Sports Benches presents this week’s sports news where we return to Kansas for another weekend of high-stakes Chase racing.
Then we bring the latest on both London Stadium and Jack Doohan with their own futures hanging in the balance.
There’s only six Sports News editions left this year and if you want more Sports Benches content, check out our General Hospital weekly updates every Saturday.
NASCAR Cup Series at Kansas II
It’s a clean afternoon from Kyle Larson who dominated the field by flying the Bow Tie Chevy flag with Team Hendrick.
Now he may had some tough times coming from Kyle’s fellow dirt track specialist Chase Briscoe that late, especially when Briscoe was running newer sets than Kyle before Briscoe unfortunately went way too hard into the wall.
However, Kyle’s ability to stay under pressure using his favoured outside line while managing those high-stake risks turned out to be his highlight reel today.
Hello to 2nd-placed finisher Austin Cindric from Team Penske Ford where a win could’ve been awesome if he did crash the party last minute against Kyle Larson.
But his consistent performance though shows that Austin is here for more unfinished business including race wins.
Finally, Denny Hamlin returns to the front-runners’ circle finishing 3rd as the best Toyota Camry this week for Gibbs where it was good to see him recover with the advantage of flexing his long-run approach after a topsy-turvy start.
What Denny needs to do though is more of the complete performance with the racecraft side. Hopefully, he can get back to winning ways sooner than later — up to Denny to finish 2026 with a championship-winning season storyline.
London Stadium Part 3
Unfortunately, World Athletics decided to award the 2029 and 2031 World Championship editions to Kenya’s Nairobi and Germany’s Munich respectively.
As an athletics-first fan, it will still be a fantastic spectacle though.
A world-first set to happen in a long-distance-running-mad nation while Munich’s Olympiastadion is currently barely used but perfectly suitable whenever required.
Meanwhile, it’s surprising that the London 2012 showpiece is still up for debate.
Most recently, one of the local MPs Bassam Mahfouz urged the London Mayor Sadiq Khan to consider selling the Stadium to West Ham — as long as they continue to allow Athletics events during the summer.
I believe that would help without having side either Athletics or Football/Soccer, especially when the current 99-year lease doesn’t sit well with the taxpayers.
I also believe that realistic improvements to have the movable seating arrangements be modernised – akin to Stade De France & Singapore Sports Hub – where it should be retractable, not relocatable that can bring the best out of both sports at the one venue.
Both sides need to be on the same page together after missing out this golden opportunity to stage another World Athletics Championship.
Jack Doohan 2027 options
Good news is that Jack felt surprisingly good from the TPC test for Haas in Jerez.
Unfortunately, he may not be the favourite to win the 2027 seat, which means WEC Hypercars could potentially be his next option.
At age 23 going into 24, he would have a year of sportscar experience from the European Le Mans Series (LMP2), after being sacked by Alpine 16 months ago.
There’s no reported teams lining up just yet but that could change once the 2027 Haas seat has been decided — and if Jack isn’t selected for another F1 opportunity.
Remember, if you don’t like Jack because of his short time at Alpine when management set him up to fail, fine. But you also don’t need to leave comments here just because it either makes you feel better or it doesn’t entertain you.
Aside, this is a driver that I don’t feel ashamed of covering as I’m allowed to have views and also hope that he deserves another F1 chance hopefully next year or even someday.
Because Jack shouldn’t have to be defined by his seven grand prix appearances despite his short chapter there.
For now, if he’s selected for the Haas seat next year, awesome. If not, racing WEC Hypercars would give Jack the chance to build a new line of senior-level racing results whether it be winning Le Mans outright and/or the Championship.
And if there’s anyone out there like Twiggy aka Andrew Forrest who can help support drivers financially like Jack, that would mean the world to him & his dad Mick.
