All posts by Motorsports Tribune

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Team Pelfrey once again flexed its muscles in this afternoon’s third round of the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires at Barber Motorsports Park. Wisconsin native Aaron Telitz led for most of the 40-minute contest, the first of two races this weekend that will comprise the Mazda North American Operations Presents the Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Alabama, but teenaged Mexican Patricio “Pato” O’Ward pounced soon after a restart in the closing stages to secure his second win of the season. Canadian Garett Grist completed theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service RICHMOND, Va. – After a massive late-race wreck scrambled the running order in Saturday’s ToyotaCare 250, Dale Earnhardt Jr. survived a two-lap dash in overtime to win his first NASCAR XFINITY Series race since 2010 and the first in his own JR Motorsports equipment. Earnhardt held off Ty Dillon by .266 seconds in a main event that ran nine laps past its scheduled distance of 140 laps, but Dillon collected the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus available to the two highest finishes among XFINITYRead More

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Ed Jones became the fourth different winner in four Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires races to date this season when he led from flag-to-flag this afternoon in the first of two races that will comprise this weekend’s Legacy Indy Lights 100 at Barber Motorsports Park. The Dubai-based Englishman never was able to relax as his Carlin Dallara-Mazda was pushed virtually every inch of the way by Puerto Rican teammate Felix Serralles, who started 11th but finished only 1.5581 seconds behind after 35 laps around the scenicRead More

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Second-year driver Parker Thompson blitzed the field today in the first of two races which will comprise the Cooper Tires USF2000 Grand Prix of Alabama this weekend at Barber Motorsports Park. Thompson, 18, from Red Deer, Alb., Canada, led throughout the 22-lap race en route to a long overdue maiden victory in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, the first level on the Mazda Road to Indy open-wheel development ladder. Brazilian Victor Franzoni (ArmsUp Motorsports) and Thompson’s teammate, outside front row qualifier Anthony Martin, fromRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Five days after the fact, Matt DiBenedetto was still basking in the afterglow of last Sunday’s sixth-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway. For the record, DiBenedetto scored the best result in the five-year history of BK Racing. After the race, he celebrated with tears in his eyes. More important, however, was the effect the strong run could have on the long-term NASCAR Sprint Cup Series effort of the growing organization. “Obviously, that was special for the whole team,” DiBenedetto said on Friday before openingRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service RICHMOND, Va. – For the first time this season, the driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet was the driver who was supposed to be behind the wheel. Returning sooner than expected from a burst fracture to his L1 vertebra suffered during an offseason all-terrain vehicle accident, Tony Stewart took to the track during opening NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice on Friday at Richmond International Raceway, preparing for his first competition of the season in Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 (1 p.m. ET onRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service RICHMOND, Va. – With rain threatening to fall at Richmond International Raceway, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers put extra effort into Friday morning’s opening practice. The effort paid off for 2014 series champion Kevin Harvick, who was fastest in practice at 129.089 mph and consequently will start on the pole in Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at the .75-mile short track (1 p.m. ET on FOX). With the field ordered by practice speeds according to the Sprint Cup rule book, Joey Logano (128.694 mph) willRead More

By NASCAR Wire Service Erik Jones checked off an entire laundry list of accomplishments last Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway. One, he won the first-ever Heat in a NASCAR XFINITY Series Dash 4 Cash race. Two, he captured the checkered flag in the Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300, defeating 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kyle Busch in the process. Three, he earned the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus as the highest finisher among NASCAR XFINITY Series regulars who were eligible for the Dash 4 Cash. And four, he clinched theRead More

By NASCAR Wire Service Since 2000, only two drivers have produced five top-10 finishes through the first eight races of their Sunoco Rookie of the Year seasons. One is six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson. The second, current first-year sensation Chase Elliott. Elliott will try to keep pace with Johnson’s mark when he goes for his sixth top 10-showing of the season in Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway (1 p.m. ET on FOX). “Richmond has been a special place for me,” Elliott said. “We hadRead More

INDIANAPOLIS, Monday, April 18, 2016 – A unique version of the new 2017 Camaro SS 50th Anniversary Edition will lead the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil next month, driven by motorsports legend Roger Penske, who is marking 50 years as a race team owner. It’s the ninth time Camaro has served as the Pace Car and the 27th time for Chevrolet, dating to 1948. “Chevrolet and the Indianapolis 500 have a long, storied history and it’s an honor to mark the respective milestones of the IndyRead More