This holiday weekend they ran three races from two series on three sweltering days at that ancient pile on the corner of Georgetown Road and 16th Street, and here's what we know about that now: Heresy ain't heresy anymore.
Traditions are traditions but they are elastic at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and so the yard of brick did not burst into flames when American racing's matter (IndyCar) and anti-matter (NASCAR) occupied the same patch of ground. The Borg-Warner Trophy did not melt like a Nazi's face at the end of "Raiders of the Lost Ark." There was no discernible turning over in graves from Wilbur Shaw or Louis Meyer or any of that bunch.
Scott Dixon won a yawner of an IndyCar Grand Prix, a Hoosier (Chase Briscoe from Gus Grissom's hometown of Mitchell) won the Xfinity race, and Kevin Harvick won his second straight Brickyard 400 when Denny Hamlin crashed with seven laps to run. And we all learned a few things.
Primarily, that all y'all should listen to me once in awhile.
("Once a century work for you?" you're saying)
I've been beating the drums for sometime now that NASCAR needs to move the Brickyard off the oval, where it's largely a crashing bore, and run it on the Speedway infield road course. Having sat through too many Tournament of Roses parades on Brickyard day, it's become painfully obvious that the oval just isn't cut out for compelling racing by the tintop crowd. Too flat, straightaways are too long, the guy out front can just drive away. Yada-yada-yada.
The road course would be far more interesting. That's always seemed clear to me.
And now I've got evidence.
NASCAR ran the Xfinity race Saturday on the infield course, and, well, did you catch the closing laps of it? Guys bumping and banging, guys jockeying for position, Briscoe finding a hole and shooting the gap for the win. Racin', in other words, and not just followin'.
If you missed it, check it out. And then tell me I haven't been right all these years.
I know, it's hard. But you can do it.
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