Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...
Scott Dixon is being knighted. Dario Franchitti is returning to competition. The Dakar Rally has started. Teams are getting ready to head to Daytona. We are still waiting on Dale Coyne Racing to announced its second driver. We are still waiting on if Prema is going to continue full-time in IndyCar. Callum Ilott has already lined up a backup plan. The Dunlop Bridge at Le Mans has a new sponsor. Hello, Goodyear! There was some racing over the last few weeks while we were away. Over the holiday period, a few thoughts came to mind.
Refilling the Bucket
We ended 2025 emptying the bucket, hitting on a few topics that did not fit into an individual Musings, but could be briefly mentioned and did not need the full space to be flushed out.
There were a few things on my mind but I didn't know they were there. It was only after the final Musings that those came to the surface. It was too late to get those out, but some missed opportunities only need to be delayed opportunities.
It is still early in the year. It is literally the fifth day. My mind is still in holiday mode. Instead of focusing on one thing, let's go over a few things, a few of which are new and came up over the last few weeks.
Would abolishing the playoffs kill Shane van Gisbergen's career?
We don't know what NASCAR is doing with its championship structure. If you are surprised, you haven't been paying attention. NASCAR always announces the big changes in late-January. We are still a few weeks away from knowing what the 2026 structure will be, but with a greater drumbeat of returning to a full season points aggregate to decide the championship, it leads me to ask what would happen to the second-most successful driver of 2025 if such a change occurs?
Van Gisbergen's ascension into the NASCAR Cup Series is 100% down to the format. With one victory essentially guaranteeing a playoff spot, which is one of 16 championship positions that pay a greater amount of money than not making the playoffs. Having one driver who can win a road course race but struggle on all the ovals is a worthy gamble. It doesn't matter if he is going to finish 25th everywhere else. One victory at one of four or five road course races in the regular season means a significant payday at the end of the season.
Trackhouse exploited the system. It knows a championship with van Gisbergen is highly unlikely, but a playoff spot for one of its entries means it getting paid better than half the field. The goal isn't to win the championship with van Gisbergen but to make the playoffs and see if it can sneak into the next round and maybe the round after that.
If the playoff format disappears or changes so a race victory in the regular season does not guarantee a playoff berth, then what is the point of having van Gisbergen in a Cup car?
We know he can win nearly a half-dozen times in a season, but is it worth having him run 31 races if he isn't going to be competitive to them and he isn't going to be close to cracking the top twenty in the championship?
Van Gisbergen doesn't need to run the oval races to be ready to win on a road course. We know van Gisbergen can just show up and win. That is literally what he did in his first NASCAR race ever. There would still be a value having him around. Winning one race is a big deal, and we just saw van Gisbergen win five races in a season, but if the playoffs are not there and one victory is not elevating van Gisbergen and his Trackhouse entry from 26th in the championship to 16th and substantial increasing the team's earnings from the season, is it worth it for all parties?
The system has been devised to incentivize the teams wanting playoffs, and in this post-23XI/FRM vs. NASCAR era, the teams could vocalize and organize keeping a system where one victory can boost a team's earnings even if it has only one top five finish all season.
Let's keep that in mind. It isn't just a NASCAR thing of wanting the playoffs. This is how teams are making money, and for a good number of them, the playoffs are a financial boon that is otherwise unachievable.
It isn't "promotion" to be Fox Sports 1 dead period filler programming?
You may have seen over the Christmas period Fox Sports 1 airing some IndyCar races from this past season. The Christmas time does create a few silent periods around the sports calendar, and with no sports on, and the talking-head shows on break because those knuckleheads aren't going to work over the holidays (they are millionaires, why would they work?), it creates programming pockets to fill. Dust off the tapes and put on events from the summer to fill a Wednesday when nothing else is going on. IndyCar can get a day of its own in December, four months after its most recent race and two months until its next one.
It is nice, but don't confuse that as promotion.
It isn't.
It is exposure for IndyCar, but let's be honest with ourselves, thinking any individual is going to stumble upon an IndyCar race from June being shown around Christmas because there is nothing to broadcast and that person suddenly becoming a fan who is going to start tuning in for every practice, qualifying and race come the first race in March is delusional at best.
It isn't a bad thing. There could be no IndyCar on and then there would be no way for people to become aware, but it isn't going to lead to any growth. Let's not confuse being filler for promotion. Promotion is active, it is engaging, it is trying to draw people in. Lining up ten hours of programming on a day when most people aren't watching television or at least are not watching Fox Sports 1, is taking it easy over the holidays. It is a cheap way to fill the space between commercial breaks.
Nolan Siegel should quit now
Arrow McLaren technical director Tony Kanaan came out last week in an interview with Motorsport.com and said Nolan Siegel needs to finish in the top ten in the championship to keep his place at the team beyond 2026.
Yeah, that isn't going to happen.
Ever since McLaren returned to IndyCar in 2020 we have been used to its ruthless treatment of drivers, and it was a little notable Siegel was not facing the same pressure during the 2025 season when he had two top ten finishes and 11 results outside the top fifteen on his way to 22nd in the championship. Well, here is the ultimatum.
Siegel isn't going to get there. McLaren can surely produce a top ten championship car. Its other two drivers were second and fifth in 2025, but Siegel isn't going to crack the top ten.
The championship top ten last year were Álex Palou, Patricio O'Ward, Scott Dixon, Kyle Kirkwood, Christian Lundgaard, Felix Rosenqvist, Colton Herta, Marcus Armstrong, Will Power and Scott McLaughlin.
There will be at least one new driver in the top ten in 2026, as Herta has moved for Formula Two, but is Siegel really going to be that guy? Josef Newgarden wasn't in the top ten. David Malukas missed out, and Malukas will now be at Team Penske. Christian Rasmussen won a race. Alexander Rossi is still out there. Santino Ferrucci was in the championship top ten in 2024. Marcus Ericsson was a regular in the top ten not long ago.
We have listed 15 drivers. Is Siegel honestly going to beat six of them? And we haven't even named a few other drivers who would like a word in the championship top ten fight.
We can point to Siegel, but we can also point to McLaren and ask what it was thinking rushing to put him in a car when general interest in his ability was low. Teams weren't fighting over the prospect of Nolan Siegel. It could have taken a minute before making a decision. McLaren had Théo Pourchaire. It even had Callum Ilott. It was at no risk of losing Siegel to an equal or superior team.
McLaren wants to be a three-headed monster. It wants all its cars at the front. Siegel isn't going to get there. If Kanaan is saying Siegel must finish in the championship top ten, don't be surprised if we reach a point in 2026 where McLaren cuts him loose when it becomes clear the top ten is unachievable. McLaren isn't going to run a half-dozen races with a lame-duck driver. I don't know if it would hold an audition or it would just look to get the most from its third car with a handful of races remaining, but if we get to Mid-Ohio and Siegel is 18th in the championship or worse, the writing will be on the wall.
Kyle Larson should be ashamed for wanting it easy
Every holiday season, Dinner with Racers returns with another set of podcasts, as Sean Heckman and Ryan Eversley go around the country interviewing a number of key figures from the motorsports world. This year's collection included a podcast with Kyle Larson, and on Larson's episode, the now two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion said he was open to running the 24 Hours of Daytona again, but there was a condition.
A member of the 2015 event winners, Larson had one requirement for such an attempt. "I want to be in the best car," he said.
Everybody wants to be in the best car, but to dictate whether or not to even make an attempt on whether you are in the best car is soulless.
You cannot always be in the best car, and that should not dictate whether you give it a go. If you want to do it, do it. There is a level you want to meet. Larson shouldn't get into a car that is not prepared or thrown together on a whim. If he had an offer from Lamborghini, maybe he declines and it is understandable. However, in the current state of IMSA and the GTP class, basically everyone has a shot. What dictates the best car comes down more to Balance of Performance than anything today, and that can change after cars have already been on track.
Ever since last year's Indianapolis 500, where Larson spun out of the race in turn two, we have seen a driver clam up on stepping out of his comfort zone. He pretty much said he wasn't going to return to the Indianapolis 500 again and doesn't see any value in doing the double. He backed out of racing the Supercars finale at Adelaide. He knows he can win in NASCAR and he can win in sprint cars and midget cars. He is so successful in a number of categories, he will stick with those. Anything else will come with demands.
It is a shame because it shows an unwillingness to embrace a challenge and go through failure. Larson should have some openness and make an attempt with the mindset that the worst possible outcome is he gains experience, and then he can return and try again. This is a driver who can basically do whatever he wants.
Spare me he doesn't know who to talk to in terms of organizing a ride. One, he has an agent. That is the agent's responsibility. Two, Chevrolet and General Motors can find him a ride, and they have two top-class organizations in Wayne Taylor Racing and Action Express Racing running their Cadillac GTP entries. If he wanted it, a ride could be set up in a snap. Action Express rolled out an additional entry when Jimmie Johnson wanted to run the IMSA endurance races, and it put together a strong all-star entry with Kamui Kobayashi, Simon Pagenaud and Mike Rockenfeller filling out that car.
It is a shame when such a top driver tosses his hands up and makes tough work come off as entirely impossible, especially when he truly has enough resources to make it happen. It is worse when there is not a willingness to embrace the challenge and be scared by failure.
Winners While We Were Away
The #47 Cetilar Racing Oreca of Antonio Fuoco, Roberto Lacrote and Charles Milesi swept both 4 Hours of Sepang to open the Asian Le Mans Series season on December 13-14. In the first race, the #13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier-Toyota of Alexander Bukhantsov, Jimmy Chou and Henry Cubides Olarte won in LMP3, and the #9 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG of Anthony Bartone, Fabian Schiller and Shigekazu Wakisaka won in GT.
In the second 4 Hours of Sepang, the #17 CLX Motorsport Ligier-Toyota of Alexander Jacoby, Paul Lanchère and Kévin Rabin won in LMP3, and the The #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Dustin Blattner, Chris Lulham and Dennis Marcshall won in GT.
The #13 Capital RT by Motopark Mercedes-AMG of Adam Christodoulou, Mikhail Aleshin and Denis Remenyako won the Gulf 12 Hours on December 14.
Coming Up This Weekend
The Supercross season begins in Anaheim.
Mexico City hosts the second round of the Formula E season.
