KERCHNER: Friday Morning Heat Race
Written by I Dig Sports
Its time for our weekly Friday morning tour around the racing world. From hot laps to the main event, heres whats on our mind this week.
Hot Laps: Color Me Red
Lewis Hamilton looks great in Ferrari red and it is looking more and more like changing teams may lead to the seven-time world champion writing intriguing final chapter to his glorious racing career.
Qualifications: Halls of Fame
Are there too many auto racing Halls of Fame? It seems like a new one springs up every other day and that there is an induction ceremony of some type nearly every week.
First Heat: Big Number
John Force may never race again but his record of 157 NHRA Funny Car triumphs gets more impressive by the day.
Antron Brown scored his 81st national event victory in the season opener at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway and he trails Force by 76 victories. Brown is 49 years old.
Six-time Pro Stock champion Greg Anderson is 64 years old and has 106 wins to his credit.
Second Heat: Road Atlanta
Round two of the Trans Am Series is this weekend at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Watch all the action on SPEED SPORT 1. The stout field of T2 cars packed with rising stars and wily vets hits the track Saturday with TA racing on Sunday. Reigning TA champion Paul Menard won the season opener at Sebring Intl Raceway.
Third Heat: Aggression, Crashes & Winning
Carson Hocevar has received a ton of criticism for aggressive driving early in the NASCAR Cup Series season and most of it is deserved. Hocevar has shown tremendous speed aboard the Spire Motorsports No. 77, but also needs to learn to temper his aggressiveness.
That said, here are two predictions for the remainder of the Cup Series season. First, Hocevar will be involved in more crashes than any other driver in the series. Second, hell win a race and participate in the playoffs.
Fourth Heat: Five Flags Fury
Known around the world for hosting the annual December Snowball Derby, Floridas Five Flags Speedway kicks off its season this weekend with three days of competition on the legendary half-mile asphalt oval.
Local divisions open the show on Friday with the ARCA Menards Series East taking center stage on Saturday for the Pensacola 150, while the ASA STARS National Tour will contest the Sunshine State 200 on Sunday afternoon.
Many of the best asphalt stock car racers in the country will participate over three days.
Dash: Two Series
The World of Outlaws and High Limit Racing raced on the same weekend last week and will do so again this weekend. Both series have produced handsome car counts full of touring pros, invaders from other series and local racers.
Lets hope it continues through the spring and summer.
C Main: Chasing Titles
Because the early-season schedules for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and the World of Outlaws Late Model Series do not conflict, multiple drivers have run every race in each series and some have yet to declare which championship they will chase.
That changes this weekend when the Lucas Oil contingent heads north to Ohio and Indiana for a doubleheader at Atomic Speedway and Brownstown Speedway. Meanwhile the World of Outlaws late models head to Georgia this weekend for a twinbill at Swainsboro Raceway.
Ricky Thornton Jr., Brandon Overton and Brandon Sheppard enter the weekend in the top-10 in the standings of both series.
B Main: Triple Duty
A few weeks ago, we commented on the fact that fewer NASCAR Cup Series drivers were dabbling in Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series competition these days.
Then came Kyle Larson.
Larson will do triple duty twice in the next four weekends, beginning this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Larson already won once this week in High Limit sprint car competition. How many will he get at Homestead?
Larson will also run all three races April 11-13 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
Feature: Breaking Through
A.J. Foyt turned 90 years old in January, and the A.J. Foyt Racing IndyCar Series team hasnt won a race since Takuma Sato claimed the 2013 Grand Prix of Long Beach.
But this may be the year that streak ends. With ultra-fast young Americans David Malukas and Santino Ferrucci at the wheel and an alliance with Team Penske, the team, led by Larry Foyt, is in its best place in many years.
Heres hoping it happens.