NASCAR, IndyCar: The subtle silver lining in the darkest of times

The coronavirus pandemic is the worst thing with which many of us have dealt. But overcoming it would carry its own silver lining for NASCAR and IndyCar.

These are dark times for motorsports, NASCAR and IndyCar included. These are dark times for the world of sports in general. These are dark times for the world as a whole.

As for any “silver lining” at a time like this, those have usually been met with cancellations. Nothing goes to plan anymore. A few weeks ago, running races without fans seemed like a crazy alternative at the time, until it was the only option — until it was no longer even an option.

No longer an option for several months, that is — not just a week or two.

But now, running a race with no fans seems like a foreign thought, unrecognizable to the situation into which this has evolved.

The coronavirus pandemic has left the world at a standstill, and motorsports have not been exempt from that. It seems that every other day, some series, be it NASCAR, Formula 1 or IndyCar, is making a drastic shift to the schedule.

They have no other choice.

Such was the case for IndyCar, which last week moved the Indianapolis 500, which has been held in May for all 103 of its editions, back by nearly three months to late August. Right now, the greatest hope is for the race to go down on Sunday, August 23 — with fans in attendance.

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Subject, of course, to change — the ultimate cliché of 2020.

But let’s just assume for one second that the schedule changes, which include seven race weekend postponements for NASCAR, eight postponements/cancellations (who knows what will be rescheduled?) for Formula 1, and a completely overhauled IndyCar schedule that features three cancellations, five postponements, and, yes, a race that was moved up by a week, are the only schedule changes.

Let’s assume (whatever that means at this point) that these changes stick, and all postponed races find new dates.

It would be the ultimate silver lining for a situation that would need to have passed just to set this all in motion.

In addition to the Indy 500, IndyCar has run a race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course every year since 2014. It has been held on the Saturday before Indy 500 practice week, so 15 days before the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing”.

Last year, NASCAR made the radical decision to move its traditional July 4th weekend Daytona International Speedway race — which has existed as long as the Daytona 500 — to the end of the regular season.

I went on record and called NASCAR an embarrassment to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for this move, citing the fact that the attempt to association tradition with the Brickyard in any other capacity than IndyCar was ludicrous. Let’s face it: Daytona is NASCAR. Indy is IndyCar. There’s no argument there.

But at this point, I pray that I am wrong.

Why? Now IndyCar has moved the Indy road course race to July 4th weekend, to join the Brickyard 400 in an IndyCar/NASCAR doubleheader. The road course race is set to be run on Saturday, July 4, and the Brickyard 400 is set to be run on Sunday, July 5.

Yes, in 2020. Remember the talk about how a NASCAR/IndyCar doubleheader wouldn’t be possible until perhaps the 2022 season at the earliest?

I pray that talk was wrong as well — as wrong as I hope I am about Indy.

And right now, it is, in fact, slated to be incorrect.

Sure, given the circumstances, I now wish that this were true. I wish 2022 was still the earliest this could happen — because that would indicate that we were living in a normal world.

But we aren’t living in a normal world. And we need positives to come out of this.

Fortunately, NASCAR and IndyCar have us well-positioned to witness the best season yet when we do come out of this, highlighted by Independence Day weekend.

I’m not a science expert. I’m not a science anything. I don’t know if this will be over by Independence Day or August 23 or at all in 2020, period. No one does. And I’m not going to pretend I do.

But if it is, the world of motorsports has a chance to give fans the best welcome-back for which they could have possibly asked, and several years earlier than expected.

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Let’s hope this silver lining comes to fruition, because that would lead to another: the idea that fans of all motorsports — NASCAR, IndyCar, you name it, but especially those two — can come together and unify for what could very well be one of the greatest race weekends in the history of the greatest track in the world.

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