Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

In Season 1, Episode 10 of the hit sitcom Malcolm in the Middle, the titular protagonist and his family attend a now-ARCA Menards Series West race at Irwindale Speedway, where his father Hal remarks that legendary driver Rusty Malcolm is his namesake. Over two decades since that episode’s airing, Malcolm is hoping to do some ARCA and NASCAR driving himself.

While Frankie Muniz‘s acting days have slowed down since their height in the early- to mid-2000s, he has shifted his focus back into motorsport. A longtime racing fan who drove the pace car at the 2001 Daytona 500 and raced in the open-wheel ladder during the decade, Muniz revived his driving career in the world of stock cars and revealed in a Wednesday interview with SiriusXM that he is in talks with “a bunch of teams” in the ARCA Menards Series and NASCAR Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series about potential rides for 2023.

“I want to be realistic too. Obviously, I haven’t done a ton of oval racing, so everywhere I’m going to go everywhere next year is going to be new. In that same sense, I want to move up quickly. I don’t want to throw myself completely off the deep end. I know ARCA national, Truck Series, it’s ultra-competitive. It’s not little local racing. It’s top level of motorsport.

“I want to make sure that I’m ready. I believe that I am, but it’s all about putting the best deal together with a Truck ride or ARCA ride. I just want to be in a race car, so as much seat time as possible is going to be key for me, especially for the rest of this year and next year just to keep learning and progressing.”

Muniz began racing with the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race at the Grand Prix of Long Beach in 2004. After finishing seventh overall in his début, he was the best-finishing celebrity in the 2005 edition as he placed third behind off-road stars Rhys Millen and Ryan Arciero. He would run the event again in 2006, 2011, and the final edition in 2016. His career took him to open-wheel when he entered Formula BMW USA in 2006, where he competed against the likes of NTT IndyCar Series drivers Robert Wickens and Simona de Silvestro followed by three seasons in the Atlantic Championship. His performance gradually improved each year as he went from just one top ten as a rookie in 2007 to finishing in such range in every race in 2009, but injuries would cut his final campaign short.

Since his Formula One exit, Nikita Mazepin has focused on off-road with SNAG Racing and is aiming towards a run at the Dakar Rally in the future. On Wednesday, he recorded the best time of the T3 class in the Silk Way Rally‘s seventh leg to score his first stage win in his new discipline.

Driving the #215 Can-Am Maverick Max XRS Turbo RR with Anton Vlasyuk, he set a time of 3:10:37, nearly eight minutes quicker than T3 runner-up Armen Puzyan. The stage’s course, a 350-km loop around Elista (capital of Kalmykia, Russia), was plagued by muddy conditions that forced the Moto and Quad categories to cancel their race for the day.

“The muddy section wasn’t long but our wipers didn’t work, so I hoped that it would end,” said Mazepin. “It was like being in a bunker: we couldn’t see anything. It’s an interesting experience. The car slides much more on clay, more like a drift, than a buggy. I had fun. The last three days, I’ve been driving with pleasure.

“Today, we started behind the KAMAZ trucks, then caught up with (Anastasia) Nifontova and overtook her, but then let her go because the pace she keeps, I think, doesn’t match the pace of the marathon. But in her case, I would probably look at it not as a race, but as a test. So I’m happy with my pace. The weather change definitely influenced the car, making it easier to drive. I got used to the pace, but I would like to sleep a little bit more. From the point of view of driving, the terrain has changed again, but it’s calmer to drive here.”

The Silk Way Rally, the most prestigious of its kind in Russia and a former round of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, began on 6 July. Mazepin’s race began poorly as his dashboard malfunctioned on the opening stage, his UTV stalled multiple times on Stage #2 and ran out of fuel shortly after finishing the next, and he suffered brake failures during the fifth. Despite the issues, he rebounded on the sixth leg by finishing second in class to Nifontova. He currently leads the T3 category with three stages remaining and sits sixth overall. Team-mate and owner Sergei Kariakin is eighth overall and third in class.

Nick Sanchez has left B.J. McLeod Motorsports for other avenues after running two races in his NASCAR Xfinity Series entry schedule for the team. He announced his departure on Wednesday as he has received a different chance to continue his career.

“At this time, I would like to announce that I will not be competing in my remaining scheduled Xfinity races with BJ McLeod Motorsports this season,” begins Sanchez’s statement. “I’d like to thank BJ & Jessica McLeod, along with the entire team, for the opportunity to compete with them. I’ve enjoyed working with each and every one of you.

“I’ve been presented an opportunity that both supports and aligns with my plan for growth and advancement. It is not something I can pass up on and can’t wait to share this news soon.”

A Drive for Diversity programme member due to his Cuban background, Sanchez débuted in the Xfinity Series at Phoenix in March, where he finished twenty-sixth in BJMM’s #5. He drove the #99 at Charlotte two months later and was classified twenty-eighth after an ignition failure.

Additional starts were scheduled at Pocono Raceway (23 July), Michigan International Speedway (6 August), Kansas Speedway (10 September), Bristol Motor Speedway (16 September), and Homestead-Miami Speedway (22 October).

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon achieved his best finish of the season, taking fifth place at the Austrian Grand Prix, as team-mate Fernando Alonso finished tenth after starting at the back due to the issues he had on the starting grid of the sprint race. 

Alpine Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer congratulated Ocon for his impressive result which coincided with his hundredth Grand Prix. He also said that the result proves that the team’s recent upgrades are having a positive effect. 

“Firstly, congratulations to Esteban for marking his 100th Formula 1 Grand Prix start by scoring ten points in fifth place. He thoroughly deserved that after driving so well today and executing a very good two-stop strategy. 

“By scoring so highly, combined with yesterday’s effort in the Sprint, it means the team is continuing its momentum forwards after delivering some good upgrades at recent events.”

Szafnauer praised Alonso’s recovery drive at the Red Bull Ring, but said that the reliability issues he faced put a hamper on an otherwise successful weekend. He emphasized the importance of solving these problems moving forward. 

The Haas F1 Team enjoyed their best weekend since the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix, after Mick Schumacher finished sixth and Kevin Magnussen finished eighth at the Red Bull Ring.

The Austrian Grand Prix saw Schumacher secure his best finish in Formula 1 to-date, as well as this, the German driver was awarded ‘Driver of the Day’ by the fans. Magnussen also drove strongly; however, had to nurse an engine problem the entire race, something which caused the American team and the Danish driver some concern.

Considering the lack of upgrades Haas have introduced so far this season, it was an incredible result for the team to be so competitive. As a result of Schumacher’s and Magnussen’s finishing position, the team jumped to seventh in the Constructors’ Championship.

Team Principal Guenther Steiner labelled the weekend as “perfect”, with the Haas boss being incredibly happy to see his side move up in the standings.

“A fantastic result for the team today with a double-points finish and back in P7 in the championship. There was one little issue with Kevin’s engine, but everything went as perfect as it can be. Thanks to the whole team for a big effort.”

Mick Schumacher secured his best-ever finish in Formula 1 at the Austrian Grand Prix last weekend, after finishing in a superb sixth-place. Team-mate Kevin Magnussen finished eighth at the Red Bull Ring in what was the Haas F1 Team’s best result since 2018.

Following a frustrating Sprint race on Saturday, Schumacher drove brilliantly on Sunday to make it back-to-back points finishes. The young German demonstrated some excellent racecraft, by running three-a-breast at times on the run up to Turn Three. Schumacher had excellent pace all race and even managed to overtake his team-mate, something which he failed to do in the Sprint.

The opening phase of the race saw Schumacher battle once again with Lewis Hamilton, who he had a great fight with on Saturday. Schumacher’s points finish saw him move up to fifteenth in the Drivers’ Standings, one-place behind Sebastian Vettel.

The German driver was very pleased with his result, as well as being awarded the ‘Driver of the Day’ award by the fans.

“Fighting again with Lewis was fun. I felt a lot different compared to yesterday, obviously knowing that we had to take care of the tyres. Quite soon I felt it wasn’t going to be a one-stop race just because of the way the tires were behaving – the winds were very different and difficult to manage. It was tough out there but it’s another double-points finish again after Silverstone, so everyone in the team can be very happy about the result. Being voted driver of the day as well is great so thank you to everybody.”

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon finished fifth at the Austrian Grand Prix, achieving his best finish of the 2022 season on his hundredth Grand Prix. Ocon’s race was a simple one, using a two stop strategy and ultimately gaining a position from his starting place of sixth with the two retirements of Carlos Sainz and Sergio Pérez from ahead.

Ocon said that fifth was the team’s optimum position as he didn’t have the pace to compete with George Russell for fourth. 

“What a day, what a weekend! I think we really maximised the pace of the car today when it really mattered. It was a great way to cap off my 100th Grand Prix in Formula 1. There were some good fights on the track today, but in the end George [Russell] was too quick and fifth position was the best we could have achieved. 

Having added ten points to the championship tally, Ocon said that he is optimistic about the coming races, with his and the team’s home race coming up with the French Grand Prix. 

“We go home with some very good points after this weekend, moving up to eighth in the Drivers’ Championship and now level with McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship.

As the likes of Kimi Räikkönen, Tony Kanaan, and Daniil Kvyat respectively prepare for their NASCAR Cup Series début or are in talks about racing in NASCAR, Marco Andretti is hoping to be the next to join this “new wave open-wheel invasion”. The longtime NTT IndyCar Series driver has entertained the possibility of racing in the Xfinity Series since 2021, but revealed in an interview with Frontstretch‘s Michael Massie on Saturday that he is “talking to some people” about it.

“If I can hang with these guys, maybe I can hang in Xfinity,” he remarked after finishing runner-up in the Superstar Racing Experience event at the Nashville Fairgrounds.

Since ending his full-time IndyCar career after 2020, Andretti has been eyeing more closed-wheel opportunities. He ran the full inaugural SRX campaign, a short track championship featuring many former NASCAR drivers like series founder Tony Stewart, and finished fourth in points with a win at Slinger. Four races into the 2022 slate, he is second in the standings behind 2000 Cup Series champion Bobby Labonte with back-to-back runner-up finishes at Stafford and Nashville.

During a 2021 SRX press conference, he disclosed he is nearing a deal to race in the Xfinity Series on a limited scale, though he would make zero starts that year. An October 2021 report by Burnout Sports’ Tony Donahue revealed rumours of Stewart considering fielding a part-time Xfinity entry for Andretti under his Stewart-Haas Racing banner in 2022.

Should Andretti find a ride, he joins a plethora of names from open-wheel racing to begin dabbling in stock cars. Besides the aforementioned, former Indianapolis 500 winner Jacques Villeneuve ran the Daytona 500 in February while ex-Formula One driver Tarso Marques is aiming to run the Watkins Glen Cup race alongside Räikkönen. Hélio Castroneves, who raced against Andretti and Kanaan in IndyCar and SRX, is hoping to run the Daytona 500 in 2023. Such a trend was especially prominent in late 1990s to 2000s as those like Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya, Dario Franchitti, and Sam Hornish Jr. ditched IndyCar and F1 in favour of NASCAR.

Toto Wolff says third and fourth in Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix represents a strong result for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, particularly looking at how the cars of both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were after Qualifying on Friday.

Both Hamilton and Russell crashed out of Qualifying and left the mechanics a lot of work to do to repair the cars before Saturday’s final practice session and Sprint race, but despite this, they both were able to come through to score good points for the team.

Wolff, the Team Principal at Mercedes, says the team are still losing two to three tenths of a second to Scuderia Ferrari and Oracle Red Bull Racing at this stage of the season, but they are heading in the right direction when it comes to their development of the W13.

“We always seem to be in two minds at the end of the races right now,” said Wolff.  “We must accept P3 and P4 today. And when you think we had two cars in pieces on Friday afternoon, that’s a strong result.

“But we are missing the two or three tenths to be able to race at the front. We have glimpses of light at the end of the tunnel with the car – then it disappears again, and we need to get on top of that.

Lewis Hamilton reiterated his thanks to his mechanics and engineers for the rebuild they were forced to do after his Friday Qualifying crash at the Red Bull Ring, but despite a rough start to the weekend, he was able to claim a third consecutive podium finish on Sunday.

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver crashed at turn seven on Friday and could only finish eighth in Saturday’s Sprint race, but he stayed out on trouble and capitalised on other people’s misfortunes to claim third place behind Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen on Sunday.

Hamilton admitted it was quite a lonely race for him in Austria, but from where the weekend began, he was pleased to stand on the podium again and continue their recent positive momentum.

“First, I want to say a big thank you to the women and men in the garage who worked so hard to rebuild the car,” said Hamilton.  “I needed a brand-new car on Saturday morning, unfortunately.

“That’s something I don’t do often, but I’m just thankful for how hard everybody worked. It was tough in the Sprint yesterday, but today felt better. We had decent pace at different points of the race, even if I was racing a little bit in no-man’s land.

Christian Horner admitted that Scuderia Ferrari had the edge over Oracle Red Bull Racing during Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix, although Max Verstappen’s tyre degradation also did not help the Milton Keynes-based outfit.

Verstappen started the race at the Red Bull Ring from pole position but was unable to fend off the challenge of Charles Leclerc early on, and the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz Jr. was also in contention to beat the Dutchman until his engine failed late on.  The reigning World Champion was able to salvage second at the chequered flag.

The second Red Bull of Sergio Pérez was an early casualty in the race after first lap contact with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team’s George Russell seeing the Mexican suffer a lot of damage to his car, so much that the team opted to retire him to save on engine mileage.

Horner says he is pleased his team only dropped five points to Ferrari across the British and Austrian Grand Prix weekends, but it is important they keep pushing to fight back against their rivals quickly.

“We scored some really important points today but it just wasn’t meant to be for us,” said Horner, the Team Principal at Red Bull. “Congratulations to Ferrari, although they were unlucky with Carlos, they had the faster car for the majority of the race which gave them more strategic options but Max’s tyre deg was higher from halfway through the first stint and it was hard to combat that.

Max Verstappen was forced to settle for second place in Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix, with the Oracle Red Bull Racing driver struggling with tyre degradation throughout the race.

Despite winning the Sprint race on Saturday and starting on pole position on Sunday, Verstappen was unable to match the kind of pace the Scuderia Ferrari drivers had, and he was passed by eventual winner Charles Leclerc on three occasions at the Red Bull Ring.

The Dutchman was still happy to walk away with the points for second place, and he says it is important to maximise the potential of the car in every race even if they are not fighting for the win.

“We were just a bit too slow today, we were doing the best we could with the strategy but the Ferraris were extremely fast,” said Verstappen.  “Of course, we need to understand why we had so much degradation with the tyres, I’m not sure exactly what happened, no matter which compound we used none of them seemed to work well.

“Although we didn’t win today, we still walked away with a lot of points. In difficult moments you need to score points and we did that today.”

Tyler Reddick has long been considered one of the hottest young drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series, only to be held back by his equipment at Richard Childress Racing. Although contracted to RCR through the 2023 season, he will jump to 23XI Racing and the Toyota stable beginning in 2024.

“Announcing a driver over a year before he will be racing with 23XI is a little unprecedented, but Tyler was the driver we wanted and we did not want to miss the opportunity to bring him to our team,” said team president Steve Lauletta. “In making the announcement now, the team has ample time to prepare for 2024 on the business side as we expect interest from potential partners and continue to see strong engagement from our current partners.”

Reddick is currently in his third full season of Cup racing. Earlier in July, after coming up short so many times, he finally broke through for his maiden series victory at Road America, and currently sits fourteenth in points with six other top tens. Last year, he scored sixteen top-ten finishes and made the playoffs, eventually placing thirteenth in the final classification.

While enjoying a solid career, many have speculated about RCR’s equipment preventing him from achieving his full potential and that he had been over-performing his team’s capabilities. As a result, he was often the subject of fan discourse about leaving the outfit for greener pastures. Nevertheless, he reaffirmed his commitment to RCR in 2023, and the short-term deal left him open in free agency beyond that.

Signing a team multiple years in advance is rare, though Reddick’s move is not a first-time occurrence. For example, Jamie McMurray signed with now-RFK Racing for the 2007 season in 2005. In April 2010, Hendrick Motorsports announced Kasey Kahne would take over the #5 from Mark Martin for 2012, and he spent the in-between slate with Team Red Bull before making the switch. Kevin Harvick revealed plans to join Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014 while driving for RCR in late 2012, and SHR would also sign Clint Bowyer for 2017 during the 2015 calendar year; Harvick remained with RCR for 2013 while Bowyer did a one-year campaign with HScott Motorsports as they awaited their new rides to become open.

The KymiRing was intended to be Finland’s premier circuit capable of hosting a versatile array of international championships from MotoGP to motocross and rallycross. However, the dream seems to be going down the drain with each new development since its opening in 2019, and it appears to have hit rock bottom amid reports that construction companies Maanrakennus Pekka Rautiainen Ky and Macra oy have filed bankruptcy claims against the track. With circuit ownership unable to pay the money owed and construction therefore coming to a halt, series like the FIM Motocross World Championship and Nitro Rallycross have cancelled their races there.

Located in Iitti, the KymiRing broke ground in 2016 and envisioned as an FIA Grade 1 circuit, the first of its kind in the Nordic realm. After signing a five-year deal in 2017, MotoGP was due to début there in 2020 as the first premier motorcycle Grand Prix event in Finland since Imatra welcomed it from 1964 to 1982, but global crises led repeated postponements with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020/2021 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The race is still on the 2023 calendar.

In late June, Finnish publication Yle reported the KymiRing owed its construction firms compensation for their work, with Maanrakennus Pekka Rautiainen Ky seeking €370,000 while Macra oy wanted €264,000. At the time, track CEO Riku Rönnholm denied knowing about the applications and took the matter behind closed doors.

While the situation played out in meeting rooms, the Motocross World Championship elected to relocate its 13/14 August date from the KymiRing to former longtime venue Hyvinkään Vauhtipuisto. MXGP had previously delayed its KymiRing visits twice from 2020 onwards.

Nitro Rallycross was the next to call off its trip to KymiRing, doing so on Monday and citing the circuit “still not being fully completed yet per scheduled milestones.” The weekend was originally set to take place on 27/28 August as part of the fledgling series’ international expansion.

Ernie Francis Jr. will be back for more Superstar Racing Experience action as he enters this Saturday’s race at I-55 Speedway. He was initially scheduled to run just the first two races of the year at Five Flags Speedway and South Boston Speedway.

“13. Unfinished Business,” began an SRX social media post. “@ErnieFrancisJr will join the field for @I55Raceway, carrying @CornwellTools onboard his No. 99 entry.”

Francis finished runner-up in the inaugural SRX championship in 2021 to founder Tony Stewart with a win at Indianapolis, but downsized to a part-time slate for 2022 as he focuses on a full-time Indy Lights schedule. He finished eleventh and seventh in his first two 2022 SRX races, which were done in the #5 though he now moves to the #99 that Justin Marks piloted at Stafford Speedway.

I-55 will be Francis’ third foray into dirt racing in SRX after finishing third at Knoxville Raceway and eighth at Eldora Speedway in 2021. The Pevely track is one of two dirt circuits on the 2022 calendar alongside the season finale at Sharon Speedway.

The seven-time Trans-Am Series champion is currently eleventh in Indy Lights points with a best finish of seventh in the opener at St. Petersburg. Matt Brabham, winner of that St. Petersburg race, told The Checkered Flag in March that he believes Francis would be a good fit for the Stadium Super Trucks, a series that has drawn some comparison to SRX as both are run by former NASCAR drivers and emphasise driver skill in identical vehicles.