All posts by Joey Barnes

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Scuderia Toro Rosso have announced that both Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley will return for the 2018 Formula One season. A year that began with Carlos Sainz Jr. and Daniil Kvyat, has since seen the latter go off to Renault and the former dropped on two occasions throughout the season. Those events put Gasly in the seat at Malaysia, where with the exception of the United States Grand Prix, he has occupied it since. For Hartley, a winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans earlierRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief The landscape is changing in the Verizon IndyCar Series heading into 2018. In what feels like a lead up to the Olympics, many teams have elected to go with lineups that feature drivers from only one country, such as Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with a pair of Canadians in James Hinchcliffe and Robert Wickens. However, they have also bolstered their lineups within the organization across all fronts. The full team release can be seen below. — Schmidt Peterson Motorsports announced today additions to its staff in itsRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief FORT WORTH, Texas – Jimmie Johnson saw his quest for a record eighth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series title take a major hit with a 27th-place finish in Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. The 42-year-old Californian started ninth and looked to be an early favorite, having entered with seven victories at the 1.5-mile in his career. However, on Lap 65 of 334, following the first sequence of green flag pit stops, Johnson brought the car down pit road for a reported vibration andRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief FORT WORTH, Texas – It wasn’t the ideal outcome, but Ryan Blaney put in a solid sixth-place finish to keep himself in the championship mix in the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. The 23-year-old Ohio native started eighth, but managed to climb into the top three before losing the rear of the car while defending his position entering Turn 2 on Lap 258 and fading quickly the  of the backend top 10. From there, Blaney struggled to regain the lost track position, but quietlyRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief FORT WORTH, Texas – Brad Keselowski kept his championship hopes alive after salvaging a fifth-place finish in Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. The 33-year-old Michigan native nearly saw his chances evaporate moments after the drop of the green when Kyle Busch’s No. 18 M&M’s Caramel Toyota Camry washed up the track going into Turn 1 and cut the left rear tire of Keselowski’s No. 2 Wurth Ford Fusion. The incident hurt both drivers as they came down pit road and fell behind theRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief For the second time in as many seasons, Felipe Massa is announcing his retirement from Formula One competition effective once 2017 ends. The 36-year-old Brazilian retired last season, but following Valtteri Bottas’ move to Mercedes, Williams enticed him to return and team alongside incoming rookie Lance Stroll. The 2008 Formula One championship runner-up has a pair of sixth-place finishes (Australia, Bahrain) to his show as his best of the season, while also currently sitting 11th in the standings overall. A career that dates back to 2002,Read More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief The new universal aero kit is looking promising in the buildup to the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season. Honda completed their latest round of manufacturer testing recently with the focus primarily on their superspeedway package. James Hinchcliffe (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports entry) and four-time series champion Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing entry) were selected for the trials at both Texas Motor Speedway (Monday) and Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Thursday), with representatives from every Honda-powered team on hand as well. Admittedly eye candy for every person that has hadRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief FORT WORTH, Texas – Chase Elliott admitted that he is still upset with Denny Hamlin following last week’s late race incident at Martinsville. With two laps remaining in the First Data 500, Elliott was en route to his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory until Hamlin put an aggressive hit to his rear bumper and sending Elliott’s No. 24 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet into the wall and with a 27th-place finish. The outcome led to a heated exchange on pit road. During Friday media availabilityRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief FORT WORTH, Texas – Erik Jones is hungry for that elusive first victory in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. A rookie this season while driving for Furniture Row Racing, Jones is poised to move to Joe Gibbs Racing as he replaces Matt Kenseth in the No. 20 Toyota Camry in 2018. While teammate Martin Truex Jr. has enjoyed a banner season with seven wins en route to the overall points lead with three rounds to go, Jones has put together a roller coaster campaign ofRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Welcome to the No. 1 club, Josef Newgarden. After claiming the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series title, the driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet is switching to the recognized champion’s number – No. 1 – for next season. It is a changing of the guard, literally, for Team Penske. With three titles that span the past four seasons, the organization has seen both Will Power (2015) and Simon Pagenaud (2017) run the No. 1 the following year of claiming the championship, with that record continuingRead More