Roger Diez
Atlanta almost gave us another three-way photo finish last Sunday, but the caution flag determined the winner.
Kyle Larson led the field to the green flag on the final restart in overtime with Ross Chastain alongside. They made it to the white flag and Larson’s arch-rival Christopher Bell got a push to charge up on the outside while Carson Hocevar tried to jam his car between them.
When the inevitable multi-car wreck broke out behind the lead trio, video showed Bell ahead by a nose when the caution lights came on, giving him the win. Hocevar edged Larson to take second, his best Cup finish to date.
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Only two races into the season and already feuds are beginning to take shape. Both Chastain and Ryan Blaney had serious face-to-face chats with Hocevar after the race about his aggressive driving. Kyle Busch didn’t confront him physically but weighed in on the radio earlier in the race, apparently not remembering how he himself drove for much of his career.
Hocevar’s response? “We’re here to win races, not be a boy band and love each other and play on the playground together.”
Austin Cindric, who had led 47 laps and was contending for the win, held nothing back in an interview, berating Larson for running him into the wall with 10 laps to go. Larson admitted fault on Cory LaJoie’s podcast, citing poor judgment and lack of grip as contributing factors.
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NASCAR now heads to Austin, Texas for the first road course race of the season at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA). Four drivers have won in the four years the NASCAR Cup has raced there. Chevrolet has three wins and Toyota has one.
Byron is the defending COTA champion with Reddick winning in 2023, Chastain in 2022, and Chase Elliott the inaugural race in 2021.
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NASCAR appears to have achieved parity with the Gen 7 car, as all three manufacturers share the top of the standings after two races. Blaney has 87 points in a Ford, Chevy driver William Byron 75, Toyota pilot Tyler Reddick 72, Austin Cindric (Ford) 68, Bubba Wallace (Toyota) 64, and Larson (Chevy) in a three-way tie at 61 points. Penske, Hendrick, and 23XI are the leading teams.
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The NTT IndyCar series kicks off its season this weekend on the combination street/airport course at St. Petersburg, Florida.
After several seasons on NBC, the series has a new broadcast partner, FOX, which promises to cover practice, qualifying, and all the racing on its various sports channels. Longtime Formula 1 guru Will Buxton will anchor the broadcast with James Hinchcliffe and Townsend Bell alongside him.
This weekend FOX will broadcast the race on Sunday at 9 a.m. with the pre-race warmup on FS2 at 6 a.m. Saturday’s practice airs at 7 a.m. on FS2 with qualifying on FS1 at 11:30 a.m.
There will be 27 full-time drivers taking to the track with additional entries for the Indy 500 as well as other selected events. Seven former St. Pete winners are in the field. Penske drivers Will Power and Josef Newgarden have each won twice and teammate Scott McLaughlin has one victory. Other one-time winners include Pato O’Ward, Marcus Ericsson, Colton Herta, and Graham Rahal.
Honda-powered cars have won 11 times and Chevrolet nine.
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Finally, Lando Norris topped the first day of Formula 1 preseason practice on a cold day in Bahrain. George Russell’s Mercedes was second followed by Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, Charles Leclerc in a Ferrari, and Carlos Sainz in his first official outing in a Williams. Lewis Hamilton was 13th fastest in his new Ferrari ride.