Our experts weigh in on four of the biggest questions in motorsports as two of the biggest races in IndyCar and NASCAR this season will be run this Memorial Day weekend:
Turn 1: Who will win the Indianapolis 500? And where will Fernando Alonso finish?
Ricky Craven, ESPN NASCAR analyst: Scott Dixon wins the Indianapolis 500 and later in the evening Kyle Larson completes the Chip Gannassi Racing sweep of the day. I believe Alonso will finish in the top 10 with a similar performance to Kurt Busch a few years back.
Ryan McGee, ESPN.com: This feels like a veterans-strike-back kind of year, so my eye is on Dixon from the pole position to earn his second victory and place an exclamation point at the end of what we already know, that he's the greatest IndyCar racer of his generation. I think Alonso will be a legit contender, but the 500 is never kind to those who aren't driving a full-time car with a full-time pit crew. He doesn't win, but he runs away with rookie of the year.
Bob Pockrass, ESPN.com: Juan Pablo Montoya. He doesn't have to worry about points, meaning his Penske team can tune his engine to the brink of blowing up with no worries. Alonso will finish sixth, just as Busch did in his debut.
Matt Willis, ESPN Stats & Information: The field is wide open as it's ever been. There's been an average of nearly 12 leaders and 46 lead changes per race over the past five years. That being said, I'm going to go with Simon Pagenaud, who has won more than any other IndyCar Series driver over the past two seasons. He'd be the first French winner of the 500 since 1920. Alonso, I could definitely see finishing in the top five, let's say fourth, just without the oval experience to make a move at the end of the race.
Turn 2: What do you think of the changes to the NASCAR schedule for 2018?
Craven: I like the changes a lot. I'm a bit skeptical of the Charlotte road course event (being the final race of the first round), but it's healthy for everybody to have a little bit of skepticism because it keeps the discussion going. I particularly like the fact that Indianapolis will close out the regular season. To most drivers Indy is the one race other than the Daytona 500 competitors want to win the most, so adding this marquee event to a critical stage in the season should produce positive results. I also appreciate a second short track event (Richmond) being added to the playoffs.
McGee: I like the effort. I've said all along there needs to be some Hail Mary's when it comes to scheduling and this is probably as deep as they'll ever try to throw it. I'm not a fan of Richmond being replaced as the playoff cutoff race. I initially wasn't a fan of running the road course at Charlotte, but I'm really coming around on that. However, Mrs. McGee isn't coming around on the Daytona 500 moving back to the old President's Day weekend date. She'd gotten used to me actually being home for Valentine's Day.
Pockrass: Whatevs. Traded a mediocre 1.5-mile track (Chicagoland) for another (Las Vegas). Traded a flat 1-mile (New Hampshire) to a flat road course combined with a struggling 1.5-mile oval (new Charlotte road course). Adding Richmond is a net gain but to say they added a short track when it is just 0.25 miles smaller than New Hampshire is more semantics. A track position/fuel mileage track now decides the playoff field in Indianapolis, which albeit will have cooler temps but now comes the week after the big NHRA weekend and on potentially the same day the Colts open. Applaud NASCAR for showing the ability to change but let's not pretend that fans screamed to kick New Hampshire out of the playoffs and to add an unproven oval-turned-road course.
Willis: It's a great start, considering the schedule was long due for an overhaul. We took one race (Indianapolis) that has struggled putting together an exciting on-track product, and gave it a lot of extra juice by making it the cutoff race. And I love taking the Charlotte playoff race and putting it on the "roval," giving us the first Cup Series season with three road course races since 1987. Now, if we could add more short tracks and maybe a mid-week race or two.
Turn 3: Does Dale Earnhardt Jr. need to win to make the playoffs or can he still make it on points?
Craven: I believe Dale could still average his way into the playoffs. For that to happen it needs to begin now -- with the fourth stage, and in turn extra points, added to this weekend's Coca-Cola 600. I'm also not ready to give up on the idea of the No. 88 car going to Victory Lane. I'm an optimist, particularly when it comes to Dale Jr.
McGee: Just win, baby.
Pockrass: He most likely needs to win. Too many drivers have not had great starts to the year, and he faces a difficult task to gain 11 spots in the standings over the next 15 weeks.
Willis: It's probably going to take a win. Half of the 16 playoff spots are already taken up by winners. Among the non-winners, Earnhardt currently ranks 16th in points, with only eight playoff spots remaining. He's 77 points back of Trevor Bayne, the driver currently 16th in the playoff standings.
Turn 4: Martin Truex Jr. has gone from mid-pack to the front over the past three seasons. Who is a driver you can see making a similar move in that time?
Craven: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. There is no questioning the talent nor the determination of this young man, and everything he's experienced thus far has galvanized him and prepared him for a strong run in the next five years. If I were building a team, Stenhouse and Erik Jones would be at the top of my list in terms of building for the future.
McGee: Well, I would've said Larson but he's already there. So I think it'll be his bud, our last points race winner. Stenhouse is carrying some swagger these days. More importantly Roush Fenway Racing is carrying some speed.
Pockrass: Guess it's too late to say Larson. Chris Buescher would make that move in the right equipment.
Willis: My first instinct was to say Jones, who has a 21st-place average finish this season, and could definitely be winning races, and soon. But he's an up-and-comer, not a driver for whom running up front would be a career resurgence, a la Truex. For a driver looking to follow that script, I'll take Kasey Kahne, who is still in his 30s, and still driving Hendrick equipment, and he's only one top-5 away from tying the number he had in 2014, 2015 and 2016.