The 26-time race winner was understandably elated by his latest triumph. He drove superbly and ultimately prevailed, and for the most part he approved of the car spec. Asked about why this Texas race was so superior to what we’d seen here in previous years, he said: “I think the biggest factors are the downforce increase, which was significant. There's a lot more load on the cars. The entire last stint, I was flat the whole time – or flat for the first half of the stint.
“I really like high tire deg,” he stated. “I like when people come and go and you've got to work your advantage. You've really got to work to try to keep the car underneath you. We're kind of a step above where I like to see the cars at. I know from an entertainment standpoint this had to be significantly better than last year. It just had to be. It felt packed up for most of the race and definitely at the end.
“I know I don't want just a straight-up pack race, I really don't,” he said. “I think it takes out too much of the skill. I mean, you want the skill of tire degradation where you've got to make a good car and you've got to learn how to drive it. You needelement of a packed-up race certainly in the beginning of stints, to make the show good, to make that also part of the challenge in the race. I just don't want that the whole way.
“I think the practice where they ran the high line – that was much less about putting rubber down up there, it was about giving drivers the confidence to run that lane. Now, did the downforce make it easier to run up there? Absolutely: the higher the downforce, the wider the available groove.
“The problem I see for the future is that there were still guys who couldn’t run flat, even on new tires because they’re running near the back and have the dirty air from 20 or 25 cars, and so they’re still going to be yelling for more downforce. That’s when IndyCar has to be careful to read between the lines, and check that the guys yelling loudest aren’t just looking for a crutch to help the fact that they can’t get their cars handling as well as the fast guys.
So there’s no point in yet judging how well the series’ aero mods – which Belli says can add up to 10 percent more downforce – will work for the Indianapolis 500. There have been complaints since the universal aerokit was introduced in 2018 that if you’re further back than fifth in a chain of cars around Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the disturbed air is such that, aside from restarts, you can’t get close enough to the car in front through the turns to get a run on it along the next straight.
DavidMalsher Just right! Great race! More please!
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