INDIANAPOLIS — Bobbie Gossett (No. 44 BSI Racing) narrowly beat out Nathan Nicholson (No. 56 Advanced Autosports) for the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin Round 11 race win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday.
Gossett charged through the field from 16th on the grid to take his third win of the season.
Gossett knew he had the speed to win, but he couldn’t put a strong lap together in Friday’s qualifying session.
“Honestly, we had decent pace in qualifying,” Gossett said. “We just never got a good lap, and we kind of just got blocked on a couple laps, and that was it.
“My start was pretty good. I did what Glenn McGee (No. 69 JTR Motorsports Engineering) told me to do and go on the outside, which worked very well. Thank you, Glenn! And we made up a couple spots there, and then slowly just worked through the field.”
Nicholson was on a mission. The Bloomington, Indiana-native earned his first Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup pole position at his home track on Friday and had his sights set on scoring his first ever Mazda MX-5 Cup race win.
Third-starting Ethan Lampe (No. 31 Hendricks Motorsports) may have had the better start and led the opening laps, but Nicholson took the spot right back with his teammate Matt Novak (No. 11 Advanced Autosports) acting as tail gunner.
Soon it was another Indiana-native, Jared Thomas (No. 96 JTR Motorsports Engineering) who wanted his turn at the front. The two-time series champion, who started the race from seventh, was into the lead briefly and had a great parry with Nicholson before the polesitter took it back.
The first and only full-course caution came out halfway through the 45-minute race when the engine in Parker DeLong’s (No. 42 PDR Racing) car expired on the front straight, leaving a trail of oil behind him.
Racing resumed with a visible line of speedy-dry on the pavement from the start/finish line to Turn One. This made the restart slightly treacherous, but the lead pack made it through without issue.
Nicholson appeared dominant after the restart, sometimes pulling out several car lengths on those behind him. Things got tricky when Gossett worked his way past Novak and into second.
Nicholson was able to hold him off for a few laps but eventually relinquished the lead to Gossett. The pair were glued together for the closing laps with Nicholson clearly planning where to make his move for the win and Gossett planning how to defend.
“I was reading him and thinking that he was actually going to, you know, understand what I was doing, because he’s smart,” said Gossett. “He knows that if he battles down the second straightaway, he could lose more positions than he gains and it’s a lot safer to do on the last straight. I kind of knew that he might do that, so yeah, I am surprised they [Nicholson and Novak] didn’t work together, passing on the front straight right away.”
Nicholson pulled alongside Gossett coming to the finish line but was unable to complete the move. Gossett won the race by 0.145 seconds.
Nicholson was disappointed with the runner-up finish, but still proud to be on the podium at his home track.
“I think I had the fastest car in the race,” Nicholson said. “I was all over him and was just kind of playing out how this series is, because I’ve lost a lot of races coming to the line, so I thought I’d be on the flip side of it this time. But the cars behind started going side by side, and Bobby [Gossett] got a really good run out of the last corner and it just didn’t play out. Got to learn that lesson for tomorrow and we’ll try to control it again.”
Current leader in the Rookie of the Year standings, Frankie Barroso (No. 48 Spark Performance) was in the right spot at the right time when the lead pack of 14 cars finally split into two. Instead of a 14-way battle for the lead, Barroso became part of a five-car battle for the podium in the closing laps.
He was third at the checkered flag, his first MX-5 Cup podium.
“I’m super happy,” Barroso said. “Spark Performance put a fantastic race car together, and I probably made my moves a little too late, but either way, it’s my first podium, so I’m happy.
“It was a little tricky (not having a teammate) because you just don’t know where you’re going to get pushes or not, and I had to be really conscious of who was willing to push me, who wasn’t, and just try and play it smart, and try and be there at the end. We did a good job of that today.”
