NASCAR Cup Series drivers Ty Dillon and Zane Smith built up some tension between themselves during All-Star Race festivities at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Sunday night.
Dillon finished in third place in the All-Star Open, six spots ahead of Smith. Unfortunately, neither driver made it to the final All-Star Race as Carson Hocevar and John Hunter Nemechek finished first and second, respectively, and earned a shot to win the $1 million grand prize.
Dillon took issue with how Smith was driving and suggested it cost him a spot in the final race of the night. He was asked what he told Smith after the race.
"Coming off (Turn) 4, I think I gave him plenty of room, and he just doors me halfway down the straightaway. … There’s something about the younger guys in the sport now. They never had to deal with consequences," he said, via Dirty Mo Media.
"So, what I told him was if he wrecks me again, I’m just gonna beat his a--."
The next race for the NASCAR Cup Series is the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday night. It was one of the most anticipated races on the Cup Series schedule.
All eyes will be on Dillon and Smith to see if there’s any kind of retaliation.
Smith is ahead of Dillon in the points standings going into the race. He sits at 22nd, and Dillon is in 30th.
Christopher Bell won the NASCAR All-Star Race and secured the $1 million prize.
Indy 500 champions Josef Newgarden and Will Power were hit with a major penalty less than a week before the green flag drops for the race.
The Team Penske drivers will be forced to start in the rear of the field over modified attenuators, the IndyCar Series announced on Monday. The team strategists for both drivers were suspended for the race.
"The integrity of the Indianapolis 500 is paramount, and this violation of the INDYCAR rule against modification to this part and using it ‘as supplied’ is clear," IndyCar President J. Douglas Boles said in a statement. "The penalty should be more than simply starting where the cars might have qualified anyway, if given the opportunity. The cars belong in the field as two of the fastest 33; however, starting on the tail of the field is the appropriate penalty in this instance."
IndyCar said Newgarden and Power will forfeit qualification points, and they were fined $100,000.
"The positive momentum around the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and the Indianapolis 500 has been on a steep crescendo over the last several months, and we want it to be clear that our intent is to maintain that momentum and discourage teams from putting INDYCAR in positions where it calls into the integrity of our officiating and the levelness of the playing field," Boles added.
"As we look to the remainder of the week and the race this weekend, we will do everything we can to make it clear that this is not only the best racing on the planet but racing where the best win under completely fair conditions."
IndyCar said an illegal filling was found in the seams of the attenuator, according to FOX Sports.
Team Penske President Tim Cindric said Sunday the modification was performed to make the vehicles sleek and not to give it an advantage.
"In our eyes, it’s not a performance advantage but at the end of the day, if they don’t like the seam being filled, they don’t like the seam being filled," Cindric said via FOX Sports. "You’ve got to do what the inspection process is and conform to that."
Newgarden won the Indy 500 in 2023 and 2024. Power won the race in 2018.
Each driver will now have to pull off stunning racing to get to the front and possibly win the race.
The Indy 500 will be broadcast May 25 on FOX with pre-coverage starting at 10 a.m. ET. It will also be available to stream live on FOXSports.com and the FOX Sports app.
IndyCar rookie Robert Shwartzman earned the pole position for the Indianapolis 500 with the quickest lap around the track on Sunday afternoon.
It was Shwartzman’s first time on an oval track. He appeared on "Fox & Friends" on Monday morning, just hours after attaining the top spot in "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing."
"Honestly, I still can’t believe it. It’s a new day and I still feel like it’s a dream. I’ve been dreaming about it for a long time and, yesterday, everything was just going so well, the car felt amazing," he said. "I was going full out. And when I saw myself in P1, I was just like, ‘Wow, this is unbelievable.’
"The reaction of fans and people here in the U.S. is unbelievable. I think it’s the most memorable and best emotional part my entire career."
Shwartzman was traveling at speeds of up to 230 mph and somehow was able to maintain control for the blazing-fast laps. Some other drivers traveling at similar speeds suffered devastating crashes going at a similar rate.
The 25-year-old Russian Israeli driver was able to stay in control, maintain his focus and become the first rookie to win the pole since 1983.
"It’s really, really fast," he said. "But as a racing driver, you are training yourself to have a proper vision. You have to see the road really far because the speed is so quick. Plus, when you’re going into the corners at that speed, anything could happen.
"As we’ve seen, there was some incidents from other guys. It hurts quite a lot. … It’s so stressful. Mentally, I was so tired afterward because it’s four laps, and it seems quite short, but no. You’re going so fast there. You have to keep every second under control."
Shwartzman said he will try to stay cool, calm and collected in order to win the race.
"I’ll do my best as I did in qualifying, and we’ll see where we’re gonna be at. I don’t want to put any huge expectations. I just want to enjoy it. I want a fast car and battle with the top guys."
The Indy 500 will be broadcast May 25 on FOX with pre-coverage starting at 10 a.m. ET. It will also be available to stream live on FOXSports.com and the FOX Sports app.
A rookie driver celebrated an unlikely pole victory for the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.
While Team Penske was disqualified before the final two rounds of qualifying, Robert Shwartzman won the pole.
The 25-year-old was driving for PREMA Racing and became the first Indy 500 rookie to qualify for the pole since 1983. Shwartzman, who has dual nationality in Israel and Russia, initially raced under the Russian flag. He currently competes under the Israeli flag, which makes the Tel Aviv native the first driver from Israel to make "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing."
Until Shwartzman's win, Teo Fabi was the last rookie to qualify for the Indy 500 pole. Coincidentally, he was an Italian — just like Prema, which was also founded in 1983. Prema is established in Europe and races in the Formula 2 series. It made its IndyCar debut this season.
Prema is the first team making its debut in the Indy 500 to land on the pole since Mayer Motor Racing put Tom Sneva there in 1984.
The event also marked Shwartzman's racing debut on an oval. He said the victory felt like a dream.
"Honestly it feels like I'm dreaming. I just had it in my dreams when I was going how would it feel to do such a good job in quali," he said. "It's the Indy 500. It's the main race of the year. Honestly it feels unbelievable."
Shwartzman had been pursuing a career in Formula 1 and was part of the Ferrari development program as well as its reserve driver from 2021 until the end of last season. Prema then nabbed him for its two-car team.
The pole was first wide open for the taking when Team Penske was disqualified from qualifying for an illegal modification on the cars of two-time defending Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden and Will Power. Then, Scott McLaughlin destroyed his car in a Sunday morning crash during practice.
The three Penske drivers all started on the front row last year, but will be 10th, 11th and 12th in the fourth row together next weekend.
Scott McLaughlin had a harrowing practice experience at the Indy 500 on Sunday. His car went airborne after it slammed into the wall on the track just ahead of Pole Day qualifying.
Video showed the car sliding and spinning across the track after the hard collision with the wall before finally coming to a stop. McLaughlin is not the first driver to flip over.
McLaughlin was able to emerge from the wreckage and appeared to avoid any major injuries.
Mclaughlin received a medical evaluation. Shortly after he was released from a care center, he said he was "fine." He also offered an apology to Team Penske.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Mclaughlin said. "I'm just really, really sorry for everyone at Team Penske, the guys on the #3 car and everyone who builds these fantastic cars. It (the car) was talking to me and I sort of felt it and I probably should have backed out. But you try to complete a run to see what it feels like. Was it (worth) the risk? Probably wasn't. Incredibly sad. That's basically what it felt like. You just try and brace yourself, and I was just hoping I didn't go into the catch-fence. Very grateful to IndyCar, the safety, my team, the SAFER Barriers and everything like that, because it kept me safe."
Shortly before the crash, McLaughlin managed to propel to the top of the charts in Fast 12 practice. The disastrous moment happened during Turn 2 on Sunday.
The left-rear wheel suffered visible, severe damage immediately upon impact. The racing line next to the Turn 2 exit was left with a noticeable gouge. There was a stoppage in action and crews were deployed to make repairs.
The SAFER Barrier also suffered considerable damage.
McLaughlin, last year's Indy 500 pole-sitter, will not participate in Fast 12 qualifying. Therefore, McLaughlin's official starting position on the Indy 500 grid will be No. 12.
The Indy 500 will be broadcast May 25 on FOX with pre-coverage starting at 10 a.m. ET. It will also be available to stream live on FOXSports.com and the FOX Sports app.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at North Wilkesboro Speedway ended in controversy on Saturday as Corey Heim spun out while racing Layne Riggs on the final lap.
Heim and Riggs raced hard in overtime. Heim was leading with Riggs on his bumper as they took the white flag. Heim claimed the high line as Riggs went low. Heim slid up the track and Riggs was right on his door as they went down the backstretch.
As the came around Turn 2, Heim spun out. Chandler Smith was able to maneuver around Riggs and took home the victory. Riggs finished in second place.
Heim delivered a message to Riggs after the race.
"Calm down or else I'm going to take care of you," he said.
Needless to say, Heim was upset with how Riggs raced him and confronted him about it once everyone was back on pit road. Heim called Riggs’ decision on the final lap "scum racing."
"Just why? More than anything. He tried to do it to the 7 (Carson Hocevar) last week for the win, and mission accomplished for him," Heim said, via NASCAR.com. "I guess, this week – and it cost him one, too. I don’t know. We’ve given up so many of them this year after dominating the race. The 38 (Smith) was the only other guy that was rightfully good.
"I felt like he deserved to win over anyone else, not the 34 (Riggs). I got really loose into (Turn) 3. Just struggled being loose on the short runs, and he had an opportunity, and he wrecked me. Just disappointed."
Riggs defended his "strong move."
"If I have a reputation of going for wins, I’m not going to regret that at all," Riggs said. "You know, I feel like I came from short-track racing, last-lap battles, and feel like that’s what this kind of racing is made for. I feel like it’s not like we’ve seen at Martinsville in the past, and gotten upset. I feel like it was a strong move, and I thought it was going to pay off.
He was entering Turns 1 and 2 at 236 mph when he lost control of his vehicle and spun around. The No. 26 car hit his front end into the wall on the backstretch. As he drove backward, Herta’s car went airborne and flipped over.
The car continued down the backstretch and into Turns 3 and 4. It clung to the wall before it came to a stop.
Herta was able to get out of the car and walk away from the frightening accident.
"I’m fine. Luckily, nowadays, these crashes look scarier than they feel," Herta told FOX Sports after leaving the emergency care center. "Not to say that that one felt good, but I think the team’s gonna be hard at work right now trying to get the backup car ready. It’ll probably be impossible to try to get it out today.
"Terrible day for this to happen. . . . No real signs leading to it. We were super happy with the car this morning and go out loose. We couldn’t even get Lap 1 done. So, yeah, it sucks but I’m good. We’ll keep going."
Herta has nine wins in his IndyCar Series career. He last won at Nashville to end the 2024 season. He had three top-10 finishes this year and one top-5 finish.
He will enter the Indy 500 ninth in the points standings. He was seventh last season at Indy.
The Indy 500 will be broadcast May 25 on FOX with pre-coverage starting at 10 a.m. ET. It will also be available to stream live on FOXSports.com and the FOX Sports app.
IndyCar driver Kyffin Simpson was involved in a scary crash during Indianapolis 500 practice on Friday.
Simpson came around the final turn and was headed toward the front stretch when the rear of his vehicle wiggled, and he lost control. Simpson slammed his left front into the wall and went airborne for a few moments before he came back down. He did not flip.
Parts and debris were strewn across the track as practice was suspended briefly before it started up again.
"I’m all good, praise the Lord," Simpson told FOX Sports after he was checked out at the emergency care center. "It’s a tough way to start out Fast Friday. Just a weird crash. Everything about it was weird.
"Even from out-lap, something didn’t really feel quite right. I kept going right on weight jacker and trying to help the car out. It just never really felt the way I expected it to. It was just a weird one. We’ll go back and look at some data and try to figure out what might’ve been wrong and try to make sure it doesn’t happen again."
The Caymanian driver has competed for Chip Gnassi Racing on the IndyCar Series since 2023. He has yet to win an IndyCar race.
He had the best finish of his career at the Grand Prix of Long Beach earlier this season. He finished in 10th.
The Indy 500 will be broadcast May 25 on FOX with pre-coverage starting at 10 a.m. ET. It will also be available to stream live on FOXSports.com and the FOX Sports app.
The Indy 500 hasn’t officially begun yet, but that doesn’t mean tensions aren’t running high on day three of practice on Friday.
Nolan Siegel took issue with Christian Rasmussen after he aggressively cut inside Siegel on a turn. The FOX broadcast aired Siegel’s communication with his crew following Rasmussen’s risky maneuver.
Friday of the Indy 500 weekend is also known as "Fast Friday," where the qualification draw will take place at 6:15 p.m. ET.
On Saturday, the IndyCar qualifications take place throughout the day. The first qualifications begin at 11 a.m. ET on FS1, and then at 1:30 p.m. ET the qualifications are aired on FS2. The last part of Saturday’s qualifications will air on FOX at 4 p.m. ET.
Throughout the day on Saturday during Full-Field Qualifying, the fastest 30 cars will secure provisional spots. Positions 13-30 are locked in, and those spots are unable to re-qualify on Sunday.
In the Top 12 Qualifying on Sunday, that determines positions 7-12. The cars will run in order from slowest to fastest based on Saturday’s results.
The fastest six times advance to the Firestone Fast Six to compete for the pole.
Tensions are already running high in practice, and everything will be turned up a notch once the qualifying begins on Saturday.
On May 29, 2022, Marcus Ericsson was on top of the IndyCar world, having just driven 500 miles faster than anyone else on the planet.
At 31 years old, Ericsson earned his first Indy 500 victory. Not long before, he had been having trouble finding his footing in Formula One.
Ericsson joined F1 in 2014 and lasted for five seasons, but he never won a race. In fact, his best finish was an eighth-place run in 2015, and he had just 11 top-10s in his five-year stint there.
"The problem in F1 is it’s about being in the right car and right team to win. In F1, the same guys win. In F1, all the guys build their own car. So if you’re a big team with a lot of resources, it’s easy to build a very good car. If you’re a small team with less resources, it’s more difficult," Ericsson told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. "So over five years, I was on smaller teams and never got a chance to show what I could do. So IndyCar came up as an option, everyone has the same option, and you can set it up for you as a driver. Waking up on race day knowing I had a chance to win was something I really missed in Formula One."
Of course, no matter what circuit Ericsson is running, winning is difficult. There aren't milk, beer and champagne showers in victory lane for no reason. For Ericsson and racers alike, it's a mental game, knowing that you will lose much more often than you win.
"It is very tough, and it's one of the biggest challenges with racing. I would say it’s that mental side of things and always sort of believing in yourself, pushing yourself forward and staying tough and sort of staying confident," Ericsson said. "That’s a constant challenge that we all go through. Racing, golf, even if you win a lot, you win rarely. It’s a special thing, it takes a lot of mental toughness to perform at a high level every weekend and go through that season after season."
"In the past, I was very results-driven, I want to have this many wins and this many podiums in a year," he added. "But I’ve learned in my career that that’s not a great way of focusing. Sometimes, there are things outside of your control that’s happening. In racing, there are so many things that can go wrong. So I try to focus on my own performance. I want to have as many weekends where I felt like I performed at my best. And due to other circumstances, your best may only be a fifth-place finish, but that was your maximum that day. That’s something I’ve learned throughout my career. And be honest with yourself – did I get the most out of myself today?"
One way Ericsson does get the most out of himself, though, is by taking Allegra, a brand which he will be representing at this year's Indy 500. It's a partnership that is perfect timing given allergy season, but it also makes a world of a difference on the track.
"Zero percent brain interference, staying sharp, non-drowsiness, those are the keys to not only in the race car but a day in the life. And to represent them at the Indy 500 is really cool," Ericcson said. "It’s perfect timing. Everyone on my crew is using it to stay sharp, because every split-second in racing matters."
Ericsson knows that better than anybody – he led on the final lap of the Indy 500 in 2023 as well, but crossed the finish line second.
"When we’re racing 200-plus miles an hour, you need to be mentally there all the time. It’s so important for someone like me to be able to do that and not drift away. The mental side is always something I’ve focused on, because the higher you are in any sport, but racing in particular, the mental strength can make a difference between winning and losing," he added. "People don’t realize how tough it is to drive our cars. He hit up to five Gs, and that focus to stay laser sharp for two or three hours is definitely challenging. You’re drained, body’s drained, mind’s drained, it’s really tough."
The racing spectacle is now less than two weeks away, and Ericsson knows exactly what he has to do to bring home the victory again.
"The month of May is all about winning. This is our Super Bowl – winner takes all. I need to have a car that’s beneath me, take it step by step, patience is the name of the game," he said.
"It’s a long month before we get to race day. And hopefully the Allegra car will be in victory lane."
One year ago at this time, Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward had a dream.
When he closed his eyes at night, O'Ward told Fox News Digital he would dream of crossing the finish line at the Indy 500 before the rest of his competition.
"I keep racing multiple Indy 500's in my head. It’s crazy," he said last May. "You try and tone it down as much as you can, but this race…it’s unlike anything else."
The dream looked like it was about to come true when "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing" saw O'Ward leading with one lap to go until Josef Newgarden came flying from behind and past the McLaren black and orange car to come away with the win.
Instead of celebrating victory at "The Brickyard," O'Ward was slumped over his vehicle as his team tried to console him. For the second time in three years, O'Ward was runner-up.
"I mean, at that moment, it was a moment that a lot of emotions were kind of exploding out of a bottle, and they truly were uncontrollable," he told Fox News Digital recently before the big race on Memorial Day weekend. "It was a very raw scene of what it’s like to be just right there, but just missing it. It’s been a few times that that’s happened, so that’s why I think it was such a heavy emotion.
"I dedicate and do everything for this moment, and sometimes it’s just right there, but haven’t quite gotten it. It’s just the human side of it, I would say."
Despite the results of the last few years in Indianapolis, O'Ward's optimistic outlook on his profession has not wavered entering this year's race.
"I mean, this time last year, I had like three [did not finish] by this point," he said while laughing.
"It’s one of the only months all year when you really get to enjoy the present, and you’re not focused on the future, you’re not focused on the past. You’re just focused on where you’re at. It’s a very amazing experience."
The sting of defeat is something that almost never leaves the mind, even one full year after it happens. However, with every failure, an opportunity to learn comes, and that is exactly what O'Ward is getting from last year's finish.
"You gotta be up at the front the last stint," he said when asked what he learned from last year's runner-up finish. "The last stint is super important, but also a race that can turn around one lap to another just because of a yellow flag falling. There’s a lot of different strategies going on, and it’s a race that constantly wants you to be flexible, agile. You need to adjust sails, rather than go against it."
In five starts this season, O'Ward is still searching for his first victory, though he has two top-five and three top-10 finishes. As a result, he is currently ranked fourth in NTT IndyCar Series standings.
Perhaps his best race of the year came at the 2025 Grand Prix of Indianapolis this past weekend, finishing runner-up behind Alex Palou.
While O'Ward is not currently dreaming again about celebrating with his Arrow McLaren team, kissing the famed Yard of Bricks, and chugging some milk, as is custom for the champion, it is in the back of his mind somewhere.
That moment is what continues to drive him, especially knowing how close he was to realizing that dream.
"I think at this point, it’s a combination of a lot of different things, but it hasn’t been a reason like, ‘Hey, we’ve been lucky to have these opportunities.’ No, we’ve put ourselves in these opportunities, and we have earned ourselves the position to have these opportunities," he said. "I think that alone just gives me a peace of mind along with my core team. We know how to do this, we know how to put ourselves in positions to win this race.
"I think, deep down, it gives us a lot of self-confidence of we’re not searching for something that we’ve never been in or we’re not searching for something that haven’t done."
The Indy 500 will be broadcast May 25 on FOX with pre-coverage starting at 10 a.m. ET. It will also be available to stream live on FOXSports.com and the FOX Sports app.
Harrison Burton is on his second NASCAR circuit in as many years after being let go by Wood Racing last year in the Cup series.
He's now, in his own words, improved his stock in the Xfinity Series with six top-10s, including in each of his last three races (he had just two all of last year).
But with the Indy 500 coming up, Burton admits that it'd be nice to get behind the wheel in that race.
"I like to race anything," Burton told Fox News Digital in a recent interview.
Burton has had success at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In his very first race there in 2022, he finished third.
But Burton's love for "motorsports in general" alone has him at least somewhat interested in running the Indy 500.
"I watch F1 every weekend that I can, IndyCar as much as I can, rally cross, Formula E, motorcross, everything. I love it. For sure, if that opportunity came," he said.
"My true passion is NASCAR, and I would never want to leave the NASCAR space. Getting to drive in Indy in a Cup car was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in my career. Definitely see the prestige and allure of the Indy 500, and meeting guys who have run in it, talking about what it means to those guys, it’s really cool."
For the time being, Burton will have to wait until July 26 until he steps foot at Indianapolis, a track he has in his top-three, along with Daytona and Darlington.
"You go to Indy, and you are hauling down the straightaway. You’re staring at a wall the whole time, it’s a 90-degree turn, and you’re like, "OK, I see exactly where I’m going to hit if I don’t make this corner," Burton said. "It’s so fun. It’s always cool to go to a place like that, just the history and the stories from there. It makes it more special when you can have a good day."
Talladega was on the outside looking in, but "the atmosphere is unmatched."
The Indy 500 will be broadcast May 25 on FOX with pre-coverage starting at 10 a.m. ET. It will also be available to stream live on FOXSports.com and the FOX Sports app.
Burton will be back on the track on May 24, one day before the Indy 500, at the BetMGM 300 in Charlotte.
A.J. Allmendinger had a tough time during Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sunday.
The NASCAR Cup Series driver blew a gasket internally as his engine struggled to pick up the pace within the first six laps of the race. He took a shot at his team’s engine manufacturer while driving, and it was heard on the radio. He told his team he had lost the engine.
The company also powers Xfinity Series teams, including Jordan Anderson Racing, Big Machine Racing, Our Motorsports, Cope Family Racing, Viking Motorsports, Young’s Motorsports and Alpha Prime Racing.
WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE
Allmendinger drives for Kaulig Racing. He put together three top-10 finishes this season and has been competing for a possible shot at the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs this season.
But a dead-last finish at Kansas Speedway pushed him back six places to 25th in the standings. He finished 36th at Texas last week and 24th at Talladega a few weeks ago.
Kyle Larson picked up the win at Kansas. It’s the third of the season and his second straight at the track. He now has a 35-point lead over William Byron.
The 2024 season was one Harrison Burton would like to forget about quickly.
The 24-year-old NASCAR driver finished 16th in the Cup standings, leading to his departure from Wood Brothers Racing. He did have a win at Daytona International in the Coke Zero 400, but as he put it, "by that point, it's too late."
That win was just one of his two top-10 finishes last season, but with a fresh start in the Xfinity Series, Burton has found it again.
This season, now as a member of AM Racing, he already has six top-10s, including each of his last three races.
"That was the best landing spot for me to be a better racecar driver, go to a team that really was rebuilding from square one," Burton told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. "They saw a vision to rebuild around me and had to put the ball in my court and said, ‘hey, if you want to drive for us, we’ll kind of help put a team together that you are a part of.’ So that was really fun for me to kind of build this thing up and take a team like AM Racing that had all the want and will in the world to go contend and lead and run well.
"Right now, we're sitting inside the playoffs, we're starting to get some momentum going, and I think it'll just get better and better and better. So it was a great opportunity to kind of go back, rebuild up my stock a little bit."
Fans now have an opportunity to get a closer look at Burton, as he's featured in Netflix's "Full Speed," which, like "Drive to Survive" and "Full Swing," gives a full behind-the-scenes look at the ins and outs of NASCAR and its athletes.
"Just the concept and idea behind ‘Full Speed’ is something that when I heard the first season was coming out, it was super cool and I think good for our sport and good to get more knowledge about what we do out there and the people that are in our sport out there and all that was awesome," Burton said.
"The thing that’s so hard to explain to people is if I pick up a football or basketball, I know I’m not an NFL or NBA guy – it’s apparent pretty quick. There’s no racecar for you to go drive to see what we do. And so, the best way to kind of explain it and do all that is get the media out there and get an inside look at what it's really like, and I think that is super cool and what's a good opportunity about this documentary in general."
Now, Burton wants fans to see him inside the winner's circle again. Of course, that is not easy in NASCAR, with fields of dozens of drivers, and only one of them truly happy every Sunday.
"It’s hard. It’s such a hard mental battle, right? It's like golf in that way where, you know, you've got all these other people, and you're not 50-50 odds to win the game. You're one in 40, maybe even longer depending on the day. It’s tough," Burton said. "It’s always hard to evaluate [success], but the biggest thing for me is progress.
"Did I get better? Did I do a better job here? Am I a better racecar driver going into next year? Everyone wants to win, but it's about, what are you going to do to win? What are the sacrifices you’re going to make or the work you’re going to put in to win? There’s no blueprint to success other than that. That’s the biggest thing. and what is, you know, the sacrifices you're gonna make or the work you're gonna put in to win? That’s the biggest thing."
NASCAR star Denny Hamlin suffered a scary incident on the track at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday.
Hamlin’s No. 11 vehicle developed an engine issue between turns 1 and 2 on lap 75. The car then caught fire as he spun around. A lot of smoke billowed out of his engine as emergency personnel rushed over to Hamlin to extinguish the flames.
Hamlin said he tried to prevent the engine from completely blowing in order to have his crew members take a look at it and figure out what exactly went wrong.
The Toyota driver has put together another solid season through the first 10 races of the year. He entered the race in Fort Worth third in the points standings behind leader William Byron and Kyle Larson. He was only 52 points behind Byron.
But Sunday’s mishap definitely won’t give him a chance to jump ahead of either driver in front of him. Chase Elliott was only 20 points behind Hamlin and Christopher Bell had a 30-point deficit from him.
Hamlin has two wins this season, five top-five finishes and six top-10 finishes.
He will have another go next week when the season shifts to Kansas Speedway.
Oscar Piastri found himself entering Formula One’s Miami Grand Prix in the midst of a fight to knock off Max Verstappen as the world drivers’ champion.
With Piastri focusing on the championship, doing anything else seems farfetched. Even following the footsteps of other F1 stars who have decided to take a challenge on the IndyCar circuit. Piastri said Saturday he has no interest in trying the Indy 500.
The McLaren star said it was not for him, adding that driving in F1 was always the dream for him.
"Also, those guys are crazy. I think, for me, the speeds ... the walls being so close, you've got to put a lot of trust in the people around you," he said, via Indy Star. "Crashing an F1 car at the speeds we go hurts.
"Add another 20 to 30 mph ... they're going basically 20 mph quicker as an average speed than our top speed. It's not a matter of it's going to hurt, it's a matter of how much it's going to hurt."
Piastri owns a nine-point lead on his McLaren teammate Lando Norris going into the Miami Grand Prix. Verstappen is 19 points behind Piastri in third. George Russell and Charles Leclerc round out the top five.
The Indy 500 is set for May 25 and will be seen on FOX for the first time.
Marcus Ericsson and Alexander Rossi both raced in Formula One previously. Pato O’Ward, Christian Lundgaard and Felix Rosenqvist were among those who either raced in Formula 2 or Formula 3 durin their racing careers.
For now, Piastri will look to keep himself and the McLaren race team at the top of the F1 table.
Berry and the No. 21 Ford finished 26th in the Jack Link’s 500. He completed all 188 laps and led 12 laps. He also suffered through a couple of incidents while on the track.
As he came into the pits, Berry accidentally hit one of Carson Hocevar’s pit crew members. The tire changer came around the outside of Hocevar’s pit box and was clipped as Berry pulled into his stall.
Jarius Morehead, a former college football player, was able to withstand the touch from Berry and finished out the pit stop.
"I come from a football background. You get used to it," he told FOX Sports’ Regan Smith, adding he was "all good."
Berry also had a Randy Johnson moment.
The vehicle struck a bird while on the racetrack, driving up to speeds of nearly 190 mph in Stage 1. The bird was killed.
"I've certainly witnessed it before, and they can cause some damage," Berry’s crew chief Miles Stanley told reporters after the race, via Frontstretch. "They can wreak havoc and even shred some windshield tear-offs and things like that.
"A lot of times when we come here for like first practice or qualifying and stuff, we'll see birds flying out around the racetrack. So, it's not a huge surprise that we ended up getting one on the windshield."
Stanley said the bird strike did not affect the car’s performance too much.
Chase Elliott has taken home two checkered flags at Talladega in his career - this past weekend he came up just short.
However, he has had a lot of success there. In fact, in his very first race there, he finished in fifth, and in 18 races since then, he has eight top-10 finishes at the Alabama racetrack.
"I look forward to going down there. Talladega's always kind of been a little bit of a home race. It's just really close to where we live, so that's always super nice," Elliott, the Dawsonville, Georgia, native said in a recent interview with Fox News Digital. "A race you can drive to easily, the fans have always been really good to me over there, which makes it fun and kind of feel like home."
Talladega is one of the premier NASCAR spots, understandably so.
"The craziness and chaos that is the infield is extremely well known for sure, just the party and the destination that it is," Elliott said. "I don't really think people necessarily care if the race is good or bad - I think people are just more there for the environment."
"A lot of people do care about what the race is, but I think people go for the experience a lot of times and stick around for hopefully a good race on Sunday too. And fortunately, that really hasn't been an issue at Talladega. A lot of times, the race on Sunday delivers and everybody comes in for an entertaining weekend with their friends, and a cherry on top is a good finish on Sunday afternoon. It's a good place to get a little bit of both."
A fifth-place finish is hardly something to ignore - it was his third top-five this season, and he also has six top-10s.
However, he also has two 15th-place finishes and a 20th place on the record this year and is still without a win this year. So, despite being in fourth place in the Cup Series standings right now, Elliott thinks his season has been just "OK."
"There's been some high spots, good finishes on weeks we didn't deserve them, and bad finishes on weeks where we probably deserved to have better. There's been flat out bad weeks, and flat out good weeks, too. Unfortunately, not good enough to win, but there have been a couple scenarios where we were in the mix," Elliott said.
"We've been all over the board, certainly not the level of consistency I'd like to see. But a lot of room for improvement. That first stretch was a warmup, and now we go straight all the way to the championship in November. A lot of races ahead, a lot of time to get it together or not. It depends on how we execute the next few months."
Elliott won the Cup Series title, his lone championship, in 2020 - his best finish since then is fourth, which he had both in 2021 and 2022 before following up with a 17th-place finish in 2023, and then seventh last year.
Of course, it's not easy to come out on top every year, but in order to do it, "we need to find some consistency."
"We had a legitimate shot to win the race in Martinsville, go to Bristol and very much not in the mix," Elliott said (he finished fourth and 15th in those races, respectively). "Just trying to be more consistent across the board and have that type of performance when we are capable of winning more often and do it at different racetrack types and sizes and venues and just get the momentum going in the right direction. It's been a little spotty, so we got to get it going here. I think we can, just gotta keep trucking."
Joey Logano vied for the top spot during the NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday but settled for fifth place as his teammate Austin Cindric won.
It was far from all rainbows and sunshine for the Team Penske drivers. Logano was heard tearing into Cindric at the end of Stage 2. Cindric was running toward the front when he was forced to check up and got out of line. It allowed Bubba Wallace to take control of the stage.
"Way to go, Austin," Logano said at the beginning of his blistering rant. "Way to go you dumb f---. Way to f---ing go. What a stupid s---. God! He just gave it to him. Gave it to him. Gave a Toyota the stage win. Nice job. Way to go. What the f---."
Logano finished behind Wallace in the stage with Kyle Larson in third and Cindric in fourth.
Cindric was able to get back to the front of the pack and win the Jack Link’s 500. Logano finished in fifth. Fellow Ford driver Ryan Preece finished in second place. Larson was in third and William Byron was in fourth.
It was the third win of Cindric’s NASCAR Cup Series career and the first since last season. He’s finished in the top 10 three times this season. Last year, he was 23rd in the spring Talladega race.
Professional driver Katherine Legge has done a lot to make her mark on the sport of auto racing.
She holds the record for the fastest qualifying time for a woman in the Indianapolis 500. She was the first woman to win an open-wheel race in North America. She was also the first woman to be inducted into the Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame.
But the British driver revealed in a podcast episode that she’s received "death threats" from fans after she was involved in a crash during the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Rockingham last weekend. The incident also involved veteran driver Kasey Kahne.
"Let me be very clear, I’m here to race and I'm here to compete, and I won't tolerate any of these threats to my safety or to my dignity, whether that's on track or off of it," Legge said during the "Throttle Therapy" episode.
She added that "the inappropriate social media comments I've received aren't just disturbing, they are unacceptable."
Legge became the first woman in seven years to start in a NASCAR Cup Series race when she made the field in Phoenix. The Xfinity Series race was her second of the season. She was thrust into J.J. Yeley’s car as she was bumped off the starting grid because of ownership points.
Legge moved off the pace in the race when William Sawalich got into the back of her vehicle and sent her spinning. Kahne had nowhere to go and ended up running into her at the bottom of the track in Turn 1. Legge explained she was hit too hard, which caused her to spin around.
As for the social media comments, Legge pushed back on claims she was a "DEI hire" or anything less than just a "gimmick" driver who didn’t really earn her spot.
"I have earned my seat on that racetrack," Legge said. "I’ve worked just as hard as any of the other drivers out there, and I’ve been racing professionally for the last 20 years. I’m 100% sure that the... the teams that employed me – without me bringing any sponsorship money for the majority of those 20 years – did not do so as a DEI hire, or a gimmick, or anything else. It’s because I can drive a race car."
Legge finished in 36th at Rockingham. The best finish she had in the Xfinity Series was 14th at Road America in Wisconsin in 2018.
