Meyer Shank Racing won the IMSA Daytona Prototype international championship after the #60 Acura of Tom Blomqvist, Oliver Jarvis and Hélio Castroneves won Petit Le Mans, and the team took the Endurance Cup championship too. Wayne Taylor Racing suffered a harsh finish to its season. Marcus Ericsson and Felix Rosenqvist raced at home. Conor Daly will race a Cup car. NASCAR drivers are upset. World Rally has a new youngest world champion. The weather shook up Buriram and one championship has half points in play. Singapore had some weather but everyone got full points, also because the regulations no longer allow half points. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.
Why Compromise When You Can Compete?
The 2023 NTT IndyCar Series schedule is now out. It was as expected, same races as 2022 and largely on the same weekends with a few shifts, plus a month between the opening race of the season at St. Petersburg and the second race at Texas.
There is a good flow to the season after that fractured start. There are no other consecutive off weekends after Texas, with four back-to-backs and the season ending with three race weekends on the spin.
Not only do we have the race dates, but the networks for the American broadcasts. Thirteen of 17 races will be on network NBC with three races on USA (Road America, Mid-Ohio and the August Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course race) and one race streamed exclusively on Peacock (Toronto).
Of course, all we are waiting on is the official times for these races, but that will another cause of derision.
In recent years, as IndyCar and NASCAR have worked closer together, we have seen the benefit of a rising tide lifting all boats. Before the pandemic, IndyCar races would lead into NASCAR races and see a boost in rating, same with the occasional time it followed a NASCAR race. During the pandemic, IndyCar and NASCAR shared a race weekend on the IMS road course and it has been a yearly thing ever since.
There has been more harmony between the two series than ever before, and yet, collaboration remains infrequent, especially in terms of perhaps the most important thing the two sides share, television scheduling.
The 2022 season was the first season of IndyCar's new television deal with NBC and it saw an expansion of races on network television with 14 races on free-to-air NBC, a massive swing from a series that was largely present on cable television.
But one good thing was outweighed with another. IndyCar might have been on NBC more, but more races went head-to-head with NASCAR Cup races.
In 2019, there were only four occasions of an IndyCar race and a NASCAR Cup race occurring simultaneously. Those four IndyCar races were Austin, Barber, the second Belle Isle race and Mid-Ohio. Only Mid-Ohio took place during NBC's portion of the NASCAR season, but only two of those races started around the same time, Belle Isle and Mid-Ohio. The other two races saw staggered starts but much of the races happening at the same time.
In 2022, there were five times the two series ran concurrently, four of which were during the NBC portion of the NASCAR season, and all five of those races effectively started at the same time. Those five IndyCar races were Belle Isle, Toronto, the second Iowa race, Nashville and Laguna Seca.
The numbers are basically the same, but this feels different, and not long ago, this would look much different. The biggest cause for this shift is the decline of Saturday night races for both series. There were weekends where the NASCAR Cup Series ran Saturday night and IndyCar would have Sunday open. There were IndyCar races that happen Saturday night. IndyCar had one Saturday night race in 2022, and NASCAR had only three scheduled for its entire season, one of which happened after the IndyCar season ended.
Saturday night does not draw the same number of viewers as Sunday afternoon, and as both series attempt to become more attractive for sponsors, these series must maximize its viewership. The answer is Sunday afternoon.
The problem is there is only so much of Sunday afternoon for everyone. That 3:00 p.m. Eastern window is the most valuable, not just for motorsports but for nearly all sports. With IndyCar being heavily on NBC and NASCAR mostly on USA in the second half of the year, those are two open slots for each series to take. They are looking out for themselves, and rightfully so.
IndyCar is the bigger loser of the two. It is third in the pecking order of American motorsports. It doesn't matter how good the IndyCar race is, how dramatic the championship picture is, who the drivers are and how likely they are, if IndyCar is on the same time as NASCAR, more people will watch NASCAR, even those who like watching both. IndyCar could work to flip the script and become the draw, but that will likely take years and a lot of money for what will likely be a fruitless endeavor. The best option is to strategically schedule its races, but strategy can mean losing out.
NASCAR has the rule of the roost, and if it is planting itself at 3:00 p.m. Eastern, it is going to stay at 3:00 p.m. Eastern and not move for anyone. There is also the conflict of networks. From February until the middle of June, NASCAR is on Fox, and Fox isn't going to budge for the sake of IndyCar on NBC. As much as these series work together, they will not look out for each other.
There will likely be just as many, if not more direct conflicts in 2023.
St. Petersburg should get in before the NASCAR race begins in Las Vegas. The end may overlap with the start, but that isn't too bad. But Texas and Richmond are the same day, and after Texas' dismal crowd for a 12:30 p.m. Eastern start in 2022, I bet that race will be later, but Richmond will likely remain a 3:00 p.m. ET start. Even if Texas moves to 2:00 p.m. Eastern, 1:00 p.m. local start, the races overlap too much.
Long Beach will start after Martinsville in all likelihood, but the finishes will likely overlap and starting an hour or two later will only hurt IndyCar as viewers will be engaged with the NASCAR race and not leave. Barber and Dover could happen simultaneously or Barber could start early enough that it is over just before Dover begins or during the opening laps from Dover.
The month of May is a break for IndyCar with the Grand Prix of Indianapolis remaining on Saturday afternoon while the Indianapolis 500 is hours before the Coca-Cola 600, but Detroit will likely be the same time as the NASCAR race from Gateway.
There is some hope. IndyCar will run at Road America on NASCAR's lone off-week during the season and after Road America, NASCAR will be on NBC. Mid-Ohio is scheduled to be on USA, and perhaps that could be a lead-in broadcast to the NASCAR race on the streets of Chicago, but there are a few other conflicts that are bound to happen.
Toronto will happen at the same time as Loudon. The second Iowa race will likely happen at the same time as Pocono while the first Iowa race will likely happen simultaneously as the NASCAR Xfinity race. Nashville and Michigan will likely be the same time again.
The final four IndyCar races get a break. The combination weekend on the IMS road course is a break for both. Gateway is scheduled for the day after the NASCAR Cup race from Daytona on Saturday night and Portland will happen before the Southern 500 from Darlington starts on a Sunday night. The last concern is the Laguna Seca season finale, but it is set up for that race to start at the same time as the Kansas Cup race.
It is safe to say there will be anywhere from six to eight times IndyCar races and NASCAR Cup Series races will largely happen at the same time and force viewers to choose one over the other. If these series are working together, that is way too many.
These are separate series with separate sanctioning bodies, and there will be some conflicts. It is inevitable as the series run in the same regions at the same time of the year and sometimes it will just happen. But in IndyCar's case, to have a third to half of its schedule in direct conflict is bad for series exposure. Unless IndyCar is going to shift to a lot of noon Eastern start times, we are going to hear the same disgruntled comments we heard this summer repeated in 2023.
Compromise is an option, especially in the shared NBC portion of the season. An IndyCar lead-in will happen 99 times out of 100, but if both series want the 3:00 p.m. window, they will have to share it and compromise from time to time. Compromise isn't happening in the first half of the year when NASCAR is on Fox, but in the second half, there are a few race weekends where NASCAR could run earlier.
Pocono doesn't have lights. It could start at 1:00 p.m. Eastern to make the most of the afternoon and the second Iowa IndyCar race could start at 4:30 p.m. Eastern. Nashville had an evening start in 2021 and that was something different that could work. In 2022, Nashville ended up being basically an evening race after a significant rain delay. The NASCAR Michigan race could begin at 2:00 p.m. Eastern with IndyCar from Nashville starting at 5:30 p.m. Eastern.
Anytime the IndyCar and NASCAR combination weekend is mentioned we hear about how the series are not competition for one another and they must work together for the better of motorsports. But then occur the other 51 weekends in the year and the two series compete way more than they compromise. If both sides believe they must work for one another for the greater good of American motorsports then we must see changes in the calendar and when races are scheduled.
Until we see most of those conflicts addressed, and frankly eliminated, we can stop singing Kumbaya.
Champions From the Weekend
You know about Meyer Shank Racing, but did you know...
John Farano clinched the IMSA LMP2 championship with his victory in the #8 Tower Motorsport by Starworks Oreca-Gibson with Louis Delétraz and Rui Andrade.
The #54 CORE Autosport Ligier-Nissan of Colin Braun and Jon Bennett clinched the IMSA LMP3 championship with a fifth-place finish at Petit Le Mans.
The #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche of Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet clinched the IMSA GT Daytona Pro championship by starting Petit Le Mans.
Roman De Angelis clinched the IMSA GT Daytona championship with a seventh-place finish in the #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin with Maxime Martin and Ian James.
The #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca-Gibson of Ben Keating, Scott Huffaker and Mikkel Jensen clinched the IMSA LMP2 Endurance Cup.
The #74 Riley Motorsports Ligier-Nissan of Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga and Kay van Berlo clinched the IMSA LMP3 Endurance Cup.
The #62 Risi Competizione of Davide Rigon and Daniel Serra clinched IMSA GTD Pro Endurance Cup
The #70 inception Racing McLaren of Brendan Iribe and Jordan Pepper clinched IMSA GTD Endurance Cup.
The #88 AMG - Team AKKodis ASP Mercedes-AMG of Jules Gounon, Daniel Juncadella and Raffael Marciello clinched the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup with a fifth-place finish in Barcelona.
Kalle Rovanperä clinched the World Rally Drivers' Championship with his victory in Rally New Zealand, his sixth victory of the season.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Meyer Shank Racing, but did you know...
The #36 Andretti Autosport Ligier-Nissan of Gabby Chaves, Jarett Andretti and Josh Burdon won in LMP3 at Petit Le Mans. The #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Jack Hawksworth, Ben Barnicoat and Kyle Kirkwood won in GTD Pro after the #62 Risi Competizione was disqualified for drive time violation. The #66 Gradient Racing Acura of Mario Farnbacher, Till Bechtolsheimer and Kyffin Simpson won in GTD.
Sergio Pérez won the Singapore Grand Prix, his second victory of the season.
Miguel Oliviera won MotoGP's Thailand Grand Prix, his second victory of the season. Tony Arbolino won a rain-shortened Moto2 race, his second victory of the season. Dennis Foggia won the Moto3 race, his fourth victory of the season.
Chase Elliott won the NASCAR Cup Series race from Talladega, his fifth victory of the season. A.J. Allmendinger won the Grand National Series race, his fourth victory of the season. Matt DiBenedetto won the Truck race, his first career victory.
The #54 Dinamic Motorsport Porsche of Klaus Bachler, Matteo Carroll and Alesia Picariello won the 3 Hours of Barcelona.
The #17 Astemo Real Racing Honda of Nobuharu Matsuahita and Koufax Tsukakoshi won the Super GT race from Autopolis. The #52 Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave Toyota of Kohta Kawaai and Hiroki Yoshida won in GT300.
Coming Up This Weekend
The 65th Bathurst 1000.
Formula One is back at Suzuka.
NASCAR ends its second round of the playoffs at Charlotte's infield road course.
The Indianapolis 8 Hours closes out the GT World Challenge America season and it is the penultimate round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge season.
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters ends its season at Hockenheim.
World Superbike is at Portimão.
