FANTASY NASCAR Racin

Everyone knows the long and storied history of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But in 1998, Tony George arranged for Formula One to return to the United States for the first time since 1991. A two-year renovation and construction project added an infield road course and culminated in the first United States Grand Prix at the facility in 2000. With over 200,000 spectators in attendance, it was one of the largest crowds in the history of Formula One and considered a huge success. The 2005 race turned out to be one of the most controversial races in motorsport history. Michelin realized their tires were ill-equipped for the banking after two heavy crashes for Toyota both for Ralf Schumacher and stand-in Ricardo Zonta, and at the last second, the Michelin teams pulled into the pits at the end of the formation lap, leaving only

the three Bridgestone teams (six cars) to contest the race. Despite the outrage of the 2005 event, the race returned for two additional years. The race did not enjoy the level of success of its earlier runnings, and attendance and interest fell dramatically. The race was left off the calendar for 2008, and efforts to revive the race for 2009 were not successful. In 2012, the U.S. Grand Prix relocated to the Circuit of the Americas. Beginning in 2014, the Indy Car Series began holding a race on the combined road course in early May, serving as a lead-in to the Indianapolis 500. The infield road course was modified once again, to make the circuit more competitive, better for fans, and more

suited for Indy cars. The Indy car series continues to run there as of now (2022). When the coronavirus struck in 2020 NASCAR was sidelines for two months with no racing. When they were able to resume racing; they had to scramble to fill race dates and find alternate locations to make up for missed events. The NASCAR Xfinity Series raced as a support race for the Indy Car Series; making this the first time any NASCAR series had raced on the road course. Chase Briscoe would claim the win. It was announced in late 2020 that the Cup Series would race on the Indy Road Course for the first time ever and the Xfinity series would also return the next season. In 2021, when the Cup Series ran, it turned into chaos. In a section of the road course, obstructions called "turtles", were put down so that drivers would follow the shape of the corners and not make a short cut. These had been used with the

Indy car series with no issues; but the heavier stock cars put a heaven burden on then, and some eventually came loose; creating some major multi-car pile-ups and damaging several race cars. Tyler Reddick won both of the first two stages; but got caught up in the 'turtle' debacle and ended up 21st. On the final restart Denny Hamlin was leading and Chase Briscoe tried to pass going into the first turn. He skid off the track and into the grass and cut across and held on to the lead. Hamlin got by him and before they made it back to take the white flag, Briscoe spun Hamlin. AJ Allmendinger was there to sweep into the lead and go on to take the win.

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

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