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Author: Andrew Kim

  • Chastain executes final lap pass for second Cup career triumph at Talladega

    Chastain executes final lap pass for second Cup career triumph at Talladega

    From losing a lap to the leaders to rallying his way back to the front and having the seas parting way for him with the finish in sight, Ross Chastain overtook Erik Jones at the tri-oval on the final lap to win the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, April 24.

    The 29-year-old Chastain from Alva, Florida, was penalized for speeding on pit road during an exchange of green-flag pit stops nearing the Lap 40 mark, but he was able to cycle his way back on the lead lap following the first stage’s conclusion. From there, he muscled his way to the front and remained within sight of the lead pack. Then on the final lap and entering the tri-oval, Chastain was lined up in third place while awaiting his moment to strike. With the field fanning out and initial leader Erik Jones trying to prevent a run from Kyle Larson in the outside lane, Chastain had the inside lane to himself. He seized the opportunity to snatch the lead and emerged victorious for the second time in his NASCAR Cup Series career. 

    With on-track qualifying occurring on Saturday, Christopher Bell notched his second Cup Series pole position of the season and of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 180.928 mph in 52.927 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Martin Truex Jr., who posted a fast lap at 180.652 mph in 53.008 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Landon Cassill was forced to serve a pass-through penalty through pit road at the start due to his No. 77 Spire Motorsports entry failing pre-qualifying technical inspection three times. Noah Gragson, the winner of Saturday’s Xfinity event at Talladega, also dropped to the rear of the field due to an unapproved adjustment to his No. 62 Beard Motorsports entry.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Bell moved his No. 20 DeWalt Toyota TRD Camry in front of teammate Truex’s No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota TRD Camry as he maintained the lead through the first two turns while Daniel Suarez charged as the lead competitor on the outside lane. 

    When the field returned to the start/finish line, Bell led the first lap. Suarez, however, fought back on the outside lane in his No. 99 Tootsies Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 with drafting help from Kurt Busch, but Bell maintained his line on the inside lane. Suarez, though, was able to lead the second lap as he and Bell were locked dead even for the lead. By then, the entire field was stacked up through two long double lines.

    Through the first 10 laps of the event and with the field fanning out to multiple lanes, Suarez received a draft from William Byron to overtake Bell for the lead followed by Truex, Kurt Busch, Daniel Hemric, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Kyle Larson and Joey Logano. By then, Bell had led seven of the first 10 laps while Suarez led the remaining three. In addition, Cassill, who served his pass-through penalty at the start, was lapped by the field. 

    By Lap 20, eight competitors broke away from the pack fanning out to two packed lanes as Suarez continued to lead ahead of Byron, Bell, Truex, Hemric, Larson, Haley and Kurt Busch while Ty Dillon and Erik Jones were in the top 10.

    Five laps later, the top-10 competitors led by Suarez had broken away from the rest of the pack stacked through two lanes while 11th-place Kevin Harvick initiated a charge as the lead competitor on the outside lane. By then, all but one of the 39 starters were separated by less than three seconds.

    By Lap 30, Suarez continued to lead on the inside lane ahead of Byron, Bell and Truex while Chase Elliott, who was in fifth ahead of Hemric, mounted a charge on the outside lane with drafting help from Kevin Harvick and the field.

    On Lap 32, Reddick pitted as the crew lifted the hood up on the No. 8 Bet MGM Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 due to a mechanical issue.

    By Lap 34, the Ford competitors peeled off the track to pit under green. During the Ford pit stops, Keselowski was penalized for speeding on pit road. In addition, Cody Ware spun his No. 51 Nurtec ODT Ford Mustang while entering pit road, but he was able to proceed without drawing a caution. Soon after, the Toyota competitors along with Chevrolet competitor Alex Bowman pitted. During the Toyota pit stops, Hamlin slid his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry through his pit box. By the end of Lap 36, the Chevrolet competitors pitted. During the Chevrolet pit stops, Ross Chastain was penalized for speeding while exiting pit road. 

    At the Lap 40 mark and with the pit stops complete, Larson cycled his way to the lead followed by teammates Byron and Elliott while Erik Jones and Hemric were in the top five. Harvick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Logano, Ty Dillon, rookie Harrison Burton, Bubba Wallace, Bell, Truex, Chris Buescher, Kurt Busch, Bowman, Ryan Blaney, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch and Aric Almirola. By then, Suarez had fallen back to 23rd while Reddick retired in the garage.

    Through the first 50 scheduled laps, Larson continued to lead ahead of teammates Byron and Elliott while Wallace mounted a charge on the outside lane in fourth place. By then, Keselowski was lapped by the field.

    Soon after, Wallace drew himself into a side-by-side against Larson for the lead through the backstretch. Despite the field having to fan out while lapping Chastain and Michael McDowell, they gathered themselves through the tri-oval as Wallace received a push from Bell to briefly lead until Larson fought back on the inside lane. By Lap 53, Wallace led a lap for himself and had both lanes in control through the backstretch until Larson mounted another challenge on the inside lane with drafting help from teammate Byron.

    With four laps remaining in the first stage and while the field fanned out, the first caution flew when Hemric fell off the pace and was bumped sideways by Austin Dillon through Turns 3 and 4 as he radioed engine issues to his No. 16 Majestic Steel Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. While trying to straighten his car below the apron, Hemric then shot back across the track and made heavy contact against Chris Buescher and Chase Briscoe, whose No. 14 Mahindra Ford Mustang burst into flames. At the moment of caution, Chastain received the free pass to return on the lead lap due to being the first competitor that was scored a lap behind which left Keselowski still trapped a lap behind.

    The three-car wreck between Turns 3 and 4 was enough for the first stage scheduled on Lap 60 to conclude under caution as Bubba Wallace claimed his first stage victory of the season and third at Talladega. Larson settled in second followed by Bell, Byron, Truex, Elliott, Kurt Busch, Erik Jones, Bowman and Stenhouse.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Larson reassumed the lead following his pit service followed by Byron, Elliott, Erik Jones, Truex and Wallace. During the pit stops, Kyle Busch was penalized for dragging his gas can out of his pit box.

    The second stage started on Lap 64 as teammates Larson and Byron occupied the front row. At the start, Larson moved in front of teammates Byron and Elliott to maintain the lead on the inside lane while Erik Jones was the lead competitor on the outside lane as he received a push from Wallace to battle and overtake Larson for the lead when the field returned to the start/finish line.

    By Lap 67, Erik Jones was out in front while Wallace and Larson battled for second place. Soon after, Larson challenged for the lead on the inside lane while Jones maintained his ground on the outside lane. 

    At the Lap 75 mark, Erik Jones’ No. 43 Air Force Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was still leading by 0.013 seconds over Wallace’s No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota TRD Camry while Larson, Kurt Busch, Byron, Harvick, Elliott, Truex, Bowman and Logano were scored in the top 10.

    Six laps later, the caution returned when Greg Biffle fell off the pace with no power and was unable to limp his No. 44 Morehouse College Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 back to pit road as he stalled in Turn 4. At the moment of caution, Keselowski received the free pass to return to the lead lap due to being the first competitor scored a lap behind.

    Under caution, the field returned to pit road for service, mainly for fuel, and Byron emerged with the lead followed by Truex, Elliott, Larson, Blaney and Erik Jones.

    On Lap 85, the race proceeded under green as Byron maintained the lead ahead of the packed field. Shortly after, however, the caution returned when BJ McLeod spun in Turn 2 as the right-rear wheel of McLeod’s car came out.

    Another four laps later, the race restarted under green. The caution, however, followed suit for a multi-car wreck that sparked due to a stack-up at the front and resulted in Logano receiving a bump from Wallace that turned Logano into the outside wall in Turn 1. With Logano’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang then slowly creeping towards the straightaway amid the ongoing field, he was hit by Ty Dillon as rookies Austin Cindric, Harrison Burton and Todd Gilliland along with Suarez, Kyle Busch, Cole Custer and Stenhouse were sent spinning and wrecking through Turn 1. 

    By Lap 97, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Byron and Truex dueled with Truex receiving a draft from former teammate Erik Jones while Byron had teammates Elliott and Larson lined up behind him along with Kurt Busch. 

    At the Lap 100 mark, Byron and Truex dueled for the top spot with Elliott, Erik Jones and Larson scored in the top five while Blaney, Kurt Busch, Wallace, Bowman and Harvick were in the top 10. By then, 24 of 39 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    Six laps later, the caution flew when Cody Ware got turned by David Ragan past the start/finish line. Under caution, some like Erik Jones, Wallace, Blaney, Harvick, Cindric, Bell, Keselowski, Corey LaJoie and Gragson pitted while the rest led by Byron remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Wallace made an extra pit stop to address a potential loose wheel on his car.

    With 10 laps remaining in the second stage, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Byron maintained the lead as all four Hendrick Motorsports competitors were lined up from first through fourth on the inside lane while Truex was in fifth.

    As the field settled in a long single-file line with five laps remaining in the second stage, Byron continued to lead ahead of his Hendrick teammates while Truex, Chastain, Almirola, Erik Jones, Cindric and Harvick were in the top 10. By then, the Busch brothers along with Keselowski, Wallace, LaJoie, Blaney, Bell, Hamlin, Austin Dillon and Justin Haley were in the top 20.

    At the start of the final lap of the second stage, the field fanned out to multiple lanes as Kyle Busch mounted a charge on the outside lane. Byron, however, was able to maintain the lead ahead of the fanned field to claim his third stage victory of the season on Lap 120. Teammates Elliott and Larson followed pursuit along with Truex, Bowman, Kyle Busch, Almirola, Erik Jones, Chastain and Kurt Busch.

    Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Erik Jones emerged with the lead following a two-tire stop followed by Kyle Busch, Harvick, Blaney, Keselowski and Wallace.

    With 63 laps remaining, the final stage started. At the start, Kyle Busch gained a brief advantage through the first two turns on the outside lane before Harvick gave Erik Jones a huge push for Jones to assume the lead through Turns 3 and 4. 

    During the following lap, Ryan Blaney gave Kyle Busch a big draft that enabled Busch to challenge Jones for the top spot before Busch prevailed when he returned to the start/finish line. Then through the backstretch, Busch moved in front of Jones to maintain the lead ahead of Jones on the inside lane until Blaney received drafting support from Wallace to mount his challenge for the lead. 

    With 58 laps remaining, Blaney and Wallace managed to pull themselves in front of Kyle Busch on the inside lane as Blaney maintained the lead, By then, a long single-file line was being formulated on the inside lane while Cindric lost the draft and was losing spots on the track. 

    Down to the final 50 laps of the event and with the field remaining in a long single-file line, Blaney was leading ahead of Wallace, Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, Harvick, Keselowski, Bell, Larson, Elliott and Byron while Chastain, McDowell, Denny Hamlin, Austin Dillon, Truex, David Ragan, LaJoie, Kurt Busch, Haley and Landon Cassill were in the top 20. By then, 25 of 39 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    Ten laps later, Blaney maintained the lead ahead of Wallace, Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, Harvick and the long line of competitors on the inside line.

    Shortly after, a group of competitors led by Chastain moved to the outside lane and started to gain a run to the front with Chastain scored in ninth place. During the following lap, he moved up to seventh while Blaney continued to lead on the inside lane. 

    Then with 37 laps remaining, Wallace made a move to the outside of Blaney and he muscled his way into the lead followed by Kyle Busch and Erik Jones. Jones, however, made his move during the following lap beneath Wallace to take the lead while Kyle Busch, who had a momentum going on the outside lane, got shuffled out of line. In addition, Blaney moved into second followed by Harvick, Wallace, Keselowski and Chastain.

    With 33 laps remaining, Wallace received a draft from Chastain to reassume the lead over Erik Jones as he was placed on defense mode through both lanes.

    Three laps later, Wallace and Erik Jones were locked in a tight side-by-side battle for the lead as Wallace moved up the outside lane in front of Chastain and Hamlin while Jones had drafting support from Blaney and Harvick.

    Another lap later, a handful of competitors led by Blaney peeled off the track to pit under green. During the next lap, another wave of competitors led by Wallace pitted while another wave led by LaJoie pitted during the next lap. During the pit stops, Keselowski was busted with his second pit road speeding penalty. In addition, contact between Gragson and Kyle Busch sent Bell spinning towards the inside wall on the frontstretch. The race, however, proceeded under green as Bell was able to continue without sustaining any significant damage.

    Back on the track with less than 25 laps remaining, Hamlin cycled his way into the lead followed by Larson, Erik Jones, Byron and Chastain.

    With 20 laps remaining and the field settled in a long single-file line on the inside lane, Hamlin was leading ahead of Larson, Erik Jones, Byron and Chastain while Haley, Kurt Busch, Truex, LaJoie and Austin Dillon were in the top 10. Wallace was back in 11th ahead of Elliott, Blaney, Harvick, Almirola, Bowman, McDowell, Cindric, Kyle Busch and Cassill. 

    Three laps later, Larson moved into the lead while Hamlin, who briefly lost the draft, fell back to sixth place in an effort to save fuel. By then, Keselowski was lapped by the field.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event and with the field fanning out and stacked up to multiple lanes, Larson was leading by a hair over Chastain followed by Haley, Erik Jones, Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Byron, Truex, Elliott and Blaney. By then, Bell was lapped by the field.

    With seven laps remaining, Erik Jones gained a huge draft from Byron and Elliott on the outside lane to move into third place behind Larson and Chastain as he made his bid for the lead. As the field remained in a tight, deadlock through double lanes, Jones peaked ahead with drafting help from Byron while Larson had drafting support from Chastain on the inside lane. 

    With five laps remaining, Jones maintained the lead before Larson fought back on the inside lane as the intensity towards the pack intensified.

    Down to the final two laps, Jones remained as the leader ahead of Larson, Chastain, Kurt Busch and Byron, all of whom were briefly ahead of the pack in a single-file line. By then, Hamlin pitted under green after running out of fuel.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Jones continued to lead a long parade of competitors with some moving up to the outside lane through the backstretch. Then in Turns 3 and 4, Kurt Busch, who was in fourth place, bolted to the outside lane while waiting to gain a draft from Truex and Wallace. 

    Then through the tri-oval, Larson tried to make a move to the outside of Jones, but he made contact with Kurt Busch that sent Busch’s No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry hard against the tri-oval outside wall as he collected teammate, Wallace. In the process, Jones, who moved up the outside lane to block Larson, opened the inside lane for Ross Chastain to make his move along with Austin Dillon. Having open race track to himself at the right timing on the final straightaway, Chastain maintained the lead through all lanes to grab the win by 0.105 seconds over Dillon while LaJoie spun across the finish line. 

    With the victory, Chastain, who only led the final lap out of the event’s 188-scheduled laps, notched his second NASCAR Cup Series career win in his 125th series start and his first at Talladega Superspeedway. In addition, he achieved the second NASCAR victory for Trackhouse Racing nearly a month after the team and Chastain achieved their first win at Circuit of the Americas.

    “Holy cow,” Chastain, who celebrated with his trademark by smashing a watermelon on the frontstretch, said on FOX. “I’m always the one going to the top [lane] too early and making the mistake. There at the end, it was like eight [laps] to go, I was like I’m not going up there again. I did that a couple of times today. I was like, ‘I’ll just ride the bottom.’ I’m not gonna lose the race for us. I’ll just let them. To win with the Moose [Fraternity] on board, they’ve been with me for a few years now and supported me everywhere I went. I have no idea. [The leaders] just kept going up and they just kept moving out of the way.”

    “I’ve wrecked myself so many times, gotten into it with guys,” Chastain added. “[Team owner] Justin Marks and what he laid out for us was ambitious and I had no idea what to expect other than I knew I had my group from last year, I had AdventHealth, the Moose, now with Worldwide Express, Jockey coming on board. We’ve got partners. They’re believing in us. We started the year with a lot of races open. We’re almost full now [with sponsors]. It’s because of the vision of Justin Marks and Pitbull. Armando [Pitbull], we won, dude!”

    Austin Dillon came home in second place for his second runner-up result of the season while Kyle Busch, Larson and Truex finished in the top five. 

    Erik Jones, who led 25 laps and was within a straightaway of snapping a two-year winless drought, settled in sixth place for his third top-10 result of the season.

    “Last lap, it’s typical here,” Jones said. “I’ve been close here so many times in this race and the fall race. The U.S. Air Force Chevy had good speed. It just felt good to run up front, but come there that last lap, we were single file. I felt pretty good about it. They kind of doubled up behind us and that top lane was getting some momentum. Looking back, I wished I would’ve stayed on the bottom [lane], let [Chastain] push me. I didn’t realize they were coming with that much speed, but I tried to defend on [Larson]. We were too far ahead already right here. Obviously, defense on [Larson] kind of gives the door to [Chastain]. It is what it is. You’re just trying to win the race. You can only see how much so much is going on from the seat. You’re trying to make the best decision you can on the last 15-100 feet. Happy to run up front, lead laps. Just really would love to get the No. 43 [car] to Victory Lane. I thought today might be the day. All day long, we were fast and had speed and especially being up front there at the end on the last 10 [laps], I knew we had a shot. Just couldn’t quite close it out.”

    Elliott, McDowell, Bowman and Harvick rounded out the top 10 on the track. Notably, teammates Kurt Busch and Wallace finished 16th and 17th behind Byron and in front of bossman Denny Hamlin following their final lap wreck.

    There were 41 lead changes for 16 different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 28 laps.

    With his seventh-place result, Chase Elliott continues to lead the regular-season standings by 21 points over Ryan Blaney, 34 over William Byron, 56 over Kyle Busch, 59 over Alex Bowman and 60 over Joey Logano.

    Results.

    1. Ross Chastain, one lap led

    2. Austin Dillon

    3. Kyle Busch, three laps led

    4. Kyle Larson, 32 laps led

    5. Martin Truex Jr.

    6. Erik Jones, 25 laps led

    7. Chase Elliott

    8. Michael McDowell

    9. Alex Bowman

    10. Kevin Harvick

    11. Ryan Blaney, 23 laps led

    12. Justin Haley

    13. Aric Almirola

    14. Corey LaJoie, one lap led

    15. William Byron, 38 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    16. Kurt Busch, one lap led

    17. Bubba Wallace, 15 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    18. Denny Hamlin, nine laps led

    19. Landon Cassill

    20. Noah Gragson

    21. Austin Cindric

    22. Christopher Bell, one lap down, seven laps led

    23. Brad Keselowski, one lap down

    24. David Ragan, two laps down

    25. JJ Yeley, three laps down, one lap led

    26. BJ McLeod, 16 laps led, two laps led

    27. Todd Gilliland – OUT, Accident

    28. Cody Ware – OUT, Dvp

    29. Cole Custer – OUT, Accident, one lap led

    30. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident

    31. Daniel Suarez – OUT, Dvp, 28 laps led

    32. Joey Logano – OUT, Accident, one lap led

    33. Ty Dillon – OUT, Accident

    34. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident

    35. Greg Biffle – OUT, Fuel pump

    36. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Accident

    37. Chase Briscoe – OUT, Accident

    38. Chris Buescher – OUT, Accident

    39. Tyler Reddick – OUT, Engine

    Next on the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ lone annual visit of this season at Dover Motor Speedway in Dover, Delaware, for a 400-mile feature on Sunday, May 1. The event is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Verstappen seals a dominant 1-2 victory for Red Bull Racing in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

    Verstappen seals a dominant 1-2 victory for Red Bull Racing in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

    Following his late retirement in Melbourne, Max Verstappen responded back with vengeance once again after grabbing a dominating victory in the third annual running of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola Circuit on Sunday, April 24.

    The 24-year-old Dutchman started the weekend by taking care of business by winning the spring qualifying event on Saturday and claiming the pole position over points leader Charles Leclerc. From there, Verstappen outlasted the wet conditions to lead all 63 laps and claim the checkered flag by more than 16 seconds over teammate Sergio “Checo” Perez, thus sealing a 1-2 victory for Oracle Red Bull Racing. 

    The victory at Imola marked Verstappen’s second consecutive win at the circuit, the second of the 2022 season and the 22nd career victory for the Dutchman in his early quest to defend his world championship. By earning a total of 34 points for winning his sprint qualifying event and the overall event, Verstappen now trails points leader Charles Leclerc by 27 points.

    “Coming into the weekend, of course, I didn’t expect something like this,” Verstappen said. “As a team, I think we executed everything very well. That’s always hard to do. Yeah, very pleased. Of course, to score the maximum amount of points. Also had the whole race win from the start. To the right calls with the tyres and also one-two [finish] at the end. Super happy. A lot of points scored. We also needed the points, so we looked like we were a bit more back on track. We have to try and keep this going…We can enjoy this Sunday for now.”

    The runner-up result for Perez marked his second consecutive runner-up result and podium result of the season as he now trails the lead in the drivers’ standings by 32 points.

    “It was a good result,” Perez said. “I think the rule number one of this conditions is to finish. It was so easy to make a mistake throughout the race. Going into the slick tyre, the warm-up phase and so on. That was going to be difficult, but it was great to get that victory [for Red Bull]…I think, given the start of the season we’ve had, it’s a great result for everyone back home.”

    Meanwhile, Lando Norris benefitted from a late spin involving points leader Charles Leclerc to snatch the final podium result by finishing in third place. The result marked the second consecutive season where Norris achieved a podium result at Imola as he also achieved the first F1 podium result of the season for the McLaren F1 Team. 

    “I think we won a lot in the start,” Norris said. “I had a perfect start, honestly. Probably the best one I’ve had in the wet. That put me ahead of the carnage. We won a lot in the beginning and we just had really good pace throughout. Not as amazing as the guys ahead, but I just managed it like I needed to do ahead of George [Russell] and that’s the way I needed to do. It was good. Fourth would’ve been amazing, but to be P3, to make the most of Charles’ mistake was just the icing on the cake on the pretty amazing weekend we’ve had so far. Super happy.”

    George Russell came home in fourth place followed by Valtteri Bottas, who notched his first top-five result with Alfa Romeo Racing. 

    Charles Leclerc, who was poised for a podium spot until he spun on Lap 53, settled for sixth place while Yuki Tsunoda, Sebastian Vettel, Kevin Magnussen and Lance Stroll finished in the top 10. The top-10 results for Vettel and Stroll recorded the first five points of the season for Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team.

    Alexander Albon settled in 11th followed by Pierre Gasly and Sir Lewis Hamilton, who qualified 14th and was never in contention for the win. Esteban Ocon and rookie Guanyu Zhou finished in the top 15 while Mick Schumacher and Daniel Ricciardo were the last two competitors to finish.

    Fernando Alonso retired in 19th place due to a sidepod damage to his Alpine A522. 

    Carlos Sainz Jr., coming off a two-year contract extension with Ferrari, ended up in 20th place, dead last, for a second consecutive event after being involved in an opening lap collision with Ricciardo.

    Results:

    1. Max Verstappen, 34 points

    2. Sergio Perez, 24 points

    3. Lando Norris, 19 points

    4. George Russell, 12 points

    5. Valtteri Bottas, 12 points

    6. Charles Leclerc, 15 points

    7. Yuki Tsunoda, six points

    8. Sebastian Vettel, four points

    9. Kevin Magnussen, three points

    10. Lance Stroll, +1 lap, one point

    11. Alexander Albon, +1 lap

    12. Pierre Gasly, +1 lap

    13. Lewis Hamilton, +1 lap

    14. Esteban Ocon, +1 lap

    15. Guanyu Zhou, +1 lap

    16. Nicholas Latifi, +1 lap

    17. Mick Schumacher, +1 lap

    18. Daniel Ricciardo, +1 lap, three points

    19. Fernando Alonso – Retired

    20. Carlos Sainz Jr. – Retired, five points

    Despite finishing in sixth place, Charles Leclerc continues to lead the drivers’ standings by 27 points over Max Verstappen, 32 over Sergio Perez, 37 over George Russell, 48 over Carlos Sainz Jr. and 51 over Lando Norris. 

    In addition, Ferrari continues to lead the constructors’ standings by 11 points over Red Bull Racing RBPT, 47 over Mercedes, 78 over McLaren Mercedes, 99 over Alfa Romeo Ferrari and 102 over Alpine Renault.

    Next on the 2022 Formula One schedule is the inaugural running of the Miami Grand Prix at Miami International Autodrome in Miami Gardens, Florida, which will occur on May 8.

  • Gragson survives triple-overtime attempts for first Xfinity victory at Talladega

    Gragson survives triple-overtime attempts for first Xfinity victory at Talladega

    Noah Gragson outlasted the carnage and the competition through three overtime attempts to etch his name as a winner at Talladega Superspeedway after fending off Jeffrey Earnhardt on the final lap to win the Ag-Pro 300 on Saturday, April 23.

    The 23-year-old Gragson from Las Vegas, Nevada, led twice for seven of 124 over-scheduled laps and was able to both grab the lead and maintain it ahead of AJ Allmendinger and the field during the third of three overtime attempts after teammate Justin Allgaier ran out of fuel and fell out of contention. From there, Gragson fended off a hard-charging Jeffrey Earnhardt to streak to his second victory of the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.

    With on-track qualifying occurring on Friday, Jeffrey Earnhardt, who was piloting the iconic No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing on a one-race deal while having support from legendary crew chief and current FOX NASCAR analyst, Larry McReynolds, started on pole position for the first time in his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 182.560 mph in 52.454 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate and Xfinity rookie Austin Hill, who posted a fast lap at 182.351 mph in 52.514 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Matt Mills, Brandon Jones, Ryan Ellis, Caesar Bacarella, Shane Lee, Riley Herbst and David Starr dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective machines.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Earnhardt quickly moved his No. 3 ForeverLawn Chevrolet Camaro to the outside lane in front of teammates Hill and Sheldon Creed while Ty Gibbs was the lead competitor on the inside lane. Through Turns 3 and 4, however, Gibbs managed to muscle his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Supra to the lead as the field stacked up and started to fan out to multiple lanes through the tri-oval. 

    Through the first lap, Gibbs was leading ahead of Earnhardt while Landon Cassill and Hill battled for third place. Behind, a three-wide battle ensued between Creed, Daniel Hemric and Ryan Sieg.

    By the fifth lap, Earnhardt moved into the lead for the first time followed by his Richard Childress Racing teammates Hill and Creed.

    Five laps later, the first caution of the even flew when Ryan Ellis lost a left-rear tire and spun in Turn 2. Under caution, the entire field pitted as names like Anthony Alfredo, Ryan Vargas, Chandler Smith, JJ Yeley. Jeremy Clements, Mason Massey, Noah Gragson, Brandon Brown, Sam Mayer, Shane Lee and Alex Labbe took only fuel on their stops. The rest of the competitors elected for fresh tires.

    On Lap 14, the race proceeded under green. At the start, teammates Hill and Earnhardt dueled for the lead as Hill had teammate Creed pushing him while Earnhardt had Cassill drafting him through Turn 2 and the backstretch. Then entering Turns 3 and 4, Hill moved his No. 21 Bennett Transp. and Logistics Chevrolet Camaro from the outside to the inside lane and managed to muscle ahead of teammate Creed to retain the lead.

    With five laps remaining in the first stage, Creed drew himself in a side-by-side battle against teammate Hill for the lead through the tri-oval before Hill managed to pull in front of Creed’s No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro to retain the lead. A few laps later, however, Josh Berry managed to gain a run through the inside lane to lead a lap for himself. 

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 25, Berry, who managed to clear Hill and pull away from the field the lap prior, claimed his second stage victory of the season. Gibbs settled in second followed by AJ Allmendinger, Cassill, Hill, Justin Allgaier, Noah Gragson, Anthony Alfredo, Sam Mayer and Brett Moffitt.

    Under the stage break, some led by Berry pitted while the rest including Alfredo, Brandon Brown, JJ Yeley, Mason Massey and Alex Labbe remained on the track.

    The second stage started on Lap 30 as Alfredo and Brown occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out to three lanes through the backstretch as Yeley made his way to the front followed by Gragson, Mayer, Alfredo and Brandon Jones while Massey drifted towards the back.

    By Lap 35 and with the field still fanned out through three lanes and in a tight pack, Gragson’s No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro was leading ahead of Brett Moffitt, Berry, Brandon Jones and Alfredo.

    Five laps later, Hill, who reassumed the lead on Lap 39, was back out in front ahead of Alfredo, Brown, Gragson, Mayer, Jeb Burton, Brandon Jones, Massey, Earnhardt and Allgaier.

    At the Lap 45 mark, all but one of the 38 starters, Josh Williams, were separated by six-and-a-half seconds as Mayer was out in front in a side-by-side battle against teammate Allgaier while Brandon Jones, Hill, Drew Dollar, Gibbs, Earnhardt, Creed, Jeb Burton and Alfredo were scored in the top 10.

    Three laps later, the caution flew for a multi-car wreck that started when Massey lost a tire, shot up the track and bumped against Berry’s No. 8 PUBG Mobile Chevrolet Camaro entering Turn 2 before spinning through the infield, clipping Yeley and pounding the inside wall as his car briefly came off the ground before coming to a rest with a wrecked car. In the midst of Massey’s hard wreck, Berry and Yeley also collided and wrecked with Moffitt and newcomer Chandler Smith getting collected. 

    The incident concluded the second stage scheduled on Lap 50 under caution as Allgaier claimed his first stage victory of the season. Teammate Mayer settled in second followed by Hill, Brandon Jones, Gibbs, Dollar, Brown, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Myatt Snider and Jeb Burton.

    Under the stage break, the field pitted. During the pit stops, Hill, Mayer, Gibbs, Snider, Jeb Burton, Herbst, Ryan Sieg, Herbst, Kaz Grala, Jeremy Clements and Gray Gaulding pitted for two tires while the rest of the field opted for four fresh tires. In addition, Brandon Jones was penalized for not remaining in a single file line with the field while entering pit road.

    With 59 laps remaining, the final stage started as Hill and Mayer occupied the front row. At the start, Hill received a big push from Gibbs to retain the lead ahead of Mayer and the competitors running in the outside lane. When the field returned to the start/finish line and as the field fanned out to multiple lanes, Hill was leading ahead of Gibbs, Creed, Herbst and Allgaier with the top-five competitors breaking away from the side-by-side action while Mayer and Ryan Sieg battled for sixth place.

    At the halfway mark between Laps 56 and 57, Hill continued to lead ahead of Gibbs, Creed, Herbst, Allgaier, Ryan Sieg, AJ Allmendinger, Alfredo, Cassill and Hemric.

    With 45 laps remaining, the caution flew due to a rear bumper cover from Berry’s car being reported on the backstretch. At the moment of the caution, Hill remained the leader ahead of Gibbs, Creed, Allgaier and Gragson. During the caution period, the field returned to pit road for tires and fuel except for Ryan Sieg.

    With 42 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Hill received a strong push from Gragson to move into the lead. When the field returned to the start/finish line, Hill retained the lead ahead of Gragson, Gibbs, Creed and Herbst. 

    Under the final 40 laps, Hill was placed on defense mode as he worked to fend off Gibbs on the outside lane and Gragson on the inside lane amid the tight pack running towards the front. 

    Then with 36 laps remaining, Gibbs, who went wide and lost touch with the leaders, made contact with Daniel Hemric through the backstretch before he veered sideways and made contact with teammates Brandon Jones and Drew Dollar along with David Starr, Sieg and Ellis before pounding the inside wall as his strong afternoon came to an end.

    With 32 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, teammates Hill and Creed dueled for the lead as Hill had Gragson drafting him while Herbst tucked in behind Creed on the outside lane before Creed managed to stabilize himself into the runner-up spot on the inside lane through Turns 3 and 4. Soon after, Allmendinger moved up to fourth place followed by a side-by-side battle against Cassill and Herbst.

    Under the final 30 laps of the event, the front-runners settled in a long single-file line as Hill was leading teammate Creed, Gragson, Allmendinger, Cassill and Snider. Not long after, Mayer started to formulate a line on the outside lane as he tried to challenge Snider for the sixth spot.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event and with the field fanning out to double lanes while in a tight pack, Hill was placed back on defense mode from the bottom to the inside lane as he retained the lead ahead of Allmendinger, Allgaier, Herbst, Creed, Mayer, Gragson, Alex Labbe, Moffitt and Cassill.

    Then with 16 laps remaining and as the intensity towards the front pack continued to brew, the caution flew when Matt Mills hit the Turn 1 wall after blowing a right-front tire as he shredded debris across the track. 

    With 12 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Hill and Allmendinger battled dead-even for the lead through the first two turns as Allmendinger had Mayer drafting him while Hill had support from Allgaier. With the field locked in a side-by-side battle, Hill managed to clear the field through Turns 3 and 4 and he went to work to defend the lead through both lanes.

    During the following lap, Mayer made a bold three-wide move on Allmendinger to move him out of the way in his bid to the front as Ryan Sieg and Jeb Burton also charged to the front. Meanwhile, Hill retained the top spot ahead of Allgaier. 

    Then with nine laps remaining, the caution returned due to a heavy multi-car wreck in Turn 1 that involved Brandon Jones, Snider, Drew Dollar, Joe Graf Jr., Brandon Brown, Kaz Grala and Ryan Vargas.

    Down to the final four laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Hill and Allgaier dueled for the lead with Jeb Burton pushing Hill while Allgaier had teammate Mayer and Allmendinger drafting him. Then through the backstretch, Mayer got loose off the front nose of Allmendinger and veered into Hill as both competitors were sent sideways into the inside wall with Mayer suffering heavy front nose damage and Hill, who led a race-high 67 laps, sustained left-side damage. In the midst of the incident, Allgaier emerged with the lead followed by Allmendinger, Creed, Jeb Burton and Cassill as the field was sent into overtime. 

    At the start of the first overtime attempt, Allgaier and Allmendinger dueled for the lead through Turns 1 and 2 before Allmendinger emerged with the lead through the backstretch ahead of Allgaier and Jeb Burton. Then, the event was sent into a second overtime attempt due to a hard incident in Turn 3 that involved Creed and Caesar Bacarella.

    During the second overtime attempt, Allgaier and Allmendinger dueled until Allgaier broke free from the pack with the lead through the backstretch. Then the event was sent into a third overtime attempt when Clements ran out of fuel as his car came to a stop below the apron between Turns 1 and 2.

    At the start of the third overtime attempt, Allgaier, who restarted on the front row and on the outside lane, ran out of fuel and pulled his car out of line while teammate Gragson, who received a strong start, rocketed to the lead ahead of Allmendinger, Ryan Sieg and the field. 

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Gragson was leading ahead of Allmendinger, Sieg, Jeb Burton, Jeffrey Earnhardt and the field. In Turn 1, Sieg nearly got turned off the front nose of Jeb Burton, but he managed to straighten his car and proceed forward without wrecking. This allowed Earnhardt to gain a run on Allmendinger for the runner-up spot as Herbst, Moffitt and Cassill made their move to the front. 

    Then in Turns 3 and 4, Allmendinger and Herbst rubbed fenders, which allowed Earnhardt to make a bold three-wide move to move into second place as he tried to challenge Gragson for the win. With Earnhardt unable to gain a draft from the field to overtake Gragson for the top spot, Gragson was able to stabilize himself through both lanes and streak across the finish line in first place with the victory by 0.131 seconds over Earnhardt.

    The victory was the seventh of Gragson’s Xfinity Series career and the second superspeedway victory for him after he won at Daytona International Speedway in February 2020. He also became the second Xfinity Series regular to achieve multiple victories this season alongside Ty Gibbs. 

    “Our 50th anniversary Bass Pro Shops Chevy Camaro was awesome,” Gragson said on FS1. “This JR Motorsports team, they never quit. Thanks to everybody back at JR Motorsports. The Fab shop. Everybody that helps get all four [JR Motorsports] cars to the race track. We had four really fast cars. [Crew chief] Luke Lambert and the rest of this Bass Pro Shops team. They called one hell of a race. It came down to fuel strategy. There’s one point where I was like, ‘Man, I can’t get up there.’ We just don’t have the car fast enough, but we never quit. That’s the most important thing…I’ve got to run in the Cup race [on Sunday], but the Talladega Boulevard looks a lot more enchanting right now and inviting, so I might have to go out there and then throw some beads. We’ll go have some fun tonight, baby.”

    While Gragson celebrated with the fans on the frontstretch, Jeffrey Earnhardt was left with smiles on pit road as he notched a career-best second-place result in his 136th start in the Xfinity circuit and at a track instilled with a rich legacy towards the Earnhardt name, most notably towards Jeffrey’s late grandfather, Dale Earnhardt Sr., and uncle, Dale Earnhardt Jr. 

    “[I needed] Just a push there at the end,” Earnhardt said. “Everyone spreads apart and it’s really hard to build a run by yourself without someone at the back. Unfortunately, our teammates got wiped out early. Man, I’m living a dream here. I’m so thankful to get this opportunity. So thankful for everyone to allow me to come do this…[Richard Childress Racing] for building this amazing race car. We were fast all weekend long. We just fell a little short there and I hate it, but congrats to Noah. He’s good at plate races. Fell up a little bit short, but hopefully, this will lead to a lot more to come in the future and we’ll be able to come back and give’em a run for their money. Just very thankful to even be here. I’ll forever be grateful for this opportunity.”

    Meanwhile, Allmendinger Came home in third place and captured the third Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus, which was his second of this season.

    “This place makes me shake,” Allmendinger said. “That last lap, I thought I wrecked at least seven times. The first thing, just to get out with a clean race car, finish in the top five was a big deal, but to win another Xfinity Dash 4 Cash [bonus]. Comcast, Xfinity, thank you so much for what you do. For allowing us to go for a hundred grand in these four races. To win two of them is a big deal…We get to do it again at Dover.”

    Teammate Landon Cassill and Ryan Sieg finished in the top five as they will join Gragson and Allmendinger to battle for the fourth and final Dash 4 Cash bonus next weekend at Dover Motor Speedway. Alfredo, Herbst, Joe Graf Jr., Snider and Brett Moffitt finished in the top 10. 

    There were 25 lead changes for 14 different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 39 laps.

    With his third-place result, AJ Allmendinger continues to lead the regular-season standings by 40 points over Noah Gragson and 45 over Ty Gibbs.

    Results.

    1. Noah Gragson, seven laps led

    2. Jeffrey Earnhardt, 10 laps led

    3. AJ Allmendinger, six laps led

    4. Landon Cassill

    5. Ryan Sieg

    6. Anthony Alfredo, three laps led

    7. Riley Herbst

    8. Joe Graf Jr.

    9. Myatt Snider

    10. Brett Moffitt

    11. Josh Berry, five laps led, Stage 1 winner

    12. Alex Labbe

    13. Drew Dollar, one lap led

    14. Shane Lee

    15. Jeb Burton

    16. Joey Gase

    17. Bayley Currey

    18. Kyle Sieg

    19. Josh Williams

    20. Ryan Vargas

    21. Gray Gaulding, one lap led

    22. Justin Allgaier – OUT, Fuel pressure, 13 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    23. Jeremy Clements, two laps down

    24. Sheldon Creed – OUT, Accident, one lap led

    25. Caesar Bacarella – OUT, Accident

    26. Brandon Jones – OUT, Dvp

    27. Austin Hill – OUT, Accident, 67 laps led

    28. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident, two laps led

    29. Kaz Grala – OUT, Accident

    30. Brandon Brown – OUT, Accident, one lap led

    31. Matt Mills – OUT, Accident

    32. Ryan Ellis – OUT, Dvp

    33. David Starr – OUT, Dvp, one lap led

    34. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Dvp

    35. Ty Gibbs – OUT, Accident, five laps led

    36. JJ Yeley – OUT, Dvp, two laps led

    37. Mason Massey – OUT, Accident

    38. Chandler Smith – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ lone event at Dover Motor Speedway in Dover, Delaware, where the fourth and final Xfinity Dash 4 Cash initiative will occur. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, April 30, at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Sainz inks two-year F1 contract extension with Ferrari

    Sainz inks two-year F1 contract extension with Ferrari

    Scuderia Ferrari announced that Carlos Sainz Jr. has inked a two-year contract extension to continue to drive for the championship-winning organization through the 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship season.

    The news comes as the 27-year-old Sainz from Madrid, Spain, is off to a strong start in his second season with Ferrari, where he has notched two podiums during the first three F1 events this season: a runner-up result at Bahrain and a third-place finish at Saudi Arabia in March. He is currently ranked in third place in the drivers’ standings.

    “I am very happy to have renewed my contract with Scuderia Ferrari, Sainz said. “I have always said that there is no better Formula 1 team to race for and after over a year with them, I can confirm that putting on this race suit and representing this team is unique and incomparable. My first season at Maranello was solid and constructive, with the whole group progressing together. The result of all that work has been clear to see so far season.”

    Sainz is currently campaigning in his eighth full-time season in Formula One that includes previous season starts with Toro Rosso, Renault and McLaren prior to Ferrari. During his first season with Ferrari in 2021, he notched a career-best runner-up result during the Monaco Grand Prix in May, a total of four podiums and 20 top-10 points-paying results as he finished in a career-best fifth place in the final standings.

    Through 143 career starts in Formula One, Sainz has achieved a total of eight podiums, 570 points and an average-finishing result of 10.3.

    “I feel strengthened by this renewed show of confidence in me and now I can’t wait to get in the car, to do my best for Ferrari and to give its fans plenty to cheer about,” Sainz added. “The F1-75 is proving to be a front-runner, which can allow me to chase my goals on track, starting with taking my first Formula 1 win.”

    The decision for Ferrari to retain Sainz means that he will remain as a teammate to Charles Leclerc, the current championship leader who has won two of the first three events this season at Bahrain and Australia. Leclerc is currently competing with a Ferrari contract that also runs through 2024.

    “I have said several times that I believe we have the best driver pairing in Formula 1 and so, with every passing race, it seemed a completely natural step to extend Carlos’ contract, thus ensuring stability and continuity,” Mattia Binotto, Team Principal & Managing Director of Ferrari, said. “In his time so far with the team, he has proved to have the talent we expected from him, delivering impressive results and making the most of all opportunities. Outside the car, he is a hard worker with an eye for the smallest detail, which has helped the whole group to improve and progress. Together, we can aim for ambitious targets and I’m sure that, along with Charles, he can play a significant part in fuelling the Ferrari legend and will write new chapters in the history of our team.”

    With his new, extended contract official, Sainz is set to proceed towards his quests of winning his maiden Grand Prix event and World Championship title by competing at Imola Circuit on Sunday, April 24, for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

  • Kyle Busch claims 60th Cup career win in wild finish at Bristol Dirt Course

    Kyle Busch claims 60th Cup career win in wild finish at Bristol Dirt Course

    In an unexpected turn of events, Kyle Busch benefitted from a final lap incident involving leaders Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe to storm to his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season in the second annual, rain-delayed Food City Dirt Race at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course on Sunday, April 17.

    The two-time Cup champion from Las Vegas, Nevada, came into Sunday night’s feature on Bristol’s dirt course with five results in the top 10 through the first eight scheduled events. When the final lap of the main event occurred, Busch appeared to have a solid third-place result sealed. Then as Reddick and Briscoe tangled while battling for the win on the final lap, Busch managed to erase his deficit and cycle to the lead ahead of Reddick to capture another win at Thunder Valley and achieve career win No. 60 in NASCAR’s premier series.

    The starting lineup was determined through four 15-lap heat events on Saturday, where the competitors accumulate points for their finishing results and for passes that improved their original starting spots. 

    Despite finishing in the runner-up spot behind Tyler Reddick during the first heat event, Cole Custer earned his first Cup career pole position for the main event after accumulating 16 points, nine for finishing in second place and seven for improving from his ninth-place starting spot. Joining him on the front row was Christopher Bell, who won the second heat event and racked up 14 points, 10 for winning the heat event and four for improving from his fifth-place starting spot.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Custer shot out with a brief early advantage until teammate Chase Briscoe, who qualified in fourth place, challenged and assumed the top spot when the field returned to the start/finish line. As Briscoe led the first lap, Christopher Bell moved his No. 20 DeWalt Toyota TRD Camry into the runner-up spot while Custer fell back to third. Behind, Tyler Reddick and Justin Haley battled for fourth place in front of a hard-charging Kyle Larson in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Briscoe retained a narrow advantage ahead of Bell while Custer, Reddick and Larson were in the top five. Ty Dillon, who won the fourth and final heat event, was up in sixth place followed by Haley, Alex Bowman, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch.

    By Lap 12, Custer pitted due to an overheating issue while teammate Kevin Harvick was lapped by the field. Just as Aric Almirola was making a pit stop to have the front grille of his No. 10 Cummins/Rush Truck Center Ford Mustang clean during the following lap, the first caution of the event flew due to mud on the track.

    Under the first caution, the entire field made a mandatory pit stop to have their grilles and windshields clean from the mud and the dirt, with Briscoe retaining the lead ahead of Bell, Reddick, Larson and Haley. By then, teammates Harvick and Custer were pinned a lap behind the leaders despite taking the wave around.

    When the race restarted on Lap 25, Briscoe rocketed away from Bell to retain the lead as Larson also muscled his way into the runner-up spot. At the same time, Ty Dillon battled against Bell for third place while Kyle Busch moved into the top five ahead of Reddick and Austin Dillon.

    By Lap 35, Briscoe was leading by more than half a second over Larson followed by Ty Dillon, Bell, Kyle Busch, Reddick, Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, Bowman and Haley.

    Just then, trouble struck for the leader Briscoe on Lap 49, who got up on the high banking in Turn 3 and fell off the pace entering Turn 4 while Larson stormed to the lead. Two turns later, Briscoe spun in Turn 2 after cutting a right-rear tire on his No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang.

    On Lap 55, the race restarted under green as Larson retained the lead. Behind, Ty Dillon and Bell battled for second while Austin Dillon and Bowman were up in the top five ahead of Kyle Busch’s No. 18 M&M’s Toyota TRD Camry.

    With reports of light rain lingering close to the track under the final 10 laps of the first stage, Larson extended his advantage to eight-tenths of a second ahead of Ty Dillon while Bell, Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch while Bowman, who nearly spun, slipped back to sixth ahead of Joey Logano, Reddick, Blaney and Chris Buescher.

    When the first stage concluded under caution on Lap 75 due to Justin Allgaier wrecking in Turn 3, Larson captured his first stage victory of the season. Ty Dillon settled in second followed by Bell, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Bowman, Logano, Reddick, Blaney and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

    Under the stage break, some like Daniel Suarez, Ross Chastain and Briscoe remained on the track while the rest of the field led by Larson peeled off the track to pit road for service. By then, Harvick received the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap while Custer was still pinned a lap behind.

    The second stage started on Lap 75 as teammates Suarez and Chastain occupied the front row. At the start, Suarez rocketed with the lead ahead of Larson, who overtook Chastain for the runner-up spot while Briscoe and Bell battled in the top five. Behind, Kyle Busch was in sixth ahead of Ty and Austin Dillon.

    On Lap 91, the caution flew when Alex Bowman got loose and spun his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 off the front nose of Chris Buescher in Turn 4. Under the caution period, Hamlin took his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry to the garage due to a blown engine as he suffered his fourth DNF of the season.

    Six laps later, the race proceeded under green as Suarez retained the lead ahead of Larson and the field. Not long after, however, the caution returned for a multi-car pileup on the backstretch that involved Corey LaJoie, Noah Gragson, Bowman and Harvick, who retired his No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang in the garage.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 105, teammates Suarez and Chastain dueled for the lead with the former retaining the top spot while Kyle Busch tried to split both Trackhouse Racing teammates. 

    By Lap 110, Trackhouse teammates Suarez and Chastain battled for the lead while Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Bell dueled for third place. Briscoe, meanwhile, was in fifth ahead of the field. 

    Three laps later, the caution returned when Brad Keselowski made contact against Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through Turns 1 and 2, which got Keselowski sideways as he spun while barely clipping former teammate Ryan Blaney.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 119, Suarez retained the lead while Bell muscled his way into the runner-up spot as he started to put pressure on Suarez for the lead.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 125, Suarez was leading ahead of Bell, Larson, Briscoe and Kyle Busch while Chastain, Chase Elliott, Logano, Ty Dillon and Blaney were in the top 10. Then during the following lap, the caution flew due to debris reported on the backstretch.

    By Lap 131, the race restarted under green as Suarez retained the lead while Briscoe issued a challenge for the lead. The caution, however, flew due to an incident on the backstretch that involved LaJoie, Harrison Burton and Bubba Wallace,

    On Lap 139, the race restarted under green. At the start, Suarez was locked in a three-wide battle with Bell and Briscoe before Briscoe assumed the top spot. In the process, Bell moved up to second while Suarez fell back to third place ahead of Chase Elliott.

    By Lap 145, Briscoe was leading by more than four-tenths of a second over Bell while Suarez, Elliott and Logano were in the top five.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 150, Briscoe captured his first stage victory of the season. Bell settled in second followed by Suarez, Elliott, Kyle Busch, Larson, Logano, Michael McDowell, Blaney and Reddick.

    Under the stage break, names like Kyle Busch, Logano, Blaney, Reddick, Austin Dillon, Keselowski, Haley, William Byron, Bubba Wallace, Buescher, rookie Harrison Burton, Bowman, JJ Yeley, Aric Almirola, rookie Austin Cindric and Cody Ware remained on the track while the rest led by Briscoe pitted.

    Following the pit stop procedures, the race was red-flagged due to precipitation. At the moment of the event’s hiatus, Briscoe was scored the leader. When the red flag was lifted following an extensive delay and the race proceeded under caution, Kyle Busch cycled to the lead. As the competitors made their way back on the track, Ross Chastain, who noted that his engine expired during the red flag period, retired.

    With 100 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green. At the start, Kyle Busch was leading until Tyler Reddick made his way to the front. 

    Eleven laps later, the caution flew due to a multi-car stack-up and wreck in Turn 3 that involved Cody Ware, Elliott, Suarez, Martin Truex Jr. and Stenhouse.

    With 83 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green as Reddick retained the lead ahead of Logano, Blaney, Austin Dillon and the field. It took only one lap, however, for the caution to return when Erik Jones made contact with Stenhouse entering Turn 2 before spinning his No. 43 Tide Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 across the outside wall.

    Down to the final 75 laps, the race proceeded under green as Reddick retained the lead ahead of Logano, Austin Dillon and the field. The caution, however, returned three laps later when rookie Todd Gilliland got loose and spun in Turn 2.

    Another five laps later, the race restarted under green and it was Reddick who fended off the pack and retained the lead. 

    With 43 laps remaining, the caution returned when Stenhouse spun for the second time in the event. It then took only three laps for the event to restart under green.

    Then with 39 laps remaining, trouble ignited for Austin Dillon when he fell off the pace in Turn 4 and caused the field to scramble to avoid hitting him. In the midst of the scramble, JJ Yeley barely made contact with Dillon while Kurt Busch, who veered dead right to avoid hitting Dillon, ended up turning himself into the outside wall as he also collected Almirola.

    During the caution period, the race was red-flagged for a second time due to another round of precipitation. 

    When the red flag lifted and the race restarted with 24 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Reddick retained the lead ahead of Kyle Busch, Logano, Briscoe, Blaney, Bell and the field.

    Under the final 20 laps, Briscoe and Kyle Busch engaged in a fierce battle for the runner-up spot while Reddick continued to lead. 

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Reddick, who continued to lead, had Briscoe starting to erase his deficit as he was half a second behind.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Reddick was ahead by less than two-tenths of a second over Briscoe, who was right behind the rear bumper of Reddick’s No. 8 3Chi Chevrolet. Through Turns 1 and 2, Reddick retained the lead. Then in Turn 3, Briscoe made a final lap dive beneath Reddick’s car in a bid for the lead, but slipped sideways in the dirt and clipped Reddick in the process as both spun from the top to the bottom lane in Turn 3. 

    Following a full 360 spin, Reddick tried to limp to the finish line with the lead while Briscoe came to a rest backward below the apron. Just as Reddick had victory within his grasp, Kyle Busch, who was trailing the two leaders by less than four seconds at the start of the final lap, managed to edge Reddick at the finish line to win by 0.330 seconds. 

    With his first victory of the season and by becoming the eighth different winner through the first nine events of the 2022 season, Kyle Busch notched his 60th NASCAR Cup Series career win in his 615th series start, which kept him in ninth place on the all-time Cup wins list. In addition, Busch tied seven-time NASCAR champion Richard Petty’s record of achieving at least one Cup victory in 18 consecutive seasons. He also achieved his ninth Cup victory at Bristol Motor Speedway, but first on dirt. 

    Photo by Christian Gardner for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “We got one,” Busch, who only the final lap of 250, said on FOX. “It doesn’t matter how you get them. It’s all about getting them. Man, I feel like Dale Earnhardt Sr. right now. This is awesome. I didn’t even do anything. Just a testament to our team, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota, M&M’s…[The car] being fast. Fast enough to stay in contention. Fast enough to see those guys. I don’t know why we just couldn’t fire off after the rain. Every time it rained, both times, it just would not fire. It took it about 20 laps to get going. Overall, just real pumped to be back. Real pumped to get a win. This one means a lot. I could win on any surface here at Bristol. Bring it on, baby!”

    Reddick, who led a race-high 99 laps and was a few feet away from achieving his first Cup career win, settled in a disappointing second place for the fourth time in his career while Briscoe, who led 59 laps and rallied from his early spin to contend for his second Cup triumph, tumbled down the leaderboard to 22nd. Following the event, both competitors managed to share their perspectives on the incident and shake hands in the process.

    “I don’t think I did everything right, to be honest with you,” Reddick said. “Briscoe was able to run me back down there. Just looking at it, I should have done a little bit better job of just…I don’t know. I shouldn’t have let him get that close. He ran me back down. Worked really hard to do that. I mean, you’re racing on dirt; going for the move on the final corner. It’s everything that as a driver you hope to battle for in his situation. Made it really exciting for the fans. It does suck, but we were able to finish second still. I’m being honest. I should have done a better job and pulled away so he wasn’t in range to try to make that move. That’s how I look at it.”

    Logano, the reigning Bristol Dirt Course winner, came home in third place as Larson and Blaney finished in the top five. Rounding out the top 10 were Bowman, Bell, Elliott, McDowell and Ty Dillon.

    There were six lead changes among five different drivers. The race featured 14 cautions for 82 laps. 

    With his eighth-place finish, Chase Elliott continues to lead the regular-season standings by three points over Ryan Blaney, 21 over Joey Logano, 29 over William Byron and 51 over both Alex Bowman and Kyle Busch.

    Results.

    1. Kyle Busch, one lap led

    2. Tyler Reddick, 99 laps led

    3. Joey Logano

    4. Kyle Larson, 27 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    5. Ryan Blaney

    6. Alex Bowman 

    7. Christopher Bell

    8. Chase Elliott 

    9. Michael McDowell

    10. Ty Dillon

    11. Brad Keselowski

    12. Daniel Suarez, 64 laps led

    13. Cole Custer

    14. Justin Haley

    15. Chris Buescher

    16. Austin Cindric

    17. Todd Gilliland

    18. William Byron

    19. Corey LaJoie 

    20. Harrison Burton 

    21. Martin Truex Jr.

    22. Chase Briscoe, 59 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    23. Aric Almirola

    24. Erik Jones

    25. Josh Williams

    26. Cody Ware

    27. Noah Gragson, two laps down

    28. Bubba Wallace, five laps down

    29. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 10 laps down

    30. JJ Yeley – OUT, Accident

    31. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident

    32. Kurt Busch – OUT, Accident

    33. Ross Chastain – OUT, Engine

    34. Kevin Harvick – OUT, Accident

    35. Denny Hamlin – OUT, Engine

    36. Justin Allgaier – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is Talladega Superspeedway, the first of two visits to the 2.66-mile superspeedway venue in Lincoln, Alabama, for the series, which is scheduled to occur on Sunday, April 24. The coverage for the event is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Rhodes earns dominant Truck victory at Bristol Dirt Course

    Rhodes earns dominant Truck victory at Bristol Dirt Course

    A year after finishing in the runner-up spot during the inaugural NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course, Ben Rhodes was not going to be denied. On Saturday night, April 16, during Easter weekend, Rhodes rose to the occasion and persevered over a five-lap shootout against Carson Hocevar to win the Pinty’s Truck Race on Bristol’s dirt course.

    The reigning Truck Series champion from Louisville, Kentucky, led a race-high 95 of 150-scheduled laps and captured both stages before losing the lead and having to methodically carve his way to the front throughout the final stage. Then during a restart with five laps remaining, Rhodes was able to utilize the outside lane and his fast truck to his advantage as he rocketed to the lead and muscled away from Hocevar and John Hunter Nemechek for the remainder of the event to capture his first victory of the 2022 season as he pursues his quest to defend his series championship.

    The starting lineup for the main event was determined through four 15-lap heat events on Saturday, where the competitors accumulate points for their finishing results and passing by improving from their original starting spots. 

    By winning the third heat event and earning a total of 15 points, 10 for winning the heat event and five for improving from his sixth-place starting spot, Joey Logano started on pole position for the main event. Joining him on the front row was Ben Rhodes, who finished in the runner-up spot behind Logano but earned 14 points, nine for finishing second and five for improving from his seventh-place starting spot.

    Jessica Friesen, wife of driver Stewart Friesen, and veteran Norm Benning were the two competitors who failed to qualify for the main event.

    Prior to the event, Hailie Deegan dropped to the rear of the field due to starting the event in a backup truck along with Andrew Gordon, who received unapproved adjustments to his truck.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Rhodes launched his No. 99 Tenda Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to an early challenge for the lead beneath Logano’s No. 54 Planet Fitness Ford F-150 through the first two turns. Rhodes would then prevail entering the third turn and come back around to lead the first lap.

    Behind Rhodes and Logano, Stewart Friesen was in third place ahead of Chandler Smith, who had Parker Kligerman and Carson Hocevar engaged in a side-by-side battle for a spot in the top five. 

    By the fifth lap, Rhodes stretched his advantage to half a second over Logano. Friesen and Chandler Smith retained their respective spots of third and fourth while Chase Elliott, who was piloting the No. 7 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST for Spire Motorsports, was up in the top five.

    Through the first 20 laps of the event, Rhodes was leading by more than a second over Logano followed by Friesen, Elliott and Ty Majeski while Kligerman, Chandler Smith, Carson Hocevar, Matt DiBenedetto and Colby Howard were in the top 10. Matt Crafton was in 11th ahead of Austin Wayne Self, Grant Enfinger, John Hunter Nemechek and Austin Dillon while Christian Eckes, Derek Kraus, Zane Smith, Tate Fogleman and rookie Jack Wood were in the top 20. Tyler Ankrum was in 21st ahead of Buddy Kofoid, Kaz Grala, Harrison Burton and Andrew Gordon while Hailie Deegan was mired inside the top 30.

    Four laps later, the first caution of the event flew when Andrew Gordon spun in Turn 4.

    When the race restarted on Lap 31, Rhodes retained the lead following a strong start while Majeski overtook Logano for the runner-up spot. Soon after, Majeski challenged teammate Rhodes for the lead, but the latter prevailed as Stewart Friesen, who also passed Logano, joined the battle.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 40, Rhodes, who led all the laps in the first stage, captured his fourth stage victory of the season. Teammate Majeski settled in second followed by Friesen, Logano, Chandler Smith, Kligerman, Elliott, Crafton, Carson Hocevar and Matt DiBenedetto.

    Under the stage break, names like Rhodes, Majeski and Austin Wayne Self remained on the track while the rest led by Friesen pitted. It was soon revealed that Rhodes, who did not pit, meant to, though he retained the lead.

    The second stage started on Lap 41 as teammates Rhodes and Majeski occupied the front row. At the start, Rhodes rocketed with another strong start to retain the lead ahead of teammate Majeski and Austin Wayne Self while Friesen and Logano battled for fourth place ahead of a pack of competitors that included Kligerman, Chandler Smith, Elliott, Nemechek and Crafton. 

    At the Lap 50 mark, Rhodes was leading by less than four-tenths of a second over teammate Majeski while Self, Logano and Kligerman were in the top five. Elliott was in sixth ahead of Chandler Smith, John Hunter Nemechek, Friesen and Hocevar while Buddy Kofoid was in 11th ahead of Crafton, Christian Eckes, Grant Enfinger and Zane Smith.

    Five laps later, the caution returned when Dean Thompson spun and backed his No. 44 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST against the outside wall between Turns 2 and 3. In the midst of the incident, Blaine Perkins got turned below the apron, though he continued without sustaining any significant damage.

    By Lap 61, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Rhodes retained the lead on the outside lane while Majeski fended off Logano for the runner-up spot. Meanwhile, Nemechek challenged Self for fourth place.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 75, a battle for the lead ignited between teammates Rhodes and Majeski as Majeski launched repeated attacks on Rhodes for the top spot. Meanwhile, Logano trailed by more than two seconds in third place while Nemechek and Kligerman were in the top five. Elliott was in sixth ahead of Self, Hocevar, Buddy Kofoid and Chandler Smith while Derek Kraus, Eckes, Zane Smith, Friesen and Austin Dillon were in the top 15. By then, Crafton, Enfinger and DiBenedetto were mired in the top 10 while Hailie Deegan was in 26th behind Harrison Burton.

    Ten laps later, Rhodes continued to lead ahead of teammate Majeski while Nemechek muscled his No. 4 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to third place ahead of Logano and Kligerman, though Nemechek and Logano bumped against one another in Turn 3. With Elliott in sixth, Kofoid was up in seventh place ahead of Hocevar.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 90, Rhodes, who swept both stages of the event, captured his fifth stage victory of the season. Teammate Majeski settled in second followed by Nemechek, Kligerman, Logano, Elliott, Kofoid, Hocevar, Chandler Smith and Derek Kraus.

    Under the stage break, names like Nemechek, Kligerman, Kofoid, Hocevar, Chandler Smith, Enfinger, Eckes, Zane Smith, Tate Fogleman, Mike Marlar, Chase Purdy and Deegan remained on the track while the rest led by Rhodes pitted.

    With 58 laps remaining, the final stage started under green. At the start, Nemechek retained the lead through the first two turns until Hocevar launched his No. 42 Premier Security Solutions Chevrolet Silverado RST into the lead approaching Turn 4. Despite being pressured by Nemechek, Hocevar retained the lead while Kligerman, Enfinger and Kofoid were in the top five. Meanwhile, Chandler Smith, Elliott and Majeski were in the top 10 while Rhodes and Logano were mired in the top 15.

    Four laps later, the caution flew when Self got the front nose of his No. 22 AM Chevrolet Silverado RST dead-locked and stuck to the rear bumper of DiBenedetto’s No. 25 TW Frierson Chevrolet Silverado RST entering Turn 4. With both competitors trying to shake one another off of each other, they eventually came to a stop in Turn 2 while still stuck to one another. The incident was enough for NASCAR to pause the event to allow the safety crew to separate the competitors.

    Following a delay of nearly six minutes as the red flag was lifted, the race restarted under green with 45 laps remaining. At the start, Hocevar retained the lead ahead of Nemechek, who was soon overtaken by Enfinger.

    Five laps later, Hocevar was leading by more than half a second over Nemechek while Kligerman, Enfinger and Kofoid were in the top five. Meanwhile, Rhodes, who was in the top 10, was trying to march his way back into the top five.

    A few laps later, the caution flew due to a single-truck incident between Turns 2 and 3 that involved Keith McGee.

    Down to the final 32 laps of the event, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Hocevar prevailed on the outside lane to retain the lead while Nemechek tried to launch another attack on Hocevar for the lead. Behind, Buddy Kofoid muscled his way into third place ahead of Kligerman, Enfinger and Rhodes.

    Six laps later, the caution returned when Chandler Smith spun his No. 18 Charge Me Toyota Tundra TRD Pro after being bumped by Eckes through Turns 2 and 3. The contact caused Smith’s truck to spin in a looped circle and he spun it again while trying to straighten his truck, though he was dodged by the field.

    Another seven laps later, the race restarted under green. At the start, Hocevar retained the lead following another strong start while Nemechek fended off Kligerman to remain in second place. Behind, Majeski and Kofoid battled for fourth place while Rhodes was in sixth.

    With 15 laps remaining, Rhodes muscled his way into the top five as he went to pursue Kofoid for fourth place. Meanwhile, Hocevar retained a narrow advantage over Nemechek. 

    Then with 11 laps remaining, the caution flew when Rhodes, who was battling Kofoid for fourth place, pulled a slide job on Kofoid through Turns 1 and 2, which caused Kofoid to step out of the gas and spin his No. 51 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. Behind, Majeski also spun as both competitors came to a sliding halt on the bottom lane. Both competitors, however, were unable to escape damage as Kraus, who was unable to slow his truck below the apron, collided with them. The incident spoiled Kofoid and Majeski’s run towards the front.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Hocevar retained the lead while Rhodes used the outside lane to rocket past Nemechek and Kligerman for the runner-up spot. Just as the field returned to the start/finish line, Rhodes challenged and quickly overtook Hocevar for the lead. Hocevar then tried to mount a challenge beneath Rhodes in Turn 3, but the latter remained on the outside lane to muscle away with the lead.

    With two laps remaining, Rhodes was leading by less than four-tenths of a second over Hocevar while Nemechek retained third ahead of Kligerman, Eckes and Elliott.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Rhodes was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Hocevar while third-place Nemechek trailed by more than a second. Having no challengers put the pressure to him for a final lap, Rhodes was able to pull away, slide back around to the frontstretch and claim the victory by more than eight-tenths of a second over Hocevar.

    In addition to claiming his first victory of the season, first at Bristol and first on dirt, Rhodes claimed his sixth career win in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in his 147th series start. The victory was enough for Rhodes to add 34 points to his lead in the regular season standings as he became the third series regular to be guaranteed a spot in this year’s Truck Playoffs.

    Photo by Christian Gardner for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “I thought we gave it away for a moment,” Rhodes, who led a race-high 95 of 150 laps, said on FS1. “Michael Waltrip asked me on the radio, ‘Did you mean to stay out [after the first stage]?’ The real answer was no. Driving back through the pack like that was really, really tough. Not something we wanted to do. My crew gave me such an awesome Tenda Toyota Tundra this weekend. I wasn’t gonna let them down. I had to go back up there and earn the spot back. Really, really proud of all their effort. It looked like I had really fast teammates today, too. Thanks, everybody, for coming out. Happy Easter!” 

    Hocevar, who led 55 laps, notched the second runner-up result of his career while Nemechek notched his third consecutive top-five result in recent weeks by finishing in third place.

    “[I could have] Either ripped the top or crashed [Rhodes],” Hocevar said. “I hate saying that, but that’s part of this racing, right? I just really couldn’t compete with him. He just had better tires. He was the fastest truck all day, so I was just trying really hard and hoping I could hold off. I kept looking up in the mirror. I was like, ‘Man, he’s fifth. He can’t really go anywhere.’ Once I knew he was in fourth, I was like, “Oh, I’m in trouble here.’ He slide-jobbed me and I should’ve prepared for it. crossed him over and then, raced him really hard. Second just sucks. It does. It’s terrible, especially being that close…Just close, but [the late Bryan Clauson] was definitely with me tonight, running that thing as hard as we were” 

    “Just didn’t quite have it tonight,” Nemechek said. “We struggled with some forward drive, just couldn’t get it off the corner kind of like [Rhodes] could. He was definitely the dominant truck tonight. Congrats to those guys. Thank you to everyone at [Kyle Busch Motorsports]. After the first string of races, I feel like we’re kind of on a roll here with top fives.”

    Kligerman brought the No. 75 Henderson Motorsports entry to a fourth-place result while Eckes recorded his second top-five result of the season by finishing fifth. Logano, Elliott, Enfinger, Crafton and Zane Smith finished in the top 10.

    Notably, Friesen finished 11th, Austin Dillon came home in 14th and Deegan settled in 18th ahead of Chandler Smith and Harrison Burton. Majeski fell back to 21st while Buddy Kofoid ended up in 27th place behind Kaz Grala.

    There were three lead changes for two different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 43 laps. All 36 starters finished the event, with 27 finishing on the lead lap.

    With his first victory of the season, Ben Rhodes continues to lead the regular-season standings by 38 points over Chandler Smith, 51 over Stewart Friesen, 54 over Zane Smith and 62 over John Hunter Nemechek.

    Results.

    1. Ben Rhodes, 95 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    2. Carson Hocevar, 55 laps led

    3. John Hunter Nemechek

    4. Parker Kligerman

    5. Christian Eckes

    6. Joey Logano

    7. Chase Elliott

    8. Grant Enfinger

    9. Matt Crafton

    10. Zane Smith

    11. Stewart Friesen

    12. Colby Howard

    13. Chase Purdy

    14. Austin Dillon

    15. Tanner Gray

    16. Dean Thompson

    17. Mike Marlar

    18. Hailie Deegan

    19. Chandler Smith

    20. Harrison Burton

    21. Ty Majeski

    22. Jack Wood

    23. Timmy Hill

    24. Spencer Boyd

    25. Blaine Perkins

    26. Kaz Grala

    27. Buddy Kofoid

    28. Tate Fogleman, one lap down

    29. Derek Kraus, one lap down

    30. Lawless Alan, one lap down

    31. Tyler Ankrum, three laps down

    32. Andrew Gordon, four laps down

    33. Kris Wright, four laps down

    34. Keith McGee, four laps down

    35. Matt DiBenedetto, five laps down

    36. Austin Wayne Self, seven laps down

    Next on the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule is the series’ first of two visits of this season at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. The event is scheduled to occur on May 6 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Chandler Smith joins Sam Hunt Racing for three-race Xfinity Series deal in 2022

    Chandler Smith joins Sam Hunt Racing for three-race Xfinity Series deal in 2022

    Sam Hunt Racing announced that Chandler Smith will be piloting the team’s No. 26 Toyota Supra in three NASCAR Xfinity Series events throughout the 2022 season, which will mark his inaugural appearances in the series.

    The 19-year-old Smith from Talking Rock, Georgia, will making his Xfinity debut at Talladega Superspeedway on April 23 followed by Dover Motor Speedway on April 30. He will cap off his Xfinity schedule by competing at Homestead-Miami Speedway on October 22 during the 2022 Xfinity Series Playoffs.

    Smith currently competes on a full-time basis in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Through 43 career starts, he has achieved three victories, including one this season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. He has also achieved a pole, 17 top-five results, 22 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 14.0. Smith also captured the 2021 Truck Rookie-of-the-Year title on the strength of two victories and making the 2021 Truck Playoffs, where he finished in eighth place in the final standings.

    To go along with his achievements in the Truck Series, Smith has also achieved nine victories, 10 poles, 22 top-five results and 29 top-10 results in 34 career starts in the ARCA Menards Series.

    “It’s definitely going to be exciting,” said Smith. “The experience just being able to come up and do a longer race and have more pit stops with a different car instead of a truck is going to be all in all a lot different than what I’m accustomed to. I’m really looking forward to the challenge. It’s big for me to join Sam’s team. SHR is still kind of a smaller team. They are still learning a lot and in their baby years, and I feel like I may have a little bit to bring to the table myself to help them excel and to bring a new aspect to the team. Hopefully I can be an asset and help a little bit with their development and growth. I can’t wait to be a small part of this team’s huge success as it continues to grow.”

    Smith’s three-race schedule with Sam Hunt Racing means that he will become the sixth different competitor to drive for the organization based in Mooresville, North Carolina, throughout the 2022 Xfinity Series season. Other competitors who have competed for the team this season include Parker Chase, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Derek Griffith, John Hunter Nemechek and Ryan Truex. The team’s current best result through the first seven scheduled Xfinity events is a fifth-place run at Phoenix Raceway in March with Nemechek.

    Sam Hunt Racing is currently in its second full-time season in the Xfinity circuit. The team made its debut during the 2019 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway and campaigned on a part-time basis throughout the 2020 season before fielding the No. 26 Toyota Supra as a full-time entry that was piloted by eight different competitors. This past September, John Hunter Nemechek recorded the team’s current best ever result of third place at Richmond Raceway. Since 2021, the team started to field a second part-time entry, the No. 24 Toyota Supra, that has thus competed at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in August 2021 with Sage Karam and at Daytona International Speedway in February 2022 with Jeffrey Earnhardt.

    “Our entire organization is excited to add Chandler to our roster,” Sam Hunt, owner of Sam Hunt Racing, added. “His ability speaks for itself and it will be fun to begin his transition from the truck series into the Xfinity series here at SHR. These races will serve as a great opportunity for him to learn these cars, how they drive, and how the races flow at this level. Seeing his success in the truck series, there’s no reason he can’t be competitive out of the gate with us. Our spotter, Chris Lambert, works with Chandler at KBM, making this transition even simpler. We’re also proud to partner with the ChargeMe brand for these races, and cannot thank Bill and his entire team for coming on board. It’s going to be a fun couple of races and a great next step for Chandler’s climb in NASCAR.”

    Also joining Sam Hunt Racing is Charge Me, a company that provides off-grid charging solutions powered by natural gas and propane with a focus to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while also placing electric vehicles at the forefront towards a greener future. Charge Me, which will sponsor Smith in five Truck events this season, will sponsor Smith’s three-race Xfinity effort.

    “Charge Me is excited to be sponsoring Chandler Smith as he continues to show real heart and grit out there on the race track,” Bill Marr, Executive Vice President of Charge Me, added. “Chandler embodies a lot of the ideals we strive for at Charge Me, and we’re proud to support him. At Charge Me, we want to help build electric vehicle infrastructure across America. But we recognize the need for off-grid solutions in the form of clean fuels like propane and natural gas. We want to electrify America the way Chandler electrifies race tracks – burning fuel responsibly.”

    Smith is set to make his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Talladega Superspeedway on April 23 with the event’s coverage to occur at 4 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Grala joins Big Machine Racing for upcoming Xfinity events at Talladega and Dover

    Grala joins Big Machine Racing for upcoming Xfinity events at Talladega and Dover

    Big Machine Racing announced that Kaz Grala will be driving the No. 48 Big Machine SPIKED Coolers Chevrolet Camaro for the upcoming NASCAR Xfinity Series events at Talladega Superspeedway and at Dover Motor Speedway in late April.

    Grala, a 23-year-old native from Boston, Massachusetts, will be filling in Big Machine Racing’s single-car entry in place of Jade Buford, the team’s lone competitor, as he becomes the third competitor to campaign in a single event for Big Machine Racing, which debuted in NASCAR as a full-time Xfinity team in 2021 before being technically aligned with Richard Childress Racing for this season.

    Currently, Big Machine Racing has achieved two top-10 career results in the Xfinity circuit, which includes a ninth-place results at Michigan International Speedway in August 2021 and an eighth-place result at Circuit of the Americas this past March, both made by Buford.

    “We’ve made a very serious commitment to the NASCAR Xfinity Series, including our strategic partnership with RCR,” Scott Borchetta, team owner of Big Machine Racing, said. “[At] this time we need to evaluate all aspects of the team as I am determined to run up front.”

    The two-race deal with Big Machine Racing adds more seat time for Grala this season, who has made three Xfinity starts for Alpha Prime Racing. He is also campaigning on the part-time basis in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for Young’s Motorsports and in the NASCAR Cup Series for the newly-formed Money Team Racing.

    Currently, Grala has made 81 career starts in NASCAR’s top three national touring series (Camping World Truck, Xfinity and Cup). He has achieved a single victory, which occurred during the 2017 Truck Series’ season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway from pole position while he was competing for GMS Racing as he became the youngest competitor to achieve a pole and race victory at Daytona.

    Through 37 previous starts in the Xfinity Series, Grala has achieved four top-five results and nine top-10 results, with his best on-track result being a pair of fourth-place finishes at Daytona in February 2018 and at Road America in August 2020.

    Grala is scheduled to make his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start with Big Machine Racing at Talladega Superspeedway on April 23 with the event’s coverage to occur at 4 p.m. ET on FOX. He will back it up with his second start with the team at Dover Motor Speedway on April 30 with the event’s coverage to occur at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Newgarden goes back-to-back with his first IndyCar victory at the Streets of Long Beach

    Newgarden goes back-to-back with his first IndyCar victory at the Streets of Long Beach

    Three weeks after claiming his wildest and dramatic victories in his motorsports career in the Lone Star state, Josef Newgarden backed up his early momentum into this season by shining in the Golden State and winning the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach at the Streets of Long Beach, California, on Sunday, April 10.

    The two-time IndyCar champion from Hendersonville, Tennessee, led a race-high 32 of 85 laps and benefitted through an executed pit strategy to cycle to the front twice, including the second one as he fended off Alex Palou to reassume the lead approaching the final 30 laps. Newgarden then held off a challenge from Romain Grosjean through two late restarts to claim the win under caution after Takuma Sato wrecked prior to the final lap. The first Long Beach victory for Newgarden in his 11th attempt was enough for him and his No. 2 Team Penske Dallara-Chevrolet team to emerge as the new points leader.

    With on-track qualifying occurring on Saturday, Colton Herta, the reigning winner at Long Beach, started on pole position after establishing a pole-record qualifying lap at 108.480 mph in one minute, 6.2254 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Josef Newgarden, winner of the previous IndyCar event at Texas Motor Speedway in March who posted a fast lap at 107.745 mph in one minute, 5.7550 seconds.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Herta rocketed away with an early advantage while Alex Palou challenged Newgarden for the runner-up spot. Behind, Felix Rosenqvist battled and fended off Alexander Rossi for fourth place while Marcus Ericsson was in sixth ahead of Romain Grosjean. 

    Through the 11-turn circuit and with the field settling in a long single-file line, Herta led the first lap while Newgarden settled in second place ahead of Palou, Rosenqvist and Rossi. 

    By the fifth lap, Herta was leading by more than two seconds over Newgarden, who was still ahead of Palou by more than half a second, while Rosenqvist and Rossi remained in the top five. Trailing behind in the top 10 were Ericsson, Grosjean, Will Power, Scott McLaughlin and Simon Pagenaud.

    A lap later, the first caution of the event flew when Dalton Kellett locked up his tires in Turn 1 and clipped the tire barriers, where he sustained heavy damage to his No. 4 AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara-Honda as his race came to an end.

    Another two laps later and when the safety crew repaired the tire barriers while also towing Kellett’s car off the course, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Herta rocketed his No. 26 Gainbridge Dallara-Honda away from the field for a second time to retain the lead while Newgarden kept his No. 2 Hitachi Dallara-Chevrolet in front of Palou’s No. 10 NTT Data Dallara-Honda and the rest of the field. Behind, Rosenqvist kept his No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Dallara-Chevrolet in front of Rossi’s No. 27 AutoNation/NAPA Dallara-Honda while Ericsson, Grosjean, Power, McLaughlin and Pagenaud remained in the top 10. By then, Pato O’Ward was in 11th in front of rookie Kyle Kirkwood, Hello Castroneves, Graham Rahal and Scott Dixon. Meanwhile, Rinus VeeKay, who damaged part of his front nose after getting into the rear of Castroneves prior to the restart basin 16th while Jimmie Johnson, who broke his right hand during a practice accident on Friday, was in 24th place.

    Through the first 20 laps of the event, Herta was out in front by more than a second over Newgarden while third-place Palou trailed by two-and-a-half seconds. Rosenqvist and Rossi, both of whom were more than eight seconds behind the leader Herta, battled for fourth place while Ericsson, Grosjean, Power, McLaughlin and Pagenaud remained in the top 10. 

    A lap later, Rossi muscled his way into fourth place followed by Ericsson, Grosjean, Power, McLaughlin and Pagenaud while Rosenqvist plummeted to 10th place in front of teammate Pato O’Ward.

    Not long after, some like Scott Dixon, Rinus VeeKay and Rosenqvist made a pit stop under green while Herta continued to lead. Meanwhile, Rossi and Ericsson were locked in a tight battle for fourth place before he prevailed on Lap 25. During the following lap, Grosjean made his move to muscle his No. 28 DHL Dallara-Honda into fifth place.

    On Lap 28, Palou pitted along with O’Ward. By then, Rossi also made a pit stop. Soon after, Pagenaud pitted along with Kirkwood.

    Then on Lap 29, Herta surrendered the lead to pit followed by teammate Grosjean, Conor Daly, Takuma Sato, David Malukas and Johnson. During the following lap, Newgarden pitted along with Ericsson and Scott McLaughlin and Callum Ilott. Following the pit stops, Malukas was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    By Lap 32, Will Power pitted along with Graham Rahal and Christian Lundgaard. Once the cycle of green flag pit stops were completed after Devlin DeFrancesco pitted, Palou cycled his way into the lead followed by Newgarden and Herta while Ericsson and Dixon were in the top five. Behind, McLaughlin spun in Turn 11 after he clipped the inside wall while settling behind Tatiana Calderon. Not long after, DeFrancesco, who just pitted, spun and shredded his tire as he limped back to pit road. Both incidents, however, were not enough for the caution flag to be drawn.

    Through the first 40 laps, Palou was leading by more than two seconds over Newgarden while third-place Herta trailed by less than a second behind Newgarden.

    At the halfway mark between Laps 42 and 43, Palou continued to lead by more than two seconds over Newgarden and less than three seconds over Herta. Ericsson was in fourth place, trailing by more than 10 seconds, while fifth-place Dixon trailed by more than 16 seconds. Rounding out the top 10 were Grosjean, Power, Rossi, O’Ward and Rahal while Kirkwood, Castroneves, Daly, Sato and Rosenqvist were in the top 15. By then, VeeKay, Pagenaud, McLaughlin and Johnson were mired in 17th, 19th, 20th and 22nd.

    By Lap 50, Palou stabilized his advantage to more than two seconds over Newgarden while third-place Palou trailed by more than three seconds. Ericsson was still in fourth place while Grosjean was up in fifth place. Trailing behind were Dixon, Power, Rossi, O’Ward and Rahal.

    Nearing the final 30 laps of the event, another round of green pit stops occurred as Rosenqvist pitted along with VeeKay and Jack Harvey. Among those who pitted included the leader Palou as Newgarden moved into the lead. 

    Just then and while the cycle of pit stops continued, trouble struck for Herta after Herta locked up his tires entering Turn 9 and smacked the wall hard as he then pulled his Honda off the course in Turn 10. While the race proceeded under green, Herta’s hopes of winning at Long Beach came to an end as the wreck mirrored a similar one Herta experienced at Nashville Street Circuit last August while contending for the win.

    “I just broke a little bit too late, got in there, locked the right front, and that’s it,” Herta, who led 32 laps, said on NBC. “It’s just a stupid mistake. We were definitely in that thing, running good there in third, keeping up with Alex and Josef. It’s unfortunate. I feel really bad.” 

    Back on the track, Newgarden, who pitted, managed to duel and fend off Palou to retain the lead on Lap 55 while Ericsson was up in third place. 

    With 26 laps remaining, the caution flew when Simon Pagenaud spun by the Dolphin Fountain between Turns 2 and 3 following contact with Takuma Sato. As Pagenaud tried to drive away, he came to a rest atop the flower bed by the Dolphin Foundation while McLaughlin got damage after running into the rear end of VeeKay, who was trying to dodge Pagenaud.

    Following an extensive cleanup, the race restarted under green with 19 laps remaining. At the start, Newgarden retained the lead ahead of Palou through the first two turns. Then behind, Ericsson, who was in third place, got loose and clipped the outside wall exiting Turn 4. While trying to continue under pace, he then got hit by teammate Dixon as he slipped sideways and was forced to pull his car off the course in Turn 5 while the field scattered. The incident spoiled Ericsson’s opportunity for back-to-back podiums of the season while Grosjean moved into third place. 

    With 15 laps remaining, Newgarden continued to lead by less than four-tenths of a second over Grosjean, who muscled his way into the runner-up spot over Palou during the pervious lap and began his challenge on Newgarden for the top spot. Behind, Will Power was in fourth place followed by Pato O’Ward while Dixon, following his late incident with teammate Ericsson, continued to run in sixth place.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, the caution flew when Jimmie Johnson spun and slapped his No. 48 Carvana Dallara-Honda against the tire barriers. David Malukas, who was running right behind Johnson, also got into the tire barriers after hitting Johnson’s car. At the moment of caution, Newgarden had stabilized his advantage to more than half a second over Grosjean followed by Palou, Power and O’Ward.

    Following another extensive cleanup and repairs made to the tire barriers in Turn 8, the race restarted under green with five laps remaining. At the start, Grosjean tried to launch an attack to the outside of Newgarden, but the latter defended the top spot through the first five turns. Through Turns 6, 7 and 8 before entering Turns 9, 10 and 11, Newgarden continued to lead ahead of Grosjean and Palou, Behind, Power was in fourth while O’Ward fended off Dixon to remain in the top five.

    With two laps remaining, Newgarden continued to lead by nearly six-tenths of a second over Grosjean, who had Palou starting to intimidate him for the runner-up spot.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Newgarden remained as the leader by less than eight-tenths of a second over Grosjean while third-place Palou trailed by more than a second. By then, Takuma Sato ran into the tire barriers in Turn 8 while battling VeeKay for position.

    Just as the field cycled their way to Turn 8, where Sato was unable to continue in time until the leaders arrived, the caution flew and the race was over, which handed the victory to Newgarden for the first time at the Streets of Long Beach and for his second consecutive IndyCar win in recent weeks.

    In addition, Newgarden recorded his 22nd career win in the NTT IndyCar Series. With the win, Team Penske and Chevrolet have won the first three scheduled IndyCar events of the 2022 season. 

    “[The Long Beach victory]’s definitely up there on the list,” Newgarden said on NBC. “Man, this was a fight today. This was not an easy race to win. I don’t know if it looks simple from the outside, but I was working my butt off with Grosjean at the end there on the used reds [tires]. I was hoping he would fade a little bit towards the end, but I was just trying to hold him off on the restart. It was super difficult. This Hitachi car, it was on it. We knew, coming in the race, we have a good strategy. We make good fuel with Team Chevy. We were gonna be alright and I had everything I needed today with pit stops trying to get around Alex [Palou]. So proud of Team Penske. I’ve been trying to win a race here for 11 years, so I’m so happy to finally get it done.”

    The runner-up result for Grosjean was his third in the series coming in a total of 16 career starts in the IndyCar Series and first since finishing in second place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in August 2021. It also marked his fourth career podium result in IndyCar competition.

    “Very close, but not close enough, right?” Grosjean said. “It was fun. We had the right tire strategy. The last caution, I thought it was going to be great. [I] Lost a bit of time when Marcus [Ericsson] stuffed it in front of me and then catch Alex [Palou]…Josef was up there. He made one mistake, but I just couldn’t use [the car] and then, I have to be honest, the Chevy engine was fast on the straight, so I couldn’t quite keep up. Very happy with P2 today. First podium on the DHL color. It’s a great day. Looking forward to more. We take what it is.”

    Filling in the final podium result in third place and with his second podium result of the season was Alex Palou, who was in contention to claim his first victory of the season.

    “We took the gamble on the first [pit] stop,” Palou, who led 22 laps, said. “We did a good strategy. We went from third to first. That was only on strategy and the pit stop, the crew did an amazing job. We were so close…I’m super proud of everybody at the No. 10 car and everybody at the Chip Ganassi Racing team. It was not our day, but yeah, we’ll try again at Barber.”

    Power and O’Ward finished in the top five while Dixon, Rahal, Rossi, Castroneves and Kyle Kirkwood completed the top 10 on the track.

    There were five lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 14 laps.

    With his second consecutive victory in recent weeks, Josef Newgarden leads the NTT IndyCar Series standings by five points over teammate Scott McLaughlin, 15 over Alex Palou, 16 over Will Power, 35 over Scott Dixon and 43 over Romain Grosjean.

    Results.

    1. Josef Newgarden, 32 laps led

    2. Romain Grosjean

    3. Alex Palou, 22 laps led

    4. Will Power, two laps led

    5. Pato O’Ward

    6. Scott Dixon

    7. Graham Rahal

    8. Alexander Rossi

    9. Helio Castroneves

    10. Kyle Kirkwood

    11. Felix Rosenqvist

    12. Conor Daly

    13. Rinus VeeKay 

    14. Scott McLaughlin

    15. Jack Harvey

    16. Tatiana Calderon, one lap down

    17. Takuma Sato – OUT, Accident

    18. Christian Lundgaard, two laps down

    19. Simon Pagenaudm, four laps down

    20. Jimmie Johnson – OUT, Contact

    21. David Malukas – OUT, Contact

    22. Marcus Ericsson – OUT, Contact

    23. Colton Herta – OUT, Contact, 28 laps led

    24. Callum Ilott – OUT, Contact

    25. Devlin DeFrancesco – OUT, Contact, one lap led

    26. Dalton Kellett – OUT, Contact

    Next on the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series schedule is the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park, which will occur on May 1 at 1 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Leclerc dominates for second F1 victory of 2022 in the Australian Grand Prix

    Leclerc dominates for second F1 victory of 2022 in the Australian Grand Prix

    Charles Leclerc made another statement in his bid to win the 2022 FIA Formula One World Championship after grabbing a dominant victory in the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park Circuit on Sunday, April 10, from pole position. 

    The 24-year-old Monegasque dominated from pole position despite being pressured by Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen from the start. When Verstappen fell out of the event due to a late mechanical issue, the race was all but wrapped up for Leclerc, who proceeded, defended his top spot through a number of safety car periods and cruised to the win over his rivals while also establishing the fastest lap of the event, thus claiming a single bonus point with the victory.

    The Australia victory marked Leclerc’s fourth Grand Prix career win in his 83rd F1 start and the second of the season as he extended his championship lead in the drivers’ standings from 12 to 34.

    “In Formula One, it’s the first [race] where we control a little bit the gap,” Leclerc said. “What a car today. I did a great job all weekend, but it was not possible without the car. This weekend, especially the race pace, we were extremely strong. The tyres felt great from the first lap to the last lap. We were managing the tyre really well. I’m just so happy. Incredible to win here. We are only at the third race, so it is difficult to think about the championship but we have a very strong car, a reliable car too. For now, we’ve always been there. Hopefully, it continues like this. If it does, we probably have chances for the championship. It’s great to be back in this position.

    Finishing in second place and more than 20 seconds behind Leclerc was Sergio “Checo” Perez, who notched his maiden podium result of the season after having potential podium results in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia evaporated.

    “[The start] was a bit tricky,” Perez said. “Getting my position, Lewis overtook me on the inside, he braked really late and had a really good Turn 1. My first stint was very poor in terms of degradation. We struggled quite a lot, but the hard, the Safety Car – we were unlucky where he lost two positions, which we recovered late there. It was a great result…Looking forward, we’ve been a bit unlucky the first two races.” 

    Settling in the third and final podium spot was George Russell, who fended off teammate Sir Lewis Hamilton to claim his second career podium result and first while driving for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team.

    “We got to be in it to win it,” Russell said. “[We] Capitalized from other’s misfortunes. We got a little bit lucky today twice, but we’ll take it. There’s so much hard work going on to get us back to the front. To be standing on the podium, it’s special. We are never going to give up. We got to keep on fighting. We were a long way behind and yet here we are, on the podium. I think it’s gonna take some time until we can fight with these boys in red [Ferrari] and blue [Red Bull].  They look pretty exceptional at the moment, but it anyone can [fight them], Mercedes can.”

    McLaren’s Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo came home in fifth and sixth followed by Alpine’s Esteban Ocon. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly settled in eighth place followed by Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and William Racing’s Alexander Albon, who pitted for fresh tyres on the final lap to retain 10th place for a full circuit and record the first point of the season for himself and for Williams Racing.

    The first competitor to finish outside of the points was rookie Guanyu Zhou followed by Lance Stroll, who received a five-second time penalty for weaving earlier on the track to remain ahead of Bottas. Haas teammates Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen finished 13th and 14th, leaving Haas with no recorded points for the day, followed by AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda. Nicholas Latifi, the second driver for Williams Racing, finished 16th followed by Fernando Alonso, whose opportunity to finish in the points evaporated late after he pitted for fresh tyres while being shuffled towards the rear of the field, an issue that also affected Magnussen’s run in the top 10.

    Following a dramatic victory in Saudi Arabia in late March, Max Verstappen suffered his second DNF through the first three scheduled events of 2022 after retiring on Lap 39 due to the engine on his RB18 catching on fire, where he was forced to park in Turn 2.

    Sebastian Vettel, who was making his first start of the 2022 season after being sidelined for the first two events due to COVID-19, retired on Lap 24 after he got loose and spun in Turn 4 before making contact with the wall and ripping off the front wing of his Aston Martin AMR22

    Coming off back-to-back podiums, Carlos Sainz Jr. retired in 20th place, dead last, after he lost his Ferrari F1-75 in Turn 9 on the second lap, where he then cut across the grass, slid off into the gravel and got stuck in the gravel as he was unable to continue despite being dodged by the field.

    Results:

    1. Charles Leclerc, 26 points

    2. Sergio Perez, 18 points

    3. George Russell, 15 points

    4. Lewis Hamilton, 12 points

    5. Lando Norris, 10 points

    6. Daniel Ricciardo, eight points

    7. Esteban Ocon, six points

    8. Valtteri Bottas, four points

    9. Pierre Gasly, two points

    10. Alexander Albon, one point

    11. Guanyu Zhou

    12. Lance Stroll

    13. Mick Schumacher, +1

    14. Kevin Magnussen, +1

    15. Yuki Tsunoda, +1

    16. Nicholas Latifi, +1

    17. Fernando Alonso, +1

    18. Max Verstappen – Retired

    19. Sebastian Vettel – Retired

    20. Carlos Sainz – Retired

    Following the third event of the 2022 F1 season, Charles Leclerc continues to lead the drivers’ standings by 34 points over George Russell, 38 over Carlos Sainz Jr., 41 over Sergio Perez, 43 over Lewis Hamilton and 46 points over Max Verstappen.

    In addition, Ferrari continues to lead the constructors’ standings by 39 points over Mercedes, 49 over Red Bull Racing RBPT, 80 over McLaren Mercedes and 82 over Alpine Renault.

    Next on the 2022 Formula One schedule is Imola Circuit for the third annual Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, which will occur on April 24.