Motorsports

Is Texas Motor Speedway turning a corner? GM Mark Faber on the state of the track

A few years ago, NASCAR Cup Series star Kyle Larson said of Texas Motor Speedway: “I would like them to demolish this place and then start over from scratch.” He was far from alone. Ever since the track was repaved and two of the turns were reconfigured in 2017 to make them wider and flatter […]

Published

2 weeks ago

May 1, 2025

Your Sports Nation

A few years ago, NASCAR Cup Series star Kyle Larson said of Texas Motor Speedway: “I would like them to demolish this place and then start over from scratch.”

He was far from alone. Ever since the track was repaved and two of the turns were reconfigured in 2017 to make them wider and flatter while keeping the other two turns at the same degree of banking, Texas has been the butt of jokes in the garage. Last year, we wrote how Texas was NASCAR’s “most disparaged track,” detailing how those changes have not worked as intended.

“Racetrack-wise, we all wish we could do more there,” Ross Chastain said then. “It truly is one of the hardest tracks to pass (on). When I get a pass done, I sometimes physically celebrate in the car on the next straightaway because I did what I thought was impossible.”

But then, suddenly, last April saw the best Texas race in years and the only one (out of 16) to top a 70 percent approval rating in my weekly “Was it a good race?” poll, offering a hint the track has turned the corner from two of its corners being an annual punching bag.

Now Texas Motor Speedway executive vice president and general manager Mark Faber is bullish about the upcoming race weekend, rattling off a list of recent on-track successes in an interview with The Athletic: Eight different winners in the last eight Cup Series races, an “Under 30 Club” of young winners in the Next Gen Era (William Byron, Tyler Reddick and Chase Elliott) and the second-most green-flag passes ever at Texas last season.

“We’re competitive, we’re proud, and we think we have a lot of great things going on,” Faber said. “We think we’re a really good test in the first part of the year to see who can use it as a springboard to have a successful overall season.”

Below is an edited version of the interview.

In my “Good Race” poll, your most recent race last year was ranked No. 1 out of 16 Texas races, and the year before that was the No. 5 race. That’s a big turnaround from how Texas racing had been regarded. Why do you think that’s happened, and what is the state of the racing there?

We’ve talked to a lot of people about the track, there’s no doubt about it. A few years ago when I started, Marcus (Smith, the Speedway Motorsports owner) and Steve Swift (who oversees track operations for the company), were talking to iRacing about some different modeling and (asking), “What do we want to look at?” There were some people chattering about it.

Since that time, some of that chatter has really died down. We had Christopher Bell in here (for a promotional appearance) and he said, “This is my home track. I want it to be challenging. I don’t want it to be in a single-file race around the track.” Jimmie Johnson called this the “treacherous track.” We take pride in that.

This race weekend will be another indicator about the racing and what people think about it. The past couple have been really, really good.

What is the state of your fan support right now in the market?

We have double-digit increases on our ticket sales year-over-year. Our premium seating, we have several of those areas sold out. Our camping is right now No. 1 in Speedway Motorsports across the tracks so far this year. The move to the first weekend of May has really been embraced by a lot of folks, and we’re going to have one of the best weekends we’ve had in awhile.

To what do you attribute the increase in ticket sales? Is it mostly getting to a better date versus the unpredictable spring weather you had last April?

We obviously talk with NASCAR about scheduling, and one of the things is motorsports moving away from football — especially here in Texas where everyone is raised on football. We’ve got (high school football), college football, pro football. The last time we were in the fall with a September race (in 2023), our Xfinity race was up against a TCU-SMU game, and then we were up against the NFL on Sunday. And then it was oppressively hot; it was 105 degrees and we had some medical issues with fans, staff and teams.

TMS has had a great track record with spring racing, so we moved to April (last year). But we were much closer to COTA (the road course in Austin, which is three hours away), so we wanted to spread the two out and get some separation (on the calendar). … Now we have two months between them where a year ago, fans might have had to pick and choose because the races were so close together.

There’s been a lot of discussion and debate about the racetrack over the years, ever since it got reconfigured. A lot of people have said, “Why can’t they just reconfigure Turns 1 and 2 to make it like Turns 3 and 4?” Others have suggested redoing the entire thing. Some have even noted (converting it to a superspeedway-style track, as happened at Atlanta Motor Speedway) could be an option. You said the discussion has died down a little bit, but how do you see it now in terms of where you stand or what plans could be in the future?

We look at statistics and averages, and we’ve got stats to show the racing is getting better year over year. From spring 2011 to fall 2016 — 12 races before the repave — the average was seven cautions, 21 lead changes, 2.312-second margin of victory. If you look at the 12 races since the repave, the average is 10 cautions, 22.3 lead changes, 1.012-second margin of victory.

So the racing has gotten better, and fans want to see exciting races. They want to see lead changes, they want to see close finishes. We’re going to analyze this upcoming weekend and see how that fits into the averages. People don’t want to see some of the racing where there’s not a lot of lead changes. But we analyze this all the time, and we think we’re moving in the right direction. We’ll take a look at it after the race weekend.

There was a rumor put out by a former NASCAR mechanic that claimed an intermediate track was going to be converted into the next Atlanta. NASCAR’s Mike Forde then came out and said it wasn’t any of the NASCAR-owned tracks, leaving some to speculate it could be a Speedway Motorsports track. But from what you’re saying, there are no current plans right now to turn Texas into an Atlanta? Am I understanding that correctly?

Yeah, I mean, that’s just a rumor. That’s just the best way to put it.

There was a long time when former track president Eddie Gossage would say, “There’s no way we’re going less than 500 miles” for a Texas race. Now the race has been 400 miles for the last two years as part of an industry-wide trend. Have your fans been receptive to that?

We’re fine with the industry-wide trend. It’s been fine from the fan feedback for us as well. So we’re comfortable with the 400 miles.

Texas Motor Speedway, during last April’s Cup Series race. The stained and slick Turns 1 and 2 — which have caused issues for drivers — are visible at right. (Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)

You have that part of the track that was stained from all the traction compound chemicals that were put on it at one point and it’s still been slick despite attempts to clean it. Is there any sense of whether that will eventually go away with age? Do you still have to try and clean that area before a race weekend?

Yeah, it’s aging. It’s aging in the sun, and certainly we coordinate with NASCAR on that. We haven’t applied any (compound) for recent races, and again, it’s just waiting on the age of the sun to go through that process.

What else do you think is important for people to know about your race weekend?

We feel we’re an important track and an important facility to NASCAR, being in the fourth-largest market in the United States. We have heightened interest from fans, the most we’ve had in recent years, and the fan zone is going to be robust. … We’ve got a lot of action going on.

(Top photo of Chase Elliott taking the checkered flag under caution at last year’s Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway: Jonathan Bachman / Getty Images)

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Motorsports

UNC Charlotte Partners with NASCAR Truck Series Driver for Two-Race Deal

University of North Carolina (UNC) Charlotte is hitting the NASCAR scene for the first time and doing it in style. They recently struck a deal with Front Row Motorsports to display the university’s branding on the No. 34 Ford F-150 driven by alumnus Layne Riggs. The truck will run in two NASCAR Truck Series races […]

Published

17 minutes ago

May 16, 2025

Your Sports Nation

You can watch the truck at North Wilkesboro Speedway on May 17 and Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 23. It will be hard to miss, since the truck’s paint scheme will match UNC Charlotte’s signature colors.

“My education is something I take a lot of pride in,” said Riggs in a team’s press release. “When I started my journey at Charlotte, I put a big emphasis on taking what I learned in the classroom and applying it to my racing career, something I still do today driving for Front Row Motorsports,” he further expressed.

The deal links Riggs’ time on track with his academic path. While earning his mechanical engineering degree from UNC Charlotte in 2024, he also won the Truck Series Rookie of the Year award, proving you can excel both in class and on track.

“At UNC Charlotte, we don’t just teach motorsports, we’re crafting the future of racing. Layne Riggs is a shining example of what happens when you combine engineering expertise with passion and grit,” stated Harish Cherukuri from the William States Lee College of Engineering.

After nine races this season, Riggs sits ninth in points. His top run came at Homestead-Miami, where he crossed the line in second place but was later disqualified after a post-race inspection. The 22-year-old driver has shown steady growth throughout the year.

Want to cheer him on? You can watch the North Wilkesboro race on FS1 or listen on SiriusXM channel 90. Green flag drops at 1:30 PM ET on May 17.

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Motorsports

How Ricky Rudd’s Tide NASCAR Hauler Ended Up Working the Tobacco Fields

Get The Drive’s daily newsletter The latest car news, reviews, and features. All dogs go to heaven, but not all retired workhorses see green pastures. I’ve stumbled on far too many semi-trucks parked for good and left to rot, even though they looked to be in great shape when the driver hung up the keys. […]

Published

18 minutes ago

May 16, 2025

Your Sports Nation

All dogs go to heaven, but not all retired workhorses see green pastures. I’ve stumbled on far too many semi-trucks parked for good and left to rot, even though they looked to be in great shape when the driver hung up the keys. Fortunately, that hasn’t happened with 1997 Brickyard 400 winner Ricky Rudd’s iconic Tide-liveried NASCAR hauler. It’s been in the care of Earl Brooks for more than two decades, and after locating it on Google Maps following years of searching, I got the chance to sit down and talk with Mr. Brooks. As you’re about to see, he has some great memories with this old Ford.

“This story of how I acquired the Tide truck starts with my mentor in the trucking industry, Mr. G.C. Fleig, president of Fleig Leasing, Inc,” Brooks told me. “Mr. Fleig was a longtime supporter of NASCAR, and one of the original supporters of Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon. He was also close friends with Bill Davis Racing.

“Mr. Fleig introduced me to Buddy Stafford, owner of Piedmont Ford Trucks of Greensboro, North Carolina. Mr. Stafford was known to have flown many people to the races on his private plane. It was in knowing these two exceptional businessmen that my opportunity arose to buy the NASCAR transport trucks after they were turned in by the teams to get new ones.”

Already, you can tell that Brooks had quite the arrangement. He explained that he was visiting the Piedmont Ford service shop when he was approached by “a professional-looking gentleman” who turned out to be the truck’s former driver. When he learned that Brooks had purchased the rig, affectionately dubbed the “Tide Ride,” he instructed him to have the truck fully checked out.

When Brooks asked what the problem was, the man replied with something along the lines of, “No problem, but the cruise control was set at 120 mph because we’d all race each other to the next track.” He followed that up with a tale about being pulled over by an Arkansas state trooper, who clocked him at 103 mph after he’d slowed down some. When Brooks asked what that cost him, he responded: “Every souvenir I had in the truck.” Good ol’ boys, indeed.

You can see the vibrant orange paint job still holding up after all these years. *Earl Brooks*

The Tide Ride lives in Roxboro, North Carolina, and has for quite some time. Brooks owned a small trucking business and farmed tobacco when he purchased the Blue Oval, so it was used alongside his others to transport harvested crop to the market in Danville, Virginia. He told me that these race trucks helped his drivers take pride in their work, and because of that, they were more satisfied at the end of every long haul.

The truck itself is a 1993 Ford Aeromax with an N14 Cummins engine, a 13-speed transmission, and 706,733 miles on the clock. A company named Spevco out of Pfafftown, North Carolina, applied the paint—seven layers, not counting the clear coat—and it’s still holding up magnificently after years of sunlight, rain, and everything in between. Brooks notes that only a small portion of the clear coat shows any wear, adding that it was finished “before there was such a thing as wraps.”

If all this has you excited, Brooks asked me to mention that he’d potentially sell the Tide Ride—but only if you’re going to treat it well. He already turned down one offer from a fellow trucker who planned to use it for hauling logs. “I could not stand to sell it for that,” Brooks lamented. “If there is someone who wants to preserve NASCAR history, I would entertain an offer for the truck.”

Too bad I already have a classic Ford to keep me busy. Otherwise, this thing might be headed to the Ozarks to live with me.

Got a tip or question for the author? Contact them directly: caleb@thedrive.com. Or, if you’d like to make an offer on the Tide Ride, please reach out to Mr. Earl Brooks: piedmonthemp@gmail.com

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Motorsports

How hybrids will impact the Indy 500 according to a 2-time champ

In addition to the usual challenge of actually winning the Indy 500, for 2025 drivers and teams must now contend with a new and potentially decisive factor for this year’s edition of the Greatest Spectacle In Racing: the hybrid unit has its formal premiere at the 2.5 mile oval of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. IndyCar […]

Published

47 minutes ago

May 16, 2025

Your Sports Nation

IndyCar introduced its new hybrid drivetrain on July 2024 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Since then, it has raced on every type of racetrack, except a superspeedway. This is changing at the Indy 500, where competitors are trying to tame the hybrid unit and understand its effect on qualifying trim and, more importantly, the race on May 25.

While teams have been able to test the hybrid at IMS since last year, and everyone ran it during April’s Open Test, the formal practice for the Indianapolis 500 marks the point at which everything must work perfectly, as the most important race on IndyCar’s schedule approaches.

Added weight

For Josef Newgarden, the two -time reigning Indy 500 champion who strives for the three-peat driving Team Penske Chevrolet #2 car, the most important thing is not what the hybrid itself does, but the added mass to the cars.

“The big reason it’s driving differently is not necessarily the hybrid interacting with the car. It is the weight of the hybrid. That’s where you are getting all the comments”, Newgarden said on Wednesday after practice.

Newgarden commented on how the extra weight of the hybrid system challenges the tires, and forces teams to adjust the weight distribution. This is one of the main issues everyone is trying to solve before the green flag.

Josef Newgarden, Team Penske

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

“Why is the car different? It is just the weight is up. You’re 100, 110 pounds heavier. That’s a lot of mass percentage-wise that you are adding to this car. It’s saturating the tires more. It’s just moving around. The CG changes a little bit. It raises slightly. Your weight distribution is shifted depending on where teams are putting it. That’s what people are trying to figure out right now.”

“You add 100 pounds to this thing, it’s almost like adding 200, 250 pounds to a stock car. If you said, Hey, guys, we’re going to bolt 250 pounds to these stock cars, see what you think, I bet they would all go, Okay, this drives differently, and now we have to counteract it.”

Hybrids will be more important at Indy than any other race

IndyCar has already used the hybrid on road and street courses, as well as on different kinds of ovals at Iowa Speedway, WWT Raceway, and the Milwaukee Mile last year. However, according to Newgarden, the impact it will have on racing will be unlike anything seen at other facilities.

“The hybrid itself and the utilization, I have said this. I do think it’s very important here. It’s more important at this track than anywhere we’ve gone because of the drag level. We’ve not run in a superspeedway configuration yet with this hybrid, so it’s very, very low drag on the cars. Because of that, they’re very power-sensitive.”

“Any time you use something to add power, you feel the magnification of it here more than anywhere else. When you are using the hybrid on the straightaway, it makes a very big difference.”

When to deploy and when to regen

Indycar Hybrid decal

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

The way drivers deploy and regenerate the hybrid during the Indianapolis 500 could also impact the outcome, especially if the race ends in a close finish, as has been seen many times before.

“Where are you are regenerating it and where you are using it, to either pass or defend or for whatever situation, I think there’s repercussions for burning it, and there’s certainly reward for utilizing it correctly,” Newgarden concluded.

Who will master the hybrid for the first time in the Indy 500? The answer will come in less than ten days.

Photos from Indianapolis 500 – Practice 4

Motorsports

NASCAR betting odds for All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro

Daytona Motor Mouths: Kyle Larson wins at Kansas. Next up, Indy 500 The guys start with the Indianapolis 500 and Kyle Larson’s double attempt after his win at Kansas. Then, they discuss the NASCAR All-Star Race. We have ourselves an abbreviated odds board this week. We’re actually lopping off nearly a third of the usual […]

Published

48 minutes ago

May 16, 2025

Your Sports Nation

We have ourselves an abbreviated odds board this week. We’re actually lopping off nearly a third of the usual field of entries.

Compared to the 36-to-40 cars starting each race, this year’s All-Star Race will have 23 starters.

Twenty of them are locked in and listed below. The additional three will include the top two finishers in the All-Star Open prelim Sunday and the winner of the fan vote.

The Hard Rock odds below will certainly be tweaked after Friday’s qualifying and Saturday’s heat races.

For now, though, it seems the wagering public is still all-in on Kyle Larson, who’ll be splitting his time this weekend between North Wilkesboro and Brickyard qualifying for the following Sunday’s Indy 500.

Double-dipping Kyle Larson in familiar spot before Indy 500

+550: Kyle Larson

+600: Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell

+800: William Byron

+850: Joey Logano

+1000: Chase Elliott

Logano won the All-Star Race last year and might again. He has a knack for such things. Hamlin (five) and Larson (four) have the most short-track wins in the Next Gen era, which began in 2022.

Middle slots on North Wilkesboro All-Star Race odds board

+1500: Tyler Reddick

+1750: Josh Berry, Chris Buescher, Chase Briscoe

+2000: Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman

+2500: Kyle Busch

+3000: Brad Keselowski, Austin Cindric

Buescher is one of five drivers with two or more short-track wins since 2022. But he’s finished no better than 14th in his last seven short-track outings.

Should an All-Star Race have long-shots?

+7500: Daniel Suarez

+10000: Austin Dillon

+15000: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

+25000: Harrison Burton

Automatic All-Star entry goes to drivers who have won a race since the beginning of the previous season, which is how these guys made it in. Dillon, by the way, won at Richmond last year, and while he kept this perk, he had his playoff ticket rescinded due to the overly aggressive nature of his Richmond victory. In a way, he’s playing with house money.

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Motorsports

DVIDS – News – DeCA, NASCAR, Commissary, Fort Gregg-Adams, Fort Gregg-Adams News 2025

By Ericka Gillespie Fort Gregg-Adams Public Affairs FORT GREGG-ADAMS, Va. — NASCAR driver Justin Allgaier rolled into the installation on Wednesday to unveil a new patriotic paint scheme on his No. 7 Hellmann’s Chevrolet — this time with a special twist. The event, held at Fort Gregg-Adams Commissary and hosted by DeCA supplier Unilever, […]

Published

1 hour ago

May 16, 2025

Your Sports Nation

By Ericka Gillespie

Fort Gregg-Adams Public Affairs

FORT GREGG-ADAMS, Va. — NASCAR driver Justin Allgaier rolled into the installation on Wednesday to unveil a new patriotic paint scheme on his No. 7 Hellmann’s Chevrolet — this time with a special twist.

The event, held at Fort Gregg-Adams Commissary and hosted by DeCA supplier Unilever, featured a life-size racing car simulator wrapped in the new livery. The scheme proudly sported the Defense Commissary Agency logo, which will also appear on Allgaier’s car during the May 24 race at Charlotte Motor Speedway — just ahead of Memorial Day weekend.

“This partnership with DeCA and Unilever means a lot, especially going into Memorial Day,” Allgaier said. “It’s a way for us to honor the military community and thank them for their service and sacrifice.”

Families and fans gathered for a festive afternoon that included face painting, a balloon animal artist, live DJ music, prize giveaways, and a food station offering free deli sandwiches, chips and drinks.

Allgaier, a veteran driver with more than a dozen career wins in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, will carry the DeCA logo into competition at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where patriotic paint schemes are a Memorial Day tradition.

“This is more than just a paint scheme,” Allgaier said. “It’s about recognizing the men and women who serve — and making sure they know they’re appreciated both on and off the track.”

Date Taken:	05.16.2025
Date Posted:	05.16.2025 11:33
Story ID:	498188
Location:	FORT GREGG-ADAMS, VIRGINIA, US

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This work, DeCA, NASCAR, Commissary, Fort Gregg-Adams, Fort Gregg-Adams News 2025, by Ericka Gillespie, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.

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Motorsports

SSR Motorsports Chosen as U.S. Distributor for QJMotor

Image: https://www.abnewswire.com/upload/2025/05/4264d59a86bbb94cf10ba5ef66867f46.jpg SSR Motorsports has taken on the role of distributor for QJMotor products in the U.S. Zhejiang Qianjiang Motorcycle Co., Ltd. (QJMotor) [https://global.qjmotor.com/], the parent company of Benelli Motorcycles, is a global leader in motorcycle design, engineering and manufacturing that produces a comprehensive line of street models. QJ models, which have been available in […]

Published

2 hours ago

May 16, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Image: https://www.abnewswire.com/upload/2025/05/4264d59a86bbb94cf10ba5ef66867f46.jpg

SSR Motorsports has taken on the role of distributor for QJMotor products in the U.S. Zhejiang Qianjiang Motorcycle Co., Ltd. (QJMotor) [https://global.qjmotor.com/], the parent company of Benelli Motorcycles, is a global leader in motorcycle design, engineering and manufacturing that produces a comprehensive line of street models. QJ models, which have been available in the U.S. since the spring, complement SSR’s popular line of on-road motorcycles, off-road motorcycles and side-by-sides.

“QJMotor has models that are right for the U.S. market and hit some key price points and model segments,” said Greg Blackwell, SSR’s vice president of sales and marketing.

The initial QJ lineup features 11 models, from the SRF135 street mini to the mighty SRT750X adventure bike.

Image: https://www.abnewswire.com/upload/2025/05/db53d7b728e94ce9731c5a4749c11556.jpg

QJMotor SRF 135

“Dealers are signing up with SSR to sell QJ because we can supply dealer demand; we have the inventory ready to ship,” Blackwell said. “We’ll also help the dealers promote QJ in their own market. QJ models look great and perform even better.”

SSR is adding new QJ dealerships each week as the network – and product offerings – grow.

Along with its well-known off-road and on-road models, SSR is embracing QJ’s international marketing strategy by focusing on the QJMOTOR brand while still selling Benelli models, with special pricing available.

Image: https://www.abnewswire.com/upload/2025/05/895de2be91f2ad4c50b12e2f7b340747.jpg

QJMotor [https://global.qjmotor.com/] SRT 750X

True to the SSR way, current Benelli riders can count on the company for any necessary warranty work, and SSR continues to stock replacement parts through its national network of SSR dealers.

Media Contact
Company Name: QJMOTOR
Email:Send Email [https://www.abnewswire.com/email_contact_us.php?pr=ssr-motorsports-chosen-as-us-distributor-for-qjmotor]
Address:No. 169 Jimping Rd. Wenling
City: Taizhou city
State: Zhejiang
Country: China
Website: https://global.qjmotor.com/

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