Category:

Motorsport

Rev up your passion for motorsport with our adrenaline-pumping coverage. Get the latest updates on Formula 1, NASCAR, MotoGP, and more. Immerse yourself in the world of high-speed thrills, cutting-edge technology, and fierce competition. From race highlights to driver insights, we’ve got your need for speed covered. Stay in the driver’s seat of motorsport action with our expertly curated content.

Motorsport

Supercars: Thoughts on a few familiar faces back on TV at the 2024 Bathurst 1000 with some free-to-air ideas on next TV rights deal

by Sports Benches October 14, 2024

The 2024 Bathurst 1000 race weekend have seen some familiar media faces back on TV with the likes of Molly Taylor, Chris Stubbs & Aaron Noonan at least for Seven who covered this race as Supercars’s free-to-air partner alongside Fox Sports.

We all know Stubbsy has just came back from a huge year himself covering the Grand Slam Daily Tennis shows and also reported the recent Summer Olympics in Paris for Stan Sport as he will continue to do so next year starting with the Australian Open at Melbourne Park since he’s freelance. Plus, Molly came back to TV duties after all since the SpeedSeries season finale event nearly a year ago at this same track also for Stan & 9Gem before Seven regained the rights at season’s end. She wasn’t required to stay on alongside Matt White & Fabian Coulthard, having done some rallying/rallycross driving work since then.

It’s also nice to see her contribute to some pit reporting on the shared broadcast commentary feed at the Mountain alongside Greg Murphy, Mark Larkham, Chad Neylon and Riana Crehan.

Then there’s always versatile sports hosts in Mel McLaughlin & Emma Freedman once a year at our greatest race when Mark Beretta and Jack Perkins continues to steer the ship whenever Seven is allowed to air select Supercars events live every year with everything else being highlights (usually six out of 12/13).

Next Supercars TV rights deal from 2026-2030

Now even though we will see a three-race Finals series for the first time late next year – similar to NASCAR’s Playoffs albeit a much simpler & shorter version, the next TV rights contract from 2026 is still up for grabs that should take another few years to at least around the end of 2030 – coinciding with the arrival of Toyota as the 3rd Supercars manufacturer using Supras.

First of all, the paid TV package will always stay as Supercars’s primary financial source since Seven previously left following the 2014 season as an exclusive broadcaster before Seven came back to replace Network 10 a few years ago as the competition’s secondary TV partner to Fox Sports. There’s also the benefit of watching every event live and on-demand without ads during racing but when it comes to the free-to-air part, it still needs some work. Okay, there’s no way we will get to see all Supercars races live again like it once was a long time ago. It would be great though if they had at least all other Sunday afternoon Supercars-only races live on top of six full event major event races every year – similar to NRL and AFL every week with 3/4 weekly games on free-to-air while the rest being via Pay TV.

Whoever retains or takes over the rights remains to be seen, but hopefully Supercars can get a bit more free-to-air content that is well balanced likewise with the other major sporting codes while still maintaining Pay TV as the competition’s primary source – it should be a win/win for all motorsport people involved here at the end of the day.

October 14, 2024 0 comment

NASCAR Race Results: Kyle Larson still the one & only Playoff eligible driver who has won a race so far following his great day out at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Roval Course

by Sports Benches October 14, 2024

The last Playoffs driver who won a race during the Playoffs was Kyle Larson at Bristol Motor Speedway a few weeks ago to close out the opening Round of 16 & he’s closing out the 2nd Round of 12 with a win once again at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Roval course for Hendrick Motorsports and his No.5 Chevy team.

He gave a huge credit to the early yellows whose long runs have been top-notch that helped him gained track position up front, especially when “Yung Money” pulled off well clear of AJ Allmendinger in the No.13 Chevy from Kaulig Racing for the lead not long after that Lap 60 restart — and he was just simply unstoppable ever since.

Looks like he’s saving the best for last as Kyle Larson is sure wanting to be there first all the way by the time the NASCAR season ends in early November as a possible two-time drivers’ champion at Phoenix Raceway in Arizona.

Post-Race Shoutouts

Who else has done well today other than Kyle Larson? No.20’s Christopher Bell back up front in 2nd for Joe Gibbs Racing’s Toyota works organisation & so does fellow Hendrick driver (No.24) William Byron who finished 3rd as both drivers also coming off strong recent results when it comes to the Top 5/7 – keep an eye on them over the next three weeks of semis.

How about Kaulig Racing’s two road course ringers and also full-time Xfinity Series drivers both AJ Allmendinger and Supercars champion & Bathurst 1000 winner Shane Van Gisbergen? AJ finished 6th in the No.16 ahead of his team-mate in 7th when things could’ve been better if it wasn’t for these early yellows but at least both cars were running well all afternoon to put both cars into the Top 10.

And don’t forget the 23XI satellite Toyota team is still in the running when it comes to the championship & so does co-owner Denny Hamlin over in the No.11 Gibbs machinery (who finished 14th today), although he’s currently sitting 6th (-8 off the Playoffs bubble) where Denny needs to win either of the next semi-final races/post consistent Top 3 finishes or he will sadly miss out yet again for season 2024.

23XI’s man of the hour you’re looking right now at is the No.45 of Tyler Reddick, who currently sits 3rd in Playoff drivers’ points, thanks to his regular season championship title from a while ago at Darlington. He finished 11th following a series of late-race passes which is two spots behind team-mate the No.23’s Bubba Wallace in 9th as Tyler may not had a Top 5 since his last Cup win Michigan. But as long as he keeps up in the Top 10 with all those stage points he picked up right now, he’ll be alright to see out his first Championship 4 at Cup level – having won back-to-back Xfinity Series Championships at this same Phoenix race track back in 2018-19.

Now we will leave the Queen City to rolling the dices at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which is going to be the next NASCAR Cup race (Race 33 of 36) and also the 1st of the 3 x Round of 8 events as they’ll be back next Monday at 5.30am AEDT.

Round of 12 now becomes Round of 8 on the road towards the Championship 4 Finale next month

And last but not least, we will bid farewell to the next last bottom four drivers who are now no longer eligible for the championship following the end of the Second Round of 12 races today.

We’ll start with Alex Bowman who originally finished 18th which was supposedly enough to make it into the semi-finals that could’ve seen Logano eliminated. But unfortunately he got caught up post-inspection for the wrong reasons to his No.48 Chevy & got DQ’d along the way, which ultimately ended his championship hopes in such tragic circumstances – such a bummer for Alex and his No.48 Hendrick racing team.

Then there’s Daniel Suarez when he didn’t see much of him since his 2nd placed finish at the 2nd Atlanta Cup race early last month as he’s hoping to bounce back even better following another good season in the No.99 Chevy for Team Trackhouse.

We also cannot forget the unsung talents of Chase Briscoe in the No.14 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing having not scored a Top 10 since the last Round of 16 race at Bristol (8th), but he is someone who is tipped for maximum success when he will be replacing the retirement-bound Martin Truex Jr. next season at Joe Gibbs Racing’s No.19 Team.

A big loss for Haas turns out to be a big gain by driving such a competitive car at a championship-winning team like Gibbs that can hopefully help Chase run upfront more regularly & in turn win more races as well as season-ending silverware.

And so does Austin Cindric in the No.2 Ford for Team Penske. He might not have chased down Kyle Larson on time to get out a must win situation down in 4th while he hasn’t made much Top 5 finishes since his last win at Gateway back in early June but sure there’s a lot more to come as Austin is capable of posting some good if not excellent results as long as that fast race car can come good for him – that’s all what’s best about him who won the Daytona 500 race in his rookie Cup year two years ago.

October 14, 2024 0 comment

Motorsport

2024 Bathurst 1000: Brodie Kostecki adds another major trophy for the first time at Mount Panorama alongside Todd Hazlewood in the 1 Chevy Camaro for Erebus Motorsport

by Sports Benches October 13, 2024

Great to hear from one-time NASCAR Cup Series driver Brodie Kostecki today with his Bathurst 1000 win for the first time alongside co-driver Todd Hazlewood at Mount Panorama. He first already won the Supercars Championship drivers’ title last year & now he gets to add another major honour in his trophy cabinet with the Bathurst win – all of which he’s achieved with Erebus Motorsport (Chevy team).

He didn’t look out of place at all from start to finish when he led the line from pole position with the team pit stops being absolutely flawless including the one late yellow before Kostecki was able to pull well clear of Triple 8/Red Bull Racing Australia’s Broc Feeney (No.88 Chevy with co-driver Jamie Whincup) during the final restart with 15 laps to go & there he goes safe and sound towards the finish line following a long 161 laps throughout today.

Congratulations to Brodie as sure he’s sticking around here for more with Supercars going into 2025 including a big switch to Ford power at Dick Johnson Racing. As far as his NASCAR ambitions is concerned, again, he could’ve done a few more starts at Cup level had Brodie not gone through a really tough off-season that saw him miss the first few races of 2024.

It remains to be seen as to whether or not if he will be back racing in the US at least part-time again. However, it looks like Brodie won’t be leaving Supercars or Australia anytime soon unlike Shane Van Gisbergen, who is currently enjoying every minute of it at Kaulig Racing in the Xfinity Series level, with a full-time Cup ride coming his way next year at Trackhouse.

Not even former team-mate, current Triple 8 driver & also fellow NASCAR one-time racer Will Brown is willing to go full-time either when he’s also happy living here with family still around him. Also unsure about Cam Waters either at Tickford Racing’s Ford outfit when he competed two Truck races and one Cup road course race earlier this year & while he will definitely come back next season, it’s still too early to tell depending on Ford Performance wanting another SVG-like impact for Waters to begin with maybe at Ryan Sieg’s team or even AM Racing.

For now, there’s still better days ahead for Brodie Kostecki while there’s also always going to be another Supercars driver – preferably young/early-mid 20s – willing to follow SVG’s footsteps by racing NASCAR full-time in the US in the near future.

October 13, 2024 0 comment

Motorsport NASCAR

NASCAR Race Results: Another non-Playoffs winner strikes again with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. gifting JTG yet another restrictor-plates win since last year’s Daytona 500 win at the Dega

by Sports Benches October 7, 2024

What a finish & what a day it has been at Talladega by another new non-Playoffs winner. This time it’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the No.47 Chevy Camaro after he gifted JTG Daugherty Racing yet another restrictor-plate event win since his Daytona 500 moment last year. Although it would’ve been any great if this was another regular season race, but at least Ricky & JTG has something to celebrate and he’s here for more – having renewed his multi-year contract earlier this season.

He had a brilliant start from 32nd to 2nd earlier on thanks to an early yellow. Now he may be been running mid-pack for a while, particularly during Stage 2 before that last-lap mini-drama changed everything. But as said, steering clear of yellows alongside some good adjustments were key to dominating this race & he’s done all of that to get what he and the No.47 Team wanted with the win.

Ah, so sorry for RFK Racing’s co-boss man Brad Keselowski (in the No.6 Ford Mustang) who fell so short by 0.006 seconds to Roush’s former long-time employee in Stenhouse. Another last restart would’ve been any better when he couldn’t get much help on the inside line & Stenhouse got the upper hand on the outside. But at least, there’s some positives to take out for 2nd as this is what restrictor-plate racing was all about when it’s so unpredictable full of “The Big Ones”.

What else? It’s been a while from Erik Jones in the famous No.43 Toyota Camry for Legacy Motor Club since this year’s Daytona 500 (8th) & he came off a really good afternoon as the best Toyota placed driver today in 5th behind the two Hendrick Motorsports Chevy cars of Kyle Larson (4th) and William Byron (3rd).

So does Justin Haley in the No.7 Chevy for Spire Motorsports who finished 7th with more to come after his second race back from Rick Ware Racing. Then there’s Austin Dillon in 8th at Richard Childress Racing. Good to see him finish off nice and clean following that Richmond win a while ago & he didn’t make the Playoffs when he wrecked Denny Hamiln at the finish line.

Speaking of Hamlin today, he came out not bad in 10th behind his 23XI employee Bubba Wallace (9th) when he was running up and down for some time & avoiding these yellows saved the day for him. But again, he’s currently in a comfortable middle ground at 4th in Playoffs points with one Round of 12 race left this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Roval course. All he has to do is keep running Top 5-7 including a win in any three semi-final races if that helps and Denny is sure that a championship can finally come his way when the season finale reaches Phoenix early next month.

And if that’s not enough, how about we give a round of applause to Rick Ware Racing with both Ford cars in the Top 20 – Cody Ware in 12th for the No.15 & Corey LaJoie 18th in the No.51. Plus, don’t forget NZer Shane Van Gisbergen who finished 15th in the shared No.16 Chevy for Kaulig Racing – his current Xfinity Series home.

Looks like SVG is so getting used to this sport ahead of his full-time Cup ride next year at Trackhouse other than his usual road course expertise where he’s getting the benefit of the doubt if he wins any of regular road course races there & a Playoffs spot immediately hands over to him. More to come also as he continues to keep on learning with merit every week.

October 7, 2024 0 comment

Motorsport NASCAR

NASCAR Race Today: Another Chevy day this time with a different non-Playoffs driver by Ross Chastain at Kansas for Team Trackhouse

by Sports Benches September 30, 2024

It’s been another Chevy day but also another non-Playoffs winner’s day this time by Ross Chastain (No.1 Chevy Camaro for Trackhouse) at Kansas Speedway.

We haven’t heard much from him other than slow and steady starts earlier on but he wasn’t far from the Top 10 before the start of Stage 3 thanks to a number of yellows where things went his way such as his long-run form that got what he wanted at the end of the day including that winning move on Kyle Busch (No.8 Chevy for Richard Childress Racing) with 67 laps to go (out of 267). He does look like and race like a champion indeed as proven many times before having won the season finale race event at Phoenix last time around almost a year ago despite not being eligible for the Championship 4 but his next big opportunity will have to be in 2025 that provided he can win at least one regular event race or always be Top 10 for the first 25 + races.

Not only Chastain was outstanding, there was another non-playoffs driver who also had a great day too in none other than Martin Truex Jr (No.19 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing). He always kept a great eye on the front runners thanks to his excellent start from 19th to 8th (both in Stages 1 & 2) & then 3rd behind Hendrick Motorsports’s William Byron. If it wasn’t for that speeding penalty, MTJ would’ve still been in the Playoffs hunt. All we could say that he’s doing the best he can to finish off his full-time Cup record on a high going into October & early November.

Who else? Reigning champion Ryan Blaney was the best lone Ford driver out there to post a Top 10 after he finished 4th in the No.12 Ford Mustang for Team Penske. Meanwhile at the Spire Motorsports Chevy hub, Zane Smith also had a wonderful afternoon in the No.71 team thanks to his brilliant Stage 3 improvements after he finished 10th.

Sure he won’t be short of suitors when it comes to Zane’s next Cup ride for 2025 as he’s getting there on-track with time & patience, so he can prove Trackhouse wrong at an organisation that he didn’t even race for them – not even once despite being under contract at the time until his mutual release a few weeks ago.

And last but not least, Corey LaJoie in 15th this time in the No.51 Ford for Rick Ware Racing since that recent driver swap last week, with Justin Haley going the other way into his now former spot at Spire – which is the No.7 team. He too is happy with the race car as reflected earlier during Stage 2 when he was in 20th at the time and as you can see with the Stage 3 yellows, Corey gained some more track position on his first race here for RWR.

Yeah, things aren’t the same anymore when Spire chose to do things differently for next year by luring Haley back at this bright race shop. But we know he’s good at growing small teams with his experienced track record at Cup level & no doubt he will continue to help make more memories for Rick & Lisa Ware — even a first race win would be nice too for everyone working there including Corey himself.

Two more chances now for those Top 12 Playoff drivers still in the hunt as we’re going back on the high line in Talladega once again for the YellaWood 500 at 5am AEDT next Monday.

September 30, 2024 0 comment

Motorsport NASCAR

NASCAR News Today: Kyle Larson unstoppable in the No.5 Chevy Camaro that wraps up a dominant night for Hendrick Motorsports at Bristol Motor Speedway

by Sports Benches September 21, 2024

One word to describe Kyle Larson’s night at Bristol – tremendous. The same will say for Hendrick Motorsports too after a dominant 500 laps of racing for this multi-championship winning organisation with No.9’s Chase Elliott finishing in 2nd when Alex Bowman led the race field from pole but it was Larson who took over and went on to keep the lead with safe hands by sweeping all three stage wins in the No.5 Chevy Camaro. Love the celebration he just had with his son Owen while Owen ran around with the checkered glad when dad Kyle was interviewed by NBC Sports’s Marty Snider in front of the grandstand.

He and the No.5 Hendrick team still has unfinished business ahead for their 2nd championship hunt since his 2021 triumph with the Round of 12 now set to begin at Kansas Speedway next weekend (3pm ET Sunday afternoon/5am Monday AM here).

Other than Kyle, looks like we will have to say goodbye unfortunately to the bottom four Playoff drivers as neither of them couldn’t get away with a must-win situation (or a Top 5 finish via luck). We begin with Ty Gibbs following an inconsistent 1st Playoffs round results down the middle of the race field (15th – No.54 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing), so does team-mate Martin Truex Jr. due to an untimely pit road speeding penalty from 2nd to 24th (19th Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing), Brad Keselowski (26th – No.6 Ford for RFK Racing) & Harrison Burton (35th in the No.21 for Wood Brothers Racing over a steering issue).

As said, any four of them can win the remaining few races of this year (see Chris Buescher’s win last weekend at Watkins Glen in the No.17 Ford for RFK Racing despite missing the initial Top 16 cut) but doesn’t mean they can all get back into Playoffs contention now that the first Round of 16 is over. After Kansas, we will have Talladega once again on the high banks oval in Alabama before the second Round of 12 Playoffs will finish on the roval (both left/right turns) at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

What else? Great to see Bubba Wallace in 3rd ahead of his boss Denny Hamlin (No.11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing) following a busy last few days like his contract extension at 23XI Racing. He too had a great night all inside the Top 10 thanks to his functioning No.23 Toyota Camry machinery From 11th to 10th in Stage 1 followed by 6th in Stage 2 & 3rd overall. Yes, he may have missed the Playoffs this year (19th) but there’s a lot more to come from Bubba at Denny & Michael Jordan’s co-owned race team.

Speaking of Denny, he’s relieved to stay alive in the Playoffs race ahead of the next round in Kansas. Sure, he may not been able to quite close in on Larson when it comes to the race lead. However, he knows what it takes to bring these fast race cars home where Denny has been there and done that before with a couple of semi-final and Championship 4 Finishes under his belt. He still really wants to finally win his first championship so bad as a driver and let’s hope he can stay upfront all day long where he’s currently 6th in Playoff Points, so he doesn’t fall short outside the semi-finals like it was over the last two years.

Meanwhile, Christopher Bell doesn’t disappoint in 5th (No.20 Toyota for Gibbs) as he’s sitting comfortably in 2nd on drivers’ points. Plus, the No.41’s Ryan Preece posts another Top 10 finish in 8th behind team-mate Chase Briscoe in the No.14 for Stewart Haas Racing (Ford), who continues to prove his talent whenever he can possible. And even though someone may have finished well against the rest when being a lap down, Michael McDowell steered his No.34 Ford home in 11th for Front Row Motorsports following his 7th-placed run last week (in his specialist road course ringer discipline) at Watkins Glen.

September 21, 2024 0 comment

Motorsport

Thoughts on Toyota officially entering the Supercars Championship with Walkinshaw Andretti United under its famed Supra model to rival the Camaro & Mustang from 2026

by Sports Benches September 19, 2024

It’s been a long time coming for a new manufacturer to finally enter in one of motorsport’s most prominent competitions in Australia as Toyota will enter the Supercars Championship from 2026, with Walkinshaw Andretti United being their works team. The model/chassis Toyota will race will be the Supra sports car under its 5.0 litre Hilux Truck engine from the Dakar Rally where they’ll go head-to-head with Chevy Camaro and Ford Mustang.

First of all, thanks to Toyota Australia and its performance arm Gazoo Racing on trying their hand in Supercars. They have an iconic history with Motorsport here before with the likes of Neal Bates & Coral Taylor (although her daughter Molly is more of a Subaru person) that passes on to Harry Bates today in the Australian Rally Championship. Plus, they’ve also built a good brand of grassroots Motorsport with their one-make series over the last decade that produced future Supercars stars and race winners involving its compact 86 sports car.

I’m sure these youngsters competing today would love to hop on a Supra V8 Supercar one day and WAR is providing a great pathways platform to help them towards achieve that goal by competing at the top level of racing in Australia.

Furthermore, if anyone like Chaz Mostert or Kiwi Ryan Wood would like to have a crack in NASCAR across the US – Toyota can help them out to arrange at least a road course or Trucks oval race deal to begin with either for Gibbs or any of Toyota’s satellite Cup, Xfinity or Truck Series teams.

It remains to see what Toyota can do to find a second Supercars team in order to support Walkinshaw. Maybe a small-customer run team would be an ideal candidate like PremiAir Racing or Team 18 for Toyota’s first Supercars attempt.

Other than that, we thought Toyota could be the perfect 3rd manufacturer when they launched the TRD Australia performance division back in 2007 thanks to their Aurion sedan. Yes, that high performance sedan may not be exactly be V8 but it still gave some excellent competition that would send shockwaves to Holden (Commodore) and Ford (Falcon). But it was unfortunately short lived by the end of 2008 off the back of poor sales and the global financial crisis.

Also the timing wasn’t right either even before the 2000s when the large Toyota Avalon sedan went out at the time with V8 Supercars being simply happy with just Holden & Ford whose arch-rivalry was so synonymous with our Aussie motorsport fans that goes back to the 60s-70s via the Australian Touring Car Championship.

But that doesn’t mean Toyota would want stay away from being fast altogether as you can see with their World Endurance Championship Le Mans entry over the last decade as well as their return to World Rallying that marked the steady rise of the Toyota Gazoo brand. Now it’s the right time for them to their Supra into the fray against two of America’s iconic muscle sports cars at our race tracks including the famed Mountain in Bathurst like the (Chevy) Camaro and (Ford) Mustang.

We wish Toyota Australia and Walkinshaw the best of luck on-track and also off-track with their future performance-oriented editions together for the road car business like the big Tundra pick-up & that sporty compact Corolla hatchback for example.

September 19, 2024 0 comment

Motorsport NASCAR

NASCAR Race Review: Chris Buescher def. Shane Van Gisbergen on what has been a signature road course race finish with the win for Ford’s RFK Racing team at Watkins Glen

by Sports Benches September 16, 2024

Plenty of twists and turns with some stunning side-by-side racing including that last lap on overtime from Watkins Glen International in New York where it was full of race/pit strategy as well as a mix of mechanical and contact drama into the wall. The winner you’re looking right now at is Chris Buescher from the No.17 Ford Mustang for RFK Racing even though he may have missed the Playoffs bubble by 1-2 spots when the regular season finale ended at Daytona a few weeks ago.

Haven’t heard much from him earlier on from 24th but he’s been flying high when he restarted in Top 7-8 at the start of Stage 3. From there, Buescher got a real sniff up front for the whole time alongside a good pit strategy thanks to another early Stage 3 yellow including the race lead off Joey Logano with 17 laps to go.

Despite having go through a series of late yellows, Chris Buescher successfully fought off Shane Van Gisbergen on the run home that signalled the best of road course racing so far in 2024 of NASCAR at The Glen – congrats to Chris & the No.17 RFK crew. Commiserations to SVG for the runner-up spot but he too had a great day out up front for Kaulig Racing (No.16 Chevy) as sure we’ll see more of him right now at Xfinity level as well as Cup full-time next season with Trackhouse (3rd car).

What else? Spire Motorsports also had a terrific afternoon with all three (Chevy) cars in the Top 10. We begin with the No.77 of Carson Hocevar (3rd) followed by No.71’s Zane Smith (5th – even though Michael McDowell was upset with him post-race who finished 7th in the No.34 Ford for Front Row Motorsports) & No.7’s Corey LaJoie (8th). Gotta say future is bright indeed thanks to their big money investments over these past 12 months.

So does the No.41 Ford of Ryan Preece who posted a Top 10 finish in a while & his third overall of 2024 since Nashville back in late June in 9th for Stewart-Haas Racing. And despite losing his way when he was stuck on the gravel late in Stage 2, Daniel Suarez is well and truly safe into the Round of 12 (currently 5th on Drivers’ Playoff points) after he managed to rebound through a couple of Stage 3 yellows in 13th for the No.99 Trackhouse Chevy team. All he has to do is keep up the good faith & Daniel will probably see some good breakthrough moments like racing in the semis & even the Final ASAP.

Other than Daniel, the next Cup race this weekend (a night race) at Bristol Motor Speedway on the short track will be the last chance for those languishing outside the Top 12 Playoffs bubble. With the likes of Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr. & Harrison Burton — they are all stuck in a must-win situation or else be eliminated & have try again next season when the 3 x Round of 12 events begins towards the end of this month in Kansas.

September 16, 2024 0 comment

Motorsport

Motorsport News: Thoughts on SpeedSeries set to be replaced by SRO Australia’s new national racing competition led by the GT World Challenge Australia category from next season

by Sports Benches September 10, 2024

After three seasons, it looks like SpeedSeries will be no more going into 2025 with a like-for-like replacement national racing series being helmed by SRO’s Australia division. So that means Motorsport Australia won’t be in charge going forward after only one season when they previously controlled SpeedSeries from the Australian Racing Group, although they will continue to contribute this in some way like it was last season.

As it stands, GT World Challenge (GT3) will come right in first with the GT4 Australia and the Australian Production Cars race categories next in-line, as seen with the stand-alone GT Festival event last month at Phillip Island.

What does it mean for TCR Australia and Trans-Am? Safe to say that they’re both not going anywhere. For Trans-Am, they might join the Supercars support bill for the most part while TCR Australia may be looking to form an Asia-Pacific competition with TCR’s Asia series.

But that doesn’t mean both TCR & Trans-Am are going to be left out of SpeedSeries’s replacement competition altogether as they may still play a role with SRO in some events.

Don’t forget also the TCR World Tour will be back in Australia after all next year after a year-long absence, but they won’t be racing at Mount Panorama again for sure when the annual Bathurst International event will wrap up for the last time this November.

Plus, one thing we know for sure that the S5000 open-wheel category won’t be back at least for the foreseeable future when that race series was shut down at the end of last season.

Looking at the race calendar (not final just yet), what’s new about this SpeedSeries replacement comp is they’ll be heading over to New Zealand for the first time at Hampton Downs that will round out the series late next year. Other than that, there’s nothing much apart from the usual six-round event that will take place a few times throughout the year likewise with other racing series across the country.

And last but not least, the media rights deal. The question is who will be covering SRO Australia’s newly expanded competition? Right now, SpeedSeries is currently on 7 under Motorsport Australia’s control until the end of this season before SRO Australia will be taking over from Motorsport Australia next year.

Whatever that may be, let’s hope they can keep it free-to-air at all times.

For now, we wish SRO Australia the best of luck by taking the step up to make their sports cars roar against the likes of the current Supercars comp we’ve got here.

September 10, 2024 0 comment

Motorsport NASCAR

NASCAR News Today: Joey Logano the first driver to make it into the Round of 12 with the win after a great day for Team Penske & the Blue Oval at Atlanta Motor Speedway

by Sports Benches September 9, 2024

It was massive Ford (Mustang) & even Team Penske day to light up the opening 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs race at Atlanta Motor Speedway where each of their three drivers won each stage (Ryan Blaney in Stage 1 for the No.12 followed by Austin Cindric in Stage 2 for the No.2) as today’s winner was all about Joey Logano in the No.22 side for Team Penske.

It’s been a while since his last win in Nashville back in late June where he had a really top day upfront – mainly in the Top 5 – before more late cautions went his way to reach top spot, and there goes Joey Logano with his 2nd win of 2024 & also being the first driver now to advance into the second Round of 12 Playoffs. So nothing to worry about there until Kansas at the end of this month where he will either need to win again or stay consistent with his results up front on the road to the Championship 4 Finale as it’s party time for Joey & his No.22 Team Penske crew right now on the way home.

What else? Oh so close from Daniel Suarez there who finished 2nd in the No.99 Chevy Camaro for Trackhouse & he too loves racing at this track off the back of his early-round win back in late February. As long as he can stay consistently in the Top 5-10, then sure we will get to see more of him when it comes to the next round and even semi-finals round of Playoffs – keep your head up!

Meanwhile, Christopher Bell continues to be so good in the No.20 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing as he finished 4th & is currently 2nd on drivers’ points behind reigning champ & 3rd-placed finisher in this 2nd Atlanta race Ryan Blaney. This is the man who has made it to the last two season-finale races and he would love to make his 3rd season-finale attempt being his championship-winning breakthrough at Cup level.

And hats off to a few others that got away with some good finishes just outside the Top 10 mark. We begin with Daniel Hemric in 11th for Kaulig Racing (Chevy), Justin Haley 12th for Rick Ware Racing (Ford), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in 14th for JTG Daugherty Racing (Chevy) & don’t forget the Spire Motorsports Chevy duo of Corey LaJoie (No.7) and Carson Hocevar (No.77) who both came home in 15th and 16th respectively.

Next stop: Watkins Glen International where we will be going road course racing albeit in a slightly different time of the year next Monday rather than always August in New York as the Round of 16 is still up for grabs for some drivers if they really want to be in to win until the first cut-off ends with the Bristol Motor Speedway night race on Saturday 21st September 2024.

September 9, 2024 0 comment