Second-class, again

 At least there's this, if you're the red-headed stepchild that is IndyCar racing: Second place still gets you on the podium.

Which is to say FOX Sports dissed Alex Palou, Pato O'Ward and the gang again on Sunday, for the second week in a row. IndyCar was forced to push back its start in Portland 37 minutes because Fox was sticking with the latest LIV golf exhibition, another of the properties Fox owns.

Seems the LIV event went extra holes, and Fox, rather than switching to the race, stayed with the golf. Some guy named Dean beat Jon Rahm and some guy named Josele for the win in the playoff.

Meanwhile, Fox gave IndyCar the old "Yeah, yeah, we'll get to you, just hold your horses" treatment. Which likely surprised some folks in Portland, because FOX Sports had made such a big deal about buying the TV rights last winter, and further demonstrated its commitment by last month buying a $135 million stake in Penske Entertainment, which runs the IndyCar show.

Portland, in fact, was Fox's first broadcast as an official stakeholder. But, wait, first let's make sure our audience doesn't miss Dean Something's epic golf win.

Needless to say, this was not a popular decision in the paddock at Portland. Especially after the IndyCar start at Laguna Seca also got  pushed back because Fox was doing something else.

"This is the second time this has happened," Scott Dixon said Sunday, voicing the general sentiment among both IndyCar participants and fans. "I'm really disappointed in the way Fox handled IndyCar. It feels like we're being pushed aside."

Or at the very least, co-opted. Dixon, in fact, called FOX Sports buying a stake in IndyCar a "disaster," and he wasn't alone. It means Fox now has more control over the product than even broadcast rights traditionally give a network. Prioritizing a golf exhibition tour hardly anyone watches immediately suggests that sort of control will not be a good thing for IndyCar.

In which case, Dixon might not be as over-the-top as he sounded when he used the D-word to describe this stakeholder business.

Doubtless some of that had to with the fact it's Roger Penske and Co. who run IndyCar, and Dixon drives for Penske's longtime rival Chip Ganassi. But FOX Sports buying a stake in the series means FOX Sports is going to be around for awhile, and if it wants to treat IndyCar as a second-class citizen, then a second-class citizen is what IndyCar will be for that same while.

Which is familiar ground for IndyCar, unfortunately.

Its reign as the premier motorsports series in America ended with the mid-1990s divorce between Tony George and CART, and the concurrent rise of NASCAR. It's been No. 2 ever since. Even NASCAR's own diminished market share, and the recent influx of dazzling new talent in IndyCar, have failed to tip the scales in the latter's favor.

Partly this is because entertainment choices have exploded in the last 30 years. But let's be honest here: Mostly it's because IndyCar has consistently displayed an abiding talent for getting in its own way.

So, yeah, the second tier seems to be its home, again. Or still. Whether it likes it or not, IndyCar is the guy who shows up every week dressed to the nines -- top hat, tails,  the whole package -- only to be seated at table 27 back by the service elevator.

Damn shame, that. And damn FOX Sports thoroughly, while we're at it.

But, hey. At least on Fox, we'll never have to miss a single Dean Something wedge. So we've got that going for us.