Musings From the Weekend: I Fixed IndyCar Scheduling

Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...

Max Verstappen got on the board with a victory in the Japanese Grand Prix. McLaren had two challengers and neither could get that close. Suzuka was a tinder box until race day. God bless the rain. The weather significantly shortened the Supercross main events from Foxborough, and it was a great equalizer though not the highest standard of competition. Some drivers have soured over NASCAR's throwback weekend, and perhaps the wrong drivers have. Some people forget that Martin Truex, Jr. once led 588 of 600 miles in a race and won! After another week to think about it, I have fixed IndyCar's schedule problem. 

I Fixed IndyCar Scheduling

Problem solved. To be honest, this came to me right after I finished last week's Musings.

How do you get rid of the gaps in the IndyCar schedule?

The answer is add more races, but how many and where and is it realistic? 

I hate doing fantasy schedules because they are almost universally bad and not grounded in reality. 

"Go back to Cleveland." Cleveland is gone. There is no interest from the city or anyone of note in the paddock for it to return.

"Return to Chicagoland." Have you been paying attention to the last six years?

"Go to Australia." Who is paying? 

"Return to Indianapolis 500 practice starting May 1st." Just stop.

Most of these fantasies are garbage. If you have been paying attention, IndyCar is never going to do something completely radical when it comes to the schedule. It isn't going to do anything radical period. However, if there is a hope for some kind of spark for something new, there are reasonable changes that could be made. One day, you have to think IndyCar will take a swing, even if it isn't the most stunning thing in the history of mankind. 

There is a way for IndyCar to completely eliminate multi-week gaps in the 2026 schedule. One piece has already fallen in place. It only requires adding two more race weekends to get there. IndyCar has been slow to add one more weekend, and the inclusion of the Grand Prix of Arlington is one down, what are the odds of getting two more? Low, but IndyCar must make a step and there is a way it can expand the schedule without being crazy, but in a beneficial way for the series. 

Strategy is also key. IndyCar should be strategic when scheduling races when it comes to NASCAR races and start times. It isn't just picking out the same weekends, but choosing weekends and race times that will maximize viewership.

We also don't know what the 2026 NASCAR schedule will look like. The best we can do is use 2025 as a template and possibly little to nothing changes. 

Shall we begin?

March 8: St. Petersburg

March 15: Arlington

IndyCar has not started a season with consecutive races since 2021, and that was because of the pandemic and St. Petersburg moved to late-April. The last time it was scheduled that way was 2012, and that was when the season was 15 races and it began on March 25. IndyCar needs momentum to start a season. Two races off the crack of the bat will do it. 

March 22: Off

March 29: Thermal

April 5: Off

To make this works, Thermal must stay on the schedule. IndyCar isn't going to find another venue, and we can live with it. The race wasn't bad. I don't know how IndyCar can make that venue more inclusive, but perhaps the series and the club can work together. 

It is going to be head-to-head with the NASCAR race. That would likely also be the case for Arlington. St. Petersburg could still be leading into a Cup race.

With Easter on the April 5, this is the only occasion with one race split by off weeks. In every other case, there will be consecutive races.

April 12: Barber

April 19: Long Beach

April 26: Richmond

This is where eyes will pop, but here me out. 

Long Beach is already scheduled (thanks IMSA). IndyCar cannot afford to be off after Easter week. Move Barber up mostly because the weekend of April 26 will likely be Talladega weekend for NASCAR. That's not going to work. It would move Barber against Bristol or Darlington. Barber could start early enough that it is nearly over when the Cup race starts. 

Why put Richmond in on April 26? 

1. It gets IndyCar back in the Northeast.

2. It is spring time and the conditions should be favorable.

3. Richmond hosted a NASCAR weekend in April for a long time. 

4. Richmond's only NASCAR weekend is in the middle of August, which means this is a prime spot to hold a race and not worry about splitting ticket buyers over one race or another.

5. This will likely be Talladega for NASCAR, and that is a Fox race. IndyCar could have its first oval race of the season lead into what will be a well-viewed NASCAR race. Richmond could start at 12:30 p.m. Eastern and lead right into Talladega. That is a television window IndyCar must take advantage of, and if it let's one of those slip, it isn't doing the best it can to play to the audience. 

May 3: Off

May 9: Grand Prix of Indianapolis

May 16-17: Indianapolis 500 Qualifying

May 24: Indianapolis 500

May 31: Detroit

June 6; Gateway

Nothing in the month of May needs to change. Roger Penske isn't going to move Detroit from being the weekend after the "500." 

The one change that I think is realistic is moving Gateway to a Saturday night race. 

It would get Gateway off a NASCAR Sunday, and instead of running head-to-head with Michigan, it could run on a night of its own. 

Also, IndyCar could make a trade. Right now, Fox is loading up Friday and Saturday nights with UFL games. There can be one weekend where UFL gets a Sunday afternoon and IndyCar gets a Saturday night. After all, what is the difference between a football game that might barely draw one million viewers and an auto race that might draw one million viewers? It seems like a wash on the programming front. 

I will go one step further. Make Gateway 300 laps. Add 40 laps for the sake of adding laps. It is a full race and it will fill the television window. 

June 14: Off

June 21: Road America

June 28: Mid-Ohio

July 5: Off

After a busy end to spring, IndyCar gets off and it falls on Le Mans weekend, so people can get happy that drivers can theoretically run Le Mans when all we will get is Callum Ilott and Nolan Siegel filling LMP2 pro-am entries. Fun!

Summer 2026 gets a little complicated with the 2026 FIFA World Cup taking place in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and Fox is the broadcasting partner in the United States. Like the Summer Olympics with NBC, the World Cup is a major property for Fox, and it take precedence over almost every other property.

The tournament begins on Thursday June 11 and it will run through Sunday July 19. The last World Cup in Qatar had matches start locally at 1:00 p.m., 4:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. nearly every day of the group stage. With at least four matches a day for basically the entire first half of the tournament, it does pose a small problem of when a race could get in on Fox. It should be noted those starts were a favorable time for Europe. A 10:00 p.m. Eastern start is not ideal for Europe. When the World Cup was last in the Western Hemisphere for Brazil 2014, matches began at noon, 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Eastern.

What falls in IndyCar's favor is the World Cup has two Sundays with no scheduled games. Obviously, those should be fair game for a race. It is the other weekends where it gets tricky. If Fox is splitting up its matches and having at least one or two on FS1 each day, it opens the door for an IndyCar race on Fox. However, there is a chance Fox will want to go wall-to-wall World Cup on a Sunday afternoon and from noon until midnight there will be nothing but soccer. 

If the real estate is not on network television, does IndyCar eat a race on cable and FS1? It would likely be no more than one or two races. I think that is worth it. Take the sacrifice. 

I would say run Road America on June 21, whether it be on Fox or FS1. It would likely be head-to-head with a NASCAR race, but that is going to be the case no matter what weekend Road America runs. June 28 is one of the two Sundays with no World Cup games. That is the date for Mid-Ohio then, which moves up from Independence Day weekend.

The other plus-side, besides avoiding the World Cup, Mid-Ohio would not be head-to-head with the NASCAR street race from Chicago. Mid-Ohio moves to an open Sunday afternoon because NASCAR races on Saturday night that weekend at Atlanta. For some reason, IndyCar is letting that Sunday slip through its fingers this year. IndyCar cannot afford to do that. It is borderline stupid. It should have adjusted its schedule this year when it saw such a gift left on the table. 

July 12 Toronto

July 18 OR July 19: Iowa

July 26: Off

The other Sunday without a World Cup match is July 12. This is prime for Toronto and with good reason. July 19 is the final. Racing against the World Cup final would be complete lunacy.

Here is the U.S. viewership of the last four World Cup finals:

2010: 24,700,000 (2:30 p.m. kick off)

2014: 27,250,000 (3:00 p.m.)

2018: 17,830,000 (11:00 a.m.)

2022: 25,783,000 (11:00 a.m. and on December 21)

Flip Toronto and Iowa to give Toronto the open Sunday. Toronto might be against a Cup, but this is one occasions where you just have to accept it.

We know the dates for every World Cup match, but we do not know the times. Historically, the World Cup Final and third-place game have started at a favorable time for Europe even when the match has been in the Western Hemisphere. The 1994 final from the Rose Bowl started at 12:30 p.m. Pasadena time. 

There is a world where the third-place game and final each start in the middle of the afternoon in the United States. Those are not the most ideal conditions the locations of those matches, Miami for the third-place game, and East Rutherford, New Jersey for the final, but it is better for viewers all around the globe. 

In that case, the nights are open. 

Iowa becomes a single-race weekend to make up for the additional races, but it is a night race. Fox is already willing to show Iowa's first race this year at 5:00 p.m. Eastern on a Saturday. I am sure a 7:00 p.m. or 8:00 p.m. start could be found on a Saturday night. After all, it is a throwaway Saturday night in the summer, and it would avoid the Cup race. What else is Fox is showing?

The only other possibility I would consider is could the IndyCar race from Iowa follow the World Cup Final on July 19? If that match starts at 3:00 p.m. Eastern, it will be done long by 6:00 p.m. even if it goes to penalties. Does IndyCar have a race at 7:00 p.m. on a Sunday night or 7:30 p.m. or whenever Fox decides to conclude its post-game window? The final could possibly have 30 million viewers in the United States. IndyCar will never have a better lead-in program for a race. If the final starts in the afternoon, I am keen on having Iowa follow the World Cup final. And I am talking no bullshit at the start of the broadcast. When Fox's post-game ends it tosses to the cars ready to roll off for the pace laps. Get right into the race and give the audience something to remain engaged on. 

The series should be keen on that as well. 

I am going to go a step further. If anyone in IndyCar's front office has a pulse, they would already be setting this up for 2026. All the pieces are there. You have an oval that can host a night race. You are in Fox's ear and Fox likes big events. You can turn the day in Iowa into a watch party for the World Cup final with a race to follow. Don't let this opportunity slip pass you! Take initiative and do something big!

To make up for Iowa going down to one race, increase the Iowa race to 400 laps. Make it the longest Iowa race we have seen. That is adding maybe a half-hour of action. In the history of Iowa races, only two of seven 300-lap races took more than two hours to complete, and those races took two hours, one minute and 59 seconds and the other took two hours, three minutes and 50 seconds. The second race of last year's doubleheader saw 250 laps completed in an hour and 26 minutes. A 400-lap race would be fine.

August 2: Portland

August 9: Laguna Seca

August 16: Off

These western races have to take place at some time, and this is the time we get. There will be some overlap with the NASCAR. You just have to accept it. NASCAR is starting all of its races at 3:00 p.m. It is never going to start a race at 1:00 p.m. Eastern again, allowing for a West Coast race to start at 4:00 p.m. with no overlap. That is the reality in the year 2025 A.D. This concludes the road course portion of the schedule, and IndyCar could have a fun oval run-in to end the season. 

August 23: Pocono

August 30: Milwaukee

September 6: Nashville

It is incredible that IndyCar has left Pocono twice and both times have been inimical divorces. The crazy things is after 2019, Pocono still kind of wanted to keep IndyCar. Mostly because its NASCAR weekend in 2020 was becoming a doubleheader and Pocono needed another event weekend, but IndyCar passed. That might have been the wrong decision for IndyCar. Either way, the two are no longer together, but the opportunity exists for a reunion after a much more brief second separation. 

1. It would be a second race in the Northeast.

2. It would be in late summer after Richmond was in the middle of spring. 

3. It would be a 500-mile race to kick off a three-race oval sprint to the championship. 

4. It would run on a Sunday afternoon when NASCAR has raced on Saturday night at Richmond. 

There must be a way the series and track can work together. I know people left Pocono on walking on eggshells, but there is a way to hold these races and keep all the competitors safe.

We could have the season end with a big oval, little oval and an intermediate oval, and all three would not be head-to-head against NASCAR Cup races. Pocono would be the day after the Richmond night race. Milwaukee would be the day after the Daytona night race. Nashville would be in the afternoon and end well before the Southern 500 begins. I am not sure IndyCar could ask for a better way to end its season. 

There is one other thing IndyCar could do to help these oval events and increase viewership...

Pay Kyle Larson $2 million to run the final six oval races. 

There is no way Larson could run Richmond if it ends within an hour of the Talladega race beginning, but the other six oval races on the schedule all take place when not against a Cup race.

Indianapolis and Charlotte are the same day, but that is the appeal of The Double.

Gateway would be the day before a Cup race, and how many times has Larson run a dirt race the night before a Cup race? This would end at a much better hour and be closer to a major airport. The same would go for Iowa if it is on a Saturday. If Iowa is on a Sunday, perhaps Larson does a "reverse double," a NASCAR race before running an IndyCar race! Would NASCAR run a race head-to-head with the World Cup Final in the United States? It ran head-to-head with the 2014 final, which is the most recent TNT race (It was at Loudon). Iowa could be tricky.

Then you would have Pocono and Milwaukee happen the day after a Cup race. That could pose a problem if there is a rainout at the NASCAR race, but it is worth rolling the dice. Larson could have a chance at a second double (or possibly third) to end the season, and that would be much more friendly than the first one. Nashville to Darlington would likely take around 90 minutes. Larson got from Indianapolis to North Wilkesboro in a little over 90 minutes last year on qualifying weekend. 

Why attempt a second double? Why not if you are Kyle Larson? Why not do something completely unheard of before? Many have done Indianapolis to Charlotte. Has anyone run an IndyCar race before the running the Southern 500? No! Break the mold! Besides, Nashville would only be 300 miles, barely anything that would break a sweat for Larson.

At $2 million, you would think Larson wouldn't say no. Where else would he get $2 million to run six races? Keep him in the McLaren, have the series cover his salary, it is an investment that would pay for itself. Hell, throw $1 million at Rick Hendrick just to get him to say yes. Are any of these IndyCar oval races more dangerous than some of the dirt races he participates in? Arguably, no.  

IndyCar needs some buzz. If Kyle Larson was competing in essentially all the oval races while still full-time in Cup, people would tune in. Paying $3 million to have Larson run a half-dozen races is likely the best marketing strategy IndyCar can come up with. What else is going to get people to watch? We have tried selling "fastest racing on the planet." People do not care that there are 400 passes in a street race and there are more passes in one race than an entire Formula One season. 

Aim for stunts! Make people turn their heads and say, "IndyCar did what?!?!" The series has nothing else to lose. IndyCar could be the fun uncle series. It splashes around a lot of cash and always keeps it interesting. I realize this is IndyCar I am talking about. It doesn't splash much of anything around. 

The Larson thing is a stretch, but the rest of the schedule seems reasonable. It is at least grounded. It would take some work, but IndyCar is that close to a good thing. In a blink, IndyCar can go from a frustrating schedule where it is inactive for the better part of a month immediately after it gets started to regularly active and in sight from the start of March through Labor Day weekend. It can also return to the Northeast to a pair of encouraging facilities in the process. 

IndyCar has nothing else to lose. Will it cost more to have two more races? Yes, but this is what it takes. If adding two races is what breaks Dale Coyne Racing and causes the team to close its doors, well, it has been a great four-decade run. Would it be a bad thing if IndyCar went down to 23-24 full-time entries with 19 races? It is time for an evolution, and if you cannot evolve, it was nice knowing you. 

If IndyCar put out this schedule... some people would find fault with it. It's IndyCar. Someone will be upset about something. Thermal would still be there. There you go. Ridiculous anger aside, this schedule would draw more vigor and excitement IndyCar has not seen for a long time. There would be more ovals and longer races. You would never have multiple weeks off and other than on one occasion there would be races on consecutive weekends on a regular basis. 

Ever since the pandemic, IndyCar has thrilled nobody. This would be a wonderful chance to change the tide and get IndyCar on the right path.

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Max Verstappen, but did you know...

Denny Hamlin won the NASCAR Cup race from Darlington, his second career victory. Brandon Jones won the Grand National Series race, ending a 98-race winless streak.

The #83 AF Corse Oreca of François Perrodo, Alessio Rovera and Mathieu Vaxiviére won the 4 Hours of Barcelona. The #17 CLX Motorsport Ligier of Adrien Closmenil, Theodor Jensen and Paul Lanchère won in LMP3. The #85 Iron Dames Porsche of Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting and Célia Martin won in GT3.

Aaron Plessinger won the Supercross race from Foxborough. Chance Hymas won the 250cc race, his first career victory.

Coming Up This Weekend

IndyCar moves onto Long Beach.

IMSA will also be in Long Beach as will GT America.

Formula One has a night race in Bahrain.

MotoGP has a night race in Qatar.

World Superbike has a round at Assen.

Supercars head east to Taupō.

NASCAR will be at Bristol.

Super GT opens its season at Okayama.

Formula E has its first round at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Supercross will be in Philadelphia.

IndyCar's Unanswered Questions: Most Races Before First Pole Position

As the final round of qualifying began at Thermal Club nearly two weeks ago, I looked over the six participants and thought about how long it had been since each started on pole position. 

Colton Herta seems to regularly be on pole position, though it doesn't always turn out to be more in the race. Álex Palou has a good qualifying track record. Christian Lundgaard worked his fair amount of magic with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. It had been a minute for Patricio O'Ward. It had been a little longer for Ed Carpenter Racing and Alexander Rossi had a chance to do something special. Then came Marcus Ericsson.

It dawned on me Ericsson had never won a pole position, at least not one in my memory. I did know he was approaching 100 starts in IndyCar. 

Sure enough, Ericsson has never won a pole position in his IndyCar career and after Thermal Club weekend, the Swede has made 99 starts but has yet to start first. He is one race away from hitting a milestone without achieving another milestone in his career. 

That led to further questions. Who has the most starts before a first career pole position?

Not many could have gone 100 starts or more before getting a first career pole position. 

One problem, the answer is not that easy to find. For the length of IndyCar's history and the number of resources we have, there are still factoids such as this that are not easy to find an answer. A Google search does not provide an answer. It doesn't even get into the realm of a correct answer. 

Instead of relying on the mess of the internet, why not do the research and find the answer myself? With the breather IndyCar is taking this April, there is a chance to find the answer to some of the unanswered     questions surrounding the IndyCar record book. 

Speaking of the IndyCar record book, IndyCar only recognizes pole positions from the 1930 onward. Why 1930? Reasons have not been provided. It tracks victories since 1909 but starts and a number of other records since 1946, including victories from pole position. Various start points for different statistical categories are not uncommon. The NFL didn't start track sacks until 1982. The NBA didn't start recording steals and blocks until the 1973-74 season. All we can take is the record book as it is.

A total of 217 drivers are recognized as IndyCar pole-sitters in the record book.

Seven drivers took 100 races or more to win their first pole position. Who are they?

1. Scott Brayton - 148 Races

Brayton also holds the record fore most races before first career podium finish. It took Brayton 121 races to stand on the rostrum. When it came to his first career pole position, it took Brayton a little longer. 

Brayton's first career pole position is one of the more famous ones. At the 1995 Indianapolis 500, Brayton completed a four-lap average of 231.604 mph. It was his 14th time qualifying for the Indianapolis 500, and it led a Team Menard 1-2 on the grid. In the race, Brayton didn't lead a lap, and turbocharger issues dropped him to finish ten laps down in 17th. 

Brayton would return to run the three-race inaugural Indy Racing League season. At Indianapolis, in what would have been his 151st start, Brayton won his second career pole position after rolling out the backup car in the final hour of qualifying. 

Sadly, Brayton lost his life in a practice accident nine days prior to the race. 

2. Eddie Cheever - 140 Races

You never realize some of these surprising facts, but Eddie Cheever only had one pole position in his IndyCar career. It didn't come until his final full season in the Indy Racing League. It was the IRL's first race at California Speedway in Fontana. Cheever took pole position ahead of Team Menard's Jaques Lazier. Cheever led 33 laps in the race, but his engine expired ten laps prior to the finish. 

3. Michel Jourdain, Jr. - 126 Races

Jourdain, Jr. still holds the record for most starts before a first career victory. It took the Mexican 129 races before he won the 2003 CART race at Milwaukee. 

Three races prior to that, Jourdain, Jr. won his first career pole position. This was at Long Beach. It was a promising race as well. Jourdain, Jr. led 48 laps and was leading with seven laps remaining until a gearbox failure took him out of the race. From first to 15th in a matter of moments. At least Jourdain, Jr. would get his moment later that season. 

4. Pancho Carter - 116 Races

This one happened at a familiar place. Carter's first career pole position was at the 1985 Indianapolis 500, ten years prior to Brayton's, and Brayton was the one who broke the record for most starts before a first career pole position from Carter. Coincidentally, Carter beat Brayton for pole position in this race. They went 1-2 in qualifying, Carter at 212.583 mph and Brayton at 212.354 mph, both driving stock block Buick engines.

Carter's race only lasted six laps before an oil pump failed. Brayton's race was over after 19 laps due to a cracked cylinder wall.

5. Arie Luyendyk - 112 Races 

For a driver synonymous with speed and famed for holding the track record at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it took Luyendyk an extended period to get his first career pole position. He also didn't win that many in his career, five to be exact. 

Like two of the four above him, Luyendyk's first career pole position came at the Indianapolis 500. This was in 1993, three years after his first career victory in the event. Driving for Chip Ganassi Racing, Luyendyk ran a four-lap average at 223.967 mph, just ahead of Mario Andretti.

Unlike Brayton and Carter, Luyendyk had a much better race. He was second behind Emerson Fittipaldi though Luyendyk only led 14 laps, the seventh-most out of 12 drivers that led in the race. 

6. Charlie Kimball - 109 Races

Another Chip Ganassi Racing driver, Kimball's only pole position came at Texas in 2017.

Prior to that weekend, Kimball had one front row start in his career. It was a front row sweep for Chip Ganassi Racing as Scott Dixon took second, ending up 0.0083 seconds off his American teammate. 

The joy was short-lived as Kimball exited the race after 41 laps due to an oil leak. 

7. Ed Carpenter - 102 Races

In 2010, it looked rather unlikely Ed Carpenter would win a pole position. Out of a ride due to Vision Racing closing its doors, Carpenter was forced to settle for an Indianapolis 500 one-off entry with Panther Racing. A good May with Panther turned into three additional races at the end of the season. 

At Kentucky, Carpenter took a surprise pole position ahead of Will Power and Panther teammate Dan Wheldon. 

In the race, Carpenter spent much of the race at the front, but he only led 11 laps. For a brief moment, it appeared Carpenter could pull out a victory, but he had to pit with four laps remaining. He still finished second, just over 13 seconds behind Hélio Castroneves, who stretched his fuel to run 53 laps on the final stint. 

When it comes to the current top ten, Oriol Servià (97 races), Al Unser, Jr. (94 races) and Raul Boesel (93 races) take the final three spots. Wally Dallenbach (90 races) is the only other driver to take at least 90 races to score his first career pole position. 

Among active drivers, Santino Ferrucci currently holds the longest wait before his first career pole position. Ferrucci took 74 races before he won his first career pole position at Portland last year. Josef Newgarden has the next longest streak among active drivers. Newgarden's first pole position was in his 63rd start at Milwaukee in 2015.

For some of IndyCar's greatest, the first pole position did not necessarily come early. 

A.J. Foyt's first pole position was in his 48th start, the same amount of races it took Kenny Bräck to get his first pole position. This combo is tied for the 34th longest wait. Foyt's first was in the 1961 Hoosier Hundred from the Indiana State Fairgrounds. Bräck was in the 2001 CART season opener in Monterrey. 

Bobby Unser's first pole position was his 47th start, September 5, 1966 at DuQuoin. 

Scott Dixon may have won in his third start, but Dixon's first pole position did not come until his 42nd race, the 2003 IRL race at Motegi. For perspective, Dixon is one of two drivers to have their first career pole position come in their 42nd career start. The other is Sebastián Saavedra in the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis. 

Starting at Long Beach, Marcus Ericsson will have a chance to become the eighth driver to win a first career pole position in his 100th start or later. When it comes to other drivers, there are not many other notable names who are approaching a milestone in terms of starts before that first pole position. The only other active driver with 40 starts or more and zero pole position is David Malukas, who has 46 starts and no pole positions. It is currently a party of two, but we will get a third come May. When Jack Harvey returns with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing at the Indianapolis 500, he could make a spot for himself in the record book. Harvey has yet to start first in his first 93 starts. 

I hope we consider that one question answered. We will cover a few more after the Long Beach weekend.

 

Musings From the Weekend: The Honeymoon is Over. It is Time for Action

Here is a rundown of what got me thinking....

Marc Márquez proved he was human. Márquez won the sprint race from Austin but fell in the grand prix and Francesco Bagnaia took his first victory of the season. The conditions left riders scrambling down pit lane to switch bikes before the start of the MotoGP race. Driving standards were the focal point in Martinsville. Red Bull swapped Liam Lawson for Yuki Tsunoda. It rained in Sonoma, and it made the mess of GT World Challenge America's opening weekend. Competition aside, this week was consumed with what was a rough second act of the 2025 season for IndyCar.

The Honeymoon is Over. It is Time for Action

I thought I would be writing this the week after Long Beach. I expected after having three IndyCar races spread over seven weekends with races head-to-head against NASCAR, the NCAA basketball tournaments and The Masters would be when people would express severe dissatisfaction after a smashing season opener where everyone believed they were on a rocket ship. Little did we expect it would all come crashing back to earth immediately after the second race of the season.

The Thermal Club television rating was down 50% from the St. Petersburg season opener. IndyCar had fewer viewers than all there NASCAR national series competing at Homestead. One of those races was on a Friday night against a packed night of the first round of NCAA tournament and the other was on Saturday afternoon as the second round was getting underway. Formula One had more viewers for the Chinese Grand Prix, and even if you want to say most of those viewers watched on DVR and not live at 3:00 a.m. Eastern, it actually sounds worse because more people preferred to watch something taped than a live race where they had no clue what would happen next. 

Forget the technical issues that caused the IndyCar broadcast to be lost for 20 minutes with the NASCAR Cup race from Homestead as emergency filler programming on network television. The Thermal Club viewership numbers sparked a backlash as soon as the numbers came out. 

There was plenty of blame being tossed around. 

Viewership was down due to Thermal Club! The race itself was horrible! It was because it was head-to-head against NASCAR and college basketball! Three weeks between races was the main culprit! It is the chassis! It is the hybrid! It is Álex Palou's fault! The race should be at Texas! 

We heard it all, and factions arose quickly in the aftermath of the last week. For all those that were upset at the decrease, there was an undercurrent of those spinning the Thermal Club rating as not being that bad and expected. If the network is expecting the decrease then they aren't that upset when it happens. The race was defended as it did have over 200 passes and was on point with the action we see at other famed road courses on the schedule. We also had a race where second-place erased an 11-second lead in a matter of laps and made the pass for the victory on the racetrack. What else could a viewer want from a race?

Things can be two things. In the case of the second race of the season for IndyCar, many things can be true at once. 

It can be true that the Thermal Club race was a good race. It can be true the location and the backdrop of the event has turned people off. It can be true a three-week gap between the first two races is a momentum killer. It can be true the audience is divided when racing head-to-head against the NASCAR Cup Series. It can be true causal viewers are captured in the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament and will never know a race is happening. It can also be true that a new television deal is not going to make IndyCar exponentially more popular within two events than where it has been for the last two decades and this race falls around where the average has been for the series for a long time.

It can also be true that the St. Petersburg number wasn't some massive jump considering the viewership for the 2023 race on NBC race was essentially identical. 

IndyCar's issues are greater than whatever network is broadcasting the races, and it will take more than a few promos during the Super Bowl to truly grow the series. It is all fine and dandy that 126 million people watched the game and likely saw an IndyCar promo, but six weeks after the fact it is clear airing three commercials didn't change a thing. Sure, more people than ever became aware but as quickly as Josef Newgarden's torso was on the screen the audience moved on. Just because it was on their television screen does not mean they were paying attention.

It takes more than 30 seconds to attract a viewer. We can keep beating this drum until someone at 16th & Georgetown gets it, but growing the series requires making the drivers relatable to the audience to a point the viewer genuinely cares about those competing. That is what Drive to Survive did. It took people into a sanctum previously unvisited, and people became attached to the point they could not leave and needed more. 

For too long IndyCar has been hoping little work will lead a big reward. It is the grandma at the slot machine hoping a nickel will turn into a fortune. That is what the Super Bowl commercial was. It was hoping three 30-second ads would lead to a 50% or 100% increase in the average viewership. It is going to take a lot more than that, but that isn't the only thing that must change in IndyCar's thinking. 

The "Come to Jesus" moment has been due for quite sometime, and IndyCar must admit where it is at in the pecking order. The Indianapolis 500 is the outlier and perhaps the worst one the series could ask for. Five million people watching a race in May is not a true indication of IndyCar's popularity. The races like Thermal and Gateway and Mid-Ohio are where IndyCar actually stand. Indianapolis is not the issue. It is everywhere else where the series must do work.

Reasons become excuses when the general mood is disgust. Some of the explanations for the ratings drop are true, but what is tiring when it comes to IndyCar is too many of these reasons are seen as unconquerable when they actually aren't. 

Take racing head-to-head against NASCAR. 

It is understandable that when the two races are put against one another, more people will choose to watch the NASCAR race than the IndyCar race, even if you can watch the entire IndyCar race and still tune into the NASCAR race when there is nearly 90 minutes of racing left and all the memorable moments have yet to happen. 

As easy as it is to say, "Don't race against NASCAR," that isn't practical. 

Even with a shared partner in Fox, NASCAR isn't going to do IndyCar any favors. NASCAR is racing at 3:00 p.m. at Homestead, Bristol, Martinsville and anywhere on the East Coast to maximize viewership, and Fox wants to maximize viewership as well on FS1. That means a West Coast IndyCar race is going to be head-to-head, but IndyCar cannot decide it will never race on the West Coast because of NASCAR's start times. IndyCar cannot also bounce the races around and race at 9:00 a.m. Pacific so the race is over before NASCAR starts. 

IndyCar also cannot do the opposite and wait to race at 4:30 p.m. Pacific after the NASCAR race is complete. Fox didn't sign IndyCar to run in primetime on network television. IndyCar will get the network time slots that Fox is willing to give. IndyCar could run in Sunday primetime when on the West Coast, but those races will have to be on FS1, and for some reason, despite IndyCar being a predominantly cable series for over three decades, everyone is now allergic to a race being on cable, even if it could be for the greater good of the series. 

At some point IndyCar must accept the battle in front of it, but it also must recognize the current condition is not permanent. 

It is automatically accepted people are going to watch NASCAR over IndyCar. Why? 

Why isn't that something IndyCar tries to change? 

There is no decree from above that this is how it always will be. While IndyCar spend the better part of the 1990s and the start of the 21st century doing all it could to kill the series fighting over bullshit, NASCAR bloomed into a cultural force that can still thrive even if it is far from its greatest heights. That is a hard thing to overcome, but it is not impossible. 

Most people watching Formula One today in the United States were watching zero motorsports ten years ago. Formula One's audience is not a bunch of NASCAR defects who were looking for something more satisfying. They are mostly new people who never considered motorsports until Formula One was brought to the table in a digestible form. Formula One has become something they are passionate about and are invested when it comes on. There are people out there, different people, who will fall in love with motorsports if presented the right way. 

There is nothing stopping IndyCar from becoming a must-watch series. It is Herculean to shift viewership behaviors, but that is the battle ahead of IndyCar. It must turn the series into something where people think, "I must see this live." Whether that is because the drivers are people the viewers are enamored with or because the racing is compelling, that is the task at hand for IndyCar. 

At some point, it is no longer NASCAR's fault that IndyCar's ratings are poor. It is really on IndyCar for the IndyCar ratings being what they are. Instead of punting and acting like these are viewers that are never obtainable, the line must be drawn that it has been the series' inability to garner sizable interest for the last few decade as the reason why the second race of the season can barely draw more than 700,000 viewers on a Sunday afternoon in March. 

The fix will not happen overnight, but there are many minor things IndyCar can tweak to at least put it in a better position. At some point, the series must take a risk, and a lot of those risks involving "doing." It must add two or three races to fill the three-week gaps between events. The downtime early in a season is not helping the series, and the series cannot worry about the bottomline. It must accept a short-term loss in hopes of a long-term gain. 

IndyCar has been dealing with lengthy gaps between races at the start of the season for about a decade now and they clearly aren't good for the series. It is time IndyCar does something about it. The Grand Prix of Arlington should help matters. The inaugural running has been announced for March 15, 2026, and that will likely be the second round after St. Petersburg. Arlington joining the schedule next year should not come at the loss of another round. If you swap Arlington in and take Thermal out, guess what? There is going to be a month gap between races because we know Long Beach will be April 19, and we will be right back where we started. 

Considering the short window the IndyCar season fills from start to finish, it should maximize that time. It really doesn't have any other choices. 

Eliminating the multi-week gaps in the season is a small thing but the minimum change IndyCar must make. It is the first step. IndyCar cannot afford any longer to take it.

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Márquez, but did you know...

Jake Dixon won the Moto2 race from Austin, his second consecutive victory. José Antonio Rueda won the Moto3 race, his second victory of the season.

Denny Hamlin won the NASCAR Cup race from Martinsville. Austin Hill won the Grand National Series, his second victory of the season. Daniel Hemric won the Truck race, his first career Truck victory, and it came 11 years, five months and two days after Hemric made his Truck Series debut.

The #34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG of Mikaël Grenier and Michai Stephens and the #99 Random Vandals Racing BMW of Kenton Koch and Connor De Phillippi split the GT World Challenge America races from Sonoma. The #52 Auto Technic BMW of Zac Anderson and Colin Garett and the #97 CrowdStrike Racing by Random Vandals BMW of Kevin Boehm and Kenton Koch split the GT4 America races. George Kurtz and Kyle Washington split the GT America races.

Toprak Razgatlioglu swept the World Superbike races from Portimão. Can Öncü and Bo Bendsneyder split the World Supersport races.

Cooper Webb won the Supercross race from Seattle, his fourth victory of the season. Cole Davies won the 250cc race.

Coming Up This Weekend

Formula One will have an interesting weekend in Japan.

NASCAR has a race at Darlington.

European Le Mans Series opens its season in Barcelona.

Supercross crosses the country to Foxborough, Massachusetts.

Best of the Month: March 2025

It is back to normal. Formula One is here. IndyCar is here and no one is happy. Sebring is behind us and the FIA World Endurance Championship season has begun. MotoGP has restarted and Marc Márquez has turned back the clock. That was March, the month where the swing of motorsports can be felt. It might not be at full force, but after the previous three months, it is seismic. 

Much of the season remains unwritten, but a few races have given us an idea of how the script will turn out. We only have a piece but we are already guessing what will come next. We could be right, but we could be in for a surprise. We must wait and see.

Loeb and Ekström

This month started with the Race of Champions, an event I enjoy more than the average motorsports fan. It is something different in a motorsports world where everyone complains about the monotony. Everyone wants it to be the 1960s where the greatest talent regularly crossed paths. Here is an event that brings together an abundance of talent from various forms of motorsports. What else could you want? 

Sébastien Loeb was the big winner in this year's competition. He won everything. Loeb won the Nations' Cup on the first night, representing France with Formula Two driver Victor Martins. On the second night, Loeb won the Champion of Champions competition for a record-breaking fifth time. In doing so, Loeb became the first driver to win both competitions in the same Race of Champions.

A host of incredible drivers have competed in ROC. Loeb being the first to sweep the weekend is a bit surprising. You would have thought someone else would have done it once prior. Yet, it had never happened until Loeb had a magical weekend in Sydney. 

Loeb is 51 years old, past his prime but in the 21st century, sporting brilliance is finding a new outlook on life. We are no longer seeing tennis players break down in their early 30s or quarterbacks call it quits at 34. The best athletes are still competing at the highest levels deep into their 30s and into their 40s. For motorsports, some are competing into their 50s like Loeb. He is only a little over three years removed from his most recent World Rally Championship victory, and he has finished on the overall podium at the Dakar Rally in three of the last four years, with 14 combined stage victories during that time. 

After Loeb's victories in this year's Race of Champions, I started wondering what his overall record was in the competition. He has seven combined titles between the two ROC competitions. He has raced an unfathomable collection of drivers from around the world and from all different platforms. What is his record and what is his record against specific drivers?

Going over the results, I have found the following....

Loeb has competed in ten Race of Champions. In these ten ROCs, Loeb has competed in 88 races. He has gone 66-21-1 in those races. In 2022, he and Oliver Solberg ended one of their races in a dead heat, but since Loeb won the first race, he advanced to the next round. 

Loeb's winning percentage is 75% in ROC. 

He has competed against 36 drivers. Here is the list of drivers Loeb has a losing record against...

Mattias Ekström 2-4

Johan Krisoffersson 1-2

Will Brown 0-1

That's it. That's the list! And though he lost to Brown in the final of this year's Nations' Cup, Martins bailed Loeb out and they still won the title. 

Loeb went 8-2 against Marcus Grönholm, including winning his final seven races against the Finn. 

He is 4-1 all-time against Sebastian Vettel, which inlcudes going 3-1 in the 2022 Champion of Champions final. 

Loeb is 5-0 all-time against Tom Kristensen. 

There are only four other drivers Loeb has a .500 record against. They are Filipe Albuquerque (2-2), Heikki Kovalainen (2-2), who beat Loeb 2-0 in the 2024 Champion of Champions final, and Loeb got even with Kovalainen in the group stage of this year's Nations' Cup; Andy Priaulx (2-2) and Petter Solberg (1-1).

Loeb has beat David Coulthard (2-1), Jimmie Johnson (1-0), Tony Kanaan (2-0), Colin McRae (2-0), Stéphane Peterhansel (2-0) and he has even beat Walter Röhrl (1-0). It is rather remarkable.

However, entering this year's competition, there were two drivers gunning for their fifth Champion of Champions title. Unfortunately, illness kept Mattias Ekström from traveling to Australia to defend his title, and it is a shame because Chaz Mostert made the final and faced Sébastien Loeb. Chaz Mostert was the driver that replaced Ekström. It was lined up for us to see the two drivers with four titles each go for the record. 

As you saw above, Ekström has a winning record against Loeb. It all began in 2006. Ekström won the Champion of Champions final 2-0. In 2008, Ekström beat Loeb in the Nations' Cup first round. They would not meet again until 2022 in the Nations' Cup semifinal. Loeb won 2-1. 

If we are looking at Loeb's record, and Ekström has one fewer title but the better head-to-head record, how does Ekström stack up overall?

Ekström has competed in nine Race of Champions, but only 17 competitions. He did not compete in the 2011 Nations' Cup in Düsseldorf. 

The Swede has run 58 races. His record is 44-14. That is a winning percentage of 75.862%. If you dropped Loeb's deadhead with Oliver Solberg from the record, Ekström and Loeb would have identical winning percentages in Race of Champions competition!

Who has Ekström beat? Besides Loeb...

Ekström is 4-0 against Tom Kristensen (oof... sorry Tom)...

4-2 against Michael Schumacher (including being 4-1 all-time in finals against Schumacher)...

2-0 against Mick Schumacher... 

1-0 against Sebastian Vettel... 

6-0 against Travis Pastrana (Pastrana's ROC participation is a conversation for another time)... 

And Ekström has beat Sébastien Bourdais, Jenson Button, Mick Doohan, Heikki Kovalainen, Colin McRae and Bernd Schneider in his one meeting against them. 

Who does Ekström have a losing record against? 

Out of 28 drivers, the answer is Marcus Grönholm (2-3), Sébastien Ogier (0-1), Nelson Piquet, Jr. (0-1) and Martin Tomczyk (0-1).

Other than Grönholm, he has only lost to guys he has faced once. Of all the drivers Ekström has faced twice, he has won at least once. The only drivers that are .500 with Ekström are both Petter and Oliver Solberg (each are 1-1) and Andy Priaulx (2-2, man does this make Andy Priaulx look good).

Not many have had Ekström's number. 

Loeb is 51 and Ekström is 46. Both are pretty much done with full-time driving. They still compete in rally-raid and Ekström was third overall in the Dakar Rally this year. A day is coming soon where they will not be at Race of Champions. 

We must probably recognize what they have done in this competition and the greatness of both drivers.

Road America's Endurance Race

At this year's 12 Hours of Sebring, IMSA got ahead of the curve again when it announced its 2026 calendar nearly ten months before the first round. Nothing has changed except for Road America becoming a six-hour race while Indianapolis will revert to the two-hour and 40-minute duration. 

Since Grand-Am and the American Le Mans Series merged ahead of the 2014 season, people clamored for an endurance race at Road America. It was generally dismissed over increasing a race distance and keeping the full season to the same number of hours. However, when Indianapolis became the fifth endurance race on the schedule a few years ago, the door was opened and instead of maintaining the endurance race at one of the most famous venues in the United States, it will move to Road America. 

There are plenty of positives to this decision. 

1. We get a longer Road America race.

2. This race will occur during the summer and not during football season at a venue just down the road from an NFL stadium where a game could be taking place simultaneously. 

3. It shows flexibility from IMSA. It is a little surprising it is taking away an endurance race from Roger Penske's venue, but it shows it can work with all parties and give Road America something special after being an outstanding event for all these years while keeping Indianapolis on the schedule and at a pivotal place as the penultimate round. 

This does make me wonder if IMSA's fifth endurance race could be a rotating endurance race. The schedule is pretty short. Half the schedule is endurance races. There are also two races that could not be endurance rounds, the street races in Long Beach and Detroit. That leaves Laguna Seca, Mosport and Virginia International Raceway. 

If it is going to be an endurance race, it will have all four classes competing. Currently, none of those three venues host all four races. LMP2 does not go to Laguna Seca, GTP doesn't go to Canada, and neither prototype class visits Virginia. Laguna Seca is also tight on space, as is Mosport.

One of the faults of the IMSA calendar is certain areas do not see the top class and the top drivers. It is shame GTP doesn't go to Canada and VIR remains the only GT-only round on the schedule. Lime Rock Park for a number of years also had the GT-only distinction but the current prototypes are likely more than the track can handle. 

A rotating endurance race could be the way to bring GTP to some of these places even if it is not on an annual basis. 

For starters, we get Road America, and we should be thankful for that. 

April Preview

Speaking of endurance races, next month the European Le Mans Series begins, a collection of a half-dozen four-hour races spread over spring, summer and a bit of autumn. Though lacking LMDh and Hypercars, Europe's premier sports car champion is an outstanding gathering of talent in the LMP2. 

Take last year's champions AO by TF. Louis Delétraz, Robert Kubica and Jonny Edgar were the drivers. They any good?

Unfortunately for Delétraz, he has lost his two co-drivers from last year, but don't worry, he has Dane Cameron and P.J. Hyett joining him in the #99 Oreca. It will be a pro-am entry, meaning the overall championship will be an unlikely repeat, but there are plenty of stellar lineups set to compete for the top prize. 

How about IDEC Sport's two cars? In preparations for running the Genesis program in 2026, IDEC is holding auditions for next year. In the #18 Oreca will be Jamie Chadwick, Mathys Jaubert and Daniel Juncadella. The #28 Oreca will see 2019 champions Paul-Loup Chatin and Paul Lafargue reunite with Job van Uitert filling out the entry. Not bad.

Perhaps you want drivers who are already competing in LMPh or Hypercars. ELMS has that as well. 

Try Nielsen Racing's #24 Oreca, which has Filipe Albuquerque leading the way with Ferdinand Habsburg and Cem Bölükbasi. 

If you are looking for a Meyer Shank Racing Acura driver, you are in luck. Nick Yelloly will be in the #43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca along with Tom Dillmann, who was second in the championship last year, and Jakub Śmiechowski. There is also Tom Blomqvist in the #37 CLX - Pure Racing orca with Alex Malykhin and Tristan Vautier. 

Oh, and the other CLX Motorsport Oreca will feature Lusophone's finest in Pipo Derani, Manuel Espírito Sano and Enzo Fittipaldi. If Enzo Fittipaldi is not the Fittipaldi you are looking for, Pietro Fittipaldi will be in the #10 Oreca for Vector Sport with Ryan Cullen and Vladislav Lomko. 

We haven't even mentioned United Autosport yet. It is approaching five years since United Autosports' most recent ELMS title. It will have Oliver Jarvis, Marino Sato and Daniel Schneider in the #21 Oreca, a pro-am entry. Ben Hanley, Manuel Maldonado and Grégoire Saucy will be in the #22 Oreca, a pro entry.

IndyCar reject Théo Pourchaire has found a home at Algarve Pro Racing in its #25 Oreca with Lorenzo Fluxá and Matthias Kaiser. 

AF Corse keeps two-time defending pro-am champions François Perrodo, Alessio Rovera and Matthieu Vaxivière together in the #88 Oreca. 

If you were wondering, "Where is Sérgio Sette Câmara competing these days?" Look no further than ELMS! Câmara has James Allen and Anthony Wells as his co-drivers in the #27 Nielsen Racing Oreca.

We haven't even touched the LMP3 and GT3 classes in the series. There is plenty of reasons to be excited about this ELMS season. 

Barcelona hosts the first round on April 6 before visiting Circuit Paul Ricard on April 6, Imola on July 6, Spa-Francorchamps on August 24, a return to Silverstone on September 14 with the season closing at Portimão on October 18. 

Other Events of Note in April:

After a round in Suzuka, Formula One will run two night races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

IndyCar and IMSA get together for a weekend at Long Beach. 

MotoGP will be at Qatar and Jerez.

NASCAR visits its core: Darlington, Bristol, Talladega.

The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters opens its season at Oschersleben.

Supercross spends a month in the Northeast. 

Musings From the Weekend: Wandering the Desert

Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...

It is 2025, and a Brabham (Matt) and an Andretti (Adam) finished 1-2 at Road Atlanta (Trans-Am). Ferrari suffered a devastating blow post-race in Shanghai, a double disqualification. There was another unfulfilled finish in the NASCAR world. There were another two pretty good races in Homestead, however. Supercross came back with a Triple Crown weekend. Álex Palou brought Zak Brown's worst nightmare to life, as Palou passed two McLaren cars and drove off to win by over ten seconds at Thermal Club, which hosted its first IndyCar championship race, a notable occasion for many reasons.

Wandering the Desert

Palm Springs, California is much different than St. Petersburg, Florida. 

Trading in the blue bay and breeze for the yellow sands and mountainous backdrop, IndyCar experiences a swift shift in the surroundings. At least it is still warm. 

Possible more notable than going from a street circuit with an airport runway for a main straightaway to a country club racetrack is what is missing.

The people. 

After starting the season with a festival atmosphere that attracts attendees from all over, some hoping to escape the final weeks of winter to the locals who are happy to have the race back in town, IndyCar experiences a sharp juxtaposition at Thermal Club. 

There is nobody there. 

We say that about a lot of races. There are obviously some people there, but at St. Petersburg you know people are there. There are the yachts and grandstands in multiple corners. People watch from balconies surrounding the circuit, taking advantage of a fortunate apartment or hotel location. You can see people walking around the grounds as the cars are on track. You rarely see a soul at Thermal Club. 

It doesn't help that ticket sales were limited to 5,000. Around a three-mile circuit, there is no way 5,000 people will ever look like a crowd even if they are all crammed into one grandstand on the outside of the circuit. That is 5,000 people for race day. It is far less on Friday and Saturday when there is no other competition on track. There wasn't a Road to Indy Series or SRO America series to fill the bill. Thermal is an IndyCar-only weekend. When IndyCar goes quiet, the circuit goes quiet. There is nothing keeping people around.

For the members who have a home at the circuit, no problem. They can go inside and turn on the television or take a nap. I cannot imagine why anyone would stick around as public spectator. 

They are entirely different weekends, but in the second weekend with a new television broadcaster that is trying to sell IndyCar and give people a reason to be excited about it, racing at a place where there is no excitement is not going to convince viewers to continue watching. 

It doesn't help when the broadcast goes out for 20 minutes and NASCAR is the emergency filler programming. It does not appear the facility had anything to do with the broadcast issues, but it happened at Thermal Club, a venue that has next to zero supporters in the fanbase. The opposition didn't need any more ammunition against this event.

I wrote last year that there are not many places lining up to host IndyCar. Thermal Club was willing to spend $2 million for the sanctioning fee. IndyCar went to a willing partner, but it is a partner that arguably does not care about the greater good of IndyCar. It is a place that cannot accommodate that many spectators to begin with. It isn't looking to provide a larger gathering. The race exists for the club and is a gift to the members. 

The 5,000 tickets on sale are to recoup the loss. Do the math. At a $475.75 for general admission, 5,000 tickets will rake in $2,378,750. If the total allotment is sold, Thermal Club breaks even. It is the only way the club is willing to make money. There was no sponsorship around the circuit. No billboards in the background. No wrap around the tire barriers. The race didn't have a title sponsorship. Those are all ways the circuit could raise revenue and cover the cost, which would allow tickets to be more affordable, but sponsors and billboards are not the aesthetic of a club. No one wants to see faded Firestone signage when they step out onto their patio on a Saturday morning in September. They don't want any reminders an IndyCar race was held there. 

Long-term viability of this race comes down to how long the members want to pay for it. If they can sell all the tickets, then the race will pay for itself with non-members money, and Thermal Club will continue to host it. If they can get 5,000 non-members, some would call them "suckers," to pay for their party, they are going to keep holding it, but even if they only sell half or a quarter, are they willing to eat a $1,000,000 loss every year to have something special? Other tracks have a bottom line to meet. They cannot afford lose money on an event year after year. Thermal can make money in a number of other ways, and it constantly has people paying membership fees. It is a group that can stomach a loss.

IndyCar has a decision to make. It isn't going to say no to someone paying a full sanctioning fee to host an event, but is this boosting IndyCar in a notable way? We were told ahead of last year's race Thermal is about attracting big fish. People with multi-million dollar bank accounts who run large companies and can turn into a sponsor, whether that is of a race team or the series itself. That's nice. These teams need someone to foot the increasing budgets to compete in the series, but IndyCar also need to reach more people. 

The series needs quality AND quantity. It needs the rich man with money to burn but it also needs the common man who is looking for a new hobby that can turn into a passion. At best, 5,000 people are attending Thermal Club, a race in Southern California three weeks before another race in Southern California, and one that is hailed as one of IndyCar's biggest races in Long Beach. 

Are those 5,000 people more valuable than 25,000 people at Pocono or Loudon or Richmond? What about 50,000 people over an entire weekend at Watkins Glen or maybe Virginia International Raceway? One part of the country is barren of IndyCar's presence and yet IndyCar is wondering why its reach is lacking. Southern California already had a race and didn't need another. The excess is waste. The potential for growth is stunted with such an event at a time when the series must look to spread beyond the shell it has bunkered into since the pandemic started five years ago. If IndyCar was in every corner of the country, or at least in the major areas, and it had 20 or 22 races, then perhaps there is a place for Thermal to host this race, but that is not the case.

After pumping up IndyCar in St. Petersburg and creating a scene, IndyCar retreated into isolation. It brought the race to the people and then ran to the middle of nowhere. It went from a party for all to a party where you aren't invited and they aren't going to make it easy for you to get through the door. Such a contrast can only leave people asking, "What is IndyCar and is it for me?" After a second trip to the desert, a weekend where the lack of atmosphere screamed louder than the race cars, hopefully the series is asking itself the same question. 

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Álex Palou, but did you know...

Oscar Piastri won the Chinese Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton won the sprint race.

Kyle Larson won the NASCAR Cup race from Homestead, his 30th career victory, the 30th driver to reach that milestone. Justin Allgaier won the Grand National Series race, his second consecutive victory. Kyle Larson also won the Truck race, his fourth career victory in the series.

Elfyn Evans won the Safari Rally Kenya, his second consecutive victory.

Chase Sexton won the Supercross Triple Crown round from Birmingham after winning the first two races and finishing second in the third. Cooper Webb won the final race. Nate Thrasher won the 250cc round after finishes of third, third and second. R.J. Hampshire (race one) and Seth Hammaker (races two and three) split the three races.

Coming Up This Weekend

MotoGP comes to the United States for a round in Austin.

NASCAR will be in Martinsville.

World Superbike has its first race in Europe with a visit to Portimão.

Supercross strolls into Seattle.

First Impressions: Thermal Club 2025

1. Álex Palou is the best IndyCar has at the moment, and it helps that he is paired with the best team. This race was more than Palou having a new set of alternate tires for the final stint of the race. This was a complete race, 65 laps run caution-free, and it required a rounded strategy with a rounded drive. 

Patricio O'Ward dominated this race over the first 50 laps. This was shades of Texas 2023 where O'Ward had nearly lapped the entire field through the first two-thirds of the race. O'Ward started on a new set of alternate tires and he was gone. No one was close while the rest of the field was left fighting with themselves, but this was a full race. 

Palou held ground in third behind Christian Lundgaard. It didn't matter that he was losing a little time on the primary tire. If anything, the middle two stints were a warning. Palou wasn't sluggish on the primary tire. He was comfortable. When it came time to the final stint, Palou could let it rip.

After the final round of pit stops, Palou was over ten seconds behind O'Ward with 16 laps remaining, and proceeded to rundown the Mexican driver and was leading with nine laps remaining. The tires were the deciding factor, but only because they were underneath Palou. If you put any of the other 26 drivers on the grid in Palou's situation with 16 laps to go, maybe two or three others could have won this race, and that is generous to say two or three. 

Palou went from ten seconds back to ten seconds up at the checkered flag. That is brilliance at the highest level. Barry Wanser deserves recognition for how this race was called and Palou has the talent to make such a strategy work. For the first time since 2020, a driver has opened a season with consecutive victories. The batting average of those drivers turning two wins on the spin into championships is ridiculously high. It is only March, spring a few days old, but get the stencil out now and prepare the Astor Cup accordingly.

1B. There are some rumors about a new Formula One team being interested in an IndyCar driver. The only reasonable option is Álex Palou. Hiring any other driver would be foolish.

2. Hindsight is 20/20, but O'Ward only using one set of alternate tires might have been the deciding factor. The alternate tire was the better tire today, even when worn. O'Ward went with three new sets of primary tires over the final three stints. Would have using one used set of alternate tire to been enough to hold off Palou after the final stop? I think there is a good chance it would have been. 

Palou started on used alternate tires and O'Ward drove away but when you consider O'Ward had over a ten-second gap after that final pit stop, I don't know if Palou could have made that up if O'Ward used the alternates. It would have been close, but one set of used alternate tires could have been the difference.

3. This was Zak Brown's nightmare. After McLaren went 1-2 in the Chinese Grand Prix with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, halfway through this race it looked like Arrow McLaren was set for a 1-2 at Thermal Club. It looked like a victory was a guarantee even if it wasn't a sweep of the top two spots. Suddenly, Álex Palou, a man the McLaren organization has sued for about $23 million to recoup investments, spoiled the whole damn party. Somewhere in Shanghai, an American is having a sour Monday morning. 

4. Christian Lundgaard did round out the podium for McLaren. A 2-3 day isn't quite a 1-3 or a 1-2. Same number of trophies are brought home; total square inches much less than anticipated. But Lundgaard had a phenomenal weekend. 

Both McLarens ended on primary tires. Lundgaard went used alternate to new alternates in the first two stints. That kind of made his bed. With this being a three-stop race, it isn't even hindsight that was saying end on the alternates. Ten of the top 12 finishers finished on the alternates. The only two that didn't were the McLarens. 

Through two race weekends, the Dane has matched O'Ward, and McLaren finally has a 1-2 combo that can do some damage in IndyCar. We are going to see more stout days for Lundgaard this season.

5. Rounding out the top five were Colton Herta and Felix Rosenqvist. As much as we can say the alternates were the right choice, it wasn't clear as day. Herta ended on new alternates while Rosenqvist used alternates on his final three stint, the last two were used. In the closing laps, Rosenqvist was closing on Herta. Herta held on by 0.5575 seconds to finish fourth. 

Kyle Kirkwood spent much of this race in fourth. Kirkwood ended on used alternates and he stopped on the same lap, lap 48, as Rosenqvist for that final set. Rosenqvist ended up fifth and pushing for forth. Kirkwood dropped to eighth and spent the final half-dozen laps running laps in the one-minute and 50-second range. 

Some teams had the balance to get the most of the alternates for an entire stint. Others clearly struggled at the very end.

Credit to Herta and Rosenqvist for making it work. Both likely want more than fourth and fifth because while in the top five, neither were in the picture for victory. There is plenty of ground to make up. 

6. It was a caution-free race and Will Power went from 21st to sixth. The one blessing in disguise to not advancing from the first round of qualifying is the extra set of new alternate tires. Power's final three stints were new alternates, used alternates and new alternates. He was making hay over the entire race but especially in the final 20 laps. Power still has it and the strategy was maximizing the tires at this team's disposal.

7. Marcus Armstrong needed to finish seventh today. If he doesn't have the suspension issue at St. Petersburg, Armstrong would have finished in the top ten. Meyer Shank Racing showed good speed again and Armstrong had to convert it into something. Starting and finishing seventh is all you can ask for. He didn't stand out today, but sometimes you just need to get a result on the board. Armstrong did that.

8. No one suffered more at the end of a stint on alternate tires than Kyle Kirkwood in the run to the checkered flag. It was kind of stunning seeing how off he was in those closing laps. We didn't see many others struggle that much late on used alternate tires. It really looked like alternate tires that were 18-20 laps old were still slightly better than primary tires at the same age or at least on level footing. I don't know if there was a greater problem. Eighth is not an accurate representation of Kirkwood's day.

9. I am not sure ninth is an accurate representation of Alexander Rossi's day either. He also struggled late on the alternate tire. The good thing is Ed Carpenter Racing produced a race car that could run in the top ten all day on a road course, and Rossi looked comfortable all day. Until the very end, but still, Rossi wasn't dropping back mid-race and then trying to claw spots back. They are close but still have some work to do.

10. Scott Dixon went from 11th to tenth, but he did more than that because Dixon started on the primary tire and dropped to like 18th or 19th in the opening stint. He ended with three consecutive stints on the alternate tire, but only the final stint was on a new set. That led to the charge into the top ten. It salvaged a day more than anything else.

11. If it wasn't for Palou's final stint and Will Power going from 21st to sixth, Graham Rahal would have a strong case for drive of the day. He went 18th to 11th, but he was running better than that as his middle two stints were on new alternate tires. He ended on a used set and that might have cost him a top ten. Rahal was about 4.5 seconds slower than Dixon on the final lap of the race. If Rahal runs the used alternates a stint early, you could argue he would have been in the same spot, but I think the argument should be to end on the best tires you got. That seems more advantageous than ending on a used set.

12. To bolster Ed Carpenter Racing's confidence, Christian Rasmussen was 12th, and he ended on a set of new alternate tires. Other than the final stint and making up some ground, Rasmussen wasn't all that present in this race, but he ended on a good impression.

13. I don't know what Josef Newgarden was doing using two sets of new alternates mid-race and then finishing on new primary tires. My only guess is Newgarden didn't have faith in used alternates, and that might have been a good choice as he was still running below a minute and 50 seconds in the closing laps. It felt like Newgarden hit 12th and then couldn't run better than that. 

14. For a driver that lost his hybrid early, 14th for Santino Ferrucci is an outstanding day. When that was announced, Ferrucci was running just outside the top ten, and we had just gotten pass the first pit stop. It felt like he was in for a long day. This might not have been the best possible outcome, but it felt like it was going to be much worse than this.

15. As for everyone outside the top 14, I don't know if there is much to say about any of them.

Kyffin Simpson kept it on the track and finished 15th, we didn't see Conor Daly once as he finished 16th, Rinus VeeKay didn't have a good second stint on the primary tire and he lost ground to 17th. 

David Malukas and Nolan Siegel feel like missed opportunities. Malukas started inside the top 12, started on new alternate tires and then blew it on primary tires on the second stint. He ended on primary tires as well in 18th position.

Siegel was trapped behind Ferrucci during the second stint when Ferrucci was on primary tires with no hybrid system and Siegel had new alternates. Siegel could not make a move and others pounced on him. And then he made this a four-stop race as he only did ten laps on used alternates before primary tires for 14 laps and then one more run on used alternates. His strategy was garbage, and it led to a 19th-place result. That seems likes a team that got stuck and couldn't stop making mistakes.

16. Devlin DeFrancesco spun Scott McLaughlin before we even got to the green flag. DeFrancesco had a penalty, though I think 20th was the best he was going to do regardless. 

Marcus Ericsson lost spots running wide on the opening lap and then spun after his first pit stop, losing more ground. Two stints on primary tires, one of which was used, in the middle of the race did not help Ericsson's cause. Twenty-first is a brutal result.

17. I am going to cover both Prema cars here. Robert Shwartzman had a slow first pit stop. Shwartzman started well, but I think the team played it too conservative with two stints on new primary tires in the middle of the race. The team only ran qualifying and the warm-up. It didn't have the data to trust if it could do three stints on the alternates. For a team in its second race with nothing to lose, it should have just bit the bullet. 

Callum Ilott ran into the back of someone at the start and had to stop for a front wing change after lap one. It cost him a lap early and it was a 22-26 day for Prema.

18. Sting Ray Robb was out there and finished 23rd. If you forgot about him, you were not alone. 

I don't know what happened to Louis Foster that led him to finish 24th after starting tenth. There might be a reason for that. We will get to it in a moment. 

Jacob Abel. Two starts, two races finishing off the lead lap, and a drive-through penalty after his first stop did not help.

19. Oh, Scott McLaughlin. Started 25th only to be spun before the green flag and then the hybrid overheating was a crushing outing at Thermal. This is the second consecutive year McLaughlin has finished last in the second race of the season. Last year, he recovered and had a brilliant season. I bet he wasn't hoping not to have to repeat last season.

20. Thermal produced a good race, and last year showed the potential. With how quick tires wore down, a full race with a full field of cars and not 12-14 cars sets itself up for stellar race. Palou and Lundgaard traded passes for five consecutive corners. Palou erased a ten-second gap in no time. There were battles throughout the field. This wasn't a processional race by any means. It got strung out at the front at times, but this being a caution-free race with the variety of tire strategy made it exciting. 

This was no different than a race we have seen at Road America or Mid-Ohio or Laguna Seca. I don't know if the alternate/primary balance was too much in favor of the alternate, but Firestone will figure it out. Either way, we saw a race where teams had to really choose what tire to use. This was a three-stop race for everyone. Perhaps a little better primary tire opens up the pit windows. It was three stops but everyone could only make it 18 to 20 laps. I don't know if IndyCar wants it so a car can do 22 laps comfortably and make this a two-stop vs. three-stop race, but it would add another dimension that would not hurt.

21. I feel like I missed a lot of this race, and we all did because the broadcast went down for 20 minutes. It is unclear if it was just the television compound or the entire Thermal Club facility. Reports on the ground was the media center was fine throughout the 20-minute period. Timing and scoring did stay up. 

Things happen. If you recall NBC's first race on network television at St. Petersburg in 2019, part of that race experienced some technical issues. As technologically advanced as we have become, teething issues persist. They have been a little more noticeable over the first two races than anyone would like, and there is no way to spin losing a race broadcast for 20 minutes into a positive. The only positive is it was 20 minutes in the middle of the race and to the final 20 minutes. 

22. We have three more weeks to iron things out until Long Beach.

Morning Warm-Up: Thermal Club 2025

Patricio O'Ward snatched his sixth career pole position with a lap of 99.9567 seconds around the Thermal Club circuit, and O'Ward will lead an all-Arrow McLaren front row to the green flag for the Thermal Grand Prix. Christian Lundgaard took second spot ending up 0.1678 seconds off his teammate. For O'Ward, it is his first pole position since Mid-Ohio 2022, 43 races ago. In four of his five pole position starts, the Mexican driver has finished in the top five. He has finished second, third, fourth and fifth from the first starting spot. O'Ward's other finish was 24th after a fuel pressure issue in that 2022 Mid-Ohio race. While O'Ward won at Mid-Ohio last season, his average finish on natural-terrain road courses was 11.333 and his next best result was eighth.

Christian Lundgaard ending up second makes this Arrow McLaren's first front row lockout ever in IndyCar, whether dating back to this organization's origins as FAZZT Race Team or McLaren's first foray into American open-wheel racing in the 1970s. This will be the fifth time Lundgaard has started on the front row in his career. The Dane has finished in the top five every time he has started on the front row in his career. Lundgaard has never finished better than 19th in the second race of the season.

Álex Palou was 0.3525 seconds off O'Ward, and Palou will start third. Palou is attempting to become the first driver to win consecutive races to open a season since his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon did it in 2020. The earliest Palou has won two races in a season is seven rounds, which he did in 2023. Palou's 12 victories for Ganassi is the fourth-most in team history behind Dixon (57), Alex Zanardi (15) and Dario Franchitti (13).

Colton Herta is on the outside of the second row. The California-native was 0.4411 seconds off pole position. Herta has never opened a season with consecutive finishes outside the top ten. He was 16th at St. Petersburg three weeks ago. Herta had top ten finishes in all six races held on natural-terrain road courses last season. He has finished in the top five in eight of his last 11 starts.

Marcus Ericsson makes it two Andretti Global cars starting inside the top five with Ericsson 0.7868 off O'Ward's top time. Ericsson was sixth in the season opener. Every time he has finished in the top ten in the first race of the season, Ericsson has finished in the top ten of the second race of the season as well. Last year, Ericsson started fifth in two races, and he finished fifth in both of those races as well.

Alexander Rossi takes sixth on the grid in what was Ed Carpenter Racing's first appearance in the final round of qualifying since the 2022 Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Rossi had one appearance in the final round of qualifying last season. That was at Laguna Seca. Rossi was tenth at St. Petersburg. In his first nine seasons, Rossi has opened the season with consecutive top ten finishes only three times, including last year.

Marcus Armstrong missed out on the final round of qualifying by 0.0728 seconds. This is the fifth time Armstrong in starting in the top ten in his last seven starts. While Armstrong had two top five finishes and three top ten finishes on natural-terrain road courses last season, he finished 17th or worse in the other three natural-terrain road course events.

Kyle Kirkwood takes eighth on the grid after falling 0.121 seconds shy of advancing from the second round. Kirkwood has finished in the top five of his last two starts. The only time he has had three consecutive top five finishes was last season over the Detroit, Road America and Laguna Seca rounds. He won from eighth at Nashville in 2023, the only other time Kirkwood has started eighth in his career.

Meyer Shank Racing has its two cars starting nose-to-tail with Felix Rosenqvist in ninth. Entering this weekend Rosenqvist had started on pole position for the second race of the season for three consecutive years. His average finish in those three races was 18.667. This is the eighth time Rosenqvist has started ninth in his career. The last two times he has started ninth, he has finished 27th, and he has failed to finish four of the first seven races where he has started ninth.

In his second career start, Louis Foster has his first career top ten start in IndyCar. The Briton will take tenth on the grid. Foster was classified in last place at the season opener. The most recent driver to finish last in the first race of the season and then win a race later that year was Josef Newgarden in 2016. An IndyCar race has not been won from tenth starting position since the second Belle Isle race in 2018, 108 races ago, which Ryan Hunter-Reay won.

Scott Dixon starts 11th, the tenth time in the last 19 races Dixon has started outside the top ten. For five consecutive seasons, Dixon has finished in the top five of the second race of the season. In three of those races, he has finished fifth. In the other two he has won, including last year at Long Beach. However, Dixon started inside the top eight in all five of those races.

David Malukas was the slowest qualifier in the second round of qualifying, and Malukas slots into 12th on the grid. This is the fourth time in his last five road/street course races Malukas has made it to the second round of qualifying. In five starts in the state of California, Malukas' best finish is 13th and he has a career average finish of 18th.

Rinus VeeKay missed out of the second round of qualifying by 0.0838 seconds, and the Dutchman will start 13th. VeeKay ended an 18-race top ten drought for Dale Coyne Racing with his ninth-place finish in the St. Petersburg season opener. It was the fourth time in six seasons VeeKay has opened the season with a top ten finish.

Santino Ferrucci ended St. Petersburg in 14th and he will start 14th for the Thermal Grand Prix. Ferrucci was 0.0023 seconds off advancing to the second round. Last year at Laguna Seca, Ferrucci was ninth, his first top ten finish in the state of California in seven career starts. His average finish in the Golden State is 16.2857.

Conor Daly ended up 15th on the grid, 0.1304 seconds on the wrong side of the cutline for the first qualifying group. This will be only the 14th time in Daly's 41 road/street course races since the start of the 2020 season where he is starting in the top fifteen.

Nolan Siegel fell 0.0405 seconds off advancing from the second group, and Siegel will start 16th for the Thermal Grand Prix. Siegel has an average finish of 20.2857 over this first seven starts on road/street courses. His average starting spot in those races is 20th. 

Josef Newgarden is the top Team Penske starter in 17th. This is the first time Team Penske did not make it out of the first round of qualifying since Portland 2021. Newgarden has finished third in the last two races and he has finished third in four of the last nine races. Prior to this nine-race stretch, he had finished third in only five of his first 207 starts.

Graham Rahal ended up 18th on the grid. This will be seventh consecutive Rahal has started outside the top ten. This is his longest stretch without a top ten start since a seven-race run over the final four races of 2022 and the first three events in 2023. Rahal will be making his 294th start this weekend, tying Ryan Hunter-Reay for 11th all-time.

Christian Rasmussen takes 19th on the grid. This is Rasmussen's first time starting in the top twenty after four consecutive starts of 23rd or worse. When starting inside the top twenty, Rasmussen has never finished better than his starting spot. Seven time, he has finished worse than his starting spot. Only once has Rasmussen matched his starting spot, and that was finishing 20th after starting 20th in last year's Grand Prix of Indianapolis.

Kyffin Simpson rounds out the top twenty on the grid. This will be Simpson's third consecutive top twenty start. It is the first time he has started inside the top twenty in this many consecutive races. Simpson has finished outside the top fifteen in seven of his last eight races.

Will Power will start 21st, his worst starting position since he started 22nd for the second Iowa race last year. Power was 26th at St. Petersburg. It was his worst finish in a season opener. His previous worst was 25th at Homestead in 2008. Dating back to last season, Power has finished outside the top twenty in two consecutive races, a first for Power since Iowa and Toronto in 2011. Power followed those two races up with victory in Edmonton nearly 14 years ago. The law time Power started 22nd, he won the race.

Callum Ilott has his Prema Chevrolet starting 22nd. In seven trips to California with IndyCar, this is the fifth time Ilott has started 20th or worse. In the other two he has stared 18th (Long Beach 2021) and second (Laguna Seca 2022). This will be Ilott's 40th career start. No driver has ever had a first career victory come in a 40th career start.

Jacob Abel starts his second IndyCar race two spot better than in his first IndyCar race. Abel takes 23rd on the grid. Abel was off the lead lap in the first race of the season, finishing 23rd at St. Petersburg. Since the first race of the season, Abel had a birthday. He turned 24 years old on March 9.

Sting Ray Robb occupies 24th position on the grid. This is the 36th time in 37 races Robb is starting outside the top twenty. This will be the ninth time he has started 24th in his career. His average finish from 24th starting spot is 17.375, but his only top ten finish came from 24th starting position. Robb went from 24th to ninth at Gateway last year.

Scott McLaughlin was the slowest qualifier in the first qualifying group and he will start 25th, his worst starting position since starting 26th in the 2022 Indianapolis 500. Dating back to last season, McLaughlin has three consecutive top five finishes. The only time McLaughlin has had at least four consecutive top five finishes was in 2022, starting with the second Iowa race and running through the Portland race.

Devlin DeFrancesco matches his career-worst starting position of 26th. It will be DeFrancesco's third time starting 26th in a race. Despite not starting a race in 2024, DeFrancesco has finished 22nd in his last two starts. He has finished outside the top fifteen in his last nine starts. Six of those finishes have been outside the top twenty.

Robert Shwartzman rounds out the grid in 27th position. Shwartzman did not complete a lap on track until qualifying. His weekend opened with a mechanical issue that caused a fire in the car and forced him to stop his car on the circuit before he could complete a lap in practice on Friday. The fire damage forced the team to repair the car through all of Saturday morning practice.

Fox's coverage of the Thermal Grand Prix begins at 3:00 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 3:17 p.m. The race is scheduled for 65 laps.