Author Archives: PressBox

August 13, 2026

Layne Riggs Can Clinch Top Seed at Richmond

Richmond Raceway’s Black’s Tire 250 was set to play a major role in shaping the 10-driver 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Chase field with two races left before the lineup is finalized. Layne Riggs led Kaden Honeycutt by 100 points after five wins and could lock up the No. 1 seed at Richmond, while Chandler Smith, Christian Eckes and Gio Ruggiero had already clinched Chase berths. Ty Majeski, Ben Rhodes, Grant Enfinger, Daniel Hemric and Stewart Friesen held the remaining positions, with 49 points separating ninth-place Hemric from 14th-place Brenden Queen and Tyler Ankrum eight points behind Friesen in the fight for 10th.

Richmond has become a decisive stop for Chase hopefuls in recent seasons, with Grant Enfinger winning there in 2020, Chandler Smith in 2022 and Ty Majeski in 2024. The entry list also included Elliott Sadler, Shane van Gisbergen in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet and 16-year-old Tristan McKee making his Truck Series debut.

The Truck Series weekend was part of a Richmond doubleheader with the Cup Series. Truck practice was scheduled for Friday at 1 p.m. ET on FS2, followed by qualifying at 2:05 p.m. ET on FS2. Justin Carroll was set to go out first in qualifying, and Riggs was scheduled to go last in the 39-truck field.
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August 13, 2026

M&M’s brings Kyle Busch tribute to Bristol with Ty Gibbs

M&M’s is returning to NASCAR with a Kyle Busch tribute at Bristol Motor Speedway. Ty Gibbs will drive the No. 54 Toyota in a bright yellow throwback scheme for the Bristol Night Race on Sept. 19.

The Bristol design will use the colors Busch drove to many wins and to his 2015 Cup Series title, and it will include a photo mosaic of moments from his life and career. Sources differ on Busch’s Bristol record: one cites nine Cup wins, nine O’Reilly wins and five Truck wins there, while another lists eight Cup wins, nine Xfinity wins and five Truck wins. Both accounts say he swept Bristol weekend races twice, in 2010 and 2017. Samantha Busch and Joe Gibbs Racing announced the tribute, and Samantha Busch said it was heartbreaking to see the car return without Kyle but meaningful to carry his legacy forward at a track he loved.

Busch died on May 21 at 41 after a brief battle with sepsis, and his career included 63 Cup Series wins and a record 234 victories across NASCAR’s national series. Joe Gibbs Racing also announced a separate M&M’s throwback scheme for Busch’s No. 18 Toyota in next month’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway, designed to celebrate M&M’s 80th anniversary with old-school yellow and red colors, the iconic M&M’s lentils and a special anniversary message.
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August 13, 2026

40th Unadilla National Kicks Off Crucial Title Run

Unadilla MX will open the final three-race stretch of the Pro Motocross Championship on Saturday, Aug. 15, with the 40th running of the ELF Lubricants Unadilla National serving as Round 26 of the 2026 Monster Energy SMX World Championship. ELF Lubricants is the title partner for the third straight year, and the event will play a major role in deciding the outdoor 450SMX and 250SMX championships, with six motos left in each class and both title fights still extremely close. The Women’s Motocross Championship also returns to the Central New York venue.

The track has a long place in motocross history. Ward and Peg Robinson founded Unadilla MX in 1969, official events began in 1972, and it remains the only circuit from the inaugural Pro Motocross season still on the schedule. The oldest venue in American motocross has also hosted Trans-AMA events, a 250cc U.S. Grand Prix and the first U.S. Motocross of Nations.

While the layout has changed very little over the years, the surface has evolved after years of topsoil loss. Riders once disliked the hard, rocky and slippery dirt in the 1990s and 2000s, but the Robinson family began restoring topsoil around 2012, and the track has improved since then. It is now regarded as a unique and tricky venue, with the late-afternoon wall area still considered especially difficult because it can turn hard, silty and treacherous and is hard to water properly.
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August 13, 2026

NASCAR says Heim tops rookie start limit by three

Corey Heim will not be eligible for NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year honors when he moves to a full-time ride with 23XI Racing in 2027. NASCAR said Heim already has 15 Cup starts, which puts him three over the 12-start limit for rookie eligibility under the current rules. He also did not apply for rookie eligibility before this season, and NASCAR vice president of racing communications Mike Forde said he cannot be a Rookie of the Year candidate under those rules.

NASCAR’s updated rookie policy sets start limits across its national series and requires teams to apply for rookie status, with NASCAR needing to approve the request. Forde said Heim had 15 Cup starts since 2024, including three in 2024, four in 2025 and eight so far in 2026, with four races left on his schedule this season. He said Heim could have applied for rookie eligibility this year but did not.

Heim is already ineligible for the 2026 Cup Rookie of the Year award because he did not declare for Cup points. He has won twice this season in part-time Cup competition, with victories at San Diego and the Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis. Heim also won three Truck Series races in 2026 while racing part time, and he had been expected to contend for rookie honors after stepping into a full-time 23XI Racing seat.
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August 13, 2026

Steiner says F1 return must let him build from scratch

Guenther Steiner said he would consider a Formula 1 return only if the right project came along, stressing that he is not interested in another job just for the title. Speaking on the Up To Speed podcast, the former Haas team principal said any comeback would need to challenge him and give him a direct hand in shaping decisions, with his motivation centered on building something from scratch rather than taking a routine role.

Steiner pointed to his role in creating Haas and bringing the team to the grid in 2016 as the kind of challenge that would appeal to him again. He said he would be open to hearing about an opportunity if it fit, but did not name a potential destination. He also said he wants work that feels exciting and has been guided by projects in recent years rather than by fixed positions.

Since leaving Haas, Steiner has stayed visible through television work and his involvement in MotoGP as the owner of the Tech3 team. He said he has enjoyed staying around the sport and joked that matching David Coulthard on TV has been harder than starting an F1 team. Steiner left Haas at the end of 2023 and was replaced in January 2024 after reported disagreements with team owner Gene Haas following the team’s last-place finish in the constructors’ championship.
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August 13, 2026

Travis Pastrana Named Grand Marshal for Budds Creek National

MX Sports Pro Racing and Budds Creek Motocross Park named Travis Pastrana grand marshal for the 36th running of the Yamaha Budds Creek National Presented by Carter CAT, set for Saturday, Aug. 22, at Budds Creek Motocross Park in Maryland. The race is the penultimate round of the 2026 Pro Motocross Championship. Pastrana, a Maryland native from Annapolis and an AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer, will return to his home race as ceremonial ambassador.

Pastrana is scheduled to host a special autograph session from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. local time and take part in other event festivities. Budds Creek’s race day schedule lists opening ceremonies at 12:15 p.m. ET and motos starting at 1 p.m. ET. The event will air live on NBC and Peacock.

The announcement highlighted Pastrana’s long motocross resume, including the 2000 AMA Motocross 125cc title, the 2001 AMA Supercross East 125cc title and a role on Team USA’s winning squad at the 2000 Motocross of Nations. He was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2023. After Budds Creek, Pastrana is scheduled to travel to Annapolis for the Nitro Circus 2.0 tour on Sunday, Aug. 23, at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
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August 13, 2026

Nashville Stampede open 7-1, host first home stand in 2026

The Nashville Stampede will return home for the only stop of their 2026 PBR Team Series season when Stampede Days hits Bridgestone Arena in Nashville from Aug. 14-16. The home stand comes as Nashville has opened the year with a franchise-best 7-1 record and a seven-game winning streak after three regular-season stops, with its only loss coming against the Carolina Cowboys on opening weekend. The Stampede also went 3-0 in Sunrise, Florida, where they covered 10 of 15 bulls.

Nashville will ride in front of its hometown crowd for the first time this season against the Arizona Ridge Riders, Carolina Cowboys and Oklahoma Wildcatters. Rogério Venâncio, Riquelmi Silva and Daniel Feitosa are all in the top eight of the Horse Soldier MVP standings, while Daylon Swearingen and Cody Jesus are on injured reserve and Ky Hamilton has yet to make his Teams debut.

Stampede Days is the fourth stop on the 2026 PBR Teams schedule and will feature all 10 teams in three days of five-on-five bull riding. Friday’s action starts at 8:45 p.m. ET on Paramount+, Saturday’s broadcast begins at 8 p.m. ET on The CW, and Sunday’s event airs at 1:30 p.m. ET on The CW. CBS will also air a CBS Games of the Week broadcast Sunday at noon ET, featuring Austin Gamblers against the Kansas City Outlaws and Carolina Cowboys against the Nashville Stampede.
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August 13, 2026

FIA Defends F1 ADUO System but Calls for Refinement

FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis said Formula 1’s Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities, or ADUO, system will need refinement in the coming years, even as he defended the FIA’s measurements as accurate. He said the scheme works as intended in broad terms, but it has weaknesses and needs changes to make it less time-consuming and less controversial.

The ADUO system, introduced at the start of the 2026 season as a safety net for manufacturers that fall behind, has become a political issue because the rankings are based only on internal combustion engine performance, while the extra development allowances cover the full power unit, including electrical components. That has fuelled paddock concerns that manufacturers could game the system by holding back performance, and there have been suggestions that Ferrari and Mercedes may have underperformed early to try to secure benefits. Tombazis said he did not believe teams would intentionally hold back performance just to gain more development opportunities.

Red Bull Ford Powertrains finished first in the FIA’s initial ADUO ranking, ahead of Mercedes High Performance Powertrains, although the first-period results have not been publicly released. Red Bull asked for a factual verification after period one, and Tombazis said Red Bull’s position at the top could limit its own future development allowances. Honda is bringing its first ADUO upgrade to Zandvoort, and Honda chief engineer Shintaro Orihara said the system is fair for Honda for now but should continue to be monitored across the sport.
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August 13, 2026

Cadillac rebuffs Williams talk, backs Perez for 2027

Cadillac’s leadership has moved to shut down talk that Sergio Perez could leave for Williams, with team principal Marcin Budkowski and CEO Dan Towriss both saying keeping him is a priority. Budkowski said the young team needs experience and stability, and that Perez has been helping guide development behind the scenes. Towriss said he was very confident Perez would remain with Cadillac for 2027, even as reports said Perez’s management had held talks with Williams. The team’s driver pairing of Perez and Valtteri Bottas has been described as the most experienced in Formula 1, and Cadillac has no plans to change it while it builds its operation.

The stance comes as Cadillac endures a difficult debut season. After 11 rounds, the team is last in the constructors’ standings and remains the only outfit in Formula 1 without a point. Reliability problems have hurt both drivers, with Perez taking four retirements and Bottas five because of failures and related issues. Brake fires have also been a major problem, and Cadillac’s best result so far is Bottas’s 13th place in China.

Perez has come close to giving Cadillac its first point, only to see that chance slip away. He was classified 15th in Monaco after a post-race penalty dropped him from 10th, and he has said the reliability issues have been frustrating and require patience. Perez added that he remains encouraged by how hard the team is working. Budkowski, who replaced Graeme Lowdon as team principal during the summer break, has made fixing the reliability problems and improving coordination between the race team and the factory his priority.
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