Frontstretch Newsletter: Nov. 21, 2022
Volume XVI, Edition CCII |
What to Watch: Nov. 21-27 |
- Major teams are hard at work at
their shops, preparing for the 2023 season. That said, with Thanksgiving this week, things are going to be a little bit quieter than normal.
- Racing-wise, there is still some
action to be had. Wall Stadium Speedway in New Jersey is holding the annual Turkey Derby Friday and Saturday night. Coverage will be streamed live at RacingAmerica.tv via pay-per-view.
- The USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship wraps up their season with three races in California.
Tuesday and Wednesday nights see the midgets racing at Merced Speedway. The season wraps up Saturday night with the Turkey Night Grand Prix at Ventura Raceway.
- Tonight, Interstate Batteries
Monday Night Racing continues with the drivers racing Mazda MX-5s on Daytona International Speedway's infield road course. Coverage of the third round of the season starts at 7:45 p.m. ET on Podium eSports' Twitch channel. It will also be streamed on their Twitter feed. For this season, Frontstretch has entered into a sponsorship deal with Monday Night Racing. During the offseason, we will weekly 5 Points to Ponder columns about each event, in addition to a post-race show on our YouTube channel. That is in addition to race recaps. We will have a recap of tonight's MX-5 race and anything else that breaks today at Frontstretch. |
Around the World in Motorsports: Nov. 14-20 |
- On the undercard of Formula 1 in Abu Dhabi, the FIA Formula 2 Championship finished up their season last weekend at the Yas Marina Circuit. Saturday's Sprint Race saw an early red flag as Enzo
Fittipaldi and Jehan Daruvala crashed into the barriers on the first lap. On the restart, Liam Lawson was able to claim the lead and held on for the full distance to claim the victory by 7.943 seconds over Trident's Richard Verschoor. Champion Felipe Drugovich was third, then Dennis Hauger and
Amaury Cordeel. Sunday morning's Feature Race saw DAMS' Ayumu Iwasa hold off a late charge from Drugovich to claim the victory by .83 seconds. Lawson was third, then Hauger and Logan Sargeant. In the final point standings, Drugovich's margin of victory was 101 points over Theo Pourchaire, who came up empty for the weekend. Lawson's victory Saturday and podium Sunday saw him move up to third in points. Sargeant fell to fourth, but still walked out of Abu Dhabi a very happy man (see below). Iwasa's victory moved him up to fifth in the final standings. - Brenden Queen claimed victory in a rough and tumble South Carolina 400 Saturday night at Florence Motor Speedway.
Queen got in position to contend for the win when Sam Yarbrough, angry from a previous incident, spun Mason Diaz out of the lead in turn 4 with 12 laps to go. That put Queen second behind Carson Kvapil. After a brief battle, Queen was able to snage the lead.
He was then able to hold off Kvapil on a series of late restarts for the victory. Isabella Robusto was third, while Cody Kelley and Matthew Craig rounded out the top five. Dale Earnhardt Jr. had an up-and-down night, but eventually finished ninth. |
| | Max Verstappen Puts Exclamation Point on Season, Wins at Abu
DhabiRed Bull's Max Verstappen was never seriously threatened Sunday en route to his 15th win of the year in the season-ending Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi. Charles Leclerc
was second, then Sergio Perez, Carlos Sainz Jr. and George Russell. |
| | Ty Gibbs Driving No. 54 in Cup Series in
2023Joe Gibbs Racing announced Tuesday that Ty Gibbs will in fact move up to the NASCAR Cup Series full-time in 2023, replacing the departed Kyle Busch. Gibbs' car
will be renumbered as the No. 54. |
| | Ryan Preece Driving SHR No. 41 in 2023, Cole Custer Back to
XfinityStewart-Haas Racing announced Wednesday that Ryan Preece has been promoted from his reserve role to take over the No. 41 Ford full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series,
replacing Cole Custer. |
| | Riley Herbst Back With SHR in
2023Stewart-Haas Racing announced Tuesday that Riley Herbst has signed a new contract that will see him return to the No. 98 Ford full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity
Series in 2023. Monster Energy will continue as the team's primary sponsor. |
| | Logan Sargeant Set To Race For Williams F1 In
2023By virtue of a fourth-place finish in Formula 2 points, Logan Sargeant officially earned enough points to earn a Super License. As a result, he will drive
full-time in 2023 for Williams. |
| | Nico Hulkenberg Replacing Mick Schumacher at Haas in
2023Haas F1 announced Thursday that Nico Hulkenberg will join the team in 2023, replacing Mick Schumacher alongside Kevin Magnussen. It will be Hulkenberg's
first full-time ride in Formula 1 since 2019, where he drove for Renault. |
| | Colin Braun Joins Meyer Shank Racing For Full 2023
SeasonMeyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian announced Friday that Colin Braun will move to the Ohio-based team to drive the No. 60 Acura ARX-06 full-time in
2023. |
| | Chase Cabre Dominates in MNR Win at Twin Ring
MotegiChase Cabre was able to run down a slower Collin Fern on an alternate strategy to take the lead with six laps to go. From there, he pulled away to win the Tufco 250k, the second round of Interstate Batteries Monday
Night Racing. Corey Heim was second, then Presley Sorah, Fern and Will Rodgers. |
| | Indy Autonomous Challenge To Set Its (Radar) Sights on Road Courses
in 2023On Thursday, Indy Autonomous Challenge powered by Cisco Systems president Paul Mitchell announced his intentions for the challenge to move to road courses starting
next year in an attempt to further develop the technology. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Mark Thompson of Getty Images, FIA Media, NASCAR Media via Chris Graythen and Meg Oliphant, Mark Sutton of LAT Images, IMSA and Walt Kuhn of Penske Entertainment. Have news for Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com with a promising lead or tip. |
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