It’s time for our weekly Friday morning tour around the racing world. From hot laps to the main event, here’s what’s on our mind this week.
Hot Laps: Full Contact
The past two IndyCar Series races have looked more like showroom stock SCCA racing than world-class Indy car racing. They have been slam-bang affairs with lots of aggressive driving, lots of contact and more than a few “avoidable contact” penalties.
Qualifying: Wide Open?
The 92nd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans appears to be a wide-open affair in the headlining Hypercar class. A Penske Porsche Motorsports Porsche 963 will start from the pole, but entries from Cadillac, Ferrari and BMW have shown tremendous speed. Toyota, Alpine, Peugeot, Lamborghini and Isotta Fraschini are also competing in the class.
First Heat: On A Tear
After the disappointing ending to Kyle Larson’s attempt at the Double (Indianapolis 500 & Coca-Cola 600), we predicted Kyle Larson would go on a tear.
Maybe not a tear, but definitely a hot streak. He has two High Limit victories, including a $55,555 score earlier this week at Eagle Raceway and a NASCAR Cup Series victory at Sonoma since the Memorial Day weekend disappointment.
Second Heat: Land Of Corn
It’s not much of a secret that I like Iowa, and I love Knoxville Raceway. Well, it’s not quite time for the Knoxville Nationals, but Iowa is most certainly the center of the U.S. racing universe this weekend.
The annual June doubleheader for the World of Outlaws sprint cars is this weekend at the half-mile dirt track, but one might say that’s the under card in the Hawkeye State.
The NASCAR Cup Series will make its debut at Iowa Speedway this weekend, with a race on Sunday afternoon.
With only 35 miles between the two tracks, plenty of fans will do the double.
Good luck to all.
Third Heat: Retiring?
If indeed the speculation is true that Martin Truex Jr. will retire at the end of the season, it follows the trend of top NASCAR drivers getting out of the game in their early 40s.
Truex could be one of the most underrated NASCAR drivers of his time. Without hype or controversy, Truex performed — both in top-notch rides and in underfunded machinery.
His 2016 championship with Furniture Row Racing has to rank as one of the most likely title runs in the sport’s history.
In addition to the Cup Series title, Truex won two Xfinity Series crowns, and has won 34 races in the Cup Series.
Fourth Heat: Speedweek Success
When the All Star Circuit of Champions went away at the end of last year, many wondered what the plight of the long-standing summer series would be.
Well, the 42nd annual edition of Ohio Sprint Speedweek has turned out just fine. There were five different winners in five nights of racing with car counts and crowds up. Crowd counts for the first six nights of the series, including the rainout at Fremont Speedway were 53 (Attica), 55 (Fremont), 42 (Waynesfield), 50 (Wayne County), 32 (Hilltop) and 55 at Sharon.
B Main: Non-Sense
You should have to sign a waiver to enter the pit area, you should not have to get one to contend for the NASCAR Cup Series championship if you are leading the standings at the end of the regular season.
All this nonsense in regard to NASCAR granting Kyle Larson a waiver to be eligible to win the series title is so overblown. I get it, he missed one of the races to run in a different series.
But at the same time if you miss one, two or 10 races and are still leading the standings, there should be no need for a waiver. If the other competitors can step it up enough to take advantage of the opportunity, that’s on them.
Larson lost the point lead in the Cup Series when he missed the Coca-Cola 600 and took exactly two races to get back to the top, while the competition floundered.
Feature: Network TV
It was very interesting to see the NTT IndyCar Series complete its new television package with every race appearing live on the FOX Network.
At a time when NASCAR and many stick-and-ball sports are moving more and more events to streaming video outlets, this should be a significant move toward growing Indy car racing, sponsorships and fans.
On Memorial Day weekend in 2025, fans can watch the Indianapolis 500 on FOX, available everywhere including over-the-air, while those wanting to watch NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 will be sent searching through streaming options until they land on Amazon’s Prime Video.
Who’s keeping score, but this might be a win for IndyCar.
