Last Sunday at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Kyle Larson served notice that he’s still the guy to beat. Larson locked himself into the playoffs with his first win of the season, although he ignited a controversy with teammate Chase Elliott in the process. The two came together after a late restart when Larson was concentrating on side-drafting Joey Logano and didn’t see Elliott’s big run on the outside. I’m certain Rick Hendrick will see to it that the incident doesn’t escalate into a full-blown feud.
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This weekend NASCAR is at Las Vegas. Larson won there last March, and Denny Hamlin won last fall’s playoff race there. Other recent winners include Kurt Busch and Joey Logano in 2020, Martin Truex Jr. and Logano in 2019, and Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick in 2018. Keselowski has three total Las Vegas wins, and Truex and Harvick have two apiece. Kyle Busch won in 2009.
To no one’s surprise, Larson is the favorite to win Sunday at 5-1 odds. Logano and Elliott are at 15-2, Ryan Blaney 10-1, and the trio of Hamlin, Kyle Busch, and William Byron at 12-1. Tyler Reddick, who was a serious contender at Fontana, is at 14-1 along with Truex, and the odds are 18-1 on Harvick and Alex Bowman.
Cup practice airs Saturday on FS2 at 10:30 a.m. with qualifying at 11:15 a.m. on FS1, and FS1 will also broadcast the Xfinity series race at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, the Cup race airs on FOX at 12:30 p.m.
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The NTT IndyCars kicked of their season last Sunday at St. Petersburg, Florida, the traditional opening day venue for the series. Penske driver Scott McLaughlin started from pole and scored a convincing win, his first in the series. Defending 2021 champion Alex Palou was second, while McLaughlin’s teammate Will Power was third. Power later complained about the lack of blue flags for the lapped Jimmie Johnson, who may have cost Power a shot at the lead. The series races next at the Texas Motor Speedway oval March 20.
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The Formula 1 season kicks off in Bahrain in two weeks, but the ambitious 23-race schedule has been shortened to 22. The series has canceled the Russian Grand Prix as a result of the invasion of Ukraine. The F1 sanctioning body, the FIA, had also announced a ban on Russian drivers, but later modified it to allow them to race under the FIA flag, not the Russian one. This will allow Nikita Mazepin to race for Haas, which has changed its livery from the red, white, and blue of the Russian flag to plain white. Still, some countries like the United Kingdom, might ban him from competing there.
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Finally, another of my racing heroes has taken the last checkered flag. Danny Ongais passed last week at the age of 79. Born in Hawaii, he started as a drag racer but also raced motorcycles, Indy cars, Formula 1, and sports cars. He won six times in Indy cars, raced in the Indy 500 11 times with a best finish of fourth, won the 24 Hours of Daytona and raced at Lemans, and had six Formula 1 starts.
My personal memories of him were from an SCCA race at Riverside in the summer of 1976. He was driving a Formula 5000 car, and I had never seen anyone attack the Riverside esses with such ferocity. Later that year we were both in an endurance race at Sears Point in 1976. When his turbo Porsche came up behind my Austin-Healy Sprite, he would wait for me to point him by, not wanting an amateur to potentially ruin his race. He was the consummate racer and gentleman. He will be missed.
