Last month at the Indianapolis 500, Fernando Alonso made his Verizon Indycar Series debut with McLaren/Honda Andretti team, where he led a handful of laps in the race before blowing an engine with a few laps to go. But what happened after the race was something special. When Alonso got out of his car, the crowd roared and cheered for the former 2-time world champion in Formula 1.
Alonso loved every minute of it and told former ESPN reporter Dr. Jerry Punch that he would love to come back. A couple of weeks later during a broadcast on NBCSN Indycar Texas race, Alonso spoke and said “Why Not” to a full Indycar season. He would do well in Indycar than where he is now in Formula 1.
What would Fernando Alonso do for the Verizon Indycar Series? A lot, he would help fill the stands at racetracks where the Indycars race. Indycar should and would promote the heck out of him wherever they go. Plus, Indycar could and should increase its season schedule to what they have now.
There are plenty of tracks the Verizon Indycar Series could go to and with Alonso being part of the series, they wouldn’t have problems selling tickets. Heck, they would probably draw more crowds than NASCAR once Dale Earnhardt Jr retires. So, the Indycar Series should take advantage of it as much as possible if this does happen.
So, What team could Alonso join? Well, two teams come to mind. First is Andretti Motorsports, they would then have 5 cars in the field with Alonso on board and a heck of a team. He would join former Formula 1 racer Takuma Sato, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Marco Andretti. The other team I could see him joining is Chip Ganassi Racing. That would be a mega-power racing team. Alonso would sure win tons of races with Ganassi. Whatever team Fernando Alonso goes to would be a huge gain for that racing team.
Another benefit if Alonso joins the series would be more sponsorship coming on board the series and more television coverage not just NBC and ABC. But other television networks would also cover the series because Alonso would be there. Alonso’s star power would draw in sponsorships and potentially ratings for the Indycar Series. This would help the Indycar Series secure a new television contract.
I think that NBC would stay on board but I also think that FOX Sports would want to put in a bid to have Indycar races to its already good coverage of motorsports on their network. With Fernando Alonso on board, the Verizon Indycar Series can only go one way and that’s up.
