Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...
Formula One had rain on two days, but not race day. Red Bull hit a milestone. Ducati stomped the competition in Germany. Marc Márquez had five accidents and fractured a bone in his hand, keeping him from competing. There was a pair of photo finishes, including one for a first-time winner. Will Power was angry. Carlos Sainz, Jr. earned himself a penalty. NASCAR was off. Virginia International Raceway hosted some races. Álex Palou is on fire and the IndyCar championship is practically his. IndyCar was at a popular track, but one must wonder if it is the best place IndyCar can be on this weekend.
Should This Have Been IndyCar's Doubleheader Weekend?
IndyCar had a race this weekend, Road America, a fond weekend in the IndyCar schedule, the tipping point to the season. Eight races down, nine races remain, all that is left is the summer and in four months we will know who will be the 2023 IndyCar champion.
NASCAR did not have a race this weekend. It is the only true off-weekend during the NASCAR season. There were no races, and I mean there were no races. No Cup race. No Grand National Series race. No Truck race. Every national series was off. Starting next weekend, it will be 20 consecutive weeks for Cup, 19 of the next 20 weekends for the second-tier division (enjoy the weekend of September 30/October 1) and 11 of 20 weekends for the Truck series.
After this weekend, IndyCar has nine races over eight race weekends over the next 12 weeks. Of those nine races, only three are head-to-head with Cup races (Toronto/Loudon, Iowa II/Pocono, Laguna Seca/Kansas). Mid-Ohio is effectively leading into the Chicago street course race, as is Nashville with Michigan and Portland with the Southern 500 at Darlington. The second IMS road course race for IndyCar is held on the same weekend with NASCAR at the Speedway, and the day before the Cup race. Gateway is the day after the Daytona night race. The first Iowa race is the day before the Cup race from Pocono, and should lead into the Grand National Series race from Pocono.
Head-to-head conflicts are unavoidable occasionally, but IndyCar's second most promoted weekend is the Iowa doubleheader. Hy-Vee is constantly running advertisements during IndyCar races. It is the most expensive ticket, especially with the musical acts. And yet, the Sunday race is held simultaneously with a NASCAR Cup race at Pocono. It has notable competition and that competition is on NBC properties nonetheless. For as much as Hy-Vee has done for the series, its big weekend should be in a spot where it has a little more of the spotlight for itself.
This was NASCAR's only off weekend during the season. Wouldn't it make more sense for IndyCar's only doubleheader weekend, and one of only four oval weekends, to be held when no NASCAR is present?
There was also the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend, so it wasn't a case of the afternoon being free of motorsports in the United States, but there was still a prime opportunity. NASCAR is still averaging around three million viewers for each Cup race. IndyCar is hovering around a million. As much as Formula One has grown in recent years, there is still a segment of motorsport viewers in the United States that are not going to be interested, especially NASCAR fans.
Whether it is because of xenophobia, road courses, Red Bull domination, or something entirely different, there is always going to be a segment of the NASCAR viewership, again an average of three million people, that will not be interested. Those people might not be interested in IndyCar for many of the same reasons, but there could be a greater chance to get them to tune in for a pair of races at Iowa than a race around Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Road America is great, arguably the best we have in the United States, but road courses are always going to have detractors in the United States with ovals being the preferred track discipline in this country. With that being known, shouldn't IndyCar, which has a strong oval product, especially at Iowa, want that on display when NASCAR leaves a void? A certain viewer may not be interested in IndyCar at Road America or Portland or Mid-Ohio, but Iowa may catch their eye.
Iowa was held in June for its first seven seasons on the IndyCar schedule before shifting into July. A month shift wouldn't be inconceivable. One of the issues with this weekend is NBC broadcasted the U.S. Open golf tournament this weekend. That is why Road America was on USA, one of three cable races this season. There was no room on network television for IndyCar, but would that be a bad thing? The television rating will be lower, but IndyCar could take a USA cable window and take more time. There wouldn't be a need to rush off air. The only thing that would be broadcasted around it are re-runs of Law & Order SVU or some other films.
IndyCar could also use NASCAR's off weekend to its advantage. Those NASCAR drivers will not be busy, and Kyle Larson is already scheduled to attempt the Indianapolis 500 next year and in 2025. If Larson isn't busy, why not also run Iowa and get a little more seat time? Why couldn't Iowa be an open weekend for two or three NASCAR drivers to sample IndyCar? If any of them want to run the Indianapolis 500 they will need to get seat time somewhere. Iowa is far different from Indianapolis, but it could be a good way to get a feel for how the car handles and get used to the buttons and doing a live pit stop.
It could also be used as a way for NBC to promote its NASCAR coverage, which starts this weekend. Two or three NASCAR drivers are at Iowa, NASCAR is back on NBC the following weekend. Motorsports synergy at its finest, plus, if Jimmie Johnson can finish in the top five at Iowa, why couldn't a few other NASCAR drivers do the same?
Road America is fine this weekend, but there should be a strategy to the schedule. You can run Road America this weekend, but is that maximizing this weekend for the series? With the race being on cable it is always going to be a matter of taking a loss, but how can it get the most out of a unideal situation? Running two races, the doubleheader weekend, at one of the few oval tracks on the schedule but at a track that has produced its fair share of impression racing could be enough to catch a few eyeballs.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Álex Palou, but did you know...
Max Verstappen won the Canadian Grand Prix, his fourth consecutive victory and his sixth of the season. It was Red Bull's 100th grand prix victory.
Jorge Martín won MotoGP's German Grand Prix as well as the sprint race. Pedro Acosta won the Moto2 race, his second consecutive victory and fourth of the season. Deniz Öncü won the Moto3 race, his first career victory. Jordi Torres and Héctor Garzó split the MotoE races.
Nolan Siegel won the Indy Lights race from Road America, his sand victory of the season. Michael d'Orlando and Lirim Zendeli split the USF Pro 2000 races. Simon Sikes and Lochie Hughes split the U.S. F2000 races.
Mark Winterbottom, Broc Feeney and Jack Le Brocq split the Supercars races from Hidden Valley Raceway.
Ritomo Miyata won the Super Formula race from Sportsland SUGO, his second victory of the season.
The #9 TR3 Racing Mercedes-AMG of Kenton Koch and Danial Morad and the #04 CrowdStrike Racing by Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG of Colin Braun and George Kurtz split the GT World Challenge America races from Virginia International Raceway. The #92 Random Vandals Racing BMW of Kevin Boehm and Kenton Koch and the #41 Auto Tech Racing BMW of Zac Anderson and JCD Dubets split the GT4 America races. Todd Treffert and Memo Gidley split the GT America races.
Coming Up This Weekend
MotoGP has its final round before its summer break, the Dutch TT.
FormulaE makes its first visit to Portland.
IMSA has the 6 Hours of the Glen with 57 entries.
NASCAR will run at night from Nashville Superspeedway.
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters heads to Zandvoort.
The World Rally Championship contests the Safari Rally from Kenya.
