Tag:

NASCAR Xfinity Series

NASCAR News Today: Chase Briscoe wins the 2025 The Great American Getaway 400 plus a few best mid-running teams from Pocono Raceway

by Sports Benches June 23, 2025

You just cannot believe what RFK Racing has been up to today where they had all three cars in the Top 10 with Chris Buescher leading the way in 4th.

A win would’ve been all but awesome having started from 2nd.

Even though he may not been able to find a way to outsmart those Toyotas, it’s still a top day though finishing inside Top 5 who deserves a regular season win soon.

Same with team-mates Ryan Preece and Brad K, both of whom also benefited greatly with a mix of yellows and strategy including an extended shot upfront by Brad, when things were up and down earlier on but both finished not bad in 8th and 9th.

And there’s another team out there that usually benefitted from the larger ovals with no need for an intro to Legacy MC.

Top weekend with a top setup where John Hunter Nemechek in the No.42 Toyota went all in for the overall result & JHN caught that one beautifully in 6th.

Your winner today at Pocono is Chase Briscoe also a Toyota but in a top team at Joe Gibbs Racing.

He had a flying start from 6th to 4th Stage 1 where it took figuring out for Chase and his Aussie crew chief James Small to force their No.19 Camry up front. From there off the back of yellows, that effect seems to have worked on their favour and they’ve never looked back ever since – how good!

It could’ve been Denny’s day over in the sister 11 car after he spent the rare weekend off last weekend when NASCAR crossed borders to Mexico City due to the birth of his third child – a baby boy.

But at the end of the day, it’s all about planning that 200mph chess (new term there made by Steve Letarte) right rather than just being fast if it wasn’t for yellows, and also weather plays a big factor too.

That’s how Chase went on to win saying “checkmate” over Denny fair and square.

Not a lot of Chevys down the Top 10 other than just the Hendrick duo of Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson in between 5th & 7th with Daniel Suarez being the best Chevy mid-pack runner in 5th following a tough afternoon from these cars when it comes to Chevy’s satellite teams.

But the only and only best Chevy moment from the weekend was the Saturday Xfinity race where Connor Zilisch got away the win over Jesse Love only laps before the finish line with Dale Jr. by his side from the pit box for just one race when Connor’s usual crew chief had to sit out by NASCAR officials.

At only 18 soon to be 19 next month, he continues to be one hell of a talent being Chevy’s own Ty Gibbs. Time will tell if he will get his chance full-time next season at Trackhouse at Cup or there’s always Spire or even Hendrick although we know he’s a Red Bull athlete much like SVG and they are both tied to Trackhouse.

Off the back of Daniel’s Xfinity and SVG’s Cup wins at the same Mexico City place last weekend, hate to see either one of them go when Trackhouse isn’t new at having to fit in drivers every year. But here’s hoping Justin Marks will find a compromise somehow that can hopefully help Chevy win championships again.

Can’t wait for the night race for the first time in 2025 when NASCAR returns to Atlanta Motor Speedway and also a first of returns too by TNT coinciding with the all-new in-season knockout competition.

June 23, 2025 0 comment

NASCAR Xfinity: Daniel Suarez holds off Taylor Gray on what has been a sweet homecoming win following the sport’s first weekend back in Mexico City since 2008

by Sports Benches June 14, 2025

What a race win in the Xfinity Series by Mexico’s Daniel Suarez in front of his home fans – with special stuff right there.

He credits that fast No.9 Chevy by JR Motorsports even though he had to use a back up one from the back & yet Daniel was simply unstoppable having went on to defend his top spot so beautifully towards the checkered flag.

So close from Taylor Gray who almost got it off the back of the last late yellow restart but he still had a fast afternoon off his starting 8th spot with a lot of 2nd place stage and overall points.

There’s a few other drivers that gained or regained some ground at the same time but gotta say Austin Hill ticked off all the boxes both his speed and strategy – he too supercharged & stayed there in 3rd.

Other than dominant Toyota and Chevy day, Harrison Burton was the best-placed Ford driver there out in 9th in the No.25 for AM Racing.

Now his first half run may be quiet through the middle to rear of the pack but he’s another driver who made progress with a mix of good pit stops, strategy and avoiding yellows, as it’s all about getting home with a good result – despite not having the best car to challenge the front-runners.

So hats off to Harrison with a solid Top 10-15 result in Mexico City.

What now for Daniel? He has another race to do when it comes to the Cup race tomorrow where he will start from 10th.

It was actually a good weekend so far from his Trackhouse team with NZ’s Shane Van Gisbergen having a blast too after he was the fastest out of everyone in qualifying & he will lead the line from pole.

This race is all about what’s best for this team going forward like 1-2 years from now when you’ve got the young Connor Zilisch waiting in the wings either for SVG’s or Daniel’s race seat. Justin Marks who is a brilliant team owner and former racer himself with a road course background has a lot of thinking to do before Trackhouse can set sights towards winning a championship someday.

But again will tomorrow’s race be SVG’s time to shine or can Daniel make up another homecoming victory this time at the top level? Bring it on.

Speaking of Mexico, there’s a Gold Cup soccer match to start soon when they will begin their campaign against Dominican Republic at the SoFi Stadium in LA. That’s the swimming venue for the 2028 Summer Olympics where a football stadium will be converted into a swimming pool for the week and then back to the grass again.

Finally, shoutout to Nine for finally putting the WWOS watermark logo on when it comes to free-to-air motorsport for their limited live 24 Hours of Le Mans coverage that went between 12-2am at overnight.

You gotta put the best presentation out there to justify the investment of airing motorsports coverage even if it’s through a paid platform that shares an FTA component but it’s still under the responsibility of Nine and glad they’ve listened.

Whoever saw that in the past with my feedback here, we thank you for this and let’s hope they can stay that way next time.

The race is still ongoing also overnight in France where Stan Sport has the rest of that live access & also highlights/replays on-demand where you can watch it right now until the race finish by the end of tonight.

June 14, 2025 0 comment

NASCAR

NASCAR website/blog update Huge Month of May 2025 full of Cup, Xfinity and also Truck Series racing

by Sports Benches June 1, 2025

NASCAR Trucks: 2025 SpeedyCash.com 250, Corey Heim holds off the win following a night full of cutting infield grasses and bumping into walls at Texas

Saw many getting run over into the wall & so does through the infield grass as the the of the day, brilliant stuff with the win by Toyota’s Tricon Truck star Corey Heim.

He knows there were several front-runners wanting to steal the lead off him but Corey kept himself calm all along and he knew he did exactly that to defend all of that noise on his way (at last via overtime) to the checkered flag.

He also had a better long-run set up where he first took the lead somewhere in Stage 2 and having led the most laps, Corey will want to be the driver to beat every week as the Trucks season goes on.

So close there from Daniel Hemric (2nd) and Spire’s Rajah Caruth (3rd) – that race at Texas just never ends at the hands of yellows but both had solid endings there.

More shoutouts as well to Bayley Currey with his 2nd Top 10 of 2025 in 8th and Rackley W.A.R.’s Dawson Sutton (an 18-year-old rookie) just secured his first career Top 10 at Trucks level in 9th.

NASCAR Xfinity: Kyle Larson wins the 2025 Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 for the injured Connor Zilisch at JR Motorsports

Another spinny crash day but it’s still exciting Xfinity Racing and can’t get enough of Kyle Larson who did the injured Connor Zilisch proud for JR Motorsports.

Connor is a rising star in the making currently tied to Trackhouse while Larson simply wants to make competition so much fun every time he’s in the race car.

He’s got unfinished business with Hendrick in Cup as well as sprint cars on dirt, might race Supercars in Adelaide at some point & has an Indy 500 stint coming up at last later this month.

Here’s a few more highlights:

Great recovery there from Taylor Gray in the No.54 Supra for Gibbs even though he wasn’t able to close in on time at the white flag in 2nd.
Harrison Burton finished 6th in the AM Racing Ford.
And there’s lots more who stood out that will help them stay in that Top 12 Drivers’ Points like Ryan Sieg 8th and Jeb Burton 10th who also came close (2nd) last weekend at Talladega.

2025 NASCAR: A few standout mid-running teams from the weekend at Texas starting with Ross Chastain from Trackhouse

Aside from a Joey Logano win plus two separate car-related issues Sunday at Texas, there’s a few out standout drivers there who benefitted a Stage 3 cut-off of surviving crashes on the run home.

So close from Ross Chastain there in 2nd for Trackhouse – good news that he’s stable above the Top 16 Playoffs line as a win would be lovely for him to focus on a championship guaranteed 100%.

While Legacy MC have may struggled in the normal kind of races but hey, they can be spur us a good moment here and there – especially when it comes to the big and restrictor plate tracks. What’s even better is that they had both Toyota Camrys home in the Top 10 with the No.43 Erik 5th and No.42’s John Hunter Nemechek 8th. They should be proud of themselves and you never know next time? Could be a win that could give them a chance to go further.

There’s a whole lot others who has been more than ready to knock on the front row doors when there’s still plenty of time left ahead of the end of August cut-off.

However, hats off to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. being the one-man show for Hyak after he finished 6th and having won races at these kind of tracks before, sure he will be the next man to win one. That way, he can help them punch above their weight in order to say hi to the big teams via VL.

And the same goes with Austin Dillon in the No.3 Chevy for his family-run Childress side following his 7th placed finish the other day. As long as he finishes races cleanly and positively, AD would no doubt be wanting to win the next race again at a bigger track – and RCR could somehow be on the same page as RFK Racing, Trackhouse and 23XI Racing after all.

He is currently 21st behind Spire’s Michael McDowell in Drivers’ Points as of Race 11 out of 36. We’ll see especially with Kyle Busch steering the ship even though he had an unlucky Stage 3 outing also from the other day that saw him finish 20th.

Now we’re off to Kansas Speedway this weekend which is going to be Fox’s last regular season race of 2025 via the FS1 cable sports network with the All-Star race around the corner. Other than Josh Berry in the No.21 two months ago from Las Vegas, who will the next one to celebrate that isn’t a Top-notch or Big 3 team?

Time will tell.

NASCAR Trucks, 2025 Heart of Health Care 200 at Kansas: Hocever beats the brush off Layne Riggs for the race win

What a finish it was at the white flag by Carson Hocevar and Layne Riggs where Riggs tried to pass him on the outside, inside but only tagged the rear of him as both of them could’ve hit the wall & Hocevar came out unscathed.

Great night also from Spire’s Truck team with Hendrick Cup regular William Byron 3rd in the “star car” No.07 Truck.

For Corey Heim, a win would’ve been great when an early pit error at the expense of pressure-cooking yellows takes away his flying start away from first – only for him to regain a lot of ground at the end 4th.

As Layne said, sometimes having the best pit strategy and even timing makes the difference where some have sunk or swim.

Carson’s got Cup tomorrow hoping for another Top 10 run so he can stay within Top 16 points & he did guest commentate ARCA the other day where Brenden Queen too good over William Sawalich.

NASCAR: Top 3/4 mid-running teams from the 2025 AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway

1️⃣ Josh Berry simply impresses to amaze the Cup field inside that No.21 Ford Mustang for Wood Brothers even if he had to start from the back. His good Stage 2 even though there were one few yellows in Stage 3 puts him home in 6th – good from someone who has a playoffs berth intact hoping to make a big play later this year.

2️⃣ A top day too by both Roush cars in Ryan Preece No.60 and Chris Buescher No.17 over in 7th and 8th. Preece didn’t complain much all day and Buescher even though would’ve love to turn that short setup into the long stretch for top spot but he wouldn’t mind a great finish also.

3️⃣ Lots of mid-running Fords filling in and out of Top 15 but at least we have a Toyota sitting 10th that is a satellite team with John Hunter Nemechek at Legacy MC. Didn’t hear much from him when it comes to the clean green runs having started 17th; At the end of the day, he simply stayed out of it & finished 10th.

NASCAR Trucks at the 2025 Window World 250: Chandler Smith steers clear past team-mate Riggs and rival Heim for his 2nd race win this season with Front Row Motorsports

Lots to look back at white flag overtime with Corey Heim unlucky being sandwiched towards the outside wall by Layne Riggs at Turn 2 who had a superior No.11 Toyota truck right in front of him.

It’s a shame these yellows really threw him out of the window like it was last weekend (early pit stop issue) in Kansas.

He’s got exceptional talent as sure he will wanna win his 1st championship later this year on top of his excellent Cup/Xfinity part-time cameos – all to do with Corey’s credibility even without JGR’s help.

Meanwhile, top day though by Front Row Motorsports where Chandler Smith is your winner waiting to pounce on the inside with fresher tires & there he goes steering well clear from the Riggs and Heim drama, even though Riggs is his team-mate with a bit of wheelspin finishing 2nd best again.

2025 NASCAR All-Star Race: A few best mid-running teams from Sunday’s main event race at North Wilkesboro Speedway

Yes, it may be a non-points All-Star Race weekend as congrats to Christopher Bell with the win following a thrilling last lap alongside Joey Logano but top night by Ross Chastain also in 3rd for Trackhouse.

Looks like Ross will be the next mid-running team race winner after Josh Berry from Wood Brothers at least during the regular season in 2025 with last year’s championship 4 contender Tyler Reddick not far behind in 7th for 23XI Racing.

Also, great to see Kyle Busch back running Top 10 & he hopes to stay that way ahead of the long Coke 600 race next Sunday.

Same with Chris Buescher even though his No.17 team was fined the other day and special shoutout to Spire who was fortunate enough to sweep those extra All-Star weekend prizes – from the No.71 team winning that fastest pit crew time challenge for Michael McDowell to Carson Hocevar’s win at the open race.

Carson was almost there with improvements in the 2nd half, just unlucky at the final restart from Top 5 to 11th.

Thoughts on Jack Perkins set to make his NASCAR debut later this year in the Xfinity Series for Joe Gibbs Racing at Portland

Great to hear about Jack Perkins able to secure a one-off ride with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Xfinity team for the Portland weekend race (road course) on August 30.

Interesting to see Shaw and Partners continue their involvement with racing this time supporting Jack represent JGR’s “star car” No.19 Toyota Supra.

That’s a Toyota Supercars will be about to see for the first time come next season competing against arch rivals Chevy and Ford with the factory Andretti Walkinshaw team (2 cars) and customer-run Brad Jones Racing (4 cars) – exciting times ahead.

We hope he will make the most out of his NASCAR debut at Xfinity level and for now, he’s lucky enough to be in Charlotte this week. He’s just visited the race shop & soon he will be at the speedway visiting the team’s garage trackside and also supporting them for the Coca Cola 600.

NASCAR Trucks: Corey Heim going strength to strength in a mostly clean evening following his win at the 2025 North Carolina Education Lottery 200 in Charlotte

One thing to look at Corey Heim’s win at the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 in Charlotte tonight – brilliant stuff.

He may have been thrown into the hot seat when it comes to the race off pit road especially under caution or in-between stages but boy, he’s fast, extremely fast.

Goes to show he’s more than ready to going the distance than ever who finished ahead of both Niece Chevy trucks:

1️⃣ Cup regular from Trackhouse Ross Chastain even though he makes the most out of his short runs as a mostly clean run tonight meaning he came home 2nd.

2️⃣ Same goes with Kaden Honeycutt off the back of his 3rd placed finish where race craft may not be on par with Heim’s but made some good calls off pit road, however, to keep in a good check of the front row.

On that note, with the Fox’s primary female Truck Series commentator Jamie Little in Indy to report the annual 500 on pit road this weekend, great to hear Kevin Harvick on the call this time as a lead announcer. It’s also on Stan Sport btw for this annual event along with the full IndyCar season races irrespective of Fox taking over NBC as the new TV partner this year.

He’s got his own weekly podcast and vodcast show twice a week where he could’ve been a handy fill-in host with last weekend’s All-Star race but being in the booth suits him better.

He could even be a perfect replacement someday if Mike Joy wants to retire but NASCAR now has at least two new broadcast partners over the next ten Cup races with Amazon Prime & TNT Sports.

And Kevin, enjoy the grand stage of the 500 as a spectator this Sunday – lots of astonishing history right there!

NASCAR Xfinity: William Byron overcomes speeding penalty and chain reacted Stage 3 crashes to finish the race off as the winner at the BetMGM 300 in Charlotte

From winning the first two stages to a speeding penalty and then back following a chain reacted Stage 3 when he got around Justin Allgaier with two to go –

How good from William Byron!

No doubt he will want to win the 600 so badly from 3rd in Cup tomorrow while Allgaier did his best to hold off on older tires which could’ve been his to win if wasn’t for those endless late yellows.

Shoutout also to Nick Sanchez 3rd with a car capable of good results, Dean Thompson 5th from mid-pack to an extended shot at the front row, and Josh Williams was better late than never in 6th.

NASCAR Race Results: Top 3 to 4 mid-running teams from the 2025 Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway

Lots of mid-run teams with top-notch Coca Cola 600 results after all surviving mid-race yellows that includes one race winner, who successfully nailed down the most lead lap driver of the night, just laps before the finish line over William Byron.

If Ross Chastain may have been disappointed over Corey Heim the other day in Trucks, why not be the top of the crown with the watermelons on it in Cup?

He’s done it just that when William Byron thought he could take home the Cup & Xfinity Charlotte double which didn’t happen but hey, at least everyone had their fair share of wins in each category.

1️⃣ 2nd driver to win after Josh Berry that isn’t a top team goes to Ross Chastain from the way back to way front and never looked back blowing William Byron and Denny Hamlin away so late for 1st.

2️⃣ AJ Allmendinger kept a great eye on the front runners all night long where yes, his No.16 may not be closer to the lead but still a nice and clean Top 4th finish.

3️⃣ 1st Top 5 of 2025 from Brad Keselowski who had to bide his time before he made plenty of ground all the way to the Top 10 then 5th over the last 200 odd laps – that’s a RFK weekend success story with Ryan Preece in 9th.

4️⃣ Another 1st Top 10 also for 2025 by Michael McDowell in first-time Spire colours with a good Stage 1 in 10th where he may have fell back at one stage; fortunately, important adjustments after others drop out saw Michael cruise back as it goes with good 2nd half speed in 7th.

Who will be the next winner that isn’t a top team after the Coke 600? No surprise if a different Trackhouse driver wins the next few either Daniel Suarez or SVG.

The same goes with AJ Allmendinger in the No.16 Chevy for Kaulig and Michael McDowell at Spire, who can use a bit of their specialist & even big oval road course advantage, to lock up one of the next open Playoff spots.

But RFK seems to be the consistent mid-play performer if we go back to normal every week and it could be any of the three drivers to sweep those stakes this summer ahead of the August cut-off.

Also not writing off Stenhouse too who hasn’t yet won this season but he is too a consistent Top 10-15 performer in the lone-run Hyak Chevy – watch this space as long as Ricky can stay being constant.

NASCAR Trucks: Spire’s Rajah Caruth pulls down curtains on Corey Heim and Layne Riggs on time to taste victory at Nashville

Rajah Caruth – gotta credit his pit crew and crew chief on getting that No.71 truck past Corey Heim with the Nashville win.

He had a superior Top 3 truck who was also impressive at restarts & boy, a good balance of being the fastest on pit road and the right adjustments proved to be something that no one else could match but than Rajah & 71 himself.

More good Spire news with shoutout to the No.7 of Corey Day in 5th.

Second best from Heim where the 11 truck was always there no doubt; there were areas that didn’t go his favour, especially after he missed out to Caruth in Stage 3.

Good recovery also from Stage 1 winner Layne Riggs in particular with his long run speed back to 3rd & Daniel Hemric made a lot of ground whose No.19 truck may not be close to Heim & Caruth when it comes to the race for 1st but still great for 4th.

June 1, 2025 0 comment

Motorsport NASCAR

Thoughts on Justin Allgaier finally clinched his 1st Xfinity Series triumph & a perfect tribute to finish on a high for Stewart-Haas after Riley Herbst won the season-finale

by Sports Benches November 10, 2024

From one new season series champion in Ty Majeski at Trucks level to another, how good was the No.7 JR Motorsports Chevy driver Justin Allgaier – who just over the line as the best Championship 4 Finisher to take home the NASCAR Xfinity Series title in 2nd – just behind Phoenix race winner in the No.98’s Riley Herbst for Stewart-Haas Ford. Also, good to see former full-time Cup driver & Stewart-Haas alum Aric Almirola finish 3rd in the No.20 Toyota Supra for Gibbs too.

I mean, first of all, it’s been great seeing Tony Stewart own part of this Stewart-Haas Ford team for a long time whose last Xfinity Series race as a team owner ended things on a high thanks to Herbst, while we saw one of his former drivers make up the Top 3 by Almirola.

Lovely to see this Stewart-Haas family bringing this together both past and present.

We thank him for everything as hoping he will still turn up next season & don’t forget the Haas team will continue after all on its own at the same time (still running Fords), with two Xfinity cars for Sheldon Creed & Sam Mayer as well as one chartered Cup car by the returning Cole Custer.

Yes, we could’ve saw Custer take home that Xfinity Championship again like he did last year when he finished 2nd in Drivers’ Points to Allgaier after he finished 8th. But still, it’s great to see Custer being at his best at this level to make up unfinished business and now it’s on him to at least be a Top 20 driver points team next Cup year.

And as said earlier, what a moment from Allgaier who dedicated this Xfinity Series competition with tremendous success while spending the most with family. He’s grateful to Brandt (his sponsor) and Dale Jr. (his race team) for giving him the platform to succeed regularly at this level since 2016 without even thinking of going into Cup.

Although he will continue to be back at Cup at least for a rare occasion or two when someone has to pull out if required.

But hey, he’s there to give us tremendous competition including some Cup regulars earlier in the year when a young rising star would usually take this top prize. However, that doesn’t mean Allgaier can’t make this possible and here is today with the Xfinity Championship. Sure, there’s a lot more to come going into next year as hats off once again to Allgaier, the first time champion.

And next year will be another wonderful time to look forward to every week for those over in the US with free-to-access all along thanks to The CW and CW online.

For now, we got one more race to settle in the Championship 4 for the premier Cup class tomorrow. Will see another first time triumph in either 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick for Toyota or William Byron in the Hendrick Chevy? or will we continue to see another Team Penske Ford’s glorious moment from either already Drivers’ champs Joey Logano (two-time) or Ryan Blaney (defending winner)? Just cannot wait to see this out as the 2024 season-finale Cup race will begin at 7am AEDT.

November 10, 2024 0 comment

Motorsport NASCAR

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

by Sports Benches August 18, 2024

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

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

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

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

August 18, 2024 0 comment

Motorsport NASCAR

Cole Custer’s big Saturday: A return to Cup in 2025 with a reformed Haas Ford-powered team & finishing 2nd to team-mate Riley Herbst in Xfinity at the Indianapolis Oval

by Sports Benches July 20, 2024

Today was a huge day for reigning Xfinity Series champion Cole Custer not just off-track but on-track as well having announced his return to full-time Cup racing next year with the newly-created single car Haas Factory team while he scored pole position for the Pennzoil 250 in the meantime earlier in the day, although he was a bit unfortunate towards the end when it comes to the race thanks to a last-lap winning move by Stewart-Haas Ford team-mate Riley Herbst in the No.98 for the win.

It’s been a while to see the Brickyard go left once again after a few years of using the infield road course layout with Cole having an excellent Top 5 run all along, even though a few yellows might held him back a bit at times in the early portions but not so much thanks to these pit road adjustments including that last stage restart where he re-worked his way back up front.

A win though would’ve been perfect to sum up how far he’s come since stepping back into the Xfinity Series arena again last year in order to try and be up front every race weekend off the back of his 2025 plans to begin the weekend. He endured a tough first few years as a first-time Cup driver also within Stewart-Haas organisation – despite winning the Rookie of the Year award including his one & only Playoffs run so far thanks to his win at Kentucky during July back in 2020 – before regular inconsistent results over the next two years saw Ryan Preece took over the No.41 Cup seat at the end of the 2022 season.

Now he’s set to reprise the No.41 once again at Cup level for a scaled down Haas organisation from 2025 via his dad’s connections in running the day-to-day NASCAR business & will no doubt get significant backing from Haas’s engineering division. Not only that, Haas will keep on using Ford engines but this time they will form a technical alliance partnership with RFK Racing other than continuing to build their own cars just for its own two Xfinity Series teams. We’ll see how this goes where there would be potential for RFK & Haas to team up together in order to go three Cup cars if Cole goes well again.

In the meantime, he has unfinished business ahead in the hope of winning more including the upcoming Playoffs so he can look forward upon his return to Cup in 2025 with potentially another Xfinity Series championship on his belt.

July 20, 2024 0 comment

Motorsport NASCAR

William Byron puts Hendrick back into the Daytona 500 spotlight while Shane Van Gisbergen made his first US full season debut in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at the same time

by Sports Benches February 22, 2024

Gotta say that this year’s Daytona 500 edition (the race was held on Monday, not Sunday due to rainy weather) was about Ford v Chevy with Chase Elliott winning Stage 1 and Austin Cindric winning Stage 2 where we saw a few of The Big One wrecks not long after the race start and not long before the end of the race. At the end of the day, the winner belongs to William Byron in the No.24 Chevy Camaro from Hendrick Motorsports. He too had a great start who worked his way up to 2nd during the first half of the day, steered clear of caution at all costs including the last restart to stay in 1st as Cindric eventually lost control alongside fellow contender Ross Chastain on the last lap and the race is his to take after all with his first Daytona 500 win. It’s been 10 years since Hendrick last won a 500 with Dale Jr behind the wheel in the No.88 Chevy & double that back to nearly 20 when Jeff Gordon last brought the No.24 car into victory lane back in 2005. Let’s see if Byron can pull off the season championship & end Team Penske’s two-year dominance come November at Phoenix after he finished 4th at the season-finale race last year that saw him end up 3rd in the drivers’ standings behind Kyle Larson and eventual champ Ryan Blaney.

Meanwhile, shoutout to Corey LaJoie in 4th for Spire Motorsports with his best Daytona 500 finish as this team is tipped for big things this year following their huge off-season investments with the 3rd charter for Zane Smith and taking over Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Truck Series. Same goes to both Legacy Motor Club cars of John Hunter Nemechek and Erik Jones in 7th & 8th respectively as they are a Toyota team now and their next target is to push the No.42 and famous No.43 for higher honours up front for regular Top 7-10s every week going forward – having seen the No.43 long been under an American manufacturer for several decades. And also great to see Noah Gragson back this time in the No.10 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing after he had to sit the 2nd half last year out due to an inappropriate social media activity. He didn’t do bad in 9th where there’s still a long way to go towards getting that struggling team out of the middle & into the front once again.

If that’s not enough even though someone was there at the 500 but only racing in the other categories, how about our Kiwi Shane Van Gisbergen on his first full US season debut weekend for Kaulig Racing after a decorated career here in Supercars? Well, things might not have been easy from the start where he dropped a few spots from 5th to somewhere outside the Top 10-15 before he suffered some damage from the crash not long before the halfway mark on Lap 37. But fortunately his race wasn’t over where most cautions went his way to regain track position other than the last yellow whilst was running Top 10 for another while in Stage 3 as he completed his first Xfinity Series race in 12th. Yes, there are things where he could’ve been better running the Top 5 and even up front if it wasn’t for the yellows or the mid-race damage. But it’s his first full season in the US after a long time here in Australia, having also raced in the main ARCA Series race on the same weekend. Despite an unfortunate result there on what has been a wreck-spinning race, he did enough to pass the rookie superspeedway test as long as he participated including the practice orientation ones per NASCAR rules. Now he will look to look to dominate up front by getting used to winning with unfinished business ahead for the next race at Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend.

February 22, 2024 0 comment