Frontstretch Newsletter: Jan. 15, 2024
Volume
XVIII, Edition III |
Welcome our New Presenting Sponsor, Race Face Digital! |
The Frontstretch Newsletter is presented by Race Face Digital, the ultimate entertainment platform for race fans and collectors to collect, buy, sell and trade digital MP4 collectible racing cards. |
What to Watch: Jan. 15-21 |
- This week, the IMSA season begins with the ROAR Before the 24. IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge teams will be testing ahead of their season openers. The weekend will wrap up with pole qualifying for the Rolex 24 at Daytona. IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge teams will also start their season this weekend with two 45-minute races. Race No. 1 will go green at 2:05 p.m. ET Saturday, while Race No. 2 will be at 12:20 p.m. ET Sunday. Both races will air live on Peacock.
- Late model teams will be at Crisp Motorsports Park in Cordele, Ga. for the annual SpeedFest, the
season opener for the Southern Super Series. Action will stream live Friday and Saturday on both RacingAmerica.tv and Speedsport.tv. - Teams are continuing to work on their efforts ahead of the 2024 season. We'll have any news this week for you at Frontstretch.
FOLLOW THE FRONTSTRETCH THIS WEEKEND IN DAYTONA THROUGH OUR COLLEAGUE: Also, don't forget to follow our Twitter page, @Frontstretch as well for updates from Daytona. |
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| Logan Seavey Sweeps the Week, Wins Second Straight Chili
Bowl Logan Seavey wrapped up a strong week in Tulsa by winning the 38th Annual Chili Bowl Nationals presented by NOS Energy Drink Saturday night. Buddy Kofoid was second, then Corey Day, Daison Pursley (who advanced from D-Main No. 2) and Hank
Smith. |
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| Ray Evernham, Rob Kauffman Purchase IROC
Brand Ray Evernham has partnered with Rob Kauffman to acquire the rights to the International Race of Champions, a former four-race series that featured drivers from different disciplines of motorsports doing battle in identically-prepared
cars. |
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| SRX Postponing Fourth
Season Superstar Racing Experience announced Thursday that their scheduled fourth season this summer has been indefinitely postponed. |
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| Dollar Tree, Family Dollar Sponsoring Legacy, Jimmie
Johnson Races Added Legacy Motor Club announced Thursday that Dollar Tree and Family Dollar will have one of their brands on a Legacy Toyota in all 38 races in a multi-year deal. |
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| NASCAR Announces Cup Rules Package Changes for Short
Tracks, Road Courses NASCAR announced Wednesday that new rules will be in effect for 2024 on short tracks and road courses to improve the on-track product. Downforce will be significantly reduced. |
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| DeWalt Back With Christopher
Bell Joe Gibbs Racing announced Friday that DeWalt Tools will continue to serve as primary sponsor on Christopher Bell's No. 20 Toyota for 13 races in 2024. |
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| Sunny Delight Sponsoring Josh
Berry Stewart-Haas Racing announced Friday that Sunny Delight has signed a multi-race deal to serve as the primary sponsor of Josh Berry's No. 4 Ford starting with the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum. |
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| Global Industrial Company Re-Ups With RCR for Kyle Busch,
Austin Hill Sponsorship Richard Childress Racing announced Thursday that Global Industrial Company has re-upped their sponsorship for 2024. They will split their backing between Kyle Busch's No. 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series and Austin Hill's No. 21 in the NASCAR Xfinity
Series. |
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| Kyle Busch Snags Rebel Bourbon
Sponsorship Richard Childress Racing announced Tuesday that Rebel Bourbon will serve as primary sponsor of Kyle Busch's No. 8 in multiple races in 2024 and 2025. |
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| Air Force Sponsoring Bubba
Wallace 23XI Racing announced Tuesday that the United States Air Force will move over from Legacy Motor Club to serve as primary sponsor on Bubba Wallace's No. 23 in a multi-race deal. |
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| CELSIUS Re-Ups With Kaulig for
2024 Kaulig Racing announced Friday that Celsius Essential Energy will be back with the team in 2024. They will sponsor AJ Allmendinger in both the NASCAR Cup and NASCAR Xfinity Series. |
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| Travis Mack Joins Kaulig As Technical Director, Crew
Chief Kaulig Racing announced last Monday that Travis Mack has been named as the team's new technical director. He'll also serve as crew chief of the No. 16 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Cup Series with a revolving door of drivers. |
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| Connor Zilisch Running NASCAR, ARCA, More for
Trackhouse Trackhouse Racing announced Thursday that Connor Zilisch has been signed to a development deal. He will race in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, the ARCA Menards Series and the Trans-Am Series presented by
Pirelli. |
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| Bennett Re-Ups With RCR, Austin
Hill Richard Childress Racing announced last Monday that the Bennett Family of Companies will continue to serve as the primary sponsor of Austin Hill in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2024. |
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| Andy’s Joins Cole Custer for 3
Races Stewart-Haas Racing announced Friday that Andy's Frozen Custard has signed up to serve as a primary sponsor on Cole Custer's No. 00 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for three races in 2024. |
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| Corey Heim Returning to Hunt Part
Time Sam Hunt Racing announced Wednesday that Corey Heim will drive a part-time schedule in the No. 26 Toyota in addition to his full-time schedule in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2024. |
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Alpha Prime Racing announced last Monday that Brad Perez will drive a part-time schedule in the team's No.45 Chevrolet in 2024. He'll also serve as the team's reserve driver. |
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| CJ McLaughlin Running Partial Schedule for
RSS RSS Racing announced Wednesday that CJ McLaughlin will remain with the team in 2024. He'll run a partial schedule in the No. 38 Ford. |
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| Austin Green Announces Part-Time Xfinity
Run Austin Green, son of former champion and current NASCAR official David Green, announced Tuesday that he will race part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2024 for Peterson Racing Group. |
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| Lawless Alan Running Full Truck Schedule With
Reaume Reaume Brothers Racing announced Sunday that they have signed Lawless Alan to drive the No. 33 Ford full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2024. |
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| Stefan Parsons Driving for
Henderson Henderson Motorsports announced Friday that Stefan Parsons has been named to drive the team's No. 75 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2024. |
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| Santino Ferrucci Back With Foyt for
2024 AJ Foyt Enterprises announced Tuesday that Santino Ferrucci will be back in the No. 14 in the NTT IndyCar Series in 2024 alongside Sting Ray Robb. |
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| Ayao Komatsu Replacing Guenther Steiner as Haas F1 Team
Principal Haas F1 Team announced Wednesday that Guenther Steiner, the team's only team principal, has been let go. Ayao Komatsu has been promoted to take his place. |
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| Amber Balcaen Running Full ARCA Season for
Venturini Venturini Motorsports announced Tuesday that Amber Balcaen will race full-time for the team in the ARCA Menards Series in 2024. |
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| Jake Finch Adds to ARCA Schedule With
Venturini Venturini Motorsports announced last Monday that Jake Finch will drive a nine-race schedule for the organization in 2024, split between the ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series West. |
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| Proton Competition Completes 2024 IMSA
Lineup Proton Competition announced two full-time IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship campaigns for 2024. In addition to the existing customer Porsche 963, they will race a new Ford Mustang GT3 for the whole year in the GTD class. |
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| Alex Palou Completes Ganassi Rolex 24
Lineup Chip Ganassi Racing announced Wednesday that defending NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou will join the team for the Rolex 24 at Daytona. |
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| Bubba Wallace, Corey Heim, John Hunter Nemechek Join
Smooge for Daytona Smooge Racing announced Thursday that they will field a special entry in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge opener for NASCAR regulars Corey Heim, John Hunter Nemechek and Bubba Wallace. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Bob Leverone of Getty Images, Wayne Riegle of SRX, Jeff Curry of ARCA Racing, Chris Jones and Doug Matthews of INDYCAR Media, Simon Galloway of LAT Images and our own Phil Allaway, Caleb Barnes and Danny
Peters. 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: Jan. 8-14 |
- Kaulig Racing announced Saturday that Cirkul will follow Daniel Hemric to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2024. They will serve as the primary sponsor of Hemric's No. 31 Chevrolet for 19 races (half of the season). - On Sunday, Kaulig Racing announced in a cheeky tweet that the No. 10 team will remain in operation in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2024. It will now likely be a part-time operation as the previous No. 10 team is now the No. 97 that Shane van
Gisbergen will drive full-time. It will not the first time that the team has run four cars as the team previously fielded the No. 14 Chevrolet in a couple of races, most notably at Daytona. - Lone Star Racing announced Thursday that they will compete in the five Michelin Endurance Cup events in 2024. Scott Andrews, who drove for the team in their sole IMSA WeatherTech
SportsCar Championship start last year at Indianapolis, will be joined by Rui Andrade and Salih Yoluc for all five races. Adam Christodoulou will join up for Daytona only. - BMW Team RLL has made a change in their full-season driver lineup. Jesse Krohn will swap roles with Augusto Farfus and drive the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 full-time in 2024. Rene Rast has been tapped to
drive the No. 25 at Daytona only in preparation for his full-time FIA World Endurance Championship schedule. - Kyle Larson made a last-minute entry into the 38th Annual Chili Bowl National presented by NOS Energy Drink last week. Entered into Thursday night's preliminaries, Larson was quick, but crashed in his heat race. That put him on the front row of C-Main No.
2. Larson ended up winning C-Main No. 2 to advance to B-Main No. 2. He was able to get himself into the A-Main, then crashed again and finished 24th. Rather than fight through the alphabet soup of mains, he chose to withdraw for the remainder of the weekend and return to New Mexico, where he was competing in the Wild West Shootout at Vado Speedway Park. - Speaking of the Wild West Shootout, that series of nine nights of racing finished up Saturday night as well. Bobby Pierce was looking for his fifth win of the series, which would have guaranteed a $100,000 bonus. Pierce was looking good for the bonus until he cut his
right rear tire with eight laps to go and brought out a caution. Pierce's misfortune gave the lead over to Larson. From there, Larson led the remaining laps to claim victory and the winner's check for $26,000. Mike Marlar was second, then Cade Dillard, Garrett Alberson and Stormy Scott. Pierce charged from the back in the final laps to finish seventh. |
This is just a sample of the 19 videos posted to our YouTube channel over the past week from the SageNet Center in Tulsa, Okla., site of the 38th Annual Chili Bowl Nationals presented by NOS Energy Drink. For more Chili Bowl content and additional videos from all over motorsports, please subscribe to our channel and don't forget to click the bell to be notified of future videos. |
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