IndyCar/ NASCAR Weekend

August 17, 2021

IndyCar/ NASCAR Weekend

This is the second year in a row that there will be two Indy Car races on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Last year, I attended the second of the two, the Harvest Grand Prix which was scheduled to make up for lost races due to Covid-19. This year the second race was a historic first, a combination Indy Car and NASCAR weekend which featured both an Indy Car and NASCAR Infinity race on a Saturday on the road course and for the first time the headlining NASCAR Cup cars on the road course on Sunday.

Since I still had my annual suite pass from my friend Brent and my Indy Car Hard Card that allowed me basically unfettered access to the paddock and pits, I really wanted to attend so I tagged a visit to the Speedway the weekend after the Nashville race and voila, there I was attending another Indy Car race this year and my first NASCAR races since attending the Daytona 500 some years ago.

It was a weird sensation having the Indy Cars forced out of their traditional garages, which were used by the NASCAR series. The Indy Cars were set up in what is usually garage area parking between turns one and two, behind the tower terrace. Other than that though, it was pretty much the same and it was kinda fun seeing both series together. Drivers from the respective groups would stay in the pits during practice and qualifying to watch their counterparts and from a PR standpoint it was a big success.

It was fun for me being back in the suite again with my friends. Brent and Tammy are great hosts and better people. Brent has a new venture that he is starting this year as he has founded a midget car team and hired the delightful and talented Maria Cofer as his driver. Maria and her father were both in town preparing for the BC 39 midget race at IMS which will be the new team’s initial entry into midget racing, though Maria has had a ton of experience and results in spite of her youth.

There was a bittersweet moment for me when I saw legendary racing journalist Robin Miller being driven around in a golf cart with his sister and friend Steve. Robin has terminal cancer and not much time left, so this would most likely be his final race weekend at his beloved Indianapolis Motor Speedway. As sad as that fact is, the wonderful and warm reception and overdue respect that was being offered from everyone involved in Indy Car was wonderful to see. He was having an awesome time, totally in his element and it was so nice to see. 

The race itself was fine, it wasn’t my favorite race ever, but it held my interest and had some good points. Will Power won what was shockingly his first race of the season, one that has been surprisingly disappointing. It was the 40th career Indy Car victory for Power, who broke a tie with four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser to climb into fifth on the all-time win list. The win also was the sixth of Power’s career at IMS, as he also won the 2018 Indianapolis 500.

Romain Grosjean finished second and Colton Herta was third. First time Indy driver Christian Luundgarde who was stellar in qualifying, starting fourth, but could not match that, but finished a solid 12^th in his first ever Indy Car race. A few hours after Penske driver Will Power won the Indy Car race, another team Penske driver won on the NASCAR side as young Austin Cindric captured the NASCAR Infinity race on the road course.

It was another pretty decent race, the NASCAR drivers do a lot more bumping and pushing and Cindric was able to beat A.J. Almendinger, Justin Haley and Chase Elliott to the checkered flag. Only 22 and with Hoosier roots, Cindric was a popular winner, his father Tim is the team manager for the Penske Indy Car team. The race marked Cindric’s fifth win of the season and was his fifth overall on a road course.