This is all the news from Friday: The Toronto IndyCar race was cancelled. The Road to Indy will end its season at Mid-Ohio in the first weekend of October in place of Toronto. Formula One will not be going to Turkey, which was added in place of Canada, and the Styrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring returns, while the French Grand Prix moves up a week. MotoGP will not be heading to Finland and the Styrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring returns. Max Chilton was not able to make it into the United States in time for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. That was just Friday! That doesn't include other items from earlier in the week, such as the 35 cars on the Indianapolis 500 entry list, Roger Penske driving a Porsche RS Spyder or Super GT postponing its Suzuka race. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.
Is The Double Dead?
Indianapolis 500 festivities are ahead of us, as practice begins on Tuesday and will continue through the week before what should be another agonizing qualifying weekend, between teams fighting to make the Fast Nine and fight for pole position and the teams at the bottom scrapping to get the final spots in the field of 33.
Each year, Indianapolis brings out some different faces. Along with the regulars, we get to see some interesting one offs and 2021 will not disappoint us. Juan Pablo Montoya is back, as is Simona de Silvestro. Tony Kanaan will be in a fourth Ganassi entry and Hélio Castroneves will drive for Meyer Shank Racing, Castroneves' first time attempting the Indianapolis 500 for a team other than Team Penske. Stefan Wilson is back. RC Enerson will attempt to make his debut.
Fernando Alonso sparked international interest in 2017 and will his subsequent attempts in 2019 and 2020. Danica Patrick even made one final Indianapolis 500 start in 2018. While Romain Grosjean and Jimmie Johnson are both competing in the road and street course races this season, both have left the door open for an Indianapolis 500 debut and oval races in the future. To add to the international flavor, the reigning three-time Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin is trying to make the race, as McLaughlin is now full-time in IndyCar.
The Indianapolis 500 is in a wonderful place and there will always be drivers interested in giving it a go, whether it is as a one-off or as a part of a full season campaign, but one common conversation held every May has been nonexistent this year and we must wonder if it could be impossible going forward.
Is the Indianapolis 500/Coca-Cola 600 double dead?
The 2021 NASCAR schedule had a seismic change from what had gone rather untouched over the previous 50 years. One of the big changes was in the month of May. NASCAR will still run the "600" on Memorial Day weekend, but May is no longer a long homestay for the teams in the Charlotte-area. The All-Star Race has moved from the weekend before the "600" to the middle of June and it has moved from Charlotte to Texas. With the exhibition moved to the edge of summer, the weekend before the "600" now has a championship race in front of it, and this year it is NASCAR's inaugural trip to Austin.
Kurt Busch was the last driver to attempt The Double in 2014. Before Busch, no one had done its since Robby Gordon in 2004. John Andretti was the first drive to attempt it back in 1994, but Tony Stewart would go on to make it famous a few years later, as Stewart attempted it twice in 1999 and 2001 and he competed all 1,100 miles in 2001 with finishes of sixth in Indianapolis and fourth in Charlotte.
The Double is not regularly attempted, but it is always brought up, and every now and then there is a name that expresses serious interest. It was not long along Kyle Busch hinted he was working on a program until conflicts prevented him from pursuing it further. Kyle Larson was frequently linked to a potential attempt when he drove for Chip Ganassi Racing. There are probably a bunch of other drivers that would love to do and there will likely be many more NASCAR drivers in the future who would love an Indianapolis 500 attempt.
However, with NASCAR's schedule open to future change, could it be the end of all those hopes?
It was doable before because there were once two qualifying weekends at Indianapolis and in later years the only qualifying weekend fell on NASCAR's All-Star weekend. It is an exhibition race. A NASCAR driver didn't want to miss it, but a driver could and it would not hurt his or her championship standing. If the qualifying weekend falls against a points race, it is going to be hard for any driver to attempt it.
NASCAR team owners are already strict with what their drivers do in their free time. While Larson does plenty of dirt racing and some drivers get to run the one-off dirt race or sports car race, most are not allowed to think about an IndyCar let alone get in one. The guys that have attempted The Double had enough credit to go run Indianapolis, but if a championship race is the same weekend as Indianapolis 500 qualifying, a team owner is not going to let his driver put his full-time job in the backseat.
It could still be possible. The NASCAR championship structure is sickeningly forgiving. If you win one race, you are in the playoffs, as long as you stay in the top 30 of the championship. In some years, only 30 drivers have started every race through the end of the regular season. Kurt Busch won at Martinsville before he attempted the Indianapolis 500 in 2014. Busch had already announced the Indianapolis program, but that victory eased his nerves and likely allowed him to put greater focus on Indianapolis that May.
Because Austin is a new track for NASCAR, there will be practice and qualifying ahead of the race this year, but majority of the races this season do not have practice or qualifying. If it is just a Sunday race, a NASCAR driver could qualify in Indianapolis on Saturday and have plenty of time to get to the NASCAR race. A conflict could still exist if that NASCAR driver makes the Fast Nine or has to be a part of the Last Row Shootout, but Saturday could be wide open. Of course, if the NASCAR continues to change the schedule and Austin was to move to another date, NASCAR could put a race that Saturday night, crushing any Cup driver's qualifying hopes.
Practice and qualifying should return for most events next year in the Cup Series, as a new car will be introduced, and the teams needs track time. After 2022, NASCAR might decide to cut back on practice if the teams have enough data. That could open the door again. NASCAR might move the All-Star Race back to that weekend. We are not sure what NASCAR is doing, but NASCAR is not going to cater to the Indianapolis 500, even if many, including its own drivers would appreciate it.
As of now, it looks like The Double will be put on pause for a few years. It is a grueling test, but one that is remarkable and something that makes motorsports special. Stewart's 2001 accomplishment deserves more recognition. I remember Deion Sanders tried to play an NFL game and a National League Championship Series game on the same day. We don't have two-sport athletes anymore. Even the amount of cross-pollination in the top levels of motorsports is low, but it is incredible to see, and it does make those drivers stand out.
While the NASCAR drivers could be prevented from The Double if scheduling conflicts remain, the door could be open for some IndyCar drivers to venture to Charlotte for a nightcap to the biggest day in American motorsports. Perhaps The Double isn't dead, only evolving.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Rinus VeeKay, but did you know...
Jack Miller won the MotoGP's French Grand Prix, his second consecutive victory and it came after Miller had to serve two long lap penalties for pit lane speeding in a day-to-wet-dry race. Raúl Fernández won the Moto2 race, his second victory of the season. Sergio García won the Moto3 race, his first victory since the 2019 Moto3 season finale at Valencia.
Alex Bowman won the NASCAR Cup race from Dover, his second victory of the season. Austin Cindric won the Grand National Series race, his third victory of the season.
The #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura of Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque won the IMSA race from Mid-Ohio, its second victory of the season. The #74 Riley Motorsports Ligier-Nissan of Gar Robinson and Felipe Fraga won in the LMP3 class. The #96 Turner Motorsport BMW of Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley won in the GTD class.
The #41 Team WRT Oreca-Gibson of Louis Delétraz, Robert Kubica and ye Yifei won the 4 Hours of the Red Bull Ring, its second consecutive victory to start the European Le Mans Series season. The #19 Cool acing Ligier-Nissian of Matt Bell, Niklas Krütten and Nicolas Maulini won in the LMP3 class. The #288 AF Corse Ferrari of Emmanuel Collard, François Perrodo and Alessio Rovera won in the GT class.
Linus Lundqvist and David Malukas split the Indy Lights races from Indianapolis. Christian Rasmussen won the first and third Indy Pro 2000 races with Artem Petrov winning the second race. Yuven Sundaramoorty won the first two U.S. F2000 races and Kiko Porto won the third race.
Giuliano Alesi won the Super Formula race from Autopolis, his first career victory in a rain-shortened race.
Coming Up This Weekend
Indianapolis 500 qualifying.
The Monaco Grand Prix.
Formula E returns to Marrakesh.
NASCAR makes its first trip to Austin.
World Superbike opens its season in Aragón.
The World Rally Championship keeps Portugal busy.
