Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...
Eli Tomac moved into sole possession of second all-time in Supercross victories after Tomac went 1-2-1 in the Glendale Triple Crown round, his seventh victory of the season. NASCAR's penalty inconsistencies continued. NASCAR's caution inconsistencies were on full display at Bristol. The All-Star Race format was announced, and NASCAR got it right. The Indianapolis 500 could have 34 entries thanks to the Enerson family. Liam Lawson is going to do just fine in Japan. It was Easter weekend, and that makes this week's theme all the more fitting...
Purity
The past few weeks have raised many conversations about how to end a race, what a race is meant to be, and how much rulebook interference should come in play.
Jumping back a fortnight, NASCAR had an atrocious end to the Austin Cup race. After a flurry of late cautions, the race was extended multiple times as debris or damaged race cars kept bringing out a caution on the penultimate lap, before the leader had taken the white flag during an overtime attempt.
Each subsequent restart played out with the same expected pile-up in turn one with seven to nine cars slamming together, some spinning, others heavily damaged, significantly swinging a race as a driver would be taken out because of a desperate move from another driver deciding to make it eight-wide for 12th.
Jenson Button, who made his NASCAR debut that race, called it silly. In the aftermath, many are wondering if changes are necessary to prevent the end of these races becoming a regulated embarrassment.
Just under seven days later, Formula One was winding down the Australian Grand Prix. At the climax for the most attended grand prix weekend ever, Max Verstappen comfortably had the race won. With four laps remaining, Kevin Magnussen lost a tire and was stranded on the circuit. Instead of finishing under the safety car or attempting to remove the stranded Haas vehicle in a hurry, race control displayed the red flag, bringing everyone to the pit lane and ensuring at least two laps would be remaining for a restart.
The grid was set for the standing restart and into turn one, about eight cars collided, Fernando Alonso was spun off the podium from the front wing of fellow Spaniard Carlos Sainz, Jr., the Alpines were totaled and Logan Sargeant drove over Nyck de Vries. Verstappen had held onto the lead ahead of Lewis Hamilton with Sainz, Jr. taking third while Nico Hülkenberg moved up to fourth, but another red flag was waved.
In an attempt to have a race finish under green flag conditions, Formula One had a race ending under more confusion as still a lap remained when the cars were parked under what was the third red flag of the day. There wasn't going to be enough time for a proper restart, and a half-hour after the turn one incident, nearly an hour after Magnussen lost his right rear tire, the stewards reset the running order, placing Alonso back in third and dropping Hülkenberg down to eighth for what was essentially a ceremonially photo-op of a finish.
Even after all that, the result wasn't final, as Sainz, Jr. received a five-second penalty for the contact on Alonso though Alonso was placed back in third position.
Less than 12 hours after the champagne was sprayed in Melboune, IndyCar ran a 375-mile race around Texas Motor Speedway. After a lackluster five-year period at Texas, expectations were on the floor for this race, but it turned out to be one of the best races IndyCar ever had at Texas. Over 1,000 passes took place, and in the closing stages, it became a seven-car fight for the victory. As the race entered the final ten laps, it was a two-car battle between Josef Newgarden and Patricio O'Ward.
The two drivers traded the lead four times in the final ten laps, and with two laps remaining, Newgarden pulled ahead of O'Ward exiting turn two. Seconds later, Romain Grosjean lost his car and hit the barrier, bringing out the caution and effectively ending the race.
Of these three races, the one with the most satisfactory finish was the IndyCar race. Timing prevented IndyCar from throwing a red flag hoping for a final restart, but despite the lack of a green flag finish, there was a general view that the totality of the first 248 laps, especially the final 50, made Texas a great race, finish be damned.
Everyone wanted a green flag finish with the victory coming down to a photo finish, but it wasn't the case. It didn't mean the race was bad. It is part of racing. Sometimes they end under caution. The Formula One race hours earlier finished under caution but it was a drawn out conclusion that could have been reached an hour earlier.
NASCAR has made it its mission to end races under green flag conditions, willing to extend a race as long as needed to see such a finish, but Austin tested whether such a finish is really necessary. It took a half-hour for NASCAR to complete two green flag laps. Each restart was an abandonment of driving standards, reducing half the field to a demolition derby in turn one where innocent drivers became victims to another competitor throwing all respect out the window.
Formula One is drunk on fanfare. Over 440,000 people went through the turnstiles at Albert Park over the four days in Melbourne. The Magnussen incident put the stewards in a precarious situation. A restart without a red flag had a slim chance of happening and running the final four laps behind the safety car would be an anti-climactic ending, but the race results were pretty much settled at that point. The top six were likely going to finish in those positions. Maybe there would have been a change for eighth. However, Formula One wanted to give the fans more, and somehow ended up giving everyone something less satisfying, from those watching as spectators to those competing in the field.
IndyCar's race played out like thousands of races prior over the last 100 years of motorsports. Don't be mistaken, IndyCar tries to have a green flag finish as well, and if Grosjean had gotten into the barrier four laps earlier, a red flag would have definitely been shown and IndyCar would have set up a two- or three-lap dash for the victory, where an accident with two laps remaining or on the final lap would have ended the race under caution anyway.
But these three races have raised questions about how much should be done to have a race end in an ideal circumstance. For two decades, NASCAR has been playing around to have a green flag finish to give the viewers a satisfying conclusion, but after all these years and all these changes made for the fans, viewership is down significantly. Formula One is starting to sip from the cistern NASCAR has been living at for most of the 21st century. Melbourne 2023 will be an inflection point. We aren't sure where Formula One will go from here. Will it choose not to repeat those decisions or make that the standard operating procedure? In 20 years time, will we be wondering whether Formula One really knew what the fans wanted?
As for IndyCar, purity only gets you so far. It doesn't draw a million television viewers for a Sunday afternoon race. It doesn't appear to draw 5,000 spectators either. The series has adjusted, but mostly stayed firmly planted on what a race is and how long it should go.
IndyCar CEO Mark Miles once said, "Purity is for the puritans." We will see how far the series gets entrenched in its ways. At the moment, it seems to be the most appealing to the masses, but while the series can survive, it cannot thrive on puritans alone. The last 20 years tells us so.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Eli Tomac, but did you know...
Christopher Bell won the NASCAR Cup race from Bristol. Joey Logano won the Truck race.
Liam Lawson and Tomoki Noiri split the Super Formula races from Fuji.
Coming Up This Weekend
IndyCar is at Long Beach, as is IMSA.
The FIA World Endurance Championship has its second round of the season in Portimão.
MotoGP is in the United States for its round from Austin.
NASCAR moves north, and back to pavement, at Martinsville.
Super GT opens its season at Okayama.
Supercross will be at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
