IndyCar Wrap-Up: Carlin's 2020 Season

Our fourth IndyCar Wrap-Up will look at Carlin, one of two full-time single-car operations from the 2020 season, but this one was different. Two drivers split the #59 Gallagher Chevrolet and the results were reasonably good. The team saw a breakthrough with its first IndyCar pole position at Iowa and a handful of top ten results followed. However, the road course portion was not as good as the oval chunk.

Max Chilton competed in IndyCar in 2020

Max Chilton

For the second consecutive season, Chilton ran a limited schedule, contesting all the road and street course races, however, he did return to the Indianapolis 500 after missing last year's race. Though Chilton continued his trademark consistency, results left a lot to be desired.

What objectively was his best race?
Chilton was 11th in the first Harvest Grand Prix race.

What subjectively was his best race?
It is the first Harvest Grand Prix race, because Chilton qualified ninth and spent the entire race hovering around tenth only to fall short of that elusive top ten finish. 

A shout out to the Indianapolis 500 because Chilton had not run an oval race since the end of 2018, and he qualified 30th for this year's race after failing to qualify last year. In the race, he went from 30th to 17th and completed all 200 laps. Not the most impressive day, but one that deserves a little credit.

What objectively was his worst race?
Coincidentally, it came the day after his best race. Chilton was 19th in the second Harvest Grand Prix race.

What subjectively was his worst race?

Chilton doesn't have a worst race because they are all the same, below average days where he is not noticed. 

I will say Chilton doesn't have a worst race because he also doesn't do anything wrong. He doesn't tear up equipment or become a hazard while being lapped. He doesn't get lapped either. He was on the lead lap of every race this season. He meets the minimum requirement to be an IndyCar driver. I can't say he doesn't belong out there because every race he shows he is quick enough to race an IndyCar. No one likes to go unnoticed, but I would argue it is better to go unnoticed because you are quick enough to stay out of harm's way than to be noticed for being slow and a potential liability to other drivers.

Are there better drivers in the world? Of course, but let's not eat our own and cast out Chilton because he is not special. IndyCar needs a balanced field and there are plenty of drivers out there who would be a hazard if in place of Chilton.

I don't know why the results haven't broken through for him on just one day. The speed is there in the cars and he shows it in qualifying. Maybe 2021 will be when he gets his break with Carlin.

Max Chilton's 2020 Statistics
Championship Position: 22nd (147 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 0
Laps Led: 0
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 1
Average Start: 17.777
Average Finish: 15.111

Carlin was the good portion of Conor Daly's season

Conor Daly

After getting a handful of oval outings last year with Carlin, Daly returned to the team for the five oval races that were not the Indianapolis 500, while he ran all the road and street courses and the Indianapolis 500 with Ed Carpenter Racing. At Carlin, Daly brought the team solid results, including the team's maiden pole position. 

What objectively was his best race?
It was the first race of the season. Daly was sixth at Texas. 

What subjectively was his best race?
I am going to say the first Iowa race, because Daly started on pole position and led 13 laps. He did drop to eighth in the final results because he stopped early on his final stop and the tires were not there in the closing laps, costing him a handful of positions. Despite the finish, he was in the top ten all race. For a moment, he was a contender, a serious threat, and that is something we do not saw about either Daly or Carlin.

Texas does deserve a mention because he drove from 19th into the top ten. It was a clean night and an important one for the team to show its 2019 success was not a fluke. It was a great start to the season for both driver and team.

What objectively was his worst race?
With Carlin, his worst result was 13th in the second Iowa race, one where he had to stop with 35 laps to go because the team was not going to make it on fuel and Daly was third when he had to make the stop!

What subjectively was his worst race?

It is the second Iowa race. He did get caught out when he stopped two laps before the first caution of the night, which coincidentally was for Ed Carpenter. That set him back and he had to go off strategy and hope for a little luck to get back to the front. His Iowa weekend was better than what an eighth and a 13th tell you on paper. 

Carlin has shown good pace the last two years, on both ovals and road/street courses. This was the first weekend where it all came together, and the team was a front-runner. Something is there. It is just under the surface, but Carlin could be on the verge of a breakout.

Conor Daly's 2020 Statistics with Carlin
Championship Position: 17th (116 of 237 points with Carlin)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 4
Laps Led: 17
Poles: 1
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 0
Average Start: 10.8
Average Finish: 9.0

An Early Look Ahead

Remember when Felipe Nasr and Sérgio Sette Câmara were going to be in the Carlin's second car this year? Man, this year was weird. 

We don't know Carlin's plans for 2021.

I think the team has something good going, though it has yet to stand on the podium and its only top five finish was back in its first season. The team didn't have the funding for two cars, but the one car it did have was respectable, especially with Daly behind the wheel and Chilton was not awful, though he remains a tenth or two off being a top ten finisher. 

The hope would be the team could expand back to two cars, but with the current environment, that will be a difficult accomplishment. Chilton is always going to be in the plans because of his father's involvement with the team and Gallagher sponsorship and Chilton hasn't been terrible. He made nine starts and completed 800 of 800 laps in his nine starts. It sucks that he keeps falling short of the top ten, but he has been competent, and I would rather have Chilton on the grid than a handful of other drivers.

If Chilton decides to do the Indianapolis 500 again, there will only be three open races. 

Daly could keep splitting time between Carlin and Ed Carpenter Racing. If anything, it would make sense if the teams established an official partnership, not merge, but extensively shared data and worked together at every race, especially if Daly has the same setup in 2021. 

However, Daly might be sold on being a full-time driver with one team, one set of engineers and one set of overalls. In that case, would the two Texas races and Gateway be enough for another driver, especially if the team does not run that driver in an additional car for Indianapolis? I am sure there is someone who would bite, but I doubt any of those biters could be close to as competitive as Daly. 

The team has expressed interest in expanding back to two cars. The only issue I see is funding and a driver will have to bring it. At that point, Carlin is at the behest of the driver and the quality of that driver will determine which direction the team heads. There are a handful of veterans out there who could come in and help that team move forward, which would help Chilton's results as well. In all likelihood, the team would have to take on a younger driver, new to IndyCar and the results would fluctuate more. If Carlin has to bring in multiple drivers to fill the second car, it is going to be another year of stunted progress.

There is the concern Carlin could call it a day, especially if Chilton decides he is ready to walk away from IndyCar. That would be a blow for IndyCar. Carlin was a big snag a few years ago. It is an international junior formula powerhouse. IndyCar was always a big step up, but Carlin is a stout organization and it can find success. It has yet to happen in IndyCar. The team has had some growing pains, trying to find the funding to field two cars and then the pandemic occurring at the wrong time forced the team to consolidate its efforts. 

Carlin has the speed to be competitive. If Carlin sticks with it, good things will come. I hope the team returns for 2021 and I hope it gets the desired results next year.

Musings From the Weekend: Playoff Trends

NASCAR had a way with timely cautions late in races this weekend, except the Cup race, where Chase Elliott won the race and in turn took the championship. One man wants to win the MotoGP championship and he led a historic race for Suzuki, as the manufacture had accomplished something it had not done in the last 38 years. Yamaha pissed a bunch of people off. The DTM is ending an era and entering another unknown, but it had a familiar champion. Honda dominated in its backyard of Motegi. The focus will be on the finish to the NASCAR season. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.

Playoff Trends

Another NASCAR season is behind us and with yesterday's Phoenix race concluding we have finished seven seasons with this playoff format. 

There have been tweaks to the four-round, three-race segments eliminations over the last seven seasons, but a game plan is developing for what it takes to get through each round, making the final four and winning the championship. 

With 16 drivers qualifying for the ten-race fight for the championship, there are many possible outcomes, but with four drivers eliminated after the first three races, it is crucial to get results early and there are certain trends it will take to advance. 

We will go round-by-round, seeing what is common amongst those who did not advance and those that did.

Round One

With 16 drivers competing for 12 spots and it only possible for ten drivers to be in the top ten of each race, getting out of the first round does not require great success, though it does help. 

On only five occasions has a driver not had a top ten finish in round one and advanced to round two:

Kasey Kahne (2014)

Carl Edwards (2014)

Austin Dillon (2016)

Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. (2017)

Denny Hamlin (2020)

One top ten finish can help, but it is not a guarantee. 

Nine of 28 drivers eliminated have had at least one top ten finish. Five of those nine came in the first three seasons, prior to playoff points carrying over.

Of those nine, two had multiple top ten finishes. In 2018, Jimmie Johnson had finishes of 22nd, eighth and eighth and failed to advance after that infamous failed attempt for the lead on Martin Truex, Jr. in the final corners of the inaugural Charlotte roval race. Ryan Newman had finishes of tenth, fifth and 32nd in round one in 2019 and failed to advance. 

Top five finishes are a better indicator of who will advance, but those are not a lock. Three drivers have had a top five finish in round one and not advanced:

Jamie McMurray (2015)

Ryan Newman (2019)

William Byron (2020)

McMurray's 2015 failure, the aforementioned Johnson first round elimination in 2018 and Aric Almirola in 2019 are the only examples of drivers that have averaged a finish below 15th in the first three races and not advanced. McMurray was at 11.333, Johnson at 12.667 and Almirola at 14.333. 

Newman's 2019 failure saw a 32nd-place finish in the third race at Charlotte drag his average finish down to 15.667 and Byron this year was 21st at Richmond and 38th at Bristol, dropping his average to 21.333. 

The average finish for a driver eliminated in round one is 20.3214.

Round Two

Let's go over the drivers who advanced from round one but did not have a top ten finish.

Kahne, Dillon and Stenhouse all did not advance from round two after that round one start. 

Kahne was 13th, 23rd and 20th in round one, and had finishes of 22nd, tenth and 12th in round two. 

Dillon was 16th, 23rd and 13th in round one, responded with a ninth to start round two but had finishes of 16th and 32nd after that. 

Stenhouse, Jr. did not have a top ten finish in round one and did not have one in round two. His finishes were 25th, 15th, 19th, 13th, 26th and 29th. 

The other two drivers without a top ten in round one, but advanced from round two were Carl Edwards in 2014, who made the semifinal round, and Denny Hamlin this year.

With the playoff field cut down to 12 drivers, better results are more important, and we start to see notable drivers not advance from this round, including some race winners. 

On five occasions has a driver won in round one and been eliminated in round two. Three became before playoff points, and two are quite notable. 

In 2015, Denny Hamlin opened the playoffs with a victory and Matt Kenseth won the next race. Both failed to advance, with Kenseth notably spun at Kansas while leading after contact with Joey Logano. Hamlin was caught in the infamous restart accident at Talladega during a green-white-checkered finish and was classified in 37th. Hamlin had entered Talladega second in the championship, 18 points to the good.

In 2016, Martin Truex, Jr. won the first and third race, but an engine failure in the final race of round two at Talladega eliminated him despite entering sixth and 13 points to the good. 

It then happened twice in 2018, and to two Team Penske drivers. Brad Keselowski won the opener at Las Vegas and Ryan Blaney won the inaugural Charlotte roval race. Neither driver picked up a top five finish in round two with each having only one top ten finish, Keselowski sixth at Talladega and Blaney was seventh at Talladega. 

Round one results aside, only seven drivers have had a top five in round two and not advanced:

Kyle Busch (2014, two top five finishes)

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (2015)

Denny Hamlin (2015, two top five finishes)

Jamie McMurray (2017)

Kyle Larson (2018)

William Byron (2019)

Clint Bowyer (2020)

The one note for Busch and Hamlin is in both cases a terrible Talladega finish took them out. Busch was third and fifth in the first two races before ending up 40th at Talladega. He was second, 26 points to the good prior. Hamlin was fourth and second before that Talladega result of 37th. Both of these cases also occurred before playoff points. 

Other than 2016, at least one driver eliminated in the second round had a top five finish in that round.

For the drivers eliminated in round two, their average finish over those three races is 19.738, but there is one notable outlier and that is Kyle Larson in 2018. Larson's average finish in round two that year was 8.667 with finishes of 11th, third and tenth. He is the only one to have an average finish below ten and not advance. 

There are only four other drivers with average finishes below 15th in round two who did not advance:

Kasey Kahne (2014, 14.667)

Ryan Newman (2015, 12.667)

Denny Hamlin (2015, 14.333)

Clint Bowyer (2019, 13.667)

Round Three

This is where we see the difference between a championship four contender and those just on the outside. In this section, we will look at those who did not advance. 

There is little margin for error when determining the final four drivers, especially when three spots are reserved for race winners and only one if for the best driver on points. Even with playoff points, with eight drivers left, the advantage shrinks. It is no longer 53 points for the top driver over the cutline, but rather 45 points. That does not seem like much, but it can be large difference. 

With eight drivers left, arguably the top eight drivers, there will be multiple top five finishers on the wrong side of the line. 

Twenty-one of 28 drivers eliminated in the semifinal round had a top five finish in that three-race set. It would be easier to list those that did not have one. 

Carl Edwards (2014)

Kurt Busch (2015)

Jimmie Johnson (2017)

Ryan Blaney (2017)

Kurt Busch (2018)

Chase Elliott (2018)

Chase Elliott (2019)

Surprising, the number of semifinalists eliminated with multiple top five finishes is only four:

Jeff Gordon (2014, two runner-up finishes nonetheless)

Brad Keselowski (2014, a third and a fourth)

Ryan Blaney (2019, a fifth and a third)

Alex Bowman (2020, a third and a fifth)

Gordon is one of six semifinalists with runner-up finishes not to advance to the championship race. He is the only one with multiple runner-up finishes and not to advance. Who are the other five?

Brad Keselowski (2015)

Chase Elliott (2017)

Kevin Harvick (2020)

Martin Truex, Jr. (2020)

Bowman this year became only the fourth driver to finish in the top ten of all three semifinal round races and not advance to the championship race. He was sixth at Martinsville. The others:

Denny Hamlin (2016, third, ninth and seventh)

Ryan Blaney (2019, fifth, eighth and third)

Joey Logano (2019, eighth, fourth and ninth)

The only difference is Bowman became the first driver to average a finish better than fifth in the semifinal round and not advance at 4.667. Seven of 28 drivers averaged a top ten finish with the average finish for a semifinalist being 13.333. Only four semifinalists have average over a 15th place finish:

Joey Logano (2015, 26.667)

Kurt Busch (2016, 15.667)

Chase Elliott (2019, 35.667)

Kurt Busch (2020, 16.667)

This year was a bit different as Kevin Harvick became the third regular season champion not to advance to the championship four, but the first two are a bit odd because they came before playoff points and bonuses for regular season championship results. 

The first was Jeff Gordon in 2014 and the other was Harvick in 2016. For the first three seasons, NASCAR was seeding the drivers at the start of the playoffs with three points for each regular season victory, but everyone was level at the start of the subsequent rounds. In fact, despite Gordon and Harvick leading the points after 26 races in each of those seasons, neither started as the "one-seed." 

So Harvick is the first regular season championship in this playoff points evolution where points carry round to round and award consistency, but was Harvick's playoffs that bad? The answer is no. Even his semifinal round was not that bad. 

Harvick's average finish over nine races was 9.444, third best behind only Bowman at 8.0 and Logano at 8.1. His average finish in the semifinal round was 11.667, not ideal, but equal to Hamlin who did advance. It was really two bad races at Texas and Martinsville, which could not have come at a worse time for Harvick and throw on top of that a runner-up finish at Kansas which can be simply summed up as clean air winning out.

Championship Finalists

No surprise, but to make the final four, you have to be good, borderline exceptional. 

Seven drivers have made the final four and not won one of the nine prior playoff races:

Ryan Newman (2014, he didn't win a race at all that season)

Denny Hamlin (2014)

Kyle Busch (2015)

Martin Truex, Jr. (2015)

Kyle Busch (2016)

Martin Truex, Jr. (2018)

Kyle Busch (2019)

In those eight cases, only three drivers had fewer than four victories through 35 races, Newman's winless season, Hamlin had one in 2014 and Truex had one in 2015. All three of those of course came before the implementation of playoff points. Newman remains the only winless driver to make the final four. Along with Hamlin and Truex, the only other driver to make the final four with one victory was Jeff Gordon in 2015 and that victory was at Martinsville, the leadoff race of the semifinal round. 

Overall, 12 finalists had fewer than four victories entering the final race of the season. Eight of those 12 came between 2014 and 2016, before playoff points. The four to do it in the last four years were:

Kevin Harvick (2017, two victories)

Brad Keselowski (2017, three victories)

Joey Logano (2018, two victories and won the finale to take the championship)

Joey Logano (2020, three victories)

When it comes to average finish, the finalists are phenomenal. The average finish over the first nine races for a finalist is 9.686. The average finish in the semifinal round is 7.821. 

Only one finalist averaged a finish better than fifth over nine races and that was Truex in 2017 at 4.667. Twelve finalists have had an average finish worse than tenth, but the worst was Carl Edwards at 14.888 in 2016.

When it comes to the semifinal round, ten finalists averaged better than a fifth-place finish, with Truex's 2017 season again the best at 2.333 over three races. Only six finalists averaged worse than a tenth-place finish in the semifinal round: 

Kevin Harvick (2014, 12.0)

Carl Edwards (2016, 18.667)

Jimmie Johnson (2016, 16.667)

Joey Logano (2018, 13.667)

Denny Hamlin (2019, 11.0)

Denny Hamlin (2020, 11.667)

Of those six, the only one not to win a semifinal race was Hamlin this year. 

Harvick had to win the penultimate race. Johnson won at Martinsville in 2016 and Edwards won at Texas, a rain-shortened race. Edwards had finished 36th at Martinsville prior to that Texas victory. Johnson's finishes after Martinsville were 11th and 38th, but with no consequences, so no harm, no foul. 

Logano won at Martinsville in 2018 with his bump-and-run on Truex and he was third in the next race before retiring at Phoenix with an accident leaving him in 37th, so again, no harm, no foul. 

Hamlin was in a must-win scenario last year at Phoenix after a 28th-place finish at Texas. 

With playoff points, it is more important to factor in where each driver stood at the start of the playoffs and at the start of each round.

In 2017, the finalists were Truex, Kyle Busch, Harvick and Keselowski. Here is where each ranked at the start of each round with their playoff points total at the start of each round:

Truex: 1st (53), 1st (59), 1st (69)

Busch: 3rd (29), 2nd (41), 2nd (42)

Harvick: 6th (15), 6th (15), T-4th (17)

Keselowski: 4th (19), 4th (20), 3rd (26)

You will see a pattern in each of the last four seasons as well. 

2018

Logano: T-6th (14), T-6th (14), T-5th (15)

Truex: 3rd (35), 3rd (38), 3rd (38)

Harvick: T-1st (50), 2nd (50), 2nd (54)

Busch: T-1st (50), 1st (55), 1st (55)

2019

Busch: 1st (45), 1st (46), 1st (46)

Truex: 3rd (29), 2nd (41), 2nd (42)

Harvick: T-4th (28), 5th (28), 5th (28)

Hamlin: 2nd (30), 3rd (30), 3rd (37)

2020

Elliott: 5th (20), 5th (21), 4th (27)

Keselowski: 3rd (29), 3rd (35), 3rd (35)

Logano: 4th (22), 4th (22), 5th (22)

Hamlin: 2nd (47), 2nd (48), 2nd (54)

Since the invention of playoff points, a finalist has never been ranked worse than sixth at the start of any of the rounds. The fewest playoff points a finalist earned was 15 (Logano 2018) and only one other finalist earned fewer than 20 playoff points (Keselowski 2017 with 17 points). Logano this year became the just the second finalist not to earn an additional playoff point in the first two rounds. The other was Harvick last year.

The average number of playoff points for a finalist at the start of each round is as follows:

Start of first round: 32.1875

Start of second round: 35.1875

Start of third round: 37.9375

Champion

Ultimately, under this format, the championship comes down to one race. There is nothing from the previous 35 races that decides who is the champion. The previous 35 races decide which four drivers get a shot at the championship with nine carrying a little more weight, but none of them ultimately decide who is the champion. Logano, Keselowski and Hamlin cannot look at points lost at say Atlanta or Indianapolis or Kentucky as the reason they are not champion. The only race they can look at is Phoenix. That one result decides the champion regardless of what happened in the previous 35. 

Of course, every champion has won the season finale, but only two champions did not win a race in the first nine race of the playoffs:

Kyle Busch (2015)

Kyle Busch (2019)

The only other champion not to have multiple victories in the first nine playoff races was Logano in 2018. This year's champion Elliott was the only finalist this year with multiple victories in the first nine playoff races and his three playoffs victories after his victory in the finale gave him the most over the final ten races. 

Elliott won the penultimate race and the finale making him the only the second champion in this playoff-era to end the season with consecutive victories. Harvick did it in 2014. Elliott is the fourth champion to win in semifinal round with the exceptions being Busch's two championships and Truex's title. Elliott is the fourth champion to win a race in at least two rounds prior to the finale and surprisingly, no champion has won a race in each round. In fact, no driver has ever won in each of the first three rounds of the playoffs. 

Elliott will be credited as starting on pole position for this Phoenix race, but he had to start at the rear of the field after his car did not pass pre-race inspection twice. Before yesterday, the worst starting position for a champion in the finale was Jimmie Johnson in 14th. The other five champions all started in the top five. The first six championship finales were held at Homestead, and with NASCAR venturing away from qualifying, I am not sure what we can take away from starting position, especially when the top four are going to be gifted the top four spots on the grid. 

Since 2014, only twice has the driver that at least had a share of most victories won the championship, Johnson in 2016 and Truex in 2017. That is 28.57% of the seasons. 

From 2004 to 2013, it happened four times with Johnson doing it in 2007 and 2009, Stewart in 2011 and Keselowski did it in 2012 though he was tied for most victories with Johnson and Hamlin on five that year. 

It should be noted that five of seven champions in the playoff-era had exactly five victories with the exceptions being Truex with eight in 2017 and Logano with three in 2018. 

Only twice in the last seven years has the champion had more than 15 top five finishes. Truex had 19 in 2017 and Busch had 17 in 2019. This was the fourth consecutive year where the champion had over 20 top ten finishes after only one of the previous three saw the champion reach 20 top ten finishes. 

Stepping back for a moment and looking beyond this playoff-era, Elliott is the fourth different driver to win a championship with Hendrick Motorsports. Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte and Johnson are the other Hendrick champions. The only other team to have at least three different drivers win a championship is Joe Gibbs Racing, who did it with Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch. 

Hendrick Motorsports has won 13 of the last 26 championships. The next best team in that time period is Gibbs with five championships. Roush Racing, Stewart Haas Racing and Team Penske each have two titles. Robert Yates Racing and Furniture Row Racing, both of which are defunct, split the remaining two championships. 

After taking 12 years to win its first championship, the longest Hendrick Motorsports has gone between titles since 1995 is four years and that was from 2002 to 2005! The three-year drought from 2017 to 2019 is the second-longest dry spell for the team in the last quarter of a century!

The only drivers in the last 25 years to win consecutive championships drove for Hendrick with Jeff Gordon's back-to-back in 1997 and 1998 and Johnson's five-year run from 2006 to 2010. In the 25 years before that, there were seven instances of consecutive champions and those seven instances came with four different drivers representing three different teams. 

Richard Petty had two sets of consecutive titles driving for his family's team in 1970-71 and 1974-75. Cale Yarborough won three consecutive titles from 1976-78 with Junior Johnson. Then Darrell Waltrip went back-to-back with Junior Johnson in 1981-82. Dale Earnhardt had not one, not two but three sets of consecutive championships, all with Richard Childress Racing in 1986-87, 1990-91 and 1993-94.

A Chevrolet driver won the drivers' championship, but Ford won the manufactures' championship. It is the third time in the last six seasons that the drivers' champion did not drive for the manufactures' champion. That had only happened in twice of the first 11 seasons with the Chase/playoff format. Kurt Busch won in 2004 driving a Ford while Chevrolet took the manufactures' title. Keselowski won the 2012 championship in a Dodge while Chevrolet won another manufactures' title.

With Elliott's championship, we now have five different champions in the last five seasons and in 2021, we could match the record of six consecutive seasons without a repeat champion, which occurred from 1999 to 2004 when Dale Jarrett, Bobby Labonte, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch and Matt Kenseth all won the title.

We have come close in recent seasons. From 2011 to 2015, we had five different champions and then Johnson's seventh broke that trend. From 2014 to 2018, we had five different champions and then Kyle Busch broke it with his second title last year. 

The 2021 season will either be chance for Elliott to extend the Hendrick dynasty like Gordon or Johnson before him or perhaps another long-suffering driver can match NASCAR's longest stretch of parity. 

Champions From the Weekend

You know about Chase Elliott, but did you know...

Austin Cindric won the NASCAR Grand National Series championship with his victory at Phoenix. It was Cindric's sixth victory of the season.

Sheldon Creed won the NASCAR Truck Series championship with his victory at Phoenix. It was Creed's fifth victory of the season, the most in the series.

René Rast clinched the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters championship with finishes of second and first at Hockenheim. Vice-champion Nico Müller won the first race of the weekend. It is Rast's third DTM championship in four seasons. 

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Chase Elliott, Austin Cindric, Sheldon Creed and René Rast but did you know...

Joan Mir won MotoGP's European Grand Prix from Valencia, his first career MotoGP victory and his first victory in three years and ten days since the Moto3 race at Malaysia. Marco Bezzecchi won the Moto2 race, his second victory of the season. Raúl Fernández won the Moto3 race, his first career victory.

The #8 ARTA Honda NSX of Tomoki Nojiri and Nirei Fukuzumi won the Super GT race from Motegi. The #56 Kondō Racing Nissan of Kiyoto Fujinami and João Paulo de Oliveira won in GT300.

 

Coming Up This Weekend

The 12 Hours of Sebring concludes the IMSA season. 

The 8 Hours of Bahrain concludes the FIA World Endurance Championship season. 

The Circuit Paul Ricard 1000km concludes the GT World Challenge Europe season.

The WTCC concludes in Aragón because the updates to Adria were not complete in time.

Formula One returns to Turkey.

MotoGP remains in Valencia for its penultimate round. 

Super Formula heads to Autopolis.

IndyCar Wrap-Up: Dale Coyne Racing's 2020 Season

The third 2020 NTT IndyCar Series season wrap-up will be IndyCar's favorite little team, Dale Coyne Racing. This was not the common season for DCR. It was not a terrible season, but the team has been more accustomed to the occasional race victory and podium finish. There was one trip to the podium, but it was an otherwise underperforming year for the Illinois-based team.

Santino Ferrucci lead DCR in 2020

Santino Ferrucci
Ferrucci's sophomore season was about in line with his rookie season. He had another strong outing at Indianapolis and a few better days on road courses, but his oval results overall took a dip. For majority of the season, he remained on the cusp of the top ten in the championship.

What objectively was his best race?
Ferrucci was fourth in the Indianapolis 500 after starting 19th and he led one lap.

What subjectively was his best race?
It was Indianapolis. For the second consecutive year, Ferrucci went forward and did not put a wheel wrong. Typically, when you have an aggressive young driver the expectation is he will get away with a few things at Indianapolis and then get bit and that driver will reign it in. Through two years, Ferrucci has yet to be bit and if he gets away with it long enough, the confidence level will be high enough that there will not be a large drop off when that first notable incident occurs, if it happens. 

Ferrucci's Road America weekend should also be noted because he finished sixth in both races, including after starting sixth in the first race. 

What objectively was his worst race?
At Texas, he struggled to find a balance in the car and a bad pit stop where the right rear tire was not secured ultimately took him out late, leaving him 21st in the box score.

What subjectively was his worst race?
After a stellar qualifying run in the wet to end up second on the grid for the second Mid-Ohio race, Ferrucci went off at the start and emerged in the middle of turn five, taking out teammate Álex Palou and Felix Rosenqvist, damaging Ferrucci's car and ending any chance of a career day. 

That Mid-Ohio race was set up to possibly be something special, but that dream day was ruined two corners into the race, and it was only worse that both Coyne cars were out of it after each were second and fourth on the grid.

The first Gateway race should also be noted, because Ferrucci had worked his way into the top ten after the accident at the start and he was contending for a top five when the caution came out for a passing drizzle. Ferrucci had made his pit stop and was trapped at the rear of the field. He ended up 16th. 

He also had a blocking penalty in the second Iowa race end any hope of a positive result.

Santino Ferrucci's 2020 Statistics
Championship Position: 13th (290 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 1
Top Tens: 5
Laps Led: 4
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 0
Average Start: 14.428
Average Finish: 12.928

Álex Palou had a respectable rookie season, but left room to improve

Álex Palou
Fresh from Japan, Palou's rookie IndyCar season had high moments, but did not see as many breakthroughs as his speed would have suggested. Though he is responsible for DCR's only podium finish in 2020, Palou did not take rookie of the year honors and he was behind his teammate in the championship.

What objectively was his best race?
The first Road America race, where Palou found himself in contention for a podium position late after starting 14th. After an intense battle with Ryan Hunter-Reay, Palou ended up third, his first career podium finish in his third career start and it was Coyne's first top five finish at Road America, let alone the team's first podium finish.

What subjectively was his best race?
The entire Road America weekend was a positive showing for Palou. He qualified third for the second race but struggled in the middle of the race and had to rally for a seventh-place finish. The first race gets a slight edge, but after a shaky start to the season, Road America was a good confidence booster.

What objectively was his worst race?
Palou had an accident exiting turn one in the Indianapolis 500 while running in the top ten and it left him with an 28th-place finish on his Indianapolis 500 debut. 

What subjectively was his worst race?
This was a difficult season for Palou, and there were a handful of races that did not go his way and truly capture his ability. 

He was an innocent bystander when Rinus VeeKay spun at Texas and collected him just after his first pit stop. Palou was quicker than his teammate at Texas and perhaps he would have finished 12th or 13th on debut instead of 23rd. 

His Iowa finishes were 11th and 14th, but he was stronger than those finishes show and maybe should have had one top ten finish. 

Indianapolis was a bummer because he was in the top ten for most of the race after qualifying seventh. It looked like the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year was his for the taking when he had his accident a little over 300 miles into the race. It was his only mistake in his entire time on the 2.5-mile oval and it came in the race. 

And then his teammate took him out at Mid-Ohio on lap one. That could have been another podium result. Perhaps both Coyne cars could have ended up on the podium. We will never know, but it was certainly an opportunity lost.

We have been spoiled when it comes to rookies the last few seasons in IndyCar. Palou's rookie year happened to be with some of the least favorable conditions for rookies. His debut was delayed almost three months. Let's not forget to mention, Palou had to hurry to the United States to not be locked out due to travel restrictions, leaving behind family in Spain. On the track, he had to visit majority of these places for the first time with condensed race weekends and in a lot of cases he was tossed into the deep end with doubleheaders. The results could have been better, but Palou showed something is there for his sophomore season in 2021.

Álex Palou's 2020 Statistics
Championship Position: 16th (238 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 1
Top Fives: 1
Top Tens: 3
Laps Led: 1
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 0
Average Start: 12.285
Average Finish: 14.785

An Early Look Ahead

The expectation was nothing would change at Coyne for 2021, however, Palou will move to Chip Ganassi Racing to take over the #10 Honda and now the picture is less clear. 

Ferrucci has been linked to an Andretti Autosport seat, though that hasn't picked up much steam in recent weeks. I think Ferrucci has a seat at Coyne as long as he wants it, but if he leaves, it puts the team in an odd spot. 

Last year, Sébastien Bourdais lost his seat because none of Bourdais' finishes contributed to the manufactures' championship. If you contribute to the manufactures' championship, Honda gives that team a bonus. Ferrucci did have finishes that contributed to the manufactures' championship, he got a bonus and moved to the #18 Honda. One year later and Palou's third at Road America counted toward the manufactures' championship while none of Ferrucci's finishes went toward Honda's score this year. 

If such bonus is what led Bourdais to lose his ride, is there a chance the same happens with Ferrucci? I don't think so, because Ferrucci has a good relationship with Coyne, Jimmy Vasser and James Sullivan. After all, the team will already have one seat to fill with Palou gone and I doubt they will want to fill two. 

There are a few drivers available to slide in along Ferrucci. James Hinchcliffe, though Hinchcliffe has ties to the Andretti Autosport camp and will likely end up at Andretti. Oliver Askew is on the outside, though Askew does not have much backing and that second Coyne seat may require funding. That second car did pick up Guaranteed Rate sponsorship in the middle of the season. I am not sure Guaranteed Rate will be around in 2021. If it is, then Coyne is looking good and it could have its choice of driver rather than needing one with a certain dollar figure. 

This is Dale Coyne Racing though, and what team is more famous for dropping in unfamiliar drivers than Coyne? It could be different in 2021 because of travel restrictions and he could be forced to hire a known IndyCar veteran. Coyne could go either way. It is hard to get a handle on what he will do. In recent years, Coyne has been good on having both its drivers known early in the offseason. I do get a feeling we could see a throwback where we do not know who is in the second car until after preseason testing in February.

Ferrucci has had some good runs on ovals, and Indianapolis Motor Speedway in particular, but with 13 of 17 races on road and street courses next year, he has to improve his road course results. This year was a step in the right direction with three top ten finishes, including a pair of sixth place results, but he has got to break into the top five and be in the top ten more regularly. 

Palou was streaky in the second car. For every race he showed blistering pace there were two where he was mired in the pack. I would expect whatever driver Coyne wants to be a step better than Palou, more consistent on road/street courses and able to turn oval speed into oval results. That second driver will need more than three top ten finishes, and probably closer to seven or eight.

This was a good year for Coyne, but there is room to improve.

IndyCar Wrap-Up: A.J. Foyt Racing's 2020 Season

Our second 2020 NTT IndyCar Series wrap-up will see us drop to the bottom and cellar-dwelling regulars A.J. Foyt Racing. This was an odd year for the organization. After another driver shakeup, the pandemic completely re-arranged the driver schedule. Good results continued to be hard to come by, but the good news is Foyt may have turned a corner late in the season and be looking toward a bright 2021.

Charlie Kimball's first year with Foyt was difficult

Charlie Kimball
After a part-time ride with Carlin in 2019, Kimball returned to full-time competition with A.J. Foyt Racing, his third team in four seasons. The results were not up to the Charlie Kimball standard. Very few days saw the one-time IndyCar race winner pull out a top ten finish from nothing, but most of the time he kept the car on the track and out of the barriers.

What objectively was his best race?
Kimball picked up an eighth-place finish in the final race of the season at St. Petersburg. His only other top ten finish was a tenth in the second Road America. 

What subjectively was his best race?
None of Kimball's races really stand out, but I think a special shout out should go to his from 22nd to 11th in the first Road America race, and he also went from 29th to 18th in the Indianapolis 500. However, that Indianapolis 500 is a bit lackluster when you consider he made up 11 positions and still wasn't in the top half of the field. He did complete all 500 miles, so that is something.

What objectively was his worst race?
In the first Harvest Grand Prix, Kimball ended up 23rd after starting 24th and the only cars he was ahead of were part-timer Sage Karam and his teammate Dalton Kellett.

What subjectively was his worst race?
If 11th is your subjectively worst race of a season, you did something wrong that day, and Kimball and his team made a foolish decision in the Texas season opener. Kimball was running sixth when the caution came out for Felix Rosenqvist's accident in turn two. There were only 11 cars on the lead lap. Kimball was the only lead lap car to pit to take tires before the final restart. 

However, IndyCar did not wave around lap cars, it was a single-lane racetrack because the traction compound put down for the NASCAR race stained the top half of the racetrack and made grip non-existent for the Firestone tires and instead of being a rocket against a bunch of sitting ducks. Kimball, hoisted by his own petard, spun on the backstretch and instead of finishing sixth and maybe sneaking into the top five with one late pass, he ended up 11th, outside the top ten in his first race with the team. 

It was shaping up to be a banner start to the 2020 season for A.J. Foyt Racing and instead it was another one for the blooper reel. 

Charlie Kimball's 2020 Statistics
Championship Position: 18th (218 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 2
Laps Led: 0
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 0
Average Start: 19.785
Average Finish: 15.428

Rain fell on Tony Kanaan's retirement tour

Tony Kanaan
Kanaan had planned for 2020 to be his farewell season where he would compete only in the oval races to close out an IndyCar career that stretched over two decades. He was unable to compete in front of spectators at most events and his all-time consecutive start streak came to an end. There were a few good days, however, it was a bittersweet end.

What objectively was his best race?
Kanaan had a ninth-place finish in the first Gateway race from 21st on the grid. 

What subjectively was his best race?
It would probably be that first Gateway race, although, he started and finished tenth in Texas, though he likely only got a top ten finish because of his teammate's feeble pit strategy. Kanaan was also in the top ten for most of the night in the second Iowa race after starting eighth, but lost tenth position on the final lap to Marco Andretti.

What objectively was his worst race?
On paper, he was 19th in the Indianapolis 500 and 19th in the second Gateway race. 

What subjectively was his worst race?
None of these races were great for Kanaan this season, and his two 19th-place finishes were equally lousy. I think the worst thing is Kanaan planned this to be his final hooray, and the pandemic hit. Sure, it allowed him to extend his consecutive start streak by one race thanks to Texas becoming the season opener, but he raced in front of empty grandstand for two of six races, including the Indianapolis 500, and the other four were significantly reduced. 

Talk about planning your swan song and then having one of the greatest buzzkills steal your goodbye. 

If there is any solace, Kanaan might give it one more go next year. It is not clear if it will be all the oval races (there are only four), but the Indianapolis 500 appears to be a definite. And Kanaan could probably do the Indianapolis 500 for another two or three years after that if he really wanted to. 

Tony Kanaan's 2020 Statistics
Championship Position: 24th (106 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 2
Laps Led: 0
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 0
Average Start: 16.667
Average Finish: 14.333

Dalton Kellett made eight IndyCar starts... good for him

Dalton Kellett
After a subpar Road to Indy career, Kellett moved up to IndyCar and things were not any better at the top level of the ladder system. 

What objectively was his best race?
Kellett cracked the top twenty in both Road America races, with finishes of 20th on each day.

What subjectively was his best race?
Pick one of the two Road America races.

What objectively was his worst race?
Kellett suffered an accident on lap 83 of the Indianapolis 500 and it ended his day with a 31st-place finish.

What subjectively was his worst race?
Oof... Kellett was always going to struggle in this situation. Between the pandemic cutting down his seat time, driving for A.J. Foyt Racing and him not quite having all it takes to be an IndyCar driver, a year that consists of six finishes outside the top twenty, an average starting position of 23.625 and an average finish of 23rd was the best it could be, though terrible no matter how you slice it. 

If we had to pick out low moments, it was spinning into the gravel and causing a caution in the second Mid-Ohio race and in his final start at the second Harvest Grand Prix race, starting and finishing 25th, dead-last. He never finished on the lead lap. He finished multiple laps down in his final three starts. I am sure he is a good guy and he had some good results last year in sports cars. I think he could have a good career in LMP2 or LMP3 racing as a professional driver in a pro-am driver pairing.

Dalton Kellett's 2020 Statistics
Championship Position: 26th (67 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 0
Laps Led: 0
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 0
Average Start: 23.625
Average Finish: 23

A.J. Foyt Racing may have found something special in Sébastien Bourdais

Sébastien Bourdais
After a lengthy delay, Bourdais finally got into an IndyCar for the final three races of 2020, a year he spent primarily in sports cars with respectable success. Once in the cockpit of the #14 Chevrolet, things started slow, but it ended on a high note and everyone should be encouraged heading into 2021.

What objectively was his best race?
A fourth-place finish at St. Petersburg from seventh on the grid.

What subjectively was his best race?
Hands down it is St. Petersburg. After a woeful Harvest Grand Prix weekend, Bourdais hit the streets of his adoptive hometown blazing. 

A.J. Foyt Racing had not shown any significant pace all season, especially on road courses. Prior to St. Petersburg, Foyt's best starting position on a road course was 13th at the second Road America race with Kimball. It was the only top fifteen start on a road course for the team until Bourdais at St. Petersburg. Bourdais' second outing of 2020 showed the Frenchman remains one of the strongest drivers on the grid.

What objectively was his worst race?
His first race of the season was a 21st-place finish in the first Harvest Grand Prix. 

What subjectively was his worst race?
The entire Harvest Grand Prix weekend was difficult. Bourdais struggled starting 16th and 21st in the two races. His finishes were 21st and 18th. He had been out of an IndyCar since the one preseason test day in February. It was a weekend where a lot of rust had to be knocked off.

Sébastien Bourdais' 2020 Statistics
Championship Position: 28th (53 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 1
Top Tens: 1
Laps Led: 0
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 1
Average Start: 14.667
Average Finish: 14.333

An Early Look Ahead

We know part of A.J. Foyt Racing's plan for 2021 with Bourdais signed to drive the #14 Chevrolet. Outside of Bourdais, there are still questions. 

Before the Bourdais news, I was ready to write Foyt should downsize to a one-car team and focus on running one car successfully for Kimball instead of running two mediocre cars. With Bourdais announced, it could still be a one-car team and Kimball could be the odd man out. However, both cars got Leader Circle money, and if Kimball still has funding, I think Foyt will remain a two-car outfit. Although, Kimball might still be the odd man out, as a rumor of Pietro Fittipaldi combining with Kanaan in that second car was mentioned around the St. Petersburg weekend.

Things did not improve for Foyt in 2020. Somehow the results got worse compared to the previous few seasons. This has to be rock bottom, which means the only way the team can go is up in 2021. 

This year started promising between Bourdais' pace in the damp at Austin testing and the team's run at Texas, and it plummeted from there onward. 

Bourdais has lifted every team he has competed at. Between Dragon Racing, KV Racing and Dale Coyne Racing, Bourdais turned each organization into a podium contender and in the latter two cases regular race winners. Foyt last won a race in 2013. It has one podium finish in the last five years. Foyt hasn't had a driver finish in the top ten of the championship since 2002 with Airton Daré. 

Teams have been able to turnaround the results in one year before, but Foyt is a different animal. 

With the right people around him, I think Bourdais could be competitive, get a handful of top ten finishes and maybe sneak into the top five once or twice. If Bourdais can get those results, then I think Kimball sees an uptick in results and gets a few top ten finishes. 

We have watched Foyt clean house three times in the last four seasons. They have gone young, they have gone old, they have gone Brazilian, and they even changed engine manufactures. They have tried a bunch of things and none have gotten the team any closer to victory or competing for a top ten championship spot. Looking at the results, there is skepticism because nothing has worked for Foyt. Maybe, with Bourdais leading the way, 2021 will yield improved results.

IndyCar Wrap-Up: Arrow McLaren SP's 2020 Season

The 2020 NTT IndyCar Series season has finally finished, and we can now start reviewing what was an extended and exhausting season. Typically, we start our reviews at the bottom of the IndyCar championship and end with the championship winners, but instead, we are starting with the team that wants the most attention. That is Arrow McLaren SP. So here you go AMSP, you get to be first.

After a longer wait, Patricio O'Ward's first full IndyCar season was stout

Patricio O'Ward

After a pair of part-time seasons, O'Ward got his first full-time run and he was fantastic. He was runner-up in three races and picked up his first career pole position. He had the fourth most laps led in IndyCar this season and he picked up the team's best championship finish in seven years.

What objectively was his best race?
A runner-up finish from pole position in the second Road America, another runner-up finish in the second Gateway race and O'Ward ended his first full season in IndyCar with a runner-up finish at St. Petersburg.

What subjectively was his best race?

The first two runner-up finishes stand out for O'Ward, but I think the Road America race edges out on top because it looked like he was set to get his first career victory and it took a flawless final stint from Felix Rosenqvist to take that victory away from him. Rosenqvist had the better tires and O'Ward didn't have the pace down the stretch. 

Frankly, O'Ward's third place finish in the first Gateway race was better than his runner-up finish in the second Gateway race. In that Saturday race, O'Ward led 94 laps, the most on the day and was beat when Scott Dixon had a slightly better pit stop. The only reason why O'Ward wasn't second was a daring pass from Takuma Sato on the outside entering turn one. 

What objectively was his worst race?
The first Harvest Grand Prix race, where he ended up 22nd and one-lap down. 

What subjectively was his worst race?

That Harvest Grand Prix race is the only blemish on his season, but the second Iowa race deserves some recognition, because O'Ward was looking at a podium finish before a slow pit stop cost him. He spent most of that race near eventually race winner Josef Newgarden despite starting 12th. I still believe Newgarden wins that race even if O'Ward has his best pit stop of the season, but he sacrificed being in the position to pounce in case Newgarden slipped up with one poor pit stop.

Patricio O'Ward's 2020 Statistics
Championship Position: 4th (416 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 4
Top Fives: 6
Top Tens: 10
Laps Led: 204
Poles: 1
Fast Sixes: 1
Fast Twelves: 2
Average Start: 10.412
Average Finish: 7.571 

Things took a turn in the wrong direction for Oliver Askew midseason

Oliver Askew

The year started well for the 2019 Indy Lights champion and Askew picked up his first career podium finish in his fifth career start. He had three top ten finishes in his first six starts. However, he did not have a top ten finish in his final six starts of the season with an accident in the Indianapolis 500 taking him out of the car for two races due to concussion-like symptoms. After that accident, the relationship with AMSP soured and Askew's tenure with the organization will end after one season.

What objectively was his best race?
A third-place finish in the first Iowa race. 

What subjectively was his best race?

The first three oval races deserve a mention for Askew. 

He started the season with a strong run from 20th to ninth at Texas and he was the top rookie on the night, even ahead of his teammate O'Ward. 

Then you had the first Iowa race, where he drove into the top ten and then back into the top five after pitting on the wrong side of the caution for Will Power's accident. He drove up to third after being caught behind the eight-ball. We have seen this before in IndyCar and Josef Newgarden did something similar at Milwaukee in 2014. A drive like that isn't a fluke.  

The second Iowa race, Askew was again competitive. He led ten laps before the final caution caught him out and he had yet to make his final pit stop. He lost some ground but made some passes late to get up to sixth. 

What objectively was his worst race?
His accident on lap 92 of the Indianapolis 500 dropped him to a 30th-place finish.

What subjectively was his worst race?

There is only one correct answer and it is the Indianapolis 500 because of the concussion-like symptoms that led to him stepping out of the car for the Harvest Grand Prix weekend and then led to his dismal from the team. 

Prior to that accident, Askew had led four laps, he spent 33 laps in the top five and his average running position was 15.153 in his Indianapolis 500 debut.

St. Petersburg deserves a mention, because he knew it was his final race with AMSP, he was in the top ten for almost the entire race and then one incident in turn ten ended the hopes of a good finish to the season, a good finish that Askew needed.

Oliver Askew's 2020 Statistics
Championship Position: 19th (195 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 1
Top Fives: 1
Top Tens: 3
Laps Led: 14
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 2
Fast Twelves: 2
Average Start: 15.0
Average Finish: 15.916

An Early Look Ahead

Let's hold off on next year for a second, because Arrow McLaren SP has established a reputation not being a driver friendly team. 

Last year, James Hinchcliffe was hung out to dry when he had a year left on his contract in a multifaceted conflict between the team and Hinchcliffe. First, Arrow was upset about Hinchcliffe's appearance in ESPN The Magazine's Body Issue and wanted him removed from the team. Second, the team switched to Chevrolet, but would not release Hinchcliffe and was set to make him sit on the sidelines for the entire 2020 season, before finally releasing him when the music had stopped, and all the full-time rides were taken. 

This year, it was Askew's release on the heels of his concussion-like symptoms, and a conflict over the driver's health and well-being. Askew did not feel 100% comfortable saying he had to step out of the car, knowing it would hurt his employment status. 

A big shift must have happened that the team decided after 11 races Askew was no longer in the plans for 2021, especially if Askew made four starts while not in the right headspace after his Indianapolis 500 accident. 

Let's clear the air about Askew before the narrative is driven that he was not up to snuff...

Prior to the Indianapolis 500, he was 12th in the championship on 115 points, the top rookie and ahead of Conor Daly, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Jack Harvey, Takuma Sato, Charlie Kimball, Zach Veach and Marco Andretti. He had finished ahead of O'Ward in three of those first six races. Then Askew had his accident and the results took a nosedive.

Askew has room for improvement. His only top ten starts were fifth in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and tenth at St. Petersburg. The only times he qualified ahead of O'Ward were the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the second Mid-Ohio race, when O'Ward spun and brought out a red flag and had to start at the rear of the field. O'Ward was in the top ten of the championship from the Grand Prix of Indianapolis onward and he was in the top five from the second Road America race onward. 

O'Ward was the better driver, but Askew was not a liability on the racetrack. We have seen worse drivers on track this season. Askew is 12 starts into his IndyCar career. He is just getting started and what we saw from Askew is unlikely to be all he has as a driver. 

Does anyone remember Josef Newgarden's rookie year? What about Dario Franchitti's or Hélio Castroneves' or Takuma Sato's? All four of those drivers struggled, had plenty of retirements and only Castroneves picked up a top five as a rookie, a second at Milwaukee. All four of them have gone on to win championships and Indianapolis 500s. If they were all given as short a leash as Askew, IndyCar history would look a lot different. 

AMSP is chewing through drivers very quickly. O'Ward has signed an extension and that is rightfully earned. He had a great year, one the AMSP organization has been looking for quite sometime. Though AMSP's youth experiment did come off as a success, the team gave up on Askew before the 2020 season concluded. 

Out of the blue, the team found its new driver for 2021: Felix Rosenqvist. When it was long believed AMSP would search out a veteran or even make a splash and bring the likes of Sergio Pérez into the series, the team took an IndyCar sophomore, fresh off his first career victory but who saw a dip in results. I still believe Rosenqvist has potential, if in the right environment. Nothing suggests AMSP is the nurturing environment that will allow a driver to make a mistake or two and develop.

Hiring Rosenqvist is really irrelevant, because the story is not about the drivers and results. The story is about a team waiting for a driver to make one misstep to cut line and send them sinking to the bottom of the ocean and no one will be surprised when O'Ward or Rosenqvist is cut loose. Let's not forget the team still has Robert Wickens on the books. That will likely end with Wickens being dropped at some point and it will not be a pretty look. Unpopular decisions have become AMSP's M.O.

This team has been shooting to become one of the "Big Four" teams in IndyCar with Penske, Ganassi and Andretti the last few seasons. While O'Ward did crack the top five in the championship, AMSP again did not pick up a victory and the overall results are coming up short of a "Big Four" level. Meanwhile, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing won the Indianapolis 500, won a race for a sixth consecutive season and had both cars finish in the top ten of the championship after being regular top five and top ten finishers this season. Forget making it into the "Big Four." AMSP is fighting for fifth, and there is at least one other team that has a greater claim to fifth than AMSP. 

AMSP wants attention, and it is getting it, for better or worse, but that attention is not for victories and mixing it up with the three pillars of 21st century IndyCar. It is again for thin-skinned management sending another driver to the curb for what we all know is not purely on-track results. We anticipate the knee-jerk reaction in a year's time and soon we will not blame drivers if they start avoiding the organization entirely. 

Musings From the Weekend: What are IndyCar's Future Scheduling Options?

Mercedes-AMG clinched its seventh consecutive World Constructors' Championship with a 1-2 finish at Imola. The European Le Mans Series had one of the craziest championship count backs in motorsports history. Kevin Harvick has won nine NASCAR Cup races, and he has been eliminated from Cup championship competition. Stewart-Haas Racing had applied team orders, maybe Harvick would still be alive. Meanwhile, Team Penske worked team orders to perfection in IMSA. Ganassi has hired Álex Palou for the #10 Honda. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.

What are IndyCar's Future Scheduling Options?

After taking a few heavy punches during the pandemic, IndyCar will a few bruises carry over to 2021, and on the scheduling side, most of those are not pretty.

IndyCar will be losing Austin and Iowa, and the Richmond race that was supposed to return this season will remain among the missing. There will be over a month between the 2021 season opener at St. Petersburg and the second round at Barber. To make up for the lack of ovals, Texas will be a doubleheader and move to the start of May. Belle Isle shifts a week back and clashes with Le Mans. Mid-Ohio will be Labor Day weekend. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course will host a second race with the NASCAR weekend. 

Next season is not the step we hoped IndyCar would take and with the pandemic likely carrying through much of 2021, IndyCar is in a rough spot for the next few seasons. It survived 2020 and next year will be another year of survival. 

With the amount of turnover IndyCar saw between a completely unplanned 2020 and a cautious 2021, the series is a few moves away from getting on the right track, but what direction will the series be heading? 

A lot of things will be out of IndyCar's control. Racetracks are also making ends meet during this difficult time and could be limited on what is spent to host events. More tracks could hit trouble and there is the general concern of how tracks will get people to return when spectators are allowed in full force. It is not going to be a quick return to normal. 

IndyCar does need a game plan for the near future. The pandemic has given every sports league a shot at a reset if they would like it. NASCAR has reconsidered how it does race weekends and one-day shows with no practice and no qualifying will become the norm. Think about how absurd that would have sounded on January 1 this year. The NHL and NBA could completely shift their schedules to avoid the heart of football season. Major League Baseball could be adopting a modified extra innings rule and possibly seven-inning doubleheaders moving forward. When forced to innovate for 2020, the entities did and some of those innovations could become permanent features in these sports.

The simplest outcome for IndyCar is everything returns to normal in 2021. Austin returns for an early spring race; Iowa rises from the ashes and Richmond finds a spot in the middle of summer. That sounds great, but that likely will not happen. 

While having success in terms of the competitiveness of the DW12 chassis last decade, IndyCar continued to struggle with developing strong events, most notably at ovals. For the incredible return to Gateway, there are returns to Pocono, Fontana and Phoenix that had high points but did not work out long-term. Iowa was once considered an IndyCar stronghold and for the entire second half of the 2010s it saw a slow decline to the point where the track is effectively closed. 

Something different has to be done because IndyCar is running out of facilities and it cannot continue living on three-year deals that go nowhere. 

There is some real estate to play with on the IndyCar calendar and options are out there for schedule rejuvenation. 

For whatever reason, IndyCar has a massive, floating void in its schedule nine times out of ten. Once, it was in the middle of the summer, then it moved to the end of the schedule and for the last few years it has been right at the start of the season after the St. Petersburg season opener. 

Austin was the filler everyone was looking for, but then the pandemic happened, Austin disappeared for 2020 and will not be back for 2021. It could return in 2022, but Circuit of the Americas has its own host of problems and between a possible MotoGP date and NASCAR race in May, there might not be any more room for IndyCar in Texas's capital. 

Homestead once opened the IndyCar season and there were a few rumblings of it possibly returning. The only problem is Homestead's NASCAR weekend has moved from the finale in November to late-February, sucking all the air out of that time of the year. It could be possible to run a NASCAR race a month later, though history at Phoenix shows a month between NASCAR and IndyCar races does not work out for IndyCar. 

It was not long ago Mexico City was on the cusp of hosting an IndyCar race. That has died down, though the success of Patricio O'Ward could revive it and with Sergio Pérez's Formula One future unknown (he is likely staying in Formula One for 2021, but who knows after that? Come 2023, Pérez might be bound to IndyCar) it would be foolish if IndyCar did not consider a trip south of the border. 

Outside of those places, I am not sure what other existing venue could fill in the spring. Phoenix is off the table, one because IndyCar's latest failure is still too recent, and it has a Cup date in March. Las Vegas has a Cup race in March. Fontana is about to become a half-mile, which has been a size too small for IndyCar. IndyCar is not returning to Sonoma if Laguna Seca is on the schedule. 

Ovals are also lacking on the schedule, and I am not sure of the solution. There have been many great races at Fontana, Iowa, Pocono and Milwaukee and none of those tracks have stuck. Fans get blamed for not supporting oval races, but something is not right with the packaging. Road America has been a grand success since it returned to the IndyCar calendar, but Milwaukee could only draw a fraction of that crowd an hour south in a metropolitan area. Is it IndyCar, road courses being preferred over ovals or the promoter? If Road America can get close to 50,000 people and Milwaukee got only about 15,000 people that suggests a promoter, and possibly series, missing the mark.

IndyCar has been keeping the oval portion of the schedule afloat for the last decade and the pandemic ripped off the bandage leaving Texas, Gateway and Indianapolis. I am not sure if a post-pandemic IndyCar can find another two ovals to take a flyer on the series. I have never felt IndyCar needed ten or 12 ovals. I feel like seven or eight would be a good number. Right now, I would take six and be a happy man.

Going back to the simplest outcomes, Iowa is revived in 2022 and brings IndyCar back and Richmond takes its crack at IndyCar and we are back up to five ovals. There are a few summer dates open for both races to slide into, though it could create a few busy stretches for teams. With Mid-Ohio moving to Independence Day weekend, sliding Richmond into the last weekend of July would create a five-consecutive week stretch of races, starting with the Belle Isle doubleheader. Add Iowa to its mid-July date and that becomes six consecutive weeks of racing. 

The 2022 season will give IndyCar two extra weeks in the season, because there should not be a Summer Olympics and not require IndyCar to take a break for television. 

Even if IndyCar gets Iowa and Richmond back, that is five ovals and 19 races total. How could IndyCar get another oval or two? 

First, drop the second IMS road course race with the NASCAR weekend. I know that is asking a lot, but the IndyCar/NASCAR combination weekend does not have to be at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the road course, in fact, it shouldn't be at IMS. IndyCar doesn't need another IMS road course race and it should be smarter with any combination weekend. If you are going to do a combination weekend, you better get something out of it that you do not already have, not more of the same. 

The only problem is any combination weekend will likely require it taking place during the NBC portion of the NASCAR season, and there are fewer oval options out there. First, there is Nashville Superspeedway, which I don't think will happen because IndyCar has the Nashville street course. Atlanta is in the middle of the summer when IndyCar is busy. The NASCAR Michigan weekend falls on Gateway weekend. Then there is Daytona, which is not happening. 

After that are the NASCAR playoff races, which are concurrent with IndyCar's final two races. I don't think NASCAR wants to share a playoff weekend with IndyCar and I don't think IndyCar would want to end its championship on a Saturday night in late September or early October as a NASCAR undercard. I think IndyCar wants its championship race to be the main event. 

I do think there are a few options for IndyCar/NASCAR combination weekends at an oval. 

1. Pocono. I can't see NASCAR keeping the Pocono Cup doubleheader, especially when it dropped the only races from Chicagoland and Kentucky. With NASCAR committing to one-day shows for 28 weekends in 2021, there is a possibility that IndyCar could have the Saturday to themselves or have to share it with the NASCAR's second division or Truck series, but it would be open and it could allow IndyCar to practice and qualify on Friday and then race Saturday. 

2. Loudon. Similar thing as Pocono, though it would also have to share with NASCAR's second division and the modified series, but how fun of a weekend would that be? How about a Saturday starting with a 100-lap modified race, then a 200-lap Grand National Series race and ending with a 250-lap IndyCar race? You could start at noon and go until 8:00 p.m.

3. Michigan could still be an option. It would require some date shifting with Gateway, but that could be done. I am not sure it could be a 500-mile race because it would likely have to share the day with one of NASCAR's lower divisions, but a 400-mile race would be possible, especially with the amount of daylight in that portion of the summer. A 4:00 p.m. start for a 400-mile race would still have more than three hours of daylight. 

The one issue with any of these ovals is rain and if it rains on Saturday that leads to a congested Sunday and IndyCar will lose out to the Cup race. It is not an ideal position to be in, but IndyCar is the one desperate for oval races and it has to take what it can get. That is why a road course makes more sense for a combination weekend, like Watkins Glen, not the IMS road course. 

The other thing against an IndyCar/NASCAR combination weekends at ovals is NASCAR's new car set to debut in 2022. The teams are going to need track time and practice. NASCAR can do one-day shows next year because the teams know this car and it is a lame-duck. In 2022, there might be a few one-day shows, but there will likely be more practice days as teams get used to the car and the 18-inch wheels and possibly a hybrid system.

When it was announced Chicagoland and Kentucky lost their NASCAR races, many thought these places would be viable for IndyCar returns, but I don't think that is happening. Those tracks are done. They have lost the sweet, sweet NASCAR television money and an IndyCar date would be a massive financial loss. Maybe Kentucky could work with the right date in the summer and its proximity to Indiana and Ohio, but I don't see the track putting in the effort to draw 40,000 spectators and I am not sure 40,000 spectators would be enough to break even. 

I know many are happy that Roger Penske is in charge and are happy Penske was the one at the helm during the pandemic, but are we necessarily sure Penske can turn around IndyCar's fortunes and get back to at least five ovals, let alone having six or seven? This is the man that has decided to kill the Freedom 100 for Indy Lights, taking away the highlight of Carb Day and the only notable event for Indy Lights. I am not sure we can trust this guy. I know it is year one for him in charge and he got dealt a pandemic, but there has to be better moves going forward to suggest Penske is up to the task.

This is a difficult period for IndyCar, but I don't think it is a permanent state for the series. I think the 2022 calendar will look different from 2021. That is hope talking, because I hope things improve next year and tracks can be a little bolder in 2022 and expand the number of events that can be held, and IndyCar gets a few breaks. That is easier said than done, but after all that has happened this year, I got to hold out hope for something.

Champions From the Weekend

You know about Mercedes-AMG, but did you know...

The #2 United Autosport Ligier-Nissan of Wayne Boyd, Rob Wheldon and Tom Gamble won the European Le Mans Series LMP3 championship with its third victory of 2020 at Portimão.

The #77 Proton Competition Porsche of Christian Ried, Alessio Picariello and Michele Beretta won the European Le Mans Series GTE championship on count back over the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari of David Perel and Michael Broniszewski after the #77 Porsche won at Portimão. Both cars finished with two victories, two runner-up finishes and two fourth-place finishes. The #77 Porsche won the championship based on its first victory coming before the #74 Ferrari's first victory.

The #3 Corvette of Antonio García and Jordan Taylor clinched IMSA's GT Le Mans class championship with a runner-up finish at Laguna Seca and the disqualification of the #4 Corvette due a height infraction. 

Patrick Kelly clinched IMSA's LMP2 class championship with his victory at Laguna Seca in the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca-Gibson with Simon Trummer.

Winners From the Weekend

You know about a slew of championships, but did you know...

Lewis Hamilton won the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix from Imola, his ninth victory of 2020 and his third consecutive victory.

The #26 G-Drive Racing Aurus-Gibson of Nyck De Vries, Mikkel Jensen and Romain Rusinov won the European Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Portimão. 

Chase Elliott won the NASCAR Cup race from Martinsville, his fourth victory of the season. Harrison Burton won the Grand National Series race, his fourth victory of the season and his second consecutive victory. Grant Enfinger won the Truck race, his fourth victory of the season. 

The #7 Acura Team Penske Acura of Ricky Taylor and Hélio Castroneves won the IMSA race from Laguna Seca, its fourth victory of the season. The #912 Porsche of Laurens Vanthoor and Earl Bamber won in the GTLM class. The #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura of Mario Farnbacher and Matt McMurry won in GTD class, it second victory of the season.

Jean-Karl Vernay, Mikel Azcona and Thed Björk split the WTCC races from Aragón.

Coming Up This Weekend

For the first time, NASCAR ends its season at Phoenix.

The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters will have a three-horse championship battle conclude at Hockenheim.

MotoGP will run the European Grand Prix at Valencia.

Super GT has its penultimate round of the season at Motegi.