The NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race at the Texas Motor Speedway was about to be a smooth victory for Ryan Blaney, but a late caution held up the festivities in victory lane.
With Blaney about to cross the finish line and secure an All-Star Race victory a late caution from Rick Stenhouse Jr. on the back stretch sent the race to overtime. But Blaney, thinking he won the race, dropped the driver side netting and as the drivers prepared for OT Blaney could be seen trying to reattach the netting.
“It was about to be real bad for us, I thought the race was over,” Blaney said after the race. “Everyone thought the race was over. I already had my window net down. I do want to thank NASCAR for letting me kind of fix it and not make us come down pit road. But yeah, that was really tough. Then having to do it all over again after trying to get that window net back up there.”
It was Blaney’s first career All-Star Race win and he pocketed $1,000,000 for his efforts.
Max Verstappen kept his hot streak going as he won the Spanish Grand Prix. It was Verstappen’s third straight victory and with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc early exit, his race was over when his engine expired on lap 27, the Red Bull F1 driver sits atop the driver standings.
Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez finished second, after conceding the lead to the series leader on lap 45. George Russell finished third, followed by Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton.
After six races Verstappen has a six-point lead over Leclerc in the driver standings with Perez, Russell and Sainz rounding out top 5.
The W Series saw Jamie Chadwick maintain her 2022 dominance as she took a lights-to-flag victory and recorded the fastest lap at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Saturday. Chadwick has won all three races this season. Abbi Pulling finished second and Alice Powell finished third to round out the podium at Barcelona.
“Firstly, well done to Jamie [Chadwick]. She drove a really solid race, had a really good weekend and all credit to her,” said Dave Ryan, racing director W Series. “It’s pleasing to see Abbi [Pulling] do such a strong drive to come second, she is going to improve massively throughout the year and I can see her pushing Jamie all the way.”
After three races Chadwick leads the season standings with 75 points, followed by Pulling (38 points), Powell (33 points), Beitske Visser (31 points), and Nerea Marti (31 points).
News and Notes:
Lamborghini announced that its LMDh prototype will make its debut in the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship in the Hypercar class. Since 2015 Lamborghini has raced in the GTD class and won three straight 24 Hours of Daytona, from 2018-2020.
“On one hand, this will give our successful motorsports program even more visibility, but it will also allow us to test future technologies: our LMDh prototypes will become our most sophisticated open laboratory on four wheels,” said Stephan Winkelmann, Lamborghini Chairman and CEO.
The Peugeot 9X8 will make its debut at round 4 of the FIA World Endurance Championship at 6 Hours of Monza. The four-wheel drive hybrd-electric hypercar will run in the Le Mans Hypercar category (LMH) and its rear wheels are powered by a 2.6-litre, bi-turbo, 520kW, V6 internal-combustion engine (ICE), and a 200kW electric motor drives the front wheels.
“Peugeot’s participation in the FIA World Endurance Championship is further evidence of the brand’s ingenuity and longstanding passion for motorsport,” said Linda Jackson, CEO of Peugeot. “It will also play a role in the essential transfer of technology from the race track to our road-going vehicles, particularly in the field of electrification.”
