The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule offered a revitalization to a once redundant tour. One of the most noteworthy changes was swapping the July 4 race at Daytona International Speedway with the final race of the regular season at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While many were apprehensive about the change, there was a logic behind the madness. After one of the most titanic names in motorsports took over the equally renowned 2.5-mile venue, these feelings of angst started to dissipate.
For starters, the main reasoning behind the swap was the unpredictable weather that Florida whipped up seemingly every July event. This change proved to be somewhat effective as the weather didn’t play a significant issue during Saturday’s events. While a lightning strike did cause a 30-minute delay for the Cup Series on Sunday, this was a far better alternative than the tropical storms that NASCAR had grown accustomed to in Daytona.
What really got race fans on board with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway assuming the July 4th role was Roger Penske claiming ownership of it. The championship-winning team owner and world-class businessman has infinite respect for the world of racing. To add another element to the festivities already planned, the NTT IndyCar Series worked with NASCAR and NBC Sports to make a triple header of racing possible after the coronavirus pandemic hit.
Upon rescheduling, IndyCar moved their road course event in Indianapolis — typically run in May — to Independence Day to kickstart the holiday weekend of racing.
It became apparent early on that the IndyCar GMR Grand Prix would be an event of pure strategy between fuel mileage and tire conservation. The racing was nothing to gloat about, and it itself was fairly uneventful, but it ended up being a successful day for Scott Dixon. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver grabbed the lead with about 30 laps to go and never looked back, en route to his second win of the season, and a perfect record of 2-0 for 2020.
Arguably the best race of the weekend came on the 4th of July during the Xfinity Series’ debut on the Indianapolis road course. Essentially from start to finish, viewers were treated to non-stop action. Hometown hero, Chase Briscoe, went on to secure his fifth win of the season, but this was not an easy victory. There was a five-car battle for the lead with two laps remaining between Briscoe, Austin Cindric, AJ Allmendinger, Noah Gragson and Justin Haley. The handful of drivers were beating and banging, sliding through the grass and making aggressive moves for two solid laps, and it left fans — and drivers — wanting more.
The final event of the weekend was the crowned-jewel Brickyard 400 for the Cup Series. Admittedly, this was probably the best premier series NASCAR event at the 2.5-mile oval since 2017, but this was largely due in part to the tire that Goodyear brought the track — good and bad. There were a total of six cars that suffered blown tires in the 400-mile event, and this made for some high stakes racing, but the impacts from these tire failures were so severe that they were cringeworthy. On the other hand, there were multiple three-wide moves made for the lead as a result of the rubber brought to the track, so it kind of evened out. In the end, Kevin Harvick secured his fourth win of the season and the second victory of the weekend for Stewart-Haas Racing.
This race proved to be conflicting for fans watching at home. Some loved it, and those who began campaigning for the Cup Series to switch things up to the road course for 2021. For the drivers themselves, almost everyone in the post-race interview expressed their desire to remain on the oval. They echoed the same sentiments, and that was, even if the racing wasn’t spectacular, there’s the dream of every racer to win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway like in IndyCar.
Racing aside, NASCAR has generally done an exceptional job in celebrating the 4th of July and the United States’ freedom in the events at Daytona in the past. COVID-19 and the state of the country hampered hardly any of these pre-race festivities from taking place this weekend, so it’s a bit hard to judge in that regard. In general, it’s a bit too early to tell if this is a tradition worthy of keeping. Ultimately, it’s up for the fans to decide. The racing overall was reasonably entertaining, drivers and TV viewers were satisfied for the most part, but we’d love to see this NASCAR/IndyCar crossover to carry over at least one more year to test it out with spectators in attendance and the ability to put on a full production.
