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  • Pagenaud ends drought in the rain at Indy

    Pagenaud ends drought in the rain at Indy

    INDIANAPOLIS — During his time with Peugeot Sport’s sportscar program, Simon Pagenaud was forced to test in wet weather conditions (be it natural or manually wetting the track) to practice racing in the wet.

    “…we did days and days of reliability just going around the circle, and we would do days in the rain, days in the dry, days on soft tires, days on medium, days on hard,” Pagenaud said. “It was amazing the amount of testing we did and the laps. So I did drive a lot in the rain in my career, but quite frankly, in France, it rains all the time, especially where I’m from. So I’ve done a lot of laps in the rain in my career. I always loved it. The first few laps I did in rain I crashed a lot, but I was fast, so I just had to figure out how to dial it back a little bit, and it’s working.

    He demonstrated the results of said testing, as he went from fifth to first in the final 17 laps on the Grand Prix course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

    Following the final restart of the sixth annual IndyCar Grand Prix, Pagenaud commenced his drive through the field. With six to go, with only three seconds of push to pass (P2P) remaining, Pagenaud used it, outbraked and overtook Jack Harvey heading into Turn 1.

    “…when it started raining, obviously had no knowledge of the track, no knowledge of our setup in the rain,” he said. “I thought, okay, the sports cars have been racing a lot in the rain, a lot of racing in the rain, so I thought I’m just going to attack right away and see. And right away I noticed our car was much better now that it’s on the braking, so I could really attack and get the tires hot quickly, and that’s how I jumped a lot of people right away, and then I gained confidence.

    “Then I noticed that other people were struggling with tire wear, and we didn’t. So then I kept on pushing but was still trying to keep the tires underneath me. But yeah, it was just incredible to see the pace we had in the rain conditions. I took a lot of risks for sure, maybe more than Dixon needed to take some risk because we were in a position where I can take some risks right now and the car was so good that I just gave it 100 percent, 100 percent every lap.

    Then he turned his attention to race leader Scott Dixon. He cut the lead from 5.1 seconds with six to go to 3.9 with five to go, then 1.8 with four to go and half a second with three to go.

    With two to go, he pulled to Dixon’s bumper at the end of Hullman Boulevard (Turn 7). As they rounded Turn 8 and 9, he powered around Dixon’s outside and usurped the lead and drove on to his 12th career victory in the NTT IndyCar Series.

    “Honestly in the last two laps to go, I almost started out saving second, and then all of a sudden I realized, wait, I’ve got too much pace for this, and we caught Scott by a lot, and I guess you call it the penultimate lap, the one before the last, and when I realized that I had a shot, but I was out of Push-to-Pass, so my only chance was to get him on the infield,” he said. “But quite frankly, none of the passes I made today I planned. I just drove with full instinct mode, and it worked out.”

    It’s his third career victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and first since Sonoma Raceway in 2017 (snaps a 22-race winless streak).

    Dixon, who led a race high of 41 laps, finished second for the 43rd time in his career.

    “…it was generally a pretty good day,” Dixon said. “We had some good pace.

    “Conditions were really tricky all day, but a lot of fun actually. I think it’s always hard to tell with a circuit like this, especially after the kind of sealant they put on some of the portions of the oval, how tough it’s going to be once you start to get some moisture on there. But all in all, the Firestone red tires, I never got to the blacks, had a ton of grip and it was a lot of fun.”

    Harvey, who’s previous career best finish was 10th, rounded out the podium in third.

    “It was a bit more of a handful than I probably would have hoped for,” Harvey said. “It looked like we were running pretty good in the dry. I mean, I thought it was the best start I’ve had in IndyCar, too; to be able to split Felix and Scott at the start was pretty solid. And then I think we ran on pace, top 3 in the dry. Car was great.

    Matheus Leist and Spencer Pigot rounded out the top five.

    Ed Jones, Will Power, Felix Rosenqvist, Graham Rahal and Santino Ferrucci rounded out the top 10.

    Race summary

    Rosenqvist led the field to green at 3:50 p.m. After a caution for a wreck in Turn 14, Dixon bested his teammate on the restart and took the race lead.

    “The start was a little tricky, kind of misjudged it with Felix, and actually the 60 car had a great start,” Dixon said. “So kind of just fought in line there and was seeing how it was going to play out. The restart we got that really good jump, got both the 60 and the 10, kind of set us out.”

    From there until the final caution, drivers pitted for new tires at random intervals to maintain as much grip as possible, with the threat of rain looming.

    Tony Kanaan was the first to jump to full wets on Lap 55, but was roughly 30 seconds slower than the race leader.

    Helio Castroneves followed suit on Lap 60, but spun on pit exit and stalled his car in the grass in Turn 1. Everyone ducked onto pit road within seconds of his spin to switch onto wets, before the caution flew on Lap 61. This set up the run to the finish.

    Who had a good day

    After starting 21st, Matheus Leist earned his career best finish with a fourth.

    Who had a bad day

    It wasn’t a great day for the two drivers at the top of the standings.

    Alexander Rossi’s day was all but ruined on the start, after contact with Patricio O’Ward.

    Later in the race, points leader Josef Newgarden’s crew lost control of a tire and it rolled out of the box and stopped next to the outside pit wall.

    He was sent to the tail-end of the field on the ensuing restart, as a result.

    Nuts and bolts

    The race lasted two hours and 26 seconds, at an average speed of 103.254 mph.

    There were 10 lead changes among six different drivers and three cautions for 15 laps.

    Newgarden leaves with a six-point lead over Dixon.

  • IMS President Boles explains why Brickyard 400 returns to July in 2020

    IMS President Boles explains why Brickyard 400 returns to July in 2020

    INDIANAPOLIS — May is the month of the year around which the NTT IndyCar Series revolves. It begins with the IndyCar Grand Prix on the grand prix circuit of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Then on Memorial Day Sunday, the cannon fires at 6:00 a.m. (which indicates the gates are open) and over 200,000 people pour into the facility to drink the day away, take in a concert in the Snake Pit and watch the annual running of the Indianapolis 500. Afterwards, the turnaround at Indianapolis begins for the next major event, the Brickyard 400; be it in September this year or on Independence Day weekend in 2020.

    On March 26, 2019, NASCAR announced that as part of its major schedule realignment, the Brickyard 400 will take Daytona International Speedway’s spot on Independence Day weekend in 2020. This comes only two years after it was moved from late July to Richmond Raceway’s slot in mid-September.

    SEE ALSO: NASCAR announces 2020 schedule

    Aside from the lackluster quality of the racing, especially compared to the Indianapolis 500, one of the biggest reasons cited for the Brickyard 400’s well documented declining attendance was the extreme heat in summertime July.

    “…one of the things, when we moved to September, we said there were two things that were really important,” track president J. Douglas Boles said. “One was getting out of the heat. The other one was we wanted a weekend that meant something, and so last year and this year were the last race leading into the Chase, or the playoffs, the last race of the regular season.”

    Given this, one might wonder why it’s moving back to July.

    At his press conference Friday at Indianapolis, Boles said that NASCAR approached them with several options, which included Independence Day weekend, as it looked to align its schedule in a manner that would “grow the sport of NASCAR racing,” and that the decision was a joint one between NASCAR and Indianapolis. He also noted that the track was “limited in the number of dates that worked for their schedule.”

    “When we looked at the date options we had, July 4th has a lot of impact,” he said. “…it’s a weekend that means an awful lot from our country’s standpoint. You think about we kick summer off on an important American weekend, so if we can kick it off for IndyCar and have NASCAR on an important American weekend, that felt really good to us.”

    While heat was an obvious issue, he believe that “a lot of other activities” can overcome that (what that entails, he didn’t mention).

    The move to Independence Day weekend in 2020 brings with it a short turnaround between the Indianapolis 500 on Memorial Day Sunday and the Brickyard 400. There’s concern that the short turnaround might cannibalize the Indianapolis market. That’s not new for the track, however, as from 2004-2007, Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix ran in late September, three weeks after the Indy 500.

    “In a lot of ways our staff is excited about it because you can just think about those two huge events all right together, so it’s a little bit longer run where when we’ve been late in July or even in September, we get through May and then there’s a little bit of lull and then you pick back up,” Boles said. “So, it comes with challenges and opportunities, and we’re really focused on the opportunity that it brings, and I think we’re going to find that the recall of July 4th for fans is going to be easier to remember when the Brickyard is.

    “And the one positive that we haven’t talked about is we’re not going head-to-head with the NFL, we’re not going head-to-head with the Colts, and I think at the end of the day, we’re going to find that this weekend works out okay.”

  • The White Zone: Thoughts on 2020 schedule

    The White Zone: Thoughts on 2020 schedule

    On Tuesday, NASCAR announced the 2020 schedule for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. It’s the biggest schedule realignment in over a decade. After sleeping on it overnight, I have some thoughts on the matter.

    Championship race moves to Phoenix

    I’ve heard people call for the championship race to rotate among different venues for years, but to ISM (Phoenix) Raceway?

    Were people really clamoring for this? Was there really a major push from fans to move the championship race to Phoenix? I don’t know. I’ve heard more people argue that it should go to Talladega Superspeedway.

    Furthermore, why move it from Homestead-Miami Speedway? It’s the best mile and a half track on the schedule and does an awesome job as the host of the championship race.

    NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell said as much during the NASCAR teleconference on Tuesday.

    He did, however, note that running the same tracks year after year might favor some drivers more than others. Which doesn’t make sense, when you compare the number of lead changes at Phoenix (in the fall) and Homestead.

    It’s also worth noting that Homestead has produced different winners since 2010. At Phoenix, Kyle Busch rides a two-race win streak.

    This isn’t a knock against Phoenix. I’ve never worked a race there, but I’m told by colleagues of mine that it’s a Grade-A sports facility, thanks to the recent 175-million dollar renovation.

    But the racing at Phoenix tends to be hit and miss, and the recent race a few weeks back doesn’t inspire optimism.

    If this is just a one year thing, and the title race rotates among venues every year, I can live with this. Although O’Donnell gave a conflicting answer to that.

    “Yeah, I think our hope would be to stay there for a little while,” he said. “I can’t say how long. I think with any venue, you want to see it have a chance and grow a little bit, see how that works. We’ll certainly take a look at it as we look at 2021 and beyond, see what’s on the table in terms of venues.

    “But this wasn’t a decision we said, ‘Hey, let’s go there for a year and rotate it.’ Our intent is to stay for a few years and see how we net out.”

    Bristol moving into the playoffs

    In terms of NASCAR, this isn’t really an Earth-shattering move. In terms of the state of Tennessee, however, this is major.

    Bristol Motor Speedway moves from its traditional August date to Sept. 19, which puts it on the same date as a home game at Neyland Stadium for the Tennessee Volunteers.

    In regards as to whether Bristol requested this, according to Becky Cox of Bristol Motor Speedway (she’s one of their main PR people), it was a “collaborative process with NASCAR stakeholders (teams, tracks, TV partners) while incorporating NASCAR fan feedback.”

    Roughly a 90-minute drive from Bristol, Knoxville, Tennesse is both a major ticket market for the track and a lodging area for fans going to Bristol who don’t want to pay the hiked up prices for hotels in the Tri-Cities area.

    Moving this race into football season complicates this immensely.

    For you non-Tennessee natives and/or residents, Volunteer football trumps all in this state. While Knoxville is a major NASCAR market, when talking about TV ratings, Volunteer football comes first in this city.

    Even though the Vols are at their nadir, in terms of football performance, they still averaged close to 93,000 fans for every game in 2018 (the lowest attendance was 86,753).

    Given the aforementioned aspect of Knoxville being a major NASCAR TV market, I’m willing to bet that there’s a large crossover of NASCAR/Volunteer football fans in this city. By moving it to September, that cuts into the number of people in Knoxville, as well as Tennessee, who’ll buy tickets to Bristol. Not to mention that it cuts down on the number of hotel rooms available in Knoxville for race fans.

    Granted, the game in question on Sept. 19 is against a Division I FCS school (Furman), but 95,855 fans showed up to the Vols matchup against FCS team ETSU in 2018. That probably had more to do with it being the home opener for the Vols that season, but the point is that Volunteer football towers over all in Tennessee. And given the well publicized sagging attendance at Bristol, they aren’t doing themselves any favors with this move.

    But they must’ve had more fans requesting this move than I thought.

    Daytona moves off Independence Day weekend

    As a bit of a traditionalist, this one kind of stings.

    Since Daytona International Speedway opened in 1959, it’s always been a staple of Independence Day weekend. Starting in 2020, however, it moves from that to the regular season finale.

    NASCAR didn’t make this decision lightly, according to O’Donnell. They wouldn’t have moved it from Independence Day weekend if it was to a point other than the end of the regular season. Drivers and teams told NASCAR that the regular season should begin and end in Daytona.

    “Everyone felt Daytona belonged there and that track deserved to potentially be in that date,” O’Donnell said. “That kind of started the thinking.”

    Overall, I’m fine with this.

    Rain has plagued this race for years. It’s also very hot in Florida this time of year. Also, we don’t run it on Independence Day anymore, and this race hasn’t fallen on Independence Day since 2009.

    I also love the idea of a restrictor plate race deciding who ultimately makes the Playoffs, even if plate racing now is more akin to a game of Russian roulette than actual racing.

    With that said, however, I don’t understand moving Indianapolis Motor Speedway back into July, when track president J. Douglas Boles cited heat as a major reason for wanting a date in September.

    It also doesn’t help that Indy has had well-publicized attendance woes for nearly the last decade.

    We’ll have to see how that one pans out.

    And the rest

    As for the rest of the changes, I don’t really have that strong of an opinion on them. I like that Richmond Raceway’s first race is going back to Sunday afternoon and I’m intrigued by the prospect of a Cup Series double-header at Pocono Raceway, but that’s about it. I’m indifferent to Martinsville Speedway getting a night race and Kansas Speedway going from night to day.

    Overall, NASCAR hit this out of the park. They did great with these changes to a schedule that had been stagnant for over a decade now.

    Of course, these changes will be for naught if massive changes in 2021 don’t happen as well.

    For now, however, let’s just see how this goes.

    That’s my view, for what it’s worth.

  • NASCAR announces 2020 schedule

    NASCAR announces 2020 schedule

    Heresay started 24 hours ago that the 2020 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule would be released sometime this week. Then it came out that it would be released on Tuesday. NASCAR built up the anticipation with the announcement earlier today that the official schedule release would happen at 4 p.m.

    The time came, and the changes were announced.

    NASCAR announced on Tuesday the 2020 schedule for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. It’s the biggest schedule realignment the Cup Series has undergone in over a decade.

    The major changes were as follows:

    The championship race will move from Homestead-Miami Speedway to ISM (Phoenix) Raceway. It will move to Veterans Day weekend, rather than the Sunday before Thanksgiving Day, which the championship race has been held on.

    The reasoning, according to NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell, was to prevent one driver from gaining a competitive advantage by running at the same track year after year.

    “Obviously a ton of investment has gone into ISM Raceway,” O’Donnell said. “We thought it was natural for us to make that rotation this year and see how it plays out, also put Miami in a date that works for them, as well.”

    He added that this probably isn’t a one year thing.

    “I can’t say how long,” he said. “I think with any venue, you want to see it have a chance and grow a little bit, see how that works. We’ll certainly take a look at it as we look at 2021 and beyond, see what’s on the table in terms of venues.”

    “But this wasn’t a decision we said, ‘Hey, let’s go there for a year and rotate it.’ Our intent is to stay for a few years and see how we net out.”

    Daytona International Speedway’s second race moves from Independence Day weekend to the regular season finale, which will now be in August.

    Given the attendance and weather issues that have plagued Daytona in July, NASCAR talked to drivers and teams on the matter, and they said, according to NASCAR, that Daytona at the end of the regular season was the best way to end it.

    “Everyone felt Daytona belonged there and that track deserved to potentially be in that date,” O’Donnell said.

    The Indianapolis Motor Speedway moves from September to Independence Day weekend.

    Bristol Motor Speedway’s night race moves from its August date to the Cup Series Playoffs on Sep. 19.

    “If NASCAR fans thought they’ve seen tempers flare and sparks fly under the lights at the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, just wait until they experience a real pressure-packed NASCAR playoff elimination race at Bristol Motor Speedway,” said Jerry Caldwell, executive vice president and general manager of Bristol Motor Speedway.

    Pocono Raceway’s two dates will move to one date, as part of a double-header for the Cup Series.

    Martinsville Speedway’s first weekend moves from late March/early April to Mother’s Day weekend, and will be run on a Saturday night on May 9.

    Darlington Raceway remains in its Labor Day weekend slot, but will now open the Playoffs.

    There’s some other date shuffling.

    Screenshot from NASCAR.com
    Screenshot from NASCAR.com
    Screenshot from NASCAR.com
  • Allgaier Wins Fifth Race Of XFINITY Season At Indianapolis

    Allgaier Wins Fifth Race Of XFINITY Season At Indianapolis

    Justin Allgaier took the checkered flag Monday in the rain-delayed NASCAR XFINITY Series event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, his fifth win of 2018. Allgaier took the checkered 0.092 seconds ahead of Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney, with Chase Elliott in fourth and Daniel Hemric in fifth. Sixth through 10th was Matt Tifft, Christopher Bell, Austin Dillon, Chase Briscoe, and Brandon Jones.

    The race saw 14 lead changes between nine drivers, with Allgaier leading the most laps at 41. The race also saw seven cautions with the last turning into a red flag when contact from John Hunter Nemechek sent Ryan Preece into a tire barrier with hard contact. The race was stopped for 10 minutes while the barrier was repaired. Preece was otherwise uninjured.

    Allgaier was emotional in his frontstretch interview, dedicating the win to his family.

    “I used to come here and stand in the grandstands and watch the Indy 500 and the Brickyard 400 up in turn one, which is why I decided to do a burnout right there,” said Allgaier. “[My Dad] used to drive me up here to Brickyard Crossing every Wednesday night to help me become the best driver I could be in and out of the car…this is awesome.”

    The race’s biggest incident happened on a lap-23 restart when Ty Dillon was turned, taking out Elliott Sadler, Austin Cindric, and Spencer Boyd, while Ryan Reed and Christopher Bell were also involved.

    With one race left in the regular season Allgaier leads the win total with five wins to Bell’s four. Meanwhile Reddick earned his best finish since his win at Daytona in February, while Briscoe’s ninth-place finish was his career-best result.

    The next race will be the DC Solar 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway at 5 p.m. ET on Saturday on NBCSN.

     

    NASCAR Xfinity Series
    Unofficial Race Results for the 7Th Annual Lilly Diabetes 250 – Saturday,  September 8, 2018
    Indianapolis Motor Speedway

    1       7       Justin Allgaier
    2      9       Tyler Reddick
    3       22      Ryan Blaney(i)
    4       23      Chase Elliott(i)
    5       21      Daniel Hemric
    6       2       Matt Tifft
    7       20      Christopher Bell
    8       10      Austin Dillon(i)
    9       60      Chase Briscoe
    10      19      Brandon Jones
    11      16      Ryan Reed
    12      4       Ross Chastain
    13      39      Ryan Sieg
    14      51      Jeremy Clements
    15      35      Joey Gase
    16      15      BJ McLeod
    17      01      Vinnie Miller
    18      52      David Starr
    19      36      Alex Labbe
    20      0       Garrett Smithley
    21      40      Chad Finchum
    22     11      Ryan Truex
    23      8       Caesar Bacarella
    24      90      Josh Williams
    25      42      John Hunter Nemechek
    26      74      Mike Harmon
    27      78      Tommy Joe Martins
    28      18      Ryan Preece
    29      00      Cole Custer
    30      38      JJ Yeley
    31      5       Michael Annett
    32      89      Morgan Shepherd
    33      3       Ty Dillon(i)
    34      12      Austin Cindric
    35      1       Elliott Sadler
    36      76      Spencer Boyd
    37     66      Brandon Hightower
    38      45      Josh Bilicki
    39      55      Bayley Currey(i)
    40      93      Jeff Green
  • NASCAR on the Eve of the Playoffs

    NASCAR on the Eve of the Playoffs

    It’s been a while since I’ve appeared in these pages. My trip to Martinsville was a disaster (snowmageddon), so next on my schedule was Bristol, which despite gloomy skies, tremendous races happened. The crowd was good, but many wanted to make fun of the crowd. No, the track wasn’t full, but a good 100,000 was there and Kurt Busch outlasted and outran one of NASCAR’s darling young drivers, Kyle Larson to claim victory and qualify for the Playoffs.

    Darlington is my second favorite track, but I couldn’t get there this year, much to my chagrin. It was a big crowd, and the race was good. Brad Keselowski won the race, teammate Joey Logano was second, all to the glory of Team Penske, and though Larson finished up front, he didn’t’ win, he led the most laps, and then, the atomic bomb hit.

    It was a shock to everyone when Barney Visser announced that he was closing the doors of Furniture Row Racing, home to Martin Truex Jr., the reigning Cup Champion, at the season’s end. Apparently, this had been planned between FRR and Joe Gibbs Racing all along and probably Toyota Racing Development. Within a day, though there was no formal announcement, it was learned that Truex was moving to a JGR car, the No. 19 previously driven by Daniel Suarez, who had replaced the departing Carl Edwards only a short time ago. Where Suarez will end up, is rumored to be at a satellite team to JGR, but this seems to be a too familiar scenario. Sorry to say, but I imagine Suarez’s star will not move at the rate it was before. So much for diversity.

    Anyway, the only questions that remain involved Kurt Busch, Jamie McMurray, and probably more changes. I expect Busch and McMurray to stay put, and A.J. Allmendinger to move on from the 47 car. His replacement could be anyone, or someone I don’t know. By the way, Kasey Kahne retired. No one seems to care. I think it’s a great loss, but, it will all work out. I hope.

    So, we head to Indianapolis, a place the drivers love, but the fans do not. Boring races are the rule, and I imagine the place will look empty, and after two triumphant weekends, this will be a downer, and I hope that’s not the case. It will bring the haters out, but the truth is the field will be set for the Playoffs like it or not. I can’t wait to see what happens.

  • Updated weekend schedule for Indianapolis Motor Speedway

    Updated weekend schedule for Indianapolis Motor Speedway

    Staff Report | NASCAR.com

    The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series will be in action at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, while the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is off this weekend. Check out the full schedule below, which is subject to change.

    Note: All times are ET

    FRIDAY, Sept. 7
    1:05-1:55 p.m.: Xfinity Series first practice, NBC Sports App (Follow live) CANCELED (rain) 
    3:05-3:55 p.m.: Xfinity Series final practice, NBC Sports App (Follow live) CANCELED (rain) 

    PRESS PASS (Watch live)
    12:15 p.m.: Justin Allgaier, Christopher Bell, Elliott Sadler

    SATURDAY, Sept. 8
    10:30-11:20 a.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series first practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Follow live) CANCELED (rain)
    11:45 a.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Follow live) CANCELED (rain) (Lineup)
    1:30-2:20 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Follow live) CANCELED (rain)
    3 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series Lilly Diabetes 250 (100 laps, 250 miles), NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Follow live) MOVED TO MONDAY AT 10 A.M. ET
    6:15 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole Qualifying, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Follow live) CANCELED (Lineup)

    PRESS PASS (Watch live)
    9:15 a.m.: Alex Bowman
    9:30 a.m.: Jimmie Johnson
    10:30 a.m.: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    SUNDAY, Sept. 9
    1:06:00 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard (160 laps, 400 miles), NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN1, 3) (Follow live) MOVED TO MONDAY AT 2 P.M. ET

    MONDAY, Sept. 10
    10 a.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series Lilly Diabetes 250 (100 laps, 250 miles), NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN5) (Follow live)
    2 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard (160 laps, 400 miles), NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN1, 3) (Follow live)

    PRESS PASS (Watch live)
    12:30 p.m.: Post-NASCAR Xfinity Series race
    4 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race

  • INDYCAR: So Now They Want Short Track Fans Again?

    INDYCAR: So Now They Want Short Track Fans Again?

    Stephen Cox Blog Presented by McGunegill Engine Performance

    The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has announced a new event designed to draw short track fans back to the mecca of motorsports. A quarter-mile dirt track will be constructed inside Turn 3 for a USAC midget race, which will be held in the first week of September in an effort to pump up sagging attendance at the Brickyard 400 stock car race.

    Speedway president J. Douglas Boles told the Indianapolis Star, “The short track community in a lot of ways is the heart and soul of racing, so… we thought, ‘Is there a way we could connect with that short-track guy or gal who spends their weekend at the local track on Saturday?’ And we thought this was a good way to experiment with connecting with that fan base.”

    I have an idea that might help. It’s not original, but it’s effective. Let’s start with the track’s biggest event – the Indianapolis 500 – and see if the results don’t trickle down to the Brickyard 400 and every other event held at the Speedway.

    If the Indianapolis Motor Speedway wants short track fans to return to the grandstands, why not allow short track drivers to participate in their premier event, the Indy 500? That concept worked quite well for over half a century. But in recent years the Speedway has promoted a new “ladder” concept and a top tier spec racing formula that has all but barred short track drivers from participating in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

    In late 2016 I asked Boles if he wanted short track drivers returning to the Speedway. He responded, “First and foremost in my mind is just really safety. I’d love to see 50 or 60 or 70 cars entering and guys just being able to decide that they have a driver who’s running at Putnamville and we’re going to give him a shot to run at the Speedway. I just don’t think it’s practical anymore.”

    The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is now paying the price for that attitude. Yes, the short track community is the heart and soul of racing, and no, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has not the slightest connection to that fan base. At least they openly admit it now.

    The cure is simple. Open up the Indy 500 formula and end the spec car era. Encourage short track drivers to make the Indy 500 their career aspiration.

    Then you won’t have to beg short track fans to return to the grandstands in May or September. You won’t have to construct special dirt tracks and hold 

    special midget races to con short track fans into buying weekend tickets to major events that otherwise hold little interest for them.

    If short track drivers race at Indianapolis, their fans will follow. No gimmicks required.

    Is there anyone in the halls of power at IMS with the will to make that happen? I’m not holding my breath, but there’s always hope. For the first time, the Speedway’s president is openly admitting that they’ve managed to utterly destroy their once inseparable bond with the short track community. At least they see the disaster that’s resulted from twenty-five years of bad decisions that alienated short track drivers and, inevitably, their fans.

    That’s worth something. Perhaps it will eventually spawn the best news we’ve heard from Indianapolis in a long time.


    Stephen Cox

    FIA EPCS sportscar championship & Super Cup Stock Car Series

    Sopwith Motorsports Television Productions

    Co-host, Mecum Auctions on NBCSN

  • Power wins the Indy 500

    Power wins the Indy 500

    INDIANAPOLIS — Two weeks ago in the Indy Grand Prix, Will Power was relieved to break his run of lackluster finishes to win for the third time at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. All week leading up to the 102nd Indianapolis 500, he was calm, collected and stoic, going into a race he’d failed to win for so many years. In victory lane, tears poured out of the “ultimate road driver” who once said he hated ovals and he was overcome with elation, because he’d finally won the ultimate road race in open-wheel racing, Indianapolis 500.

    “Overwhelming. Amazing,” Power said. “It’s funny, you forget where you are, you’re so immersed in the race. You don’t even realize. On the white flag lap I started screaming because I just knew I was going to win it. Unbelievable. Never been so excited.

    “I knew you drink milk here. Believe me. I’ve seen a few of my competitors do it. Yeah, no, I just hesitated a bit because I’m not supposed to eat dairy, but I didn’t care. I just drank it.

    It’s his 29th career victory in 124 starts in the Verizon IndyCar Series. It’s also his fourth career victory at Indianapolis, putting him into a tie with AJ Foyt, Jimmie Johnson, Rick Mears and Al Unser for second-most wins at the Brickyard.

    “…that last restart I was very determined,” Power added. “I knew that I had to get, like, a run on these guys, at least get one of them in the first turn, which I didn’t. I got Oriol I think a lap later or something. I didn’t want Carpenter to have a shot at me. He was very quick. If he had gotten by, I think it would have been game over potentially.

    Very aggressive on the restarts. In clean air, I was very aggressive on the restarts. I started in a different spot every time to get a jump on Ed. I knew if we were fighting into one, it just creates a problem. Very good restarts when you look at it. Never got challenged.”

    It’s the 17th Indianapolis 500 victory for team owner Roger Penske.

    “All I can say is when I came here 1951, I guess something bit me,” Penske said. “I can never get rid of it for so many years.

    “We started competing here, as you know, in ’69. The success we’ve had has really been all about the team members, the people we’ve had, the great drivers, sponsors, and obviously Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

    “As I said many times in the last couple days, to be able to race on Memorial Day in the biggest sporting event in the world, have America the way it is, that’s what I’m going to take away from this race. To see what we have, to see what Will has been able, 10 years with his engineer Dave Faustino. He’s won many road races, all sorts of poles. He won this race today because he was the best, there’s no question about the speed at the end, his out laps, the pit crew I take my hat off to, Jon, and Tim Cindric, because we had four great cars. That’s what you have to have here. You have to have four bullets, three bullets, whatever it takes.

    “I’m just so thrilled. 17 wins. Now I have to worry about 18. I’m not going to look back, I’ll look forward. We have to be back next year.”

    Ed Carpenter came home second.

    “Yeah, you know, I’ll feel pretty good about this in a couple days, I think,” Carpenter said. “The team really did a great job all month long, all day long really. Pit stops were really good. It was almost like being out front early probably hurt us a little bit just because guys started saving fuel a little earlier. We got behind on the fuel save. Whatever segment Will got by us, went a couple laps further, my out lap we had traffic. One of those exchanges.

    “Track position was everything we thought it was going to be coming into the day. You heard the drivers talk all week. Just couldn’t quite get it back from him. We were saving fuel through the middle part of the race when everyone was essentially trying to cut out a stop. That was a little odd.

    “You never know how these races are going to unfold. I thought for the most part the team executed well. I thought there’s only a couple little things that I can reflect on in the short-term right now that maybe could have made a difference.

    “All in all, I thought Will won the race and we ended up second, and we’ll be happy with that. Come back stronger next year.”

    Scott Dixon rounded out the podium.

    “Yeah, as soon as we pitted, right before the end of that caution, we tried to obviously take on as much fuel as possible, be the first in that scenario,” Dixon said. “We knew there was probably three or four others that were trying. Oriol looked like he was, a couple of others.

    “But, yeah, we really struggled on restarts today. The first and second gear just seemed to be way out of sync to the pace of what everybody was restarting. First to be on a limiter, second I was like a sitting duck, wouldn’t accelerate, gear was way too long.

    “Yeah, I don’t know, we lost a lot of positions in that scenario. But the Penske car felt pretty good. It was consistent. It was good in traffic. It was very difficult to pull off passes today. Yeah, so for me, to be honest, huge credit to the team. They did a superb job of trying to pull off that strategy. Obviously we have got very lucky with that caution with T.K., which was enough to give us a bit of a window to get to the end.

    “Yeah, definitely a crazy day out there.”

    Alexander Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay rounded out the Top-five.

    Simon Pagenaud, Carlos Munoz, Josef Newgarden, Robert Wickens and Graham Rahal rounded out the Top-10.

    RACE SUMMARY

    Ed Carpenter led the field to green at 12:23 p.m. Compared to previous years with the DW12 package, passing was exceptionally difficult with the new universal aero package. Just as Carpenter caught the tail-end of the field, he pitted from the lead on Lap 31. Josef Newgarden, who inherited the lead, stopped the following lap. After two laps out front, Spencer Pigot pitted on Lap 34, and the lead cycled back to Carpenter.

    Caution flew for the first time on Lap 47 when Takumo Sato ran over the left-rear wheel of James Davison, who was off the pace.

    Zach Claman de Melo assumed the lead under the caution, but Carpenter pulled a slingshot move under him going into Turn 1 on the Lap 57 restart to retake the lead.

    Caution flew for the second time on Lap 58 for Ed Jones spinning and hitting the wall in Turn 2.

    Back to green on Lap 64, Tony Kanaan passed Carpenter going into Turn 1. Carpenter responded the following lap with a slingshot pass going into Turn 1.

    Following Danica Patrick’s retirement from the race, following a wreck similar to Jones’s, Kanaan took back the lead from Carpenter on the ensuing restart. However, Kanaan pitted with a flat tire. After a cycle of green flag stops, Will Power cycled to the lead.

    He pitted from the lead on Lap 129, followed by Ryan Hunter-Reay the next lap. Sebastian Bourdais pitted on Lap 133, and Newgarden followed suite on Lap 135. Race leader Graham Rahal ducked onto pit road to make his stop when Bourdais spun out and wrecked in Turn 4.

    Carlos Munoz pitted under the caution, and the lead cycled back to Power.

    Back to green with 55 laps to go, Helio Castroneves spun out, hit the outside wall, drifted down the track and slammed the inside wall near the entrance to pit road. The crowd gave him a standing ovation as he made his way on foot down pit road, on his way to the infield care center.

    Back to green with 39 to go, following Sake Karem’s wreck in Turn 4, Alexander Rossi — who started the race in 32nd — worked his way into third. Power pitted from the lead with 29 to go, as did Carpenter, Simon Pagenaud and others.

    In the closing laps, Oriol Servia, Stefan Wilson and Jack Harvey gambled and stretched the fuel. Even when Kanaan brought out the caution with 12 to go, they stuck to their plan and stayed out during the caution.

    Servia spun the tires on the restart with seven to go and the lead was usurped by Wilson, going into Turn 1. He ran out of fuel with five to go, however, and lost the lead to Power, who drove on to score the victory.

    NUTS & BOLTS

    The race lasted two hours, 59 minutes and 42 seconds, at an average speed of 166.935 mph. There were 30 lead changes among 15 different drivers, and seven cautions for 41 laps.

    Power leaves Indianapolis with a two-point lead over Rossi.

  • 1922 INDY 500: Two Boys, a Train and the Making of a Race Fan

    1922 INDY 500: Two Boys, a Train and the Making of a Race Fan

    Stephen Cox Blog Presented by McGunegill Engine Performance

    Here’s a short story to help you enjoy this year’s 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500.

    In the spring of 1922, Alton Hartley was a college student at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. He and a friend decided they wanted to attend the 10th International 500 Mile Sweepstakes, as the race was then known, on Tuesday, May 30.

    Having no car, Hartley and his friend needed a cheap method of transportation for the 65-mile southbound trip to Indianapolis and the local freight train beckoned. Hopping trains was illegal and considered trespassing in the early 20th century, and every major railroad company employed armies of police to protect their property.

    These privately employed police were generally afforded the “right” to deal with trespassers as they saw fit, which routinely involved some pretty brutal tactics. As one traveling hobo from the 1930s recalled, “God help you if you ever get caught on railroad property… they have their own brand of justice and the police and courts are not part of it.”

    But Hartley and his friend decided to jump the next southbound freight train and take their chances. It wasn’t long before the onboard security officer found the two young men, who were horrified at their fate. Desperate to explain their situation, Hartley told the officer they were not hobos or long distance travelers. They were two college kids who just wanted to get to Indianapolis to see the 500-mile race.

    Fortunately, the railroad security officer must have been a race fan. Rather than being beaten, thrown off the train or sent to jail for trespassing, the young men were marched up to the locomotive and introduced to the engineer, where they were welcomed and given a spot to ride in relative comfort for the remainder of the journey.

    Much to their surprise, the train staff happily dropped the boys off in the town of Speedway on the west side of Indianapolis. As a parting gift, the train staff provided them two box lunches, a pair of general admission tickets to the event and a pile of newspapers which the boys were told to use as blankets while napping throughout the day.

    Box lunches in hand, they arrived at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at 16th and Georgetown in time to see a 1,000-piece band perform in front of the grandstands at 9:20 a.m. Shortly afterward, racing legend Barney Oldfield drove his National onto the track to pace the field. The race began at 10 a.m, as was the practice at the time, with a hot-air balloon floating above the track carrying a huge American flag.

    California’s Jimmy Murphy wrote his name in the auto racing history books that day, taking the checkered flag shortly after 3 p.m. with an average speed of nearly 95 miles per hour.

    Making their way back to the train station, the boys had one more favor to collect. The railroad crew had promised to pick them up again after the event and take them back to West Lafayette after the race. Hartley, who related this story to his nephew, Pete Gruich, in 1991, said they gratefully accepted the offer for a return ride and made it safely back to West Lafayette to continue their classes.

    Hartley married his teenage sweetheart, Josephine, in 1926 and the couple shared more than seven decades together. An antique dealer by trade, Hartley remained an auto racing fan for the rest of his days. He died in 2001.

    And once upon a time, long ago, that’s how race fans were made.

    Stephen Cox

    Sopwith Motorsports Television Productions

    Driver, FIA EPCS sportscar series & Super Cup Stock Car Series

    Co-host, Mecum Auctions on NBCSN

    Alton Hartley (L) and nephew Pete Gruich in 1991 (courtesy Pete Gruich)

    Jimmy Murphy takes the checkered flag at Indianapolis in 1922