Sunday Wasn’t An Instant Classic, and That’s Ok

1. Sunday suited Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s hallowed grounds just fine

NASCAR’s top series was back where it belonged on Sunday (July 21) — on the oval at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Yes, the racing produced by the former generation of racecar required a change to the facility’s road course. That’s no longer the case, the Sunday’s race showed as much.

Was it an “instant classic’”? No, and that’s okay. Every race does not need to be a photo-finish with another car sliding across the start-finish line upside down and on fire (sorry for the PTSD, Clint Bowyer and Mark Martin fans).

Sunday was not an all-time event, but it was not bad, either.

The NASCAR Cup Series was at one of the most hallowed venues in all of racing, and the fact that the event had its brand of excitement with an apparent 70,000 tickets sold was proof of concept for the decision that it was time for the race to be back on the oval in Speedway, Indiana.

2. The NASCAR Xfinity Series’ present and future are at the big track

If you’re a purist, you may have begun Saturday’s Xfinity Series race with arms crossed and lips pouted.

Since the earliest days of the Xfinity Series, the series raced at nearby Clermont, Ind., home of Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. That was the case since 1982, and the track’s layout and tight quarters made for vintage short-track racing.

That changed in 2012 with the event moved across town to the “big track” at Indianapolis. Not surprisingly, drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series dominated, winning three of the first four Xfinity races at the Brickyard. Drivers dropping down to beat up on those in a lower series is a lot of things, but it’s nothing prestigious to watch at such hallowed grounds.

In a NASCAR time window of nothing being off the table, there may have been hopes among fans that a less-than-thrilling Xfinity show on Saturday would result in considering a move to IRP. Those hopes are finished for now, as after one of the more exciting races of the season in the NXS, it’d be hard to move the race away from the big track at Indy.

Past races from this series at IRP appear to be remaining just that. In the past.

3. Few drivers are trending stronger than Bubba Wallace heading into the break

The uniqueness of this year’s NASCAR schedule gives teams a few weeks off due to the Olympics.

That brings with it a few elements. One of them is rare time off amid a gruesome season. The other is that going into that downtime, you want things going well so as not to stew over it.

Few teams entered the time off feeling good about themselves more than the No. 23 team and driver Bubba Wallace. Yes, he entered Sunday below the playoff cut line and remains there, but that’s not the story. The bigger picture is that thanks to a top-five finish and stumbles by Ross Chastain and Chris Buescher, Wallace heads into the time off having closed the gap. Before Sunday, Wallace was 27 points out of the playoffs, trailing Chastain for the final playoff spot. Now? He is not only just seven spots back of Chastain, but 17 behind Buescher.

The bottom line is this — drivers who Wallace is chasing for a postseason spot had a bad day, and Wallace cashed in during a race in which he took a stage win. And with Chastain finishing 15th and Buescher 22nd, it was the exact type of day that needed a driver below the cut line.

4. Was this week enough to get Legacy Motor Club’s ship righted?

The NASCAR season is 36 races long.

In a year that arduous, sometimes even the smallest things can feel like bigger wins, especially for organizations having a tough time.

Legacy Motor Club would argue that it had itself one of those days on Sunday.

Let’s not sugarcoat things. Jimmie Johnson’s time in the No. 84 has been a tough go due to multiple factors. Of the four races the seven-time champion has been running at the end of this year, he has finished no better than 28th. A steady run on Sunday at Indianapolis ended early as he was caught up in an incident on the race’s 110th lap. It was not something to hold a ceremony of celebration about, but running respectable with a step in the right direction for Johnson’s team in its part-time schedule.

The bigger day came from another LMC driver – John Hunter Nemechek. Before his day ended six laps from the finish after being hung up in a multi-car melee, he paced the field for 16 laps. Those are his only laps led this season, aside from 20 this past May at Talladega Superspeedway.

Results like that may not mean much to most teams, but for a team like Legacy, it was much-needed medicine.

5. How worried should team owners be about off-track injuries?

NASCAR may not be racing for a few weeks, but other series are.

From the ARCA Menards Series to local short tracks, it’s not like there will be zero racing to take in. In addition to that, this time off provides plenty of time for drivers to do all sorts of activity away from the track.

That, in all honesty, may keep team owners sleepless for a bit in the coming days. Between racing in other series or other ventures like basketball or taking to the ski slopes, NASCAR’s recent history is filled with drivers missing races due to things happening away from the track.

Team owners seem willing, for the most part, to let drivers be themselves with what they do on their own time away from the track. That could get a tighter look soon with drivers have more time on their hands than usual during a season.