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Motorsport

NASCAR: Thoughts on Zane Smith being released by Trackhouse as they’re now closer to fulfilling Shane Van Gisbergen’s Cup dream for their proposed 3rd Cup ride next season

by Sports Benches

Earlier this morning our time, Zane Smith confirmed to everyone that he won’t be the one who will be getting the newly-created 3rd Cup ride next season for Trackhouse. Instead, they’ve mutually agreed to part ways at season’s end with the No.7 vacant Spire seat is expected to go to Justin Haley while his current No.71 Spire seat for 2025 has already been taken by Michael McDowell earlier this year & Trackhouse doesn’t have any room left to keep him. 

As per proposed charter rules from 2025-2031 coinciding with the next TV rights contract, every full-time Cup teams other than Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing are capped up to three owned charters each rather than four.

Not even going to another Chevy satellite Cup team under loan would make any difference to change their mind when Trackhouse currently has Ross Chastain, Daniel Suarez and New Zealand’s Shane Van Gisbergen, with Connor Zilisch being eyed as one of their young drivers for the future who will be racing for JR Motorsports next year at Xfinity level.

If Smith was to get to another ride since he’s set to become a free agent just after one year into a multi-year deal, it looks he will be coming back to Front Row Motorsports’s Cup program in McDowell’s place of the No.34 or even the newly-created 3rd car (probably the No.36) where Noah Gragson might be slotted in the No.34 car in place of McDowell.

Yes, some say he would need to drop down to Xfinity since his race results straight out from Trucks to Cup this season hasn’t been good for the most part. But he has finished well on some occasions before though so surely he will get some more Cup time at another team, which is likely to be a return to Front Row Motorsports – the team where he won a Truck Series championship back in 2022.

It’s been a real bugger for Smith to be let go by Trackhouse as I would’ve personally kept him for that 3rd Cup car while SVG should get at least one more full season of Xfinity before he steps up. But again, SVG has been a proven Supercars champion before including his immediate impact initially on a part-time basis to NASCAR last year and it would be bad decision if Trackhouse simply ignored someone who wants to fast-track his way into Cup every week like SVG. 

Why throw away that promise to someone who loves batting upfront in Australia when he wants to achieve so lot more in the US that would mean more Supercars drivers inspired to race NASCARs there & in turn add significant exposure to our Supercars competition here? I would understand that from an Australian Motorsport fans’ perspective so we can boost our NASCAR profile here even more, having seen a few regulars race in the US at least on a road course over the last 12 months – such as Brodie Kostecki at Indianapolis (Roval) last year, as well as Cameron Waters & Will Brown this year.

Despite needing more time to make a full on impact when it comes to Zane Smith’s long-term Cup goals, let’s hope he will keep on churning some good results no matter happens like that rare P2 finish at Nashville two months ago & also his P7 run earlier this week at the rain-delayed Michigan event. Wishing him the best of luck wherever he ends as sure he won’t be short of suitors next season.

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Motorsport

SpeedSeries August 2024: Catch up Interview with Dream Racing’s Jackson Rice from Trans-Am Australia – No.7 Ford Mustang

by Sports Benches

Yes, SpeedSeries so far this year may have been completely different compared to 2022-23, especially at a time during the mixed paid/free TV experiment on Stan and Nine (via 9Gem and 9Go) before Motorsport Australia took back the rights at season’s end for the competition to return on Seven once again. 

But that doesn’t mean SpeedSeries can be completely forgotten when times have changed since then as fortunate to catch up with one of the drivers competing there via the competition’s series of race categories in Trans-Am Australia. 

His name is Jackson Rice who currently races the No.7 Ford Mustang for Dream Racing & hails from Albury-Wodonga – right in between the NSW-Victoria border.

This interview is available both in written and video/audio form below:

SpeedSeries/Trans-Am so far of 2024

1. First of all, it’s great to hear from you as it’s been a long while for me to catch up since the end of last season. How is SpeedSeries going on right now compared to the last 1-2 years?

Really good, I feel like the Seven Network coverage has been fantastic this year with the support of Seven (via 7mate on TV) and the 7 + app. For us personally, it gave us fantastic value to our sponsors & our supporters. It also gave us track time and vision & I think it really boosted our (Trans Am Australia) category that brought really good incentive for other people to join us, especially going into 2025.

2. How much do you miss the International drivers coming here as well as the S5000 open-wheel category?

I think this year’s Bathurst International event is the last year they’ve proposed (with the event not returning next year) & I think the International drivers we have coming here are awesome. They brought a different perspective of class that gave an International and world view of the categories they’ve competed (from Sports cars to World Touring Cars & the likes).

The S5000 open-wheel category are awesome machines & it’s said those guys (the drivers who competed last year) couldn’t have the numbers (on the grid) to compete. But I think all those categories (like the GT World Challenge, GT4 Australia Series & TCR Australia) with the organisers involved are really cool to watch. It’s a shame it’s going to be the last hurrah that they (the S5000 open-wheel organisers) won’t continue with it.

3. Speaking of the journey you’ve had so far this season, what was your 2024 like so far if you can describe it in just a few words?

It’s been positive with a huge learning curve. So yes, it’s been an all-round positive.

4. I looked at your Facebook/social media page lately & there’s a quite a few related to Supercars, how much preparation of you driving these race kind of touring cars or sedans have benefited your Super2 opportunity? 

Massively…I think the Trans-Am is a fantastic category that opens doors to a lot of avenues including working towards Supercars & those high-end performance categories. 

So Trans-Am where it’s at right now has fantastic value with some of the guys in there who are true professionals that previously raced in V8 Supercars before through co-driving (at Endurance Races like the Bathurst 1000) or full-time.

Guys like myself – who are young and trying to make a name for our ourselves – I think that mix (of both youth and experience) presents really well for those who are scouting for talent including Super2 (Supercars main feeder category), and it’s been a massive help for me to step  from a Trans-Am into a Super2 by driving a high-powered rear wheel drive race car.

5. Looking at the present when it comes to Trans-Am, what would be the No.1 thing you wished you could’ve done any better & how you will apply this to your next set of Trans-Am races later this year in November?

I think the biggest thing we like to improve on is finishing our races. 

We have very consistent pace with the guys at Dream Racing giving me a consistent race car but we’ve been really unfortunate to have some mechanical failures which sort of put us a bit on a damper with our season’s race results. 

But we had a couple of podiums where we’ve been consistently inside the Top 8 or 6 before we were able to finish consistently to then drag more podiums at the end of the race and not having a DNF towards the end of the 2024 season would probably make a big difference for us.

6. Other than Trans-Am wait until November, do you have any other races you got lined up like the TA2 Muscle Car Series you’ve competed in the past?

I’m planning to, I like to race some more other than the usual Trans-Am. We’ve been fortunate with our sponsors and budget this year, so I won’t definitely rule it out to come back and compete in the TA2 events to keep me busy & in the seat for the next round at Bathurst in Trans-Am.

Being present at Sandown Raceway while talking a couple of other race tracks across Australia

Other than his ongoing Trans-Am season, there’s more to life from Jackson who is currently helping out at Sandown Raceway this weekend where we will pick it up from here.

1. Great to hear you’re in Sandown for the weekend, I was wondering if it was an different event you’re competing there?

I’m just down here with a couple of guys who are new drivers that come in to the team we compete for racing such as meeting them before they compete on the new Toyota 86 races. But I’m business where I don’t have to drive which is alright.

2. How’s the atmosphere like at Sandown Raceway?

It’s fantastic! I love coming to the Victorian VMRC (Victorian Motor Racing Championships). They have good grassroots & state-level racing with a great variety of categories & it’s really good being involved & see grassroots racing. To come back especially post-COVID, the atmosphere’s really good.

Pause

Link of the weekend’s events LIVE and on-demand on BlendLine TV’s YouTube Channel here.

3. Speaking of Sandown, I hear they are going to knock the place down while looking to build a new race track next to Avalon Airport. I was wondering if this was true?

I’m unsure at the moment. I know there were proposed plans (of Sandown being knocked down for housing) but unsure if it’s going ahead. But Sandown is such an iconic venue that in the end, there was so much support behind it to keep it now that I think it will be pretty harsh to get rid of.

4. I heard there’s a different SpeedSeries category event going on at Phillip Island within Victoria in the GT World Challenge as wondering if they’re hosting this alone or a part of the main event support bill?

Yeah, I believe it’s a standalone event with the GT Festival with just GT3, GT4 and other Production Car categories.

Pause

Link to watch the GT Festival weekend race at Phillip Island also on GT World’s YouTube channel here.

5. With Wakefield Park over in Goulburn, they were also being under threat at one stage due to the noise but now they still get to keep the track?  

It’s interesting that they’ve come back and made provisional changes to keep the noise down. I think they’ll definitely come back to run events with no issue. With the noise restrictions, I think they’re going to run less events and it will just be selected to certain race cars to make sure that they don’t break that noise barrier they’ve set.

His best moment of racing and even the Olympics also in 2024

And other than racing cars, what’s your favourite moment of 2024 so far across motorsport and even the Olympics when our Aussie team had their best campaign recently at Paris? I’m also wondering which Olympic sport you’d be best competing in if it was for gold?

I think our podium at The Bend Motorsports Park (South Australian Round between May 31-June 2) was a great achievement for us & the team. We had real pace we showed that we competed with the big teams like GRM (Garry Rogers Motorsport), TFH & The Racing Academy.

So that’s been a fantastic sort of point for me personally.

Then you know throughout the Olympics, the Australians really had our best campaign at Paris 2024. So it’s really cool to be Aussie and to be pretty proud when your country does well.

And for myself if I was to compete in a sport, that’s a hard one, I enjoy doing water sports so maybe I’ll probably go with Rowing since being by the water was pretty cool. I think the guys have endurance who use a lot of upper body & core strength which a lot of stuff really translates to racing cars, so something similar I reckon I would give it a crack.

Post-Notes

We wish Jackson all the best of luck as he will be back for the back-to-back November Trans-Am Australia races at Bathurst and Adelaide. He is so someone who loves watching NASCAR, especially on a Monday morning with the Cup races.

As said, if you want to keep a good eye on his driving progress – Seven & 7 + is the place to be for everything SpeedSeries.

You can also follow him and his Dream Racing team across social media:

And yes, He sure gave a wonderful shoutout also to none other than our Aussie own Leigh Diffey, who is set make his full-time commentary debut in the NASCAR Cup Series for the US NBC network, starting with the Coke Zero Sugar 400 race at Daytona tomorrow morning our time at 9.30am AEST. You can tune in live on Fox Sports via Foxtel/Kayo Sports back here who has the live local NASCAR TV rights.

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Motorsport

Thoughts on Australian Jack Doohan son of former 500cc World Champion Mick now set for his big break in Formula 1 next year with the Alpine F1 Team alongside Pierre Gasly

by Sports Benches

This is the moment we’ve been waiting for all year long as the Alpine F1 Team have finally settled their 2nd seat to replace the Haas-bound Esteban Ocon today for their upcoming 2025 Formula One Season alongside Frenchman Pierre Gasly and it’s none other than our Aussie own Jack Doohan from the Gold Coast, Queensland. His big announcement today won’t impact Alpine’s future plans that much in the meantime going into the new engine rules era from 2026 at Enstone when it’s looking more and more likely now that they will ditch their own Renault engines by becoming a privateer outfit with Mercedes-Benz. 

Then it remains to see what happens after that if Alpine still wants to be a Formula 1 outfit after 2026 as they could either be morphed into Hitech since Oliver Oakes has just taken over the Team Principal job at Alpine or else Andretti can take over for at least $1 billion dollars & they can finally race Formula 1 when the sport doesn’t feel confident about expansion at this time.

Great to hear that Alpine has made an excellent choice by bringing Doohan into a full-time race seat where he might not have collected a season championship so far in his career but he too can do well across qualifying and race day with a few wins under his belt as proved in Formula 3 and Formula 2 in the past. Don’t forget he’s also the son of former legendary 500cc motorcycle Grand Prix champion Mick Doohan as sure he has the family racing calibre to make his mark albeit at the different highest levels of Motorsport in four-wheels of Formula 1 rather than two-wheels which is MotoGP.

Yes, Mick Schumacher was also in the mix having also took part in a top-secret test recently for Alpine alongside Doohan where they were both family friends for a long time with Mick being named after Jack’s dad while Jack was given a go-kart by Mick’s dad Michael who won so many World Championships throughout his career as hope is all well with him following his unfortunate skiing accident a decade ago.

But again, even though Mick first came into F1 with the Formula 3 and 2 championships, he didn’t set the world alight when he was at Haas a few years ago & if he wants to go back at the top-level again, then taking the risk at Audi which is currently Sauber in the short-term under Ferrari engines would be his last best hope ahead of its big break in 2026 with fellow German Nico Hulkenberg.

At the end of the day, it’s up for Doohan to score regular Top 7-10s with some podiums or even 1-2 wins onboard since there’s only 20 Formula 1 seats to battle upfront nowadays. Let’s hope he does well with our best backing from Australia as he will be the third driver there on the grid alongside McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and also Racing Bulls’ Daniel Ricciardo if Riccardo can keep his ride within the Red Bull family next season.

Depending on Sergio Perez’s performance later this year, we could see Ricciardo going back to Red Bull again or else he will be given the flick with NZ’s Liam Lawson getting a full-time ride after all in Ricciardo’s current spot at Racing Bulls.

Looks like F1 is growing across the Trans-Tasman in both Australia and New Zealand with as many as four drivers on the grid and with Doohan, it remains to be seen which race number he could take ahead of his F1 race debut next season.

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Motorsport

More on the RFK Racing 3rd charter hunt this week this time on Rick Ware Racing

by Sports Benches

There’s a bit more to it in RFK Racing’s 3rd charter venture this week since they will be expected to get a significant sponsorship and financial boost from Kroger any minute from now, with Tad Geschickter also expected to leave JTG Daugherty Racing as part-owner at season’s end who is currently sponsored by them right now thanks to Tad’s business links. 

Should RFK purchase a 3rd charter regardless of the sport’s new charter model from 2025-31, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Ryan Preece is the primary candidate to fill in the newly-created RFK 3rd Cup car for Ford full-time. 

He too is currently without a job for next season once SHR shuts down come November with three of his other SHR Cup team-mates already secured new rides elsewhere, such as Josh Berry at Wood Brothers, Noah Gragson at Front Row and Chase Briscoe at Joe Gibbs Racing. Yes, his race results here at Cup haven’t exactly set the world alight since he first replaced Cole Custer in the No.41 Ford Mustang last season, but then that’s more a team issue who is on its last legs ahead of SHR’s shutdown as we know it.

The question is though where they could purchase that 3rd charter from? They can use the Kroger money to fulfil that expansion worthwhile if this sponsorship deal comes out true.

One would say Kaulig Racing when the team’s owners look to buy 51% stake of Richard Childress Racing but that’s for Richard to consider since he’s 78 right now while we don’t know what JTG will look like despite Ricky Stenhouse Jr. recently signed a contract extension there when Tad walks out the door.

If it wasn’t for these two teams, why not enter Rick Ware Racing?

Rick Ware Racing

First of all, they’re currently happy running two Ford Mustang Cup cars right now with Justin Haley currently in the No.51 alongside Kaz Grala and the returning Cody Ware sharing in the other No.15 team. 

With Haley onboard, RWR has grown so much so far in 2024 and you gotta thank him for fulfilling the team’s much-needed potential. But Haley is also in demand with the likes of Spire and even Hendrick & it would be very difficult for him to say no going into next year as Haley is expected to replace Corey LaJoie in the No.7 Chevy alongside the chance to work with veteran crew chief Rodney Childers.

With that being said, RWR could not only take a significant financial package from Spire or Hendrick for Haley but also give the one charter away to RFK under a season-long lease for 2025. 

Good for them to get even more $$$ but how are they going to use it? The plan for RWR would be is run one full-time car (The No.51) while the 2nd car likely to be scaled back on a part-time basis. Not even the return of Grala is a guarantee since he doesn’t have the same calibre as Haley & neither does Rick’s son Cody as the best possible scenario is to get a good enough replacement for Haley in LaJoie. 

Then come 2026, RWR could either get it back or see themselves get a significant new partner involved like Gordon Smith & Brad Daugherty or Haas if RFK wishes to purchase one permanently without them having to pay $40 million to get a completely new second charter.

Although I wouldn’t be too surprised if RWR chooses to leave altogether at some point – should they make that RFK charter lease as a permanent sale while they sell the other remaining charter like to Haas or some other new Cup team. 

Post-Notes

RFK Racing is high flying once again with two Cup cars under co-owner Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher but they would still like to wish more success and a third charter with a third full-time Cup car is the perfect next step to bridge their way back up front like it once was before.

Another new big sponsor will be a great get with Preece set for one last opportunity to prove himself in a more good Ford Mustang race car being provided by Roush & Keselowski unlike SHR. 

For now, that mystery 3rd charter seller or leaser for RFK remains to be seen with the Kroger money.

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Thoughts on NBC’s NASCAR coverage going uninterrupted under green for a few Cup races later this season but with side-by-side ads rather than full screen commercials

by Sports Benches

First, there was a massive shake-up in the lead announcer role yesterday when it comes to calling the Cup races for NBC with Leigh Diffey now confirmed to replace Rick Allen beginning this weekend at Daytona. Now coinciding with Leigh’s full-time debut, NBC now wants to air the whole race uninterrupted but still work around ads while under green for three Cup races this season including this weekend followed by two Playoffs races at Atlanta next month & Talladega in early October.

So in other words, when the NBC NASCAR commentary booth advises viewers that we go into an ad break – we won’t be seeing a whole few mins screen that is full of commercials. Instead, we will see side-by-side/split-screen commercials while the race goes on under green. If a caution comes out though, then they may as well throw a few mins of full-screen ads before you won’t miss a single thing just in time before the restart. So that’s the whole process based on today’s announcement.

For those hoping for ad-free racing like we currently see in Supercars and Formula 1 on Foxtel back here in Australia, this won’t happen just yet until at least the middle of next season when Amazon and TNT/Max will air a few Cup races each in the mid-summer. Both Amazon and Max are paid streaming services where you will need to pay to watch the races as this is something NASCAR wants to see over the next seven years of their next TV rights contract whether or not if it will benefit their fanbase where we are at a time now that viewers are tuning in more from their devices than those who are on cable TV.

I’m not sure whether or not if NBC wants to go ad-free at some point other than full-on green flag racing with just a handful of split commercial breaks when they got the paid Peacock Premium service, but probably too early to say at this stage when there’s a lot of sponsors/advertisers out there pouring $$$ to promote/market their business nationwide.

While a few of the NBC Cup races later this season aren’t really ad-free, but at least it’s a good start to have the whole race uninterrupted so we all know what’s going on from start to finish without missing out anything while they were out.

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Motorsport

NASCAR News Today: NBC NASCAR makes an official lead announcer change ahead of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 this weekend at Daytona

by Sports Benches

It’s official!! Rick Allen called his last Cup race yesterday in the rain-delayed FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway for NBC with Australia’s own Leigh Diffey will now replace him for the top job as the network’s main Cup announcer starting at Daytona this weekend. Analysts Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte will remain unchanged whom they will both welcome Leigh into the booth while Rick will continue to call Xfinity Series races for the rest of this season including the last eight Playoff races that will also be an NBC Sports production for the CW Network.

And for those wondering who will be taking Leigh’s spot when it comes to IndyCar at least in the short-term on NBC before it moves to Fox next year, it will be veteran Indianapolis sports & motorsports broadcaster Kevin Lee. You can also hear him this week with the hour-long highlights races from the Gateway St. Louis 500 weekend on 9Go starting today at 12-1pm, Saturday afternoon at 2-3pm and overnight Sunday morning at 2-3am. 

So yeah won’t be the same without Leigh for those tuning in regularly on IndyCar, especially when it was on one of the Nine free-to-air digital channels during the week. But for us NASCAR fans, it’s a big boost seeing him commentate the Cup races more often now as NBC’s main NASCAR announcer – he will call the second-half season races including the Championship 4 Finale in Phoenix this early November. And if you want to hear the best of Leigh, Foxtel/Kayo is the only place to watch the NASCAR races live here including on-demand replay content.

Other than that, it’s been a long time coming for Leigh to step up into another top job he wanted for a long time on top of his Track & Field duties, having recently called the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris for NBC. NBC will keep the Cup rights for another seven years going into 2025 under the next NASCAR TV rights contract and Leigh is the perfect commentator to help bring us these good and bad moments from start to finish – how good!!

And on Rick, it’s been a pleasure hearing you commentate over the best of the last 10 years including at a time when you, Dale Jr, Steve and Jeff were a stunning four-man group called The Booty Boyz until the end of the last year after Dale Jr. left. We wish him all the best in the near future.

The Coke Zero Sugar 400 weekend race at Daytona will be on a Sunday morning here since it’s a Saturday night race rather than on a usual Monday from 9.30am AEST.

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Motorsport

NASCAR Race Review: Tyler Reddick guides 23XI Racing home with his and the team’s 2nd win of 2024 at Michigan

by Sports Benches

The 2024 FireKeepers Casino 400 was finally over early on Monday morning due to rain that begins with a Denny Hamlin group battle between his own No.11 Joe Gibbs car and his 23XI employee of Bubba Wallace before he spun himself out off Turn 4 as the race had to be pushed back to Monday. Then we saw a William Byron & Kyle Busch Chevy dominance up front for the most part but at the end of the day, glad there’s a Toyota win to celebrate thanks to Denny’s other 23XI employee Tyler Reddick over in the No.45 team.

Huge day from 23XI once again with Reddick having a super day where he thanks these 2nd half cautions en route to his 2nd win of 2024 since the Spring Talladega race back in late April.

The tables will now turn now on Denny to hopefully get back into victory lane himself as a racer soon enough this weekend at Daytona, having caught back lots of time well to finish 9th. Meanwhile, Chevy weren’t bad with Byron 2nd (Hendrick), Kyle Busch 4th (Childress) & Daniel Suarez 8th (Trackhouse). Also good seeing two Spire cars in the Top 10 such as Zane Smith (7th) & Carson Hocevar once again from another stellar Top 10 run last week in Richmond (10th).

And shoutout to RFK Racing Ford who had an excellent day with co-owner Brad Keselowski 5th in his hometown event ahead team-mate Chris Buescher in 6th.

Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona here we come under the lights this weekend with two regular races to go before Playoffs.

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Motorsport

NASCAR News Today: Justin Allgaier wins over Sheldon Creed who finished 2nd yet again in the Cabo Wabo 250 at Michigan

by Sports Benches

So close from Sheldon Creed yet again who finished 2nd for the 12th time now in his 88-race Xfinity Series career for the No.18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. He had a really good start from pole before he got spun out late whilst leading in stage 1 by the No.98’s Riley Herbst from Stewart-Haas Ford, then he had to work his way back up there as the race goes on thanks to several yellows along the way (some in Stage 2 and lots late in Stage 3) but unfortunately, Creed just couldn’t catch up race winner Justin Allgaier (No.7 Chevy for JR Motorsports) on time towards the checkered flag when it was done via overtime.

If the Kyle Sieg crash occurred and NASCAR held the race back once more if it wasn’t for the white flag overtime, then Creed would’ve surely had the perfect weekend out and shut Allgaier down in the Cabo Wabo 250 at Michigan International Speedway. Not only he had a long on-track day in the office, but we now all know that Creed will be moving teams once again regardless of his 2024 results this time for the Haas Factory Team’s Xfinity side next year. Looks like we could see another Daniel Hemric type story for Creed when Hemric left it so late until the Championship 4 at Phoenix with both the win & championship before he left Gibbs on a high for his previously announced Kaulig Racing ride back in November 2021.

As long as Creed does well without issue when he was so unlucky not to make it to the Championship 4 late last year at Martinsville for Richard Childress Racing, there’s no reason why he can’t win another championship when Creed won the Trucks title back in 2020. He will be replacing Cole Custer in the No.00 Ford Mustang with Custer already confirmed his return to full-time Cup level last month within the same newly-reformed squad since his dad is the president there and Creed will be joined by former GMS Racing Truck Series team-mate Sam Mayer for the other No.98 Haas Xfinity seat in place of Herbst.

Other than Creed falling short yet again, John Hunter Nemechek did well in 3rd for Gibbs as still a long way to go with his Cup progress at Legacy Motor Club, Anthony Alfredo finished 4th who survived every bit of yellow to bring himself home towards an excellent performance on show today, and Stewart-Haas’s Noah Gragson finished 6th for Rette Jones Racing having not heard much from him other than his good start of the Cup year but you never know when it comes to these big track races.

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Motorsport

NASCAR News Today: Thoughts on Justin Haley rumored to leave Rick Ware Racing just after one year for a better ride either at Spire or even Hendrick Motorsports in a Chevy

by Sports Benches

Image Reference: TaurusEmerald via Wikipedia, CC BY 4.0 International

First of all, having Justin Haley onboard with Rick Ware Racing has made such a huge difference in the No.51 Ford Mustang so far this season. He had two Top 10s RWR couldn’t believe they could do it on top of some normal Top 15-20 finishes, such at Darlington back in May as well as Gateway a month later. But that doesn’t mean the silly season rumor talk is gonna take the focus off him when it comes to his future, even though he came to RWR under a multi-year contract from Kaulig Racing at the end of last season. 

Sure, if RWR wants him to stay then that’s fine as he wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t long-term. However, you got some established Cup teams who are way more ambitious and also has lots more money to bring out the check book for him. 

Now that’s something RWR cannot refuse when Spire Motorsports would like to have him back as a full-time driver in the No.7 Chevy Camaro next year with the opportunity of working with veteran crew chief Rodney Childers. If not Spire, even Hendrick Motorsports would be a good get when they would need a bit of a fresh change and Haley would be the perfect replacement for Alex Bowman in the No.48, with Bowman going to Spire.

No matter what happens, it’s going to be a huge hole to fill for someone whose owners invested a lot into bringing Haley onboard from an established two-car Cup team like Kaulig. But again, things come and go you know as maybe RWR can use the Haley contract windfall to improve their Cup equipment – that’s what matters to continue that progress where Haley has built this & left off at the end of the day. 

You could also think Corey LaJoie would go the other way but then I think he is someone who likes to win races, having made some stunning moments for Spire over these last few years at this team wants to move onto the next level without him. Maybe a top Xfinity or even Trucks team would it, so he can enjoy racing a bit more competitively upfront every week.

The same goes to Ryan Preece who is still on the outlook for a ride next year once Stewart-Haas Racing shuts down after the Phoenix season finale race in early November. He’d be a great get at RFK Racing either as a part-time driver to begin with while racing Xfinity/Trucks again also part-time throughout the season like he did two years ago or even full-time depending on their 3rd charter hunt thanks to Kroger, so he can be kept within the Ford Performance family. He hasn’t been so inconsistent for the most part since last year in the No.41 Ford for Stewart-Haas but then that’s a team’s problem who no longer feel they can compete with other top four-car teams anymore as seen in recent seasons.

With that being said, the No.15 would go to Kaz Grala full-time since he had some good results so far this year on a part-time basis, and Cody Ware coming back to replace Haley in his formerly usual spot in the No.51 prior to his suspension for most of last season before he was reinstated because he’s related to his father Rick. 

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Motorsport

NASCAR Top 3 News this week: Erik Jones stays in the No.43, AJ Allmendinger now back at Cup for Kaulig & a huge shake up within the Ford camp for Gene Haas and RFK Racing

by Sports Benches

We’re currently in the middle of August with three regular season rounds to go at Michigan this weekend before Playoffs time and the silly season rumor talk is also halfway if not 2/3rds there as well to see which drivers will stay or go come 2025.

Erik Jones stays on at Legacy Motor Club

Good to hear that Erik Jones will be back in the famous No.43 for another few years at least until 2026, even though he’s yet to score a Top 10 since this year’s Daytona 500 in 8th. Okay, when LMC switched to Toyota this year, things weren’t that good mightily so far this year but they had some Top 10s though as still too early to judge at this stage. Although you can tell Jimmie Johnson has made another round of wholesale changes recently off the back of the team’s poor performances. 

Forget about trying to win for the next three remaining regular rounds, what LMC needs to do is provide the Jones the best race car possible, so they can catch up to other good Toyota teams soon enough like Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI Racing.

Things take time as we’ve seen with Bubba Wallace when he first drove for 23XI back in 2021 and fast forward to today, he’s doing really well  – despite no recent race win but continues to finish consistently in the Top 10 alongside a great team-mate in none other than the No.45 of Tyler Reddick. With 23XI expected to expand into three cars going into 2025, I’m sure they’ll go even better where one of their race cars could be in the Championship 4 soon enough.

The same could be the same for LMC as long as they’re are on the same page but again still too early to say since they are now a Toyota team rather than a Chevy team, which hasn’t changed a lot when Richard Petty was still running the No.43 show over the last 5-10 years until Jimmie Johnson was onboard since the start of last season.

AJ Allmendinger is back at Cup next year what does it mean for SVG and Zane Smith?

He may not be racing Sundays right now since he is currently racing Xfinity full-time on Saturdays, but AJ has now changed his mind yet again and he will be back in the No.16 Kaulig Racing Chevy Cup machine after all next year. Maybe that’s something to do with Kaulig not being good without him at the top flight and AJ is the man to steer that ship once again until he retires once more before they can find a decent long-term replacement once AJ retires by then. Looks like Kaulig isn’t going away from this anytime soon following talks of them selling charters or even merge with Trackhouse to leave the sport.

So neither New Zealand’s Shane Van Gisbergen nor Zane Smith will be filling in the other full-time Kaulig Cup cars alongside AJ, with Daniel Hemric staying on in the sister No.31 team since he has his own sponsorship to help keep the team’s operations afloat.

As it stands as to who will be driving the 3rd Trackhouse car for next year, I would’ve personally like to see Zane Smith get the nod over SVG. But with Trackhouse admiring SVG so much since he’s a proven race winner mainly on road courses this season in Xfinity including his debut Cup win at Chicago last year, he would like to be there sooner rather than later & that is certainly bound to happen rather than SVG having to wait another year outside the top level. He’s won so many Supercars races and championships before including the Bathurst 1000 and there’s no way SVG wants to be left out of the cold by Trackhouse.

It’s a shame that Smith is going to be left out; not even a rare P2 finish from Nashville Superspeedway back in late June isn’t even enough to make Trackhouse and also Spire change his mind. Maybe he needs to step down to Xfinity and swap places with SVG & if Smith does well there to bring home a championship like he did at Trucks level two years ago with Front Row Motorsports, then Trackhouse would be more than certain not to get rid of him.

Haas Factory Team set to complete their Xfinity Series line this weekend for 2025 with Kroger set to join RFK Racing

Haas Factory Team is set to complete their 2025 Xfinity Series line-up this weekend at Michigan with two rides up for grabs. We don’t know who could that be with Cole Custer already confirmed for a return to Cup within the same newly-created organization. One would definitely say Hallie Deegan despite her recent dismissal from Ford-affiliated AM Racing team over her poor performances as she’s still tied under the Ford Development team, while another could either be Ryan Preece, Harrison Burton or Sheldon Creed.

Gotta say Burton or Creed will get the 2nd ride since they both had some success at this level and can also cover some of their own money as well. Yes, Preece would right be in there as don’t think Gene Haas fancies him well unlike Tony Stewart who brough him there & his performances there didn’t exactly work out well for the most part but then it’s more of an team issue than himself with Stewart-Haas Racing is set to shut down at season’s end.

If Preece was to find a new home post-SHR, he could turn up at RFK after all thanks to Kroger – who is expected to now join them over Joe Gibbs – with one of JTG Daughterty Racing’s co-owners Tad Geschickter also set to leave at season’s end. Considering the big financial boost RFK is gonna get from Kroger, this could allow RFK to expand into three Cup cars by purchasing another charter and then they will look to have Preece onboard.

The question is where they are going to get the third charter from with that Kroger money? Maybe JTG Daugherty Racing is gonna be shut down since Spire Motorsports seems to be Hendrick’s main affiliate partner for Chevy & Trackhouse builds their own cars. What about Kaulig? Could they go back to one Cup car? Maybe as don’t think they will talk away anytime soon with two cars but then they might be interested in buying half of Richard Childress Racing’s assets with the boss getting old at age 78, which would mean they would get three Cup cars with a fourth would likely be be sold to another team.

And while we would like to see Haas and RFK team up together to make it three cars without RFK having to buy a charter but then Haas would like to be on their own, so therefore not an option when Gene Haas wanted to keep just the one Cup charter for himself so he can keep on promoting his own Haas Automation engineering business. Watch this space for RFK looking to expand into three full-time Cup cars by knocking into Kaulig or JTG’s door for a charter using Kroger’s sponsorship money.

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