By David Morgan, Associate Editor A mainstay of the NASCAR Cup Series since 2009, Stewart-Haas Racing announced on Tuesday that the 2024 season would be its last and would be ceasing operations at season’s end. Rumors of the team’s future have been floating around the Cup Series garage for many months and weeks, but in a joint statement on social media, co-owners Tony Stewart and Gene Haas laid out why now is the time they have elected to exit stage left. “We have made the difficult decision to close Stewart-Haas RacingRead More
By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service What if?… That’s the question that will continue to haunt us after a long day of auto racing on Memorial Day weekend. What if Mother Nature hadn’t intervened, delaying the start of the Indianapolis 500 and shortening the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday night? A weather system that battered the Midwest forced Hendrick Motorsports to change plans that had been in the works for a full year. Delayed from the planned 12:45 p.m. start, the green flag at the Indy 500 flew nearly four hoursRead More
By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – A lightning delay that turned into a heavy rainstorm made a winner of Christopher Bell in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Not that Bell didn’t deserve the victory in the rain-shortened race, which NASCAR was forced to call after 249 of 400 laps were complete. The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota started third, led a race-high 90 laps and won the second stage of the 14th NASCAR Cup Series race of the season. The decisiveRead More
By David Morgan, Associate Editor SPEEDWAY, Ind. – Detroit can’t come soon enough for Marcus Ericsson. Since crashing his primary car in practice ahead of qualifying weekend for the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500, it has been one thing after another for the driver of the No. 28 Andretti Global Honda. Struggling to find speed with his back-up car, Ericsson nearly missed out of the race altogether after falling into the Last Row Shootout to even have a chance to make the 33-car field. In that Sunday session to determineRead More
By David Morgan, Associate Editor SPEEDWAY, Ind. – As Josef Newgarden celebrated his second straight win in the Indianapolis 500, runner-up finisher Pato O’Ward pulled into his pit box, started to climb from his car and laid his head on the top of the cockpit as he tried to gather his thoughts about coming so close to accomplishing a life-long dream. The 25-year-old Mexican has come close to winning at Indianapolis before, but this time, it just seemed to sting more. Starting the day in eighth-place, O’Ward held steady among theRead More
By David Morgan, Associate Editor SPEEDWAY, Ind. – For the second year in a row, Josef Newgarden took matters into his own hands in the final lap of the Indianapolis 500, passing Pato O’Ward to secure back-to-back wins in the biggest race of the NTT IndyCar Series. In a race delayed by rain for more than four hours, Newgarden and O’Ward were racing daylight as the laps wound down Sunday, with the two drivers trading the lead over the final seven laps of the race, with fan-favorite O’Ward taking the leadRead More
By David Morgan, Associate Editor SPEEDWAY, Ind. – A decision to stay in Indianapolis for his debut in the Indianapolis 500 instead of heading to Charlotte for his NASCAR Cup Series duties seemed to be paying off for Kyle Larson – until it wasn’t. After a four-hour rain delay pushed the Indy 500 to a late afternoon start, Larson and his team made the decision to stay in Indianapolis to give Larson a chance to compete at Indianapolis. Earning his worth as a part of the four-car Arrow McLaren stable ofRead More
By David Morgan, Associate Editor SPEEDWAY, Ind. – Is 2024 Scott McLaughlin’s year to win the Indianapolis 500? Making his fourth start in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, the driver of the No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet has his best starting position yet, rolling off from the pole after setting a record pace in qualifying last weekend. Joined by his teammates Will Power and Josef Newgarden on the front row, McLaughlin looks to turn his speed from qualifying into speed during Sunday’s race to join them as Indy 500 champions. NewgardenRead More