Q: Alex Palou moves to McLaren next year. What are his chances of skipping Arrow McLaren and going straight to F1 with Lando Norris?
Michael Woodall
CHRIS MEDLAND: Honestly, as close to zero as you can get. I’m wary of saying something is impossible given some of the silly seasons we’ve had in F1, but Oscar Piastri is doing a really impressive job and McLaren is delighted with him. He really is an investment in the future but is already performing extremely close to Norris’ level, and Norris is still showing his quality with performance such as in Austria despite the car having been uncompetitive up to now. McLaren believes it has its driver lineup for the next few years as long as it can provide the car to keep them happy, and as incredible as Palou’s form is I don’t see it moving either of its young talents aside for him in 2024.
I’d say the most likely chance for Palou at McLaren would come if Norris left for a more competitive seat after 2024, because if the team was happy with Piastri’s performances and potential it could maintain continuity with him, and would have learned a little bit more about Palou at that point.
Q: I went to my first race at Nashville Superspeedway and I have to say I loved it! The facility was top-notch, the later start time kept us out of the heat (which honestly was the main reason I decided to go this year), and the racing itself was fantastic.
However, I can’t help but be frustrated that there is a big push inside the sport to replace Nashville Superspeedway with Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway. I know the Fairgrounds has historic value and is inside Nashville proper, but compared to Nashville Superspeedway, the Fairgrounds is a dump. I went to the first SRX race there and afterwards I swore I’d never go back, it was that bad. My friend and I were even talking about this before the race yesterday and a lady sitting in front of us turned around and said, “Hey, I’ve been to the Fairgrounds, and I have to agree with you. That place is a wreck!”
In addition to the condition of the Fairgrounds, it’s also a much smaller facility. The Fairgrounds officially claims that it can seat 15k people (which I think is a stretch, and also includes no camping spaces), while Nashville Superspeedway lists its capacity at 38k. Why would NASCAR and SMI want to trade a track that sells out 38k seats plus camping for one that tops out at 15k seats and provides no camping (and reportedly urgently needs at least $40 million in renovations)? That’s like trading a new Target for an old Dollar General. Makes no sense.
With the sellout crowd and the good show that was put on this June, I can only hope that NASCAR and SMI will see the light and keep Nashville Superspeedway on the schedule for years to come.
Garrick, Huntsville, AL
KELLY CRANDALL: Nashville Superspeedway is fantastic and the folks there are great hosts. So, let me hopefully set you at ease, Garrick. There is no guarantee that if Nashville Fairgrounds gets a race that it would be at the expense of Nashville Superspeedway. Of course, having two races in that market seems unlikely, but it’s not impossible.
Marcus Smith was visiting with fans at the tweetup at Nashville and, when asked about the Fairgrounds, said, “we have options” regarding where the race date comes from, and we know how creative Smith can be. The Fairgrounds is for the nostalgic race fans, just like North Wilkesboro was. It’s about short tracks and NASCAR history. Yes, it’s going to take a lot of money to make happen, but so did North Wilkesboro. Yes, it doesn’t seat as many, but a smaller audience isn’t a bad thing — just as North Wilkesboro showed. I would say when it comes to the Fairgrounds, we need to wait and see what happens as there are still many things that need to happen before it gets a date.
Q: Can we please stop with the NASCAR safety talk? NASCAR ignored every bit of the Dale Earnhardt investigation and built solid cars. When drivers reported seemingly minor impacts giving them concussions, NASCAR told them they would get used to it. NASCAR also said that going to the single-lug wheels would prevent wheels from coming off. Not only has it not reduced the number, the number has increased. If NASCAR was serious it would do something about it, but it doesn’t.
I’m not a knee-jerk kind of guy but how about if a car leaves its pit spot with a loose wheel, the car is DQ’d? No points, no money, nothing. For a second offense in a year, the car and driver are suspended for two weeks and the driver is not eligible for the playoffs.
Harsh? Yes, but you can’t say this is for safety and do nothing.
Mike, Northern CA
KC: There is a lot to digest here, Mike. First off, those are harsh penalties and are not needed. NASCAR never said the single lug was to make the wheels come off, the single lug was necessary when it came to having a stronger wheel to go with Next Gen because the car is putting more load on the parts. It’s a simple operator error when a wheel is loose, and I’m not sure you can say the numbers are higher than with five lug nuts. Mistakes happen, and loose wheels happen. There were only 14 total wheel penalties in 2022 from 13 different teams. So, that’s 14 penalties from 38 races from 36 to 40 car fields with multiple pit stops a race. There have been five penalties through 18 races this season. There have actually been more penalties for modifications to the Next Gen car this year than for wheels.
As for safety, NASCAR never ignored anything after Dale Earnhardt’s death. That is completely inaccurate. Do you not see how many safety advancements came from that incident? The car alone has changed iterations multiple times. NASCAR also never said drivers would get used to harder hits — that’s laughable. Officials were continually working on the car after more and more data and feedback came in. It took time for those changes to be implemented, but they did happen. And NASCAR continues to do work when things happen — just look at the Ryan Preece/Kyle Larson crash from Talladega Superspeedway.
The FINAL WORD
From Robin Miller’s Mailbag, July 5, 2017
Q: My question why, in the year 2017, Indy cars don’t have the cameras and technology to detect cars in blind spots? I’m surprised that one of the high-tech autonomous car driving companies have not at least attempted to install that tech in a race car for testing and demo purposes to showcase perfect lap times and racing lines, etc. Maybe I’m dreaming, but I would love to see something like a Scott Dixon vs. a self driving race car match race just once.
Dave Pisula, Westerville, OH
ROBIN MILLER: God, we have paddle shifting, push-to-pass, pit speed limiters and spotters so I’m hopeful we can at least keep awareness as part of a driver’s acumen. Sure it’s tough to see on some (all) ovals but a racer worth his salt should always have a pretty good feel for where his competitors are on the track. A match race like you suggest could be interesting and a nice little feature for television.