if only those outside the top ten are going to pit.

If you're up near the front, you have to decide, ooh, are new tires enough to pass ten cars?

I don't know, And that I think was a difficult question.

And I was the car I was following at that point.

I guess I was listening to Polo and they were not gonna pit, and I don't think you can.

I don't think you can give up the lead at that point because that that maybe everyone behind was just going to do the opposite of Polo would come in, maybe they stay out.

Not sure, but I was listening to Rossi, who was I think fifth, maybe fourth, but I think he was fifth at the time, debating whether they come in, because your fear is, ooh, if not everybody comes in, we might give up a top five and come out twelfth.

But they're going to be aggressive.

They do it, and it worked out that everybody fourth on back pitted, so they were in the same position.

I think I have a screen grab of what the order was going into that final restart.

Yeah, it was pelol McLaughlin, Newgarden, ROSSI actually maybe picked up a spot.

Then pottle Award, Louon Guard, Rasmussen was seventh and Dixon, Armstrong and Malucas, and they only moved lap cars out of the way with twenty laps to go, So Rasmussen was not only seventh, he was ninth or tenth or eleventh on the track.

There were several cars either a lap or more down, So you have to keep that in mind too.

If you decide to pit, how good are you going to be?

So one thought would be, well, it was new tires that won the race, you know, just simply Polo and McLaughlin and new Garden all hindsight twenty twenty, but should have taken tires.

Think about it this way.

Rasmussen's the only one that got by McLaughlin and Polo.

Newgarden got caught up in a tussle.

I haven't had a chance to watch the race back, but I saw will Power post on social media saying his crash was because Kiff and Simpson drove him low when he tried to pass him one time, So then he tried to pass him high and Simpson pushed him up in the marbles, and he made some mention that he did the same thing to new Garden as well.

But I did see Newgarden got caught up in someone I wasn't covering him in my pit section, so I wasn't watching quite as closely.

But Newgarden wasn't able to be a factor.

But nobody else passed Polo in McLaughlin, so we can't simply say, yeah, it was the difference from fresh tires.

That's where I'm getting to.

This is all credit on the massive bravery and skill and car control and everything else you want to say about Christian Rasmissen.

If Rasmissen is not in the mix, if he is a lap down, if he has had a mechanical early on, Polo still wins this race because Rossi took new tires, Poto Award took new tires, Loon Guard, Dixon, on and on and on, Malucas, they all took new tires.

They couldn't pass Polo, they couldn't even get to McLaughlin, who's still finished in third.

So full credit.

It's not just we got the luck of the strategy.

Now, he wasn't going to win if he didn't take the fresh tires, but he was better in that circumstance than anyone else was.

And this is one to remember.

And Rasmussen, the other drivers have been saying, well, he can't keep this up.

It just is not going to work.

But we've said this before and it's a little bit like a Kyle Kirkwood.

This guy was massively talented, just like Kirkwood.

He won all three levels of the championships to scholarship his way up.

It took him two years to win in Indie Lights now Indie Next, but he got it done.

So massive day for Ed Carpenter Racing.

That was so fun to watch Alexander Rossi.

That had to be legitimate happiness for his teammate and for the team.

And I had a chat on Friday with Ed Carpenter about this and he's he's happy.

You know, everybody's always hoping for more, but they knew it was going to take some time.

The results may not show it, but Rossi is bringing something and his job is more than just to get top fives and win races.

It's kind of what Ryan Hunterray's job was when he came on in the second half of the season a couple of years ago.

It's to identify things, share information, you know.

In Rossie's case, this is how we did it at McLaren, this is how we did it at Andretti this is how we ran up front.

One race is so on and so forth, quality control and help develop the car and eventually you know they're going to need results out of Rossie.

Well now he's got back to back top five, so it's starting to come around a little bit.

And beyond the genuineness of that, it's a good lesson for others.

Showing pleasure and showing happiness as a team player works a long way, So that's going to go well for Rossi.

But it wasn't fake.

We all know Rossi.

Rossi doesn't fake things.

He is very genuine.

So that was that was a fun moment.

Happy for Ed Carpenter Racing and those people as well.

Anti Christian Rasmussen, who I've known, you know, since he was a kid and is still a pretty young fella.

So we'll see if that continues.

We'll see what the others feel about that.

But great story there.

Okay, next later on, if we have time, we'll get into the box score and some of the other storylines, but probably when I get to some of the stories of the day.

And Nathan Brown launched a bomb this morning with the Indianapolis Star.

So a month or two ago, the general sentiment was this is going to be a pretty tame, silly season.

Other than will Power.

That's a big one.

And I think two months ago most of us still thought, oh, surely common sense is going to prevail and will Power is going to remain at Team Penske for another year.

And I suppose there is still a chance of that, but it's looking less and less likely.

So I had heard a few things in the last few weeks.

I had wondered a few things.

Well, then I heard a few things.

Some have not been written or said publicly yet, and I'm not sure that I want to share that.

I'm never sure what his fair game for talking about and I'll admit I always feel better when I see someone that has to answer to someone else, like an editor, a boss.

You know, you need your three sources, like we've talked about with Kurt before, and going through the protocol.

Saying something on a radio show and a podcast is one thing.

Writing it down is a different, different level.

You need to be a little bit more certain about it.

You have to understand what the blowback is going to be.

I think you also want to understand what are the repercussions.

Are we hurting someone are we damaging someone?

And I try to be cognizance of that as well, that as much as I really do want us to just talk amongst ourselves, and I like the people that listen to this show maybe getting a heads up on some things.

And there's some things we're going to talk about that I've sort of given you a heads up on here in the last few weeks based on what I thought what I was hearing, but I couldn't report, couldn't say anything on that, And we'll do that in a moment.

But let's get to the story that Nathan wrote this morning about Red Bull having an interest in Alex Polow not to go to the junior team, but to go to the big team to pair with Max furstappen now, first, before I share thoughts on whether I think this is viable or not, you go back to some quotes, and Nathan used that this morning from his story in May talking with Alex Polo and saying that F one was no longer calling him.

There's not many seats I'd consider changing for, Polo told the Indianapolis Star, referring to jumping to F one.

I don't really know there's many seats i'd want to be in compared to the number ten car right now, it's pretty tough to beat.

The fun part of being a race car driver isn't being famous.

I like winning races.

And then another theory, and I've talked to Alex about this too, is just the reality is those lesser F one seats most time don't pay what people think they do.

He's probably making more than that can be.

And you know, I think he kind of joked they can't afford me, but I think that's right.

I think that's right for a lot of those seats.

And then you combine that with you're going to run at the back.

Do you really want to do that?

Well?

What about red Bull?

Big risk?

No one else has been able to match Max Verstappen, even he can't drive the car the way he did a couple of years ago.

What are they going to be?

But they have the resources.

You have to believe that Red Bull is a player.

And that's one of those where oh yeah, that's one I would have to think about, especially if the pay is in line.

Red Bull should be able to pay him significantly more than IndyCar can.

Now he's a CHICKENASSEI employee, he's under contract.

He understands that he's already broken a couple of contracts and doesn't want to continue this.

So in my opinion, this is only happening with the blessing of Chip Ganassi.

And here's the theory out there.

I had four different people before Nathan wrote this this morning that I consider pretty plugged in tell me this was real.

This was what was being discussed in the paddock.

I don't know if everybody knew about it, but by Sunday I suspect a lot of people did, because I heard it from four different plugged in people, and one told me this is done.

I don't necessarily believe that.

I don't think it's done, or at least I have no information to say that it's done.

And one reason is I see that Chip Ganassi has scheduled a conference call through IndyCar tomorrow afternoon.

My guess is Chip wants to put this to bed.

So at some point this morning, going from what people told me, I was leaning on this might be real.

When I see that there is a teleconference scheduled tomorrow, unless they're announcing this is happening, which I highly doubt they are doing at this point but maybe that is it.

Maybe they're just announcing it.

But my guess is it's more that Chip is gonna stamp this down right now and say this is not happening.

Alex Plow is on a long term contract, and that's the end of it.

I don't think he's gonna want to do this if he doesn't have anything definitive to say.

And by the way, he did did I cut and paste this?

So he was on.

He was on one of our practice shows on FS one or FS two on Saturday afternoon and Townshend ask him about these rumors, and here's what Chip said.

Alex will be the first to tell you.

He is enjoying himself here.

He likes it.

He's on a long term contract.

Now, he's happy, he's got his family here in Indianapolis.

He tells me he couldn't be happier doing what he's doing.

So I take him at his word.

That's the end of the relevant quotes.

What he did not say there is there is there's no chance Alex Polow is going to Formula one.

It ain't happening.

Everything And by the way, if this is a possibility, masterful quotes from Chip Ganassi Alex Polo and his manager Roger Yasakaba were asked by Nathan Brown about this and they said they've had no conversations on this, or their people haven't had conversations.

That's a tough spot.

Most of us are not asked to talk about our employment possibilities publicly.

I don't know what you do there, And I'm okay if someone doesn't want to tell us the full truth, really, you've got to get creative, and what Ganassi said there would not be lying to us.

Everything he said is accurate.

Even if Polow does go to Formula one, I'm sure Alex Polow is enjoying himself here.

I'm sure he's on a long term contract.

Which is why I go back to if this happens, in my opinion, it would be at the blessing of Chip Ganassi.

It's reported and I think Nathan wrote this that there is a clause that allows him out with a buyout.

Someone would have to pay for him to move on to Formula one.

So I guess technically he could do it without Chip's blessing, and maybe he will.

Maybe he will, But here is kind of what people are talking about, is to why this could make sense for chip Ganassi when he decided not to honor the next contract he signed, the second one he signed with McLaren that was going to have him leave after what the twenty three season, and said no, And Polo admits he broke that contract and knows he's going to have to pay something.

Well, McLaren issuing him for something like thirty one million dollars.

We don't know this, but the common thought is that chip Ganassi or one of the sponsors, one of the partners, someone is providing some assurance financially.

We don't know if that's certain.

Maybe this is all on Alex Polow and he's just gonna have to work for free for the rest of his life if he loses this deal.

But if, for example, it is chip Ganassi that guaranteed this to help make that deal happen and help persuade Polo to stay in his car and sign a long term contract, well, what if Chip is starting to get a little bit worried.

What if we do lose this and I'm on the hook for even if there is a settlement for twenty million dollars plus Polo's salary and everything else, what if someone else was willing like Red Bull to take on that risk and also pay me the buyout clause.

No idea what that would be, but you would have to think that would be a few million dollars.

So that's how that gets plausible at this point.

The other reason we think it's plausible is that surely F one would want Alex Polow.

Everyone else has failed in that car relatively speaking next to vers to happen.

Polo in a quote Spec series is crushing the competition in a way we've never seen anyone do.

Why would you not want to see what he can do?

He has driven an F one car.

It's not a lot, but he's driven it, and he was good in a free practice one.

He's done a couple of test sessions in the old car as well.

It will be challenging on new tracks.

You're gonna need to get him to year two.

Year one is going to be a little bit difficult in that regard, but it just makes sense for someone to go after him.

Is Red Bull willing to pay forty million dollars up front plus salary thirty million whatever it might be, And by the way, they may not lose the lawsuit.

That's another story that came out last week the tales of all the contracts of the McLaren drivers.

Can find that on Indistar dot com as well.

So I don't know if it's happening no matter what I've been told, but it's possible.

Next will Power, Well, the next rumor is will Power would then go to the ten.

One of the reasons why maybe Chip Canassi might be open to doing this because he has a championship level driver that could step in that car short term, one, two, three years, whatever you want to say.

At this point, that's the next rumor.

Who knows if that is the case.

At this point, we're going to learn a lot more I think tomorrow, though it could be totally over by tomorrow or who knows.

For will Power, he's been told by Roger Penske he'll know after the race.

And when I chatted with will I said, hey, I'm still holding out hope there's a chance.

He just kind of smiles.

I think he knows if they are going to tell him definitively.

There's a lot of us have wondered, hey, maybe there's a lot of other things going on here.

Maybe they decide and they can work with the Malucas Camp to stay another year with aj Foyt Racing.

I said, well, is it going to be a few days and he said no, I think I'll know right after the race, almost like I may find out in the radio on the cool down lap at the end of the race in Nashville.

So that means that means it's done.

And I still think one of the reasons why it had to wait until the end of the season is there may have been some performance clauses which maybe Melucas has now met or barring some catastrophe, you know, whether it's a points finish or something like that, he's already met.

And that is the plan.

Now, Mike will be offered in any five hundred seats and then go see what you can find in the World Endurance Championship, sports cars or whatever.

Maybe, but at this point and Will said he was anxious, but he's seemed relatively relaxed.

Maybe he had already heard this by the time I talked to him about this, and everybody else talked to him on Friday as well, and then the next one is and I think Nathan wrote about this as well.

I know Marshall prut I talked to him.

He said he had mentioned it on his podcast, and then I started hearing it this weekend too.

I had not heard it until I got there.

Colton heard a to F two, and when Colton was asked about it on Friday, he said something along the lines of yeah, I've heard that rumor too.

Didn't say no, I'm not doing that now.

Also, Colton can be playful.

He might have just said I'm going to have fun with this and just avoid it and go from there.

But you think about this one, and I'll say from the beginning, I think it's unlikely, but it's also plausible.

I can understand why it is being considered.

So he does have the super licensed points to go to F one next year.

He's not going to finish top four in the championship and fifth is going to be I haven't looked to see if it's even mathematically a possible, but really hard.

He could do a free practice one and get the points, and even with that, he doesn't know many of the tracks.

He's been over there some but doesn't know many of the tracks.

If you really want him to be competitive, a year in F two would help.

Well, how can you go from IndyCar down to F two?

It's actually a pretty similar level.

It's not that much different, and I would say IndyCar is still a higher level and there's a lot more depth in IndyCar.

I'm going to say the fifth through the entire field is significantly stronger than you know, the eighteenth best driver in IndyCar I think.

I'm biased.

I think is better than the fourth best driver in F two.

F two doesn't think that way.

F one doesn't think that way.

They protect their ladder system and that's how they award super high points, and it scored much higher by finishing third or fourth in that championship or even F three.

So you can make the argument if you want, if Cadillac F one, owned by the owner of Andretti TWG Motorsport, if they want Coldon to be a future Formula One driver, this would be in his best interest.

He finishes what is it, I think, top four to five in that championship, maybe it's even top seven.

He has enough super licensed points to get there.

Now here's the risk.

As much as I think of IndyCar drivers and why they're better than everybody outside the top five, it is not a guarantee anyone from IndyCar finishes in the top five and F two, you've gotta play some of the strong team.

But you're gonna be facing several drivers in their second season in those cars, and they've gone through F three, they know all the tracks.

Someone could easily finish tenth in F two.

How does that look?

But if he really does want to get to F one, this is the last chance, this would be the path to do it.

Might not be a financial risk.

Maybe Andretti is simply saying, you'll stay on the same salary and we want you to go over there and we're going to invest in your future.

And by the way, it's not been announced yet unless it's come out here in the last few minutes, but we know the drivers for next year and they're not twenty one year olds, so how long are they going to be there?

At Sergio Perez and Valtori Botas.

There have been enough reports that I believe that to be true.

It makes the most sense.

I think we all felt it was going to be at least one of them, but now seems safe.

You know, they need to learn about the program.

There wasn't really an American that was ready.

They're going to take some lumps and if it goes great, then either of both of those drivers might have put clauses in their contracts.

It says, hey, if a better team joins us, that's kind of out works.

Once us, we can skip town and then they could move up whoever they're developing at this point.

So that's the next one.

I can't tell you whether it's gonna happen or not, but I also, in my opinion, can't say no, this is just Robi.

Shit's a wild rumor.

I think it could be possible.

Also with the thought we've got someone we could slide right in there.

We could take will Power, and you know, also Colton not having a great season.

Maybe Colton is not super happy and just wants to shake things up and just do something different.

And if it's not will Power, maybe he does go to Ganassi.

If the other polo thing happens, well, you've got Dennis Hager there in waiting.

I think what's most likely if there is not a seat available at Andretti, is that Andretti does like what they did with Kyle Kirkwood.

I would look at a Dennis Hauger and a lot of people notice Dale Coin the first agree to him after he wrapped up the Indie Next Championship.

But I've felt for a while that that he's going to end up a dale Con.

It's a Honda team.

That's the simplest he could end up a Hunkos or somewhere else.

But I think coin makes a little more sense in that regard.

All right, Next, what about Prema reports on that that We've talked about a little bit before, or at least I've said, Hey, the person paying for that, at some point might get tired of paying for that.

I don't see any logos on those cars, so that's costing someone a lot of money, and at some point if they decide I'm tired of spending a lot of money, what next?

That's apparently what's happening.

We'll talk about that and more coming up next on track side.

This is Alex below and you're listening to truck Site.

One race to Go in twenty twenty five.

It's coming up Sunday at the Nashville Superspeedway.

Good crowd of Milwaukee yesterday, hoping for more of the same Sunday, just outside of town.

I hope you can join us two day show once again.

It's almost the same identical schedule as we had in Milwaukee, bright and early eight am Local time.

I can listen to me and Jack Harvey start the INDIEX practice at eight o'clock Central time.

That's on FS one.

The rest of Saturday because college football is starting is going to be on FS two on Saturday.

From IndyCar practiced, Indie Next and IndyCar Qualifying, Highline practice and so on, and then eleven thirty Eastern is the Indie Next Race on Sunday and two o'clock Eastern pre race show.

Actually I need to double check that.

Maybe it's a half hour early.

I know we have a longer pre race show coming up on Sunday.

Chris Myers is coming in hosted the Indy five hundred and Bill Richards, who I think I may post something on this later after the season is over.

But Bill produced the Super Bowl have you heard of?

That did pretty well, and he produced the Indy five hundred pre race show and his vision was magnificent and a lot of the ideas came from a collection of people with Bill put that together and he's coming in to do the pre race show.

We had hoped they were still championship in place, but they have not changed their mind, and they've still got some cool features going on, and we've got extra time in the pre race.

So yeah, we may be on a one thirty.

I need to double check that, but I know we have about a thirty five to forty minute pre race instead of a twenty minute pre race.

And then the championship celebration as well coming up on Sunday from Nashville.

All right, the silliest of silly seasons then, and we'll see if we really do know on Sunday afternoon.

Can you imagine the people that will be the racing paparazzi following will Power when he gets out of his car.

I hope will has a good day, so he not only is disappointed, not only not disappointed with having a bad day, and then waiting to see if he's walking the plank or not.

I hope he's already already knows about an option, But I hope that's the case.

As I've said many times, the sport is better with will Power in it.

I was kind of like Elio Castronevez pr Guy for a long time as well.

People like el Eoh should not go away full time until they just are not competitive anymore.

And ELO's last full time season he finished like third or fourth in the championship.

So I was sad that he was going into just Indy five hundred situation because that was a little bit different.

They needed some name drivers for the Penske sports car program.

So it was still a good job for him, very acceptable.

We do not know yet what the options are for Willpower, but he's still strong and he's interesting, and that's a great combination as well, all right, the other things.

So I kind of tapped around this a little bit a few weeks ago.

I was hearing some things, but just common sense.

I think I'd probably said this six months ago, not knowing anything.

When a team comes in that is bankrolled by someone, the idea is and this can apply to a lot of teams.

It applies to Brad Hollinger who goes Hollinger Racing as well, that they may be willing to spend a lot of money for a while, but not in perpetuity.

At some point, I'm sure they've been told we're gonna find partners and sponsors to lessen the financial burden.

When does that point come around?

And I think you know who goes Hollinger is one of those teams like Dale Coyn looking for partners.

There's some positive conversations.

We might even have some announcements on partners for IndyCar by this weekend, so keep an eye on that.

I don't know if it's going to happen for anybody or not, but I know there is efforting.

As we say, well, Prema is definitely in that camp.

I had heard it, had heard it from good sources.

Didn't feel like it was my place to say anything.

Marshall prooded Racer did a little more due diligence.

They'll comfortable enough writing it, he wrote, maybe on Friday Saturday.

Racer understands Prema Racing is seeking a new source of funding to continue the program.

In twenty twenty six, reached by Racer at Milwaukee, a team representative declined to comment on the matter.

Well, everyone's sources say the same thing as well, and if they don't get that sorted quickly, their top employees are not going to be available anymore.

Their employees are concerned, as they should be, because they have no charter to sell, they have equipments to sell.

So what they need is they need an investor to come in and say we're going to keep everything essentially as it is, or at least the team, maybe the name changes.

It could who knows, but they need that to happen pronto or they're going to be faced with somewhat starting over because other teams are always looking for good personnel, and Prema has some.

They hired some away from other teams this time last year, so they will be on the market, like will Power coming up Sunday afternoon at about four o'clock.

So they need to get this done and hopefully something happens very soon because they've been great to have around.

They bring a great presence to the paddock.

But at some point, some when the wealthy person loses interest or moves on to something else or decides, yeah, I didn't know it was going to be this expensive, then that's where we're at.

So how about this going back to the silly season.

You know I mentioned before, Penske is not in a position to just say, like they did before, we're going to run four cars.

I mean they could and they could say, well, we feel like will Power and our other three drivers David Malucas if he's coming, they're all going to qualify.

But I don't know that that would be received real well in the paddock.

If the team that's owned by the same people that own the series starts sending someone home.

Twenty seven cars make the race.

They're twenty five charters.

So if there are more than twenty five and they're only twenty seven, like now, everybody makes the race.

If a twenty eight shows up, then there are three cars for two spots.

If they're twenty nine, you have to think of a new team came in, it'd be a two car team.

Then it's four for two.

So let is say someone adds one, then it's three for two spots.

Someone would be going home in this case from the premise circumstance.

So whoever adds an extra car that's not chartered, it would be the fastest and they'd have There is a plan.

I've got it written down somewhere.

What the format is.

I believe it was even on road courses, single lap qualifying to see who makes it into the full field, qualifying amongst those three or however many cars that there are.

So now someone else, by the way, could do that.

If McLaren, if Aeryl McLaren says you know what we want, will Power, we're gonna shake things up.

We're going to run four cars next year.

I think they could do that and just say we don't care if we send somebody home and all be fair.

In that circumstance, I would say Prima knew the rules of engagement.

I'm not sure they really did though when they kind of committed.

The charter system wasn't in play at that point, so that might be one of the other issues.

When the investment was made, it was well, we're on equal footing of everyone else.

Now they're in danger.

If someone else decides to show up with another car, they may not make the race.

So that could still happen.

But what I was getting to is, if the unfortunate happens and Prema were to go away, we're down to twenty five cars.

There's room to add two more cars.

Is it easier?

Then?

Could Penske say we're going to add a fourth car for Willpower, We're going to do this for one more year.

Easier for another team and have certainty that their cars are going to make the race.

For McLaren or Andretti or someone else say we want Willpower on our team.

For Andretti to say we want Dennis Hauger on our team as a fourth ca So just something to keep in mind.

The problem in the issue for Power would be, I don't suspect if the worst happens, I don't suspect we're going to have any resolution on PREMA in the next little while.

And will Power is going to want to know unless unless there's no other options, unless this plot to Red Bull F one is not happening, unless Colton Hurda is not going to F two, and those two teams do not have an opening, and there's nowhere really attractive for Power to go.

He might sit and wait for a little while.

You know, maybe Roger Penske says, hey, hang tight, you're certainly welcome to sign something else, but we might have something for you, but it would be two months down the road.

In the meantime, maybe he's offered at least an indy five hundred seed.

Remember this all started for will Power in two thousand and nine with the guarantee of one race.

He gambled, turned something else down, and it turned into what's that sixteen seventeen years more wins than anyone else in Penske.

So just something to keep in mind.

Unconfirmed seats, So these are the seats that are open that I have confirmed, either with the driver or with the team or in the case of the number fourth AJ Foyt Racing common sense.

I didn't ask Larry Foyt or David about that.

When David's been asked he said, I'm on a multi year contract and that's probably true, but there must be a clause and an option in there, so none of us believe that that is set in stone.

We know the number twelve of Penske is unconfirmed at this point.

We were waiting to see both the dale Coin cars are unconfirmed for next year, the eighteen and the fifty one, and we know Connor Daly's seat at Hunkos Hollinger Racing is unconfirmed.

Sting Ray Rob is on a multi year contract, Devilin DeFrancesco is on a multi year contract.

I think the Prema drivers are in multi year contracts, but we have to add them to the potential free agent list at this point as well.

And then what I would also say, as we all know contracts or suggestions and when there are free agents out there, of the likes of will Power, you can't rule anything out.

And there's one other thing out there that I'm not willing to talk about.

I don't think I should talk about.

That's a bombshell that I give a te chance of happening.

Don't think it's very likely.

So I'm not saying, hey, stand by, but you just never know.

You never know.

We've been surprised before.

So top free agents, you got Power, you got Renas Vike, You've got Connor Day, You've I guess you don't really have David Malucas.

He's either gonna be with Fight or he's gonna be with Penske or i Lot and Schwartzmann in that list.

Lenis Lundquist there again this weekend.

He's having conversations.

One team owner told me they're thinking about it, They're looking into things.

Dennis Hauger just won the Indie Next Championship, comes with a scholarship.

Kyle Kollette will be trying to put a program together.

He is understanding it's easier to find money for IndyCar than it is for Indie Next, so I wouldn't rule him out.

He's got a really good season in Indie Next.

They're going to be all the various F two drivers former F one drivers Jacob Abel would like to come back next year, and he might come back with dale Coin Racing, but that's that's not confirmed at this point.

That was a if not a deal with options.

Bill Abele's dad was honest and saying, you know, there's no guarantee that we're back.

We're working on it.

We're talking to this team.

I would presume they're looking into options with other teams as well at this point.

So that's what we know on that front.

We look at the hour number two and more coming up on trackside.

How this is Scott mcachlin and you're listening to track Side on ninety three to five and one seven five the fan to.

My email inbox this afternoon.

And this seems to happen this time every year, right before the start of NFL season, there is a carriage dispute with one of the TV providers and one of the networks, and in this it impacts us, YouTube TV sending a note that's saying as of Wednesday, if we don't reach agreement with Fox, those channels will not be a part of YouTube TV.

So just be aware of that.

But also this comes at a good time.

If IndyCar is all you, if foxes you only need IndyCar uh Fox won.

The new streaming service has a seven day trial period, so I'd wait until Friday ish.

If this doesn't get resolved, and they usually do, there's a huge college football game arch manning season debut Texas and Ohio State on Saturday.

The real deadline is going to be the week before.

But if they don't come to an agreement, sign up and get the final weekend and they'll eventually work it out or maybe Fubo is also an option.

I've looked into that they have a lot of sports there.

Don't know if they have FS two, so that'll be one to look into as well.

All Right, Hour two Kirk will join us with Eric Smith from IndyCar dot com.

I'm gonna try to sneak in some of your Twitter questions coming up when I come back at the end of the show.

Stay with this, pe Hi, This is Alexander Rossi and you're listening to Trackside.

Welcome back to Trackside, our two of the Big Show.

And honestly, this is like the second or third time in eighteen years of doing this show, Kevin and I being on different schedules, so we've had to kind of put this program together independently.

You just heard him in our number one, our number two.

I will concede that this is an afternoon taping.

We've had to do this again.

My schedule a little bit crazy in the evening, so I also brought in Eric Smith, who you've read pretty extensively, not only on IndyCar dot Com here in the past couple three years, but also in different capacities prior to that.

Eric, when was the first time you worked as a credentialed member of the media.

Yeah, it was.

Twenty eleven, the fall playoff NASCAR race in Phoenix, soctly enough, I was out there with Bleacher Report and that was the first one, and then let into a full season of covering both NASCAR and IndyCar and twenty twelve and been around ever since.

Yeah, it's been it's been quite a while.

So you've had a chance to be at most of the races this season.

And we will talk pretty extensively now looking at what happened over the weekend of Milwaukee, maybe touching later on to what we will see next week for the season finale in Nashville.

Let's start with obviously, Christian Rasmussen.

I guess you know this finale, his first, his first IndyCar Series win happens largely because he was able to take new tires or took the opportunity to take new tires on a late pit stop because of sprinkles.

But we shouldn't have probably been surprised.

He finished sixth at Indy, He was third on the oval, the short oval at Worldwide Technology Raceway, he was sixth and eighth that Iowa Speedway.

So from an oval standpoint, he's had a really good season.

So I guess maybe not surprised that he was a podium fetisher, but but you know, he has been consistent all season in the ovals.

Yeah, I mean when you look at he entered fourth and oval points for the entire season comes out third, So you really he's been a strong oval performer.

And it's saying something when I was reminded this past weekend up in Milwaukee that that was the weekend that Ed decided to step out and put rasmeisen and hit that car to help with the leader circle.

And Ed is admitted an oval specialist, and for him to step out and put that faith in Christian and to get that car to leader circle, and here we are a year later, this first really full time and he's already a race winner, and he's just been strong on ovals and he just he's the right amount aggression that you need.

I know some drivers talk about that as a hot topic, but it clearly proved that he won a race by doing so, and he's worth the price of admission, and it it's worth that.

It was worthwhile he's going against Alex Below, who himself is worth the price of admission to any car races.

And they both had a battle and Rasmussen prevailed and it's good for him and good for the series.

They get another new winner, not just the season, but overall.

We talk about this taking on new tires.

This is an interesting deep dive that I did four Indiecar dot com this afternoon.

But I was looking at you know, there were seventeen cars on the lead lap when the opportunity came for that last pit stop.

The top three drivers, which were Alex Polo, Scott McLaughlin and Joseph Newgarden, they all had had relatively few number of laps on their tire, green flag laps on their tires twelve about twelve laps each.

Actually, McLaughlin had thirteen green flag laps on those that set of tires.

The point I'm getting to is that the other fourteen cars in the lead lap, including Rasmussen, took new tires.

Rasmussen was seventh, he goes from seventh to first, but after that, not a lot of people made up a lot of ground.

David Malucas picked up a position, Alexander Rossi went from fifth to fourth.

I think Malucas went from like ninth to eighth, and then in the back of the pack there was some shuffling.

But really Rasmussen was the only one to really capitalize on those new tires, when in fact you might have thought that the top three cars, the ones that didn't take the tires, might fall like a rock.

So really, as alex Poloh minched and it was a fifty to fifty kind of decision for him, you know, he's kind of damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

Kind of situation we've seen that a lot in NASCAR, guys will stay out, the leader will stay out, and then everybody else will pit for tires, and or just conversely, if he comes to Pitt Road, then then everybody else stays out.

So he's kind of polo is probably in a no win situation, don't you think.

One hundred percent agree?

And when that happened, that struck me to the combo we had with him in the bullpen on Friday with wanting to use these final two races to better himself as a short oval racer.

And it's just funny to hear him talk about he's this is his weakest link, He's still not comfortable and he really wants to spend this time to learn, so kind of make a statement for next season of now I'm going to be that much better.

So I almost wondered if the safe play for learning was to keep him out on old tires just to learn.

I mean, what's he going to learn on fresh tires at the end of a race?

Let him see how those tires evolved, because there was times during the race I was questioning whether he was going to lack the field he was so good.

So that was a fifty to fifty decision.

And hearing them talk about they they're standing by it that I'm not going to doubt him and Barry Wanzer in that ten group of what they're trying to accomplish there.

But Raspisen and look at the box score, and you look at third place McLaughlin, who, as he told me, he had a second place car that finished third.

He was ten seconds back in that short little bit, so Raspisen was on rails and deserving winner.

How does Eric Smith join this?

So how does Alex Plow?

I mean, I know he's as even keeled as they come, but how did he handle like the post race, you know, kind of behind the scenes, how did he look?

How he sound?

I mean, I know he was disappointed not to get this win, but I have to think it was just well, those things happened.

Kind of a moment reaction from Alex.

That's exactly what I realized.

That's how he was reacting.

It was typical Alex Pelow.

Just doesn't get too high in the highs, doesn't get too low in the lows and little inside baseball.

I almost had my heart dropped because I was chasing Ed and Alexander Rossi and that for the paddock buzz lead and are timing and scoring a little glitch and my phone was showing he finished like seventeenth, and I was like, what did I miss?

So I took off running down that pit box to see how he would react to that.

So his reaction when.

I finally saw him on the podium just seemed, oh, that seems normal.

But yeah, I kind of try to figure out what we missed there that he but he was typical Alex Plow fashion.

It almost makes me wonder if they were a championship on the line how he would have reacted.

But to lead one hundred and ninety nine laps and not win has got to be a gut punch no matter what.

But he just was unflappable and just Alex Pelow fashion.

Hard to believe that, not only would that have been his ninth race win of the season, that would have given him twenty for his still very short career in Indy Car.

Explain something to me if you can, and maybe you can't.

You reference the fact that Scott McLaughlin being ten seconds back of Alex polo.

So I get the decision that Barry wantser and Alex make or someone in the group makes to stay out on older tires.

Why does Team Penske running second and third with McLaughlin and Newgarden, Why did they decide not to pit as well?

They clearly had not had an answer for Polo previous to the caution coming out with what twenty nine to go or that's what the restart was.

They weren't going to beat Alex in my opinion, on the tires on the same strategy that Alex was on.

Did it surprise you?

They didn't pit very much, So I question I could.

It's the whole theory of why if you're going to beat him, why A you're gonna follow him if he's got you should do with the opposite of what Alex was going to do.

And what was even more baffleen was you had two teammates sitting there.

At least split them, I at least have one to one and the other due the opposite.

And in that situation here in the kind of tea leaves and the way Scotty Mack was talking about, they are starting to rebuild momentum, and I think they felt that maybe that was the safe route.

By falling Polow they knew he didn't have anything for him, which again kind of contradicts why did you do the opposite?

But you look at how miserable of the summer he's had and then he shows up the weather Tech Raceley Gonna Seka and finished the seventh and then he's seventh at Portland.

He's got a podium type car.

You can just tell that they're just more building for next year, which made me wonder why Joseph's team didn't do the opposite because they've got nothing to lose at this point, and why he A lot of people were referencing Ross in particular last week of how Rasmus races like New Garden with the aggression, So I just kind of wonder why the New Garden the two car didn't at least pit for tires, and he was ahead of Rasmussen at that point and he do the same thing, so that that was puzzling.

I don't have the answer to that, something I will ask in Nashville just in hindsight.

Well went into that and why didn't they can maybe split the cars, but I was shocked at usually Team Penskee with multiple cars, they go opposite strategies to kind of cover.

Both blades, and that shocking that they did the same thing.

Let's look at the restart before we get off this topic and then kind of move down through the box score a little bit more.

So we talked about the top three did not pit for new tires.

You know, tires were going to be the advantage, not the fuel, but the tires.

Those on the tire strategy of changing and going to new tires for the shootout, if you will.

The lead car at that point was that was Poto A Ward, then Alexander ross He then Christian Lutenguard and Christian Rasmusen, a lot of Christians in there.

And those are two Aero McLaren cars and two ECR cars.

And then following those four were Scott Dixon and David Malucas.

So Malucas picked up a spot passing Dixon.

We talked about ras Musen, which one of those cars at that point did you think had a shot?

I mean, if if Award lines up first and ROSSI was second in that in that strategy group, which one did you think had had the best shot at getting to the front.

I would say Award just because it kind of similar in Iowa.

That's kind of how he beat Joseph and the Iowa races.

I put the McLaren car in clean air, and I would have thought him Malucas.

I can see him too.

He I asked him after the race of because I know it's that first stint after the cautions flew and few laps went buy and then he passed below and then he sailed away for a while and then you notice.

Polo coming back to him, and then Pulo.

Eventually got back by, and so I asked him about that and why that was that he burned his tires off too much, and he said the car wasn't initially set up to his liking and that they worked on it as they progressed and fortunately had the pit penalty and rallied back from a lap down to the top ten.

So I think if he could have got there too, now that his car was to his liking, he probably could have done something, but the safe play would be Poto And the one thing I didn't mean to say speaking of that and the Penskes, and maybe it's data that I don't know Firestone can provide for the series or whatnot.

But Rossi made a comment to me after the race that they first kind of looked ahead and thought, well, if there's a late race caution and seeing what the tires were like, we need to save a set.

And he said they purposely in practice save they set to have available.

So maybe the Penske cars maybe they didn't have a set or maybe I'm not sure, they're higher situation for the end of the race, But that was a thing that the ECR cars noticed and practice on Saturday that they better save at least a couple sets for seeing the potential late race restart.

So that was also a decision kind of factored into decisions I think end that maybe that went into why the Pitske guy's in a pit or some of those other guys, But that was definitely a play and for your for your question, I would definitely say Poto and ma Luke is probably a strong second of that strategy.

Yeah, let's remind you.

Eric Smith joins us that on indiecar dot Com we had a kind of an instant recall look back on on Sunday's race.

And one of the points that I don't went into is that in twenty fourteen at Iowa, it was too what was then Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Cars, but basically two from Ed's team if you will, Joseph Nugarten and Ed Carpenter.

They took tires for a late race, pitted sprint to the finish, and came charging through the field to finish second and fifth.

So it's one of those kind of things on a short oval when you have the opportunity to take new tires.

Actually in that race also burned Chip Ganassi Racing.

Tony Kanan was the leader of that race, with Scott Dixon second.

But when you have the opportunity to take new tires in a shootout on a short oval, it looks like that's the play.

Now, maybe you get bogged down in traffic and you can't get there.

And as I mentioned, not everybody in the fourteen that did that strategy on Sunday, not all of them were as productive as Christian Rasmussen.

But anyway, that's just something just to kind of throw in there.

Let's get back to in the box score.

You mentioned David Malucas.

Actually we both mentioned him in terms of what a gut punch that had to be for him.

He had to pit stop, air gun didn't appear to work for him on the right front, lose theres a lap in that session.

He looked like one of the few cars that could run with Alex Pulow's.

How was David after the race?

He was kind of subdued, just resigned to the fact that this just keeps happening.

They just keep having fast cars, just results not to match the speed in the car.

And and that's I think a lot of people.

Don't understand what two of racing being a team sport, that that's part of the package.

You've got to be solid on pitt lane.

And I know we have the pit performance chart that we get after each race and you look at the same usual usual suspects up top that are fighting for wins, and you look at like the Lucas's team and nothing against his team, nothing against those career guys.

It's there's a reason the bigger teams have the best guys, the best equipment, the best pit stops.

I mean, they're just have all those resources.

And Milucas's team is ranked eighteenth, and you look at the top and you got Dixie and Awards Crew and Pulow they're one two three, MCLA Aaron with wind guards fourth.

And it just has to be from the pitstand, the decision making to the pit stops that also is a factor.

And Malucas kind.

Of was heading to that that it just seems like that's been par for the course this year.

Is it just we're not capitalizing on the speed we have and he was a little subdued by but on the flip side, he also was happy that, hey, we fought back, they made the car better.

It wasn't good early and we still climbed back on the short oval, made up a lap and grabbed the top ten finish.

So it was just kind of yes and no.

A good day for him, is what he said.

But he's happy to know that he's going to have a good car for Nashville and hopes he can end the season with a win.

What do we make of Connor Daly's Afternoon if you will?

Doesn't crack the top ten.

He seemed to fade a little bit mid race.

We saw a third place performance at him last year at the first of the these two races at Milwaukee.

What do you make of of Connor?

And what did you get a chance to speak to him afterwards?

I didn't.

He kind of bolted out of there and I think he was upset to a little bit.

Just again, another fast car that it just seems like that's been their.

Mo is too.

It's just it's hard to it's hard to beat the big teams and all facets of a race, and I think maybe once they got kind of in that dirty air midpack and the handling went away, and it was fun start to watch him climb all the way up the fourth but I think early that's probably what I thought he'd finished, was the top five, and then it just kind of shocked me that he ended up thirteenth.

So I know he's he wants more out of it, and he's he's admitted that he's fighting to try to audition for a job next year, to audition to find the funding to stay played, stay put with whun goes Honger.

But it's just days like that or just ones that get away that that doesn't help.

Hey, credit where credit is due.

We've talked mostly me, have said that Christian Liinguard is not going to take the next step in the championship pursuit until he is excelling on ovals.

Give him a sixth place finish over the weekend, that's a he passed Scott Dixon or or Joseph Nugard and excuse me, passes Joseph late in the race to get sixth place.

You know he's going to have to probably be a race winner on a short oval to win a championship as Alex Polo has done and and you know certainly has taken the next step there with with Polo, but lind Guard had a good weekend and and uh that's worth noting.

Oh for sure.

And I mean he's fourth in points, he's what's seven back of Dixie for third and he I asked him on the media call last week about just that with the ovals and and he acknowledged that's that's the next step for him, Like you like you've been saying, and you look at the oval points in particular, just just scoring points on ovals, he's eighth.

He's had a decent season on hi He's got three top six finishes, so that his next step is going to be taking those kind of six, seventh, eighth oval finishes and turning those next year to top fives and then maybe the year after that those have to be podiums and wins.

And he's right there because not on the road course, which our points have road and street courses all factored into one, he's second.

He's got the second most road and street course points accumulated for the season.

He's eighth and ovals, so he's getting better.

He's that he's improved his average finish every year on ovals, but he's that's the next step to be eighth and saying that's the who's to say that he can't be a future champion here soon?

I mean this quickly, be this good with McLaren.

I think sky's the limit for him.

Alexander Russ he gets one of his I guess most memorable drives of the season.

Uh he was what fifth last week?

Backs it up with another Let's see he was fourth.

So kind of a good close to the season if you will for Alex.

Oh for sure.

And I joked with him too after the race was it's Ed Carpenter became a strategist because Tim Broyles, they decided to take for Ed Carpenter racing.

The next step he needed to step off the pitstand and be the president and grow the team.

And Ed decided to shift over to start calling Alex's races.

And those two are good friends.

They share planes and they're they just know each other's cadence well of them and that started in Portland and finish his fifth, so they had a good laugh about that.

And then here we are in a short oval and he gets another top five.

He's two for two for top five finishes with that carpenter on his pit box and I joked, I think you're got a campaign to keep ed for next season, and he had a laugh about that.

But they're they're firing in all cylinders right now.

And as Alex said that, they're they're in a much better spot entering Saint Petersburg in twenty twenty six and they were this year.

He said, it's it's one thing to have an infusion of investors and resources, but you have to build the really see the fruits of that labor.

And he feels they're they're way better position.

And wait, they're a well oiled machine right now.

That yeah, they're they're fighting against the heavy hitters and who's to say that he can't flain in Victor Lane at some point next year too.

Well, let's take a quick break and we'll come back.

I want to bring Eric and his thoughts into some of the other big topics of the of the day.

We'll get to all those things here when when tracksid returns in just a few minutes.

Hi, this is.

Poto Award and you're listening to truck Side.

All right, Segment five for Trackside Tonight it's going to be just a few more days and we'll be getting to the season finale.

I guess you know we're going to debate this a little bit this week on indiecar dot Com.

Eric, and we know the season has been over for some time in terms of the championship and Alex Pulo's dominance is the what is the big thing that you'll take away from Alex's season this year?

What's number one for you?

I know the night five hundred is probably it, but what takes precedent for you?

I know?

And on Wednesday when Arms comes out and talk about mine, about how he I thought Roade America to him was a turning point, just because the door was cracked from kind of getting punted by little David Detroit and finishing twenty fifth and then Worldwide Technology Raceway's.

He was eighth.

He was solid, but that's kind.

Of where a short oval program was, and so it kind of like, oh, well, maybe the championship's not over with yet.

And then he comes out and just makes that statement and wrote America qualifies on the front row, wins the race and shows he's kind of flexs his muscle there.

But I look at that and honestly, his getting the short oval win I think was that monkey off the back that was as we talked about loon guard.

That was kind of Pilo's thing.

Was he got the Indy five hundred win.

That's a super speedway.

But short ovals, he's always said were kind of his kryptonite.

He just wasn't comfortable, and for him to win at Iowa, I just think then leading one hundred and ninety nine more lapse on Sunday in Milwaukee, it's scary for the field for next year, know, and it's like, how do you stop this guy?

Even the ones that he says his weakest link and he's still out there leading a bunch of laps in winning.

So I would say the Road America win kind of made a statement.

But his short oval program and kind of being that all around well disciplined driver, it's to me that sent shock waves through the drivers because how are you going to beat him?

And unless he beats himself, which he's shown that rarely happens, how do you beat the guy?

So short ovals is now no longer a question mark for Alex Pelow anymore.

And I know that was our main thing.

We kind of previewed in the off season leading in was when's Alex plogan and went on an oval he's not only one one, he's won two when he probably should have three right now heading into the season final.

You know that's absolutely true.

Obviously, the NDY five hundred is the big breakthrough from a kind of a big picture standpoint.

Also, go back to the fact that and I think we mentioned this a little bit last week on the show, but he he has led seemingly every practice session, every qualifying session.

I mean, I know that's not exactly the case, but certainly he's taken a big step in being, you know, dominant at all levels of a race weekend, more so even just than races themselves.

I just was looking he had six polls coming into this season, he won six poles already this season, and just as the number of practices that he led.

You know, you're looking at you look, you're watching the timing and scoring on a particular practice, and you look up and he's you know, he's second or third, and you think, well, he's kind of right there, and then he rips off a big lap and he's like eight tenths of a second faster than the field.

His practice times and his qualifying times are just staggering.

And just the amount of time he's dominated this sport this year.

Oh for sure.

And we've talked about that too.

That's just you just look at first practice on Friday and everybody just kind of comes into the session.

They're just kind of focusing on the cells and focusing to get better than you look at midway through the session and there's the ten car there he is right on top, and it just got to be to moralize.

See, it's like, what can we do with this guy?

Just it's not like he evolves, even as the weekend they roll off the truck and their quickest and it's just it's hard to beat him.

And that's I've been getting some quotes for accumulating the last couple of races on the drivers and what is he doing?

And like ROSSI told us in Portland that he's like I've talked to his teammates and even they are like, I see his dad and he just shrugs.

He's like even they don't they could see what he's doing and still can't replicate it.

It's just it's phenomenal.

It's we're literally witnessing a generational type talent right in front of us.

And it's when everybody tells you that, and then all of a sudden you see what he does in practices.

It's I was watching him Sunday and I just I was going to ask the drivers for the bullpen in Nashville this weekend.

Is is Alex Polo pulling behind up behind you?

Is it like the NASCAR when the black three of the intimidator dal Arnhardt pulling up me, and it's like, you know, it's not gonna be very long.

I'm gonna hold this guy off.

I mean, it just seems alan timidating.

Has it got to be to on first practice, like you said, he's P one, and then you see him in the race and he's right there behind you, and it just it was incredible.

I was watching the lap times when the first like our first sequence of stops are happening yesterday or Sunday in Milwaukee, and Alex Polow on older tires was running two miles an hour quicker than the guys that just took new tires.

And he's fifty laps into a run.

It's just special.

Just what this guy does as special and I'm just curious.

Like to your question, I was going to ask that in Nashville is just what does that do to your psyche that the guy you're chasing.

And you're wanting to be the one that you're.

You're all chasing after just jumps out the p one early in the weekend.

Just how do you chase him?

Or are you chasing your car?

Like?

Which direction do you go down?

At that point?

Not really a question here, Eric Smith joins his IndyCar dot com is where you can find most of his work these days.

This isn't really a question.

It's just something I had thought about the other day while I was driving down the highway, and I think, I want to go back and maybe you can remember some moments, but I just can't.

But I want to go back, and I want to watch a handful of races from the twenty twenty season when nobody knew who Alex Pelow was.

Even Dale Coyn probably didn't know much about him other than they had hired him.

But just to watch how the broadcasters spoke about him, what was said, you know, just his how he handled himself in the very limited number of times that he actually appeared on the broadcast in a question type situation interview process.

It just seems like it feels like forever ago that twenty twenty was upon us, not from the COVID standpoint, just from an Alex Polo come out of nowhere standpoint.

So I'd like to go back and watch and just see how we thought about him, because this is there has in my mind.

The only one that comes to mind that is similar is the way Montoya came into this program in his champ card days.

But even then, you know he was from the European Formula one ladder system.

He was very well regarded.

Alex was not that so anyway, just an observation.

I don't know if you have anything from that twenty season that just strikes you, but it's just amazing how he had, how far he's come.

Oh for sure, that's a great point, because I do wonder how they kind of covered him.

He kind of first came on the radar.

I remember sitting in the twenty twenty in the media cinemy.

He made at that point was the Fast nine shootout.

Now we've since gone to twelve and like, who is this guy who's got the dale Coin car that is in the Fast nine shootout, and I believe he qualified seventh or eighty.

I know, I think it was Row three, And honestly I had him and Chip and Mike Hole and those guys are will mention that that's kind of when he came to their radar.

Was they kind of like, who said that?

Who is this guy?

And they kind of had to pass ember Dario said this and Gasoline ally, they just kind of passed each other, and Alex made mention that he didn't have anything set for next season and he would love to eventually be part of Chip Gannassi Racing, and so they just all right, we'll take an eye.

And then Chip mentioned that it really was Card Day when they kind of moved finally to the their Brace Day pit boxes and they were pit next to him and just seeing his mannerisms and watching how he evolved through that wild month, and I just kind of sealed the deal for them.

And but yeah, just kind of they're like because other than up until that point, he had two top ten finishes, they're both in the Road America Doubleheader weekend, and that was early on and it was just okay until then, and then I don't think we could have foreseen then what he'd become, now, that's for sure.

You know, we look at particular years you forget kind of how the landscape was.

But do you remember who Alex Polo's teammate was at dale Coin Racing in twenty twenty.

Ooh Santinoo, you know, yeah, Andantino Ferrucci.

What a pairing that was.

Ferrucci can pull Ferrucci and Polo.

And in fact, I'm probably this is not a staff meeting we're having, but I'm going to dig into some more of the dale Coin moments because I think Renas Vick has been another one, not necessarily on Pelo's, you know level, but he's been one of those guys that has had an outstanding season.

And maybe we haven't talked enough about Rena's VK, but I look at a couple of the other years of dale Coin Racing, one of which stands out, not just twenty twenty, but in twenty twenty two, the pairing at dale Coin Racing was David Malucas and Takumasato.

So what a great pairing that was as well.

And I think it just speaks to how good Dale has been at recognizing talent.

I mean, Alex Polo isn't here three championships in a row four and five years without the influence of Dale Coin.

Obviously, Dale's you know, had Justin Wilson, Sebastian Boorday and other big, big names in his program for a variety of reasons.

But they've had a masterful season many years, and in particular this year with Rena's vk any thoughts on do you think Renus is back with this team?

What kind of odds would you give him to be somewhere else next year?

I would say it's pretty high to be back.

I think so too.

I think so too, because, like you and Kevin have been saying, really the last month, where's he going to go?

That's better?

And for this situation, because they're clearly outperforming a lot of the quote unquote rides here that are going to be open at the end of the season.

They're already better than them right now.

And I think a lot of people forget too.

He was literally the last driver named, the last full time driver.

Name to the seat.

They only had one small test day coming to Saint Pete back in March, and he fired off a top ten finished day and then you just look at what he's done this season.

It's just incredible for being that team didn't have as a team with several different drivers last year, they didn't even have a top ten finish.

And what Renas is doing this year and the combination and getting Michael Cannon over there and talking to Michael Cannon and Portland and how high he is on Renus, and a lot of people don't realize how many good drivers Michael Cannon has worked with in his situation.

And he told he compared Renus to Alex Plow when a Simon paganode he sees out of him.

So I think people to forget that Renus.

He's still young.

He came in at a very young age.

He's only twenty four right now.

So his stock, he told me on Friday, is he doesn't feel like his stock has ever been higher.

Does he wish things could have been different with Ed Carpenter Racing, Sure, he admits that, but he also is what you've been saying.

He also said, is sometimes you just need a fresh start.

Sometimes both opportunities just need a complete fresh start.

And I think you can look at it and say this is the rare moment and worked out for both of them.

The twenty one car wins on Sunday with the rest of me soon and Renas has really rejuvenated his career and kind of sent us a jolt through the whole Dale Corn Racing operation.

And I just I don't see anywhere on the horizon that he could go that's going to be a better situation next year than what he's at right now.

I think so too.

Eric Smith joins us, all right, your last five bucks?

Uh, you don't get to have lunch if you don't get this one right.

Where does where does will power drive next year?

Last?

Your last five dollars?

One one pick now?

Don't give me three options?

Now?

Yeah, where's your best?

Where's your best?

Guess It's tough.

It's a tough one because there are some rumors you here.

I'm going to say, I'm going to say ends up with ANDRETTI I'm going to say somehow they figure out.

I just struggle.

I struggle to think Team Penske will cut ties with him.

But as as you and Kevin have also been saying, sometimes good news doesn't get delayed this long, and I just struggle to think that he'll be back when they keep telling him to wait till after Nashville, because he's mentioned on the record that he's free to look elsewhere, wants to check the flag falls at Nashville super Speedway this weekend.

And I just don't know how you let a driver like that, if.

You had any plans on bringing a back, get to that point, which leads me to believe he's got to look elsewhere.

And I just don't know, Like what we're saying with greenis I don't know many other rides out there that is going to be a better situation, or you got to also think of teams that are funded that can afford him, because I don't I don't see Will coming in and wanting to bring a bunch of money for a seat.

He's he's earned the right to be paid.

So I'd say I put my five dollars on in Aready Global.

I'm I'm going to put my my five dollars on a one race deal with Team Penske, and he's going to have a sports car ride next year.

But if he stays in this series and he's you know, the other one to look at.

And I know we've heard from Zach Brown, but have we really heard from Zach Brown on on Will power.

You know, is that is that just the kind of splash that Zach Brown would would make.

I don't think so.

I think I think Nolan Siegel will be back.

But you know, you go back to and Kevin and I discussed this a little bit last week.

Or I threw it at him.

Aeron McLaren had David Milucas and now David Milucas is the hot seat to team Penske.

Yeah, yeah, I don't know.

I don't know.

Your five dollars is probably as good an opportunities to be right as mine, maybe better.

I just this sport is better with will power in it.

That's that's I guess where I'd leave it.

It is and you ought to look to which I know we've speculated behind the scenes a few months ago.

If like the Aero McLaren is cause somebody find the right situation.

Who said it had to be a chartered car?

I mean willpower is one of the greatest qualifiers of this generation.

I mean he's got the most polls in the history of the sport, so he can knows how to qualify a non chartered car.

So if you're Aaron McLaren and you can come up with the funding.

Why couldn't you run Willpower in a fourth non chartered car.

They got the space they're moving into the new building.

That was always a huge detriment to them is what they're the way they're the current building was constructed, was they didn't have the space to add a fourth car.

Well, now they're going to have the space to add a fourth car.

We know they've done in the eighty five hundred, so it's possible.

But Zach has been I feel like a lot of times he's an open book, and he keeps saying that he's not talked to Will.

So it's just hard to believe that he Zach knowing that Will's out there and he wouldn't take the chance and just hey, well we'll.

Sign them and figure out later.

I did ask Nolan just for some off season content that we'll have on any car dot com, just working with Kyle Moyer and what the plans were for this offseason as he set for next year, and he told me he was but I could see the concern on the look on his face of though I have to deliver next year like this, there is no following year.

If I don't deliver next year, there is no the year after like he was, he pretty well is dead pain like this, I'm back, but this can't happen.

This season cannot be replicated next year.

So that tells me that he does believe and is told he is back next year, but we're I would say that Ry could be.

There, but I.

The other thing is there are rumors of any teams that there do We have twenty seven cars at races that where maybe the the non chartered cars not even an option.

But I get the aesthetics of a team Penske puts together a fourth car and they're stealing a spot from another team.

That could look bad.

But it just seems, I guess, until it actually happens.

It just seems unfathomable that Willpower will not be a Team Penske driver next year in some sort of fashion, someone some fashion.

So last race of the season, last question, we're running, run out of time.

We actually have to end this discussion.

But last race of the season, Colton Hurda came through one last year.

Any surprises any of these guys.

Jose with new Garden still hasn't won a race.

McLachlin still hasn't won a race.

They along with her to one races multiple races last year.

Short answer, who you got for this weekend?

I'm your guy in Newgard and the one used to I just struggle to think that he's going to go winless.

He's won at least one race every year since twenty fifteen, he's won at least one on an oval for the last decade, and just I know he's had a terrible year, but his home race, last race of the season, he was good there last year.

I just get the feeling eventually something's gonna work for him, So I'll go Joseph.

I also want to be shocked to Vallex Flow comes out there and does a similar thing he just did in Milwaukee and wins a game.

But I'll go with Joseph.

I think that at some point they're going to figure this out.

And they were all right in Milwaukee, like I said, they were third coming that final pit stop that they didn't take.

So I just I think Joseph will do it.

I think so too.

I think those are my two picks as well, Joseph and probably more likely a dominance by Alex below.

Eric Smith, Thanks thanks for joining us, Thanks for a little insight, for continuing to go to races and your love of the sport.

We'll keep reading.

Kevin will be back to close things out when Trackside returns.

Hi, this is David Lucas and you're listening to track Side.

Okay, what we missed?

I missed congratulating my friend Parker Kligerman on winning for the second time at Daytona this year in a stock car and not technically winning the race.

He was the relief driver for Connor Zilich and won the Infinity race on Friday night.

That was really, really cool.

He had won the truck race at Daytona in February, but an obscure rule technicality didn't pass tech.

He's not a full time broadcaster, so there's hope for all of us.

Twitter questions, Ryan Robinson asked schedule release date.

I don't have one.

I'll say this, I'll be surprised if it happens this weekend.

It might, but I'm not sure that everything is fully buttoned up.

Maybe we get something that's in question released this week leading up to it.

Maybe they confirm and just say, hey, St.

Pete's the opener next year as well, and we know that NASCAR trucks are going to be there.

And some IndyCar and former more likely former IndyCar drivers are raising their hands saying, hey, I'll have me some of that other schedule things.

I went over a lot last week, and I think some of the things and theories I mentioned are in play.

Maybe Phoenix combined with NASCAR.

I'm not hearing a lot of conversation about Watkins Glenn.

I wondered if maybe trucks can combine there, but that schedule came out.

Trucks are not there, so can't rule it out.

I'm not sure if everything is all done at this point.

A lot of other questions.

I don't have time, Unfortunately, Indy kar Ken says, can you mention the CUSIC announcement on Wednesday?

Will mention it when they announce it.

I know what they're announcing, so I think that's their announcement.

So we can talk about that next week and beyond.

Once we get word what they're doing, that's it.

We'll see you next Tuesday two pm Eastern is when we're on the air on Fox in about a two forty five green flag the season finale from Nashville Superspeedway coming up on Sunday, and also here on the radio,