By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor
(RACING)—We normally start with the stick and ball sports but the stick-shift or paddle-shift sports took some interesting turns (to coin a phrase) this weekend and we were there so we’re going to talk about things faster than a baseball pitch.
First, NASCAR and IndyCar shared the road course at Indianapolis this weekend, IndyCar on Saturday and cars with fenders on Sunday.
(HENDRICK)—The weekend was the perfect venue to unveil the cars that former NASCAR champion Kyle Larson will run next year as he tries to “do the double, .” racing in the Indianapolis 500 and then jetting to Charlotte, NC for NASCAR’s 600 mile Memorial Day race that night.
Larson, who won Saturday night’s Knoxville Sprint Car Championship in Iowa, got to Indianapolis at 4 a.m. Sunday but was at the Indianapolis Speedway at mid-morning the unveiling of the cars he will drive next Memorial Day Weekend.
.His car owner, Rick Hendrick, is partnering with Arrow-McLaren Motorsports, which fields cars for the 500. The color scheme is McLaren Papaya Orange and Hendrick’s traditional blue. Because he’s an active partner in the effort, the event has been unofficially dubbed the “Hendrick 1100,” for the 100 miles Larson will drive that day if he completes both races.
Four other drivers have tried it but only Tony Stewart has been able to run all 600 laps in the two races. Robby Gordon tried four times, John Andretti tried it once and the most recent driver to make the attempt, Kurt Busch, was 6th at Indianapolis but fell out of the Charlotte race with engine problems.
Hendrick, owner of 94 automobile dealerships employing 10,000 people, owned Jeff Gordon’s car that one the first Brickyard 400, the first NASCAR race on the Indianapolis oval, in 1994. At one time he considered having Gordon run both races, but Gordon was cool to the idea.
But Jeff Gordon was a strong advocate for Larson to try it, and Larson has been eager to do it. Hendrick says Larson has shown he can win in any kind of car.
For his part, Larson says he’s not nervous although he expects the nervousness to start “creeping in” as next May gets closer.
(SUNDAY ON THE ROAD COURSE WITH MIKE)—Michael McDowell had been one of the drivers keeping an eye on drivers’ points as NASCAR’s playoff runs begins to grow close. But his win Sunday eliminated any uncertainty about his presence among the 16 drivers competing for a slot.
McDowell, who has shown improvement as a road course driver in his career, seized control of the race that went without a yellow flag for the last 77 of 82 laps. It’s his second CUP victory—the first being the Daytona 500 two years ago.
His closest pursuer was Chase Elliott, who desperately needs a win to qualify for the playoffs. Although Elliott trimmed McDowell’s lead from four seconds to less than one second, he couldn’t get the win that would have put him, Elliott, into the 16-car playoff field. He gave Ford its first road course victory since 2018, whcn Ryan Bleney won the first race on the Charlotte Roval.
He’s the 13th winner this year, leaving only three playoff positions available for non-winners. Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski seem secure in the points chase, leaving only one position, for all intents and purposes, open. Bubba Wallas holds the 16th playoff spot now, by 28 pins over Daniel Suarea
McDowell’s win reduces the number of available Playoff spots to three. Keselowski and Kevin Harvick are comfortably situated on points—barring more different winners at Watkins Glen and Daytona—but Wallace’s hold on the final spot was reduced from 58 points pre-race to 28 over Suárez. Next closest is Ty Gibbs, who’s 49 points out.
The road course at Watkins Glen is next on the schedule.
(INDYCAR)—The IndyCar race Saturday was awash in history from beginning to end. Saturday was the 90th birthday of Speedway legend Parnelli Jones, the first driver to run a 150 mph lap, a past winner of the 500 in May. This year is the 38th anniversary of Danny Sullivan’s famous “spin and win” 1985 500. Dixon had not planned to celebrate Sullivan’s achievement when the race started but less than one minute into the contest he spun off the track into the dirt as part of a five-car tangle. Dixon’s car was undamaged and he got back under power before the field came back around, keeping him on the leader lap. A pit stop four laps later would let him run the rest of the race on only two more stops while other drivers had to make three.
The alert move by his team put him in the lead late and his legendary fuel-saving abilities left him ten seconds ahead of pole-sitter Graham Rahal after the final pit stops. Rahal bit into the lead but finished about a half-second back.
(Dixon meeting a fan)
The win is Dixon’s 54th; only A. J. Foy had more (67). It gave Dixon at least one win in 19 consecutive seasons, breaking a tie with Foyt. He’s known as “The Ice Man” for his ability to keep his cool during tight races but he’s also IndyCar’s “Iron Man” after making his 319th consecutive start, breaking the record held by Tony Kanaan.
The race was a disaster for Josef Newgarden, the winner of the 500 in May. His car was one of the five in the first lap crash and he never got into contending position after repairs. Dixon has replaced him as second in points but Alex Palou has a 100-plus point lead going into the last three races of the year (the first of which is just across the river from St. Louis in two weeks, at World Wide Technology Raceway).
(HELIO)—The race near St. Louis likely will be the last chance we have to see Helio Castroneves except for the Indianapolis 500. Castroneves is easing into retirement and his only race for 2024 for his current owner, Meyer-Shank Racing, will be his next big for a fifth Indianapolis 500. Otherwise he’ll assume a minority ownership of the team. He’ll also run sports cars in the IMSA series.
He remains one of the most popular and charismatic figures in IndyCar.
His MSR teammate, Simon Pagenaud, is still not allowed to race because of concussion problems resulting from his horrendous crash at Mid-Ohio a month ago. His contract with Meyer Shank ends at the end of this season. Linus Lundqvist has been filling in for him. He was 12th in the Saturday race.
(ONE OTHER THING)—Imagine the players on your favorite base, foot, basket, or soft ball team pausing on their way to the field to start the game to pass among fans and sign autographs.
IndyCar and NASCAR drivers do that. We weren’t there to collect autographs but instead we were there to photograph drivers. One young Indiana couple brought their young children, each wearing t-shirts saying, “My First NASCAR Race.”
Chase Briscoe was one of the several drivers who saw their little girl sitting on top of the fence, held by her father whose hat was signed earlier by broadcaster Dale Earnhardt Jr., (barely visible on the bill) and signed her shirt. Briscoe finished sixth in the race. Briscoe is 28 with a lot of future ahead of him; she looked to be three or four with even more future before her.
Forty-six years ago, a woman named Janet Guthrie became the first woman to start a Daytona 500 AND an Indianapolis 500. A year later she finished sixth at Bristol, the highest finish in a NASCAR race ever by a woman up to that time (Danica Patrick also finished 6th in a NASCAR race, in 2017).
Your on-the-scene scribe once had an autographed Guthrie picture hanging in his daughter’s bedroom, not because he thought she would become a woman race driver but because he wanted her to know she could be anything she wanted to be.
TIGER FOOTBALL)—Coach Eli Drinkwitz started sounding a little more positive about his team after Saturday’s closed practice, especially about the defense—although the offense began to find itself a bit toward the end of the first half of the closes scrimmage.
The competition for slots on the offensive line is intensifying. He says as many as eight players are competing for five positions. He indicates Javon Foster might have left tackle nailed down and Connor Tollison is impressive at center.
A week ago he was critical of Tiger wide receivers for their shortcomings in the blocking game but after the weekend scrimmage, he says the players have “responded really well.”
(MISSOURI ROUNDBALL)—Coach Dennis Gates has been signing some big guys to fill what has been an aching shortcoming of the Tigers for years—the lack of interior size. His newest recruit isn’t just tall. He’s BIG.
He’s Peyton Marshall, a 7-foot, 300-pound center from Marietta, Georgia, who has picked Missouri aver Georgia Tech, Auburn Ole Miss, Cincinnati, Georgetown, and Mississippi State, and about ten other schools. He’s the third top 100 player in the 2024 recruiting class. He is considered to have a lot of raw but unpolished talent.
(CHIEFS FOOTBALL)—The starters hardly broke a sweat in their first exhibition game of the year against Russell Wilson and the New Orleans Saints 26-24 on a late field goal. The regulars were in for just a few plays while coach Andy Reid got a good look at the rookies and the newbies. The Chiefs play the Cardinals next week. The regular seasons starts September 7.
Okay, now let’s take a look at our baseball teams. It will be a short one.
Our two teams had a rare Sunday off after their two game series that ended in a split at the end of the week. In both games, both games played well above their winning percentage.
(ROYALS)—The Royals have to win their next 50 games in a row to have a .500 season. They start tonight’s game against the Mariners 31-81. The Royals used the day to juggle the lineup. Drew Waters is returning from the three-day Bereavement List.
Edward Olivares is headed down to Omaha to make room on the roster for Bubba Thompson, coming over from the Rangers, who designated hm for assignment this week. At first glance, Thompson doesn’t appear to be much of a game-changer. He is hitting .170 in 27 games for Texas.
(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals (52-66) face another team that, on paper, would appear to be easy pickings—the Oakland Athletics, who sport a 33-85 record. It is the first meeting of these two teams since 2019.
Just when some things were starting to look just a teeny more rosy, the Cardinals have announced that Steven Matz is going to be on the 15-dayh DL with a left lat strain.
Manager Oli Marmol hasn’t said it in so many words, but the time as come to seriously address what’s to be done with Adam Wainwright. Last Friday night’s outing against the lowly Royals was nothing if not tragic for a beloved player who wants so badly to go out with 200 wins. Marmol promised afterward to “sit down with Waino” and “talk through a few things.” But he says the future doesn’t look great.
Wainwright, however, will make a start later this week.
(Photo Credits: Bob Priddy and Rick Gevers)