Frontstretch Newsletter: Daniel Ricciardo Breaks Wrist, Liam Lawson to Race in Zandvoort

Published: Fri, 08/25/23

Frontstretch Newsletter: Aug. 25, 2023
Volume XVII, Edition CXLVI

What to Watch: Aug. 25-27

- Today is a pretty busy day in Daytona for NASCAR teams. At the moment, teams are going through inspection and final checks prior to qualifying

- NASCAR Xfinity Series teams will qualify this afternoon at 3 p.m. ET. Coverage will start off exclusive to NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports App. Coverage on USA Network will begin in progress at 4 p.m. ET. Of course, this is weather permitting.

Coverage of the Wawa 250 starts with Countdown to Green at 7 p.m. ET on USA Network. Race coverage begins at 7:30 p.m. ET with the green flag around 7:45 p.m. ET.

- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams will be at The Milwaukee Mile this weekend for the second race in the Round of 10. Teams are not currently scheduled to pull into the track until Saturday morning.

Practice is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon. The session will not be televised. Qualifying is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. ET Sunday morning and will air live on FOX Sports 2.

Coverage of the CleanHarbors 175 will start with NASCAR RaceDay - NCTS Edition at 3 p.m. ET Sunday afternoon on FOX Sports 1. Race coverage will follow at 4 p.m. ET with the green flag around 4:15 p.m. ET.

- ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series East teams will race this weekend on the undercard of the Truck race. Practice is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon with qualifying immediately afterwards.

Coverage of the Sprecher 150 is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET Sunday and will air live on FOX Sports 1.

- NTT IndyCar Series are at World Wide Technology Raceway for their final oval race of the year. Practice will begin at 11 a.m. ET Saturday morning and will be streamed live on Peacock. Qualifying is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET on there, followed by a final practice at 5 p.m. ET.

Coverage of the Bommarito Automotive Group 500k starts at 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday on NBC with the green flag coming shortly afterwards.

- Formula 1's summer break is complete and the teams are back in action this weekend at Circuit Zandvoort in The Netherlands. Friday action is already complete.

Free Practice No. 3 is scheduled for 5:25 a.m. ET Saturday morning and will air live on ESPN2. Qualifying is at 8:55 a.m. ET on ESPN.

Race coverage Sunday morning will start with Formula 1: Grand Prix Sunday at 7:30 a.m. ET on ESPN. Race coverage will start at 8:55 a.m. ET with the formation lap beginning at 9 a.m. ET sharp.

- IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teams are at VIRginia International Raceway for the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR. Opening practice is scheduled for this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. ET, while the second session will be at 10:20 a.m. ET Saturday morning.

Qualifying is scheduled for 3:45 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon. The session will be streamed live at both IMSA.com and on Peacock.

The Michelin GT Challenge at VIR is scheduled to go green at 2:10 p.m. ET Sunday. Live coverage will air on USA Network starting at 2 p.m. ET.

- IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge teams are on the undercard at VIR. Practice No. 1 is already complete, while the second session is at 2:25 p.m. ET. Qualifying is scheduled for 6:20 p.m. ET today.

The Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix is scheduled to go green at 5:10 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon. The race will stream live on Peacock at 5 p.m. ET.

- World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series teams are at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D. tonight for the Second Leg of the Northern Tour. Coverage starts at 7 p.m. ET on DirtVision.com. Tomorrow night, the sprinters travel south to Red River Valley Speedway near Fargo for the Duel in the Dakotas. Both races are sponsored by Gerdau. Action will begin at 7 p.m. on DirtVision.

- World of Outlaws CASE Construction Late Model Series teams will continue at Davenport Speedway with the My Place Hotels Quad Cities 150. Tonight's action will start at 6 p.m. ET on DirtVision. Saturday's action will also start at 6 p.m. ET.

FOLLOW THE FRONTSTRETCH THIS WEEKEND THROUGH OUR COLLEAGUES:

DAYTONA:

Dalton Hopkins (@PitLaneLT)

Nick Tylwalk (@nicktylwalk)

MILWAUKEE:

Jared Haas (@RealJaredHaas)

Also, don't forget to follow our Twitter page, @Frontstretch as well for updates from Daytona and our open wheel page, @FSOpenWheel for updates from Gateway.

TV Schedule: Here

Today's Top News:

Daniel Ricciardo Suffers Hand Injury, Liam Lawson to Sub

AlphaTauri's Daniel Ricciardo suffered a broken hand in a crash during Free Practice No. 2 Friday morning at Circuit Zandvoort and has been ruled out for the rest of the weekend. Liam Lawson will debut in his place.

Read more

Photo is courtesy of Peter Fox of Getty Images.

Have news for Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com with a promising lead or tip.

Around the World in Motorsports: Aug. 24-25

- In the opening free practice session at Circuit Zandvoort Friday morning, Red Bull's Max Verstappen was fastest in front of his fellow countrymen with a lap at 132.573 mph. The lap was .278 seconds faster than Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso. Mercedes-AMG's Lewis Hamilton was third, then Sergio Perez and Williams' Alexander Albon.

There was one red flag during the session when Haas F1's Nico Hulkenberg slid off into the gravel in turn 14. Hulkenberg was ok.

- The second free practice session saw both McLaren's Oscar Piastri and AlphaTauri's Daniel Ricciardo crash into the Tec-Pro barriers in the high-banked Hugenholtzbocht (turn 3). Piastri was ok, but Ricciardo has been ruled out for the remainder of the weekend due to a broken wrist (see above).

Piastri's teammate Lando Norris ended up fastest overall with a lap at 133.543 mph, just .023 seconds quicker than Verstappen. Albon was third, then Hamilton and Yuki Tsunoda in the second AlphaTauri.

- Thursday night saw the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Late Model Series open up the My Place Hotels Quad Cities 150 at Davenport Speedway. Here, Bobby Pierce swept around Dennis Erb Jr. on lap 5 and led the rest of the way to claim his ninth win of the year.

Erb held on to finish second, followed by Brandon Sheppard and Nick Hoffman. Kyle Bronson was fifth.

Frontstretch Videos:

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Newsletter Exclusives:

Frontstretch Folio: Coke Zero Sugar 400
by Phil Allaway

This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series returns to Daytona for the final race of the regular season. Coverage of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 starts with Countdown to Green at 7 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. Race coverage starts at 7:30 p.m. ET with the green scheduled for around 7:45 p.m. ET. The race can also be heard on MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90). Note that there are a number of markets that plan to either pre-empt the race entirely, move it to a sister station, or join in progress in favor of preseason NFL football. We will have a complete list on Frontstretch's schedule page prior to the start of the race.

Records and facts

Last year's Coke Zero Sugar 400 was postponed to Sunday afternoon due to rain. Around 12:30 p.m. ET, a shower swept over the track suddenly, triggering a multi-car crash in turn 1 that wiped out much of the field.

Austin Dillon, driving one of the few cars that came out of the crash unscathed, was able to hold off a late charge from Austin Cindric to win the race and earn the last spot in the playoffs.

Teammate Tyler Reddick was second, then Cindric, Landon Cassill and Noah Gragson. For Cassill and Gragson, these are their best career finishes in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Among active drivers, Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson (not entered) have the most victories with three each, while Kevin Harvick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. have two. 11 other active drivers have one Daytona victory.

All-time, Richard Petty is the winningest driver in points races at Daytona with 10 career victories, including seven wins in the Daytona 500. Cale Yarborough has nine wins, followed by David Pearson with eight, Fireball Roberts with seven, then Jeff Gordon and Junior Johnson tied with six. Note that win statistics for drivers such as Junior Johnson, Roberts and Pearson are slightly inflated because the races now known as the Bluegreen Vacation Duels were point races up until 1971. Also of note, Dale Earnhardt had 34 victories at Daytona in seemingly everything except the Rolex 24. However, only three of them were in Cup Series point races.

Track Facts
Track / Race Length: 2.5-mile oval, 200 laps (500 miles)
Banking: 31 degrees

Frontstretch: 3,800 ft, banked 18 degrees in tri-oval, 6 degrees in chutes
Backstretch: 3,400 ft., banked 3 degrees
Grandstand Seating: 101,000
Pit Road Speed: 55 mph
Pace Car Speed: 70 mph
Opened: 1959

Website: http://www.daytonaintlspeedway.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DaytonaInternationalSpeedway
Twitter: http://twitter.com/DAYTONA

Pre-Race Schedule:

Qualifying: Friday, Aug. 26, 5:05 p.m. on USA Network

Say What?!

"I think we’re in a pretty good spot, we just need to be smart and need to do just what we know how to do. Daytona is always a crapshoot, so you never know what can happen. We just have to be mindful of the first two stages and see what we need to do in the final stage and that will set our strategy for the rest of the race. Really excited to have Ducks Unlimited on board along with Bass Pro Shops this weekend. They do amazing work in conserving and restoring in Florida and around the country. Would love to get those guys a good run and be able to bring home the regular-season championship and those 15 playoff points that go with it." - Martin Truex Jr.

"Running Daytona in August is way different than February. It’s just a hotter time of the year so the track is definitely slicker. You need to set up a little bit more for downforce for grip to make your car drive good on the long run. It’s still a drafting race, it’s still going to be close-knit, and tight action." - Kyle Busch

"It’s a way different vibe. There’s not a better spot for it to be than Daytona because it is the ultimate saying – and you say it with an exclamation point. Anyone can win, and that is never more true than at Daytona. Everyone knows going in that it’s their last-ditch effort to either make the playoffs or put yourself in position to score more points for the playoffs. Everybody kind of has that, ‘Screw it. I’m going for it,’ mentality in that particular race because they know whatever the scenario is, it’s the last chance to score points, it’s the last chance to put you in." - Kevin Harvick

"Making my first Cup Series start at Daytona is definitely a dream come true. It’s what every racer dreams of and I get to do that this weekend. Not long ago I thought I was going to be a career short track racer, so to know that I get to make my first start at Daytona in a Cup car just shows that you should never give up.

"It’s going to be a learning curve to start the race, especially without practice. These cars draft differently than the Xfinity cars do and we’ve seen drivers be able to tandem a little bit to gain momentum and move forward. If we can just keep it clean and be there at the end, that is our plan." - Josh Berry

Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.

Today at Frontstretch:

4 Burning Questions: Would Selling Charters Benefit SHR?

by Stephen Stumpf

Friday Faceoff: What Should NASCAR Incorporate Into Its Youth System?

by the Frontstretch Staff

Fire on Fridays: Should NASCAR Impose Track Limits on Road Courses?

by Anthony Damcott

NASCAR 101: A Guide Around NASCAR Classics

by Michael Finley

2023 IndyCar Bommarito Automotive Group 500 Preview

by Tom Blackburn

Through the Gears: Daytona Betting Preview

with Mark Harris and Michael Massie

Here’s Who’s Performing & Appearing at Daytona

by Luken Glover

Monday at Frontstretch.com:

We'll have recaps and breakdowns of all the action from Daytona, Milwaukee, Gateway, Zandvoort and VIR.

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