IndyCar would be in better shape if it embraced ovals

Last week's IndyCar stop at Chicagoland Speedway resulted in Ryan Briscoe somehow edging Scott Dixon by an amazing 0.0077 seconds, the fourth-closest finish in series history.

That came on the heels of the last speedway thriller the series turned in, when Briscoe nosed ahead of Ed Carpenter at Kentucky Speedway's finish line by .0162 seconds on Aug. 1.

But rather than building up IndyCar racing around this fantastic and heart-pounding kind of competition, series officials inexplicably are moving away from oval tracks in favor of adding more street circuits and road courses.

It's maddening, confusing and downright stupid.

But it's only one of several issues the IRL needs to address if American-based open-wheel racing is to ever mount a comeback in popularity:

More ovals, not fewer

The crown jewel of IndyCar racing is the Indianapolis 500, an event that transcends the sport and reaches a mainstream population around the world. The IndyCar Series should be built around that foundation and support its showcase event with a strong base of oval-track dates.

A finish like this one -- Ryan Briscoe edging Scott Dixon at Chicagoland by 0.0077 seconds -- is reason to have more ovals. (Getty Images)

When the IRL-CART split first happened nearly 15 years ago, a positive offshoot was a new series created around the concept of oval-track competition. The IRL started out as an American-based open-wheel series created to run primarily on oval tracks.

The result was a tantalizing new form of IndyCar racing that provided fantastic racing and mesmerizing finishes at places like Texas, Michigan, Las Vegas, Kansas, Nashville and Kentucky.

Slowly but surely, the series strayed away from that idea in favor of adding road races to the calendar. Before long, New Hampshire, Phoenix, Milwaukee, Vegas, Michigan and Nashville were left by the wayside.

A sprinkling of road races and street circuits is fine, but IndyCar racing should always be weighed in favor of oval tracks. Emphasizing and broadening, not abandoning the kind of racing on display last Saturday night at Chicagoland would enhance the IRL tremendously.

Embrace NASCAR

There's certain smugness around the IRL, in terms of how it views the stock car world. Rather than recognizing NASCAR's potential benefit to the sport, the IndyCar seems hell-bent on thumbing its nose at the stock car crowd.

The fact is, exposing more NASCAR fans to the heart-stopping brand of oval-track racing the IRL has created will in turn bring more of those full-fender fans back to the sport for more.

The IRL should pair up with NASCAR at a handful of dates and run in conjunction with the Nationwide or Sprint Cup Series. There are currently a few IndyCar-Camping World Truck Series weekends on the calendar, but aligning with one of NASCAR's top two divisions would put the IRL in front of thousands more fans.

There was some hesitance a year or so ago when this idea came up, reportedly because the IRL did not want to play the role of support division. Get over it. The chance to showcase your product on a high-profile weekend far outweighs any perceived notion of playing second fiddle.

Start your engines ... earlier

Pushing back the start time of the Indianapolis 500 a few years ago killed the chance for any driver to try what had become known as "The Double," running both Indy and the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte later that day. Robby Gordon, John Andretti and Tony Stewart had all pulled off the amazing feat in the past, with Stewart nearly winning both events.

But when the green flag at Indy went to 1 p.m. in an attempt to attract the West Coast television audience, the possibility of pulling off the twin bill went out the window. It's now logistically impossible to finish at the Brickyard and jet down to Charlotte in time to compete in the stock car nightcap.

That needs to be fixed immediately.

Any opportunity to draw NASCAR participation to the Indianapolis 500 should be pursued. Just having Richard Petty at the track last May as a car owner created incredible buzz and awareness of the race.

Imagine what having the likes of Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya, Sam Hornish Jr. or even Kyle Busch participating in the Memorial Day classic would have on the sport. Every media outlet in the country -- and maybe the world -- would no doubt follow the exploits of this group of drivers competing in 1,100 miles at two of the most famous tracks in racing.

And should someone pull off the feat of actually winning both races, it would go down as one of the greatest accomplishments in sports history. The IRL and the speedway should pull out all the stops to make it happen as soon as 2010.

There are other things that need attention in the IndyCar world to elevate the sport back to a more prominent position in American motorsports. More American drivers, a better television package rather than being buried on Versus (which also resulted in a ridiculous 10 p.m. ET start at Chicago last week), a series title sponsor and, of course, ensuring Danica Patrick doesn't bolt for NASCAR are imperative for the Indy Racing League to have any chance to prosper in the coming years.

We know the league is capable of generating exciting racing. More people need to find out about it.