IndyCar rich in drama as Indy 500 looms
Through just three races, the IndyCar Series is already building enough dynamic storylines to be worthy of its own Netflix program.
Speculation has been mounting that IndyCar, just like NASCAR and any motorsports series with a finger on the pulse of pop culture, is trying to put together a behind-thescenes docuseries similar to Formula One's “Drive to Survive.” The show has led to an explosion in F1 popularity in the United States, the market every sponsor-seeking race entity in the world wants to crack.
Well, it's time to mic the IndyCar paddock, which has packed a season's worth of drama into the first three events with the Indianapolis 500 still seven weeks away.
Josef Newgarden has “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” on his wish list and he is already talking about it. His first career Long Beach Grand Prix victory on Sunday kept Team Penske a perfect
3-0 to start the season. Scott McLaughlin won the season opener, and Long Beach made it two straight wins by Newgarden,
the two-time IndyCar champion who is 0-for-10 in the Indianapolis 500.
The American — he lives just outside of Nashville and his wife, Ashley, is expecting their first child any day now — is eyeing the Borg-Warner Trophy.
“I'm focused on it. I can't do more than what I've done in the past, I can tell you that,” Newgarden said. “You can go your whole career and not win the Indy 500, and I accept that, if that's the case. But I'm not going to go down without a fight.”
A win by Newgarden — or McLaughlin or Will Power — would extend Roger Penske's record to 19 as an owner, and happen at his first true Indy 500 as owner of the series and iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
His first Indianapolis 500 after closing the sale was delayed and held in front of empty grandstands for the first time in race history. Last year was a limited crowd, but the 150,000 or so in attendance unofficially reopened America as the largest sporting event at the time.
Now he's expecting a packed house, the return of Carb Day and its traditional concerts and the reopening of the Snake Pit party zone in the infield.
There will be 33 cars in the field, Penske insisted, although 33 entrants have yet to be announced.
“Look, anything can happen, you know? But what we've got on paper today has us at 33,” Penske told AP, insisting that did not involve him pulling together some kind of entry backed by Team Penske.
“It would have to be an end zone catch or something, we'd certainly fill the field if we had to, but that's not in our plans,” Penske told AP.
Team Penske president Tim Cindric immediately shut down any Penske involvement: “We're not doing that. We don't have any people, they are all doing sports car stuff. I don't know how we would do that.”
The 500 got a boost from a career-best, sixthplace finish in Jimmie Johnson's debut in an IndyCar oval race at Texas Motor Speedway last month. It sparked discussion the seven-time NASCAR champion could be a legitimate contender next month in his Indy debut, but that was overshadowed by a terrible weekend in Long Beach.
Johnson crashed Friday and broke his hand, so he had to compete in a cast. He crashed Saturday and again on Sunday before hustling off to see a specialist in North Carolina.