A pair of Italian manufacturers – Ferrari and Lamborghini – both rolled the dice on strategy and came up aces in the two GT classes in Sunday’s Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

When DragonSpeed called Albert Costa into the pits near the end of the first full-course caution of the race, exactly half of the two-hour, 40-minute IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race remained.

Costa, driving the No. 81 Ferrari 296 GT3, and the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R in the hands of Nicky Catsburg were the only two entries in the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class to top off their tanks after stopping with the rest of their competitors at the start of the safety car period.

A GT3 car generally can’t stretch a tank of VP Racing Fuel over 80 minutes of green flag racing. But then, CTMP’s high-speed, high-commitment layout generally produces a caution in the closing stages – in five of the last six WeatherTech Championship races, as a matter of fact.

Make that six of seven, because the safety car made a second appearance just past the two-hour mark, before ultimately leading the field to the checkered flag after the race-leading Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA driven by Tom Dillmann crashed with about 15 minutes to go. Damage to the barrier and tire wall prevented the race from going back to green.

That made DragonSpeed’s strategy perfect for the circumstances, and the No. 81 Ferrari led the final 22 laps to reward the team with its sixth victory in IMSA competition and first in the GTD PRO class. DragonSpeed’s last win came at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2022 (Henrik Hedman and Juan Pablo Montoya shared the team’s No. 81 ORECA LMP2 07 in the LMP2 class).

Costa and co-driver Giacomo Altoe have each won twice in the WeatherTech Championship. They started Sunday’s race from 10th and last in class.

“We woke up this morning and said, ‘We need to make a gamble,’” Costa said. “We were not fast; we were the slowest car on the track. But we played hard. And I’m happy for the team, and for the strategy they made, so that’s to them for all the support. We were lucky for once.”

“Obviously, it’s not the way you want to win, and at the end we were lucky,” Altoe added. “But this is a really good result that is important for the team. It has not been an easy weekend, but we made the most of it. That’s mega.”

Catsburg also acknowledged that good fortune played a role in the best result of the season for himself, Tommy Milner, and the No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R as the ninth different GTD PRO car to finish on the podium this season.

“It’s very nice to finish on the podium,” he said. “But we do have a lot of work to do. We got a little bit lucky today. We need to figure out where things keep going wrong in the pit lane and figure out how to get the Corvette in a bit of a better window.”

Laurin Heinrich and Klaus Bachler took third place in the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, followed by the GTD PRO points leading No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R driven by Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims. The result cut the No. 3 car’s lead in the GTD PRO point standings over the No. 77 car from 52 points to 39.

GTD: WTR Lamborghini Prevails in Comeback Effort

Sometimes the best wins in racing are the ones that are least expected. Just ask Trent Hindman, Danny Formal, and Wayne Taylor Racing.

The No. 45 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 started fifth but dropped to the tail of the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class field in the opening stages of the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park when contacted by another GTD car.

But Formal and WTR’s GTD team didn’t give up. Formal kept pressing on, and the team played a strategic card by making a second pit stop near the end of the first caution period in the two-hour, 40-minute WeatherTech Championship race.

Hindman took over, and as every other GTD competitor stopped for energy, he kept the WTR Lamborghini on track. When a pair of late cautions caused the race to end behind the safety car, Hindman and Formal were in position to collect Wayne Taylor Racing’s 52nd victory in IMSA competition, but first in the GTD class. It was Formal’s first win in the WeatherTech Championship, and the second for 2019 GTD class champion Hindman.

Formal is also the first driver from Costa Rica to triumph in IMSA competition since Javier Quiros in 1997, coincidentally also at CTMP in the GT class.

“It was complete adversity in the first five minutes of the race,” Formal exclaimed. “I got a good start and the car was amazing, but I got T-boned going into Turn 9. We drove the whole stint with a broken rim, and the vibration was just insane. But the team said, ‘Keep on chugging, keep on doing this. We have a strategy; we have a plan.’ So obviously I kept driving as hard as I could.”

Despite driving in full fuel-save mode, Hindman kept the chrome-liveried Lamborghini out front.

“The whole time, I had nothing but faith for the guys on the box,” Hindman said. “You see the calls they make in GTP (Grand Touring Prototype) racing, so we are just very fortunate to have the same caliber crew on our side with the GTD car.

“We’ve had nothing go our way this year,” he added. “To finally have a race come to us like that took a bit of luck, but from personal experience, I’ve been on the wrong side on a lot of these kinds of races. So, you take it any way you can get it. But the car was plenty quick.”

The GTD championship points leaders consolidated their positions with podium finishes at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. A second place run for Philip Ellis and Russell Ward (No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3) extended their lead over third place finishers Parker Thompson and Jack Hawksworth (No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3) to 93 points.

“At the end of the day, we accomplished what we set out to do, which was to extend the championship lead,” said Ward. “A little disappointing when you have such a good car and have the ability to win the race but finish under caution. That’s racing, and still a good points day for us. We’ve had a couple seconds and a third here, so hopefully a win is coming.”

Canadian fan favorite Robert Wickens teamed with Alec Udell to finish fourth in the No. 36 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R. It was a career-best result for paraplegic racer Wickens in just his fourth WeatherTech Championship start, and third in GTD.

The next round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is the IMSA SportsCar Weekend, August 1-3 at Road America.

IMSA Wire Service PR

The two race teams suing NASCAR over antitrust allegations filed for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction Monday to be recognized as chartered organizations for the remainder of 2025.

23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are locked in a lengthy legal battle over the charter system, which is the equivalent of the franchise model in other sports. 23XI, owned by retired NBA great Michael Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, and Front Row, owned by entrepreneur Bob Jenkins, last September rejected NASCAR’s final proposal on extensions and instead filed an antitrust suit.

The case is winding its way through the court system but now with urgency: the teams were set to lose their charters Wednesday and in the latest filing, they allege NASCAR has indicated it will immediately begin the process of selling the six tags that guarantee entry into every race as well as monetary rewards and other benefits.

After the filing NASCAR was ordered to respond by 5 p.m. Wednesday — which means there would be no ruling on if the charters will be revoked likely until Thursday, at the earliest.

“Today we filed a motion in the district court for a renewed preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order to protect the teams’ ability to race chartered for the remainder of the 2025 Cup Series season and prevent irreparable business harm to 23XI and Front Row Motorsports until we can present our case at trial in December,” said Jeffery Kessler, attorney for the teams.

“New information surfaced through the discovery process that overwhelmingly supports our position that a preliminary injunction is legally warranted and necessary. The teams’ love of stock car racing and belief in a better future for the sport for all parties – teams, drivers, employees, sponsors, and fans – continues to motivate their efforts to pursue this antitrust case.”

There were large portions of the filing redacted because the arguments are based on information learned through discovery, making it confidential, for now. But, the urgency is likely tied to NASCAR indicating it plans to immediately begin selling the charters if they are revoked.

Should the teams have their six combined charters revoked, the drivers would have to qualify on speed to make each week’s race and would receive a smaller percentage of the purse. They may also have to refund money paid out through the first 20 races of the year.

NASCAR accused 23XI and Front Row of filing “a third motion for another unnecessary and inappropriate preliminary injunction” and noted it has made multiple requests to the teams “to present a proposal to resolve this litigation.”

“We have yet to receive a proposal from 23XI or Front Row, as they have instead preferred to continue their damaging and distracting lawsuit,” NASCAR said in a statement. “We will defend NASCAR’s integrity from this baseless lawsuit forced upon the sport that threatens to divide the stakeholders committed to serving race fans everywhere.

“We remain focused on collaborating with the 13 race teams that signed the 2025 charter agreements and share our mutual goal of delivering the best racing in the world each week, including this weekend in Dover.”

Also on Monday, Rick Ware Racing and Legacy Motor Club had a short virtual hearing in a North Carolina court over their fight for a charter.

Legacy, owned by seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, contends it had an agreement with RWR to lease one of its two charters in 2026. RWR contends the agreement was for 2027 and it already has a contract with RFK Racing to lease that team a charter next season.

Legacy on Monday asked for and was granted the right to depose RWR over the recent revelation that T.J. Puchyr, one of the founders of Spire Motorsports, plans to purchase the race team. Legacy contends if Ware is selling the team, then one of the charters should be transferred to its organization.

Legacy also argued that Ware did not disclose he was entering into a sales agreement with a third party — Puchyr, who is now a consultant and brokered the initial lease deal between RWR and Legacy — in an April hearing. The judge in that case warned that RWR could be in contempt of court if it misrepresented its intentions in the first hearing.

___

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There seems to be no stopping Shane van Gisbergen on road courses in the NASCAR Cup Series. The driver of the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet put on another road racing clinic on his way to his third win of the NASCAR Cup season in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.

Race Results: NASCAR Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma

In the last month, Van Gisbergen, who was having a rough rookie season in the NASCAR Cup Series has completely flipped the script as he now has three wins, and is set to rank very high in the Playoff grid once the Playoffs kick off in six races. For SVG, the last month is why he made the move to America, and why he continues chasing the dream.

“It means everything. That’s why I race cars,” Van Gisbergen explained. “I had an amazing time in Australia, and then to come here and the last couple weeks or years actually has been a dream come true. I’ve really enjoyed my time in NASCAR. Thanks, everyone, for making me feel so welcome. I hope I’m here for a long time to come.”

Van Gisbergen, 36, was never seriously threatened for the win throughout Sunday’s race as he led a race-high 97 laps, which is an all-time NASCAR Cup Series record at the 1.99-mile California road course (Jeff Gordon previously held the record with 92 laps led in 2004).

Leading 97 laps in Sunday’s #ToyotaSaveMart350 at Sonoma Raceway, @ShaneVG97 has set a NEW RECORD for the most laps led in a NASCAR Cup Series event at the racetrack.

The previous record (92) was set by Jeff Gordon in 2004.#NASCAR | ?:@AaronGiffin62, @TobyChristieCom pic.twitter.com/PdfreMOVKA

— Joseph Srigley (@joe_srigley) July 13, 2025

SVG was so dominant that he chose to flip Stage 2 and abandon going for the Stage Win in an effort to set himself up better for the overall race win, and guess what? He won Stage 2 anyway.

Van Gisbergen was able to hold Chase Briscoe at bay for the race lead through three late-race cautions, and he marched to the finish line to win the race by a margin of 1.128 seconds.

The native of New Zealand credited Briscoe for racing him clean through all three of the restarts down the stretch.

“Yeah, it was pretty tough stuff.” Van Gisbergen said of the late-race restarts. “We had an amazing car. Chase Briscoe, what a great racer, and [he] gave me respect. Jumped the last one a little bit, and it was pretty tense, but amazing. So stoked for Red Bull, Trackhouse, Chevy. I believe we had a really fun weekend here, some great races, and I hope everyone enjoyed that.”

After the win, Van Gisbergen’s crew chief Stephen Doran admitted that his driver is truly special behind the wheel on tracks where drivers are required to turn right in addition to left.

“Most of it’s Shane,” Doran explained. “We did get the car better. He was not happy with it in practice. We made a bunch of changes for today. Made the right changes, and he was pretty happy with it today and he was able to control the race, save his tires, kind of just manage his gap and use them at the end when he needed them.”

Briscoe was looking for his second win of his first season with Joe Gibbs Racing, but had to settle for second. After the race, Briscoe admitted he had nothing for Van Gisbergen, but was proud of his team’s effort on Sunday afternoon.

“I don’t know. I don’t know if I really saw everything he had, truthfully. I felt like every time I would get close; he would just start driving back away,” Briscoe said. “We were definitely the second-best car. I don’t really know what more I need – maybe a little bit a grip, but even if I had a little more grip, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to gain the speed that he had. But overall, great day for the Bass Pro Shops Toyota. This is by far my worst race track, so to run second to him, it definitely means a lot, so proud of the day.”

Chase Elliott would finish third behind SVG and Briscoe in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, and Elliott would be followed across the finish line by Michael McDowell and Christopher Bell inside of the top five of the finishing results.

Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs, William Byron, Joey Logano, and Kyle Busch rounded out the top-10 finishers in the race.

NASCAR Cup Series Point Standings Update

With an eighth-place finish, Byron was able to stop the bleeding in his quest to secure the NASCAR Cup Series regular-season championship. Byron entered the day 13 points ahead of Chase Elliott, and the top-five drivers inside of the standings were all within 48 points of him.

Exiting Sonoma, Byron now holds a 14-point advantage over Elliott, while Kyle Larson dropped to 44 points behind in third, Tyler Reddick sits 53 points back in fourth, and Denny Hamlin is now 62 points behind Byron in fifth.

There are six races remaining until the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs begin.

With six races left, the Playoff cutline has heated up as Bubba Wallace and Ryan Preece are duking it out for the final spot.

Preece was able to overcome suffering damage on a late-race incident involving Noah Gragson and Erik Jones to finish 12th on Sunday, while Wallace came home in 26th. Leaving Sonoma, Wallace holds the final slot inside the Playoffs cutline by three points over Preece.

Here is how the battle for the Playoffs looks:

1. Kyle Larson, 3 wins

2. Denny Hamlin, 3 wins

3. Shane van Gisbergen, 3 wins

4. Christopher Bell, 3 wins

5. William Byron, 1 win

6. Ryan Blaney, 1 win

7. Austin Cindric, 1 win

8. Joey Logano, 1 win

9. Chase Briscoe, 1 win

10. Ross Chastain, 1 win

11. Josh Berry, 1 win

12. Chase Elliott, 1 win

13. Tyler Reddick, +149 points

14. Chris Buescher, +34

15. Alex Bowman, +32

16. Bubba Wallace, +3

===Cutline===

17. Ryan Preece, -3
18. Kyle Busch, -37
19. AJ Allmendinger, -50
20. Ty Gibbs, -60

In-Season Tournament Update

Ty Dillon, the 32nd seed heading into NASCAR’s inaugural In-Season Tournament, continued his improbable march through the contest as he nudged past Alex Bowman on the final lap of Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350.

Dillon finished 17th, while Bowman was eliminated from the tournament with a 19th-place result.

Tyler Reddick advanced to the next round of the tournament with a sixth-place finish, and he eliminated Ryan Preece, who finished 12th.

Ty Gibbs also advanced by way of a seventh-place finish, and in doing so, eliminated Zane Smith, who finished 27th.

John Hunter Nemechek also advanced in a tight battle with his LEGACY MOTOR CLUB teammate Erik Jones.

Here are next week’s In-Season Tournament matchups, which will decide the drivers that will battle for $1 million in the Brickyard 400.

• No. 32 Ty Dillon vs No. 12 John Hunter Nemechek
• No. 23 Tyler Reddick vs No. 6 Ty Gibbs

Next Week’s Race

Next up for the NASCAR Cup Series is the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Dover Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 20. That race will be the fourth of five races to be televised on TNT. TNT’s race broadcast will kick off at 2:00 PM ET. The Performance Radio Network (PRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of the Dover race.

Having exhausted nearly every legal option to retain their charters after the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals revoked a previous preliminary injunction protecting it, both 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports have taken a new course forward.

23XI and FRM have filed a motion for another temporary restraining order (TRO) and a new preliminary injunction that would allow them to keep their charters for the remainder of the 2025 season. The trial date for the lawsuit does not take place until December 1st of this year.

New evidence?

Todd Gilliland, Front Row Motorsports Ford

Photo by: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

The teams cite new evidence as their reasoning for this motion, and allege that NASCAR plans to “immediately move to sell or issue Plaintiffs’ charters to other entities—putting Plaintiffs in irreparable jeopardy of never getting their charters back and going out of business.” The teams claim they received a letter from NASCAR, indicating that this is indeed the intention of the sanctioning body. 

NASCAR has quickly responded, calling the motion “improper” and requesting a decision from the courts by Wednesday on the TRO.

23XI and FRM have three charters each, and with only 36 charters, they are highly sought after. Teams are willing to pay tens of millions of dollars for just one charter, as recent sales of showcased. NASCAR also stated that 23XI and FRM are refusing to return the money they’ve earned under the 2025 Charter Agreement so far, stating in a Monday filing: “The Plaintiffs have informed NASCAR they do not intend on returning the money irrespective of the Fourth Circuit’s decision.”

NASCAR’s official statement

23XI Racing logo

Photo by: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

NASCAR released a full statement on the situation publicly, claiming they have reached out in attempts to end this legal battle before it goes to trial, but 23XI and FRM are not receptive to it.

“It is unfortunate that instead of respecting the clear rulings of the Fourth Circuit, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are now burdening the District Court with a third motion for another unnecessary and inappropriate preliminary injunction.

“As both the Fourth Circuit and the District Court suggested, NASCAR has made multiple requests to 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to present a proposal to resolve this litigation. We have yet to receive a proposal from 23XI or Front Row, as they have instead preferred to continue their damaging and distracting lawsuit. We will defend NASCAR’s integrity from this baseless lawsuit forced upon the sport that threatens to divide the stakeholders committed to serving race fans everywhere. We remain focused on collaborating with the 13 race teams that signed the 2025 charter agreements and share our mutual goal of delivering the best racing in the world each week, including this weekend in Dover.”

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — ARCA Menards Series winner Jake Finch is set to make his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut with Hendrick Motorsports.

Hendrick Motorsports named Finch to their No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro for the July 19 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Dover Motor Speedway.

Dover is where Finch earned his first ARCA-sanctioned win in 2023 in the East series. In 2024, he earned a win in the main ARCA series at Talladega Superspeedway.

Finch has just one start so far this season – in the April ARCA Menards Series East race at Rockingham Speedway.

Jake Finch is the son of James Finch, the owner of Phoenix Racing. Up until its closure in 2013, Phoenix Racing worked closely with Hendrick Motorsports. In 2009, they allowed one of their developmental drivers at the time to get a big opportunity. Brad Keselowski claimed his and Phoenix Racing’s first NASCAR Cup Series victory in a wild finish at Talladega in April 2009. The future NASCAR Cup Series champion went on to win much more but the team never won again.

Jake Finch will be the second driver to make his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut since the 2022 revival of Hendrick Motorsports’ program in the series.

In his series debut in March at Martinsville Speedway, Corey Day finished 21st after starting eighth at Martinsville. Day finished 16th after starting 33rd at Texas, 11th after starting 21st at Nashville Superspeedway and 24th after starting 14th at Sonoma.

Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.

A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.

Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick’s final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen’s stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers’ stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.

Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com