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NASCAR today’s result: Christopher Bell goes three-in-a row after he defeated Gibbs team-mate Denny Hamlin at the white flag plus more coming from Legacy Motor Club

by Sports Benches

A bit unlucky there from the No.11 Denny Hamlin but good to see him finish 2nd and how good was Christopher Bell in the No.20 Gibbs Camry once again with another Toyota race win after three races out of four minus the Daytona 500.

Still early days with 2nd chances on the line by everyone else before Bell would want to pull off a Phoenix Raceway clean sweep alongside that championship trophy he long wanted come November for the C’ship 4 finale but so far, so good.

And yes, the same goes to fellow Toyota customer Cup team Legacy MC with a lot to reflect on.

JHN was excellent on the long runs as always like it was last weekend at COTA where he finished in 14th with the exact same difficult circumstances he had to do from the back once again – imagine how serious he could be and the best of this LMC’s on-track results is yet to come.

Erik Jones, meanwhile, may not have been able to hold down a top-half spot especially with a series of yellows holding him back ahead of restarts but not a bad second half session though to sign off at the 43 office in 18th.

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Motorsport

NASCAR today’s result: Another dominant Toyota weekend by Christopher Bell courtesy of a sensational race-winning move with six laps to go along with an P22 finish of a tough weekend from John Hunter Nemechek at Legacy MC

by Sports Benches

Here’s another Toyota race winning weekend and what a sensational drive Christopher Bell has pulled off against both Chevys in William Byron and Kyle Busch right there & never looked back on his second race win of the new year with 6 laps to go on the final stretch at COTA.

Looks like he’s the early favourite tipped to be the next first-time champion at the No.20 Gibbs Camry even though there’s a whole lot of other races to get through after three weeks of 36 or 37 if you count the All-Star non-points weekend.

And yes for Legacy Motor Club, it may not have been the best weekend, especially when racing on a road course & also in qualifying where they rolled off at the back. But at least both cars came home all in one piece with #43 Erik Jones in 27th while #42 John Hunter Nemechek benefitted some yellows to gain some track position there & he finished 22nd – imagine what could happen if JHN started  a bit further afield with a fighting chance.

Still lots of time though as he’s been happy with the team’s good progress as of late with first two races being Top 10 & sure he will make it three out of four before he’ll be running after a Top 5 very soon.

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Motorsport

NASCAR today’s result: Another Top 10 run by Legacy Motor Club this time from John Hunter Nemechek in the No.42 on what has been a top Toyota afternoon at Atlanta

by Sports Benches

Fantastic to hear another Legacy Motor Club Top 10 run of 2025 this time at Atlanta Motor Speedway (Race 2/36) by John Hunter Nemechek – who endured a decent No.42 Toyota Camry all afternoon from 22nd to staying right in between Top 10-15 for the most part even though there were multiple yellows where he had the chance at one stage up front – and there goes his solid result for crew chief Travis Mack & his crew on pit road and garage.

Yes, the real test does begin other than the unpredictable restrictor plate races like Daytona 500 last week as he’s 100% right post-race. It goes to show how competitive this can be when going after the regular front-runners for race wins that isn’t Daytona or Talladega but they are getting there though race after race.

You can see how the 77 Spire’s Carson Hocevar was oh so close there particularly at the final restart after he finished 2nd as sure he can go one better sooner rather than later that can mean anything including the Playoffs later this year.

Although unlucky for Erik Jones there in the other Legacy No.43 Camry when he was taken into the wall midway through Stage 2 – wasn’t a team-mate crash though as this was committed by the No.17 Chris Buescher from Ford’s RFK Racing.

But still not a bad weekend to keep themselves through the field from LMC and also Team Toyota in general with Christopher Bell being the 2nd early winner of 2025 for the No.20 Gibbs camp.

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Motorsport

Thoughts on Dodge back to NASCAR once again this time from the ground up with the Truck Series starting in 2026

by Sports Benches

Looks like Dodge wants to go back to NASCAR once more having heard new rumours from the weekend’s Daytona 500 but looks like they would rather start from the bottom at Trucks level under Ram since the engines everyone in this competition use now are spec ones – not too bad to get in at an affordable cost.

Gonna be great seeing more competition with Ram joining Chevy, Toyota and Ford back out on the race track that will make them a decent enough contender to fight for race wins and even championships.

Don’t know which teams will be up for it but shouldn’t be a problem if Dodge under Ram officially comes back.

And yes, they would also wanna go Cup and even Xfinity racing as well at some point as long they find an engine builder but not on their own via in-house. 

It’s easy to put in the Charger there since they just got a new generation model last year that also offers an electric & plug in hybrid option and they now both come in a two-door coupe and a four-door sedan.

Watch this space for that and let’s hope the rumors do come out true this time.

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Motorsport

NASCAR Today’s Results: Jimmie Johnson Carvana-led 84 team finishes third at the 2025 Daytona 500 with John Hunter Nemechek 5th & Erik Jones 12th that caps off a stunning new season start for JJ’s Legacy Motor Club

by Sports Benches

It was awesome to see Legacy Motor Club begin their 2025 campaign with a bang in their 2nd year using Toyota engines off the back of their huge off-season change of crew and even minority investment thanks to the man of the hour himself Jimmie Johnson.

He still has something to offer whose patience paid off after he came home third even though he races part-time these days, John Hunter Nemechek had a solid Top 5 car all day long other than the late yellows but happy though with 5th & Erik Jones not far off down in 12th – fortunately he was okay.

This is still a team in progress when things will take time but surely they will be more than ready to sweep Top 10-15z every weekend including an odd Playoffs run in possible – time will tell with JJ calling the shots now himself in majority charge.

Plus, happy to see Jimmie’s former team Hendrick celebrating this year’s Daytona 500 win in none other than William Byron.

And shoutout to ex-player Aaron Woods who stopped by at Daytona the other day to promote NRL/Rugby League with the new season opener soon in Las Vegas.

There won’t be a NASCAR race though on the same weekend unlike last year but will they will be back in the middle of March.

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Motorsport

Thoughts on Legacy Motor Club’s huge minor ownership change with Tom Wagner now onboard with Jimmie Johnson running the show more often as majority owner

by Sports Benches

Still a long way to go when it comes to their results following a slow 2024 racing Toyotas for the first time, but Legacy Motor Club certainly made a lot of steps up lately mainly off-track including an ownership change now, with Tom Wagner’s Knighthead Capital just got onboard (who owns Birmingham City) with Maury Gallagher stepping back & 7 x champion Jimmie Johnson running the show more often as majority owner.

Yes, chopping and changing things can be hard especially being team owner rather than full-time racer but at the same time, it looks promising for both the 42 and 43 cars to deliver this year. If they can really be battling Top 10-15 every week plus a win or two, we could see LMC expand into a 3rd full-time car after all – as long as the price is right and they’re content using their own built cars with a Toyota PU.

Whichever one asset they would want to go with expansion, time will tell especially when the charter system has now updated a little for at least another seven years.

But hey, the fresh investment is here for Jimmie Johnson’s team to turn things around thanks to Tom & who knows if the legendary 43 or even 42 turns up in victory lane someday? Watch this space.

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Motorsport

NASCAR Shoutouts after the 2024 season-finale: Chris Buescher the best non-Playoffs driver outside the Top 16 Points, more farewells & a few exciting things to look out for going into 2025

by Sports Benches

And now we roll off with the shoutouts for the final time in season 2024 aside from yet another Team Penske season where Joey Logano got his 3rd Drivers’ Championship there for the Blue Oval Ford as we start with Chris Buescher. Shoutout to Buescher as the best non-Playoffs driver of 2024 after he came home 9th in the No.17 Ford for RFK Racing. Who knows what he could do next year? When Kroger is expected to be onboard soon & he and Brad Keselowski will be able to see their team add a 3rd chartered car imminently.

So does Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford) after they finished their last race as a whole team together with No.10’s Noah Gragson being their best driver of the day in 12th. I know he’s already signed up to Front Row Motorsports next year but we’ll have to wait and see what happens since FRM has been in a court yard fight alongside 23XI Racing with the sport lately re. charters.

Don’t forget Harrison Burton over in 16th even though he wasn’t the best for Wood Brothers Ford over these last three years but still made his first and the team’s 100th win come true at Daytona’s summer race. Although Wood Brothers will be in good hands with a handy racer in Josh Berry next year, but there’s more to come from Harrison when he will step back at Xfinity level with another Ford outfit at AM Racing – wishing him the very best of luck.

Then we look at the 2017 Cup champ Martin Truex Jr. who also competed his last race as a full-time driver. Now he may not have been able to convert into a race win from pole, but still one of the best racers to watch including the last decade over the best of Toyota Cup teams. 

Going down a position in 18th, how about also the best rookie on show Carson Hocevar in the No.77 Chevy for Spire Motorsports? He’s got a bright future ahead straight out of Trucks, especially with Spire growing more and more every race weekend alongside Justin Haley in the 7 — and they’ll soon be joined by veteran Michael McDowell in the 71 next season after his decorated seven-year stint with Ford’s Front Row Motorsports.

And if that’s not enough, how about we give a big shoutout to Australia’s own Leigh Diffey, who now calls America home & also recently became NBC’s lead NASCAR race commentator at least for Cup. We continue to see and hear the best of Leigh at the highest of racing levels whether if it’s Motorsport or Athletics/Track and Field as sure there will be more memorable NASCAR calls by the Diff going into next year and beyond. Well done Leigh & have a well-deserved break.

Yes, we’ve also heard the best of Rick Allen over the past decade up until late August before Leigh took over, having called the Xfinity season-finale race live the other day for The CW under NBC’s production. But again, we thank him for what he’s done as wishing him good luck wherever he ends up next season.

So there we have it, the 2024 NASCAR season is finally over after 36 points races plus two extra weeks of non-points fun and excitement. We cannot wait to go all over again for season 2025 under a new TV rights contract with a huge focus on the streaming part as it rolls on. For now, your champion is Joey Logano for the 3rd time after he fended off Blaney that justified another glorious Team Penske moment with another silverware yet again. 

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Motorsport

NASCAR News Today: Another title, Another year for Team Penske with No.22’s Joey Logano back on top to prize off team-mate Ryan Blaney with his 3rd Championship win

by Sports Benches

It’s been another golden championship season of Team Penske Fords ever since when the Next Gen Chassis era began three seasons ago. 

The driver of the day though belongs to Joey Logano who stole the Drivers’ Crown off his No.12 team-mate & last year’s champion Ryan Blaney following a really great battle between those two on a few occasions – including the final stage when 1-2 others may have crashed out – before Joey pulled off the winning move & stayed there just in time to clinch yet another silverware piece for his No.22 team. 

Again, it has to come down to one huge winner as Logano both had the fight and championship-winning experience to lock up for the 3rd time that goes back from 2018 to 2022 & now 2024. 

For Blaney, it’s never a good feeling being 2nd best but hey, he raced really well to defend his crown against his team-mate Logano. At the end of the day, it’s all about great racing that makes Team Penske the most successful Ford Cup team over the last few years, and sure Blaney will back in 12 months time to hopefully hoist his Drivers’ Championship title No.2 at this same Phoenix race track.

William Byron finished 3rd in the No.24 Chevy Camaro for Hendrick Motorsports where he wasn’t quite up to Team Penske’s standards for the ultimate prize when it comes to the consistency including late race restarts. But he had a fantastic season though where he always finishes Top 3, Top 5 as well as a few regular season wins here and there. 

If he can translate with wins into Playoffs time next year, then the best of Byron and the No.24 Hendrick team should be yet to come.

We also still haven’t heard much of Toyota when you compare to Penske and Hendrick when you got Tyler Reddick finishing 6th behind another consistent Top 5 finisher Christopher Bell from Gibbs as the 4th and final Championship 4 contender for the manufacturer’s satellite Cup team at 23XI Racing, with team-mate Bubba Wallace in 7th. It remains to be seen what will happen going into next year since 23XI is having a really tough time alongside Front Row Motorsports at court & unfortunately, it didn’t go their way as per judge ruling before the weekend.

It’s not just 23XI who is walking into unknown territory but one of their co-owners Denny Hamlin would most likely not be donning the FedEx colours anymore  next season & he too finished 11th for his No.11 Gibbs Toyota team after missing the Championship 4 cup for yet another year in season 2024. Whoever comes in to support Denny, let’s hope he can adjust his expectations so he doesn’t end up disappointed next time as he’s still yet to win a Drivers’ Championship at age 43.

I wish he can get a decent enough crew chief who has been there & done that before with winning championships, but all he can do is just win them all at Playoffs time if he can and we might finally see the best of Denny as a driver. If Justin Allgaier can do like he did as a finally first-time Xfinity Series Champion yesterday, then so could Denny no matter what happens. 

In the meantime, if you’re a big Penske fan, particularly for Joey, then today’s your lucky day! No doubt Penske will go on to be the 2020s version of Hendrick Motorsports if they keep on adding more and more championship titles every season as congrats to Joey once again with his 3rd Cup crown all coming from the same place of Arizona’s Phoenix Raceway. 

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Motorsport

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

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.

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Motorsport

Thoughts on Ty Majeski winning his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship after his win at Phoenix

by Sports Benches

First of all, congratulations to 30-year-old Ty Majeski, who not only was the Championship 4 contender to win that season-finale Trucks race, but he also got away with the Trucks season title in his No.98 Ford F-150 as well for ThorSport Racing.

I’ve haven’t forgotten about him after all when he was part of the the shared Project60 Xfinity Series program several years ago at Roush Fenway Racing alongside now current Cup drivers Austin Cindric (Team Penske Ford) and Chase Briscoe (Stewart-Haas Ford for one last time this weekend before he will switch over to Joe Gibbs Toyota next season).

Okay, his results there wasn’t that good for the most part other than just the two Top 10 finishes before he was dumped by Roush at season’s end after the team shut down their Xfinity program at the time. But again, he just made the most out of his opportunities since then including some iRacing work, and good to hear that Ty is finally making his name at Trucks level with wins & decent top finishes along the way. 

And who would’ve thought when iRacing was an important feature to every racers’ life when COVID put a hold to everyone for most of 2020 & some in 2021? Well, Ty Majeski most certainly was one of the drivers who benefitted from this for a long, long time as he wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for iRacing. But hey, ThorSport gave him a chance to start from the bottom and here he is now with the Truck Series championship. He’s so grateful to both of them as what’s next for 2025?

Well, he’s having so much fun getting used to running up front, which is the most important thing everyone needs to know as an inspiring racer of any kind. So I guess he will stay at Trucks as long as he enjoys dominating this every week. If he was to end up in Xfinity and maybe Cup though, then I’d say he will go to a team who can provide him the competitive means to win races & run regular Top 10s. 

Yes, he might not be a young prospect anymore unlike a few others today. But at least he wants to win races for fun and that’s not going to change anytime soon.

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