silly season Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer After 16 grueling and intense months of competition, the championship trail ends in Monterey. Out of the 25 full-time drivers that accepted the season-long challenge at St. Petersburg in March, only five remain that have a shot of hoisting the Astor Cup this Sunday. Of those five racers, they come from two race teams in Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing. Between championship leader Will Power to fifth-place Scott McLaughlin, the gap is 41 points. It rivals the 2003 championship battle where it also had fiveRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer With Russia invading Ukraine causing a worldwide uproar, Haas F1 Team announced Saturday they’ll be cutting ties with Russian sponsor Uralkali and Russian driver Nikita Mazepin effective immediately. Over a week ago, the American-based team tested in Barcelona with the fully branded Russian colored livery and sponsor. Once the invasion began, all there was left was a plain white car with Haas and 1&1 being the only sponsors in the Ferrari-powered car. Haas F1 issued the following statement regarding its termination with Uralkali and Mazepin: “AsRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Traditionally, silly season always cause a lot of buzz in the NTT IndyCar Series. This upcoming season is no different and it involves drivers who’ve won the Indianapolis 500 and others looking to really hit their stride in the sport. With certain changes, time will tell if some team chapters will continue or they’ll turn a brand new page in a sport that continues to grow. There’s one central theme among those drivers who’ll drive elsewhere, they’re all powered by Honda. In this preview installment, we’llRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The final piece of the 2022 Formula One driver lineup was confirmed Tuesday morning. The much talked about second Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN seat will be filled by Formula 2 driver Guanyu Zhou, who’ll replace Antonio Giovinazzi next season. Zhou will become the first Chinese driver to compete in Formula One on a full-time basis. The 22-year-old will be teammates with Valtteri Bottas, who’ll depart from Mercedes at season’s end. Ever since the age of five, the Renault Academy racer has dreamt of someday becoming anRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Two-time Indianapolis 500 champion Takuma Sato won’t return to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in 2022. The team confirmed Sato’s departure Tuesday afternoon with a lengthy appreciation post for his contributions to the squad. The 44-year-old wrapped up his fourth straight year with RLL Racing, finishing 11th in the NTT IndyCar Series standings this season. Sato scored four wins from 2018-2020, including the 104th Indy 500 which marked RLL Racing’s first 500 win since Buddy Rice in 2004. Including Sato’s previous tenure in 2012, he scored sixRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Simon Pagenaud will begin his next chapter in the NTT IndyCar Series by joining Meyer Shank Racing next season. The team announced Monday morning he’ll be taking Jack Harvey’s seat of the No. 60 Honda, becoming teammates with Helio Castroneves once again. Sunday’s finale at Long Beach marked the final race for Pagenaud at Team Penske after seven seasons of tremendous accomplishments. From 2015-2021, the 37-year-old Frenchman captured 11 victories and two of the sport’s biggest prizes. Those being his lone title to date in 2016Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer LONG BEACH, Calif. – Jack Harvey will bid farewell to Meyer Shank Racing after Sunday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. What started as just an Indianapolis 500 gig in 2017 turned into a long-term relationship in which the No. 60 organization has grown a lot. In 46 starts with MSR, Harvey has scored three top-fives, including a podium in the 2019 Indy Grand Prix. Despite Sunday being the end of a five-year tenure, it’s business as usual for Harvey. Not a weekend of mourning, butRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Ross Chastain will have a new home. Well, sort of on a technical standpoint. The current Chip Ganassi Racing driver will drive for Trackhouse Racing’s second NASCAR Cup Series team in 2022. The very team that’ll take over Ganassi’s NASCAR program at the end of the 2021 campaign. Although sponsorships or crew chief weren’t announced Tuesday morning, Chastain’s deal is a multiyear effort and will have a new car number. For the first time since 2001, the No. 42 will unlikely be on the grid inRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Brad Keselowski says he feels like an investor buying a stock that’s about to go up. That was the optimistic attitude all parties expressed Tuesday at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, where Keselowski was announced as the new minority partner and driver with Roush Fenway Racing (RFR), effective at the end of the 2021 season. A former team owner in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Keselowski is purchasing a piece of RFR, jointly owned by founder Jack Roush and theRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer NASCAR Xfinity Series standouts Austin Cindric and Harrison Burton will be competing for Cup Series Rookie of the Year honors in 2022. While Cindric was already confirmed to make the move up months ago, he’ll no longer be driving for Wood Brothers Racing. Instead, he’ll join Team Penske in their flagship No. 2 Ford Mustang with Discount Tire being a primary sponsor. “Throughout my NASCAR career, I’ve grown a lot as a driver and an individual,” said Cindric in a press release. “There are so manyRead More