Andretti Motorsports has announced a corporate name change and will now be know as Andretti Global. What is the ONLY series that runs ‘globally’ that does not currently have an Andretti entry? Hmm. Here’s hoping.
Max Verstappen has been complaining about Formula One having too many races and that he might quit when his contract is up in 2028. This from a guy who makes more than two million dollars every race weekend, earning over $55 million this year? Really?
Hands up any NASCAR Canada Pinty’s Series racers, crew members, spectators and/or fans who are tired of the badly failed Live Timing system employed by the series and the trite ‘we are working on it’ response from the series when criticized? Thought so!!
It is not a good look encouraging people to go to the site to follow their races… only to have them left disappointed and frustrated every time. It’s a mystery why NASCAR doesn’t use the AWESOME live timing system that the ‘mother ship’ uses for its big three US touring series.
AND maybe, if enough people ask, we could get NASCAR information guru Jay Adamczyk (jayski.com) to include the NASCAR Pinty’s Series on his site. Everybody deserves much better from the top Canadian series, especially the sponsors.
In the ‘disappointing news’ category, seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Jimmie Johnson has announced that he will again, next year, run some selected Cup races in the No. 84 car. He is a part owner of the Legacy Motor Club entry.
By doing this, he is further tarnishing his reputation and joins several other great drivers who stayed well past their ‘best before’ dates (Petty, Waltrips, etc.). He brutally embarrassed himself with his failed foray into IndyCar. Time to hang it up, J.J.!
NASCAR CUP SERIES: Christopher Bell (Toyota) nabbed another pole this time at Kansas Speedway over Kyle Larson (Chev) and Martin Truex (Toyota). Two cars suffered blown tires in practice, hitting the wall on Saturday. As a result, both Kyle Busch and Ty Gibbs started from the back of the pack.
Not sure what happened to Truex but he was getting passed high and low. Oops, lap 4 and Truex is into the wall. Another bad tire? Hmmm. On lap 62, Austin Dillon got into the wall and about a lap later William Byron, who had been experiencing some kind of problem, spun slowly for a yellow. Kyle Larson won Stage 1.
On lap 108, Bubba Wallace – who had been running up front all race – had a right rear tire go down and he hit the wall for a caution. In addition to the flat, he also had a broken toe link. But, in all fairness, he had said before the flat that his car was ‘wrecking loose’!! What’s with ALL the tire problems?
On the restart, Austin Cindric looped it for another yellow, after a little help from Michael McDowell. On lap 126, Chase Briscoe appeared to lose power and he slowed and stopped on track. Apparently, the engine just ‘shut off.’ This brought out another yellow. I counted five-wide on the restart. Ouch. Brad Keselowski won Stage 2.
On lap 174, Harrison Burton hit the wall in Turn 3 for another yellow. With four laps to go, Chris Buescher lost a tire bringing out another caution.
At the flag, it was Tyler Reddick over Hamlin and Erik Jones in the No. 43 car.
Larson leads the points by 6 over Reddick and by 12 ahead of Hamlin.
Their next race is Bristol, Saturday on TSN 3 at 7.30 P.M.
NASCAR XFINITY SERIES: Justin Allgaier (Chev) nabbed the pole for the Xfinity race at Kansas Speedway on Saturday afternoon, followed by Sammy Smith (Toyota) and Cole Custer (Ford). Parity!!
Well, THAT didn’t take long!!! Nick Leitz got into the wall in Corner 1 after contact with Anthony Alfredo on the initial start!! ‘Lucy, you got some ‘splaining to do’!! Wow.
On lap 13, the yellow came back out for debris on the track, a LOT of debris. And then the sharp camera crew caught some more debris – a brake pad stuck under the front splitter of Allgaier. A little ‘back and forth’ appeared to solve the problem!!
On the subsequent restart, Sam Mayer got loose and spun and then got hit by Sheldon Creed and that collected Kyle Letterman. John Hunter Nemechek won Stage 1 (this has been a recording!!).
Cole Custer won the run off pit road and led Nemechek on the restart but soon dropped back to third. On the restart it looked like something happened to Parker Kligerman and Riley Herbst got into him.
That resulted in a cut tire for Herbst costing him two laps on the pit stop. On lap 60, Custer hit a big chunk of tire carcass – reportedly from the Clements car – forcing Cole up into the wall for yet another yellow.
On lap 75 Brandon Jones looped it coming off Corner 4 and spun across the infield grass. Nemechek won Stage 2 (see my comments on Stage 1 winner!! LOL).
On the restart, Sammy Smith got bumped by Creed and then Smith hit the back of Allgaier taking out both cars. Things went smoothly until Matt Mills hit the back of Rajah Caruth spinning him into the infield. About five laps later Caruth spun in Turn 3 for another caution.
At the flag, it was Nemechek for a clean sweep of all three stages over Brandon Jones and Creed. Austin Hill, who finished 5th, continues to lead the points by 5 over Nemechek and by 40 over Allgaier.
Their next race is Bristol, Friday on TSN 5 at 7.30 P.M.
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS: Chase Purdy won the pole Friday night at Kansas Speedway ahead of Nick Sanchez, both in Chevs, and Ty Majeski (Ford).
Stewart Friesen started 20th. It was good to see the Timeline feature back on Live Timing for the Truck races once again.
Fourteen laps in, Bayley Currey spun under another truck coming out of Turn 2 to bring out the first caution. On lap 27 Kaden Honeycutt spun in Turn 4, right in front of the fast-closing leaders. Nick Sanchez won Stage 1.
Surprisingly, Stage 2 went caution free with Carson Hocevar getting the win. On lap 118 Mason Maggio hit the wall HARD in Turn 3 for another yellow. With 7 to go just after the restart Rajah Caruth swerved to miss Jesse Love and went down and off the track. Tanner Grey saw the smoke, locked it up and hit the wall.
The last two laps saw the three leaders running three-wide and making it work. At the flag it was Christian Eckes over Taylor Gray and Matty D. (DeBenedetto).
Friesen finished a strong 7th. In the points Corey Heim has a 6-point lead on Eckes and 19 on Hocevar.
Their next race is Bristol, Thursday on Fox Sports Racing at 9.00 P.M.
FORMULA ONE: Their next race is Singapore, Sunday at 7.55 on TSN 1 & 5.
INDYCAR: Felix Rosenqvist won the pole for the final IndyCar race of the year at Laguna Seca on Saturday. Scott McLaughlin grabbed the Number 2 spot with Christian Lundgaard 3rd. Canadian Devlin DeFrancesco started 26th.
Oh, baby!! NEW pavement at Laguna!! Everybody hang on!!
Another BRUTAL start by IndyCar, with cars pulling out way before the line and it did not take long for the fun to begin. Corner 1 exit and at least six cars went off track after ‘contact’!! Yellow, yellow, yellow.
Graham Rahal took strong issue with Yuri Vips when he got out of his car. Rahal was the only one unable to continue. After five laps under caution, racing resumed.
Question: Why is it only on IndyCar broadcasts that we hear ALL the announcers go ‘OH, OH’ loudly in unison? LOL
Lap 8 and Josef Newgarden was off-track for another caution after getting behind in his steering. On lap 29, Rosenqvist and Ericsson brought out another yellow after contact in Corner 1 with Ericsson doing the bumping. It would appear that IndyCar could use another ‘AAA Service Unit’ to get the cars restarted. Just saying.
After 7 caution laps, they got back at it with, surprise, surprise, another wreck. Benjamin Pederson spun collecting two other cars for yet another yellow and then Santino Ferruci did some serious ‘off-roading.’ Cautions breed cautions – do ya think?
Another caution on lap 58 when DeFrancesco bumped David Malukas as they were running side by side. That restart was a HARD NO as the back markers got together when Ferruci tangled with Tom Blomqvist and both cars stopping on track.
On the restart – more tangles!! This has been a recording!! Wow. Ericsson (again) and Armstrong got together to abort the restart.
A VERY special thanks to channel 4, WDIV Detroit for breaking in with a Breaking News Alert about MSU Coach Hunter being suspended. That news had been online for hours already!!!! Nevertheless, we were exposed to the yada, yada, yada of the talking heads all saying the same thing.
On lap 74 Colton Herta got off track for another yellow, although we could only watch that in the window while the blathering continued!!!
At the flag, it was veteran Scott Dixon over McLaughlin and Alex Palou. DeFrancesco finished 22nd.
#26: Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport w/ Curb-Agajanian Honda. Credit Honda Racing News
Alex Palou, of course, had already won the season’s championship so this race was basically just for show… and what a show it was!!
IMSA: Their next race is at IRP, Sunday at 1 on RevTV.
NHRA: Their next race is Maple Grove, Sunday at 2 on Fox Sports Racing and at 4.30 on Fox.
NASCAR PINTY’S SERIES: Their next race, the season finale, is Delaware, Sunday, September 24. Treyten Lapcevich has a hammerlock on the title.
APC LATE MODEL SERIES: Their season-ending races are at Delaware on Friday and Saturday, September 22 & 23. These two events (APC and Pinty’s Series finales) are the featured events of the Great Canadian Race Weekend.
For tickets and info for the Great Canadian Race Weekend at Delaware Speedway, click on the banner below.
ONTARIO SPORTSMAN SERIES: Their last race of the season takes place at Delaware, this Friday.
DELAWARE SPEEDWAY: In the Bone Stocks, Charlie Verhoeven won Heat 1, Jordan Willms won Heat 2, Joe Kicks won Heat 3 but he apparently failed to get through the ‘Room of Doom’ and had to run the B Main. Craig Cole won the B Main ahead of Nathan Rhea and Kicks.
However, once again, Kicks got DQ’d. Willms won the feature over Jo Lawrence, Jeremiah Rabideau and Jay Cox. Cox retains a 3-point lead over Rabideau in the points race while Matt Langford is 58 back.
In the V/8 Stocks, Jordan Morris won Heat 1 while Paul Fothergill won Heat 2. There was a display of poor sportsmanship during the second heat as a result of an incident where a car hit the wall. The driver of that car then drove the wrong way on the track leaving oil all the way down the back straight and into the pit exit. Unfair to all the other competitors at the track.
A couple of ‘break-outs’ slowed things at the start of the main. At the flag, it was Morris ahead of Fothergill and Darryn Wright. Fothergill leads the points by 17 over Jeff Ferguson and 46 over Dave Evison.
In the Super Stocks, David McCullough won Heat 1 and Ryan Bright won Heat 2. In the first heat Connor Van Steensel hit a problem going into Turn 3 and hit the wall hard, actually riding up on it and coming to a rest on ‘pit in.’ That was reminiscent of Jason Lidster’s similar incident a few weeks ago. He was fine.
Action was great in the Super Stock main with cars running three-wide at times and a little bit of ‘Irish Mist’ in the air. The misty rain may have contributed to a three-car wreck involving Cody Wilds, Brody Rickwood and Kyle Mezenberg that brought out the red flag. At the checker it was rookie Hudson Nagy grabbing the win ahead of Zardo and brother Carson Nagy.
Carson Nagy leads Jay Doerr in the points by 7 and Lane Zardo by 9.
Delaware’s next race is the Ontario Sportsman Series, Late Model Championship and Super Stocks Championship, this Friday.
FLAMBORO SPEEDWAY: Their next race is Championship Night, Saturday.
OHSWEKEN SPEEDWAY: Their next race is Nitro 54 Variety Night, Friday.
SOUTHERN ONTARIO MOTOR SPEEDWAY: Their next races are Shootout Nights, Friday and Saturday.
PETERBOROUGH SPEEDWAY: The legendary Autumn Colours Classic runs October 6-8 at the high-banked, 1/3-mile oval.
SUNSET SPEEDWAY: Sunset plays host to Fall Velocity this Friday through Sunday.
GRAND BEND SPEEDWAY: Their next race is Thursday night.
GRAND BEND MOTORPLEX (DRAGWAY): Their next race is Fallfast, this weekend.
ST. THOMAS DRAGWAY: Their next race is the J.P Shootout Reunion, next weekend.
TORONTO MOTORSPORTS PARK: TMP hosts the Canadian Sports Compact Series, this weekend.
SHANNONVILLE DRAGS: Their next race is next weekend.
EAST COAST PRO STOCK TOUR: Greg Proude (Springvale, PE) returned to the East Coast International Pro Stock Tour in style, picking up the victory in Saturday’s Modern Pumps & Metals 150 at Antigonish, Nova Scotia’s Riverside International Speedway. Proude took the lead on lap 96 but had to hold off many hard charging competitors for the win.
Nicholas Naugle (Dartmouth, NS) was door to door with Proude coming off the final turn but had to settle for second. Austin MacDonald (Pictou, NS) kept his cool, despite his helmet blower shutting down during the race, to finish third. Jarrett Butcher (Porter’s Lake, NS) had another solid showing with a fourth-place finish. Chris Reid (Fort McMurray, AB) led the most laps on the day, taking home the R&D Performance Centre Most Laps award and a fifth-place finish.
Any comments can be sent to Dave Mathers via email at motionman@rogers.com or by Facebook Messenger.
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