This weekend’s special exhibition race was an experiment for the NTT IndyCar Series, with new rules and plenty of prize money on offer for the series’ 27 drivers.
The format for race day on Sunday was split into a couple different parts, with two short heat races followed by a 12-car, 20-lap Sprint for the Purse.
READ MORE: IndyCar $1 Million Challenge – Full Race Results
10-lap heat races
The very first heat race got off to an exciting start, with cars spinning through the gravel before they even reached the first corner.
Scott Dixon was seemingly distracted by Colton Herta alongside at the start line, then misjudged the braking zone into Turn 1.
Romain Grosjean was the one who paid the price for the misjudged start, and was sent spinning out of control into the first turn.
He slammed into Rinus VeeKay as he came back across the track, and both drivers were out of contention on the spot despite starting near the front.
Dixon was given a penalty for his mistake, and was also effectively removed from contention because only the first six advanced to the final round.
Felix Rosenqvist held onto the lead for the duration of the heat race, which was shortened due to the cleanup time required for the first corner incident, holding off Scott McLaughlin with ease.
Josef Newgarden, Christian Lundgaard, Agustin Canapino, and Colton Herta also finished in the top six spots, advancing to the final round.
The second heat race was significantly different than the first, with plenty of clean, hard racing to make the cutoff line.
Team-mates Callum Ilott, Pato O’Ward, an Alexander Rossi all fought against one another while looking for places to pass on a track that does not offer many obvious passing zones.
In the end Rossi was the only one of the three that advanced to the final round. Ahead of him were three Ganassi drivers and two RLL drivers.
Alex Palou simply ran away from the field by taking the checkered flag by over five seconds. Marcus Armstrong was second, and the only one that could even see his team-mate at the front.
Graham Rahal, Linus Lundqvist, and Pietro Fittipaldi took the third, fourth, and fifth spots respectively, all coming just ahead of Rossi.
$1 Million Challenge
The feature event was 20 laps in length, split into two 10 lap runs. In between teams were allowed to refuel the cars, but were not allowed to change tires.
It is that detail that led to a lackluster opening stanza, as everyone was nursing their tires so they would be able to fight in the second half of the race.
Alex Palou jumped out to the lead, and then rode around roughly three seconds off the pace with no threat from behind. Colton Herta at the back of the field was even running laps 10 seconds slower than he was capable of doing.
Luckily for fans, the second half had a bit more action, and the lure of a big payday helped urge them to take more risks as the laps counted down.
Graham Rahal did not take part in the second portion of the main event, however, as a stuck throttle forced him to park his car and settle for a 12th place result.
When the green flags flew to kick off the second half of the event, the excitement level was way higher from the very first corner.
Alexander Rossi and Josef Newgarden raced side by side at one point and pushed each other off the track. That incident cost both men a couple positions, and allowed Colton Herta to slip past.
It was not the only position that Herta gained, as his fresher tires that he had nursed earlier allowed him to make a few moves during the event.
He ended the day in fourth, but he had no pace for the drivers at the front of the field. Alex Palou in particular was on another level and simply drove away from everyone else.
Palou finished over five seconds ahead of the field while barely touching his Push to Pass, and collected a cool $500,000 for his effort. The Spaniard joked that he would use the money for diapers and pajamas for his newborn child.
Scott McLaughlin crossed the line second, collecting $350,000, and Felix Rosenqvist ended the day in third to earn $250,000 that he did not have at the start of the day.
Herta was fourth, and Marcus Armstrong finished in fifth to earn $50,000 for his efforts. The other finishers all took home a $23,000 consolation prize at the end of the cash-only weekend.
Drivers and teams now have a few weeks off, and will return to racing action for the Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 21.
