3 things to watch before NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1 start

Things to watch: No. 3 – Recorded races, e-racing can help fill the gaps

If you’re like me, you have a DVR full of races from last season and maybe beyond. Kyle Larson’s celebration and interview after winning the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series championship got an instant “never delete” tag, and half the IndyCar races from last year are worthy of a rewatch.

And of course, Formula 1 gave us plenty of revisitable moments last year, even before the season-ending thriller in Abu Dhabi. Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen collided three times before the finale, giving fans a chance to go back and play steward in our own minds and award the championship as we see fit.

One of those crashes came in the Italian Grand Prix, a race McLaren fans will want to watch over and over again. There was also a thriller in Russia and a bizarre, lonely grid start for Hamilton in Hungary. And we can’t forget about Hamilton’s spectacular performance in Brazil, where he overcame penalties larger than the size of the grid (24 positions) to win.

I have watched the race in Abu Dhabi five times on replay, and I will probably watch it five times more before the Bahrain opener. It all seems so improbable just a few weeks later, and it sets up a magnificent 2022 season if Hamilton does return.

E-racing may not satisfy all racing fans, but the driver lineup alone is enough to pique interest in the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual this year. While NASCAR champion Larson is racing sideways on the dirt in Tulsa, his Formula 1 and IndyCar counterparts Max Verstappen and Alex Palou will be navigating an electronic version of the legendary Le Mans course.

Verstappen will team with IndyCar veteran Felix Rosenqvist, and father and son duo Juan Pablo and Sebastian Montoya will also join forces. IndyCar/Xfinity Series driver Sage Karam and Formula E driver Oliver Rowland are also due to take part.

So while we bide our time waiting for the NASCAR, IndyCar, and Formula 1 seasons to begin, there are plenty of places to see top-level drivers working world-class machinery to its limits.