Denny Hamlin picked up his 60th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, moving Hamlin into a tie for tenth all-time with Kevin Harvick, in Las Vegas, and Hamlin will have a chance at a championship in three weeks in Phoenix. A handful of championship were awarded around the globe. Marc Márquez will miss the Australia and Malaysia rounds after suffering a fractured shoulder in Indonesia. There will be some testing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway today. Formula One is about to race in Austin. We return to a yearly topic.
An Annual Proposal
It is no secret that I am a proponent of IndyCar competing during Formula One race weekends in North America as a support series.
One, it will likely put IndyCar in front of its biggest crowds of the season outside of the Indianapolis 500.
Two, it will expose IndyCar to an audience that is not watching and it is a chance to introduce itself and connect with these people.
Three, have you seen the weekend schedules for Formula One weekends in North America? The support series bill is woefully lacking. There is plenty of room on track.
Four, what else is IndyCar doing this time of year?
But I am more adamant now than ever, and I think IndyCar is missing a chance to stretch its reach.
We know IndyCar is not going to form events that will run during this time of the year. It is committed to ending before football season begins, and rightfully so. All the oxygen is sucked out of the room when the NFL season starts. It doesn't matter how good the race will be or the story surrounding it. People are going to tune into football, they are not going to go to the track in the same droves, and you will be left with a fraction of the average audience.
The difference with running on a Formula One weekend is you are running in front of a crowd. Austin draws close to 100,000 people for Saturday of the grand prix weekend. Not many place are drawing 100,000 people to an IndyCar race. We can confidently say only one does. Running on Saturday alone would be a boom for IndyCar, but to be a part of the entire weekend adds to the festivities and it makes IndyCar a part of something bigger than itself.
A lot of people do not like the idea of IndyCar playing second fiddle to Formula One, but at this current moment IndyCar is about six weeks into a six-month offseason. Playing second fiddle is better than not playing at all. Supercars in Australia race during the Australian Grand Prix weekend, and no one dismisses that series as inferior for doing so. Supercars knows when it should take advantage of a situation. If there is going to be a race weekend that draws over 400,000 spectators over three days, you should probably show up for the publicity alone.
It has been covered a million times how IndyCar does itself no favors with its offseason length, but we also know the likelihood of putting on its own successful event in late-September and October is low. There are also many partners that do not want the races to go beyond Labor Day weekend. This is a chance for IndyCar to live in the middle. It is joining already successful events while not having to lift a finger in terms of promotion, and it would keep IndyCar active into autumn.
This should also be more than just the United States Grand Prix weekend. There will be three Formula One race weekends on the North American continent over the next six weeks. Two are in the United States. IndyCar should be at all of them.
It isn't just Austin that is drawing a crowd. Mexico City is arguably a bigger event, and seeing how IndyCar has been failing for a decade to host a race in the country, it should just take the easy way out and join the Mexican Grand Prix weekend. Also, why would IndyCar not want to be racing on the streets of Las Vegas? Competing that weekend is something to sell to the sponsors and partners of the series. It definitely increases the series value being there even if it isn't the main event.
Las Vegas is also the one race where IndyCar could have the better start time! The Formula One race is still starting at 11:00 p.m. Eastern time and that is with the start moving up! IndyCar could race at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on a Saturday night. That would be a big get for the series.
As for how this would fit in with the championship, these three support roles should be independent. Run the championship and have it end with its own with IndyCar as the marquee race, but these three events should be strictly about promotion and spreading the word of IndyCar. It should be about competing in front of people who might not know the series exists or do not have familiarity with it. It is more than what happens on track.
These should be three weekends where IndyCar is going to the facilities and engaging with the fans that are there. It should be noisy and welcoming to the spectators. It is a chance to become reachable during a race weekend when many people are watching from the outside and cannot be close to the Formula One teams and drivers. IndyCar should go out of its way to engage with general admission attendees. It should have the drivers present and engaging in the fan areas. It should be fun and interpersonal while also selling that these same drivers will be on track competing in 90 minutes and they should stick around and watch.
The only support series with Formula One this weekend at Austin is the Porsche Carrera Cup North America. Mexico has a little more with GTM Super Copa, TCR Mexico and NACAM Formula 4. It looks like F1 Academy will be the only support series in Las Vegas. Most Formula One weekends in Europe have two, if not three support series. There is nothing on track Friday in Austin until the first Formula One practice at 12:30 p.m. There is room on the bill, and IndyCar should work to get on it.
The best part of being a support series and running three exhibition events is IndyCar can be open to a different format. It doesn't have to do what it always does. It can try things and play around with regulations. It can run a reverse grid race on Saturday and then a regular grid on Sunday. It can mandate pit stops. It can have the teams start on a half a tank of fuel for the main race and force everyone to run hard with no incentive on saving fuel. It can tinker with the push-to-pass regulations. It can be a little more relaxed and a sliver of the audience would notice the difference from a normal event.
IndyCar has nothing to lose from trying this. It means playing ball with Liberty Media, making some concessions, and yes being second fiddle, but IndyCar has more to gain doing that than sitting around and doing nothing until March 1, 2026. This would at least keep IndyCar competing into November. The teams would get a six-week break and then get three more race weekends. I know cars are testing today at the IMS road course, but nine people act like that is enough offseason content to keep the series in the spotlight.
It isn't! No one cares! No one knows it is happening! It doesn't matter that Mick Schumacher is running a car!
But you know what people would notice? What if Mick Schumacher was contracted to run these three support weekends with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing? What if another team got Sebastian Vettel to come out and run the three weekends? What if Sergio Pérez competed in the Mexico City weekend? That would draw significant attention to IndyCar, more than any of these weekday tests will over the next few weeks.
Many of the reasons why IndyCar remains the same size is because of its lack of imagination and effort to do something big and different and just put itself out there. Sitting idle as a series that can barely get a million people to watch the races on television while there will be a trio of race weekends that draw about a million combined spectators is bafflingly braindead. It might not be IndyCar's weekend, but it is a chance to be present and in front of people. Sometimes it is better to be the guest at the party than the host.
I am going to keep throwing it out there until it happens. IndyCar only gains by being there. Let's see what sitting at home during October gets the series. It isn't going to grow sleeping on this opportunity.
Champions From the Weekend
The #6 Porsche of Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet clinched the IMSA GTP championship with a third-place finish at Petit Le Mans.
The #99 AO Racing Oreca-Gibson of Dane Cameron and P.J. Hyett clinched the IMSA LMP2 championship with a sixth-place finish at Petit Le Mans.
The #3 Corvette of Antonio García and Alexander Sims clinched the IMSA GTD Pro championship with a third-place finish at Petit Le Mans.
The #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG of Philip Ellis and Russell Ward clinched the IMSA GTD championship with a fifth-place finish at Petit Le Mans.
The #48 Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter Mercedes-AMG of Lucas Auer and Maro Engel clinched the GT World Challenge Europe championship with a 13th-place finish at Barcelona.
The #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche of Sven Müller, Patric Niederhauser and Alessio Picariello clinched the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup championship with a seventh-place finish at Barcelona.
Stefano Manzi clinched the World Supersports championship with finishes of second and first in Estoril. Valentin Debise won the first race.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Denny Hamlin and company, but did you know...
Matthew Payne and Garth Tander won the 68th Bathurst 1000 after the #31 PremiAir Racing Chevolet of James Golding and David Russell had a five-second penalty for a driving infringement. It was Payne's first Bathurst 1000 victory, and it was Tander's sixth Bathurst 1000 victory.
The #31 Whelen Racing Cadillac of Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti won the 28th Petit Le Mans. The #11 TDS Racing Oreca-Gibson of Mikkel Jesen, Hunter McElrea and Steven Thomas won in LMP2. The #48 Paul miller racing BMW of Dan Harper, Max Hesse and Connor De Phillippi won in GTD Pro. The #21 AF Corse Ferrari of Simon Mann, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Lilou Madoux won in GTD.
Aric Almirola won the NASCAR Grand National Series race, his third victory of the season.
Sacha Fenestraz won a rain-shortened Super Formula race from Fuji. The second race was cancelled due to weather.
The #58 Garage 59 McLaren of Dean MacDonald, Louis Prette and Adam Smalley won the 3 Hours of Barcelona.
Toprak Razgatlioglu (race one and SuperPole race) and Nicolò Bulega (race two) split the World Superbike races from Estoril.
Coming Up This Weekend
United States Grand Prix.
NASCAR is at Talladega.
MotoGP visits its best circuit at Phillip Island.
The Intercontinental GT Challenge ends its season with the Indianapolis 8 Hours.
Portimão closes out the European Le Mans Series season.
The World Superbike season concludes in Jerez.
Super GT will be at Autopolis.
The World Rally Championship has the Central European Rally.
