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In Wisconsin on Saturday, the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Road America came down to an overtime scramble as Sam Mayer had to hold off Parker Kligerman and Austin Hill to win. Hours later in Virginia, Carson Hocevar got by Ty Majeski in the closing laps to end the Craftsman Truck Series regular season on a high note at Richmond Raceway.

Mayer, a Wisconsinite, tailed his JR Motorsports team-mate Justin Allgaier for much of the day before a massive wreck occurred with four laps remaining; Sammy Smith and A.J. Allmendinger made contact that shot both into the grass before the latter ricocheted off the wall, and Cole Custer was also collected to trigger the caution and set up overtime. Despite leading 42 of 49 laps and winning the first two stages, Allgaier spun and fell to eighteenth.

With Allgaier out of the picture, Mayer squared off with Sage Karam before Kligerman entered the picture. Neither he nor Austin Hill were able to catch Mayer as he pulled away for his maiden Xfinity win.

Like Mayer, Hocevar was not the most dominant driver in the Truck race. Majeski put on a clinic from the pole in Richmond as he led 168 of 250 laps. Even a speeding penalty on pit road for going 50.01 miles per hour (45 mph is the speed limit, but drivers are permitted to go over by five mph at most) was not enough to put him down. Meanwhile, Hocevar’s night started on a sour note when he had to pit with a flat tyre before the race even began.

However, pit strategy placed Hocevar at the front on fresher tyres than Majeski, who was unable to keep him at bay before Hocevar cleared him with four laps to go.

23XI Racing and RFK Racing were the stars of the show in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series action at Richmond Raceway, but the latter ultimately stole the spotlight. While the 23XI duo of Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace dominated the first stage to finish 1–2, the latter never recovered after a slow pit stop while his team-mate suffered a commitment line violation penalty to drop him out of contention too.

Their team owner Denny Hamlin tried for one last gasp on the final restart with three laps remaining but ran wide while trying to chase down RFK’s Chris Buescher. With Hamlin left to fend off those behind him, Buescher drove off to his first win of 2023 with his boss Brad Keselowski finishing sixth, completing a banner day for the team.

Like 23XI, the RFK duo occupied the top two spots at the end of Stage #2. Keselowski also led the most laps with 102 while Buescher had the second highest at eighty-eight. Buescher enjoyed his third career Cup victory and second at RFK after Bristol, another short track, in 2022. While the team has particularly excelled on short tracks, Buescher feels they have taken strides in their second season under the RFK identity at all track types.

“What I’m proud of at RFK as a group is we don’t have to just talk about short track racing,” Buescher said in his post-race press conference. “We can talk about superspeedway racing and know we’re going to be up front battling for wins, leading laps. We can talk about road course racing and know that we’ve been very competitive at a lot of those and been battling for wins. We can talk about some mile-and-a-halfs and be in the conversation there, as well. Maybe not quite as strong and not have the results, but we’ve had moments at a lot of different styles of race tracks. That’s what I’m most proud of. It would be great if we just stepped up our short track programme and we were competitive at these styles of race tracks. That would put you in a place where we’d be leaving Richmond saying we don’t have another shot until Bristol maybe. I don’t know what the first one would be. That’s not where we’re at.

“We have race tracks that we’re going to be competitive at every week. We do not have to circle race tracks as our chance or this is where we’re going to be really good and we’re going to have to get through this week. We haven’t had that this season. Really didn’t have a whole lot of that last season as well.

Nasser Al-Attiyah is the biggest free agent in the rally raid market today, and any team fortunate enough to get his services for the 2024 Dakar Rally onwards will also receive a quality navigator in Mathieu Baumel. Speaking to Auto Hebdo, Baumel revealed he and his driver decided to test the market with the hope of landing somewhere that would provide them with a competitive and stable ride.

“Our choice is explained by the fact that we had no real long-term certainties with Toyota,” Baumel explained. “I think the Hilux is obviously still very capable of fighting for victory at Dakar 2024, but that did not guarantee us the continuation of what I want to do with Nasser.”

Their current contract with Toyota Gazoo Racing expires on 31 August concurrent with the Desafío Ruta 40, which is set to be their final start for TGR barring an extension and ends the next day. Al-Attiyah had declared after last weekend’s Baja España Aragón that it would be his final Baja as a TGR driver, though later clarified that he remains focused on clinching the World Rally-Raid Championship with them in the meantime.

Besides a potential return to TGR, Al-Attiyah has also received offers from the adjacent Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa, Prodrive, and M-Sport. Multiple reports have stated Al-Attiyah will join Prodrive for the Rallye du Maroc in October followed by Dakar.

Although TGR is the top outfit in the W2RC today, their advantage over the field has weathered over time. Prodrive, the next closest team to them, has been inconsistent in terms of reliability but otherwise displays impressive pace with Sébastien Loeb and is set to partner with Dacia for the 2025 Dakar Rally onwards. M-Sport and their Ford Ranger T1+ are new faces who made their début in Aragón.

When the Superstar Racing Experience heads to Berlin Raceway near Grand Rapids, Michigan, Grand Rapids native Johnny Benson will take part in his first series race.

“I’m really excited to have the opportunity to race in the SRX series,” said Benson. “Not only to compete against some of the best drivers in the country, but to return to my home track Berlin Raceway.”

Benson was a popular driver in the 1990s and 2000s, winning the 1995 championship in what is now the NASCAR Xfinity Series before graduating to the Cup Series the next season and claiming Rookie of the Year honours. After being a mainstay in the top level and scoring a win, he he became a Craftsman Truck Series star for four years by winning the 2008 championship and three consecutive Most Popular Driver Awards.

His NASCAR last action came in 2010 as a lack of funding ended his time there. Since then, he is a panelist on the National Motorsports Appeals Panel and occasionally races supermodified cars. Benson also dabbles as the pace car driver for SRX.

“It’s not often you have the opportunity to invite a good friend and a multiple different series champion to drive in SRX at his hometown track,” added SRX CEO Don Hawk. “I believe this announcement will be warmly received by all those great race fans at Berlin Raceway.”

Team BMW’s Colin Turkington had a perfect end to Croft with his reverse grid pole being translated to a win in a lights-to-flag effort on Sunday evening.

The only move which put Turkington under pressure saw Josh Cook go for glory from outside the front row on the opening lap, but he couldn’t make it stick and Tom Ingram then picked him off who started the weekend six points behind Ash Sutton.

He leaves Croft six points behind Sutton, as, despite the utter dominance from NAPA Racing UK, Sutton again hit strife in Race Three just as he did last time out.

Team BMW’s Stephen Jelley had slight contact with the trio of NAPA Racing UK Ford Focus cars, but a further incident saw Sutton come off worse of all three as his car hobbled towards the pits. At first, with a Safety Car for Dan Lloyd, Sutton could’ve rejoined if it was a puncture.

But he stopped it on the pit entry and got out and had to walk back as his car was towed back denting his point-scoring opportunity.

Max Verstappen secured his tenth win of the season at the 2023 Belgium Grand Prix, ahead of Sergio Pérez with Oracle Red Bull Racing securing their first 1-2 since the Miami Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc came home third to finish on the podium for Scuderia Ferrari and there were multiple interesting and exciting battles further down the order.

What Happened in the Race?

Leclerc had a strong start, successfully fending off Pérez at Turn One, while Piastri got entangled with Sainz, resulting in a broken front wing for Oscar Piastri and damage for Carlos Sainz Jr. Despite the clear loss of pace, Sainz was instructed to continue racing with the damaged car. Pérez eventually overtook Leclerc on the Kemmel Straight, with Hamilton and Verstappen closing in on him.

Piastri became the first retirement from the race due to suspension damage, ending his chances after a promising sprint race. Sainz, with a damaged SF-23 and a hole in the sidepod, struggled to hold his position, allowing Fernando Alonso to pass him. A train of drivers, including Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon, formed behind Sainz, while Lance Stroll and George Russell managed to overtake Lando Norris to enter the points-paying positions, with the Briton struggling and later having a slow pit stop, dropping him to seventeenth.

As Lewis Hamilton complained about Leclerc’s track limit violations at Turn Nine, he had his own troubles, with Verstappen overtaking him at La Source to take third place. Sainz’s woes continued, with Williams Racing rookie Logan Sargeant pushing him out of the top-ten, prompting a pit stop for the Ferrari driver, who continued racing despite the issues.

Another race, another dominant display from Ash Sutton and NAPA Racing UK who has rebuilt his championship lead with a seventh win of the season so far at Croft.

Playing the team game once again, NAPA Racing UK swept the top three with Cammish and Rowbottom allowing the championship leader to speed off the line past them and build a huge gap from there. Cammish was out on his own in second with Rowbottom having to battle Tom Ingram.

Ingram found his way past at one point, but Rowbottom was immediately back in front acting as the protector for the pursued in this case Sutton and Cammish as their pre race meeting de-briefs seemed to pay dividends.

Josh Cook finished down in fifth ahead of Colin Turkington with the main drama coming for the latter’s teammate as Jake Hill was on the back of Cook and spun himself whilst in the battle for a top-five finish. He eventually finished 11th.

Stephen Jelley improved to grab seventh albeit was on the soft tyres and failed to make further progress. As Ricky Collard, Dan Lloyd, and Tom Chilton completed the top ten.

It was NAPA Racing UK dominance in Race One at Croft as the soft tyres failed to live up to their billing for the Team BMW contingent as Dan Cammish romped home to victory ahead of Ash Sutton and Dan Rowbottom.

Cammish spent most of the race out on his own as he looked to ignite his own championship challenge with Rowbottom and Sutton running together in front of Cook who was superb defending from Jake Hill to take fourth.

But Rowbottom in the end chose to take the team option and allowed Sutton throw in the final second of the last lap to give him second and also achieving fastest lap meant a good haul for the championship leader.

Team BMW’s Colin Turkington fell down to seventh with championship rival, Tom Ingram also surging past after Jake Hill picked him off early. Stephen Jelley in his 250th BTCC start claimed eighth not challenged as Sam Osborne surged into the top 10 joined by Aron Taylor-Smith who qualified eighth but fell away at the start.

2023 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Race 1 – Croft

Drivers were not too pleased with BFGoodrich at the 2023 Dakar Rally in January as a plethora of tyre punctures ruined many races. Sébastien Loeb’s seven stage wins were basically for naught as three flats in Stage #2 (his fellow Prodrives Guerlain Chicherit, Orlando Terranova, and Vaidotas Žala all suffered the same fate) followed by yet another a day later eliminated him from overall contention before he could even hit his stride.

According to a report from SoyMotor.com, the tyre manufacturer will try to rectify any error for the 2024 Rally. Specifically, the report mentions, the new compound will be “slightly slower” than what is currently used but is more resistant to puncture.

BFGoodrich supplies the sand-specialised All-Terrain T/A KDR2+ tyre for Dakar competitors, which comes in sixteen- and seventeen-inch widths with aspect ratios of 245/80-16 and 37/12.5-17, respectively. The former is intended for all-wheel-drive vehicles whereas the latter is for two-wheel-drive. A mud-specific version, the Mud-Terrain T/A KM3, is also available. T3 and T4 cars race on the Mud-Terrain T/A KM3 SSV.

In May, Team Audi Sport conducted a debrief test in Saudi Arabia to evaluate what went wrong at Dakar. Most of the session focused on tyre failures, and Audi simulated racing conditions with two tyres of BFGoodriches. One such version was rather peculiar as Audi placed five kilograms of silicone over it; while it indeed made punctures less susceptible, it also severely slowed down the car with the increased weight. Incidentally, Audi’s racing return at last weekend’s Baja España Aragón saw Carlos Sainz suffer two downed tyres in the opening stage.

Ironically, used tyres from Dakar were donated by T1 driver Benediktas Vanagas to the Ukrainian military for use on their vehicles in the war against Russia due to their durability. Of course, military and civilian vehicles are subject to different rigours than race cars.

Guess Ken Schrader is sticking around in the Superstar Racing Experience after all.

After Schrader was collected in a wreck with Paul Tracy during Thursday’s race at Pulaski County Motorsports Park, adding to a string of incidents between the two, the former threatened to not return to the series unless Tracy was no longer in the field. Such a call was especially uncharacteristic for Schrader, who has long been regarded as one of the most affable drivers during his NASCAR and dirt career.

SRX responded to the crash by announcing Friday that Tracy has been suspended effective immediately.

“We take issues regarding driver safety extremely seriously at SRX. This is not a decision we take lightly,” said SRX CEO Don Hawk. “It is our responsibility to ensure that we foster a competitive, and most importantly, a safe racing environment. I have been in contact with Paul directly and we appreciate his cooperation on this matter.”

The accident occurred on lap 89 of the main when Tracy tried to clear Josef Newgarden before coming up to block him. However, Tracy was not clear and turned in front of him, with Schrader and Hailie Deegan being caught in the eventual stack-up. Tracy explained it was “just hard racing” as there were ten laps remaining, though it was evidently not enough to avoid discipline.

Paul Tracy is still not making any friends out there. In fact, he might have driven one out of the Superstar Racing Experience.

The longtime IndyCar driver continued to antagonise his fellow drivers during Thursday night’s race at Pulaski County Motorsports Park after coming down to block Josef Newgarden on lap 89, only to trigger a massive stack-up that also collected Ken Schrader and Hailie Deegan. Tracy had developed a “bad boy” reputation during his IndyCar career, and has not done much to mend that image in SRX especially around Schrader: he spun Schrader in the second heat during the season opener at Stafford before the two tangled again at the last week’s Stafford #2 round.

Schrader, who committed to the full season, kept his comments on Tracy succinct: “I’m not running another race with him. I’m done.”

Tracy defended the action as he and Newgarden had bumped into each other multiple times throughout the night before he “got a nose ahead of him, a half-car length ahead of him, and I just got hooked and turned sideways down the straightaway. It was just hard racing at the end there, ten laps to go.”

In front of the quarrel, Kyle Busch won in his series début without breaking a sweat. He took the lead from fellow NASCAR driver Tony Stewart on lap 70 of the final and cruised to victory, joining colleague Denny Hamlin as drivers to win their first SRX race in 2023. Clint Bowyer, the Heat #2 winner, got by his former boss Stewart for second on the restart post-Tracy accident.

It was a long time coming, but Sébastien Herbet is going to the Dakar Rally. He received his acceptance letter from the ASO earlier in the week, locking him into the 2024 edition, and he will now prepare by entering the Rallye du Maroc in October.

Herbet last entered an internationally sanctioned rally at the 2021 Rallye du Maroc, when it was part of the World Rally-Raid Championship‘s predecessor Cross-Country Rallies World Championship, finishing thirtieth in the Rally2 category. He also ran the Andalucía Rally and placed fifth in the Enduro Cup, but neither of his efforts were enough to qualify for the 2022 Dakar Rally.

Afterwards, he decided to commit to making the 2024 race. In June, Herbet entered the Rallye Breslau, the largest European cross-country rally; despite early penalties, he scored three stage top tens and finished fourteenth overall in the Enduro class. While Breslau is in a different environment from the Dakar Rally’s deserts and is not prioritised by the ASO when selecting Dakar riders, it is typically used as additional practice for those heading there.

Besides rallies, Herbet mainly competes in enduro and sand races including the latter’s premier Enduropale du Touquet. He is good friends with Romain Dumontier, who is currently second in the W2RC’s Rally2 standings with wins at the Dakar Rally and Sonora Rally; Herbet will race at Morocco under the Dumontier Racing banner.

While already assured a spot at Dakar, Herbet can have his admission fees waived if he wins the Road to Dakar in Morocco. The Rallye du Maroc will take place on 13–18 October, and is often used as a final dress rehearsal for the Dakar Rally.

Layne Riggs impressed in his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series début in 2022 when he finished seventh at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. A year later, on 11 August, he will return to the track as the driver of the #7 Chevrolet Silverado RST for Spire Motorsports.

“I couldn’t be more excited to partner with Infinity Communications and Spire Motorsports to go short track racing in Indianapolis,” said Riggs. “I made my NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series début last season at the same track and we were able to put together a really solid seventh-place finish. I have a ton of short track experience and having Bono Manion calling the race from the top of the box puts us in a good spot to have great race.”

The defending NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national champion, Riggs made three Truck starts in 2022 for Halmar Friesen Racing and notched top twenties in each. After his seventh, he finished nineteenth and thirteenth at Richmond and Phoenix, respectively.

After not being able to secure funding for a full-time Truck campaign, Riggs returned to the Trucks at Atlanta with TRICON Garage and finished twenty-eighth. He raced a Chevrolet for the first time at Nashville where he placed twenty-seventh for Young’s Motorsports.

“Layne Riggs is a proven talent in the pavement late model ranks and has made a name for himself as a gritty, hard-working, and smart race car driver,” said Manion, who will serve as his crew chief. “He’s the kind of kid you hope gets a chance at the next level. LOIRP is exactly the type of track that’s right in Layne’s wheelhouse so we have high expectations. We’re all excited to have him in the seat and optimistic about our chances to have a good night.”

As a developmental division, the NASCAR Xfinity Series is usually relegated to subscription-based television networks while the premier Cup Series gets most of the over-the-air love. That will change in 2025 when The CW Network becomes the Xfinity Series’ exclusive TV rights holder on a seven-year deal through 2031. NASCAR Productions will produce the telecast while The CW hires its own booth and crew.

The CW is an American broadcast network like fellow NASCAR broadcasters NBC and FOX, except it does not carry news content and instead specialises in entertainment; among its popular properties are series like Riverdale, Gossip Girl, and The Vampire Diaries, as well as America’s Next Top Model and children’s shows under the Kids’ WB block. It is mainly owned by Nexstar Media Group while founders CBS and Warner Bros. hold minority stakes; Nexstar also has some affiliate stations tied to FOX and NBC.

Since 2023, the network has branched into sports programming by covering LIV Golf and ACC college football and basketball. Regional affiliates have also aired games for teams in the area. Inside the NFL, a weekly American football talk show, was picked up by The CW in June after being carried by CBS’ streaming counterpart Paramount+.

From April to June, The CW ran a documentary series titled 100 Days to Indy produced by Vice News which followed the build-up to the 2023 Indianapolis 500.

“Landing the NASCAR Xfinity Series is a game changer for The CW and our CW Sports division and represents another important building block in our programming strategy,” said The CW president Dennis Miller. “Live sports are the most watched television content and with The CW’s national reach, moving NASCAR Xfinity Series to The CW will transform and elevate the viewing experience for the series and its fans. The CW has quickly become a destination for sports, as the NASCAR Xfinity Series joins our growing slate of sports programming, including Inside the NFL, ACC college football and basketball, LIV Golf, and the motorsports documentary series 100 Days to Indy. Beginning in 2025, The CW will have forty-eight weekends per year of live sports programming. With ubiquitous distribution across one of the nation’s five major broadcast networks, NASCAR Xfinity Series races on The CW will deliver more access for fans and far more revenue opportunities for The CW and its affiliates.

After this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, BWT Alpine F1 Team has confirmed the departure of team principal Otmar Szafnauer and several other senior personnel. This comes a week after after the announcent that Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi also stepped down from his role to take on special projects within the broader Renault Group.

Alongside Szafnauer, sporting director Alan Permane, who had been with the team for an impressive 34 years, will also be leaving. Additionally, chief technical officer Pat Fry has already left Alpine to join Williams Racing on the 1st November.

Szafnauer became the team principal in 2022 after leaving Aston Martin Armaco Cognizant F1 Team, and he expressed his desire to stay with the team as recently as the Hungarian Grand Prix held last weekend. However, circumstances have led to his departure. To fill the void left by Szafnauer, Bruno Famin, who was appointed VP of Alpine Motorsports two weeks ago, will take over as the interim team principal.

An official statement from the team read:

“Otmar will continue his duties as normal for this weekend’s race in Belgium, before leaving the team ahead of the summer break. The team would like to thank Otmar for his hard work over the past 18 months and for leading the team in achieving fourth place in the 2022 Constructors’ Championship. The team wishes him the best for the future.