{"id":28397,"date":"2024-12-12T08:00:30","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T13:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=28397"},"modified":"2024-12-11T21:35:47","modified_gmt":"2024-12-12T02:35:47","slug":"the-barred-dragon-move-used-in-the-indy-500","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/12\/12\/the-barred-dragon-move-used-in-the-indy-500\/","title":{"rendered":"The Barred &#8216;Dragon&#8217; Move, Used in the Indy 500"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2023 saw one of the most dramatic finishes at the Indy 500. Josef Newgarden fought to prevent Marcus Ericsson from passing him before the finishing line. How he and previous winners did it caused quite a stir. For 2024, they decided to bar the use of the &#8216;dragon&#8217; in the Indy 500.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>&#8216;The Dragon&#8217;; controversial and no longer legal<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The move also known as \u2018the dragon\u2019 involves the leading driver<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0going down at or even below the pitlane commitment line on the front straight then quickly moving to the outside lane before turning back to the inside in preparation to hug the white line entering Turn 1.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Usually, when looking at the move, some fans might scratch their heads, wondering how that&#8217;s the quickest way to the finish when you\u2019re zig-zagging across the track, but the move isn\u2019t an advantage for the leading car; it\u2019s a disadvantage for the car behind.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A trailing driver can increase speed by closely following the car in front, benefiting from the tow. The following car cannot remain behind indefinitely; they will attempt to overtake, leveraging the tow. By employing the dragon weaving technique, the lead car disrupts the tow for the car behind, significantly complicating their efforts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gvx7GvByrIw?si=vvvGKvLK627H-oBe\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This action is a defensive maneuver that resembles blocking, which is prohibited by the IndyCar rulebook. However, the key distinction is that the car in front initiates the move, rather than responding to an action from the car behind, making it compliant with the rules; <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/12\/06\/a-look-back-the-2023-indianapolis-500\/\" target=\"_self\">until 2023<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><strong>READ MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/12\/06\/a-look-back-the-2023-indianapolis-500\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">A Look Back: The 2023 Indianapolis 500<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n<h3><b>The original and the inspiration:<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The move might\u2019ve started in 2015 by Juan Pablo Montoya, but in 2019 it was pushed forward to the limelight by <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2019\/05\/26\/pagenaud-out-duels-rossi\/\" target=\"_self\">Simon Pagenaud<\/a> to keep his rivals behind and claim the victory.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI thought it was going to be banned when I did it,\u201d Pagenaud said. \u201cBut you\u2019ve got to use the rules to your advantage. You\u2019ve got to walk the line.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite what he thought the move was not, in fact, it was replicated by <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2022\/05\/30\/indy-500-ericsson-prevails-in-late-surge-over-oward\/\" target=\"_self\">Marcus Ericsson<\/a> in 2022, and again by <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/12\/06\/a-look-back-the-2023-indianapolis-500\/\" target=\"_self\">Newgarden<\/a> in 2023 to claim their 500 victories.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A late red flag in 2022, forced Ericsson to defend Pato O\u2019Ward over a two-lap shootout. As the lead car, Ericsson started weaving much more aggressively than Pagenaud in 2019 in a desperate attempt to stop the avenging O\u2019Ward. This<\/span>\u00a0along with the race-clinching move helped him win his first 500.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OgRB5ibTKaY?si=Rmcv1zqzX5ji8ZxM\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2023 Ericsson was on the receiving end of the move by eventual winner Newgarden. At the last lap restart the Swede lost the lead to Newgarden on the back straight. In pursuit of holding the lead the Team Penske driver steered his No. 2 Chevy directly towards the outer edge of the pitlane and a couple of wheels over the white line that separates the track from the pitlane then again pulled to the outside.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI knew immediately when I went into Turn 3 and I saw where Marcus was positioned, he was very tightly tucked behind me, I thought, \u2018Man, the opportunity for him to get back behind me before the line was pretty high\u2019,\u201d Newgarden recalled. \u201cI knew the rules at that point with the line. They weren&#8217;t policing it. You had to use it.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3><b>Outlawed for 2024:<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>After the past two Indy 500s where the move was used, IndyCar said enough. Officials decided to bar the use of the dragon in the Indy 500 enforcing it in <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/05\/27\/indy-500-the-breath-of-fresh-air-indycar-desperately-needed\/\" target=\"_self\">2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Under the <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.the-race.com\/indycar\/farewell-to-the-snake-why-contentious-indy-500-move-is-banned\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">new rule<\/a>, any driver crossing the dotted white line with their left-side wheels at turn 4 will be open to a penalty. IndyCar has the choice to issue a drive-through, a time penalty equating to a drive-through if the move is on the last lap of the race, or if it happens under yellow flag conditions, that driver must drop to the back of the restart line-up.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThis is the right move for the future,\u201d Newgarden wrote on X. \u201cBoundaries are meant to be pushed and rules are meant to push back. You should expect to see additional rule changes that will help reign in other driving standards at Indy, without removing the ability for drivers to race hard.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The rule gives some guidance on what can and can&#8217;t do but it doesn&#8217;t cut it completely out. It also raises questions about how they plan to hand out the penalty. If it occurs on the closing laps, it could have a great impact on the finish. But this decision helps straighten out the potentially dangerous move of swerving out of the sport.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/09\/23\/indycar-2025-off-season-updates\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">IndyCar 2025: Off-Season Updates<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2023 saw one of the most dramatic finishes at the Indy 500. Josef Newgarden fought to prevent Marcus Ericsson from passing him before the finishing line. How he and previous winners did it caused quite a stir. For 2024, they decided to bar the use of the &#8216;dragon&#8217; in the Indy 500.\u00a0 &#8216;The Dragon&#8217;; controversial [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5307,"featured_media":28406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[1876,539,440,232,1627,287,166],"class_list":["post-28397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-indycar","tag-dragon","tag-indy-500","tag-josef-newgarden","tag-marcus-ericsson","tag-pato-oward","tag-rule-change","tag-simon-pagenaud"],"modified_by":"Hayden Murdock","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5307"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28397"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28407,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28397\/revisions\/28407"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}