How Bizarre

Last week's Indianapolis 500 was one side of IndyCar: fast, heart pounding, edge of your seat action by some of the best drivers in the world.

This week's Dual in Detroit was another side of IndyCar: sloppy, chaotic, confusing, and whatever Sage Karam was doing, but ultimately unpredictable and (mostly) entertaining.

The downpours both Saturday and Sunday threw any semblance of order out the window, and the end result was two winners no one expected: Carlos Munoz and Sebastien Bourdais. They got there in two different ways.

Saturday's race saw the seemingly unprecedented move of teams pitting for rain tires before it actually rained. Prior to that, it had been an entertaining scrap that started in the wet, turned dry, then looked like it was going back to wet before it became too wet to continue. Munoz won by being the last to pit for rain tires. Marco Andretti was 2nd after looking like he would be the last to pit. It didn't quite work out, but it did give us the amusement of Marco's dad calling him into the pits, and Marco ignoring him. Damn kids.

That second race? Oh boy...

Let's quickly dispense with the first half: It was boring. Then the Coyne rent-a-driver had his inevitable encounter with the tire barriers and the chaos was on. Most of the field came in and changed to slicks, save Conor Daly, Hunter-Reay, and Power (who had pitted to change his steering wheel earlier), who didn't pit, and Dixon and Helio, who pitted but stayed on wets.

The decision to stay on wets looked great when Luca Filippi and Stefano Coletti separately crashed. Soon enough though, it became clear the track was plenty dry, and when Conor pitted (during a yellow for a nasty Newgarden crash), Bourdais inherited the lead. The simple version of events is that Bourdais handled challenges first by Montoya and then Sato to win the race. What happened between those events will be talked about for a while.

To get to that finish, we had four cautions, a red flag, a timed race declared, inconsistent officiating, and a shortened race by two laps. All the yellow and the two less laps were needed by the podium, who went the final 30 laps or so on fuel. Multiple drivers had a chance to be in the catbird seat if the leaders faltered, but they were the ones that fell by the wayside. First Charlie Kimball took out his teammate Dixon to win the Dumbest Move by a Ganassi Driver award (in a huge upset over at least three actions from Karam). Then Power got caught up with Tristan Vautier and accidentally took out Helio in the process. It was just enough for Bourdais, Sato, and Graham Rahal to complete the podium, with Vautier hanging on for a fantastic 4th. The one guy who ran out of fuel at the end was Montoya, who fell to 10th. He was the only Penske/Ganassi car to finish in the top 10. In a chaotic mess that was this race, that seems fitting.

Other Thoughts On the Weekend

Yesterday's decision to initially go yellow for lightning instead of straight red was a harbinger for today. Today's box score indicated three penalties issued for blocking. Vautier and Rahal were told to give up one position. Daly was ordered to the back of the field. Why? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ There was also the possibility that Sato and Rahal jumped a restart, allowing them to get by Montoya (who was mighty hot afterwards). Then you had the red flag call and the timed race call. It all felt very dartboard-ish.

Sage, Sage, Sage, what are you doing? He is clearly still pissed about Indy, and he showed it on Saturday with some of the most bush league blocking I've ever seen on Sato. Today he punted Jack Hawksworth twice. Did he think that was the 14 too? I still think he's talented, but he has to calm down fast, because Chip isn't going to be patient much longer.

Speaking of Chip, between Sage's activities and Kimball's brain fade, I wish someone had secretly Periscoped the team's post-race debrief.

More craziness in today's results: Conor comes back from caution ruining his strategy to finish 6th, Hawksworth comes back from being double Karam'ed to take 7th (giving him a double top ten), and Gabby Chaves gets his first career top ten with a 9th.

Also according to the box score, Bourdais earned $30,000 for his win today, with money being earned down to 12th, all of $2,000. I know, the Leaders' Circle program is basically the prize money, but if the bonuses are that low, why bother publishing it? It's just embarrassing.

Fantasy IndyCar Jinx of the Week: This was in full swing Race 2. My team: Munoz, Power, Castroneves, Sato. 1 out of 4 ain't bad!

Next Up

Texas! The first oval since Indy and its aero and flying car issues. Now add the track that drivers have the most apprehension with. This won't be dull (well, unless they take away too much downforce). It will be the nightcap to a pretty good non-traditional sports day with the Belmont, Champions League final, and start of the Women's World Cup.