Pole positions typically don’t mean much in endurance racing. And while IMSA’s Detroit Grand Prix race is considered a sprint by the series’ and by definition short in length, it doesn’t guarantee that whoever leads the front of the field at the start, will lead it to the checkered flag. Today, though, the action in Detroit would serve up a fresh storyline.

It was an unexpectedly competitive field in Detroit Saturday as teams battled hard to gain those crucial podium and lead spots for both the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) and Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD Pro) classes. What felt to be even more unexpected, is that Friday’s pole winners, the #93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura (Nick Yelloly, Renger van der Zande) and #64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports (Sebastian Priaulx, Mike Rockenfeller), would be leading at the beginning and end of the race. And both put in a decent fight to get there.

#93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06: Renger Van Der Zande, Nick Yelloly

Photo by: Brett Farmer / Motorsport Images via Getty Images

Detroit’s narrow and bumpy course is not a welcoming place for passing, as was obvious within the first five minutes of Saturday’s race. The GTP and GTD Pro fields bumped and rubbed their way through the first narrow corners of the track, whether it was another manufacturer, or against their own teammates like the Paul Miller Racing BMWs. 

Only, the #4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports car would be the one to suffer any real consequences harboring damage to the left rear from contact and losing a taillight. The result? The first full-course yellow, just three minutes in.

Meanwhile, the #81 DragonSpeed Ferrari found itself sidelined a couple of times and pitted for repairs, while the #4 Corvette was also in for taillight repairs.

Porsche teams battled all race

The #7 Porsche Penske Motorsports, Porsche 963 GTP with Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy

Photo by: Lumen Digital Agency

What’s missing from the top of both the GTP and GTD Pro headlines is Porsche. First, does pink induce anger, because the #77 AO Racing Porsche — Roxy for Detroit — found itself in a couple of tiffs through Saturday’s competition starting with the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus. The Lexus bumped the #77 into the corner for a little spin, and earned itself a drive through penalty. Later in the race, just after the field returned to green for the second full-course caution, the #77 with Laurin Heinrich at the helm executed a beautiful pass around the #14. 

The #77’s fight didn’t end there, taking on the #4 Corvette for a spicy battle ending in the #4 hitting the #77, sending it for a spin. Heinrich, in the #77, responded with a hit to the #4 for its own spin before pulling away. Race control issued a warning to both cars, as well as drive-through penalties served post-race adding an additional 17 seconds to their finish times. 

And it was a far from perfect weekend for Porsche Penske Motorsport. The new BOP issued for the Detroit race to help alleviate what turned into a caution-free Monterey race, along with the winning streaks we’ve seen with teams like Porsche. But the BOP didn’t appear to slow the Penske team down as ‘Mr. 24’ Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr managed to take the #7 car that started P6 Saturday to the front and hold tight for the majority of the mid race. 

#64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3: Mike Rockenfeller, Sebastian Priaulx

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images via Getty Images

That lead saw its demise when Ricky Taylor in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac nudged his way around the #7 for the lead with just 15 minutes to go. Ricky, a previous winner in Detroit, was poised to take the win home for WTR when the #93 Acura and van der Zande took advantage of the Cadillac competitor’s weakness, finding the opportune window to earn the lead — aiming to keep it and the looming Porsche GTP cars behind for the overall and GTP class win. 

The #64 Ford survived its own battle against another major Detroit contender — the #3 Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette — slightly alleviated by the mixed GTP traffic, which helped it to earn its first-ever win in the series, the first win for Ford in the IMSA at (home in) Detroit, and the second win for Ford in the 2025 season. 

Overall carnage was minimal as the race was never red-flagged, and only minor pieces were found scattered on the track for the two cautions over the 100-minute race. The list of penalties for cars going into the runoffs or simply bumping, a lot, might paint a different picture. But for a race where there wasn’t a lot of action expected, everyone — fans, teams, and drivers alike — came out on the other side pleasantly surprised.

Now, for something completely different: bring on Le Mans.

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Nashville has always been a special place for Michael Waltrip.

From his victory in 2004 to watching his brother race as a kid, Waltrip’s memories in Nashville extend decades.

“I was here in 1975. Fifty years ago, believe it or not, when he won,” Waltrip said. “There’s a great picture of him on the car and his wife there and the crew, and there’s this little 12-year-old boy looking up at him.”

This weekend, NASCAR is back in Music City. Instead of with cars, Waltrip is at the bars.

The racing legend is teaming up with Austin Peay State University for a special Governor’s Golden Ale beer.

“I grew up in Owensboro, Kentucky, just up the road and they’re a part of the Ohio Valley Conference, and I watched them play a lot of the basketball games when I was a kid,” Waltrip recalled.

Waltrip has always been ahead of the pack and the partnership gives Austin Peay the chance to do the same.

“For us to be, around here anyway, the first ones to have something like this, that’s what we’re known for,” said Austin Peay President Dr. Michael Licari. “We want to be out there innovating, we want to be out there in front of everybody, and we want to make sure people understand the Govs are here.”

The beer is already sold at a handful of venues in Clarksville and Nashville.

Acura Snaps Porsche Win Streak in Detroit IMSA Thriller

Tense GTP Battle Goes to Acura Ahead of Cadillac; Ford Beats Corvette in GTD PRO

May 31, 2025

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Unofficial Results

DETROIT – A 100-minute Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic went through a litany of late-race twists and turns where any of three different manufacturers could have won the fifth race of the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

First Porsche appeared in control, then Cadillac charged to the front. But at the finish, the pendulum wound up swinging back to the Motul Pole Award-winning No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-06 for the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) and overall victory.

With just over three minutes remaining, Renger van der Zande made a bold move to the inside of Ricky Taylor’s No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R at the left-hand Turn 1, one of the narrowest corners on the 1.645-mile, nine-turn street circuit encircling the Renaissance Center.

It was the second bold pass for the lead in under 15 minutes, with Taylor having moved to the inside of previous leader Felipe Nasr, in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963, at another tight corner, the right-handed Turn 4.

Nasr lost momentum through losing the position on that move, which allowed a decisive van der Zande and the other Porsche of Mathieu Jaminet through for position.

Taylor had the lead ahead of van der Zande, Jaminet and Nasr. But as the GTP leaders cycled through Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class traffic, van der Zande appeared to carve through slightly better. Once he made the move, he extended the lead to 0.947 of a second by the end of the 84-lap race ahead of Taylor, with Jaminet third.

Van der Zande shared the winning car with Nick Yelloly, and in the process became the first GTP polesitters to win from pole since Meyer Shank Racing did so at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in 2023.

GTD PRO was only slightly less eventful for the class win, with the second Motul Pole Award-winning entry of the day also following through to win the race. Seb Priaulx and Mike Rockenfeller shared the No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3 en route to the win by 1.623 seconds over the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims.

There was quite a bit of action behind them as the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 finished third. Late-race contact between the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R and No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R put them back behind the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3, which started last, incurred two in-race penalties and still finished fourth.

IMSA Wire Service PR

LEBANON, Tenn. — Chase Briscoe collected his second consecutive pole and third of the season Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway.

Briscoe won the pole with a lap of 164.395 mph — a track record. His pole came a week after he was the fastest qualifier for the Coca-Cola 600. His other pole this season came in the Daytona 500. No other Cup driver has claimed as many poles this season.

“I definitely felt like I left a little bit on the table, but I felt like it was a smooth, clean lap and I felt like for sure it was going to be a top-five lap, but it was a surprise that it was as fast as it was,” said Briscoe, whose previous best start at Nashville was 16th in 2021. “It is nice to start on the pole two weeks in a row.”

Briscoe will be joined on the front row by Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin, who qualified with a lap of 164.119 mph.

Denny Hamlin’s fiancee is due to deliver the couple’s third child Sunday.

Points leader William Byron qualified third with a lap of 163.374 mph. Tyler Reddick (163.368 mph) will start fourth, giving Toyota three of the top four starting spots. Coca-Cola 600 winner Ross Chastain (163.357) will start a season-best fifth.

Brad Keselowski (162.985) will start a season-best sixth.

Kyle Larson (160.790) will start 28th, his worst qualifying spot since Phoenix in March 2019.

While A.J. Allmendinger hoped to carry the momentum from a fourth-place finish in the Coca-Cola 600 into Nashville, things are off to a difficult start for the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet. 

While sitting on pit road in preparation for practice, NASCAR officials demanded the car be brought back to the garage. A crew member working underneath the car caught the eye of officials who saw something they did not like. Officials suspected that the team had made unapproved adjustments to the car after pre-qualifying inspection.

AJ Allmendinger, Kaulig Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images

To make matters worse, the car failed on its first trip through the inspection after being brought back to the garage, confirming NASCAR’s suspicions. The team was scrambling to make the changes NASCAR wanted as practice rapidly approached.

They finally passed on the second attempt, but officials held the car for the first ten minutes of of the 25-minute Group B practice as a result. NASCAR could chose to issue additional penalties next week.

“It’s just a part of NASCAR life,” Allmendinger told on NASCAR on Prime. “NASCAR saw something they didn’t like when we were sitting there, we had to go back, (and) my guys did a good job. We got back through there…only lost 10 or 12 minutes of practice, and the way these practices work, you almost run out of tire anyway so it’s not like you gotta be out there for 25 minutes.”

The veteran driver entered this race 18th in the championship standings, just 13 points below the cut-line. Kaulig is winless through the first 13 races of the 2025 season with their best showing coming just last weekend with Allmendinger’s top five finish in the 600.