Circle Tracks

Adding even more credence to the notion that the 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports v NASCAR antitrust lawsuit and countersuit is destined to trial was Denny Hamlin in how he characterized settlement mediation over the past week. “It went okay the first day, not great the second day,” Hamlin said during a press conference on Saturday at Martinsville Speedway. “I don’t know. Didn’t ...Keep readingView the full article

Facing a must-win situation, William Byron earned a critical pole position at Martinsville Speedway. The Hendrick Motorsports driver lapped the half-mile short track in 19.286s, beating Ty Gibbs by just fractions — 0.002s — for pole. This is Byron's 16th career pole and his third of the 2025 season, but the two-time Martinsville winner has never started on the front row for this ...Keep readingView the full article

At least in the playoff era, the Martinsville Xfinity Series race has best been articulated as a 'dogfight' at best or a 'bloodbath' at worst. There have been divebombs at best and wipeouts at worst, anything in the name of advancing or winning to make the final four to compete for a championship next week at Phoenix Raceway. Connor Zilisch and Justin Allgaier, driving for the two best teams ...Keep readingView the full article

After announcing that he will part ways with AM Racing, Harrison Burton has secured a new ride with Sam Hunt Racing, where he will drive the No. 24 Toyota next season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (which is set to be renamed as the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series). Burton, who currently sits 12th in the championship standings, moved back down to the second division this year after three ...Keep readingView the full article

Corey Heim Ty MajeskiTyler Ankrum Kaden Honeycutt And with that, the stage is set for a NASCAR Truck Series championship race that wouldn’t feel right being won by anyone other then Heim, crew chief Scott Zipadelli and the Tricon Garage No. 11 team after winning for a record setting 11th time this season. And yet, there are three other contenders, including the one that won last year that ...Keep readingView the full article

Just one point separated four drivers in Martinsville's Round of 8 elimination race on Saturday, with Kaden Honeycutt besting Layne Riggs for the final transfer spot on a tiebreaker. Meanwhile, Corey Heim, who was already locked in, secured yet another victory in the most dominant Truck season we've ever seen. Meet the four drivers who will face off for the 2025 championship next weekend at ...Keep readingView the full article

It's hard to bet against Corey Heim for the 2025 NASCAR Truck Series title, as the Tricon driver will enter the finale with a historic eleven victories after 24 races this year. He earned yet another win at Martinsville, but all eyes were on the battle to make the Championship 4. "I don't want to jump to any conclusions yet," said Heim about being the title favorite. "We got a big race next ...Keep readingView the full article

Maybe it’s ‘hell yeah,’ and maybe it’s something else but Tim Clark is working tirelessly to reintroduce the Sanctioning Body and simultaneously remind the world what its sporting values are in an ever-changing landscape. That was part of a conversation held last week in New York City as part of the Autosport Business Exchange that invited leaders of various global motorsports entities ...Keep readingView the full article

Two drivers are guaranteed a spot in the Championship 4 via wins, and they are the Joe Gibbs Racing teammates of Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe. That leaves six drivers to fight for the remaining two spots at Martinsville this weekend. Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson have a large margin over the elimination zone, but there is just one point between the two of them. A win by Joey Logano ...Keep readingView the full article

Things could always change, of course, but it seems as though the 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports v NASCAR antitrust lawsuit and countersuit is destined for a trial by jury come December. The two parties met in court on Thursday following two days of settlement mediation overseen by Judge Kenneth D. Bell. The judge, who has overseen this case for over a year now opened this session by ...Keep readingView the full article

Front Row Motorsports will make no changes to its driver roster for the 2026 NASCAR Cup season, keeping the same lineup they have now. Todd Gilliland will continue as the driver of the No. 34, Noah Gragson as the driver of the No. 4, and Zane Smith as the driver of the No. 38. Smith has actually signed a multi-year contract extension with FRM, which was part of Thursday's ...Keep readingView the full article

For the third time this year, NASCAR and Formula 1 were more or less competing for the same eyeballs on Sunday and the television ratings for both arrived on Wednesday afternoon. The Cup Series, after a stretch of poor viewership numbers on USA Network, returned to over-the-air NBC on Sunday and the Yellow Wood 500 drew 2.556 million viewers for a race that began at 2 p.m. ET. The Formula 1 ...Keep readingView the full article

Attorneys representing both parties in the 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports v NASCAR lawsuit and countersuit concluded a second consecutive day of settlement talks without any announced agreement. Upon leaving the Western District of North Carolina courtroom in Charlotte on Wednesday, both parties declined comment. There is a scheduled session for oral arguments on Thursday morning in ...Keep readingView the full article

19-year-old William Sawalich is currently competing in his rookie season as NASCAR Xfinity Series driver, but he will not take part in this weekend's race at Martinsville Speedway. He sits 17th in the championship standings, and hasn't missed a race all year. Unfortunately, on Lap 46 at Talladega Superspeedway, he was involved in a six-car crash at the entrance of Turn 1, which caused a ...Keep readingView the full article

Following their championship race clinching victory earlier in the month at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Denny Hamlin detailed a conversation he had with team owner Joe Gibbs over the eventual decision to pair him with crew chief Chris Gayle. Hamlin said, and this is in the aftermath of then crew chief Chris Gabehart being elevated to competition director, that he has roughly 24 hours to agree to ...Keep readingView the full article

After five seasons with Trackhouse Racing, Daniel Suarez will have a new home in 2026, but he will still be with the same manufacturer. NASCAR’s top Mexican-born driver will replace Justin Haley as the driver of the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. Suarez is the only foreign-born driver to ever secure a national-level title, winning the 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship.  This will ...Keep readingView the full article

“There is an expectation that the (Driver Ambassador Program) will be a part of the future charter structure and that the drivers, through the (Driver Advisory Council, will have their voice heard on important issues that impact the drivers.” That is the most important line of a legal filing issued by the Driver Advisory Council in the form of an amicus brief included in the 23XI Racing and ...Keep readingView the full article

As previously announced, NASCAR isn't returning to the Chicago Street Course in 2026, replacing it with an ambitious new street course on an active Naval base in San Diego. Naval Base Coronado will host the event just a couple of weeks before the 250th anniversary of the formation of the United States, on the weekend of June 19-21. All three national divisions of the sport will be present for ...Keep readingView the full article

NASCAR Truck Series race winner Rajah Caruth has secured a part-time NASCAR Xfinity Series (soon to be called the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series) ride with JR Motorsports in 2026, where he will drive the No. 88 Chevrolet. The number of races and exact schedule were not revealed at this time. The 23-year-old Caruth has 22 previous starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, placing as high as 12th ...Keep readingView the full article

This is an important week in the 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports vs NASCAR lawsuit and countersuit. It could also be the final off-ramp, one final chance to reach a settlement, before preparation begins in full for a trial by jury in a Charlotte, North Carolina courtroom on December 1. To be sure, a settlement could be reached at anytime before then, but a decision from the judge ...Keep readingView the full article

To win the NASCAR Cup Series championship in less than two weeks, Denny Hamlin and the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 team will need to be perfect at Phoenix Raceway. On one hand, they executed last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to become the first driver to lock into the final four but this past month has also seen the team experience power steering and stuck throttles at Kansas and Talladega ...Keep readingView the full article

Two Joe Gibbs Racing drivers are guaranteed a spot in the Championship 4, while the remaining six drivers will be left to fight over the final two spots at Martinsville. NASCAR leaves Talladega after a dramatic race from start to finish, featuring an incredible number of lead changes and nonstop action. In the end, Chase Briscoe passed Bubba Wallace on the final lap as Hendrick Motorsports ...Keep readingView the full article

If just two more drivers had spent a single lap out in front of the field, Sunday's 500-mile NASCAR Cup race at Talladega would have matched the record for different race leaders in a single race. This is the first time since the era of the tandem draft NASCAR has seen these kinds of numbers. The 2010 Aaron's 499 at Talladega holds the record with 29 different race leaders, followed by the ...Keep readingView the full article

The math could not be any simpler for the six drivers still racing for the three remaining spots in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race. Chase Briscoe Adv.Denny Hamlin AdvChristopher Bell +37Kyle Larson +38---William Byron -36Joey Logano -38Ryan Blaney -47Chase Elliott -62 William Byron, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott will each go to Martinsville Speedway next weekend needing ...Keep readingView the full article

In many ways, Chase Briscoe and crew chief James Small entered this season feeling as though they were racing for their careers and now they are going to Phoenix to race for the Cup Series championship.   On its face, that sounds kind of crazy because Small won eight times with Martin Truex Jr., including three races back in 2023. Briscoe signed a multi-year deal with Gibbs at the start of ...Keep readingView the full article