LEBANON, Tenn. (AP) — Bubba Wallace sees NASCAR having all the momentum possible right now with different media partners.

Perfect timing then for NASCAR’s “In-season Challenge” to debut, right?

Well, Wallace forgot that was about to debut.

“For me to forget about it and remember how exciting it was when they announced, I think it’s going to be big for the fans to tune in and and give them a little bit more … you’re just invested more,” Wallace said.

Kyle Larson just tried his latest attempt at “the Double” of the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600. Count him among those who didn’t realize NASCAR’s new in-season competition had its field of 32 set after Sunday night’s Cup Series race at the Nashville Superspeedway.

“I just really haven’t seen anything promoted about it, so I think it’s easy to forget about it,” Larson said.

NASCAR announced this new in-season competition in May 2024, so drivers can be forgiven for being focused on the second half of the season.

The format is simple: 32 drivers race for seeding over the next three races starting at Michigan on Sunday and concluding at Pocono on June 22. Drivers are seeded by their best finish for the five-race competition starting at Atlanta.

Then it goes to single elimination with the field cut to 16 at Chicago, eight at Sonoma, four at Dover and the final two at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The winner gets $1 million, and that does get drivers’ attention as part of the new media rights deal that includes TNT.

“It’s going to be something fun that you pay attention to, and there’s good money on the line,” said Larson, the 2021 Cup Series champ. “So, you’ve just got to be really consistent throughout.”

Chris Buescher of RFK Racing is among those who didn’t realize this challenge is starting. He needs race victories after losing points for a penalty at Kansas in May. The prize is nice.

“That’s real money,” Buescher said. “But I don’t want that to change how we go to the race track. We need to figure out how to win races. There’s a lot more than that on the line at the end of the year.”

Three-time Cup Series champ Joey Logano compared this event’s prize to the money up for grabs in the All-Star Race and this new competition like a stage win.

“This is a little longer thing, but it’s a race within the race,” Logano said. “So you’re not willing to give up a lot to do that, right?”

Denny Hamlin was excited when the In-season Challenge was first announced. Then he saw the courses for this competition, and his enthusiasm dimmed with the number of road courses included.

“Truthfully, we’re going to get pretty lucky or have such a good draw that just things kind of work out,” Hamlin said. “I wish it was more conventional ovals, but I think that’s just the way the schedule works out. And it’s unfortunately not probably my prime part of the season.”

Brad Keselowski and his No. 6 Ford for RFK Racing went into Nashville at 32 — right on the line to be included in that chase for seeding. He hadn’t given the competition much thought focused on this season. But he thinks it will be fun once it starts.

“It’s good for the sport, good for our fans and it’s a competition,” Keselowski said. “If there’s competition, we want to win it. But that said, I think our heads down on one week at a time, in some ways one day at a time. … And it’s hard to look further ahead than that.”

Team Penske all set for the playoffs

With Ryan Blaney’s first victory of the season at Nashville Superspeedway, Team Penske now has its three drivers qualified for the NASCAR Cup playoffs even with Nashville the first race of the second half of this year.

Blaney, who hadn’t won since November, joined Austin Cindric, who won at Talladega, and three-time Cup Series champ Joey Logano, a winner at Texas. Josh Berry, whose Wood Brothers Racing team has a relationship with Team Penske, also won at Las Vegas.

Michael Nelson, president of Team Penske’s NASCAR operations, said it was nice to have that pressure off all the teams.

“It’s obviously pretty awesome to have a little bit of that pressure off for the guys,” Nelson said. “And again … it gives you a chance to go out and take some chances here and there and try to rack up a bunch of wins. So now we’re grateful to be at this point with our cars this time of year.”

Careful there Hocevar

Carson Hocevar matched his career-best finish driving from 26th to second at Nashville. The 22-year-old driver in his second Cup Series season with Spire Motorsports ticked off Ricky Stenhouse Jr. with his aggressive style.

Hocevar clipped Stenhouse on Lap 106 of 300, sending him into the wall and out of the race. Stenhouse said Hocevar was overly aggressive and will talk to the young driver. Just not after the race.

“No,” Stenhouse said, “that costs too much money.”

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A three-judge federal appellate panel ruled Thursday in favor of NASCAR in the antitrust lawsuit filed by two teams, one owned by Michael Jordan, and vacated an injunction that required 23XI and Front Row be recognized as chartered teams as their case snakes through the legal system.

Both race teams sued NASCAR late last year after refusing to sign new agreements on charter renewals. The charter system is similar to franchises in other sports, but the charters are revocable by NASCAR and have expiration dates. 23XI, which is owned by Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, allied with Front Row in suing NASCAR after 13 other organizations signed the renewals last September and those two organization refused.

“We are disappointed by today’s ruling by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and are reviewing the decision to determine our next steps,” said Jeffery Kessler, attorney for 23XI and Front Row. “This ruling is based on a very narrow consideration of whether a release of claims in the charter agreements is anti-competitive and does not impact our chances of winning at trial scheduled for Dec. 1.

“We remain confident in our case and committed to racing for the entirety of this season as we continue our fight to create a fair and just economic system for stock car racing that is free of anticompetitive, monopolistic conduct.”

The two teams sued and asked for a temporary injunction that would recognize them as chartered teams for this season. The antitrust case isn’t scheduled to be heard until December.

The teams said they needed the injunction because the current charter agreement prohibits them from suing NASCAR. 23XI also argued it would be harmed because Tyler Reddick’s contract would have made him a free agent if the team could not guarantee him a charter-protected car.

The original judge ruled that NASCAR’s charter agreement likely violated antitrust law in granting the injunction. But when they heard arguments last month, the three judges at the the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Virginia, indicated they were skeptical of that decision.

The judges said in Thursday’s ruling they were not aware of any case that supports the lower court’s theory of antitrust law, so they vacated the injunction.

“In short, because we have found no support for the proposition that a business entity or person violates the antitrust laws by requiring a prospective participant to give a release for past conduct as a condition for doing business, we cannot conclude that the plaintiffs made a clear showing that they were likely to succeed on the merits of that theory,” the court said. “And without satisfaction of the likelihood-of-success element, the plaintiffs were not entitled to a preliminary injunction.”

The teams have 14 days to appeal to the full court. The injunction also has no bearings on the merits of the case, and the earliest NASCAR can treat the teams as unchartered — a charter guarantees their organizations a starting spot each week and prize money — is one week after the deadline to appeal, provided there is no pending appeal.

NASCAR has not said what it would do with the six charters held by the two organizations if they are returned to the sanctioning body. There are only 36 chartered cars for a 40-car field. If the teams do not appeal, the six entries would have to compete as “open” cars — which means they’d have to qualify on speed each week to make the race and they would receive a fraction of the money.

It’s not clear what would happen to Reddick’s contract. He goes to Michigan this weekend ranked sixth in the Cup Series standings. Both organizations are still seeking a win this season — Hamlin’s three victories are with Joe Gibbs Racing, the team he drives for.

Reddick is last year’s regular-season champion and competed for the Cup title last November.

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Zane Smith and the No. 38 Long John Silver’s Ford Team
Michigan International Speedway Competition Notes
Firekeepers Casino 400

Date: Sunday, June 8, 2025
Event: Race 17 of 38
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Michigan International Speedway (2.0-miles)
#of Laps: 200
Time/TV/Radio: 2:00 PM ET on Amazon Prime/MRN/SiriusXM channel 90

Zane Smith Notes

Finishing 13th in last Sunday’s race at the Nashville Superspeedway, Zane Smith heads to Ford’s home track, the Michigan International Speedway, with strong momentum. In the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, Smith earned his first career Truck Series win at the two-mile track in 2020. In the Cup Series, Smith has one previous start at the track, finishing seventh in the 2024 event with Spire Motorsports. Long John Silver’s will return to the No. 38 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for the 200 lap, 400-mile race.

“I always look forward to racing at Michigan,” said Smith. “I scored my first career truck win there, so I have a special connection with the track. I’m happy with the speed this No. 38 team is bringing to the track. We have a couple things to clean up on pit road but overall, I think we can leave Michigan with a result we can all be proud of.”

Road Crew

Driver: Zane Smith

Hometown: Huntington Beach, California

Crew Chief: Ryan Bergenty

Hometown: Plainville, Connecticut

Car Chief: Will Norris

Hometown: Bells, Tennessee

Engineer: Jacob Clamme

Hometown: Hartford City, Indiana

Engineer: Chris Yerges

Hometown: Green Bay, Wisconsin

Mechanic: Steve Godfrey

Hometown: West Haven, Connecticut

Mechanic / Engine Tuner: Tyler Podlaski

Hometown: Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania

Interior Specialist: Matt Fowler

Hometown: Spartanburg, South Carolina

Spotter: Ryan Blanchard

Hometown: Bethlehem, Connecticut

Transport Co-Driver: Ernest Mullins

Hometown: Fayetteville, North Carolina

Transport Co-Driver: Rick Grissom

Hometown: Bakersfield, California

Pit Crew

Front Tire Changer: Ryan Flores

Hometown: Manasquan, New Jersey

Rear Tire Changer: Austin Chrismon

Hometown: China Grove, North Carolina

Tire Carrier: Drew Baum

Hometown: Williamsport, Pennsylvania

Jackman: Ryan Selig

Hometown: Lindenhurst, Illinois

Fueler: Chris Webb

Hometown: Concord, North Carolina

ABOUT LONG JOHN SILVER’S

Long John Silver’s was founded in 1969 and is on a mission to create treasured moments through high-quality food and bell-ringing service. With restaurants from sea to mouth-watering sea, Long John Silver’s continues building on a belief that the unique seafood experience from the coasts should be accessible to all. Learn more at ljsilvers.com or join the conversation via social media on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

ABOUT FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS

Front Row Motorsports (FRM) is a winning organization in the NASCAR Cup and Craftsman Truck Series. The team is the 2021 Daytona 500 and 2022 Craftsman Truck Series champions. The team was founded in 2004 and is owned by successful entrepreneur, Bob Jenkins. FRM fields the No. 4, No. 34, and the No. 38 NASCAR Cup Series teams along with the No. 34 and No. 38 Craftsman Truck Series teams from its Mooresville, N.C. headquarters. Visit teamfrm.com and follow FRM on social media: Twitter at @Team_FRM, Instagram at @teamfrm and Facebook at facebook.com/FrontRowMotorsports.

“We remain confident in our case and committed to racing for the entirety of this season as we continue our fight to create a fair and just economic system for stock car racing that is free of anticompetitive, monopolistic conduct.”

The two teams sued and asked for a temporary injunction that would recognize them as chartered teams for this season. The antitrust case isn’t scheduled to be heard until December.

The teams said they needed the injunction because the current charter agreement prohibits them from suing NASCAR. 23XI also argued it would be harmed because Tyler Reddick’s contract would have made him a free agent if the team could not guarantee him a charter-protected car.

The original judge ruled that NASCAR’s charter agreement likely violated antitrust law in granting the injunction. But when they heard arguments last month, the three judges at the the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Virginia, indicated they were skeptical of that decision.

The judges said in Thursday’s ruling they were not aware of any case that supports the lower court’s theory of antitrust law, so they vacated the injunction.

“In short, because we have found no support for the proposition that a business entity or person violates the antitrust laws by requiring a prospective participant to give a release for past conduct as a condition for doing business, we cannot conclude that the plaintiffs made a clear showing that they were likely to succeed on the merits of that theory,” the court said. “And without satisfaction of the likelihood-of-success element, the plaintiffs were not entitled to a preliminary injunction.”

The teams have 14 days to appeal to the full court. The injunction also has no bearings on the merits of the case, and the earliest NASCAR can treat the teams as unchartered — a charter guarantees their organizations a starting spot each week and prize money — is one week after the deadline to appeal, provided there is no pending appeal.

NASCAR has not said what it would do with the six charters held by the two organizations if they are returned to the sanctioning body. There are only 36 chartered cars for a 40-car field. If the teams do not appeal, the six entries would have to compete as “open” cars — which means they’d have to qualify on speed each week to make the race and they would receive a fraction of the money.

It’s not clear what would happen to Reddick’s contract. He goes to Michigan this weekend ranked sixth in the Cup Series standings. Both organizations are still seeking a win this season — Hamlin’s three victories are with Joe Gibbs Racing, the team he drives for.

Reddick is last year’s regular-season champion and competed for the Cup title last November.

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A three-judge federal appellate panel ruled Thursday in favor of NASCAR in the antitrust lawsuit filed by two teams, one owned by Michael Jordan, and vacated an injunction that required 23XI and Front Row be recognized as chartered teams as their case snakes through the legal system.

Both race teams sued NASCAR late last year after refusing to sign new agreements on charter renewals. The charter system is similar to franchises in other sports, but the charters are revocable by NASCAR and have expiration dates. 23XI, which is owned by Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, allied with Front Row in suing NASCAR after 13 other organizations signed the renewals last September and those two organization refused.

“We are disappointed by today’s ruling by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and are reviewing the decision to determine our next steps,” said Jeffery Kessler, attorney for 23XI and Front Row. “This ruling is based on a very narrow consideration of whether a release of claims in the charter agreements is anti-competitive and does not impact our chances of winning at trial scheduled for Dec. 1.

“We remain confident in our case and committed to racing for the entirety of this season as we continue our fight to create a fair and just economic system for stock car racing that is free of anticompetitive, monopolistic conduct.”

The two teams sued and asked for a temporary injunction that would recognize them as chartered teams for this season. The antitrust case isn’t scheduled to be heard until December.

The teams said they needed the injunction because the current charter agreement prohibits them from suing NASCAR. 23XI also argued it would be harmed because Tyler Reddick’s contract would have made him a free agent if the team could not guarantee him a charter-protected car.

The original judge ruled that NASCAR’s charter agreement likely violated antitrust law in granting the injunction. But when they heard arguments last month, the three judges at the the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Virginia, indicated they were skeptical of that decision.

The judges said in Thursday’s ruling they were not aware of any case that supports the lower court’s theory of antitrust law, so they vacated the injunction.

“In short, because we have found no support for the proposition that a business entity or person violates the antitrust laws by requiring a prospective participant to give a release for past conduct as a condition for doing business, we cannot conclude that the plaintiffs made a clear showing that they were likely to succeed on the merits of that theory,” the court said. “And without satisfaction of the likelihood-of-success element, the plaintiffs were not entitled to a preliminary injunction.”

The teams have 14 days to appeal to the full court. The injunction also has no bearings on the merits of the case, and the earliest NASCAR can treat the teams as unchartered — a charter guarantees their organizations a starting spot each week and prize money — is one week after the deadline to appeal, provided there is no pending appeal.

NASCAR has not said what it would do with the six charters held by the two organizations if they are returned to the sanctioning body. There are only 36 chartered cars for a 40-car field. If the teams do not appeal, the six entries would have to compete as “open” cars — which means they’d have to qualify on speed each week to make the race and they would receive a fraction of the money.

It’s not clear what would happen to Reddick’s contract. He goes to Michigan this weekend ranked sixth in the Cup Series standings. Both organizations are still seeking a win this season — Hamlin’s three victories are with Joe Gibbs Racing, the team he drives for.

Reddick is last year’s regular-season champion and competed for the Cup title last November.

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

SELINSGROVE, PA – A historic night at Selinsgrove Speedway ended with Stewart Friesen reaching another Super DIRTcar Series milestone. In the Series’ first visit to the Pennsylvania track, the Niagara-On-The-Lake, ON driver led the final 58 laps to win Wednesday’s Snyder County Showdown, becoming the sixth driver in history to earn 50 Series victories.

“This is my life,” Friesen said. “There’s so many great car owners over the years that gave me a shot, put me in their stuff, and took me down the road. I bounced around, and I was able to have really good people behind me. I finally got hooked up with Chris (Larsen) and the Halmar International group, and the last 10 years we’ve been rolling really good. It feels really special, and whenever we can come to Sprint Car country and get a big win, it’s even more special.”

Ryan Krachun, the SRI Performance and Stock Car Steel Pole Award winner, and Louden Reimert led the field to the green in the 75-lap Feature, with Reimert wrestling the lead away as they drove through Turns 1 and 2. Behind them, Friesen, who started fifth, stormed toward the front of the field on the inside, passing Justin Stone, Matt Sheppard, and Krachun to reach second by the end of Lap 1.
Friesen chased Reimert around Selinsgrove’s red clay surface until the race’s first caution flew on Lap 10 for Tim Sears Jr, which proved to be the race’s turning point. When the race resumed on Lap 12, contact between Sheppard and Ryan Godown sent the No. 9S into the outside wall, leading to both cars flipping down the front stretch. That started a chain reaction that led to more flips in Turn 1.

Eleven other cars were involved in the crash, including Sears, who collided with Sheppard and landed on his roof. Bob McGannon. Anthony Perrego, Jimmy Phelps, Todd Root, Darren Smith, Jack Lehner, Mike Mahaney, Matt Stangle, Marcus Dinkins, and Logan Watt were also involved.

Despite the wreck, all 13 drivers involved climbed out of their cars, and Phelps, Lehner, Stangle, Mahaney, and Dinkins rejoined the field.

Reimert continued his lead when the green came back out on Lap 13 but couldn’t pull away from Friesen, who gained momentum on the inside lane. That momentum carried Friesen to the inside of Reimert’s No. 58 car.

However, that momentum wasn’t enough for Friesen to take the lead, so he switched lanes. That change of pace was all he needed as Friesen powered around Reimert in Turn 2 to take the lead on Lap 18.

From there, Friesen went untouched in the final 58 laps despite several yellow flags in the final 20 laps to earn the $10,000 prize and his third Super DIRTcar Series win of 2025.

On those last few restarts, it was a familiar foe, Series points leader Alex Yankowski, who he had to hold off.

“He’s as aggressive as I am on these fast tracks,” Friesen said. “I just wanted to make sure I could enter (Turn 1) on the restarts hard enough. I kind of found a lane ripping the cushion above the cushion early, and then it finally cleaned up enough where I could enter with enough steam to throw a slider, and we were able to hold him at bay.”

The defending Billy Whittaker Cars 200 winner also became the first driver this season to earn a guaranteed starting spot at Super DIRT Week 53, a feat he accomplished for the second consecutive season.

“It’s something we think about all year long,” Friesen said. “It’s the biggest race of the year for a reason. We struggled there for a couple of years, got the first one there at Oswego in 2016, and struggled a little bit until last year to get a good balance. We got a good notebook now; we can fine-tune it a little bit. It’s definitely an exciting week for Modified racing, and we’re just thrilled to be part of it.”

Yankowski crossed the line second, earning back-to-back runner-up finishes and his fourth of 2025. The Covington Township, PA driver closed in on Friesen late in the race, but didn’t have enough momentum to catch the No. 44 before the checkered flag.

“Stew was just lights out,” Yankowski said. “When we got the lead down to a second, our lap times started to match, but when I was close to him, he would just creep away. He was flat-out the better race car tonight. Hats off to those guys.”

With another second-place finish, “Kid Rocket” extended his Series points lead for the second straight night to 24 points over Mat Williamson, who finished third. “Money Mat” drove into a podium position after starting 10th and avoiding the Lap 12 crash.

“I didn’t get to see much of it,” Williamson said. “I was on the inside lane, and I just went to the guardrail and slammed the brakes and tried to go through it slowly and get out of the chaos. Luckily, I didn’t get piledrived from behind and got through it safely. Our guys are really good at making sure we finish races. I feel like it’s going to be our strong suit this year.”

Alex Payne finished fourth, earning his third top five in the last four Series races, and Jimmy Phelps rounded out the top five, after starting 25th, and being involved in the Lap 12 crash.

Reimert, who ran second until he got a flat tire on Lap 40, finished 13th.