Drivers voice opinions of Indy’s road course

Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick made their opinions perfectly clear Saturday. They’d rather be racing on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s historic oval.

Other drivers didn’t seem to mind the switch.

Now, after one short practice session, Cup drivers will spend Saturday night plotting their strategical twists and turns for Sunday’s reconfigured and renamed Brickyard 200.

“I really enjoyed it,” Kyle Larson said after posting the third-fastest lap in practice at 97.445 mph. “I thought it was flowing and there were some hard-braking zones.”

That’s not good news for the rest of the field.

Larson is this season’s points leader after adding his series-high fifth victory last week on the road course at Watkins Glen. The only drivers who went faster Saturday were Martin Truex Jr. at 98.021 and William Byron at 97.487.

Many wonder if the series’ best drivers should even be competing on the road course. Declining attendance and complaints about passing on the 2.5-mile oval have had race organizers searching for ways to inject excitement into Brickyard weekend for years. They seemed to inadvertently find a solution last year when the Indianapolis Grand Prix was postponed because of last year’s COVID-19 pandemic. IndyCar officials rescheduled it as part of a rare crossover weekend with the top two NASCAR series.

Golf: Russell Henley shot 1-under 69 Saturday to take a three-stroke lead in the Wyndham Championship and move closer to his first PGA Tour win in four years.

Soccer: Karim Benzema scored twice to lead Real Madrid to a 4-1 win over Alavés in its Spanish league opener on Saturday. Madrid also got a goal from Nacho Fernández, one of the defenders stepping in to replace veteran captain Sergio Ramos, who left after 16 seasons because the club didn’t want to extend his contract.