2016 ABC Supply 500: 3 Things We Learned At Pocono

The 2016 ABC Supply 500 proved to be chaotic for IndyCar’s big picture, as the “Tricky Triangle” had several surprises up its sleeve. Here’s what we took away from Monday’s race at Pocono.

The 2016 ABC Supply 500 seemed like it was going to be easy, and then in the second half of Monday’s race the “Tricky Triangle” lived up to its nickname. Will Power swiped a critical win that put him within striking distance of the Verizon IndyCar Series championship, and that was just one of the developments.

1) Ryan Hunter-Reay really is Captain America

Move over, Chris Evans. Not to take anything away from Power’s victory but what Ryan Hunter-Reay was able to accomplish at Pocono was just freakish. Hunter-Reay ate the field for breakfast during most of the first half of the race – which was impressive enough considering that he was driving a backup car after wrecking in practice and subsequently being unable to even qualify.

But RHR was just getting started. His engine lost power on Lap 164 and put him one lap down, which that late in the day would’ve killed anyone else’s race. Instead the Andretti Autosport veteran refired the No. 28 DHL Honda and calmly spent the next 36 laps once again chewing up the field. He went from not even on the lead lap to on the podium. Hunter-Reay’s nickname is “Captain America,” and he gave the performance of a superhero on Monday.

2) Everyone needs a pit lane traffic refresher course – immediately

The last two races have shown a serious breakdown in IndyCar teams’ ability to navigate pit lane, and it’s directly affected the outcome of both events. Last week at Mid-Ohio, Mikhail Aleshin had the win pretty much in hand until he was released from his pit stall too early and collided with an incoming Josef Newgarden.

Then at Pocono there was another pit lane wreck, also involving the then-race leader. Alexander Rossi was shown on top of the pylon when he collided with Charlie Kimball, and this crash claimed the No. 3 of Helio Castroneves, who was an innocent bystander as Rossi’s car went up onto his. We’re very lucky that Castroneves wasn’t hurt, unless you count that he lost two spots in the championship standings.

These accidents shouldn’t be happening at all and it’s particularly infuriating that they’re having an impact not only on race wins, but now even on the IndyCar title chase. The teams all need to sit down before Texas and go over their pit lane procedures, because apparently nobody learned anything from the RHR/Helio/Townsend Bell wreck at the Indy 500.

3) Schmidt Peterson Motorsports is the small team to watch for

Fans are hungry for one of the smaller IndyCar teams to find success and challenge the Big Three of Andretti, Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing. Based on the performance we saw at Pocono, the team with the best shot long-term is Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.

Newgarden is on fire for Ed Carpenter Racing but all signs point to him joining one of the Big Three in the offseason. So removing him from the equation, talk should turn to James Hinchcliffe and in particular, Mikhail Aleshin.

Aleshin made history on Saturday when he qualified on the pole for the 2016 ABC Supply 500 and he ran up front with Hunter-Reay early and often. At the end, he was right on Power’s tailpipe, with the gap between the cars down to just over three-tenths of a second in the closing laps. Add that to what he did at Mid-Ohio and the Russian is really finding his stride in IndyCar.

Put him together with Hinchcliffe, who scored a Top 10 on Monday and usually finds ways to get toward the front, and SPM’s looking good heading into 2017. Memo to Sam Schmidt: re-sign Aleshin as soon as possible, because his contract is up and you don’t want this kid getting away.

What was your biggest takeaway from the 2016 ABC Supply 500?