But who’ll claim the coveted 22nd and final Leader
Circle’s prize?
Each year, there becomes a race inside the race
over which IndyCar teams will be scrapping for the final Leader Circle prize
fund allocation slots. Which IndyCar Doles out a prize of $1.0 million to the
Top-22 Fulltime IndyCar team entries. For which I believe that each team is only
allowed a maximum of three entries, now that I believe Andretti Global’s lost
their fourth “Grandfathered” entry…
Much noise has been made about Meyer Shank Racing’s
(MSR) Benching of rookie IndyCar driver tom Blomqvist, who we All know has been
replaced by David Malukas for the remainder of the year.
Although Helio Castroneves, whose a minority
team owner tried spinning off Blomqvist’s initial two race sabbatical as an
effort to improve the team’s No. 66 points standing in the All important Leader
Circle fight.
With Hulio’ filling the #66 seat for these two
events, where I’d say He didn’t fair any better than Blomqvist would have!
As I’d still argue how is a rookie IndyCar
driver supposed to progress if He’s Sacked before the Halfway distance of the
season? Especially for somebody as raw as Blomqvist, who plys His trade
predominantly in Sports Cars.
Yet Racer’s Marshall Pruett painted a different
picture of Mike Shank seeing a driver lacking confidence behind the seat, who
wasn’t improving. With Blomqvist expected to drive an MSR Acura in IMSA GTP
once again next year.
As here’s a sample of the various Leader Circle
point standings I was able to rassle up, albeit I couldn’t find an updated
entrant’s standing following Road America…
Round 5: Indianapolis 500, May 26th
22. #30, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing: 50
23. #18, Dale Coyne Racing: 47
24-26. #66, Meyer Shank Racing; #41, A.J. foyt
Enterprises; #20, Ed Carpenter Racing: Tied with 46-points.
Round 6: Detroit, June 2nd
21. #78, Juncos Hollinger Racing: 74
22. #30, RLLR: 67
23. #18 DCR: 60
24. #41, foyt: 55
25. #66, MSR: 51
26. #20, ECR: 51
27. #51, Coyne-Ware Racing: 51
Yet I believe that Ganassi’s Nos. 11 & 4
entries aren’t eligible for Leader Circle funding, meaning Thars’ 25 entries
vying for the Top-22 spots. Meaning if I apply this logic? MSR was sitting in
23rd place following Detroit. As good work Hulio!
As I’m also Arse-suming that MSR’s #66 is on
top of the three way tie via it having the highest place finish of 15th at St
Pete.
Interesting how Marshall notes in a follow-up
piece about Malukas’s joining MSR, which felt like it was defending Mike
Shank’s decision as co-owner to park Blomqvist…
That Shank has given Malukas a long “leash” and
just needs Him to finish P17 or better without destroying racecars, and MSR
will be happy with their new driver acquisition.
Yet this is a great opportunity for whom has
been my Numero doce favourite Indycar driver the past few seasons. As you’d
think that driving for MSR will give David a much better opportunity to “Grow”
versus the pressure cooker environment of Arrow Mclaren!
Although like Shank told Marshall, MSR needs to
perform now for the sake of it’s sponsors. So hopefully Malukas can deliver the
Goods! Especially with a stupendous six Ovals at season’s end.
As Pruett noted recently how the cost of
running an IndyCar entry has increased by 30% over the years, costing a minimum
extra $2.0 million per entry due to Hybridization and our massive Inflation
that we All currently suffer from!
Whilst apparently it’s a very poor “secret”
that MSR will return to IMSA GTP competition next year with an Acura entry
spearheaded by Blomqvist.
making me now wonder if the Blomqvist to IndyCar experiment was just a novel way for MSR to keep Blomqvist busy for a year’s time before the IndyCar driver market opened in 2025?
