Roger Diez
Last weekend was a busy one for race fans. We saw first NASCAR Cup repeat winner of the season, Formula 1 experienced a big upset and a different team with a 1-2 finish, and IndyCar staged their first exhibition race in 16 years with half-million dollars for the winner.
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Formula 1 kicked off the weekend with the Australian Grand Prix, aired here on Saturday night. Max Verstappen qualified his Red Bull machine on the pole and took the early lead, but Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari overtook the flying Dutchman after only a few laps. Verstappen’s car began smoking and he retired with a brake fire on the right rear. Soon after, Lewis Hamilton parked his Mercedes on course with a power unit failure and Carlos Sainz overtook teammate Leclerc for the lead. Sainz, back in the car two weeks after an emergency appendectomy, turned in a stellar performance to take the win, followed by Leclerc 2.363 seconds behind. Lando Norris brought his McLaren home third. Does this presage a change in the trajectory of the season? Personally, I don’t think the rare mechanical failure Verstappen experienced last Sunday will derail the Red Bull juggernaut. I predict they will be back on form in Japan next weekend and Verstappen will dominate.
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The NTT IndyCar series visited the wealthy enclave of Thermal, Calif., for a high-stakes exhibition race on a private course. Following the lead of Formula 1 in Miami and Las Vegas, it seems as if open-wheel racing in America aspires to become the purview of the ultra-rich, with Thermal tickets starting at $500. The format featured two heat races and a main for the top six finishers from each heat. The main was run in two segments with a break in between, with the same tires used throughout the event. So, tire management became the key factor, and drivers used various strategies based on that. But in the end, pure speed and talent prevailed, with two-time and defending series champion Alex Palou blowing the field away, both in his heat and in both segments of the main. Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing Honda was never headed in the final segment, winning with a 5.79-second margin of victory and taking home the $500,000 top prize. If the event comes back next year I’d like to see some changes to the format, but it was entertaining overall.
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NASCAR made its first 2024 foray onto a road course last weekend and there was spirited racing at the front of the pack. Seven drivers led the race and 34 of the 39 starters finished on the lead lap. William Byron took the win in a Hendrick Chevy, leading 42 of the 68 laps and holding off the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas of Christopher Bell and Ty Gibbs in the final laps. Byron took his second win of the season, the only driver to repeat so far. This weekend it’s back to another short track, the three-quarter-mile Richmond oval. Kyle Busch leads all active drivers with six wins there and Denny Hamlin has four. Martin Truex Jr. has won three times and Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, and Joey Logano twice. One-time winners are Chris Buescher and Alex Bowman. Opening odds for the race are heavily in favor of the Gibbs Toyotas, with Bell and Hamlin at 17-4 odds, Truex next, and Ty Gibbs 17-2. Larson is the heaviest-favored Chevy at 9-1 with Hendrick teammate Byron 11-1. The RFK Fords of Buescher and Keselowski are 11-1 and 13-2, respectively. Things get started early Saturday with Xfinity qualifying at 6:05 a.m., Cup qualifying at 8:15, and the ToyotaCare 250 at 10:30, all on FS1. On Sunday, Fox airs the Toyota Owners 400 at 4 p.m.