Max Verstappen put on a stellar performance at the Austrian Grand Prix and he defeated Charles Leclerc in a late battle and a lengthy review of his pass for the lead. Chicagoland Speedway continues to neglect that it has lights and doesn't have to race in the middle of the afternoon during summer. It got the worst of both worlds, heat and rain. IMSA had a lovely day for racing at Watkins Glen and there was a popular winner. Patricio O'Ward is quickly spinning around the Red Bull development driver blender. MotoGP was back at the Cathedral. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.
Take a Deep Breath and Gaze Into the Crystal Ball
July is here. The second half of the year begins. You can start to see 2020 on the horizon. It is not clear what is ahead.
We are at the closest point in human history to a IndyCar-NASCAR Cup Series doubleheader and a line is forming for who would host such an event. It is just like weeknight races; who is going to jump at the opportunity and in the case of weeknight races, no one is going for it. The doubleheader, on the other hand, could be something that cannot be passed up.
Mark Miles has cooled those talking saying it is a long shot to happen but let's take a look into the crystal ball and see what the future could hold, see what 2020 could look like and where this doubleheader hypothetically could take place.
While Texas Motor Speedway is jumping for it and for some reason the Charlotte roval course is in consideration, there is one clear spot for it, one spot that would benefit IndyCar and NASCAR and could include more than those two series. With the NASCAR season shaken up a bit for 2020, one weekend will have a new identity and including IndyCar would be a sure way to completely rebrand that weekend from its past.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway will host NASCAR on Independence Day weekend in 2020 and that might be the right weekend for NASCAR and IndyCar and even IMSA to come together.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Doug Boles floated the idea out there in an article from The Athletic. Boles has had a successful tenure at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, overseeing the successful Centennial Era for the track, the Indianapolis 500 have its first recorded sellout for the 100th race in 2016 and the introduction of the Grand Prix of Indianapolis weekend. Indianapolis is a Mecca for American motorsports and the facilities are there to host all three series at once but it would cause a great deal of change.
If this were to happen, the Grand Prix of Indianapolis would have to move from May to July. The Grand Prix of Indianapolis has been a great change for the track as the opening weekend for the month of May has gone from at best 5,000 people showing up to a weekend with somewhere between 20,000 to 25,000 showing up and paying higher ticket prices than an Indianapolis 500 practice day.
Though the Grand Prix of Indianapolis has been good for the Speedway, it is the start to five consecutive weeks of on-track action for the IndyCar Series through the Texas race in June and it has been a brutal stretch for the teams. Moving the race to July would give the teams another week off but in turn it would create a gap of over a month between the race before the Indianapolis 500 and the Indianapolis 500 and July is already a busy month for IndyCar. Adding a race to July might not be as welcomed even if it means relieving the workload in May and June.
When it comes to IMSA, the start of July is a very busy portion of the season. The 6 Hours of the Glen just took place and Mosport is next week. It is the only back-to-back on the IMSA calendar. The two GT classes head to Lime Rock park in the middle of the month. Adding Indianapolis would mean moving Mosport and likely dropping a weekend in the process. The question is who would be casualty? Nobody is going to raise their hand for that.
If Indianapolis Motor Speedway and NBC Sports wants to turn the 4th of July into a great celebration of American motorsports it is going to happen. The Brickyard 400 would switch over to the road course. IndyCar and the NASCAR Cup Series could both run on Sunday. NASCAR's second division and IMSA could highlight the Saturday of what would have to be a four-day weekend. Indianapolis doesn't have lights but in July sunset is in everyone's favor.
Thursday could be practice for IMSA and NASCAR's second division. IndyCar and the Cup Series would hit the track on Friday for practice with the other two series qualifying. IndyCar and Cup would qualify early Saturday with the Grand National Series being the first race of the day, a 250-kilometer, 64-lap race. It could start at 2:00 p.m. ET. The IMSA race could start at 6:00 p.m. ET and run into the night, let's make it a three-hour affair and end at 9:00 p.m. ET under fireworks.
As for the Sunday, IndyCar would lead off because that is how it would have to work but that race could start at 2:30 p.m. ET and run to its 85-lap distance. The Cup race would close the night with a 6:00 p.m. ET start and have a 102-lap Brickyard 400, this time for kilometers.
It could be the weekend that makes it worth it to the Speedway to move the Grand Prix of Indianapolis from May to July. It might trade one poor weekend in May for a great weekend in July. It might hope that the luster lost for the Brickyard 400 could be revived with every series coming together. Who wouldn't show up to an IndyCar/IMSA/NASCAR weekend? Everyone would be there. All the stars would be in one place.
Would it be enough to fill Indianapolis Motor Speedway? Probably not. The Grand Prix of Indianapolis draws 25,000 people at best. Who knows what the Brickyard 400 draws but let's say it draws 40,000 people. That would be 65,000 people right there. Add IMSA and you might get another 15,000 people to show up. We are talking about 80,000 people and those coming for Saturday might not necessarily stay for Sunday.
We can see it now; the headlines saying even this great coming together couldn't draw flies because Indianapolis Motor Speedway looked empty.
I do not think any doubleheader will happen in 2020. It would more likely happen once the next cycle of track contracts start for NASCAR in 2021 but I think Indianapolis will stay at the July 4th weekend in 2021. It might be better to wait until 2021. It would allow IndyCar and IMSA to get their affairs in order and carefully plan out the shifts in their respective schedules.
There are a lot of hurdles when it comes to a IndyCar-NASCAR Cup shared weekend, most of which were not touched here and maybe somewhere down the line we will dive into those but in terms of making sure it is a big event, there is no place bigger than Indianapolis Motor Speedway and there would not be a bigger weekend than Independence Day weekend.
But for now, heed Mark Miles' words; it is a long shot, even if we can conjure an image in a crystal ball.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Max Verstappen but did you know...
Maverick Viñales won the Dutch TT, his first victory of the season, his third victory at Assen but first since 2012 in Moto3. Augusto Fernández won the Moto2 race, his first career victory in his 31st start. Tony Arbolino won the Moto3 race, his second victory in his last three starts.
Alex Bowman won the NASCAR Cup race from Chicagoland, his first career Cup Series victory. Cole Custer won the Grand National Series race, his fourth victory of the season. Brett Moffitt won the Truck race, his second victory of the season.
The #55 Mazda Team Joest Mazda of Harry Tincknell, Jonathan Bomarito and Olivier Pla won the 6 Hours of the Glen. The #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca-Gibson of Matt McMurry, Eric Lux and Gabriel Aubry won in the LMP2 class. The #911 Porsche of Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy won the GTLM class. The #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura of Mario Farnbacher, Trent Hindman and Justin Marks won in the GTD class.
Nobuharu Matsushita won the Formula Two feature race from the Red Bull Ring. Sérgio Sette Câmara won the sprint race. Jüri Vips and Jake Hughes split the Formula Three races, the first career victories for each driver.
The #6 Lexus Team LeMans Wako's Lexus of Kazuya Oshima and Kenta Yamashita won the Super GT race from Buriram. The #10 GAINER Nissan of Kazuki Hoshino and Keishi Ishikawa won the GT300 class.
The #563 Orange1 FFF Racing Team Lamborghini of Andrea Caldarelli and Marco Mapelli and the #2 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi of Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts split the Blancpain World Challenge Europe races from Misano.
Coming Up This Weekend
NASCAR has one final trip to Daytona for Independence Day weekend.
MotoGP makes a stop in Germany before starting its summer break.
IMSA crosses the border and visits Mosport.
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters has its summer block party at the Norisring.
World Superbike returns to Donington Park.
Supercars has a doubleheader on the streets of Townsville.
World Touring Car Cup is on the streets of Vila Real, Portugal.
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