We saw some spectacular racing in last week's #PPG375 at Texas, but were deprived of what might have been a finish for the ages. On the 2 laps prior to the yellow that ended the race, @PatricioOWard beat @josefnewgarden to the line by less than 15 thousandths of a second #INDYCAR

Last one of these of the year: lap time distributions by tire compound in the #INDYCAR finale at Laguna Seca. While most drivers turned their best laps on reds, high tire deg due to a rough track surface meant most saw more consistency on the firmer black @FirestoneRacing tires.

The @IndyCaronNBC team talked about high tire deg due to a rough track surface at Laguna Seca, and the numbers bear it out. Drop off over a stint was significant on both tire compounds, but was especially high on reds, which saw an avg time increase of ~0.3s/lap after ~12 laps.

Laguna Seca produced possibly the most dominant performance we saw all season. @AlexPalou owned almost every section of the track: straights, corners, everything. Palou's fastest *50 laps* were faster than runner-up Newgarden's by 0.55s on avg. That's per lap. Wild. #INDYCAR

Have a look at the difference between @smclaughlin93 and @scottdixon9's days in Portland. Both finished up front--McLaughlin earned a dominant win, and Dixon notched a critical podium coming home P3--but their journeys couldn't have looked much different. #INDYCAR | #PortlandGP

In the 7 laps after the lap 158 restart, @josefnewgarden passed: Scott Dixon, Alex Palou, Scott McLaughlin, Marcus Ericsson, Will Power, & Pato O'Ward. A great strategic call from the #2 team to pit for tires during the preceding yellow, and a short oval clinic from JNew himself.

Look at the work that @malukasdavid did to seal his podium finish in St. Louis. He made his way around @PatricioOWard and onto @smclaughlin93's gearbox over the last 35 laps of the race, setting up an impressive last lap move around the outside of McLaughlin for P2. #INDYCAR

Take a look at the tremendous drop in pace that @12WillPower experienced when his gearbox malfunctioned after being rear-ended in a multi-car incident. It was clear why he lost pace, but it's particularly striking when you look into the data. #MusicCityGP | #INDYCAR

Rounding out your weekly diet of tire-related content, here are each driver's lap time distributions. The big takeaway here? Just how few teams opted to turn more than a handful of laps on the new @FirestoneRacing green tires. #MusicCityGP | #INDYCAR

Curious how the new alternate green tires held up this past at the #MusicCityGP? The data is muddied a bit by frequent yellows, but they showed pretty minimal pace drop-off over the course of the stint. Still, they were generally 0.1-0.2s slower per lap than blacks, on average.

Today's race at Nashville will be *hot*. The Iowa races are currently the two hottest races of the season so far by ambient temperature, but at least one is likely to fall today. Air temp in Nashville will be in the low-to-mid-90s, with humidity close to 60%. #INDYCAR

This is a standard feature after each race at this point, but have a look at the lap time distributions by tire compound in the #GallagherGP. Reds were the superior tire, but @AlexanderRossi got excellent pace out of his blacks in the few green flag laps he ran on them. #IndyCar

The #GallagherGP was, I believe, the first race in this #INDYCAR season where reds were quicker on average than blacks throughout the entire stint. Pretty consistent delta between the two throughout the entire stint, though most pronounced in the first few laps.