Farewell, Fontana: NASCAR's last weekend at a racing gem
Auto Club Speedway's racetrack seems to be adored by every professional driver on the continent. โIโm going to miss everything about this track,โ Martin Truex Jr. said. Fontana won't host a NASCAR weekend in 2024, and the new setup might not be ready until 2026, if it happens at all.
news.yahoo.comWatching from afar, Bubba Wallace's lunch: 'Humble pie'
Around the time that NASCAR drivers at Homestead-Miami Speedway were getting into their cars for Sunday's race, Bubba Wallace was having lunch. Wallace spent his Sunday at the 23XI team headquarters in North Carolina, serving his one-race suspension for deliberately spinning reigning Cup champion Kyle Larson at Las Vegas last weekend in what NASCAR called a โdangerous actโ of retaliation before confronting him afterward. Denny Hamlin, one of the 23XI team owners along with Michael Jordan, said Saturday that Wallace would be spending the race โback at the shop, kind of monitoring, similar to what Kurt does."
news.yahoo.comNASCAR hot topic shifts to retaliation as playoffs roar on
The focus in NASCAR has yet to shift to the actual playoff racing as only three events remain to crown a new Cup champion. Bubba Wallace has been suspended for Sundayโs race for intentionally wrecking reigning Cup champion Kyle Larson last week in a dangerous act of retaliation that NASCAR and most of Wallace's competitors found over the line. Retaliation has been an ongoing issue across all three of NASCAR's national series this season with drivers either seeking payback on the track or after in physical confrontations.
news.yahoo.comNASCAR's Bubba Wallace hit with unfounded claims of 'anti-Asian hate' after post-crash shoving of Kyle Larson
Bubba Wallace has been accused of anti-Asian hate for attacking Kyle Larson after they crashed at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday. The confrontation began at Stage 2 of the South Point 400, where Wallace โ who won Stage 1 โ ended up racing side-by-side with Larson in Turn 4 of the track. Larson, who was driving the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, bumped Wallaceโs #45 McDonald's Toyota into the wall while trying to make a three-wide pass.
news.yahoo.comWallace holds off boss, title contenders to win at Kansas
Bubba Wallace won his second career NASCAR Cup Series race and denied the playoff field of an automatic spot in the next round for the second straight week when he held off championship contenders Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell to win at Kansas Speedway.
Elliott wins Cup pole at Watkins Glen International
Chase Elliott won the NASCAR Cup pole on Saturday at Watkins Glen International, edging Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson for the top spot. Elliott, a two-time winner at The Glen, turned a fast lap of 1 minute, 10.477 seconds around the 2.45-mile natural terrain road course. Larson, who won last year's race at The Glen, finished in 1:10.516, just ahead of Michael McDowell.
news.yahoo.comHamlin respects NASCAR punishment for crass anti-Asian meme
Denny Hamlin said someone sent him a crass anti-Asian meme that poked fun at Kyle Larson's driving and out it went without a care โ from his mobile phone to Twitter. โI thought it was hilarious," Hamlin said. NASCAR and scores of fans and casual observers who lashed out at Hamlin for linking Larson's ancestry โ he's half Japanese โ with an offensive stereotype linked to Asian drivers certainly didn't find the meme funny.
news.yahoo.comToo soon: Truex Jr. not ready to consider NASCAR future
Martin Truex Jr. left Richmond Raceway a winner in his last visit to the Virginia short track, a playofff victory last September that helped him get into NASCAR's championship round and showed the veteran has plenty left in his tank. The 41-year-old Truex is in the final year of his contract with Joe Gibbs Racing and hasn't decided how long he wants to continue his career. There is no wait-and-see going on with Truex, who in his 17th full Cup Series season is grappling with NASCAR's new Next Gen car.
news.yahoo.comWilliam Byron wins wild NASCAR race at remodeled Atlanta
William Byron had a freight train in his rearview mirror. While Byron cruised to the checkered flag for the third victory of his NASCAR Cup career, one last crash unfolded behind him Sunday in an appropriate finish to a chaotic, thrilling race at remodeled Atlanta Motor Speedway. โPretty wild,โ the 24-year-old Byron said.
news.yahoo.comUncomfortably numb: Reddick deals with leg issues at Phoenix
Tyler Reddick is enjoying his status among NASCAR's fastest drivers through the season's first three races, adapting quickly to the sport's Next Gen car that has provided solid racing and a new degree of difficulty for many drivers. The only issue is Reddick can't seem to get comfortable in his Chevrolet's seat, leading to numbness in his legs. โYou know, I just think I was in a really good place in that old car for such a long time and didnโt realize how easy or how bad you could end up missing it, the comfort side of things,โ Reddick said.
news.yahoo.comHendrick squashes potential feud between Larson and Elliott
Rick Hendrick spoke and his drivers heard the boss loud and clear. Hendrick intervened on a competition matter for the first time since Kyle Larson joined the team when he squashed any potential beef between his stars following their run-in last week in California. Larson, the reigning Cup champion, caused Chase Elliott, NASCAR's most popular driver, to wreck last week as the two raced for the win.
news.yahoo.comNASCAR champion Larson among many conflicted by F1 finish
NASCAR champion Kyle Larson's first Formula One race was the season finale and he is as conflicted as anyone over the controversial ending of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Funny, Larson was wondering how he could get into Formula One.
news.yahoo.comLarson shares NASCAR title with supportive race school
The Urban Youth Racing School, the Philadelphia-based program that creates opportunities in racing for minorities, had founders Anthony and Michelle Martin and two students at the track -- and they all got swept up in the championship bash. โI feel like at this point Kyle canโt be denied, on or off the track,โ Michelle Martin said.
news.yahoo.comLarson wins at Bristol while Harvick and Elliott feud
Kyle Larson won at Bristol Motor Speedway โ not really a big surprise or even the most interesting part of NASCAR's first playoff elimination race. The post-race feud between reigning Cup Series champion Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick stole the show Saturday night, especially when Harvick angrily told the energized crowd: โIโm ready to freakin' rip somebodyโs head off." The fickle crowd struggled to pick a side before settling firmly behind Elliott, NASCAR's most popular driver.
news.yahoo.comIndy's road course opens to mixed reviews from Cup drivers
Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick made their opinions perfectly clear Saturday. Now, after one short practice session, Cup drivers will spend Saturday night plotting their strategical twists and turns for Sunday's reconfigured and renamed Brickyard 200. Larson is this season's points leader after adding his series-high fifth victory last week on the road course at Watkins Glen.
news.yahoo.comKyle Larson gets first win since suspension by NASCAR for using racial slur
Las Vegas โ Kyle Larson wasn't sure he'd ever race again in NASCAR, and if he could, he didn't know who would even hire him. It was Rick Hendrick who took the chance on a driver many believed was radioactive for sponsors. On Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Larson raced to his first NASCAR victory since he was reinstated from a nearly yearlong suspension. "Thanks Mr. H. for believing in me," Larson radioed to boss Rick Hendrick after crossing the finish line. Bubba Wallace, left, congratulates Kyle Larson after Larson won the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube NASCAR Cup Series race on March 7, 2021 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
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