Well, Now What?

With the season in the books, what are we to do now? Lots of speculation on schedule, silly season, the champions media tour and much more.

Hunter-Reay Making The Rounds
Let's start with our champion. Ryan Hunter-Reay is in New York today. He was already on CNN with Soledad O'Brien this morning, was at SiriusXM for a couple hours and last time I checked he was on top the Empire State Building with the Astor Cup. Hunter-Reay will stop by to see former car owner David Letterman tomorrow night on The Late Show.

Silly Season
Here is what we know: All of Andretti Autosport is returning, as is Franchitti and Kimball, Simona is locked up with HVM, HVM needs an engine, Power and Castroneves are set, Pagenaud as well with Schmidt, Katherine Legge has a deal with Dragon and we think Bourdais does as well, Newgarden and Hildebrand are returning to their respective homes and I think Ed Carpenter has a deal done but I am not quite sure.

The big openings are Ganassi's fourth and Penske's third. Barrichello has been linked to the fourth Ganassi, as has Justin Wilson. Some people see Wilson as a possibility at Penske or Briscoe returning. There is still the chance the Captain shuts that team down.

A surprise opening is at Foyt Enterprises. I see one of three in the number fourteen in 2013. Either Wade Cunningham (raced for the team at Indianapolis and Fontana), Townsend Bell (apparently was called to race at Fontana) or AJ Allmendinger (Foyt himself said he was interested in the American). As for Conway, I very well see him running road and street courses in the number forty-one with Chase Austin running at Indianapolis (already confirmed).

It looks like Graham is going to run for his father. Sato's status is unknown. Barrichello is linked with a second Schmidt entry. Kanaan looks to be set at KV but is still looking for sponsorship. It appears Viso is gone and may start his own team. Mike Shank is still trying to field a car. Allmendinger would be a strong contender for that seat but if he goes to Foyt, it is not clear who would take that seat. Jay Howard was trying to run with Shank at Indianapolis but that never came through.

Schedule
It looks like Pocono is a go for 2013 and it would be 500 miles. Providence is in the air but would likely occur in August if it happens at all.

Fontana wants to be the season finale again. A few problems with that though:
1. Series wants to keep dates consistent. Moving it one month would not be ideal.
2. Moving it from mid-September to mid-October would create a month opening that would have to be filled.

Positives to keeping Fontana as the season finale:
1. Cooler temperatures.
2. Great race for the last of the season.
3. If moved to October, race could be on the Sunday following the Charlotte chase race, just like Vegas and on ABC.

Just a few facts real quick: For those interested in ratings, Vegas got a 1.5. Did the events play into that rating? Maybe. Still, going against the NFL is not as scary as it seems. Race begins around 3pm, one o'clock games are close to over, some are blow outs and people switch to other stuff. In October, NFL teams are on byes. A fans team is on a bye, they are more likely to take a Sunday off from football. As we saw with Fontana, if it's on a Saturday, it won't be on ABC. If it's on a Sunday, the door is open. ABC is network, CBS and Fox are right around it, people bump into the race on accident if their is no good game on. Just things to consider.

Still Plenty Of Racing Left
IndyCar may be over but there is plenty of racing left. NASCAR, Formula One, MotoGP, V8 Supercars. Plenty of IndyCar drivers are going to Surfers Paradise, I expect a few to show up at Petit Le Mans, Curt Cavin tweeted Ryan Hunter-Reay will be doing the Race of Champions in December. Plenty of racing left in 2012, just no IndyCar until 2013.