This might become a monthly exercise as each weekend there are thoughts floating around that don't always fit into the weekly structure of writing. Instead of jamming it in, it is good to give it some time, think it over, and see if there are any developments in the thought process. When there is an opening in the schedule, that is the time to share.
For April, IndyCar and MotoGP are on my mind.
Wavearounds
I have written this before, and I will write it again, IndyCar should tweak its wavearound procedure.
Case in point, Texas.
On lap 160, Patricio O'Ward had lapped up to third place. Josef Newgarden was the only other car on the lead lap, and Newgarden was over seven seconds back. O'Ward was the only car on the lead lap from lap 165 through lap 167 during the pit cycle and before he came in on lap 169. On lap 179, the caution came out. On lap 182, O'Ward and Newgarden made another pit stop and the subsequent wavearound put Álex Palou, Romain Grosjean, Scott Dixon, David Malukas, Colton Herta and Hélio Castroneves back on the lead lap.
However, on lap 188, five of those six drivers made a pit stop (Malukas didn't). All of those drivers went from a lap down to on the lead lap but off sequence to on the lead lap and on sequence in the space of ten caution laps.
If the wavearound is going to exist, IndyCar should at least adopt NASCAR's policy and not allow those cars to make pit stops under that caution. You either take the wavearound or you make a pit stop, not both.
O'Ward was the class of the field and had gapped Newgarden. Newgarden was the only other driver in the same zip code, and he was on the edge of the city limits. Everyone else was out to lunch, and effectively got moved to the front of the line.
With the number of cautions that followed, those cars would have been at the front eventually, but they shouldn't be put there immediately and have a shot to take the lead on the restart. There should be some traffic between them and the leaders. It is a simple thing IndyCar should adopt.
Bumping
Not long ago, Long Beach was the pivotal point for Indianapolis 500 entries. It was the weekend we would hear at least one or two additional entries announced and a few more would come in the following weeks as May approached.
In 2023, we had 33 cars set and ready before we even got to April. Long Beach was just Long Beach, but this year, we had a report of one more Indianapolis 500 entry. R.C. Enerson reportedly will make his second Indianapolis 500 attempt driving an entry for Abel Motorsports, an Indy Lights team, with a Chevrolet engine program. With this possible Abel/Enerson combination, 34 cars will attempt to qualify, meaning at least one team will not make the Indianapolis 500.
It is likely we all prefer bumping. That edge in qualifying heightens the event. The bar is raised. No one is in race trim and just making a qualifying attempt that is symbolic in nature. I am fine with one car going home. Is 34 that much of an improvement over 33? It is almost a wash. I was comfortable after Ryan Hunter-Reay was confirmed as the 33rd entry with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing if that was it. Not that I only wanted 33, but it looked unlikely we would see a 34th or 35th and the 33 cars we had were strong.
The IndyCar grid is maxed out with 34 entries. The existing teams cannot really accommodate more entries, and there aren't three or four Indianapolis-only teams out there. The manufacturers also are stretched at 17 entries apiece. We saw back in 2019 that Honda and Chevrolet could run 18 entries, but that requires all the other pieces to fall perfectly in place. IndyCar is a few pieces short at the moment, and 34 is the natural limit.
If IndyCar wanted more than one car going home, it could systematically put its thumb on the scale to get 18 entries from each manufacturer. Say IndyCar introduced a 1,000-point bonus to the manufacturers' championship for each manufacturer that had 18 cars make an Indianapolis 500 qualifying attempt. A thousand points would guarantee a manufacturer the championship. If one did it the other would be forced to do it. If the manufacturers' championship truly matters to Honda and Chevrolet, they would do this no matter what so they wouldn't gift the other the championship.
As much as I would love IndyCar to do such a thing, it is not going to happen any time soon. We will have bumping, though it could be anti-climatic or leave us yearning for more.
Sprints
I hate to say it but I like the MotoGP sprint races. Maybe it is just because MotoGP puts on a quality race no matter what, but they are enjoyable to watch.
I am not a fan of the sprint boom we are seeing in global motorsports. It does feel like it isn't solving a problem. The series officials say it adds more racing, but it runs the risk of diluting what already exist. There is also a limit to how much racing there can be. If interest starts to drop, series cannot keep adding races to solve the problem. At some point the number of races isn't the issue. We cannot have sprint races on Friday and Saturday and then a full race on Sunday. Theoretically having 60 races in a season would be overkill.
Formula One has been testing the waters and slowly expanding sprint races. Whether it ever goes 100% remains to be seen. MotoGP went all-in without warning last year. It felt reactionary. No one was asking for it, but MotoGP felt it was necessary to add value to the race weekends.
My issue with sprint races is they reward the teams that are already the best. They are essentially what stage points are to NASCAR. The cars running at the front are getting a greater reward and widening the gap to the rest of the field. That doesn't make the competition better. The rich get richer.
In MotoGP, sprint races are currently insurance for Francesco Bagnaia. Two falls in the last two races took him out of finishes of second and first. It cost him 45 points, but his sprint points have him still second in the championship, only 11 points off Marco Bezzecchi. Bagnaia has more than double the points he should have based on race finishes alone.
Could sprint points allow for some funky championship outcomes? It is obviously possible. Bagnaia could finish outside the points again in Jerez but become the championship leader thanks to the sprint race. That is a sporting dilemma we can face at another time.
Though I am not for it, I prefer MotoGP went all in and adopted it for every race. All the race weekends are worth the same. This isn't Formula One where a half-dozen randomly selected rounds are worth more points. It is uniform. The one thing in MotoGP's favor is the depth of the field. It is more likely the MotoGP sprint race will look completely different from the grand prix, while in Formula One the sprint is foreshadowing the grand prix for the most part.
Brad Binder went from 15th to first in the Argentina sprint. Binder gained six positions in Austin to finish fifth in the sprint while Jorge Martín went from 12th to third and Miguel Oliveira went from 15th to eighth.
It is still early in the season, and riders are concerned about the physical toll of running 21 sprint races, which are legitimate in my eyes as well. The jury is still out on the sprint race's long-term future.
