Motorsports

Gluck: Indy 500 showdown shows F1 flying too close to the motorsports sun

Critics have labeled Formula One as arrogant and elitist at times, which can seem unfair. Then you see decisions like the one F1 made with its 2026 calendar on Tuesday and think: “Eh, maybe not.” F1’s 2026 schedule features a breathtakingly disrespectful move: a direct head-to-head conflict between the Indianapolis 500 and the Canadian Grand […]

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1 month ago

June 10, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Critics have labeled Formula One as arrogant and elitist at times, which can seem unfair. Then you see decisions like the one F1 made with its 2026 calendar on Tuesday and think: “Eh, maybe not.”

F1’s 2026 schedule features a breathtakingly disrespectful move: a direct head-to-head conflict between the Indianapolis 500 and the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal — seemingly at the same time, on the same day, on the same continent.

The Indy 500 typically has a start time of 12:45 p.m. ET and runs for about three hours. This weekend is, coincidentally, the Canadian GP in Montreal. It has a start time of 2 p.m. ET, and a typical F1 race lasts about 90 minutes to two hours. If those time slots remain next year, they’ll directly overlap for the entirety of the F1 race.

F1 doesn’t appear to care. In a post-“Drive to Survive” world, the series has become an international behemoth, gaining a substantial fan following in the United States. A country in which Michael Schumacher could once go completely unrecognized now hosts three grands prix and sees the drivers treated like rock stars; fans pay record-breaking ticket prices and shell out jaw-dropping amounts of money for merchandise sales just to be part of the trendiest sport on the planet.

F1 immediately becomes the biggest event at each stop around the world. At the top of the motorsports food chain, F1’s actions give the impression of a lion that does not fight with hyenas.

Except in this environment, shouldn’t F1 care? It’s not as if F1 leaders are unaware of the Indy 500; the race is part of the Triple Crown of Motorsport, along with the 24 Hours of Le Mans (sports cars) and F1’s Monaco Grand Prix. Two-time F1 world champion Fernando Alonso skipped Monaco for two years to try to win Indy — which would have been his third crown jewel.

And yet F1 — which is owned by an American company, Colorado-based Liberty Media — is now choosing to trample over what many regard as the biggest auto race in the world.

Sure, maybe it won’t hurt Indy domestically. Montreal probably isn’t going to pull many U.S. fans away from the 500, which had a sellout crowd of nearly 350,000 people this year and got its highest TV viewership in 17 years (more than 7 million people). Montreal had 1.8 million viewers in the U.S. last June.

Even F1 drivers look forward to the Indy 500 every year. (James Gilbert / Getty Images)

Still, why would F1 even consider this? Its calendar needed to have the Miami Grand Prix and Montreal paired to reduce travel headaches, but why not move Miami one week earlier to avoid an obvious conflict between Montreal and Indy? Instead of weighing the optics, F1 never hit the brakes on its quest for motorsports domination and plowed right into a head-to-head battle with one of the most cherished traditions on the international racing calendar.

Maybe F1, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, forgot the Indy 500 always runs on the last Sunday of May. Easy to do. After all, the Indy 500 has only been around for 109 years.

Motorsports fans are constantly pitted against one another by those who argue one series is superior or claim another is inferior, when the reality is that a racing fan should be a racing fan. Each series offers something unique, and the racing world isn’t big enough to tear itself apart; motorsports are at their best when fans get to sit down and watch a variety of series.

That was no better illustrated than during the annual “Motorsports Christmas” in the United States, when even NASCAR fans would get up early to watch the Monaco GP before the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 as part of their annual tripleheader tradition. In fact, when F1 announced in November that Monaco would move to June starting in 2026, there was even speculation it would clear the way for an interested F1 driver to race at Indy.

Who would have thought the actual development would be to run an F1 race at the same time?

This is the exact type of thing that happens when a racing series begins to fly too close to the sun. And F1 sure is soaring. Liberty Media reported the sport’s revenue rose to $3.65 billion in 2024. The summer blockbuster F1 movie starring Brad Pitt will be released in late June. The series just struck huge deals with Disney and Pepsi. Brands and celebrities alike are falling all over themselves to be associated with F1.

F1’s business is thriving. (Clive Rose / Getty Images)

It seems like there’s nothing that can slow F1’s speed, and maybe that’s true. But it’s worth reminding everyone what happened to NASCAR in the early 2000s.

Back then, NASCAR was the hottest sport in America and had designs on challenging the NFL for sports supremacy in the United States (yes, this was really a thing at the time). “Cars” and “Talladega Nights” were summer blockbusters in the same year. Jeff Gordon hosted “Saturday Night Live” in 2003. Racetracks could not build enough seats for the millions who attended races each year. Fortune 500 companies flocked to have their logos on race cars in $30 million deals.

But NASCAR overestimated the strength and longevity of its popularity, and suddenly, the general public moved on to the next thing. Almost overnight, NASCAR was no longer cool in pop culture. TV ratings tanked. Companies left. Racetracks “right-sized” their venues by removing grandstands.

NASCAR has spent nearly the last 20 years trying to overcome some of the poor decision-making brought on by greed, ego and a belief that their run was only just beginning.

F1 isn’t going to take a dive anytime soon. Even if Americans tune out at some point, it’s still wildly popular around the world and will remain so for quite some time.

But the motorsports ecosystem is fragile, and every racing series is only a few poor decisions away from steering itself toward the wall at high speed. Choosing to challenge the Indy 500 seems like one of those choices for F1.

(Top photos of Josef Newgarden and Max Verstappen: Justin Casterline / Getty Images; Mark Thompson / Getty Images)

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Motorsports

Lonsdale Sports Arena first sanctioned stock-car race in North

Sights and sounds from NASCAR Cup Series Race Day at Talladega Superspeedway Sights and sounds from NASCAR Cup Series Race Day at Talladega Superspeedway as the Jack Links 500 runs on Sunday afternoon. The Lonsdale Sports Arena in Cumberland, Rhode Island, hosted the first sanctioned stock car race outside the South in 1947. Fonty Flock […]

Published

13 minutes ago

July 23, 2025

Your Sports Nation

The Lonsdale Sports Arena in Cumberland, Rhode Island, hosted the first sanctioned stock car race outside the South in 1947.
Fonty Flock won the national championship race at the arena, witnessed by 18,000 spectators.
The arena, built on a former sand and gravel mine, also hosted other sporting events, including a record-breaking high school football game.

CUMBERLAND – What is now a shopping plaza that includes a Stop & Shop and a McDonald’s holds a noted place in American auto racing history: It is the site of the first sanctioned stock car race in the United States outside the South.

Not only would the first stock car races in the North be held in Cumberland, but the national championship would be decided there.

On Oct. 26, 1947, Fonty Flock, of Atlanta, won the national championship race on the one-third-mile, high-banked, paved oval track of the Lonsdale Sports Arena off Mendon Road on the bank of the Blackstone River, just downstream from Pratt Dam.

A crowd of 18,000 watched the seven races that Sunday afternoon, part of a program sanctioned by National Stock Car Circuit head Bill France, who, a couple of months later, would become head of the newly formed NASCAR, the governing body of stock car auto racing.

Only days before the history-making auto races, Lonsdale Sports Arena made history in another sport: The bowl-shaped arena hosted 32,000 spectators in what was the largest football crowd ever in Rhode Island at that time, as Cranston High School beat La Salle Academy, 20-2. The huge crowd snarled traffic for hours in the area.

Edward A. McNulty, a Pawtucket contractor, bought the site in 1934 and used it to mine sand and gravel for his road-building business. In 1947, he built the track to host midget-car races. Two years later, McNulty won Lincoln Town Council approval to open a drive-in movie theater in Lonsdale, just across the Blackstone River from his race track.

While the late 1940s were the heyday for the race track, it was doomed to a life of less than a decade. Being so close to the Blackstone River meant the track was prone to flooding. It closed in 1956.

And, although Bill France sanctioned the first stock car races at Lonsdale months before founding NASCAR, no record could be found of a NASCAR-sanctioned race ever being held there.

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Motorsports

Best In The Desert’s Legendary Vegas-to-Reno Race to Launch on Revolutionary Motorsports Platform, WatchParty

Press Release | July 22, 2025 Best In The Desert announces that the upcoming Vegas-to-Reno race will debut with full integration on WatchParty, the motorsports entertainment platform designed to unify and elevate the way fans, teams, and promoters experience live racing. This is a press release from BITD… Las Vegas, NV (July 21, 2025) — Best In The Desert is proud to […]

Published

28 minutes ago

July 23, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Press Release | July 22, 2025

Best In The Desert announces that the upcoming Vegas-to-Reno race will debut with full integration on WatchParty, the motorsports entertainment platform designed to unify and elevate the way fans, teams, and promoters experience live racing.

Best In The Desert Vegas to Reno Race WatchParty

This is a press release from BITD…

Las Vegas, NV (July 21, 2025) — Best In The Desert is proud to announce that the upcoming Vegas-to-Reno race—one of the most iconic and demanding off-road events in North America—will debut with full integration on WatchParty, the groundbreaking motorsports entertainment platform designed to unify and elevate the way fans, teams, and promoters experience live racing.

For years, off-road racing fans have had to cobble together a race-day experience from scattered sources—jumping between team Instagram stories, third-party trackers, race organizer websites, and delayed social media updates—making it nearly impossible to follow the full story of a race as it unfolds. Even teams and promoters have struggled with fragmented communication and limited fan engagement tools.

WatchParty changes that. For the first time in desert racing history, everything is in one place.

“Vegas-to-Reno is one of the longest single-day off-road races in the U.S., and now it’s going to set a new standard for how the world watches off-road racing,” said Bryan Folks, CMO of Best In The Desert. “This partnership with WatchParty gives our fans, our racers, and our staff a single, integrated command center for everything—video, data, tracking, you name it.”

WatchParty is built from the ground up to serve the needs of modern motorsports fans and professionals. The platform offers:

Multi-Feed Video Canvas – Watch from every angle with feeds from official broadcasts, in-car cameras, drones, and on-course camera ops.
Immersive 3D Tracking & Streaming Integration – Real-time competitor positions overlaid on interactive terrain maps alongside live feeds.
Instant Timing, Scoring & Leaderboards – Immediate access to race stats with customizable leaderboards and social media integration.
Community-Driven Experience – Integrated feeds from Instagram, Race-Dezert forums, and other social channels fuel the conversation without ever leaving the app.

“WatchParty was designed to fix a broken experience,” said Dustin Camilleri, Co-Founder of WatchParty. “You shouldn’t need three apps, five browser tabs, and a spreadsheet to follow your favorite off-road race. Now you don’t.”

This race will also mark the beginning of a limited-time free trial period for WatchParty, allowing fans to explore the full range of features. While core functionality will remain free, subscription-based upgrades and premium features will be introduced in the coming months to support ongoing development and expanded race coverage.

With Vegas-to-Reno as its proving ground, WatchParty aims to redefine how desert racing is consumed and celebrated—putting power and personalization in the hands of every viewer, while giving teams and promoters a centralized, professional-grade tool for delivering and managing coverage.

Fans can access the full Vegas-to-Reno experience live on WatchParty from race day through final results. Additional platform announcements and future event integrations are expected in the coming months.

Click here for all the latest Desert Racing news.

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Motorsports

NASCAR on The CW Hits Impressive Viewership Milestone 20 Races Into the Season

What’s Happening? Following the race at Dover, the CW finished the 20th race of its inaugural full season of NASCAR Xfinity Series coverage. In doing so, the network, the newest to the NASCAR lineup, has achieved 16 races with more than 1 million viewers through its first 20 races. The CW says the rain-shortened Dover […]

Published

29 minutes ago

July 23, 2025

Your Sports Nation

What’s Happening?

Following the race at Dover, the CW finished the 20th race of its inaugural full season of NASCAR Xfinity Series coverage. In doing so, the network, the newest to the NASCAR lineup, has achieved 16 races with more than 1 million viewers through its first 20 races.

Saturday’s rain-shortened race at Dover Motor Speedway saw Connor Zilisch walk away with his fourth win of the season and his first short track win of his National Series career. On the broadcast side, the CW, which is broadcasting NASCAR for the first time as part of a new media rights deal, drew in 1.047 million viewers.
While the CW’s consistency in scoring 1 million or more viewers is impressive, this race, the 20th of the season, gave the CW 16 races so far this season with over 1 million viewers. This means that the network has had over 1 million viewers tune in for over 75% of races so far this season.
Xfinity Series viewership is up 16.854% compared to available viewership data from 2024. This boost in viewership came as promised to NASCAR fans. In the months following the announcement of the partnership between NASCAR and the CW, NASCAR officials often spoke about the CW’s large broadcast network, leading most fans to expect a rise in viewership and exposure for NASCAR’s secondary series.
Despite early issues with local networks, including production errors and conflicting broadcasts, the CW started the season with an impressive 13-race streak of more than 1 million viewers. However, it is worth noting that since the streak ended at Nashville Superspeedway, the network has had over 1 million viewers in only three of the past six races.

What do you think about this? Let us know your opinion on Discord or X. Don’t forget that you can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

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Motorsports

NASCAR Changes Rule Amidst Lawsuit | Connor Zilisch Continues To Impress

Out of the Groove is the No. 1 NASCAR News and Talk Show on YouTube. With fresh episodes produced daily, Eric’s audience — the Groovy Gang — tunes in daily not only to stay up to speed with the sport, but also to be a part of the spirited and fun online conversation. Out of […]

Published

50 minutes ago

July 23, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Out of the Groove consistently delivers the latest stories from around the NASCAR world, including Cup, Xfinity, Trucks, and ARCA. Out of the Groove is the best YouTube series for fans who want to stay in the know!

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Motorsports

How to Watch the NASCAR Cup Series Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to hallowed ground this weekend, competing in the Brickyard 400 presented by PPG at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Find out how to watch the race this Sunday, July 27 and see who joins the list of Brickyard 400 winners, and who claims the $1 million prize in the NASCAR In-Season Challenge. […]

Published

1 hour ago

July 23, 2025

Your Sports Nation

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to hallowed ground this weekend, competing in the Brickyard 400 presented by PPG at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Find out how to watch the race this Sunday, July 27 and see who joins the list of Brickyard 400 winners, and who claims the $1 million prize in the NASCAR In-Season Challenge.

Kyle Larson (5) celebrates his win by kissing the Yard of Bricks following the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Brickyard 400 presented by PPG is the fifth and final race of the inaugural NASCAR In-Season Challenge. Ty Dillon will race against Ty Gibbs for the $1 million championship prize, with the higher finisher between the two drivers in the race claiming the award.

This will be the final NASCAR Cup Series race televised on TNT for the 2025 season as the In-Season Challenge concludes. The green flag waves at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 27.

Both practice and qualifying coverage for the Brickyard 400 will be on truTV. Practice takes place on Friday, July 25, at 1:05 p.m. ET, while qualifying is Saturday, July 26 at 2:35 p.m. ET.

Cole Custer (00) and Riley Herbst (98) lead the field through turn one on the first lap of the Pennzoil 250.

Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK

This weekend in will also see the NASCAR Xfinity Series racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as well as the return of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at nearby Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Saturday’s Pennzoil 250 for the NASCAR Xfinity Series airs at 4:30 p.m. ET on The CW Network. Qualifying will air at 1 p.m. on Saturday on the CW App.

If you are having difficulty finding The CW Network, click here for a station guide from The CW, which will show you the tune-in info for The CW in your region. All you have to do is enter your zip code into the station guide.

Meanwhile, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and ARCA Menards Series both race at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday, July 25. Coverage on FS1 begins at 3:05 p.m. ET with NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series practice, and includes Truck Series qualifying and both races.

The ARCA Menards Series is scheduled to take the green flag at 5:30 p.m. ET for the LIUNA! 150 presented by Dutch Boy. The TSport 200 for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET.

Friday, July 25

Time	Session	TV
12:05 p.m. ET	NASCAR Xfinity Series Practice	CW App
1:05 p.m. ET	NASCAR Cup Series Practice	truTV
3:05 p.m. ET	NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Practice	FS1
4:10 p.m. ET	NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Qualifying	FS1
5:30 p.m. ET	ARCA Menards Series LIUNA! 150 presented by Dutch Boy	FS1
8 p.m. ET	NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series TSport 200	FS1

Saturday, July 26

Time	Session	TV
1 p.m. ET	NASCAR Xfinity Series Qualifying	CW App
2:35 p.m. ET	NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying	truTV
4:30 p.m. ET	NASCAR Xfinity Series Pennzoil 250	The CW Network

Sunday, July 27

Time	Session	TV
2 p.m. ET	NASCAR Cup Series Brickyard 400 Presented by PPG	TNT

Motorsports

ARCA IRP Entry List

The ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series East are back on track this weekend for the LiUNA! 150 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, a combination event between the two series. There are 35 cars entered for the race. Lanie Buice returns in the No. 2 for Rev Racing. City Garage Motorsports is back […]

Published

2 hours ago

July 23, 2025

Your Sports Nation

The ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series East are back on track this weekend for the LiUNA! 150 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, a combination event between the two series.

There are 35 cars entered for the race.

Lanie Buice returns in the No. 2 for Rev Racing.

City Garage Motorsports is back at the track, with Michael Clayton and Becca Monopoli piloting the Nos. 5 and 85, respectively.

Kadence Davenport will drive the No. 7 for CCM Racing. Davenport has one prior main-series start and will be making her East debut.

Cody Dennison returns to Fast Track Racing in the No. 9. FTR’s No. 01 is entered without a driver.

2025 ARCA Dover Brenden Queen trophy (Credit: Bonnie Cash/ARCA Racing used with permission)

ARCA Power Rankings: Brenden Queen 4 Trophies, 1st in Points

Mason Mitchell is in the No. 25 for Venturini Motorsports.

Quinn Davis returns to the track for the third time this year across the main and East series, driving Rise Motorsports’ No. 31.

After skipping the last few races, Thad Moffitt is back in Nitro Motorsports’ No. 46, while Sam Corry will debut in Nitro’s No. 70.

Presley Sorah will run Maples Motorsports’ second car, the No. 67.

Kimmel Racing has two cars entered this weekend, the Nos. 68 (Regina Sirvent) and 69 (Brian Finney).

Pinnacle Racing Group brings out its second car, the No. 82, for Connor Mosack, who’ll pull double duty due to his stature as a full-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver.

Doug Miller hits the track for the first time in Clubb Racing Inc.’s No. 86.

MAN Motorsports’ two cars, the Nos. 95 and 96, are back with Hunter Wright and Jackson McLerran, respectively.

Dale Shearer’s No. 98 is entered, albeit this time with Mike Basham driving.

Executive Editor at Frontstretch

Kevin Rutherford is the executive editor of Frontstretch, a position he gained in 2025 after being the managing editor since 2015, and serving on the editing staff since 2013.

At his day job, he’s a journalist covering music and rock charts at Billboard. He lives in New York City, but his heart is in Ohio — you know, like that Hawthorne Heights song.

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