Roger Diez
Last Sunday in the Goodyear 400 at Darlington, Kyle Larson’s bad luck turned out to be Ryan Blaney’s bad luck as well.
Blaney was leading handily in the waning laps when Larson’s second crash of the race brought out a caution. Denny Hamlin won the race off pit road during the ensuing pit stops. Hamlin’s perfect overtime restart gave him the win, relegating William Byron, who led 243 of the 297 laps, to second place.
After eight races, Byron leads the point standings with 315 including 90 stage points, Hamlin has 266, Christopher Bell 263, Chase Elliott 256, and Tyler Reddick 254. Five drivers have qualified for the playoffs with wins, and A.J. Allmendinger is on the bubble in 16th, one point ahead of Michael McDowell.
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Will Hamlin emulate teammate Christopher Bell’s early season performance and score the hat trick at Bristol on Sunday? He’s won two of the last three Bristol outings and three altogether, so his chances are good. Larson won last fall’s Bristol race as well as the 2021 fall contest.
Kyle Busch leads all active drivers with eight Bristol wins, Brad Keselowski has three, Joey Logano two, and Chris Buescher one.
Saturday’s schedule calls for NASCAR Cup practice at 11 a.m. and qualifying at 12:05 p.m. on Prime, followed by the Xfinity race on the CW at 2 p.m. Sunday’s Food City 500 airs on FS1 beginning at noon.
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Max Verstappen was back on form in Japan last weekend, his Red Bull taking the pole and the win. The McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri took the other two podium positions, with Norris’ second keeping him in the points lead with 62 to Verstappen’s 61.
The series moves from the Far East to the Middle East this weekend for the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix. Once again, only three previous winners are on this year’s grid.
Verstappen has won the last two Bahrain contests, Charles Leclerc won for Ferrari in 2022, and Lewis Hamilton was the winner from 2019-21 and 2014-15, all for Mercedes. Lewis is in a Ferrari now and except for the Sprint pole and win in China it has not been a stellar season. Qualifying airs Saturday on ESPN2 at 9 a.m. with the race Sunday at 8 a.m. also on ESPN2.
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The NTT IndyCar series is back in action this weekend for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. The event dates back 50 years, when the Formula 5000 series first took to the streets of Long Beach. Formula 1 then took over from 1976-83. The CART/Champ Car series ran from 1994-07, and the IndyCar series from 2008 to present, with COVID canceling the 2020 race.
Support races over the years have included the Toyota Pro-Am races, Formula Atlantic, Indy Lights, American Lemans Series, Stadium Supertrucks, Formula E, and the IMSA Weathertech Sports Car series.
The latter will race Saturday, along with exhibition races for vintage Indy and Formula 1 cars.
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NTT IndyCar current drivers who have won at Long Beach include defending winner Scott Dixon, Will Power and Alexander Rossi, who have two victories each. Colton Herta, Josef Newgarden, and Kyle Kirkwood have one win apiece. Interesting bit of trivia: Mario Andretti has Long Beach wins in both Formula 1 and CART/Champ Car.
IndyCar practice airs Saturday at 8:30 a.m. with qualifying at 11:30, both on FS1. The IMSA Weathertech Sports Car 100-minute race is on both the USA Network and Peacock at 2 p.m.
Sunday’s IndyCar warmup airs at 9 a.m. on FS1 with FOX broadcasting the race at 1:30 p.m.