The Brief

• INDYCAR racing is drawing fans of all ages.

• At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, racing fans young and old get one-on-one experiences with the drivers.

INDIANAPOLIS – It wasn’t a race to see who can meet the most drivers, but Hayden Jaskela had quite the starting position. He was one of the first to meet the man in the orange hat, Scott Dixon, INDYCAR SERIES driver.

Ready to meet an INDYCAR driver

What we know

When FOX6 News asked him why Dixon is his favorite driver, he said, “My middle name’s Scott, and he’s also a redhead.”

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Jaskela joined other young people at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, who cheered for Dixon, like Titus Repp.

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“He signed a car for me,” said Repp, a 10-year-old INDYCAR SERIES fan.

While some fans had their eyes on the future of INDYCAR, one man was looking back.

What they’re saying

“Here I am, kind of honoring my dad,” said Dylan James, a new INDYCAR SERIES fan. “He passed last year.”

James is from New Zealand, like Dixon.

“I think it’s going to be emotional,” said James. “He loved the spectacle of epic sports events; he went to several, never to the Indy 500, so it’s a big deal to be remembering him this way.”

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It’s a father-son bond Doug Boles knows well. He’s the president of INDYCAR and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“I grew in a family where my dad actually worked in the sport, so it was kind of all I’ve really ever known, especially this place, the Indianapolis 500,” said Boles. “We just had this connection around the sport.”

Racing brings unity

Dig deeper

As the 109th Indianapolis 500 approaches, Boles said he is looking forward to the unity the race brings.

“I look forward to seeing the families, the generations of families that have been coming to the speedway so often,” said Boles.

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Jaskela is already a part of the special tradition. He admires drivers, like Dixon, who make history with every lap.

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“I hope he wins,” said Jaskela.

The Source

The information in this post was produced by FOX6 News with assistance from INDYCAR and FOX Sports.

TRICON Garage (TRICON) will once again join forces with longtime partner Black’s Tire Service (BTS) for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. BTS will serve as the primary sponsor for Tanner Gray and the No. 15 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro and will be highlighting its charitable partner, the Boys and Girls Homes of North Carolina as part of the effort.

Black’s Tire, which celebrated its 95th anniversary in 2024, has more than 70 locations in both North and South Carolina remaining a local, family owned and operated tire seller and wholesaler. Most recently, BTS was featured on the No. 15 for the Black’s Tire 200 at Rockingham Speedway in April.

Headquartered in Lake Waccamaw, NC, Boys and Girls Homes of North Carolina (BGHNC) has served more than 7,500 children as a nonprofit agency. Its mission is to provide a wide array of services for children and youth who have been removed from their homes due to abuse, neglect or other family challenges. BGHNC offers adoption, family and therapeutic foster care in 26 counties, success coach services to prevent children from coming into foster care, and child and family therapy, as well as Carolyn’s Kaleidoscope Child Advocacy Center in Whiteville and residential care on the campus at Lake Waccamaw.

“The founder of Black’s Tire, Crowell Black, was on our original board of trustees, Ricky Benton II currently serves on our board of trustees today, and through the years, BTS fundraising has had a huge impact on continuing our programs of care through Boys and Girls Homes,” said Marc Murphy, President and CEO, Boys and Girls Homes. “We simply could not serve as many children without the support of BTS.”

“In addition to highlighting our charitable partnership with BGHNC, we are excited to feature 24 of our loyal partner dealers on the bed of the truck for this big event,” said BTS Chairman of the Board, Ricky Benton Sr.

Black’s Tire will be hosting its annual Boys and Girls Home charity golf tournament on Thursday, September 18. Those interested in supporting the cause and sponsoring a hole or a golf team can reach out to Amy Jenkins at [email protected].

The North Carolina Education Lottery 200 from Charlotte Motor Speedway will be televised live on FOX Sports 1 on Friday, May 23 at 8:30 P.M. ET, with radio coverage provided by the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

TRICON PR

BARROWS — Three weeks ago, Tom Anderson’s car was battered and broken.

He was in a much different position Saturday, May 19, on the winner’s stand with the checkered flag in hand after winning the 15-lap Hobby Stock feature event at North Central Speedway.

Anderson’s car went into the wall during the season opener, April 26, and came to a rest on the front straightaway after the first lap with major damage. He returned with a top-five finish Saturday, May 10.

Starting from the second position in Saturday’s feature, Anderson raced to the win in front of Chris Seidel and Mark Johnson. With the win, Anderson is in sixth position in the points race.

Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Dispatch

Mark Martini was a winner for the third time in four races in the Sport Mod Class and Aaron Johnson duplicated that with his third win in the Modified feature event.

Ashton Schwinn got his second win of the season in the Mod Four feature and Baylen Rooker won for the first time this season in the Sport Compact class.

Curt Myers was the Super Stock feature winner and Cole Greseth won for the Street Stocks.

Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Dispatch

Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Dispatch

For the first time since the season-opening Daytona 500, NASCAR will reach 40 entries for a Cup Series race. Along with the usual 36 charted teams, four open entries will take part in NASCAR’s longest race on Memorial Day Weekend.

Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and four-time Coke 600 winner Jimmie Johnson will be one of those open entries, driving the No. 84 Legacy Motor Club Toyota. It will also be Johnson’s 700th career start.

Trackhouse Racing will enter a fourth car with rising star Connor Zilisch driving the No. 87 Chevrolet, making his second career start in the Cup Series but his first on an oval. Zilisch skipped the most recent Xfinity race at Kansas due to a back injury, but he has been cleared to return to competition this weekend.

Garage 66. (formerly MBM Motorsports) will enter the No. 66 Ford Mustang with Josh Bilicki as the driver while NY Racing Team will enter the No. 44 Chevrolet. No driver has been officially announced for the NY Racing Team entry, but it’s likely to be J.J. Yeley.

There are also 40 entries for the NASCAR Xfinity race, which will feature the following Cup stars: William Byron, Austin Dillon, and Chase Briscoe. Of note, Katherine Legge will also be participating after skipping this year’s Indy 500 in favor of gaining more stock car experience.

There are 34 entries for the Truck Series, bringing the total to 114 for the three national divisions. Kyle Busch and Ross Chastain are the only full-time Cup drivers in the field, but B.J. McLeod will also be taking part after putting a deal together with Spire Motorsport.

2025 Coca-Cola 600 entry list

After qualifying third for the this year’s Indianapolis 500, Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward met with the media to discuss his strong showing. But when asked about the technical violation involving Team Penske’s two remaining cars in Fast 12 qualifying, he did not hold back.

IndyCar officials found something amiss with the rear attenuator on Josef Newgarden’s No. 2 Chevrolet. Will Power’s No. 12 Chevrolet had the same issue, but was already sitting in the pit lane. Penske decided to work on the cars, believing they could rectify the problem and still qualify without issue, but that was not the case.

In the end, both cars were pulled out of line and took no further part in qualifying. They, along with Scott McLaughlin who crashed heavily in Sunday morning practice, will share Row 4 (10th – 12th) on the grid. But O’Ward thinks the immediate punishment should have been far more severe.

Patricio O’ward, Arrow McLaren

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

“They weren’t accidentally doing it because they had the blowtorch right there in order to get it out,” said O’Ward. “Honestly, I feel for [Jacob] Abel and for everybody that did the last chance qualifying. Those (Penske) cars weren’t in regulations.”

Rookie Jacob Abel was the lone driver who failed to qualify for the Indy 500, losing out in the LCQ to Rinus VeeKay, Marcus Armstrong, and Marco Andretti. Meanwhile, all three Penske cars were fast enough for the Fast 12 via their efforts on Saturday.

“I’m not an engineer, so I can’t tell you what they were doing, how much speed that it is or if it is any speed,” continued O’Ward. “Obviously it’s not in regulation. The rule is pretty black and white. Those cars should have been in the last chance qualifier. Like, those cars should have never — obviously they didn’t do anything in the Fast 12, but they should have been brought into the LCQ because they had that yesterday, I guarantee you. Until someone pointed it out today. Those cars, if they’re disqualified today, they should have been disqualified yesterday.

“It’s a shame really because they don’t need to be doing that stuff. They’re a great team. They have got great drivers. Why are doing that? It makes no sense.”