Roger Diez
All three of the top racing series were in the good old USA last weekend – Formula 1 in Florida, IndyCar in Alabama, and NASCAR Cup in Texas. Drivers won their fourth, third and first races of the season and the races ranged from calm to calamitous.
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McLaren ruled the day in the Miami Grand Prix under threatening clouds, but rain never developed. Polesitter Max Verstappen ran first row starter Lando Norris off the track but escaped without penalty.
Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri stalked Verstappen, passing him on lap 14 of 57. Norris also got by Verstappen but by that time Piastri was long gone, taking the checker to win his fourth race out of six on the season.
In Saturday’s wet sprint race the finishing positions were reversed with Norris taking the checker and Piastri second. Lewis Hamilton came home third.
There was also post-race drama, with Alpine Principal Oliver Oakes resigning after only 10 months with the team and driver Jack Doohan being replaced by Franco Colapinto for the next five races after another first-lap crash. F1 is dark this weekend.
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After snatching pole from Team Penke’s Scott McLaughlin, Chip Ganassi Racing driver Alex Palou went on to win the IndyCar Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix with a 16-second margin over runner-up Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard. McLaughlin was third, another seven seconds back.
The win puts Palou 60 points ahead of Lundgaard in the championship standings, 196-136. Andretti’s Kyle Kirkwood is third with 127, Pato O’Ward has 108 for Arrow McLaren, and McLaughlin is fifth with 105.
This weekend starts the month of May in Indianapolis with the Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indy road course. Former winners among active drivers are Palou in 2023 and 24, Colton Herta in 2022, Rinus Veekay in 2021, and Will Power in 2015, 17, and 18. Based on recent performance, Palou is the odds-on favorite.
Qualifying airs on FS1 on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. with warmups at 8:30 a.m. Sunday on FS1 and the race at 1:30 p.m. on FOX.
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After a fraught season, defending NASCAR Cup champion Joey Logano finally got to the winners’ circle at Texas Motor Speedway last Sunday, holding off a charging Ross Chastain in overtime after Michael McDowell’s solo crash in the closing regulation laps. Logano’s Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney was third as his up and down winless season continues.
The win elevated Logano to ninth in the point standings and qualifies him for the playoffs. William Byron leads the point standings with Kyle Larson only 13 points back. Denny Hamlin, who dropped out in Texas with a blown engine and scary fire, is tied with Chase Elliott at -83 and Tyler Reddick is fifth at -84.
Out of 38 starters at Texas, 26 were classified as running at the finish and 23 on the lead lap. Carson Hocevar scored his first Cup pole on Saturday but was involved in one of the many incidents on track and finished a lap down in 24th.
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This weekend Cup and Craftsman Trucks are at Kansas Speedway along with the ARCA Menards series Friday night.
Hamlin leads current Cup drivers who have won at Kansas with four victories, most recently in 2023. Logano has three wins, Larson and Brad Keselowski two apiece, and one-time winners include Kyle Busch, Elliott, Bubba Wallace, Reddick, and most recent winner Chastain.
Craftsman Truck practice and qualifying airs on FS2 at 11:05 a.m. followed by the Prime broadcast of Cup practice and qualifying at 1:30 p.m. The Heart of Health Care 200 is on FS1 at 4:30 p.m.
Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 is also on FS1 beginning at noon.