The first weekend of September did not disappoint with Lewis Hamilton winning the Italian Grand Prix, his 28th Grand Prix victory, putting him past Jackie Stewart on the all-time win list and Brad Keselowski leading 383 of 400 laps on his way to a dominating victory at Richmond. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.
Come On NASCAR. Be Yourself
The Chase is set and NASCAR and ESPN are going to let you know with the fictionalized commercials about the drivers having a hope of a nation on their shoulders and fans completing Chase grids. NASCAR must have been watching the World Cup and March Madness and thought, "what if we combined both?"
First off, no one follows a driver as if it they were a nation and I would worry if anyone was that emotionally tied to a particular individual. Second, very, very, very few people are legitimately going to fill out "Chase Grids." There are going to be very few office pools, trust me. It works for March Madness because people can get behind a university. You don't have to know a thing about basketball and do well (trust me, ask my mother). People can get behind a university because it is either their alma mater or one of their children's alma maters or another family member's alma mater. You don't have that with NASCAR. Plus, after one weekend your bracket is either shot to hell or you have a reason to watch the second weekend and if it survives that second weekend, you likely have a team in the Final Four and are watching because you have a shot at winning an office pool or you just want to see if you picked the right team to win it all. With the Chase, it's three weeks before the first eliminations. People can't dedicate ten weeks to something they barely care about. They have bigger fish to fry.
When I started following motorsports closely and NASCAR in particular, I followed it because it was different. It wasn't trying to mimic soccer or basketball or football. Instead of being themselves, NASCAR has felt the need to try and be something they are not in hopes of attracting new fans. Any mother with a teenager can tell you if someone does like you for who you are then that is their loss. You shouldn't have to change to get people to like you. Unfortunately, NASCAR, like most teenagers, didn't listen and are trying to emulate something they are not and will never be.
Rubinho Year Two, What Could Have Been
If only Rubens Barrichello had a second year in IndyCar. He was improving throughout his rookie season and solid on ovals despite no experience prior to entering IndyCar. He added Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year to his résumé, picked up his first two top fives in the final three races of the season and ended with seven top tens but twelfth in the championship behind James Hinchcliffe, Tony Kanaan, Graham Rahal and J.R. Hildebrand.
Unfortunately his sponsors didn't want him to continue in IndyCar but was willing to fund him in Stock Car Brasil instead. His first year in fenders saw him struggle with plenty of races where he wasn't in contention. He did have a few good results including a second on the streets of Salvador and started on pole at Cascavel before finishing twenty-fifth.
Flash forward to this year, his second season in Stock Car Brasil. Rubinho is second in the championship, 6.5 points back of Átila Abreu with two wins, four podiums and eight top tens from twelve races with nine races to go.
You can't help but wonder what he could have done in a second year at KV Racing, especially after seeing Kanaan win the Indianapolis 500 that year.
Daly Down
But hopefully not out. Conor Daly lost his GP2 ride this past weekend but he is going all-in on finding an IndyCar ride in 2015. It's disappointing it didn't work out for Daly because he has the talent, sadly he needs the money. You can point to American companies failing to get behind young drivers for the lack of Americans making it in Europe but international motorsports is not seen as a wise investment by them. I am sure we can justify why a company such as Apple or Coca-Cola or some other American company should fund a few Americans on the road to Formula One but if they don't think it's worth it than that's just the way it is.
It's frustrating that talent isn't enough in motorsports and it's true for not just Americans but for Brits, Italians and Swiss drivers as well. Anyone with a conscious is rooting for Daly to land an IndyCar ride. He has battled so hard to come so close and his career should not end at the age of 22. He just needs that one break.
Keep It Simple Stupid Points
Back in the middle of July, I calculated the points standings for IndyCar, Formula One and NASCAR if they used the 9-6-4-3-2-1 system which was used in Formula One for three decades. Let's update them since the IndyCar season is in the bag and Formula One and NASCAR now have ten or fewer races remaining.
IndyCar:
Will Power- 52
Ryan Hunter-Reay- 46
Scott Dixon- 46
Simon Pagenaud- 37
Hélio Castroneves- 37
Juan Pablo Montoya- 35
Tony Kanaan- 33
Sébastien Bourdais- 23
Mike Conway- 18
Carlos Muñoz- 18
Ed Carpenter- 15
Charlie Kimball- 12
James Hinchcliffe- 12
Marco Andretti- 10
Carlos Huertas- 9
Graham Rahal- 9
Josef Newgarden- 9
Mikhail Aleshin- 7
Jack Hawksworth- 6
Takuma Sato- 6
Ryan Briscoe- 5
Justin Wilson- 4
Kurt Busch- 1
Will Power would have still been champion. He and Ryan Hunter-Reay would have been the only drivers eligible for the title at Fontana with Hunter-Reay needing a victory and Power to finish fourth or worse. What really would have killed Hunter-Reay is not scoring a point after Iowa. Of course, if the point system was different I am sure he would have raced differently. The biggest surprise would have been Mike Conway's two victories getting him ninth in the championship and Ed Carpenter in eleventh.
Formula One:
Nico Rosberg- 78
Lewis Hamilton- 74
Daniel Ricciardo- 51
Valtteri Bottas- 27
Sebastian Vettel- 24
Fernando Alonso- 23
Jenson Button- 13
Felipe Massa- 10
Nico Hülkenberg- 9
Kevin Magnussen- 7
Sergio Pérez- 6
Kimi Räikkönen- 4
The gap between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton would be much smaller while Daniel Ricciardo would still remain a long shot for the title. With six races remaining, only five drivers would be mathematically eligible for the title with Sebastian Vettel needing to win out, Rosberg to fail to score in the final half dozen races and Hamilton to scoring three points or less in the remainder of the season to win a fifth consecutive title.
NASCAR:
Brad Keselowski- 69*
Jeff Gordon- 59*
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.- 59*
Joey Logano- 51*
Kevin Harvick- 50*
Jimmie Johnson- 48*
Matt Kenseth- 37*
Kyle Busch- 36*
Denny Hamlin- 30*
Carl Edwards- 28*
Kurt Busch- 27*
Kasey Kahne- 17*
Kyle Larson- 17
Clint Bowyer- 16
Aric Almirola- 13*
Brian Vickers- 13
Paul Menard- 13
A.J. Allmendinger- 12*
Greg Biffle- 11*
Marcos Ambrose- 10
Jamie McMurray- 9
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.- 7
Ryan Newman- 6*
Tony Stewart- 5
Casey Mears- 3
Austin Dillon- 2
Martin Truex, Jr.- 1
Danica Patrick- 1
*- 2014 Chase drivers
Brad Keselowski would still be leading the championship after his victory at Richmond. The big shake up would be this year's Chase drivers Greg Biffle and Ryan Newman down in 19th and 23rd respectively. The good news is every driver would be mathematically eligible for the title with ten races to go.
Random Thoughts
After seeing the outside of the Parabolica paved over at Monza and then seeing I believe it was Nico Hülkenberg run wide at Ascari in practice and through the sand trap got me thinking, when they pave over the inside of Ascari, they mind as well bulldoze Monza because the track will have lost all it's character. The only way to save it were to run the combined course with the oval which has not been used by Formula One since 1961.
And dear God, I hope they don't pave over the outside of Lesmos.
Is there a better sight then the sea of fans streaming out on the track at Monza to watch the podium ceremony? It's the one thing I wish we had in the United States. Could you imagine if after the Indianapolis 500, fans streamed out on the front straightaway to celebrate? Of course in the United States, things are much too corporate and God forbid spectators get to do something spectacular and have a once in a lifetime experience.
I was thinking about Richmond last night and if NASCAR really wanted to make it interesting, they should have split the race into two, 200-lap races, one for all the drivers that were locked into the Chase and all the drivers who couldn't qualify for the Chase and the other for the nineteen drivers battling for the final Chase spots. You let the fourteen Chase drivers compete for the three bonus points with the start-and-parks getting their laps in while you have a free-for-all, win-and-you're-in LCQ. If NASCAR is going to do the Chase, they mind as well go all out.
I'd like to congratulate Michael Andretti and Andretti Autosport for becoming the Dale Coyne Racing of Formula E. Less than a week before the season opener and a driver has still yet to be confirmed for their second entry. Franck Montagny will be in their first car. Conor Daly is without a ride. Why not give him a call, Michael?
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Lewis Hamilton and Brad Keselowski but did you know....
Marco Melandri swept the World Superbike weekend at Jerez. Tom Sykes remains championship leader by 31 points over Sylvain Guintoli, 67 points ahead of Jonathan Rea with Melandri trailing by 85 points in fourth.
Dutch rider Michael van der Mark won the World Supersport race and has clinched the title with two races to go. American P.J. Jacobsen finished second at Jerez and sits sixth in the championship, one point outside the top five.
Stoffel Vandoorne and Jolyon Palmer won in GP2 at Monza. Jimmy Eriksson and Dean Stoneman won in GP3. Palmer extended his GP2 championship lead to 43 points over Felipe Nasr. Alex Lynn extended his GP3 championship lead with a sixth and second at Monza to 50 points over Richie Stanaway.
The #84 HTP Motorsport Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 of Maximilian Götz and Maximilian Buhk won the championship race at Portimão in the Blancpain Sprint Series. Jeroen Bleekemolen and Hari Proczyk won the qualifiyng race in the #28 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Gallardo FL2, their fourth win of 2014 in BSS, three of which have been qualifying race. Götz's championship lead over Buhk remains 16 points. Buhk was suspended for the round at the Slovakia Ring. Bleekemolen and Proczyk trail Götz by 23 points in the championship.
Kyle Busch lead all 250 laps in the Nationwide race.
Coming Up This Weekend
The premiere event for Formula E will be on the streets of Beijing Olympic Park.
MotoGP heads to Misano.
Pirelli World Challenge has a season finale doubleheader at Miller Motorsports Park.
NASCAR begins the Chase in Chicago.
V8 Supercars is scheduled to run the Sandown 500, their first of three endurance events.
European Le Mans Series has their penultimate round at Paul Ricard.
After a month off, DTM is off to EuroSpeedway Lausitz
World Rally heads Down Under to Rally Australia.
Super Formula will be at Autopolis.
Stock Car Brasil runs their first of three consecutive rounds in Brazil's southern-most state, Rio Grande do Sul at Velopark.
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