I’ve missed a LOT while I’ve been gone at chamber music camp. However, I did keep up with my blog reading and highlight watching. After such a hiatus, I feel I’ve had time to let my emotions settle and sort out my thoughts. However, I’ve decided that it’s better for me not to join the fray regarding the Edmonton controversy. Instead, I’ll focus on the season thus far and my expectations for the rest of the season.
My first offering is a link to Oriol Servia’s midseason driver review. As I read this, I found his comments to be insightful. While I felt like I already knew most of what he had to say, his perspective as a disinterested third party was particularly appreciated when discussing various drivers who have made some highly questionable errors. Also of note are some of his solutions to presented problems. But really, go read the article! (That being typed as I read it- again.)
Predictions:
Overall Champion- Will Power. No ifs, ands, or buts, it’s Will Power. He has a 50 point lead over Franchitti for second. You do realize, I hope, that 50 points is the amount given to a race winner? With 10 points being the minimum a driver can score in one weekend, a deficit of this magnitude would require Power to have at least two terrible races and for Franchitti to drive his heart out at the same time. Unfortunately for Franchitti, the likelihood of Power having two terrible races is very low.
Roads/Streets Champion- Will Power. Do I really need to spell this one out? If you say yes, I may have to go cry into solo Bach or something (that’s violin music for those unfamiliar with classical music). Math-wise, it’s not looking good. For Power to lose, he would have to… wait, he can’t lose it. No really, I just did the math. He’s guaranteed 20 points for the next two races which would increase his total to 338. Dario is sitting at 222. Even if he should manage to sweep both weekends and get maximum points, that would only take him to a total of 328. Wow… my mind has been blown.
Oval Champion- Scott Dixon. This battle is more difficult to call due to the schedule. 4 races are left and positions 1-5 are separated by 30 points. I pick Dixon because he was often so strong on ovals toward the end of the season last year. However, Briscoe is likely to come on strong at that point as well. This will be the exciting battle to watch.
The top ten points standings will be interesting to call as well. Okay, aside from 1st place. The placement of some drivers definitely lends itself to some quality speculation. I look for positions 1-3 to remain steady. Beyond that, it will get interesting. With the road course portion of the schedule coming to an end, look for Justin Wilson to fall to 10th in the standings. He’ll maintain 10th, but any higher and we’d need to see significant improvement in his oval results. Look for improvement from both Ryan Briscoe and Tony Kanaan as well- their oval performances have typically outshone their road/street performances this season.
While I’m boldly making predictions, I also predict that Helio will finish outside of the top-5 in point standings. It’s a hunch so don’t judge me for it. Also, somehow, Danica will manage to work into the top-10 in points. She sneaks into decent finishes, so why can’t she sneak into a decent position in the standings? You tell me. In addition to this, I’d be willing to bet that there may be a surprise race winner (maybe ever two!). The best chance at a surprise winner would be a victory out of Justin Wilson, although he’s been tough on roads/streets all season so it’s not totally unexpected. Another surprise could be Newman-Haas. I’ll admit it, my bias is showing a bit here, but based on what I saw out of Rahal with that team, they’re picking up right where they left off at the end of last season. Look for them to turn in consistently better finishes (and hope that Hideki can also have some success!).
There you have it- my mostly unscientifically made predictions are on record. We’ll see how they turn out. (Hopefully, I’ll have some “I told you so!” moments.) Feel free to provide any commentary or discuss whatever comes to mind.
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