Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

When the NASCAR Cup Series ran the inaugural Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Race in 2021, Xfinity Series regular Justin Allgaier tweeted he would be “one disappointed driver” if his division did not join the 2022 weekend. While his wishes went unfulfilled, he will still get an opportunity to race at the temporary dirt short track.

On Monday, Spire Motorsports announced Allgaier will drive the #77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Sunday’s Food City Dirt Race. It will be his first time racing on dirt in NASCAR and his third start for the team. His Xfinity sponsor BRANDT Agriculture will also support his Cup effort.

Allgaier raced full-time in the Cup Series for the now defunct HScott Motorsports in 2014 and 2015 before returning to the Xfinity Series a year later, where he has been a perennial championship contender for JR Motorsports. However, he came back to the top level on four occasions in 2016, 2020, and 2021 as a substitute driver. He rejoined HScott at the 2016 Bristol Night Race after Michael Annett fell ill, while he replaced Jimmie Johnson in the #48 Hendrick Motorsports machine for the 2020 Indianapolis event following a positive COVID-19 test.

In 2021, he ran Pocono 2 in the Spire #77 after regular driver Justin Haley got hurt in a hard wreck in the Xfinity race. Another start for the team came later that year at Talladega when Haley was tabbed to drive for Kaulig Racing.

His lone Cup top ten was at Bristol, on its pavement configuration, in 2015.

It was a mixed Australian Grand Prix for Oracle Red Bull Racing, with Sergio Pérez claiming his first podium of the season in second but with Max Verstappen retiring due to yet another reliability problem.

Pérez had a great race at the Albert Park Circuit, and did well to get past both Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team drivers at times during the race. The Mexican inherited second-place following his team-mates unfortunate retirement.

Verstappen was on track for an easy second-place finish, having not had the pace to keep up with winner Charles Leclerc but being easily clear of the rest of the field. That was until two-thirds race distance, when Verstappen having just set the fastest lap, pulled off the circuit having experienced yet another reliability issue. It means the Dutchman has retired from two out of the three races so far this season, due to reliability issues.

Red Bull Team Principal, Christian Horner, was obviously very pleased for Pérez but also discussed how vital it is that the team get on top of their frequent reliability issues.

“Checo drove an exceptional race today with some stunning overtakes to secure his first podium of the season and bag some solid Championship points.  But it was very much a day of mixed emotions with Max not finishing. We think it was an external fuel leak and we need to understand exactly what has caused that failure, so it was a very frustrating race in that respect.

Sergio Pérez claimed his first podium of the 2022 Formula 1 season, after an impressive drive at the Australian Grand Prix. It wasn’t all positives for Oracle Red Bull Racing though, as Max Verstappen retired from second-place, after yet more reliability issues.

Pérez drove well all race and actually fought his way back up to the podium places strongly following a poor start. The Mexican made a great launch off of the line but was boxed in by his team-mate, this allowed Lewis Hamilton past who Pérez re-overtook just a few laps later.

Pérez found himself having to overtake both Hamilton and George Russell following his pit-stop, after being over-cut by both Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team drivers. Overtaking both Mercedes put Pérez into third place, which quickly became second following Verstappen’s retirement.

The Mexican was happy to finally get a good result following some bad luck at the first two races, however he feels like it’s opportunity missed for the team following his team-mates retirement.

“It was a good result but, unfortunately, we lost Max and it would have been great to have a double podium for the Team. On the other hand, it is a good result after so many unlucky moments in the first couple of races for me. It was a very complicated race with the start I had and the safety cars but we managed to overcome it. My first start was very poor, we struggled a lot with degradation on the medium tyre, we were a bit unlucky with the safety car and we lost two positions which we recovered later.

Scuderia Ferrari continues to assert their position at the front of the pack with Charles Leclerc’s dominant win at the Australian Grand Prix. Rising from the tough times of the years past, Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto felt that the race provided further evidence that it takes “perfection” to lead the pack in Formula 1. 

“I am very pleased. It’s always great to win and it also boosts the morale of the team who deserve all this, because they have all developed the right mentality to face difficult moments head on and make the most of any opportunity. We always say that you can only come out on top in Formula 1 if you do everything to perfection and I think today’s race proved that. Charles delivered a mature performance, something he is now making a habit of.”

It was, however, a bittersweet result for Ferrari in Melbourne, with Carlos Sainz Jr retiring on lap two. Sainz already faced unfortunate circumstances on Saturday, after being unable to complete his final lap in Qualifying Three and only qualifying ninth. His bad luck continued on Sunday, as his car went into anti-stall on the first lap after technical issues arose on the way to the grid. In an effort to recover the positions lost on the first lap, he spun out and found himself stuck in the gravel at Turn 10. 

“It’s a shame for Carlos, because his weekend was complicated by a series of circumstances in both qualifying and the race, which affected his performance. I know him well enough to believe that he will turn the negatives to his advantage and come back stronger next time he’s in the car.”

Binotto is happy with the results the team has achieved so far this season, and hopes to keep moving forward ahead of the next race weekend, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took the victory at the Australian Grand Prix with a dominant performance, converting his pole position to a first place finish. He led all fifty-eight laps comfortably with his competitive F1-75, earning the fastest lap and the award of Driver of the Day. 

“What a great victory this was for us! We managed our pace well and were extremely competitive. We didn’t suffer from tyre degradation, even when pushing hard. The car was just amazing and I’m very pleased with how my race went. On paper, this was a track that we expected to be tough for us, so we have to review our data because we were in fact very strong.”

After three consecutive finishes in the podium positions, two of which being wins, Leclerc is proud of the results he has achieved with the team so far. He did, however, emphasise the importance of keeping up with development to ensure they hold on to their position on top of the championship.

“It’s a great way to start the season, but we have to keep in mind that we are only three races into a very long championship. We can’t afford to relax at any moment and have to stay on top of things, most of all on development. Congratulations to everyone on our team. What an amazing job you have all done! I’m very proud of how far we’ve come and can’t wait to continue fighting. Forza Ferrari!”

“This is definitely a difficult weekend to digest.” – Carlos Sainz Jr

For teammate Carlos Sainz Jr, the Australian Grand Prix brought misfortune, he spun out on lap two after losing several positions on the opening lap. Already in a less-than-optimal starting position of ninth, as he was unable to put in a final lap in Qualifying Three after a red flag, he described why he dropped down to fourteenth and ultimately found himself stuck in the gravel. 

Mitch Evans continued where he left off on Saturday as he claimed victory in race two of the Rome E-Prix on Sunday afternoon, his second win of a remarkable weekend for the New Zealander.

After climbing from ninth on the grid on Saturday to take his first victory of the 2021-22 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season, Evans at least gave himself a better chance to double up by making it into the duels, although he was knocked out at the semi-final stage by Jake Dennis.

Jean-Éric Vergne took pole position for Sunday’s race ahead of Dennis, with André Lotterer and Dennis filled row two.  There was also a change in attack mode rules for Sunday’s race, with one eight-minute period coming into play instead of the two four-minute activations of Saturday.

Jaguar TCS Racing’s Evans was lucky to have the time to activate and use his whole eight minutes as he was forced to rely on extra time being added to the race due to two safety car periods – one for the stopped Antonio Giovinazzi early on and the second for Alexander Sims near the end.  Giovinazzi’s stoppage added two minutes and fifteen seconds to the race length, while Sims’ retirement added another three minutes.

By the time Evans took his attack mode on lap twenty, he fell to fourth behind Vergne, with Lotterer leading Robin Frijns.  However, the advantage of the attack mode was clear as he quickly regained third before chasing down the leading duo, with a lap twenty-two pass on Frijns for second being swiftly followed by a pass for the lead on Lotterer.

Cleetus McFarland was only meters away from winning the Stadium Super Trucks‘ Race #2 in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, but an awkward landing off the final jump instead shot him into the wall and ruined that dream. As McFarland spun, Robby Gordon snuck by to win for the fifth time at the street circuit and secure a Gordon family weekend sweep.

Saturday’s race results were inverted to determine Sunday’s starting grid, which placed Ryan Arciero—who retired on Saturday with a brake issue—on the pole while Gordon and his son/Race #1 winner Max were at the back. Arciero led the opening lap with Davey Hamilton Jr. and McFarland following, but the leader’s unlucky weekend culminated in a lap two spin in turn eight.

Arciero’s misfortune was Hamilton’s gift as he inherited the top spot. Behind him, Jerett Brooks and Gavin Harlien drafted their way up to McFarland’s bumper and fought with him for second. By the competition caution on lap four, Harlien was able to get by McFarland who in turn staved off Brooks’ challenge.

The top three took off on the restart and filed side-by-side, upon which McFarland capitalised to claim the lead as they reached the first corner. Hamilton and Harlien gave chase as Matt Brabham lurked behind them before joining the skirmish on lap six. While going past the fountain, Brabham tapped Harlien from behind and caused him to skid into the flowerbed (where Simon Pagenaud had beached himself in the NTT IndyCar Series race earlier in the day) before bouncing into the wall.

McFarland continued to lead as the race exited the second competition yellow to start lap nine. Midway through the lap, Zoey Edenholm spun in turn five while Hamilton ran wide as he raced Max Gordon, forcing him to miss a jump but resulting in contact with Brooks that collected Robert Stout.

Through strong pit strategy and duels on late restarts, Josef Newgarden claimed his first win in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach of his IndyCar career, while simultaneously taking the championship lead in the process.

“I’ve been trying to win a race here for eleven years,” Newgarden said in victory lane. “I’m so happy to finally get it done!”

Newgarden held off a hard-charging Romain Grosjean through on the final restart with five laps to go, aided by a final caution for Takuma Sato ending up in the tyre barrier at turn eight thrown on the final lap, to win his second-straight race and keep Team Penske undefeated on the season. This is the first time since 2012 that Penske has won the first three races of the season. Newgarden’s victory also gives Penske the record for most wins by a team on the streets of Long Beach.

“We knew coming into the race we have a good strategy, we make good fuel, with Team Chevy, we’re going to be alright,” Newgarden continued.

“And I had everything I needed today.”

Charles Leclerc cruised to his second win of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, after an emphatic display at the Australian Grand Prix where the Monegasque driver appeared to be untouchable, whilst some of the favourites ran into trouble Down Under.

Second place was claimed by Oracle Red Bull Racing but not by the driver who many predicted would challenge Leclerc for the win, Sergio Pérez stood on the second step of the podium after Max Verstappen retired late on from the race. George Russell rounded off the podium, the first of his career as a Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver.

Leclerc untouchable Down Under

From the lights going out, Leclerc was in complete control of the Grand Prix having started from pole position. The Monegasque driver claimed every accolade at the Albert Park Circuit, after taking pole, the win, the fastest lap and Driver of the Day, as he stretched his championship lead to an impressive thirty-four points, from Russell who sits second in the standings.

Despite winning by just over twenty seconds, Leclerc was kept busy at times during the race. The first race in Melbourne since 2019 featured two Safety Cars and one Virtual Safety Car. The Scuderia Ferrari driver almost made a hash of the second safety car restart, after getting on the power too early coming out of the final corner, Verstappen who was second at the time tried to challenge Leclerc but it was to no avail.

It wasn’t all good though for Ferrari on Sunday, as Carlos Sainz Jr became the first retirement of the race, after spinning across the grass between Turns nine and ten, before becoming beached in the gravel on the Turn ten exit. It summed up a disastrous weekend for Sainz, after being caught out by the red flag during final qualifying. Sainz who started ninth, chose to start the race on the Hard compound. This decision saw the Spaniard swallowed up by the pack on the opening lap, after he struggled to generate heat into the hardest tyre.

Bubba “Redneck Jesus” Pollard did not win either of the PepperJack Kennels Twins at Five Flags Speedway on Saturday, but he was consistent enough to be rewarded with a Superstar Racing Experience ride. He finished fourth and second in the two races for an average finish of 3.0, the best of anyone who ran both races to secure a spot in 18 June’s SRX race at Five Flags.

Pollard is one of the top drivers in late model racing with major victories like the All American 400 in 2016 and Slinger Nationals in 2017; the former is held at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, which welcomes SRX on 9 July, while Slinger Super Speedway had an SRX date in 2021. Despite his successes at the regional level, the grassroots nature of the short track world is more than enough for him that he does not have any interest in moving into NASCAR. Nevertheless, he has occasionally dabbled in higher regional championships like the ARCA Menards Series, where he has five career starts between 2005 and 2015.

As SRX is televised nationally and features a bevy of big names like NASCAR champions and Hall of Fame inductees, the start will give Pollard a chance to showcase himself on a much bigger stage than usual. This was the case with six-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby, who won the inaugural SRX race in 2021 which he parlayed into a Camping World Truck Series one-off later in the year.

“Excited to have earned a spot in the SRX Racing series,” Pollard posted on social media. “It’ll be fun to compete against the legends of our sport at one of my favorite tracks. See y’all back here at Five Flags Speedway in June.”

Derek Thorn won Race #1 but finished eighteenth in the second, while Stephen Nasse scored the win in Race #2 but was dragged down by an eighth in the first event. Despite falling short of making the Five Flags SRX field, he still has a chance to run a race in the series if he wins the fan vote for the Fairgrounds race. To do that, however, he would need to beat out five other drivers including Pollard, who is presumably still eligible despite already having an SRX slot; voting ends on 7 May.

Crandon International Raceway in Crandon, Wisconsin is one of, if not the premier short course off-road circuit in the world. After a few rocky years regarding its ownership, track president Cliff Flannery is stepping in himself and has purchased the facility.

Flannery’s family is long involved with the short course scene, with his late brother Jack being one of the sport’s pioneers in the Midwest. Nephew Jamey, who races a Pro 4 in Championship Off-Road, attempted to buy Crandon in 2020 but the deal fell due to what Cliff called “several unforeseen reasons.” Cliff, a 2017 inductee into the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame, has been involved with Crandon since its founding in 1968; under his head, Crandon has evolved into a 425-acre facility that includes non-motorsport activities like camping and ATV riding trails.

The track long ran under a non-profit structure where ownership and all operations are split between its board of directors. With Flannery’s acquisition, the raceway’s owner is formally transferred to a company called Crandon Off-Road Entertainment LCC. Another agency, Crandon Motorsports LLC, was established to oversee and promote races and other events.

Despite the ownership change, the track’s lead staff like manager Tina Kulaf and promoter Marty Fiolka will remain intact. Fiolka, a longtime media guru in the off-road world, leads Crandon’s promotions and marketing arm via his firm The Rennsport Group; TRG joined the Crandon team in 2015.

“The road to today’s announcement has been a long one that required us to overcome some bumps along the way,” Flannery stated on Friday. “This small but very faithful community, and our hard-working staff, have spent the better part of our collective lives building Crandon International literally by hand. After fifty-three years, it was time to make a change on how we operate and do business. I am proud of where we have come, and also what we have achieved. Considering the success of the past six or seven years, our future looks better than ever.”

Arden Motorsport joined the GB3 Championship for 2021, having competed in the F4 British Championship, FIA Formula 2 Championship and GP3 in previous years.

The Banbury-based team also compete in Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine, but had never competed in Britain’s premier single-seater series until last year.

They brought impressive pedigree into GB3, and there was plenty of excitement as such a successful team joined the grid.

The ‘Red Arrows’ have brought some impressive talent through British F4 alone in recent years, including Dan Ticktum, Ayrton Simmons, Sandy Mitchell, Olli Caldwell and the two most recent FIA F3 champions in Dennis Hauger and Oscar Piastri.

They also won the 2018 British F4 Teams’ Championship with Sebastian Priaulx, Hauger and Jack Doohan, despite the trio only finishing seventh, fourth and fifth in the Drivers’ Championship respectively.

Martinsville Speedway is a much beloved circuit on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule, but Saturday’s race was generally considered a letdown. Due to factors like colder track and tyre temperatures, rain washing away rubber accumulated on the racing surface, and perhaps the Next Gen car itself, the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 was a very tame event with just five lead changes, all of which came during cautions or pit cycles. Hendrick Motorsports team-mates Chase Elliott and William Byron led all but six of the 403 laps, with the latter doing so for 212 circuits en route to his first win at Martinsville and second of 2022.

Elliott won the pole ahead of Aric Almirola, but Almirola and much of the field were non-factors. Save for a rain delay, the first two stages were completely free of incident as Elliott led every lap to win both. Byron beat Elliott out of the pits on lap 186 to finally mark the first lead change of the race.

Ryan Blaney finally broke the Hendrick stranglehold on the lead when he inherited the lead from a pitting Byron on lap 304. He pitted himself five laps later and Byron reclaimed the lead before Denny Hamlin brought out the caution after falling off pace. Austin Dillon got to lead a lap under yellow before Byron re-assumed the top position.

Almost as if a last-ditch effort by the racing deities to spice up the race, Todd Gilliland slammed into the wall with five laps remaining to set up overtime. Byron and Logano led the field to start the session, and the former had the run on the inside to clear Logano though Logano remained close after Byron briefly ran wide. Despite a shot to Byron’s rear on the final lap, Logano could not get by him.

Byron, who won the Camping World Truck Series race on Thursday, is the first Cup driver of 2022 to win multiple races after triumphing at Atlanta in March. He also continues a decorated legacy for the #24 at Martinsville; current Hendrick vice chairman Jeff Gordon has nine wins at the track with the number.

Max Gordon‘s father Robby founded the Stadium Super Trucks, and it is only fitting that he scored his first career victory in the series with his dad right behind.

The younger Gordon took the lead in the second half of Saturday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach and never looked back as he claimed the win in his thirteenth start. Robby held off Robert Stout to complete the Gordon 1–2 finish.

A full, twelve-driver inversion of Friday’s qualifying results placed Robby Gordon at the rear after he set the fastest time and Bill Hynes on the pole. Hynes, whom announcer Ralph Sheheen remarked would use a strategy of “sneak off and run away” to his advantage, dominated much of the race by leading every lap and building a comfortable gap over the field prior to the first competition caution.

Behind Hynes, series newcomer Ryan Arciero‘s mechanical woes that plagued his Mint 400 and San Felipe 250 struck again as he dropped back, while fellow débutant Cleetus McFarland was running second when he over-used his brakes and overshot turn one on lap three; McFarland later quipped on Instagram that he “couldn’t handle the freedom and totally blew it.” Shaun Richardson spun while racing Gavin Harlien shortly before the caution.

Max Gordon and Stout tailed Hynes by the yellow, and worked in the draft to decrease his lead during the restart. Two laps after the green flag, Gordon and Stout successfully closed the gap before Hynes was swamped by the rest of the pack. Although Stout immediately became the new leader upon passing Hynes, he did not lead the lap as Gordon pushed him wide in the final hairpin for the position. In his post-race interview, Gordon explained the contact occurred after he over-revved his engine from accidentally shifting into first gear, and he capitalised on it to pass Stout on the inside.

Nicolas Latifi believes Lance Stroll was to blame for the incident in Qualifying that brought the red flag out and heavily damaged the Canadian’s Williams F1 Team car on Saturday in Australia.

Stroll, who had damaged his car in Free Practice Three, passed Latifi on track, before being re-overtaken and making contact in the process. Latifi suffered lots of damage to his car, in what will be a very expensive repair under the new budget cap.

“I’ve seen the video so it’s very clear from my side who is at fault,” stated Latifi, after the incident.

“I let Lance [Stroll] pass as I was told he was on a push lap, which he then must have aborted a corner or so before, which is why he was then going slow. I needed to carry on with my cool down lap and pick up the pace again and get my tyre preparation correct. There was a very big gap to overtake him and, when I got alongside, he turned in for whatever reason.”

“The impact itself was a very small but, because of the way of the impact it has big consequences. There’s a lot of damage to the car so we’ll have to see what the guys can do and I know we have one of the best teams for that.”