All posts by Luis Torres

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Josef Newgarden winning the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was far from the biggest story. Instead, it was television and streaming contracts, two media outlets INDYCAR fans have gone full rage all week. Just as the sport is hitting mass strides, something alters their momentum every time. This time around, it’s the television deals around the world that’s brought a lot of frustrations from the fans. Let’s start off with the biggest piece of the TV puzzle – NBC Sports. Last season, INDYCAR announced INDYCARRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer In a span of 12 races, only four times Kevin Harvick has failed to lead a single lap at ISM Raceway, a track that’s been his playground for over half a decade. Sunday’s Ticket Guardian 500 was one of those four instances after a ninth-place result marked his worst result since March 2013 where he ended up 13th, his last non-top-10 finish. After a relatively uncharacteristic 10th place run in Stage 1, Harvick’s best stint took place in Stage 2, when he ran inside the top-fiveRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The season opener of the NTT IndyCar Series saw a lot of action that resulted in six retirements, notably in the first 30 laps that took out some of the heavy favorites in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in Florida. One of the major storylines heading into the 110-lap contest was the struggles of two-time St. Pete winner Sebastien Bourdais, who was eyeing on a three-peat at the 1.8-mile circuit. His bid for a three-peat was already facing multiple roadblocks. Not only he hadRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Austin Cindric came into Saturday’s iK9 Service Dog 200 at ISM Raceway with a game plan of executing a strong performance that could pay dividends in November, and strong they were. Cindric brought his No. 22 MoneyLion Ford Mustang home in fifth and racked up that essential playoff point he’s been fighting for throughout his NASCAR career. The first caution of the afternoon came out on Lap 32 after Bayley Currey’s No. 17 Port of Tucson Chevrolet Camaro blew an oil line and slammed the TurnRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer A driver’s fear is unable to see the racetrack, hoping to avoid chaos. Both Justin Allgaier and pole sitter Christopher Bell faced that epiphany and were involved in a crash after Stephen Leicht hand grenaded his engine the exit of Turn 3 during Saturday’s iK9 Service Dog 200 at ISM Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, ending Leicht and Bell’s afternoons. With 71 laps to go, Leicht’s No. 01 JD Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro had just lost a lap to race leader Kyle Busch, and was running in 20thRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the NTT IndyCar Series season for the full-time drivers in the series leading into the 2019 season opener at St. Petersburg on March 10. Age: 31 Team: Andretti Herta Autosport Years in IndyCar: 13 Career Wins: 2 Career Podiums: 20 Marco Andretti’s 2018 campaign was a step in the right direction after changes were made that saw him move from his father Michael Andretti’s main team to Bryan Herta’s single-car alliance, and results showed. More importantly, it allowed Marco to focus onRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Sporting his 1999 NASCAR Southwest Series championship-winning paint scheme in front of his home crowd, Kurt Busch’s homecoming was a success after a wise pit strategy put him in front for 23 of 267 laps, and scored a fifth-place finish in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Throughout the afternoon, Busch’s No. 1 Star Nursery Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 had his work cut out for after starting 28th and was outside the top-10 in the first two stages, with one of the adjustments made hisRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Dirty air plagued Cole Custer’s aspirations of being a true contender for the win after leading 47 out of the first 48 laps, and settled for a ninth-place result in Saturday’s Boyd Gaming 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, highlighted by a late-race run-in with Brandon Jones. Just like at Atlanta, rain cancelled qualifying and the grid was set by last season’s owners points. This meant Custer would start in first for the second straight race. Once the green flag dropped, Custer right away, but theRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Justin Allgaier’s strong start to the young NASCAR Xfinity Series season was halted after failing to finish Saturday’s Boyd Gaming 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway due to an engine failure past halfway, forcing him to bring his No. 7 Brandt Professional Agriculture Chevrolet Camaro to the garage after 119 laps, and ended his streak of three straight top-fives at the 1.5-mile circuit. Allgaier had worked his way from restarting 11th to start off the final stage to the fifth spot until reporting to his No.Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Brett Moffitt gave it a valiant effort to cancel “The Kyle Busch Show” during Friday’s Strat 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but it wasn’t meant to be as he finished second to the now 53-time series winner after overcoming a disastrous pit stop at the end of Stage 1. The defending Truck Series champion came into the pits behind Stage 1 winner Busch to be serviced for four tires and fuel, but the air hose being caught underneath the right rear of Moffitt’s No. 24Read More