Off to the races: NASCAR vets win, Penske smokin'

A menu of Mark Glover’s AutoGlo reviews of the latest motor vehicle models also can be seen on The Sacramento Bee’s website at www.sacbee.com/news/business/article4005306.html

Sacramento, California -- Serious motor racing has commenced, and with Formula One joining the mix this coming weekend, we'll be fully immersed in the sport.

So far, however, not much is new.

The first four winners in the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series have come from the "old guard": Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch.  This has been the case despite NASCAR's heavy promotional efforts to talk up the "young guns" in the series.

So far, the future stars have performed well but failed to cash in at winning time.

The new aero package adopted by NASCAR after the season-opening Daytona 500 has been interesting, with drivers adjusting to fast closing speeds and dramatic drop-offs in momentum, depending on where they are running in a pack.

The changes appear to have accomplished the intended goal of turning more control of the cars back over to the drivers.  That's a positive.

Alas, NASCAR continues to roll with "stages" within a race.  I'm not a fan.  For me, all it does is create extra caution periods -- there are too many of those already, especially at Daytona and Talladega -- and dilute the ultimate goal of winning the race.

In the NTT IndyCar Series opener in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Sunday, race winner Josef Newgarden continued car owner Roger Penske's best month ever.  Penske cars have been winning races all over the world, and on Sunday, Newgarden used some savvy pit stop/tire strategy to drive away from the competition.

After getting spanked by the competition in the 2018 IndyCar series title chase, Penske appears to be back in full force.  It could be a long year for Penske's rivals.

Beyond that, a strong crop of IndyCar rookies showed promise.

Of course, with road/street courses dominating the early 2019 IndyCar schedule, we really won't know what everybody has for the all-important Indianapolis 500 until May.  It will be interesting to see who has what when those cards are laid face-up on the table.

I'm a bit nervous about how the IndyCar rookies will adjust to the blinding speed and ever-closing walls at Indianapolis.  However, this new crop of youngsters seems to be fearless in the face of danger.

And with international stars like two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso also in the mix, the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 is shaping up to be an exceptional competition.  May can't come soon enough.