Roger Diez: NASCAR in Kansas, IndyCar in Indy

At Dover’s Monster Mile last Sunday, Denny Hamlin joined William Byron as a three-time winner in the 2024 NASCAR Cup season. But Kyle Larson’s second place kept him on top in the season point standings. Martin Truex finished third, coming up short of making it another all-Truex weekend as his younger brother Ryan took his second Xfinity Dover win in a row.

This weekend NASCAR heads west to Kansas Speedway where Hamlin leads all active drivers with six wins. Truex, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, and Joey Logano have two Kansas wins apiece while Larson, Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace, and Chase Elliott have one victory each.

FS1 will broadcast the weekend’s action with Cup qualifying Saturday at 2:50 p.m. followed by the Craftsman Truck series Tide 150 at 5 p.m. Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 for the NASCAR Cup airs at noon.

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The NTT IndyCar series also raced last weekend at Barber Motorsports Park. Team Penske recovered from a double disqualification to redeem themselves. Scott McLaughlin qualified on the pole and took the win with Will Power second at both the start and finish of the race. Unfortunately for the third Penske Driver, Josef Newgarden, a late spin relegated him to a 16th-place finish.

The win vaulted McLaughlin from 29th to ninth in the point standings, Power now ranks second, just one point shy of leader Colton Herta’s 101. Newgarden is 16th in points.

The series now moves to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the month of May. The Sonsio Grand Prix runs May 11 with Indy 500 qualifying the following weekend and the 500 itself May 26.

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Formula 1 is in the United States this weekend for the first of three U.S. Grand Prix events. This one is on the streets of Miami for the third year in a row.

Max Verstappen took his Red Bull to victory in the first two outings, and there is no reason to believe that this year will be any different. Verstappen has won four out of the five races so far this season, with a mechanical problem sidelining him in the Australian round. Barring another mechanical malfunction he will undoubtedly be standing on the top step of the podium Sunday afternoon. The only question is who will occupy the other two podium positions.

Verstappen’s teammate has three seconds and a third, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz has the win in Australia, a second and a third and teammate Charles Leclerc has a second and a third as well. And McLaren’s Lando Norris has a third in Australia and a second in China two weeks ago. Other possible podium finishers are Fernando Alonso for Aston Martin and George Russell for Mercedes.

The Sprint race airs Saturday at 9 a.m. on ESPN with qualifying at 1 p.m. ABC will broadcast Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix at 1 p.m.

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In other racing news, Red Bull has confirmed the pending departure of designer Adrian Newey, the man who has been largely responsible for the team’s 13 world championships.

Newey, 65, is still at the top of his game and will undoubtedly be snapped up by another team. Ferrari is most likely, as Newey has expressed desire to work with Formula 1’s most famous team. He has also said he would like to work with Lewis Hamilton, who will be joining Ferrari next season. Other possibilities are Aston Martin, Williams and McLaren.

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Finally, we bid farewell to Wally Dallenbach, Indy car legend who passed last week at 87. A driver who won five Indy car races and nearly won the 1973 Indy 500, he later became a steward for the Championship Auto Racing Team (CART) series, innovating safety standards like the presence of medical trauma teams at all races. Godspeed, Mr. Dallenbach.