LONG POND, Pa. (AP) — It’s time to bust out the brackets, pick an upset or two, and follow winners on the road — a journey over city streets, concrete and bricks — to the final four and beyond.

Totally awesome, baby?

Forget all the upset specials in March.

NASCAR will find out soon enough if its attempt to snap out of a mid-summer malaise with its first in-season tournament is a success with drivers and fans as it strives to boost engagement and build buzz in the staid regular season.

The concept has already juiced enthusiasm in NASCAR to levels not seen since the halcyon days when Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough duked it out in the 1979 Daytona 500.

“To be really honest with you,” 2020 NASCAR champion Chase Elliott said, “I have not paid any attention to it.”

Maybe a look at the matchup will get NASCAR’s most popular driver pumped!

Elliott is seeded fifth against No. 28 seed Austin Dillon in the first round of the head-to-head showdown in the race-within-the-race set for this weekend at the track better known as Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Here’s a refresher for Elliott and any other sports fan who missed out on the specifics of NASCAR joining the in-season tournament party, much like attempts in the NBA, NHL, and, of course, throughout the world in soccer.

NASCAR is set to start the engines on a five-race, bracket-style tournament called the In-Season Challenge in the midst of the summer slate, which comes with a $1 million prize to the winner.

The final 32-driver field was set by results of the last three races at Michigan, Mexico City and Pocono. The drivers are paired in head-to-head matchups based on seeding, with the winners advancing to the next round in a bracket format that mirrors the NCAA basketball tournaments.

Buoyed by a win at Michigan and a runner-up finish at Pocono, Denny Hamlin earned the top seed. He’ll square off — race off? — against No. 32 seed Ty Dillon. Pocono winner Chase Briscoe is the No. 2 seed and is pitted against No. 31 seed Noah Gragson.

Chris Buescher is third, Christopher Bell fourth and Elliott fifth, among notable names.

The format is single elimination with the field cut to 16 at the street race in Chicago, eight at Sonoma, four on the lone concrete track in the series at Dover and the final two over the yard of bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The Challenge is part of NASCAR’s media rights deal that includes TNT, and the Atlanta-based cable network will broadcast all five races in the tournament, starting with the 400-miler in Atlanta.

Aside from a shrug from Elliott and a few others, drivers are intrigued by the idea of increasing the stakes in each race beyond a playoff berth, trophy and the winner’s purse.

“I love it. I think it’s great,” three-time Cup champion Joey Logano said. “I think it’s placed perfectly where it is in the season. This is kind of that moment where the newness is worn off. We’re into the rhythm, we’re racing every week. It’s starting to start a little bit of, who’s going to be in the playoffs, who’s not, the cutoff line all those types of things. But it’s not really the main story quite yet.”

Stories are what sell, of course, and the sizzle in Pocono over the weekend had little to do with which drivers or teams are the ones to beat for the 2025 championship. Rather, it was whether two pedestrian drivers were going to fight, the end of Amazon Prime’s run of wildly-popular telecasts and Hall of Fame driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s win in his first race as a crew chief.

“This really spices up the mid-part of the season,” Logano said.

So does placing a few bucks on No. 11 to win.

But as of Monday afternoon, most sports gambling sites did not offer odds on specific matchups headed into Atlanta. NASCAR is offering $1 million to a winning fan with a perfect bracket in its fantasy game.

There are some quirks to the bracket: Shane van Gisbergen won the Cup race in Mexico City and is not in the field while series points leader William Byron is only a No. 9 seed. The tournament boasts matchups in the first-round of past Cup champions (Kyle Busch-Brad Keselowski), former teammates (Briscoe-Gragson), and even best friends (Bubba Wallace-Daniel Suarez).

The idea for the challenge was largely championed by Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 champion who floated the idea of a mid-season tournament on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast. When NASCAR bought into the idea and announced the creation of the tournament last year, Hamlin called the tournament on social media “such a win for our sport and drivers.” He jokingly added, “I will collect my 1M royalty next season.”

Hamlin’s on deck and clearly a favorite to win it all, with three wins this year for Joe Gibbs Racing and the top seed.

(And let’s not haggle over who gets credit in court.)

“I’m a sports guy, so I’m going to be engaged with it,” Hamlin said. “I’ll know who I will have to beat next week. I’ve told the team, we are going to try and do what we can. We are going to be up against it because we are going to tracks that aren’t very favorable to me. But we are going to try to do our best to beat that one car for the next four to five weeks.”

NASCAR will present the tournament winner at Indianapolis with a ring, jackets, trophy and — oh yeah, a million bucks.

That’s enough cash to get anyone’s attention — even Elliott’s.

“I don’t know what you get. You get anything,” Elliott asked.

“Oh, a million dollars to the winner? Then yeah, we want to win.”

___

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

Dan Gelston, The Associated Press

He may only be 16 years old, but a Port Charlotte teen is making big noise on the track.

Greyson Greaves is turning heads in the NASCAR Weekly Series, speeding past expectations in his rookie season.

“I love speed,” Greyson Greaves said. “I loved it, because there was a lot of competition and just a lot of adrenaline.”

He’s speeding his way to the top of the pro-truck division of the NASCAR Weekly Series at New Smyrna Speedway.

In only his first year racing short-track ovals, he’s earned several top-five finishes. 

“With a lot of veteran drivers, coming from being a rookie, there’s a lot of competition now that I have to get used to — and it’s just a really big learning experience,” Greyson Greaves said.

Greyson is no stranger to racing itself. The Port Charlotte High School junior started racing in karting events when he was nine years old. 

This year, it was time to level up.

“We had to take another step, because in karting I was winning a lot and there wasn’t as much competition anymore,” Greyson Greaves said. “We got a couple of championships, won a couple of those and we needed somewhere to go and pro truck was it.”

Only a few months into pro-truck racing, Greyson is currently in first place for Rookie of the Year and third in the championship standings.

Greyson’s success on the track wouldn’t be possible without the support of his family — Team Greaves.

“It’s been awesome,” Greyson’s father, Phillip Greaves, said. “I mean, just to see where he’s come from to where he’s at now, it’s just amazing to watch. Definitely a great bonding experience. It’s really brought our whole family together even closer.”

And it’s only the beginning for this rising star.

“I would definitely like to be picked up by a NASCAR team,” Greyson Greaves said. “I would love to get to NASCAR, get to Xfinity. Definitely be a top driver in NASCAR.”

For Greyson Greaves, it’s New Smyrna now and it could be Daytona next.

Greyson’s next race is July 19 at New Smyrna Speedway.

In the fall, he will also suit up for the Port Charlotte High School football team.

June 23, 2025

June 23, 2025 – Nitro Motorsports continued its impressive 2025 campaign in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Trans Am Series Presented by Pirelli, placing five drivers inside the top-ten during the Round 6 event at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. With strong qualifying efforts and consistent pace across the weekend, the team showed depth, determination, and execution at one of the most technical tracks on the calendar.

Leading the Nitro charge was Thomas Annunziata, who started fourth and battled within the lead pack throughout the 42-lap race to finish fourth overall. Right behind him, Sam Corry started fifth and finished fifth, showcasing a composed drive in the hot and slick conditions. Ben Maier, in the #80 Ford Mustang, gained four spots from his qualifying position to bring home a sixth-place result, continuing his strong season.

Laguna Seca race winner Gian Buffomante added another top-ten finish for Nitro Motorsports in eighth, while Cale Phillips placed 11th, but that result netted him a third-place finish in the Pro / Am class, adding another podium result for Nitro Motorsports. Also flying the Nitro banner were Mia Lovell (17th), Julian DaCosta (18th), and Boris Said Jr.(21st).

“This was a tough but ok weekend for the team,” explained Nick Tucker, Team Owner of Nitro Motorsports. “We had drivers throughout the top-ten and showed strong pace and while we did not come home with a win, we did add another podium result to our resume at the hands of Cale Phillips. We tried some things this weekend, and it didn’t work like we thought. Next week, we will get back on track at Road America. Our entire operation continues to grow, and I’m proud of the effort everyone put in at Mid-Ohio. We’re building great momentum heading into the second half of the season.”

Tucker added, “We have little time to regroup as we are back on track next weekend for another chance to stand atop the podium.”

The team will now shift focus to the upcoming round of the championship this weekend at Road America. Traveling to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, Road America provides a fast and flowing 4.014-mile layout, and the longest track on the calendar for the 2025 season, as the season continues.

For more information on Nitro Motorsports, please visit them online or contact Nick Tucker via email HERE or visit them online at www.RaceNitro.com.

LONG POND, Pa. – It’s time to bust out the brackets, pick an upset or two, and follow winners on the road — a journey over city streets, concrete and bricks — to the final four and beyond.

Totally awesome, baby?

Forget all the upset specials in March.

NASCAR will find out soon enough if its attempt to snap out of a mid-summer malaise with its first in-season tournament is a success with drivers and fans as it strives to boost engagement and build buzz in the staid regular season.

The concept has already juiced enthusiasm in NASCAR to levels not seen since the halcyon days when Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough duked it out in the 1979 Daytona 500.

“To be really honest with you,” 2020 NASCAR champion Chase Elliott said, “I have not paid any attention to it.”

Maybe a look at the matchup will get NASCAR’s most popular driver pumped!

Elliott is seeded fifth against No. 28 seed Austin Dillon in the first round of the head-to-head showdown in the race-within-the-race set for this weekend at the track better known as Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Here’s a refresher for Elliott and any other sports fan who missed out on the specifics of NASCAR joining the in-season tournament party, much like attempts in the NBA, NHL, and, of course, throughout the world in soccer.

NASCAR is set to start the engines on a five-race, bracket-style tournament called the In-Season Challenge in the midst of the summer slate, which comes with a $1 million prize to the winner.

The final 32-driver field was set by results of the last three races at Michigan, Mexico City and Pocono. The drivers are paired in head-to-head matchups based on seeding, with the winners advancing to the next round in a bracket format that mirrors the NCAA basketball tournaments.

Buoyed by a win at Michigan and a runner-up finish at Pocono, Denny Hamlin earned the top seed. He’ll square off — race off? — against No. 32 seed Ty Dillon. Pocono winner Chase Briscoe is the No. 2 seed and is pitted against No. 31 seed Noah Gragson.

Chris Buescher is third, Christopher Bell fourth and Elliott fifth, among notable names.

The format is single elimination with the field cut to 16 at the street race in Chicago, eight at Sonoma, four on the lone concrete track in the series at Dover and the final two over the yard of bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The Challenge is part of NASCAR’s media rights deal that includes TNT, and the Atlanta-based cable network will broadcast all five races in the tournament, starting with the 400-miler in Atlanta.

Aside from a shrug from Elliott and a few others, drivers are intrigued by the idea of increasing the stakes in each race beyond a playoff berth, trophy and the winner’s purse.

“I love it. I think it’s great,” three-time Cup champion Joey Logano said. “I think it’s placed perfectly where it is in the season. This is kind of that moment where the newness is worn off. We’re into the rhythm, we’re racing every week. It’s starting to start a little bit of, who’s going to be in the playoffs, who’s not, the cutoff line all those types of things. But it’s not really the main story quite yet.”

Stories are what sell, of course, and the sizzle in Pocono over the weekend had little to do with which drivers or teams are the ones to beat for the 2025 championship. Rather, it was whether two pedestrian drivers were going to fight, the end of Amazon Prime’s run of wildly-popular telecasts and Hall of Fame driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s win in his first race as a crew chief.

“This really spices up the mid-part of the season,” Logano said.

So does placing a few bucks on No. 11 to win.

But as of Monday afternoon, most sports gambling sites did not offer odds on specific matchups headed into Atlanta. NASCAR is offering $1 million to a winning fan with a perfect bracket in its fantasy game.

There are some quirks to the bracket: Shane van Gisbergen won the Cup race in Mexico City and is not in the field while series points leader William Byron is only a No. 9 seed. The tournament boasts matchups in the first-round of past Cup champions (Kyle Busch-Brad Keselowski), former teammates (Briscoe-Gragson), and even best friends (Bubba Wallace-Daniel Suarez).

The idea for the challenge was largely championed by Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 champion who floated the idea of a mid-season tournament on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast. When NASCAR bought into the idea and announced the creation of the tournament last year, Hamlin called the tournament on social media “such a win for our sport and drivers.” He jokingly added, “I will collect my 1M royalty next season.”

Hamlin’s on deck and clearly a favorite to win it all, with three wins this year for Joe Gibbs Racing and the top seed.

(And let’s not haggle over who gets credit in court.)

“I’m a sports guy, so I’m going to be engaged with it,” Hamlin said. “I’ll know who I will have to beat next week. I’ve told the team, we are going to try and do what we can. We are going to be up against it because we are going to tracks that aren’t very favorable to me. But we are going to try to do our best to beat that one car for the next four to five weeks.”

NASCAR will present the tournament winner at Indianapolis with a ring, jackets, trophy and — oh yeah, a million bucks.

That’s enough cash to get anyone’s attention — even Elliott’s.

“I don’t know what you get. You get anything,” Elliott asked.

“Oh, a million dollars to the winner? Then yeah, we want to win.”

___

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

All three of NASCAR’s national series will do battle this weekend, but not all series will be at the same track.

The NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series head to the newly renamed EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway, while the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is at Lime Rock Park for the series’ first of two road course races on the year.

Here’s who will be on track this weekend.

The Quaker State 400 will be held on Saturday, June 28, at 7 p.m. ET. It will be the first race of the season broadcast on TNT.

Forty drivers are entered for Saturday’s race, meaning eveyone will make the show following qualifying, barring any entry list changes.

Corey LaJoie returns to the track with the No. 01 for Rick Ware Racing.

David Starr will drive the No. 66 for Garage 66.

BJ McLeod will pilot his familiar No. 78 for his team Live Fast Motorsports.

Connor Zilisch will make his third career Cup start in the No. 87 for Trackhouse Racing.

The Xfinity Series will contest the Focused Health 250 on Friday, June 27, at 7:30 p.m. ET. The CW will broadcast the event.

There are 38 teams listed, meaning everyone will make the field on Friday, unless there are entry list changes.

Thomas Annunziata Running 1st Truck Race at Lime Rock

Nick Leitz has been tapped to drive the No. 07 for SS-Green Light Racing.

Aric Almirola will drive the No. 19 for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Patrick Staropoli will drive the No. 24 for Sam Hunt Racing.

The Jordan Anderson Racing No. 32 is back with Katherine Legge behind the wheel.

Joey Gase will drive the No. 35 for his own team, Joey Gase Motorsports. His teammate in the No. 53 is Mason Maggio.

CJ McLaughlin returns to the DGM Racing No. 91 car.

The Truck Series will do battle in the Liuna 150 on Saturday, June 28, at 1 p.m. ET. FOX Sports 1 is the place to watch the broadcast.

There are 35 trucks entered, meaning nobody goes home following qualifying, unless the entry list changes.

TRICON Garage and Brent Crews reunite this week in the No. 1.

The No. 02 for Young’s Motorsports will make the trip to Connecticut, but the driver has yet to be announced.

William Lambros will debut in the No. 2 for Reaume Brothers Racing. RBR’s No. 22 is currently entered without a driver.

Spire Motorsports has a pair of drivers making their series debuts this weekend, with Thomas Annunziata in the No. 07 and Jordan Taylor in the No. 7.

Dale Quarterley will drive the No. 32 for his own team, racing for the first time in the series since Circuit of the Americas last year.

Josh Bilicki will drive the No. 44 for Niece Motorsports.

Timmy Hill will drive the No. 56 for his family team of Hill Motorsports.

Wesley Slimp is the final driver making his series debut, running the No. 62 for Halmar Friesen Racing.

Cam Waters returns to NASCAR to run the No. 66 for ThorSport Racing.

A NASCAR team has confirmed exciting driver news ahead of this weekend’s racing action.

Spire Motorsports released an official statement on Monday announcing that their No. 07 Chevrolet Silverado will have a new driver in the cockpit for Saturday’s NASCAR Truck Series race, with Thomas Annunziata set to make his debut in the series at Lime Rock Park.

Recently, Spire confirmed that Corey LaJoie would drive the No. 07 for nine of the remaining 13 races this year. However, with LaJoie in action in the Cup Series this weekend in Atlanta, Annunziata has been given the nod.

The 20-year-old has previously had successful spells in karting, sports cars, Trans Am, and NASCAR’s developmental divisions, and has his eyes on the prize once again this weekend.

“It’s a dream to race for a top team in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for my debut race,” he explained in a team statement.

“Spire Motorsports is one of the elite teams and I hope to get them another win.”

NASCAR HEADLINES: Jeff Gordon issues Kyle Larson verdict as Cup Series team hit with multiple penalties

Annunziata to make Truck Series debut

The move comes at a race weekend where TOP LINER will be showcased as Spire Motorsports’ primary sponsor.

Annunziata has links with TOP LINER due to him racing with Burtin Racing in the Trans Am series, and his team principal at the time, Claudio Burtin, has been full of praise for the young star.

“Thomas drove for us in the Trans Am car and was on pace immediately,” said Burtin, owner at TOP LINER and team principal at Burtin Racing.

“He showed some unique car control. We look forward to mixing it up with the truck regulars and more to come!”

Spire Motorsports are a huge name across NASCAR, boasting the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolets in the NASCAR Cup Series, the Nos. 07, 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Silverados in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and the No. 77 Chevrolet in the ARCA Menards Series in select events.

Saturday’s NASCAR Truck Series race at Lime Rock Park, also known as the LiUNA! 150, will start at 1 pm ET.

READ MORE: NASCAR Cup Series star hit with devastating penalty at Pocono

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