Frontstretch Newsletter: Jan. 27, 2025
Volume
XVIII, Edition IV |
What to Watch: Jan. 27-Feb. 5 |
- This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series season begins with the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C. Coverage will start with practice and qualifying at 6 p.m. ET Saturday on FOX Sports 1. Heat races will follow at 8:30 p.m. ET. Sunday's coverage will start
with the 75-lap Last Chance Race. That will air at 6 p.m. ET on FOX. Coverage of the Cook Out Clash will begin with NASCAR RaceDay at 7:30 p.m. ET with race coverage starting at 8 p.m. ET. - NASCAR Xfinity and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams will be at Rockingham Speedway Tuesday for an organization test ahead of the track's race weekend in April. The
test is open to the public starting at 9 a.m. ET. Also, don't forget to follow our Twitter page, @Frontstretch as well for updates from Winston-Salem. |
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| 2025 Clash Format
Announced Last Monday, NASCAR announced the new racing format for this weekend’s Cook Our Clash. The main race will be a 200-lap event with a 23-car field. |
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| Porsche Penske Motorsports Repeats at Rolex
24 Porsche Penske Motorsport's Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy and Laurens Vanthoor took the lead with 22 minutes to go Sunday, then held on to win the Rolex 24 at Daytona. |
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| ‘BMW Should be Embarrassed’ – Corvette and BMW Clash over GTD
Pro Podium in Rolex 24 Finish The later hours of the Rolex 24 at Daytona Sunday saw Tommy Milner end up in a battle for position that was marred by Paul Miller Racing using their second car driven by Augusto Farfus as a blocker. |
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| Austin Cindric Scores Podium In Substitute
Role Austin Cindric only got his ride for the Rolex 24 at Daytona on Jan. 6. Despite never driving the Ford Mustang GT3 prior to the ROAR Before the 24, Cindric played a big role in the No. 64 team scoring a third-place finish. |
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| ‘We Blew it to Hell’ – Andy Lally Ends Final Rolex 24 with
Engine Failure This past weekend was the final major race of Andy Lally's driving career. He wanted to go out with a bang, but his race ended with the wrong kind of bang. |
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| Accelerating Performance Triumphs At
Daytona Accelerating Performance's Michael Cooper passed Jan Heylen with three minutes to go, then held on to win the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge BMW M Endurance Challenge with Moisey Uretsky. |
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| Corey LaJoie Running Partial Cup Schedule for RWR, Joining
Prime Broadcast Team Rick Ware Racing announced Monday that Corey LaJoie will drive for the team part-time in 2025. LaJoie will also have a role with Amazon Prime Video during their five-race schedule. |
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| Connor Zilisch Making Cup Debut at COTA, Red Bull
Sponsoring Trackhouse Trackhouse Racing announced Thursday that Connor Zilisch will attempt to make his NASCAR Cup Series debut at Circuit of the Americas. In addition, Red Bull has joined the team as a sponsor. |
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| King’s Hawaiian Moves to Denny Hamlin,
JGR Joe Gibbs Racing announced Wednesday that King’s Hawaiian bread will serve as a primary sponsor of Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota in a multi-year deal. |
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| Chandler Smith Running Daytona 500 for Garage
66 Garage 66 announced Wednesday that Chandler Smith will attempt the Daytona 500 with the team with QuickTie sponsorship. |
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| Ruedebusch & Gener8tor Return As Todd Gilliland
Sponsors Front Row Motorsports announced Friday that Ruedebusch and Gener8tor will move to the No. 34 in 2025 in order to continue sponsoring Todd Gilliland. |
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| Spire, Workforce Announce Multiyear
Sponsorship Spire Motorsports announced last Monday that Workforce will serve as a sponsor on Michael McDowell in a multi-year deal. |
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| Rush Joins Noah Gragson at
FRM Front Row Motorsports announced last Monday that Rush Truck Centers will serve as a primary sponsor on Noah Gragson’s No. 4 Ford in 2025. |
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| Rebel Bourbon Back With Kyle Busch for
2025 Richard Childress Racing announced Tuesday that they have re-signed Rebel Bourdon to serve as the primary sponsor on Kyle Busch’s No. 8 Chevrolet in multiple races. |
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| Kasey Kahne Running 3rd RCR Xfinity Car at
Rockingham Richard Childress Racing announced Friday that Kasey Kahne will make his first NASCAR start since 2018 at Rockingham Speedway in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. |
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| Mason Massey Running 11 Races for
APR Alpha Prime Racing announced Wednesday that Mason Massey will drive the No. 45 Chevrolet in 11 NASCAR Xfinity Series races in 2025. |
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| Vicente Salas Debuting in Xfinity With
APR Alpha Prime Racing announced Friday that Vicente Salas will race a limited schedule in the team's No. 45 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2025. |
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| Brad Perez Back at APR Part
Time Alpha Prime Racing announced Tuesday that Brad Perez will return to the team and drive at least four Xfinity races in the No. 45 Chevrolet. |
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| Jarrett Renews With JRM for Multiple
Years JR Motorsports announced Thursday that Jarrett has signed a multi-year contract extension to continue sponsoring the team for six races per season. |
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| Garrett Smithley Adds Hire Heroes
Sponsorship SS-Green Light Racing announced Wednesday that Hire Heroes USA will serve as the primary sponsor on Garrett Smithley's No. 14 in multiple races in 2025 starting at Daytona. |
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| Baltazar Leguizamon Attempting Xfinity Debut at
COTA Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen announced Wednesday that Baltazar Leguizamon will attempt to make his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Circuit of the Americas. |
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| Spire Adds Andres Perez for 2025 Truck
Season Spire Motorsports announced Thursday that 2024 ARCA Menards Series champion Andres Perez will replace Chase Purdy in the No. 77 Chevrolet full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. |
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| Ross Chastain, Bayley Currey, Matt Gould Splitting
Part-Time Niece Truck Niece Motorsports announced Monday that their No. 41 truck will be shared by multiple drivers in 2025 with Ross Chastain serving as the anchor man. |
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| Cody Dennison Debuting in Trucks for
Reaume Reaume Brothers Racing announced Tuesday that Cody Dennison will drive their new No. 2 entry in at least three races. |
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| FRE Expanding to 2nd Truck, Ryan Roulette To Drive in 3
Races Freedom Racing Enterprises announced Wednesday that they are adding a part-time second truck, the No. 67, that will be driven by Ryan Roulette in three races. |
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| Jason Kitzmiller Running Full ARCA
Schedule CR7 Motorsports announced Monday that they will run the full 2025 ARCA Menards Series schedule with Jason Kitzmiller in 2025. |
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| Taylor Reimer Back With Venturini for 5
Races Venturini Motorsports announced Friday that USAC racer Taylor Reimer will drive a five-race schedule in ARCA in 2025. |
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| Trevor Huddleston Holds Off Kyle Keller for ARCA West
Victory Trevor Huddleston emerged victorious in a duel with Kyle Keller to win the West Coast Stock Car Motorsports Hall of Fame 150 at Kevin Harvick's Kern Raceway Saturday. Tanner Reif was third, then Robbie Kennealy and Eric Johnson
Jr. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, IMSA, Lachlan Cunningham, Jeff Curry and Matthew Putney of ARCA Racing and our own Phil Allaway, Josh Calloni 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. 20-26 |
- Amazon Prime Video announced Monday that Danielle Trotta will host pre-and post-race coverage during their five-race NASCAR Cup Series schedule. Corey LaJoie (see below) will work alongside her. - Kaulig Racing announced Friday that American Snuff Company, LLC will serve as a primary sponsor on Ty Dillon's No. 10 Chevrolet for nine races in 2025. This will be done through ASC's Grizzly Nicotine
Pouches brand. - Friday's second Whelen MX-5 Cup race of the year started off in a brutal fashion. Gresham Wagner and Alex Bachoura collided just after the start and crashed into the SAFER Barrier. From there, the Big One was one as half the 35-car field piled up. All the drivers involved were able to walk away, but the majority of the race was spent under yellow as all the disabled cars (12) had to be cleared and the track cleaned. Once the track was cleared, Jared Thomas
was able to take the win. |
This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channels from Daytona last weekend. For more from Daytona, or from other race weekends, be sure to subscribe to our suite of YouTube channels (Frontstretch, Frontstretch Grassroots, Frontstretch Plus and FS Open Wheel) and don't forget to click the bell to be notified of future videos. |
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