All posts by Luis Torres

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Juan Pablo Montoya is arguably the top-five, maybe top-three greatest drivers of the last 30 years. This isn’t a damn joke. I’m serious when I say this tremendous compliment. I’ve said it over the past half decade that he is a legend in the world of motorsports and quite frankly one of the best versatile drivers that doesn’t get the respect he deserves. After he and Team Penske co-driver Dane Cameron won their first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in the DPi category Saturday at the MotulRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer A career-high finish by Riley Herbst was the last thing on his mind after a controversial last lap in Saturday’s Sugarlands Shine 250 at Talladega Superspeedway. The 20-year-old had a clean race as chaos happened behind his No. 51 Monster Energy/Advance Auto Parts Toyota Tundra. Gus Dean’s massive late-race shunt on the backstretch sent the race into overtime and Herbst was one of a few drivers in excellent position of battling for the win. Indeed, Herbst was able to put himself in the right spot toRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The latest piece of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series puzzle has been placed as Stewart-Haas Racing announced Thursday that Aric Almirola will continue piloting the No. 10 Smithfield Foods Ford Mustang in 2020. After a biggest breakthrough campaign of his career in 2018 where he scored a win at Talladega last October and finished a career-high fifth in points, it has been a rather quiet 2019 campaign for the 12-year veteran. Although Almirola scored a pole at Atlanta and making the playoffs for the third timeRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Rising star Rinus VeeKay of the Netherlands will get a second NTT IndyCar Series test with Ed Carpenter Racing at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course October 15. In August, VeeKay tested for ECR at Portland International Raceway along with Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires champion Oliver Askew, who tested for Chip Ganassi Racing. VeeKay was able to impress ECR to give him another shot due to his pace being on-par or better than most experienced INDYCAR drivers. The 19-year-old said he’s looking forward to Tuesday’sRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Chip Ganassi Racing announced Tuesday that their INDYCAR program will return as a three-car stable in 2020 with Swedish driver Marcus Ericsson joining alongside Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist. The former Formula 1 driver will pilot the No. 8 Honda as it’ll be the first time since 2017 that Ganassi will run three cars as they’ve spent the past two seasons with just the No. 9 (Dixon) and No. 10 (Ed Jones in 2018 and Rosenqvist in 2019) teams. Ericsson said he’s extremely happy to joinRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer It appeared that Denny Hamlin’s 500th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start was going to be a picture perfect afternoon. Instead, he settles for a rather underwhelming fifth-place in Sunday’s Drydene 400 at Dover International Speedway after leading 218 of 400 laps. The pole sitter owned the competition that included a Stage 1 victory and having a commanding lead over his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex, Jr. Then a dream day turned awry in the closing laps of Stage 2. It began when Hamlin struggledRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer There won’t be a repeat victory for Chase Elliott at Dover International Speedway as a Lap 7 engine problem knocked him out of Sunday’s Drydene 400. An early exit has caused tremendous implications as all three Round of 12 races (Dover, Talladega and Kansas) are tracks Elliott has won. Due to his success, he was viewed as one of the heavy favorites to punch his ticket into the next round. Instead, a last-place result means he’ll be heading into both Talladega and Kansas in a must-winRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Pit road proved to be the monstrous difference for the playoff fates of John Hunter Nemechek and Justin Haley in Saturday’s Use Your Melon. Drive Sober 200 at Dover International Speedway. Neither driver advanced into the Round of 8 and will now have to focus on being best of the rest, which is fifth in points with four races remaining. Nemechek appeared to be the only man on the outside looking in who could stop Michel Annett, who held the eighth and final playoff spot byRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer A mild manner day by Michael Annett was solid enough to escape Saturday’s User Your Melon. Drive Sober 200 at Dover International Speedway with the eighth and final playoff spot. Annett, who entered Dover 11 points ahead of the cutoff line, only had one objective to focus and that’s beating John Hunter Nemechek, who was the only threat of possibly knocking him out of the championship hunt. In the first two stages, Annett finished 10th and ninth respectively. Nemechek on the other hand, took ninth andRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The “Monster Mile” didn’t waste time to snake bit drivers in Saturday’s Use Your Melon. Drive Sober 200 at Dover International Speedway and playoff drivers weren’t exempted from the typical madness. On the opening lap of the 200-lap race, Tyler Reddick’s No. 2 Freightliner Chevrolet Camaro slid heading into the treacherous backstretch and slapped the wall, causing a massive ripple effect in NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs. Fellow playoff contender Justin Allgaier also got loose and nearly hit the wall, but the main focus was on HarrisonRead More