All posts by Motorsports Tribune

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Three-time Cup champion Tony Stewart and the late Neil Bonnett are among the list of new nominees eligible for induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Five inductees from a list of 20 nominees will be chosen for the 2020 induction class on Voting Day, Wednesday, May 22 – the list of new honorees decided on by both the NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel and a nationwide fan vote on NASCAR.com Stewart may join one of his former rivals andRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – There was an air of inevitability to Kyle Busch’s closing run in Sunday’s TicketGuardian 500 at ISM Raceway. Busch was tracking down race leader Ryan Blaney after restarting fourth on Lap 239 of the fourth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of the season. Running in Blaney’s wake for 37 laps, Busch finally made the winning pass on Lap 296 of 312 and nursed his car to the finish line. Busch’s third victory at the one-mile track and his 52nd in theRead More

By INDYCAR ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Sunday, March 10, 2019) – When Josef Newgarden ran longer, harder and faster in a middle stint of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, it paid off with victory at the end. Newgarden kicked off the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series season victorious by 2.8998 seconds over reigning series champion Scott Dixon. It was the 11th triumph of Newgarden’s eight-year NTT IndyCar Series career but first on the 14-turn, 1.8-mile temporary street course that incorporates a runway of Albert Whitted Airport. “I feel like weRead More

By Road to Indy ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Dutch teenager Rinus VeeKay scored a dramatic first Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires victory this morning for Juncos Racing. VeeKay, who won last year’s Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, earning a scholarship to graduate to the top rung on the Road to Indy ladder system in 2019, made an aggressive pass on polesitter Oliver Askew on the first green-flag lap and never looked back. Yesterday’s winner, Zachary Claman, from Montreal, Que., Canada, strengthened his early championship points leadRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – How did Kyle Busch win Saturday’s IK9 Service Dog 200 at ISM Raceway? Poof! His closest pursuers in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Busch was out front on Lap 130 when the engine in the No. 01 Chevrolet of Stephen Leicht exploded in front of Justin Allgaier and pole winner Christopher Bell, who were running second and third at the time. Enveloped in a Days-of-Thunder-style cloud of smoke, Allgaier spun in the fluid from Leicht’s car, hittingRead More

By INDYCAR ST. PETERSBURG, Florida – The streets of St. Petersburg have become Will Power’s qualifying playground. The Team Penske veteran continued his amazing dominance of NTT P1 Award qualifying for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, laying down the best lap Saturday in the Firestone Fast Six to earn the race’s pole position for the eighth time in 10 years. The Australian now accounts for half the pole positions in the history of the event and has won the race on two occasions (2011, 2015). FIRESTONE GRAND PRIXRead More

By Road to Indy ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Zachary Claman this afternoon displayed the wisdom of his decision to step back to Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires by scoring an accomplished victory for Belardi Auto Racing in the Indy Lights Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Cooper Tires. After campaigning a partial season in last year’s NTT IndyCar Series, Claman, 20, from Montreal, Que., Canada, qualified on pole position for today’s season-opener and proceeded to lead the 35-lap race from start to finish. Toby Sowery, from Cambridge, England,Read More

By Road to Indy ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Locally based Cape Motorsports maintained its stranglehold on the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship this afternoon by completing a sweep of the opening two rounds on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. Following an accomplished victory yesterday by Braden Eves, from New Albany, Ohio, the team which has won the last eight Driver Championships in succession seemed to be moments away from celebrating another first USF2000 victory – this time for Florida racer Darren Keane – when the pole-sitter and race-long leader lostRead More

By Road to Indy ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Parker Thompson and Abel Motorsports ensured a virtually perfect commencement to their fresh partnership as the gifted Canadian led from start to finish in today’s Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Allied Building Products. Thompson, who celebrated his 21st birthday just one week ago, backed up his victory in yesterday’s opening round of the Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires by posting the fastest time in qualifying earlier this morning. The native of Red Deer, Alb., Canada, then catapultedRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – Ryan Blaney ended the day the way he started it—with the fastest car at ISM Raceway. After leading opening Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice with the quickest lap of the day (141.716 mph), Blaney put his No. 12 Team Penske Ford on the pole for Sunday’s TicketGuardian 500 at the one-mile track. Blaney covered the distance in 25.480 seconds (141.287 mph) in the final round of knockout qualifying to outpace Chase Elliott (140.045 mph) by a comfortable .203 seconds. The BuschRead More