Yahoo Autos Where to Watch IndyCar and NASCAR This Weekend (September 19th, 2021)
IndyCar - Grand Prix of Monterey
Sunday, September 19th - 3:00 p.m. EDT - NBC
The IndyCar season wraps in Long Beach next weekend, but that final championship battle will be set up by a race at Laguna Seca. An unfortunately-timed yellow forced then-championship leader Pato O'Ward onto a poor strategy during last weekend's round at Portland, leading him to struggle to a 15th place finish and lose his title lead to race Winner Alex Palou. The two now go into Laguna Seca separated by 25 points with 98 total points effectively available in the rest of the year.
Two-time series champion Josef Newgarden is close behind, while all-encompassing legend and six-time series champion Scott Dixon is also within a race of points to his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Palou. A third Ganassi driver, Marcus Ericsson, is mathematically in range as well.
NASCAR - Bristol Night Race
Saturday, September 18th - 7:30 p.m. EDT - NBC Sports
Inexplicably, NASCAR's Round of 16 has some of stock car racing's best tracks. The Southern 500 at Darlington opened the round, then the challenging flat .75 mile hybrid short track at Richmond was run last weekend, and now the round ends with what is now the year's lone race on the normal, paved version of the high-banked Bristol half-mile. About half the playoff field is facing an outside chance at elimination tonight, so the desperation for most will be to score playoff points early and avoid falling out of the top fifteen rather than to win at all costs.
If the race does somehow come down to a desperate driver who needs a win to make the playoffs, expect fireworks. Both of the weekend's major support races ended with late crashes between the leaders. One, the Xfinity Series race, even ending with a leader crashing and still winning the race.
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