Chase Elliott finished Sunday’s Cup Series race at the Pocono Raceway in fifth place. Following his third-place finish in Mexico City, this result marked his first consecutive top-five finishes in the 2025 season. This might seem like a reason for optimism, but former driver Kyle Petty believes that the No. 9 driver still needs to step up his game massively.

At Joe Gibbs Racing, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, and Chase Briscoe have regularly reached Victory Lane and consistently perform at a high level. At Hendrick Motorsports, Kyle Larson and William Byron have also won, racing at the highest level.

Petty’s issue is that Elliott hasn’t followed their lead by delivering better results, as the Joe Gibbs Racing teammates have. Moreover, he believes that Elliott is only a shell of the driver he used to be. Petty said, “If we say internal competition, Larson has won three. Byron has won one, dominated Darlington, and was strong at Nashville. Is Chase stepping up?”

“Since 2023, Chase Elliott has won only one race. One race, people. I know you’ve got all the t-shirts, I know you’ve got all the hats, I know he’s Mr. Most Popular. But how can our most popular driver not win races and not even be the best driver in the team he drives for?”

Petty acknowledged the idea that more road course races are coming up and that these tracks are where Elliott has been at his best historically. But then, he also pointed out how he hasn’t won a road course race since 2021. This raises the question of whether the sport’s most popular driver is a has-been. Is Elliott’s best behind him?

To silence those doubts, Elliott needs to step it up. He needs to win races and go back to being the hero who could tame any challenge thrown at him all season. Petty continued, “Is that good enough? Is that good enough for what the fans’ expectations are? Is that good enough for the Hendrick organization? Is that good enough for the sponsors?”

“If it is, more power to you. But in a sport where we reward wins and we reward championships, we need somebody to step up. Chase has got to step up. And if we are complacent and we are satisfied with as good as it gets, so be it. I am not.” 

Elliott‘s next race will be at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, and a win would go a long way in meeting the expectations of critics like Petty.

Jordan Taylor will make his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut at Lime Rock Park this weekend with Spire Motorsports.

The organization announced Monday that Taylor will drive the No. 7 Chevrolet, sponsored by Gainbridge at Lime Rock (Saturday, 1 p.m. ET) in the inaugural event for the Truck Series at the Connecticut road circuit.

“I’m eager to join Spire Motorsports for the LiUNA 150,” said Taylor. “I have spoken with a few members of the team for a few years now, so it’s great (that) things have finally come together. I know it’s going to be tough jumping into the series mid-season, but I know I am joining one of the top teams in the Craftsman Truck Series.

“Our Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado will for sure be competitive, I just hope I can adapt to the truck quickly on the short weekend. Lime Rock Park is a track I know really well, but obviously all my experience around there is in much different types of cars, so I’m looking forward to the new challenge.”

Taylor is a four-time IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar champion and 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner. He is a decorated road course racer and currently competes full-time for Wayne Taylor Racing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Series.

“Jordan Taylor’s body of work speaks for itself,” said Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson. “His accomplishments at the global level are more than impressive so we’re obviously thrilled to have Jordan drive our No. 7 Gainbridge Chevy Silverado this weekend at Lime Rock Park. This is also a great opportunity to connect with our friends at Wayne Taylor Racing and shine a bit of a spotlight on the TWG Motorsports family.

“There is no doubt Wayne and Jordan set a very high standard when it comes to road racing and can only help us be better. Expectations are high and, collectively, we’re looking forward to the challenge.”

Lime Rock will be Taylor’s fourth NASCAR national series start. Taylor made two Xfinity Series starts in 2023 (Portland and Charlotte Roval) in addition to a Cup Series start (Circuit of The Americas).

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.