Formula One (F1) Winter testing, From Worst to First in St. Pete, and NASCAR goes Aces Wild

Welcome back y'all! If you are reading this, that means a lot to me, like literally your my best friend. It's like getting seconds at a Chinese buffet, you know your going to do it! Well then, I guess I better make a good impression again. To make my transitions smoother, I have decided to add bold & underlined titles for now on. Here we go!

F1 Winter Testing from Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

Valterri Bottas leads the way in his brand new F1 W08 EQ Power+ for Mercedes AMG

 As predicted, Mercedes has another shot at going for a four straight constructors title. The team has dominated the sport since 2014, winning an astonishing 51 of the past 59 grand prix races. WOW! Only Red Bull and Ferrari have been able to win those other 8 races that Mercedes did not. This season though, is different. With Nico Rosberg retiring after winning the drivers championship in 2016, the most coveted seat in F1 was wide open. Many people expected Fernando Alonso to opt out of his current contract with McLaren F1, but decided to maintain a leadership role with them. Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, the other Mercedes driver, have been teammates before. It was a hostile environment though between the two, thus ending abruptly after one season (2007). It's a shame to see one of F1's great drivers fade into the abyss with a now dysfunctional team (I miss Ron Dennis). I think Rosberg's replacement, Valterri Bottas, will do a decent job, not as flashy as Hamilton, but consistent in pace throughout his career. 

Daniel Riccardo testing out the new RB13 for Red Bull F1

 For the rest of the teams in F1, it will be another season of struggle. I only expect to see a few teams "attempt" to challenge Mercedes for wins and the constructors title in 2017. It's strange that I believed that the playing field would become more leveled with the new body designs and new tires for the season. However, with testing underway, it's more of the same. The big surprise for me has been Red Bull's pace, or lack there of. I hope they're sandbagging and just decided to not play their cards just yet. Hopefully they'll have a rocket come Australia time (the first grand prix of the season). Maybe 13 will be a lucky number for them (their car is named the RB13)!

McLaren M32 struggling with their Honda engine

Everyone else is status quo, except for McLaren, who continue to kick themselves over their engine suppliers (Honda) "progress". Oh, did I mention we lost a team? The Manor Grand Prix team closed its doors due to not having a financial backer to pay creditors for this past season. It's a shame that money is so vital to run a decent grand prix program (don't expect to make any once your in F1 either). I can't really say a lot about the team, except that there are some really good engineers out of work because of it. But I will say this, I think a spending cap for F1 is a good idea. It would level the playing field tremendously for smaller teams (at least in theory, I think?).

Cars on track for winter testing.

Kevin Magnussen debuts his new VF-17 for the American-based Haas F1 Team

 The American team, Haas F1, has shown good speed and a solid pace so far in testing. A big problem that the team had last season was brakes. I think they've resolved the issue. But being F1, once one problem is fixed, another is sure to follow., The team also welcomed a new driver, Kevin Magnussen, to continue to develop and improve the car over 2017. Realistically, I think the team as a whole will be able to score points more consistently this season, as opposed to last season when they scored the majority of them in the first few rounds. The opening round of the 2017 season is one week away (March 26th) down under in Melbourne, Australia (most likely, I'll be watching it live at 1am on NBCSN ). It's a tradition for me now, especially since I've watched it 8 years in a row!

From Worst to First, Indycar has quiet start to season

Will Power leads the field into turn 1

The 2017 Indycar Series season kicked off in St. Petersburg over the weekend with very little fanfare. I'm not trying to put down this series, because I know that it has great potential, but the lack of passing and overall "excitement" level was questionable at best. Perhaps I am a little salty, due to the fact that my favorite driver had a terrible, no good, dirty rotten, poop of a day, Let me explain why. Will Power (the driver) had such a bad day. In opening practice, he crashed his car halfway through the session (angry face emoji). He rebounded well during qualifying, capturing pole position for the race (happy face, sunglasses face, thumbs up emoji's). Then the race started and it went sour real quick. He lost the lead after the initial caution flag (it was for a spin on lap 1, with the restart several laps latter), falling back slightly. During his first pit stop, he somehow screwed up leaving his pit stall, causing race control to penalize him with a drive through penalty. This meant he would be playing catch up for most of the race. Nothing was working for the team, and eventually they lost power in the car, prematurely ending his day (insert sad, crying, thumbs down emoji's).

Sebastien Bourdais celebrating in victory lane

The race was very quiet, except for Sebastien Bourdais, the Furious Flying Frenchman. After starting last on the grid, the small Dale Coyne Racing machine charged its way to the front at a quick and effective pace. Bourdais has been known for his consistent lap progression during his career, so it was no surprise that he could do it. The big surprise was that his equipment let him. Dale Coyne Racing has the smallest budget and resources in Indycar. For them to take the charge to legendary teams Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske, proves that every dog has its day. Maybe we're seeing a balanced playing field in Indycar this season. I highly doubt it, after all this is only the first race. I hope I'm wrong, because who doesn't like an underdog story? The next Indycar race is the historic Long Beach Grand Prix on April 9th.

NASCAR goes Aces Wild in Las Vegas

The start of the Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas

Before the track went green for opening practice on Friday, there was a buzz of confusion around another SMI track. Charlotte Motor Speedway had an open test on its in-field road course over the offseason, with NASCAR driver AJ Allmendinger (formerly an open-wheel ace) conducting it. He praised that it could add a unique variable to the current schedule, which is bloated with cookie cutter 1.5 mile quad oval's. Track president Marcus Smith is a brilliant mind and marketer. I think that a "roval" would be a good idea, but I'm not sold on the idea of it at Charlotte. 

Wow what a finish! Well, kind of. The race was similar to last week at Atlanta, meaning that there were few cautions and lots of multiple grooves for racing. Not much happened during the majority of racing, but the last restart proved to kick start one of the craziest finishes we've seen this year. Martin Truex Jr and Brad Keselowski dominated the race, sharing the lead several times throughout the day. The final restart proved critical for both drivers. Keselowski stole the lead after the restart, making it look like he would run away to the checkered flag. Luck has a lot to do with racing, some days you're the bug, the other times you're the windshield. Truex Jr is notoriously known for his late race bad luck. That day was not the Vegas race day. Keselowski had a problem occur with four laps to go. He slowed and was passed by Truex going into turn 3, completing it out of turn 4. He didn't look back and won the race. In the process of Keselowski falling back, he held up the high lane that Kyle Busch was racing in. causing him to abruptly move to the inside, hitting and moving Joey Logano out of the way. They entered turn 3 two wide, with Logano pinched just a little bit below the white line, causing his car to become loose under Busch. The result is below in the videos.

The altercation & replay of the wreck

Joey Logano explains his side

Kyle Busch threatens his new foe

Martin Truex Jr celebrates with his team in victory lane

What did we learn from Las Vegas? We learned that things can get dicey in Vegas, the dominance that Truex Jr has shown in the past is back for this season, and Penske is ready to explode (in a good way) this season. The second of three west coast races is at Phoenix Int'l Raceway this weekend. It's going to be a hot and slick track for the drivers, with temperatures forecasted in the mid to upper 90's throughout the weekend. The heat should add to the excitement of the #NASCARGoesWest campaign. Heat=Loose cars=accidents (I hope). Tune in next week for my Phoenix review.