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NASCAR News Today: Thoughts on Austin Dillon stripped of his Playoffs eligibility despite keeping his controversial win from the Cook Out 400 weekend in Richmond 

by Sports Benches

So there we have it, after a long few days out from that Richmond race finish controversy, Austin Dillon of the No.3 Chevy Camaro for Richard Childress Racing – who intentionally wrecked both Team Penske Ford’s Joey Logano and then Joey Gibbs Racing Toyota’s Denny Hamlin following the final two turns for the race win – can keep his win but his Playoffs berth though will not count as a result of this investigation by NASCAR. 

RCR on the other hand is still furious about this decision with the plans of an appeal over the next coming days – good luck with that! But what RCR and No.3 of AD needs to do now is not make up any more shortcuts in order to cleanly win races next time with only three regular rounds to go. Should he win either one of the last three regular races, he will enter the post-season Playoffs with zero Playoff points meaning he will have to also win another Round of 16 races to keep his hopes alive.

Gotta say it’s being well said at last as this should’ve been taken action immediately after the race unlike post-race inspections with race cars. You can defend AD and RCR all you like when the No.3 crew would like him to spin and win that race and he did that to make this happen but then this shouldn’t be acceptable in the world of Motorsport at all including NASCAR, so again AD needs to now learn that lesson & not upset everyone in anyway like he did to both drivers at the overtime white flag.

Another party that is worth consider appealing is Joey Logano who verbally unleashed into AD post-race for intentionally spinning him out into the wall that ultimately cost Joey his race win where he finished down in 19th rather than a front row finish as hoped for the Blue Oval. He received a fine of $50,000 USD by NASCAR for his mis-conduct and it’s not fair on him to walk away empty handed that isn’t his own fault other than being so frustrated to see someone who wrecked him celebrate in victory lane at the same time. Maybe NASCAR should take away the penalty fee off Joey and not let RCR give a free pass appeal anymore after all this chaos that took them so long. 

Enough said and we move onto the next Cup race this weekend for the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway & this 3rd last regular season race is expected to be Rick Allen’s last as NBC’s NASCAR lead commentator, with Aussie Leigh Diffey to take over from next weekend’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 night race at Daytona International Speedway.

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NASCAR Race News from the weekend: Austin Dillon spins his way with the Cook Out 400 race win at Richmond Raceway in the No.3 Chevy for Richard Childress Racing

by Sports Benches

It may have been a dominant Toyota front row fest for the most part other than the Daniel Suarez Stage 2 win in the Trackhouse Chevy but look who’s back in victory lane? It’s Austin Dillon in the No.3 Chevy Camaro with the win for Richard Childress Racing following his race-winning bump past Turn 4 on both Team Penske’s Joey Logano & Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin towards the checkered flag on overtime when Ryan Preece spun out that led to a caution with two to go.

Now for some NASCAR fans, particularly for those who go for Logano & even Hamlin, this last lap restart on the run home was both good and bad. Well, the sport could’ve looked at this one a lot deeper other than post-race inspections but that’s stock car racing unfortunately unlike most other racing series we see on-track. First of all, good to see AD back in victory lane for the first time since the summer 2022 Daytona race with the same previous crew chief of Justin Alexander, who has been in and out of the No.3 pit box as time goes by until sometime earlier this year. Yet, he’s back for the third time now of asking to help turn his form around once again and yes it did work outwell with another lucky charm for him and Justin together like it was a few times before as AD wouldn’t be there to celebrate today or these past victories if it wasn’t for his best crew chief.

Gotta say that 2nd half performance after the first two stages within the Top 6-7 worked well in AD’s favour off the back of these important pit road adjustments beforehand that helped him make a brilliant charge on the front row. He rolled off the line from 6th aftern an excellent run in qualifying, having never looked out of place with a fast race car on his hands while he remained patient while others drop out all along to get what what he wants. RCR hasn’t been bad when it comes to submitting at least one of their cars over the last few years at Playoffs time & if Kyle Busch can at least win the last few regular season races for the other No.8 car, then no doubt they would be a decent threat up front to the other 3/4 car big teams.

Looking at the Toyotas, you gotta feel for them when these cars fired off really well with some promising signs across the first two stages. Then they had some of the problems happening when it comes to the long last stage with Martin Truex Jr. forced to pull due to mechanical issues while some lacked inconsistency on the long runs like Christopher Bell other than a good Denny day except his last lap overtime drama where he finished 2nd. Seeing four Toyota cars in the Top 6 ain’t bad though with Denny’s co-owned 23XI Racing team also having a great field day in 3rd & 4th thanks to the No.45 of Tyler Reddick & No.23 of Bubba Wallace as Toyota needs to continue making that firepower right going into the next Cup round at Michigan.

Meanwhile, the Ford cars also didn’t have a great day either when Joey Logano was unluckily spun out whilst trying to win with fellow Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney being the best driver there just outside the Top 10 in 11th & the rest of these drivers languishing towards the back end of the finish line. And last but not least, shoutout to Carson Hocevar, who finished 8th in the No.77 Chevy for Spire Motorsports. Now he might not have cracked these Top 5 finishes just yet since he went straight from Trucks but a few Top 10 finishes though ain’t bad and he’s even leading the Rookie standings by a small margin.

Three more regular rounds to go with Michigan, Daytona and Darlington to come as good to see NASCAR back following a long two-week Olympics break and we’re almost there to make up the last 16 drivers that will be competing in the 10 week Playoffs campaign for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship trophy starting early next month at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

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NASCAR News Today: Thoughts on Spire Motorsports decided to move on from Corey LaJoie next season in the No.7 Chevy team

by Sports Benches

Earlier today, Spire Motorsports have decided to go its separate ways from Corey LaJoie ahead of the 2025 season.

There will be completely new face in the No.7 Chevy Camaro with Rodney Childers coming over from Stewart-Haas Racing (soon to be shut down & replaced by just Haas as a single car team) as crew chief while Ryan Sparks will be promoted within Spire as competition director.

It’s been a kind of surprise considering LaJoie has helped Spire so much with some occasional success up front since he and Ryan first jumped over from the then GO FAS Racing organization at the start of 2021. I’m sure the job isn’t done just yet with a few more regular season rounds to go after the two-week Olympics break resuming in mid-August but then that’s it once the actual Cup season ends in early November. 

So yes, it’s not going to be the same with LaJoie in the No.7 next year but do understand where Spire wants to go competitively off the back of their recent big investments, and they’d like to have all three Cup teams racing at least Top 10-15 including 1-2 race wins every weekend.

We hope that LaJoie will get another good Cup ride somewhere like Kaulig Racing where they too have struggled with a full-time driver at times in the No.16 Chevy since AJ Allmendinger returned to racing Xfinity this year, and he’d be the perfect fit to get themselves back on track. 

Again, they’re another serious organization, who made a name for themselves at Xfinity level, before Kaulig later expanded into Cup level full-time two years ago thanks to the current Next Gen chassis.

Who’s going to be replacing LaJoie? Easy to say Zane Smith but then he’s largely inconsistent so far this season by surprise other than the rare 2nd placed finish last month at Nashville. Looks like they will use their financial muscle to poach Justin Haley away from Rick Ware Racing, even though he’s committed to them right now.

It would be a huge loss from RWR to lose Haley only after one season but if that happens should Spire pay them money Rick & Lisa can’t refuse, then they can always rely on the experienced Ryan Preece who is also on the lookout for another ride with Stewart-Haas also set to shutdown at season’s end. 

Now his time there also may be inconsistent since SHR is no longer on the same level as Team Penske, but he is someone who always had success in the lower tier series – even if it’s through part-time rides like Xfinity, Trucks and even modified cars as well.

For now, we wish Corey all the best in his next move and whoever takes him onboard will give his 100% best that would hopefully prove doubters wrong.

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NASCAR News Today: Top 3 this week with plans of hosting an International Cup race, What it means for Australia? and 2 x current Cup racers set for extra racing gigs overseas

by Sports Benches

While the on-air talent and silly season rumour talk is ongoing, there has been some progress as of late when it comes to NASCAR’s International ambitions. Off the back of several International drivers coming here over the last 1-2 years mainly on road courses, they would like to hold an International Cup series race as early as next year. We’ll find out where that might be? And what does it mean for Australia.

If hosting NASCAR races off shore isn’t enough, we got two Cup racers looking to get some extra race time elsewhere that will appeal to local race track promoters and race fans. There’s one who is set for a one-off outing in an International NASCAR-sanctioned series coming up soon while another is set for a return to Australia to race some sprint cars like most other US racers when their respective seasons usually finishes in November.

Time will tell but for now, great to see the sport taking some right steps in order to promote to stock car racing worldwide rivalling Formula 1, MotoGP & IndyCar .

NASCAR’s International Cup Series plans update this week beginning with Mexico and Canada

The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series schedule hasn’t been fully released yet other than a couple of important races and some of the in-tournament summer events that will be on both Amazon Prime & TNT – such as February’s season-opening Daytona 500, May’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and the Championship 4 Finale in Phoenix in early November.

While there’s still ongoing talk as to which of the current races will stay or go, there’s no surprise that NASCAR wants to host at least one if not two Cup races outside the USA. However, those two overseas races they’re looking at will likely be just within the North American border for a start.

We’ve heard so far that Mexico City in Mexico and Montreal in Canada are the key destinations, although Montreal would more likely be a realistic target for 2026. 

NASCAR has been there and done that before in the mid 2000s-early 2010s with the second-tier series with Mexico City between 2005-2008 followed by Montreal between 2007-2012 where both of these venues are usually home to their respective Formula 1 Grand Prix races like the Mexico City & Canadian Grand Prix.

I, for one, would like to see this happen with the sport doing an excellent job on being serious about their International footprint. It’s been going on over the last few years alongside a couple of International drivers coming in to race for a couple of occasions, especially on road courses where these drivers have been usually specialists there for so long.

What’s not going away though is taking some Cup events off on Sundays to accommodate their International ambitions, even if it’s going to be held in Mexico City and/or Montreal. 

It’s the best part business and fan-centric wise of finishing the race weekend as always with most of their viewers coming from across the county in the US while some do come from Canada as well as Europe. So they’re happy where they’re are when their main focus these days is the West Coast market & race day starts tend to fall in the early afternoon rather than putting it at midday like it used to be or else fans who live in the West Coast will miss out the start first thing at 9am PST.

What does it mean for NASCAR in Australia? 

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While we continue to see more and more of our Supercars drivers trying their hand in NASCAR since last year with New Zealander Shane Van Gisbergen now racing the Xfinity Series for Kaulig Racing full-time, it looks like we won’t see a big NASCAR race weekend here anytime soon since they want to keep most of the focus locally and domestically across the USA.

Sure, never say never but it’s gonna be a long shot for management to consider in the rear view mirror. Yes, we also had an IndyCar race in the Gold Coast, QLD a long time ago until 2008. But don’t think IndyCar would also want to sacrifice its domestic audience either when racing only within the North and South America other than Toronto, Canada is the series’s only realistic International hotspots right now. 

We can always dream and even having an NASCAR-sanctioned Australian series would help just like they do to Mexico, Canada, Brazil and Europe. But we’ve always got Supercars and even SpeedSeries, so no room at all unfortunately in the meantime for NASCAR to sort out contracts with race tracks as well as suppling their fleet of stock cars to a customers wanting to take part here – which does cost the time of travel & $$$.

If NASCAR isn’t enough to keep you updated here when we all got work on a Monday morning unless you’re a big SVG fan of course in Xfinity level, there’s always highlights and replays to look back in the evening or in a few days whenever you can. Plus, Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson is coming to Perth at the end of this year to race in sprint cars – a discipline he knows all too well growing up while still racing some mid-week for fun.

Daniel Suarez to compete in a one-off race in Brazil for NASCAR’s sanctioned domestic series there

And lastly, another NASCAR Cup Series driver is going to get another race elsewhere – this time during the two-week break while the Olympics is on – in none other than current Trackhouse driver Daniel Suarez. He will arrive in Brazil next week to get married first with fiancé Julia Piquet, who is the sister of former NASCAR & Formula 1 driver (also Formula E champion) Nelson Piquet Jr. & daughter of 3 x Formula 1 champion Nelson Piquet. 

Then he’ll stay in Brazil a bit longer to compete on a one-off outing at Interlagos in São Paulo in NASCAR’s sanctioned Brazilian series on August 2-4 before they will return home together in Charlotte after this in time for the 2nd half season, with a Playoffs berth already sealed due to his win in Atlanta earlier this year (February).

Congratulations to Daniel on getting to marry the love of his life Julia while he’s able to score some extra race seat time at his future wife’s home soil in Brazil like he did during the Busch Clash weekend back in February at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in the Mexico Series – a series he regularly competed a long time ago before he went on to make a name for himself in America in which he’s just been an naturalised citizen there last month. No doubt this will hopefully put him on the map when it comes to the upcoming Playoffs in the same way that helped him win his next Cup a couple of weeks later. He ended up 10th in drivers’ points two years ago off the back of his first ever Cup win at Sonoma back in June and what he needs to now is to close in on team-mate Ross Chastain to provide better competition for Trackhouse before looking at the top teams.

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NASCAR News Today: Thoughts on rumours of ESPN’s Marty Smith in the booth + Dale Jr. & Steve Letarte reunion at Amazon/TNT & Adam Alexander to The CW for Xfinity Series

by Sports Benches

While NASCAR is back racing around left at the Brickyard once again following a few years on the infield with a two-week break around the corner when the Summer Olympics will begin next Friday in Paris, France, there has been plenty of chatter lately about the on-air broadcast talent when the next TV rights deal will begin from next year until at least 2031 – especially when you got so many networks covering the races to tune in throughout the year across all three national series levels.

Whether if it’s on free-to-air or cable or through a mix of both platforms, streaming is set to play a huge role going forward where you would need to tune in from your devices including a Smart TV box for those still wishing to watch through a big TV screen. Not only that, you will also finally be able to see some of the broadcast coverage without ads for the first time but if you wish to subscribe by paying a monthly fee to watch selected Cup races as you would normally do for cable.

Here’s the broadcast partners who will be part of the 2025-2031 TV rights contract in case you missed it as it was originally announced in November last year:

  • Fox Sports: five free-to-air and nine cable Cup Series races (FS1) during the first-half season, the Daytona 500 and All-Star Race Practice & Qualifying weekend and a full season of Truck Series racing.
  • NBC Sports: four free-to-air and ten cable Cup Series races (USA Network) during the second-half season including the Playoffs and Peacock streaming access to simulcast the network’s last 14 Cup races of the year.
  • The CW, the whole lot of Xfinity Series with all 33 events live and free every race weekend across Practice, Qualifying and Race Day.
  • Amazon Prime: First-half season Practice and Qualifying Cup events except the Daytona 500 and All-Star Race weekend with the first five summer/mid-year Cup races.
  • TNT Sports: Second-half Practice and Qualifying Cup events on TruTV & Max alongside the second five summer/mid-year Cup races with TNT & Max. Note: A sports add-on is required to stream the races on top of any basic Max streaming service plans.

So far Dale Earnhardt Jr. is already onboard with both Amazon Prime and TNT to be part of their respective commentary booths as an analyst across all ten mid-year Cup races (five for Amazon Prime and five for TNT/Max) off the back of his exit from NBC whose contact was expired and was not retained for renewal at the end of last season.

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Meanwhile, Australia’s own and one NBC Sports’s valuable announcing stalwarts Leigh Diffey, who just called his final IndyCar race the other day at Iowa for NBC whose IndyCar commitments will also be ending soon come mid-September with Fox Sports set to pick it up from next year, is expected to replace Rick Allen as the network’s lead NASCAR Cup Series announcer once he wraps up calling Track and Field at the Summer Olympics in Paris in a few weeks time. It remains to be seen where Rick will end up long-term (could see him come back to FOX’s Truck coverage) as he will continue to call the Xfinity Series races in the meantime including the upcoming Playoffs this year via The CW (with short-term production help from NBC).

Now here’s some more names in the mix with the likes of Dale Jr’s former crew chief and recent broadcast colleague who is still at NBC Steve Letarte, FOX Sports’s former Race Hub host and Xfinity Series announcer Adam Alexander and ESPN’s veteran NASCAR and sports reporter Marty Smith. Letarte could reunite with Dale Jr. once more this time across Amazon Prime and TNT while Alexander is considered the favourite to commentate the CW’s Xfinity Series races full-time and veteran versatile ESPN reporter Marty Smith might try his hand at hosting/commentating for the first time at Amazon Prime/TNT.

Marty Smith

It’s a bit of surprise Marty has been mentioned to possibly host and commentate the Cup races for Amazon/TNT who is so good with his brilliant sports reporting work on ESPN, having been covering several sports on top of NASCAR since ESPN/ABC left the sport a decade ago. Now surely ESPN won’t let him go, but they could give him an opportunity to continue his usual craft of NASCAR elsewhere by expanding his skill-set in both hosting and commentating – which is something he has never done before. But surely, he’ll be keen to steer the ship for a couple of hours during the summer as Amazon/TNT sees him as the perfect candidate to guide race fans into a new era of NASCAR with more viewers beginning to tune in from their devices.

Yes, I know lots of race fans will begging Allen Bestwick to come back who used to call lots of races for MRN, TNT, NBC and later ESPN/ABC for over many years and decades. However, times have changed since then for a decade now after ESPN left the sport and I don’t think any network out there covering NASCAR would hire him anytime soon. Looks like Marty calling the races is something new should he accept the offer, which is similar to what we currently see with former ESPN colleague Jamie Little over at FOX who now calls the races sometimes in Trucks and ARCA on top of her usual Cup pit reporting gig.

Adam Alexander and FOX Sports going their separate ways?

We thought Adam Alexander would initially be the favourite to call the IndyCar races for FOX when the network picked up the rights last month off NBC including the Indianapolis 500 but considering FOX will see their NASCAR content levels slashed going into next year, it’s no surprise considering he’s also the favourite to call the Xfinity Series once again but via The CW who will be carrying the exclusive rights there at the same time from next year. His hometown may be from Indiana but has been covering all of NASCAR everyday in Charlotte over the last decade and his close connection with the sport and the Xfinity Series in particular could continue to see him turning up for many Saturdays and some Fridays throughout the year.

Also, keep an eye out for veteran racer and current FOX NASCAR analyst Jamie McMurray. He too might be on the lookout elsewhere since Race Hub has just been axed last month and any future FOX NASCAR races (at least the Cup events) would likely be presented 100% on-site rather than splitting the studio and on-track broadcast presentations. That doesn’t mean their famous “Hollywood Hotel” on-site studio is coming back when it was retired back in 2018 with just a couple of on-air talent continuing to be around pit road during the pre and post races. McMurray is someone who always love hanging out in the FOX Charlotte studios also everyday alongside Adam Alexander and Larry McReynolds & although he has been on-site several times before, but not so much since he wants to be closer to home with family. If Amazon/TNT wants to implement some studio coverage and it does come from Charlotte, then no surprise he will want to be part of it with less travel 100%.

If someone is going to call the Indianapolis 500 race for FOX at least the next couple of years, they might give Mike Joy (the lead NASCAR and Daytona 500 announcer) his wish to see all things Indy. Yes, he might be somewhere in his 70s and isn’t done commentating just yet but he used to call open-wheel racing a long time ago – such as the old IndyCar series in CART as well as Formula 1. Him calling the other 500 mile race in Indy towards the end of May would be the perfect next step to complete his impressive commentary CV while Kevin Lee can fill in for the other races since he’s been with IndyCar for so long.

Dale Jr and Steve Letarte reunion Part 3?

And lastly, it would be great to see Dale Jr. and Steve work together as broadcast colleagues once again this time for Amazon Prime and TNT. They’ve forged a successful partnership initially on the race track with Hendrick Motorsports for many years before Steve retired from the pit box a decade ago before they saw each other again on TV with NBC a few years later from when Dale Jr retired at the end of 2017 until his dismissal at the end of 2023. Now it’s no surprise if Steve leaves NBC soon enough to be with him again so they can both make great insightful commentary and content together that the race fans like to receive every week where Dale Jr. has his own Dirty Mo Media business while Steve got his own podcast via Dale Jr when it comes to the day-to-day operations outside weekends. Gotta say this is an offer Letarte cannot refuse as this is a partnership that wouldn’t have gone anywhere had Dale Jr. & Steve not have worked together the first time when they were at Hendrick.

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Thoughts on Leigh Diffey expecting to call his last IndyCar race at the Iowa Speedway doubleheader this weekend before the Olympics and most likely NASCAR later on

by Sports Benches

This weekend’s IndyCar Series race doubleheader at Iowa Speedway will be Leigh Diffey’s last race on the call after just over a decade, even though there’s six events left on the calendar this season before NBC Sports will bow out on a high with Fox Sports set to take it from here going into 2025 and beyond where they will show all races live including the annual Indianapolis 500 race on free-to-air. We all know he will be calling Track and Field during the 2nd week of the Summer Olympics over in Paris, France in early August for the network, which is a position that is so legendary since he first called the races at a Olympic event four years ago in Tokyo, Japan on top of various top-level races like the World Champs in the past.

Lots more to come when he will be back calling the Olympics Track and Field once again for the 2028 edition in Los Angeles followed by his hometown reunion for the Brisbane edition come 2032 – the time when NBC’s current Olympic contract will be expiring by then unless they renew for a lot more down the track from the last time the network signed their big Olympics renewal with the IOC that dates back to May 7th, 2014. There’s even more exciting news for Leigh post-IndyCar – even though it still hasn’t been made official but close to 100% likely – is that he will be well and truly expected to replace Rick Allen as NBC’s lead NASCAR Cup Series announcer once the Olympics is done alongside Steve Letarte and Jeff Burton. This won’t affect his other commitments such as Supercross and the early season IMSA races when NBC is not doing NASCAR, although he might miss the a rare Cup race or two for the World Championships in Track & Field if required during the odd years.

We don’t know when he will be begin calling the NASCAR races again but most likely when the Playoffs start around September with Leigh getting the promotion. Meanwhile, Rick Allen – who is currently calling the Cup races at the moment – will only keep his Xfinity Series gig for The CW – whether if it’s just the short term under NBC’s production just for the Playoffs or on a permanent basis ahead of its first full-time season next year with all races also free-to-air.

Seems like having a three-man booth suits the network’s style more off the back of good banter and chemistry that Leigh forged with James Hinchcliffe and Townsend Bell in IndyCar rather than the four-man group they’ve done with NASCAR for several years until the end of last season. Then at a time when they’ve renewed their commitment to air NASCAR for another few years not long later but only at Cup level; like the Premier League, NBC would want to go differently without Dale Jr. & now Rick.

For now, things won’t be the same without Leigh calling the open-wheel races at all once he wraps up NBC’s IndyCar coverage at Iowa with Kevin Lee expected to take the baton until the finale at Nashville Superspeedway. He’s been great presenting/calling these races firstly with Formula 1 of course before he got the chance to call the Formula 1 & IndyCar races for NBC at the same time back in 2013 while being the first overseas announcer to call the Indianapolis 500 when NBC had full rights to IndyCar for another few years from 2019 until the end of this year. We’re glad that he’s had one hell of a ride to see it for himself and the wider motorsports community as we can’t wait to hear what Leigh soon enough after the Olympics.

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Thoughts on Josh Berry moving to Wood Brothers Racing next season & what does it mean for Noah Gragson and Ryan Preece ahead of team’s last race in early November

by Sports Benches

One of Dale Jr’s mentees Josh Berry is now set to replace Harrison Burton in the No.21 Ford Mustang for Wood Brothers Racing from next season off the back of Stewart-Haas Racing’s shutdown. He will still carry the No.4 Ford in the meantime as planned up until SHR’s final ever race come early November at Phoenix Raceway in Arizona as his rookie Cup season isn’t bad so far in 19th and also leading the rookie-of-the-year standings too with some great Top 5 and 10 finishes including 2 x 3rd at Darlington (May) and New Hampshire (two weeks ago) going into the Chicago Street Course (Round 20 of 36) this weekend.

He is someone who has an excellent race pedigree as Dale Jr. discovered in his eyes when he gave him a chance at JR Motorsports back in 2022-23 at Xfinity Series level before Josh accepted the offer to replace the now-retired Kevin Harvick at SHR this year and then the organization suddenly ran its course with the announcement of SHR shutting down at season’s end a few months later. I’m glad though that Wood Brothers also needed a new direction and they somehow found a great driver who can hopefully get back to their best with Berry behind the wheel after Harrison Burton just couldn’t show the consistency they were after over the last few years despite bringing his own sponsorship via Dex Imaging. WBR still has yet to taste their 100th Cup win in their decades-long existence after Ryan Blaney last won there for the team’s 99th win at Pocono in back mid-2017 before he went on to do even better at Team Penske but time will tell with Berry in the No.21 Mustang being supported by Ford the whole way through alongside the manufacturer’s subsidiary sponsorship of Motorcraft & Quick Lane Auto Repairs.

So far the No.14 of Chase Briscoe has already been signed up to replace the retiring Martin Truex Jr. last week at Joe Gibbs Racing that will also begin at the start of next season in the No.19 Toyota Camry while Ryan Preece and Noah Gragson are still on the lookout for other rides.Now Gragson wouldn’t be short of suitors since his performances have been solid since his return from suspension in the No.10 where he will likely end up at Front Row Motorsports unlike the No.41’s Preece who would most likely drop down to Xfinity and/or Trucks level instead of trying to just stay there with Kaulig or Rick Ware Racing.

Plus, If you’re wondering what’s going to happen with SHR’s 4th and final charter? Well, It’s not going anywhere after all with Gene Haas keeping one for just himself under the newly created Haas Factory Racing organization by operating one Cup car and two Xfinity Series teams. Tony Stewart won’t have any involvement at all as he will be focusing on his drag racing team as well as his young family with his wife and veteran drag racer Leah Pruett expecting their first child together (a baby boy) this November. Who will be part of Team Haas? It will be easy to say Cole Custer whose dad is part of Haas’s management team while they will keep on running Fords, although it remains to be seen which alliance Haas will link up with at a later date.

I think though in my opinion that Brad Keselowski via his co-owned RFK Racing team (No.6 car) would love to team up with Haas together by turning from two cars into three under RFK-Haas Racing without him having to buy another charter that is worth $40 million nowadays. But again you never know and it would allow Ford to have a proper young driver pathway like Toyota is doing with Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI Racing where Keselowski would love to have one of his drivers succeed at Xfinity level before being given the chance to race for him at the top level someday once his driving days are eventually over.

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NASCAR News Today: Thoughts on Michael McDowell leaving Front Row for Spire, the end of NASCAR RaceHub & lots of Australian motorsport links with the sport lately

by Sports Benches

It’s been a huge week of NASCAR news and its silly season rumour mill so far where one driver will be jumping ship to another team going into next year while a major shake up amongst the media landscape is changing regarding its weekly magazine show and the Australian NASCAR connection extends even further where we could see another Supercars driver having a crack next month & one of the renowned TCR Australia manufacturers might be joining the sport in the next few years.

A huge hole to fill at Front Row Motorsports going into next year

Michael McDowell has been outstanding in the No.34 Ford at Front Row Motorsports over the last seven years, having turned from Top 20-25 into a occasional front row to Top 10-15 challenger that saw him win two races including two Playoffs opportunities off the back from the breakthrough 2021 Daytona 500 as well as the 2023 Indianapolis Grand Prix (road course).

Yes, all great things has to come to an end when he will leave FRM at the end of this season but he will be off to Spire Motorsports though to replace former FRM alumni Zane Smith in the No.71 Chevy from 2025 as this is a team who is also looking to improve their on-track presence with plenty of ambition by turning themselves into a Top-10 outfit.

I’m sure he still has a few more years left to offer going into the 40s by fulfilling their wish with the hope of more good Top 10-15 finishes and race wins before Michael calls a day. Who will replace him? It remains to be seen with Stewart-Haas still on the lookout to sell their two charters and then possibly merging with FRM to make up four Ford cars, so Ryan Preece could be staying after all rather than being given the flick this time in McDowell’s spot for the 34. I don’t know if some of the current sponsors will be joining ship with McDowell but I guess they are tied up with the team as sure Spire has their own $$$ to support three Cup cars & Preece would be the perfect replacement who has a great racing pedigree from the ground up. Yes, he might not be doing things too good when SHR is currently struggling but again he can get things done in a good race car.

FOX Sports ending NASCAR RaceHub next month once their first-half season coverage wraps up

It looks like there won’t be a dedicated daily NASCAR TV show for race fans to tune in on weeknights now ahead of the next TV rights deal next year that incorporates a greater focus on streaming as FOX Sports has today announced that they will be finishing up NASCAR RaceHub on Monday, June 11 after 15 years on the air. It first started back in 2009 when Speed Channel was around with Adam Alexander and Krista Voda.

Over the years, Alexander remained as the original co-host all along while several others have came in and go when Voda moved on after a few years & Speed became FS1 – such as the late Steve Byrnes (who sadly passed away in late 2014) & Danielle Trotta (2013-2016) along with Shannon Spake & Kaitlyn Vincie in recent years. It was also a show that welcomed regular guests both past and present including breaking news announcements, interviews, analysis and many more that included the weekly radioactive segment from each race of the season via the in-car radio by several teams.

Gotta say 6pm won’t the be the same for race fans when there’s no reliable source that is related to NASCAR to tune in on weeknights. But again, there will be several networks airing NASCAR over the next couple of years and with FOX only airing the first-half Cup races and still the entire Truck Series season, they don’t have any other choice but to shut it down when there’s NASCAR.com or other streaming-only NASCAR related shows and even podcasts to tune in online going forward at any time rather than being required to tune in at a certain time or else having to set it up on their DVRs to watch it later.

It doesn’t say whether or not if NASCAR RaceDay will be following RaceHub out the door but I guess it will be at the end of the NASCAR season in November with a brand new pre-show incorporating the network’s race day coverage from 2025. It seems that FOX NASCAR’s days has reached its tipping point, who may be able to celebrate its 30th anniversary come 2031 , but then after that, The CW or CBS in partnership with Amazon or TNT Sports will be looking to take their place for the first half season including the Truck Series package when the next round of TV rights come into market from 2032 & beyond.

A bit of Supercars/SpeedSeries NASCAR links popping up lately

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And lastly but not least, here’s some bit of Supercars and SpeedSeries links with NASCAR that you need to know over the last week:

  • 1. Current Supercars drivers’ leader at Red Bull Team Australia and inaugural 2019 TCR Australia champion Will Brown is set to earn his opportunity in NASCAR where he will be driving the partial No.33 Chevy Camaro ZL1 race car for Richard Childress Racing at Sonoma Raceway also early next month.
  • 2. We could see Hyundai and even Honda joining NASCAR later this decade around 2026 or 2027 if the sport can add the hybrid element having seen the sport race with Toyota, Ford and Chevy over the last 11 years after Dodge left despite ending the 2012 season with Brad Keselowski as the champion for Team Penske at the time with no other team left to take their place.

It’s been a while since Brodie Kostecki, who had long-term ambitions to race NASCAR, fell out with Erebus Motorsport over the off-season that saw him sit out the first 1-2 races before he was able to race with them again as several sponsors walked out the door including Boost Mobile. It’s a shame that he won’t be back racing NASCARs any time soon at least in the short term. But that doesn’t mean another Supercars-NASCAR link isn’t all over other than Shane Van Gisbergen racing in the Xfinity Series full-time for Kaulig Racing when the Peter Adderton effect via his MobileX backing with RCR still remains strong by asking his Triple 8 replacement & former Erebus driver Will Brown to take his place at Sonoma, which is really good news.

There’s still a long way to go for Brown if he wants to hold on both his Supercars championship hopes and the potential to win the Bathurst 1000 later this year but if he wishes to race in NASCAR full-time at some point, I’m sure he will be given the right steps like SVG in order to become the next Supercars convert to thrive in the US for the right organization. I hope Brodie can get things back on track but let’s hope this off-season saga won’t hold back his NASCAR ambitions too much.

While we saw a number of Supercars drivers plying their trade in the US initially on a part-time basis including Cam Waters lately at Truck Series level for ThorSport Racing, here’s another SpeedSeries related link that could see one of the major players end up in NASCAR in the years to come if the sport is able to roll out the hybrid element to its race cars. Enter Hyundai into the fold who has a great history of motorsport over the last few years such as the World Rally Championship as well as touring cars that extends to SpeedSeries here via TCR Australia. Now the negotiations haven’t even started yet but Ed Laukes is saying this who used to be a senior executive for Toyota in North America & is a consultant for Joe Gibbs Racing.

I can imagine though with Hyundai’s modern approach to their motorsports program, they could really be a success in NASCAR by having a Sonata sedan onboard in Cup and Xfinity level while they can use the Santa Cruz pick up truck in the Truck Series if they like. Usually a team with manufacturer backing requires 3-4 cars but Trackhouse, Spire or Stewart-Haas potentially partnering up with Front Row would be the perfect landing spots should Hyundai’s desire to join the sport is serious. It’s still early days as we still have three makes currently on track (Toyota, Ford and Chevy) but the manufacturer talk isn’t going away anytime soon with the hope of a fourth one or even a fifth coming in to turn left sooner rather than later.

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Thoughts on Australian-American Leigh Diffey potentially replacing Rick Allen as NBC’s leading NASCAR commentator for their Cup races after the Olympics later this year

by Sports Benches

Here’s another thing happening right now within the world of NASCAR and having heard about Dale Jr heading out the door from NBC lately to Amazon and TNT Sports after his contract has expired at the end of the 2023 season, we could see another change in the commentary box at NASCAR on NBC and Australia’s own Leigh Diffey could be back calling NASCAR races again since 2019 when Homestead last hosted the Championship 4 event under the channel’s additional Hot Pass coverage before it went to Phoenix. But this time he could be there more often on top of his current IndyCar duties towards the end of the 2024 season in Rick Allen’s place, who would call the first couple of races until the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France starts in late July & then hand to Diffey after the Olympics is done. Although it seems Allen will still be there a bit longer by calling all second-tier Xfinity Series races this year regardless of what happens during NBC’s Cup days since it will be their last year covering series before it heads over to CW beginning from 2025-2031. It remains to be seen what the coverage will look like when they will be back onboard for another term but this time only on Cup race days for the last 14 races of the season down from 20. Same thing will apply with Fox who will always still cover the first half season races before Amazon and TNT Sports will take over the mid-season races but will only have Daytona 500 and All-Star practice & qualifying.

From a three-man ex-drivers booth experiment, a recently used four-man commentary team to a joint TV/radio coverage at road course events, having Diffey onboard to call the races as a lead announcer would be the next greatest thing to happen if that’s true where we will have a regular new voice from outside the US to reflect the sport’s fast growing International footprint. You can hear him right now on the main IndyCar broadcast for NBC alongside James Hinchcliffe & Townsend Bell via Stan Sport (Live & on-demand) & 9Go (highlights) here during every IndyCar race. He’s been there to make a name for himself firstly here with the V8s on Network Ten, then did a bit of World Rallying and World Superbikes for the BBC in the UK, but we all know he’s been the most successful at a place he now calls home even as a naturalised citizen in the United States of America – firstly with Fox Sports/Speed followed by NBC where he’s been there for over 10 years now. He’s got the chance to lead the Formula 1 races for the US audience before during the first couple of years before it went to ESPN/ABC as well as the Indianapolis 500, Supercross and IMSA Sportscars a few years later amongst other sports like Rugby Union, Bobsleigh/Luge & also Track and Field where he will be part of NBC’s Olympic team once again for Track & Field later this year.

Regarding Rick Allen, he hasn’t been bad who used to call the whole Truck Series season when Speed Channel existed at the time between 2003 and 2013 and he too deserved to make the step up into calling the higher level races at a network like NBC when they came back again to replace ESPN and ABC back in 2015 – with Mike Joy still not going anywhere at FOX for a little longer until he wishes to retire anytime he likes. But while he has some detractors along the way, lots of people wish Allen Bestwick was still calling the races even after ESPN left. Maybe it could be the perfect time to give Diffey a chance to shine alongside Steve Letarte and Jeff Burton instead of Allen going forward. When NBC successfully renewed the Premier League soccer rights a few years ago that will cover until the 2027-28 season, they replaced Arlo White with Peter Drury as the network’s main commentator while retaining Lee Dixon and Graeme Le Saux. I’m sure there won’t be much complications for Diffey to balance both IndyCar and NASCAR races like Drury does with the Premier League at both NBC & its Comcast sister company Sky Sports since the network will only be covering on race days at Cup level while still being able to call the Indy 500 should they renew IndyCar again once the current three-year contract is up at the end of the year. Watch this space as his old motorsport colleague Matt White said when we could see Leigh Diffey replace Rick Allen upstairs sooner rather than later.

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Team Penske Ford dominates the NASCAR Cup Series for another year at Phoenix this time by new Drivers’ Champion Ryan Blaney

by Sports Benches

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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