Count Linus Lundqvist and Graham Rahal among those eagerly anticipating getting on-track this weekend in IndyCar’s return to The Milwaukee Mile.
And while some of that comes down to the fact IndyCar last competed at the historic venue in 2015, the other part of that is due to the intense side-by-side battles witnessed at a similar, relatively flat track just two weeks ago at Gateway.
The race at the 1.25-mile oval near St. Louis featured records across the board with 676 total passes, with 254 for position and 21 of those being lead changes over 260 laps. It was a complete 180-degree difference from what many expected after the doubleheader at Iowa Speedway last month; the 0.894-mile bullring that saw 396 total passes with 195 for position and only 7 lead changes - none of which happened on-track - over 500 combined laps.
The product at Gateway was certainly a surprise for Lundqvist, who made a late surge in the No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to secure his second podium of his rookie season. He admitted both he and team have been curious if it will translate to this weekend at the 1-mile oval and in the season-finale at Nashville Superspeedway - a higher-banked 1.33-mile oval - in two weeks’ time, to which half of that is about to get answered.
“There were a couple of things that definitely helped the racing,” Lundqvist said. “For once the second lane was open for quite some time. I think people committed to that outside lane. [...] I think they did a great job on the sweeping. Secondly, I think the tire had a fair amount of deg which means you needed to pass people. That's kind of what kept the second lane open.
“I think in combination with the higher downforce levels that were mandated meant you could follow a little better. Also the slipstream effect was better. You could slipstream up and pass somebody inside of the drive being so little. I think all those combinations made for an exciting race day. It was at least from inside the car.
“Hopefully we can see that in Milwaukee and Nashville. Very different tracks. But I think if we can keep the same concepts, I think we're in for some good weekends.”
Expect side-by-side racing
Rahal, who has two front-row starts and two podiums in seven races at Milwaukee, provided insight to why the racing product at Gateway was dramatically different than Iowa, while also noting Milwaukee was “always conducive” to side-by-side racing.
“I think in Iowa, people lacked confidence, including myself,” Rahal said.
“People lacked confidence to go to the second lane. I think in Gateway people were surprised, but confidence grew as the race went on, that that second lane was there. And even without the second lane, actually, the cars, the aero package, the downforce that we had was conducive to good racing in Gateway.
“If I look back at Iowa, Iowa could have been a lot better; and when I say could have been, because if you remember, the Series took off a bunch of downforce when we went back to the race, because of the tire issues that we had in the test. And there was a lot of nerves about that between the Series and Firestone. We didn't have that at Gateway, and I think that both the Series with the downforce levels, but as I told Kara and the entire team of Firestone, I thought Firestone nailed it at Gateway.
“And they've been sent through the ringer. I think we're all hard on them, but to try to deal with a car that has the kind of mass that this car does now, it's very different. So my hopes are that we get the right combination for Milwaukee.”
Rahal also shared that the tires in the recent test at Milwaukee were a harder compound that featured low grip and the downforce level was maybe a little on the light side.
“So let's see what kind of transpires. Milwaukee is also a different take in the sense that your second lane in Milwaukee is actually the low line, not the high. So, you know, I don't know what their plan is to get that line to come in and to utilize it. But I think that that's important, and I hope that people are positive about it, and I think after what we saw at Gateway, people will be more positive about Milwaukee and certainly more positive about Nashville.
