The Indy cars absolutely look great on this track. It’s easy to follow the action, and the close proximity that a 3/4-mile track offers makes the speed even more remarkable.

I hope somebody got a photo of the three-wide run into Turn One—Tony Kanaan on the bottom, Danica Patrick in the middle, Helio Castroneves going high. Kanaan got by and emerged ahead of that group on the backstretch. Patrick held her line and didn’t back off. She was behind Kanaan when it was over. Castroneves lifted and followed the other two.

Some might say Patrick, who was getting passed, should have backed out and let them both go by. To me it looked like good racing from all three. Great move by Kanaan. Determination from Patrick. Good sense on Castroneves’ part. After the race, Castroneves said his move was over-agressive. “I was the one who had to be wise,“ and back out of the throttle, he said.

That was the good stuff. On the not-so-good side, the race suffered from sloppy restarts. Next time they run here, the drivers need a good talking-to about where to restart and what’s expected in terms of pace.

In part because of some unnecessary collisions in those restarts, the 26-car starting field had been whittled down to a dozen cars still running at the finish. Pretty thin.

I hope the starting fields will stay at least this large. I don’t think the problem was a crowded track so much as it was less-than-stellar driving.

The race drew a reasonably good crowd, giving the oppressive heat and the state of the economy. And since this is marketing territory the now-united IndyCar Series would like to hold onto, I think they’ll continue to race here.