Brad Keselowski, right, is punched during a fight after the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race at Texas Motor SpeedwayMatthew Bishop/The Associated Press
On tap this week:
- Lots of change in 2015
- IndyCar needs to choose carefully
- NASCAR fans need Chase rules freeze
- Loophole to hurt Honda in 2015
- Quote of the Week: Wolff on Alonso
- CTMP's final audition?
Things may never stay the same for long in racing, but change is still the operative word for 2015.
There's little doubt that new surroundings will shape 2015 for Canada's only IndyCar driver, James Hinchcliffe, who joined the Schmidt Peterson outfit late last year and goes into the season as the team's go to driver.
Although the affable 28-year-old has found success in his four years in the series, he has also had the benefit of experienced teammates at both Newman-Haas and Andretti Autosport to help him through the rough patches. Now, he's the veteran who is expected to lead.
When the Formula One cars hit the track in Montreal, it's likely that Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg will be battling for the title again. Behind their all-conquering Mercedes there will be several stories to follow on track, especially after two multiple world champions made key moves in the off-season.
It will be interesting to see how well Sebastian Vettel does at Ferrari after bolting from Red Bull to join the Scuderia in the seat abandoned by Fernando Alonso, who is now at McLaren. Alonso's year with his new team may be a tough one, especially after the debut of the Honda-powered McLaren was nothing short of a disaster. Vettel may not fare much better with Ferrari cleaning house in the off-season following its first year without a win in two decades.
Back at Vettel's old team Red Bull, its new wunderkind Daniel Ricciardo becomes the No. 1 guy in the garage and assumes all the weight of the team on his shoulders. It may not be a stretch, but odds are he'll just keep smiling.
Random thoughts
Let's be clear about it: Sitting in the race director seat of a professional motorsport series has to be one of the worst jobs in sports. That's why the departure of IndyCar race director Beaux Barfield at the end of the 2014 season leaves the series facing one of its most important tasks of this year.
While the outgoing Barfield didn't please everyone all the time and sometimes struggled to keep race control consistent in its rulings, he mostly did a decent job of letting the drivers race and resolve any on-track friction themselves.
Finding a replacement that will keep the momentum going won't be easy. While it's likely many potential candidates who would be great for the job will likely respond with a resounding 'no', IndyCar simply can't afford to make a blunder with its choice, especially as the series continues to take baby steps on the road to better television ratings and an expended fan base.
By the numbers
First there were 10 contenders. Then 12. Then 12, but with possible wild cards. Now there's 16, but only four get a shot at the Sprint Cup. Sound confusing? Well, that's been the essence of NASCAR's Chase for the Cup format in its 11 seasons due to constant tinkering by NASCAR's brass.
After four major format changes since 2004, fans need a break. Besides, constantly changing the rules is a double-edged sword for the series which has watched both television audiences and the bums in grandstand seats shrink over the past few years.
Although the new playoff-style elimination round Chase may bring more drama to the championship as the series wanted, but it's also overly complex and has the potential to confuse and frustrate fans. Besides, it really didn't deliver anyway.
Yes, the 10 races in the Chase for the Cup averaged about 125,000 more viewers per race at 4.4-million, but that doesn't tell the real story.
First, the Chicago race in 2013 was rain-delayed for more than five hours and only attracted an audience of 2.7-million when it finally got going, down almost 1.3-million viewers from 2012. Taking Chicago out of the equation shows that only four of the remaining nine Chase events in 2014 drew more viewers than the previous season. In those nine, the 2014 Chase attracted 41,000 more viewers than a year earlier, which works out to a statistically insignificant 4,500 additional fans per race.
In addition, controversy also played a huge role in bumping the 2014 numbers. More than 800,000 additional fans that tuned in to the Phoenix race, which was a week after a post-race brawl in Texas involving Chase contenders Jeff Gordon , Brad Keselowski and their pitcrews. There's no doubt that many tuned in to see if the off-track pugilism would continue. When all was said and done a few punches in the pitlane accounted for the bump from the numbers in 2013.
Whether or not the newest Chase will help NASCAR's numbers rebound long-term remains to be seen, but the series really needs to stick with one format to ensure fans don't become exhausted as they try to figure out the constantly shifting rules.
The good news is that series boss Brian France said last month that there would be no changes to the format this year, although he didn't rule out more "tweaks" in 2016. The bad new is that NASCAR loses Sprint as the title sponsor at the end of the year and it may think that more excitement is needed to keep the new one on board long-term.
Technically speaking
The list of technical solutions that exploit loopholes in Formula One regulations likely stretches back to the first day the sport published rules.
In 2014, Mercedes got things right with its aerodynamic package and turbo-charged engine and ran away from the crowd due to an estimated 75-horsepower advantage over Renault and Ferrari engines.
While it's not really supposed to work the other way, the story of 2015 in F1 may be how a loophole in the rules prevented Honda from being competitive. Apparently, someone forgot to add a homologation date to the 2015 regulations, which means the returning manufacturers can exploit this oversight and develop their engines after the season begins.
Quote of the week
"He is dangerous in any car. If he has a car in his hands that is capable of being sixth, he takes it to third."
— Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff speaking about two-time world champion Fernando Alonso of McLaren, who he identified as his first choice as his team's next driver should it not re-sign Lewis Hamilton when the Briton's contract expires at the end of the 2015 season.
The last word
After spending millions of dollars on upgrades and hosting several successful racing events, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) is ready for the next level. It is thought that 2015 will see NASCAR's newly re-branded Xfinity Series (formerly Nationwide) announce plans to take another try at an event north of the border, this time at the legendary 10-turn, 3.957-kilometre road course in Bowmanville, Ont.,
CTMP hosts its third NASCAR Camping World Truck series race this summer and promises to serve up the fantastic racing that the first two have delivered. In addition, this year's instalment goes on an off weekend for Sprint Cup, so some of the top NASCAR stars like Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch may show up for the race. And, who knows, maybe even CTMP co-owner Ron Fellows will venture out of retirement to try for one more NASCAR win at a circuit he also owns figuratively.
Jeff Pappone