This Weekend in Auto Racing (May 1st, 2021) - RoadandTrack.com

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Formula 1 - Portuguese Grand Prix
Sunday, May 2nd - 10:00 a.m. ET - ESPN - Streaming on the ESPN app

The Portuguese Grand Prix, finally added in February of this year, is once again back on the schedule, and that means just the second Formula 1 race at the Algarve International Circuit. The re-scheduled event, the second of the young season, is also the second consecutive race to be run in Europe after an off weekend. As a result, cars have been improved.

This is bad news for Red Bull, whose slim lead over Mercedes at Bahrain had already turned into a small deficit by the time the teams arrived at Imola. After today's qualifying sessions, there are reasons to believe that the Mercedes program is pulling further away.

Valtteri Bottas will start on pole, a front row lock-out with Lewis Hamilton. Bottas set a time 4/10ths of a second ahead of Max Verstappen's Red Bull, 7/10ths ahead of the first competitor from any non-Red Bull team. The qualifying pace bodes poorly for the competition, who have seen in the last two races that the Mercedes seems to have exceptional race pace whether or not one of the team's drivers qualifies on pole.

IndyCar - Texas Motor Speedway
Saturday, May 1st - 7:00 p.m. ET - NBCSN - Streaming on the NBC Sports app
Sunday, May 2nd - 5:00 p.m. ET - NBCSN - Streaming on the NBC Sports app

Oval races have been difficult for IndyCar to book over the past decade, making the schedule less diverse with every passing season. This year marks a new low: just three total race weekends on ovals. The weekend's doubleheader at Texas represents half of the total oval races this season, making this a fairly significant weekend for drivers with championship aspirations who are stronger on ovals than road courses.

The doubleheader format is the first concern. By hosting two race days in a row at an event that already benefits teams that prepare well, there is little to no time time between sessions for teams to apply lessons, and as a result little chance for the balance-of-power to actually change. If a driver excels in certain conditions today, they may already be in an excellent position to do the same tomorrow. Two wins this weekend would mark half of the available wins this season to date, and about one-eighth of the total schedule. In a season that will be defined by a close championship hunt, this could already be someone's turning point for the better.

It could also be a turning point for the worse. The track is slick with the remnants of a compound called PJ1, a product applied to increase grip on certain points of a track in the hopes that it will improve NASCAR races. While the thinking is that this makes the stock car races better at a track that has been known for some non-competitive racing in the past, it has been disastrous for IndyCars. In a test last month, the remnants of the product seemed to destroy grip in the upper grove, creating what was effectively a one-lane racing track. This makes passing more difficult, both increasing the penalty for a fast car that is forced to the back of the field by a mistake and increasing the odds of a crash while attempting to make a pass in the race itself.

NASCAR - Kansas Speedway
Sunday, May 2nd - 3:00 p.m. ET - Fox Sports 1 - Streaming on the FOX Sports app

After four straight Cup races on more interesting track layouts, tomorrow's race at Kansas Speedway marks a return to the mile-and-a-half intermediates that the series has been trying to solve for the past few years. This race is unlikely to be the one that brings exciting racing at these "cookie cutter" tracks, but the event will mark a major opportunity for championship contenders seeking a win in the more traditional parts of NASCAR's radically new-for-2021 schedule.

Denny Hamlin is still at the top of that list. The championship leader has finished in the top five of all but two races this season, but the story of many races has been his inability to convert significant in-race performance into wins. Hamlin is the clear early favorite for the 2021 championship, but he will have a difficult path to the title unless he starts collecting the "playoff points" that help drivers coast through the sport's first two elimination rounds.

Reigning champion Chase Elliott has similar concerns. All three of his teammates have race wins this season, but he has yet to convert what has been consistently impressive Hendrick Motorsports speed into a win of his own. For Kevin Harvick, the Stewart-Haas Racing star who has been holding the mantle alone for younger and less accomplished teammates, it seems that he may be the only driver at his own team with a chance to win a race every weekend. And Kyle Busch, the 2019 series champion who has won just once since, needs to show the world that he can win in less-than-optimal conditions if he wants to be taken seriously on his hunt for a third title.

These sort of tracks favor the favorites, but the chaotic and competitive 2021 NASCAR season has not. This could be one driver's opportunity to change that narrative. With so much of the remaining regular season schedule made up of road courses and other more unique layouts, these kinds of opportunities are less common than they once were.

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