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Wayne Helliwell, Jr. Breaks Long Dry Spell With Claremont 125 Victory – Speedway Digest

A Sunday-night showdown between old friends and rivals ended with Wayne Helliwell, Jr. taking the checkers at Claremont Motorsports Park in the opening round of the Granite State Pro Stock Series’ fourteenth season. Helliwell slipped past Joey Polewarczyk with fifteen laps left, then outdueled the former series champion on a late restart to take his […]

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A Sunday-night showdown between old friends and rivals ended with Wayne Helliwell, Jr. taking the checkers at Claremont Motorsports Park in the opening round of the Granite State Pro Stock Series’ fourteenth season.

Helliwell slipped past Joey Polewarczyk with fifteen laps left, then outdueled the former series champion on a late restart to take his first GSPSS win in over a decade.

Sunday’s 125-lap tilt in New Hampshire’s Upper Valley jump-started a schedule that was put on hold a month ago, when rains washed out the planned season opener at Lee USA Speedway and soaked every weekend to follow.

Reigning GSPSS champion Casey Call led the field to its first green flag of the season, but Polewarczyk overpowered the young racer to take the early lead. Helliwell, from fourth on the grid, charged to second as Call slid back through the field. All-time GSPSS win leader D.J. Shaw clawed his way to third, but neither Shaw nor Helliwell had an immediate answer for “Joey Pole,” who asserted himself at the front of the pack.

Slower traffic helped Helliwell to close the gap on the 2020 GSPSS champion, and on lap 70, he found an opening on the inside. Helliwell poked his nose out front for a couple laps before Polewarczyk closed the door, taking charge once again.

Shaw began losing ground on the leaders before coming to a sudden stop with a flat tire, drawing the caution flag at lap 94. Polewarczyk shook free of Helliwell, but the Pelham, N.H. veteran stalked his rival, watching for another slip. Rookie Cole Robie, running third, closed in on the leaders in a bid to steal the glory.

At last, Helliwell dove under Polewarczyk on lap 109, pulling ahead a lap later as Robie pressured Polewarczyk for second.

Three laps later, Angelo Belsito spun running seventh, bringing out a caution flag with eleven laps on the scoreboard. Polewarczyk lined up alongside Helliwell for the restart, but Helliwell powered to the point before Polewarczyk could mount a challenge.

In the final run to the checkers, Helliwell gapped Polewarczyk by a second en route to his first GSPSS victory since 2014 and the third of his career.

Jeremy Sorel shook free of a pack of traffic to claim third, while Robie edged out veteran Mike Mitchell for fourth. Title hopefuls Evan Beaulieu and Call were sixth and eighth at the line.

In addition to ending a long personal dry spell, Helliwell’s win for long time car owner Bruce Bernhardt ended a two-year stranglehold by champion car owner Peter Petit, who swept the first two races of 2023 and 2024 with drivers Travis Benjamin and Joey Doiron.

The next race on the GSPSS calendar is on June 21 at Speedway 95 in Hermon, Maine. Details on the season’s first visit to the Pine Tree State will be released shortly.

For more information on the Granite State Pro Stock Series, visit www.gspss.net or find us on Facebook, X and Instagram.

Results, GSPSS Claremont 125:

1. (27NH) Wayne Helliwell, Jr.

2. (97NH) Joey Polewarczyk

3. (7) Jeremy Sorel

4. (29) Cole Robie

5. (40) Mike Mitchell

6. (56) Evan Beaulieu

7. (60) D.J. Shaw

8. (90NH) Casey Call

9. (7CT) Cory Casagrande

10. (81) Dan Winter

11. (8) Angelo Belsito

12. (32) Alex Quarterley

13. (77) Cam Curtis

14. (84) Jamie Wright

15. (62) Joe Kendall

16. (05) Bobby Frappier

17. (38) Danny Wear

GSPSS PR



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Toyota Is Leaving NHRA, But GR Supras Will Remain in Series in 2026

This past December, Toyota announced that it was leaving the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series at the end of the 2025 season. The Toyota GR Supra Funny Cars, however, will live on for at least another season in the Funny Car category, according to Chad Head, general manager at Kalitta Motorsports. “They’re obviously going […]

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This past December, Toyota announced that it was leaving the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series at the end of the 2025 season.

The Toyota GR Supra Funny Cars, however, will live on for at least another season in the Funny Car category, according to Chad Head, general manager at Kalitta Motorsports.

“They’re obviously going to leave the sport,” Head said. “We’re going to continue to run the Toyota body, and we’re going to continue to run the branding on the body in support of everything they’ve done for us over the years. We’re going to stay close and hopefully get them back someday.”

Toyota has been in NHRA since 2002 and have collected 20 championships and more than 200 victories. This year, Ron Capps (Ron Capps Motorsports) and J.R. Todd (Kalitta Motorsports) are driving the Toyota GR Supra full-time in the Funny Car category.

auto: jun 07 super grip nhra thunder valley nationals

J.R. Todd drives the GR Supra Funny Car for Kalitta Motorsports. Icon Sportswire – Getty Images

Despite the breakup, a relationship will continue.

“They’ve done so much for us,” Head said. “How they’re exiting and how they’re supporting us while they leave is unheard of. So we’re going to run the Toyota body next year. You’ve never seen people getting treated the way Toyota is treating them. It’s unheard of.”

The decision to keep the Toyota alive in Funny Car next year wasn’t just about a friendly tip of the hat to the manufacturer. There’s a bit of necessity in there, too. There’s also going to be a void.

“We’re losing support,” Head said. “We’re losing technical support. I think they’re still going to help us out where they can.”

Head added that there have been discussions with other manufacturers to replace Toyota.

“There are, but right now we’re sitting here in June and we’ve got a lot of Toyota Supras and we’re getting two more from them next year,” Head said. “Where we are right now, it’s best for our company to stay with Toyotas next year. We’ve got the data, we’ve got all the work we’ve put into them.

“That’s not to say that someday another manufacturer might not come along, but right now we’re going to stay with Toyota.”

Replacing the financial support that Toyota provides is another story.

“There’s a pretty good contingency program for when we win races, win championships,” Head said. “We’ve got to find some new partners.”



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NASCAR Channel, FloSports to Simulcast 7 Live EventsPerformance Racing Industry

NASCAR and FloSports will simulcast seven live events on the NASCAR Channel and FloRacing in 2025. Scheduled simulcast events: June 30 – Cookout Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway (INEX US Legend Cars) July 1 – Cookout Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway (INEX US Legend Cars) July 11 – ARCA Menards Series West General Tire 200 at Sonoma […]

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NASCAR and FloSports will simulcast seven live events on the NASCAR Channel and FloRacing in 2025.

Scheduled simulcast events:

  • June 30 – Cookout Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway (INEX US Legend Cars)
  • July 1 – Cookout Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway (INEX US Legend Cars)
  • July 11 – ARCA Menards Series West General Tire 200 at Sonoma Raceway
  • August 23 – Season Finale at Bowman Gray Stadium
  • September 27 – ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway
  • October 12 – NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park
  • December 5 – Snowball Derby Qualifying Day at Five Flags Speedway

 

The NASCAR Channel provides 24/7 programming and content to fans for free. It airs classic races, delayed broadcasts of this season’s races, select live coverage of races and events, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s The Morning Drive and NASCAR Studios original content and video podcasts. It is available on Tubi, Xumo Play, Samsung TV Plus and Prime Video. No subscription or registration is needed.



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IMSA star Jordan Taylor impresses during debut NASCAR Truck Series practice at Lime Rock Park

This weekend, IMSA star Jordan Taylor is making his NASCAR Truck Series debut at the wonderful Lime Rock Park. Taylor knows the track well from his sports car endeavors, but has never driven one of these trucks in the past. Of course, Jordan Taylor has raced in the Cup Series before. He took over the […]

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This weekend, IMSA star Jordan Taylor is making his NASCAR Truck Series debut at the wonderful Lime Rock Park. Taylor knows the track well from his sports car endeavors, but has never driven one of these trucks in the past.

Of course, Jordan Taylor has raced in the Cup Series before. He took over the No. 9 car for Chase Elliott while the NASCAR driver was injured in 2023. Taylor then made a couple of Xfinity Series starts with Kaulig Racing that season. This is his first NASCAR race since then.

Despite being new, Taylor got the hang of things quickly at Lime Rock. He was the fastest in practice.

“Yeah, I mean I knew I was going to have a good truck, you know, coming with Spire Motorsports, they’ve been up front all year,” Taylor said after practice. “So, I knew it was going to be down to me to kind of figure it out and learn it because the truck and equipment’s there. But yeah, getting up to speed was interesting, obviously, my first time in a truck. I know the track well, but the truck is obviously a different animal from what I’m used to here.

“It went well. We did a qual [qualifying] run to kind of get an idea for tomorrow, just because every little hundredth of a second I think around here is going to matter for track position, and I think it’s going to be tough to pass. So, the higher up we start the better chance we’re going to have for tomorrow. But yeah, happy with how we started, for sure.”

Wayne Taylor Racing is his usual team in IMSA. WTR is also owned by TWG Motorsports, which owns Spire Motorsports. There is an entire motorsports ecosystem now through TWG that touches IMSA, NASCAR, IndyCar, and soon, F1.

Jordan Taylor could very well win the Truck Series race. Lime Rock Park is a new track for many of these drivers. But he has tough competition in Corey Heim and maybe even another part-time driver.

Jordan Taylor, Brent Crews top practice at Lime Rock Park

Will it be the IMSA star, Jordan Taylor or the teenage phenom, Brent Crews? Crews, still not old enough to race on anything but road courses and ovals smaller than 1.25 miles in length, was second fastest in practice today at Lime Rock.

Crews is good enough to win any race. He is one of these new-school drivers that has and can drive and win in whatever you put him in. Dirt racing, stock cars, sports cars, it doesn’t matter. Crews was fastest in practice until Taylor ran his qualifying simulation. The two were separated by 0.081 seconds.

It won’t be until March 30 of next year that Crews is able to run all of the big tracks. The 17-year-old driver has been racing in Trans-Am, CARS Tour, ARCA, NASCAR, and sprint cars. Earlier this year, Crews won a Golden Driller at the Tulsa Shootout in Stock Non-Wing.

So, who will it be? Jordan Taylor, Brent Crews, or one of the Truck Series regulars like Corey Heim? Tomorrow we will find out at Lime Rock Park.



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NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400 at Atlanta

Joey Logano took the pole position for Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup Series event at EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta. Logano won the pole in a tiebreaker with Josh Berry, who turned the exact same lap time as Logano in the lightning-delayed session, which was shortened to one round. Logano’s pole-winning run was a 30.979-second (178.960 mph) […]

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Joey Logano took the pole position for Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup Series event at EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta. Logano won the pole in a tiebreaker with Josh Berry, who turned the exact same lap time as Logano in the lightning-delayed session, which was shortened to one round.

Logano’s pole-winning run was a 30.979-second (178.960 mph) lap time around the 1.54-mile speedway in Hampton, GA. Ryan Blaney will start third, while Austin Cindric and Ryan Preece rounded out the top-five qualifiers for the race.

Here is the official starting lineup for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway. Race 18 of 36.

Pos

Car

Driver

Lap time

Speed

1

22

Joey Logano

30.979

178.960

2

21

Josh Berry

30.979

178.960

3

12

Ryan Blaney

30.983

178.937

4

2

Austin Cindric

31.037

178.626

5

60

Ryan Preece

31.130

178.092

6

6

Brad Keselowski

31.153

177.960

7

41

Cole Custer

31.155

177.949

8

38

Zane Smith

31.160

177.920

9

48

Alex Bowman

31.203

177.675

10

19

Chase Briscoe

31.210

177.635

11

5

Kyle Larson

31.237

177.482

12

3

Austin Dillon

31.242

177.453

13

17

Chris Buescher

31.247

177.425

14

10

Ty Dillon

31.265

177.323

15

9

Chase Elliott

31.284

177.215

16

54

Ty Gibbs

31.298

177.136

17

34

Todd Gilliland

31.302

177.113

18

24

William Byron

31.310

177.068

19

42

John Hunter Nemechek

31.315

177.040

20

35

Riley Herbst #

31.315

177.040

21

16

AJ Allmendinger

31.329

176.961

22

7

Justin Haley

31.329

176.961

23

45

Tyler Reddick

31.331

176.949

24

23

Bubba Wallace

31.353

176.825

25

01

Corey LaJoie * (i)

31.356

176.808

26

43

Erik Jones

31.358

176.797

27

4

Noah Gragson

31.376

176.696

28

20

Christopher Bell

31.405

176.532

29

8

Kyle Busch

31.407

176.521

30

77

Carson Hocevar

31.409

176.510

31

99

Daniel Suarez

31.446

176.302

32

71

Michael McDowell

31.462

176.213

33

11

Denny Hamlin

31.463

176.207

34

1

Ross Chastain

31.484

176.089

35

88

Shane van Gisbergen #

31.485

176.084

36

87

Connor Zilisch * (i)

31.500

176.000

37

47

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

31.537

175.794

38

78

BJ McLeod * (i)

31.550

175.721

39

51

Cody Ware

31.564

175.643

40

66

David Starr * (i)

34.113

162.519

# indicates Rookie of the Year contender
* indicates “Open” entry
(i) indicates a driver ineligible to score points

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Who won NASCAR Xfinity Atlanta race? Winner is Nick Sanchez, plus full results

Nick Sanchez held off Carson Kvapil to win the lengthy Focused Health 250 on June 27 into the early morning hours of June 28 at EchoPark Speedway for his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series win. The driver of the No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet had to regain the lead after losing it on the […]

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Nick Sanchez held off Carson Kvapil to win the lengthy Focused Health 250 on June 27 into the early morning hours of June 28 at EchoPark Speedway for his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series win.

The driver of the No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet had to regain the lead after losing it on the final restart with less than 10 laps to go, weaving around Jesse Love for the top spot.

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Sanchez, in 14th in points coming into Atlanta, is now locked into the Xfinity Series playoffs and narrows the playoff bubble. Earlier in the race, Sanchez caused a caution in Stage 2 when he spun through the grass on the frontstretch.

The race was delayed by more than an hour with a lightning hold during Stage 1 after the start of the race was also delayed by nearby weather. A multi-car crash soon after the race restart involved Sheldon Creed, Justin Allgaier and others. Creed’s DNF continues a recent poor stretch and puts the driver of the No. 00 Haas Factory Team Ford on the cusp of missing the playoffs.

Five-time Atlanta winner Austin Hill lost several laps to repair a fuel pickup issue and finished 26th, five laps down.

Here are the full results for Friday’s race:

Who won the NASCAR Xfinity Atlanta race? Winner, race results for the Focused Health 250

Unofficial results from the NASCAR Xfinity Series race on June 27, 2025 at EchoPark Speedway.

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  1. Nick Sanchez, No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet

  2. Carson Kvapil, No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet

  3. Sam Mayer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford

  4. Connor Zilisch, No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet

  5. Taylor Gray, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

  6. Jesse Love, No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

  7. Aric Almirola, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

  8. Daniel Dye, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet

  9. Kyle Sieg, No. 28 RSS Racing Ford

  10. Jeremy Clements, No. 51 Jeremy Clements Racing Chevrolet

  11. Dean Thompson, No. 26 Sam Hunt Racing Toyota

  12. Leland Honeyman, No. 70 Cope Family Racing Chevrolet

  13. Harrison Burton, No. 25 AM Racing Ford

  14. Brandon Jones, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

  15. Matt DiBenedetto, No. 99 Viking Motorsports Chevrolet

  16. Jeb Burton, No. 27 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet

  17. Brennan Poole, No. 44 Alpha Prime Racing Chevrolet

  18. Joey Gase, No. 35 Joey Gase Motorsports Ford

  19. Christian Eckes, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet

  20. Mason Massey, No. 45 Alpha Prime Racing Chevrolet

  21. Ryan Ellis, No. 71 DGM Racing Chevrolet

  22. Blaine Perkins, No. 31 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet

  23. Garrett Smithley, No. 14 SS Green Light Racing Chevrolet

  24. Nick Leitz, No. 07 SS Green Light Racing Ford

  25. Kris Wright, No. 5 Our Motorsports Chevrolet

  26. Austin Hill, No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

  27. Mason Maggio, No. 53 Joey Gase Motorsports Chevrolet

  28. CJ McLaughlin, No. 91 DGM Racing Chevrolet

  29. Anthony Alfredo, No. 42 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet

  30. Ryan Sieg, No. 39 RSS Racing Ford

  31. Justin Allgaier, No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet

  32. Sheldon Creed, No. 00 Haas Factory Team Ford

  33. Sammy Smith, No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet

  34. Katherine Legge, No. 32 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet

  35. Patrick Staropoli, No. 24 Sam Hunt Racing Toyota

  36. William Sawalich, No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

  37. Parker Retzlaff, No. 4 Alpha Prime Racing Chevrolet

  38. Josh Williams, No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: NASCAR Xfinity results at Atlanta: Nick Sanchez is winner Friday



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NASCAR resumes Atlanta Xfinity race after 80 minute lightning delay

NASCAR had to wait over an hour due to lightning in the area before they were able tor resume Friday night’s Xfinity Series race at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta). The track remained dry, but the nearby lightning made it unsafe for the fans and competitors to continue with the event. However, after red-flagging the race at […]

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NASCAR had to wait over an hour due to lightning in the area before they were able tor resume Friday night’s Xfinity Series race at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta). The track remained dry, but the nearby lightning made it unsafe for the fans and competitors to continue with the event.

However, after red-flagging the race at 9:02pm EST, cars rolled back out on track at 10:25pm EST to continue the race. 

Here’s a brief rundown of the event before the lengthy stoppage:

Sheldon Creed led the NASCAR Xfinity Series field to the green flag at Atlanta in a race that started later than scheduled due to lightning in the area. But once the race got underway, it didn’t take long for the first incident of the night.

Within the first five laps, the caution flag was out as Blaine Perkins spun around following contact from Christian Eckes. Parker Retzlaff, William Sawalich, and Josh Williams were all collected as well and sustained noticeable damage. 

Multi-car crash

Multi-car crash

Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images

The race resumed a few laps later with Creed still in control. Austin Hill, who has won five of the last six races, was the clear favorite entering the race. However, the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet abruptly fell through the pack. He reported a fuel pressure issue and was eventually forced onto pit road under green-flag conditions.

While Hill fell multiple laps down, NASCAR threw the caution on Lap 34 of the 45-lap opening stage. The reason was inclement weather and due to a lightning strike within eight miles of the track, they were forced to halt the race. 

The field rolled down pit road and the race was red-flagged with Creed still in command. Connor Zilisch, who earned his first oval win one week ago at Pocono, was in second. Sam Mayer, Jesse Love, and Taylor Gray rounded out the top five. Ryan Sieg, Aric Almirola, Nick Sanchez, Justin Allgaier, and Leland Honeyman filled out the remainder of the top ten.

While the field split on strategy once the race went back to yellow-flag conditions, some chose to stay out for a five-lap sprint to the end of the stage. Unfortunately, a massive wreck immediately ensued, taking out several cars.

Photos from Atlanta II – Race

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NASCAR XFINITY

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