For thirty-five years, the final Sunday in May has been host to three of the most prestigious motor races in the world. The day starts with the crown jewel of the Formula One World Championship, the 67th running of the Grand Prix of Monaco. At midday in North America, the crown jewel of American racing is run, the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. The day ends with the longest annual oval race in the world and one of NASCAR Sprint Cup’s “Grand Slam” events, the Coca-Cola 600.

Today, we have complete coverage of all three events starting with previews of each race. Check in through the day for race reports.

Monaco Grand Prix
The sixth race on the Formula One calendar andusually unpredictable, the Monaco Grand Prix will definitely not be a show for F1’s new “passing friendly” cars. The streets of the principality are narrow and tightly enclosed by unforgiving Armco barriers that tear cars apart with even the slightest contact. Passing is a rarity in this race, with the exception of passes made because of pit strategy.

With passing almost non-existent, the premium is put on qualifying performance. Like most other races this season, it was the Brawn GP car of JensonButton that set the pace in the final qualifying session to take the pole. He needed a last second effort to outpace Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, who was fastest in the second qualifying session when cars are running lightest. Button was faster that Raikkonen despite carrying two laps more fuel onboard. Button’s teammate, Rubens Barrichello, timed in third. Defending race and world champion, Lewis Hamilton, will start last after crashing in the first qualifying period and changing his car’s gearbox.

Given the tight confines of the circuit, any crash will likely necessitate the deployment of the safety car to clear the debris. This means that teams can be caught out on fuel strategy by a safety car which can throw the best of plans into chaos. A safety car could cause lead cars to be stuck behind it while other cars pit allowing a backmarker to leapfrog to the front. Similarly, a change in strategy under the safety car could push a car to victory. But the safe money is almost always on the pole-sitter. It’s Button’s race to lose. He has a massive advantage on the field and should be able to exploit it to a race win.

Indianapolis 500
It has been a long month of May for some. For others, like pole-sitter Helio Castroneves, it has been a long year. After missing the first race of the year while on trial for tax evasion, Castroneves has been on a tear. After running only two of the three races so far, he sits 10th in the standing after finishing 7th at Long Beach and 2nd at Kansas. He’s been climbing up the finishing order since returning to the IRL and has been among the fastest drivers since arriving at Indy. He looks to be the odds on favourite.

Of course, when you watch the race, you’ll hear almost minutely updates on where Danica Patrick is. While she doesn’t seem to be progressing as a racing driver, she has made up for it in her other pursuits. Mind you, her skills behind the wheel seem to be increasingly secondary to her marketability. She did qualify on the first day of qualifying, starting 10th, but her practice times left something to be desired. She has historically performed well in the Indy 500. But time will tell how good that is.

The other storyline should be the ex-Champ Car brigade. They’re led by Graham Rahal in 4th, though Mario Moraes in the KV Racing car also qualified on Day One in 7th. Also look out for another likely-to-be-overplayed storyline with the return of Paul Tracy. The Thrill From West Hill was robbed of the 2002 Indy 500. Despite passing Castroneves just before a caution flag, the scoring was reverted to the last completed lap denying Tracy his rightfully earned win.

When the green flag flies over Speedway, Indiana, look out for five cars: The PenskeRacing team with Castroneves, Ryan Briscoe, and Will Power, and the Ganassi Team of Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti. These teams’ cars are far and away superior to the other 28 cars on the grid. There are other drivers like Marco Andretti and Tony Kanaan that have an outside chance should the cards fall their way. But a winner not from Penske or Ganassi will be based on luck instead of skill.

Coca-Cola 600
At 600 miles in length, this is the longest race on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule. If that didn’t make this race special enough, it is also the 50thrunning of the race. While it is historically held on Memorial Day weekend, it wasn’t until 1974 that the race was held on the same day as the Indy 500.

The best preview for this race isn’t necessarily the qualifying session but last week’s Sprint All-Star Race. The fastest cars over the long-run were Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth. Tony Stewart won the race but only really came on in the final segment. Either he found something in his setup for that final segment or his car was good over the short run. Another big factor that may play into the race is fuel mileage. Casey Mears was never really a contender during last year’s race but fortune favours the lucky. Mears was able to stretch his fuel far enough to win the race and take his only career win (technically, so far).

The 600 is always hard to predict and with the rash of different drivers and teams winning, this year’s may be harder than ever. Mears is the only winner of the race in the current generation of car, he has been predictably unimpressive this season. Jimmie Johnson was one of the strongest drivers at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in the previous cars but has lost his edge in the new car. Ryan Newman qualified on the pole and has looked reasonably strong this season, so don’t overlook him. Kurt Busch won at Atlanta and Jeff Gordon won at Texas earlier this year. Both are considered sister tracks to Lowe’s so they should be strong for Sunday night. As always, the winner will be the driver and team that can best adapt from the hot day to cool night.