Motorsports
Piastri flips script on Norris in title statement amid Red Bull revival
Oscar Piastri just had his first duel for victory with Max Verstappen, and Verstappen came off second best. They were always likely to come to blows starting alongside each other on the front row at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Both knew it was crucial to claim the apex and the lead to win the […]

Oscar Piastri just had his first duel for victory with Max Verstappen, and Verstappen came off second best.
They were always likely to come to blows starting alongside each other on the front row at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Both knew it was crucial to claim the apex and the lead to win the race.
But Piastri got the better start, held his nerve on the kerb and came out on to, even if Verstappen attempted to argue the point by cutting the chicane.
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The flashpoint was brief but important for Piastri. The Australian is a clear title protagonist, and Verstappen is a perpetual frontrunner.
Lando Norris took too long last year to keep his elbows out and stand his ground in his battles with the uncompromising Dutchman.
Piastri laid down a small but important marker that he won’t be pushed around in pursuit of the title — a title he now leads.
PIASTRI TAKES THE TITLE LEAD IN BIG TICK FOR 2025 GAINS
For the first time in 5293 days an Australian leads the Formula 1 world championship, with Piastri holding a 10-point advantage over teammate Norris.
The last Australian to sit at the top the title standings was Mark Webber, Piastri’s now manager, on 24 October 2010. Webber took the lead in that year’s Italian grand prix and led through Singapore and Japan before losing top spot in Korea.
Piastri’s broken that 15-year drought with the first set of back-to-back victories by an Australian in more than a decade, dating back to Daniel Ricciardo’s wins at the Hungarian and Belgian grands prix on either side of the mid-season break in 2014.
‘WOW!’ Piastri stuns with Lewis overtake | 00:43
Three victories from four grands prix makes for the best run of form by an Australian since Alan Jones claimed a second place and three wins across the 1980 and 1981 seasons.
“I’m happy, but I think I’m more proud of the reasons I’m leading the championship rather than the fact I am leading the championship,” Piastri said. “It’s been a great start to the year.
“I worked on the things I wanted to work on from last season, and it’s paying off. That’s what’s given me the most satisfaction at the moment.
Norris CRASHES out in Saudi Q3 | 01:19
“Obviously winning races is fun too, but the fact that I feel like I’ve really taken a step up and scoring the most amount of points when we can is the biggest thing.
“It’s still super early in the championship — I want to be leading it after round 24, not round 5 — but it’s a good start.”
After five rounds Piastri has totally flipped the ledger against Norris, the only driver to whom he can be accurately compared. He’s ahead in the championship and has reversed his qualifying deficit into an advantage.
The fact this has come at the opening five rounds of the season is significant. Over the past two seasons his lowest points have come inevitably at the non-European races, held at tracks where his experience gap is largest because most junior formulae race almost exclusively in Europe.
But with two seasons of F1 under his belt, that experience deficit appears to have vanished.
And having been the highest scoring driver through the European leg of last season, to lead the way after the opening five flyaway rounds of this season makes Piastri look much closer to the finished article and like a formidable title contender.
MISERABLE MAX IN PENALTY PROTEST
It didn’t take Max Verstappen long to get the metaphorical bottom lip out after the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
“I’m going to keep it quite short,” he said when asked about his race in the pre-podium trackside interview. “I just want to say a big thankyou to the fans in Jeddah. It’s been a great weekend. I love the track.
“The rest is what it is. I’m looking forward to Miami, so I’ll see you there.”
He was hardly verbose speaking to F1 TV about the issue subsequently.
“I think it’s better we don’t talk about it, because we are anyway not allowed to express our opinions on that,” he said.
And to Sky Sports: “To be honest, I think any words towards that is just a waste of time for everyone … the only thing that’s in my interests is looking forward to going home.”
‘F**** lovely’ – Max FUMES after penalty | 01:41
You didn’t have to be an expert in body language to know Verstappen wasn’t happy.
The source of his frustration was the five-second penalty of passing Piastri off track at the first turn.
Pole in Jeddah is on the racing line — that is, on the outside line on the right-hand side heading into the left-hander that enters the chicane.
It means the driver starting second on the grid has a clear view of the apex if they can get a better start than the pole-getter.
That’s exactly what Piastri did, nosing ahead of Verstappen as they reached the first turn.
But then Verstappen pulled out an old trick of his, releasing the brakes to appear ahead as they reached the apex and then cutting the corner under the pretext of being pushed off the road.
It’s a technique that’s worked several times for the Dutchman, but after several run-ins last year, particularly with Norris, and after 19 of 20 drivers lobbied the FIA to reconsider how they policed racing, such a gaming of the rules is now effectively outlawed.
For what it’s worth, Piastri wasn’t particularly aggrieved to be on the receiving end of some Verstappen gamesmanship.
“I knew it was going to be a difficult fight given it’s Max, but I think I did everything I needed to,” he said. “If the shoe was on the other foot, it would have looked identical probably.
“It was good racing and I think it was the right call.”
Max silent in cooldown after Oscar’s win | 01:24
Red Bull Racing principal Christian Horner unsurprisingly had a different view.
“We have this notion of ‘let them race’,” he said. “I don’t know where Max was supposed to go at that first corner.”
‘Let them race’ was an approach taken by race control circa 2021, when the sport allowed some borderline and occasionally outright objectionable racing in an attempt to improve the spectacle.
It’s been gradually wound back ever since in part because of the liberties taken by Verstappen.
But perhaps the biggest takeaway from the incident was that Red Bull Racing and Verstappen opted against taking up the opportunity to give the place back — notwithstanding they had only around half a lap before the safety car was called.
Had Verstappen let Piastri into the lead, then he would’ve had the chance to roll the dice on strategy rather than playing the unsuccessful defensive game that eventually left him locked into second.
“It probably would’ve been better for everyone if they’d swapped positions, but I’m not going to complain; we finished first and fourth,” McLaren CEO Zak Brown smiled to Sky Sports.
BUT RED BULL RACING HAS MADE GENUINE PROGRESS
The idea that Verstappen could have won with strategy isn’t so farfetched given how much closer Red Bull Racing looked to McLaren on race pace this weekend.
Verstappen obviously had the pace to take pole, but the Dutchman didn’t think much of his victory odds on Saturday night given the poor pace in race simulation during Friday relative to the MCL39.
But rather than the obliteration some had expected, the advantage swung from Piastri to Verstappen during the first stint, and in the second stint the gap remained steady at less than five seconds.
Piastri won the race, but there was no real knockout punch.
“I had to work for that one pretty hard,” Piastri said. “Essentially holding my ground [at the first corner] is what won me the race.
“Trying to stay in the dirty air was pretty much impossible today. I wouldn’t have had enough to go and overtake Max. I was struggling at the end of the medium stint.
“Once I had some clean air I could manage the gap a little bit, but I didn’t have too much more left. I certainly wasn’t trying to disappear up the road in case we had a safety car or something, but I couldn’t have just pulled out a bunch of lap time if I wanted.
“At the end of the first stint Max was quicker. That’s obviously not how we want things to look. I think we’ve got some things to work on after this weekend, because the competition is tight and I think they’re getting closer.”
Brown told Sky Sports that he expected competition to remain close.
“That was a very competitive race,” he said. “[Max] has been competitive all weekend. He’s won this year.
“I think this idea we were going to make it a bit boring — I don’t think we’ve really had a boring race yet.”
For Christian Horner it’s even clearer.
“We’ve lost the race by 2.6 seconds [after serving a five-second penalty],” he told Sky Sports. “I think the most positive thing for us was the pace was there — it was a very positive race.”
Verstappen wasn’t willing to buy into the idea that McLaren was truly within reach but did sound optimistic that the team had made some big gains in its understanding of the troubled RB21.
“The positives are that in the race I think we had quite good pace compared to Friday,” Verstappen said. “We improved a lot.”
“I do think we found a really good set-up on the car, but I think this track suits our car a bit better, plus the degradation is quite low.
“I think we know that we still have things to improve on the car. we just need to get a few updates the car to help that.
“I think what we need to try and work on is just being a little bit more consistent overall.”
NORRIS COMEBACK STIFLED BY FERRARI IN SINGLE HAMILTON BRIGHT SPOT
How you judge Norris’s comeback from 10th to fourth depends on your perspective.
You could argue he had the car in qualifying to start from the front row and probably pole. No comeback should have been required.
Alternatively you might put that he gained six places on an afternoon overtaking wasn’t easy.
“I think I’m pleased on the whole,” he told Sky Sports. “I just make life tough for myself, especially when it’s a race like that.
“It would’ve been much easier, a lot more chilled, to just drive up the front, so I’ve got to help myself out a little bit and have better Saturdays.”
But you could also say that a podium should have been comfortably within his reach in a car that was much faster than Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari. Instead he fell just over a second short of the Monegasque, having run out of laps to catch and challenge him for a trophy.
The reason for this marginal underperformance, his first non-podium finish of the year, was twofold.
The first was a superb race from Leclerc — who after a slightly shaky start to the season seems to be back in the groove he enjoyed for much of last year — and excellent execution from the team.
Leclerc ran long on a set of medium tyres — much longer than expected — to give himself a better hit at the hard tyres at the end.
It effectively neutralised Norris’s strategy — similar but switching from hard to medium — and gave him a fighting chance of keeping his nose ahead.
“I think we did the perfect race,” Leclerc said. “Today I don’t feel like there was anything more on the table.
“There were no mistakes. Strategy perfect. Pit stops again perfect.
“Overall it’s been the perfect race, and today I couldn’t do anymore more than P3.”
But Lewis Hamilton in the second Ferrari also played a role in preventing Norris from finishing higher than fourth — somewhat ironic given he was never in contention to get anywhere near the podium.
Hamilton’s big impact came between laps 12 and 15, when Norris was attempting to pass him in his gradual slog up the order before the pit stops.
The Ferrari driver defended relentlessly and cleverly, playing with the positioning of the DRS detection point before the final corner to let Norris through early only to blast back past him into the first turn with his rear wing open.
It took Norris three laps to understand the game and get through, costing him around four seconds.
He finished just one second behind Leclerc at the flag.
It was the single bright spot in Hamilton’s otherwise miserable weekend, the seven-time champion finishing 39 seconds off the lead and 31 seconds behind Leclerc.
“There wasn’t one second [when I felt comfortable in the car],” he told Sky Sports. “Clearly the car is capable of being P3. Charles did a great job today. I can’t blame the car.”
He was even more downcast speaking to F1 TV when asked whether the weekend off before the upcoming Miami Grand Prix would give him a chance to digest the lessons of his opening stanza of races and bounce back.
“If you want to look at it positively, yes, but I mean, honestly, I don’t’ think so,” he said. “It’s not going to make any difference.”
Reality is hitting hard in Hamilton’s Ferrari switch.
Motorsports
Predicting the Finals for the NASCAR In-Season Challenge!
After weeks of bracket chaos, upsets, and surprises, the in-season challenge comes down to the most unexpected final: Ty Gibbs vs. Ty Dillon. One is the young phenom in top-tier equipment. The other? The journeyman nobody expected to make it past round one. And now, somehow, we’re here. Ty Dillon at the Brickyard? Believe it […]

After weeks of bracket chaos, upsets, and surprises, the in-season challenge comes down to the most unexpected final: Ty Gibbs vs. Ty Dillon. One is the young phenom in top-tier equipment. The other? The journeyman nobody expected to make it past round one. And now, somehow, we’re here.
- Ty Dillon at the Brickyard? Believe it or not, it’s one of his best tracks
- Ty Gibbs has the car, the pace, and the hype—but will that be enough?
- Dillon has an Xfinity win here, and his worst Cup finish is 21st. Coincidence?
- Is this the start of a Cinderella story or the final chapter?
It’s the most improbable finale yet. On paper, Gibbs should run away with it. But Dillon’s form in the challenge—and his quiet history at Indy—says don’t count him out. Stranger things have happened in NASCAR. And at this point? Why not Ty Dillon? Let us know who you’ve got in this Ty vs. Ty showdown. Will it be a legacy launch or a legacy upset?
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Motorsports
CHEVROLET NCS AT INDIANAPOLIS: Justin Haley Media Availability Quotes – Speedway Digest
Justin Haley, driver of the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Media Availability Quotes: What does racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway mean to you? “Yeah, this is obviously my home track. Gainbridge has a large presence here, as well. […]

Justin Haley, driver of the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Media Availability Quotes:
What does racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway mean to you?
“Yeah, this is obviously my home track. Gainbridge has a large presence here, as well. So, yeah, just an important race for our team. Hopefully we unload here fast in practice and can put on a good show. So, yeah, obviously important for me. I grew up racing here — not racing here, but watching a lot of the Indianapolis 500’s. We have a strong relationship with Gainbridge, who’s been one our main sponsors this year. So, yeah, I’m excited to get going here. It’s always good to be home.”
How would you describe the season so far for you and the No. 7 team? What are the boxes you’re trying to check as we get closer to the end of the regular season here?
“I think it’s just been interesting. I mean, that’s really all I can think about when I think about our season. Obviously, I feel like at the start of the season, we were pretty good, and then the car chief and crew chief change happened. We kind of went through a section through May and June where I thought we were pretty decent; had good speed but just caught up in a lot of incidents that kind of tanked us back in the points.
But again, I feel like anytime we got into an incident, it really wasn’t our fault. It was just a bad stretch. So, yeah, we’ve kind of tried to climb back through the metric and have decent days. I feel like we’re coming off two okay finishes right there inside the top-20. I feel like we’ve had good speed, but just trying to find our groove again. Obviously, it’s been a pretty difficult season, in general, with where we are in the points standing and kind of what we’ve gone through. Definitely not what I expected when I started in Daytona, to go through all we’ve been through. But just trying to find a little bit of silver lining and get some good finishes by the end of the year.”
How old were you when you first came to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and what is your first memory of this track?
“Yeah, I’m not sure. I know I skipped school a few times. I was definitely in elementary school. My parents had some friends that still live right here, not but a quarter mile away. We used to stay at their house and used to watch a lot of Indy 500’s — come up here for Carb Day, all the practices and spent a lot of time here watching the INDYCAR’s.
I’m not sure if I ever came to a Brickyard, but yeah, I would say I was pretty young… probably six or seven. I knew it was before I started racing. I started racing when I was nine. So yeah, spent a lot of time here; had a lot of fun with it. I enjoy coming here.”
It’s been a tough season so far. What’s your outlook going forward for the rest of the year and trying to get things back on the right track for yourself and the team?
“Yeah, I mean, I kind of hit on that earlier. It’s just been interesting. I’m not really sure why or how I’ve gotten to this point. But yeah, it was tough, obviously losing what we lost and just trying to find our footing after that.
I feel like we have speed. I feel like there’s been weeks where we show a lot of promise, and a lot of those weeks we got caught up in someone else’s mess. So yeah, we’ve kind of climbed back up the metric. I feel like we’re in a good spot here for qualifying. I feel like the past two weeks, we’ve had decent speed. We had the fastest lap at Sonoma. Unfortunately, it took us a day-in-a-half to get there to be the fastest car. But yeah, it’s been fine. I feel like it’s just been difficult. Not what I expected at all, but just trying to find a little bit of speed and get some finishes.
I’m glad to have (Michael) McDowell on my side. He’s been a big part of this year and helping me. He’s been an awesome teammate. Can’t say enough about Michael and what he’s done for our organization and our team.
So yeah, I feel like we’re okay. We just got to get a little bit better.”
Practice was cancelled yesterday and moved to today. Does that change your approach to practice today with the shortened time and the boxes you check to get ready for tomorrow?
“Yeah, it certainly does. I feel like that’s kind of hurt us, too. I’ve been trying to find a feel that I haven’t quite found yet. We had some packages we wanted to run through yesterday to try to hopefully find that feel and get translation from the simulator. So yeah, we kind of had to go with the package and stick with it today. And tomorrow, obviously with the shortened practices that we normally have, you really can’t do much to it.
I was kind of looking forward to yesterday. I know we brought some extra people to try to run through some more changes on my car and figure out something that I liked. I mean, I’m confident that it’ll be fast. Hopefully I have a good feel for it and we’ll be all right.”
You mentioned that this just hasn’t gone the way that you expected it to go from when you started at Daytona. What have you learned about yourself and the guys who are still around you on the No. 7 team throughout the course of this season? Also, what has Michael done specifically to help you out throughout the course of this season?
“I think Michael (McDowell) is just like a good glue guy, right? Like he just, I feel like, ties up all the loose ends that there might be and just kind of brings everyone together.
So yeah, just having teammates like him. I relate to him a lot like I did AJ (Allmendinger), right? Like just a figure that’s been around and seen it all. He just has a good overview perspective on maybe where your team’s at, where your car’s at or where you’re at as a driver. I’m living in it and trying to do it all, but having a neutral figure like Michael who is just there for your best interest has been a big help.
So yeah, I’m glad he’s taken me under my wing, and obviously I’m fully supportive of him and his team, as well. If it’s at 5 a.m. when we’re hitting pickleballs at his house or if we’re hashing it out in a competition meeting about something, he’s just been a great human being.”
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Motorsports
Connor Zilisch makes it three in a row at IMS
Credit: James Gilbert / Getty Images Connor Zilisch wins his third race in a row, fifth of the season, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway after a late caution, and this marks JR Motorsports’ 100th team win. Sam Mayer secured his fourth career pole after not running a single lap at last year’s race at IMS, […]

Credit: James Gilbert / Getty Images
Connor Zilisch wins his third race in a row, fifth of the season, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway after a late caution, and this marks JR Motorsports’ 100th team win.
Sam Mayer secured his fourth career pole after not running a single lap at last year’s race at IMS, while rookie Nick Sanchez rolls off alongside him.
Prior to starting, Christian Eckes started smoking out of the dash on the formation and pitted. The No. 16 team was able to fix the issue, and Eckes rejoined where he was originally starting in 15th.
Mayer and Sanchez led the field to green with Sheldon Creed behind his teammate Mayer, and Jesse Love behind Sanchez.
Creed gives a push to Mayer and clears Mayer into the lead. Creed slots into third as Sanchez keeps second.
Logan Bearden slows on the opening lap and goes into the pits.
Justin Allgaier grazed the wall on Lap 2 after being run out of room by Aric Almirola while battling for fifth.
Harrison Burton spins from 19th and brings out the first caution on Lap 3.
Mayer and Sanchez lead the way again on Lap 7, but this time, Creed and Brandon Jones are behind them. Sanchez had a bad restart as Mayer and Creed immediately cleared for the lead into Turn 1.
Jones fell out of the top five, allowing Almirola, Zilisch and Allgaier to get ahead on Lap 8.
Zilisch passes Almirola for fourth on Lap 13 out of Turn 2, and moves up to third on Lap 14, passing Sanchez in Turn 3.
By Lap 15, Mayer had built a gap of 2.5 seconds to the rest of the field.
Zilisch goes on the inside of Creed on Lap 17 and moves up to second.
Kyle Larson, who started down in 19th, broke into the top 10 on Lap 18.
On Lap 22, Almirola passed Zilisch down the backstretch but still trails Mayer by over 2 seconds.
On Laps 24 and 27, Allgier passed Zilisch and Almirola. Both in Turn 3.
In the last lap of the stage, Allgaier got pretty close to Mayer, but was not able to take the lead.
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No. 41 – Sam Mayer (Haas Factory Team)
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No. 7 – Justin Allgaier (JR Motorsports)
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No. 19 – Aric Almirola (Joe Gibbs Racing)
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No. 20 – Brandon Jones (Joe Gibbs Racing)
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No. 88 – Connor Zilisch (JR Motorsports)
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No. 00 – Sheldon Creed (Haas Factory Team)
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No. 2 – Jesse Love (Richard Childress Racing)
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No. 17 – Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports)
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No. 54 – Taylor Gray (Joe Gibbs Racing)
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No. 1 – Carson Kvapil (JR Motorsports)
After a cycle of pit stops, Almirola, Allgaier and Zilisch are the biggest movers off pit road as Mayer falls three places. Creed also had a slow stop, dropping him out of the top 10.
Almirola and Allgaier lead the way on Lap 37.
Taylor Gray makes it three wide in turn 2 with Mayer and Sanchez. Gray gets ahead of them as Sanchez gets bumped into the wall by Eckes.
Allgaier and Almirola stayed door to door though Lap 38 before Zilisch got behind Allgaier and helped him into the lead. Zilisch also moved up to second.
Sanchez goes onto pit road as he started smoking on Lap 40.
Eckes starts smoking again on Lap 49, but this time, it was a right front tyre issue. He pits to change both right tyres.
Larson also passed Almirola for third on Lap 50. Larson is still about 2.5 seconds back from Zilisch and Allgaier.
On Lap 52, Zilisch goes underneath Allgaier and passes for the lead entering Turn 3. This makes it 10 consecutive races that Zilisch has led a lap.
On the last lap of the stage, Allgaier battled with Zilisch for the lead and was narrowly able to take it across the line.
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No. 7 – Justin Allgaier (JR Motorsports)
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No. 88 – Connor Zilisch (JR Motorsports)
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No. 17 – Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports)
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No. 19 – Aric Almirola (Joe Gibbs Racing)
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No. 54 – Taylor Gray (Joe Gibbs Racing)
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No. 20 – Brandon Jones (Joe Gibbs Racing)
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No. 41 – Sam Mayer (Haas Factory Team)
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No. 1 – Carson Kvapil (JR Motorsports)
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No. 2 – Jesse Love (Richard Childress Racing)
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No. 18 – William Sawalich (Joe Gibbs Racing)
After another cycle of pit stops, Allgaier gets off pit road first, followed by Larson and Jones. Almirola and Love have slow stops, and both drop out of the top 10.
Allgaier and Larson led the way on Lap 65, and Jones made it three wide for the lead. Larson comes out on top.
Kvapil goes sideways and hits the wall backward on the restart lap after going three wide with William Sawalich and Leland Honeyman and brings out the caution. Honeyman got loose from the inside and spun Kvapil out.
The restart was delayed due to some raindrops beginning to fall.
Larson and Allgaier led the field back to green on Lap 73. Mayer pushed Larson, but Allgaier was able to sweep for the lead alone.
Zilisch goes out of line and is able to jump into fourth as Mayer falls back. Zilisch moves up to third on lap 76.
Allgaier is ahead when the fifth caution comes out for rain with 20 laps to go.
Allgaier and Larson take them back racing with 14 laps to go. Zilisch lined up behind Larson on the inside while Jones took the outside behind Allgaier.
Larson has a slight advantage before Allgaier got slight contact from Larson and the two fell back as Zilsich goes inside to the lead. Jones also got a little loose, allowing for Gray to get up to second. Allgaier pitted to retire the car.
On Lap 90, Austin Hill and Almirola had slight contact. Hill was able to save it for a second before he clipped the back of Almirola, sending him into the wall. Almirola had to retire while Hill pitted.
Hill was penalized for reckless driving and was held for 5 laps.
The race was upgraded to a red flag due to fluid on the track and for weather with 8 laps to go.
About 15 minutes later, the race was back to caution.
With 4 to go and Zilisch on the inside and Gray on the outside, they lead the way back to green.
Gray gets the lead after a big push from Creed and Zilisch slots into second.
Zilisch goes to the inside of Gray with three to go and Mayer helps Gray on the outside, so Gray stays ahead.
One lap later, Zilisch goes on he inside of Gray again, but Mayer gives the push to Zilisch, getting him up to the lead.
Connor Zilisch scores his fifth win of the season and JR Motorsports’ 100th win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway!
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No. 88 – Connor Zilisch (JR Motorsports)
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No. 41 – Sam Mayer (Haas Factory Team) [FL]
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No. 54 – Taylor Gray (Joe Gibbs Racing)
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No. 17 – Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports)
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No. 39 – Ryan Sieg (RSS Racing)
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No. 18 – William Sawalich (Joe Gibbs Racing)
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No. 8 – Sammy Smith (JR Motorsports)
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No. 10 – Daniel Dye (Kaulig Racing)
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No. 2 – Jesse Love (Richard Childress Racing)
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No. 26 – Dean Thompson (Sam Hunt Racing)
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No. 99 – Matt DiBenedetto (Viking Motorsports)
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No. 51 – Jeremy Clements (Jeremy Clements Racing)
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No. 16 – Christian Eckes (Kaulig Racing)
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No. 4 – Parker Retzlaff (Alpha Prime Racing)
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No. 27 – Jeb Burton (Jordan Anderson Racing)
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No. 28 – Kyle Sieg (RSS Racing)
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No. 00 – Sheldon Creed (Haas Factory Team)
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No. 25 – Harrison Burton (AM Racing)
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No. 91 – Josh Bilicki (DGM Racing x JIM)
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No. 44 – Brennen Poole (Alpha Prime Racing)
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No. 71 – Ryan Ellis (DGM Racing + JIM)
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No. 11 – Josh Williams (Kaulig Racing)
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No. 42 – Anthony Alfredo (Young’s Motorsports)
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No. 45 – Mason Massey (Alpha Prime Racing)
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No. 14 – Garrett Smithley (SS-Green Light Racing)
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No. 70 – Leland Honeyman (Cope Family Racing)
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No. 31 – Blaine Perkins (Jordan Anderson Racing)
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No. 53 – Joey Gase (Joey Gase Racing)
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No. 35 – David Starr (Joey Gase Racing)
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No. 1 – Carson Kvapil (JR Motorsports)
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No. 74 – Dawson Cram (Mike Harmon Racing)
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No. 20 – Brandon Jones (Joe Gibbs Racing) +3 laps
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No. 48 – Nick Sanchez (Big Machine Racing) +4 laps
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No. 21 – Austin Hill (Richard Childress Racing) +5 laps
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No. 19 – Aric Almirola (Joe Gibbs Racing) [DNF]
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No. 7 – Justin Allgaier (JR Motorsports) [DNF]
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No. 32 – Katherine Legge (Jordan Anderson Racing) [DNF]
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No. 7 – Logan Bearden (SS-Green Light Racing) [DNF]
Next week, NASCAR Xfinity heads to Iowa on Saturday, August 2, at 16:30 EST (21:30 BST). Be there, or be square.
Motorsports
Richard Childress reacts to Austin Hill penalty, provides fiery response to NASCAR
Tonight’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Indianapolis is likely going to lead to penalties for Richard Childress Racing driver Austin Hill. It appeared that Hill right rear hooked Aric Almirola and caused both drivers to wreck. Now, RC himself is commenting on the situation. What isn’t going to help Austin Hill is how he reacted […]

Tonight’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Indianapolis is likely going to lead to penalties for Richard Childress Racing driver Austin Hill. It appeared that Hill right rear hooked Aric Almirola and caused both drivers to wreck. Now, RC himself is commenting on the situation.
What isn’t going to help Austin Hill is how he reacted on his radio after being held for five laps by NASCAR. Hill went on to finish P34 by the time the race finished, one spot above Almirola.
Richard Childress was asked about the situation. He came off as defensive and stood up for his driver.
“I’ll be in bigger trouble than I already am with NASCAR, period,” Richard Childress said when initially asked about the incident. He then weighed in after being asked if Austin Hill should be suspended.
“Hell no. They didn’t do a damn thing to the 2 car [of Austin Cindric] when they, he wrecked Ty [Dillon] and admitted to it,” Childress said, via Dustin Long of NBC Sports. “Drove him in the right rear and wrecked him at COTA. It’s who you are. We’re a blue-collar team, they give us trouble all the time.”
Richard Childress is always going to stand up for his drivers. That’s just how it is. But Austin Cindric was penalized for his right rear hook on Ty Dillon at COTA. Some felt it wasn’t enough, but he was penalized 50 points and received a fine.
Richard Childress sticking up for Austin Hill
There are serious consequences at stake for Richard Childress and Austin Hill. If NASCAR finds that this right rear hook was intentional, they are going to throw the book at Hill, and they should.
He is a driver who not only has a past of questionable decisions, but one that stood up in front of the entire series and said he was going to be a good example of how to race. Today, he threw that all out the window when he wrecked Almirola.
If NASCAR suspends Hill for a week or two, that’s going to sink his chances of an Xfinity Series championship. It could also be the first time we see a driver in the three national series lose all playoff points for the season. That is the punishment for an unexcused absence from a race, and a suspension via penalty is not a valid excuse.
Richard Childress doesn’t think his driver should be suspended. I get that. But NASCAR is likely going to feel a lot different. Hill has to get his act together. This is not when you need to make these mistakes and poor decisions. All of his hard work could go out the window. Hill has won races, and he has playoff points. A suspension takes all of that away.
Motorsports
Dale Earnhardt Jr. reacts to 100th win for JR Motorsports, performance from Connor Zilisch
Today, JR Motorsports got its 100th win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Dale Earnhardt Jr. was in attendance to witness it. A very popular win among race fans. Connor Zilisch went out there and took it at the end of today’s race. Connor Zilisch has won five races this season. He is starting to […]

Today, JR Motorsports got its 100th win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Dale Earnhardt Jr. was in attendance to witness it. A very popular win among race fans. Connor Zilisch went out there and took it at the end of today’s race.
Connor Zilisch has won five races this season. He is starting to make it look easy out there. Late race situations are nothing for Zilisch at this point, or it at least seems that way.
In the last nine races, Zilisch has four wins and no finishes worse than P5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. knows he has a special driver behind the wheel of the 88 car.
“Yeah, I was, uh, a lot of people to thank,” Dale Jr. said after the race on The CW. “But he [Zilisch] did a good job, man. Just awesome driving to him. We got some help from Sam on the back straightaway. Just a good little driver. Hey, these races are tough on your heart. Up and down, up and down. 100 wins for our team. That’s a big deal. I know my sister and everybody’s very emotional, and we’re going to enjoy this one.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was asked what he thought at the end when Zilisch temporarily lost the lead. What was that like? Well, it wasn’t fun. But he had the right driver for the job.
“Oh man. He’s a hell of a driver,” Earnhardt continued. “You know, he just went up there and got it back. We’ve got great race cars, a good race car underneath him to do what he needed to do. So, it takes a lot of us and want to thank the engine shop. Hendrick Motorsports engine shop, that’s what wins races in places like this and at Dover. So, thank y’all for all the hard work, they’ve worked hard this year. And all the support we get from HMS, it’s important to our performance.”
While Connor Zilisch won, it could have easily have been Justin Allgaier. The 7 led the most laps, 37, on the day. However, an incident with Kyle Larson late ended Allgaier’s hopes of a victory. So, Zilisch picked up the pieces and delivered the 100th win to JRM.
When Dale Earnhardt Jr. goes to sleep tonight, he will have 100 wins to his name as an owner. What an accomplishment for that organization.
Motorsports
William Byron hopes to shake bad luck in battle for regular-season title – Speedway Digest
A rash of ill fortune finally caught up with William Byron. When he crashed out of last Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover Motor Speedway—through no fault of his own—the 31st-place finish cost him the series lead. Byron now trails Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott, a model of consistency this season, by 16 points. […]

A rash of ill fortune finally caught up with William Byron.
When he crashed out of last Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover Motor Speedway—through no fault of his own—the 31st-place finish cost him the series lead.
Byron now trails Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott, a model of consistency this season, by 16 points. Three-time winner Kyle Larson, another Hendrick teammate, is third in the standings, 38 points behind Elliott.
For his part, Byron relishes a battle that’s staged within the same shop.
“I think it’s great,” he said. “I think it’s a really good thing, because it’s elevating all of our programs and elevating the importance of this part of the season.
“It’s obviously always important, but when you have three of us going for it, it’s like, ‘OK, it’s going to take your best for the next five weeks.’ I look at it like it’s going to give you more of an idea of what the Playoffs are going to be like.”
Before the Dover race, Byron had held the series lead for 17 of 20 weeks, but only one finish better than 27th in the last five races has proven costly. That streak has been unlucky enough for Byron to acknowledge he might have been “snakebit.”
“You could definitely say that,” he acknowledged. “I try not to use the ‘luck’ word a lot, but if you look at Atlanta and Dover and how we got crashed, I mean we just got run over from behind. Like, I check up for the wreck, and not everyone does.
“So I guess in those two instances you could say that definitely we weren’t in control of those two results… It’s just part of the nature of the schedule and the way things play out.
“We’ve had top-five speed everywhere, but the results haven’t been there every week. Chicago was definitely on me in practice (a clutch issue), and Pocono was also on me in qualifying, and unfortunately those race results weren’t there. Then other things happened, but yeah, I think it’s still within reach—we’ve just got to do it.”
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