In this week’s Motion Motorsport Report, Dave Mathers offers his perspectives on the Daytona 500 and the other action at Daytona International Speedway during Speedweek 2024. He also touches on IndyCar, F1 and more.
IndyCar has announced that their final race of the season has been moved. Construction problems in the area of the Streets of Nashville circuit have necessitated the move down the road to Nashville Superspeedway. Personally, I would have loved to see them move to the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway!!
THAT would make for an awesome race!
An interesting story appeared in the Toronto Star on the weekend talking about the death of Tim Horton as a result of an accident in his De Tomaso Pantera.
What was not stated in the story was the most possible cause of that accident apart from the high speed that he was traveling. All Ford dealers of the day received a Technical Service Bulletin shortly after the event advising that lead weights were NOT to be used to balance magnesium wheels as they could cause corrosion in the wheels resulting in failure. Only aluminum weights were to be used going forward. Nothing in the TSB referenced the Horton accident but, sadly, we were able to read between the lines. What a tragedy. BUT, the best part of the story was that the motor from the Pantera, a 351 Cleveland, ended up in the ‘73 Mustang Late Model of famous Maritime stock car racer Jim Hallahan!!
It appears there is some unwanted off-season news coming out of Formula One. Not the head-scratching rejection of the Andretti/Cadillac entry but rather the alleged misconduct of Red Bull boss Christian Horner. Will ever learn the truth of that ‘little’ matter? Time will tell. Horner does admit that it is a ‘distraction’.
And, of course, Ford is concerned as well because they are partnering with Red Bull starting in 2026. Mark Rushbrook, head of Ford Performance Motorsport, expressed those very concerns before the Daytona 500 stating that Ford is a family company. And, of course, Bernie Ecclestone is denying all the reports that he advised Horner to step down!! Ah, Bernie being Bernie!! Ya gotta love the old guy.
Speaking of Formula One the teams have been busy showing off their 2024 race cars at various around the world. But instead of focusing on what’s new with them they all seem to be bragging about their new ‘liveries’. News flash – ‘liveries’ do NOT win race!! Tell us about your cars!!
NASCAR played right into the hands of Ontario racing fans by rescheduling the rained-out Xfinity race on Saturday and the Cup race from Sunday to Monday (11 and 4), Family Day in Ontario!! Bonus!!
While talking about NASCAR it appears there may be some dissension in the ranks regarding the ‘Charter’ process. A was held on the weekend but apparently NASCAR didn’t attend. Hmmm. Hopefully this issue will get quickly resolved.
NASCAR Cup Series: In the first Duel Joey Logano (Ford) started on the pole for the 60 lapper followed by Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott (both in Chevs). With 36 ‘franchise drivers’ guaranteed a spot in the 500 there were six cars vying for the four available spots in the Big Show including Seven Time Jimmie Johnson (Toyota). On lap 49 Ty Gibbs checked up and that resulted in the outside row all slowing. Johnston was at the back and he got collected when Ricky Stenhouse got into Daniel Hemric in front of him for a caution. At the flag it was Tyler Reddick (Toyota) ahead of the Chevs of Elliott and Alex Bowman. Johnston managed to qualify after getting around J.J. Yeley (Chev).
For the second Duel Michael McDowell (Ford) started from the pole ahead of Austin Cindric (Ford) and William Byron (Chev). Well it took 47 laps before the ‘Big One’ took place. Ryan Blaney went to go high above William Byron so Byron moved up. Blaney went back under but Byron got tapped from behind by Kyle Busch and Byron then took out Blaney. Eleven cars were unfortunately involved in the ensuing red flag melee. LOTS of oil dry was used. At the checker it was Christopher Bell (Toyota) over Austin Cindric (Ford) and Denny Hamlin (Toyota). Interesting – two Fords on the front row of the 500 while two Toyotas win the Duels.
NASCAR should take a look at it’s Live Timing screens. For example both Duels showed ‘Stage 1 of 3′ up high in the crawler. And the second Duel showed ‘Stage 4 of 0′ in the main part. Huh?
The Cup race joined the Xfinity race in being rescheduled due to being rained out as well.
It was interesting during the parade laps to see from overhead the spot where the ‘SuperStretch’ grandstands used to be. It is now a parking lot shaped like Pocono!!
Six cars forced to start from the rear after having to use backups. Blaney, Busch, Gragson, Grala, Hemrick and Byron.
Lap 5 and a seven car wreck. Carson Hocevar, Harrison Burton, John Hunter Nemechek, Austin Dillon, Kaz Grala, Ryan Preece and Seven Time Johnston. Brad Keselowski started it by bump drafting Nemechek sending him down into Burton. Not smart this early in the race.
Wow, eight laps to go in Stage 1 and it’s eight Fords out front followed by seven Chevs and five Toyotas!! Interesting. How things change!! At Stage One finish it was Chase Elliott followed by five more Chevs then three Toyotas. The top Ford was Logano in 11th.
Ryan Blaney, who started from the back, won the caution-free Stage 2.
Nine laps to go and it’s the BIG ONE!! Bowman bump drafted into the back of Byron spinning and taking out a bunch of good cars. RED flag!! Involved in the ensuing wreck were 18 cars, half the field still running, including Logano, Blaney, Byron, Keselowski, Suarez, Hamlin, Truex, Gilliland, Preece, Jones, Reddick, Stenhouse, Alfredo, Buescher, Gragson, Briscoe, Gibbs and Larson.
The yellow came back out with seven to go. Green flag with four to go. DRAMA!!! Yellow on the last lap when Chastain cut down on Cindric spinning both of them. And in the ultimate irony William Byron won ahead of teammate Alex Bowman. Why ironic you ask? Those two caused the carnage that collected 18 cars with nine to go.
What was really cool about the win was that it was the fortieth year for Hendrick Motorsports. Good deal.
In the points Byron leads Bowman by 9 and Wallace by 12. I must say that Harvick did a great job in his first race in the announce booth. Now if they could just get somebody to replace the cloying, uber-annoying Mikey Waltrip. His best before date was about 2005!!
Their next race is Atlanta, Sunday at 3 on TSN 5 and Fox.
NASCAR Xfinity Series: Steady rain on Saturday forced the postponement of the race until Monday at 11 A.M. Oops, delayed again, this time to 9 Monday night!
Thanx to Jayski for telling us as there was NO mention of the delay on nascar.com or on TSN!!
Jesse Love grabbed the pole ahead of Austin Hill and A.J. Allmendinger (all in Chevs). The New Zealand Supercar star Shane Van Gisbergen started fifth also in a Chev.
The yellow came out on lap 23 when several cars got together. Daniel Suarez (again – he got caught up in the Cup race), Haillie Deegan, Kyle Weatherman and Sam Mayer. Jesse Love won Stage 1.
Another yellow on lap 37 with a bunch of cars spinning including the pole sitter Love. And, shocker, it was John Hunter Nemechek who bump drafted Love causing him to spin collecting Frankie Munoz who actually became a real ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ in his Xfinity debut. Another yellow on lap 45 when veteran Justin Allgaier slid up and spun while trying to take the lead from Cole Custer. Custer had moved down a bit from the wall to avoid some debris on the track.
Several cars spun behind him as well. Lap 51 more carnage. Nemechek had a flat tire, spun and several cars spun to miss him. Austin Hill won Stage 2.
Lap 97 and Jeb Burton got tagged in the left rear by Van Gisbergen causing him to spin down off the track but kept it off the inside wall. Yellow flag. Lap 103 and two cars got together in the pack, Parker Retzlaff and Jeremy Clements, for yet another caution involving five cars.
Nine to go and yet another caution. Sage Karam hit the outside wall and collected four more cars. The green came out with four to go.
At the flag it was business as usual as they were wrecking back in the pack but the green stayed out. Austin Hill with a seriously patched up car won the race in front of Sheldon Creed (Toyota) and Jordan Anderson (Chev). In the points Hill has an 11 point lead on Creed and 24 on Riley Herbst.
Their next race is Atlanta, Saturday at 5 P.M. on TSN 5.
NASCAR Craftsman Trucks: Ty Majeski (Ford) won the pole for Friday night’s series opening 100 lap race at Daytona ahead of Johnny Sauter and Corey LaJoie (both in Chevs). Canadian Stewart Friesen (Toyota) started 17th. There were three stages – two at 20 laps each and the final of 60 laps.
Six laps in and the crashing began!! It appeared that Christian Eckes nudged Matt Crafton to start the wreck that involved twelve trucks in total bringing out the first yellow. On lap 16 Lawless Allen spun after blowing a tire for the second caution of the race. Johnny Sauter won Stage 1. On lap 32 Friesen had a flat tire and left the carcass on the track for a yellow flag. Lap 39 and a caution for a little mist on the front straightaway.
Red flag on lap 41 while they try and wait out the rain. The green came back out on lap 45. Two laps later Keith McGee brought out another yellow after hitting the outside wall hard. On lap 57 Bret Holmes spun by himself from the lead. On lap 72 Ben Rhodes spun because of a flat tire for another caution. On lap 78 Eckes spun and collected Sauter along with a couple of others.
Another yellow on lap 85 when Dean Thompson hit a slowing Mason Massey and then got hit from behind by the 1 car of Toni Breidinger. Lap 93 and yet another caution, this time for a spin with Chase Purdy and Tyler Ankrum. And, of course, there had to be NASCAR Overtime!!! Green/white/checker!!
And, again, of course, they wrecked and wrecked and wrecked!!!!!!! Millions of dollars worth of damage. What’s the fix? Four cylinder motors?
Nick Sanchez (Chev) grabs the win ahead of Rajah Caruth (Chev) and Corey Heim (Toyota). Friesen finished 14th after coming from the back. Two hours and thirty three minutes to run 100 laps. Wow.
Not sure about the points but the Live Timing shows Tyler Ankrum who finished 11th in the points lead by 1 over race winner Sanchez and by 4 over Christian Eckes.
Their next race is Atlanta, Saturday at 2 P.M. on Fox Sports Racing.
ARCA: The threat of rain on Saturday moved the Daytona ARCA 200 to Friday night following the Truck Race. Willie Mullins (GREAT name for a stock car driver!!) Took the pole in a Ford ahead of the Toyotas of Tim Richmond (THAT name brings back fond memories of the late, great Tim Richmond) and Jake Finch. Hmmm. The name Finch and Phoenix Construction as a sponsor also brings back fond memories – of several All American 400s at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.
Not wanting to be outdone by the trucks who went a full six laps (and 12 trucks) before wrecking the ARCA crew made it only four laps (and 13 cars) before the laundry flew. And it’s a wonder there was any laundry left after yet another ‘ARCA Demolition Derby at Daytona!’! At the flag, a yellow one as they had stacked ‘em up coming to the checker, it was Gus Dean (Toyota) in front of Thomas Annunziata (Chev) and Greg Van Alst (no make as the sponsors long title didn’t leave room for the make!). Aussie Supercar star Shane Van Gisbergen (Chev) started 34th and finished 29th after getting ‘collected’. Former bike racing star and ACT competitor Dale Quarterley (Chev) started 16th and finished 33rd, another ‘victim’. There were 21 cars on the lead lap at the finish!! Well done.
Formula One: Their first race is Bahrain, Sunday, March 2.
IndyCar: Their first race is St. Petersburg, Sunday March 10.
IMSA: Their next race is St. Petersburg, March 10.
NHRA: Their first race is March 10 at Gainesville.
PRO Superstar Shootout at Bradenton, Florida: A couple of mentions from that huge race a week ago. Bob Tasca III ran a 341.68 MPH run in Funny Car qualifying!! Wow. As well there was a Top Fuel Funny Car Shootout for the non-qualifiers. I have no idea how that worked but the final showed on Drag Race Central as Steve Torrence taking out Chad Green. The reason for my uncertainty you ask? Torrence took out Green in the first round!!
World Series of Pro Mod – in Bradenton, March 1 – 3: This race was won a year ago by Stratford Super Star Spencer Hyde, getting him a $100,000 U.S. cheque (about a quarter million Canadian??).
Motorama Custom Car & Motorsports Expo: This show takes place March 8, 9 and 10 at The International Centre. Tons of racing content on deck this year, with the Fast Eddie Night of Champions taking place on Saturday, March 9 on the Meguiar’s Stage. Celebrity guests include the Rust Bros from Rust Valley Restorers, Farmtruck & Azn from Street Outlaws and Constance Nunes from the Netflix series Car Masters: Rust to Riches. Go to www.MotoramaShow.com for tickets and info.
NASCAR Canada Series: Their first race is at Mosport (CTMP), Sunday May 19.
APC Series: Their first race is at Sunset Speedway, Saturday, May 18.
Ontario Sportsman Series: Their first race is at Delaware, Friday, May 17.
Delaware Speedway: Their first race is Friday, May 10.
Ohsweken Speedway: Schedule TBD.
Flamboro Speedway: Their first race is Saturday, May 4.
Southern Ontario Motor Speedway (Buxton): The status of the track is uncertain at this time.
Grand Bend Speedway: Their first race is Saturday, June 1.
Grand Bend Motorplex: Their first race is the weekend of May 19.
St. Thomas Dragway: Their first race is the weekend of May 19.
Toronto Motorsports Park: TBD due to track improvements.
Dragstrip Memories: Sunday, April 14, 9 – 4, Hamilton Airport.
Shannonville Drags: Their first race is the weekend of May 5.
Any comments can be sent to Dave Mathers via email at motionman@rogers.com or by Facebook Messenger.
