What To Watch In Racing This Weekend
After a three-month delay, on-track running for the Indianapolis 500 has finally begun at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This weekend's qualifying sessions may not be bumping any entries from a field of exactly 33, but a boost increase for the session could make these the fastest laps at the Speedway since 1996.
Outside of Indianapolis, headlines include the Spanish Grand Prix, NASCAR's debut at the Daytona road course, and the first FIA World Endurance Championship race since February.
Formula 1 - Spanish Grand Prix
Sunday, August 16 - 9 a.m. ET - ESPN
Another Formula 1 round, another pole for Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes driver will start as a part of what is becoming a familiar stratification of the field: He will be next to teammate Valtteri Bottas, ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen and the Racing Point pairing of Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll.
The second Red Bull and two McLarens fill out the top eight, meaning Ferrari will start a dismal ninth and eleventh for Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel, respectively. Their nightmare season, it seems, is far from over.
NASCAR Cup Series - Daytona road course
Sunday, August 16 - 3 p.m. EST - NBC
The first-ever Cup Series race at the Daytona road course, a recent addition to the calendar after the cancellation of a round at Watkins Glen, will be an historic moment in NASCAR history. A lack of testing, practice, and qualifying means that the other layout of the venue that holds NASCAR's biggest race presents a challenge for almost every driver in the field, a completely new track known only through simulators.
A slow chicane has been installed at the beginning of the trioval, slowing these cars significantly before a turn 1 that any sports car fan could tell you would cause chaos for stock cars running at full speed on their relatively archaic brakes, 30 laps at a time.
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FIA World Endurance Championship - Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps
Saturday, August 15 - 7:30 a.m. EST - Motor Trend TV
Only the first and last 90 minutes of today's six hour round from Spa Francorchamps will be shown on live TV in the US, but the return of the FIA World Endurance Championship is an important step on the way to the delayed 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Rebellion is expected to dominate this race, but this is entirely due to balance-of-performance rules under another name that are only in effect for regular season World Endurance Championship rounds. At Le Mans, these rules are not in place, meaning that Toyota should be back in control of the LMP1 category.
IndyCar - Indianapolis 500 Qualifying
Saturday, August 15 - 11 a.m. EST - NBC and NBC Sports Gol.d
Sunday, August 16 - 1 p.m. EST - NBC
The Field of 33 has already been set, but their order is still important, and the first position in the first row at Indianapolis remains perhaps the most prestigious pole position in all of auto racing. Today's running, aired in part on the NBC Sports Gold app and in part on NBC proper, will determine who is qualified for the Fast Nine shootout, which will determine the order of the first three rows of three for next Sunday's race. That session will be run on Sunday afternoon, on NBC.
Chip Ganassi Racing, Ed Carpenter Racing, and Andretti Autosport seemed to have an advantage throughout practice, with ECR notably being the strongest Chevrolet team throughout a first-ever "Month of August" mostly led by Hondas.
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