Motorsports
Motion Motorsport Report for InsideTrackNews.com – June 3, 2025
Dave Mathers In this week’s Motion Motorsport Report for InsideTrackNews.com, Dave Mathers laments the soggy Spring weekends, catches us up on the major international series and looks ahead to some local action this coming weekend. Once again on the weekend, the Weather Gods were NOT kind to racetracks around Ontario with several events cancelled due […]


In this week’s Motion Motorsport Report for InsideTrackNews.com, Dave Mathers laments the soggy Spring weekends, catches us up on the major international series and looks ahead to some local action this coming weekend.
Once again on the weekend, the Weather Gods were NOT kind to racetracks around Ontario with several events cancelled due to the weather. And when is this Global Warming stuff supposed to kick in? I’ve had my shorts on twice this year, and we are into June.
TV numbers have come in for Memorial Day Sunday and they show great improvements year over year for all three races. That’s really good news.
Apparently several IndyCar drivers are not happy with the extra 100 pounds that the hybrid system adds to their cars. It seems the extra weight hurts the handling and is harder on tire wear. Interesting.
Recent complaints about the IndyCar Technical Inspection Team have reached an all new level after the head-scratching post race penalties issued at Indy against three cars. Two Andretti Hondas were hit hard. Marcus Ericsson finished 2nd but was dropped to 31st after ‘modifications to the Dallara-supplied Energy Management System (EMS) covers and cover-to-A-arm mounting points with unapproved spacers and parts’!! Kyle Kirkwood finished 6th but was relegated to 32nd for ‘All parts provided by an Approved Supplier must be used as supplied without modification unless otherwise approved by IndyCar’. No mention of the parts that were ‘modified’ although most likely the same parts as Ericsson.
The third car, the Chev of Callum Iliott, was found to have violated the rules ‘ Front wing must adhere to the following Technical Inspection dimensions: Failure of the left side minimum endplate height Rule 14.7.6.4., which requires endplates, wing flaps and mainplanes remain in the designed location’. How did those ‘modifications’ get past pre-practice, pre-qualifying, post-qualifying and pre-race technical inspection?
And penalties of 29, 26 and 21 spots? Roger Penske fired his three top officials after the qualifying debacle early on at Indy and he now must immediately fire the entire technical inspection team and hire an outside company to provide independent, competent and unbiased technical services.
How do you think Honda feels after having the second place finisher punted to the bottom? The credibility of the series is in great jeopardy. And there is this – ‘each car receives a $100,000 fine and the team/competition managers for the three entries have been placed on a one-race suspension to be served at the next IndyCar Series event at the streets of Detroit’!! Hopefully the entire tech team also gets a ‘time out.’
FLAMBORO SPEEDWAY – APC UNITED RACING SERIES LATE MODELS
This Saturday night (June 7) at Flamboro Speedway, the APC United Racing Series Late Models are in action with the Grisdale Racing Products 150. The busy racing card will also feature the Can-Am TQ Midgets and Pure Stocks with practice, qualifying and 150 laps for the Late Models as well as practice, heat races and features for the TQs and Pure Stocks.
It’s finally starting to warm up in the region and Saturday night looks like a great night to head to Flamboro Speedway to see the amazing APC Late Models in action at the high-speed Flamboro oval. Spectator gates open at 4 p.m. with the APC Series – NTN Triple Crown event Grisdale Racing Products 150 scheduled to take the green flag at 8:30 p.m. For more information, click HERE to visit the Flamboro Speedway homepage.
WASAGA BEACH CRUISERS – CRUISE FEST WEEKEND
The Wasaga Beach Cruisers are holding their Cruise Fest Weekend on Saturday, June 21 in Klondike Park in Wasaga Beach, ON. Their weekly Monday night cruise events started May 12 at the Stonebridge Gazebo across from the Walmart parking lot. The cruise nights start between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. and run until dusk. Click HERE for more information about Cruise Fest.
FAMILY FUN WEEKEND AT ST. THOMAS DRAGWAY
The group that brings you the exciting 660 Sportsman Nationals is presenting the inaugural Family Fun Weekend June 20-22 at St. Thomas Dragway.
The jam-packed drag racing event will feature: Rick Ream’s Wheelstanding Studebaker Firetruck, Neale Armstrong’s Northern Warrior Jet Dragster, Nostalgia Funny Cars – Matt Stambaugh Generation X vs Paul & Brian Noakes new ’67 Chevy II dubbed Wheeler Dealer (below), CJR Hellcats, Canada’s fastest Durango & 9-second Trackhawk, a Batmobile, the Ecto1 from Ghostbusters, the Blues Brothers Car, Ontario Nostalgia Drag Racing and bracket racing. First Responders and Service Club members receive special discount pricing!
Click on the flyer at right for more info, and visit the 660 Sportsman Nationals Facebook page for the latest news and everything you need to know about this first-time event.
BARRIE AUTOMOTIVE FLEA MARKET
This weekend… The 41st annual Spring Barrie Automotive Flea Market (BAFM) takes place June 5-8 at Burl’s Creek Event Grounds just off Highway 11 in Oro-Medonte. BAFM offers everything from collectibles and classic cars to those hard-to-find car parts. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, you likely can’t find it anywhere. BAFM is a car lover’s dream! Visit www.thebafm.com or call (705) 487-3663 for info.
BROCKVILLE ONTARIO SPEEDWAY
Brockville Ontario Speedway: The BOS heats up this Saturday, June 7 with an evening of racing sponsored by Polite Sand & Gravel. On track will be the Surprenant Truck Shop Crate Sprints, Modifieds, Sportsman, Novice Sportsman, Mini Stocks and the Vintage division. Click HERE for more info. And looking ahead, the Empire Super Sprints make their way to The BOS on June 21. And on July 12, the Ogilvie’s Triple Crown Series takes to the track. And you won’t want to miss the Super DIRTcar Series Big Block Modifieds on July 30!
CASC-OR
CASC-OR held its SMP Cup at Shannonville this past weekend. Watch InsideTrackNews.com for results and photos from that event, in the coming days. The VARAC Vintage Grand Prix returns to CTMP June 12-15. And the BARC Canadian Touring Trophy Races are slated for July 26-27 at CTMP. Click HERE to visit the CASC-OR homepage.
NASCAR Cup – Chase Briscoe (Toyota) picked up another pole for the Cup race Sunday night at Nashville Superspeedway over Kyle Larson and William Byron (both in Chevs). All 40 entries qualified with 17 Chevs, 13 Fords and 10 Toyotas. Those numbers were from Saturday but on Sunday the Starting Lineup showed 39 cars and 16 Chevs. One car must have dropped out.

Stage 1 ran clean and green with Denny Hamlin getting the stage win. On lap 105 two ‘protagonists’ got together as Carson Hocevar punted Ricky Stenhouse up and into the wall for the first race caution. On lap 113 Alex Bowman slid up into Noah Gragson sending both into the wall for another yellow. Gragson’s right front wheel was pointing the wrong way as he slid down the track. As always is the case yellows breed yellows and on the restart Christopher Bell and Erik Jones got together with Bell just touching the wall. Caution flag. On lap 129 Brad Keselowski got together with Corey Heim causing Heim to spin into the wall. Yellow. Ryan Blaney won Stage 2. On lap 194 Ryan Preece looped it between 3 & 4 just touching the wall and kept going. Yellow. At the flag it was Ryan Blaney over Hocevar and Hamlin.
Next race – Mexico City, Sunday, 3 P.M. on TSN 3.

NASCAR Xfinity Series – William Sawalich (Toyota) won the pole for Saturday night’s Xfinity race at Nashville Superspeedway over Austin Hill (Chev) and Sam Mayer (Ford) 40 cars vying for the 38 starting spots. 26 Chevs, 6 Fords and 6 Toyotas.
Not sure what was going on with the race but the TV broadcast on CW showed ‘We are currently experiencing technical difficulties….’ and NASCAR Live Timing showed incomplete Cup qualifying.
From jayski.com – on lap 35 Kyle Sieg got loose and collected Parker Retzlaff in 4 for a yellow. On lap 44 Corey Day looped it for another yellow. Jeremy Clements won Stage 1. On lap 61 Thomas Annunziata hits Blaine Perkins sending him through the infield grass for a caution. Points leader Justin Allgaier won Stage 2. On the stage restart chaos broke out. It appeared the leaders started late and they stacked up behind them. Involved were Christian Eckes, Harrison Burton, Brandon Jones, Ryan Ellis, Kyle Sieg, Anthony Alfredo, Josh Williams and Annunziata. Lots of damage. Yellow. At the flag it was points leader Allgaier for the win over Connor Zilisch and Mayer. In the points Allgaier now leads Austin Hill by 92 and Mayer by 110.

Next race – Mexico City, Saturday at 4.30 P.M. on CW.
NASCAR Craftsman Trucks – points leader Corey Heim (Toyota) won the pole for the Truck race Friday night at Nashville Superspeedway over Kaden Honeycutt (Chev) and Layne Riggs (Ford). Canadian Stewart Friesen (Toyota) started 13th. 32 trucks, 16 Chevs, 10 Fords and 7 Toyotas. Two laps into the race and the yellow came out for ‘fluid’ in corner 1. Two laps after that Frankie Munoz retired from the race due to ‘engine troubles’. Hmm, any connection? Riggs grabbed the Stage 1 win. On lap 55 Jack Wood spun in 4 but kept it off the walls but Akinori Ogata looped it checking up. Caution. Heim got back to the front to win Stage 2. At the flag it was Rajah Caruth (started 10th) ahead of Heim and Riggs. Friesen finished 21st.

In the points Heim stretches it out over Hemric with a 122 point cushion and he is 125 ahead of Chandler Smith. Friesen sits 12th.
Next race, MIS, Saturday at noon on Fox.
Formula One – At the Spanish Grand Prix on the weekend Lando Norris (McLaren) was quickest in FP1while teammate Oscar Piastri topped FP2 and FP3 and also won the pole over Norris and Max Verstappen (Red Bull). Canadian Lance Stroll qualified 14th but did not start the race after experiencing ongoing pain in his hand and wrist. At the start Verstappen quickly dispatched Norris and moved into 2nd while Leclerc moved up from 7th in short order. At the halfway mark it was Piastri over Norris and Leclerc.

Things went clean and green until lap 55 (of 66) when Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) ran off track into the gravel trap while running 7th. Safety car. After five safety laps the green came back out. On the restart Verstappen appeared to have no grip on his tires and got passed by Leclerc for third. George Russell (Mercedes) and Verstappen traded some paint on the penultimate lap with Russell getting the spot. At the flag it was Piastri over Norris and Leclerc. Good race, lots of passing on track and only one caution period. The stewards deemed that Max was the aggressor and he was dropped to 10th in the finishing order.
In the Drivers’ Championship Piastri now leads Norris by 10 and Max by 49.
In the Constructors’ Championship McLaren leads Ferrari by an eye-popping 197 and Red Bull by 203.

Next race – Montreal, Sunday, June 15.
IndyCar – In a run that I didn’t see coming Colton Herta won the pole for the IndyCar Detroit Grand Prix over David Malukas and Kyle Kirkwood. 27 cars. The start was actually almost perfect as opposed to the brutal start at Indy. Action started almost immediately as spots up front were swapped right away. Kirkwood got around Malukas while Christian Lungaard and points leader Alex Palou followed him past Malukas. It was really good to see a bunch of different leaders at the front instead of just a ‘follow the leader’ show. At the halfway mark it was Kirkwood over Herta and Pato O’Ward. On lap 67 Callum Ilott got into the wall due to losing a left front wheel right after a pit stop. Yellow. Shortly afterwards Malukas punted Palou into the tire barrier for another caution. With a little more than 20 laps to go Kirkwood’s front wing was dragging on the track at speed after contact. Tense!! On lap 83 Felix Rosenqvist and Louis Foster got together with both ending up in the tire walls. Foster appeared to run out of brakes and climbed up onto the back of Felix. Yellow. Then red due to the damage to the tire barriers.
At the flag it was Kirkwood over Santini Ferrucci and Herta.
Next race – Gateway, Sunday, June 15.

IMSA – Acura took the top two GTP spots at Detroit with the Yelloly/van der Zande pair ahead of Braun and Blomqvist. 11 P cars. In PRO the two Canadian Multimatic Mustangs of Priaulx/Rockenfeller (below) and Vervisch/Mie topped the 11 PRO cars.
Five minutes in and the first yellow came out for a big piece of debris on the track. At the halfway mark it was the Penske Porsche of Felipe Nasr leading the P class and the Ferrari of Albert Costa tops in PRO. Another full course yellow came out with just over an hour expired when more debris ended up on track after some ‘rubbing is racing’ amongst the PRO cars. After about ten minutes of yellow the green came back out.
Things went smoothly to the flag with pole sitter Renger van der Zande (Acura) winning over Ricky Taylor (Cadillac) and Mathieu Jaminet (Porsche). In PRO the pole sitting Multimatic Mustang of Mike Rockenfeller got the win over Alexander Sims (Corvette) and Marco Mapelli in the Pfaff Racing Lambo. A good race with some cool passing. Well done.
Next race – Mid-Ohio, Sunday, June 6.

24 Hours of LeMans – Sat, Jun 14 & Sun, Jun 15.
NHRA – the series stopped at New England Dragway on the weekend.
Top Fuel – Doug Kalitta, once again, topped the 15 cars running a 3.670 at 337.24. Canadian Dan Mercier qualified 11th. Kalitta also won the #2Fast2Tasty Top Fuel Challenge over points leader Tony Stewart. In the final Brittany Force ran a 3.694 at a VERY stout 340.39 to take out Tony Stewart. 4 ‘upsets’ (lower qualified car wins) and 7 ‘smokers’ (1 or both cars lose traction).
Funny Car – Austin Prock, not surprisingly, was quickest of the 16 floppers running a 3.860 at 334.48. Canadian Spencer Hyde qualified 8th. ‘Fast Jack’ Beckman won the #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge over Matt Hagan. J.R. Todd ran a 3.888 at 332.43 to beat Canadian Spencer Hyde who lost traction in the final. 8 upsets and 10 smokers.

Pro Stock – Cody Coughlin topped the 16 cars in Pro Stock running a 6.537 at 210.28. Matt Hartford won the #2Fast2Tasty Pro Stock Challenge over Dave Connolly who was filling in for Canadian Eric Latino who is recovering from knee surgery. It was interesting to see Connolly tree Greg Anderson in the second round and then lift. Hmmm, team orders perhaps? Anderson went on to win with a 6.469 at 212.19 over Erica Enders who got loose. 3 upsets and 3 smokers.
Mountain Motor Pro Stock – Chris Powers ran a 6.288 at 223.62 for top spot of the 8 entries. Powers won the final over Pluchino, who was shut off at the line, running a 6.723 at 223.47. 1 upset and 1 smoker.
Next race – Bristol, Sunday at 3 P.M. on Fox Sports Racing.
NASCAR Canada Series – The race scheduled last Sunday for Chaudière has been postponed until Saturday, August 2 due to the weekend weather concerns. Next race – Sunset, Saturday, June 21
APC Series – next race – Flamboro, Saturday.
Ontario Sportsman Series – in qualifying for the race at Full Throttle Speedway Saturday night Brad Robinson won the pole over Brendan Patrick and Shawn McGlynn. 9 cars. Connor James won the race over Patrick and Robinson.
Next race – Sunset, Saturday, June 14
Delaware Speedway – 44 Bone Stocks – Taylor Everest won Heat 1, Sterling Roberts won Heat 2, Gary Triska won Heat 3, Paul Fothergill won the B-Main while Jo Lawrence (left) won the Main over Roberts and Colin Willems. 10 V/8 Stocks saw Jeremy Taggart win the heat while Barry Watson (middle) won the Feature over Taggart and Doug Stewart. There was actually a Chrysler 300 in the race driven by Chad Clutterbuck. Yup, a Chrysler 300!! In the 12 car Late Models Logan White won Heat 1, Jesse Kennedy won Heat 2 and in the closest finish (0.01 seconds) in a very long time Jake Sheridan (right) won the Main over Kyle Steckly and Ray Morneau. Rumours have it that Sheridan was too light in the Room of Doom. Photos by Chris Culos.
Next race – SUPER MODS, Super Stock and V/8 Stock, Friday.
Ohsweken Speedway – next race – Art Hill Memorial, Friday.
Flamboro Speedway – next race – APC Series, Saturday.
660 Sportsman Nationals – Family Fun Weekend – St. Thomas Dragway, June 20-22.
Buxton Speedway – next race – Southern Ontario Sprints, Saturday.
Full Throttle Motor Speedway – next race – Bailey’s Repair Center Night, Saturday.
Sunset Speedway – next race – Super Late Models, Saturday.
Grand Bend Speedway – next race – NASCAR Weekly Series, Saturday.
Grand Bend Dragway – next race – Great Canadian Truck Show, June 13 & 14.
St. Thomas Dragway – next race – ONDR & Points Series, this weekend.
Toronto Motorsports Park – next race – Canada Heads Up, this weekend.
Speed Promotions Racing (No Prep) – TMP, weekend of July 12.
Can Am Stock/Super Stock – next race – Empire, this weekend.
Quick 32 Sportsman Series, Pro Bike & Sled Series (PBSS) and 5.50 Super Series, weekend of June 21, Empire Dragway.
John Scotti NHRA Canadian Championship Series – next race, June 15, Luskville.
Shannonville Drags – first race – June 7 & 8.
Any comments can be sent to Dave Mathers via email at motionman@rogers.com or by Facebook Messenger.
Motorsports
Denny Hamlin vows 23XI Racing will go on, answers will come in December in court battle with NASCAR
Jordan and FRM owner Bob Jenkins won an injunction to recognize 23XI and FRM as chartered for the season, but the ruling was overturned on appeal earlier this month, sending the case back to Bell. Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, co-owns 23XI with Jordan and said they were prepared […]

Jordan and FRM owner Bob Jenkins won an injunction to recognize 23XI and FRM as chartered for the season, but the ruling was overturned on appeal earlier this month, sending the case back to Bell.
Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, co-owns 23XI with Jordan and said they were prepared to send Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace and Riley Herbst to the track each week as open teams. They sought the restraining order Monday, claiming that through discovery they learned NASCAR planned to immediately begin the process of selling the six charters which would put ”plaintiffs in irreparable jeopardy of never getting their charters back and going out of business.”
Hamlin said none of the setbacks have made him second-guess the decision to file the lawsuit.
”Dec. 1 is all that matters. Mark your calendar,” Hamlin said. ”I’d love to be doing other things. I’ve got a lot going on. When I get in the car (today), nothing else is going to matter other than that. I always give my team 100%. I always prepare whether I have side jobs, side hustles, more kids, that all matters, but I always give my team all the time that they need to make sure that when I step in, I’m 100% committed.”
Reddick, who has a clause that allows him to become a free agent if the team loses its charter, declined comment Saturday on all questions connected to his future and the lawsuit. Hamlin also declined to comment on Reddick’s future with 23XI Racing.
Reddick, one of four drivers left in NASCAR’s $1 million In-season Challenge, was last year’s regular-season champion and raced for the Cup Series championship in the season finale. But none of the six drivers affected by the court ruling are locked into this year’s playoffs.
Motorsports
Dover 2025: Weather Updates | News | Media
NASCAR and Dover Motor Speedway are working closely to monitor the weather and make changes to the schedule of events as necessary. Updates, once they are confirmed, will be posted on this page. Saturday, July 19, 2:14 p.m. NASCAR Cup Series practice is currently delayed due to weather. Saturday, July 19, 2:37 p.m. NASCAR Cup […]

NASCAR and Dover Motor Speedway are working closely to monitor the weather and make changes to the schedule of events as necessary. Updates, once they are confirmed, will be posted on this page.
Saturday, July 19, 2:14 p.m.
NASCAR Cup Series practice is currently delayed due to weather.
Saturday, July 19, 2:37 p.m.
NASCAR Cup Series practice/qualifying has been cancelled. The field will be set per the rulebook. Chase Elliott will be on the pole.
Saturday, July 19, 6:15 p.m.
The BetRivers 200 has been delayed due to rain after 134 laps have been completed.
Saturday, July 19, 7:11 p.m.
The BetRivers 200 has been called official after 134 laps. Connor Zilisch is the winner.
Check back for any updates.
Motorsports
Kalitta Lights It Up in Seattle, Narrowly Misses Track Record
Doug Kalitta continues to remind everyone why he’s still one of the most feared drivers in Top Fuel. On Friday night at the Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals, Kalitta unleashed a 3.671-second pass at 335.90 mph under the lights at Pacific Raceways, grabbing the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot and the $4,000 Deecell Power […]

Doug Kalitta continues to remind everyone why he’s still one of the most feared drivers in Top Fuel.
On Friday night at the Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals, Kalitta unleashed a 3.671-second pass at 335.90 mph under the lights at Pacific Raceways, grabbing the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot and the $4,000 Deecell Power Systems “After Dark Low Qualifier” award.
In a poetic twist, the run missed the track record – one Kalitta himself set a year ago – by just one-thousandth of a second.
“The conditions were good, and I was really hopeful that my car would go out there and run a good number,” Kalitta said. “We were making a lot of changes back in the staging lanes because people were smoking the tires. I wasn’t sure if they backed the thing down or what, but when the thing left, I could tell it was really running.”
If the run holds, it would be Kalitta’s sixth No. 1 qualifier of the season. But the real prize is still elusive: his first win of 2025.
“I’m just real fortunate Alan [Johnson] and Mac [Savage] and my whole team because they can throw down with the best of them,” Kalitta added.
Kalitta’s Kalitta Motorsports teammate Shawn Langdon is right behind in second with a 3.689, while Brittany Force wowed with a booming 340.47 mph pass that landed her third with a 3.703.
This story was originally published on July 19, 2025.
Motorsports
Joey Logano set to become youngest driver in NASCAR with 600 starts. How much does he have left? – News-Herald
By DAN GELSTON DOVER, Del. — Joey Logano’s first NASCAR Cup Series start — before he would drive for heavyweight owners such as Joe Gibbs and Roger Penske — came in New Hampshire for a short-lived team called Hall of Fame racing. Set to make his 600th career start, the youngest driver in NASCAR history […]

By DAN GELSTON
DOVER, Del. — Joey Logano’s first NASCAR Cup Series start — before he would drive for heavyweight owners such as Joe Gibbs and Roger Penske — came in New Hampshire for a short-lived team called Hall of Fame racing.
Set to make his 600th career start, the youngest driver in NASCAR history to reach that milestone, the 35-year-old Logano has constructed a Hall of Fame career.
Take a look at the resume: three career NASCAR championships, a Daytona 500 victory, the youngest driver to win a Cup race, 37 career victories, and seemingly tethered to the No. 22 Ford for Team Penske for as long as he can race.
“At first glance, I said, ‘Well, it’s just starts,‘” Logano said. “But then when you start thinking about it, to be able to be around in a sport as an athlete competing at a top level for 16-plus years, and hitting 600 starts, it’s pretty incredible to have a career that long.”
Logano will be 35 years, 1 month, 26 days old when he hits No. 600 on July 20 at Dover Motor Speedway. He’ll top seven-time NASCAR champion and Hall of Famer Richard Petty by six months. Consider, only three previous drivers among the 33 others in NASCAR history were in their 30s when they hit 600 starts.
Logano has also topped the massive expectations set for him when he entered the sport as a teenager hyped as NASCAR’s next great driver. He entered NASCAR with the nickname “Sliced Bread,” as in, the best thing since, and navigated a slow start to his career to blossom into one of the best over the last 13 years at Team Penske.
He’s now married with three kids — his Instagram bio notes he’s a “3X NASCAR Champion” and “3X father” — and is considered a team leader at Penske and Ford.
“I grew up in front of everybody. All of us change over the years as you grow up,” Logano said. “Life comes at you and you evolve and keep going with it. Everybody, when you were 18 years old to 35 years old are some of the biggest changes in your life happen in that period of time. Getting married, having kids — that’s the biggest change you can ever have in your life, I think — but I did all of this in front of everybody.”
Logano qualified for his first career Cup start on Sept. 14, 2008, at New Hampshire on car owner points, because rain washed out qualifying. He started 40th and was penalized only 39 laps into the race for taking the jack with him as he exited pit road. He finished three laps down in 32nd place in the No. 96 Toyota for Hall of Fame Racing, essentially on loan from Joe Gibbs Racing to get some experience. The two teams even agreed to move JGR’s Home Depot sponsorship to Hall of Fame’s car for the 18-year-old Logano’s first race.
“I didn’t think it was a big deal making my first start,” Logano said that first day. “I was ready to go as soon as we started.”
He wasn’t necessarily ready for the big time.
Logano was pegged with enormous expectations to replace Hall of Famer and three-time champion Tony Stewart in 2009 for Gibbs.
Just a teenager, the enormity of the ride combined with Gibbs’ impatience made for a brief run at JGR. Logano did win his first race — also at New Hampshire, in 2009 — but won only one more time before Gibbs cut him loose after the 2012 season.
The timing worked out for Logano.
Penske needed a driver and 2012 NASCAR champion Brad Keselowski urged his boss to sign the 23-year-old Logano, convinced a change of scenery could do wonders for his career.
Logano made the most of his Penske lifeline and is now the only active three-time champion in NASCAR and one of only 10 drivers in history to win three or more titles.
He spent the week headed into Dover — where he flipped eight times on the concrete track during a scary 2009 incident in a second-tier race — hobnobbing with the sports world’s brightest stars at the ESPYs and he got to yuk it up with guest host Jelly Roll on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Petty is the only driver to win his 600th career start and he would make 1,184 overall in Cup, one of many NASCAR records he holds. Logano might not catch The King in total starts — but the driver who has never missed a race over his full-time career is in no rush to slow down.
“I would be an idiot to think you can be competing at the top level into your 50s,” Logano said. “What athlete has ever done that? Something changes at some point, but, right now, I still feel as fresh as ever. I feel as sharp as ever. I’m driven as much as ever. I still care. I still get emotional about things, so that shows me I care a lot. With those factors still there when the end is, I don’t know yet. I don’t know.”
Final four set
NASCAR is down to its version of the final four.
The midseason tournament that pays $1 million to the winner pits Ty Dillon vs. John Hunter Nemechek and Tyler Reddick vs. Ty Gibbs in the head-to-head challenge at Dover.
The winners face off next week at Indianapolis. Reddick is the betting favorite to win it all, per BetMGM Sportsbook.
“Did John Hunter change his name yet,” Reddick quipped.
Nemechek has a career-best six top-10s and is 20th in the standings in his second full season at Legacy Motor Club. Nemechek — who drives for Jimmie Johnson, who won a record 11 times at Dover — enjoyed trash-talking Dillon this week from, of all places, the carpool lane.
Their young children go to the same school, and the families have become friendly.
“The running joke between us is that they are boyfriend-girlfriend and they’re going to get married one day, the way that they walk around the racetrack,” Nemechek said.
Hey, maybe a $1 million could help pay for the big day.
NASCAR seeded 32 drivers for the first In-season Challenge, a five-race, bracket-style tournament that mirrors the NCAA basketball tournaments.
“I think it’s really cool from a millennial perspective, from a younger generation, it’s neat to be able to bring something in the sport that hasn’t been done before,” the 28-year-old Nemechek said. “It kind of gives you something to race for even if you’re not racing for the win.”
Legacy has yet to win a race, or even contend in many, since Johnson signed on at the end of 2022 and eventually became majority owner. Nemechek said Johnson has balanced many roles, that includes the occasional race, and was committed to making Legacy a championship team.
“We joke around about his legacy 2.0 being a team owner and hopefully we can go in and win 83 races and seven championships for him,” Nemechek said.
Odds and ends
Denny Hamlin is the betting favorite to win at Dover, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. Hamlin has two career wins at Dover, including last season. He’s trying to win the first July race at Dover since the track’s first one in 1969.
AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400
What: NASCAR Cup Series race
When: 2 p.m., July 20
Where: Dover Motor Speedway, Dover, Del.
TV: TNT
Originally Published:
Motorsports
Chase Elliott earns pole position at rainy Dover – Field Level Media – Professional sports content solutions
Practice and Busch Light Pole Qualifying for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway was canceled due to inclement weather Saturday afternoon. Through a metric established by NASCAR, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott was awarded pole position for Sunday’s race. He’ll start out front in the No. 9 Hendrick Chevrolet […]

Practice and Busch Light Pole Qualifying for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway was canceled due to inclement weather Saturday afternoon.
Through a metric established by NASCAR, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott was awarded pole position for Sunday’s race. He’ll start out front in the No. 9 Hendrick Chevrolet alongside Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe in the No. 19 Toyota.
NASCAR combines owners’ points, a driver’s finishing position in the preceding race, and his fastest lap time in that race to rank the teams and establish a lineup when qualifying is not possible.
Championship points leader, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron will start fifth Sunday sharing the third row with Trackhouse Racing rookie Shane van Gisbergen, who has won the last two races (road course events at Chicago and Sonoma, Calif.) coming into the Dover 400-lapper.
Defending Dover winner, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin will roll off 13th. Three-time Dover winner, Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch will start 10th.
Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, a three-time race winner in 2025 who leads NASCAR’s Playoff Standings, will start 25th. The 2019 Dover winner has only a single top-five (fifth place at Michigan) and three top-10s in the eight races since his last victory at Kansas in May.
With a new tire compound for cars this weekend, drivers were hoping for some laps on track. “Brand new tire or not, practice is always important,” Larson said, acknowledging he is hopeful his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team can return to early-season form this week at the famed, “Monster Mile.”
“I wouldn’t deny that we’re in a slump, results kind of show that,” Larson said. “But I think some of it has been a little bit out of our control and some of it execution with a car that’s been a little bit off on speed. But confidence in our 5 team is strong and hopefully we can turn it around at Dover.
Busch’s three victories at Dover Motor Speedway make him the winningest driver in Sunday’s field. And not only does he have an enviable assortment of trophies, but his 14 top-five and 22 top-10 finishes are also best in the field.
The two-time series champion is ranked 18th in the Playoff standings — only 37 points behind the all-important 16th place position currently held by Bubba Wallace; and only three points behind Ryan Preece, the first driver outside the cutoff line.
“I mean, you’re obviously looking at it (the standings) every week,” said Busch, who has a combined nine additional wins in the NASCAR Xfinity and CRAFTSMAN Truck Series at Dover too. “I think we leave probably the fifth race of the year looking at points, like where we’re at and what are we doing?
“But honestly, points take care of themselves when you run good. Results are what matters.”
The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Regular Season champion Tyler Reddick has advanced to the In-Season Challenge semifinals this week — and will be racing head-to-head with fellow Toyota driver, Ty Gibbs.
Meanwhile, three-time and reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano will be making his 600th series start this weekend at Dover — a significant statistic considering he’s only 35 years old.
The youngest in NASCAR history to achieve that mark, Logano smiles recalling that his second ever NASCAR Cup Series start at Dover — 16 years ago as a 19-year-old and how it ended with a dramatic fashion — his car flipping. But for the popular Team Penske driver, the part of the statistic that “hits home” is that he’s been able to have such a successful career, noting he essentially grew up in front of everyone and all the challenges that entailed.
“At first glance, I said, well, it’s just ‘starts,’” Logano said of reaching the big milestone number this week. “But then when you start thinking about it, to be able to be around in a sport as an athlete competing at a top level for 16-plus years, and hitting 600 starts, it’s pretty incredible to have a career that long. It’s something that I take some pride in. I’m proud of that, to be able to hit this marker.”
–Holly Cain, special to Field Level Media
Motorsports
Joey Logano set to become youngest driver in NASCAR with 600 starts. How much does he have left?
DOVER, Del. (AP) — Joey Logano’s first NASCAR Cup Series start — before he would drive for heavyweight owners such… DOVER, Del. (AP) — Joey Logano’s first NASCAR Cup Series start — before he would drive for heavyweight owners such as Joe Gibbs and Roger Penske — came in New Hampshire for a short-lived team […]

DOVER, Del. (AP) — Joey Logano’s first NASCAR Cup Series start — before he would drive for heavyweight owners such…
DOVER, Del. (AP) — Joey Logano’s first NASCAR Cup Series start — before he would drive for heavyweight owners such as Joe Gibbs and Roger Penske — came in New Hampshire for a short-lived team called Hall of Fame racing.
Set to make his 600th career start, the youngest driver in NASCAR history to reach that milestone, the 35-year-old Logano has constructed a Hall of Fame career.
Take a look at the resume: three career NASCAR championships, a Daytona 500 victory, the youngest driver to win a Cup race, 37 career victories, and seemingly tethered to the No. 22 Ford for Team Penske for as long as he can race.
“At first glance, I said, ‘Well, it’s just starts,‘” Logano said. “But then when you start thinking about it, to be able to be around in a sport as an athlete competing at a top level for 16-plus years, and hitting 600 starts, it’s pretty incredible to have a career that long.”
Logano will be 35 years, 1 month, 26 days old when he hits No. 600 on Sunday at Dover Motor Speedway. He’ll top seven-time NASCAR champion and Hall of Famer Richard Petty by six months. Consider, only three previous drivers among the 33 others in NASCAR history were in their 30s when they hit 600 starts.
Logano has also topped the massive expectations set for him when he entered the sport as a teenager hyped as NASCAR’s next great driver. He entered NASCAR with the nickname “Sliced Bread,” as in, the best thing since, and navigated a slow start to his career to blossom into one of the best over the last 13 years at Team Penske.
He’s now married with three kids — his Instagram bio notes he’s a “3X NASCAR Champion” and “3X father” — and is considered a team leader at Penske and Ford.
“I grew up in front of everybody. All of us change over the years as you grow up,” Logano said. “Life comes at you and you evolve and keep going with it. Everybody, when you were 18 years old to 35 years old are some of the biggest changes in your life happen in that period of time. Getting married, having kids — that’s the biggest change you can ever have in your life, I think — but I did all of this in front of everybody.”
Logano qualified for his first career Cup start on Sept. 14, 2008, at New Hampshire on car owner points, because rain washed out qualifying. He started 40th and was penalized only 39 laps into the race for taking the jack with him as he exited pit road. He finished three laps down in 32nd place in the No. 96 Toyota for Hall of Fame Racing, essentially on loan from Joe Gibbs Racing to get some experience. The two teams even agreed to move JGR’s Home Depot sponsorship to Hall of Fame’s car for the 18-year-old Logano’s first race.
“I didn’t think it was a big deal making my first start,” Logano said that first day. “I was ready to go as soon as we started.”
He wasn’t necessarily ready for the big time.
Logano was pegged with enormous expectations to replace Hall of Famer and three-time champion Tony Stewart in 2009 for Gibbs.
Just a teenager, the enormity of the ride combined with Gibbs’ impatience made for a brief run at JGR. Logano did win his first race — also at New Hampshire, in 2009 — but won only one more time before Gibbs cut him loose after the 2012 season.
The timing worked out for Logano.
Penske needed a driver and 2012 NASCAR champion Brad Keselowski urged his boss to sign the 23-year-old Logano, convinced a change of scenery could do wonders for his career.
Logano made the most of his Penske lifeline and is now the only active three-time champion in NASCAR and one of only 10 drivers in history to win three or more titles.
He spent the week headed into Dover — where he flipped eight times on the concrete track during a scary 2009 incident in a second-tier race — hobnobbing with the sports world’s brightest stars at the ESPYs and he got to yuk it up with guest host Jelly Roll on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Petty is the only driver to win his 600th career start and he would make 1,184 overall in Cup, one of many NASCAR records he holds. Logano might not catch The King in total starts — but the driver who has never missed a race over his full-time career is in no rush to slow down.
“I would be an idiot to think you can be competing at the top level into your 50s,” Logano said. “What athlete has ever done that? Something changes at some point, but, right now, I still feel as fresh as ever. I feel as sharp as ever. I’m driven as much as ever. I still care. I still get emotional about things, so that shows me I care a lot. With those factors still there when the end is, I don’t know yet. I don’t know.”
The Tys have it as final four is set for the In-season Challenge
NASCAR is down to its version of the final four.
The midseason tournament that pays $1 million to the winner pits Ty Dillon vs. John Hunter Nemechek and Tyler Reddick vs. Ty Gibbs in the head-to-head challenge at Dover.
The winners face off next week at Indianapolis. Reddick is the betting favorite to win it all, per BetMGM Sportsbook.
“Did John Hunter change his name yet,” Reddick quipped.
Nemechek has a career-best six top-10s and is 20th in the standings in his second full season at Legacy Motor Club. Nemechek — who drives for Jimmie Johnson, who won a record 11 times at Dover — enjoyed trash-talking Dillon this week from, of all places, the carpool lane.
Their young children go to the same school, and the families have become friendly.
“The running joke between us is that they are boyfriend-girlfriend and they’re going to get married one day, the way that they walk around the racetrack,” Nemechek said.
Hey, maybe a $1 million could help pay for the big day.
NASCAR seeded 32 drivers for the first In-season Challenge, a five-race, bracket-style tournament that mirrors the NCAA basketball tournaments.
“I think it’s really cool from a millennial perspective, from a younger generation, it’s neat to be able to bring something in the sport that hasn’t been done before,” the 28-year-old Nemechek said. “It kind of gives you something to race for even if you’re not racing for the win.”
Legacy has yet to win a race, or even contend in many, since Johnson signed on at the end of 2022 and eventually became majority owner. Nemechek said Johnson has balanced many roles, that includes the occasional race, and was committed to making Legacy a championship team.
“We joke around about his legacy 2.0 being a team owner and hopefully we can go in and win 83 races and seven championships for him,” Nemechek said.
Odds and ends
Denny Hamlin is the betting favorite to win at Dover, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. Hamlin has two career wins at Dover, including last season. He’s trying to win the first July race at Dover since the track’s first one in 1969.
___
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Copyright
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