Marco Andretti, a third-generation racer from the legendary Andretti family, has officially announced his retirement from motorsports, including the Indianapolis 500.
The 38-year-old shared the news via a heartfelt statement on social media, reflecting on his 19-year career in IndyCar and his 20 starts at the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Andretti, who debuted in IndyCar in 2006, achieved notable milestones, including two race wins, six pole positions, and 20 podium finishes.
His career highlights include a second-place finish in his first Indy 500 in 2006 and earning pole position for the 2020 race.
Despite never claiming victory at the Indy 500, Andretti expressed pride in his accomplishments, noting that he matched his grandfather Mario Andretti‘s number of podium finishes at the event.
In his statement, Andretti thanked his family, fans, and teams for their support throughout his career.
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He also announced plans to release a memoir titled Defending the Dynasty, which will chronicle his life and racing journey.
Looking ahead, Andretti plans to focus on his family and business ventures, embracing the next chapter of his life with peace and gratitude.
Andretti’s retirement marks the end of an era for one of racing’s most iconic families, leaving behind a legacy of passion, resilience, and dedication to the sport.
Hendrick Motorsports has published a classy response following the announcement on Tuesday that NASCAR commissioner Steve Phelps would be stepping down at the end of January after 21 years with the organization.
Phelps’ announcement came in the wake of the antitrust lawsuit, which was filed by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin’s 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports against NASCAR, with both teams refusing to sign the new 2024 charter agreement, alleging “monopolistic” behavior on NASCAR’s part.
The lawsuit, filed in October 2024, ultimately went to court in Charlotte, North Carolina, where a series of damning messages from Phelps were unearthed, seemingly sealing his fate. Ultimately, the case was settled after eight days, with Evergreen charters being the major talking point of the deal.
Responding to Phelps’ decision, Hendrick published a statement later that day, saying: “We thank Steve Phelps for his leadership and dedication to NASCAR over the past two decades.
“He helped our sport navigate opportunities, challenges and periods of significant change while positioning it for the future. We appreciate his service and wish him all the best in his next chapter.”
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The last month has been tough on Phelps after some of his irate messages during charter negotiations came to light.
The most brutal comments of all came in a chain of messages between Phelps and Chief Media & Revenue Officer Brian Herbst during charter negotiations with teams in 2023. At this point, NASCAR was also negotiating what turned out to be a blockbuster seven-year $7.7 billion broadcasting rights deal with Fox, NBC, Amazon Prime Video, and Warner Bros. Discovery.
Phelps specifically aimed his frustrations at 80-year-old Hall of Fame team owner Richard Childress, commenting: “Childress is an idiot. If they don’t like the state of the sport, sell your charter and get out,” before adding: “Did I mention Childress was an idiot?”
Later, Phelps would go on to suggest: “If he’s that angry (and apparently he is), sign your charter extension and sell. He’s not smart, is a dinosaur, and a malcontent. He’s worth a couple hundred million dollars — every dollar associated with NASCAR in some fashion. Total a–clown.”
The reveal of these messages not only prompted Childress to threaten legal action, but also drew the ire of major sponsor Bass Pro Shops in a public undressing of NASCAR via a letter released on social media.
The following day, a settlement was reached between the teams and NASCAR, which included evergreen charters and the reinstatement of both 23XI and FRM’s six full-time rides as chartered entrants. It is also believed that NASCAR would have had to shell out tens of millions of dollars to settle the case with both teams.
Fast forward to January 6, and Phelps announced he was stepping down, explaining in a statement: “As a lifelong race fan, it gives me immense pride to have served as NASCAR’s first Commissioner and to lead our great sport through so many incredible challenges, opportunities and firsts over my 20 years.
“Our sport is built on the passion of our fans, the dedication of our teams and partners and the commitment of our wonderful employees. It has been an honor to help synthesize the enthusiasm of long-standing NASCAR stakeholders with that of new entrants to our ecosystem, such as media partners, auto manufacturers, track operators and incredible racing talent.
As I embark on new pursuits in sports and other industries, I want to thank the many colleagues, friends and especially the fans that have played such an important and motivational role in my career. Words cannot fully convey the deep appreciation I have for this life-changing experience, for the trust of the France family and for having a place in NASCAR’s amazing history.”
Two Event Entitlements Included in Multiyear Deal, Partnership Expansion with Hitachi Energy
SOUTH BOSTON, VA…..Hitachi Energy has expanded its partnership with South Boston Speedway to become the title sponsor of South Boston Speedway’s Late Model Stock Car Division, which will be known as the Hitachi Energy Late Model Stock Car Division starting in 2026.
In addition, Hitachi Energy will sponsor two events at the speedway in both 2026 and 2027 as part of a two-year agreement.
“Hitachi Energy is proud to extend our partnership with South Boston Speedway by sponsoring the Late Model Stock Car Division for the next two years, along with two marquee events,” said Ryland Clark, Senior Corporate Real Estate Facility & Capital Projects Manager for Hitachi Energy.
“South Boston Speedway is a cornerstone of our community, and we’re excited to support the drivers, fans, and families who make this place so special. Investing in local traditions like SoBo strengthens the connection between our team, our neighbors, and the future of Halifax County.”
Hitachi Energy has played a big role at South Boston Speedway including its sponsorship of the lucrative Championship Loyalty Bonus Program which provided awards for eligible drivers in South Boston Speedway’s NASCAR-sanctioned racing divisions.
In addition, South Boston Speedway and Hitachi Energy partnered to collect donations of non-perishable food items to be donated to the Feed Halifax organization at the track’s CARS Tour event in September. Each non-perishable item donated earned a fan one chance at being chosen to wave the green flag for the start of one of the two late model features that night. The Feed Halifax organization set up a trailer at the speedway during the event to collect donations.
South Boston Speedway and Hitachi Energy will revisit the Feed Halifax initiative for 2026.
“We are very appreciative of Hitachi Energy’s partnership with the speedway,” said South Boston Speedway General Manager Brandon Brown, “and are excited about Hitachi Energy extending its partnership to include becoming the title sponsor of our Late Model Stock Car Division and sponsoring two of our events for the next two years.
“Hitachi Energy is a tremendous supporter of the South Boston-Halifax County community through its partnerships with community events and its donations and assistance to community organizations and schools. We thank Hitachi Energy for its support and bringing a new level of excitement and interest in racing at South Boston Speedway for competitors and fans alike.”
The Late Model Stock Car Division is South Boston Speedway’s featured racing division, with the upcoming 2026 season being the 43rd year of the division being the track’s feature division. There have been 103 different winners in 757 NASCAR-sanctioned Late Model Stock Car Division races at South Boston Speedway.
One of the closest championship points battle in the track’s history was waged in the Late Model Stock Car Division this season, with Peyton Sellers of Danville, Virginia winning a record eighth South Boston Speedway title by a narrow two-point margin over Trevor Ward of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Sellers broke the previous record of seven South Boston Speedway titles held by David Blankenship of Mosely, Virginia which had stood for 27 years.
South Boston Speedway will open its 2026 season on Saturday afternoon, March 21, with one of the biggest events of the season, the SMART Modified Tour’s King of the Modifieds event. The track’s Late Model Stock Car Division competitors will be in action as well.
The first event of the season to feature all four of the track’s regular NASCAR-sanctioned racing divisions will be on Saturday afternoon, April 4.
South Boston Speedway’s 2026 season schedule can be found on the speedway’s website, www.southbostonspeedway.com. Additional information about South Boston Speedway is available on the speedway’s website and through the track’s social media channels. Information may also be obtained by calling the speedway at 434-572-4947 or toll free at 1-877-440-1540 during regular business hours.
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — In 1966, France’s 24 Hours of Le Mans put Ford on the map as one of the world’s premier sports car manufacturers. Sixty years later, Ford is determined to make its mark again — this time as one of the world’s premier off-road makers by taking on the world at the 14-day, 2026 Dakar Rally in the desert of Saudi Arabia.
Ford v Ferrari meets Ford v Toyota.
The Japanese manufacturer, builder of the internationally-ubiquitous Hilux trucks, has dominated this race in recent years, just as Ferrari dominated Le Mans in the early 1960s.
Ford Racing is determined to dethrone Toyota at the end of this Jan. 3-17 race and, in the process, establish its Raptor truck performance badge (synonymous with its F-150, Bronco and Ranger bruisers) as a global icon just as Le Mans made GT40 an international sports car icon (ultimately, GT40 became a movie as well with its Oscar-winning turn).
“For any brand wanting to stake a claim to owning off-road racing, Dakar stands out head and shoulders above all others,” said Global Director of Ford Racing Mark Rushbrook. “Over two relentless weeks and thousands of competitive kilometers . . . there is no place to hide. That is why the 2026 Dakar Rally represents such a meaningful moment for Ford.”
Dakar is one of a series of meaningful moments for the Dearborn automaker’s racing division in 2026 as it has unleashed a historic assault on the world’s top motorsports series, including Formula One (with Red Bull), Le Mans (with Mustang) and off-road (Raptor). Come 2027, it will also be back at Le Mans for the first time since its 1960s dominance in the premier Hypercar class.
After two years getting its feet wet in Dakar — scoring a podium in ‘25 — Ford has come into the Saudi desert this January with an army of firepower.
Eight Raptor T1+ trucks — four of them full factory teams — piloted by some of the world’s most renowned off-road aces have entered the race’s most-capable Ultimate class. Pilots include names like four-time Dakar winner Carlos Sainz Sr., two-time winner Nani Roma, King of the Hammers champ Mitch Guthrie, Rallycross World Champion Matthias Ekström, world rally ace Martin Prokop, and Le Mans winner Romain Dumas. They will take on the best from Toyota as well as teams from international off-road racing teams Buggyra, Dacia and Century.
Le Mans 1960s GT40 aces AJ Foyt, Bruce McLaren, Chris Amon and Dan Gurney would be impressed.
The world standard in off-road motorsport since 1979, Dakar got its name from the original race run from Paris to Dakar, Senegal. For the last five years, it’s been held across Saudi Arabia’s demanding terrain. It’s a test of human as well as vehicle endurance as drivers and their navigators riding shotgun must traverse the desert at breakneck speeds while doing their own repairs and enduring extreme weather conditions.
While carrying the Raptor badge, Ford’s Ultimate-class trucks share little with their production siblings.
These are dune buggies on steroids — tube-frame monsters with high-horsepower V-8 engines, huge all-terrain tires, and 14 inches of Fox-shock suspension travel — capable of running at 100-plus mph speeds over a gnarly landscape that looks like something out of the Netflix hit “Stranger Things” dystopia.
The four factory entries — developed with UK-based engineering company M-Sport — are state-of-the-art cyborgs while the four factory-supported buggies are year-old beasts. It’s an arrangement not unlike Ferrari F1 and the Formula One customer teams it supports with last-gen engines.
“Those privateer entries are a deliberate part of how we grow the Raptor ecosystem globally — sharing technology, data and durability across customer teams who are pushing the same hardware in the same extreme conditions,” said Rushbrook. “That depth strengthens the program, accelerates learning and reinforces the credibility of the Raptor platform.”
That ethic is part of a Ford business model to make money in motorsports — rather than just race for headline glory as it did in the ‘60s. The Raptor T1 program follows Ford’s Mustang GT3, GT4 and Dark Horse Challenge series efforts where Ford sells GT-class race cars to teams globally.
“Ford Racing today is also very much a business, and a growing one,” Rushbrook said pre-race. “We’ve proven across our Mustang programs what true race-to-road integration can deliver. That same philosophy now fully extends to Raptor and our off-road portfolio.”
In the brutal conditions of Dakar the private teams also are contenders to win outright. Just three days into Dakar on Jan. 6, for example, the private Orlen Jipocar Ford team driven by Prokop was second to the Guthrie-piloted factory effort as Ford entries swept the top five positions, with Toyota a distant ninth.
Ford’s early stage success (Dakar competitors must prove themselves over 13 stages totaling 5,000 miles) was born of teething years in 2024-25. Just as Ford struggled to build reliable Dakar warriors, so did its Le Man assault demand patience before its 1966 breakthrough.
“Our earlier years at Dakar were about building knowledge: understanding the race, the rhythms, the terrain and the operational demands,” said Rushbrook. “The phase we enter now is different. The objective is no longer to validate the program, the objective is to contend for overall victory.”
Whatever the outcome of this year’s Dakar Rally, Ford’s racing efforts are consistent with the history of a brand that has used racing for marketing and engineering excellence since Henry Ford won the Sweepstakes Race in 1901 — securing investors for his fledgling Ford Motor Company.
“Racing has served as our most demanding engineering laboratory and one of our most powerful brand amplifiers,” said Rushbrook.
It’s a philosophy that is also at the root of Ferrari and Porsche — and has recently taken hold at General Motors Co., which is also competing in F1 and Le Mans.
For all brands, the searing heat of motorsports translates directly into better road cars — putting cutting-edge tech to the test to improve performance and reliability, not to mention developing better engineers.
Ford’s Dakar ambitions follow successful off-road efforts in North America at the famed Baja 1000 and King of the Hammers competitions in Mexico and California, respectively. Factory teams have won production GT classes with F-150 Raptors and Broncos.
Similar production classes are also in play in international rally races like Dakar, where brands as diverse as Range Rover and Honda Powersports (motorcycles) compete across the desert.
But like Ford v Ferrari in the 1960s, Ford’s Dakar goals have started at the top of the sport.
Like Le Mans and the World Endurance Championship, Dakar is the jewel of a year-long race series, the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC). Ford and Toyota will continue to exchange blows across the world in Portugal (March), Argentina (May), and Morocco (October) before the Abu Dhabi finale in November.
That’s the same month as Ford/Red Bull wraps the F1 season in the streets of Abu Dhabi.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.
After decades of building some of the most respected engines in the world, Cummins Inc. is officially returning to NASCAR’s national spotlight in a big way. The global power technology leader has signed on as the full-season primary sponsor of Brenden Queen and the No. 12 Ram 1500 for the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, fielded by Kaulig Racing.
For Mopar fans and racing enthusiasts alike, this partnership hits on multiple levels. It reunites two legendary American brands—Cummins and Ram—on one of the most visible motorsports stages in the country, while also backing one of stock car racing’s fastest-rising young drivers.
Cummins branding will appear on the primary livery of Queen’s No. 12 Ram 1500 for every Truck Series race in 2026. The deal represents the latest chapter in a relationship between Cummins and Ram that dates back to 1989, when the first Cummins-powered Dodge Ram rolled off the line. Since then, more than 3.5 million Ram trucks have been powered by Cummins diesel engines, setting the benchmark for durability and capability in the heavy-duty pickup segment.
That deep-rooted history makes this return to NASCAR feel less like a marketing move and more like a homecoming.
“Cummins has racing in its DNA,” said Brett Merritt, Vice President and President, Engine Business, Cummins. “From Clessie Cummins winning the first Indianapolis 500 as a crew member to our leadership in commercial power, we’ve always pushed the limits of what’s possible. Brenden Queen represents that same spirit – talented, hardworking, and full of momentum. Partnering with both Kaulig Racing and Ram provides the opportunity for us to continue to write our motorsport legacy.”
Queen, known to fans as “Butterbean,” enters 2026 as one of the most talked-about prospects in the sport. The 28-year-old Chesapeake, Virginia native put together a dominant run in the ARCA Menards Series, earning eight wins and finishing in the top five in 17 of 20 races en route to a championship. That success opened the door to five NASCAR Xfinity Series starts late in 2025, where Queen delivered strong, confidence-building performances against deeper competition.
Those results made him the first driver announced as part of Ram’s highly anticipated return to the Truck Series, and now he’ll carry one of the most recognizable names in American engineering on his truck.
To Queen, the opportunity is both humbling and motivating. Driving a Ram-backed truck with Cummins on the hood connects modern NASCAR ambition with decades of truck and diesel heritage that fans instantly recognize.
For Kaulig Racing, landing Cummins as a full-season primary sponsor is a major statement of intent. The organization has built its reputation through competitive Xfinity and Cup programs, and 2026 marks an aggressive push to establish itself as a consistent contender in the Truck Series.
“We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Cummins to the Kaulig Racing family,” said Chris Rice, Chief Executive Officer of Kaulig Racing. “Their engineering excellence and commitment to innovation are a perfect match for our vision. Brenden is an exceptional talent, and we’re building a program around him that we believe can compete for wins and make a playoff run right away.”
The No. 12 Cummins Ram 1500 will officially hit the track at the 2026 season opener at Daytona International Speedway on Friday, February 13. Under the lights at Daytona, one of America’s most iconic engine builders will once again be part of NASCAR’s national conversation—this time paired with a new generation of driver talent and a familiar Ram badge.
For Cummins, Ram, and Kaulig Racing, 2026 isn’t just about sponsorship. It’s about legacy, performance, and proving that American engineering still belongs at the front of the field.
“Jackson has grown tremendously over the last couple of seasons, and stepping into TA2 is the natural next move for his development,” addedNitro Motorsports Co-Owner Nick Tucker. “His approach, attitude, and work ethic have been great, and pairing him with our other TA2 drivers will only strengthen the overall program. We expect Jackson to continue making big strides in 2026, and we’re excited to help guide him through this next phase of his career.”
77 Grounds Coffee, a local dog-friendly coffee shop in Davidson, North Carolina, will partner with Tovo in his move to the Trans Am Series.
“As a new coffee shop in the heart of Davidson, 77 Grounds Coffee is committed to giving back to the community that has already shown us so much support,” explained Madalyn and Sean Hutchinson, owners of 77 Grounds. “Partnering with Jackson and becoming part of the Nitro Motorsports family is something we’re incredibly proud of.
Kyle Larson made it count when it mattered most, winning the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Championship after a dramatic late-race restart in the Phoenix Raceway finale. But will the now-two-time champ get your vote for NASCAR Driver of the Year?
The Hendrick Motorsports driver started his 2025 campaign with three wins and five more top-five finishes in the first dozen races, then saw his form dip dramatically, before digging deep to stay in Playoffs contention and finally seal the deal.
Before that final restart, Denny Hamlin looked to be cruising to a seventh win of the season and a first Cup Series championship, but was left to rue another one that got away. Will the outpourings of goodwill and sympathy Denny received convert into votes? It’s your call, readers.
Or how about Shane van Gisbergen, who’s switched from the Australia-based Supercars Championship and took an unprecedented five road-course wins in his first full Cup Series season with Trackhouse Racing? That was impressive stuff – as was William Byron’s second-straight Daytona 500 win, a hard-fought first regular season championship and his third-straight Championship 4 appearance.
Outside of the Cup Series, rising star Connor Zilisch won 10 races in the Xfinity Series, including seven of the final eight regular season rounds, but was pipped to the title by Jesse Love in the Phoenix season-closer. Meanwhile, Corey Heim dominated the Craftsman Truck Series with 12 wins from 25 races, including five wins in the seven-race Playoffs.
Could a season like Heim’s or Zilisch’s put the stars of the Cup Series in the shade? It’s your call and your votes, and we’re looking forward to finding out who you’ve put top.
Voting will remain open for 72 hours, and we’ll be announcing your 2025 NASCAR Driver of the Year on January 15.
Plus, coming soon: vote for your sports car racing marque of the year.
