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Author: Andrew Kim

  • Gragson ties all-time Xfinity wins streak after victory in Playoff opener at Texas

    Gragson ties all-time Xfinity wins streak after victory in Playoff opener at Texas

    Noah Gragson commenced the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs by making history with his record-tying fourth consecutive victory in recent weeks to claim the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, September 24.

    The 24-year-old Gragson from Las Vegas, Nevada, led three times for 85 of 200-scheduled laps and executed a pit stop under the green flag with less than 50 laps remaining to his advantage. He reassumed the top spot with 12 laps remaining and beat Austin Hill by more than a second to claim his seventh NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the season.

    Above all, Gragson became the first Playoff contender to punch his ticket into the Round of 8 in the 2022 Xfinity Series Playoffs.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Playoff contender Brandon Jones secured his fourth pole position of the 2022 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 185.637 mph in 29.089 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Noah Gragson, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 185.363 mp in 29.132 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Playoff contender Ty Gibbs, as well as, Bayley Currey, David Starr, Akinori Ogata, Tommy Joe Martins, Stefan Parsons and JJ Yeley dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars. Garrett Smithley also dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change.

    When the green flag waved and the race began, Brandon Jones surged ahead with a brief advantage over Gragson entering the first turn. Then, he slipped sideways below the apron in Turn 1 off the front nose of Daniel Hemric’s No. 11 DaaBIN Store Chevrolet Camaro. As Jones tried to straighten his No. 19 Menards Toyota Supra below the apron, the field fanned out to avoid Jones and Gragson pulled away with the lead. He went on to lead the first lap by eight-tenths ahead of John Hunter Nemechek followed by Justin Allgaier, Hemric and Landon Cassill. Meanwhile, Jones, who managed to keep his car intact without drawing a caution, was all the way back in 20th behind Alex Labbe.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Gragson was leading by a tenth of a second over Nemechek, who challenged Gragson for the lead before claiming it during the following lap. He was followed by Allgaier, Hemric and Cassill while Ryan Sieg, Brandon Brown, AJ Allmendinger, rookie Austin Hill and Josh Berry, rounding out the top 10. Playoff contender Sam Mayer was in 11th, Jeremy Clements was in 13th, Riley Herbst was scored in 15th ahead of Brandon Jones as Ty Gibbs was mired back in 24th behind Brennan Poole.

    Nine laps later, the first caution of the event flew when Jeffrey Earnhardt, who was battling Poole for a spot outside of the top 20, got into the side of Poole’s car entering the backstretch and his No. 26 YesWav/ForeverLawn Toyota Supra darted to the inside wall and wrecked hard, which ended Earnhardt’s event early. By then, Nemechek was still leading Gragson, Brandon Jones had recovered to 14th and Ty Gibbs was up in 18th behind Creed.

    During the first caution period, some like Creed, Alex Labbe, Matt Mills, David Starr, Joey Gase, Garrett Smithley and Joe Graf Jr. pitted while the rest, led by Nemechek, remained on the track.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 24, Nemechek and Gragson dueled for the lead until Nemechek managed to clear Gragson for the top spot while the field jostled for positions. Behind the leaders, Sam Mayer, who got loose beneath Cassill entering Turn 1 and lost a handful of spots, hit the wall entering Turn 4 and fell to 16th. With the race proceeding under green, Gragson kept the runner-up spot ahead of Hemric, Allgaier and Allmendinger while Nemechek retained the lead.

    At the Lap 35 mark, Nemechek’s No. 18 Romco Equipment Toyota Supra was ahead by nearly six-tenths of a second over Gragson’s No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro while Hemric, Allgaier and Allmendinger remained in the top five. By then, Gibbs carved his No. 54 Interstate Batteries Toyota Supra into 10th place while Berry, Weatherman, Hill and Nicholas Sanchez were in sixth through ninth, respectively.

    Two laps later, the caution returned when CJ McLaughlin spun in Turn 2, though he managed to keep his car intact without hitting the wall. During the caution period, some of the drivers, led by Nemechek who slid through his pit box, pitted, while the rest, led by Hemric and Allgaier remained on the track. Playoff contenders Gragson and Gibbs were among the front-runners who also pitted along with Nemechek.

    With three laps remaining in the first stage, the race restarted under green. At the start, Hemric retained the lead on the inside lane while teammate Allmendinger battled Allgaier for the runner-up spot. In Turn 3, however, Allmendinger got loose and fell back to fourth behind Allgaier and Hill. Behind, JR Motorsports’ Berry and Gragson battled for fifth while Hemric held on to the top spot.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 45, Hemric claimed his third stage victory of the 2022 season. Allgaier settled in a close second place followed by Hill, Gragson, Allmendinger, Berry, Nemechek, Ryan Sieg, Gibbs and Kyle Weatherman. By then, Playoff contenders Brandon Jones, Clements, Herbst and Mayer were in 12th, 13th, 26th and 27th, respectively.

    Under the stage break, some of the drivers, led by Hemric, and including Allgaier, Hill, Gragson, Allmendinger, Berry, Ryan Sieg, Anthony Alfredo, Joey Gase, Matt Mills, Weatherman, Clements, Poole, Yeley, Mayer and Currey pitted while the rest, led by Nemechek, remained on the track.

    The second stage started on Lap 51 as teammates Nemechek and Gibbs occupied the front row. At the start, Nemechek pulled ahead with the lead on the inside lane followed by Gibbs and Nicholas Sanchez while Brandon Jones was in fourth ahead of Cassill, Brown, Creed and Ryan Sieg.

    Two laps later, Gibbs, who started the event at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to his car, assumed the lead for the first time. Another two laps later, however, Nemechek reclaimed the top spot. Behind, Gragson, who was trying to navigate his way back toward the front, overtook Creed for seventh place while Hemric was mired back in 12th.

    By Lap 60, Nemechek was leading by half a second over teammate Gibbs while teammate Jones trailed by more than a second in third place. Cassill was in fourth followed by a hard-charging Gragson while Sanchez, Brown, Creed, Hemric and Hill, who reported a vibration to his No. 21 Bennett Chevrolet Camaro, were in the top 10. By then, Allmendinger was in 11th ahead of Berry and Allgaier, Herbst was back in 16th, Clements was in 20th, Mayer was in 22nd and Sieg was in 24th.

    Fifteen laps later and at the Lap 75 mark, Nemechek continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over teammate Gibbs while Gragson was up in third place and trailing the two Joe Gibbs Racing leaders by more than a second. Jones and Cassill remained in the top five while Hemric battled teammate Allmendinger for sixth ahead of Hill, Sanchez, Allgaier and Berry.

    Three laps later, the caution flew when veteran David Starr lost a right-front tire and pounded the outside wall in Turn 2 and slowly limped his car back to pit road. During the caution period, the No. 51 Straitline Chevrolet Camaro piloted by Playoff contender Jeremy Clements received a push from a wrecker after losing power as he fell out of the lead lap category. The issue was eventually enough for Clements’ crew to push the car to the garage area for further analysis. Once pit road opened for the field, some of the drivers, led by Nemechek, pitted, while the rest, led by teammates Hemric and Allmendinger, remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Berry was sent to the rear of the field due to an uncontrolled tire violation along with Cassill, who sped on pit road.

    With five laps remaining in the second stage, the race restarted under green. At the start, teammates Hemric and Allmendinger dueled for the lead until Allmendinger managed to navigate his No. 16 Andy’s Frozen Custard Chevrolet Camaro into the lead. In Turn 3, Hemric was locked in a battle with Sieg for the runner-up spot while Sanchez, who briefly made a bid towards the front, got loose up the outside lane as he fell out of the top 10. Soon after, Akinori Ogata spun off of Turn 4, but the race remained under green.

    Back at the front, Allmendinger continued to lead while Hemric led a four-car battle for the runner-up spot, featuring Sieg, Gragson and Nemechek.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 90, Allmendinger, the 2022 Xfinity Series regular-season champion, captured his third stage victory of the season. Gragson muscled his way into the runner-up spot while Nemechek, Hemric, Gibbs, Hill, Allgaier, Sieg, Brandon Jones and Mayer were scored in the top 10. By then, Herbst was in 12th and Berry was back in 22nd.

    Under the stage break, some of the drivers pitted, led by Allmendinger and Hemric, while the rest, led by Gragson, remained on the track.

    With 104 laps remaining, the final stage started. Gragson secured the lead on the inside lane as he slid in front of Nemechek and was followed by Gibbs, Hill and Allgaier while Brandon Jones challenged and overtook Creed for sixth place. With the battles around the circuit ensuing, Gragson stabilized a narrow advantage over the field with Nemechek slowly closing in.

    At the halfway mark with 100 laps remaining, the battle for the lead between Gragson and Nemechek ensued with the latter attempting to intimidate the former as Gibbs, Hill and Allgaier remained in the top five. By then, seven of 12 Playoff contenders were running in the top 10 on the track and all but one were running in the top 16.

    Four laps later, the caution returned when Akinori Ogata spun in Turn 2. With the field remaining on the track and the race proceeding under green with 91 laps remaining, Gragson rocketed with the lead followed by Nemechek and Hill while Gibbs and Allgaier battled for fourth. Not long after, the caution quickly returned for a multi-car wreck entering Turn 3. It began when Allmendinger got into Brown as Brown clipped Cassill and sent Cassill into the outside wall while Mayer barely escaped the carnage. Also involved in the carnage were Myatt Snider, Anthony Alfredo, Weatherman, Joey Gase, Sieg and Brown.

    When the race restarted under green with 81 laps remaining, Hill dipped his No. 21 Chevrolet below Gragson as both, along with Nemechek, went three wide for the lead. Then in Turn 2 and entering the backstretch, the caution flew when Nemechek got loose as he slipped sideways and clipped Allgaier, who was trying to make it a four-wide battle for the lead. Both collided against one another hard alongside the outside wall. The carnage did not stop there, however, as pole-sitter, Brandon Jones, collided into both with Poole, Joe Graf Jr., Weatherman, Josh Williams, Joey Gase and Sieg while Hemric smacked the inside wall. The wreck eliminated Jones, Nemechek, Allgaier and Hemric from further competition. Allmendinger, who dodged the wreck, moved back up to 14th as Gragson managed to keep the lead ahead of Hill, Berry, Gibbs and Herbst.

    With 74 laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Gragson engaged in a tight battle with Hill for the lead before clearing him while Gibbs started to challenge Hill for the runner-up spot. Shortly after, however, the caution returned when Garrett Smithley got bumped and turned off the front nose of Weatherman through the backstretch while Stefan Parsons and Myatt Snider sustained damage after clipping Smithley.

    Six laps later, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gragson retained the lead while Gibbs engaged in a tight side-by-side battle for the runner-up spot alongside Hill and Herbst battled Sanchez for fourth place.

    With less than 60 laps remaining, Gragson was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Gibbs followed by Hill and Herbst while Allmendinger carved his way back into the top five in fifth. Sanchez was in sixth followed by Berry, Creed, Ryan Sieg and Mayer, rounding out the top 10. By then, eight of 12 Playoff contenders were running in the top 15.

    A few laps later, Gibbs washed up the racetrack in Turn 3 and toward the outside wall as he lost momentum and was overtaken by Hill.

    With 50 laps remaining, Gragson extended and stabilized his advantage to two seconds over Hill, who had Gibbs closing in for another challenge for the runner-up spot. Behind, Allmendinger was in fourth followed by Berry and Herbst while Creed, Sanchez, Mayer and Sieg were in the top 10.

    Six laps later, Gragson surrendered the lead to pit under green followed by Gibbs. Once Hill pitted during the following lap, Allmendinger, who has yet to pit, assumed the lead followed by Berry, Herbst, Sanchez and Mayer. By then, Gragson, Hill and Gibbs were lapped by the field.

    With less than 30 laps remaining, Allmendinger continued to lead followed by Berry, Mayer, Currey and Jeb Burton, all of whom had yet to pit. By then, Sanchez, Creed, Herbst and others had already pitted under green while Gragson was still a lap down, but running in the top 10 on fresh tires and with enough fuel for the finish.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Allmendinger retained the lead as one of four competitors who have not yet made a pit stop while Gragson was up in fifth and still a lap down, but gaining ground. Four laps later, however, Allmendinger surrendered the lead to pit along with Berry while Jeb Burton assumed the lead followed by a hard-charging Gragson, who un-lapped himself and went to work on closing back in on Burton for the lead. 

    Then with 11 laps remaining, Gragson reassumed the lead as Jeb Burton pitted. By then, Hill made his way up to second followed by Gibbs, Allmendinger and Berry while Herbst was back in sixth.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Gragson extended his advantage to more than a second over Hill, with Hill losing ground to the leader, while third-place Gibbs trailed by more than three seconds. 

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Gragson remained as the leader by more than a second over Hill. With Hill unable to close on the leader, Gragson was able to navigate his No. 9 Chevrolet back to the frontstretch and claim his unprecedented seventh checkered flag of the season and his fourth in a row in recent weeks.

    With his accomplishment, Gragson joined the late two-time Xfinity champion Sam Ard as the only competitors to win four consecutive Xfinity events. Gragson also secured his 12th career victory in the Xfinity circuit, his first at Texas and the 13th victory of the 2022 season for JR Motorsports. With an automatic ticket to the Round of 8, which will commence in October at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Gragson continues his pursuit to win the 2022 Xfinity title before moving up to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2023 for Petty GMS Motorsports.

    “This No. 9 team, man, they’re on fire,” Gragson said on USA Network. “The pit crew’s done awesome. Our car was as fast as Xfinity internet all day. Just so thankful for the opportunity. Such a relief. We lost this race in 2020. Just executed a great race. [Crew chief] Luke Lambert and the rest of the boys, they did a great job. Last year, I was standing with Justin Haley and saw John Hunter [Nemechek] raising the Andy’s Frozen Custard trophy over his head. He said, ‘Man, I would’ve tried a little bit harder if I would’ve seen that trophy and knew what it was.’ That made me motivated. I was like, ‘Damn, I want that [trophy], too.’ We came back and the team did a great job. We’re on fire as a team right now.”

    Playoff rookie Austin Hill notched a strong runner-up result for his 11th top-five of the season while Ty Gibbs emerged as the lone Joe Gibbs Racing competitor to finish the event by ending up in third place. Hill leaves Texas in fourth place in the Playoff standings and 30 points above the top-eight cutline to transfer to the Round of 8 while Gibbs is currently in third place and with a 46-point advantage.

    “We were faster than [Gragson],” Hill said. “I don’t know if he was just kind of pacing there or not, but [I] just got too tight there at the end. I’m sure I could’ve done a better job coming to that green flag pit stop. The guys did an excellent job all day on pit road. Pit stops were fantastic. It’s nice to start the Playoffs like this and start it off right, but at the same time, we know that if we would’ve won the race, we wouldn’t have to worry about [Talladega] or the [Charlotte] Roval. A little frustrated, but at the same time, happy with the performance. We showed speed. We just needed that little bit more.”

    “Honestly, we were a little bit tight,” Gibbs said. “[We were] fighting that all day. We fired off one run really free and just kept it tight for the rest. [The crew] adjusted what I asked for, but I asked for a little bit too much and that’s what we went to. It’s my fault. Thank you to my team. We’ll keep moving on to Talladega, which is a yard sale.”

    Meanwhile, Allmendinger survived his late incident and made his late pit strategy work to perfection as he finished fourth while Herbst completed the top five. 

    “I wished we could’ve won that race,” Allmendinger, who is 47 points above the top-eight cutline, said. “I thought we had a shot, but the way it could’ve been and the way it actually ended up to have a really good points day, we’ll take it.”

    “This was our game plan,” Herbst, who is a single point below the cutline, added. “Just fall back on what we’ve been doing all year, consistency. We need to execute tremendously better if we want to advance. To come away out of Texas with a top five, it’s good and we’ll go battle with the Monster [Energy] guys at Talladega.”

    Berry, Creed, Mayer, Ryan Sieg and CJ McLaughlin completed the top 10 on the track, with eight of 12 Playoff contenders finishing in the top 10.

    There were 14 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 52 laps. Only eight of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Noah Gragson, 85 laps led

    2. Austin Hill, one lap led

    3. Ty Gibbs, three laps led

    4. AJ Allmendinger, 34 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    5. Riley Herbst

    6. Josh Berry

    7. Sheldon Creed

    8. Sam Mayer

    9. Ryan Sieg, one lap down

    10. CJ McLaughlin, one lap down

    11. Nick Sanchez, one lap down

    12. Bayley Currey, one lap down

    13. Stefan Parsons, one lap down

    14. Tommy Joe Martins, one lap down

    15. Jeb Burton, one lap down, five laps led

    16. Matt Mills, two laps down

    17. Alex Labbe, three laps down

    18. Joe Graf Jr., three laps down

    19. Anthony Alfredo, three laps down

    20. Myatt Snider, four laps down

    21. Parker Retzlaff, 10 laps down

    22. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Accident

    23. Garrett Smithley – OUT, Dvp

    24. Brandon Brown – OUT, Accident

    25. Joey Gase – OUT, Dvp

    26. Josh Williams – OUT, Accident

    27. Brandon Jones – OUT, Accident

    28. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident, 60 laps led

    29. Justin Allgaier – OUT, Accident

    30. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Accident, 12 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    31. Brennan Poole – OUT, Accident

    32. Mason Massey – OUT, Accident

    33. Landon Cassill – OUT, Accident

    34. JJ Yeley – OUT, Water pump

    35. Akinori Ogata – OUT, Suspension

    36. Jeremy Clements – OUT, Ignition

    37. David Starr – OUT, Accident

    38. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. Noah Gragson – Advanced

    2. AJ Allmendinger +47

    3. Ty Gibbs +46

    4. Austin Hill +30

    5. Josh Berry +24

    6. Justin Allgaier +20

    7. Sam Mayer +1

    8. Ryan Sieg +1

    9. Riley Herbst -1

    10. Daniel Hemric -8

    11. Brandon Jones -13

    12. Jeremy Clements -29

    With the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs underway, the battle for the series championship in the Round of 12 will continue next weekend at Talladega Superspeedway. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, October 1, at 4 p.m. ET on the USA Network.

  • Yuki Tsunoda retained by AlphaTauri for 2023 F1 season

    Yuki Tsunoda retained by AlphaTauri for 2023 F1 season

    Scuderia AlphaTauri announced that Yuki Tsunoda will be remaining with the organization and compete in a third Formula One season in 2023.

    The 22-year-old Tsunoda from Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan, is currently campaigning in his second full-time season in F1 competition with the Faenza-based organization. Through 16 of 22-scheduled events, he has achieved three top-10 points-paying results, including a season-high seventh-place result at Imola Circuit for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in April, and has accumulated 11 points as he sits in 16th place in the drivers’ standings.

    “I want to say a huge thank you to Red Bull, Honda and Scuderia AlphaTauri for continuing to give me the opportunity to drive in F1,” Tsunoda said. “Having moved to Italy last year, to be closer to the factory, I really feel part of the team and am glad that I get to carry on racing with them in 2023. Of course, our 2022 season isn’t over yet and we’re still pushing hard in the midfield battle, so I’m fully focused on finishing it on a high and then we will look forward to next year.”

    Tsunoda, a graduate of the Red Bull Junior Team, made his inaugural presence in F1 at the start of the 2021 season, where he replaced Daniil Kvyat and competed alongside Pierre Gasly for AlphaTauri. In his maiden F1 event during the Bahrain Grand Prix at Bahrain International Circuit, Tsunoda collected his first two points in F1 after finishing ninth. He went on to achieve six additional top-10 results during the remaining 21-scheduled events, including his career-best result of fourth place during the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit, before finishing in 14th place in the drivers’ standings with a total of 32 points. The points he and teammate Gasly (110) earned were enough to place AlphaTauri in sixth place in the final constructors’ standings with the team achieving its highest-combined points of 142.

    Prior to his debut in F1, Tsunoda, whose racing career commenced with karts, competed in the 2020 Formula 2 Championship season with Carlin, where he earned three victories, seven podiums and a third-place result in the final standings with 200 points. He also claimed his first Formula 3 victory at Autodromo Nazionale Monza while driving for Jenzer Motorsport in September 2019 and the 2018 F4 Japanese Championship title with the Honda Formula Dream Project.

    “As we’ve seen since he joined us last year, Yuki is a very talented driver and has improved a lot this season,” Franz Tost, Team Principal of AlphaTauri, added. “The pace he has shown recently is clear evidence of a steep learning curve, which proves he deserves a seat in F1, and I still expect some strong results from him in the last six races of 2022. As I always say, a driver needs at least three years to fully get to grips with Formula 1, so I’m pleased he’s been given the time to show his full potential. In addition, it’s a testament to Dr. [Helmut] Marko and his driver programme that we’re able to bring these young talents up from the junior categories and develop them. I’d like to join Yuki in thanking Red Bull, AlphaTauri as well as Honda, for their continuous support and for allowing him to stay with us for another year.”

    Tsunoda is slated to compete alongside Gasly at AlphaTauri for the 2023 season, though Gasly’s future with the organization remains unknown as he is rumored to replace Fernando Alonso at the BWT Alpine F1 Team for the upcoming season. AlphaTauri’s official confirmation of its two-driver lineup for 2023 have yet to be announced.

    With his racing plans for 2023 set, Tsunoda’s 2022 season will next continue at Marina Bay Street Circuit for the return of the Singapore Grand Prix on October 2.

  • Formula One reveals record-breaking 24-race schedule for 2023 season

    Formula One reveals record-breaking 24-race schedule for 2023 season

    The 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship schedule was revealed in a season that will feature a record-breaking 24 Grand Prix events spanning from early March through mid-November. 

    The schedule, which received approval from the World Motor Sport Council, features new date changes for some familiar venues and the return of two countries along with a debutant of another venue in the United States of America while one notable country will not host an event for the upcoming season.

    For a third consecutive season, the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir will serve as the host of the season-opening Grand Prix event on March 5 to commence a new season of Formula One competition. The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit will remain as the season-finale event for a 12th season on November 26.

    Notably, the United States of America will host three Grand Prix events in 2023, starting with the second annual Miami Grand Prix at Miami International Autodrome in Miami Gardens, Florida, on May 7. The United States Grand Prix will remain at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, for an 11th season on October 22. Lastly, the Las Vegas Grand Prix at Las Vegas Street Circuit will be hosting its inaugural Grand Prix event on November 5.

    Familiar circuits that are set to return for the upcoming season include the Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai International Circuit on April 16 and the Qatar Grand Prix at Losail International Circuit on October 8. The Chinese Grand Prix was last held in 2019 while the Qatar Grand Prix occurred for the first time in 2021. Qatar is slated to remain on the F1 calendar on a 10-year contract.

    Additional changes for the 2023 season include the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at Baku City Circuit moving up from June to April 30, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Iola Circuit scaling down from April to May 21, the Spanish Grand Prix at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya also scaling down from May to June 4, the Austrian and British Grand Prixs swapping dates in early July (July 2 & 9, respectively), the Belgian Grand Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps moving up from late August to July 30, the Dutch Grand Prix at Circuit Zandvoort moving one week early from early September to August 27, the Italian Grand Prix at Monza Circuit moving one week early on September 3 and the Singapore and Japanese Grand Prixs moving up from early October to late September (September 17 & 24, respectively).

    The upcoming F1 schedule will be featuring a one-month summer break period for the competitors and teams following the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa on July 30 before returning to action at Circuit Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix on August 27.

    Both the Belgian and Monaco Grand Prixs, which were rumored to be removed from the schedule, will remain following contract extension for both countries. The Belgian Grand Prix will be returning to the upcoming schedule following a one-year extension while the Monaco Grand Prix at Circuit de Monaco will span through 2025 under a new deal.

    Notably, the French Grand Prix, which occurred at Circuit Paul Ricard this past July, will not be featured on the 2023 schedule.

    The full 2023 Formula One schedule is as follows:

    1. March 5: Bahrain Grand Prix (Sakhir)

    2. March 19: Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (Jeddah)

    3. April 2: Australian Grand Prix (Melbourne)

    4. April 16: Chinese Grand Prix (Shanghai)

    5. April 30: Azerbaijan Grand Prix (Baku)

    6. May 7: Miami Grand Prix (Miami)

    7. May 21: Emilia Romagna Grand Prix (Imola)

    8. May 28: Monaco Grand Prix (Monaco)

    9. June 4: Spanish Grand Prix (Spain)

    10. June 18: Canadian Grand Prix (Montreal)

    11. July 2: Austrian Grand Prix (Spielberg)

    12. July 9: British Grand Prix (Silverstone)

    13. July 23: Hungarian Grand Prix (Budapest)

    14. July 30: Belgium Grand Prix (Spa)

    15. August 27: Dutch Grand Prix (Zandvoort)

    16. September 3: Italian Grand Prix (Monza)

    17. September 17: Singapore Grand Prix (Singapore)

    18. September 24: Japanese Grand Prix (Suzuka)

    19. October 8: Qatar Grand Prix (Losail)

    20. October 22: United States Grand Prix (Austin)

    21. October 29: Mexico City Grand Prix (Mexico City)

    22. November 5: São Paulo Grand Prix (São Paulo)

    23. November 18: Las Vegas Grand Prix (Las Vegas)

    24. November 26: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Yas Marina) 

    “We are excited to announce the 2023 calendar with 24 races around the world,” Stefano Domenicali, President & CEO of Formula One, said. “Formula 1 has unprecedented demand to host races and it is important we get the balance right for the entire sport. We are very pleased with the strong momentum Formula 1 continues to experience and it is great news that we will be able to bring our passionate fans a mix of exciting new locations such as Las Vegas to the Championship with much loved venues across Europe, Asia and the Americas.”

    “The presence of 24 races on the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship calendar is further evidence of the growth and appeal of the sport on a global scale,” Mohammed Ben Sulayem, President of FIA, added. “The addition of new venues and the retention of traditional events underlines the FIA’s sound stewardship of the sport. I am delighted that we will be able to take Formula 1’s new era of exciting racing, created by the FIA’s 2022 Regulations, to a broader fan base in 2023.”

    The 2022 F1 season, which introduced new technical regulations towards the cars and for the teams, is currently down to its final six scheduled events. Max Verstappen, the reigning F1 champion for Oracle Red Bull Racing who has won 11 of 17 Grand Prix events that have occurred this season, currently leads the drivers’ standings by 116 points over Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who has won three Grand Prixs. In addition, Red Bull Racing leads the constructors’ standings by 139 points over Ferrari and 174 over the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team.

    With the 2023 racing schedule unveiled, the 2022 FIA Formula One World Championship season is set to resume at Marina Bay Street Circuit for the return of the Singapore Grand Prix on October 2.

  • Buescher conquers a wild Bristol Night Race; Playoff’s Round of 12 field set

    Buescher conquers a wild Bristol Night Race; Playoff’s Round of 12 field set

    On a night where multiple Playoff contenders encountered on-track issues from start to finish, another non-Playoff contender captured the spotlight as Chris Buescher made a triumphant return to Victory Lane in the NASCAR Cup Series in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, September 17.

    The 29-year-old Buescher from Prosper, Texas, led twice for a race-high 169 of 500-scheduled laps, including the final 61, as he prevailed through a two-tire pit strategy and in a 57-lap dash to the finish by holding off Playoff contender Chase Elliott to score his second career win in NASCAR’s premier series and snap a 222-race winless drought under the lights at Thunder Valley.

    Buescher’s victory served as one of two major storylines to Saturday night’s event at Bristol. The second was the Playoff battle as the Round of 16 concluded with four big names, including Kyle Busch, Tyler Reddick, Austin Dillon and Kevin Harvick, being eliminated from the Playoffs.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Aric Almirola claimed his first pole position of the 2022 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 127.826 mph in 14.946 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Chase Briscoe, the highest-starting Playoff contender who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 127.503 mph in 14.968 seconds.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Almirola jumped ahead with the advantage on the outside lane followed by teammate Briscoe and Denny Hamlin as the field jostled early between two lanes for positions. When the field made their way back to the frontstretch, Almirola managed to lead the first lap ahead of Hamlin and Briscoe while Ryan Blaney was in fourth ahead of Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Almirola remained as the leader ahead of Hamlin followed by Blaney, Briscoe and Bell while Bowman, Larson, Keselowski, Ross Chastain and Kevin Harvick were in the top 10. Bubba Wallace, the winner of last weekend’s event at Kansas Speedway, was in 11th ahead of William Byron, rookie Austin Cindric, Cole Custer and AJ Allmendinger while Michael McDowell, Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Martin Truex Jr. and Justin Haley occupied the top 20. By then, Playoff contenders Tyler Reddick, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon and Daniel Suarez were mired in 21st, 24th, 26th, 30th and 32nd, respectively.

    Fifteen laps later on Lap 25, Almirola, who approached lapped traffic, stabilized his advantage to nearly half a second over a side-by-side battle between Hamlin and Blaney while Briscoe and Bell remained in the top five. By then, half of the 16 Playoff contenders were scored in the top 10 while Kyle Busch, Reddick, Elliott, Austin Dillon and Suarez were among five Playoff contenders still mired outside of the top 20 on the track.

    Another 11 laps later, Blaney muscled his No. 12 Pennzoil/Menards Ford Mustang into the lead after he overtook Almirola as Hamlin started to challenge Almirola for the runner-up spot. 

    On Lap 42, the first caution of the event flew due to debris on the backstretch and following two right-front incidents affecting two competitors. The first was when JJ Yeley smacked the outside wall in Turn 2 and fell off the pace after losing a right-front tire. The incident occurred as Yeley, who was multiple laps down, was battling the top-five front-runners on the track. By then, rookie Harrison Burton got into the outside wall in Turn 3 after he lost a right-front tire to his No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang.

    During the caution period, a majority of the field led by race leader Blaney pitted wile the rest led by Keselowski remained on the track.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 49, Keselowski rocketed his No. 6 Kohler Generators Ford Mustang with the lead while teammate Chris Buescher and Wallace battled for the runner-up spot, with the former prevailing over the latter. Behind, Tyler Reddick was in fourth followed by Corey LaJoie and Almirola, the first competitor on four fresh tires, while Hamlin was in seventh as he was trying to navigate his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry back to the front.

    By Lap 60, Keselowski was leading by eight-tenths of a second over teammate Buescher followed by Wallace, Reddick and Almirola while Hamlin, Bell, Blaney, LaJoie and Suarez occupied the top-10 spots on the track. Briscoe was in 11th followed by teammate Harvick, Larson, Byron and Kyle Busch while Bowman, Chastain, Logano, McDowell and Truex were in the top 20. By then, Cindric was in 22nd ahead of Austin Dillon and Elliott was mired back in 25th ahead of Ty Gibbs and Ty Dillon.

    Fifteen laps later and at the Lap 75 mark, Keselowski continued to lead by more than a second over teammate Buescher while Wallace, Hamlin and Reddick were running in the top five. Blaney, meanwhile, was in sixth while Almirola, Bell, Briscoe and Harvick were in the top 10 ahead of Larson, Kyle Busch, Bowman, Byron, Suarez and Chastain. While Logano and Austin Dillon were in 18th and 20th, Elliott was mired back in 22nd and Cindric was back in 24th.

    Nine laps later, early disaster struck for Cindric, who pitted under green after he lost a right-side tire to his No. 2 Freightliner Ford Mustang and scrubbed the outside wall entering Turn 2. By the time he returned to the track, his hopes of advancing to the Playoffs were jeopardized as he was mired back in 36th place on the track, dead last, and five laps down to the leaders.

    Then on Lap 91, the caution returned when Blaney smacked the outside wall through Turns 3 and 4 after losing a right-front tire to his No. 12 Ford. In the process to avoid hitting Blaney, Almirola spun his No. 10 Ford BlueOval City Ford Mustang in Turn 4 as he brushed the outside wall. Then as Blaney pitted for four fresh tires, the situation for him from bad to worse. In an effort to remain on the lead lap, he left his pit stall, but was unaware that his pit crew had removed the center lug nut from the left-rear wheel. This caused the left-rear wheel to roll off of Blaney’s car as Blaney came to a stop before spinning his car back to his pit stall for fresh left-side tires. In the process, he lost a lap to the leaders.

    During the caution period, some led by Buescher pitted while the rest led by Keselowski remained on the track. 

    When the event restarted under green on Lap 99, Keselowski retained the lead on the outside lane for a second time while Bell quickly challenged and overtook Reddick for the runner-up spot in his No. 20 Yahoo! Toyota TRD Camry. Behind, Kyle Busch, who restarted seventh, used the outside lane to his advantage as he bolted his No. 18 M&M’s Toyota TRD Camry past a bevy of names, including Larson, Briscoe and Reddick, in one lap before settling in third place behind teammate Bell. 

    By Lap 115, Keselowski retained the lead by four-tenths of a second over Bell and nine-tenths of a second over third-place Kyle Busch while Briscoe and Larson battled for fourth. Meanwhile, Blaney, who had a part dragging to the rear end of his car following his pit road incident, had returned to the track following a lengthy pit stop as he was mired back in 36th place, dead last, and five laps behind the leaders. He would eventually be posted by NASCAR for not meeting minimum speed and pitted again to address a flat right-rear tire.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 125, Keselowski, who came into the event with an average-finishing result of 19.2, captured his first stage victory of the 2022 season. Bell settled in second followed by teammate Kyle Busch, Briscoe, Larson, Bowman, Buescher, Reddick, Byron and Truex. By then, Elliott was in 12th, Harvick and Hamlin were mired in 14th and 15th, Austin Dillon was in 17th, Chastain was in 19th ahead of Logano, Suarez was in 23rd, Cindric was five laps down in 35th and Blaney was 15 laps down in 36th, dead last.

    Under the stage break, some led by Keselowski, who pitted for the first time, pitted while the rest led by Buescher remained on the track.

    The second stage started on Lap 133 as Buescher and Harvick occupied the front row. At the start, Buescher retained the lead ahead of Harvick while Chastain and Hamlin duked for third in front of Wallace, Custer and Justin Haley. 

    Following another caution period on Lap 139 when Harrison Burton got hit by Cindric and spun on the frontstretch and during the following restart on Lap 145, Buescher retained the top spot in his No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang over Harvick’s No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang and the rest of the field.

    At the Lap 150 mark, Buescher continued to lead by half a second over Harvick followed by Hamlin, Wallace and Custer while Chastain, Haley, Suarez, Briscoe and Logano were in the top 10.

    Twenty-five laps later on Lap 175, Buescher stabilized his advantage to a tenth of a second over Harvick while Hamlin, Wallace and Chastain were scored in the top five. Shortly after, however, Wallace, who had smoke coming out of his No. 45 MoneyLion Toyota TRD Camry, pitted under green. The situation, which was deemed a right-front brake line failure, cost Wallace multiple laps as he remained in his pit stall while his pit crew diagnosed the issue.

    Back on the track on Lap 190 and while Buescher continued to lead by a tenth of a second, seven of 16 Playoff contenders were scored in the top 10, with Harvick in second ahead of Hamlin and Chastain while Briscoe was in sixth, two spots ahead of Bowman, Larson and Bell. Kyle Busch was in 11th while Elliott was up in 12th place. Suarez was in 14th, Byron was in 16th, Logano was in 18th, Reddick was back in 23rd, Cindric was four laps down while mired in 34th and Blaney was 78 laps down in 36th as he continued to lose more laps to the leaders while he remained in the garage to have his car repaired. By then, Wallace’s 23XI Racing teammate Ty Gibbs took his No. 23 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry to the garage due to a power steering issue.

    Six laps later, the caution flew when Erik Jones, who just went a lap down to the leader Buescher, spun his No. 43 U.S. Air Force Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the backstretch after making contact with teammate Ty Dillon. The incident occurred as both Petty GMS Motorsports competitors were trying to avoid Harrison Burton, who encountered his third right-front tire issue of the night. During the caution period, names like Bell, Kyle Busch, Elliott, Suarez, Keselowski, Byron, Logano, McDowell, Almirola, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Todd Gilliland Reddick and the Dillon brothers pitted while the rest led by Buescher and Harvick remained on the track. By then, Truex took his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota TRD Camry to the garage and retired due to a power steering issue.

    With 45 laps remaining in the second stage, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Buescher retained the lead over Harvick while Harvick was being challenged by Hamlin and teammate Custer. Behind, Chastain battled for fifth over Briscoe as both Haley and Larson joined the battle. 

    Twenty laps later and with 25 laps remaining in the second stage, Buescher stabilized his advantage to three-tenths of a second over Harvick followed by Hamlin, Custer and Larson while Chastain was locked in a side-by-side battle with Bell for sixth. Behind, Briscoe was left battling Kyle Busch for eighth while Keselowski was back in 10th ahead of Elliott, Bowman, Byron, Almirola, Haley and Logano. By then, Austin Dillon and Suarez were back in 20th and 21st while Cindric was in 31st, five laps down. 

    With 16 laps remaining in the second stage, the caution flew when Hamlin, who was in third, fell off the pace after blowing a right-front tire to his No. 11 Toyota as he just managed to keep his car off the outside wall. During the caution period, some led by Buescher pitted while the rest led by Bell remained on the track.

    When the second stage proceeded with 10 laps remaining, Bell took off with the lead followed by a side-by-side battle involving Chastain and Briscoe while Elliott and Kyle Busch battled for fourth in front of Bowman and Byron. 

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 250, which marked the halfway point of the event, Bell, who is already guaranteed a spot in the Round of 12, captured his fourth stage victory of the 2022 season. Chastain settled in second followed by Briscoe, Elliott, Kyle Busch, Bowman, Byron, Austin Dillon, Larson and Harvick. By then, Suarez was in 11th, Logano was in 18th, Reddick was back in 23rd ahead of Hamlin, Cindric was five laps down in 31st and Blaney was still in the garage and mired in 36th place, 138 laps down.

    Under the stage break, names like Chastain, Briscoe, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Bowman, Harrison Burton and Almirola pitted while the rest led by Bell remained on the track.

    With 241 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Bell and Elliott occupied the front row. At the start, Bell retained the lead while Byron made his way into the runner-up spot over teammates Larson and Elliott. Behind, Harvick battled McDowell for fifth while Keselowski was in seventh over Custer.

    Eleven laps later, the caution returned when Kyle Busch, who came into the event two points below the top-12 cutline, fell off the pace entering the frontstretch and steered his car, which was billowing smoke, below the apron and to the garage, where he retired from contention due to an engine failure.

    “I don’t even know what to say,” Busch said on USA Network. “I’m flabbergasted. I just feel so bad for my guys. They don’t deserve to be in this spot. They worked too hard, were too good of a group to be this low, down on the bottom and fighting for our lives just to make it through. Two engine failures in three weeks. That’ll do to you…This is not our normal.”

    When the race restarted with 224 laps remaining, Bell cleared Byron to retain the lead as Larson went to work on teammate Byron for the runner-up spot followed by teammate Elliott and Harvick. Just as the front-runners were approaching Turns 3 and 4, the caution quickly returned for a multi-car wreck that started when Suarez got loose entering the backstretch as he clipped Stenhouse and spun, thus igniting carnage that collected teammate Chastain, Austin Dillon, Gilliland, Cindric, Elliott, Cassill, Burton, Briscoe, Reddick and Bowman, who retired after busting the radiator from his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, while Blaney, who returned to the track and was more than 150 laps down, was able to dodge the carnage.

    When the race restarted with 214 laps remaining, Bell outdueled Byron to remain as the leader as Larson and Keselowski overtook Byron for second and third. Behind, Harvick, faced in a “must-win” situation to advance to the Playoffs, was in fifth and Elliott made his way up to sixth in front of Buescher, McDowell and Logano.

    With 200 laps remaining, Bell was leading by six-tenths of a second over Larson followed by Keselowski, Byron and Harvick while Elliott, Buescher, Logano, McDowell and AJ Allmendinger were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Hamlin, Chastain and Briscoe were running 12th through 14th while Reddick was mired back in 28th place and still undergoing repairs to his No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Meanwhile, Austin Dillon, who was involved in the latest multi-car wreck, took his No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the garage as he retired and failed to advance past the Round of 12.

    Fifty-two laps later, the caution flew when Erik Jones fell off the pace through the backstretch after he cut a right-rear tire to his No. 43 Chevrolet. By then, Bell continued to lead by by half a second over Larson followed by Keselowski, Elliott and Buescher while Harvick, Logano, Byron, McDowell and Allmendinger were in the top 10. In addition, Reddick, who found himself five points outside of the top-12 cutline to advance to the Playoffs, made another pit stop as his No. 8 pit crew went under the hood. 

    Under caution, the leaders led by Bell pitted and Larson emerged with the lead after beating Bell off of pit road in first place.

    During the following restart with 140 laps remaining, Larson retained the lead over Bell while Keselowski launched a challenge on Bell for second place as the field scattered and jostled for positions. By then, Reddick, who was in 28th and 29 laps down, was scored four points behind Kyle Busch for the 12th and final transfer spot to the Playoffs.

    With less than 120 laps remaining, Larson was leading ahead of Keselowski, Bell, Harvick and Buescher while Logano, Byron, Elliott, Allmendinger and Custer occupied the top 10. By then, Hamlin was in 11th, Chastain and Briscoe were in 14th and 15th, Suarez was back in 22nd, Cindric was in 25th and Reddick was in 28th. Blaney, meanwhile, was in 35th after he overtook a retired Truex.

    Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Keselowski, who overtook Larson for the lead following a slide job 12 laps earlier, was leading by six-tenths of a second over Larson while Bell, Harvick and Buescher remained in the top five. By then, six of 16 Playoff contenders were scored in the top 10.

    Not long after, Logano, who is guaranteed a spot in the Round of 12, made an unscheduled pit stop to address a flat right-front tire to his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang. 

    Then wit 87 laps remaining, disaster struck for Keselowski, who lost a right-front tire entering Turn 3 after he popped a right-front tire to his No. 6 Ford Mustang. With Keselowski limping his car back to pit road, the race remained under green as Bell returned to the lead followed by Larson, Harvick, Buescher and Elliott.

    With less than 70 laps remaining, Bell remained as the leader by three-tenths of a second over Larson and more than a second over third-place Harvick while Buescher and Elliott remained in the top five. By then, pole-sitter Almirola took his car to the garage due to a power steering issue.

    Down to the final 64 laps, however, the caution flew when Bell cut a right-rear tire as he lost the lead to Larson and fell off the pace through the backstretch, though he remained in second place in front of Harvick. During the caution period, the leaders led by Larson and including Bell pitted. Following the pit stops, Buescher emerged with the lead following a two-tire pit stop followed by Elliott, Byron, Larson and Allmendinger, all of whom elected for four fresh tires. During the pit stops, disaster struck for both Harvick and Hamlin after both encountered loose wheels that stalled their progress towards the front. For Harvick, he had fallen back to 10th after he backed his car back to his pit stall due to his left-front tire not being secured. For Hamlin, he was back in 11th after he had a loose left-rear wheel that needed to be tightened while trying to exit his pit stall. 

    With 57 laps remaining and with the field restarting under green, Buescher retained the lead while teammates Byron and Elliott battled for second in front of Larson, Bell and Allmendinger.

    Sixteen laps later and with 40 laps remaining, Buescher stabilized his advantage to nearly nine-tenths of a second over Elliott while Byron, Larson and Bell battled for third. By then, Cindric, who took the wave around and was up in 21st while six laps behind, drew himself into a one-point advantage over Kyle Busch for the 12th and final transfer spot to the Round of 12. In addition, Logano retired due to a suspension issue.

    Another 20 laps later, Buescher, who was navigating his way through lapped traffic, continued to lead by seven-tenths of a second over Elliott. Behind, Byron and Bell trailed by more than a second while fifth-place Larson trailed by more than two seconds. Meanwhile, Chastain was in sixth while Hamlin and Harvick were mired back in ninth and 10th.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Buescher was ahead by eight-tenths of a second over Elliott while Byron continued to fend off Bell for third place.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Buescher remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over Elliott’s No. 9 Hooters Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Despite encountering more lapped traffic for a final circuit, Buescher was able to maintain a reasonable gap to Elliott as he returned to the frontstretch and claimed his first checkered flag in six years.

    The Bristol victory was Buescher’s second in the Cup Series and first since he claimed his first career win in the rain-shortened event at Pocono Raceway in August 2016. He also became the 19th different winner through 29 scheduled events of the 2022 Cup season and the 139th different competitor to achieve multiple victories in NASCAR’s premier series. In addition, Buescher recorded the first NASCAR victory for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing since the organization last won at Daytona International Speedway in July 2017, their first since the team was rebranded to RFK Racing and the first Cup victory for crew chief Scott Graves.

    With Buescher’s victory, this marked the first time since the Playoff-elimination format debuted in 2014 where a Playoff round’s three events were swept by non-title contenders after Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace won the previous two Round of 16 events.

    Photo by Jim Barnes for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “Man, this is just so special,” Buescher said on the frontstretch. “This team did such a great job. First Cup win for [sponsor] Fastenal for a points-paying race. That’s awesome. Glad to have Fastenal onboard tonight. Just so special here at Bristol. I love this racetrack. I love the fans. I love every time we come here. It’s so special. [I] Lost one [at Bristol] that really broke our heart back in 2015 on the Xfinity side with [Scott] Graves atop the pit box. This makes up for that. That’s pretty awesome. Pretty special.”

    “It was up to me at that point [during the final restart],” Buescher added. “Just hold on and make it work. We really had a fast Fastenal Mustang. Just so proud of everybody. We knew we had a good race car after practice. [I] Didn’t quite get the job done in qualifying, but what a race car. It’s special. Get [Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing] in Victory Lane for the first time. We had great race cars. Brad [Keselowski] had really good speed, too. I don’t know what else to say. I’m out of breath. This place will wear you flat out and I love that about it, but such a special night. This [race] is number one on the list right here. This is it.”

    Meanwhile, Elliott rallied from qualifying 23rd to finish in second place for his 11th top-five result of the season while Byron, Bell and Larson completed the top five on the track. All four are among 12 competitors to advance to the Playoff’s Round of 12.

    “I wasn’t close enough to do anything with [Buescher],” Elliott said. “We had a long day yesterday. [I] Was able to battle back for a bad qualifying effort to get a top two [finish. Proud of that. Glad to be moving on [in the Playoffs]. Looking forward to some more opportunities in these coming weeks.”

    Playoff contender Chastain came home in sixth while Allmendinger, Custer, Hamlin and Harvick completed the top 10 on the track.

    When all was said and done on the track, drivers Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez and rookie Austin Cindric transferred to the Round of 12 in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch, Tyler Reddick, Austin Dillon and Kevin Harvick were eliminated from title contention for the 2022 season.

    For Cindric, good fortune was on the rookie’s side in spite of the early unscheduled pit stop for a flat right-front tire. With a multitude of Playoff contenders also running into on-track issues throughout the night, Cindric’s 20th-place result was enough for him to claim the 12th and final transfer spot to the Round of 12 by two points over both Kyle Busch and Reddick.

    “That was easy, right?” Cindric said. “[I] Came in plus two [points] and leave plus two. Just how we drew it up. What a night. We had right-front tires going down left and right from the beginning of the race. To get all of us into the Round of 12 after a very scary night for Team Penske, proud to do my job and hang in there. Got that one out.”

    For Harvick, the final pit stop prior to the final restart was the endgame of his hopes of transferring to the Round of 16 as he left Bristol mired in 16th place in the standings and without an opportunity to contend for a second championship despite rallying for a 10th-place result.

    “It was pretty tough,” Harvick said. “We pitted in front of [Buescher], so just kind of the way the year has gone. [I] Just went from having a chance to lead the parade to being a part of the parade. Just difficult to pass.”

    The night was also adventurous for both Blaney and Reddick, both of whom encountered on-track issues of their own from start to finish. In the end, Blaney managed to work his way to 30th place in the final leaderboard and transfer to the Round of 12 while Reddick failed to transfer to the Round of 12 by two points for a second consecutive season.

    “Lucky to get in, I guess,” Blaney said. “We were really fast early and just had a right front [tire] go down like almost everybody else in the race. We just hit the wall a little bit harder than some other guys. Spent a long time fixing [the car], but was able to get back out. We built a good enough gap the first two [Playoff] races to give ourselves a bit of a cushion and then, some guys had their issues tonight. Pretty crazy turn of events, for sure. Good perseverance by this No. 12 group. Looking forward to getting into Texas.”

    “Frustrating, for sure,” Reddick said. “We unloaded in the race and just quite didn’t have the pace or the balance to make our car better. Unfortunately, with the balance issues we were fighting, we were pretty much limited. We couldn’t really adjust on it without hurting the downforce of the car, overall. We were kind of boxed in. Then, we just got collected in that accident back there. I checked up in time, but yeah, I got absolutely ran over from there. Caught the right front and broke the upper control arm for the second week in a row.”

    There were 12 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured 11 cautions for 80 laps.

    Results.

    1. Chris Buescher, 169 laps led

    2. Chase Elliott

    3. William Byron

    4. Christopher Bell, 143 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    5. Kyle Larson, 34 laps led

    6. Ross Chastain

    7. AJ Allmendinger

    8. Cole Custer

    9. Denny Hamlin 

    10. Kevin Harvick

    11. Michael McDowell

    12. Justin Haley

    13. Brad Keselowski, one lap down, 109 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    14. Chase Briscoe, two laps down

    15. Corey LaJoie, three laps down

    16. Harrison Burton, three laps down

    17. Cody Ware, three laps down

    18. Todd Gilliland, four laps down

    19. Daniel Suarez, six laps down

    20. Austin Cindric, seven laps down

    21. Erik Jones, eight laps down

    22. Landon Cassill, eight laps down

    23. JJ Yeley, nine laps down

    24. BJ McLeod, nine laps down

    25. Tyler Reddick, 31 laps down

    26. Ty Dillon – OUT, Steering

    27. Joey Logano – OUT, Suspension

    28. Aric Almirola – OUT, Steering, 36 laps led

    29. Bubba Wallace, 92 laps down

    30. Ryan Blaney, 162 laps down, nine laps led

    31. Austin Dillon – OUT, Dvp

    32. Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident

    33. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident

    34. Kyle Busch – OUT, Engine

    35. Ty Gibbs – OUT, Steering

    36. Martin Truex Jr. – OUT, Steering

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. Chase Elliott – Advanced

    2. Joey Logano – Advanced

    3. Ross Chastain – Advanced

    4. Kyle Larson – Advanced

    5. William Byron – Advanced

    6. Denny Hamlin – Advanced

    7. Christopher Bell – Advanced

    8. Ryan Blaney – Advanced

    9. Chase Briscoe – Advanced

    10. Alex Bowman – Advanced

    11. Daniel Suarez – Advanced 

    12. Austin Cindric – Advanced

    13. Kyle Busch – Eliminated

    14. Tyler Reddick – Eliminated

    15. Austin Dillon – Eliminated

    16. Kevin Harvick – Eliminated

    The Round of 12 in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs will commence next weekend at Texas Motor Speedway for a 500-mile feature on Sunday, September 25. The event is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Gragson wins the battle at Bristol; Allmendinger clinches 2022 Xfinity Series regular-season championship

    Gragson wins the battle at Bristol; Allmendinger clinches 2022 Xfinity Series regular-season championship

    In a late attrition between two Xfinity Series regulars to cap off the regular-season stretch on a strong note, Noah Gragson came out of top over a late battle against Brandon Jones to win the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday, September 16.

    The 24-year-old Gragson from Las Vegas, Nevada, led the final 25 laps and benefitted through a 20-lap dash to the finish while on old tires to fend off a hard-charging Jones and capture his sixth NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the season and third in a row in recent weeks at Thunder Valley. The victory enabled Gragson to collect additional bonus points toward the 2022 Xfinity Series Playoffs as he commences the pursuit of his first NASCAR national touring series championship.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Ty Gibbs claimed his fifth career pole position and fourth of the season after posting a pole-winning lap at 122.584 mph in 15.563 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Josh Berry, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 122.100 mph in 15.715 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Joe Graf Jr. and Stefan Parsons dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Gibbs and Berry dueled for the lead while AJ Allmendinger, who started fourth, briefly went up the track and struggled to come up to pace after having a gear shifting issue. By the completion of the first lap, he was mired back in eighth while Gibbs was out in front ahead of Berry, Justin Allgaier, Sammy Smith, Sam Mayer and Daniel Hemric.

    On the fifth lap, the first caution flew when Nick Sanchez blew a right-front tire entering the backstretch as he fell off the pace and managed to keep the No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet Camaro off the wall. At the moment of caution, Gibbs was out in front by more than a second followed by Berry, Allgaier, Sammy Smith and Mayer while Jeb Burton, Ryan Sieg, Noah Gragson, Daniel Hemric and Brandon Jones were in the top 10.

    When the event restarted under green on Lap 10, Gibbs launched ahead with the lead while Allgaier moved his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro into the runner-up spot over teammate Berry. Behind, Mayer rocketed his No. 1 Huck’s Market Chevrolet Camaro into fourth place after overtaking Smith while Jeb Burton was in sixth ahead of a side-by-side battle between Gragson and Brandon Jones.

    Three laps later, however, the caution returned when Riley Herbst made contact against rookie Sheldon Creed’s No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro entering Turn 4 while battling for a spot in the top 15 as he spun before his No. 98 Resorts World Ford Mustang went below the apron and continued without sustaining any significant damage.

    During the following restart on Lap 18, Gibbs rocketed away with another strong restart in his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Supra while Allgaier fended off teammate Berry for the runner-up spot. Behind, Sammy Smith maneuvered his No. 18 Pilot Flying J Toyota Supra around Mayer for fourth while Gragson battled Jeb Burton for sixth place.

    Through the first 25 scheduled laps, Gibbs was leading by nearly a second over Allgaier followed by Berry, Smith and Mayer while Gragson, Jeb Burton, Brandon Jones, Hemric and Landon Cassill were in the top 10. By then, Allmendinger was black in 11th ahead of Ryan Sieg, rookie Austin Hill, Creed and Jeremy Clements while Anthony Alfredo, Bayley Currey, Brandon Brown, Jeffrey Earnhardt and JJ Yeley were in the top 20.

    Eleven laps later, the caution flew when Sanchez spun in Turn 4 as this marked his second incident of the night. During the caution period, few names like Brandon Jones, whose window net was loose, and Creed pitted while the rest led by Gibbs remained on the track.

    When the race proceeded under green on Lap 41, Gibbs and Allgaier dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Gibbs managed to clear and fend off Allgaier with the lead. Behind, a trio of JR Motorsports competitors including Berry, Gragson and Mayer battled for third while Jeb Burton retained sixth ahead of Allmendinger, Smith, Hemric and Hill.

    Four laps later, the caution returned when Brandon Brown got loose entering the backstretch as he spun, pounded the inside wall and damaged the rear end of his car.

    Another five laps later, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gibbs and Allgaier dueled for the lead again through the first two turns before Gibbs retained the top spot on the outside lane in Turn 2. Behind, Gragson was in third followed by teammates Berry and Merry while Allmendinger was locked in a battle with Jeb Burton and Hemric for sixth.

    By Lap 60, Gibbs continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over Allgaier while Gragson, Berry, Mayer, Allmendinger, Jeb Burton, Hemric, Smith and Ryan Sieg were running in the top 10. Meanwhile, Austin Hill was in 11th followed by Cassill, Clements, Currey and Kyle Weatherman while Creed, Herbst and Brandon Jones were in 20th, 21st and 24th, respectively.

    Fifteen laps later and at the Lap 75 mark, Gibbs stabilized his advantage to less than half a second over Allgaier, who kept teammate Gragson behind in his rearview mirror, while Mayer and Berry remained in the top five. Behind, Allmendinger retained sixth as he was slowly catching Berry for position.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 85, Gibbs, who had to navigate his way through lapped traffic while also keeping Allgaier behind him, captured his sixth stage victory of the 2022 season. Allgaier settled in second while Gragson, Mayer, Allmendinger, Berry, Jeb Burton, Hemric, Cassill and Ryan Sieg were scored in the top 10. By then, Creed was mired in 17th as he was unable to record a stage point in the first stage compared to his rivals (Hemric, Cassill and Sieg) vying for the final Playoff berths.

    Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Gibbs pitted while Creed and Jeffrey Earnhardt remained on the track.

    The second stage started on Lap 94 as Creed and Jeffrey Earnhardt occupied the front row. At the start, Creed took off with the lead on the outside lane followed by Gibbs and Allgaier while Earnhardt struggled to launch on the inside lane. During the following lap, Allgaier overtook Gibbs for the runner-up spot before he went to work on Creed for the lead. 

    Soon after, a tight side-by-side battle for the lead between Creed and Allgaier ignited as Creed refused to give up the top spot. With both competitors refusing to give up and making contact, Creed managed to pull away with a steady lead of half a second while Allgaier was being challenged by Gibbs for the runner-up spot. 

    At the Lap 110 mark, Creed was leading by a tenth of a second over Allgaier followed by Gibbs, Mayer and Gragson while Brandon Jones, Smith, Allmendinger, Earnhardt and Hill were in the top 10. By then, Cassill, who came into the event holding the final transfer spot to the Playoffs, made an unscheduled pit stop under green. Soon after, Cassill, who then had smoke coming out of the right front of his No. 10 Voyager Chevrolet Camaro upon returning to the track with the driver reporting a brake hub issue, took his car to the garage as his Playoff hopes were placed in jeopardy.

    Fifteen laps later, Allgaier prevailed in his intense battle with Creed as he moved into the lead while Creed was left to fend off Gibbs and Gragson for the runner-up spot. Another three laps later, however, disaster struck for Creed when Gragson bumped into the rear of Gibbs as Gibbs went up the track and collided with Creed and both competitors smacked the outside wall hard in Turn 2. The wreck was enough to eliminate Creed from the event as his hopes of making the Playoffs evaporated. Gibbs was also eliminated from the event while Gragson continued. 

    When the race proceeded under green on Lap 138, Allgaier took off with the lead on the outside lane while teammate Gragson retained the runner-up spot in front of Brandon Jones, who was racing on two fresh tires. Soon after, Mayer bolted his way into third place while Allmendinger went to work in battling Jones for fourth. 

    At the halfway mark on Lap 150, Allgaier was leading by more than half a second over teammate Gragson followed by Mayer, Allmendinger and Brandon Jones while Hill, Herbst, Jeb Burton, Hemric and Smith were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Ryan Sieg was in 12th in front of Berry, who got into the outside wall earlier, while Cassill was still mired in 37th and undergoing repairs in the garage.

    Ten laps later, Allgaier extended his advantage to nine-tenths of a second over teammate Gragson while Mayer, Allmendinger and Brandon Jones remained in the top five. By then, Sieg remained in Playoff contention as he was in 13th place.

    Then with four laps remaining in the second stage, the caution flew when Mayer, who tried to pull a three-wide move on both CJ McLaughlin and JJ Yeley, entering Turn 1, made contact with Yeley as both spun through the turn and below the apron while being dodged by Gragson. 

    The incident involving Mayer was enough for the second stage to conclude on Lap 170 as Allgaier captured his eighth stage victory of the 2022 season. Teammate Gragson settled in second while Allmendinger, Brandon Jones, Herbst, Hill, Jeb Burton, Hemric, Mayer and Sammy Smith were scored in the top 10. By then, Hemric and Sieg, who settled in 11th, were above the top-12 cutline while Cassill remained in the garage and in 37th place. In addition, Allmendinger locked up the 2022 Xfinity Series regular-season championship for a second consecutive season.

    Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Allgaier pitted and Allgaier retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Gragson, Brandon Jones, Hill, Allmendinger and Herbst. Back on the track, however, Bayley Currey and Joe Graf Jr. remained on the track.

    With 121 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Currey and Graf occupied the front row. At the start, Currey launched ahead followed by Allgaier while Graf struggled to get up to speed on the inside lane. When the field returned to the frontstretch, Allgaier navigated his way around Currey as he reassumed the lead. Shortly after, Brandon Jones moved into second place while Currey retained third ahead of Hill, Herbst and Gragson. 

    Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Allgaier retained as the leader by a tenth of a second over future teammate Brandon Jones while Currey, Hill and Gragson were scored in the top five. By then, Sieg was in 10th on the track behind Hemric and scored six points above the cutline over Cassill, who was in 37th place and more than 90 laps down.

    Twenty-five laps later, Allgaier extended his advantage to more than a second over Brandon Jones, who started to have Hill pressure him for the runner-up spot, while Gragson and Herbst were running in the top five. Behind, Allmendinger was in sixth ahead of Mayer, Ryan Sieg, Currey and Stefan Parsons. By then, Cassill, who was back on the track, was 112 laps behind the leaders while Sieg continued to hold possession of the 12th and final transfer spot to the Playoffs. Hemric, who was back in 15th, also continued to remain above the top-12 cutline.

    With less than 60 laps remaining, Gragson overtook Brandon Jones for the runner-up spot while Allgaier continued to extend his advantage to more than two seconds. By then, Hemric, who was mired back in 22nd and off the lead lap category, was reporting power steering issues to his No. 11 AG1 Chevrolet Camaro.

    Down to the final 35 laps of the event, the battle for the lead started to intensify as Gragson closed in to the rear bumper of teammate Allgaier in his bid for the lead. 

    Then with 30 laps remaining, the caution flew when Yeley, who made contact with the leader Allgaier as Allgaier was trying to lap Yeley and Alex Labbe with a three-wide move, spun and pounded the inside wall in the backstretch as his event came to an end. During the caution period, some led by Allgaier pitted while the rest led by Gragson remained on the track Following the pit stops, Allgaier and Jeffrey Earnhardt were sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road. 

    With 20 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Gragson rocketed his No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro to the lead ahead of Brandon Jones’ No. 19 Menards Toyota Supra while Hill started to challenge Jones for the runner-up spot. Behind, Herbst was in fourth followed by Mayer, Berry, Stefan Parsons and Ryan Sieg, who was trying to finish the event to make the Playoffs.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Gragson stabilized his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Brandon Jones followed by Hill, Herbst and Berry while Sieg remained in ninth and in contention to make the Playoffs.

    With five laps remaining, a tight battle for the lead ignited between Gragson and Brandon Jones, with the former remaining out in front by a hair over the latter as both also navigated his way through lapped traffic.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Gragson retained the lead by a tenth of a second over Brandon Jones. Entering Turn 3, Jones gained a strong run on Gragson in a final bid for the lead, but the run was not enough as Gragson retained the top spot. From here, he made his way back to the frontstretch and beat Jones to the finish line by a tenth of a second to grab his sixth checkered flag of the 2022 season and his third in a row in recent weeks.

    With the victory, Gragson achieved his 11th career win in the Xfinity Series, his second at Thunder Valley and the 12th victory of the season for JR Motorsports. By accumulating six victories along with a bevy of points throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, he will commence the Playoffs with the top seed and with 2,051 points as he pursues his quest of winning his first Xfinity title.

    Photo by Jim Barnes for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “Man, three [wins] in a row,” Gragson said on USA Network. “That last caution came out. I knew if we could bring the top [lane], it was gonna be hard for [Jones] to get there. [I] Appreciate Brandon Jones for racing us clean. He fed us the bumper with two [laps] to go. I was hanging on, scrubbing the fence, but we won here at Bristol in 2020. There was no fans here. This is 10 times cooler. [I] Appreciate you, Bristol. Thank you, all you fans, for coming out. You guys are awesome. Man, I’m just so thankful. What a great opportunity to race here for our fans and having the opportunity to win a race. Man, our car was fast all day. Once we got out to the top, we were rolling. Man, I had a blast.”

    Brandon Jones, who is set to join JR Motorsports to pilot the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro in 2023, trailed Gragson and his future ride to the finish line by a tenth of a second as he settled in second place for the second time of the season and for his sixth top-five result of the season. He will line up in seventh place in the Playoff standings with 2,010 points as he also commences his pursuit for his first Xfinity title.

    “I thought this [loss] hurts the most just because that was our race to win,” Jones said. “We fought so many different things tonight, adversity-wise. [I] Just kept piling back up and kept coming back. It was really cool to look at our race, in particular, as a whole to see where it started to where it ended for us. [I] Really thought when [Allgaier] sped [on pit road], I was like, ‘Aw man. Easy piece of cake. We got it.’ The bottom [lane] didn’t take off great. I didn’t have a great restart, but those newer tires, fresher tires, certainly paid a dividend at the very end. I just caught [Gragson] at the wrong time every single time. I could get in deeper into the corner and I could get him to the middle, but I just could never get to the exit. I got him, maybe, two times where I had a shot to try and get to his left rear and try to get him loose. I put maximum pressure on him. [I] Gave it everything I had today. Man, there’s a lot of momentum. These last couple of races we’ve had has really kicked it up here lately, so we’re ready. “

    Hill came home in third place followed by Mayer and Herbst, all of whom have made the 2022 Xfinity Playoffs. Allmendinger settled in sixth place while Berry, Stefan Parsons, Allgaier and Ryan Sieg completed the top 10 on the track.

    By clinching the 2022 Xfinity Series regular-season championship and being awarded an additional 15-point bonus towards the Playoffs, Allmendinger became the first Xfinity competitor to achieve multiple regular-season titles and the first to do so in back-to-back seasons. He will now line up in fourth place in the Playoff standings with 2,032 points as he pursues his first NASCAR title.

    Photo by Christian Gardner for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “[I’m] Really proud of everybody at Kaulig Racing,” Allmendinger said. “[I’m] Frustrated at myself tonight, but all in all, great to win the regular-season championship two years in a row. To finish top six today, [I] really had a really fast car at the end of the race there. On long runs, I thought we had a shot to win the race. Short runs, we struggled a little bit, but overall, great regular season. We got to get ready for the Playoffs. We’ve been struggling a little bit. Tonight was a little bit of a boost and hopefully, get ready for Texas.”

    Sieg’s 10th-place run was enough for him to claim the 12th and final spot to the Playoffs by five points over Cassill, who could only climb his way to 35th place on the track while 112 laps behind the leaders. Hemric also made the Playoffs despite finishing 20th as he will pursue his quest to defend his series title.

    Noah Gragson, Ty Gibbs, Justin Allgaier, AJ Allmendinger, Josh Berry, rookie Austin Hill, Brandon Jones, Jeremy Clements, Sam Mayer, Riley Herbst, Daniel Hemric and Ryan Sieg have made the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs. 

    Landon Cassill and rookie Sheldon Creed join names like Anthony Alfredo, Brandon Brown, Brett Moffitt, Jeb Burton, Myatt Snider and Alex Labbe as the remaining competitors who did not make the Playoffs.

    There were six lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 58 laps.

    Results.

    1. Noah Gragson, 25 laps led

    2. Brandon Jones

    3. Austin Hill

    4. Sam Mayer

    5. Riley Herbst

    6. AJ Allmendinger

    7. Josh Berry

    8. Stefan Parsons

    9. Justin Allgaier, 148 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    10. Ryan Sieg

    11. Bayley Currey, four laps led

    12. Jeffrey Earnhardt

    13. Anthony Alfredo

    14. Sammy Smith, one lap down

    15. Jeb Burton, one lap down

    16. Jeremy Clements, one lap down

    17. Kyle Weatherman, one lap down

    18. Sage Karam, one lap down

    19. Ryan Ellis, one lap down

    20. Daniel Hemric, two laps down

    21. Josh Williams, two laps down

    22. Myatt Snider, two laps down

    23. Joe Graf Jr., two laps down

    24. CJ McLaughlin, three laps down

    25. Kris Wright, three laps down

    26. Alex Labbe, three laps down

    27. Patrick Emerling, six laps down

    28. Ronnie Bassett Jr., six laps down

    29. Nick Sanchez, six laps down

    30. David Starr, seven laps down

    31. Bobby McCarty, 12 laps down

    32. Mason Massey – OUT, Oil line

    33. JJ Yeley – OUT, Accident

    34. BJ McLeod – OUT, Brakes

    35. Landon Cassill, 112 laps down

    36. Ty Gibbs – OUT, Accident, 89 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    37. Sheldon Creed – OUT, Accident, 34 laps led

    38. Brandon Brown – OUT, Accident

    The 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs is set to commence next weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, September 24, at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Hemric, Sieg clinch 2022 Xfinity Playoff berths; Cassill, Creed eliminated

    Hemric, Sieg clinch 2022 Xfinity Playoff berths; Cassill, Creed eliminated

    At the start of the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday, September 16, all eyes were focused on Daniel Hemric, Landon Cassill, Ryan Sieg and rookie Sheldon Creed, all of whom were battling for the final two transfer spots to make the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs.

    When the event concluded following 300 laps of intensity, carnage and chaos, Hemric and Sieg were left victorious as they claimed the final two spots to the Playoffs while Cassill and Creed were left on the outside of the Playoff picture. For Hemric and Sieg, their road to making the Playoffs did not come without drama from start to finish.

    For Hemric, who rolled off the starting grid in eighth place, the majority of his event went smoothly as he claimed top-10 results in both stages and was initially poised for a top-10 run on the track. His event, however, briefly turned sour when he radioed power steering issues to his No. 11 AG1 Chevrolet Camaro and fell out of the lead lap category. Needing to finish to have an opportunity to defend his series, Hemric managed to accomplish his mission after surviving a 20-lap dash to the finish to finish 20th, two laps down, and claim the first of two vacant spots in the Playoffs.

    With his accomplishment, Hemric, the reigning Xfinity Series champion, qualified for his fourth career appearance in the Xfinity Series Playoffs and his first with Kaulig Racing amid a difficult 2022 campaign, where he has recorded nine top-10 results throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch and is seeking his first victory of the season. Despite the on-track struggles, Hemric sets his sights on the Playoffs and turning the difficulties throughout the regular-season stretch into success for the Playoffs.

    “All the money we spent training, it was worth every penny after [the race],” Hemric said on USA Network. “That was the toughest challenge I’ve ever experienced inside of a race car that 80 or 90-lap run, whatever it was. [I] Had a leak somewhere in the system. That caution with 15 [laps] to go, we got the [pit] stop and it took a full bottle and a half of power steering to have power steering back. Obviously, [I] just got to execute better on that. In the Playoffs, you can’t have issues like that. Thankfully, we are part of that. We got a lot of work to do to get this AG1 Camaro, this entire No. 11 team to be championship contenders. We’re gonna fight. We’re gonna continue to fight, go down swinging. Read to go battle.”

    Perhaps there was no competitor smiling more on pit road in making the Playoffs than Sieg, who started Friday night’s event in 10th place. His road to the Playoffs started with drama three days earlier when the news from NASCAR emerged that Jeremy Clements, who was initially assessed an L2-level penalty for an intake manifold violation and was disqualified from the Playoffs despite winning at Daytona International Speedway in late August, was reinstated back into the Playoff picture after winning his appeal case. Clements’ reinstatement knocked Sieg back below the cutline as he trailed the top-12 cutline by 19 points behind Landon Cassill.

    Throughout the event, however, good fortune struck Sieg, who leaped his way back inside the cutline during the second stage once Cassill took his No. 10 Voyager Chevrolet Camaro to the garage due to a mechanical issue just past the one-third mark of the event. With Cassill multiple laps down, all Sieg had to do was nurse his No. 39 A-Game Ford Mustang to the finish and with a strong on-track result. Despite enduring a total of eight caution periods and a 20-lap dash to the finish, Sieg accomplished his task as he finished in 10th place, which was enough to claim the 12th and final spot in the Playoffs by five points over Cassill.

    With his accomplishment, Sieg, who is currently campaigning in his ninth full-time season in the Xfinity Series with his family-owned RSS Racing organization, qualified for the Playoffs for the fourth time in his career. He will now embark on a seven-race stretch to contend for his first NASCAR national touring series championship. He also continues to pursue his first NASCAR victory, having made 294 previous starts without recording a victory to his resume.

    “It’s Bristol,” Sieg said. “You never know what can happen. “It’s a lot of fun racing on these short tracks. Too bad we didn’t add a couple next year, but all in all, just a great day for our CMR/A-Game Ford. Just grind it out and find ourselves going to the Playoffs. That’s amazing for our small team and we’ll have [crew chief] Cowboy [Starland] back in the Playoffs in his last year. We got a top 10 [finish]. First time here. It’s all turning around a little bit. We’ve struggled through the summer, but we’ve turned it around. Hopefully, we’re headed in the right direction for these Playoffs.”

    The first competitor to be left outside of the Playoff picture following the regular-season stretch was Cassill, Hemric’s teammate. In his first season with Kaulig Racing and amid a roller coaster regular-season stretch, Cassill came into the event retaining the 12th and final spot to the Playoffs after recording nine top-10 results throughout the regular-season stretch. Despite rolling off the grid in 16th place and remaining within striking distance of a strong run to qualify for this first appearance in the Xfinity Playoffs, his championship hopes took a serious hit nearing the Lap 110 mark when he made an unscheduled pit stop under green.

    Soon after, the night went from bad to worse for the Iowa native as he took his car to the garage with smoke coming out of his No. 10 Chevrolet due to an apparent mechanical issue involving the brake hub. By the time Cassill returned to the track, he was 112 laps behind the leaders and needed to either gain a bevy of spots below the leaderboard or have Sieg eliminated from the event. With Sieg managing to finish 10th, Cassill could only climb his way up to 35th place in the final leaderboard, which was not enough for him to retain his Playoff hopes for this season as he missed the cutline by five points. He will be the only Kaulig Racing competitor to not make the Playoffs while his teammates Hemric and AJ Allmendinger, the 2022 Xfinity regular-season champion, will contend for this year’s title.

    Photo by Jim Barnes for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “[The event] was fine,” Cassill said. “We were fast enough and I was doing what I needed to do, and then we had a mechanical failure. I really don’t know what to say. We’ll just move forward from here.”

    Another competitor who did not make the Playoffs was Creed, who rallied from a difficult start to his rookie campaign in the Xfinity circuit to endure a strong summer stretch to draw himself back into contention to make the Playoffs. Despite being 32 points below the cutline at the start of the event and qualifying 22nd for Friday night’s event at Bristol, an opportunity presented itself for Creed when he elected to remain on the track with the lead on old tires to start the second stage. Despite being pressured by veteran Justin Allgaier at the start, Creed held his ground on the outside lane and managed to lead 34 laps before he lost the lead to Allgaier on Lap 125.

    Three laps later, however, Creed’s strong run came to a crashing halt when he was caught up in a wreck in Turn 2 that started when the eventual winner Noah Gragson bumped into Ty Gibbs and sent Gibbs up the racetrack and into Creed’s No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro, with the latter two making hard contact against the outside wall with wrecked race cars. The damage was enough to knock Creed out of the race and out of contention to contend for his first Xfinity title as he sets his sights on concluding the 2022 season on a strong note.

    “[It] Looked like [Gragson] just got [Gibbs] on the left rear, got him loose and shot him up into me,” Creed said. “[We] Did what we had to do. [I] Didn’t have a great qualifying effort. I got track position there and still was super loose, but I had pace. I felt like that was the first time today I had good speed. I thought we were probably one [pit] stop away from being able to race those guys for a win. Man, that’s just the way my year’s gone. We have speed at times and then, stuff like that happens. Unfortunate, but proud of my guys. We never gave up all year. I felt like we gave it one hell of a fight the last few weeks. [I] Felt like we would’ve had a shot [to win] tonight. We’re gonna keep digging this year and maybe, build some new cars.”

    With Cassill and Creed among a handful of competitors failing to make the Playoffs, Hemric and Sieg join 10 other competitors in a seven-race battle for the 2022 Xfinity Series championship. Their Playoff battle begins next Saturday, September 24, at Texas Motor Speedway with the event’s coverage to commence at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Ty Majeski clinches Championship 4 finale spot with first Truck career victory at Bristol

    Ty Majeski clinches Championship 4 finale spot with first Truck career victory at Bristol

    Ty Majeski became the first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoff contender to secure a spot for the Championship 4 Round finale at Phoenix Raceway after scoring his first career victory in the UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Thursday, September 15.

    The 28-year-old Majeski from Seymour, Wisconsin, made his first appearance as the leader during a restart with 45 laps remaining after he overtook Playoff rival Zane Smith for the top spot. Despite enduring a final late-race restart with 12 laps remaining, he capitalized on the restart, holding off Smith to claim his first career victory within NASCAR’s top three national touring series. He also earned a one-way ticket to the finale, where he will contend for the 2022 Truck Series championship.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Thursday, Derek Kraus claimed his second pole position of the season after posting a pole-winning lap at 125.264 in 15.276 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Chandler Smith, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 125.584 mph in 15.279 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Playoff contenders Zane Smith, Blaine Perkins, Chris Hacker and Josh Reaume dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective trucks. In addition, Playoff contender John Hunter Nemechek started at the rear of the field in a backup truck after wrecking his primary truck during Thursday’s lone practice session.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Kraus launched ahead with an early advantage on the outside lane. With the field jostling early for positions, Kraus led the first lap ahead of Chandler Smith, Grant Enfinger and Stewart Friesen, who slipped in Turn 3 before slipping again in Turn 1 as he lost fourth to Ty Majeski before settling in front of rookie Corey Heim.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Kraus was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith followed by Enfinger, Majeski and Friesen while Heim, Christian Eckes, Matt DiBenedetto, Carson Hocevar and Bayley Currey were in the top 10. Tyler Ankrum was in 11th ahead of Ben Rhodes, Matt Crafton, Rajah Caruth and rookie Dean Thompson while John Hunter Nemechek and Zane Smith were mired back in 27th and 28th.

    Ten laps later on Lap 20, Kraus continued to lead by exactly half a second over Chandler Smith while Enfinger, Majeski and Friesen settled in the top five. Meanwhile, Zane Smith and Nemechek remained mired in 27th and 28th, respectively, as Kraus started to navigate his way through lapped traffic.

    Eight laps later, Chandler Smith, winner of last year’s Truck event at Bristol, moved his No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota Tundra TRD Pro into the lead over Kraus’ No. 19 Incredible Bank Chevrolet Silverado RST in Turn 3. Behind, Enfinger was locked in a battle with Majeski and Friesen for third place while Heim, Eckes, DiBenedetto, Hocevar and Currey remained in the top 10. Two laps earlier, Spencer Boyd made contact with the outside wall in Turn 3, though the race remained under green.

    Another nine laps later, however, the first caution of the event flew when Josh Reaume, who was lapped but racing in front of a handful of Playoff contenders, got loose underneath Blaine Perkins in between Turns 1 and 2, slipped and backed his truck into the outside wall in Turn 2. As Reaume’s truck slid below the apron, he was hit by a sliding Rajah Caruth, who tried to avoid hitting Reaume, as both trucks sustained significant damage. 

    During the caution period, names like Zane Smith, Nemechek, Jesse Little, Dean Thompson, Tanner Gray, Lawless Alan, Taylor Gray, Kaden Honeycutt, Parker Kligerman, Tyler Ankrum, Timmy Hill and Connor Mosack pitted while the rest led by Chandler Smith remained on the track. Following gate pit stops, Zane Smith pitted his No. 38 Speedco Ford F-150 for a second time to have his adjustments from his previous pit stop re-adjusted.

    With eight laps remaining in the first stage, the race restarted under green. At the start, Chandler Smith retained the lead after starting on the outside lane while Friesen overtook Kraus for the runner-up spot. Behind, DiBenedetto and Enfinger battled for fourth in front of Majeski, Heim, Eckes, Currey and Hocevar.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 55, Chandler Smith captured his fourth stage victory of the 2022 season. Friesen settled in second, trailing Smith by four-tenths of a second, while Kraus, DiBenedetto, Enfinger, Majeski, Eckes, Heim, Currey and Matt Crafton were scored in the top 10. By then, Ben Rhodes was in 11th, Nemechek was back in 21st and Zane Smith was all the way back in 28th.

    Under the stage break, names like Enfinger, DiBenedetto, Heim, Thompson, Hailie Deegan, Currey, rookie Jack Wood, Austin Wayne Self, Jake Garcia, Colby Howard, Timmy Hill, Leland Honeyman Jr. and Jesse Little pitted while the rest led by Chandler Smith, who has yet to pit, remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Wood was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    The second stage started on Lap 65 as Chandler Smith and Friesen occupied the front row. At the start, Chandler Smith retained the lead with another strong start on the outside lane while Kraus reassumed the runner-up spot as Friesen, who spun the tires at the front, fell back to third in front of ThorSport Racing’s Rhodes, Majeski and Eckes.

    By Lap 75, Chandler Smith was leading by half a second over Kraus while Friesen, Majeski, Eckes, Rhodes, Chase Purdy, Tanner Gray, Taylor Gray and Nemechek were in the top 10. By then, Zane Smith was in 14th and Enfinger was in 17th.

    Ten laps later, the caution returned when Connor Mosack spun underneath Jesse Little in Turn 2. By then, DiBenedetto had pitted under green. During the caution period, names like Kraus, Deegan, Crafton, Enfinger, Majeski, Tyler Ankrum, Heim, Carson Hocevar, Austin Wayne Self and Bayley Currey pitted while the rest led by Chandler Smith remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Hocevar was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    When the race proceeded under green on Lap 91, Chandler Smith rocketed with the lead while Friesen and Eckes battled for the runner-up spot in front of Rhodes and Taylor Gray. Shortly after, Friesen retained the runner-up spot ahead of Eckes as Rhodes and Taylor Gray also remained in the top five. Behind, Chase Purdy was up in sixth place while Tanner Gray, Nemechek, Zane Smith and Kaden Honeycutt were in the top 10.  

    At the halfway mark on Lap 100, Chandler Smith retained the lead by four-tenths of a second over Friesen while Eckes, Rhodes and Gray remained in the top five. By then, six of the eight remaining Playoff contenders were scored in the top 10 while Majeski and Enfinger were scored inside the top 15.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 110, Chandler Smith captured his fifth stage victory of the 2022 season and swept both stages of the night at Bristol. Friesen settled in second while Eckes, Rhodes, Taylor Gray, Purdy, Tanner Gray, Nemechek, Kaden Honeycutt and Zane Smith were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Chandler Smith, who peeled off to pit road for the first time of the night as part of a one-stop strategy, pitted while the rest led by Zane Smith remained on the track.

    With 79 laps remaining, the final stage started as Zane Smith and Kligerman occupied the front row. At the start, Zane Smith and Kligerman briefly duked for the lead as Smith prevailed on the inside lane to retain the lead. Shortly after, Majeski moved his No. 66 Road Ranger Toyota Tundra TRD Pro into the runner-up spot while Kligerman, who got shuffled and mired on the outside lane, was locked in a heated battle with Kraus for third place. Then a few laps later in Turn 4, Kraus and Kligerman made contact and slid up the track in Turn 1, which allowed Enfinger to overtake both for third place before Kligerman retained fourth ahead of Kraus, Hailie Deegan and Crafton.

    With less than 70 laps remaining, Zane Smith was out in front by three-tenths of a second over Majeski followed by Enfinger, Kligerman, Kraus, Deegan, Crafton, Heim, Ankrum and Hocevar. Meanwhile, Chandler Smith was mired back in 12th behind Dean Thompson and in front of Friesen and Eckes, Nemechek was back in 17th and Rhodes was scored back in 20th. By then, Taylor Gray and Colby Howard made contact with one another while battling in the top 20, but the race proceeded under green.

    Then with 50 laps remaining, the caution flew when Chris Hacker spun in between Turns 3 and 4 before coming to a rest below the apron after he got hit by the No. 98 CMR Construction & Roofing Toyota Tundra TRD Pro piloted by Playoff contender Eckes.

    During the following restart with 44 laps remaining, Majeski received a strong start on the outside lane as he assumed the lead for the first time over Zane Smith while Kligerman battled and overtook Enfinger for third place while the field behind jostled for late positions.

    With 35 laps remaining, Majeski was leading by more than a second over Zane Smith followed by Kligerman, Enfinger and Kraus while Crafton, Friesen, Chandler Smith, Tyler Ankrum and Deegan were in the top 10.

    Down to the final 22 laps of the event, the caution returned when Tanner Gray made contact with Dean Thompson in Turn 3 that sent Thompson’s No. 40 WorldWide Express Chevrolet Silverado RST slipping below the apron and into the outside wall as he sustained significant rear-end damage. By then, Majeski had stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Zane Smith while Kligerman, Enfinger, Kraus, Crafton, Friesen, Chandler Smith, Ankrum and Deegan remained in the top 10. Meanwhile, Eckes was in 11th, Nemechek was back in 14th and Rhodes was mired in 17th.

    During the following restart with 12 laps remaining, Majeski rocketed away with the lead on the outside lane while Zane Smith, who spun the tires on the inside lane, was left in a side-by-side battle with Kligerman for the runner-up spot. Smith, however, was able to clear Kligerman during the following lap as he reassumed second place while Enfinger moved up to fourth in front of Kraus and Friesen.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Majeski continued to lead by four-tenths of a second over Zane Smith and eight-tenths of a second over third-place Kligerman while everyone else behind jostled again for late positions.

    With five laps remaining, Majeski stabilized his advantage to nearly a second over Zane Smith while Kligerman settled in third ahead of Enfinger and Crafton. By then, Chandler Smith, who dominated the first half of the event, was mired in ninth while Kraus, Friesen and Eckes were in sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Majeski remained as the leader by more than a second over Zane Smith. With Smith unable to close back the deficit, Majeski was able to navigate his way around Bristol for a final circuit as he cycled back to the frontstretch and claim his first checkered flag in the series.

    With the victory, Majeski, who claimed his first Truck career win in his 40th series start, became the 120th different competitor to record a victory in the Truck Series as this marked the third consecutive season where the Truck Series Playoff event at Bristol featured a first-time winner. He also recorded the second victory of the season for ThorSport Racing and the 11th for Toyota as he joined Corey Heim as the only competitors to achieve their first Truck wins this season.

    By clinching a spot for the Championship Round finale at Phoenix Raceway in November, Majeski will contend for his first NASCAR national touring series championship in his first full-time season in the Truck circuit and without having to place his focus towards the upcoming Round of 8 events at Talladega Superspeedway and at Homestead-Miami Speedway in October. Prior to his first victory, he had achieved three poles, three stage victories, eight top-five results, 13 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 9.8 through the previous 19 scheduled events of 2022.

    “Man, this is unbelievable,” Majeski said on FS1. “I’ve been waiting for an opportunity like this. [Owners] Duke, Rhonda Thorson, Allison [Thorson], thank you for this opportunity. Just so proud to be here. We came guns blazing for this race, took our best truck. [Crew chief] Joe [Shear Jr.] was aggressive on pit strategy. [It] Got us out front. We were able to get it done. This is so cool. My career’s been so up and down. There’s been a lot of people to help me get to this point. It’s so cool. I know my late model guys are watching back at the shop. They’re the big reason why I’m here. My parents, my fiancé. This is just so damn cool. Man, I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”

    Meanwhile, Zane Smith rallied from starting at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his truck to finish in the runner-up spot for his seventh top-two finish of the season. The result was enough for Smith to leave Bristol in third place in the Playoff standings and 21 points above the top-four cutline to the finale.

    “A good salvage of the night,” Smith said. “We worked on our Speedco Ford. The only chance we got, and I felt like went the right direction. I wished I could’ve done a few things different there. Obviously, take the top [lane]. [The] Top [lane] always launches better here. I was so bad if I was outside of the PJ1 [TrackBite] or wherever it is. I didn’t want to get freight-trained on the top. I tried matching [Majeski]. I did the first time and the second time, he just got me. He was just ultimately better than us, but [it was a] never give up kind of a night. That’s what it takes to get in the Final Four.”

    Parker Kligerman emerged as the highest non-Playoff contender of the night after finishing in third place for his fourth top-five result of the season while Enfinger and Crafton finished in the top five.

    “We qualified 28th legitimately on speed,” Kligerman said. “I think we just kind of stole a third-place finish, but I’m proud of everyone at Henderson Motorsports. We have now, I believe, at least I have finished in every position within the top five except for first at this racetrack. I wanna win here so bad, and I can see it. I can taste it. I feel like I can touch it, whether it’s dirt or concrete. We just can’t quite get there. Tonight, though, we got to be really proud because I think after practice and qualifying, I was legitimately worried that we were gonna be a lap down within 15 laps and be riding around this place. [Crew chief] Chris Carrier and everyone stuck it through. We found ourselves in the top five…We just didn’t have enough.”

    Pole-sitter Kraus, Friesen, Eckes, Chandler Smith and Corey Heim completed the top 10 on the track. Nemechek and Rhodes were the two Playoff contenders to finish outside of the top 10 in 12th and 18th, respectively. 

    There were three lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 49 laps.

    Results.

    1. Ty Majeski, 45 laps led

    2. Zane Smith, 39 laps led

    3. Parker Kligerman

    4. Grant Enfinger

    5. Matt Crafton

    6. Derek Kraus, 27 laps led

    7. Stewart Friesen

    8. Christian Eckes

    9. Chandler Smith, 89 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    10. Corey Heim

    11. Tyler Ankrum

    12. John Hunter Nemechek

    13. Kaden Honeycutt

    14. Hailie Deegan

    15. Bayley Currey

    16. Taylor Gray

    17. Tanner Gray

    18. Ben Rhodes 

    19. Carson Hocevar

    20. Austin Wayne Self

    21. Jack Wood

    22. Jake Garcia

    23. Lawless Alan

    24. Colby Howard

    25. Jesse Little

    26. Timmy Hill 

    27. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap down

    28. Blaine Perkins, three laps down

    29. Leland Honeyman Jr., five laps down

    30. Chase Purdy, seven laps down

    31. Connor Mosack, eight laps down

    32. Dean Thompson – OUT, Accident

    33. Chris Hacker – OUT, Suspension

    34. Rajah Caruth – OUT, Accident

    35. Josh Reaume – OUT, Accident

    36. Spencer Boyd – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. Ty Majeski – Advanced

    2. Chandler Smith +24

    3. Zane Smith +21

    4. Stewart Frisen. +9

    5. John Hunter Nemechek -9

    6. Christian Eckes -13

    7. Grant Enfinger -15

    8. Ben Rhodes -18

    The second Round of 8 event of the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs will occur at Talladega Superspeedway on October 1 with the event’s coverage to commence at 12:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Rosenqvist retained by Arrow McLaren SP, Palou remains at Chip Ganassi Racing in 2023

    Rosenqvist retained by Arrow McLaren SP, Palou remains at Chip Ganassi Racing in 2023

    Three days following the conclusion of the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season, the future fates for both Felix Rosenqvist and Alex Palou were revealed. For Rosenqvist, he will be remaining as a full-time driver for Arrow McLaren SP and be part of the team’s three-car expansion for next season. Palou, meanwhile, will continue to pilot the No 10 Dallara-Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing.

    The news comes following a summer-long swirl highlighting both competitors and organizations that started in July when Palou initially disputed the news of CGR retaining him for 2023 by announcing his intentions of joining McLaren in 2023. Palou’s news of being placed as an option for McLaren prompted Ganassi to file a civil action lawsuit against the Spaniard who won the 2021 IndyCar championship in Ganassi’s No. 10 entry, which lasted throughout the summer. The contract dispute between Palou and CGR also began to affect Rosenqvist’s future with McLaren and AMSP, in spite of the Swedish competitor signing a contract extension to remain at McLaren, but with no specific series announced.

    With the news on Wednesday that Palou and CGR have reached a resolution to their contract dispute, Rosenqvist, who also appeared to be remaining in IndyCar with McLaren for next season, will compete in his third season for AMSP in 2023. The news means that Rosenqvist completes AMSP’s three-driver lineup that includes Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi, who was announced to be joining the organization in June while being replaced at Andretti Autosport by Kyle Kirkwood.

    “There’s no better way to enter the off-season than with this news!” Rosenqvist said. “I love this team, and I’m so happy to continue working with all the incredible people I’ve gotten to know over the past two seasons. With everything the team has in the pipeline, the continuing relationship with Pato and the addition of Alex Rossi, we are going to bring our A-game for 2023. It will be the most exciting season for me so far. Let it be March already!”

    Rosenqvist, who last visited Victory Lane in the IndyCar circuit since Road America in July 2020, is coming off a strong 2022 campaign, where he finished in eighth place in the final drivers’ standings with 393 points on the strength of two poles and his maiden podium with McLaren after finishing third at the Exhibition Place in Toronto, Canada, in July. He also piloted the No. 7 AMSP Dallara-Chevrolet to a total of 10 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 11.8 throughout the 17-race schedule. His eighth-place result in this year’s final standings marked an improvement of 13 spots from the previous season, where he finished no higher than sixth place on the track and missed two races in June following a hard accident during the first of a Belle Isle Street Circuit doubleheader feature on Saturday, June 12. His 2021 average-finishing result was 16.4.

    “I’m delighted that Felix will again be racing with AMSP through 2023,” Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing, added. “He had a strong 2022 season, and I look forward to seeing what he, Alex Rossi and Pato O’Ward can do when they join forces in papaya. It’s also great to have Alex Palou joining the McLaren Racing family in our Testing of Previous Cars programme.”

    For Palou, the 2023 season will also mark his third campaign with Chip Ganassi Racing. The Spaniard, who won the 2021 IndyCar title with Ganassi on the strength of his first three career victories, capped off the 2022 season by capturing his first elusive checkered flag of the season at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. The victory along with six podiums, 173 laps led and an average-finishing result of 8.0 throughout the 17-race schedule were enough for Palou to conclude the season in fifth place in the final standings despite tying Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin for fourth place with 510 points.

    Photo by Tim Jarrold for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    Following the news, Palou, who will still participate in a McLaren F1 testing session at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain this week, took to social media to confirm his racing plans for next season.

    With both drivers’ plans for next season set, they turn their attention to contend for the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series championship. The 2023 schedule remains to be determined.

  • Logano to make 500th Cup career start at Bristol

    Logano to make 500th Cup career start at Bristol

    Competing in his 14th full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series, Joey Logano is primed to achieve a milestone start. By competing in this weekend’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang will achieve career start No. 500 in NASCAR’s premier series.

    A native of Middletown, Connecticut, Logano, who grew up competing in quarter midgets before working his way up through the stock car ladder and becoming a part-time Xfinity Series competitor for Joe Gibbs Racing, made his inaugural presence in NASCAR’s premier series at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September 2008. By then, he had racked up one Xfinity career victory at Kentucky Speedway in July and was announced as the driver of the No. 20 JGR Toyota Camry for the 2009 Cup season, where he would be replacing two-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart. Driving the No. 96 Hall of Fame Toyota Camry at New Hampshire, Logano started 40th and finished 32nd in his Cup debut. He returned to compete at Kansas Speedway in September with Hall of Fame Racing and at Texas Motor Speedway in November with JGR, where he finished 39th and 40th respectively.

    Taking over the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry in 2009, Logano endured an up-and-down Daytona Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway in February. He finished fourth in the first of two Gatorade Duels, but settled in 43rd place, dead last, in his Daytona 500 debut after being involved in a midway accident. Eight races later, he notched his first top-10 career result in the Cup circuit by finishing ninth at Talladega Superspeedway in April. After finishing 19th during the following weekend at Richmond Raceway, Logano recorded back-to-back ninth-place results at Darlington Raceway and at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May.

    When NASCAR returned to New Hampshire in late June, Logano, who spun past the midpoint section of the event, utilized pit strategy to retain the lead ahead of Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch when NASCAR displayed the caution due to inclement weather with 35 laps remaining. Not long after, NASCAR declared the race official and Logano was awarded his first career victory in NASCAR’s premier series. At age 19 years, one month and four days old, Logano became the youngest winner in the Cup Series history. While he did not make the 2009 Cup Playoffs, the Connecticut rookie went on to record three additional top-10 results through the final 19 scheduled events, including a fifth-place result at Charlotte and a third-place result at Talladega in October, and finish in 20th place in the final standings as he captured the 2009 Cup Rookie-of-the-Year title.

    Finishing in 20th place in the 52nd running of the Daytona 500 in February 2010, Logano rebounded during the following two weekends at Auto Club Speedway and at Las Vegas Motor Speedway by finishing fifth and sixth respectively. Two races later, he won his first career pole in the Cup circuit at Bristol Motor Speedway in March, where he finished 27th in the main event. He then finished in a season-best second place behind teammate Denny Hamlin at Martinsville Speedway the following weekend. Despite enduring run-ins with veterans Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman throughout the summer and not qualifying for the 2010 Cup Playoffs, Logano and the No. 20 JGR Toyota team earned a total of three top-five results and 10 top-10 results throughout the 26-race regular season stretch. They went on to record six top-10 results through the remaining 10 scheduled events before settling in 16th place in the final standings. While he went winless in 2010, Logano doubled his top-five and top-10 results from his rookie season and improved his average-finishing result in his sophomore Cup season from 20.0 to 16.8.

    In comparison to his sophomore season, Logano endured a difficult junior Cup season. Despite achieving two poles, one at Sonoma Raceway in June and another at Pocono Raceway in August, he only achieved a total of four top-five results, six top-10 results and two season-best third-place results at Charlotte in May and at Daytona in July. Mired in inconsistent results, Logano fell back to 24th place in the final standings. By then, he managed to surpass 100 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series.

    Returning for a fourth full-time Cup season with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2012, Logano recorded back-to-back top-10 results during the first two scheduled events before finishing no higher than eighth during the following 11 events. Then at Pocono in June, the Connecticut native prevailed over a late battle against Mark Martin, his childhood hero, to emerge victorious for the second time in his Cup career and to become the first pole-winning race winner in 30 races. Compared to his first Cup victory at New Hampshire in 2009, which was shortened due to weather, Logano’s second win occurred after running all 400 miles, where he led a race-high 49 of 160 laps. Despite earning three additional top-10 results throughout the next 12 scheduled events, he did not make the Playoffs for a fourth consecutive season. Nonetheless, Logano managed to earn four additional top-10 results throughout the 10-race Playoff stretch and start on pole position for the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November before finishing in 17th place in the in the final standings.

    Two months prior to the conclusion of the 2012 season, Logano was revealed to be moving to Team Penske to pilot the No. 22 Ford Fusion for the 2013 season while the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry would be piloted by the 2003 Cup champion Matt Kenseth. After finishing no higher than 12th during his first three races as a Penske competitor, Logano settled in 17th place at Bristol in March after being involved in a late run-in with ex-teammate Denny Hamlin, where the latter spun the former and resulted with both confronting one another following the race. Then during the following event at Auto Club Speedway, Logano was battling Hamlin for the win on the final lap when he rubbed against Hamlin’s car entering the final turn, which sent both competitors against the outside wall. While Hamlin spun and pounded the inside wall head-on, Logano managed to crawl across the finish line in third place. Controversy, however, continued for Logano, who fought with Tony Stewart on pit road at the event’s conclusion as Stewart was left irritated over a late restart block by Logano that cost Stewart an opportunity to win.

    Since his third-place result at Auto Club through Watkins Glen International in August, where he finished seventh, Logano had notched three top-five results and nine top-10 results as he came within reach of making the Playoff’s cutline. Then at Michigan International Speedway, Logano benefited from Mark Martin running out of fuel with four laps remaining to notch his third Cup career victory and first with Team Penske in the Irish Hills after leading a race-high 51 of 200 laps from pole position. The Michigan victory along with two consecutive top-five results during the following three events were enough for Logano to make the Playoffs for the first time in his career. Despite recording two third-place results along with a total of five top-10 results throughout the 10-race Playoff stretch, the Connecticut native could not stay within grasp of the championship front-runners as he capped off the season in eighth place in the final standings, which marked his first top-10 result in a Cup standings.

    In 2014, Logano commenced his second season as a Penske competitor with an 11th-place result in the Daytona 500. Six races and three top-five results later, he executed a final lap pass on Jeff Gordon during a two-lap shootout to claim his first victory of the season and the fourth of his Cup career at Texas Motor Speedway in April. Another two races later, he prevailed over a late battle against Gordon, teammate Brad Keselowski and Kenseth to win at Richmond, thus claiming multiple Cup victories in a season for the first time. In August, Logano fended off teammate Keselowski and Kenseth to win at Bristol for his third victory of the season. The three victories along with a total of 10 top-five results and 15 top-10 results throughout the 26-race regular season stretch were more than enough for the Connecticut native to make his second consecutive Playoffs. By then, he also surpassed 200 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series. When the 2014 Cup Playoffs commenced, victories at New Hampshire in September and at Kansas Speedway in October enabled Logano and the No. 22 team to transfer from the Playoff’s Round of 16 to 8. Two results in the top six during the Round of 8 were enough for him to make the Championship 4 cutline and contend for his first Cup title at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November. During the finale, however, Logano suffered a slow pit stop in the closing laps after his jackman dropped the jack and the crew was needed to raise Logano’s car to have pit stop complete. The miscue relegated the driver of the No. 22 Ford to a 16th-place result on the track and in a career-best fourth place in the final standings.

    Determined to make another championship run, Logano kicked off the 2015 Cup season on a high note when he fended off Kevin Harvick and the field at the moment of caution due to a multi-car wreck to win the 57th running of the Daytona 500 in February. By then, the 24-year-old Logano became the second-youngest Daytona 500 champion and the 36th overall competitor to win the Great American Race as he gave team owner Roger Penske his second 500 title. Twenty-one races later, Logano overtook Harvick on the final lap and the final turn to claim his second victory of the season at Watkins Glen International, thus completing a clean sweep of the weekend after winning the Xfinity event a day prior. Another two races later, he fended off Harvick to win at Bristol in August for a second consecutive season. The three victories along with 17 additional results in the top 10 throughout the 2015 regular season stretch enabled Logano to make his third consecutive Playoffs.

    After earning three consecutive top-10 results to transfer from the Playoff’s Round of 16 to 12, Logano transferred to the Round of 8 after sweeping the round’s three events at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kansas and at Talladega Superspeedway. In the midst of his three consecutive victories, he encountered a late run-in with Kenseth, whom he spun at Kansas in the closing laps prior to his victory. Then at Martinsville Speedway in November, Logano dominated until he was intentionally wrecked by Kenseth under the final 50 laps, an incident that jeopardized the Connecticut native’s 2015 title hopes as he finished 37th. The situation went from bad to worse during the following weekend at Texas when he cut a tire early in the end and settled in 40th place. He rallied during the following event at Phoenix by finishing in third place, but the damage was done as he was far behind in the points and failed to transfer to the Championship Round at Homestead. While he did not win the 2015 title and ended up sixth in the final standings, the season stands as Logano’s best to date, where he notched a career-high six victories, six poles, 22 top-five results, 28 top-10 results, 1,431 laps led and an average-finishing result of 9.2.

    Making another bid for his first title in 2016, Logano commenced the season with six top-10 results through the season’s first 12 scheduled events until he accomplished his first All-Star Race victory at Charlotte in May following a late battle with Kyle Larson. Four weeks later, he fended off rookie Chase Elliott to grab his first points victory at Michigan in June. A total of 18 top-10 results throughout the 2016 regular season stretch, including his victory at Michigan, were enough for Logano to qualify for his fourth consecutive appearance in the Playoffs. 

    In the Round of 16 in the Playoffs, Logano finished no lower than 11th on the track as he transferred to the Round of 12. At Charlotte in October, he finished 36th after smacking the wall twice separately due to two right-front tire failures. After finishing third at Kansas during the following weekend, Logano earned a one-way ticket to the Round of 8 after winning at Talladega. He then went on to finish ninth and second at the start of the Round of 8 before capitalizing on a late restart at Phoenix in November to win and clinch a Championship 4 spot for Homestead. During the finale, however, Logano restarted behind championship rival Carl Edwards during a restart with 10 laps remaining and was involved in a late multi-car wreck that saw Edwards turning himself across Logano’s front nose and pounding the inside wall head-on while Logano sustained minimal damage to his No. 22 Ford. Despite continuing, Logano could only run as high as fourth place on the track as he settled in a career-best second place in the final standings behind seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson.

    In comparison to his previous three seasons at Team Penske, where he contended for the championship, the 2017 Cup season ended up being a difficult season for Logano, who commenced the season with a victory in the non-points Clash at Daytona in February followed by back-to-back sixth-place results. After finishing no lower than sixth during all but one of the first eight scheduled events, he notched his first victory of the season at Richmond in April. By then, he became the sixth competitor to win in career start No. 300. The win, however, was overshadowed with disappointment when it was discovered that Logano’s No. 22 Ford encountered an issue with a rear suspension during the post-race inspection process. The issue made NASCAR declared Logano’s victory “encumbered” as his win would not count towards him making the Playoffs. From there, Logano endured an inconsistent, regular season stretch with three additional top-10 results, but 10 results outside of the top 20 during the next 16 events. Despite finishing second at Richmond in September, he was unable to make the Playoffs for the first time since 2012. From there, he managed five top-10 results during the 10-race Playoff stretch before concluding the season in 17th place in the final standings.

    Determined to return as a championship-caliber competitor for himself and his team, Logano opened the 2018 season with a fourth-place result in the Daytona 500. Nine races and seven additional top-10 results later, he fended off Kurt Busch and the field to win at Talladega in May. Logano then went on to post nine more top-10 results before qualifying for the 2018 Cup Playoffs. Finishing no worse than 14th during the first six Playoff events, Logano was able to transfer from the Round of 16 to 8 by late October. Then during the first Round of 8 event at Martinsville, Logano rubbed and overtook reigning Cup champion Martin Truex Jr. on the final lap to win and clinch a spot in the Championship event at Homestead. Three races later during the finale at Homestead, Logano overtook Truex and led the final 12 laps before streaking to his third victory of the season and winning his first championship in the NASCAR Cup Series. With his first title occurring in his 10th full-time season in the Cup Series, Logano became the 33rd different competitor to achieve a championship in NASCAR’s premier series as he also recorded the second Cup title for Team Penske. Overall, Logano capped off his first championship season with three victories, a pole, 13 top-five results, 26 top-10 results, 934 laps led and an average-finishing result of 10.7.

    Entering the 2019 season as the reigning Cup champion, Logano commenced the season by winning the second of two Daytona Duel events before finishing in fourth place in the Daytona 500. Two races later, he fended off teammate Brad Keselowski to notch his first victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. Another 12 races later, he beat Kurt Busch during an overtime attempt to win at Michigan in June. To go along with his two regular season victories, he notched a total of 15 top-10 results during the regular season stretch as he made his sixth career appearance in the Playoffs. During the Playoff’s Round of 16, Logano finished no lower than 11th as he transferred to the Round of 12. Despite finishing no higher than 11th during the Round of 12, he was able to transfer to the Round of 8 while teammate Keselowski missed the cutoff by three points. During the first Round of 8 event at Martinsville in October, Logano was involved in a post-race skirmish with Denny Hamlin after Hamlin made contact with Logano late in the event that caused Logano to cut a tire and spin. Despite finishing eighth at Martinsville before proceeding to finish fourth and ninth at Texas and Phoenix respectively, he failed to reach the Championship Round at Homestead and was unable to defend his title. With his hopes of winning back-to-back titles evaporated, Logano finished in fifth place in the final standings.

    Following a disappointing conclusion to the 2019 season, Logano notched two victories through the first four scheduled events of the 2020 season: Las Vegas and Phoenix in March. By then, he surpassed 400 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series. When all NASCAR activities were suspended in March before returning in May during the COVID-19 pandemic, he managed to earn 12 top-10 results before making his seventh appearance in the Playoffs. After transferring all the way from the Round of 16 to 8 on the strength of three top-three results, Logano earned a one-way ticket to the Championship Round at Phoenix after winning the Round of 8’s opening event at Kansas in October. During the finale, however, Logano settled in third place on the track and in the final standings behind Chase Elliott and teammate Keselowski.

    At the start of the 2021 Cup season, Logano was in position to win his second Daytona 500 title while leading on the final lap when he was turned by teammate Brad Keselowski with two corners remaining. The collision between both Penske teammates ignited a fiery multi-car wreck that left both with demolished race cars with Logano settling in 12th place. The incident marked Logano’s second consecutive DNF in the Daytona 500. He rebounded by finishing in second place during the Daytona Road Course event after being overtaken by Christopher Bell on the penultimate lap. Five races later, Logano fended off Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Denny Hamlin during an overtime shootout to win the inaugural Cup event at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course, which marked his 27th career win in NASCAR’s premier series. Despite enduring a wild airborne wreck at Talladega in April, he earned a total of 13 top-10 results throughout the regular season stretch before making his eighth appearance in the Playoffs. Finishing no higher than 11th place during the first half of the 2021 Cup Playoffs, Logano was able to transfer from the Round of 16 to 8. An engine issue during the first Round of 8 event at Texas, however, affected his hopes of winning the title and ultimately, he was unable to transfer out of the Round of 8 despite notching back-to-back top-10 results for the remainder of the event. Capping off the season with an 11th-place result during the finale at Phoenix, Logano ended up in eighth place in the final standings behind teammates Keselowski and Ryan Blaney.

    Logano commenced the 2022 NASCAR season on a high note by winning the non-points Busch Light Clash in the sport’s inaugural exhibition event at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in February. After achieving five top-10 results through the first 11-scheduled events, he claimed his first Cup points victory of the season at Darlington Raceway in May. The Darlington victory occurred after Logano pulled a “bump-and-run” move on William Byron prior to the final lap that knocked Byron out of contention. Another three races later, Logano prevailed in an overtime battle against Kyle Busch to win the inaugural Cup event at World Wide Technology Raceway in June. The victories at Darlington and Gateway along with a total of seven top-five results, 12 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 14.0 throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch were enough to earn a one-way ticket to the Playoffs for the ninth time in his career. Coming off runs of fourth and 17th through the first two events in the Round of 16, he is currently ranked in fourth place in the Playoff standings and 40 points above the top-12 cutline to advance to the Round of 12.

    Through 499 previous Cup starts, Logano has achieved one championship, 29 victories, 24 poles, 146 top-five results, 253 top-10 results, 7,911 laps led and an average-finishing result of 13.9.

    Logano is scheduled to make his 500th Cup Series career start at Bristol Motor Speedway for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race on Saturday, September 17. The event’s coverage is slated to occur at 7:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Power clinches second IndyCar Series championship; Palou dominates season finale at Laguna Seca

    Power clinches second IndyCar Series championship; Palou dominates season finale at Laguna Seca

    Will Power capped off a strong consistent season with his second NTT IndyCar Series championship while Alex Palou capped off an up-and-down season embroiled with off-track drama amid his racing future by winning the season-finale Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on Sunday, September 11.

    Power, the 2014 IndyCar champion from Toowoomba, Australia, commenced the championship weekend on a high note by surpassing Mario Andretti for the most poles in IndyCar history at 68 on Saturday. During the main event on Sunday, he outlasted a variety of strategies and on-track competition from his fellow competitors and teammates to finish in third place behind race winner Palou and runner-up Newgarden, who fell short of overtaking his veteran teammate at Team Penske and spoiling the party of having his shot of winning his title.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, points leader Will Power claimed his record-setting 68th IndyCar career pole position after posting a pole-winning qualifying lap at 112.505 mph in 71.6127 seconds. Joining him on the front row was rookie Callum Ilott, who recorded the second-best qualifying lap at 112.475 mph in 71.6320 seconds.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Power took off with an early advantage through the first two turns. Behind, Alexander Rossi and Pato O’Ward both made a three-wide move on Callot to move up to second and third as the field scrambled and jostled for early positions. Through Turn 2, Helio Castroneves went off the course in the sand, but the event remained under green.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Power was leading ahead of Rossi, O’Ward, Ilott and Romain Grosjean while rookie David Malukas, Alex Palou, Scott McLaughlin, Simon Pagenaud and Marcus Ericsson were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Dixon was in 13th and Newgarden, who started at the rear of the field, was mired back in 19th.

    By the ninth lap, the first round of green flag pit stops ensued as Colton Herta, Dixon and Ericsson pitted. Back at the front, Power was still out in front by three-and-a-half second over Rossi followed by O’Ward, Ilott and Grosjean. When Lap 15 struck amid a continuation of green flag pit stops, Power surrendered the lead to pit as Ilott and Palou moved up the top of the leaderboard.

    Nearly 10 laps later and with nearly the entire field having made at least one pit stop under green, except for the leader Felix Rosenqvist, another round of green flag pit stops slowly commenced as Rosenqvist pitted. By then, Newgarden also pitted as Power cycled back to the lead over Alex Palou, O’Ward and Ilott. On Lap 26, however, Palou muscled his No. 10 NTT Data Dallara-Honda back into the lead over Power’s No. 12 Verizon 5G Dallara-Chevrolet in Turn 4.

    Through the first 30 scheduled laps, Palou was ahead by more than five seconds over Power followed by O’Ward, Ilott and Rosenqvist while Rossi, Grosjean, Ericsson, Ludngaard and Newgarden were in the top 10. Meanwhile, McLaughlin, who was just in the top 10, pitted under green while Dixon was mired back in 23rd.

    Five laps later, Palou continued to lead by more than 10 seconds over Power followed by Rosenqvist, O’Ward and Ilott. Another three laps later, the front-runners led by Palou pitted under green as Palou remained in front of Power, Rosenqvist, O’Ward and Newgarden.

    Shortly after, the first caution of the event flew when Ilott, who was having a stellar run on the track after starting on the front row for the first time in his career, stopped his No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Dallara-Chevrolet on the track in Turn 2 and retired due to a mechanical issue.

    When the event restarted under green on Lap 42, Palou retained the lead ahead of Power, Rosenqvist, O’Ward and the field in spite of Graham Rahal going off the course. While Palou maintained a steady advantage over the field, Power continued to fend off Rosenqvist for second while Newgarden bolted his No. 2 Hitachi Dallara-Chevrolet into fourth place over O’Ward through the Corkscrew section.

    By Lap 45 and with the event surpassing its halfway mark, Palou was leading by more than five seconds over Power, who was locked in a tight battle against teammate and title contender Newgarden while Rosenqvist and Grosjean were in the top five. Meanwhile, O’Ward was mired back in sixth while Ericsson, McLaughlin, Rahal and Lundgaard were in the top 10 in front of Dixon.

    With 45 laps remaining, Palou continued to lead by more than eight seconds over Newgarden while the championship leader Power settled in third. Grosjean was up in fourth in front of Rosenqvist while O’Ward, Ericsson, McLaughlin, Rahal and Lundgaard occupied the top 10. Meanwhile, Dixon, who just pitted under green, was back in 23rd behind Takuma Sato.

    Down to the final 30 laps of the event, Palou, who was navigating his way through lapped traffic, was leading by nearly 19 seconds over runner-up Power, who continued to maintain his lead in the championship standings and had completed a pit stop under green. Grosjean moved up to third in front of Rosenqvist, Newgarden and O’Ward. Lundgaard, the leading Rookie-of-the-Year contender, was in seventh while Rossi, Herta and Malukas were in the top 10. McLaughlin, Ericsson and Dixon were in 11th, 12th and 13th.

    Then two laps later and with some of the front-runners pitting under green, including Palou, Newgarden, who has yet to pit, cycled his way into the lead after pulling ahead of Palou as he ignited his final bid to capture his third IndyCar title over teammate Power, who was in third. 

    With 22 laps remaining, Newgarden surrendered the lead to Palou as he pitted under green. When he returned to the track, he managed to keep his No. 2 Hitachi Dallara-Chevrolet in the runner-up spot ahead of teammate Power, who pitted prior to the final 30 laps.

    Seven laps later and with 15 laps remaining, Palou remained as the leader by more than 25 seconds over Newgarden while Power settled in third. By then, Grosjean and Rosenqvist were in the top five while McLaughlin, Ericsson and Dixon were in 10th, 11th and 12th.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Palou continued to lead by more than 28 seconds over Newgarden while third-place Power remained in third and maintained the lead in the championship standings. Grosjean and Rosenqvist remained in the top five followed by Lundgaard, Rossi, McLaughlin, Ericsson and Herta while O’Ward, who was in the top 10, pitted his No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Dallara-Chevrolet before blending back on the track in 12th behind Dixon.

    With five laps remaining, Palou stabilized his huge advantage to 29 seconds over Newgarden, who continued to run one spot ahead of teammate Power but was unable to overtake his Team Penske teammate for the lead in the championship standings. Meanwhile, McLaughlin, Ericsson and Dixon were back in eighth, ninth and 11th as their title hopes were slowly evaporating.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Palou remained as the leader by over Newgarden with Power pursuing behind. Having no direct competition lingering behind him for a final lap, Palou was able to cruise his way through the circuit for a final time as he captured his first elusive checkered flag of the 2022 season by more than 30 seconds over Newgarden.

    With the victory, Palou grabbed his fourth career win in the NTT IndyCar Series, his first at Laguna Seca and first since winning at Portland International Speedway in September 2021. The victory was enough for the reigning IndyCar champion to conclude the season tied with Scott McLaughlin for fourth place in the final drivers’ standings as he enters this off-season period with uncertainty amid his contract dispute with Chip Ganassi Racing.

    Photo by James Black (Penske Entertainment).

    “We struggled a bit some races, especially last couple of races,” Palou said on NBC. “Today was awesome. Awesome job by all the team. Strategy was on point. It’s good to finish a season with a win. It was just an awesome day. Struggled a bit during the whole weekend, and I don’t know what happened today, but everything clicked, so super happy to win a race this year. We’re gonna enjoy the moment now and we’ll see what happens [next year].”

    While Palou celebrated a victory, Power celebrated his second NTT IndyCar Series championship after finishing third, one spot behind teammate Newgarden, who rallied from the rear of the field but fell 16 points shy to his Team Penske veteran. With the accomplishment, Power became the first repeat IndyCar champion since Scott Dixon won his sixth title in 2020 as he recorded his first title since 2014 and the 17th IndyCar title for Team Penske, which extended the team’s record.

    Overall, Power concluded the 2022 season with a single victory after winning the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix at The Raceway at Belle Isle in Michigan. He also recorded four poles, nine podiums and 13 top-five results throughout the 17-race schedule.

    “I couldn’t have [planned a perfect weekend],” Power said. “Let me tell you. In the off-season, my wife said to me, ‘I believe you’re gonna beat Mario’s [Andretti] record [in poles] and you’re gonna win the championship. She said that to me. It actually gave me confidence that I could do it. The fact that she said that, that’s how much confidence I have in her gut feel. I just couldn’t believe that that came true. I just knew I had to get the most out of those stints and not lose any more positions. Man, I had to drive the [car] today. It was on the edge. Very loose. What a relief to get that done. I can’t thank Verizon enough. They’ve been with me for close to 12 years now. Without them, I would never have had this career and obviously, [team owner] Roger Penske, the whole team and Chevrolet.”

    Meanwhile, Newgarden remained positive in a season where he achieved a season-high five victories, a pole and six podiums throughout the 17-race schedule.

    “You know, I hate to say it, but in a lot of ways, this has been a really tough year,” Newgarden said. “It’s gonna be a welcome off-season. Mentally, it’s been a taxing season. We’ve had a lot of highs, but we’ve had a lot of lows. Just riding the roller coaster this year has brought me to a braking point at a couple points in the year, but I’m proud of the team. This is a big day for everybody. To win the championship, huge congrats to Will [Power] and the entire [Penske] team. This is an effort by everybody, whether it’s the No. 2 car, the No. 12 or No. 3. We all take a lot of pride in it. All these crew members, they work on every single car. The ultimate goal is to win a championship for Team Penske. We did that. There’s a ton to be proud of. We nearly got there. We’re gonna come back stronger next year. We got to be in a different position and I know we can do better than what we did this year.”

    Meanwhile, Scott Dixon finished 12th on the track and in third place in the final standings, the highest Chip Ganassi Racing competitor in the standings but 39 points shy of winning his record-tying seventh IndyCar championship. Nonetheless, he capped off the season with two victories, which tallied his wins total to 53 as it marks the second-most victories in American open-wheel competition behind AJ Foyt (67). He also recorded a pole and a total of four podiums throughout the season.

    “We ultimately just didn’t have the pace,” Dixon said. “I think it was definitely a strange race in the fact that we tried everything we could. Just frustrating. I think that we couldn’t bring what we needed to today. Congrats to Palou and obviously, a big congrats to Will Power. It was a tremendous year that he ran there. You win some, you lose some. I know this team never gave up. We pushed as hard as we could all year. Unfortunately. we ended up third.”

    Scott McLaughlin, who came into the event trailing teammate Power by 41 points, ended up in sixth place on the track and in a tie with Alex Palou for fourth place in the standings, 51 points shy of his first IndyCar title despite claiming his first three IndyCar career victories. Marcus Ericsson, the 2022 Indianapolis 500 champion, fell back to sixth in the standings and 54 points shy of his first title.

    Felix Rosenqvist finished fourth on the track followed by rookie Christian Lundgaard while McLaughlin, Grosjean, O’Ward, Ericsson and Alexander Rossi completed the top 10.

    Lundgaard, who finished 14th in the final standings, was named the recipient of the 2022 IndyCar Rookie-of-the-Year title by finishing two spots ahead of the second-highest rookie candidate: David Malukas.

    Chevrolet wrapped up the manufacturers’ title with 1,510 points, 211 points over Honda, in a season where the manufacturer achieved 11 victories throughout the 17-race schedule.

    There were seven lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured one caution for three laps.

    Race Results.

    1. Alex Palou, 67 laps led

    2. Josef Newgarden, five laps led

    3. Will Power, 17 laps led

    4. Felix Rosenqvist, five laps led

    5. Christian Lundgaard

    6. Scott McLaughlin

    7. Romain Grosjean

    8. Pato O’Ward

    9. Marcus Ericsson

    10. Alexander Rossi

    11. Colton Herta

    12. Scott Dixon

    13. David Malukas

    14. Rinus VeeKay

    15. Devlin DeFrancesco

    16. Jimmie Johnson

    17. Simon Pagenaud

    18. Graham Rahal

    19. Helio Castroneves

    20. Jack Harvey

    21. Kyle Kirkwood

    22. Simona De Silvestro 

    23. Takuma Sato

    24. Conor Daly

    25. Dalton Kellett

    26. Callum Ilott – OUT, Mechanical, one lap led

    *Bold indicates 2022 NTT IndyCar Series champion

    Final standings

    1. Will Power – 560 points

    2. Josef Newgarden – 544 points

    3. Scott Dixon – 521 points

    4. Scott McLaughlin – 510 points

    5. Alex Palou – 510 points

    6. Marcus Ericsson – 506 points

    7. Pato O’Ward – 480 points

    8. Felix Rosenqvist – 393 points

    9. Alexander Rossi – 381 points

    10. Colton Herta – 381 points

    11. Graham Rahal – 345 points

    12. Rinus VeeKay – 331 points

    13. Romain Grosjean – 328 points

    14. Christian Lundgaard – 323 points

    15. Simon Pagenaud – 314 points

    16. David Malukas – 305 points

    17. Conor Daly – 267 points

    18. Helio Castroneves – 263 points

    19. Takuma Sato – 258 points

    20. Callum Ilott – 219 points

    The NTT IndyCar Series teams and competitors enter an off-season period before returning to action in 2023 for a new season of competition. The 2023 schedule is yet to be determined.