May 23, 2025

LAKEVILLE, Conn. (May 23, 2025) – Practice has concluded for the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli’s CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series race at Lime Rock Park. On the rainy opening day of action, Gian Buffomante and Thomas Annunziata were the quickest in the weekend’s two official practice sessions.

Due to weather, only a handful of competitors went on track for Practice 1.

Practice 1 Top Five:

1. Gian Buffomante, No. 95 Nitro Motorsports Ford Mustang (58.831)

2. Julian DaCosta, No. 30 Nitro Motorsports Ford Mustang (59.281)

3. Boris Said Jr., No. 60 Nitro Motorsports Toyota Camry (1:00.282)

4. Will Robinson, No. 51 Mike Cope Race Cars LLC Ford Mustang (1:01.277)

Fastest in Pro/Am Challenge:

1. Cale Phillips, No. 99 Mincey’s Graphics/SNP Inc. Ford Mustang (59.779)

Full Practice 1 results can be found here.

The second practice also saw rain, but more competitors opted to participate in the session.

Practice 2 Top Five:

1. Thomas Annunziata, No. 90 Gazoo Racing/Nitro Motorsports Toyota Camry (59.220)

2. Mike Skeen, No. 2 Guthrie’s Garage Chevrolet Camaro (59.464)

3. Noah Harmon, No. 7 Streetside Classics/Flanagan’s Chevrolet Camaro (59.786)

4. Rafa Matos, No. 57 Concord American Flagpole/SHR Chevrolet Camaro (59.810)

5. Tristan McKee, No. 28 Spire/Gainbridge/SLR-M1 Chevrolet Camaro (1:00.141)

Fastest in Pro/Am Challenge:

1. Barry Boes, No. 27 Accio Data/SLR-M1 Chevrolet Camaro (1:00.326)

Full Practice 2 results can be found here.

The field will be set in tomorrow morning’s qualifying session at 9:05 a.m. ET, which will be livestreamed on Trans Am’s YouTube channel, @TheTransAmSeries.  

The race will be contested tomorrow at 1:20 p.m. ET. It will be streamed LIVE on Trans Am’s YouTube channel, @TheTransAmSeries and broadcast LIVE on SPEED SPORT 1, with coverage beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET. An encore presentation will air on SPEED SPORT 1 at 8:30 p.m. ET. For more information on where you can watch SPEED SPORT 1, click here.

Even signing with Prime Video to be one of their analysts, Carl Edwards admitted he was wondering if NASCAR fans would know about the sport’s shift to streaming for five races on Prime Video or if they would know how to access the races.

That was, until he talked to one of his neighbors.

“We’re talking about other things and he said, ‘Hey, you’re doing some sort of TV thing.’ And I was thinking, you know, this guy’s 85 years old, and I’m gonna have to explain this to him,” Edwards said. “And I started and he’s like, ‘Oh, yeah. I’ve got Prime. I’ll be watching.’”

Prime Video’s first race on Sunday is the Coca-Cola 600. Not only is it NASCAR’s longest race, it comes on motorsports’ biggest day with Formula One’s Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500 taking place before the green flag drops at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Prime Video has a seven-year deal with NASCAR.

“We couldn’t be more excited to be starting with a crown jewel (race). It’s a huge responsibility and we’re excited to bring it to fans,” said Alex Strand, Prime Video’s senior coordinating producer for live sports. “What we saw when we brought ‘Thursday Night Football’ to Prime is we spent a lot of time making sure that we’re delivering on expectations. There’s trust the viewers are putting in you to bring them the sport that they love.”

Prime Video is hoping to do that by getting some production help from NBC Sports, which has had NASCAR since 2015. Prime’s relationship with NBC goes back to 2022 when it launched “Sunday Night Football.”

In the booth, Adam Alexander is the play-by-play announcer for the Xfinity Series on The CW along with doing Cup Series races on TNT.

Analysts Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are reunited. Earnhardt Jr. was with NBC for six seasons (2018 through ’23) while Letarte has been with NBC since 2015.

Alexander said his approach to calling the races has been the same, no matter the network.

“Just be a setup guy for two analysts that obviously know it inside and out, and be able to relay the message to the fans of what’s happening on track,” he said. “I think it would be easy for someone when you look at new partners coming into the sport, that everything is going to be changed. It jumped off the board with me right away that Prime has the balance of new, but also the respect to traditions that we’re used to in the TV world and how that matches up with NASCAR.”

The only new faces are Edwards and Corey LaJoie, who will be on pre- and post-race coverage.

Many thought Edwards would become an analyst after retiring in 2017, but he resisted overtures from various networks until Prime Video approached him earlier this year.

“The timing just feels right. I’m shocked at the way the sport has welcomed me back personally,” said Edwards, a 28-time winner in the Cup series. “I wasn’t sure about this, but Prime came to visit me in Missouri and we sat around at my kitchen table talking with my family. I’m glad they came out. It’s going to be an adventure.”

Prime Video will be bringing its own touches to the races. Green flag racing will include a double-box commercial format, ensuring viewers won’t miss any action. There will also be highlights of key moments allowing viewers to catch up to action.

As far as in-race strategy innovations, Prime is still testing some things as they try to continue what they have done during NFL coverage, which is explain complex matters in a simple way.

“I believe people are going to find it. They’re going to enjoy it. And, you know, hopefully it just becomes, something that that all the fans feel good about and don’t have any hiccups,” Edwards said.

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For the motorsports enthusiast, Sunday of Memorial Day weekend is the greatest day.

It begins at breakfast with Formula One on the streets of Monaco. Lunch is had while 33 drivers vie for the Borg-Warner Trophy in the Indianapolis 500. Dinner and dessert is then served at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Cup Series’ longest race – the Coca-Cola 600. Fans’ cups runneth over… and so too does the cup of Cody Ware.

The driver of the No. 51 Jacob Construction Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Rick Ware Racing (RWR) remains a fan of all motorsports even as he makes a living in NASCAR.

Just as fervent fans tune into ESPN at 9 a.m. EDT for this year’s Monaco Grand Prix, Ware will too. And after the checkered flag drops in the principality, Ware will turn the channel and his attention to FOX for its broadcast of the Indianapolis 500, where the green flag drops for the 109th running of The Greatest Spectacle in Racing at 12:45 p.m. Roughly three hours later when the Indy 500 is complete, Ware’s schedule diverges from that of the typical fan. After watching F1 and IndyCar’s elite, he joins NASCAR’s elite in the Coca-Cola 600.

“Right up until I’m getting ready to suit up, I’m watching the Indianapolis 500,” Ware said. “At Charlotte, they’ve got the Indy 500 up on the big screen there on the backstretch, and while you’re there in the garage area hanging out and meeting with guests, you’re watching the closing laps with them.

“It’s cool to be in the final race of the day, or the second half of the Indy/Charlotte double. There’s always an electric feel at the track. It’s basically the industry’s home track, so it’s very busy – a lot of people, a lot of guests, a lot of family. It’s a great way to finish off a great day of racing.”

Charlotte is where Ware got his start, specifically, in Legend Cars on the quarter-mile oval within the frontstretch of Charlotte’s main, 1.5-mile oval.

“My racing career and, really, my passion for racing started at Charlotte,” Ware said. “It was in ‘Winter Heat’ and ‘Summer Shootout’ in Legend Cars, racing in the semipro division.

“To have started racing at Charlotte in one of the smallest forms of racing, both literally and figuratively, to now racing at the pinnacle of stock car racing at Charlotte in the Coca Cola 600, is really cool. It’s something I always think about every time I drive through the tunnel and into the infield.”

Since those years in Legend Cars, Ware has competed in a variety of racing series. He raced Late Model stock cars and began his NASCAR career in earnest in late 2013, securing a handful of starts on the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour before racing across the NASCAR Mexico Series, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2014. On March 5, 2017, Ware made his Cup Series debut at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Outside of NASCAR, Ware made his mark in sportscar racing. He won the 2019-2020 LMP2 championship in the Asian Le Mans Series with co-driver Gustas Grinbergas. In a prelude to that title, Ware was the 2014 Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America Rookie of the Year. More recently, Ware piloted a Ligier JS P320 to a podium finish in the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge LMP3 class at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in January 2024. Ware has also competed in Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup and the NTT IndyCar Series.

“I’ve run three IndyCar races, tested the oval at Texas, and did ROP (Rookie Orientation Program) during the official test week in Indianapolis,” Ware said. “But the biggest thing is that I’m 6-foot-4. As much as I wanted to make it work, I learned Indy cars aren’t really suited for tall people. It’s why we focused on NASCAR.”

Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 will serve as Ware’s 119th career Cup Series start and his fourth in the Coca-Cola 600. The series’ longest race is one that Ware embraces.

“I’ll take a long race all day, every day,” Ware said. “Anytime your physical strength and your athleticism can come into play over those long, hot races, it’s an advantage for us.”

Ware wrestled in high school. The native of Greensboro, North Carolina, made the Ragsdale High varsity team as a freshman. The work ethic he built in his teen years continues today.

“Wrestling is what really got me started as an athlete. Being really tall, I needed to develop my core strength and overall fitness. I had a larger stature and I needed to make the most of it,” Ware said.

“There’s a lot of strength and endurance needed for driving a racecar. It’s about being on your game from start to finish, where you’re as good on lap 400 as you were on lap one.”

This is especially true at Charlotte, where the 400-lap race around the 1.5-mile oval begins at 6 p.m. in the heat of the day and ends well after 10 p.m. in the relative cool of night.

“The Coke 600 is always blazing hot to start, and while it does get a little cooler as the sun goes down, it’s still a test of your car, your body, and your mind,” Ware said.  

“The biggest thing is just keeping up with the track because it’s going to change a lot. You might have a great car on Saturday in practice and in qualifying, and you might even have a great car when you fire off on Sunday, but what your balance needs to be in the heat, in the daylight, with the sun beating down on the racetrack, versus when the lights come on and the sun goes down, and those track temps start going down, the grip starts going up and the lap times get faster. You have to be on. You have to be one step ahead on your adjustments. You want to be proactive versus reactive in how you work on your car and work on yourself in regard to the lines you want to run.

“Charlotte’s still a very tricky mile-and-a-half track. It has a very nasty bump over in turns three and four. The track has seen a lot of wear over the years. It’s definitely a driver’s track. If you make a mistake, you’re probably ending up in the wall. So it’s 600 miles of perfection.”

The perfect way to cap a perfect day of racing.

Prime Video will broadcast the 66th running of the Coca-Cola 600 beginning with a pre-race show at 5 p.m. EDT. The race goes green at 6 p.m. with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio complementing the live telecast.

RWR PR

On the agenda: pre/post-race shows, 70+ cameras, double-box ads, Key Moments, Rapid Recaps

Waving the green flag on a seven-year NASCAR Cup Series rights deal this weekend, Amazon Prime Video aims to institute the same level of technological innovation that it brought to NFL Thursday Night Football and its other high-profile sports properties. That said, Prime Video’s production team remains focused on one goal above all else: telling the story of the race itself.

“We are there to cover the race and cover it as we see it,” says Amazon Prime Video Senior Coordinating Producer Alex Strand. “That’s our identity. What we’re really trying to do is say, ‘How do we cover the story of the race? What is that story of the race that day?’”

While storytelling remains the core tenant of Prime’s coverage, technology and data play a major role in telling that story — both inside and outside of the live linear broadcast. Among the key innovations viewers can expect on Prime’s five Cup Series races in the coming weeks: a new double-box commercial format, “Key Moments” race highlights, and “Rapid Recaps” of in-progress races.

Covering the Race: In-Car Cams, Pit-Box Views, Live Drones 

Beginning with the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway this Sunday, Prime Video will produce each race in native 1080p HDR with Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound, deploying 70+ cameras at each race — all connected by up to 10 miles of fiber-optic cable.

The gear includes 40+ custom in-car cameras with mics (including specialized POV cameras from NEP Specialty Capture) and cameras in selected pit boxes to give the viewers new insights into the race experience. In addition, a live drone will be deployed on selected races to capture unique angles and the atmosphere of the track.

“We could not be more excited to be starting with a crown-jewel [race],” says Strand. “We think it’s a huge responsibility, and we’re excited to bring that to fans. We spend a lot of time making sure that we are delivering the core expectation. Viewers are trusting you to bring in the sport that they love, and we take that very seriously.”

Prime Video is deploying Game Creek Video Peacock One mobile units for its five NASCAR Cup Series productions this year, as well as GCV edit and robo trucks. In addition, Prime — as all NASCAR rightsholders do — relies on NASCAR Productions SRT trailer for additional connectivity and has also partnered with NBC Sports Group for additional broadcast support.

Following the success of its Emmy Award–winning TNF Prime Vision alternative stream, Strand and his team are also looking for new ways to visualize data within its NASCAR coverage.

“Obviously,” he says, we’re pretty data-centric in our Thursday Night Football coverage. We think that data can tell cool stories around sports that we love or enhance the way you look at it and help teach you something you didn’t know before.

“How do we take something that is very complex to understand and simplify it?” he continues. “[We do it by] not dumbing it down but making it accessible both to hardcore longtime fans and people who might just be picking it up for the first time. We think, from what we’ve done on Thursday Night Football, we can thread the needle and hit both of those at the same time.”

Though not sharing specifics, Strand says the Prime Video production and data-analysis teams are working with analyst Steve Letarte on a new feature. “We also think it’s important to show it in a simple way, so we see a lot of opportunity with NASCAR. It’s data-centric to begin with, and we are working on some things now. We’ve been in the lab with [Letarte] for about four months on a particular feature we’re hoping to bring to everybody during our coverage.”

In the booth will be race-caller Adam Alexander, NASCAR Hall-of-Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Letarte, a Daytona 500–winning crew chief. Daytona 500 champion Trevor Bayne and reporters Kim Coon and Marty Snider will be on pit road to provide real-time updates on drivers, tactical decisions, and other critical developments as races unfold.

Beyond the Race: Pre/Post Shows Play Major Role in New ‘Identity’

In addition to covering the race itself, Prime is producing full trackside pre/post-race shows for each broadcast. Remote support will be provided from Prime’s LAX 35 facility in Culver City, CA, where several operators will remotely control machines located in the onsite trucks.

Danielle Trotta hosts the pre/post-race coverage with analysts Edwards and current Cup Series driver Corey LaJoie. Again taking a cue from its widely praised onsite studio show for TNF, Prime Video’s extensive wraparound coverage will feature candid conversations and exclusive interviews with drivers fresh off the track, in-depth analysis, previews and breakdowns of the races, and developing storylines that help bring viewers closer to both the action and the personalities behind the wheel.

“One of the things we’re excited about,” says Strand, “is post-race and being able to sit back and spend time talking about the day — and the race we just saw. I think what we’re able to do in our post-race window is going to be a big part of our identity. It’s something unique that we have the ability to do as a streamer. We don’t have to get off-air for another event. We’ll stay on, and we’re going to talk about what we saw.”

Viewer Experience: Fans Won’t Miss a Thing

NASCAR on Prime viewers won’t miss a moment of the action on the track, thanks to the streamer’s decision to use a double-box commercial format during its broadcasts. The end-to-end live coverage of green-flag racing offers viewers a new way to fully experience the race at home.

“As we were watching racing and thinking about how we want our coverage to be,” says Strand, “we thought it was critically important to show green-flag racing — the entire stretch — and never miss a thing. We mobilized a ton of internal Amazon groups to make that possible. It has been a lot of hard work, but we’re excited to be bringing double-box commercials for all green-flag racing. No fans at home are going to miss a thing, and that was really important to us.”

Outside of the livestream of the race, Prime Video will leverage real-time data to provide fans with “Key Moments” featuring race highlights and every flag change on demand while watching NASCAR on Prime. A bank of pivotal moments will build as the race progresses, offering viewers immediate access to these key moments.

In addition to Key Moments, another feature from the TNF experience, “Rapid Recaps,” will allow fans who join the race in-progress and want to catch up on action they missed. Accessible after selecting Watch, Rapid Recap deploys real-time data to compile highlights, with the full recap lasting no longer than two minutes. Fans are then automatically dropped into live action.

Also benefiting the viewer experience at home, Prime Video and AWS technology have combined to create a proprietary, end-to-end livestreaming solution that delivers ultra-low latency, eliminates drift, and ensures synchronization. Prime Video will deliver 1080p HDR coverage right from the track to the screen with delivery speeds that, as TNF viewers have already experienced, match and often surpass what viewers receive from traditional cable and broadcast networks.

William Byron’s 2025 season with Hendrick Motorsports is about to get even better.

Byron enters this Sunday’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway with a victory at Daytona and seven top-10 finishes. He’s currently fourth in the NASCAR Cup Series standings, with only Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin ahead of him. 

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Earlier this week, FOX announcer Kevin Harvick said he’s picking Byron to win the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte this Sunday. That would certainly help the No. 24 team shoot up the leaderboard.

All we know for sure is that Byron’s future with Hendrick Motorsports is secure regardless of this Sunday’s results.

On Friday morning, Hendrick Motorsports has agreed to a four-year contract extension with Byron. His deal will now run until 2029.

“William is the real deal,” Rick Hendrick said. “What makes him so special is that he combines natural ability with an unrivaled work ethic. You see it in the great ones – the drivers who could get by on talent alone but choose to outwork everyone anyway. That’s William. On top of it all, he’s a person of high character and embraces his role as a leader. We’re proud to have him in our lineup and look forward to many more wins together.”

Byron, a former Xfinity Series champion, is fired up about his extension with Hendrick Motorsports.

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“We’ve built something special with the No. 24 team,” Byron said in a press release. “I’m thankful for the opportunity to continue working with amazing people at Hendrick Motorsports who believe in me, especially Mr. and Mrs. Hendrick. We’ve accomplished some great things that we’re really proud of, but we have even bigger goals ahead. I’m excited to go after them with this team and this organization.”

Byron will try to reward Hendrick Motorsports and the No. 24 team with a victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Related: NASCAR Makes Decision On Coca-Cola 600 Payouts

Hendrick Motorsports Makes William Byron Announcement Before Coca-Cola 600 first appeared on The Spun on May 23, 2025

Derek Kraus, 23, will make his first NASCAR Cup Series start of the year this weekend, competing in NASCAR’s longest race — the 66th running of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. 

Kraus will pilot the No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet with sponsorship from Western States Flooring. This Sunday’s race will be the first time since the season-opening Daytona that the Cup Series will have a full field of 40 cars with four open entries.

Kraus made six starts in the Cup Series last year, all while driving for Kaulig Racing. His best result came at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, finishing 28th. His most recent start came in the 2024 season finale at Phoenix Raceway, and this will be his first appearance in the Coke 600.

A former champion of the ARCA West Series in 2019, Kraus also has 76 Truck Series starts and eight Xfinity Series starts, but none since 2023. He was full-time in the Truck Series between 2020 and 2022, finishing as high as second at Darlington.

NY Racing Team has made four Cup starts as an open entry this year, all with veteran journeyman driver J.J. Yeley. Their best result of the year came at Talladega where they finished 32nd. The team also attempted to qualify for the Daytona 500 but failed to make the show.