Diez: Big day for Hendrick; same ol’ in Japan

Last weekend, it was back to business as usual for Formula 1 at the Japanese Grand Prix. For the fourth time in as many races, one team finished 1-2. And three out of four of those saw the Red Bull team atop the podium. The Ferraris finished 3-4 with Australian GP winner Carlos Sainz ahead of Charles Leclerc. And poor Daniel Ricciardo’s already fraught season took another hit as he was out on the first lap after a collision with Williams’ Alex Albon. At least his teammate Yuki Tsunoda managed to finish in the points in 10th, much to the delight of the Japanese fans. I just wonder how long the current Red Bull domination, now in its third season, will take for fans to start getting disillusioned and tune out. I have already heard from a few long-time F1 aficionados that they are less enthralled than ever with the sport. Max Verstappen’s win extended his points lead to 77, 13 points ahead of teammate Sergio Perez. Leclerc has 59 points and Sainz 55, and they are miles ahead of the McLaren boys. Lando Norris has 37 points and Oscar Piastri 32. The series is dark this weekend and will return April 19-21 for the Chinese Grand Prix, back on the calendar after a four-year hiatus.

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NASCAR has not yet fallen prey to the one-team domination of Formula 1, but not for lack of trying by Hendrick Motorsports. On the 40th anniversary of Hendrick’s first win, at the track where it happened, the team achieved a 1-2-3 finish. William Byron won his third race of the season, followed home by Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott. The fourth Hendrick driver, Alex Bowman, finished eighth. Bubba Wallace was the first Toyota in fourth and Ryan Blaney the first Ford in fifth. There were 1,500 current and former Hendrick employees on hand to watch the event and its storybook finish. Although it’s unlikely that the Hendrick Chevys will achieve the level of Red Bull dominance and Byron becoming NASCAR’s Verstappen, they are definitely the team to beat.

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Aric Almirola came out of his NASCAR Cup retirement and is running a part-time schedule in the Xfinity series, driving the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. He’s pretty quick for an old, retired guy, winning at Martinsville while leading 148 of the 251 laps. Despite only running four of the seven races so far this season, he’s 11th in points with three stage wins, two top fives, two top 10s, and 243 total laps led. Ryan Truex will be in the car at Texas while Aric rests up.

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Heading to Texas Motor Speedway, Larson is the points leader with 309, Martin Truex Jr. has 295, Denny Hamlin 292, and Byron is tied with Ryan Blaney at 261. Byron is the most recent winner at Texas, with Tyler Reddick the 2022 winner and Larson taking the 2021 victory. Kyle Busch leads all active drivers with four Texas wins while Denny Hamlin has three. The only other active drivers who have won at Texas are Austin Dillon and Joey Logano. The opening odds are heavily weighted toward Chevrolets and Toyotas, with Larson at 4-1, Reddick 6-1, Hamlin 13-2, and Byron 7-1. Blaney has the only Ford highly rated, at 17-2. Truex is 10-1, Christopher Bell 12-1, and Ross Chastain tied with Chase Elliott at 14-1. Ty Gibbs and Bubba Wallace are tied at 16-1, Busch is 18-1, and Logano 20-1.

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FS1 will broadcast all this weekend’s action, with Cup qualifying at  8:20 a.m. Saturday, followed by the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 for the Xfinity series at 10:30 a.m. Sunday’s Auto Trader EchoPark Automotive 400 will air at 12:30 p.m.