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What an amazing finish to the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season after 36 points-series races across nine months of the calendar year where the same Ford team has won another championship in Team Penske, but this time it’s Ryan Blaney who is now your new drivers’ champion for the first time at age 29. Great start by William Byron with his opening stage win but was inconsistent as the race goes on where failure to stay ahead up front was the one weakness that ultimately costed him the race & championship itself in 4th. Meanwhile, unlucky from Christopher Bell due to a brake issue before things went bad to worse after he made contact with the wall in Stage 2. Then Byron’s team-mate at Hendrick Kyle Larson may entered the fight late into the 3rd & final stage in a bid to add Championship win No.2, but he couldn’t defend & stay ahead of Blaney under pressure at the last restart in 3rd where he had to settle as runner-up on the final drivers’ points standings of 2023. 

And last but not least, it’s the man of the hour Ryan Blaney who steered this No.12 Ford Mustang home that secured him his first major silverware of NASCAR, despite finishing 2nd in the race to Ross Chastain (Trackhouse). He may have started slow & steady from outside the Top 10 earlier on, but he gradually improved along the way towards the Top 2-3 places before Blaney locked out both Hendrick Chevy cars at the checkered flag. Roger Penske will be thrilled to see another championship-winning race car showing up at his race shop in Mooresville after Blaney’s team-mate Joey Logano won his 2nd Cup crown just one year ago in the sister No.22 team. Enjoy the 14-15 weeks of off-season before we go back all over again for the next NASCAR Cup Series season beginning with the 66th edition of the Daytona 500 on Sunday February 18th, 2024.

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Image Reference: TaurusEmerald via Wikipedia, CC BY 4.0 International

Ryan Preece has received a confirmation from Stewart-Haas Racing today during a radio interview with Dave Moody and he will be back for another year in the No.41 Ford Mustang, even though things were slow and difficult for him this season other than the 5th placed finish at Richmond Raceway back on July 30th in Virginia.

So things will still need more time for him to make a more consistent impact as he’s currently 25th on drivers points right now, with three places behind team-mate Aric Almirola in the No.10 car & five places up of another team-mate Chase Briscoe in the sister No.14 car. All in all, it’s hard to see him be at Ross Chastain’s level, whom they’ve both raced not just on the dirt tracks but also showed some talent on these low-budget race cars via Xfinity Series level in the past. However, the results is just not there right now where Ryan can hopefully turn things around starting with these Top 10 results in 2024.

If not, we’ll have to wait & see what happens as SHR is open to selling up to 2 charters. I don’t think the fire sale will happen just yet for at least another year when you got the experienced veteran Aric Almirola holding the glue as Kevin Harvick will step away for good at season’s end in November at Phoenix, with Josh Berry replacing him in the No.4 team soon.

I also don’t think Almirola will retire just yet as well when he initially announced his retirement at the end of last season but then he changed his plans & continued to race for SHR under a multi-year deal where he will want to stick around for one more year, then retire this time for good.

That way, it would be perfect timing for the team to sell the No.10 charter to Richard Childress Racing for Austin Hill as well as the No.41 charter if the results still not good to any one of the current two-car teams ahead of the next TV rights contract to start from the 2025 season.

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Image Reference: TaurusEmerald via Wikipedia, CC BY 4.0 International

After the big charter sale by Live Fast Motorsports the other day which went to Spire Motorsports for a whopping $40 million, it looks like the next team who would be looking to sell them is Stewart-Haas Racing. They currently run Ford Mustangs at the moment as a four-car team which ran since 2017 from Chevys with initial success, but it hasn’t been the same that way sadly in the last few years.

I guess Aric Almirola would want to stay for at least one more year in 2024, then bow it out on a high alongside Smithfield Foods in the No.10 team. That way, this could be perfect timing for Richard Childress Racing to buy the No.10 charter & expand to three cars for Austin Hill ahead of 2025, who is currently driving for them at Xfinity level, regardless of price.

So that is one charter SHR is open to selling, there’s also another charter they would like to put on the shop window which is the No.41 team. Since Kurt Busch left at the end of 2018, the team’s momentum has done way downhill over time off the back of Daniel Suarez for one year followed by Cole Custer & now Ryan Preece. The first year here is always tough for Preece, especially when he impressed in Xfinity and Trucks level last year after a few years beforehand at JTG Daugherty Racing. Now he might be back for another year in 2024 which is good news, but if he doesn’t do so well again then it would be no surprise that SHR is gonna close down the No.41 team as well. The problem is which team is gonna take it from there?

RFK Racing would be a great shoutout as long as SHR makes it available. I’m not so sure about Trackhouse but I think they will eventually purchase a charter off Spire & expand to three cars with Zane Smith onboard next year – so don’t think they will need another one. The same goes to Spire as I think they will want to make a small profit off Trackhouse & use the potential sale to improve their equipment eventually back as a two-car team. Maybe 23XI Racing perhaps to let a Toyota Racing talented driver to hone his skills for the first year or two before making the step up at some point to Joe Gibbs Racing? They wouldn’t be against the idea of expanding to having three full-time Cup cars, even though the rumour of 23XI racing under Ford Mustangs has been gone lately thanks to Denny Hamlin staying at JGR.

And I think unless Legacy Motor Club can improve their on-track performance next year with Erik Jones & now John Hunter Nemechek, I don’t see them spending $50 million on something that can guarantee them to race days following their recent switch to Toyota that will begin next year. So there you have it, we expect the No.10 charter to be sold off to Richard Childress Racing come 2025 following the retirement of Aric Almirola. And I guess we will have some competition amongst two-car teams for the No.41 charter, should Preece continue to flop next season.

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It’s good to see Ryan Preece being given the chance to prove himself in a top-notch race car by Stewart-Haas Racing, where he will replace Cole Custer in the No.41 Ford Mustang from next season. 

There has been division for some time between the co-owners – Gene Haas & Tony Stewart – about choosing Custer or Preece for the best driver to drive the No.41 team next year – but Custer had his ample chances over the last three Cup years with mostly average results despite the one regular-season win that earned him both a Playoffs spot (finished 16th in points) and the Rookie of the Year award back in 2020 – as SHR demoted Custer down back to their Xfinity team in the No.00 alongside No.98 of Riley Herbst. 

Although, I would’ve liked to see Custer help out Rick Ware Racing as SHR’s satellite team and get them up to speed on-track, but then he will most likely be racing for them part-time in the No.15 Cup machine. Sadly, there is nothing much RWR can do other than keep running multiple drivers in the No.15 unless they can find a driver that can cover full season sponsorship, while Rick’s son Cody will always be driving full-time in the No.51 with Nurtec ODT backing.

Meanwhile, on the flip side, this is Ryan’s chance now to turn the No.41 around as a regular front-runner again, which hasn’t really been the case after Kurt Busch last drove for SHR back in 2018. His replacements, Daniel Suarez (2019) and Cole Custer (2020-2022) couldn’t replicate to Kurt’s level on the race track ever since.

If Preece can show that he is capable of winning races in a top-notch car, then it looks like that SHR will have their own Ross Chastain, who had an unreal 2022 campaign finishing 2nd behind champion Joey Logano (No.22 Team Penske Ford) in the No.1 Chevy Camaro ZL1 at Trackhouse. 

And as for Custer, going back to Xfinity will help him get used to running upfront again and winning races which hasn’t happened a lot for the majority so far at Cup level. But I’m sure Custer will be ready to go back to Cup again at some point either in the No.10 car or even the No.41 again, with Preece moving to the No.4 team in place of Kevin Harvick after his expected retirement at the end of 2024. 

Now we will have to see what Almriola has to say about his long-term future after 2023, especially when he reversed his retirement plans a few months ago. If he does decide to retire this time, then it will be up to Herbst if Custer’s presence will benefit his on-track improvements at last next season. Otherwise, SHR will have to find elsewhere and pluck someone from another team like Erik Jones or Noah Gragson at Petty GMS.

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The Bathurst International was held this weekend, and boy oh boy it did not disappoint. For those who don’t know, the Bathurst International is a weekend with plenty of racing in a lot of different categories. So let’s look over the highlights from the Trans-Am and TCR Australia.

In the Trans-Am, Nathan Herne took the pole position for Race 1, and managed to hang on to it for a great win for him and Team Valvoline. He managed to hold off the Supercheap Auto of Nash Morris, as well as the TPS Caravans of Brett Holdsworth and the Garry Rogers car piloted by Owen Kelly. After a less than ideal practice, Benjamin Grice made a fantastic recovery and was in the top 10 by lap 3. However, the Safety Car was brought out for a spin by Zach Losicalpo at Murray’s Corner, where he became beached. At the end of Race 1, Nathan Herne took the top step of the podium, with Owen Kelly and Holdsworth completing the top 3.

In Race 2, Nathan Herne could not be stopped and stormed to another win. It was a front-row lockout for the Garry Rogers Mustangs, but an error from Owen Kelly at Hell Corner allowed Herne to pull away, with Holdsworth getting racy with Kelly at Griffin’s Bend. There was a shunt between the SupaFSeries Mustang and the Chevy of John Holinger at Forrest’s Elbow. Zach Loscialpo made a great recovery from last on the grid, crossing the line in 11th place. Herne took the second win of the weekend, with Holdsworth in second, but contact at the high-speed Chase corner between Morris and Kelly allowed Lochie Dolton to finish the podium.

In the Turtle Wax 100, Nathan Herne once again took the chequered flag to round off his hat-trick of wins this weekend. There were some mega drives, with Aaron Teb and Jack Sipp up 11 and 8 places respectively. Even though Grice was still recovering from a crash in Practice, he was challenging in the top 5 throughout. Lochie Dalton got a bit too confident at the chase, beaching his car and bringing out a short Safety Car period. On the final lap, Robert Noaker had to roll into the pits with power loss, with Herne finishing first, with Ben Grice in second and Nash Morris in third to round off a great race and a great weekend of racing.

In the TCR, the opener was a great way to start off this weekend. Young hotshot Bailey Sweeney met the chequered flag first. For most of the title contenders it was a race to forget, riddled with retirements and struggle. It was an eventful race, with lots of great battles in the midfield. Kangaroos brought out the safety car on lap 12, which bunched the field up for even more close racing. At the restart, King passed Cox into 10th position, which is essential for his title hopes. Hanson had a heavy shunt at Reid Park, but emerged relatively unharmed. At the flag, it was Sweeny from O’Keeffe and Morcom to round off the top 3.

Will Brown won the final TCR race of the weekend, but missed out on the title. That honour went to Tony D’Alberto, who took the 2022 TCR Australia Championship. Will Brown put in all the effort, with some spectacular overtakes to put himself in the lead, but D’Alberto managed to maintain 11th to give him enough points to clinch the title. There were plenty of battles throughout with a few scrapes and retirements. The top 3 were Will Brown, Bailey Sweeny and Josh Buchan, with D’Alberto taking the title by 2 points.

What a great weekend the Bathurst International turned out to be, but next year will definitely be even better! See you then!

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I’d like to see Preece being given a go at Rick Ware Racing full-time in the No.15 first next year if SHR chooses to keep Custer in the No.41 for another year; as long as SHR can help RWR a bit more with technical support on their equipment & hopefully post some good results on-track in order to avoid charter repossession by the sport.

When it comes to the long-term makeup though at SHR, I think Harvick will get a one-year extension in the No.4 car going into 2024 and then retire in time for the next TV rights deal in 2025 & be an analyst with Clint Bowyer & Mike Joy/Adam Alexander (if Joy retires) during the first half of the season for FOX/FS1.

His replacement? I know Hailie Deegan did so well on her Xfinity debut at Las Vegas last week but we’ll wait and see if Ford will give her a full-time Xfinity opportunity next year & try to post more Top 10-15 results on a regular basis after two full years at Trucks level.

Meanwhile, Riley Herbst still needs more time to challenge upfront every week in order to boost his chances of winning races in the No.98 SHR Xfinity car. Now he may have sponsorship but his average/inconsistent results tells me that he is not ready to take the mantle from Harvick or Almirola at this stage and then hope for the best because SHR is a top-notch team wanting to challenge for the championship. So another two years at least would hopefully see Herbst be on the same standard as Custer and Briscoe when they were racing Xfinitys really well at the time before it’s safe to say that he can finally proceed to Cup racing.

Although I do see him as a like-for-like replacement for Aric Almirola in the No.10 car, who also brings similar strong sponsorship packages like Herbst as he’s also into his 40s like Harvick; but again, consistent results will be his major issue to solve over the next year or two, otherwise he will have to try his luck elsewhere.

Now who would be the best person to step up into Harvick’s No.4 car if Deegan is either not ready, gone into Almirola’s No.10 car instead of Herbst or is poached by Toyota or Chevy? Maybe convince Erik Jones to join SHR? He too is doing so well at Petty-GMS with a win last month that ended a long-running drought of eight years for the No.43 team in victory lane, despite missing the playoffs. He brings so much talent to deliver top-half finishes with the right equipment where he was well treated by Toyota Racing during his earlier days with a Truck Series title at Kyle Busch Motorsports, as well as finishing 2nd in Xfinity level back in 2016 and also won a couple of Cup races here and there at Joe Gibbs Racing before he was replaced by Christopher Bell last year. Now Erik may have signed another contact extension with Petty-GMS lately but should Harvick retire, then I wouldn’t be surprised to see SHR throwing out some money to get him onboard.

And although Ross Chastain would be a good get from Trackhouse who is doing outstanding right now, but again SHR can develop their own Ross in Ryan Preece & help him find a full-time ride with vaulable equipment, while Custer will still be driving Cup cars for long time regardless of where he will end up either in the No.41 car for a fourth straight season or being shipped to their satellite team alongside Cody Ware at RWR.

All eyes on the long-term futures of the No.4 and No.10 Stewart-Haas cars going into 2024 and 2025, as the team prepares for life without Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola once they both hang up their racing career.

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Christopher Bell scored an incredible victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday. With this victory, Bell secured a place among the eight drivers who will continue the fight for the championship title. Bell was not the fastest on the track, but he took advantage of the incidents at the end of the race to take a sensational victory. Before this race, Bell was as much as 45 points below the zone where there were eight drivers potentially continuing the championship fight.

“Man, you’ve just got to be there at the end of these things,” “I keep watching all these races where the fastest car doesn’t always win. No secret that road courses have not been our strength this year”. “We were just there at the right time. We obviously weren’t in position to win (before taking tires). We rolled the dice, gambled, and it paid off for us.”

Kyle Larson, the guy who won the title last year won’t have a chance to repeat the feat of the previous season after making too many mistakes throughout the season. Quite rightly, he was very disappointed after this race.

“I just made way too many mistakes all year long,” Larson said. “Made another one today. Ultimately cost us an opportunity to go chase another championship.“Just extremely mad at myself. I let the team down a number of times this year, and let them down in a big way today.”

Larson lacked only 2 points to pass among the top 8 drivers, but Chase Briscoe was placed in his place as the last driver in the further stage. Throughout the season, Larson struggled to find the right rhythm in a vehicle that had undergone changes compared to the previous season. Last season was fascinating because he achieved as many as 10 victories while this season he recorded only 2 triumphs.

“It’s been tough,” Larson said. “I mean, there’s been no real rhythm to it for me and our team, but we fought hard all year to get better. And we’re gonna continue to fight, continue to work hard to be better for the rest of the season as well as be more prepared for next year.”

In the end, Austin Cindric and Daniel Suarez were left without a place in the top 8, as they also had accidents in this race. Briscoe was out of the top 20 after the restart on lap 111, but in the end he achieved a placement which guaranted him the top 8.

“Yeah, man, what a wild day,” Briscoe said. “It took every bit of it there at the end. To be easily in, then that debris caution comes out (on Lap 104). Still, I thought we had a really good shot of making it in. Get wrecked on the backstretch. Crazy at the end of these races, especially the road-course races, how much can change so quickly”.

Bell almost certainly would not have won if a whole series of incidents had not happened at the end of the race and with a good strategy he reached a big victory. Those developments helped him find his place among the top 8 drivers who continue to fight for the title next week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

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Kyle Larson claimed victory in a thrilling race at Watkins Glen International that was delayed several times due to bad weather. It was the second straight win for the defending Nascar Cup Series champion and his 18th career win overall. In a dramatic finish, Larson made a great maneuver to pass Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott. Despite ultimately finishing the race in fourth place, Elliott finished the regular season of the Nascar championship in first place, which he secured by winning the first place after the first stage at Watkins Glen.

After the race, Larson commented on a key maneuver in the race: “I knew that was my only opportunity to get by him. I feel like our cars were pretty equal today. Had a lot of fun after the green-flag cycle trying to chase him down. Kind of burned my stuff up a little bit.” But the restarts kept me in it and kept our team in it. I’m proud of my guys. Good to get another win here at Watkins Glen and get some more bonus points going into the Playoffs, we haven’t had a lot here this year.” Elliot congratulated his teammate on the victory: “Congratulations to Kyle and everybody on the 5 team and at Hendrick Motorsports for getting the win.” AJ Allmendinger and Joey Logano finished the race ahead of Elliott.

The race at Watkins Glen was special because never before had a larger number of international drivers had the opportunity to compete in a single race within the Nascar Cup Series. At the aforementioned race, we had the opportunity to watch drivers from as many as seven countries. Most of the drivers are, quite logically, competitors from the USA. In addition, at Watkins Glen we had the opportunity to see drivers from Mexico, the Netherlands, Germany, Russia, Finland and England. This data shows that Nascar is becoming more and more popular outside the American continent from year to year. Of the international drivers at Watkins Glen, the best position was achieved by Daniel Suarez, who took fifth place.

The mentioned race, which is the penultimate in the regular part of the season, was marked by the debut of Kimi Raikkonen, the former world champion in F1. His debut performance in Nascar ended in ingloriously, although at one point the Finnish driver was among the top ten ranked drivers. Kimi started the race in the 27th position, and at one point he was occupying a high eighth position. Unfortunately, he ended the race prematurely by crashing into the guard rail. Regardless of the fact that he finished the race in the mentioned way, Raikkonen is satisfied with the new experience in his already rich racing career.

“Yeah, for sure, but it’s always hard to know especially now here like what states (of the pit) stop and you know the tire life on that,” he said. “I felt that we had very good speed and especially after the pit stops but maybe I was a bit too harsh on the tires on the one of the sets.”

The other internationals didn’t make a name for themselves at Watkins Glen either. The best place was achieved by the German driver, Mike Rockenfeller, who finished the race in 30th place. Dutchman Loris Hezemans was three positions lower. At the very back with Raikkonen were his former colleague from F1, Daniel Kvyat and the Englishman Kyle Tilley.

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Who can stop Jett Johnson right now? He was simply outstanding all Sunday long with three straight wins out of four here at Winton Motor Raceway in the TA2 Muscle Car category. Every time he has the chance to start and re-start the race from top spot, he was just too good to hold off on his own from start to finish. There is one bright young talent in the making with huge potential from Jett, having came from the famous Johnson Racing family background via his dad Steven and grandad Dick Johnson.

Dylan Thomas came home 2nd in the No.68 Ford Mustang for CXC Racing. He would’ve love to have a close sniff at Jett and put pressure on the young kid when it comes to the top spot battle, but he never looked out of place nonetheless with three straight P2 finishes on top of P5 from Race 1. And how good was Josh Haynes also in the No.17 Elvin Group Chevy Camaro! He started from the back of the grid in around 13th following the stall of Michael Coulter just before the green flag waved; He too had a brilliant when Haynes made up so many positions up to third. Although he may not had enough time to chase down the Top 2, but he’s certainly a huge threat if Haynes was right up there side-by-side with Dylan and Jett.

Plus a couple of mentions with Jackson Rice’s rebound in 4th following a late wreck earlier today with Mark Crutcher; Kyle Gurton back in the Top 5 when his Race 1 win followed up with a late mechanical issue that saw him battle at the back end of the field during Race 3; And although Zach Loscialpo would’ve like to stay running within the Top 3, he overcame an early spin down at Turn 2 where he finished 10th.

Then we round off with one of Australian Motor Racing Series’s core categories in the Australian Formula 3 Series at Winton Motor Raceway in Victoria. The opening lap was wild when Ethan Brown couldn’t get the clutch going, while Mitch Neilson fired off with the early lead. However, Neilson lost top spot when he overcooked it at Turn 1 that cost him two spots in the eventual P3 position, despite being given a 20-second penalty as he finished well ahead of his R-Tek Motorsports team-mate in Roman Krumins.

In the end, it’s Noah Sands once again with the win. He credits the patience that created plenty of pressure to any driver ahead of him before Sands was able to get past through the gate and the rest is history en route to the chequered flag. And Race 1 winner Ryan Astley would’ve like the full-race momentum after the last two races today in a bid where he couldn’t stop the dangerous Noah Sands, but an all-podium finish in 3rd and 2nd respectively in Races 2 & 3 still shows that his rivalry with Sands isn’t over when it comes to the overall championship.

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We kick off our Sunday with one of the two Australian Motor Racing Series’ core categories here at Winton Motor Raceway in the TA2 Muscle Car Series, Race 3. We haven’t seen much of green flag racing in the first couple of laps when Paul Hadley and John Hollinger made contact at around Turn 2, while Josh Haynes’s fast start became short-lived after he picked up a right front flat tire; all three drivers were marked as DNF before the restart.

Back into green flag racing now, Jett Johnson was too good once again unchallenged in the No.117 Napa Auto Parts Ford Mustang with back-to-back wins coming off Race 2 yesterday afternoon. No.68 CXC Racing’s Dylan Thomas came home in 2nd that summed up a Ford 1-2 finish ahead of Zach Loscialpo who rounds the Top 3 podium places in the No.21 Chevy Camaro for Excelerate Motorsport. And Race 1 winner Kyle Gurton (No.2 Dream Racing Ford Mustang) benefitted the late collision of Mark Crutcher & Jackson Rice ahead of him, as well as the last-lap drama of Chris Sutton that helped him climb from the back of the field to 8th.

Then we look at the Australian Formula 3 Series in Race 2, this time we saw some decent contenders out there fighting up front. No.99’s Ryan Astley fired off well earlier on with the earlier lead before he lost two spots later in an eventual P3 behind race winner Noah Sands and 2nd-placed Ethan Brown. What a brilliant drive from Sands in the No.17 Gilmore Racing machinery where he was patient with a couple of aggressive drives & once he got around Astley, he was too good to pull further away ever since towards an easy win. And hats off to Ethan Brown in the No.27 for Tim Macrow Racing who would’ve liked to take advantage of the early momentum & have a stab for the win where he lost a spot from 3rd to 4th, but he recovered well on the run home past Astley for 2nd.

There’s only once race left to round off the weekend for these two categories later this afternoon at around 2-3 pm.

#AusF3 #TA2Racing #MuscleCars #Formula3 #AMRSeries #WintonMotorRaceway #Motorsport #JettJohnson #NoahSands #EthanBrown #RyanAstley #KyleGurton #JoshHaynes #DylanThomas #ZachLoscialpo

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