Bob Pockrass

FOX Motorsports Insider

Meet the Meme King of INDYCAR.

At 23 years old, David Malukas already has 53 starts in the series, and it could have been more if not for a broken wrist suffered while mountain biking that turned his 2024 year into turmoil — the injury resulting in him being released from Arrow McLaren before ever appearing in a race.

The now-A.J. Foyt Racing driver (who is seen as a possible replacement for Will Power at Team Penske) is 12th in the standings after 10 races this season. 

He is also a self-proclaimed video game addict and master meme-maker, as he details in this interview with FOX Sports.

Who is David Malukas?

David Malukas is a Gen Z INDYCAR driver. I like memes. I like to go fast.

Courtesy of Alex Brisbey.

How would your friends or your girlfriend describe you? 

That’s how, I think, they would describe me. Just very, I’d say, real. I am who I am. No matter the situation, I like to just be myself, show my jokes, my memes — no matter how serious things can be.

We’re at Road America, a place where you saw your dad race. How cool is it to race at a place where you watched your dad? (Father Henry is a racer and owner of HMD Motorsports in INDY NXT)

It’s very cool. And it was really cool because he was in the Corvette, too. I grew up here as a kid, did some karting and watched my dad drive around here, so it’s pretty fun. Me and him can always talk and converse about how much INDYCAR is going through the carousel and the kink. He’s always blown away that we’re actually flat [on the throttle] going through there. It’s awesome. 

Does he give you advice on how to drive an INDYCAR?

No, definitely not. No advice from his side. When he was still doing some driving here and there, he was actually asking me for some advice, how to go through it. He did DD2 [karting], … and he actually made it to the kart masters finals. So he was pretty good at the time. He was on it.

Courtesy of Alex Brisbey.

You’re from the Chicago area, so are you a Bulls fan in Indiana country?

For me, I was never too much into the whole basketball thing. So actually, I went to the Pacers games and kind of had a connection. The game I tried to go to was when they were going against the Bulls. For me, it was a win-win situation. No matter what happens here, I’m going to be happy. That was a strategic game to go watch.

Cubs or White Sox?

It was always just motorsports, motorsports as a kid. But you kind of always had to pick a side. And for me, when I was very, very young, it was the White Sox. But now, we’ve been Cubs.

As a Gen Z driver, do you think they need better music at the track? What’s the suggestion of a Gen Z driver for an INDYCAR race?

It’s always to make things just feel fun. I think there’s always a balance between being professional and obviously having some jokes here and there. For me, a little bit looser walking around the paddock, making some more jokes, like you said some good music. Anything that has to do with memes and just making memes out of everything. That’s kind of been my spiel.

How many memes have gotten you in trouble, and how many memes do people really like?

I have to go through a very extensive course. It takes me hours or sometimes days before I even post something to make sure that the meme I’m posting won’t get taken wrong in any way. I ask so many different people of all different categories. I’m like, “What do you see out of this?” The majority of the people outside of Gen Z say, “I don’t even know what that means.” So I’m like, “OK, great.” That’s what I wanted to hear because then nobody even understands what’s going on. So we do take extensive care to make sure that what I post is not going to be conflicting in any way. But also, some of the time, that is part of the Gen Z jokes is pushing the edge a little bit on a lot of stuff.

Courtesy of Alex Brisbey.

It seems like that type of attitude has also probably helped you over the last 18 months.

Of course — 100 percent. You go into it having full confidence, and I just do what I want to do. I don’t let anything kind of change who I am or change what I want to do. I just go out there and do my thing.

And you are a little bit of a gamer, too? Or a lot?

Yeah, a lot.

So what’s the best game you’re playing right now?

Football Manager is what I’m playing right now. It’s soccer. During my puberty years, I really got connected with soccer — football internationally — because I lived in England and the Premier League over there is just such a big deal. It’s massive over there. So I got that connection over there. Shout out my team, Chelsea. I’ve just been in love with football. So I got on this Football Manager, super nerdy, really into detail. Anything that you could think of from a management standpoint, making sure that everybody’s happy and then the players are in the right mood, and figuring out their skill sets. It goes super into detail. And I love it. Growing up as a kid, it was Call of Duty, the casual ones. And now it’s more very nerdy stuff. The more brain intensive to cure my ADHD, the better.

Courtesy of Alex Brisbey.

Are you somebody who can’t start playing because you’re going to play it for four hours so you just don’t start?

Yes. That’s all the games that I play. By the time you actually get into the zone and start the game, it’s like two hours have gone by. So, normally, in these times when it’s like 30 minutes, an hour, I can’t really get it done.

So you don’t even try?

No, I don’t even try. It’s just not going to happen.

Do you ever worry about getting addicted?

Addicted? I’m already addicted. 100 percent, yes. It is what it is. My whole family, ADHD is a big thing. Anything that can help with our hyper-fixations, the better. So for me, gaming just lets me kind of switch everything off and be super hyper-fixated on this one thing that’s going on. And I think that also correlates to my successes on track. You get so hyper-fixated on what’s in front of you and hitting your lines, and you get into this rhythm, this other zone, and it just cures whatever’s going on inside my brain.

Do you have pseudonym name so nobody knows who you are on those games?

Oh, yeah, 100 percent.

So you’ve never had anybody come up to you at the track and be like, ‘Hey, I was playing you’?

No, but being a super-intense gamer, I’m on Reddit, by the way, you Redditors. Man, if I’ve had a bad race, I don’t go on Reddit because people are aggressive, so stay away from Reddit. But I’m on Reddit. I’m on Discord. I’m actually part of the INDYCAR Discord channel, so I’ve connected with a lot of players on there, and so they actually know my name and see me play. And obviously, Discord tells them what I’m playing. So some people definitely do know from the INDYCAR paddock, but most don’t.

Finally, do you try to explain this stuff to your team boss Larry Foyt?

I haven’t even tried. I think it would go right over his head.

Courtesy of Alex Brisbey.

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.

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SONOMA, Cal. – After an eye-opening experience on the streets of Chicago, Connor Zilisch knows what to expect from JR Motorsports teammate Shane van Gisbergen in Saturday’s Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250 at Sonoma Raceway (4:30 p.m. ET on CW, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Zilisch led the field to green with two laps left in Chicago, only to have van Gisbergen dive to his inside entering Turn 1, run him wide in the corner to take the lead and pull away to win the race.

“I was clear there, just barely, on the front straight, and I just let him get to my inside, and he took advantage of it,” Zilisch said after the race. “I should have been a little more aggressive there. I just thought he was going to race me a little cleaner.

“I’ve just got to be better and not let that stuff happen. I’ll learn from it and move on.”

As they were in Chicago, SVG and Zilisch are the top two choices to win on Saturday, by a wide margin. Van Gisbergen won last year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race in his only start at the 1.99-mile circuit.

The 36-year-old New Zealander is coming off a weekend sweep at Chicago, where he won both races from the pole.

“Last weekend was epic,” van Gisbergen said. “JRM built me a rocket, and I’m glad our strategy ended up working out and we were able to get the win. I’m a lucky guy to be able to drive some fast Chevrolets.

“Looking forward to Sonoma this weekend. It’s an awesome track and I had a blast racing there last season and even brought home the win. Hoping to do it again this weekend for my No. 9 JRM team.”

SVG won last year’s Chicago and Sonoma races in the No. 97 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet. This year he’s driving for JRM, which has won all three road course races this season with three different drivers and the last five (dating to last year) with four different drivers.

Though SVG and Zilisch are the most likely winners, their battle won’t be the only one of significance at Sonoma. There are eight races left in the Xfinity regular season and five Playoff spots still open.

Taylor Gray and Harrison Burton are just eight points apart on either side of the current elimination line, with Gray holding the final Playoff berth as of the Chicago Street Race.

In that event, Burton finished 13th to Gray’s 34th and trimmed 20 points off Gray’s advantage entering the race.

Source: Reid Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has claimed that Joey Logano doesn’t want Ross Chastain to be fined after the pair were involved in a wreck late in last Sunday’s Chicago street race. Logano bumped into Chastain late on as a chain reaction from an incident behind, but the No. 1 car didn’t take too kindly to the defending Cup Series champion’s action.

Chastain returned the favor and wrecked Logano during their battle for a top-ten finish as Shane van Gisbergen made it four wins in NASCAR’s six races on the streets of the Windy City. After the race, Team Penske star Logano confronted Chastain, and later called on NASCAR to fine his rival for admitting to wrecking him.

Logano initially shouted over the radio: “Ross (Chastain) better get the f—— information right before he goes and wrecks somebody. And there’s f—— six cars behind me wrecking into me, and then he destroys me from four back. That m———–.”

“I think so, yeah, he admitted he wrecked it on purpose. He admitted it. Which means he should get fined if he admittedly wrecked someone on purpose. That’s not okay,” Logano later explained.

“Yeah, it’s typical Ross. He just sees red and does dumb stuff. That’s all. That’s twice this year on road courses at the end of these things have been cost by Ross. Just over it.”

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However, NASCAR legend Earnhardt Jr. has now claimed that Logano doesn’t actually want Chastain to be fined. “It’s kind of like the tree falling in the woods,” Earnhardt said on his podcast ahead of Sonoma this weekend.

“It makes a sound, but if nobody’s there to hear it, does it make a sound? Ross would have to (admit it) publicly, Joey. And Joey knows that. But Joey doesn’t really want him fined.”

Dale Jr. says the purpose of Logano’s public outburst was to reveal that Chastain admitted to wrecking him. He says getting Chastain fined was a secondary factor.

DON’T MISS

“Joey just needed a reason to publicly say he admitted wrecking me,” Earnhardt continued. “Joey just wants you to know, Joey just wants us to know that Ross admitted to doing it. Joey doesn’t care if he gets fined.”

Earnhardt Jr. also questioned why Chastain immediately rushed to blame Logano for their initial coming-together, when the No. 22’s contact was due to a bump from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. “What I think is interesting is, Ross did not, for one second, go, ‘Hmm, I wonder if it was him,'” Earnhardt added. “Ross was just like, ‘It’s your ass, Joey! I’m getting your ass.'”

Dale Jr. doesn’t believe Chicago will end Logano and Chastain’s rivalry. He expects Logano to seek revenge.

“Joey will probably get Ross back, at some point,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “It might be a year from now.

“It might be at some point. And we might not even notice or recognize it, but Joey will do something, something will happen somewhere at a racetrack, and it might just be Joey air-blocking Ross and costing him a few spots on a restart.”

IMSA from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park Begins Sunday Live at 2 p.m. ET on USA Network and Peacock

Supercross Race Day Live Begins Saturday at 11 a.m. ET with Race at 2 p.m. ET Exclusively on Peacock

STAMFORD, Conn. – July 10, 2025 – NBC Sports’ motorsports weekend is headlined by IMSA’s Chevrolet Grand Prix from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park this Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on USA Network and Peacock and Pro Motocross from Spring Creek MX Park this Saturday at 2 p.m. ET exclusively on Peacock.

IMSA: CHEVROLET GRAND PRIX

IMSA returns this week with the Chevrolet Grand Prix from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, this Sunday, July 13, live at 2 p.m. ET on USA Network and Peacock. The two-hour-and-40-minute standard length sprint race is expected to feature 35 cars across the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO), and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) classes.

With only 52 points currently separating the GTD PRO first and second place drivers, 60 points in GTD, and 94 points in LMP2, this week’s race could see dramatic changes in the leaderboards across all three classes. No. 3 Corvette Racing, the GTD PRO points leaders, have earned three podium finishes in a row and look to defend their CTMP title from last year’s edition of this race. Additionally, Canadian Roman De Angelis, one of only four drivers with multiple wins at CTMP racing this weekend, aims to win again on home soil.

NBC Sports’ Leigh Diffey will call the action alongside former IMSA GT driver and analyst Calvin Fish. Brian Till and Matt Yocum will serve as pit reporters.

Live coverage of WeatherTech Championship qualifying will be presented this Saturday at 3:55 p.m. ET exclusively on Peacock. Peacock will serve as the streaming home of the WeatherTech Championship with flag-to-flag live coverage of all races as well as exclusive coverage for portions of select endurance races. Click here for more information on the 2025 schedule.

HOW TO WATCH

• TV – USA Network
• Streaming – Peacock

PRO MOTOCROSS: SPRING CREEK

The 2025 SMX World Championship^TM series and Pro Motocross season continues this Saturday, July 12, from Spring Creek MX Park from Millville, Minn., live at 2 p.m. ET exclusively on Peacock. Race Day Live qualifying coverage this Saturday gets underway at 11 a.m. ET exclusively on Peacock. An encore presentation of the race will be presented this Sunday at 12 p.m. ET on USA Network.

Jett Lawrence’s impressive come-from-behind victory at RedBud last weekend gave him his sixth consecutive win and increased his lead atop the overall 450 Class standings (290 points). His brother, Hunter, took second place for the siblings’ third consecutive 1-2 finish, while Justin Cooper finished in third for his second podium finish of the season. In the 250 Class, Jo Shimoda emerged victorious, with Jalek Swoll and Michael Mosiman rounding out the top three.

NBC Sports’ Jason Weigandt alongside SuperMotocross analyst James Stewart, a seven-time AMA champion, will call this weekend’s action at Spring Creek. Jason Thomas and Katie Osborne will serve as reporters.

15-time AMA champion Ricky Carmichael and nine-time AMA champion Ryan Villopto recap last week’s action at RedBud and preview Spring Creek on the latest episode of the Title 24 podcast here.

All live Pro Motocross coverage, including races and qualifying, plus on-demand replays, will be available on Peacock this season. Click here for more details.

BROADCAST TEAM

• Play by Play: Jason Weigandt
• Analyst: James Stewart
• Reporters: Jason Thomas, Katie Osborne
• Race Day Live: Jason Weigandt, James Stewart, Jason Thomas, Katie Osborne

HOW TO WATCH

• Streaming – Peacock (LIVE)
• TV – USA Network
• Audio – SiriusXM NBC Sports Audio – Channel 85

*Encore presentation

–NBC SPORTS–

The upsets continued in the second round of NASCAR’s In-Season Challenge, leaving eight drivers in contention for the $1 million prize.

Ty Dillon, the No. 32 seed in the 32-driver event continued his run. After eliminating top seed Denny Hamlin at Atlanta, Dillon beat No. 17 seed Brad Keselowski last weekend at Chicago to move on to the third round.

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Sunday’s race at Sonoma Raceway will cut the field In-Season Challenge field to four drivers.

Here is a look, with the help of Racing Insights, at the second-round pairings for Sunday’s race:

No. 6 Ty Gibbs vs. No. 14 Zane Smith

How they got here

Gibbs eliminated Justin Haley (seeded 27th) at Atlanta and AJ Allmendinger (22) at Chicago.

Smith eliminated Austin Cindric (19) at Atlanta and Chris Buescher (3) at Chicago.

Follow the road: Gibbs has an average finish of 15.7 in three road course races this season, while Smith’s average finish is 26.0.

Rolling: Gibbs has five consecutive top-15 finishes, including two top-five results.

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Winner … advances to meet winner of Ryan Preece – Tyler Reddick matchup.

No. 8 Alex Bowman vs. No. 32 Ty Dillon

How they got here

Bowman eliminated Joey Logano (25) at Atlanta and Bubba Wallace (9) at Chicago.

Dillon eliminated Denny Hamlin (1) at Atlanta and Brad Keselowski (17) at Chicago.

Matchup of opposites: Bowman is one of two drivers to finish in the top 10 in all three road course races this season (Shane van Gisbergen is the other). Dillon has not finished better than 20th in the three road course races this year. Bowman has seven top-10 finishes, including a win in his last 11 races on road courses. Dillon has never finished better than 15th in 28 Cup road course starts.

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Upset Special: The driver with the worse seed has won 11 of the 24 matchups so far, including Dillon’s two wins.

Winner … advances to meet winner of John Hunter Nemechek – Erik Jones matchup.

No. 12 John Hunter Nemechek vs. No. 20 Erik Jones

How they got here

Nemechek eliminated Josh Berry (21) at Atlanta and Chase Elliott (5) at Chicago.

Jones eliminated Ross Chastain (13) at Atlanta and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (29) at Chicago.

Familiar faces: This matchup pits Legacy Motor Club teammates against each other. At least the organization knows it will have one driver among the final four in the race for $1 million.

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Close duel: In the last eight races, Nemechek and Jones have each finished better than the other four times.

Winner … advances to meet winner of Ty Dillon – Alex Bowman matchup.

No. 15 Ryan Preece vs. No. 23 Tyler Reddick

How they got here

Preece eliminated William Byron (18) at Atlanta and Noah Gragson (31) at Chicago.

Reddick eliminated Kyle Larson (10) at Atlanta and Carson Hocevar (26) at Chicago.

Road course ringer: In the Next Gen era, Reddick is tied for the most road course wins (three) and poles (three) and ranks second in top-five finishes (nine) and top-10 finishes (14).

On a roll: Preece has five top-10 finishes in the last eight races. That is tied for the most top 10s in that span.

Winner … advances to meet winner of Ty Gibbs – Zane Smith matchup.

NASCAR is headed to Wine Country.

The relentless Cup Series schedule is on a North American tour, with recent stops in Mexico City, the Pocono Mountains and Downtown Chicago. Next up is a visit to the road course of Sonoma Raceway in the Bay Area.

The 12-turn track has been a mainstay on the schedule since 1989, with several tricky sections making life difficult for the world’s best stock car drivers.

So, what’s in store for Sonoma this year? What’s the TV schedule for the weekend? And who could contend for the win on Sunday? Here’s everything you need to know for Toyota/Save Mart 350:

When is the NASCAR race in Sonoma?

The Toyota/Save Mart 350 is set for Sunday, July 13, at 2:50 p.m. CT.

Before the race, there will be practice and qualifying on Saturday. The 37 drivers will be split into two groups, with each group getting 25 minutes of free practice. For qualifying, each group will get 20 minutes to set their fastest lap, with the starting order set based on single-lap speed for the two groups combined.

NASCAR TV schedule this weekend for Sonoma

Adam Alexander (play-by-play), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (analyst) and Steve Letarte (analyst) will be on the call for TNT, with Shannon Spake, Parker Kligerman and Jamie McMurray providing pre- and post-race coverage.

Here’s the full schedule for Sonoma:

Saturday, July 12 (truTV and HBO Max)

• Practice: 12:30 p.m. CT, truTV and HBO Max
• Qualifying: 1:40 p.m. CT, truTV and HBO Max

Sunday, July 13 (TNT and HBO Max)

• NASCAR Nation: 2 p.m. CT, TNT and HBO Max
• Toyota/Save Mart 350: 2:30 p.m. CT, TNT and HBO Max

Who is racing in Sonoma? Here’s the entry list

Thirty-seven drivers will race in Sonoma — the 36 full-timers, plus one “open” entry.

Katherine Legge is the outlier, as the 44-year-old English driver makes her fourth start of the 2025 season for Live Fast Motorsports. Last week at the Chicago Street Race, Legge scored a career-best finish of 19th.

Here’s the full entry list for Sonoma:

Get to know NASCAR driver Ryan Blaney.

NASCAR picks, predictions, favorites for Sonoma

Shane van Gisbergen is going for three straight — and he’ll be tough to beat in Sonoma.

The Trackhouse Racing star has won the last two road course races in Mexico City and Chicago. Van Gisbergen, 36, has dominated at this track type during his first full-time season since coming over from New Zealand. While he’s never started a Cup Series race at Sonoma, he did win the second-tier Xfinity Series event last June.

If you’re looking for a more experienced racer at this track, there are four drivers to keep an eye on: Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Chris Buescher and Michael McDowell.

The Hendrick Motorsports teammates are two of the series’ best road racer. Larson, a Northern California native from Elk Grove, has two wins at his home track with five first-place starts. Elliott is still winless at the track, but he has seven straight top-10 starts and four straight top-10 finishes (with three top-fives).

McDowell and Buescher are also winless in Sonoma, but they’ve both been knocking on the door in recent years. The Spire Motorsports driver (McDowell) won Stage 1 in Chicago last week before a mechanical failure. He was second in Sonoma last year and has three straight top-10s. Buescher, meanwhile, has finished second, fourth and third in the last three years, leading 32 laps last June.

The winning pick for Sonoma is McDowell, who will be eager to avenge his disappointment last week when he looked capable of challenging van Gisbergen.

NASCAR past winners, race history for Sonoma

Just three of the 37 drivers in the field are past winners in Sonoma.

Larson (2021, 2024) and Busch (2008, 2015) have two wins apiece, while Suárez was victorious in 2022. All of the other winners in the past 15 years have retired or moved to part-time racing, including Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch and Clint Bowyer.

NASCAR pit stops are a sport themselves with how much planning goes into a perfect pit stop. Here’s what you need to know about what happens during a pit stop.