Austin Cindric won the Daytona 500, his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory in his eighth career start. Inconsistent double yellow line rules and last lap cautions are back in NASCAR. Brad Keselowski was taking everyone out at Daytona. Andretti Autosport's pursuit of a Formula One team continues, and I have a feeling this will end poorly. Supercross had a stunning finish in Minneapolis. Everyone is talking about reindeer ahead of Rally Sweden. The Asian Le Mans Series season is over. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.
Good... But Not Great
Unusual for February, there is an IndyCar race ahead of us. After nearly two decades of opening predominantly in March or April, IndyCar starts in the shortest month of the year. It is another season with 17 races. A few drivers have switched teams. A few new teams are set for full-time competition.
IndyCar is coming off a season with a new champion, four drivers in their 20s winning races and incredible races from Indianapolis to Road America, Nashville to Gateway, Barber to Long Beach.
This season should pick up where 2021 left off. Scott Dixon is on the cusp of making history. Josef Newgarden is the American driver Robin Miller always wanted, and then there is Alexander Rossi. Colton Herta and Patricio O'Ward are on the verge of taking over the world. Álex Palou is the defending champion and is somehow still unappreciated.
All the pieces are there for another stellar season with the championship going to the final race with the battle swinging back and forth from the initial green flag in St. Petersburg to the final unfurling of the checkered flag at Laguna Seca.
And yet, as we are within days of the first race of the season, I feel good about IndyCar... but not great.
IndyCar has had a great decade in the DW12-era. It has had more passing and more open races than ever before. The series' streak of the championship going to the final race remains alive, dating back to the 2006 season. The Indianapolis 500 has re-emerged as a premier event, and it has had some of its best races in the last ten years. Those things are going to stay the same in 2022. We will have great races, winners from many different teams and possibly an unexpected champion.
The problem is greater than the season we are about to have.
This is set to be the final season of the 2.2 liters, twin-turbo V6 engines before the 2.4 L, twin-turbo V6 hybrid engines are introduced in 2023. The new Dallara chassis will come a year later. The next phase for IndyCar should provide excitement, but IndyCar finds itself in a familiar place.
With new engine regulations on the horizon, no new engine manufactures are joining the series. Chevrolet and Honda are sticking around, but after waiting for IndyCar to return to three manufactures for the first time since Lotus flamed out after the 2012 season, none are joining the party. IndyCar is in a better place than it was a decade ago, and yet no one is jumping into the pool.
What will it take for IndyCar to attract a new manufacture if the last ten years isn't enough?
The frustrating thing is IndyCar had its chance. Porsche was interested back in early 2019, but IndyCar wasn't set on committing to hybrid technology. The series wanted to make sure it kept Chevrolet and Honda involved before making any decisions. Porsche waited long enough and withdrew its IndyCar interest in April. It wasn't until August 2019 when IndyCar decided to adopt hybrid technology.
The pandemic delayed the introduction of the new regulations. Instead of coming in 2021, it will come in 2023. In the last two years, people got distracted with a game of footsie Ferrari played under the table with IndyCar, but hardened souls knew it would lead to nothing. Toyota is the latest flirt with the series, but Toyota has been clear from the outset that nothing is going to happen between the two parties.
Three of the most notable manufactures in the world have turned IndyCar down in a three-year period, and no others are showing any interest.
As good as things have been, there comes a breaking point. Honda is approaching three decades in IndyCar. That will not last forever. History tells us it will not. The same way Offenhauser and Cosworth are no longer powering cars, Honda will eventually no longer be on the IndyCar grid. Chevrolet has come and gone multiple times. It has been around for the last decade, but if it can leave twice before it can leave a third time.
For all the strides IndyCar has made, all the heart-pounding races, engaging personalities, and increased viewership it can tout, the series has not become any more stable in the last ten years than it was in 2012.
Roger Penske might have purchased the series, but Penske cannot field 24 cars full-time and 33 each Memorial Day weekend on his own. He needs manufactures willing to participate. Two has been enough for now, but three or four or even five would put the series in safer territory.
My fear is this great time everyone has been having since about 2016 is about to peak and a decline will occur simultaneously with the introduction of these new regulations. Eventually, what we think is working will clearly not be producing adequate results IndyCar cannot keep thinking that third or fourth manufacture is just outside the door about to walk in with what it is selling in the window. There comes a point where the series has to make a change and I think that point is approaching.
IMSA and the FIA World Endurance Championship both are undergoing regulation changes, and both are seeing an increase in manufactures. In WEC, Peugeot is coming back in 2022 alongside Toyota. Ferrari returns next year. In IMSA, Cadillac and Acura are sticking around and coming in 2023 are Audi, BMW and Porsche with Alpine building to the LMDh specs for 2024.
In what is essentially one class, the highest form of sports car racing will have nine manufactures in 2024, and more could be coming. At the start of 2020, LMP1 only had Toyota as a manufacture with the privateer Rebellion Racing program and the stillbirth ByKolles and Ginetta programs in the background.
Sports car racing has something figured out. IndyCar was first to the table with regulations and missed badly. IndyCar didn't need to get nine manufactures, but sports car racing showed there was a formula to attract manufactures.
IndyCar needs to make an adjustment. After running strict regulations, a specific engine displacement and specific number of cylinders, maybe it is time for IndyCar to open the allowances. It doesn't have to go crazy but allowing up to three liters and allowing four cylinders or an inline engine or a flat-6 is more likely going to attract makes to the IndyCar grid than the current plan.
But maybe this is the year. Maybe 2022 is what will put one or two or perhaps three other manufactures over the top and IndyCar will be set. After all, if you fail ten times, the 11th time is the charm.
Until something changes, I am feeling good about IndyCar... but not great.
Champions From the Weekend
The #4 Nielsen Racing Oreca-Gibson of Matt Bell, Ben Hanley and Rodrigo Sales clinched the Asian Le Mans Series LMP2 championship with a pair of runner-up finishes in the two Abu Dhabi races.
The #27 CD Sport Ligier-Nissan of Christophe Cresp, Antoine Doquin and Steven Palette clinched the Asian Le Mans Series LMP3 championship with a third-place finish and runner-up finish.
The #7 Inception Racing with Optimum Motorsport McLaren of Ben Barnicoat, Brendan Iribe and Ollie Millroy clinched the Asian Le Mans Series GT championship with finishes of second and sixth.
The #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Axcil Jefferies, Roman Ziemian and Francesco Zollo swept the Abu Dhabi weekend in GT Am and won all four GT Am rounds in the 2022 Asian Le Mans Series season.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about the Austin Cindric and Kessel Racing, but did you know...
Austin Hill won the NASCAR Grand National Series race from Daytona, his first career victory in the series. Zane Smith won the Truck race.
The #23 United Autosports Oreca-Gibson of Josh Pierson and Paul di Resta swept the Asian Le Mans Series races from Abu Dhabi. In the first race, the #2 DKR Engineering Duqueine-Nissan of Sebastián Álvarez Acre, Mathieu de Barbuat and Laurents Hörr won in LMP3. In GT, the #91 Herberth Motorsport Porsche of Ralf Bohn, Alfred Renauer and Robert Renauer swept the races.
Jason Anderson won the Supercross race from Minneapolis, his second consecutive victory and his third of the season.
Coming Up This Weekend
IndyCar opens in St. Petersburg.
The reindeer-shortened Rally Sweden.
NASCAR returns to Fontana for the first time in two years.
Supercross heads to Arlington for a Triple Crown round.
