Laguna Seca

Laguna Seca is probably most well known for the Corkscrew, and for “The Pass,” Alex Zanardi’s famous off line pass on Bryan Herta through the Corkscrew. I always knew I was going to spend a lot of this weekend watching cars at the Corkscrew, but it became even more of a somewhat spiritual experience after Zanardi passed away during the weekend. It felt less like a corner and more like a memorial to a legend. 

This was probably the first weekend where the paddock started feeling truly comfortable to me. I didn’t think I was quite a “paddock regular” yet, but I think I was getting there. I saw more and more people that I recognized, and who recognized me back. I started being able to joke around with drivers, and didn’t feel like I even needed to introduce myself or what I was doing for the podcast most of the time.

I asked whether drivers like roller coasters or not, since Laguna is sort of like a roller coaster. Honestly, the answers surprised me. A lot of drivers don’t like the lack of control they feel when they are on a roller coaster. 

Porsche did an Apple Computer rainbow throwback livery. It was supposed to be a throwback weekend and I think only PPM and Pratt Miller Corvette did anything throwback. As expected my nails were the colors of the Apple rainbow to match the car. 

One of the silliest things I did all season was asking Kévin about restaurants in Lyon for my friend Chris. Kevin was trying to spell where I was supposed to tell Chris to go, but I was struggling, so I just gave him my phone and he sent a message to Chris with the restaurants.

The PPM cars were too heavy to do anything all weekend, and this felt like the beginning of the long “punishment” from IMSA not only for winning the first two races, but then for overcoming the heaviest car ever at Long Beach and getting on the podium. It also became clear that IMSA had done more than just neutralize the 2026 EVO 963, they had advantaged the 2025 963. The disparity between the two cars was immense. 

Laurin Heinrich got JDC and the 2025 963 a win with an insane pass in the final minutes of the race on the 31 Cadillac. Definitely set up the title fight right there. My feelings around Laurin’s success were so mixed this season. He is absolutely one of my favorite drivers and it was nice to see him have success, but with one notable exception, any time he had success it was by the nature of racing, at the expense of Kévin and car 6. 

So after the race, I kind of split my time between PPM’s garage offering support after a tough race, and near the podium so I could maybe see and congratulate Laurin when he got done with the ceremony. Conveniently they were next to each other and I could. When I saw Laurin, he let me hold his trophy, and we took a selfie. I think everyone basically knows it by now, but this kid is the real deal. 

Podium #4 for Cadillac. No podium for PPM. 

Detroit

Detroit was one of the races where I honestly had to plan the least. No hotel, no car, just my incredible tour guides/friends Dana and Shana. The car was, once again, the heaviest car known to mankind, but after the podium at Long Beach I had a little bit of optimism. 

I had an IndyCar Nation credential for Detroit, because after Long Beach I was worried about more restricted access. Turns out I didn’t really need it, but it was good to have. Something that I really took for granted this year is just how open and accessible IMSA really is. Everything is GA: paddock, grid, seating. So you can just do everything and anything you want. 

My sister got married the weekend before the race, so my nails were just plain red, but they still matched the car!

Dana and Shana share my massive love for coffee and brought me to a coffee shop downtown that is supposed to be really good. Apparently Kévin and Larry got the same memo about good coffee because they were there. And I was very awkward about it. I had on a Kévin shirt, a Kévin hat, and nowhere to hide, so I just pretended I didn’t see him. They saw me, because when I tweeted about seeing drivers in public being weird Larry replied almost immediately. 

At the autograph session I started to question if Felipe maybe just doesn’t like me. He always seems nice enough, and participates in the videos for the podcast, but he didn’t want to be part of my bit at Detroit. Shana made me red sunglasses that said Porsche Penske and had rhinestone 6 and 7 on them. Larry, Kévin, and Julien put them on for photos but Felipe just ignored me. So that was weird. 

Detroit felt like a big missed opportunity for the team. Kévin crashed in qualifying so they started near the back and had to fight through. While fighting for podium positions Larry ran off track, and then was hit under safety car, and then the car was meatball flagged as a result of that contact, so the race was effectively over. I really think this could have been podium #3 for the car, and I wonder how that would have changed things. 

People love sportscar racing because it feels more pure than many other forms of racing. But nothing about the 2026 IMSA season was pure. BOP for Detroit felt a little confusing since the Cadillac had still been so competitive at Laguna after taking podiums in the first 3 races. Two wins for Porsche meant the heaviest car ever, but 4 podiums in a row, all of which were fights for a win meant nothing for the Cadillac’s BOP.

After Cadillac ran away with the pole and the win, I gave up on any illusions that this would be a fair season. Porsche Penske Motorsport had their time in 2024 and 2025, IMSA made their decision and this was going to be the season of the 31 Whelen Action Express Cadillac. Turns out I wasn’t wrong. 

Podium # 5 for Cadillac. No Podium for PPM.