Memorial Day weekend is the biggest race weekend of the season, with the Monaco Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on tap.
It makes for quite the day of racing. One could get out of bed Sunday morning, sit down on the couch and not leave that couch until nearly midnight. Not every day that you can do that.
Today, we’ll look at NBC’s broadcast of the Indianapolis 500. Tomorrow, this space will check FOX’s broadcast of the Coca-Cola 600.
The action on Sunday (May 26) was fast and furious, very competitive. It was a swell race to watch and very exciting. Too bad it didn’t run on time.
The last lap was incredibly exciting, and Leigh Diffey brought his A-game to the booth. I know that some people (including my own mother) find him annoying, but his excitement brings gravitas to events.
The race itself was incident plagued at times, but quite competitive. The 49 lead changes are the fourth-most in the Indianapolis 500 (the record is 68, from 2013).
Strategy was the name of the game. A number of drivers who started toward the back of the field got themselves off sequence in order to try to improve their standing. As a result, viewers saw quite a bit of Conor Daly and Sting Ray Robb at the front of the field. NBC did a pretty good job presenting the various strategies and how they could play out.
As you can imagine, Kyle Larson was a big story. Anyone attempting the Indianapolis Motor Speedway-Charlotte Motor Speedway double is going to be notable, but Larson kicks it up a notch. Viewers got an interview with him in the motorcoach lot, but there were a bunch of technical issues, so it was difficult to figure out what he was saying.
After the rains came, Larson made the determination that he was going to stay and run the race regardless.
For now, that move cost Larson the points lead in the NASCAR Cup Series. Stay tuned to see if there are any more repercussions down the line.
Later on, Scott Dixon, the overlord of fuel conservation, got himself off sequence and was really good to win the race. Had Will Power not crashed to bring out the last yellow with 53 laps to go, Dixon very well could have won. At the bare minimum, a number of the strongest drivers early in the race had bad strategies and ended up stuck down the order.
If there’s one thing that I would have really liked to get more information on, it is the engine issues with the Hondas. A number of teams, especially early on,…
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