It’s time for our weekly Friday tour around the racing world. From hot laps to the main event, here’s what’s on our mind this week.
Hot Laps: Four Cup Series Winners
Four races into the NASCAR Cup Series season there have been four different winners (William Byron, Daniel Suarez, Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell). Chevrolet has won three races, Toyota one and Ford remains winless, though, Ford-mounted Ryan Blaney leads the standings.
Qualifying: Where’s The Dirt?
The NASCAR Cup Series will return to Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway this weekend and for the first time in the last three springs, it will race on the .533-mile concrete track instead of the temporary dirt track, which has been in place for events the past two Aprils.
Also, moving ahead to mid-March, look for cold temperatures to impact Sunday’s 500-lap event.
First Heat: No Sales Pending
According to World Racing Group executive Brian Dunlap, who is serving as interim ASCS series director, WRG has no current plans to acquire any other racing series.
“We haven’t been in talks to date about other series acquisitions, but as we look at the landscape, we have to look at what makes sense and what we can actually help and move things forward,” Dunlap said.
Second Heat: Historical Event
The Daytona 500 was run for the 66th time last month and Gainesville Raceway hosted the 55th annual Gatornationals last weekend. Later this year, Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway will present the 63rd running of the Knoxville Nationals.
The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring has an even grander history than those events.
The once-around-the-clock sports car classic, a signature event on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule, will run for the 72nd time Saturday at Florida’s Sebring Int’l Raceway.
The event remains one of motorsport’s grandest races and biggest parties.
Third Heat: Team Alliances
Alliances between professional race teams aren’t anything new, but if the first few races of the new season are an indication, several NASCAR Cup Series and NTT IndyCar Series teams are benefitting from associations with other organizations.
Spire Motorsports and Front Row Motorsports in the Cup Series have shown vast improvement with alliances with Hendrick Motorsports and Team Penske, respectively. Meanwhile in the Indy car paddock, A.J. Foyt Racing has upped its game thanks to an arrangement with Team Penske, while Meyer Shank Racing is reaping the benefits of a similar arrangement with Andretti Global.
Dash: What Will The Weather Do?
After all of last weekend’s scheduled 410 winged sprint car races were rained out, drivers hope to get back on the track with numerous events on the slate from coast to coast. But cold and rain again looks to impact much of the schedule.
While the World of Outlaws headlines the card with a doubleheader scheduled at Texas’ Cotton Bowl Speedway, the California season will also begin with a pair of races at Silver Dollar Speedway, including Saturday’s NARC season opener. In addition, Lincoln Speedway, Port Royal Speedway, Attica Raceway Park and Williams Grove Speedway all have races scheduled this weekend.
B Main: Celebrating Life
Two legendary motorsports figures will be honored in unique ways during the coming weeks.
Longtime USAC public relations director Dick Jordan will be recognized next week in Indiana and Ken Squier will be remembered May 4 at Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl in Vermont. The Indiana Racing Memorial Ass’n will unveil a memorial dedicated to Jordan on March 19 at Arbuckle Commons in Brownsburg, Ind., honoring his years of dedication to open-wheel racing.
The track Squier once owned spent decades as announcer will hold Kenley Dean Extravaganza in his honor on May 4 with guest speakers and a car show, followed by practice for the following day’s season-opening event.
Jordan died in 2019 and Squier passed last year.
Feature: 500 For Schatz
Donny Schatz recently earned his 500th sprint car victory, with 312 of those having come with the World of Outlaws.
Many on social media have been declaring Schatz the Greatest of All Time. Schatz himself would scoff at this discussion, knowing the incredible accomplishments of drivers such as Steve Kinser, Sammy Swindell and Doug Wolfgang.
Still, Schatz should be considered among those greats.
He’s won 10 World of Outlaws titles and 10 Knoxville Nationals to go with his 500 feature victories around the world, but he’s also done it during a time period that is the most competitive in winged sprint car racing history.
There are currently 25 cars racing on national tours capable of winning on any given night. The Big Three never had to deal with that.