2026 Midsummer Catch-Up

We are at the halfway point of summer, and we are coming off a break for some. IndyCar, NASCAR, MotoGP and Formula One were all off last week. MotoGP is back after a month off. IndyCar had two weeks off and now has a five-week run-in to close its season. NASCAR gets just the one week off. Formula One will be on break for a few more weeks. Sports cars have remained busy. Every series has established itself. We know how things stand, and over the next few weeks and months, series will conclude their seasons. 

This isn't really a catchup in the traditional sense. It is more some thoughts and where things stand for a few series.

Formula One: This is Fine

It sounds odd to say a season where one driver won five consecutive races and has won over half the races run to this point has been rather competitive, but that has been the case, and the playing field has leveled out a little more recently. 

Andrea Kimi Antonelli leads the championship with 219 points, and he is 50 points clear of Lewis Hamilton in second. Antonelli has been the best driver this season, and he is really one mechanical issue and an off-track excursion away from having a slightly better lead. The championship is still within his control, but it feels like a strong second half from Ferrari could see him challenged.

Even with Antonelli winning six of 11 races, Ferrari has been up to the task and both its driver have won. George Russell has won twice. Lando Norris put McLaren on the board in Hungary. Red Bull isn't great but we all believe Max Verstappen could work something brilliant to win a race or two. A few races have been good. A few have been dull. It is a Formula One season like many Formula One seasons before it. There are still 12 races scheduled after the summer break! Remember when we got to August and there would be five races left? 

MotoGP: It is Marc Márquez's lose

This is a slightly more common belief around MotoGP. Despite Márquez's sloppy start to the season where he failed to stand on the podium in the first seven grand prix, two of which he missed due to injury, it feels like he entered the summer break as the best rider. 

In the last four races he has gone first, first, seventh and first with a pair of sprint victories in there. He did win two of the first four sprint races as well. He reached the summer break 18 points behind Jorge Martín. Martín's one grand prix victory was the French Grand Prix. Martín has two sprint victories, Austin and Le Mans. Ai Ogura is four points ahead of Márquez in the championship and has been rather strong the last few races. Marco Bezzecchi has unraveled ever since his retirement in Hungary with an exclusion for pushing a marshal at Brno and a broken collarbone in Germany in the interim. 

No Ducati rider is going to consistently beat Márquez, and it does not appear any competitor can match him on pace over the final 11 races. It really comes down to Márquez not tossing away results, something we cannot dismiss him doing. If he can accept days where he is going to fourth or fifth and not be desperate, he will take the title because more times than not the race will come to him.

NASCAR: Isn't it ironic how few surprise winners there are?

We are four races until the playoffs begin in the Cup Series, and all ten race winners this season rank in the top 15 of the championship. How about that in the first season since the reversion to the "Chase" format where the top 16 drivers in points will compete for the championship after the 26th race and there are no scheduled eliminations?

After the first 22 races last season, three winners were outside the top 16 in the championship. 

It should be acknowledged it pays more to win a race. Winning a race now pays 55 points as a base versus 40 points. The maximum points for a victory is now 76 points! A winner can now earn up to 41 more points than second place. That is one reason. 

Another is Shane van Gisbergen has improved mightily on ovals. Van Gisbergen has won twice, both on road courses, but his most impressive races have been the Coca-Cola 600, where he finished 11th but spent most of that race in the top ten, and he was fifth at North Wilkesboro and was legitimately a top five car. Add in finishing sixth in both Atlanta races and just showing more top twenty pace versus struggling to crack the top 25, and he is in the playoffs on points. 

We have had some close calls. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. was second in the Daytona 500 to Tyler Reddick in what was somewhat a toss-up coming to the checkered flag. Alex Bowman missed four races due to vertigo-like symptoms, and then he nearly won at Talladega. Brad Keselowski was second at Darlington after winning the first two stages. Drivers currently outside the top 16 were close to victory this season. It just didn't break their way.

FIA World Endurance Championship: There is greater intrigue

BMW has won two of four races. Le Mans was rather compelling with Toyota beating BMW with Cadillac not far off. Ferrari has been good, but not as quick as it has been in previous seasons. The #20 BMW and the #7 Toyota are tied in the championship through four races. It has felt like WEC races have been a little more open this season, and it is not surprising to see deeper competition. 

The next round is at Circuit of the Americas in about a month, and there could be nine cars that have a plausible shot at winning. That isn't a bad thing. It feels like we are bound to see a proper championship fight until the final round.

The WEC calendar has always been eight or nine races in length. I feel like we are a few rounds too short. I wish there were more opportunities to see this championship. 

IMSA: Something is Missing

I cannot put my finger on it. It has been a fun IMSA season. 

Laurin Heinrich stole the show early. Whelen Racing has been near-bulletproof. Acura has won a race. Wayne Taylor Racing finally ended its slump. We have a fun two-driver championship battle because Heinrich has pieced together a full season and Jack Aitken had a different co-driver at Long Beach because Earl Bamber had WEC responsibilities. Something is missing though. 

It might be the IMSA season is too quick, but it has been this way ever since Grand-Am and the American Le Mans Series merged. 

The schedule is front loaded... kind of. There are still six weeks between the first and second rounds, but IMSA becomes a once-a-month series for the top class starting in Detroit. 

May 30, June 28, August 2, September 20, October 3. That is the schedule for the top class, and you only see the class compete nine times all year. I don't know if another two or three races over the summer would make the season feel more full or make the championship more compelling. It isn't going to change. IMSA is set on this being the schedule length and this is what the teams can budget toward in terms of mileage over a full season. 

Maybe I am just not feeling it this year.

Super Formula: Kakunoshin Ohta is doing enough for Honda to take him to IndyCar

Seven races are in the books in the Super Formula season with five races remaining, Sportsland SUGO this weekend and a pair of doubleheaders at Fuji and Suzuka, and Ohta has 95 points and a 50.5-point lead over Ayumu Iwasa. Ohta has won four of seven races and finished in the points of all seven events. There are 115 points left on the table. 

It has been rather quiet on Ohta's possible move to North America. He has expressed interest in both IndyCar and IMSA, but the Acura program is leaving the grid at the end of this season. That leaves IndyCar and Ohta is probably ready for it. That second Meyer Shank Racing could be a good introduction.

Ohta was third in the Super Formula championship last year and he has won ten times in his Super Formula career. He is 27 years old. The last guy to come to IndyCar from Super Formula has done pretty well. Joining next year would mean one year in a lame-duck car. Holding off until 2028 could be the wiser move. Ohta is certainly fit for the challenge should he want it, and Honda will help facilitate it.

The Super Formula season goes until November 22. News could come deeper into the offseason than we are accustomed to hearing.

Indy Lights: I am not sure anyone is great

It speaks for itself. It has been a while since this series has had a three-driver championship fight with this little between the top drivers. Nikita Johnson is on 451 points, one point ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi and Tymek Kucharczyk is 25 points back. Nobody wows me. 

Johnson is 18 years old and was strong throughout his Road to Indy career. Fittipaldi spent the previous three years in Formula Two and won two races in that span with a pair of top ten championship finishes. Kucharczyk was Euroformula Open champion last year, but it was a series that had eight full-time drivers and had about 12 cars at most competing in any race. I don't know if these are good drivers or the best the series car attract. 

It doesn't help that Indy Lights does not have a historically great record of producing drivers. Drivers make it to IndyCar and then they are gone. There hasn't been a driver in the Road to Indy system that has ever wowed a team into fully supporting from their first race until they make their IndyCar debut. The closest we have is Kyle Kirkwood with Andretti Global being behind him and loaning him to A.J. Foyt Racing for his rookie IndyCar season. The rest are here today, gone tomorrow. Some do not even get that chance (We still remember you, Kyle Kaiser). 

Beyond the top three, Max Taylor is 18 years old and started strong but has had ups and downs. There is promise there. Lochie Hughes hasn't been as good as he was last years and the same can be said for Myles Rowe. Outside of the top six, there is no one to really mention. 

Somebody is going to be champion and we will have to discuss where that driver will race next year in IndyCar... which actually becomes tougher because of the charter system. 

We haven't discussed how the charter system makes it all-or-nothing for the Indy Lights champion. The prize was enough for an Indianapolis 500 entry and a few other races. There aren't going to be a few other races as grids are going to be restricted to chartered entries. That basically means full-time or just Indianapolis unless a team (Dale Coyne Racing) wants to split a car among multiple drivers. 

It only becomes more difficult to break into IndyCar for these drivers, and in recent years, rookies have struggled even when full-time and with a proper testing program entering a rookie season. We may need to discuss this further in the future.

Formula E: It looks good on paper

One round remains, a doubleheader from London, and nine drivers are still alive for the championship. 

A strong end to the season has seen Jake Dennis re-take the championship lead. With four podium finishes in the last five races, Dennis is on 146 points, two points ahead of Mitch Eavans. Pascal Wehrlein makes its five points covering the top three drivers. Oliver Rowland has an outside chance of defending his title, as Rowland is 14 points behind Dennis. It gets a little harder to believe Edoardo Mortara (116 points) and António Félix da Costa (113 points) have a chance. Nick Cassidy (104), Nico Müller (102) and Nyck de Vries (94) will require some good fortunate. 

There are multiple drivers alive for the championship entering the final round and it will likely be decided in the final race. 

It is unfortunate how buried Formula E has been. It has been that way for a while. It is a series without any demand. No one is lining up to broadcast the series because it is a can't-miss property. It can have some close races and multiple teams have a chance at winning. Eight of ten teams have won a race this season entering the final two rounds, and one of the winners is the worst time in the championship. Quality drivers are competing as well. It is a rather deep group. If only it was a little more accessible. 

Musings From the Weekend: Uniform Free Agency

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

Sami Pajari won his home rally, Rally Finland, his second career victory after winning his first career rally two weeks ago. Sébastien Ogier had a massive accident while in the lead, and it appears Ogier's title defense has come to a halt. Road America held an endurance race with a few notable accidents and inconsistent officiating. Honda had a good weekend in Toyota's backyard. Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti each own a part of Legacy Motor Club. Maverick Viñales could be on the outs at KTM. Alexander Rossi and Álex Palou had to work this weekend, testing the new Dallara chassis. Talk about a rotten deal, testing on a weekend. That could be done on Monday and Tuesday, or been done Thursday and Friday? However, we start August looking back on news from the start of July.

Uniform Free Agency

A little over a month remains in the IndyCar season, but 2027 occupied much of the discussion in July. The biggest story of the month was not what happened on the racetrack, nor was it the rain-delay at Nashville and the missed opportunity of a race following the FIFA World Cup Final. The biggest story was driver movement. 

We have extensively covered Scott Dixon announcing his departure from Chip Ganassi Racing for Arrow McLaren, and the dominoes that followed. Felix Rosenqvist will join Dixon at McLaren. Christian Lundgaard is without a ride for the moment, as is Nolan Siegel. 

It is not uncommon for driver momvent to generate some attention during the season. Last year, Will Power's future was a weekly discussion, and it wasn't until the very end of the season did we learn Power would not return to Team Penske for 2027, choosing to exit the team he had been a member of since 2009. Simon Pagenaud, Josef Newgarden, Alexander Rossi, Tony Kanaan, they have all generated attention during a season more for where their futures were going than what they were doing on the racetrack. 

Motorsports is in a unique position where a driver can decide his future at anytime. A contract could be signed after a season has been completed. A driver can sign a contract a full year before he or she will be free. Fernando Alonso signed to join McLaren in 2007 before the 2006 Formula One season even began. Even if the announcement has not been made, it doesn't mean the deal is not done.

However, free agency is not the same for all. 

Scott Dixon was free to negotiate and look for a new home in the middle of the season. Christian Lundgaard, initially, wasn't. 

Contracts vary among organizations in every series, IndyCar included. While Dixon was allowed to negotiate midseason, and he could even sign with a team, this was not the same luxury for Lundgaard. Even though his seat was taken, Lundgaard was originally not allowed to start looking for rides for 2027. McLaren removed that restriction to Lundgaard shortly after Dixon and Rosenqvist were officially announced. 

Even the top drivers can face restrictions. Will Power had announced he would be leaving Team Penske and signed with Andretti Global not long after the 2025 season ended, but Power was not free to start working with Andretti until the calendar year was over. Power's replacement, however, David Malukas, not only signed with Team Penske but was testing for the team before 2025 was over. Contracts may have stipulations that a driver's services are retained through the calendar year, but teams are willing to release a driver early, most of the time. 

This is the way it has always been, but it is imperfect system for the drivers.

It is great for the teams. Some drivers lose out more than others. While Scott Dixon could negotiate in June and July, some drivers cannot start talking until after the last race. That takes a driver out of consideration for certain seats. It is also a disadvantage to a driver who is trying to negotiate staying with a team only for it to not come together early in the offseason. That driver has been focused on staying where he is at only to find out that seat is gone and perhaps a handful of others as well. 

There are a number of reasons why this free agency system in IndyCar is difficult to change, but it is worth considering if it is time for uniformity. 

The drivers should want it, but drivers in any form of motorsports are not great on unionizing and working for the greater good of the group. There is no incentive for IndyCar to step in, but it has never been better positioned to enforce some control. The charter system can be used for behavioral guidance. If a team has a charter, it could be forced to recognize certain standards for contracts and allowances for driver movement. 

For starters, there should be a uniform end date for all contracts, and all drivers should have the same length negotiating period. Some drivers should not get a two- or three-month head start. What we should see is a dedicated free agency period where drivers can negotiate but no one can sign a contract. 

Once a season ends, there should be a testing freeze that way no team nor contracted drivers can get an advantage while others are looking for seats. Two weeks after the season concludes, drivers should be allowed to start negotiating with other teams. A driver can negotiate with his incumbent team at all times, but a fortnight after the final race, teams are open to negotiate with anybody. There should be at least a two-week, if not a month negotiating period, where teams and drivers can talk but no one can be on track to test. This is entirely for negotiating contracts. Once that month is up, drivers are allowed to start testing.

Using 2026 as an example, the season finale is September 6 at Laguna Seca. Free agent negotiating would not begin until September 21. If it is a two-week period, teams could hit the track October 5. If it is four-week, it would be October 19. 

A benefit to this is not only would drivers get greater opportunities to at least interview with teams, but it would allow us to focus on the season as it is happening. There would always be some discussions about a driver's future midseason, but a driver signing would be less likely to overshadow a race weekend. It would also create some stories during the first portion of IndyCar's offseason. How many times do we get to the end of a season and we already know about 80% of the grid for next season before the final race has been run or we know the driver moves within the week following the finale? 

It is beneficial to spread free agency into the offseason. Every other sport does it. It wouldn't solve all of IndyCar's problems. The offseason is six months long. A month or six weeks of free agency will fill some of the void. The subsequent testing where drivers get their first runs with their new teams would be the next wave of attention during the offseason, but this new free agency structure would not fill the entire void of the offseason. 

While it would clearly benefit the drivers, it could also help the teams. They have control, but not all organizations are the same, and having a few weeks or a month of negotiating could help teams when it comes to sponsors. If a team knows it can land a certain driver or if a team at least wants to chase a certain driver, it can incorporate a sponsor or two in those negotiations and help get a deal over the line. It could allow some of IndyCar's bottom rung teams a better chance to compete for drivers.

There is a flaw in motorsports is not a ubiquitous entity. Just because IndyCar does one thing doesn't mean all other forms of motorsports will follow. None will. What do you do about drivers not in IndyCar? What about a Formula Two driver or a sports car driver or even a NASCAR driver? When can a team speak with them? 

It will come down to control and teams being barred from negotiating and signing anyone, regardless of where they are racing, until the negotiating period is complete. I am sure some drivers could be turned off, but I doubt having to wait until October 21st to test versus testing September 21st when the first race of the next season isn't until March 7 isn't that much a deal breaker. It would be different for some to have to work within these parameters, but it would likely not change much for a driver entering the series. It would be different once a driver is in a series. 

How do you manage drivers looking to race elsewhere? That might be the one out for the drivers. A driver cannot negotiate with an IndyCar team during the season, but if he is ready to go sports car racing next season, he can sign a deal with the Ford Hypercar program or take on a AF Corse GT3 ride in June or July. If a driver wants to go to NASCAR, he can sign with Trackhouse on May 25th for the following season. 

Does that hurt the teams? Only if they believe they could keep a driver in the series. This isn't a regular occurrence in IndyCar. I don't think it is actually a problem that could hurt the series and see talent leave. IndyCar attracts drivers. It wasn't that long ago it brought in a Supercars champion and a NASCAR Cup champion in the same season. The champion from Argentina's best series came to IndyCar! There is always going to be someone interested. Mick Schumacher joined the series when no one thought he would be an option.

This change would be unlike anything we see in any other form of motorsports, and it would be a significant departure from how business has been done. It would help current IndyCar drivers and level the playing field when it came to contract restrictions. All drivers would have the same negotiation periods and nobody would have a head start while others would be at a significant disadvantage. Free agency would become a clear offseason subject, and it would allow for more news to be made when IndyCar is not competing. It would require a willingness to change and embrace a new way of handling driver movement, a difficult concession from the teams, and the drivers are not going to push for it. 

It could be for the better, but that doesn't mean it is going to happen. Everyone should at least have the discussion. 

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Sami Pajari, but did you know...

The #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac of Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor won the IMSA race from Road America. The #43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca-Gibson of Jeremy Clarke, Tom Dillmann and Bijoy Garg won in LMP2. The #9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini of Andrea Caldarelli and Sandy Mitchell won in GTD Pro. The #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG of Indy Dontje, Philip Ellis and Russell Ward won in GTD.

The #100 Team Kunimitsu Honda of Naoki Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino won the Super GT race from Fuji. The #52 Saitama Green Brave Toyota of Hiroki Yoshida and Seita Nonaka won in GT300.

Matt Payne (race one and three) and Broc Feeney (race two) split the Supercars races from Wanneroo Raceway.

The #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing Mercedes-AMG of Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella and the #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche of Bastian Buus and Ricardo Feller split the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup races from Magny-Cours.

Coming Up This Weekend

IndyCar is off to Portland.

NASCAR begins its 14-week run-in in Iowa.

MotoGP is back from break with the British Grand Prix.

Best of the Month: July 2026

And another month is gone. These are the dog days of summer, a period of monotony and the pace of life slowing to a drag, but it has been a rather speedy period. The heat didn't drain that much energy out of us, or so it seemed. We are not through it yet. August tends to be a little longer than July. Only then will summer feel near complete.

More on the Charter Sale

We already touched up Dreyer & Reinbold Racing's purchase of a charter from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, allowing D&R to return to full-time IndyCar competition for the first time since 2012. This will be the 11th full-time team in IndyCar.

More full-time teams are a good thing for IndyCar. It is another team with a stake in the series. The resources are not contained to a few organizations. It spreads out a little more. D&R will be the lone single-car team, which could poise difficulty. IndyCar hasn't had a single-car team since Juncos Hollinger Racing ran only Callum Ilott in the 2022 season. A technical alliance could be formed with another team. There is a belief this deal with RLLR could mean a partnership between the two teams, which would be somewhat fitting considering the history these two teams have.

D&R isn't an entirely new operation, but it will be an adjustment going from running only Indianapolis to running everywhere. The team hasn't run a street course race since São Paulo in 2013. This will be an unfamiliar territory for the team, and new organization experience growing pains. 

Prema, Juncos Hollinger Racing, Carlin, DragonSpeed, none of these teams came in and showed great strength. They each may have had bright spots, but those were the exceptions. Anticipation should be the same for D&R. Indianapolis will be the one spot it will not have many concerns, but every other race will be an adjustment. 

This entry is coming at an odd time for D&R, and it could be a year too early. D&R is returning to full-time competition in the final season for this ruleset, this engine and this chassis. While a possible technical alliance with RLLR would benefit the team, it would wasteful to flip to Honda engines for a season, especially since the team has been running Chevrolet engines since dropping Lotus ahead of the 2012 Indianapolis 500. Perhaps that is where the partnership helps D&R and it just receives all the equipment RLLR has been using for its third entry. It would help. It would likely also make 2027 a throwaway season. 

The finer details will be sorted out at a later date. For RLLR, this sale caps off what has been a failure of an experiment running as a three-car team. When the team expanded to three cars in 2022, it was two years removed for winning the Indianapolis 500 and in the seven previous seasons at least one RLLR driver finished in the top ten of the championship. 

While Christian Lundgaard was eighth in the championship in 2023, the average championship finish for RLLR entries in the previous four seasons was 17.75, and it had at least one entry finish outside the top twenty in the last three seasons. With six races remaining in 2026, the three RLLR cars rank 12th, 18th and 24th in the championship. 

Perhaps this sale will allow RLLR to focus on its two cars and lift those entries up the field, creating a more competitive battle in the top ten with another team more regularly in the battle for race victories. We know RLLR can do it, though selling one entry may not be the magic bullet back to success.

It's a New Car!

Earlier this week, IndyCar released renderings of the new Dallara chassis due to debut in 2028, the Dallara IR28. 

There were no signs this was coming though we were anticipating some sort of unveil as development testing is scheduled to take place over this offseason. The good news is the car has already been shaken down, and it is scheduled to test this weekend on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course with Álex Palou and Alexander Rossi.

Guess what? It looks like an IndyCar. With a different wing design at the front and the rear and a little less towering aeroscreen, it isn't some revolutionary design, but we were not going to see something earth-shattering, nor would anyone embrace such a concept. 

IndyCar is cornered because for as much as people want something breathtaking and pushing the limits, most of these people complain that the car does not look like it is not from the 1990s. How can you be revolutionary when everyone is calling for a return of 30 years ago? 

What matters is when it takes to the racetrack and what the performance is like. It doesn't matter how it looks if it cannot race well. 

The car will be about 100 pounds lighter than the current car while the aerodynamics have been designed to optimize the turbulent air from the leading cars to aid passing opportunities. This car will also adopt a single-source damper provider, an area of the car that has been open for development and been one of the key sources for differential between the grid. The IR28 will also see a return of the LED panels, which were last featured on the cars during the 2018 season. The hybrid system will evolve to the Energy Storage System from BOLD Technology, which has developed advanced battery systems for Formula One teams. The ESS will be have 14 times the energy storage as the current supercapacitor-based system. 

We will be learning more about this car as testing take places over the rest of this year and the entire 2027 season. Most seemed pleased with the photos, plenty were always going to be angry, but looks can be deceiving. It will comedown to how it feels, and it will develop. There will be things that do not work and need massive adjustments. Problems will crop up unexpectedly and require everyone to return to the drawing board. It will be a long process, and the good news is there is at least 19 months until the first race, a.k.a IndyCar's sweet spot. 

As we enter the final month of the 2026 season, the new car is here. It is no longer a hypothetical. There is something physical that has been produced, it has been on track, and the wheels are literally in motion. There have been plenty of delays, and now it feels like everything is on course to reach its target debut in 2028. That is progress as long as it may have been to develop.

August Preview

Remember last year when I wrote August doesn't have an event of note? That remains true. It is worse now that the Suzuka 8 Hours moved to July, which I just found out about. Congratulations to Honda, Takumi Takahashi, Jonathan Rea and Somkiat Chantra on the victory. 

There will be four races to conclude the NASCAR Cup Series regular season, which means four races to determine the Chase/Playoff drivers. I will admit, I was fine calling it the playoffs. It makes more sense. It can be called playoffs and not have rounds and forced eliminations. 

Austin Cindric is on the bubble with 518 points. Five drivers are within 100 points of Cindric, and they are Ryan Preece (-38 points), Erik Jones (-44), Brad Keselowski (-50), Michael McDowell (-76) and Ross Chastain (-82).

The drivers ahead of Cindric are Shane van Gisbergen (+19), Bubba Wallace (+22), Joey Logano (+27), William Byron (+50) and Daniel Suárez (+65). Christopher Bell is tenth in the championship and 91 points clear of Cindric.

How much can things change in four races? If you go back four races to after Sonoma, Ryan Preece was 15th and a point ahead of Cindric, A.J. Allmendinger was only 26 points on the outside, five points closer than Joey Logano. Also, Chase Briscoe was 11th, 67 points to the good and now Briscoe is seventh, 105 points clear of Cindric.

Iowa, Richmond, Loudon and Daytona conclude the regular season. 

Other events of note in August:

The Formula E season will crown a champion after a doubleheader in London.

IMSA has an endurance race at Road America, and then a GT-only race at Virginia International Raceway. 

MotoGP returns from its summer break with races at Silverstone and Aragón. 

Formula One will return from its summer break with the final Dutch Grand Prix for the foreseeable future.

IndyCar has a bunch of races, as we have already mentioned. 

2027 IndyCar Schedule Preparations

We are in the middle of IndyCar's mini summer break. After a weekend off, IndyCar has another one, and at a time when many series are also in the middle of a break. Don't worry, we will have plenty of IndyCar in August with five consecutive weekends and six races to end the season. The end of the 2026 is staring us right in the face. It is a good time turn an eye to 2027. 

A few pieces are already known, as is always a case, when it comes to next year's calendar. Most of the calendar is still a mystery, but as with much in IndyCar we already know how this will play out. 

Nothing happens in IndyCar on a whim... except for the Washington, D.C. race, which may require a greater conversation later, but 99.999% of the time, any addition or change comes after a drawn-out buildup. There is a lot of flirting, track personnel taking trips to other racetracks, publicly canoodling with the series, and then IndyCar and the track announces a date. We all see it and know it is happening before the two sides become public with the relationship. It is safe to say 2027 will not look much different from 2026 whether you like to hear that or not.

There have been rumors. There are always rumors in IndyCar, especially monumental rumors. Every year an event that is completely outside of IndyCar's modus operandi is rumored and they never occur... expect for Washington, D.C., again a massive exception to everything IndyCar ever does. If it is an international race, or an oval race, or a race in a most-populated area of the United States that would spread IndyCar's footprint in its home country and could benefit the series, it probably isn't close to happening. It is easy to throw out it could happen and pull at a thread of a minor conversation seen across the catering tent, but we know IndyCar isn't desperate for races even if we believe it should be.

IndyCar will wait until the right deal comes along, even if it may never come, because it wants to do what is best for the series and not chase short-term gains but look for successful long-term events that will grow the series... or the series will decide an event is worth spending $35 million for one race. 

Either way, we know the schedule will basically be identical. How will that look in 2027? 

Let's start with the dates we know. 

Another one came out last week when it was announced IndyCar and the NASCAR Truck Series will race again at St. Petersburg and the date was announced for the weekend of March 7. It is expected that will be the season opener. We already knew Arlington was announced for a March 21 return. Long Beach will be on April 18. Indianapolis will host the Grand Prix of Indianapolis on May 15 and the Indianapolis 500 on May 30. Detroit remains the week after the Indianapolis 500 on June 6. 

That is a third of the schedule set. 

With St. Petersburg and Arlington have a week-off in-between, it suggests that is when Phoenix will fall with the NASCAR weekend. That weekend is dependent on NASCAR, but this race weekend fell on the second Sunday in March earlier this year, three weeks after the Daytona 500. The 2027 NASCAR calendar suggests Phoenix will fall on this date with the 2027 Daytona 500 scheduled for February 21 and March 8 being three weeks after.

Easter will be March 28. After three consecutive weeks of racing to open the year, taking the holiday off makes sense, and Barber Motorsports Park can shift back to April 4. We know Long Beach will be April 18. 

Then comes a gap that appears to be inevitable. Based on the 2026 schedule, there was nothing between Long Beach and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. The problem is in 2027 that would mean three weekends without races because May has five Sundays in 2027. We will circle back to this. 

We know May and the first Sunday in June. If Gateway Motorsports Park remains as the capper to five consecutive weekends at a racetrack, it would be June 13. That would suggest June 20 would be off. It could line up where IndyCar decides it will give the teams off after Detroit but that means Gateway moves to June 20 and it also means Road America will be June 27. Road America on June 27 feels locked in regardless of when Gateway is run. It does line up for possibly three consecutive race weekends to start summer with Gateway on June 20, Road America on June 27 and Mid-Ohio and July 4. 

It would be 11 race weekends in the book by Independence Day weekend. 

With no World Cup Final in 2027, at least not one that Fox is broadcasting that could lead into an IndyCar race, does Nashville remain July 18? Would it still be a night race? It is hard to think it should move. I guess it works there. 

August has five Sundays in 2027, and I think IndyCar will spread out these races a little better. The weekend after Nashville could be off with Portland on August 1, Markham on August 15, Milwaukee on August 29 and possibly remain a doubleheader, and the season concluding at Laguna Seca on September 5, Labor Day weekend. That is a much better run in for IndyCar than 2026. 

You will have noticed the omission of Washington, D.C. Plenty has been said to suggest this year's race will be a one-off though it may stick around. In a Racer article from Marshall Pruett, Penske Corporation president Bud Denker said, "We've put together most of our calendar for 2027 knowing we're going to keep things at 17 races, not 18." That sounds pretty definitive, but then again we didn't think IndyCar would add a race four moths after the initial 2026 schedule was released. Anything is possible. The hurdle is the series is paying for the race at a price of $35 million. Can the series afford to spend $35 million year for one event? 

There is a good chance this is what the 2027 calendar will look like, and it is essentially no different from the 2026 calendar. With the movement of Easter and the extra Sunday in May, a three-week gap is created during spring. At that point, IndyCar will at least be five races in rather than having only raced once or twice before an extended gap. There is an opening for another race. That race will not come. 

It would be nice if IndyCar recognized the opening and decided to fill the space. There are plenty of places it can go and organize a race for much less than $35 million. But it is not going to be Richmond, Pocono, Watkins Glen, Loudon, Michigan, Chicagoland, Kentucky, Iowa, Homestead, Texas, Circuit of the Americas, Virginia International Raceway, Road Atlanta, Charlotte, Mosport, Montreal or Cleveland just to name a complete alternate reality schedule worth of racetracks. 

By the way, if IndyCar knew what was best for itself, it would probably move Nashville into that open space between Long Beach and Indianapolis. May 2 in Nashville would probably do very well compared to mid-July. The weather would be very favorable compared to the middle of summer, and wouldn't another oval race be a good lead-in to the Indianapolis 500? It makes sense to me, but what do I know? July would be open. That time would be more favorable to a northeast trip. Again, what do I know as a resident of that area for my entire life?

Maybe IndyCar surprises us and takes a greater initiative in building its calendar to increase its reach and expanding its footprint. It doesn't feel that will be the case. Look on the bright side, IndyCar is always 18 months away from the next big thing.

Musings From the Weekend: Sold! To the Team From Carmel!

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

Corey Heim won the Brickyard 400 in stellar fashion, and the part-time driver became the first driver to win on a Brickyard 400 debut since Jeff Gordon won the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994. Coincidentally,  like Gordon, Heim's Indianapolis victory is the second of his career. Todd Gilliland took the $1 million prize as NASCAR's In-Season Tournament champion despite having only one top fifteen finish over the five-race tournament. Gilliland was 24th at Indianapolis. John Hunter Nemechek could owe Ryan Blaney. It wasn't all roses after Indianapolis. People were angry and tribal. That is a discussion for another day. There was Formula One is off to its summer break. Formula E had some night races in Tokyo. However, we have some business news.

Sold! To the Team From Carmel!

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing secured its full-time return to the NTT IndyCar Series last week when it purchased a charter from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. It is the first charter to switch ownership in IndyCar.

In the wake of the passing of team co-founder Dennis Reinbold, notably low Indianapolis 500 payouts to non-chartered entries, and a changing landscape in IndyCar as chartered teams will soon be the only ones allowed to compete in races outside the Indianapolis 500, a charter was imperative to Dreyer & Reinbold Racing's survival. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing is the one team competing in the series that is part-time. For over a decade, D&R has been only running at Indianapolis, sans for the few additional races it ran in 2020. There are no other Indianapolis 500-only teams out there, and D&R's presence has been valuable to the series and its most famous race as it has relieved the full-time teams of stretching resources to fill the field at 33 cars. 

It has become harder to be that team, and it has become harder to be more than that team. 

As comfortable as D&R has been showing up each May, there has been a desire to return to full-time competition for a few years now. The team last competed full-time in 2012. Despite the stated interest, we saw little more than what the team did in 2020, running at Iowa and all three races on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. New investors didn't come in. There were not additional partners to bring the team back nor were any alliances signed for a full season. 

With a tougher barrier for entry, D&R was forced to leap.

IndyCar's charter system has generated criticism because it is an antithesis of what motorsports have been. All it use to take was purchasing a car, showing up and you were eligible for all the same prizes as every other car on the grid. If you won, you got the most money. It doesn't work that way anymore, and soon a team will not be able to show up and race out of nowhere. If you want to race, it will cost you more than a chassis, engine and the other expenses tied to running a team. The spot on the grid comes at a price. 

The goal isn't for a charter to be affordable. For all existing teams, they want that spot to be worth something. They want value. They want others to covet their spot on the grid, and if someone wants it, they will sell for the right price. That only makes it tougher for a team to enter, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing included. It only gets tougher if interest grows. 

In 2026, not many others are looking to enter IndyCar. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing didn't enter a bidding war. If it had waited another year or two, it could have been priced out. The moment was now, and D&R had the money to satisfy RLLR. Racer Magazine's Marshall Pruett reported the charter sold for $13 million. 

This set the bar for future charter transactions. The $13 million price tag is not set in stone, but it is the floor at the moment. No team is going to try and sell for less moving forward. That doesn't mean every suitor is immediately going to make the payment. This was the price Dreyer & Reinbold Racing was willing to pay, and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing wasn't a new team. 

Despite what you may hear, this isn't the litmus test for interest in IndyCar. This is the equivalent of the Wood Brothers getting a charter in NASCAR after it was initially not awarded one because the Wood Brothers was not a full-time team the introduction of charters. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing has competed in a race every year of the 21st century. They had a foot in the door every year, and it has been working and doing business with the current competitors the entire time. The real test is still to come. 

For RLLR, it probably got what it was asking for. It is not a transformational amount of money, but it is more than pennies-on-the-dollar. The charter didn't change hands for next-to-nothing, setting up future teams to face an uphill battle to generate any kind of revenue from a sale. There is still an unknown of what comes next. It is rare any teams are interested in IndyCar, and they are usually coming from somewhere else. 

If you look at the "new teams" in IndyCar, Meyer Shank Racing spent almost 20 years in sports cars and then spent three seasons part-time in IndyCar; McLaren took over Schmidt Peterson Motorsports; Juncos Hollinger Racing had a cup of coffee in IndyCar and was a Road to Indy stalwart before becoming full-time. Even Prema and Carlin had decades of dominance in European junior series before entering IndyCar. The last team to form from nothing was Ed Carpenter Racing in 2012.

The past decade has shown there is curiosity in IndyCar. At least five have entered the series. Only three have stuck around. We could be a few years from truly finding out what a charter is worth. That second deal will say more than the first. 

This deal is a positive even if the price cannot be treated as the true market value. A little over a month ago, I wrote about the passing of Dennis Reinbold and pondered this team's future. Race teams last as long as the owner wants them to. D&R co-owners, the DeBord family, has made it clear Dreyer & Reinbold Racing isn't done and it wants more. Even with a changing landscape and a greater hill to climb to make the grid, it did not deter the team from making a business decision to return to full-time competition. 

It cost the team around $13 million, but it does mean D&R will get a greater share of the pie. They might not see it in year one, but it can compete for Leader Circle money. By the way, if this RLLR entry finishes in the Leader Circle spots at the end of the 2026 season, does Dreyer & Reinbold get that payout for 2027?). Winning the Indianapolis 500, which would already be a great payday, would not be the greatest possible payout for D&R as a chartered entry. 

IndyCar loses its only Indianapolis 500-only entry, but it loses it because that team has become a full-time, chartered entry, the best possible outcome. The month of May entry list isn't suffering with this news, and D&R could still field a second car, as it has in recent years at Indianapolis. It is not a net-loss for the series and its most famous race. A team that has long invested in the series and done it out of passion has secured its future when it previously looked ominous. 

Forget the first charter transaction in IndyCar history. The bigger story is Dreyer & Reinbold Racing are going to be around for every race in 2027. It is a win for everyone involved. 

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Corey Heim, but did you know...

Lando Norris won the Hungarian Grand Prix, his first career victory. 

Garbiele Mini (sprint) and Noel León (feature) split the Formula Two races from Hungary. Théophile Naël (sprint) and Freddie Slater (feature) split the Formula Three races. 

Carson Kvapil won NASCAR Grand National Series race from Indianapolis, his first career victory. Layne Riggs won the Truck race from Indianapolis Raceway Park, his fifth victory of the season. 

Thomas Preining and Mirko Bortolotti split the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters races from Oschersleben.

Dan Ticktum and Nyck de Vries split the Tokyo ePrix.

Coming Up This Weekend

IMSA has an endurance race from Road America, six hours around Elkhart Lake. 

Super GT will be at Fuji. 

Rally Finland returns. 

Supercars head out to Perth. 

GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup makes a trip to Magny-Cours.

Second Impressions: Nashville 2026

1. We have had some time since the Nashville race has concluded, and it is still too hot to touch. We could use another week before we approach IndyCar's hopeful weekend that turned into a mess, some of it out of the series' control, some of it only with the series to blame. 

Let's try to touch upon each area because there are a few trouble spots in the aftermath of this weekend.

2. Let's start with the date and scheduled race time. 

IndyCar scheduled this race to follow the FIFA World Cup Final, a match that had over 38 million viewers. As a lead-in, IndyCar was never going to have more people already on the channel as the cars lined up to take the green flag. Whether or not 5% or 8% of that audience would have stuck around and thoroughly watched the IndyCar race will be an unanswered question, but it was an attempt to put IndyCar out there.

It was worth the risk of a rain delay or a rained out event. It sucks that it didn't work out because the gamble didn't pay out. It was a $10,000 bet with a chance at $10 million winnings. If it hits, it is genius. It didn't and it isn't the end of the world, but it hurts. 

There is a segment of people who think it was a poor decision to schedule this race around the World Cup Final. If there is any event that is going to draw over 30 million people, hell, even over 10 million people, you should probably not counter-program it. You are going to be lost in the shadow of the larger event. IndyCar could have raced at 2:00 p.m. Eastern, but the race would have been on Fox Sports 1, and people would have been upset that the race would have been on cable television. 

Damned if you, damned if you don't.

Hindsight is 20/20, but it can also be flawed. The race could have been before the World Cup Final, but Fox's pre-game began at 11:00 a.m. Eastern. Unless Nashville was starting at 7:00 a.m. local time, there was no leading into the World Cup Final. 

This is at most a quadrennial occurrence. Having one IndyCar race follow a broadcast that drew nearly 40 million viewers isn't happening every week. Not every race is locked into a time slot. This was a case where it was and rightfully so. It just didn't work out.

3. The race was rained out and people were upset. Let's start with the at-track experience.

I wasn't there, but there was enough discontent it could not be ignored. There was dissatisfaction over how information was disseminated, and the protocols for the rain date on Monday. That covered gate openings, garage access, parking, the entire lot.

There are aspects that should be somewhat set in stone. There is a "Plan B." No race doesn't have a secondary start time already set aside should a race need to be moved to Monday. The moment a race is called, all that information should be shared because it is known. If the race is starting at 2:00 p.m. local, that means the gates will open at 11:00 a.m. or noon local. The series knows which vendors will still be around and know what concession options will be available. That information should be out almost immediately. 

As for garage access, I have been to a rain-delayed race in Pocono in 2016. I recall the garage being open and available. Every track is different. There are limitations for planning for a rain-delayed event. No track nor series will have the same level of security and resources for a race on a Monday afternoon as it would for its scheduled time. Unless there is strong evidence the crowd is going to be the same size a day later, the series and track are going to employ a smaller workforce for a rained out race. You might not like to hear that but no series is going to have the same number of workers on hold. 

You might think that sounds foolish, but IndyCar had not had a rain-delayed race since April 2018. If the series, its tracks and promoters contracted an extra day of security, vendors, all the fixings necessary for a race weekend, they would lose a fortune. Imagine always booking four nights at a hotel but knowing you are going to stay for three. That is a lot of money lost. Unless spectators are willing to pay an extra 20% on their race ticket to accommodate such cost, amenities will be less for a delayed race.

The series needs to keep someone on call, but it cannot keep everyone. That might mean certain amenities are no longer available. That could mean no garage access. Crowd control is pertinent for a race to take place efficiently. Once a race is delayed, the most important thing is getting the race in. Everything else is excessive and unnecessary. 

It sucks if you will not have that access, but that isn't the point after a rain delay. The point is the race. That is what needs to get in. That is the point of the weekend, holding a race, not going around the garage area and hawking autographs and photographs. 

I understand if you purchased that access and didn't get it. I will counter that if you did go to the track on Sunday and were able to get into the garage area, see the race cars, see drivers and take in that experience before a rained out race, you had garage access. You got that experience. That is a privilege, not a right. If the series needs to take away that privilege after a rain delay to make sure the race can properly be run, it will do that, and it is a small cost.

4. As for the start time, some were upset the race didn't take place earlier than 3:00 p.m. Eastern on Monday. Some were upset the race didn't place later than 3:00 p.m. Eastern on Monday. Once a race is moved to Monday, there is no perfect time. There is just a time, and IndyCar needs to take it. 

If the race started at 11:00 a.m. Eastern, very few people would see it. If the race started at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, a few more people would see it, some would still be disadvantaged and miss the race and be upset. 

Ten years ago, after IndyCar's Texas race was delayed over two months to complete, I wondered if it was time to reconsider how rainouts were handled and if there should be designated weekends set aside for makeup events. No race on a Monday is going to be nearly as successful as if the race was held on a weekend, even if it was weeks down the road.

Again, that would not work for everyone, but it likely works for a larger number than any Monday. It would still be inconvenient, but it is likely easier for those with tickets to return the following Saturday or Sunday or a Saturday or Sunday three weeks down the road than to try and squeeze in a Monday. It would also be better for television. We don't race at 3:00 p.m. on Monday regularly for a reason. Any Saturday or Sunday would be better. There are hurdles, but would have this Saturday at 8:00 p.m. been the best option? Could it have been Friday night at 7:00 p.m. if it made more sense for television? 

IndyCar's schedule length has enough off weekends that a few could be set aside, if necessary. These weekends would not be for every race. No street course is going to be able to keep the barriers up for an extra month. Those events are going to be run on Monday. Road courses should be fine, but they rent out weekends and have other events regularly. It might be impossible for IndyCar to find an available date down the road at some of these road courses. Some of those road courses would likely be best run on a Monday. The Indianapolis 500 will likely have a spot on Monday no matter what.

This really concerns the few oval events on the schedule. There are no IndyCar races scheduled for the next two weekends. There are definitely logistical concerns about going back to a racetrack a week or more after the scheduled date, but the cost is arguably worth it. If Nashville was delayed to this upcoming Saturday or Sunday, could the teams have just left the haulers locked up in the racetrack for the week and saved the teams some money? I don't know. I understand not wanting to move equipment only to return a few days later to set up for one race, but it might be a better alternative for everyone involved.

This would not be unprecedented. Besides the 2016 Texas race, a few CART events were delayed to later weekends in the 1980s, such as the 1982 Atlanta event, the 1985 Michigan race was delayed a week due to tire concerns, and 1986 was famous for the Indianapolis 500 being delayed a week, which moved Milwaukee back a week, and Road America went was delayed two weeks due to weather.

5. Going back to the fan experience. It was hot at Nashville, hot enough that the race had to be shortened. Make sure people have water if it is going to be almost 100º F. 

Reports were the track packed up re-filling stations for water bottles. 

Roger Penske has the money. Open your wallet and cover whatever that costs. 

The track was selling bottles of water for $1. I could be numb to it, but there are venues, from stadiums to airports, selling bottled water for $9. A buck for a bottle is a fine deal. The track didn't create that much of a hurdle. If you are buying tickets to an IndyCar race, you can afford $1 bottled water. Either way, re-filling stations should have remained accessible to the spectators that returned.

6. There was push back when Nashville offered $10 tickets for those who wanted to attend on Monday. Many fans believed they deserved a refund because tickets were selling for $10 when those who purchased tickets weeks or months in advance could have spent $100 or more. 

I understand being upset, but I don't know if those $10 tickets were the same deal as those who spent more. If you bought a weekend pass, and it included garage access, and the track was selling those tickets for $10, then I get it. If general admission tickets were knocked down to $10 and there wasn't anything extra, not that many people lost out. 

Come Monday, every ticket is a general admission ticket. You sit where you want. There was maybe 6,000 people there on Monday, maybe a quarter of the full grandstand. I need to know more before I can get too upset over this one. I doubt the most premier seats and ticket packages were being sold for $10. It was for those who had Monday free and just wanted to come and see a race. It was strange to see such tickets sold. I cannot recall any tracks or events doing the same for a delayed event. 

7. Will IndyCar, Nashville SuperSpeedway and the promoters of the Music City Grand Prix learn from this? Maybe. You would hope so. Ten years ago at Pocono, I didn't notice anything missing from attending on Monday versus Sunday. That is how it should be. It will naturally feel a little more open but it shouldn't feel restricted. 

The disappointing thing is over 48 hours after the event took place and we haven't heard anyone from IndyCar step out and acknowledge some of the missteps from this weekend. Whether that be Doug Boles, Mark Miles or even Roger Penske, someone should at least say they hear those who had an unpleasant weekend and say they are going to work on addressing the concerns when it comes to rain-delayed events. I would have felt a lot better if by Wednesday morning someone was to have said they recognize the shortcomings at Nashville and they will discuss what can be done for the future. We haven't even heard that. 

IndyCar has a busy end to the season, five consecutive race weekends with a last-minute race held in Washington, D.C. in the middle of all it, but it has the next two weekends off and there is enough time to release a basic statement recognizing what could have been done better. 

First Impressions: Nashville 2026

1. Álex Palou is too good to be lucky, but Palou is rather fortunate. Palou was on pit lane making his second pit stop of the race when Scott Dixon and Alexander Rossi made contact on the back straightaway. It timed perfectly for Palou, as he was able to make his pit stop and emerge from the pit lane still on the lead lap. He avoided being trapped a lap down, and instead of running just inside the top five but well behind the leaders as he was prior to the caution, Palou cycled right to the lead, and the race was in his control from there forward. 

Palou didn't do anything special. He didn't make a timely pass. This wasn't a case of strategy being in his favor and having the better tire compound in the final stint or having fresher tires and chasing down the leaders in the closing laps. Palou caught a break. If the caution comes five seconds later, he is trapped a lap down. He would have waved around back to the lead lap, however, Palou is likely in a fight to finish in the top five at best instead of fighting for the victory in that scenario. 

Once Palou was ahead, all he had to do was keep the car straight. There was not much of a challenge from behind even if Josef Newgarden was in his rearview mirrors. Palou kept a healthy gap, and having the primary tire looked to be an advantage. As the race entered its final stages, Palou was opening a gap to the rest of the front-runners, all of whom were on the alternate tire compound. 

In a blink, Palou is back in command of the championship with his fifth victory of the season. For a few races, the gap was closing, but Palou took a healthy chunk of points back from the competition with six races remaining. Two of those races are at tracks Palou dominated, Portland and Laguna Seca. Markham and Washington, D.C. will be new for everyone. The Milwaukee doubleheader is not a hurdle for Palou. It will take something sensational for anyone to beat Palou at this point.

2. Josef Newgarden was second, and he spent almost the entire race in second. Whether it was Kyle Kirkwood leading early, David Malukas leading after he went off strategy or Palou in the second half of the race, Newgarden was likely second. Newgarden looked frustrated post-race. It was a good race but not a great race. He couldn't quite get to the front and take command of the race. If he did, Newgarden probably would have won this one. It was clear if you were out front, you were in control of the race. Newgarden never got there though no one spent more time in second.

It is still second. Newgarden has been banged up since the Indianapolis accident. On the ovals, he is still stellar with two victories and a runner-up result since the injury. His road and street course form has been rough during that period. His road and street course form has had room for improvement for about three years now. He still runs well, but ovals are the one disciple Newgarden is still the favorite from the start of the weekend. When he doesn't win, it is a missed opportunity of the few opportunities he gets to be the man.

3. I am simultaneously going to dismiss and give credit to David Malukas for today's race. 

Malukas got to the lead because the team did not stop under the first caution for Caio Collet's accident. After about 30 laps, Malukas stayed out as did Louis Foster and Christian Lundgaard. It worked for Malukas. Foster and Lundgaard dropped like rocks. Malukas held the lead even with older tires. He didn't do anything special to get the lead. The team made a wise call considering Malukas started last. That car was phenomenal, and it didn't chew up tires. 

However, the recovery drive after being caught a lap down for the Rossi-Dixon accident was special. Malukas did wave around to the lead lap, but he still had to pick his way forward, and he benefitted again when Dennis Hauger hit the wall while the final pit cycle was just under way. Malukas had yet to make his final stop. Hauger's accident gifted Malukas four more spots and it got him into a podium position. 

Malukas' crew rolled the dice and remained true to a three-stop strategy, but the risk was stopping about 20-30 laps before the rest of the field would need to stop, putting Malukas in a tough spot if a caution came out before the rest of the field cycled through pit lane. It cost him, but the way this race played out it still worked in Malukas' favor. 

Without the practice accident, Malukas is definitely finishing on the podium and maybe he would have won. With Palou catching the caution the way he did, Malukas may have been destined to finish second anyway. It was the drive of the day regardless of how the cautions fell.

4. Scott McLaughlin rivaled Malukas' drive. McLaughlin was caught out when Hauger hit the wall. McLaughlin waved around back to the lead lap, but he restarted 12th. McLaughlin was shot out of the cannon, and none of the other drivers who were caught out due to the Hauger accident could match that pace. McLaughlin worked his way up to fourth in almost no time. Then his alternate tire compound was shot as was the rest of the leaders. 

McLaughlin spent most of the race in the top five. He should have finished in the top five. It was a good result. It was another great drive when it appeared his race had been flipped upside down.

5. I don't think Felix Rosenqvist did anything special. Other than not getting into accidents and not being caught out during a pit cycle, Rosenqvist was ok in this race. Maybe he should have snuck into the top ten. The top five was generous. These races happen.

6. Marcus Ericsson looked good today but not great. Sixth is probably about right for Ericsson. It might be a spot generous. Ericsson ran well in this one. He wasn't as good as he was at Gateway, but he had good place.

7. Patricio O'Ward stole a top ten today. O'Ward was nowhere for the first 185 laps, and then O'Ward catches the final caution in his favor as he had yet to stop when Hauger hit the wall. O'Ward was basically 12th or 13th all race before that. This was not a good race for O'Ward, and we see these races from O'Ward at least three times a season. They are head-scratching every time. When Arrow McLaren is nowhere, they are nowhere!

8. Who would have thought Mick Schumacher's first top ten finish in IndyCar would be eighth at Nashville? Schumacher was about four spots better than he should have been, but Schumacher was running on the edge of the top ten for this entire race. He was the best Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver the entire day and it wasn't close. Schumacher probably should have had a top ten in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. He was due a good result. He had a good day even if it was a little better than if this race has shaken out with one fewer caution period. 

9. The strange thing is Kyffin Simpson was ahead of Álex Palou after the pit stops when Rossi and Dixon came together. Then Simpson came back down pit lane under that caution. It was not explained why Simpson had to come down. It wasn't a penalty. Simpson was not listed as taking emergency service. Unless the team didn't get the car full of fuel in a rash effort to get out before being caught a lap down, it is inexplicable why Simpson had to come back to the pit lane. Either way, Simpson got a little break and then he did not stop before the Hauger accident. This secured Simpson into the top ten position. He did nothing flashy, but you take the result anyway you can get them.

10. Kyle Kirkwood was nearly in the exact same position as Palou when the Hauger caution came out except Kirkwood was about five seconds too late and was trapped a lap down. If Hauger hit the wall five seconds earlier, Kirkwood may have exited pit lane ahead of Palou and cycled to the lead. If the caution was ten seconds earlier, Kirkwood definitely would have taken the lead. 

Instead, Kirkwood was cycled back to 11th, and he didn't have the jump McLaughlin did on the final restart. It took Kirkwood a good ten lap to make up one position and that is all he got. Kirkwood was solidly in the top five this entire race and was fighting for the podium. This is harsh result. 

It didn't make any sense why Kirkwood or anyone stopped that early when everyone should have stopped right as the car hit the reserve tank for that final pit stop. There was no advantage to stopping early. No one was leaping forward stopping early because they had fresher tires with a clear racetrack. It didn't make any sense, and it is somewhat an unforced error from this group.

11. Nolan Siegel had a good race, and Siegel was the best McLaren driver today. He was on the cusp of a top ten position, kind of running equal to Schumacher for much of this race. Siegel had found his form, especially since the month of May. I don't know if he has a future in IndyCar, though the rumor mill has him potentially moving to Juncos Hollinger Racing with a shakeup in ownership at that organization. It does feel like we are at a limit. It has been better than where Siegel has been. 

12. Rinus VeeKay and Santino Ferrucci were caught out like Kirkwood and McLaughlin, and like Kirkwood, neither VeeKay nor Ferrucci made up any ground during the final stint. VeeKay was in a top five position for much of this race. Ferrucci was in sixth for much of it. A good number of drivers were gifted at least four positions in this race. This result does not tell the story of how well VeeKay and Ferrucci raced.

13. Let's blow through the field.

Romain Grosjean was 14th and did nothing.

Sting Ray Robb was 15th because ten drivers had issues and Robb always made sure to stop the latest. The strategy got him something today. 

Christian Lundgaard never looked comfortable and avoiding serious trouble got him 16th. It wasn't a good weekend for him. 

Louis Foster rolled the dice staying out after the Collet caution but that car was terrible. Foster did his best. He was still caught a lap down in 17th.

18. Scott Dixon's woeful Ganassi swan-song continued. Dixon lost a bunch of spots at the start, and then he lost even more positions at the first restart. Dixon wasn't driving well to begin with before running into he back of Alexander Rossi, Rossi said he was clearly entering pit lane. The broadcast booth couldn't believe Rossi slowed that late to enter the pit lane. It never looked like Rossi was making an attempt to enter the access road. Dixon was caught in a rough spot. I don't know why Rossi was slowing that late. We will get back to Rossi in a second. As for Dixon, it feels like the fast ball is gone, and it has felt that way for a few months.

19. Graham Rahal had a disaster of a weekend. The car was always slow. There is a good chance Rahal spent much of this weekend driving a broken car, and that was before he hit the wall in practice. He was parked with about 16 laps to go. There was a point he was three seconds off the pace. Rahal probably should have been parked sooner. This isn't new for RLLR. It is more stunning Rahal and Schumacher qualified third and fourth respectively at Phoenix in the first oval race of the season. What is going on at this team? It is inconceivable the team could fluctuate that wildly between oval races.

20. I don't know what happened to Will Power but he was shuffled out of the top twenty and off the lead lap early in this race and it was never covered. Power's crappy season at Andretti Global continues.

21. Dennis Hauger got into the marbles exiting turn two and slapped the wall. Hauger wasn't great. He wasn't terrible. He wasn't that far off Grosjean prior to that accident. It still wasn't a good weekend for Hauger. It is stunning how much Dale Coyne Racing has dropped off from last year and this is with technical support from Andretti Global... are 80% of the teams in IndyCar just bad? 

22. The price you pay with Christian Rasmussen is he is driving on the edge at all times. Unfortunately, he goes over the edge more times than not, and today he slapped the wall when looking prime for a top ten finish and possibly a top five run. Within a few laps of that happening, Rossi had his accident with Dixon. It is amazing how many times this season both Ed Carpenter Racing cars have had trouble within a few laps of one another. 

Focusing on Rasmussen, he has been celebrated for his aggressive style, but these results happen far more often than his Milwaukee victory. This was his third retirement in four oval races this season. The car failed him at Indianapolis, and that one is forgiven, but he still drove over the edge at Phoenix and he drove over the edge today, and that isn't even mentioning how lackluster his road and street course form has been for going on three seasons. Let's see what he does at Milwaukee because it is clear who he is everywhere else. Can he afford two more finishes outside the top fifteen when he likely will not crack the top ten in any of the remaining road and street course races?

As for Rossi, nothing is ever his fault. I don't know what happened to him, but 2018 and 2019 seem like a lifetime ago, and that is when we all though Rossi was a generational contender.

23. Marcus Armstrong had engine issues. The car was off-pace from the start and Armstrong kept losing paces. It was thought to be the tires but it was clearly something under the bonnet. It is a shame because Armstrong qualified eighth, and he had ran better than Rosenqvist all weekend. 

Caio Collet overcorrected entering turn four and slammed the wall. None of the rookies have been great this year. No rookie has been great for the last four seasons or so. There has been moments to be excited about Collet, but there have been a great number of races he doesn't look special. He just need to complete laps today and he might have been a top ten contender. 

24. There is a lot around this weekend we can touch upon later this week. People need to cool off. This was not an ideal way it played out with the rain delay. Following the FIFA World Cup Final was an opportunity, and IndyCar was smart to line up to follow the final. It cannot control the weather and it just didn't line up today. IndyCar had not had a race rained out to a Monday since 2018. It had been over eight years. It sucks it fell that way. 

25. The one thing I will touch upon now is it looked very bad for IndyCar to shorten this race from 300 laps to 225 laps after the delay. I know IndyCar said it was because of the heat. It was hot two weeks ago at Mid-Ohio. IndyCar has had scorchers at Iowa and Texas and at plenty of other tracks. The heat hasn't caused any other races to be shortened. It was hot today. That cannot be denied. We saw it, but this is now a standard, and we know IndyCar is never going to enforce it again. The Indianapolis 500 isn't going to be heat-shortened. Portland isn't going to be shortened if it is too hot there in three weeks. 

Honesty may be a greater topic of discussion later this week, but IndyCar could have been honest in this case. Once it lost the lead-out window following the World Cup Final, there was no reason to run a 300-lap race. There was no reason to have an extra 45 minutes of competition. IndyCar missed its chance. The party was over. Everyone wanted to go home. Even if Fox said it didn't have anything to do with the race distance being shortened, we know the series can make decisions without needing to be told. IndyCar had this race completed within two hours. It knew if it could get off-air within two hours or so, it would make the television partner much happier than pushing a three-hour window.

Did this race need to be 400 miles to begin with? No. The 225-laps distance worked fine last year, but following the World Cup Final, IndyCar had a full evening and night to itself and what was an extra 100 miles? Let's celebrate with more racing! The 300-mile distance is suitable for IndyCar, but once the 400-mile distance has been announced and promote, IndyCar should have seen it out and sucked it up this year. It could go back to 225 laps next year when we all knew the big World Cup tie-in was not there. 

The series looked weak making this change, and it made the drivers and teams look weak as well. This wasn't the first race held in blistering heat and it will not be the last. 

We will discuss this and a number of other peripheral qualms with the Nashville weekend later this week. It was an unfortunate set of circumstances, but a few decisions could have been handled better. 

26. Oh, one last thing, the tires! We had multiple tire compounds today. Neither were different from the other. What is the point if the tires are basically going to be the same? That is a question we ask Firestone almost every week. I acknowledge conditions play a role, and conditions play a role into how a lot of races turn out. It being this hot didn't make it so the tires were practically inseparable. If there is going to be an alternate compound, it better be much different than the primary compound otherwise what is the point of the charade?

27. I think everyone will be happy that there are two full weeks off after this weekend. After that it is five consecutive weekends at a racetrack with six races during that period, and then that is it. The end of the 2026 IndyCar season is staring us right in the face.