This Weekend in Auto Racing (10/31)
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NASCAR - Martinsville Speedway
Sunday, November 1st - 2:00 p.m. ET - NBC
NASCAR's elimination-based playoffs are winding to a close. A field of eight drivers will be cut down to just four tomorrow, and, one week later, one of those drivers will be crowned a champion. After months of playoff math, the scenarios left are overwhelmingly simple.
Joey Logano is locked into the next round by virtue of a win in this round. Kevin Harvick is all but locked in with his 42 point advantage. Both Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski sport gaps of over 25 points on the cutoff line. This means that those within reach on points, Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott, need to either run perfect races and score heavy stage points to make up such a large gap so quickly, hope for misfortune to hit one of Hamlin or Keselowski, or, most likely, win the race to advance. Both Kurt Busch and Martin Truex Jr. will come into the race understanding that a win is their only real option.
Hamlin and Keselowski are not coming into this race safe, as a win for anyone outside the top four would move the cut line to their current battle, but they come into the race in control. While Logano will not have to do anything and Harvick will simply have to stay on track, Hamlin and Keselowski can try to float within the top fifteen throughout the day and not worry about getting too aggressive until they see where the situation stands after the first two stages of racing. Hamlin and Keselowski are probably not too worried about their on-track performance tomorrow; The two combine for seven career wins at Martinsville's flat short track.
Formula 1 - Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
Sunday, November 1st - 7:00 a.m. ET - ESPN
Formula 1 is back at Imola, and all it took was a world-changing pandemic that forced the series to schedule three separate races in Italy. The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix is the first Formula 1 race at Imola since 2006, an event won by Michael Schumacher in a Ferrari.
With five rounds remaining, Lewis Hamilton's seemingly inevitable march toward a seventh championship still seems to be on track. Hamilton holds a lead of just under three races worth of points on teammate Valtteri Bottas, meaning he is unlikely to clinch this weekend but could easily do so at the next round in Istanbul if he outscores Bottas tomorrow. That will be a taller order than usual, as Bottas beat Hamilton to pole for the first time all season in qualifying earlier today. The two Mercedes entries were within a tenth of a second of each other, while they were half a second ahead of the unsurprisingly third-placed Max Verstappen. An impressive second row start for Pierre Gasly, already a winnter for Alpha Tauri in Italy this season, highlights what is otherwise a very predictable grid in a season of very predictable qualifying sessions.
IMSA - Laguna Seca
Sunday, November 1st - 4:00 p.m. ET - IMSA.tv (Airing on NBC Sports Network at 6:30)
The final sprint round of the IMSA season comes to Laguna Seca, the celebrated Californian track that has produced a number of classic IMSA races over the years. This is the track that produced 2009's famous Corvette/Flying Lizard Porsche battle for the GTLM title, and its positioning so late in the season gives it the opportunity to be very significant in championship fights yet again.
IMSA's strange points system, which gives out relatively few points between finishers in a race but punishes non-entrants heavily, means that most titles are unlikely to be clinched tomorrow, but the Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac duo of Ryan Briscoe and Renger van der Zande have the opportunity to take complete control of the DPi championship with another strong finish today. Their closest competition, the Helio Castroneves/Ricky Taylor Acura of Team Penske, comes in eight points behind with two rounds remaining and will need to finish ahead of the WTR car to have a real chance heading into the next round.
The GTD title is more complex. A Lexus, a Porsche, and an Acura all sit within reach of each other, and the chaos of GTD endurance races will make the 12 hours of Sebring a true wild card. As a result, all three teams will be looking to win tomorrow to be in the best position to go into Sebring with their shot at a win alive, and not hinging on a minor part failure in the middle of the taxing race.
GTLM's battle is not complex at all. The Corvette C8.R of Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor will be crowned tomorrow, either officially or at the beginning of the 12 Hours of Sebring. LMP2 is the least complex a class can possibly be; one car is entered in the race.
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