Frontstretch Newsletter: Jan. 19, 2026
Volume XX,
Edition III |
And Now A Word From Our Title Partner, My Place Hotels! |
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What to Watch: Jan. 19-25 |
- This week is the main show in Daytona, the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Practice for support classes will begin Wednesday, while IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship practice will begin on Thursday. WeatherTech teams will start off with a 90-minute practice Thursday morning at 10:05 a.m.
ET. Qualifying for the Rolex 24 at Daytona will be at 2:10 p.m. ET. Coverage will air live on the IMSA Official YouTube channel and on Peacock starting at 2:05 p.m. ET. Afterwards, there will be a night practice session at 6:15 p.m. ET that is scheduled to run for 90 minutes. Friday's sole session is a 75-minute session that starts at 11:05 a.m. ET. The first 15
minutes of that session will be for bronze-rated drivers only. Coverage of the 64th Annual Rolex 24 at Daytona will begin at 1:30 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon on NBC with the green flag at 1:40 p.m. ET. Coverage will be exclusive to Peacock from 2:30 p.m. ET Saturday to Noon ET Sunday. At that point, NBC will return to provide coverage through the finish. Michelin Pilot Challenge teams have their first practice at 3 p.m. ET Wednesday. A second practice will be at 8:45 a.m. ET Thursday. Qualifying will be at 1:15 p.m. ET Thursday. Following a 30-minute session Friday morning at 9:10 a.m. ET, the BMW M Endurance Challenge
is scheduled to go green at 1:45 p.m. ET. Coverage will air live on the IMSA Official YouTube channel and on Peacock starting at 1:40 p.m. ET. We will have any additional news that breaks 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 on Daytona! |
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| NASCAR Reveals Chase Championship
Format Last Monday, NASCAR announced that The Chase will return in 2026 and replace the playoffs. It will also be instituted in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for the first time. |
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| Chase Briscoe Snags 3-Race Free Bird
Sponsorship Joe Gibbs Racing announced Wednesday that Free Bird, a brand of spring water, will serve as the primary sponsor on Chase Briscoe's No. 19 in three races in 2026. |
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| RCR Confirms Return of Cup No. 33, Announces Personnel
Changes Richard Childress Racing announced Wednesday that Mike Dillon is now the chief operating officer of the team. The No. 33 team will also be back on a part-time basis. |
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| Chili’s Extends Spire
Sponsorship Spire Motorsports announced Tuesday that they have reached a multi-year contract extension with Chili's to serve as a team sponsor. |
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| Tyler Reddick Adds SupplyHouse
Sponsorship 23XI Racing announced last Monday that SupplyHouse will serve as the primary sponsor of Tyler Reddick's No. 45 Toyota in a multi-race deal that starts at Kansas in April. |
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| Tony Stewart Will Run the Daytona Truck Race for
Kaulig Kaulig Racing announced Tuesday that Tony Stewart will drive the No. 25 RAM All-Star truck in Daytona, his first NASCAR race since retiring from Cup at the end of 2016. |
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| Cole Butcher Running 2026 Truck Season With
ThorSport ThorSport Racing announced Thursday that Cole Butcher will drive the No. 13 Toyota full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2026. |
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| Jake Garcia Moving to ThorSport’s No.
98 Having Cole Butcher in the No. 13 technically displaces Jake Garcia. Not so much, as he moves to the No. 98 to replace Ty Majeski, who has taken over the No. 88 for the retired Matt Crafton. |
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| Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Making Truck Debut for
Niece Niece Motorsports announced Wednesday that Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will drive the No. 45 Chevrolet in the first two Truck races of the season. |
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| Connor Mosack Running 12 Truck Races for
Spire Spire Motorsports announced Friday that Connor Mosack will rejoin the team to run 12 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races in their No. 7 Chevrolet starting in St. Petersburg. |
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| Daniel Dye Adds Mopar Sponsorship for
2026 Kaulig Racing announced Thursday that Mopar will serve as the primary sponsor of Daniel Dye's No. 10 RAM truck in 2026. |
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| Luke Baldwin Driving 12 Races for
Reaume Team Reaume announced Tuesday that Luke Baldwin will race a 12-race schedule for the team in the No. 2 Ford. |
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| Carson Ware Running Daytona for Barrett
Cope Barrett Cope Racing announced Wednesday that Carson Ware will drive the No. 30 Chevrolet in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series season opener in Daytona. |
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| DWC Sponsoring RCR’s O’Reilly
Cars Richard Childress Racing announced Wednesday that Distributor Wire & Cable will serve as a primary sponsor on both Jesse Love and Austin Hill's cars in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series in 2026. |
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| Emerson Axsom Wins 2026 Chili
Bowl Emerson Axsom was able to take the lead away from Kyle Larson on lap 5 Saturday night. From there, he was able to hold on to win the 40th Annual Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy Drink. Kevin Thomas Jr. was second, then Hank Davis Jr., Logan
Seavey and Briggs Danner. |
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| Logan Seavey Wins Friday Night Preliminary Chili Bowl
Feature Logan Seavey was able to go from fourth to first in an instant Friday night before a flip brought out the yellow. From there, he held on to win his preliminary feature. Justin Grant was second, then Daryn Pittman, Wout Hoffmans and Giovanni
Scelzi. |
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| Christopher Bell Wins Thursday Preliminary Feature Race at
Chili Bowl Christopher Bell charged up from eighth on the grid to take the lead on lap 28. From there, he held on to win Hasty Bake Qualifying Night in Tulsa. CJ Leary was second, then Ryan Bernal, Spencer Bayston and Kyle Cummins. |
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| Robbie Kennealy Attempting ARCA Race at
Daytona Jan's Racing Team announced Sunday that they will attempt the ARCA Menards Series opener at Daytona. Regular ARCA Menards Series West driver Robbie Kennealy will drive the No. 41 Ford. |
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| Jake Finch Running Daytona, Talladega for
Nitro Nitro Motorsports announced Tuesday that Jake Finch will race for the team in the ARCA races at Daytona and Talladega. |
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| Tony Cosentino Running ARCA Full Time for
Maples Maples Motorsports announced last Monday that Tony Cosentino will drive the No. 1 Chevrolet full-time in the ARCA Menards Series in 2026. |
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| Oscar Tunjo Scores Daytona Sweep In Wet
Conditions Oscar Tunjo recovered from a spin to win IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge Race No. 2 at Daytona International Speedway Sunday in the rain to claim the weekend sweep. |
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| Oscar Tunjo Wins VP Racing Challenge Daytona
Opener GEBHARDT Intralogistics Motorsports' Oscar Tunjo led all but one lap to win Saturday's IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge opener in Daytona. Westin Workman won in the GSX class. |
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| Mason Massey Joining McAnally for Full ARCA West
Season Bill McAnally Racing announced Tuesday that Mason Massey will drive for the team full-time in ARCA Menards Series West in 2026. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography, Dustin Chambers, Lachlan Cunningham, Zack Silver of ARCA Racing, Wayne Riegle of SRX, and our own Phil Allaway, Christopher DeHarde and Chase Folsom. 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. 13-19 |
- Last weekend, IMSA held the annual ROAR Before the 24 test sessions at Daytona International Speedway ahead of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. From the start, Porsche seemed to dominate things. In the opening session Friday morning, Porsche Penske Motorsport's Felipe Nasr went fastest with a lap at 133.047 mph. That lap held up to be the fastest lap of the entire test. It was a similar scenario in LMP2. TDS Racing's Charles Milesi set a lap at 129.540 mph in the opening session to lead the class. It was the only LMP2 lap of the entire weekend in the 98-second bracket and two-tenths of a second faster than United Autosports' Ben Hanley. Things were a little different in the GT ranks. Magnus
Racing's Spencer Pumpelly was fastest in GTD in his Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo with a lap at 119.436 mph during the opening session. That lap was .117 seconds faster than Gradient Racing's Joey Hand, who was fastest in Session No. 6 Sunday. In GTD Pro, 75 Express owner/driver Kenny Habul set a lap at 119.185 mph Sunday morning during Session No. 6. That held up as the fastest lap of the
weekend. The top-three times in class were all from 75 Express (Habul, Will Power and Chaz Mostert). Power, who is making his IMSA debut, topped two sessions during the weekend. There were a fair number of incidents during the weekend. The team with the worst of it damage-wise was Intersport Racing. They had to deal with three incidents. On Friday, Job van Uitert spun in turn 2 and backed into the tires, ripping the rear wing off of the car. Saturday saw Oliver Jarvis slide off in West Bend and nose into the tires there. Team co-owner Jon Field also had a spin Sunday during the bronze-only session. - In Michelin Pilot Challenge activity, Czabok Simpson Motorsports' Morgan Burkhard was fastest overall during the ROAR Before the 24 with a lap at 113.617 mph on Friday morning. That lap was .175 seconds faster than Team TGM's Matt Plumb. Matt's older brother Hugh
was third, then LAP Motorsports' Clayton Williams and McCumbee McAleer Racing's Nate Cicero. The takeaway from the test is that the Ford Mustang GT4 is a strong package at the moment. While Burkhard was fastest overall in a Porsche, the next four drivers were in Mustangs. At one point, Mustangs had the top-seven spots in Session No. 3 Saturday before ending with a top-five sweep. In TCR, KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering's Rocco Pasquerella was fastest overall in the test with a lap at 109.012 mph in his Honda Civic Type-R TCR Friday afternoon. The lap was .074 seconds faster than HART's Cameron Lawrence. Stallion Motorsports' Celso Neto was third, then Mario Farnbacher in a substitute role at Pegram Racing and Victor Gonzalez Racing's Tyler Gonzalez. Photos are courtesy of our own Phil Allaway. |
This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channels from Daytona and Tulsa last weekend. For more from Daytona, Tulsa, 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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