Roger Diez
Delay was the word for racing’s biggest day of the year. Red flag at the Monaco Grand Prix, four-hour rain delay for the Indy 500, and rain delay that ended the race at the Coca Cola 600 in Charlotte.
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A three-car crash on lap one at the Monaco Grand Prix destroyed Sergio Perez’ Red Bull and ended the day for the Haas team. An ill-advised passing attempt by Kevin Magnussen triggered the wreck and caused a 40-minute delay for track cleanup and barrier repair. When the race resumed, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took advantage of his pole position to drive away from the field with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri separating Leclerc from teammate Carlos Sainz. They ran that way the whole race on Formula One’s most difficult track for passing. Leclerc, who is a native of Monaco, was a popular winner with the crowd. Points leader Max Verstappen qualified and finished in sixth. The series will race next in Canada on June 9.
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It was a long and painful wait for Kyle Larson at the Indy 500 as he watched his chance to run the “double” melting away in the rain. But when the green flag flew four hours later Larson was doing well, running in the top 10 until a pit road speeding penalty put him a lap down.
While Larson recovered to finish18th, up front the finish was a nail-biter. Josef Newgarden and Pato O’Ward swapped the lead half a dozen times until Newgarden made a breathtaking move on the last lap to take his second Indy 500 win in a row, just 0.341 second over O’Ward. Scott Dixon, Alexander Rossi, and Alex Palou rounded out the top five.
Twenty-one drivers finished all 200 laps and 11 cars failed to finish.
This weekend the NTT IndyCars are on the streets of Detroit with qualifying at 9:15 a.m. on Saturday on Peacock and the race Sunday at 9 a.m. on USA.
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Kyle Larson made it to Charlotte to find good news and bad news. The good news was there was plenty of time for the driver change with Justin Allgaier due to a red flag. The bad news? He was left sitting in the car on pit lane when the race was called after 249 of the scheduled 400 laps. Christopher Bell was declared the winner.
The result dropped Larson from first to third in the standings, six points behind Denny Hamlin and one behind Martin Truex Jr.
This weekend the Craftsman Trucks and NASCAR Cup are at Worldwide Technology Raceway while the Xfinity series races on the road course in Portland. The Toyota 200 for the Trucks airs on FOX at 10:30 a.m. Saturday with the Xfinity Pacific Office Automation 147 at 1:30 p.m. on FS1. Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 for Cup cars airs at 12:30 p.m. on FS1. It will be the third Cup race at WWT, with Kyle Busch the defending winner and Joey Logano the 2022 victor.
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Finally, the rumors that have been swirling about the Stewart-Haas team were confirmed Tuesday with a joint statement by Tony Stewart and Gene Haas. SHR will be closing its doors at the end of the 2024 season. It will be the biggest departure from the sport since Chip Ganassi sold his team to Trackhouse Racing in 2021.
It leaves four franchises up for grabs if there is anyone prepared to purchase them. Perhaps RFK racing or JTG Daugherty are in the market to add a team. Maybe Michael Andretti will expand Andretti Global into NASCAR? Where will Josh Berry, Chase Briscoe, Ryan Preece, and Noah Gragson find Cup rides, or Cole Custer and Riley Herbst pick up Xfinity seats? The situation certainly puts the silly in silly season.