Q: I’m sorry, but in spite of Newgarden’s protests that he is not a whiner, recent facts suggest the contrary. And these are not of the heat-of-the-moment variety. Yes, we get you’re a Penske driver, Josef. So it’s OK for you to push the limit but not others? Granted, Ferrucci’s move on the last lap at Gateway created the problem when he got up in the marbles. It was the last lap and he was going for the podium! And the kid is a racer. Not unlike you Josef, running into the side of Hunter-Reay for position on the last lap just a couple of races ago. Ooops. Forgot. You drive for Penske.

I think you can make a pretty good argument that less than a second before the incident, Ferrucci was in the marbles and basically out of control. Instinctively, he turned left out of the marbles and got in to that very narrow groove in Turn 4. If anyone had a perfect seat to see what was going on it was Newgarden, who was running well behind Ferrucci. Maybe Ferrucci could have stayed out of the groove. Maybe not. I’m sure at the time he was more worried about getting control of his car on the last lap and not hitting the wall.

To his credit, he did take some blame and apologized to Newgarden. So I guess all the other racers on the track need to be careful not to race for position on the last lap if it somehow is going to affect Josef, unless it is Josef going for position. I like Josef but I am beginning to like Ferrucci a whole lot. Yes Josef, like you said, it is big-time racing. And Ferrucci is a racer. Your take?

Jim, Indy

RM: I watched a YouTube video and it was late, so not a real good view of how far back Newgarden was, but we interviewed him in the heat of the moment so it’s understandable he was pissed for losing a couple spots. But Race Control didn’t take any action because they felt Santino was fighting for control more than throwing down a heinous block, and he knew he’d caused Newgarden some grief so he went down to talk it over and apologize. Like I wrote Monday, it’s the first transgression for this kid on an oval, and he’s raced clean and hard all season, so I give him a pass.

Q: It was the snake that Dale Coyne would not let slither away. Back in 2015, the Campos GP2 team gave Rossi another chance into getting him to F1. But it did not work and Andretti Autosport picked him up for 2016. And look what happened: Rossi won the Indy 500. Then: Santino Ferrucci came along (I called him Cobra Kai when I saw the incident that got him kicked out of an F1 feeder series during a cool-down lap ). And wow. This year, three top fives in his last seven races (ovals, of course). We were thinking Herta and Rosenqvist for Rookie of the Year honors. Now he becomes a third wheel. Coyne lost out on Rossi to Andretti Autosport, and he was not willing to lose out on Santino. What will it take for Coyne to retain Santino?

Juan Solano

RM: Good question. I asked Dale after the race if he planned on keeping the kid, and he said absolutely so unless McLaren throws a big check at him. Not sure where else he could go that would benefit him more than staying put with a team he’s bonded with and that has helped him to excel on the track.

There’s plenty of interest in what might be down the road for Santino Ferrucci. Image by Levitt/LAT

Q: I’m not sure what to say anymore about the drivers in this series on ovals. The amount of blocking and weaving at Gateway was ridiculous and unnecessary. It hurt the show worse than the marbles, by far. Second gripe, why did Alexander Rossi not pit to top off along with Newgarden and basically two-thirds of the field on the last caution? They threw away a top six finish! To paraphrase yourself, I don’t know what else Conor Daly needs to prove to get a full-time ride. In the past two years he’s driven for four different teams, and immediately improved upon that team’s prior results – with zero testing.

Greg in NJ

RM: Gateway has tight corners, real tight, so passing is a combination of balls and hip-checking, and of course swerving once is always allowed. Isn’t it? But if made for an exciting show, I thought. Conor can’t do anything else (short of winning) to prove his worth, but unless Carlin or McLaren hire him, I don’t know what other options are out there for him. Rossi didn’t pit when JoNew did because he was hoping for another caution (of at least 10 laps) to stretch his fuel, because they felt it was his only shot at finishing in the top five.

Q: Great race at Gateway. I seem to remember Rossi punting Wickens a couple of times last year, and his attitude was basically ‘too bad, I’m here to win.’ Rossi got into Sato at, I believe, Road America, and Sato basically said, ‘drive me hard but don’t touch me.’ Couple years ago JoNew dives it down the inside of his teammate, bangs wheels hard a few times and says “too bad, I’m here to win a championship.” Ferrucci throws a tough block, and JoNew is upset. I’m sure we can all list lots drivers in IndyCar, NASCAR, IMSA etc who bitch and moan when Driver A gets into them but that same driver has a ‘valid’ excuse as to why they got into someone else. To me, it should make no difference if it’s lap one, or “going for the win”, or street course, or oval. With all that in mind, here’s my question. Are all race car drivers hypocrites?

Caz

RM: Oh, hell yes. In every major series. It’s part of most drivers’ DNA to point fingers and bitch whenever they get fed a wheel, but they all have convenient memories. Of course blocking or rubbing on an oval is a lot more risky than on a street course, so that always heightens the furor.