Motorsports
Ultrasonic LLC Joins Elite Motorsports as Newest Partner
Elite Motorsports has announced a new partnership with UltraSonic LLC, a leader in high performance precision parts cleaning. UltraSonic LLC will support Elite Motorsports with precision cleaning services throughout the 2025 racing season, ensuring every component meets the highest standards of performance and reliability. “We’re excited to bring on UltraSonic as a partner here at Elite […]

Elite Motorsports has announced a new partnership with UltraSonic LLC, a leader in high performance precision parts cleaning. UltraSonic LLC will support Elite Motorsports with precision cleaning services throughout the 2025 racing season, ensuring every component meets the highest standards of performance and reliability.
“We’re excited to bring on UltraSonic as a partner here at Elite Motorsports,” said Richard Freeman, owner of Elite Motorsports. “Having our equipment clean and race ready is important. UltraSonic helps to get rid of debris that even brake clean or thorough washing would miss.”
UltraSonic’s advanced ultrasonic cleaners feature industry-leading side-mounted transducers that deliver uniform, high-efficiency cleaning from top to bottom, eliminating debris even in blind holes, recesses, and complex geometries that conventional methods like manual washing, sprays, and solvents often miss.
“Our machines clean where you can’t touch, see, or feel,” said Phil Esz, UltraSonic LLC President. “Even parts pre‑cleaned with brake cleaners still reveal contaminants after running through our ultrasonic systems. In racing, where parts operate under extreme RPMs, only flawlessly cleaned components deliver the reliability and performance that teams demand. Elite Motorsports demands perfection; we deliver it.”
UltraSonic LLC’s logo will be featured across the Elite Motorsports Pro Stock camp beginning at this weekend’s Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.
This story was originally published on June 25, 2025.
Motorsports
SVG claims NASCAR Xfinity pole at Sonoma
SONOMA, Calif. — Shane van Gisbergen claimed the pole for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race Saturday at Sonoma Raceway. Photo: Sophia LaRiche/TRE Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images SVG and Connor Zilisch will start a rematch of their Chicago finish in 1-2. SVG averaged 95.191 mph in his lap around the 1.99-mile road course. Zilisch ran […]

SONOMA, Calif. — Shane van Gisbergen claimed the pole for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race Saturday at Sonoma Raceway.


SVG and Connor Zilisch will start a rematch of their Chicago finish in 1-2. SVG averaged 95.191 mph in his lap around the 1.99-mile road course. Zilisch ran a lap averaging 94.884 mph, just missing out on the pole.
Zilisch paced practice with a lap averaging 95.176 MPH.
Shane van Gisbergen, Connor Zilisch, Sam Mayer, Jesse Love, William Sawalich, Sammy Smith, Carson Kvapil, Brandon Jones, Sheldon Creed and Justin Allgaier are the top 10 starters. Taylor Gray qualified 11th but will reportedly go to the rear of the field.
Notable qualifiers:
- Blaine Perkins: 12th
- Anthony Alfredo: 13th
- Corey Day: 14th
- Alex Labbe: 20th
- Connor Mosack: 22nd
NASCAR Xfinity Series at Sonoma Lineup
- Shane van Gisbergen
- Connor Zilisch
- Sam Mayer
- Jesse Love
- William Sawalich
- Sammy Smith
- Carson Kvapil
- Brandon Jones
- Sheldon Creed
- Justin Allgaier
- Taylor Gray
- Blaine Perkins
- Anthony Alfredo
- Corey Day
- Riley Herbst
- Austin Hill
- Jeb Burton
- Josh Williams
- Harrison Burton
- Alex Labbe
- Christian Eckes
- Connor Mosack
- Nick Sanchez
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Josh Bilicki
- Sage Karam
- Ryan Ellis
- Kris Wright
- Ryan Sieg
- Jeremy Clements
- Daniel Dye
- Brennan Poole
- Austin Green
- Parker Retzlaff
- Dean Thompson
- Will Rodgers
- Kyle Sieg
- Brad Perez
DNQ: Austin J. Hill
More NASCAR and motorsports news from the racing experts
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Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick’s final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen’s stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers’ stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com
Motorsports
How Shane van Gisbergen has quickly become NASCAR’s best road racer
CHICAGO — In the two short years since New Zealand’s Shane van Gisbergen burst onto the NASCAR scene with a stunning victory in his debut, the questions around stock car racing have shifted from “Who is this guy?” to “Is he NASCAR’s best road racer ever?” Both questions are valid, given how quickly and decisively […]

CHICAGO — In the two short years since New Zealand’s Shane van Gisbergen burst onto the NASCAR scene with a stunning victory in his debut, the questions around stock car racing have shifted from “Who is this guy?” to “Is he NASCAR’s best road racer ever?”
Both questions are valid, given how quickly and decisively the driver known by his initials has established himself as the one to beat on non-ovals — especially in a parity-filled era for the NASCAR Cup Series in which every car has the same basic construction and parts.
“Has there been someone with this big of an advantage on road courses …? I don’t think so,” three-time Daytona winner Denny Hamlin said on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast on Monday. “You certainly would think SVG, relative to the field, has got a bigger gap than anybody in history.”
To Hamlin’s point: The analytics service NASCAR Insights noted this week van Gisbergen’s average running position on road and street courses this season is 3.34 — and the next closest is 10.09 (Christopher Bell).
Similarly, van Gisbergen won the pole position at Chicago last week by 0.47 seconds — a gap so significant, it was larger than the margin from second to eighth on the starting grid. He then won the race and is the heavy favorite again this Sunday when NASCAR visits another road course in Sonoma, Calif.
So how the heck is he doing this in an era of equal cars and the most talented overall group of road racers NASCAR has seen? Let’s take a look at some of the key factors.
An ideal background
NASCAR drivers are traditionally from an oval-racing background, which requires a much different skill set. In the broadest terms, oval racing is about putting a car right on the edge of spinning out while floating it through the corner and competing in close proximity to other drivers. Road-course racing is much more about hard-charging precision as the field gets spread out, which can feel more about racing against the track than the other drivers at times.
That has always opened the door for “road-course ringers” to enter NASCAR non-oval races and have a good showing, but few have ever adapted as quickly as van Gisbergen. Former Indianapolis 500 winner and seven-time Formula One race winner Juan Pablo Montoya, for example, came to NASCAR to compete full-time in the Cup Series for seven seasons and won two of his 14 road-course starts (14 percent); van Gisbergen’s win rate on those tracks is currently at 33 percent (three of nine), which has already made him the winningest foreign-born driver in NASCAR history.
Similarly, other open-wheel drivers like Montoya have been very respectable but not remarkable. In recent years, former F1 world champions Kimi Räikkönen and Jenson Button have made Cup starts on road courses; in five combined starts, they have a best finish of 18th (Button at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas in 2023).

Shane van Gisbergen also won the Cup Series race in Mexico City last month. In total, he has won three of his nine career road races in NASCAR’s top circuit. (Chris Graythen / Getty Images)
What gives van Gisbergen an edge, even over an F1 or IndyCar driver who enters a NASCAR road race, may be his background in Australia’s Supercars series. While those vehicles are touring cars and not stock cars, they are somewhat cousins of NASCAR’s current model Cup Series car (the “Next Gen” or “Gen 7” car).
Last year, van Gisbergen told The Athletic that while the Next Gen car is “way different” than a Supercar, “it’s still more relevant than most of the stock cars here,” which he said “drive like a forklift, where the rear end is doing the steering.” Except that type of driving is exactly what longtime NASCAR drivers are used to and more comfortable with — as opposed to the four-year-old Next Gen car, which shares characteristics with an IMSA sports car designed for road racing.
“The Cup car (now) is relative to pretty much every other race car in the world,” van Gisbergen said. “It just feels like a normal car. You’re like, ‘OK, I can push on and be comfortable with this, get a feel.’”
A unique technique
When van Gisbergen won the inaugural NASCAR Chicago Street Course race in 2023 in what was supposed to be a one-off start, the shocking victory captured the world’s attention. Over in Europe, van Gisbergen’s friend and sim racing teammate Max Verstappen — the four-time Formula One world champion — was up late watching and was “literally screaming in front of my monitor for him to win that,” according to The Race.
Verstappen called van Gisbergen “a crazy right-foot braker,” a reference to the so-called “heel-toe” footwork technique in which a driver uses the same foot to both hit the gas (on the far right, as in a street car) and the brake. But most race car drivers use their left foot to brake instead of placing it on the clutch pedal to help brake into the corners, as van Gisbergen and his Supercars colleagues in Australia do.
“It’s quite insane that he’s that fast with that technique,” Verstappen said. “… I mean, I can’t do it. But he grew up like that.”
Essentially, using heel-toe helps the car slow and turn more efficiently on a road course. After van Gisbergen’s 2023 victory, former NASCAR and open-wheel racer Max Papis posted on X that “NO (left foot) braker will ever be able to control rear stability on hot (tires) or slick damp track better than (right foot) plus clutch usage.”
Take a look at @shanevg97’s footwork racing around the #NASCARChicago street course.
Van Gisbergen is a three-time @supercars champion.
pic.twitter.com/KLPvbJLqrk
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 1, 2023
Since then, NASCAR drivers have considered trying the heel-toe technique after van Gisbergen showed its effectiveness, but none have implemented it due to what is believed to be a steep learning curve.
“Everybody is just like, ‘Well, just learn what he does. Do what he does,’” 2023 NASCAR champion Ryan Blaney said last month on the “Door Bumper Clear” podcast. “I’m like, ‘It would take me 10 years to get halfway to what Shane can do with right-foot (braking). I might be done racing by the time I figure that out halfway of how good he is.”
Still, it’s unlikely heel-toe accounts for all of van Gisbergen’s road-racing speed, and it’s a bit of a cop-out to suggest that’s the reason he’s so good. In reality, van Gisbergen happens to just be an exceptionally adaptable driver, as evidenced by his ability to switch sides of the car and shift with different hands. After all, Supercars drivers sit on the right side of the car and shift with their left hand, the opposite of NASCAR cars.
Pump the brakes
All of that said, van Gisbergen poses no threat for the NASCAR championship — nor will he be winning a race on an oval anytime soon. His average finish is outside the top 25 on every type of NASCAR oval (superspeedway, intermediate and short track). And before winning on the Mexico City road course last month, van Gisbergen’s rookie season was off to a rough start; he was 33rd in the point standings in a series with 36 full-time drivers.
That underscores how difficult it is, even for someone of the 36-year-old van Gisbergen’s talent level, to compete with NASCAR’s best on the type of tracks most have driven since childhood. Aside from some dirt oval races, van Gisbergen had no pavement oval experience until Aug. 2023.
So why would his team, Trackhouse Racing, hire a full-time driver who currently can only win on one type of circuit? Because of NASCAR’s playoff structure.
NASCAR has a “win and in” championship system, where any driver with a victory in the first 26 races (the “regular season”) will qualify for the 16-driver field to compete for the Cup Series title. So even though van Gisbergen was 33rd before Mexico, he immediately leaped half of the drivers in the standings to lock himself into the playoffs.
And while van Gisbergen won’t win the title (there are nine ovals in the 10-race playoffs), NASCAR’s franchise-like “charter” payouts are determined by their average finish in the standings over a three-year period. So by qualifying into the playoffs, van Gisbergen essentially paid for Trackhouse’s investment in him — and he appears poised to be an annual playoff participant as long as the system remains the same.
At the same time, his road-course success is buying patience with Trackhouse for his oval development. Indeed, van Gisbergen has shown progress while getting three top-20 finishes in his last five oval starts after starting the season with only one top-20 in his first 10 ovals.
“We wouldn’t be doing this if we thought we could go win road courses and know we’re not going to run that good on the ovals because he’s never done it before,” Trackhouse owner Justin Marks said. “At this level of the game, you have to be a complete package. For his level of intelligence and how he studies and adapts and learns, there’s a real opportunity here for him to figure the ovals out and be a complete Cup driver.
“We’ve got somebody who is talented that we can make a Cup driver out of. And while he learns in the meantime, we can win a ton of road courses and punch that ticket to the playoffs and give our sponsors a ton of return for their investment.”
(Top photo of Shane van Gisbergen taking the checkered flag Sunday at the Chicago Street Race: James Gilbert / Getty Images)
Motorsports
BangShift.com FREE LIVE DRAG RACING: NHRA Division 2 Divisional Lucas Oil Sportsman Drag Racing At South Georgia Motorsports Park – Friday
We’ve got live drag racing coming to you from Division 2! It’s Lucas Oil Drag Racing at it’s finest and every pair that goes down the race track is right here live. If you like Sportsman Drag Racing, where wheels-up action is the norm, then this is the racing for you. We’re talking Stock, Super […]

We’ve got live drag racing coming to you from Division 2! It’s Lucas Oil Drag Racing at it’s finest and every pair that goes down the race track is right here live. If you like Sportsman Drag Racing, where wheels-up action is the norm, then this is the racing for you. We’re talking Stock, Super Stock, Comp, Alcohol classes, and more right here from South Georgia Motorsports Park.
Motorsports
RB’s new boss faces uphill battle to keep Verstappen’s hopes alive
Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko vowed to keep fighting for the Formula One title as long as it remains mathematically possible for Max Verstappen, despite Christian Horner’s recent dismissal as team principal. Following Horner’s 20-year tenure and the appointment of Laurent Mekies, Marko quickly shut down speculation that the team is already shifting focus […]

Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko vowed to keep fighting for the Formula One title as long as it remains mathematically possible for Max Verstappen, despite Christian Horner’s recent dismissal as team principal.
Following Horner’s 20-year tenure and the appointment of Laurent Mekies, Marko quickly shut down speculation that the team is already shifting focus to 2026.
“With 12 races left, we will continue to push for the drivers’ championship as long as it’s mathematically within reach,” Marko said in a statement.
This comes after Verstappen, currently third and 69 points behind the leader, appeared pessimistic about his title defense. Just last month, Marko told Austrian TV the team might have to “write off” the championship if performance didn’t improve.
There was no mention Thursday of the constructors’ standings, where Red Bull is far adrift of McLaren.
Turning around a disappointing season is just one of many urgent demands facing Mekies on his first full day as Red Bull’s new team principal.
The defending champion last week refused to commit to staying with Red Bull for 2026, even while Horner claimed Verstappen’s “intention is that he will be there.”
It likely will become clearer in the coming weeks whether Horner’s departure has made Verstappen more willing to stay.
If Verstappen leaves, it would likely be for rival Mercedes. Losing its star driver relatively late in 2025 could hamper Red Bull’s development work for next year, and few experienced options are available.
The two sides of the Red Bull garage seem like different teams.
Verstappen has scored 165 of Red Bull’s 172 points this year despite frequent complaints about the car.
For anyone else, it seems undriveable.
The last Red Bull podium for a driver other than Verstappen was in April 2024. The last win came in April 2023.
Last week, Horner said Verstappen’s teammate Yuki Tsunoda would be given the rest of the season to show what he can do. Whatever happens, Mekies has to choose who will fill that seat for 2026.
One option is Isack Hadjar, the impressive rookie at Red Bull’s junior team, Red Bull Racing Bulls. However, Mekies was at Racing Bulls when Liam Lawson was first promoted, then sent back down with shattered confidence.
Getting the best out of Red Bull means dealing with its internal politics.
In his previous role with Racing Bulls, Mekies worked with 82-year-old Marko, who is employed by Red Bull’s parent company and oversees both of its F1 teams. The Austrian is influential, but his authority and position are vaguely defined.
Another influential figure who isn’t a team employee is Jos Verstappen. The star driver’s father is a regular presence in the paddock and wasn’t afraid to criticize Horner in public.
Since Red Bull co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz’s death in 2022, the parent company’s shareholders in Thailand have shaped the team’s direction. They’re rarely seen at races and avoid commenting publicly.
The most sweeping changes to F1 cars in a generation could reshape the sport.
Red Bull aced the last big regulation change in 2022 with a car designed by Adrian Newey. He left last year for Aston Martin, an ambitious team that has been planning for this moment for years. It’s just one of several rivals with their eyes on Red Bull’s place as a title challenger.
Mekies will need to quickly grasp Red Bull’s plans for 2026 and a major expansion of its in-house engine production program, which includes Ford returning to F1 next year as Red Bull’s partner.
Motorsports
Edmonton NAPA 300 Weekend Format – Speedway Digest
QUALIFYING FORMAT:Two consecutive qualifying laps.STARTING LINEUP PROCEDURES:Starting Positions 1st through 11th will be determined from qualifying.12th and 13th have been established for up to two additional starting positions which will be available to the highest ranking of the Top 30 car owners in the current 2025 NASCAR Canada Series Championship car owner point standings who […]

QUALIFYING FORMAT:Two consecutive qualifying laps.STARTING LINEUP PROCEDURES:Starting Positions 1st through 11th will be determined from qualifying.12th and 13th have been established for up to two additional starting positions which will be available to the highest ranking of the Top 30 car owners in the current 2025 NASCAR Canada Series Championship car owner point standings who has not qualified for one of the original 11 starting positions14th and 15th have been established for up to two additional starting positions which will be available to the highest ranking of the Top 30 drivers in the current 2025 NASCAR Canada Series Championship driver point standings who has not qualified for one of the original 11 starting positions16th has been established for up to one additional starting position which will be available to any past NASCAR Canada Series Champion driver who participated as a driver in the 2024 NASCAR Canada Series and who did not qualify for one of the original 11 starting positionsRACE PROCEDURE:The NAPA 300 will use a Modified Live Pit Stop Procedure. When pitting, cars will not lose their position relative to the other car(s) they pit with, unless losing a lap in the pits. Cars that pit will restart behind the car(s) that remain on the racetrack. TIRE ALLOTMENT:The maximum tire allotment available for this event is as follows: One (1) tire for practice, four (4) tires for qualifying and to begin the race and four (4) additional tires for use during the race for a total of nine (9) tires. If this is your first event o an oval, the maximum tire allotment available is as follows: Four (4) tires from practice, four (4) tires for qualifying and to begin the race and four (4) additional tires for use during the race for a total of twelve (12) tires. *If purchasing additional tires for the race, there is a maximum of two (2) left and two (2) right side tires allowed.
RACE: |
NAPA 300 |
PLACE: |
EDMONTON INT’L RACEWAY |
DATE: |
SATURDAY, JULY 12, 2025 |
TIME: |
7:45 PM MT LOCAL / 9:45 PM ET |
TELEVISION: |
CANADA: REVTV | US: REVTV YOUTUBE (LIVE) |
TRACK LAYOUT: |
0.25-MILE OVAL |
LAPS / MILES: |
300 LAPS / 75 MILES |
BREAKS: |
NO BREAK |
2024 WINNER: |
KEVIN LACROIX |
2024 POLE: |
KEVIN LACROIX |
EVENT SCHEDULE: |
SATURDAY (MT – -2HRS FROM EST): 12:35 – 1:45P: NCaS FINAL PRACTICE; 4:50P: NCaS QUALIFYING (SINGLE CAR); 7:45P: NCaS RACE |
TWITTER: |
@NASCARCanada_ |
EVENT HASHTAGS: |
#NASCARCanada |
Motorsports
NASCAR lawsuit: 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports seeking preliminary injunction to keep charters
In response to the appeals court decision this week, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are making another move in the NASCAR lawsuit. The teams intend to file a motion for a temporary restraining order and a new preliminary injunction in order to save their charter status. However, they have asked the courts to keep […]

In response to the appeals court decision this week, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are making another move in the NASCAR lawsuit. The teams intend to file a motion for a temporary restraining order and a new preliminary injunction in order to save their charter status. However, they have asked the courts to keep certain documents confidential.
The U.S. Court of Appeals vacated the preliminary injunctions from last December. That puts 23XI and Front Row at risk of losing their charters for all six of their Cup Series teams.
This NASCAR lawsuit has continued to be a back-and-forth between the two sides. Losing charters for the rest of the season would be a major hit to 23XI and FRM monetarily.
In today’s filing, the teams are asking the District Court to “file certain materials under seal.” The teams are submitting more evidence to support their case that they require charter status for this season in order to avoid “irreparable harm.”
As part of the filing, certain documents will be redacted from the public’s view. However, a redacted version of the motion for the restraining order and preliminary injunction will be made available for the public. The redacted documents include business information, confidential communications, as well as “documents relating to sponsors, drivers, and other partners and contracts…”
Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports reports that he believes this injunction will be to keep their charters. The U.S. Court of Appeals denied 23XI and FRM’s motion for a hearing in front of the full seven-judge panel. So, it appears they have gone back to the drawing board with a tight deadline to do so. The charters will be taken away the week of the Dover race. That is, without further intervention.
NASCAR lawsuit: Teams attempting to keep charter status
When Judge Niemeyer of the U.S. Court of Appeals struck down the District Court’s injunctions from December, he called into question the claim that 23XI and FRM had made in order to receive the injunctions. In other words, he felt they lacked evidence for what they were claiming.
In early June, Niemeyer ruled: “In entering a preliminary injunctionin this case, the district court held that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits of their antitrust action against the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR), and it’s CEO, James France, because NASCAR, as an alleged monopolist, required the plaintiffs, as a condition of doing business with them, to enter into a release for past conduct. Because that theory of antitrust law is not supported by any case of which we are aware, we conclude that it was not a likely basis for success on the merits and vacate the injunction.”
23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports have had their fair share of wins in this lawsuit against NASCAR. However, losing charter status would be a big loss. Both sides seem intent on going to trial in December. So, we will be along for the ride until then.
The results of this lawsuit could change the sport. Whatever that looks like remains to be seen. And there are a lot of people not involved in the lawsuit who will be impacted.
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