Summer Break

It may be a Summer Break for the NASCAR Sprint Cup series, but not for me.  With the 2nd half of the season resuming next weekend in Indianapolis, there's a lot at stake for the rest of the season.

2 of the 16 Chase spots have officially been locked by Brad Keselowski and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and they will be racing for a title.  Right now, both drivers have been strong all season so one of them will be contention in Homestead.  Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano and Carl Edwards also have won multiple races and will be in the Chase no matter what.  Drivers like Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Kasey Kahne and Marcos Ambrose will need a win to help secure a Chase spot that will begin in September.  Plenty of good tracks to race at until Richmond that include Indy, Watkins Glen, Bristol & Atlanta.   I'm ready for the marathon.

INDYCAR SERIES
Speaking of marathons, the Verizon IndyCar series had one over the weekend in Toronto.  With rain looming all day Saturday, Race 1 was postponed until Sunday morning.  However, both races were shortened from 85 laps to 65 laps.  Also, there was an 80-minute time limit.  I do not like time limits because races should be run the full distance because it will create more action and drama.  Also, people pay big money to watch full races, not get disappointed in fewer laps.  So, race 1 was a clean race, dominated by Sebastien Bourdais, who scored his 1st IndyCar win in 7 years.  Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan (who placed 2nd in race 2) were also on the podium. 

Race 2 was a different story.  First was the standing start, then the rain came in.  2 big wrecks, the 1st involving Montoya and Mikhail Aleshin.  The 2nd involving Marco Andretti, Ryan Briscoe and others near the end of the "timed" race.  Mike Conway used a pit strategy to switch from rain to alternate tires which allowed him to score his 2nd victory of the season with Kanaan & Will Power on the podium.  With 4 races to go, Helio Castroneves leads Will Power by 13 points. The series resumes August 3rd in Mid-Ohio.

F1
The F1 series resumed in Germany and it was a picture-perfect weekend for Nico Rosberg, who dominated the event and gave Mercedes its 9th win of the season.  The Rosberg/Hamilton points battle is far from over, resuming next weekend in Hungary.

TOUR DE FRANCE
We're at the 2nd and final rest day of this year's Tour de France.  Since I last wrote on here, 5 stages ago, we've had 2 sprint finishes, both won by Alexander Kristoff and 2 mountaintop finishes.  Stages 13 and 14 were in the Alps.  The first stage featured a action-packed climb on Chamrousse, won by tour leader Vincenzo Nibali, who extended his lead over Alejandro Valverde by now nearly 5 minutes.  Stage 14 was even more exciting after climbs on Col d'Izoard and Risoul, in which Rafal Majka claiming his 1st win on the tour.  Stage 15 was a stand-alone stage in southern France, which featured a sprint finish, won by Kristoff. 

Joining Chris Froome and Alberto Contador from withdrawing the race was American Andrew Talansky, who suffered injuries on the Vosges.  Talansky was able to finish Stage 11 over a halfhour behind the tour leaders, but ended his campaign the next day. 

Now in the final week of the Tour, the climbs are getting tougher in the Pyrenees.  Action in the region starts tomorrow with a climb on the beyond-categorized Port de Bales, finishing in Bagneres-du-Luchon.  Stage 17 features a brief trip into Spain with a climb on Col du Portillon.  Then back in France, the riders climb the Col de Peyresourde and finishes up on a summit finish on Pla d'Adet.  Stage 18 is the "Queen" stage of the Tour, starting in Pau, climbing Col du Tourmalet and a finish on Hautacam.  Sunday's finish on the Champs-Elysses could see Nibali winning the Maillot Joune for the 1st time in his career in France to complete the trifeca.  Nibali won the Vuelta Espana in 2010 and the Giro d'Italia last year.

It's the tour, anything can happen.