Qualifying Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Qualifying in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series has become the true hot bed of controversy in recent weeks. Many drivers have been critical, but for one team, they’re as vocal than most and that’s Stewart-Haas Racing, who’s quartet competitors of Aric Almirola, Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick and Daniel Suarez endured the emotions and drama the latest qualifying format provided Friday at Texas Motor Speedway. The best way to describe the session is none other than Clint Eastwood’s classic 1966 film “The Good, the Bad andRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The 2018 ARCA Racing Series champion Sheldon Creed officially announced during Friday’s qualifying session at ISM Raceway in Phoenix that he’ll make the big move into the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series on a full-time basis next season, driving for GMS Racing. Creed, who’s driven for the Gallagher family-owned operation since Oct. 27 at Martinsville Speedway, where he finished on the lead lap in 19th, has quickly garnered success since shifting his focus from off road racing, where he notably won back-to-back Speed Energy Formula Off-RoadRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer MERIDIAN, Idaho – The fastest man of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West tour continues to be Bill McAnally Racing’s Derek Kraus, who scored his fifth pole Saturday at Meridian Speedway, setting a blistering time of 12.243 seconds. Not only he accomplished this feat, but it’ll be his fourth straight KNPSW front row start as he’ll look to gain ground on points leader Derek Thorn, who will start fifth in the NAPA Auto Parts Idaho 208. Kraus told Motorsports Tribune that running 208 laps on theRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer SONOMA, California — Neither of the IndyCar Series title contenders scored bonus points as Ryan Hunter-Reay snatched the Verizon P1 Pole Award for the INDYCAR Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway Saturday. For the three drivers who are hunting down points leader Scott Dixon, their tasks became increasingly difficult after the New Zealander’s qualifying effort. He’ll start alongside Hunter-Reay in second, with Josef Newgarden following as the highest of the chasing trio after qualifying third. The reigning series champion kept his strong pace from FridayRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer SONOMA, California — Ryan Hunter-Reay has consistently been the best of the non-title contenders these past two days and proved it with a time of 1:17.627, earning him his sixth career Verizon IndyCar Series pole for Sunday’s IndyCar Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway. Not only it was a long-time coming for the former champion, scoring an elusive pole at the 2.385-mile road course, but its his first INDYCAR pole since Long Beach in 2014. The Floridian was congratulated with a hug and a kissRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Oregon — The nature of track room and practice laps didn’t reflect qualifying at Portland International Raceway, and defending Verizon IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden acknowledged it before and after the session. Newgarden is among the 18 drivers who have never competed in an INDYCAR race at the 1.964-mile circuit, but among the more consistent top drivers on the leader board, ending up in third, sixth and ninth in the three practice sessions. He backed up his consistency by making it to the FirestoneRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Oregon — Fast pace often comes with a heavy price, but with a whole team collaborating a misfortune, results will show, even if it has a “Frankenstein” look. This was the case for two-time Portland Grand Prix winner Sebastien Bourdais, who will start fourth in Sunday’s race at Portland International Raceway after the entire entity of Dale Coyne Racing repaired his car after a session-ending crash during final practice. Thanks in most part of having the third entry of Santino Ferrucci, it turned outRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Oregon — The two-car team of Ed Carpenter Racing showed promising speeds before qualifying for Sunday’s Portland Grand Prix, notably rookie and road course driver Jordan King. The 24-year-old from Warwick, England, had a solid result in the two Friday practice sessions, ending up sixth and ninth quickest, respectively, outpacing full-time driver Spencer Pigot. Then on final practice, King continued to show solid speed and ended up 12th. With those positive runs, he saw himself being a possible contender of making the Firestone FastRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer MONROE, Wash. — Mother Nature favored the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West drivers, as they were able to get qualifying completed, and when it was all set and done, NASCAR NEXT driver Derek Kraus (23.459 seconds) scored his third pole of the season. Kraus told Motorsports Tribune that tire conservation is crucial to be in the race-winning battle and he hopes to be in contention. “It’s definitely a good thing to start the day with the pole, but the race is what counts,” said Kraus. “Qualifying isRead More

By FIA Sebastian Vettel took his 55th career pole position in front of his home crowd at Germany’s Hockenheimring in a qualifying session that saw chief title rival Lewis Hamilton ruled out when he damaged his car running wide at the end of Q1. Vettel put in a superb performance in Q3 to set a new track record at Hockenheim with a time of 1:11.212. The German’s lap was more than three seconds faster than Nico Rosberg’s pole time of F1’s last visit to this track in 2016. Valtteri BottasRead More