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The month of May has officially kicked off with the 8th running of the GMR Grand Prix of Indianapolis. For the first time since 2014, a driver racing for Ed Carpenter Racing has won on a road course as the 2020 NTT IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year, Rinus Veekay, who took his first checkered flag of his young career in series. The second biggest story of the day was Romain Grosjean for Dale Conye with Rick Ware Racing, who took his first pole position of his IndyCar career. He lead a race high 44 of 85 laps. His day ended with an impressive 2nd place finish. Which is his first podium finish of his IndyCar career. It is also his first podium finish in any level of motor sport since 2013, when he finished second at the United States Grand Prix in Formula One. Top 5: 1st. Rinus Veekay (Started 7th, First Carrer Win) 2nd. Romain Grosjean (Started 1st, First IndyCar Podium) 3rd. Alex Palou (Started 4th, 3rd Career Podium) 4th. Josef Newgarden (Started 2nd) 5th. Graham Rahal (Started 11th) Notable Finishes: 7th. Alexander Rossi 13th. Colton Herta 15th. Pato O'Ward 18th. James Hinchcliff 21st. Juan Pablo Montoya 22nd. Charlie Kimball 23rd. Jimmie Johnson 24th Connor Daly. The next race for The NTT IndyCar Series is the 105th Running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 30th. Stay tuned as we give you all the news from the Brickyard on RacingRefresh.com @TheCollinBest

Adam Carabine,Playoff Forecast,StatChat,Dover International Speedway,

(Photo Source : Twitter.com/MonsterMile)

(Photo Source : Twitter.com/NASCAR)

We here at RacingRefresh.com present you with the motor sports power rankings, where each week we will take a look at ten drivers from the top racing series around the world. Making the list is an internal poll that our writers have filled out to present their top ten drivers of the week. #1: Lewis Hamilton - Formula One "I love the conversation of 'Greatest of All-Time'. LeBron vs. Jordan, Red Sox Vs. Yankees, Brady Vs. The World (See what I did there?). Prior to 2007, it was apparent in my mind that the greatest human race car driver was and would always be Michael Schumacher. His poise and physique combined with a schedule that benefited him, and what must have been billions of dollars from Marlboro and Ferrari were a combination of greatness that is rarely matched. I believe that Lewis Hamilton's passing of Schumacher for wins alone puts him as the greatest of all-time. Not only in Formula 1, but in all forms of motor sports. He has a competency and raw talent that is hard to comprehend as a fan. Being the greatest ever isn't good enough, though. He is coming off of a 4-season championship winning streak with a start to the 2021 season of 1st, 2nd, and 1st. His 8 point lead over famed Verstappen makes him a giant killer over giant killers. I predict Hamilton will be on top of our power rankings for several weeks to come." AJ Appeal - Editor, RacingRefresh.com #2: Max Verstappen - Formula One "Red Bull Racing seemed to have improved across the board for the three races we have seen so far, and their driver Max Verstappen seems to be driving at a level that is way higher than we have seen before. It seems that the first three races have been reminiscent of a heavyweight bout, where every time Hamilton strikes, it seemed like Verstappen has countered with a strike of his own. This will be by far the best championship hunt in motor sports." Collin Best - IndyCar #3: Denny Hamlin - NASCAR "Denny Hamlin may have just had his worst two weeks of the season (though I’m sure plenty of drivers would be thrilled to call a 12th place finish at Kansas their worst), but he’s still at the top of the NASCAR Cup Series food chain. His average finish is a series-best 7.45, just over 2 positions higher than 2nd place, he has an 87-point lead over the only driver who has scored 2 wins, and has spent the majority of the first 11 races running in the top 10 of the field. The consistency is there, the wins will come." Adam Carabine - Statchat #4: Scott Dixon - IndyCar "Scott Dixon has proved that there will be no championship hangover from 2020. Currently, the NTT IndyCar Series points leader with the best average finish so far with a 3.3, a full three positions higher than the next driver. With a win at Texas and a podium at Barber. Will the six-time champion add another Astor Cup to his name? Only time will tell." Collin Best - IndyCar #5: Colton Herta - IndyCar "In two of the four races so far this year. He was caught up in the lap one wreck and a wheel bearing failure at Texas that don't tell the whole picture of his season so far. He dominated St. Petersburg and had strong showings at Texas. The results will come as he inches closer to a championship battle between him, Dixon, Newgarden, and O'Ward." Collin Best - IndyCar #6: Martin Truex Jr - NASCAR "Truex’s highs in the 2021 season have been wins at arguably the two most important tracks on the schedule, Martinsville and Phoenix. Make no mistake about it though he’s had top 10s in 6 of the first 11 races, and has generally run better than his finishing position. Truex’s consistency and reliability behind the wheel is his best attribute." Zachery Bell - Dipstick Debates #7: Joesf Newgarden - IndyCar "Outside of Barber to open up the season, it would be fair to say that Newgarden has bounced back from his lap one debacle. Newgarden is the fastest car right now in the Penske camp and wins are coming for him. IndyCar's shining star is currently the third best driver in the paddock right now, with not a lot of space separating themselves from each other." Collin Best - IndyCar #8: Patrico O'Ward - Indy Car "Coming of a win in Texas, you would think he would be higher up on this list. We know he's fast. We know he has the talent, but unfortunately the Arrow Mclaren SP team misses on strategy too much for him to be ranked higher." Collin Best - IndyCar #9: Valterri Bottas - Formula One "It is to be said that Bottas is in the second best car in terms of equipment at Mercedes-AMG, but Bottas hasn't lived up to expectations. From the outside, it feels like anyone who is in the seat of that car is overshadowed by Hamilton. Wins may come this year, but the entire F1 grid is getting closer in terms of speed. Until he gets consistent podium finishes, he will be ranked towards the bottom." Collin Best - IndyCar #10: Lando Norris - Formula One "Lando has shown massive improvement from last year to this year by having consistent speed early on. With Mclaren becoming one of the top teams in F1, Lando will be competing for wins at some point this year. He will either have to hit the setup right or Hamilton and Verstappen have a bad race." Collin Best - IndyCar

Last weekend, the NTT IndyCar Series did the Texas Two-Step, as the series held a doubleheader at Texas Motor Speedway over the weekend with the Genesys 300 and Xpel 375. Fast speeds, impressive rookie finishes, and a first time winner lead us into the Texas Race Analysis. Saturday night was the first race of the weekend for the Genesys 300 at Texas Motor Speedway. With weather threating most of the day, practice was cut short and qualifying was canceled. Meaning both races would line-up based on the championship point standings. Alex Palou, who won the season opening race at Barber, started on pole position. His lead didn't last long, as heavy favorite Scott Dixon took the lead and never really looked back as he led for 206 of the scheduled 212 laps of the event. Dixon really took the field to school and wasn't even a contest, as Palou regained the lead on a pit stop late in the event, but Dixion quickly regained the lead as the field cycled through as he went on to win in dominating fashion A big surprise for Saturday's race was the first podium finish for the "Rookie" Scott Mclaughlin driving for Team Penske. He made his oval debut over the weekend and had a great showing by moving his way up through the field. Some of it was the crafty race strategy that Team Penske is famous for, but we cannot discredit his performance on track. He actually did try to make the race interesting near the closing laps, but just couldn't catch Dixion. Who seemed to be on rails as soon as the green flag waved. Mclauglin's performance shouldn't be a surprise. In pre-season testing, he ran the most laps during the open test, which certainly prepared him for his first ever start on an oval. Dixon's performance was reminiscent of the race at St. Petersburg, where Colton Herta dominated the race. Very rare do we see dominating performances so close together in a IndyCar season, but knowing it is Texas, the results on Saturday really should not have surprised anyone. Texas has become a Scott Dixion play ground, as he has won three of the last five races ran there, which makes him the active wins' leader at the track. The Xpel 300 started late Sunday afternoon, but as soon as the green flag waved, trouble came early. Pietro Fittipaldi, the oval driver who is filling in for Roman Grosjean, got into the back of Sebastian Bourdais on the initial start and collected seven cars in that wreck. For Bourdais, who left race one after an early incident with Joesf Newgarden, made Bourdais's weekend go from bad to worse as he wrecked out in both events. On lap 18, the race did get back going, as Dixon did pull out to an early lead after Palou did get a late jump on the restart. Jack Harvey, the young British driver for the Myers-Shank Racing team, improved from fifth to third. Unfortunately for Harvey, his day ended after a wheel bearing failure on lap 117. Wheel bearing failures did plague some teams that get equipment from Andretti Engineering, as Colton Herta suffered the same fate the night before. On lap 141, we had our third leader of the day, as Graham Rahal took the lead from Dixon, going into turn one, as Dixon was in a lower fuel mix, which allowed O'Ward and Rahal to catch up to Dixon. On lap 187, Rahal and Dixon made pit stops as they made the final stop, which allowed all the teams make it on fuel. The moment that decided the race up to that point was a strategy call made by Bryan Herta and the Arrow Mclaren SP team on lap 188. As O'Ward made up time on his pit stop and on his out lap, as he was able to keep Rahal and Dixon behind him. After a brief caution, Sato and Newgarden stayed out and tried to hit their fuel number to make it to the end, but it was no match on old tires, as they tried their best to hold of Pato O'Ward to take the lead for the first time that weekend with only fifteen laps to go. For O'Ward, he never looked back as he won with a 1.26 second margin of victory. Which is his first win of his career, and Arrow Mclaren SP's first win in the series. Collin's Take: The Texas Doubleheader was very predictable. If you really think about it, you could easily see that someone was going to dominate race one and a more competitive race in the second event. For me, I am not a huge fan of doubleheaders, especially if the track provides racing that is not on par with the excitement of going to an oval in the IndyCar series. The PJ1 used in the NASCAR Cup Series race in November has really hurt the IndyCar product at Texas, as it has made one of the widest ovals in the United States to a one-groove race track. This is the last time we will see the series on an oval before practice for the 105th running of the Indianapolis 500, which starts after the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. So from what we did see at Texas is that Andretti Autosport and Arrow Mclaren SP seem to be the fastest of the Chevy programs, and A.J. Foyt leads the way in the Honda camp with their respective oval programs. Another takeaway is the difference in the engine programs of both manufacturers. It seems like Chevorlet has the fuel mileage issues solved, and Honda has seemed to up their horsepower from a couple of years ago. You may recall, those issues are what made the battle between Alexander Rossi and Simon Pagenaud at the 500 a couple of years ago so memorable. Which means Honda will have speed for Pole Day later this month. Overall, this is a good start to the oval races this season. I think the aerodynamic package is working well, although with only one lane of Texas Motor Speedway being usable, we did not get a memorable race that we have gotten at Texas years ago. The IndyCar series is off this weekend. The next race for the series is the GMR Indianapolis Grand Prix on May 15th on NBC.