Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

The last time Matt DiBenedetto won a NASCAR race, he was a 19-year-old prospect. Eleven years later, he is back in Victory Lane, albeit under controversial circumstances.

In true Talladega Superspeedway fashion, overtime to Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race was a chaotic affair until hell broke loose coming to the finish with a massive crash that placed DiBenedetto at the front of the pack on one lane opposite Bret Holmes. Although Holmes beat DiBenedetto to the line, the caution flag had come out before they reached the finish to freeze the order, and a length review by NASCAR found DiBenedetto was the leader at that time.

Because the race consequently ended under yellow, DiBenedetto officially did not lead a lap but was granted the win while Holmes was demoted to third behind Ben Rhodes. Overtime had been set up when Carson Hocevar‘s truck stopped on track with less than three laps to go.

It is DiBenedetto’s first win in a NASCAR national series after coming close so many times in the Cup Series prior to his exit after 2021. His only other victories in NASCAR-sanctioned divisions were three in what is now the ARCA Menards Series East in 2009 and 2011, with the last coming at Bowman Gray Stadium on 4 June 2011, a gap of 4,138 days (eleven years, three months, twenty-eight days). His team Rackley WAR also scores their maiden Truck triumph.

Much of the race was overshadowed by a horrific crash on lap 20 when Jordan Anderson‘s truck suffered an engine failure. Anderson was in the process of unbuckling himself and exiting the cockpit while his truck was still in motion, barely escaping before it slammed into the inside wall. He was airlifted to the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital to be treated for second-degree burns to various parts of his body, though he would return home later in the night.

With the summer finally over here in America, Nitro Rallycross is falling into its next leg of the championship as the series heads to ERX Motor Park for round three of the championship.

RX Cartel remains the team to beat coming off of two round wins, each coming from their two drivers Andreas Bakkerud and Robin Larsson. Both Bakkerud and Larsson competed here last year giving so it should make for a comfortable event for them. The two have had some friendly battles and a good rivalry going into this round and being a track they’ve both run at, expect it to be more of the same. Larsson leads the championship with 58 points while Bakkerud follows closely behind at 48.

Vermont Sportscar hasn’t had the best start to the season after Travis Pastrana and Connor Martell both suffered from penalties or track moves that didn’t prove successful. Now back on American soil, the native duo seeks to start to get back to a standard form this weekend at ERX. Pastrana raced here last year and pulled out his first podium finishing second on the weekend behind then-teammate Scott Speed. Martell will get his first taste of ERX this weekend as he tackles it in the FC1-X. Pastrana and Martell are sitting seventh and ninth respectively.

After a few fill-ins, Kevin Eriksson finally makes his return to NRX after breaking his foot in the preseason. Filling in for him, and garnering a decent amount of points in the process, was Finnish and World Rallycross driver Niclas Gronholm. Now that Kevin has returned he and his brother, Oliver Eriksson aim to take the fight to their competition. Last time out in ERX the Eriksson’s both suffered from damage ending their racing in last chance qualifiers and the early laps of the final. 

Rounding out the field is XITE Energy Racing as Jensen Button makes his first appearance this season and Oli Bennet returns to take revenge on ERX. Button stands to make a mighty large impression as this is his first weekend ever competing in rallycross. The Former F1 Driver’s World Champion made the commitment to the North American rounds of Nitro Rallycross so he will be available for parts of this second season. Bennet ran the MINI his last time competing at the venue and suffered to many mechanical errors to make an impact. Third entry Kris Meeke should make his return later in the season but his strong season start boasted good news for XITE. While Button has no points due to this being his first appearance, Meeke places eight with 29 points and Bennet sits in tenth with 18 points.

The first day of the 2022 NORRA 500 on Friday was overshadowed by a fatal accident involving a competitor and a chase team.

On the thirteenth Route Mile of the course, a transit period along the highway from Ensenada to Ojos Negros and near a garbage dump, the #1464 Unlimited Truck of Matthew Legg lost its brakes and collided with a Ford F-150 at around 9 AM. The accident resulted in the death of a boy approximately nine years of age and his parents being hospitalised after being assisted by the Mexican Red Cross.

“Yesterday a NORRA race team lost one of its members due to injuries sustained in a tragic accident during a highway transit stage of the NORRA 500,” reads a statement from NORRA posted Saturday. “Racers and teams are the heart of our extended NORRA family. NORRA’s thoughts and heartfelt condolences go out to all involved.”

The second and final day of the race proceeded as planned without further incident. Matt Hylton unofficially won the overall.

Today's post-qualifying press conference with Charles Leclerc, Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton.

For much of Q3 at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, Lewis Hamilton was a contender for pole position, but when the chequered flag fell, he found himself only third on the grid.

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver had been quick initially in Q3 as drivers used Pirelli’s dry weather tyres for the first time in the session, but his final run saw him struggling for grip, and it cost him as he missed out on pole to Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by just 0.054 seconds.

As close as the times were at the front of the field, Hamilton also found himself behind Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Pérez, meaning his run of failing to secure a front row start in 2022 continues, but he hopes for a more positive Sunday in Singapore.

“I was pushing so hard and it was incredibly close,” said Hamilton.  “It was really difficult to get to a position where we could be fighting for first place and I just didn’t have enough grip on the last lap.

“Coming here, we didn’t know how close we could be this weekend. We knew we’d be stronger than in Monza, but we didn’t know exactly how much. Nonetheless, I am grateful to be on the second row tomorrow.

Max Verstappen was forced to abort his final flying lap in Qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix by his Oracle Red Bull Racing engineers after they detected that he would run out of fuel should be complete it.

The Dutchman driver was ultimately forced to settle for eighth on the grid at the Marina Bay Street Circuit having already aborted a couple of laps prior to the final one, and he admitted he should have completed at least one of those laps that could have seen him higher up the grid.

Had Verstappen run out of fuel, he would not have had the mandatory one kilogram of fuel needed for a sample by the stewards, and he risked disqualification had he gone on.

“We couldn’t finish the push lap today because we wouldn’t have had enough fuel in the car, it was a mistake that we didn’t see coming throughout the session,” said Verstappen.  “We were a little surprised by the additional lap at the end, we didn’t expect to have to do that.

“I was on for a good lap when I aborted before starting the last lap, it might have been pole. In hindsight we should have finished the penultimate lap, instead I had to abort two laps, but hindsight is a great thing.”

Charles Leclerc took his ninth pole position of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season on Saturday amid tricky conditions at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore.

The Scuderia Ferrari driver made it through the wet opening two segments of Qualifying and then took top spot in Q3 with a time of 1:49.412, less than a tenth of a second clear of both Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Pérez and Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team’s Lewis Hamilton.

Leclerc admitted it was an exciting session despite the tricky conditions that only saw the dry Pirelli tyres appear in Q3 after intermediate tyres were needed in both Q1 and Q2.

“With track conditions changing throughout, it was a tricky but exciting qualifying,” said Leclerc.  “We were very quick on the Intermediates in Q1 and Q2, then had to start again from zero on the slicks in Q3.

“There were some damp spots of tarmac here and there and you really had to adapt to the track evolution.  The feeling in the car has been great all weekend and I look forward to racing here again tomorrow.”

If it stays dry, the best strategy for the Singapore Grand Prix should be a one-stopper. However, there's still a chance of heavy rain showers, which are much more difficult to predict than at other races in the championship.

Fraser McConnell and Andreas Bakkerud both crashed in Free Practice Saturday morning. Both drivers drove into the Turn 1 jump catching a rut resulting in independent rolls for each driver. Bakkerud’s car managed to stay within the track confines while McConnell’s rolled over the barrier outside track limits and into a small pond.

The pair of Group E FC1-X cars are totaled and will have to be repaired in time for the next day of racing. Most importantly, both drivers were able to leave the cars by themselves although Bakkerud was loaded into an ambulance and taken to receive medical treatment. Fraser walked away on his own to be looked over and receive medical attention. 

With two of the Dreyer & Reinbold drivers currently suspected to be out, that just leaves Robin Larsson and Andrew Carlson to compete this weekend. Larsson will have to compete well to keep RX Cartel at the top of the leaderboard ahead of Vermont Sportscar and XITE Energy Racing.

Dreyer & Reinbold has released a statement on the matter:

“Dreyer Reinbold Racing JC drivers Andreas Bakkerud and Fraser McConnell crashed during a Nitro Rallycross pre-race practice session today at ERX Motor Park. Both drivers quickly received medical evaluation at the scene. After initial treatment from the medical team on site, Bakkerud was transported to the ERX Medical Center due to soreness in his shoulder. Bakkerud and McConnell are going to the hospital for further observation as a precautionary measure. More information regarding their conditions will be released as it becomes available. We are still assessing the damage to the vehicles to see if they will be able to race this weekend. We are happy that the cars are built to keep our drivers safe.“

Qualifying was something of a rollercoaster.

Our car was very quick today, as were our drivers, which is a very important factor on such a unique track as this one.

Today's team representatives press conference with Guenther Steiner, Frederic Vasseur, Laurent Mekies, Jost Capito, Christian Horner and Andreas Seidl.

Lewis came close today, unfortunately, he had a small lock up in Turn 16 and that cost him momentum through the rest of the lap.

We have mixed feelings after today's qualifying.

Charles Leclerc secured his ninth FIA Formula 1 World Championship pole position of the season around the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore as Max Verstappen on his birthday weekend could only manage eighth on the grid for tomorrow’s race after aborting his second run and being told by his Oracle Red Bull Racing team to pit on his third run due to running low on fuel.

Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez will line up on front row of the grid behind Leclerc with Lewis Hamilton putting on an impressive display throughout qualifying to put himself and Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team on the second row in third position.

Q1: Williams out, Surprising exit for Esteban Ocon

Before qualifying had begun, Hamilton had been summoned to the stewards for wearing a nose stud which the FIA made clear a few months ago that drivers would not be allowed to wear any kind of jewellery while out on track. This has been ongoing between Hamilton and the FIA for a little while now as the British driver luckily avoided a fine but Mercedes were fined twenty-five thousand euros even though the team claims he wasn’t wearing any jewellery.

All the drivers started the first round of qualifying on the intermediate tyres as Verstappen went quickest in the first session with a 1:53.057 outpacing both Hamilton and Leclerc who were over three tenths behind the Dutchman.

The first round of qualifying saw a surprise exit for BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon who complained of braking issues on his second run which may have meant that he had to lift and cost on his final lap which would have affected his time as he’ll be starting tomorrow’s race in eighteenth.

We've got both cars starting in strong positions and the aim is points tomorrow.

Sports commissions generally prohibit athletes from using cannabis. However, public opinion is rapidly changing, and official sports associations have had to relax their policy on white sports marijuana. 

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This concept encompasses increasing the permitted level of THC metabolite in the urine by a factor of 10, from 15 ng/ml to 150 ng/ml. On occasion, drug tests allow a level of 180 ng/ml to make an individual decision in case of uncertainty in the results.

The ethical issues of marijuana use in sports have been vigorously debated several times:

In 1989, the International Olympic Committee organized the First World Doping Conference in Switzerland and created the World Anti-Doping Agency, WADA.Their 2004 code is now enforced by 700 sports organizations, including the IOC, the International Paralympic Committee, professional sports leagues, and national anti-doping agencies. The World Anti-Doping Code refers to cannabis as a prohibited substance.In 2012, the percentage of positive tests for cannabis was 9 per cent; in 2012, it was at 2.4 per cent.The scandal erupted in 2021 when American track and field athlete Shakarrie Richardson was suspended from the Tokyo Summer Olympics. This WADA decision was criticized by American society and U.S. congressmen, calling the approach “outdated and restrictive.”In September 2022, WADA announced the scientific results and left cannabis on the list of prohibited substances while still actively continuing to research the effect of THC in increasing exercise performance.

Sports where Marijuana Can Help

Is marijuana legal in any professional sport? The health effects of controlled substances are still a controversial issue to this day. In 2019, the World Health Organization recommended changing the level of cannabis control in the United Nations. 

This result is not what we were expecting based on the good performance we showed on Friday.

Mercedes has been fined �25,000 for failing to declaring Lewis Hamilton's nose ring in Singapore.

World champion is left seething after being told to abort possible pole-winning lap due to fuel fears.