INDYCAR has confirmed the establishment of a charter system across the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. In total, owners of 10 teams have accepted charters for 25 entries competing in North America’s premier open-wheel racing series, beginning immediately.
“This is an important development that demonstrates an aligned and optimistic vision for the future of our sport,” Penske Entertainment Corp. President and CEO Mark Miles said. “I want to extend my sincere appreciation to our team owners for their collaboration and ideation throughout this process. Ultimately, we’re pleased to have a system in place that provides greater value for our ownership and the entries they field.”
This is the first charter system to be introduced in the history of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. A chartered entry is guaranteed a starting position on the grid at all NTT INDYCAR SERIES races, excluding the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. An entry also must be chartered to qualify for the annual NTT INDYCAR SERIES Leaders Circle program – an annual award program that compensates the 22 top finishers in the prior year’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship. The terms of the initial, long-term charter agreements are committed through the end of 2031.
Chartered 2025 INDYCAR Teams
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Team Entries
A.J. Foyt Enterprises 2
Andretti Global 3
Arrow McLaren 3
Chip Ganassi Racing 3
Dale Coyne Racing 2
Ed Carpenter Racing 2
Juncos Hollinger Racing 2
Meyer Shank Racing 2
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 3
Team Penske 3
Charters were extended to team owners based on full-time entries over the previous two seasons, with a maximum of three awarded per team.
—The next edition of the biggest sprint car race in the East comes to Williams Grove Speedway when the 62nd annual Weis Markets National Open presented by Safe Fruit is slated for Friday and Saturday, October 4 and 5.
Sanctioned by the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars Series, the two-day affair will find all eyes focused on the Mechanicsburg oval and marked increases in the two-day purses.
Slated for October 4, the Weis Markets National Open presented by Sage Fruit Preliminary will feature a 25-lap main paying $12,000 to the winner on Friday night with $1,200 on the table just to make the show out of a total purse worth $60,500.
Then on Saturday, October 5, the 2024 40-lap Champion Weis Markets National Open presented by Sage Fruit will continue the tradition of posting the biggest winner’s share in the history of the oval at $75,000 to take the win.
Saturday’s full purse is worth nearly $192,000 in total including a cool $2,500 just to start.
Second place on Saturday will be worth $30,000 with third paying $15,000, fourth set at $10,000 and fifth coming in at $7,500.
The first non-transfers from the B Main in both nights of Open action will leave the track with $800 for their efforts.
The Weis Markets National Open presented by Safe Fruit will see the 2024 Williams Grove Speedway Lawrence Chevrolet 410 sprint car series champion crowned at the conclusion of Saturday’s main event.
Brent Marks is the defending champion of the prestigious Weis Markets National Open presented by Sage Fruit.
Brad Sweet won the opening night race in 2023.
Adult general admission for October 4 is set at $40 with youth ages 13 - 20 priced at $20. Adult admission for October 5 is $50 with youth priced at $20.
Kids ages 12 and under are always admitted for FREE at Williams Grove Speedway.
Both nights of action are slated to get underway at 7:30 pm.
Fireworks will be part of the program each night.
The 40-lap Open finale carries a raindate of October 6.
RacingJunk.com is the Official Classifieds for Williams Grove Speedway.
GEICO will end its premier partnership with NASCAR after this season, marking the first time the racing circuit will lose one of the top-tier partners from the system it started in 2020. The Berkshire Hathaway-owned insurer has been involved in the sport since at least 2009, and it became the official insurance of NASCAR in 2019 before stepping up to the premier partner level in 2020. That year, NASCAR began using an IOC- or NCAA-like sponsor model for its Cup Series instead of the single title sponsor model it had employed since 1971.
The current spend of GEICO is unclear but the company was paying NASCAR low seven figures annually for the official insurance category rights in 2019, so it’s costs are likely at least at that level now. The company also formerly had a full-season team deal with now-defunct Germain Racing that ended after 2020 and it dropped a title sponsorship of a Monster Energy Supercross team that year. Since then, the company has gone through several major changes in its marketing department, including bringing on Damon Burrell as CMO and making changes with the external agencies it uses.
NASCAR confirmed Geico’s decision to end the premier partnership after this season, telling SBJ in a statement: “The partnership between NASCAR and GEICO has demonstrated the immense value and weekly excitement that two consumer-driven brands can create, and we are proud of the extraordinary brand value, exposure and growth opportunities we’ve built together.”
Kyle Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion, who recently compared his skills to triple F1 World Champion Max Verstappen, could get behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car himself in the near-future.
Speaking on [Kevin] Harvick’s ‘Happy Hour’ podcast on Fox Sports, Zak Brown revealed that “we’ve been chatting about it. Kyle, as you can imagine, definitely wants to do it in-between our schedule, which goes from February to December, and NASCAR’s schedule, which is February to November. Finding that window — we did that with Jimmie Johnson and Fernando [Alonso] in Bahrain with Hendrick Motorsports. That must have been about four, five years ago and that was a lot of fun. I’d love to see Kyle in an F1 car. It is something that we’ve discussed and something I think will happen down the road.”
GRANDVIEW SPEEDWAY offers their final racing event of the season on Friday, October 18 - Outlaw Racing Series Enduro, Outlaw Racing Series Vintage, Slingshots, Xcel 600 Modifieds – 6 pm (Halloween party prior to races)
Rules and entry forms for racers planning to compete in the 2025 Indoor Auto Racing “Concrete” Series are now available on the series website: www.indoorautoracing.com.
The Concrete Series will feature TQ Midgets, Champ Karts, and Slingshots in Ironton Global-sponsored events at the PPL Center in Allentown, PA, on January 3rd and 4th. The Dirt 600 Sprints will also join these classes at Atlantic City’s historic Boardwalk Hall for the 23rd Annual NAPA Auto Parts Weekend on January 31st and February 1st, 2025.
Details regarding rules and entry forms for the 600 Sprints racing on a clay surface during the East Coast Indoor Dirt Nationals at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton, NJ, on February 21st and 22nd will be released at a later date.
Significant incentives and rule changes have been implemented for the 600 Sprint division in Atlantic City. To attract more racers, Len Sammons Productions will guarantee the Atlantic City 600cc Sprint winner an 11th starting spot in the East Coast Indoor Dirt Nationals A-Main event, scheduled for Saturday, February 22, at CURE Insurance Arena.
“We want the 600 Sprint division to thrive in Atlantic City,” said Len Sammons. “By offering the guaranteed 11th starting spot in Trenton, we hope to draw the attention of dirt competitors. Once they give Atlantic City a try, we believe they’ll love it. We are also working on additional bonuses and incentives to connect the two events.”
Rules for the 600 Sprints have been modified to encourage a larger turnout from competitors who typically race on dirt surfaces.
“Since our inaugural year in Atlantic City in 2003, the 600cc Micro Sprints have played a vital role in the event’s success, competing head-to-head with the TQ Midgets,” Sammons noted. “Many drivers, including Mike Dicely, Anthony Sesely, Tim McCreadie, Rick Eckert, Rob Vivona, and Kyle Lick, have found great success with 600 Micro Sprints adapted for indoor racing.”
To honor the series’ roots, the 2025 rules for the 600cc Sprint division have been relaxed to promote competition and creativity. Key changes include allowing any readily available “dirt” Hoosier Tire and eliminating seat, dash, and offset rules.
Tickets for the Indoor Auto Racing events in Atlantic City will go on sale on Friday, October 4th, and on October 18th for the races in Allentown. Tickets for all Indoor Series events this year will be available through Ticketmaster.
To avoid higher prices from resale outlets, we highly recommend using the links on the series website, indoorautoracing.com, for ticket purchases and hotel accommodations.
For more information, please visit www.indoorautoracing.com.
A post-apocalyptic racing landscape (a vision of what might have been)
Reader Frank Buhrman shared this great article with us. Unless Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin, Bob Jenkins, and the other principals in their organizations can pull off an uprising among their peers who have already signed onto the new NASCAR Charter agreement with Cup car owners, it looks like racing as we know it will continue as some of us wish we didn’t know it (those of us who aren’t great fans of the sport’s current direction).
It is what it is.
Hey, I got left in the ditch a long time ago, and I really didn’t have a horse in that race, anyway, since I hate the charter system and feel that, if anything, the owners would do even more damage to the sport I once loved than the suits in Daytona. But while the charter situation was hanging in the balance, this a fantasy vision of the future had been hatched in my brain (between the cobwebs). I guess it is now dead.
The fantasy – and I apologize sincerely to those who would have been affected negatively by it – was that a deadlock in charter negotiations would have led to dueling race circuits (NASCAR vs. the owners, kind of like the old IRL-CART war), which would eventually have collapsed, leaving the opportunity to create a new order that would combine more elements of the past while still keeping the best of today (safety in particular) and allowing for the inevitabilities of the future.
Read the rest of this article and then decide which of these scenes I would choose to join, given a time machine.
Does that indicate just how removed from reality I can be?
Despite the fact that it ain’t gonna happen, I’m going to reveal my fantasy here, just in case it might be of interest to future racing historians or psychiatrists. Ladies and gentlemen, prepare to dream with me.
Cars, rules & budgets
First of all, my post-apocalyptic racing would be a LOT less expensive, and we would devote a lot of effort to keeping it that way. This is where a lot of jobs would be lost, and while a lot of corporate CEOs get paid huge amount to eliminate jobs, I hate that part, but I don’t see any way around it. Big money has ruined racing, and only eliminating big money can start the back-to-the-way-God-intended-it movement.
It need not go back to where, in 1971 and ’72, I could drive through Tappahannock, Va., and see a Grand National/Cup Chevelle #50 parked under one of the floodlights at a gas station, but it needs to recede enough that a local hot shoe could obtain a legal post-Cup car and run a limited schedule with some hope of being reasonably competitive. Being allowed to race without 80-90% of the starting positions reserved for the club members would play a part, too – NO CHARTERS.
Something similar to the current CARS circuit race cars (or those of other regional groups) would work, although I want to be a little older school and call for sheet metal bodies, not variations on plastic/fiberglass.
This might be turning the WayBack Machine a little too far back even for me, but I couldn’t resist this photo of the former Peace Haven Race Track (a/k/a Winston-Salem Speedway), one of NASCAR’s earliest tracks (closed in 1956). Photo is from an incredible story I found on Reddit, and it had no photo credit information.
I’m not that mechanically inclined to be specific on rules, but I’ll say they should promote parity without completely stifling innovation. I know that’s difficult.
Looking ahead, I’ll suggest again that we switch the Xfinity Series to running SUVs, since that’s what everybody drives now. Also, at some point, a preliminary series with electric or at least hybrid cars has to start.
Races and tracks
Except for Daytona and Talladega, I don’t want to kick anybody off the schedule, but I’ll go back to some of my old suggestions about different approaches to races. For instance, we could have the Charlotte Triathlon, with a 100-miler on the speedway, another on the “roval,” and a 100-lapper on the dirt track. Each has its own purse (not like the dreaded stages), and there’s an overall bonus. It all happens in one day.
Lots of other possibilities exist. Curtis Turner said more than half a century ago that Charlotte could put a speed bump on the backstretch; we need that kind of thinking now.
Would you pay to see a race where the cars were towing campers. They do – or at least did – in Ft. Wayne. Photo from RVWheelLife.com.
I’ll also repeat my “Legends of NASCAR” preliminary series, having short-track races on Thursday (or Friday) nights before the weekend’s Cup race. For instance, the Thursday night before Loudon could feature a race at Stafford Springs, and South Boston could run before either Richmond or Martinsville.
My other made-several-times schedule suggestion is to have a winter series, not like the old “Winter Heat” races ESPN was involved with, but at multiple tracks in warmer climates, including outside the U.S., possibly in the Caribbean or Mexico (this was before the 2025 Cup schedule was even in the dream stage). I’d love to see NASCAR in the St. Louis dome.
It’s important to note that these suggestions for scheduling depend on the ones made earlier for cost-cutting, because my vision would have the events largely supported by television revenue more than attendance (kind of like the more obscure football bowl games or college basketball tournaments), and there would only be enough money to do that if we didn’t need to support racing at its currently bloated level.
Building a bit more on that logic
All of this would have seemed absurd back in the NASCAR glory days before 2008, when seats couldn’t be added fast enough and sponsors were everywhere. Things are different today. Every time one of the TV shills says something about a race being a sellout, I want to ask how many seats were actually sold in 2024, compared to 20 years ago, before they took lots of them out and sold them to weekly short tracks. Richmond doesn’t sell out (which is one reason it has lost a date), but the ¾-mile track was built in 1988 with a seating capacity of about 53,000. The last race on the old ½-mile track had listed attendance of 40,000, but only a short period before that, the capacity had been less than 30,000.
At its peak, the track could squeeze in 110,000+ but today we’re closer to the half-mile than that. If we right-sized financial expectations, we could run just about anything we wanted.
Here’s a little history lesson, from before my time (something you might not have thought possible). In 1954, 70 years ago, NASCAR’s Grand National circuit ran 37 races, and the highest announced attendance was 28,000 for the Southern 500 at Darlington. Daytona’s beach-road course race drew 27,000. Langhorne in Pennsylvania, arguably the most important track after Darlington, drew 22,000, and – if you can believe the numbers – Williams Grove Speedway up here near me in Pennsylvania came next with 21,600, ahead of Atlanta’s Lakewood mile at 20,000.
This is from the first Southern 500 in 1950. Maybe not a great crowd by NASCAR’s heyday standards, but a lot of people. Photo taken from a Fox Sports article, which means it probably is originally from NASCAR and/or Getty Images
(Quick note: Williams Grove was a faithful open wheel track (Indy/”Big” cars, sprint cars, midgets), with only a couple of major stock car races a year, and even though the 1954 GN race must have been a financial success, it wasn’t repeated. After a couple of years with no traveling circuits putting in appearances, it was back to USAC, MARC/ARCA, or both.)
At the other end of the spectrum, of the 27 races for which Racing Reference has attendance figures, 16 were listed as under 10,000. (There were two figures that seemed to be tossed out frequently: 8,500 four times, and 4,000/4,500 five times.) Definitely a different world from a couple of decades ago, when it was the NASCAR remembered fondly by those who used to count the big bucks.
Obviously, 70 years ago there wasn’t as much money to play with, so while somebody like Carl Kiekhaefer might come along and spend dough like it was water, most top teams were more like Lee Petty and Herb Thomas – definitely on a budget.
That would be my goal today.
Conclusion, sort of
So I look back over all I’ve written above, and it occurs to me that, if I lived in the land of pave tracks and stock car racing, rather than dirt tracks and sprint cars or modifieds, I would be happy with CARS or one of its counterparts in other regions. And some indications are that it’s becoming easier to take that approach.
For one thing, that racing is no longer completely drowned out by NASCAR in the media, in part because NASCAR doesn’t have that much of a presence in traditional media anymore, aside from a few core markets. Instead, various websites and social media outlets have cropped up to cover the more grassroots forms of the sport. If this trend continues, we might get back to the days – roughly 50-75 years ago – when NASCAR didn’t dominate. Old National Speed Sport News front pages were a mix of big local races, Indy-related coverage, and NASCAR or USAC stocks. We haven’t quite figured out how to support all that stuff in this I-want-it-for-free era, but more and more racing news entities are surviving.
So maybe my fantasy is actually happening, albeit in worlds other than NASCAR. I think I can live with that. How about you?
According to journalist John Newby Bubba Wallace is sticking with 23XI Racing for the foreseeable future after signing a contract extension.
According to the NASCAR Cup Series team, this deal is for multiple years. Wallace will continue to drive the No. 23 Toyota Camry XSE while working alongside teammate Tyler Reddick.
Wallace, 30, was the first driver signed by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin when they joined forces to create 23XI Racing. The Alabama native drove the No. 23 Toyota during the inaugural season in 2021, and he won the fall race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Wallace has since added another win to his resume, which he secured at Kansas Speedway in the fall of 2022. He then made the playoffs for the first time last season, reaching the Round of 12 in the process.
Wallace missed the playoffs this season, but he matched his career-best marks of one pole win, 10 top-10 finishes, and five top-fives. He still has eight races remaining that he can use to surpass these stats.
Before joining 23XI Racing, Wallace drove for Richard Petty Motorsports. He was in the No. 43 Chevrolet for three seasons (2018-19). He posted nine top-10 finishes and three top-fives for the team.
Along with the time in the Cup Series, Wallace has extensive experience in Xfinity and Truck vehicles. He has made 88 starts in the Xfinity Series with 6 top-five finishes and 36 top-10s. He has made 51 starts in the Truck Series with six wins, 16 top-five finishes, and 30 top-10s.
The contract extension comes weeks after Wallace addressed an uncertain future to members of the media. He explained that his contract talks had been going "hand-in-hand" with the charter negotiations between NASCAR and its teams. 23XI Racing declined to sign the charter deal ahead of NASCAR's deadline.
23XI Racing has not provided any further information about signing the charter agreement after missing the original deadline. However, Wallace now has the deal he was waiting on, which secures his future in the NASCAR Cup Series.
“FORMULA 1 CAR BY CAR: 2000–09,” by Peter Higham, is now available in the U.S.
Evro Publishing's decade-by-decade series covering all Formula 1 cars and teams moves into the new millennium. The first half of the decade brought the strongest domination in F1’s history from Michael Schumacher and Ferrari, with five consecutive drivers’ and constructors’ titles. Then came a changing of the guard when young new stars — Fernando Alonso, Kimi Räikkönen, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button — claimed championships.
Teams also reshuffled in the decade’s second half, as Renault and McLaren prospered again, and newcomers like Brawn and Red Bull came through, although major manufacturers such as Toyota and Jaguar always struggled. As ever, the cars became faster and technology moved on apace, such that regulations had to be tightened to rein them in, bringing smaller engines in 2006 and considerable aerodynamic constraint in 2009. F1 extended its worldwide reach with new races in Bahrain, China, Singapore and Abu Dhabi.
Key Topics:
• Year-by-year treatment explores each season in fascinating depth, running through the teams — and their various cars — in championship order.
• Ferrari: Michael Schumacher finally delivered Ferrari’s first drivers’ title for 21 years in 2000 and reigned supreme for four more years, culminating with an unprecedented 13 wins in 2004; another title followed in 2007 for Kimi Räikkönen.
• Renault: after taking over Benetton, Renault broke Ferrari’s grip when, in 2005, Fernando Alonso became the youngest champion the sport had seen, and repeated his success the following year.
• McLaren-Mercedes: the team won races throughout the decade but 2008 was the big season with Lewis Hamilton’s title, a year after ‘Spygate’ inflicted a record $100 million fine and exclusion from the constructors’ championship.
• Brawn: arising from the ashes of Honda’s withdrawal, Ross Brawn’s eponymous team was a one-year wonder that gave the decade a feel-good finale when Jenson Button became champion.
• Other winning makes picking up crumbs were Williams-BMW, Honda, BMW Sauber, Toro Rosso-Ferrari and Red Bull-Renault.
This authoritative and comprehensively illustrated book, which contains over 350 color photos from the world’s best Formula 1 photo archive, shows every type of car that raced during the decade, presenting a comprehensive survey.
About the author:
Peter Higham works in motor racing as a freelance writer and project manager. For nearly 30 years he was employed by Haymarket Consumer Media, publisher of motor racing magazines and websites, and for half of that period he was director of LAT Photographic (now Motorsport Images), the world’s largest motor racing photo archive. A motor racing enthusiast since watching his first race in 1973, he has written nine previous books, including the acclaimed International Motor Racing Guide and World Encyclopaedia of Racing Drivers. He has been a columnist for Autosport and Motor Sport and was instrumental in running the prestigious Autosport Awards for over 25 years. He lives in Twickenham, Middlesex, UK, England.
Evro Publishing books are distributed in North America by Quarto Publishing Group USA. Books can be ordered from Quarto by email: sales@quarto.com; phone number: 800-328-0590; or website: www.quartoknows.com Please use the relevant ISBN number when ordering.
"FORMULA 1: CAR BY CAR 2000–09" is available in the U.S. from specialist and online booksellers, as well as on evropublishing.com.
All involved in the promotion of motorsports should make an effort to attend.
National Speedway Directory is pleased to announce that the Race Track Business Conference - 2024 - will be held on Wednesday December 11, 2024.
The thirteenth annual Race Track Business Conference is into its second decade with the PRI Trade Show.
RTBC - 2024 - will have multiple sessions during the full-day format.
Additional information on topics and speakers will be announced over the next few weeks.
The cost to attend RTBC - 2024 is $250. Additional information can be found at (www.racetrackbusinessconference.com) or by contacting Tim Frost at (twfrost@speedwaysonline.com) or (847) 778-9475 (cell).
About National Speedway Directory
National Speedway Directory (www.speedwaysonline.com) is an information source for the motorsports industry. The website has listings tracks, sanctions, publications, and museums.
About Performance Racing Industry
Performance Racing Industry, (www.performanceracing.com) monthly business magazine, is recognized as "The Voice of Racing Marketplace." Targeted at the racing trade, PRI connects manufacturers of racing products and technology with the distribution channel
The Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli announces the 2025 schedules for its National Championship, which will visit 12 unique venues across the United States, and Western Championship, which will stop at five tracks to complete a nine-race schedule.
The National Championship schedule offers the return to many of the same iconic venues as seasons past, as well as a series debut at Barber Motorsports Park. All 12 racetracks on the schedule will host points-paying races for both the TA/XGT/SGT/GT classes and CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series.
The Western Championship schedule will increase its number of combination events with the National Championship, while still holding two standalone doubleheader weekends.
Trans Am National Championship Returns to Laguna and Sonoma, Makes First Ever Visit to Barber Motorsports Park
The National Championship schedule will begin as it has for more than a decade, at the birthplace of Trans Am, Sebring International Raceway (February 20-23). Sebring is the track where the longest-running professional road racing series in North America made its debut in 1966, and it has hosted 29 Trans Am events over the past 58 years. The season-opener will be preceded by a two-day Sebring test (January 20-21).
After Sebring, Trans Am will head to historic Road Atlanta (March 20-23). The series will then do a West Coast swing, with back-to-back races at Sonoma Raceway (April 24-27) and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca (May 2-4) in combination with the Western Championship. Next is a trip to fan-favorite Lime Rock Park for its Memorial Day Weekend event (May 23-26).
The next round on the schedule is Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (June 19-22), which will go back-to-back with Road America (June 26-29). From there, the series goes to Watkins Glen International for a new summer date (July 11-13). Trans Am will then return to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (August 28-31) before heading to VIRginia International Raceway, which moves two weeks earlier on the calendar (September 18-21).
The penultimate race of the season will be the Trans Am Series debut at Barber Motorsports Park (October 17-19). Opened in 2003, Barber is known for its stunning facilities and challenging, dynamic and picturesque road course. For the final event, teams will visit Circuit of The Americas (October 30-November 2) for a season finale combination event with the Western Championship. The weekend will be capped off with the series’ year-end awards gala.
“All 12 racetracks on the 2025 Trans Am schedule have been selected because they are favorites for both drivers and spectators,” said Parella Motorsports Holdings COO Michael Printup. “Our schedule offers diverse, bucket-list facilities across the United States, and we are thrilled with the addition of Barber Motorsports Park. We believe that the 2025 season will be the best yet for the Trans Am Series.”
2025 Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli National Championship Schedule
January 20-21, 2025: Sebring International Raceway (Sebring, Fla.) – Pre-Season Test
February 20-23, 2025: Sebring International Raceway (Sebring, Fla.)
March 20-23, 2025: Road Atlanta (Braselton, Ga.)
April 24-27, 2025: Sonoma Raceway (Sonoma, Calif.)
May 2-4, 2025: WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca (Salinas, Calif.)
May 23-26, 2025: Lime Rock Park (Lakeville, Conn.)
June 19-22, 2025: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (Lexington, Ohio)
June 26-29, 2025: Road America (Plymouth, Wis.)
July 11-13, 2025: Watkins Glen International (Watkins Glen, N.Y.)
August 28-31, 2025: Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (Bowmanville, Ontario)
September 18-21, 2025: VIRginia International Raceway (Alton, Va.)
October 17-19, 2025: Barber Motorsports Park (Leeds, Ala.)
October 30-November 2, 2025: Circuit of The Americas (Austin, Texas)
Martin Truex Jr. frustrated by 'ridiculous' racing
Martin Truex Jr. did not mince words with writer John Newby when discussing his fellow NASCAR drivers and how they approached the final stage and overtime of Sunday's Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International.
"This racing is just ridiculous," a frustrated Truex said after a crash disrupted what had been a strong day for the No. 19 team.
The 2017 Cup champion entered the race 19 points below the Round of 12 cutline. He was in a precarious position, but he locked up crucial points early by winning the opening stage of the race. This gave Truex another playoff point and 10 crucial points to help him recover from a crash at Atlanta last weekend.
However, a multi-car incident with three laps remaining in the scheduled distance disrupted the race and Truex's rebound.
The incident began when Todd Gilliland got loose in the grass. This sent him sideways into Chase Elliott, who sent another car into the outside wall.
Truex began to check up but a car hit him from behind and sent him into the outside wall. Tyler Reddick and Kyle Busch also crashed and brought out the caution.
This multi-car incident sent the race to overtime while Truex headed to pit road. It played a role in him ultimately finishing the race in the 20th position.
"You get green-white-checkered at the end of the race, and you know people are just going to drive through someone," Truex said. "We were on the wrong lane, on the short end of the stick as usual.
"We were in a decent spot there with our Reser's Camry, and you go through the esses, and they just plow through you and put you in the marbles."
Sunday's race marked the 12th time this season that a Cup Series race has gone to overtime, which set a NASCAR record.
Unlike fellow playoff driver Ryan Blaney, who NASCAR sent to the garage after an issue on the opening lap, Truex was able to finish the race.
However, the incidents late in Sunday's Cup race took Truex from one point above the cutline to 14 points below.
Now, his only opportunity to move on to the Round of 12 is to deliver a standout performance at Bristol Motor Speedway, provided late-race chaos does not unfold once again. Based on recent evidence, at least one overtime finish is likely.
"It's just crazy that all these races always come down to this," Truex said to NBC Sports. "I just don't understand how guys can call themselves the best in the world when they just drive through everyone on restarts at the end of these races."
At Bristol Truex ran in second for much other until he was penalized for running .09 seconds over the limit during a pit stop. That sad penalty cost a spot in the playoffs.
Officials from the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) and American-Canadian Tour (ACT) released today the 18 division line-up, three-day schedule and pricing for the 62nd Sunoco World Series at Thompson Speedway. The annual celebration of stock car racing on one of the region’s biggest stages will start on Friday, October 11and wrap up on Sunday, October 13 for three days of heart-pounding action, championship crowning and the perfect exclamation point on the 2024 season at the Big-T!
It all starts Friday, October 11 with rotating practice for all Sunoco World Series divisions before the 6:00pm Post Time for Friday night’s weekend opener. Friday is headlined by the first-ever visit for the Lil’ Webb’s 350 Supermodified Series on the 0.625-mile oval alongside the track championship event for the Thompson Late Models. Both the Thompson Sunoco Modifieds and the Evolve Bank & Trust Pro Truck Tour will make the first of two World Series appearances on Friday night along with the R&R Race Parts NH Street Stock Open.
Friday only pit admission is set at $40 for adults and $20 for kids 12 and under while the multi-day pass is available for $100 for adults and $50 for kids 12 and under. Friday only adult general admission is set at $25 and kids 12 to 6 for $10. Three-day adult general admission is set at $75 for adults and $30 for kids 12 to 6. Kids five and under are free in the main grandstands all weekend long.
The Super Saturday of Sunoco World Series weekend is headlined by an American-Canadian Tour and PASS Super Late Model doubleheader! The two sanctioning bodies that operate the Thompson oval will strut their stuff on Saturday, each running a 75-lap showdown alongside the postponed Constantine Paving and Sealing 75 for the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series! The New England Supermodified Series will also return to Thompson with the Mini Stocks and the Thompson Sunoco Modifieds on tap to crown their 2024 track champions on Saturday. The meat of the Sunoco World Series sandwich will also include the Harry Kourafas Memorial ‘22’ for the New England Pro-4 Modifieds as well as the Thompson debut of the Thunderstock Crown Vic division!
Saturday only pit passes are available at $50 for adults and $25 for kids 12 and under while adult general admission is set at $45 and $15 for kids 12 to 6. Per the decision and post on April 7th, race fans with general admission bracelets from the originally scheduled Monaco Modified date as part of the Icebreaker weekend can exchange those bracelets for a $25 credit towards their single day or multi-day general admission tickets.
Sunday’s finale is headlined by the third visit for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour for the Sunoco World Series 150 presented by FloRacing. Alongside the NWMT special, the AZ Roofing SK Light Modifieds and Street Stocks crown their 2024 track champions with second Sunoco World Series weekend visit from the Evolve Bank & Trust Pro Truck Tour and the NEMA Lites! The streamers and confetti of Sunoco World Series weekend will again offer the $50 adult and $25 kids 12 and under pit pass and the adult $45 and kid 12-6 $15 general admission ticket.
Thompson Speedway closes out the 2024 season with the 62nd Sunoco World Series of Speedway Racing starting on Friday, October 11 through Sunday, October 13. The annual three-day festival of stock car racing on the Thompson highbanks will feature a taste of everything the Northeast has to offer including high-stakes regional racing courtesy of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, American-Canadian Tour and Pro All Stars Series along with track championship finales and more! The full schedule of events for the 62nd Sunoco World Series will be released by the ACT and PASS offices soon!
For more information about the American-Canadian Tour, contact the ACT offices at (802) 244-6963, media@acttour.com, or visit www.acttour.com. You can also get updates on Facebook and Twitter at @ACTTour.
For technical information concerning all PASS divisions, and for media or marketing questions, please contact passracing@roadrunner.com or visit www.proallstarsseries.com. Don't forget to "Like" the Pro All Stars Series on Facebook or follow on Twitter @PASSSLM14 to keep up with breaking news as it happens.
For general Thompson Speedway inquiries, call (860) 923-2280, email oval@thompsonspeedway.com, or visit www.thompsonspeedway.com. You can follow Thompson Speedway on Facebook and Instagram at @ThompsonSpeedway or on Twitter at @ThompsonSpdwy.
