Roger Diez: NASCAR pits ‘close’ to Carson this weekend

Fuel mileage played a major role in last weekend’s racing as Scott Dixon stretched his fuel to win in IndyCar at Detroit while Ryan Blaney ran dry on the last lap at the Enjoy Illinois 300, handing the win to his teammate.

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Austin Cindric punched his ticket to the playoffs at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday when Blaney’s tank ran dry after dominating late going. Early leader Christopher Bell had engine issues and Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch crashed. Larson continued to finish 10th while Busch was done. Fords were strong, with Brad Keselowski taking third and Joey Logano fifth.

This weekend both Cup and Xfinity race at Sonoma, the nearest stop on the schedule to Carson City. It’s my old home track, a technical course with lots of elevation changes and both low and high speed sections. Four active drivers have won there with Martin Truex Jr. scoring four times including last season. Kyle Busch has two Sonoma wins while Daniel Suarez and Larson have one apiece.

Xfinity races Saturday at 5 p.m. on FS1 and the Toyota/SaveMart 350 airs at 12:30 p.m., on Sunday.

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The NTT IndyCar Chevrolet Grand Prix of Detroit was a crash-fest with about half the field involved in one wreck or another. A rain squall in the middle of the race didn’t help, but the tight, narrow street course was the biggest contributor to the carnage.

Scott Dixon took the win, stretching his fuel as only he can while Marcus Ericsson tried in vain to chase him down. Ericsson finished 0.8567 seconds back while Marcus Armstrong scored his first IndyCar podium finish in third. The win put Dixon atop the point standings, 18 markers clear of teammate Alex Palou and another 13 ahead of Will Power.

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Formula 1 is in action this weekend in Montreal for the Grand Prix du Canada. Can McLaren, Ferrari or even Mercedes give Red Bull a run for its money? Perhaps Sergio Perez will give Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen more competition than usual as he recently signed a two-year extension with the team.

Qualifying airs at 1 p.m. Saturday on ESPNews with the race at 11 a.m. Sunday on ABC

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After a long delay that left the NASCAR garage on pins and needles awaiting sanctioning body’s decision on granting Kyle Larson a waiver to run for the championship, the decision came down Tuesday. Despite missing the Coca Cola 600 due to weather delaying the Indy 500, NASCAR decided that Larson and the No. 5 team made every effort to get him into the car for the 600.

Said Elton Sawyer, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition, “This was uncharted waters for us,” noting that previous waivers had been given for medical reasons, not missing a race due to participation in another event. Larson is still second in point standings, 21 behind leader Denny Hamlin, despite scoring zero points in Charlotte.

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Finally, we bid farewell to one of the titans of our sport. Rufus Parnell Jones, better known as Parnelli Jones, passed away last Tuesday at the age of 90 from Parkinson’s disease. Like his contemporaries A.J. and Mario, he drove anything and everything, and won in all of them. He won the 1963 Indy 500 and would have won again in 1967 with Andy Granatelli’s turbine car, but a $2 part broke. He won in NASCAR and USAC stock cars, Trans-Am, sprint cars, midgets, off-road racers, and sports cars. I first saw him in person wheeling a Bud Moore Mustang at Laguna Seca in 1969. You knew he was either going to win or break. He was one of a kind. Godspeed, Mr. Jones.