There were actually some NASCAR races at the Phoenix IndyCar weekend, also

A lot of NASCAR fans, commentators, and competitors say that the first intermediate oval is when “the season actually starts” because superspeedways are crapshoots and road courses aren’t real NASCAR for some reason, even though the first NASCAR road course race was in 1954, and there have been permanent road courses on the calendar since 1988. I find this attitude incredibly irritating and self-defeating, but fortunately most people don’t even know this attitude exists and watch Daytona, Atlanta, and COTA and love them, as I do.

Frankly, I thought the NASCAR races at Phoenix this weekend were a big step down into the normal midseason feeling that NASCAR is a grind. The races weren’t bad, and the outcomes were just, but there was nothing particularly distinguished, either. I know a lot of race fans find recovery drives through the pack to be inspiring racing — and Sheldon Creed, Shane van Gisbergen, and Sunday winner Ryan Blaney all provided excellent demonstrations of that — but to me that’s of a second tier to battles of evenly matched cars and drivers on challenging tracks. Don’t tell NASCAR this because they might not agree to do these anymore, but the big March weekend at Phoenix Raceway was comprehensively carried by IndyCar.