The Official Blog of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

On the surface, it would have appeared that two of the three major worldwide motor races last weekend were compelling as hell, and one was not.

The Le Mans 24 Hours featured its usual overload of drama and strategy, most of it coming when three of the four dominant Peugeot prototypes were forced from the second half of the 24-hour race with apparently the same engine problem. This let archrivals Audi claim a sweep of the podium positions in the premier P1 class and in the overall race.

Formula One put on its best dry-weather race of the year, with ease, at the Canadian Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button finished 1-2 for McLaren in a race packed with action, passing and fascinating strategy.

Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin dominated the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Michigan, leading 126 of 200 laps and pulling to 10-second lead late in the race before a late caution bunched the field.

There’s no doubt that Le Mans and Montreal were thrill shows. But I found Michigan to be quite interesting, too, because it was a rare sight of a team and driver in NASCAR simply crushing the competition.

Nobody wants to see races in any series decided by double-digit margins of victory every Sunday. Nobody wants to see winning drivers lead more than half the race every Sunday.

But what’s wrong with seeing it every once in a while? People appreciated the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, who won 72 of 82 regular-season games en route to the NBA title. People appreciated the 1972 Miami Dolphins, who won the Super Bowl as an unbeaten team. People appreciated the 1927 Yankees.

And I appreciate that Hamlin and Joe Gibbs Racing are on an incredible roll right now, winning two in a row and five races together since the end of March.

So one question must be asked: Why was there a debris caution with less than 20 laps to go, when Hamlin led by 10 seconds? Did that make the end result of the race, Hamlin pulling away to a comfortable victory over Kasey Kahne after the final restart, any more thrilling for the fans?

Sorry, but I don’t think a team or driver should be penalized for brilliance. If Hamlin won by 10 seconds without a debris caution that Hamlin even admitted was dubious during Victory Lane interviews, it’s because he and JGR kicked everyone’s ass, fair and square. There’s nothing wrong with that.

Speaking of brilliance, Audi must be commended for its 1-2-3 finish at Le Mans. The German marque’s top two finishers ran like diesel-powered metronomes for 24 hours at the La Sarthe circuit in France, and the crew working on its third finisher showed fantastic resolve to keep the car running after an early accident while trying to lap a crippled BMW GT car.

It took a special kind of discipline for Audi to stay calm while rivals Peugeot ran ahead into the distance with its fleet of bubble-top diesel prototypes, seemingly headed for another victory. But Audi and steely team boss Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich know the ebbs and flows of Le Mans better than any team. Ullrich is one of motor racing’s great tacticians and hard men. He rules that team with an iron fist. I know I wouldn’t cross him.

Peugeot lacks that tactical nous. There was no need for it to push its prototypes to the limit on every lap, gaining three or four seconds per lap over the Audis. An advantage of one second per lap is more than enough over the span of a 24-hour race, but Peugeot boss Olivier Quesnel doesn’t seem to get that. Even after flames belched from the right side of the first Peugeot to fall out of the race, the team’s other cars continued to blister around the French countryside.

It made no sense. Neither did the racecraft of Peugeot driver Anthony Davidson.

Davidson was on a tear in a Peugeot 908 late in the race, trying to catch the leading Audis after losing four laps due to an electrical problem. He approached the GT2 class-leading Corvette in the Porsche Curves and ran it off the road, forcing the Corvette to spin and back heavily into the wall. The American-based Corvette team did a remarkable job to replace the back half of the car in just 31 minutes, but an engine problem later in the race sidelined the car for good.

The incident was so unnecessary. And the diminutive Davidson couldn’t help show a Napoleon complex and a lot of “I’m a former F1 driver” attitude when he took absolutely no blame for the accident and even had the gall to say “I don’t care” about Corvette losing the GT2 lead during an live, in-race interview with SPEED.

Get over yourself, Ant. Yes, you were in a faster car. Yes, you were driving it like you stole it in an effort to catch the Audis. But you also were trying to overtake a much less nimble car with much less downforce at a part of the circuit where passing is tough even for two high-downforce prototypes.

You screwed up, Ant. Man up and at least share some blame.

Speaking of blame, it would be hard to blame Michael Schumacher if he hung up his helmet for good after this season. His comeback tour has been a disaster, with the Canadian Grand Prix last Sunday in Montreal a new low point.

Seven-time World Champion Schumacher never has been the most ethical driver in F1 history, mastering the chop block to hold rivals at bay, famously ramming Jacques Villeneuve off the road in 1997 at Jerez and parking his crippled Ferrari on the circuit in qualifying in 2006 at Monaco to prevent Fernando Alonso from winning pole.

But Schumacher’s weaving and blocking last Sunday at Montreal were different. They were the signs of a desperate driver with no answers for the speed of his younger rivals, starting with teammate Nico Rosberg. Mercedes changed the wheelbase of its car to better suit Schumacher, whose driving style is different than Rosberg’s. But Nico still is beating him.

It’s a sad sight, much like watching Willie Mays fall down in the outfield while fielding a routine fly ball during his final year with the New York Mets. Hang it up, Michael, before you become the butt of too many jokes that cause people to forget your brilliance.

•This weekend: All three series that compete at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway are in action this Sunday. So put down your World Cup vuvuzela and check out MotoGP at Silverstone (9:30 a.m. ET, SPEED), the IZOD IndyCar Series at Iowa (1:30 p.m. ET, VERSUS) and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Sonoma (3 p.m. ET, TNT).

•Song of the Week: Here’s a song I would love to see Peugeot’s Anthony Davidson sing karaoke-style in a tune-o-gram sent to Corvette Racing manager Doug Fehan and the entire team – the blistering “I Was Wrong” by the great Social Distortion. I don’t think Doug and his incredibly talented crew should hold their breath for a rendition by Ant, though.

Until next time, keep your eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel … and don’t forget to visit IMS on Facebook at www.facebook.com/IndianapolisMotorSpeedway and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/IndyTalk.

Say what you will about the 2010 Indianapolis 500, but the right man won. Anyone who disagrees with that either had too many pops while watching the race on TV or sat in the Easy-Bake Oven otherwise known as a broiling Race Day at IMS for far too long.

Sure, there were moments you wondered who was going to win the fuel game. Sure, there were times over the last two laps where you thought maybe, just maybe, Dan Wheldon might finally put Panther Racing into Victory Lane at Indy after two straight years of near-misses.

But the right man won. Dario Franchitti drank milk and caressed the Borg-Warner Trophy for the second time. He clearly deserved it.

How could anyone say otherwise? Dario led 155 of the 200 laps. He catapulted to the lead on Lap 1 from the outside of the front row, putting a boot to the throat of the rest of the field.

It was the most dominant winning performance at Indy since that Juan Pablo Montoya kid crushed the field in 2000 to lead 167 laps and win as a rookie, also in a Target Chip Ganassi Racing car.

Despite Dario’s dominance, there still were plenty of drivers and teams who put on strong performances Sunday at Indy inside and outside of the spotlight.

The first tip of the Lexan visor must go to Andretti Autosport. Like most after Bump Day, I thought this team was out to lunch, gorging on the all-you-can eat special at the Old Country Buffet. When Tony Kanaan stuffs two cars into the wall, problems are much deeper than simple driver error.

AA started none of its five drivers in the first five rows but put three drivers in the top 11 at the finish. That’s not a bounce-back; that’s an atomic super ball dropped on a driveway from your sister’s bedroom on the second floor. Ba-BOING!

Kanaan’s charge from shotgun on the field – 33^rd for those keeping score at home – to second, challenging and taunting Franchitti until a late pit stop, was breathtaking. TK passed EIGHT cars on the first lap in one of the most stirring displays of driving skill since Tomas Scheckter sliced through seven cars in Turn 3 alone after a restart in 2004.

Marco Andretti also proved again that he is a victory waiting to happen some year at Indy with his strong third-place finish, and Danica Patrick made amends for throwing her team under the bus on Pole Day by singing deserved hosannas for the GoDaddy crew after great stops and smart strategy vaulted her to sixth at the finish on Race Day.

Ryan Hunter-Reay also was competitive during the race for AA, and he showed serious stones by driving the second half of the race with torn ligaments in his thumb. He also must have taped four-leaf clovers throughout his cockpit or ate a water tower-sized bowl of Lucky Charms for breakfast on Race Morning after escaping without injury when Mike Conway’s destroyed car sailed overhead in the horrific accident on Lap 200.

Conway and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing teammate Justin Wilson also were unsung heroes on Race Day. Sure, Mike and Justin led 15 and 11 laps, respectively, late in the race because they were on a different fuel strategy than Franchitti. But they didn’t look out of place, and three-time winner and 2010 pole sitter Helio Castroneves couldn’t catch Conway or Wilson while running third behind them on a similar fuel strategy.

D&R also was the only team to put four cars into the show on Pole Day. If you had told me that before Opening Day, I would have asked you for your bottle of Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka. D&R just might be the “best of the rest” in the IZOD IndyCar Series right now behind Team Penske, Target Chip Ganassi Racing and Andretti Autosport.

Panther Racing also had a very strong Race Day by finishing second for the third consecutive year, the second time in a row with Wheldon. Danny Boy really does turn it on for Indy. And Ed Carpenter proved again that he’s one of the best oval racers in the series, as he was headed for a strong finish for Panther before an ill-timed late caution forced him to drop to 17^th at the finish.

But my MVT (Most Valuable Team) for the month was the FAZZT Race Team. Alex Tagliani was quick all month, qualified fifth after making the Fast Nine and finished 10^th. Bruno Junqueira turned about six laps for the month before becoming the fastest qualifier on Bump Day with a speed that would have put him into the Fast Nine a day earlier.

FAZZT has nowhere near the resources of a Penske, Ganassi or Andretti. It punches WAY above its weight, like 147-pound Manny Pacquiao trading shots and standing upright against a prime, 220-pound Mike Tyson.

Still, when it comes to North American motorsports teams, nobody can stand up to the Penske and Ganassi organizations right now. They’re both major league ass kickers.

Chip Ganassi might be smug. He might be irascible. He might be a demanding SOB. But he wins – a lot. And that’s the goal of any race team. With the last two IZOD IndyCar Series titles, two of the last three Indianapolis 500 victories and a Daytona 500 victory in February, Ganassi is the reigning Red Baron of internal combustion right now in America.

Roger Penske also had a month to remember, winning the Indianapolis 500 pole for a record 16^th time and seeing his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kurt Busch double up by winning the Sprint All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600.

Both Ganassi and Penske also have won major North American sports car championships in the last three seasons.

Seriously, name me two stronger racing organizations in the world – across a variety of disciplines – right now than Penske and Ganassi. You can’t.

•Formula One: Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button finished 1-2 in the Grand Prix of Turkey on Sunday, which many people called yet another thrilling F1 race.

I call bull excrement.

This race was “exciting” only because drivers violated one of the cardinal rules of F1 – don’t race your teammate. Red Bull’s Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel ran 1-2 when Vettel decided to – GASP! – pass his teammate for the lead. The two cars collided, knocking Vettel out of the race and Webber to third, where he finished.

And then Hamilton and Button had “confusion” about team orders – don’t kid yourself; team orders still occur in F1 despite regulations banning them – and ended up racing each other at the end, with Hamilton prevailing.

Sure, it may have looked good on TV. But the bleating by Steve Matchett of SPEED about Vettel making a critical mistake by not asking his team to tell the slower Webber to pull over illustrates exactly what’s wrong with F1.

Race drivers are paid to pass people. F1 drivers are paid millions of pounds, Euros or whatever to pass people. They NEVER should be forced to request from a team boss to pass someone, even if it’s their teammate.

Yes, this is another rant from me about the sad state of F1. And it’s not because I dislike the series or have a serious case of “Screw them furriners.” Au contraire. I love F1. But what disguises for excitement in the series these days is pathetic. Team orders and complaints about dirty air. Oh, joy.

At least there’s a MotoGP race this Sunday at Mugello to satisfy my proper international racing jones.

•Song of the Week: This week’s top tune is the obscure but cool “Faster” by the late, great George Harrison, who was a Formula One fanatic. There are two reasons why it came to mind immediately after Dario Franchitti’s victory Sunday at Indy. One, the video opens with a still shot of the great Jim Clark of Scotland, the 1965 Indianapolis 500 winner who is Franchitti’s racing hero. Plus it was an easy choice since Franchitti was just flat-out, ahem, faster than anyone else Sunday at Indy.

Until next time, keep your eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel … and don’t forget to visit IMS on Facebook at www.facebook.com/IndianapolisMotorSpeedway and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/IndyTalk.

You know it’s a bit of a strange racing weekend when two legends are penalized for going TOO fast.

But that’s exactly what happened last weekend at Dover and Monaco.

Four-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson was locked in a tight duel with Kyle Busch for victory Sunday at Dover before he was nailed for speeding in the pit lane with just 35 laps to go. Three-time Brickyard 400 winner Johnson ended up 16^th, and Busch sailed to his second victory of the season.

This strong performance by Johnson should dispel the ridiculous notion that he and crew chief Chad Knaus are in a mini-funk because they aren’t adjusting well to racing without the wing on the back of the Car of Tomorrow. That’s a joke: Remember, Johnson and Knaus won two of their four straight titles with a spoiler on the back of the car.

Still, it’s hard to deny that Hendrick Motorsports might not be the crushing mastodon of Sprint Cup this season. Only Johnson has won this season for the team, with four victories. But he’s winless since March 21 at Bristol.

Meanwhile, Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Busch and Denny Hamlin have combined for five victories in the last seven races and are second and fifth in the standings, respectively.

Almost like when Tony Stewart seemed to be untouchable during 2005, the Gibbs team has found something that is putting it atop the NASCAR heap.

Hamlin finished fourth in the Cup race Sunday, but I thought his most impressive performance came in the Nationwide Series on Saturday. Hamlin flat-out dumped Clint Bowyer on a late restart, starting a chain-reaction melee. Bowyer, taking full advantage of NASCAR’s new “have at it, boys” policy, retaliated by body-slamming Hamlin into the Turn 2 wall.

When interviewed after the incident, Hamlin responded by saying he made a mistake by clipping Bowyer due to his limited Nationwide starts this season. A reasonable explanation. But Hamlin manned up when he said he didn’t blame Bowyer for stuffing him in the wall out of frustration. That was large.

At Monaco, Mark Webber led from lights to flag to win the most prestigious race of the Formula One season. Webb-ah also is tied atop the World Championship with his wunderkind teammate, Sebastian Vettel. But Red Bull, the best team on the grid, is quickly becoming Webber’s team. Don’t be surprised if tough man Mahk Webb-ah becomes the first Aussie World Champ since legendary hard-ass Alan Jones in 1980.

The oddest moment at Monaco came on the final lap. The field was under a Safety Car for a scary late crash between Karun Chandhok and Jarno Trulli, and the Safety Car pulled off just before the final corner on the final lap. But F1 rules state that if the Safety Car is deployed on the last lap, drivers are not supposed to race to the flag – even if the Safety Car pulls off! Racing is discouraged – only in F1. This rule must be called “The Photographer’s Rule,” eliminating the clutter of a Safety Car for the finish-line pictures.

Michael Schumacher thought otherwise of that rule and passed Fernando Alonso for sixth place when the Safety Car pulled off. How DARE YOU RACE, Weltmeister! Schumacher was docked 20 seconds, which dropped him from sixth to 12^th.

Are you kidding me?

The greatest event on the motorsports calendar, the Indianapolis 500, opened Saturday. By the time Sunday rolled around, Helio Castroneves was fastest on both days, topping out just above 227 mph in his Team Penske machine. Not a bad way to start his quest for a record-tying fourth victory.

We’ll have much more on Indy next week, hopefully without an umbrella. The new qualifying format on Pole Day, in which the nine fastest cars have a 90-minute shootout for the pole, should be very interesting and a hell of a lot of fun.

•Song of the Week: This week’s top tune is offered with my tongue firmly in cheek: It’s the Judas Priest classic, “Breaking the Law,” in honor of Michael Schumacher actually showing the stones for trying to steal a position and getting his knuckles rapped.

Until next time, keep your eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel … and don’t forget to visit IMS on Facebook at www.facebook.com/IndianapolisMotorSpeedway and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/IndyTalk.

A funny idea swept through my brain over a light beer – YUCK, but buddies brought a ton of it to my house May 1 for the Mayweather-Mosley fight, and you never turn down free beer – while watching the Showtime Southern 500 on Saturday from Darlington.

Why the hell didn’t ISC, SMI and any other groups who have built racetracks in the last 20 years build an odd-shaped oval like Darlington?

Of all the ovals built in the last 20 years, I can only think of four that didn’t feature symmetrical turns – Gateway, Motegi (Japan), Lausitzring (Germany) and Rockingham (UK). Three of those four tracks are in Asia and Europe, where oval racing is about as popular as cricket in the U.S. Every other oval built since 1990 is the answer to a geometry exam – perfect symmetry between Turns 1 and 2 and 3 and 4.

Why?

Darlington is a fantastic racetrack. It’s a man’s track. A place that separates those who can drive from those who can’t. It has character. It has the “Darlington stripe.” It has large, large incisors that can bite at any time. If racetracks were Animal Planet programs, Darlington would be the one about piranhas in the Amazon or killer hippos on acid in Kenya.

Sure, Jeff Gordon, Jamie McMurray and Kyle Busch were the dominant drivers in the Southern 500 Saturday night before Denny Hamlin – who lingered near the front all night – drove away for victory, completing the weekend sweep of the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races. But this still was a fascinating race – one of the best all season.

Sorry, but I’ll take a race at Darlington over a race at Talladega. Any. Day. Of. The. Week.

Talladega is an aerodynamic lottery. Success there is based on drafting and luck. It’s not really based on the workings of a driver’s right and left feet.

At Darlington, drivers need to pedal the living cow manure out of the car. If I closed my eyes a few times during in-car shots Saturday night from drivers exiting corners, I would have thought I was watching an NHRA Funny Car driver pedal a car losing traction at the 60-foot mark. These dudes were pedaling the hell out of their COT’s, as DW and Larry Mac reminded us numerous times.

Plus it was fascinating to see the speed differential between drivers on fresh and worn tires. It’s probably the most dramatic of any track in NASCAR.

Darlington is a superspeedway that races like a short track, as DW said. How perfect is that? And why didn’t anyone else come up with the obvious idea to build an odd-shaped oval?

•Formula One: Thankfully Darlington was a good show, as the Formula One race at Barcelona was a race made for DVR or TiVo. Thank God for fast-forward, otherwise that race would have been a waste of two hours.

It says everything about the quality of a race when the best overtaking zone was the exit of pit lane. Seriously – that was the only place I saw any action, and one of the only places where you heard SPEED commentator Steve Matchett spurt his customary spasm, “GO ON, SON … (gurgle) … COME ON, SON … (gurgle) … YESSSSSSSS!”

Mark Webber ran away from the front for a victory, as Adrian Newey has built another uber-car that is becoming less brittle by the week. At this rate, the biggest question regarding F1 will be which Red Bull driver wins the World Championship.

The only remaining question is when – or if – Michael Schumacher will step on the podium. The European F1 press hailed Schumacher’s fourth-place finish Sunday at Barcelona as his “comeback race.” Funny, a fourth place would have been considered a failure during the Weltmeister era of Schumi. And Michael was a minute behind Webber at the finish Sunday.

Expect more tedium this weekend at Monaco. It’s the most overrated motor race on planet Earth, hands down. The first driver into the Ste. Devote corner on Lap 1 probably will win, as it’s damn near impossible to pass at Monaco. Sure, it’s a visual spectacle, with the large yachts, mega babes and Robin Leach “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” set everywhere.

But it’s a crap motor race. The idea of modern F1 cars running on a street circuit tighter than two coats of paint isn’t charming. It isn’t nostalgic. It’s ridiculous.

Still, there’s cause for huge hope and optimism for race fans worldwide, as Indianapolis Star Opening Day for the 2010 Indianapolis 500 is this Saturday, May 15. Indy is just about here, and I can’t wait.

•Song of the Week: With Opening Day for the Indianapolis 500 just five days away, there’s only one song bouncing around my rocky brain this week. The theme to “Delta Force.” To me, that means INDY! Here’s a classic opening to the ABC broadcast of the 1992 Indianapolis 500, with “Delta Force” pulsating throughout.

Until next time, keep your eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel … and don’t forget to visit IMS on Twitter and IMS on Facebook.

The Toyota Grand Prix

I’m a firm believer in racing karma, good and bad. And both kinds of karma were on display last weekend in the NASCAR Sprint Cup, IZOD IndyCar Series and MotoGP races.

NASCAR made its first of two trips this season to the Southwest for the Subway 600K last Saturday night at Phoenix International Raceway. Rowdy, er, Kyle Busch dominated the race, looking to pull off a sweep of the Nationwide and Cup races.

But then that thing called karma entered the building.

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I’m a firm believer in racing karma, good and bad. And both kinds of karma were on display last weekend in the NASCAR Sprint Cup, IZOD IndyCar Series and MotoGP races.

NASCAR made its first of two trips this season to the Southwest for the Subway 600K last Saturday night at Phoenix International Raceway. Rowdy, er, Kyle Busch dominated the race, looking to pull off a sweep of the Nationwide and Cup races.

But then that thing called karma entered the building.

Busch took the lead on Lap 262 and stayed out front until a late caution flew after Scott Riggs hit the wall. The newest strategic fad in NASCAR, cars diving on to pit road for four tires to prepare for the mayhem of a green-white-checkered finish, then kicked into gear on Lap 373.

But seven teams only took two tires, and Busch’s wasn’t one of them. So he fell out of the lead and could only manage to finish eighth after the green-white-checkered finish. South Bend native Ryan Newman out-dragged honorary Hoosier Jeff Gordon on the final restart and drove to his first victory since George W. Bush was in the Oval Office – the 2008 Daytona 500.

Busch was fuming and refused to talk with anyone after the race. Then again, Kyle does that even in the best of times.

Still, it was bad karma for Rowdy. And it also might have been a balancing act by the racing gods.

Busch won the Nationwide race Friday night with a spirited, memorable charge, gaining 10 spots over the last seven laps. Busch was forced to slice and dice for victory after NASCAR penalized him for failing to restart within the designated restart zone on the 1-mile desert oval. Busch was irate on the radio, creating an oil painting with a palette of four-letter words, inferring that he was less than pleased with the sanctioning body.

“All I know is I paid NASCAR back by winning,” Busch said after the race.

And karma paid you back Saturday night, Kyle.

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This week’s blog is all about deception: What you saw last weekend in racing may not be reality.

First, let’s start with the exciting IZOD IndyCar Series race at St. Petersburg. There were a few fans commenting on Facebook, Twitter and various Internet forums that the race should have been run Sunday despite the rain in the Tampa Bay area. These cars have rain tires – run! Stop being such wimps and weasels – run!

Get a grip, please. I was in St. Petersburg for the race, and there was no way in heaven or hell that the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg could have taken place Sunday afternoon. St. Petersburg received 4 inches of rain that afternoon and evening, and there were 6 inches of standing water on the exit of Turn 9. Last time I checked, Miss Budweiser and Chip Hanauer weren’t on the entry list.

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Quiet weekend of racing on the schedule last weekend, with only NASCAR at Bristol and the American Le Mans Series roaring to life with the 12 Hours of Sebring.

Quiet? Bristol? As the immortal Gary Coleman said in “Different Strokes,” “What you talkin’ bout, Willis?”

Yep. Bristol was quiet. I’m not sure if it was the eye of the hurricane after the infamous Crazy Carl-Bad Brad incident two weeks ago at Atlanta, yet another win for Jimmie Johnson or the alarming number of empty seats, but the Food City 500 on Sunday at Bristol seemed like a pretty quiet race.

Once again, Johnson stuck around near the front for most of the race, and he and crew chief Chad Knaus made the right call – do they ever get it wrong? – to take four tires on the last stop. But Johnson still needed to scythe through a thicket of traffic over the last 10 laps to get to the front, and he did it in quick time. It was as brilliant of a display of power driving in a stock car that you might see all year. Mate that with a wizard atop the pit box in Knaus, and this combination is almost impossible to beat right now with three victories in the first five races of the season.

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Open-wheel racing revved to life this weekend with the Formula One season debut in the desert of Bahrain and the IZOD IndyCar Series opener in the concrete-and-asphalt jungle of Sao Paulo.

First, the facts. Fernando Alonso won in his Ferrari debut at Bahrain, and Will Power won in his debut as a full-time Penske driver at Brazil.

Enough of that. It’s time to dive into the pool of subjectivity, which usually is murkier than an act of contrition from Carl Edwards. And while it’s only one race, it would have been tough to see a clearer demarcation line between F1 and the IZOD IndyCar Series than the two races on display in beautiful high-def in my basement Sunday afternoon.

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“There’s an age-old saying in NASCAR: ‘If you ain’t rubbing, you ain’t racing. I think that’s what the NASCAR fan, the NASCAR stakeholders all bought into and all expect.” – NASCAR President Mike Helton, Jan. 21, 2010

“Boys, have at it, and have a good time.” – NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton, Jan. 21, 2010

NASCAR made a point during its preseason media tour in January to proclaim it was putting the racing back into the hands of its drivers after a few years of fan cries that rules were squeezing the life out of what should be a full-contact motorsport.

Bump-drafting? Fine and dandy. Tradin’ paint? Get it on. Using the chrome horn as a passing device? Go for it.

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