With the Xfinity Series off this weekend, Cole Custer carried the banner for the Haas Factory team during Cup Series racing at the 2-mile Michigan International Speedway. Making his sixth Cup Series start at Michigan, Custer rolled off 24th on Sunday.

41 Cole Custer – Recap

Early in Stage One, Custer was faced with challenges, reporting that his No. 41 Ford was loose on entry and exit, with a hint of tightness in the center of the corners. The handling made it difficult to get back to the throttle quickly off the turns. Still, Custer and the team were undeterred. As Stage One ended the team worked to dial in the HaasTooling.com Ford. Adjustments, including a round of wedge, were made to help improve stability, and give Custer the ability to attack the turns.

As Stage Two began, Custer worked to overcome adversity, He found restarts especially challenging, due to a lack of grip while trying to re-enter the throttle zone. He described the car as being “out of the track” with minimal grip, though he noted the balance itself wasn’t far off – just lacking overall feel. Unfortunately, just as the team looked to regroup and regain track position, Custer was caught in a multi-car incident on lap 68. The crash ended Custer’s day early and brought a premature close to what had been a determined effort. Custer was officially credited with a 35th-place finish.

“I don’t exactly know what transpired to get us into that situation but it just seemed like we all just ran out of room,” said Custer. It’s really disappointing from the standpoint of we want to be on the up end of things with our team right now. We want to move in the right direction in the summer time. I like we are bringing better cars to the racetrack and getting more competitive but getting wrecked on days like this, definitely sets that back.”

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Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez (Mexico City, Mexico)

Xfinity – Saturday June 14, 2025 @ 4:30pm on The CW

Cup — Sunday, June 15th, 2025 @ 3:00pm on Amazon Prime

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Amber Balcaen, currently competing part-time in the ARCA Menards Series with Nitro Motorsports, has logged two starts this season, finishing 29th at Daytona before improving to 16th at Talladega. Now, the Winnipeg, Manitoba native has her sights set on returning to home soil to race in the NASCAR Canada Series.

Eager to compete in front of her countrymen, Balcaen is making her pitch to sponsors loud and clear. As she previously revealed during a segment on The Social CTV, carving out a career in NASCAR as a woman requires not just grit and performance, but relentless pursuit of sponsorships.

Balcaen recently took to LinkedIn with an open call for collaborators and brands ready to ride shotgun on her next chapter. She wrote, “I’m excited to announce that I’ll be racing in Canada this summer!…

“I’ll be on track for a few key races in the NASCAR Canada Series and the Ontario Sportsman Series, and I’m opening up limited opportunities for both primary and associate sponsors to come on board. This is a great chance for Canadian companies to align with:

A values-driven underdog story

A strong and growing personal brand (340K+ social media followers)

National media coverage and visibility

Meaningful B2B and community engagement opportunities

If you’re a Canadian brand looking for authentic representation, increased exposure, and a powerful partnership, you know where to find me. Let’s make this a winning summer.”

Balcaen has long shouldered the financial weight of her racing career, often self-funding through her business ventures. But competing in the NASCAR Canada Series seems to be bringing new demands, which is maybe why Balcaen is seeking additional sponsorship dollars to stay competitive.

Balcaen’s racing roots trace back to the dirt ovals where both her father and grandfather made their mark. From there, she clawed her way through the NASCAR regional ranks, earning Rookie of the Year honors, bagging a race win, and steadily climbing the ladder. But Balcaen also acknowledged that talent alone isn’t enough.

“It costs millions of dollars to race,” she had said, emphasizing that aspiring drivers must prove their worth both behind the wheel and in boardrooms. The 33-year-old had to learn how to be a businesswoman before being a race car driver, a journey that, by Balcaen’s estimate, has seen her raise approximately $67 million to date.

Former IndyCar and NASCAR driver Danica Patrick proudly confessed to taking the “red pill” as the racing star publicly backed political activist Riley Gaines in her ongoing feud with decorated Olympian Simone Biles over transgender athletes competing in women’s sports.

“This issue has a shelf life. I truly believe common sense will prevail,” Patrick, 43, said on Instagram Sunday. “But until then, I am grateful for people like Riley Gaines who are making sure no one gets away with it. Not to mention the fact that she actually lived it.”

“Defending men in women’s sports is the woke mind virus and/or another issue that requires therapy. Either way, it is so irrational,” she added.

Patrick’s comments are the latest in an ongoing war of words between anti-trans activist and former University of Kentucky swimmer Gaines and Olympic gymnast Biles that broke out Friday – a spat that has seen cheap shots taken by both sides. 

The sparring began when Biles targeted Gaines with a seemingly unprompted tweet amid controversy over a Minnesota trans high-school softball pitcher’s shutout in the state finals Thursday that helped secure the championship.

“@Riley_Gaines_ You’re truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race,” 28-year-old Biles tweeted, referencing Gaines’ tie during a race with trans University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas at the 2022 NCAA championship.  

“Straight up sore loser. You should be uplifting the trans community and perhaps finding a way to make sports inclusive OR creating a new avenue where trans feel safe in sports. Maybe a transgender category IN ALL sports!!” Biles wrote.

“bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male,” she later added.

Gaines, 25, fired back. 

“It’s not my job or the job of any woman to figure out how to include men in our spaces. You can uplift men stealing championships in women’s sports with YOUR platform. Men don’t belong in women’s sports and I say that with my full chest,” Gaines said.

Gaines alluded to Biles’ efforts to take down former Team USA gymnastics doctor and prolific sex criminal Larry Nassar.

“All the horrific sexual abuse @Simone_Biles witnessed and spoke out against caused by one man, yet [she] believes women should be forced to strip naked in front of men to validate the man’s feelings,” Gaines wrote in another tweet.

Gaines also unearthed an old comment of Biles and used it against her in the widening dispute. 

“ahhhh good thing guys don’t compete against girls or he’d take all the gold medals !!” Biles wrote in the 2017 tweet, apparently responding to the men’s division results at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

“Oop don’t you hate it when your past self completely undermines your current nonsensical argument?” Gaines wrote sarcastically, retweeting Biles’ post.

“How has 2025 Simone reconciled with the fact 2017 Simone was a ‘truly sick bully’ by her own standard?” 

Patrick’s position comes after she announced she would be voting for President Trump in the last election. Last October, at a campaign event with now Vice President JD Vance Patrick announced that she would be voting for the first time at the age 42. 

“I just want to say I’ve never voted before, but this time around, I have to vote,” Patrick  said, sharing the stage with Vance. “It’s that important.”

She said she would be voting for “the good guys.”

“I just want to be clear, I want to get on record — you’re voting for us, right?” Vance then asked.

“1,000%,” Patrick replied, joking that if she “could vote twice,” she would.

Patrick retired in 2018 after the 2018 Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500. 

The link between IMSA and the ACO extends to the headline race of the FIA World Endurance Championship: the 24 Hours of Le Mans. As ever, a strong volume of IMSA competitors make the trip to the Circuit de la Sarthe to compete in the 24-hour endurance race classic. It’s not the only IMSA componentry of the race week in Le Mans, France; several IMSA-sanctioned series drivers will compete in Le Mans support races, including the Michelin Le Mans Cup’s Road to Le Mans and Ford’s Mustang Invitational.

The headliners, though, are in the FIA WEC’s Hypercar class, which allows for both Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) and Le Mans Daytona h (LMDh) specification prototype cars to compete for overall honors across both IMSA and the FIA WEC. Most of the full-season IMSA top-class prototype drivers will make the trip to Le Mans, including last year’s Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) championship winning team, while two other IMSA entrants garnered automatic invitations for their efforts in 2024.

Three Automatic Invites

Three IMSA entrants – Porsche Penske Motorsport, Nick Boulle and Orey Fidani – received automatic invitations to the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans from their 2024 IMSA successes.

Porsche Penske Motorsport secured a slot for the No. 4 Porsche 963, driven by IMSA full-timers Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr alongside Pascal Wehrlein, courtesy of the team’s 2024 GTP class championship achieved by Nasr and Dane Cameron.

IMSA recognizes the top-scoring Bronze-rated drivers in Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) with the Jim Trueman Award and Bob Akin Award, respectively. Boulle secured the Trueman Award winning the LMP2 title in 2024, driving the No. 52 Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07. Fidani was the Akin Award winner in GTD aboard his No. 13 AWA Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

Boulle, who races with United Autosports USA in 2025 IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup races, returns to Inter Europol for Le Mans. He’ll share the No. 34 ORECA LMP2 07 with Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer and Luca Ghiotto as a Pro/Am entry within the LMP2 class. Fidani has an easier car to follow; his same No. 13 AWA Corvette entry alongside IMSA co-drivers Matt Bell and Lars Kern. It shifts liveries from its usual black and gold colors to a striking red and white honoring the team’s Canadian roots.

Tandy and Nasr (GTP) and Fidani, Bell and Kern (GTD) also won this year’s Rolex 24 At Daytona and are among several drivers across the three Le Mans classes who can double up with both 24-hour race wins this year (more on that in a bit). Tandy and Nasr also sit on the precipice of history if they can win Le Mans to complete an unprecedented single season sweep of the traditional endurance sports car racing “Triple Crown” at Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans.

“You think it would be totally out of this world to be able to win the three ‘Triple Crown’ races in one season. But we look at it today and the stuff that’s happened already this year is just quite unbelievable. So why not?” Tandy said. “It would just be it would be an amazing thing that would be in the history of books forever, of course.”

Pair of Cadillac GTP Teams

Two additional IMSA GTP cars head to Le Mans after being awarded an invitation by the selection committee: the pair of Cadillac V-Series.R cars fielded by Cadillac Whelen (Action Express Racing) and Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing.

This will be the Whelen entry’s third straight trip to Le Mans, and has a relatively young lineup of Jack Aitken, Frederik Vesti and Felipe Drugovich slated to drive the team’s No. 311 Cadillac. Drugovich is also the Aston Martin Formula 1 reserve driver.

For WTR (pictured left; photo courtesy Cadillac Racing), it’s a first trip for the family effort with Wayne Taylor and sons Ricky and Jordan Taylor, the latter two sharing the team’s No. 101 Cadillac with Filipe Albuquerque. It’s been a long time coming for the organization, having had a winter of change with the shift back to the General Motors family after a four-year period and beginning the logistical prep for this race.

“When they asked me to apply for the Le Mans entry, I was really pleasantly and happily shocked that that they accepted us,” Wayne Taylor said. “(WTR Vice President, General Manager) Travis Hogue on our team has done a really good job of getting the logistics and everything together, and we’ve been working with people in Europe as well.

“As far as people are concerned, there’s a lot of people going, probably about 80 people. (Cadillac Hertz Team) JOTA has helped us in a big way as well as Cadillac, and I believe we’ve got everything under control right now. It will be a week of building, and I think we can handle it pretty well.”

Heavy Contingent of IMSA GTP Drivers

While nearly 100 drivers who have started at least one 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race count in the 62-car, 186-driver 24 Hours of Le Mans entry list, the highest percentage of full-season IMSA drivers racing in France come from the GTP class. No less than 18 of the 22 full-season IMSA GTP drivers are racing at Le Mans.

Porsche Penske Motorsport’s quartet of Tandy, Nasr (No. 4 Porsche 963), Mathieu Jaminet (No. 5) and Matt Campbell (No. 6) appear, although are split among all three Porsche 963s.

All four Cadillac WTR drivers will race too, with the two Taylors and Albuquerque racing together. Meanwhile, last year’s Le Mans LMP2 polesitter Louis Deletraz shifts to the No. 199 AO by TF ORECA LMP2 07, which he’ll share with last year’s IMSA GTP champion Dane Cameron and AO Racing co-founder PJ Hyett – who share “Spike,” AO’s popular, dragon-liveried LMP2 car in the WeatherTech Championship.

Cadillac Whelen’s other full-season driver, Earl Bamber, is in another Cadillac for Le Mans: the No. 38 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota entry he races during in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

BMW M Team RLL drivers Dries Vanthoor (No. 15) and Sheldon van der Linde (No. 20) resume with their FIA WEC team, BMW M Team WRT, aboard their BMW M Hybrid V8s.

Aston Martin THOR Team drivers Ross Gunn (No. 007) and Roman De Angelis (No. 009) join the respective WEC lineups there, Gunn as part of an all-British No. 007 Aston with De Angelis joining fellow Aston GT graduates Alex Riberas and Marco Sorenson in the No. 009.

And then there’s Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian, which sees all four of its GTP drivers at Le Mans, split among four different LMP2 cars.

The No. 60 Acura ARX-06 pair of Colin Braun and Tom Blomqvist will be in the No. 24 Nielsen Racing ORECA (Braun) and No. 37 CLX Pure Racing ORECA (Blomqvist).

Meanwhile the No. 93 Acura ARX-06 duo of Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly will shift to the No. 22 United Autosports ORECA (van der Zande) and No. 43 Inter Europol ORECA (Yelloly).

The four full-season GTP drivers not racing at Le Mans are BMW’s Marco Wittmann and Philipp Eng, and JDC-Miller MotorSports’ Gianmaria Bruni and Tijmen van der Helm.

There are also a bevy of other IMSA drivers competing at Le Mans, most of whom are shifting from their WeatherTech Championship team to another one across the three classes at Le Mans.

2025 Rolex 24 Winners Look to Add 24 Hours of Le Mans Wins

A unique aspect of this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans is the eight Rolex 24 At Daytona-winning drivers who can win both marquee 24-hour endurance sports car races in the same year.

Tandy, Nasr and Laurens Vanthoor can do so, with Tandy and Nasr racing together in one car (No. 4 Porsche) and Vanthoor in another (No. 6 Porsche).

Fidani, Bell and Kern can win Daytona and Le Mans as well; they are in the same No. 13 AWA Corvette (different class, chassis and livery, but same car number, team and car type) as at Rolex 24.

Two other Rolex 24 winners in 2025 can double-up at Le Mans. Dennis Olsen was part of the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO)-winning No. 65 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3 at Daytona. At Le Mans, the 2024 podium finisher will share the No. 88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3. Paul Di Resta, too, was part of the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2)-winning No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA LMP2 07 in Daytona. He’ll be in the Hypercar class No. 93 Peugeot TotalEnergies Peugeot 9X8.

With last weekend’s scrutineering and test day now in the rearview mirror, on-track action from Circuit de la Sarthe resumes on Wednesday with official practice and the start of qualifying.

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Chase Elliott finished 15th at Michigan International Speedway in a race won by Denny Hamlin, with the No.9 team’s performance leading to more calls for change

Chase Elliott’s fans are growing restless with the performance of the No. 9 team, but their driver had a powerful message for them before their latest setback.

Elliott secured a 15th place finish at Michigan International Speedway in a race won by Denny Hamlin. Elliott led for 19 laps after an impressive maneuver to take the lead early in Stage 2, but a decision to pit for fuel was ill-timed due to a subsequent caution.

Prior to the race, Elliott put the onus on Hendrick Motorsports with a straightforward statement about the future, while Carl Edwards made a surprising revelation at the start of the interview that caught many off guard.

In the same interview, Elliott defended his crew chief, Alan Gustafson, and reiterated to his fans that nobody cares more than them.

READ MORE: Chase Elliott and Carl Edwards revelation has NASCAR fans taken abackREAD MORE: Rick Hendrick sent cheeky message by Carson Hocevar amid NASCAR links

Elliott asserted: “I think Alan deserves a lot of credit for just helping to manage this entire process, because there’s a lot to it.

“Look, there is no one here, and we have some great race fans and I appreciate them, but there is no one here who wants to perform as much as we do.

“And we put a lot of effort and work into that, and I think that’s always important to remember because we might not do the flashiest work, but we sure do care a lot. “

This message was particularly significant given what unfolded during the race, with fans inundating replies to the final result posted by his Hendrick No.9 Team account demanding changes, a sentiment expressed more than once.

:”When is enough enough”” One fan queried. “AG should’ve been replaced years ago”, while another retorted: “No more excuses, Alan needs to be fired.

Enough is enough”. One fan expressed their frustration, saying: “This was easily the worst display of team effort and coordination in a hot minute. (Sorry @Hendrick9Team admin for being the punching-bag for all this for so long)” while another voiced their disappointment: “Terrible. Absolutely terrible. Drastic changes need to come to this team”.

Amidst the rising clamor for change from his supporters, Elliott’s post-race interview revealed unwavering support for Gustafson, as he has consistently shown, urging his fans to stand behind his team as well.

The NASCAR Cup race at Michigan featured some big hits, lots of fuel-saving, and Denny Hamlin’s third victory of the year as he inches closer to 60 career Cup wins. It was another missed opportunity for Carson Hocevar as a cut tire derailed his day, but the biggest story from Sunday came before the green flag even flew as Ram announced its return to the the Truck Series.

Here’s a look at the biggest winners and losers from Michigan…

WINNER: Hamlin beat your favorite driver….again

Watch: Denny Hamlin: ‘I beat your favorite driver’ in Michigan win

Denny Hamlin and the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team did a remarkable job making it to the checkered flag with plenty of fuel to spare. Even more impressively, he restarted at the back end of the top ten, but steadily marched through the front-runners while they desperately tried to save gas. In the end, he didn’t even have to wait for the leader to run out as he took the top spot by force with just four laps to go. But the real winning move came in his post-race interview where Hamlin brought back his “I beat your favorite driver” taunt, much to the chagrin of the booing crowd.

LOSER: William Byron is running on empty

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Photo by: Chris Graythen – Getty Images

William Byron and Kyle Larson were in a great spot on Sunday, but unfortunately, leading the pack isn’t the best place to save fuel. Their track position cost them dearly as Larson dropped back to fifth as he tried to make the distance while Byron ran out one lap shy of the finish, falling from second to 28th in the final running order. He had led 98 of 200 laps before that.

WINNER: RFK puts all three cars in the top ten

Chris Buescher, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford

Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images

RFK Racing overcame a few hiccups (including a speeding penalty) to leave Michigan with their best-combined result of the 2025 season. All three drivers finished inside the top ten with Chris Buescher second, Ryan Preece ninth, and Brad Keselowski tenth. The only negative is that Buescher appeared to have a winning car, but a loss of track position mid-race forced him to spend a lot of time making up the lost ground. Even still, it was a great rebound and Buescher’s best finish of the year.

LOSER: Bowman can’t catch a break with another big (points) hit at Michigan

Alex Bowman, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Chris Graythen – Getty Images

Alex Bowman has had miserable luck in recent weeks as the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet free-falls down the standings. Bowman has finished 27th or worse in seven of the last nine races including five finishes of 35th or worse. At Michigan, he finished last after a head-on impact that he described as one of the worst hits of his career.

WINNER: Zane Smith gambles for his best result of the year

Zane Smith, Front Row Motorsports Ford, Joey Logano, Team Penske Ford, Bubba Wallace, 23XI Racing Toyota, Brad Keselowski, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford

Photo by: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Zane Smith’s team rolled the dice at Michigan during the final pit stop, taking the lead for the final restart after a two-tire call. Of course, he wasn’t able to hang onto the lead, but Smith maintained a decent running position, ultimately finishing seventh. It was Smith’s best finish of the year, bettering his ninth-place finish at Phoenix in March.

LOSER: Hocevar’s first win remains just out of grasp

Ross Chastain, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing Toyota, Carson Hocevar, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Carson Hocevar has been knocking on the door of Victory Lane all year, and he’s only getting closer with every week that passes. But whenever a win is within arm’s reach, something seems to go wrong. He was in the middle of a potential pass for the win at Atlanta when the race-ending caution flew. And the young racer could have realistically won any of the last three races. Hocevar blew an engine while battling for the lead in the Coca-Cola 600, finished second at Nashville after being stuck in traffic, and a cut tire took him out of contention while leading the way late at Michigan. He was probably going to run out of fuel even without the tire issue, ensuring he was not going to get his first career win at his home track.

WINNER: NASCAR secures a fourth manufacturer in Ram

NASCAR Truck Dodge RAM

Photo by: Dodge

It was a big weekend for NASCAR as they finally brought in a fourth OEM with the return of Ram to the Truck Series in 2026. It’s an exciting moment for the sport and potentially the beginning of a path that could lead to Dodge’s return to the Cup Series. Officials also indicated that they are “very close” a fifth manufacturer coming into the sport. And while Ram didn’t do the best job at keeping the announcement secret as leaks were plentiful, the announcement itself was done well with a Ram 1500 concept race truck doing burnouts on the frontstretch at Michigan.

LOSER: The squirrel who crossed pit road in the middle of stops

We’ve all encountered a squirrel that chooses to cross our path at the worst possible moment while on the road, and one such squirrel appeared in the pit lane in the middle of pit stops at Michigan. “I think I just murdered a squirrel getting into my pit box,” radioed Ty Dillon as he was unable to avoid the unfortunate rodent. Of course, there have been plenty of tributes for the little guy on social media since then.