Motorsports

Hocevar and Nemechek advance into All-Star Race, Gragson wins Fan Vote

Carson Hocevar claimed victory after a two-tire call allowed him to take the lead. John Hunter Nemechek scored a runner-up finish, also racing his way into the big show. “Super big for this group, this team,” said Hocevar. “It’s great to win, especially being challenged by tires there. I had my hands full. We definitely […]

Published

1 month ago

May 18, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Carson Hocevar claimed victory after a two-tire call allowed him to take the lead. John Hunter Nemechek scored a runner-up finish, also racing his way into the big show.

“Super big for this group, this team,” said Hocevar. “It’s great to win, especially being challenged by tires there. I had my hands full. We definitely have to go to work here on our race car because I didn’t really like it, but it’s a good sign that we didn’t like it and we were still pretty quick there.”

As for Nemechek, he’s just excited to “have a shot to go win a million dollars. Hats off to this No. 42 team. We unloaded and we had good two — or three-lap speed, but no longer on pace. Proud of them for the effort they put in yesterday and what they were able to find, and pitting there at that last deal, I knew I couldn’t win from where I was at. We came and got two (tires) and that helped us out. Hats off to the whole 42 team. Proud of the effort.”

The first drivers out were Erik Jones in third, Ty Dillon in fourth, and Zane Smith in fifth. It was also a race of missed opportunities for pole-sitter Shane van Gisbergen, as well as Ryan Preece, who made a costly error under caution.

As for the Fan Vote, it was Noah Gragson who claimed the honor, taking the final spot in the grid for the All-Star Race.

“The fans are the GOATs. It’s awesome to be part of this All-Star Race,” said Gragson. “Thank God for that Open Race, because I feel like we got the balance fixed.”

Race recap

As the Open race got underway, van Gisbergen quickly drove away from the rest of the field. Gragson, who started third, fell back early after contact from John Hunter Nemechek. Gragson quickly faded out of contention after that.

Meanwhile, the battle for the second and final transfer spot was dramatic from the get-go as Spire Motorsport teammates Hocevar and McDowell doored each other.

In the back, Todd Gilliland was forced to pit under green with a flat tire. SVG remained unchallenged at the front of the field, leading until the pre-planned competition caution halfway through the race.

The running order saw a major shakeup as several drivers opted for two tires. Surprisingly, SVG did not and it proved costly, losing five spots on pit road. While he struggled to move forward, Preece, who also sacrificed some track position for four fresh tires, made some big moves.

He muscled his way by Gibbs for the second and final transfer spot and soon after, the caution flag flew for an incident involving Riley Herbst with just over 20 to go. A replay showed that he had some help from McDowell, who sent him into the outside wall.

Preece, who was second, ran over the choose box and was sent to the rear of the field as a result. It was a heartbreaking error for the No. 60 RFK Racing Ford, who claimed the box was difficult to see.

On the restart, Nemechek muscled his way by Wallace and took the final transfer spot by force. With no more yellows, this is how the race would end with Hocevar and Nemechek finishing 1-2.

After the checkered flag, SVG and Todd Gilliland got into it with some contact on the cool-down lap and a conversation on pit road later on.

Motorsports

NASCAR Wants to Race in Philadelphia

What’s Happening? NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell recently expressed the sport’s interest in racing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, prior to this weekend’s race at Pocono Raceway. What’s Happening? NASCAR’s street circuit race could shift to Southern California for the 2026 season, as according to a new report,… The rumor mill for future NASCAR race locations continues to […]

Published

8 minutes ago

June 19, 2025

Your Sports Nation

What’s Happening?

NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell recently expressed the sport’s interest in racing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, prior to this weekend’s race at Pocono Raceway.

What’s Happening?

NASCAR’s street circuit race could shift to Southern California for the 2026 season, as according to a new report,…

Racing Electronics Push Down

The rumor mill for future NASCAR race locations continues to spin out of control. Now, NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell points to the City of Brotherly Love as a potential target for a future NASCAR race.
In an interview with Mason Smith of the Pocono Record, O’Donnell claimed that the spot has not only thought about racing in Philadelphia but has looked into it. “Pocono has delivered for us in terms of fans, but when you look at opportunities, one of the places we looked was Franklin Field,” O’Donnell said.
This is interesting, as some expect this to be a similar race to that of the Chicago Street Circuit rather than a stadium race. Rather than that, Franklin Field is the home of the Ivy League’s Penn Quakers; built in 1922, the stadium is the nation’s oldest active college football stadium.
The field is similar to the LA Coliseum and Bowman Gray Stadium, both of which have recently hosted NASCAR’s preseason Clash. However, O’Donnell did not mention when or if this race will happen, saying they are “pretty early” in exploration.
This is the latest story in a saga of future schedule news that has included rumors of a potential return to Chicagoland and the addition of a new street race in San Diego next season. All news and rumors on the 2026 NASCAR schedule can be found via the story linked above.

What do you think about this? Let us know your opinion on Discord or X. Don’t forget that you can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

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Motorsports

United Racing Club Powered by Tradition and 360 Sprint Cars | Farm Shows, County Fairs, Events and Conventions

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25 minutes ago

June 19, 2025

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Motorsports

Prime wanted a fresh twist for its first NASCAR broadcasts. Enter the ‘Burn Bar’

As the laps wound down in this month’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway, the big question was which drivers had enough fuel to make it to the finish line. In the past, fans at home would have been flying blind. Viewers might understand drivers were trying to save fuel, but there was […]

Published

26 minutes ago

June 19, 2025

Your Sports Nation

As the laps wound down in this month’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway, the big question was which drivers had enough fuel to make it to the finish line.

In the past, fans at home would have been flying blind. Viewers might understand drivers were trying to save fuel, but there was no way to tell if they were actually conserving enough gas — and to what degree.

Enter a new innovation used on Prime Video’s NASCAR broadcasts: The “Burn Bar,” an AI tool that measures fuel usage across every car in the field.

At Michigan, fans were looped in and could see how drivers like Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson were preserving their remaining gas to make it to the finish line. Prime not only showed how much they were using, but provided an estimated miles per gallon on its graphic in the process.

“I look at fuel as the score,” said Steve Letarte, the former crew chief turned TV analyst who helped brainstorm the Burn Bar concept with Prime. “How much fuel someone has or how much they’re using can determine the outcome, and this allows us to display it for the fan.”

NASCAR teams use data to calculate fuel mileage, but every manufacturer currently has a slightly different recipe to calculate fuel usage, Letarte said. It involves an equation that takes into account throttle position (how far the pedal is pushed down), engine performance, RPM and gear rate.

Prime’s calculation is a “light version” of that, Letarte said, because TV doesn’t need to be as exact as the teams. What matters is showing the viewer what’s happening to “alert the fans of the story of the race,” Letarte said.

And Prime’s tool has another twist: It can see every car in the field at once, whereas most teams are most concerned with tracking their own cars.

The origins of the Burn Bar trace back 18 months to a day at JR Motorsports, when the future Prime Video booth was watching a NASCAR race together and talking about race coverage in general. Alex Strand, Prime’s senior coordinating producer, said the conversation turned to topics like what was missing from NASCAR broadcasts and what fans would want that they aren’t currently getting.

Tracking fuel usage came up at the time, and then again when Prime started asking the teams what they thought was missing.

“That’s when we said, ‘All right, Steve, let’s talk fuel,’” Strand said. “And then we got in the lab, and this is where we ended up.”

The tool works similarly to other forms of AI. Prime gives it the starting parameters, and then it uses machine learning in Stage 1 to take stock of what is happening throughout the field — every lap and every input for each driver to create a measurement.

By the start of Stage 2, Prime is comfortable enough that the Burn Bar is ready for display with a more accurate measurement than if it had just been displayed from the green flag.

Fuel strategy is of the utmost importance in Michigan @SteveLetarte goes in-depth on the AI-powered Burn Bar. #NASCARonPrime pic.twitter.com/bE7XohwoK3

— Sports on Prime (@SportsonPrime) June 8, 2025

The tool’s roots are in the innovation Prime made for its “Thursday Night Football” coverage, when the broadcaster came up with “Defensive Alerts” — the groundbreaking form of AI that predicts blitzes before the ball is snapped. On TNF, the AI tool circles a potential player who is likely to rush the quarterback based on a proprietary model.

“We asked ourselves a question about, ‘What if we could predict a blitz?’” Strand said. “And then these scientists who are on our team in Tel Aviv said, ‘We can do that.’ We’re like, ‘Really?’

“Then the real macro message was, ‘You can kind of do anything. It’s just a matter of what are the data inputs.’”

It took approximately a year to develop the Burn Bar tool, and Letarte said the reaction from teams in the garage has been “shocked.” After all, he said, it’s not like there are thousands of people in the world who work on something this specific.

“The fact we could take something that’s pretty complicated in a real specialized field and present it to these scientists and they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, here’s your answer’ — I think that opens the garage’s eyes,” Letarte said. “Like, ‘Wow, they solved that problem relatively quickly.’”

Even now, the Burn Bar could be just a start. With TNF, Defensive Alerts served as a jumping-off point for further viewer enhancements (such as “Defensive Vulnerability” and “Coverage ID”).

Prime already has a new AI tool that analyzes all radio communications from all teams for the entire race and surfaces interesting radio chatter based on certain categories (car performance, emotion, etc.). Producers in Los Angeles then use the tool to edit Prime’s version of Fox Sports’ “Radioactive” feature — a recap of interesting team communications — that airs during the postrace show.

A screenshot of the Burn Bar during the Nashville race on June 1. (Courtesy of Prime)

Letarte, an analyst for three of NASCAR’s four Cup Series network partners this season, said as much as he values the announcing element of broadcasts, “all sports should be really entertaining on mute.”

In other words, he said, TV should tell the story to someone who is watching a game or a race with no volume, which makes tools like the Burn Bar and its fuel usage display all the more valuable.

“It’s not just, ‘What can we measure, but how are we going to show it?’” Letarte said. “If you walk in a bar, by the end of your first beer, you should have a pretty good idea of what’s going on in the event. That has to tell its own story.”

Said Strand: “We want (fans) to know more, and we think they can. What we’ve seen with things like this and stuff on our NFL (coverage) is they have an appetite for it, and we think we’ve got the ability to present it in a simple way. So it’s been pretty neat.”

(Top photo of a screenshot showing the Burn Bar from Prime’s NASCAR coverage: Courtesy of Prime)

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Motorsports

NASCAR Driver Reports Bizarre Problem During Race

NASCAR Driver Reports Bizarre Problem During Race originally appeared on Men’s Fitness. Katherine Legge faced an unexpected challenge at the NASCAR Cup Series race in Mexico City last weekend. Legge is a British racing driver with over 25 years of experience. She has competed in the IndyCar Series, DTM, IMSA, and Formula E, and made […]

Published

44 minutes ago

June 19, 2025

Your Sports Nation

NASCAR Driver Reports Bizarre Problem During Race originally appeared on Men’s Fitness.

Katherine Legge faced an unexpected challenge at the NASCAR Cup Series race in Mexico City last weekend.

Legge is a British racing driver with over 25 years of experience. She has competed in the IndyCar Series, DTM, IMSA, and Formula E, and made history in 2005 by becoming the first woman to win a major open-wheel race in North America.

During last weekend’s race, she was just outside the top-20 when an unusual racing incident struck: her pedal became stuck to her foot.

Related: Brett Favre Turns to a Controversial Treatment for Parkinson’s Disease

Typically, when you hear about racing mishaps, it’s along the lines of a driver clipping the wall, getting caught in a multi-car pileup, missing a crucial pit stop, or suffering a tire blowout at the worst possible moment. That wasn’t the case for Legge.

According to what she said on the on-board radio, her pedal was “literally, welded onto her foot.”

Legge was running just outside the top 20 when she disclosed the pedal incident. The 44-year-old was in only her second NASCAR Cup Series race.

Earlier this season, she raced at Phoenix, finishing 30th. She’s the first woman to compete in a Cup Series race since Danica Patrick in the 2018 Daytona 500.

The crew suspected that heat from the engine caused the rubber sole of Legge’s shoe to melt onto the pedal.

No further details were shared about the incident, so it’s unknown how severe the issue was or how exactly it was resolved.

Luckily, Legge managed to keep driving and ultimately finished the race.

Related: Shohei Ohtani Turns Heads With Dodgers Pitching Debut

NASCAR Driver Reports Bizarre Problem During Race first appeared on Men’s Fitness on Jun 18, 2025

This story was originally reported by Men’s Fitness on Jun 18, 2025, where it first appeared.

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Motorsports

Martin’s Famous Potato Rolls and Hyak Motorsports Prepare for a Sweet Race at Pocono Raceway

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. — Martin’s® Famous Potato Rolls is partnering with Hyak Motorsports for another sweet race this weekend. The No. 47 Martin’s Famous Potato Rolls Chevrolet is rollin’ to The Great American Getaway 400 presented by VisitPA.com at Pocono Raceway on June 22. Martin’s Potato Rolls are the #1 Potato Rolls in America. As a Pennsylvania brand, Martin’s couldn’t […]

Published

1 hour ago

June 19, 2025

Your Sports Nation

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. — Martin’s^® Famous Potato Rolls is partnering with Hyak Motorsports for another sweet race this weekend. The No. 47 Martin’s Famous Potato Rolls Chevrolet is rollin’ to The Great American Getaway 400 presented by VisitPA.com at Pocono Raceway on June 22.

Martin’s Potato Rolls are the #1 Potato Rolls in America. As a Pennsylvania brand, Martin’s couldn’t be more proud to participate in a race that supports Pennsylvania organizations.

“We know Martin’s Sweet Dinner Potato Rolls are the winning choice. We are excited to bring the Martin’s racecar scheme back to the racetrack with the No. 47 Chevrolet at Pocono Raceway this weekend,” said Tony Martin, President of Martin’s Famous Potato Rolls and Bread. “Martin’s Sweet Dinner Potato Rolls for the win!”

NASCAR Driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr will be back behind the wheel of the Martin’s Chevrolet. Stenhouse continues to build on a strong NASCAR Cup Series career in 2025. A veteran of over 450 Cup starts, Stenhouse has amassed four career victories, including a win at YellaWood in 2024 and Daytona 500 in 2023. With three career poles, 26 top-five finishes, and 62 top-10s, his consistency and experience make him a respected competitor in the garage and on the track.

“I’m excited to head to Pocono—it’s one of the most unique tracks we race all year,” said Stenhouse, driver of the No. 47 Chevrolet for Hyak Motorsports. “It’s fast, it’s tricky, and it really challenges you as a driver. We’ve got Martin’s Potato Rolls on board this weekend, and it doesn’t get much better than racing with a hometown favorite. Hopefully we can bring home a strong run for everyone at Martin’s and all the fans up in PA.”

The bright yellow No. 47 Chevrolet will showcase Martin’s Sweet Dinner Potato Rolls on the hood and sides of the car. The back bumper of the car will feature Martin’s motto, “It’s All About the Bun^®,” because choosing the right bun for burgers, sliders, and more makes all the difference!

The Great American Getaway 400 presented by VisitPA.com is the 21^st race of the NASCAR Cup Series Season. The 400-mile-race consists of 160-laps on the Pocono Raceway’s 2.5-mile track. Tune in to the race on Sunday, June 22 at 2 p.m. on Amazon Prime, Motor Racing Network, SiriusXM, and HBO Max.

About Martin’s^®Famous Potato Rolls:
Martin’s Famous Pastry Shoppe, Inc.^®is a family owned and operated consumer goods company headquartered in Chambersburg, PA, with a second bakery in Valdosta, GA. The Martin’s company focuses on baking high-quality bread and roll products using high-quality ingredients. They are rigorously dedicated to extraordinary taste, quality, and customer service that proudly represents their legacy of cherished eating experiences and truly sets them apart from their competitors. Since the 1950s, the business has expanded from a home garage business into two commercial baking plants and continues to grow and flourish in areas of established distribution. For more information, visit: www.potatorolls.com.

About Hyak Motorsports:
Hyak Motorsports is a race-winning NASCAR team co-owned by Gordon Smith, Ernie Cope, Mark Hughes, and Brad Daugherty as of Nov. 18, 2023. The Harrisburg, North Carolina-based organization won the 2023 Daytona 500 with driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr and has accumulated two other wins in the NASCAR Cup Series. For more information, please visit the newly rebranded team at HyakMotorsports.com and on social at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

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