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Thoughts on Stewart-Haas Racing’s No.41 car plans for 2023 between Ryan Preece or Cole Custer, as well as their long-term outlook for the No.4 & 10 cars

by Sports Benches

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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Motorsport

Christopher Bell made a sensation at Charlotte Roval 400, champion eliminated

by Admin

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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Motorsport

Watkins Glen: Larson scores second straight win, Raikkonen retires in Nascar debut

by Admin

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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2022 RD3 of the Australian Motor Racing Series: Jett Johnson and Noah Sands too good once again in their respective categories at TA2 Muscle Cars & Australian Formula 3

by Sports Benches

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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Motorsport

2022 RD3 Australian Motor Racing Series: Jett Johnson too good on the TA2 Muscle Cars with back-to-back wins in Race 3; Noah Sands’s aggressive drive past Ryan Astley paid off during Race 2 in the Australian Formula 3

by Sports Benches

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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2022 ARG SpeedSeries RD4: A mix of opening lap dramas and an easier finish by the respective leaders round off the weekend in Race 3 of the S5000, Trans-Am and TCR Australia at Sydney Motorsports Park

by Sports Benches

What a Sunday afternoon it has been to close out the weekend here at Sydney Motorsports Park in Round 4 of the 2022 ARG SpeedSeries. We’ll start off with the S5000s where Tim Macrow fired off well from pole before he was spun off by Nathan Herne that cost him a few places, while race officials handed Herne a drive-through penalty at the same time.

As the race goes on, we saw a brilliant battle for 1st between Aaron Cameron & Joey Mawson before Cameron completed his payback with the win following his unfortunate opening lap DNF by Mawson into the wall from Race 2 earlier today. And James Golding finished his Sunday spell with two podiums in 2nd & 3rd, having made up lost time from a DNF Race 1 yesterday over a steering issue.

Then there’s the same opening lap drama over in the Trans-Am this time at Turn 1, when the No.67 of Nash Morris touched the wall before he collected Lochie Dalton in No.45 out of the park that led to the next couple of laps under caution. In the end though, Owen Kelly remained unchallenged from start to finish in 1st that followed up from an excellent Race 2 during the night session yesterday. Race 1 winner Nathan Herne became the biggest mover when it comes to track position from 22nd on the grid to 2nd, while Ben Grice rounds off the podium in 3rd.

And we finish our huge Sunday afternoon of ARG SpeedSeries with the TCR Australia category. Nathan Morcom adds another podium finish on top of an excellent Sunday performance from P3 earlier during Race 2 today in the No.11 Hyundai i30 N, but this time he takes home with the win which ended his drought on top of the podium since November 2019 at the Bend in South Australia. He did an excellent job getting around polesitter Jordan Cox on the inside line straight away from 2nd spot before he never looked back ever since, while team-mate Josh Buchan in the sister No.30 machinery completed a 1-2 sweep for their HMO Customer Racing team. And Cox would’ve liked to hunt down the HMO cars all race long, but he’s happy to prevent an all Hyundai Top 3 when he passed Luke King on the final lap for 3rd.

#SpeedSeriesAU #Motorsport #S5000 #TCRAustralia #TransAm #OwenKelly #AaronCameron #NathanMorcom #JoshBuchan #Hyundai #GarryRogersMotorsport #FordMustang #EasternCreek #HMOCustomerRacing

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2022 ARG SpeedSeries RD3 on Sunday at Mount Panorama in Bathurst, Nathan Herne cleans sweeps in the Trans-Am while Aaron Cameron bounces back with the Race 3 win in the TCR Australia

by Sports Benches

Race 3 of the Trans-Am Australia in Bathurst was a series of twists and turns, most notably between Turns 19 & 20 at Conrod Straight, where race officials abruptly ended the race under yellow. Thankfully, John Hollinger was okay in the No.23 Chevy after this huge wreck; he and the No.12 Dodge of Shaun Richardson were battling for a position side-by-side before Richardson collected him that spun sideways into the wall.

Speaking of the final race results of the weekend, Nathan Herne collected a clean sweep with all three wins in the No.1 Ford Mustang for Garry Rogers Motorsport. Meanwhile, His team-mate Owen Kelly completed his resurgence with back-to-back podiums in 3rd. And arch-rival Tim Brook would’ve loved to end Herne’s long-running stranglehold in the No.38 Ford for Wall Racing when he always had to settle for 2nd. However, he’s happy to take the result as there’s still time for Brook to catch up when it comes to the Drivers’ Standings, even though Herne just extended his lead with four rounds left this season.

Then we look at the TCRs where Aaron Cameron bounced back with the win just a while ago during Race 3 in the No.18 Peugeot 308 for Garry Rogers Motorsport. He would’ve liked to take home the clean sweep when the reverse grid system didn’t benefit him any favors that much after P9 in Race 2 yesterday afternoon. However, it certainly does today when his Race 2 result allowed him to start on the front row, overtook James Moffatt immediately, and held off comfortably through the checkered flag. It’s also good to see fellow GRM driver Dylan O’Keeffe rebound with another podium spot in 3rd on top of a good drive back in Race 1.

And we saw two brilliant drivers who know what it takes to gain a couple of positions all too well at the Mountain. Jordan Cox in the No.33 Peugeot GRM machinery may have endured an unlucky Race 1 yesterday with a DNF after being fasted during practice yesterday. But he wasted no time working his way from the back of the grid to 10-11th following these two remaining races. So does Bailey Sweeny in the No.130 Hyundai i30N for HNO Customer Racing after his breakthrough win on Race 2; he too showed some patience from the 3rd row (6th) to just behind Cameron in 2nd.

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2022 ARG SpeedSeries on Saturday at Bathurst: Nathan Herne wins back to back in the Trans-Am while Peugeots filled up the podium spots in Race 1 & Bailey Sweeny wins Race 2 over at the TCR Australia

by Sports Benches

Nathan Herne is unstoppable in the No.1 Ford Mustang for Garry Rogers Motorsports after he collected two from two wins today so far at Mount Panorama. He never looked out of pace on race day when he passed Tim Brook immediately and held off ever since, even though he wasn’t fastest in any of the practice & qualifying sessions as the cautions didn’t bother him. We love this Herne v Brook side-by-side rivalry. And shoutout to Herne’s team-mate Owen Kelly, who finished 4th in Race 1 just behind No.03 Ford’s Ben Grice, before he took advantage of Grice’s DNF (gearbox issue) the next race & scored the final podium spot in 3rd.

Then we turned our attention to TCR Australia, with Jordan Cox fastest in both practice sessions in the No.33 Peugeot 308 yesterday. Although, he was unlucky not to continue in 3rd when he had to stop his car on top of the penalty that precluded him from starting on the front row before Race 1. Cox’s team-mate Aaron Cameron stole the show with a comfortable Race 1 spell from start to finish, followed by another set of Peugeots rounding the other two podium spots from Ben Bargwanna (No. 71 Burson) & Dylan O’Keeffe (No. 8 GRM).

In the end, though, we witnessed a different winner on Race 2 in Bailey Sweeny over at the No. 130 Hyundai i30N for HNO Customer Racing. Now he may have been unable to get around Michael Caruso at the start from reverse 2nd, having finished 9th in the previous race earlier this afternoon. However, you have to praise his patience as this race goes on when Sweeny finally passed Caruso side-by-side at the Chase (Turn 20); that turned out to be a winning move before Sweeny got to celebrate on top of the podium for the first time.

Race 3 of the Trans-Am and TCR will take place on a bright and early tomorrow morning, before it’s all about the 6-hour feature race in Bathurst.

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Motorsport

2022 Australian Rally Championship Round 1 Review: National Capital Rally in Canberra

by Sports Benches

What an unreal spell from reigning Supercars champion Shane Van Gisbergen when he got his wish in rallying thanks to Team Red Bull. They supplied him with the Skoda Fabia R5 alongside co-driver Glen Weston, where he & Glen managed to finish runner-up in the opening round of the 2022 Australian Rally Championship. Although it’s a one-off effort since he’s got full-time Supercars duties to defend, Van Gisbergen was running in Top 3-4 all the time, especially towards the end of the rally yesterday on Day 2 with two-stage wins (SS12 & SS13) that includes the Power Stage finale.

In the end, though, you can’t underestimate the brilliance of the current Australian rally champions Harry Bates & his co-driver John McCarthy in the Toyota GR Yaris AP4 for his family-run team. They were too good to pull off the opening day with all the first seven stage wins that put them way upfront before Bates/McCarthy stayed ahead, which was enough to secure an easy win.

Apart from Harry Bates & SVG’s success stories, other competitors stood out throughout the opening round in Canberra. Good to see Brendan Reeves and Kate Catford round off the final podium spot in the Hyundai i20 RN. They started not bad on Day 1, but their late turnaround sets them for an improved Day 2 when ending H.Bates/McCarthy stranglehold with the Stage 8 win, which boosted their confidence.

Taylor Gill & Kim Bessell also had a great showing in 4th, where they also secured the NSW Rally class win in the Subaru WRX STi for Curiositi. And shoutout to Tom Clarke/Ryan Preston (White Wolf Ford Fiesta) & Timothy Wilkins/Jim Gleeson (Wilkins Mitsubishi Evo IX). These guys may have languished in and out of the Top 10 at the start, but a few other competitors’ DNFs given them progress as this rally goes on with a respective 5th & 6th finish.

It will be interesting to see who will challenge Bates & McCarthy up close with six rounds left of the 2022 ARC season, as this series moves over to the Forest Rally in WA on Saturday & Saturday, May 21-22.

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2022 ARG SpeedSeries, Day 2/Race 2 Review of AWC Race Tasmania in Trans-Am, S5000 & TCR Australia

by Sports Benches

The Trans-Am event on Race 2 was once again filled with a series of wrecks, especially at the tricky hairpin corner that gave no time to resume racing after the first 5-8 laps.

However, we saw a bit of entertainment where Nathan Herne successfully made the winning pass off Tim Brook towards the end of lap one in the No.1 Ford for GRM, having held off top spot through the end on what was been in a yellow flag shortened race. We’d love to see Brook show off his incredible escape like he did yesterday, but just couldn’t hold off this time and end up in 4th.

Then we move onto the S5000 open-wheelers where there was a couple of early race dramas going on. We saw yesterday’s winner Joey Mawson being collected at the opening lap by team-mate Tim Slade for Team BRM, Blake Purdie’s spin at the hairpin on Lap 8 that led to another safety car out on-track & Adam Garwood’s car stopped during the Lap 15 restart.

But how good is Josh Fife in the 88 ACMFinance.com Racing machinery, who was unbelievable from start to finish, not even the restarts bothered him where he unleashed the entire field before Fife held on top spot comfortably through the chequered flag with the win.

And we round it off with the TCR Australia category through a mix of brilliant racing and bumps into the wall.

We saw the opening lap battle for 1st place with GRM team-mates side by side between Jordan Cox and Aaron Cameron, although Cameron may be unlucky to have lost out after he urgently made to pit road for repairs but what a comeback moment though from Race 2 winner Jordan Cox.

Now Cox may have experienced an unfortunate pace lap drama yesterday afternoon where he started on pit lane & finished 17th, but he did a great job holding off top spot comfortably from start to finish. More to come if he manages to keep that race-winning form going into Race 3 a bit later on and the remaining six races of 2022.

Also another shoutout to Tony D’Alberto in the No.50 Honda Civic for Wall Racing. He too made a sensational last lap pass on Will Brown in No.999’s MPC Audi RS3, and that was enough to deliver him a podium finish in 3rd.

Lots to reflect on a great weekend of racing at AWC Race Tasmania.

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