130 - Volatile Climate - Road America Winner Will Power and Laguna Seca Preview

Speed Street

IndyCar may have had the week off, but that didn’t stop the news machine from turning the motorsports world on its ear and the Speed Street boys have the latest scoop. Conor Daly chats with his co-host Chase Holden about catching the 24 Hour of Le Mans coverage over the weekend, where many IndyCar drivers were in action. Friend of the show Nolan Siegel brought home a victory in the LMP2 class at the historic race, and found himself in the middle of the latest IndyCar silly season happenings, as the announcement was made that he would be replacing Theo Pourchaire in the Arrow-McLaren number-6 for the rest of the 2024 season. Conor expresses to Chase the immense pressure that young drivers are facing in what is shaping up to be a volatile driver employment climate, where many drivers have been let go after being unable to perform in a short amount of time.

Road America winner Will Power joins the show to discuss how his Penske number-12 team converted some recent solid finishes to a well earned victory in Elkhart Lake. Will had a front row seat to the calamity that broke out in the first turn of the race, which he attributes to passing ability becoming increasingly difficult this year and the importance of top-10 finishes. Will suggests the limitation of push to pass in cars that are about to be overtaken, which would lead to more strategy on the shorter courses that IndyCar visits. Conor also inquires about Will’s utilization of overcutting his teammates and how that helped him come out on top during the final stretch of the race. The guys all look ahead to the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey and speculate what differences fans will see in the race this year compared to last year’s season finale at the 2.238 mile long road course.