Formula One heads down to Australia, NASCAR Heats up in Phoenix, Could changes be coming for Indianapolis (Yes and No)?

Formula One heads down to Australia

The beginning of the 2016 Australian Grand Prix

The 2017 F1 season will begin this weekend down under in Australia Not much has happened since my last post about this series, except for the fact that there will be a permanent eyesore this season coming from Force India F1. It's somewhat washed out, but trying to watch this monstrosity every grand prix weekend will be a challenge.

Force India F1's new livery for 2017

(Please forgive me. Something goofy happened with this blog that has made all of my opening paragraphs bold) The greatest thing about the beginning of an F1 season is the excitement! Everyone from around the planet get together to watch this unique form of motorsports. It's like the FIFA World Cup, except that it goes for a whole season, from March until November. Probably the second biggest newsworthy item to discuss is the fact that Mercedes has admitted that Ferrari is "closer than many people suspect." I hope that's the case. Its been a Silver Arrows (nickname for Mercedes) show of domination for the last three seasons. I hope that the new rules level the playing field, it's been kind of bland lately. Another small nugget is a revelation from McLaren, who have come out and said that their Honda engine is "sub-par" compared to the rest of the field. Everything about their new 2017 car is cutting edge, except for the said engine, which is mediocre. It's extremely hard to think that Honda has had this much difficulty getting back into F1 after a 7 year hiatus (they left after 2008). Their Indycar program has been brilliantly successful since 2012, when Chevy and Lotus became engine suppliers too. I'm just curious as t why the lack of speed and development from them. Makes many people skeptical within the industry. Oh well, we will find out this weekend! Below is the television schedule for the grand prix weekend.  All times are Eastern Standard Time.

2017 Australian Grand Prix television schedule for the United States

NASCAR Heats up in Phoenix, Newman snaps a 3 1/2 year drought.

A bright, hot sun hangs over Phoenix Int'l Raceway

NASCAR stopped at Phoenix International Raceway for its second of three #NASCARGoesWest races to start the season. It was a blazer to say the least! Temperatures were unseasonably warm for the area throughout the weekend, pushing into the upper 90's with no relief from clouds. It was a "dry heat", but hot is hot, and it proved to be on Sunday.

Joey Logano leads the field into Turn 1

Coming off of a controversy filled Las Vegas race, Joey Logano capture the pole, but that was the high point for his weekend. He hung around the top 5 all day, leading 84 laps, but late in the race, his right front tire went flat, sending him hard into turn 1, ending his day 10 laps earlier than expected. Our other combatant from Las Vegas, Kyle Busch, had a busy day as well. He led a race high 114 laps, but that wasn't good enough for "ol' Rowdy." Logano's misfortune was Kyle's misfortune as well. His team, along with most of the front runners, decided to pit for fresh tires to sprint to the finish. Not everyone pitted though, specifically Ryan Newman. 

Newman (#12 car) wins the 2008 Daytona 500

Newman has been racing in NASCAR full time since 2002, winning rookie of the year, and also a Daytona 500 in 2008 for Roger Penske. The "Rocket Man," known for his fast speeds in qualifying, has been in a 127 race winless drought since 2013. As a matter of fact, his last victory, the Brickyard 400, was the weekend before I left to start my college career at Coastal Carolina University. I'll get to the brickyard in a bit. Ryan is an old school racer, sometimes he works on his car at the track to help fine tune it. I have always sort of liked him, except whenever he would bang heads with Jeff Gordon, he's quiet and does a tremendous amount for animal rescues across the Carolinas. The man has been a shining beacon for Richard Childress Racing, who is also in a three year winless drought, for the past three seasons. He's sort of the "old sage" in the garage area, full of wisdom and stories for the younger drivers. Cool guy, great attitude, he race's hard no matter what.

Newman in victory lane at the 2013 Brickyard 400

Newman had the lead on the final restart, which was a green-white-checker, holding off a hard charging Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch to take the win in the desert. The race itself was not too flashy, but there was plenty of racing to go all around. FOX actually showed a battle for 18th place toward the end. Either that was a desperate cry for viewers, or just a really good battle, who knows! The moral of what happened in the desert was magical. Apparently, if you want to break a drought, go to the desert, the waters of fortune shall rain down upon you.

Newman burns some victory donuts into the Start/Finish line at Phoenix

Ryan Newman and team celebrate in victory lane (see the water and Coke raining down?)

Could the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis become a road course race for NASCAR?

In the latest saga of fans demanding more road courses, an interesting scenario has cropped up. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the oldest and most historic raceway in America. However, NASCAR racing at the brickyard has been under-par for several seasons. Many of the races feature single grooved racing with little passing, aka a boring, 3 1/2 hour affair of parade laps. I know that I have fallen asleep several times over the years during this race. It use to be a marquee event on the schedule, but now it's a shell of the past. Another thing that has been dismal is the attendance. Ever since 2008, the crowd for the race has been dwindling dramatically.

2016 Indianapolis 500, over 400,000 fans in attendance 

2016 Brickyard 400, about 50,000 fans in attendance

The Indianapolis 500 will always be more popular than the Brickyard 400. It's literally the Super Bowl of the Indycar Series. NASCAR tried to tap into the Midwest market in the mid 1990's, with success over a decade period (1994-2004). Since the end of the 2000's, the Brickyard 400 has become less appealing for some unknown reason. In theory, and reported by sources close to the track, a change could be on the horizon. Supposedly, track management wants to let NASCAR race on it's infield road course instead of the traditional 2.5 mile oval.

Current road course layout for the Moto GP Series (motorcycle racing).

Current traditional road course layout.

The biggest question would be which road course layout to use for NASCAR? Personally, I like the Moto GP layout more because it has lots of turns, and it races counter-clockwise. The traditional road course is utilized by the Indycar Series for its Indy Grand Prix, held two weeks prior to the Indianapolis 500, and also by different driving schools. In theory, you could run the traditional road course counter-clockwise, and still be able to hit top speeds through the corners. I know it's no consolation to what I think, but I have raced both versions on Forza 6 in a NASCAR stock car, and I really like the Moto GP course. I like the sharp turns, which means having to "roll through the corners," a method that is challenging for many NASCAR drivers. Who knows what the future hold for the track. I think they need to change it up, and I think either of the road courses would be better than running on the oval for NASCAR & Midwest stock car fans sake. The earliest this could happen would be 2018. What is changing though for 2017 will be seen in the Xfinity series race prior to the Brickyard 400. The series will run a restrictor plate, much like at Daytona and Talladega, in an effort to keep cars together and more competitive throughout the race. Great idea? I'm not sure. The only other time a race outside of Dayton or Talladega that was run with plates was New Hampshire in 2000. If you've either seen the race, heard of it, or have read about it, it was pretty awful. Jeff Burton led flag to flag that day in a no contest match. The restrictor plates were used only for that event, and the reason that they were used was not for improving racing, but to prevent another driver fatality (Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin Jr both died in separate practice accidents earlier in 2000). I always believe that NASCAR and the drivers are on the same page in their logical thinking, so it should work, right? Meh, not all the time.

Iowa Speedway in Newton, IA, has hosted the NASCAR Xfinity & Camping World Truck series since 2009

The theory is that if the race is a success, then the 2018 Brickyard 400 will be run with restrictor plates, rather then on the road course. Actually, what could come from the impending debacle is great change all together. All tracks on the current schedule are up for contract renewals by 2020. Hypothetically, the Indianapolis NASCAR race weekend could cease to exist. There is pressure from the racing fan base to head to Iowa Speedway (a ISC race track) in lieu of killing off the Brickyard 400. Because Indianapolis Motor Speedway is an independent track, their existing race weekend would be up for a bidding war between the two major track operators (ISC and SMI), or any other independent tracks. Of course this is just a bunch of thoughts and hypotheticals, but it could play out like this in the future. So will the restrictor plates work? Who knows. Should it be run as a road course? I think so. We will know by the end of July if it worked or not. The final #NASCARGoesWest round will be this Sunday at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA. This is one of the best races on the schedule due to the age of the current pavement, sweeping low banked turns, and high speeds. Don't forget about the bump down the backstretch, its a biggie!