It also made Fernando flirt with IndyCar a little. A fan of emojis, the Spaniard tweeted out a simple emoji with a GIF. To break it down for the Robin Miller old guys of the world, he essentially said “that’s cool”, then “maybe I’ll do that. ” What Alonso didn’t say was “NO.” Instead he fueled the speculation that he might come to America to run the domestic series in this country.

IndyCar doesn’t need anyone to provide validity to it being a proper championship. It’s a hard series to win in and we’ve seen some really talented drivers get in cars and struggle. Rubens Barrichello joined the series in 2012 and it took him all season to finally earn a Top 5 finish at Sonoma in the third to final race of the season. IndyCar gets a bad rep outside of the states but it’s a super challenging series.

Alonso is naturally a more talented driver than than Rubens but the struggles are real. Without a doubt Alonso would find the top step of the podium in his rookie season. Hell he could be such a great driver that he just dominates the season. There’s no doubt about his talent, it comes down to where does he actually want to race.

Formula One

Fernando has said this season that Formula One is his main focus. However, without a proper winning seat available could he consider leaving the highest echelon of open wheel racing for IndyCar? Possibly.

McLaren is the best place for Alonso. After giving up last weekend at Spa when the car was just so slow down the straights it’s hard imagine he will want to keep racing there. Unless there is a massive engine upgrade for next year it’s going to much of the same. So McLaren could farm him out to IndyCar for a season to keep him happy until the car is ready to compete in 2019.

Fernando Alonso IndyCar diecast

Bring Alonso to us for a season, we’ll take care of him. If the Spanish want to stage a new Spanish inquisition to promote the good word of Fernando Alonso in the states bring it on. Not like we have much to look up to in this country. Just don’t build any statues, we’re very triggered by statues at the moment.

IndyCar could use a huge international name joining the series. No offense to Max Chilton and Esteban Gutierrez but they aren’t getting anyone outside of their families excited. Get Alonso, dominate the world. Simple game plan for Indycar.

The post How Hard Can Fernando Alonso And IndyCar Flirt? appeared first on Apex Off.

Motorsport– I (Roger Penske) talked about if we could get a privateer [effort] with some of those cars. But under the current situation with Audi, all the things they’re going through, they just said they’ve got enough eyeballs on them, they don’t need to be showing up at Le Mans.

I’d love to run at Le Mans, but if I did I’d love to run at the front.

Why can’t Germans have any fun?

Outside of leather and whips they seem the be the driest, dullest group of individuals on the planet. Audi said a few months ago they were open to a privateer outfit running the Audi R18 at Le Mans. Today, apparently they decided to be a bunch of lames because no one can run them.

Roger Penske wanted to run them at Le Mans as a private team. Audi and Roger Penske are a match made in heaven. Clean cut, sharp, measured, engineered in a lab in an effort to take over the automotive industry. They’re the same person if Roger Penske is even a person.

Audi has enjoyed 18 competitive and usually dominating years in endurance racing and at Le Mans specifically moreover, they dominated for years, they introduced diesel power plants to the world of racing. Then all of a sudden a little (massive) diesel emissions cover up becomes public and they have to quit racing in every series they are in. A few Golf’s puts out a little more CO2 in the air and we can’t have nice things anymore. Those damn Germans, always being sneaky.

So now no one can see Audi at Le Mans anymore. Roger Penske wants to run Le Mans but only if he can be at the front. He’s rumored to be teaming up with Honda for an IMSA DPi program in 2018. Might want to rethink that after their debacle with McLaren again this pre season in F1 testing.

Audi get your asses back to Le Mans. No one cares about your emission problems. 10% of the world does, and they’ve all forgotten by now. Forget about Savannah and Brenton from Portland who love the environment. We deserve a three way battle at Le Mans.

The post Audi Decides To Be No Fun, No One Can Race The Audi Le Mans Car appeared first on Apex Off.

Zane Smith has been fined $5,000, and he and team owner Doug Fuller have been penalized with the loss of 100 championship points (Driver, Owner, Short Track Challenge) as well as corresponding special awards points.

The penalty

That 100 point penalty sets Zane 405 points behind leader Sheldon Creed with 2 races to go. Assuming Creed starts that race at Lucas Oil Raceway on October 6th he will be the 2018 ARCA champion. The race winner in ARCA earns 200 points, even with bonus points assuming Creed starts the race he will have enough points to be crowned champ following the race.

A suspension is what most people were expecting for Zane. With two races left in the season and the championship all but decided a 1-2 race suspension would have been logical. You can’t have drivers deliberately waiting on other drivers.

What Led Up To This

After Smith and Michael Self, both wrecked each other and the retaliation seemed equal the #41 car went back on track and ended the #55’s night. A blatant move that you would see every Saturday night at Bowman Gray Stadium. Essentially Zane went all Matt Kenseth/Scott Speed on Michael Self.

After the race, we talked to Michael Self on the podcast who explained his side of the story. Give it a listen here.  Self said he thought they were even after he turned Zane off turn 2 earlier in the race. Obviously, Zane had a different idea.

It’s an unceremonious way for Zane Smith to end his championship battle but if you’re going to go out you might as well go out in a blaze of retaliation glory.

The post ARCA Hands Zane Smith A Light Penalty appeared first on Apex Off.

According to Robin Miller the NASCAR Xfinity Series will test the infield road course this June.

That’s massive news that the series likely didn’t want out in the public yet. If anyone knows what is happening at IMS it’s Robin Miller. This bit of news also goes along with other things we’ve heard. NASCAR has reportedly told IMS it’s the road course or nothing going forward post 2020. We’ll see if that’s true but for now the fact a test is happening leads evidence to those rumblings.

The infield road course at IMS has seen numerous changes since it’s inception in 2000 when it was constructed to host the United States Grand Prix. MotoGP joined the track in 2008 when the turn one complex was constructed. IndyCar has hosted a Grand Prix on the road course since 2012 to kick off the month of May.

Now NASCAR could be joining those ranks and it wouldn’t be a bad thing at all. The current road course runs clock-wise (the opposite of an oval for you mouth breathers) which is perfect considering all teams already build cars for Watkins Glen. Fueling is done on the opposite side, that’s why it’s a big deal.

One of the biggest questions is will NASCAR use the complex down in oval turn 1. Or will they skip that complex and run the opposite way through turn 1 like F1 did? Both have upsides, but they’ll likely settle for running the complex to lengthen lap times and keep speeds down headed into road course turn 1.

No word if this test will be open to the public.

The post NASCAR Will Test On The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course appeared first on Apex Off.

Power played the strategy game and while others like Rossi were stretching their fuel mileage the Indy 500 winner pitted for fuel with 18 laps to go. With enough fuel on board Power literally put the power down and caught Rossi immediately. Rossi pulled over to let Power through thinking of the championship.

With Rossi out of the way, Power cruised to the victory. For a guy that was once terrible on ovals, the Aussie is now an oval savant, winning at another oval. Certainly a complete 180 from how he used to feel/perform on ovals.

What About The Championship Battle?

The battle between points leader Scott Dixon and pursuer Alexander Rossi is down to just 26 points.

Dixon led 145 laps Saturday night and still salvaged third behind some poor strategy calls. That wasn’t good enough though with Rossi finishing second.

Rossi won the two races prior to Saturday Night’s race at Gateway. The third-year driver has found his stride in the second half of the season and has asserted himself as a clear and present threat to Dixon. With Sonoma being a double points race in the finale Rossi could swipe this championship away like Dixon did to Montoya in 2015.

There was one moment Saturday night where the championship battle nearly came to an end. Rossi drove out of some massive oversteer thanks to a nice oppo-lock and phenomenal throttle management.

Portland will be an interesting race next weekend as the circuit should fit both Rossi and Dixon. A fast road course that requires precision, a Mid-Ohio at one end with a simple section at the other.

How Was The Gateway Race?

Once again a super solid race that was intriguing from multiple angles. From the strategy to the championship, to the mid-pack battles Gateway provided again. IndyCar on flat tracks is something we need more of, looking at you people in Milwaukee.

Zach Veach continues to impress as the season winds down. The rookie recorded a 5th place finish on the heels of a 6th place finish last week at Pocono. Veach now has four Top-10 finishes in a row. Spencer Pigot also impressed on the short oval again, after a second at Iowa he came home 6th tonight.

A definitive second lane never fully developed but passing was certainly possible. Gateway should be a mainstay on the IndyCar calendar, the crowd was little lighter than 2017 but still stronger than every oval not named Indianapolis.

IndyCar is back in action in Portland.

The post Will Power Wins At Gateway? appeared first on Apex Off.

It’s a story of ruthless cutthroat capitalism. Out price the competition until they can’t sustain that business model anymore and go out of business. Joe Gibbs Racing did just that to Furniture Row Racing.

Furniture Row Racing cited “the rising costs of continuing a team alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing.” Joe Gibbs Racing reportedly DOUBLED the cost of the alliance FRR had with the team.

Financials in NASCAR are impossible to come by unless someone forgets to pay their bills and goes to court so we don’t know what FRR was paying. However, doubling the cost of anything will almost always have ramifications.

Back Story 2016-2018

Furniture Row Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing entered an alliance starting in 2016. The #78 car was viewed as a 5th JGR entry. FRR used cars built by JGR and over the wall guys provided by JGR. In return, FRR paid handsomely for this alliance and increase in on-track performance.

Combine the performance of JGR Toyota’s with Cole Pearn’s mastermind brain and you have a championship winning team, literally. The combo of journeyman Martin Truex Jr. and Pearn resulted in 17 wins over the last three seasons and a NASCAR Cup Series Championship. Beating JGR’s Kyle Busch for the title last season.

As FRR continued to outrun JGR the relationship seemed to strain. Last summer at the Brickyard 400 the tension rose to an all-time high as the #78 and #18 tangled on a restart and both cars slammed the wall (the 45 person crowd erupted, it was magical). Instead of having an easy 1-2 finish the teams were left exchanging words in the #78 pit box. Adam Stevens was still in the wrong there and JGR dropped the ball. That was the first visible sign of strain in the relationship.

Around late spring of this season, rumblings started in the garage area that FRR had not re-signed Truex for 2019. Not only that but the team also didn’t have a new deal in place with JGR or TRD. That was the beginning of the end combined with 5-Hour Energy leaving the team after the 2018 season and taking half a season of funding with them.

If You Can’t Beat Them, Put Them Out of Business

Joe Gibbs Racing ultimately wanted Furniture Row Racing to go away. Being embarrassed in 2017 by the satellite team wasn’t in the cards when this alliance was born. So doubling the cost of their alliance deal was the easiest way to dispose of FRR.

Furniture Row Racing could have formed an alliance with another team. Barney Visser ultimately decided he didn’t want to take a step back and that’s his prerogative. The notion that the state of NASCAR put FRR out of business is a bit overblown. FRR could have survived with an RCR alliance and asking for less from a potential sponsor. It comes back to not wanting to take a step down.

Gibbs took a no discretion, cutthroat approach. TRD’s flagship team wanted Truex and Cole Pearn in-house. A combination of Pearn and the resources at JGR should terrify the rest of the garage. JGR bolstered their lineup and their engineering staff with this move.

The fallout from this could be damaging for JGR and TRD in the future. Not only with potential teams that want to form an alliance but also with fans. NASCAR fans are a fickle bunch and if they feel someone was wronged they’ll be vocal. Thankfully JGR employs Kyle Busch so being booed is nothing new.

The post Joe Gibbs Racing Ultimately Killed Furniture Row Racing appeared first on Apex Off.

Take a look at what the grid COULD look like for the 2021 season;

Hendrick Motorsports

#9 Chase Elliott – The present and the future, he’s not going anywhere.

#24 William Byron – Byron is on thin ice but HMS doesn’t want to replace two drivers in one year.

#48 Tyler Reddick – Rick Hendrick wants talent, and wants the future of HMS secure. Reddick gets bought.

#88 Alex Bowman – 1-year deal for Bowman, he needs a stellar 2021 to attract sponsors.

Gibbs

#11 Denny Hamlin – Ole’ runner up isn’t going anywhere, he’s never been better.

#18 Kyle Busch – This is like the Chiefs letting Patrick Mahomes go, KB is here forever.

#19 Martin Truex Jr. – 2021 could be Martin’s last at JGR.

#20 Christopher Bell – Bell has a three-year deal with JGR, he moves to the big team in 2021.

Penske/Wood Brothers

#2 Ryan Blaney – Brad K. is out at Penske, Blaney moves to the Captain’s marquee ride.

#12 Matt DiBenedetto – Matty D. did so well with The Wood Brothers he moves to big Penske.

#21 Chase Briscoe – Briscoe is asserting himself as a force in the Xfinity Series. People are pointing at Austin Cindric for this ride but he has to beat Chase Briscoe first. Briscoe’s Ford connections put him in the #21.

#22 Joey Logano – Joey Slowgano isn’t going anywhere.

Stewart-Haas Racing

#4 Kevin Harvick – SHR can’t afford to lose Harvick so he’s signed for three more years.

#10 Brad Keselowski – Brad K. stays in the Ford camp but he’s over at Tony Stewart’s team now and the SHR looks to secure their competitiveness outside of Harvick.

#14 Kyle Larson – Rusty Rush won’t have a problem with Larson taking over for Clint Bowyer. Larson and SHR is a match made in heaven.

#41 Cole Custer – Custer is the future of SHR.

Chip Ganassi Racing

#1 Kurt Busch – Kurt is on the last year of his deal in 2021, he remains competitive and CGR may try to keep him another year.

#42 Ross Chastain – Ross has a deal with CGR, he moves up to Cup in 2021.

Richard Childress Racing

#3 Austin Dillon – AD is keeping his seat warm for Ace in 18 years.

#8 Noah Gragson – Gragson replaces the departed Reddick with help from Bass Pro and others.

Roush Fenway Racing

#6 John Hunter Nemechek – Newman retires and JHN moves up to a more competitive ride.

#17 Chris Buescher – Buescher is being held hostage at RFR.

Front Row Motorsports

#34 Michael McDowell – Don’t think he’s ever going to leave. At least not until he tweets “fake news” at a rumor and then actually gets replaced.

#38 Corey LaJoie – LaJoie wanted the #48 car, he got the #38.

Richard Petty Motorsports

#43 Bubba Wallace – Bubba would like a more competitive car but will be back with RPM.

Leavine Family Racing

#95 Erik Jones – That Jones boy moves to LFR in 2021 but remains in the Toyota camp.

JTG-Daugherty Racing

#37 Daniel Hemric – Hemric returns to a full time ride replacing the struggling Ryan Preece.

#47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – He and Brian Pattie will find a way to victory lane.

And just like that the competitive grid for the 2021 season is set.

Let us know what we got wrong and where your sources say people are going.

The post Let’s Get Crazy: Here Is What The 2021 NASCAR Grid Could Look Like appeared first on Apex Off.

Per Adam Stern, because why wouldn’t he have the news, Mothers car products will return to present all 21 rounds commercial free.

ESPN’s F1 coverage debuted in 2018 with a disastrous Australian Grand Prix. No sound, no picture, commercial breaks randomly thrown in at the most awkard times. ESPN said they’d make it right, and they did.

The rest of the 2018 season was presented commercial free. At first ESPN didn’t announce the change and fans took to social media asking others if they had a seen a commercial yet. It was like we all saw Birdbox and were looking for answers just we could see and Sandy Bullock wasn’t screaming at a child.

ESPN sticking with this commercial free concept is fantastic. They pay nothing for the rights to broadcast Sky Sports telecast of the race. Meaning any money from advertisers is straight profit. Why not make a little cash from Mothers while also using the race to lead into other shows on the network? It’s fantastic.

FOX and NBC

Now if we could just get FOX and NBC to revolutionize the way they present races we might actually get to see some action. Obviously they’re locked into contracts but you don’t miss a minute of a soccer game. Why is it ok to miss 30% of a race?

In the meantime go out and buy some Mothers car products and watch commercial free F1!

The post REJOICE! F1 Broadcasts On ESPN To Remain Commercial Free appeared first on Apex Off.

the Speedway started life as a hated 1.5-mile “cookie-cutter” D-shaped oval. Through the hatred, the track found a renaissance in the last few seasons as it has become a fan favorite for it’s worn out surface and fantastic races.

Kansas Speedway

Debuting alongside Kansas Speedway the two were met with much opposition from fans not in those areas. Two race-tracks of the same size to complement a handful of other tracks the same size isn’t what fans were looking for. However, for NASCAR it meant two new tracks, one outside a massive metropolis in Chicago and the other in a growing mid-western city in Kansas.

Both tracks weathered hatred from fans only to come out the other side as two of the more well-liked tracks on the schedule. Most fans could do without Kansas, it is the missionary of race tracks. Chicagoland though just recently became a fantastic track.

It now appears that Alex Bowman’s first NASCAR Cup Series win will be the last NASCAR race or any race for that matter to be held at the speedway.

Death By Warehouses

According to documents on the Joliet.gov website, there are plans in place to replace Chicagoland Speedway with a number of warehouse developments. During the planning commissions’ most recent meeting on April 16th, the commission voted to table discussions until July. (View the agenda here).

A notice was sent out on April 8th and shared on Twitter by @Indys18wheels detailing how the Chicagoland property would be divided up.

Chicagoland Speedway

Now keep in mind this is a public hearing regarding the future of the site, this isn’t a signed and sealed death certificate yet. Maybe they’ll make tunnels in the warehouses so cars can go down the backstretch and into turn 3. That little corner on the front stretch can just serve as a narrowing of the track, and some times might have to pit inside a warehouse. All of that seems super feasible.

In all honesty, things are looking pretty bleak for Chicagoland Speedway.

COVID-19 Was The Final Blow

When NASCAR took ISC private in 2019 the company linked up with Hillwood to repurpose some of the property that ISC owned. Chicagoland and Auto Club were two of the properties mentioned at the time.

Now throw in COVID-19 and the cancellation of every activity at Chicagoland and you have a recipe for death.

The fact of the matter is an industrial park is more profitable for the city of Joliet over the long run than a race track is. Chicagoland gets used one weekend a year. It might host some other small events here and there but outside of its one weekend, it doesn’t drive much to the city.

A subdivision of warehouses is a massive tax generator for the city. From payroll taxes to property taxes it will be far more profitable over the long run. Toss in the fact that the employees of these future warehouses/industrial sites will buy food and goods in Joliet and you can see how this is more beneficial than a once a year race track.

Discussion on this was tabled until the July 16th meeting, you can listen and watch at https://www.joliet.gov/departments/city-clerk-s-office/meeting-agendas-minutes-videos

The post Death By Warehouse: Chicagoland Speedway Will Be Replaced appeared first on Apex Off.

Richard Petty And The Pre Modern Era

Richard Petty has 200 NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup wins. An insurmountable amount of wins in today’s NASCAR and certainly not a realistic number that will ever be beat. Petty raced in a time where 62 races a year was the schedule. That’s nearly double the schedule of today’s NASCAR and also double the chance he had to win. Imagine if Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson had 62 races a year. They would both have 200 wins by the time their careers ended. In 1971 the year before the “modern era” Richard Petty racked up 21 wins in 48 races. That’s ridiculously good but also shows how awful the competition was and how many chances he got to win.

In the pre modern era of NASCAR Richard Petty had 140 wins from 1958 through the 1971 season. That’s a remarkable accomplishment and all but it’s not applicable to the modern era of NASCAR. In the modern era Petty recorded only 60 wins from 1972-1992 his final season in NASCAR. When he only had the opportunity to race 29-31 times a year his winning percentage dropped dramatically.

From 1958 to 1971 Petty competed in 565 races winning 140 of them racing on average 40 races a year for 14 years. Those 40 races are still more than any current cup driver races and at times he raced up to 61 times a year. His winning percentage during that era was 24%. A remarkable feat but still not something that correlates to current NASCAR. In the modern era his win percentage was 9% in 619 races. Granted the competition was much stronger but it does to show the difference between modern era and pre modern.

Modern Era Stats

In the modern era of NASCAR Jeff Gordon is the win leader. 93 careers wins is an attainable number that a driver could chase and something NASCAR could build a marketing campaign around. Jimmie Johnson has 82 wins currently and will likely surpass Gordon in the next few seasons. After him though it’s a steep drop off to Kyle Busch.

My point is if NASCAR used modern era stats only then racing for that career win total could become an actual talking point. It could become a legitimate goal for drivers to strive for. “Records are meant to be broken” and they are unless you all ridiculous statistics to be used in a completely different era. Baseball records are broke all the time and they’ve been playing for 100+ years. Why can’t NASCAR records be broken?

This isn’t a knock on Richard Petty, he raced when he raced. This is a knock on the stats and NASCAR for running with that 200 win total for as long as they have. Richard will always be The King but he isn’t the modern era king. He’s more like 8th in line to be kind. If NASCAR is only going to allow drivers to race in 36 races a year their record book needs to be adjusted accordingly.

The post NASCAR Needs To Use Modern Era Stats Only appeared first on Apex Off.