NASCAR isn’t the only sanctioning body heading to Sonoma Raceway this weekend — the ARCA Menards Series West will also do battle at the track for the General Tire 200.

There are 26 cars entered for West’s sixth race of the 2025 season.

Eric Nascimento and Nascimento Motorsports are entered in the No. 4 for their first start of the year.

Caleb Shrader returns with Jerry Pitts Racing’s No. 6 for his second appearance of the season.

Corey Day will drive the No. 7 for Spire Motorsports.

1/4 Ley Racing has two cars entered for Sonoma. Jeff Anton is in the No. 8 while owner Dale Quarterley will drive the No. 32.

Davey Magras returns to the series in his self-owned No. 14, his first appearance since 2023.

ARCA Power Rankings: Welcome, Lime Rock Winner Thomas Annunziata

Bill McAnally Racing has two cars entered for the first time this season. The team’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular Jack Wood is in the No. 16, while Kaulig Racing NASCAR Xfinity Series full-timer (and former BMR driver) Christian Eckes will drive the full-time No. 19.

Kaylee Bryson will make her series debut in Cook Racing Technologies’ No. 17.

Eckes isn’t the only Xfinity regular in the field. William Sawalich will drive Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18.

Clark Racing’s No. 23 has Spencer Gallagher in the seat, while Sigma Performance Services’ No. 24 is fielding Tyler Reif.

Venturini Motorsports heads West for this race with a single-car effort, the No. 25, driven by Alon Day.

Ryan Philpott and Rodd Kneeland are back in their self-owned Nos. 52 and 68, respectively, for the first time this year. Kneeland’s No. 68 also ran at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway last month with PJ Pedroncelli.

Nick Joanides makes his first start of the year, returning to Performance P-1 Motorsports’ No. 77.

Naake-Klauer Motorsports heads to the ARCA West track for the first time this season, fielding Will Rodgers in its No. 88. Rodgers will also run the Xfinity event for Cope Family Racing.

The General Tire 200 is set for Friday, July 11, at 6:30 p.m. ET. FloRacing is handling the broadcast.

Executive Editor at Frontstretch

Kevin Rutherford is the executive editor of Frontstretch, a position he gained in 2025 after being the managing editor since 2015, and serving on the editing staff since 2013.

At his day job, he’s a journalist covering music and rock charts at Billboard. He lives in New York City, but his heart is in Ohio — you know, like that Hawthorne Heights song.

CHICAGO (WLS) — Mayor Brandon Johnson says he is open to bringing NASCAR back to Chicago.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

At a news conference with reporters on Tuesday he weighed in on the street race and holiday weekend violence.

“I don’t know how those guys and women drive those cars in those kind of suits, like, if I had to wear that outfit every single day at work, that would be very difficult,” Johnson said.

He may not have to wear the suit, but Johnson must decide if bringing the street race back to Chicago is worth it.

“The larger question is around, how do neighborhoods across the city benefit from anything that we bring to the City of Chicago,” he said.

While revenue generated from NASCAR is still being added up, the mayor says NASCAR has been supportive of neighborhood programs. However, without getting into specifics, the mayor says everything must be on the table when negotiating with NASCAR.

“Far more people are going to be involved in this process than when it was initially birthed,” he said.

Downtown aldermen are demanding they be part of the conversations with NASCAR.

They say negotiations must include changing the date of the race from 4th of July weekend.

“It’s a heavier burden for our law enforcement, because of so many so much activity that happens in Chicago,” Johnson said.

Despite a long holiday weekend that began with a deadly mass shooting in River North, the mayor says July 4th crime numbers were down compared to years past.

“The decline of violence is a result of the full force of government, working with all entities of government, at every single level of government, and making critical investments, particularly communities that have been starved in decades,” he said.

The mayor said he is worried how those communities will be impacted by President Trump’s big policy bill.

Johnson said his budget team plans to do a complete analysis to figure out the exact impact.

READ ALSO | $10K reward offered for information after 18 shot, 4 killed in River North mass shooting

Ryan Alexander doubles up at the SEJS Brainerd race to lead the DragChamp Jr. Racer Top 10 List presented by Laris Motorsports Insurance.

07/09/25 – Welcome to the DragChamp Jr. Racer Top 10 List presented by Laris Motorsports Insurance. Each week we rank the best Jr. racers across the country based on their weekly performances. Nominations are accepted every Monday evening on our Facebook page.

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Click here to view previous Top 10 Lists.

DragChamp Jr. Racer Top 10 List

1 – Ryan Alexander

Ryan Alexander takes the #1 spot on this week’s Top 10 list after winning twice at the Southeast Junior Series race at Brainerd Motorsports Park. He kicked off the weekend by winning the Fireworks Shootout Race, then went on to claim both the 12 & Up age group bonus and the overall $10,000 Main Event victory.

2 – Luke Hutchinson

Luke Hutchinson secures the #2 spot on this week’s list after carrying two entries to the 6-9 Age Group final round, earning both the win and runner-up at the Southeast Junior Series event at Brainerd Motorsports Park. He also was the last man standing in the 6-9 age group during the $10K race and advanced to the final five in the $10K main event.

3 – Gage Blair

Gage Blair had a standout weekend at Ethridge Motorsports Park, going undefeated and winning both days in the Junior Dragster class. He didn’t lose a single round all weekend!

4 – Brooklynn Collins

After a win and a runner-up finish at Gainesville, Brooklynn Collins extended her streak by doubling up at South Georgia Motorsports Park.

5 – Bentlee Baehr

Bentlee Baehr rounds out the top 5 of this week’s Top 10 list after sweeping the beginner class this past weekend at the Dragway 42 points race.

6 – Cameron Davis

Cameron Davis lands the #6 spot on this week’s Top 10 list after doubling up in the Jr. Novice class at the Triple 7K race at Grove Creek Raceway.

7 – Alexandra “Alakazamdra” Elyea

Alexandra ‘Alakazamdra’ Elyea delivered an impressive performance at Walla Walla Dragstrip, sweeping the weekend in Junior Street. She kicked things off on Friday by reaching the semifinals in her Junior Dragster during the big money Gamblers Race. Competing in two classes all weekend, she continued going rounds in her dragster and capped it off by winning Junior Street both days driving a Sunbelt Service truck.

8 – Avery Bolding

Avery Bolding claims the #8 spot on this week’s Top 10 list after securing a win and three semi-final finishes at the Southeast Junior Series event in Brainerd.
On Friday, she advanced to the semi-finals in both the $3,000-to-win Gamblers Race and the Outlaw 330 race. She followed that up on Saturday by winning the $3,000-to-win 12–17 Age Group Race and making it down to the final three in the $10,000 Main Event.

9 – Chloe Pass

Chloe Pass had a fantastic weekend at Alabama International Dragway, winning the IHRA Ironman race on Friday night. She kept the momentum going on Saturday, reaching the sem-finals.

10 – Brayden Hearn

Brayden Hearn earns a spot on this week’s top 10 list after scoring two runner-up finishes at World Wide Technology Raceway.

10 – Riley Sherbondy

Riley Sherbondy rounds out this week’s top 10 list after securing the Junior Dragster win on Saturday at the TB Promotions $100K event. This marks her second TB Promotions victory and the second time she’s taken home a Louisville Slugger.

Let us what you think about the DragChamp Jr. Top 10 List. We want to hear from you. Check us out on Facebook and share it with your friends.

And remember, look for our DragChamp Jr. Top 10 List nominations Facebook post every Monday evening. You can nominate your favorites in the comments of the post for consideration on the list.

If you nominate a racer, please
include their name, their accomplishment, which track(s), and a winners circle
photo. Some racers have missed the list because we didn’t have enough
information and couldn’t find anything online.

DragChamp is your online source for sportsman drag race results, news, and updates.

The penalty report from NASCAR for the weekend at Chicago is out. No one was penalized as a result of infractions the governing body picked up.

The organization had made it clear it was looking into a few incidents on the track, but it apparently found no cause to issue penalties. Among those incidents was contact between Ross Chastain and Joey Logano.

Logano called on NASCAR to fine Chastain for the contact after Chastain reportedly admitted on pit road that he had intentionally wrecked Logano. The two got caught up in traffic in the middle of the race, with Chastain initially taking contact into a tire barrier.

Whatever the case, Chastain seemed to think Logano was at fault for that contact. He came after Logano and spun him in the next section of the track.

Reporters had a chance to catch up with Logano after that incident, and he was blunt. To him, there was no gray area surrounding the wreck and whether it was intentional from Chastain.

“Do I think so? Yes, he admitted he wrecked me on purpose,” Logano told FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass. “He admitted it. Which means he should get fined if he admittedly wrecked someone on purpose. That’s not OK.”

Logano has had more than one run-in with Chastain this NASCAR Cup Series season. That’s part of the reason he was so heated after the race.

“Typical Ross,” Logano said. “He just sees red and does dumb stuff. That’s all. That’s twice this year on road courses at the end of these things I’ve been cost by Ross. I’m just over it.”

Other incidents on the track included some back-and-forth contact between Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman. Wallace was attempting to fend off a pass by Bowman, who had fresher tires late in the race.

After making contact through several turns, eventually Bowman got the better of Wallace and turned the fellow NASCAR driver, taking him out of the race. There were no fireworks after the race, though, as the two met very briefly on pit road before Wallace headed out for the day.

And now we know NASCAR has issued no penalties as a result of the weekend at Chicago. So it’s on to Sonoma.

TV viewer numbers for this past weekend’s major motorsports TV broadcasts. Formula 1 raced at Silverstone, NASCAR in Chicago, and IndyCar at Mid-Ohio.

Formula 1

ESPN2’s live telecast of the Formula 1 British Grand Prix on Sunday, July 6, averaged 1.5 million TV viewers, up 19% over last year’s race and the largest audience ever for the event on U.S. television, per Nielsen. The audience peaked at 1.8 million TV Viewers between 11:30-11:45 a.m. ET as Lando Norris closed out a popular first home country win.

11 of 12 races held so far this season have had year-over-year viewership growth and seven of the 12 have set event viewership records.

The British Grand Prix audience was up from last year’s viewership of 1.3 million, which at the time was the largest ever for the race. The race also averaged 629,000 TV viewers (48%) in the Persons ages 18-49 demographic, dwarfing NASCAR and IndyCar, which are always under 20%.

Of the 12 F1 races held so far this season, all but one (Miami) have seen year-over-year viewership increases and seven of the 12 (Australia, China, Monaco, Spain, Canada, Austria and Britain) scored event record audiences. The audience for the Monaco Grand Prix was the third-largest live audience ever for a Formula 1 race on U.S. television.

Across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, F1 races are averaging 1.3 million TV viewers, up seven percent over the season-to-date average for the 2024 season and up 17 percent over the full 2024 season average.

In the younger demographic of Persons ages 18-49, races are averaging 511,000 viewers, up 14 percent over the 2024 season to date average and up 24 percent over the full 2024 season average.

F1 now has a 2-week break before racing again at Spa on July 27 on ESPN.

NASCAR

TNT + TruTV got 2.1 million TV viewers for Sunday’s third edition of the NASCAR Cup race in Chicago, down 46% from 3.9 million TV viewers last year on NBC and down 54.3% from 4.6 million TV viewers in 2023 in the inaugural running on NBC network.

“Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration is open to two more years of the NASCAR Chicago Street Race, but only after exploring the possibility of shifting the marquee event to a different date that does not pose the ‘challenges that July 4th weekend presents.’”

IndyCar

The 2025 IndyCar race at Mid-Ohio, the Honda Indy 200, averaged a total audience of 1.29 million viewers on FOX, down 1.53% from 1.31 million TV viewers on NBC in 2024. This year’s figure includes both traditional TV and digital streaming viewership.