iRacing gives fans a Sunday afternoon with racing

By Mar 15, 2020, 6:21 PM EDT
Photo: iRacing/Twitch
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On a day that NASCAR was to have raced at Atlanta Motor Speedway, before the COVID-19 pandemic postponed that event and halted nearly every sport, there was a race at a virtual Atlanta Motor Speedway.

NASCAR announced Friday that it was postponing its races this weekend at Atlanta and next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. So with no real racing, some competitors went to sim racing.

iRacing set up a 100-lap race Sunday afternoon to give fans at least some form of racing to watch online.

MORE: Coronavirus updates from NBC News

“It all kind of came together Friday when we were home,” said T.J. Majors, spotter for Joey Logano, on the Twitch broadcast of the iRacing event, The Replacements 100. “Bryan Cook had the same idea as I did, Boris at JGR, and then Kevin Hamlin put a lot of work into this as well. … We started adding drivers to the list. A lot of fun. It’s unfortunate circumstances that we’re all home today, but we’re just trying to make the most of it and give people something to do and watch and have some fun.”

Josh Williams, spotter for Ryan Blaney, dominated, winning the event. William Byron was second.

Here is the finishing order:

  1. Josh Williams
  2. William Byron
  3. Steven Steffen
  4. TJ Majors
  5. Parker Kligerman
  6. Tyler Overstreet
  7. Garrett Smithley
  8. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
  9. Bubba Wallace
  10. Coleman Pressley
  11. Chase Briscoe
  12. Bryan Boris Cook
  13. Justin Haley
  14. John Theodore
  15. Kevin Iannarelli
  16. KC Heschel
  17. Kyle Long
  18. Anthony Pelican
  19. Tyler Truex
  20. Gary Sexton
  21. Anthony Alfredo
  22. Tim Dugger
  23. John Guidone
  24. Harrison Burton
  25. Myatt Snider
  26. Chad Knaus
  27. Ben Rhodes
  28. Matt Noyce
  29. Justin Allgaier
  30. Alex Bowman
  31. Taylor Gray
  32. Jonathan Davis
  33. Kevin Hamlin
  34. Tyler Ankrum
  35. Noah Gragson

As NASCAR entered its first weekend without racing on the track, Bristol Motor Speedway issued a statement Sunday afternoon. Part of the statement read:

“As these uncertain times unfold, we remain in constant contact with health officials, NASCAR and key stakeholders to continue to monitor this pandemic closely. … We must move forward preparing for our events, even if there’s a chance it might not happen, but know that we’re doing our part to enhance our cleaning efforts, locating additional handwashing for our fan zone areas and providing hand sanitizer around the property.”

Bristol is scheduled to host Cup, Xfinity and ARCA East on April 3-5.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued what it called a guidance Sunday that stated:

“Large events and mass gatherings can contribute to the spread of COVID-19 in the United States via travelers who attend these events and introduce the virus to new communities. Examples of large events and mass gatherings include conferences, festivals, parades, concerts, sporting events, weddings, and other types of assemblies. These events can be planned not only by organizations and communities but also by individuals.

Therefore, CDC, in accordance with its guidance for large events and mass gatherings, recommends that for the next 8 weeks, organizers (whether groups or individuals) cancel or postpone in-person events that consist of 50 people or more throughout the United States.”

NASCAR Power Rankings: William Byron, Kyle Busch rank 1-2

By Jun 6, 2023, 12:00 PM EDT
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Kyle Busch moved closer to the top spot after his win Sunday at WWT Raceway, but William Byron keeps hold of No. 1 after another top-10 run.

The series heads to Sonoma Raceway this weekend, the second race of the season on a road course.

NBC SPORTS NASCAR POWER RANKINGS

(Previous ranking in parenthesis)

1. William Byron (1) — He goes into Sonoma with six consecutive top-10 finishes after his eighth-place result at WWT Raceway. Byron has led a series-high 717 laps this season.

2. Kyle Busch (4) — Recorded his third win of the season Sunday. He is tied with Byron for most wins this year. Busch scored 59 of a maximum 60 points and won his first stage of the year Sunday. He has 16 playoff points. Only Byron has more with 17 this season.

3. Kyle Larson (3) — His fourth-place finish continued his up-and-down season. In the last nine races, Larson has two wins, four top fives, a 20th-place result and four finishes of 30th or worse. He has led 588 laps this season, which ranks second this year to Byron.

4. Martin Truex Jr. (2) — His fifth-place finish is his sixth top 10 in the last eight races. He ranks third in laps led this year with 383.

5. Denny Hamlin (7) — Runner-up result at WWT Raceway is his fourth top 10 in the last seven races.

6. Ryan Blaney (10) — Followed Coca-Cola 600 win with a sixth-place run at WWT Raceway. He had an average running position of 2.6 on Sunday, second only to winner Kyle Busch’s average running position of 1.9.

7. Joey Logano (9) — Third-place finish is his second top 10 in the last four races.

8. Kevin Harvick (NR) — His 10th-place finish is his fourth consecutive finish of 11th or better.

9. Ross Chastain (6) — Lost the points lead after placing 22nd, his third consecutive finish outside the top 20.

10. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (NR) — Headed for his eighth top 15 in a row until he was collected in a crash after the contact between Austin Cindric and Austin Dillon late in Sunday’s race.

Dropped out: Chase Elliott (5th), Tyler Reddick (8th)

Read more about NASCAR

NASCAR will not penalize Austin Cindric
NASCAR will not penalize Austin Cindric for incident with Austin Dillon
Cup drivers Xfinity Sonoma
Seven Cup drivers entered in Xfinity race at Sonoma
Winners losers WWT Raceway
Winners and losers at WWT Raceway

NASCAR will not penalize Austin Cindric for incident with Austin Dillon

By Jun 6, 2023, 8:54 AM EDT
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Despite Richard Childress and Austin Dillon saying that Austin Cindric intentionally wrecked Dillon late in Sunday’s Cup race at WWT Raceway, NASCAR will not penalize Cindric.

Elton Sawyer, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, said Tuesday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that there would be no penalty to Cindric after reviewing the contact.

Dillon and Childress were upset about the incident, which brought out the caution on Lap 220 of the 243-lap race. Dillon said NASCAR should suspend Cindric for the contact, just as NASCAR suspended Chase Elliott one race for hooking Denny Hamlin in the Coca-Cola 600.

Contact between the left front of Cindric’s car and the right rear of Dillon’s car sent Dillon up the track into Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Dillon finished 31st. Cindric continued and placed 13th.

Dillon told Frontstretch.com: “I was wrecked intentionally by (Cindric), hooked right just like Chase and Denny and Bubba’s deal (in wrecking Kyle Larson at Las Vegas in 2022). He better be suspended next week.”

Childress said: “(Dillon) had drove up to about 10th until (Cindric) wrecked him in there on purpose, sort of a payback.”

Sawyer said a review of the incident included viewing video and data.

“We didn’t see anything — and haven’t seen anything — that really would rise to a level that would be a suspension or a penalty,” Sawyer said. “It looked like hard racing. One car coming up a little bit and another car going down.

“As we said last week, we take these incidents very serious when we see cars that are turned head-on into another car or head-on into the wall. I spent a lot of time (Monday) looking at that, looking at all the data, looking at TV footage and just deemed this one really hard racing.”

Sawyer said NASCAR plans to talk to both Cindric and Dillon “to make sure we’re all in a good place as we move forward to Sonoma.”

 

 

Read more about NASCAR

NASCAR Power Rankings
NASCAR Power Rankings: William Byron, Kyle Busch rank 1-2
Cup drivers Xfinity Sonoma
Seven Cup drivers entered in Xfinity race at Sonoma
Winners losers WWT Raceway
Winners and losers at WWT Raceway

Seven Cup drivers entered in Xfinity race at Sonoma

By Jun 5, 2023, 5:11 PM EDT
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Kyle Larson is among seven Cup drivers entered in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Sonoma Raceway.

The race marks the first time the Xfinity Series has competed at the California road course. Teams will get 50 minutes of practice Friday because this is a new event on the schedule. That additional time will give those Cup drivers more laps on the 1.99-mile road course.

MORE: Sonoma Xfinity entry list

Here is a look at what Xfinity rides the Cup drivers will pilot this weekend:

The race is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. ET Saturday.

The ARCA Menards Series West also is competing this weekend at Sonoma Raceway. Cup driver Ryan Preece is entered in that event. Xfinity drivers Cole Custer, Riley Herbst, Sammy Smith and Parker Retzlaff also are entered in that race, which will be held at 6:30 p.m. ET Friday.

Read more about NASCAR

NASCAR Power Rankings
NASCAR Power Rankings: William Byron, Kyle Busch rank 1-2
NASCAR will not penalize Austin Cindric
NASCAR will not penalize Austin Cindric for incident with Austin Dillon
Winners losers WWT Raceway
Winners and losers at WWT Raceway

 

Winners and losers at WWT Raceway

By Jun 5, 2023, 7:00 AM EDT
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Winners and losers from Sunday’s Cup race at WWT Raceway:

WINNERS

Kyle Busch — Wins the pole, leads the most laps and holds the field off over the last five restarts to win the race. He scored six playoff points, giving him 16 on the season, second only to William Byron’s 17. Busch left Joe Gibbs Racing after last season for Richard Childress Racing. Busch’s three wins this year equals what JGR has done so far.

Ryan Blaney — His sixth-place finish moved him into the points lead. He last led the points after the spring 2022 Richmond race. Blaney also won a stage Sunday to collect another playoff point. He has seven this season.

Kyle Larson — Fourth-place finish was a big turnaround after struggles earlier in the race. It has not been easy for this team the last few weeks. He has three top-five finishes and four finishes of 20th or worse in the last seven races.

Daniel Suarez — His seventh-place finish moved him up two spots to 16th in the standings, the final playoff transfer spot at this time.

LOSERS

Ross Chastain — He finished 22nd for his third consecutive result outside the top 20. He entered the weekend leading the points and fell to fifth afterward. He is 29 points behind new series leader Ryan Blaney with 11 races left in the regular season.

Tyler Reddick — Rebounded from an early spin to lead but had his race end after a brake rotor failed. He was one of four drivers eliminated by brake rotor failures. The others were Carson Hocevar, Bubba Wallace and Noah Gragson.

Read more about NASCAR

NASCAR Power Rankings
NASCAR Power Rankings: William Byron, Kyle Busch rank 1-2
NASCAR will not penalize Austin Cindric
NASCAR will not penalize Austin Cindric for incident with Austin Dillon
Cup drivers Xfinity Sonoma
Seven Cup drivers entered in Xfinity race at Sonoma