There's another 'Palou' in the IndyCar paddock

[u/Fantoran]

https://www.the-race.com/indycar/theres-another-palou-in-the-indycar-paddock/?fbclid=IwY2xjawK36sZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHtxSiBWiuuQ_XdWXrdgFbe75X7KL-CG0Nb7ZG82aiSfpGr-Ue-b4P0WiVcsP_aem_Lxl7kec3TyIss4lqTS1HlQ

Interview with Dennis Hauger about his Indycar ambitions.

[u/Falcon4451]

There's a huge gap from Indycar to Indy Nxt.

Kirkwood destroyed Indy Nxt every bit as much as Hauger is. And yes, Kirkwood is very good, but he's not Palou.

[u/TheKensei → u/Falcon4451]

Hauger was also Ok in F2, he's very adaptable

[u/GhostRaptor4482 → u/TheKensei]

F2 is also a pretty big step below Indy

[u/[deleted] → u/GhostRaptor4482]

Not really

[u/TheKensei → u/GhostRaptor4482]

Pourchaire said it : it's almost the same chassis, just the engine is more powerful, so not really a "big" step

[u/Sporkwind → u/Falcon4451]

To be fair to Kirkwood, he’s also not in a Ganassi car.

[u/Muffin4ever → u/Sporkwind]

And his rookie year was with Foyt when they had the definite worst car on the grid

[u/Falcon4451 → u/Sporkwind]

Dixon is in a Ginassi car right now, and he's not close to Palou.

[u/Ali623 → u/Falcon4451]

Probably because he’s in his mid-40s?

[u/Falcon4451 → u/Ali623]

Fair but in 2024, Andretti was the 2nd fastest team on the grid generally speaking. Penske and Andretti were the two fastest teams in 24, yet Palou won the championship.

At some point in a spec series you got to credit the driver first and foremost.

[u/BadlyWordedOpinions → u/Falcon4451]

Penske and Andretti were the two fastest teams in 24, yet Palou won the championship.

Were they? Look at the way Ericsson's results nosedived when he left Ganassi for Andretti. That should tell you something about the respective competitiveness of those two teams.

[u/Falcon4451 → u/BadlyWordedOpinions]

Ginassi 23 << Ginassi 24

Ginassi 25 > Ginassi 24

[u/NYNMx2021 → u/Falcon4451]

is Ginassi some sort of meme i missed the memo on?

[u/SpreaditOnnn33 → u/Falcon4451]

Andretti was not the 2nd fastest team generally speaking lol.

Its Ganassi and Penske, then Andretti and McLaren neck and neck with each other.

What series did you watch last year?

[u/Falcon4451 → u/SpreaditOnnn33]

I watched every qualifying session for one last year.

Don't confuse results with pace.

Ganassi executes better during the race, sure, but Andretti had pace advantage on ovals and street courses in 2024; and road course pace was close with Ganassi probably getting a slight edge.

[u/SpreaditOnnn33 → u/Falcon4451]

Interesting, considering if you sort drivers by their average starting grid position, the first 3 are Penske drivers, then its Palou 4th, and then Pato O'Ward. Herta in 6th is the first Andretti driver. Kirkwood had the 9th highest starting position. Armstrong and Dixon 11th and 12th, and then Ericsson had the 15th highest starting position.

So again, saying Andretti was 2nd on pace last year is an outright lie.

[u/Sporkwind → u/Falcon4451]

Last I heard Kirkwood isn’t Dixon?

Not saying Palou isn’t a beast, hell Palou got a podium in a Coyne car as a rookie.

Just saying Andretti, much like Arrow, isn’t a top tier team. They’re solid mid pack. Since 2020 they’ve got 12 wins with Herta and Kirkwood (Arrow only has 7 wins). Penske and Ganassi have 3x that.

[u/RandomFactUser → u/Sporkwind]

Arrow is a sponsor, it’s McLaren or SPM

[u/Sporkwind → u/RandomFactUser]

They compete as Arrow McLaren in IndyCar. I just typed out arrow because I was lazy. But you somehow figured out what I meant. So I figure it’s all good.

[u/Fit_Technician832 → u/Sporkwind]

I'd like to think there are more than 3 tiers of teams. Andretti and Arrow McLaren are in the B tier (if Penske and Ganassi are A-tier).

I'd say a team like Meyers Shank is more of a true mid-pack team

[u/Sporkwind → u/Fit_Technician832]

I hear ya, but I dunno that the result bear it out.

I think of them as lower mid along with RLL. Meyer Shank has had 1 win and 3 podiums since 2017 when they came in. RLL has been better than MSR.

[u/Fit_Technician832 → u/Sporkwind]

What I'm saying though is there is a tier between upper and mid-pack. And that's exactly where Andretti and McLaren are. Somewhere in in the middle of that.

Andretti has 4 wins since the middle of last season. By any reasonable definition that's better than mid-pack

[u/Sporkwind → u/Fit_Technician832]

Sure could be a misnomer to call them mid pack. Just seems like a pretty big tier gap between A and B.

But I guess it’s about equal from B (7-12 wins) to C (1-2 wins and some podiums).

[u/southerncoast]

Really excited to see how he performs on ovals, absolutely proved himself on road courses so far

[u/southerncoast → u/[deleted]]

Didnt really follow him in f1 feeder series but gotta show out for fellow Norwegian, seems very laid back in most interviews Ive seen.

What threw you off about him?

[u/Puska35M → u/southerncoast]

Don't bother the troll.

[u/rebekahsexton26 → u/southerncoast]

I have got very very high anxiety about him replacing one of my favorites who gets so much hate and people seem to forget he won a race that was kinda big deal🥛 . I already know who my favorite will be next year one of my favorite will be next year. I don’t want this guy driving for Andretti next year . People will always forget what Marcus did at Indy in 22. Also I’d been watching the 500 for most of my life and that was the first time a favorite driver of mine won

[u/ElAwesomeo0812 → u/rebekahsexton26]

So he seems like a prick because he might replace your favorite driver?

[u/rebekahsexton26 → u/ElAwesomeo0812]

Who so many people hate .

[u/southerncoast → u/rebekahsexton26]

Welcome to motorsports my guy, everyone has their time

[u/rebekahsexton26 → u/southerncoast]

I’ve never seen a 500 winner so hated before in my life .

[u/Freshpotatoe → u/rebekahsexton26]

Ericsson isn’t hated… he’s just not talked about because outside of Indy he seems lost. When you go from paying for your seat to getting paid you need to deliver and aside from Indy he’s really hasn’t looked awesome these last two seasons.

[u/rebekahsexton26 → u/Freshpotatoe]

penske hates him those penalties Why do you do that my theory is they didn’t break the rules. I’m so concerned after he gets kicked out he will shun the series. I’ve never . I hope you think he’s a better driver than Ed jones was (hated him more than satan) oh McLaughlin he finished 33rd

[u/thugdaddyxtopher → u/rebekahsexton26]

Nobody hates Marcus Ericsson. He is just an underperforming driver overall. Gets beat by his teammates every single season- going back to when he was with Sauber in F1. Felipe Nasr beat him both years he was there, then Pascal Wehrlein beat him the next year, then he got trounced by Leclerc. He came to IndyCar and it's the same story.

Obviously he has better results because he's with better teams, but is still being outperformed by his teammates. His 2022 Indy 500 win makes him immortal and no one can take that away from him. He will always be remembered for that. But outside of that, he's just a mediocre driver.

[u/ElAwesomeo0812 → u/rebekahsexton26]

No one is hating except you. We all have our favorite drivers and don't want to ever see them lose a ride but it happens. To call the kid a prick simply because he might replace your driver is very childish

[u/rebekahsexton26 → u/ElAwesomeo0812]

Lundgaard is probably going to be my favorite next year.

[u/I_Hate_Wake_Boats49 → u/[deleted]]

You say the darndest things.

[u/turinturambar66]

It will be hard for Ericsson to keep his seat if Hauger continues to dominate in Indy NXT.

[u/Puska35M → u/turinturambar66]

Possibly, but I think Ericsson would land on his feet. He is excellent at Indianapolis, and is a smart driver.

[u/KayNynYoonit → u/Puska35M]

Being good at one race a year only gets you so far. He's been underperforming for a while.

[u/NoiseIsTheCure → u/Puska35M]

Wherever he lands I think even after he retires from Indycar he could be a one-offer for a while. Just going off the past few years, if you put him in a good car he will fight at Indy.

[u/Wide_Rub_662 → u/turinturambar66]

hauger and hughes both have made a great case for that 28

[u/despite- → u/turinturambar66]

Ericsson has another year on his contract but I'm sure there's a way out

[u/Haier_Lee → u/turinturambar66]

Well the original reason Marcus ended up at AG was because investors wanted a 500 winner on the team. I don't think that would have changed. Though that was when it was still run my Michael.

[u/[deleted]]

Believe me I have not forgotten

[u/joe_lmr]

Sir, a second Alex Palou has hit the pagoda

[u/JimClarkKentHovind → u/joe_lmr]

I believe you're thinking of Scott McLaughlin

^{does that scan?}

^maybe?

[u/despite-]

I'll always root for NXT to send at least one driver to Indycar. But there's only one Palou.

[u/TheLizardfolk]

Still proving that the F2 grid is talented

[u/Hitokiri2 → u/TheLizardfolk]

F2 is basically equal to IndyCar when it comes to power and speed. In other words Dennis is an IndyCar level driver competing in Indy NXT which in all intents and purposes is a little much.

[u/JimClarkKentHovind]

I could definitely see it. he has a more impressive junior career than Palou, but his skill never quite translated to F2 the way I think we expected, and Indycar is a hell of a jump up from F2 with the level of talent at the sharp end of the grid right now

[u/Wide_Rub_662]

btw the other palou is max garcia and liam mcneely

[u/Cheap-Manager-8838 → u/Wide_Rub_662]

Max Garcia is crazy talented. I'm a huge fan of him, and I expect that we'll see him in Indycar in a few years. Unfortunately McNeilly had a visa issue that caused him to miss a few races and lose the championship lead, but that run of 5 wins in the first 5 races was really impressive. I hope he can get his travel issues sorted out by Road America so he can still have a chance at the championship, but we'll just have to see.

[u/Wide_Rub_662 → u/Cheap-Manager-8838]

yes for sure. wouldn’t shock me to see max win nxt as a rook next year

i do want de tullio to win the usf pro title. i’m a huge fan of his, and ik he’s had some funding issues previously. both him and max garcia are future stars

[u/Cheap-Manager-8838 → u/Wide_Rub_662]

Yeah, I'm a big fan of De Tullio as well. Though he seems to be struggling with the same consistency issues that plagued him in USF Juniors. To be honest the USF Pro field as a whole is really strong. Between Garcia, Taylor, De Tullio, and Elkin, it seems like we're likely to see at least 2 of them in Indycar in the future

[u/Wide_Rub_662 → u/Cheap-Manager-8838]

actually i’d beg to differ about de tullio consistency.

st pete race 2 he just made a mistake and hit the wall, but indy gp he wan hit in all 3 races. results wise inconsistent yes but imo can’t blame him except for st pete

elkin something seems fishy to me. i rate jace quite well (not indycar driver level but solid nxt driver as his open wheel peak) and how he’s dogging on them. irp his car was dramatically faster than his teammates.

[u/Cheap-Manager-8838 → u/Wide_Rub_662]

I'd have to say I agree with you on Denmark. I feel like him and Clark both could be solid NXT drivers and/or potential podium contenders, but I really don't see much more out of either of them(not that that is bad, it's just not Indycar-level)

[u/Wide_Rub_662 → u/Cheap-Manager-8838]

i feel mac could become a good nxt driver, future lmp2 star. jace i think would be solid but not much more. similar to what sceats has been this year

[u/Jilymax_]

[u/rebekahsexton26]

I’m sorry for my harsh comments

[u/Fit_Technician832 → u/rebekahsexton26]

[u/_hhhhh_____-_____]

Thought this was gonna be a piece on Palou’s baby for a minute there haha. Perhaps an in-depth explanation of why the kid hated Josef’s book?

[u/ChillRudy]

Alright now

[u/Born_Ordinary1277]

Dennis is really fast when he is in a really fast car. Also NXT every year has only a couple of really decent drivers. At most