This weekend's racing schedule: IndyCar championship to be decided Sunday
It’s September and that means many race teams are clearly focused on their championship bids throughout every form of motorsports. The pressure is on and you won’t want to miss any of the action.
IndyCar
The first major racing championship will be decided this weekend and IndyCar is bringing all of its star power, seeing if Will Power will clinch his second title or will Josef Newgarden grab his third, or will Scott Dixon take his record-tying seventh? There’s only 20 points separating the three.
Power has accumulated 523 points while Newgarden and Dixon are tied, 20 points behind at 503 points each. Mathematically, still in the hunt are Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson with 484 points (39 points behind Power), and Portland winner Scott McLaughlin, who now has 482 (41 points behind Power) to round out the top five.
The challenge is taking on the 2.23-mile WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca road course. What makes it especially difficult is assaulting the notorious Turn 8, a.k.a. "the Corkscrew," for 95-laps on Sunday afternoon. Just to give you a perspective, the Corkscrew is equivalent ti a 5 ½ story drop in only 450 feet of track -- and the many dramatic moments that have occurred there over the years.
Peacock airs on the preliminary events including qualifying and practice. NBC has you there on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. EDT for the prerace show followed at 3:30 p.m. EDT for the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey.
NASCAR
NASCAR rolls into the Midwest for the running of the Hollywood Casino 400 and it’s a triple header weekend at Kansas Speedway, featuring the Camping World Trucks, Xfinity Series and NASCAR Cup Series on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
The NASCAR points system was shaken to its core at Darlington with then leader, Chase Elliott reduced to now in 9th place after suffering rear control bar damage that placed him dead last at the end of the night, but he wasn’t alone.
Defending series champion Kyle Larson likewise had problems, but came back from two laps down to finish eighth. Other notables that the ‘Lady in Black’ victimized included Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Chase Briscoe, and Ross Chastain to jostle the standings going into the second playoff race this Sunday.
The lone bright spot was Christopher Bell who jumped from 10th to fourth. Joey Logano now takes the lead followed by William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Bell and Tyler Reddick as the championship moves to Kansas.
Kansas TV coverage starts on Friday with Truck and Xfinity qualifying with the Kansas Lottery 200 Truck event on Friday on FS1 starting at 6:30 p.m. EDT. The Xfinity Series leads into Saturday for the Kansas Lottery 300 at 2:30 p.m. EDT. The ARCA series seals the day with its attempt on the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway oval for the Kansas Lottery 150 on MAVTV at 7:00 p.m. EDT.
Sunday, the NASCAR Cup Series starts at 2:00 p.m. EDT with USA Network’s Countdown to Green with the Hollywood Casino 400 at 3:00 p.m. EDT.
Formula 1
Formula 1 ends its European campaign running at Monza for the Pirelli Gran Premio D’Italia on Sunday morning on ESPN2 at 8:55 a.m. EDT. It appears that Max Verstappen and the Oracle/Red Bull team is running rampant over the F1 field, keeping Scuderia Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz at bay with only seven races remaining.
Extras
Another notable event this weekend is the World Endurance Championship 6-Hours of Fuji airing on the Motor Trend channel starting at 9:30 p.m. EDT Saturday.
NHRA is off this weekend and returns next weekend to Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa., to kick off it's six-race Countdown to the Championship playoff.
Be sure to check the Auto Racing Digest’s Motorsports TV Schedule to get the exact times and places. We don’t want you to miss a single event.
Be safe and wishing everyone a great racing weekend!
Follow Jay Wells on Twitter @jaywells500.
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