All posts by Motorsports Tribune

By NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Blowing around two-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Matt Crafton after a restart with 10 laps left, 19-year-old Noah Gragson scored his first victory in Saturday’s Texas Roadhouse 200 at Martinsville Speedway. The Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender frustrated Playoff competitors Crafton and Johnny Sauter, who finished second and third behind him. After talking the checkered flag, Gragson parked his No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota near the flag stand and climbed to the top of the frontstretch catchfence in celebration. AfterRead More

Max Verstappen edged championship leader Lewis Hamilton by less than a tenth of a second, with Sebastian Vettel just a few hundredths of a second further back in a tight final session in Mexico in which the top six drivers were cover by just 0.404s. It was Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas who led in the way in the opening half of the hour-long session, with the Finn setting a time of 1:17.963 on ultrasoft tyres after 20 minutes to seize P1 from Hamilton. Bottas then improved to 1:17.681 to eventually headRead More

Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo set the quickest time of second practice for the Mexican Grand Prix, edging championship leader Lewis Hamilton by just over a tenth of a second. In a tight session in which just 1.021 seconds separated first place from 10th, Ricciardo ran quickest early on, using soft tyres to top the order ahead of team-mate Max Verstappen. The two Red Bull drivers dropped down the order when Hamilton and Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas bolted on ultrasofts after half an hour but Ricciardo was soon back onRead More

Valtteri Bottas beat Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton by almost half a second to top the timesheet in first practice for this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix. The Finnish driver set a best time of 1:17.824s on Pirelli’s ultrasoft tyres with Hamilton 0.466s behind and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen a further tenth back in third place. Hamilton goes into this weekend’s race knowing that fifth place or better will seal his fourth Drivers’ title but the Briton has stated that he would like to claim the crown with a victory. That aimRead More

Listen to “Drafting The Circuits October 26, 2017” on Spreaker. Frank Santoroski and the DTC panel – Gray Warran, Richard Youden, Seth Eggert and Joey Barnes – breaks down the USGP from Austin and the various controversies from the weekend, fills you in on the latest Indycar silly season news, and makes predictions for NASCAR’s final four. Credits: Host – Frank Santoroski DTC Panel – Joey Barnes, Seth Eggert, Gray Warren, & Richard Youden Producers – Anthony Arnold & Keith Hayes Special thanks to Whoobazoo for hosting the DTC Podcast. Social Media: Follow DTC on Facebook FollowRead More

By Road to Indy The list of Cape Motorsports’ Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires alumni reads like a who’s who of motorsports, including 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series drivers JR Hildebrand and Spencer Pigot, newly named Penske sports car teammates Ricky Taylor and Dane Cameron, Andy Lally, Scott Hargrove and 2017 IMSA champions Trent Hindman (Lamborghini Super Trofeo) and Jake Eidson (Porsche GT3 Cup). The team’s history in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda is just as impressive. They have won 11 USF2000 Drivers Championships, nineRead More

By Road to Indy Forty drivers representing all three rungs of the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires were in action this weekend during the two-day Chris Griffis Memorial Test held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Over 5,300 laps were turned around the 2.439-mile road course in the seventh annual outing as teams and drivers focused on 2018 preparations. The highly anticipated debut of the brand-new PM-18 – with the first container of 15 chassis sold out and additional cars and conversion kits on the way – tookRead More

Lewis Hamilton moved one step closer to a fourth Drivers’ Championship title with a convincing sixth career US Grand Prix win at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas. The win, ahead of the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen, allied to a fifth place for Valtteri Bottas also handed Mercedes their fourth Constructors’ Championship crown in a row. Hard-charging Vettel took the lead into Turn 1 at the start, but when Hamilton grabbed first place with a good overtake of the German on lap six and quickly opened a two-secondRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Martin Truex Jr. survived a restart penalty and an unscheduled pit stop to return to what has become a thoroughly familiar locale—Victory Lane—in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. In a dramatic race that brought Truex his seventh Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win of the season, calamity eliminated four drivers from the series Playoff. Jamie McMurray, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Matt Kenseth and Kyle Larson all saw their postseason hopes end with the final event in the Round of 12.Read More

Lewis Hamilton took one step closer to a fourth title with his 72nd career pole position at the Circuit of the Americas. The Briton’s path was shadowed by title rival Sebastian Vettel, however, with the Ferrari driver recovering from a tricky start to the weekend to claim a front-row berth just 0.2s behind the Mercedes driver. After handling problems on Friday, Ferrari opted to change Vettel’s chassis overnight and in the build-up to Q3 the German began to find the rhythm that had eluded him in practice. He couldn’t match Hamilton,Read More