PressBox, Author at NXTbets Inc

September 1, 2026

Hot, dry Monza forecast favors Antonelli despite grid penalty

Hot, dry conditions were expected to shape the Italian Grand Prix weekend at Monza, with forecasts calling for little chance of rain and temperatures in the low to mid-30s Celsius. Friday’s two practice sessions were set for bright sunshine and very light winds, Saturday could reach 35C with some cloud for qualifying, and Sunday was forecast to be sunny at 34C. The race-day wind was expected to shift from west to east, creating a headwind into the Della Roggia chicane and a tailwind toward Ascari, a pattern the report said would favor Kimi Antonelli even though he was set to start from the back of the grid after an engine-related penalty.

Round 13 of the 2026 Formula 1 season runs from Sept. 4-6 at Monza. The weekend includes practice on Friday, final practice and qualifying on Saturday, and a 53-lap race on Sunday. The grand prix is scheduled for 3 p.m. local time in Monza and 2 p.m. in the UK, and F2 and F3 are also on the support bill at the Italian circuit.

Antonelli arrives with a 59-point lead over Mercedes teammate George Russell after a Dutch Grand Prix podium, while Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton finished third there. Lando Norris comes to Monza after back-to-back wins in Hungary and Zandvoort and after signing a new McLaren contract that runs through the end of 2030. Ferrari plans to run a Michael Schumacher tribute livery at its home race.
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September 1, 2026

Points decide playoff berths as NASCAR boosts race wins

NASCAR will overhaul its championship system in 2026, bringing The Chase back to all three national series and deciding titles by total points after the postseason races. The revised format will apply to the Cup Series, the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, and it drops the old “win and in” rule, so postseason berths will be determined strictly by points standings. Race wins will be worth 55 points, up from 40.

The playoff fields will include 16 Cup drivers, 12 O’Reilly drivers and 10 Truck drivers. The regular season will cover the first 26 Cup races, 24 O’Reilly races and 18 Truck races. Once The Chase starts, there will be no eliminations, and drivers who miss the field will still race for points. NASCAR said points will be reseeded once after the regular season, with the Cup points leader starting at 2,100 points and the regular-season champion getting a 25-point advantage over the second seed.

The 2026 Chase will run as a 10-race mini-season in Cup, starting at Darlington Raceway on Sept. 6 and ending at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 8. The lineup also includes St. Louis, Bristol, Kansas, Las Vegas, Charlotte, Phoenix, Talladega and Martinsville. In Cup, Denny Hamlin enters the postseason first at 2,100 points, with Ryan Blaney 25 points back. Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs, Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell were listed as leading contenders, while Blaney, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott and Joey Logano were described as dangerous but inconsistent.
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August 31, 2026

Reutzel wins SugarBee Showdown, cuts title gap to 36

Aaron Reutzel turned Monday’s SugarBee Showdown on the River pres. by Seven Feathers Casino into a championship push, winning the 35-lap High Limit A Feature at Douglas County Dirtrack in Roseburg, Oregon, for Ridge & Sons Racing’s No. 87 team. The victory was Reutzel’s 10th Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing win of the season and the 17th of his career, and it cut his title deficit to 36 points behind Rico Abreu and the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing No. 24 team.

Reutzel led all 35 laps in his debut at the track after an opening-lap wreck involving front-row starter Tyler Courtney changed the race before the first lap was officially completed. Reutzel’s car was unharmed in that early incident, and he later held off Brent Marks to reach victory lane with a flat right rear tire. The race also featured early crashes involving James McFadden and Tanner Holmes, a flat tire for Max Mittry, a caution for Dylan Bloomfield, and a late red flag after Kinzer Cox flipped with three laps to go.

Brent Marks finished second, Tanner Thorson was third after advancing from 12th, Justin Sanders placed fourth and Rico Abreu finished fifth. Courtney, who started on the front row, was caught in the opening scramble and finished 15th. The series next headed to the $126,000-to-win Skagit Nationals.
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August 31, 2026

Lachlan Turner Overcomes Crashes for Third WMX Title

Lachlan Turner clinched her third straight WMX title at Ironman Raceway, overcoming crashes in both motos to secure the championship by six points over Charli Cannon. Turner entered the finale with a 13-point lead, finished fifth in Friday’s moto and then recovered from an early crash in Saturday’s race to take fourth, enough to lock up the crown. She became only the third rider in WMX history to win three consecutive titles.

Cannon won the weekend with a perfect 1-1 moto sweep, her first in the United States and the second WMX victory of her career. Her Friday win cut Turner’s lead, and Cannon closed the season as the runner-up with 261 points to Turner’s 267.

Mayla Herrick and Daniela Guillen also reached the Ironman Raceway podium, with Herrick going 3-2 and Guillen posting a 2-3 result in her U.S. debut. Mikayla Nielsen finished third in the final WMX standings on a tiebreaker over Jordan Jarvis.
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August 31, 2026

Antonelli says enjoying F1 fuels Mercedes title charge

Kimi Antonelli says shifting his focus from chasing wins to enjoying F1 has helped drive his second-season title charge for Mercedes. The 20-year-old leads the 2026 championship by 59 points over teammate George Russell, with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton also in the hunt, after becoming the youngest driver to top the standings following consecutive victories in China and Japan. He has six wins and six podiums this season, and advice from Roger Federer and other athletes to be himself and enjoy the moment has helped him stay calm.

Antonelli said the difficult moments in his rookie year made him mentally and emotionally stronger and helped him handle pressure more calmly. He spent part of the summer break watching races on TV and talking about F1 in a relaxed way, and he believes the season is only halfway over, so the job is not done. He now says setbacks are turned into strong results rather than allowed to snowball.

His next test is his home Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Mercedes is set to fit a new power unit, which will trigger a 10-place grid penalty, but Antonelli still expects a better Monza experience than last year after retiring at Imola and finishing ninth at Monza.
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August 31, 2026

Denny Hamlin opens playoffs as NASCAR title favorite

Denny Hamlin enters the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs as the top seed and the championship favorite, carrying a 25-point lead over Ryan Blaney under the revised format. Hamlin won four races in the regular season at Las Vegas, Nashville, Michigan and Pocono, led a series-high 880 laps, and said his team felt strong heading into the 10-race Chase. He also said the run starts with Darlington Raceway, a track where he has not been at his best in his last two races, and called improving there his top priority before the Cook Out Southern 500 on Sept. 6.

The 2026 Chase is a 10-race, no-elimination format decided by total points, with the top 16 drivers reset at the start of the postseason. The schedule begins at Darlington and ends at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 8. Hamlin said the rest of the playoff calendar suits him well, with Martinsville and Homestead-Miami among the tracks he expects to like. He also said he felt confident he could win every playoff race.

Ryan Preece secured the final playoff spot with his Daytona victory, completing the 16-driver field as the No. 16 seed. Tyler Reddick, Kyle Larson and Joey Logano are among the other leading contenders, with Logano’s late surge highlighted by two wins after he was as low as 20th in June. Team Penske also arrives on a roll after Ryan Blaney’s New Hampshire win gave the organization four victories in the last six races, although Penske drivers have been challenged on 1.5-mile ovals.
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August 31, 2026

Eli Tomac to Retire After 2026 SMX Playoffs

Eli Tomac announced that he will retire from professional Supercross and motocross at the end of the 2026 SMX World Championship Playoffs, saying the decision was the hardest of his career. The 33-year-old will close out a 17-season run that began in 2010, with his final events set for the last three SMX rounds in September.

Tomac leaves the sport with one of the strongest resumes in the history of American off-road racing. He has won two AMA Supercross 450SX titles and four AMA Pro Motocross 450MX championships, along with the 2013 250MX title and the 2012 250SX West championship. He also won the 2024 FIM World Supercross SX1 crown, set a record with his eighth Daytona Supercross victory in 2026, and helped Team USA win the 2022 Motocross of Nations at RedBud.

His 2026 season included four 450SX main-event wins for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, and he finished fifth in the Pro Motocross finale at Ironman Raceway, his best Pro Motocross result of the season. Over his career, Tomac has totaled 57 450SX main-event victories and 32 450MX overall wins. Red Bull KTM said it will finish the season with him through the SMX Playoffs and the SMX World Championship Final in Ridgedale, Missouri, on September 26, 2026.
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August 30, 2026

Kofoid Wins Magic City Showdown, Takes Outlaws Lead

Michael “Buddy” Kofoid won the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series feature at Nodak Speedway in Minot, North Dakota, completing the Gerdau Metals Recycling Magic City Showdown after thunderstorms and heavy rain on Sunday evening pushed the rest of the event to Monday. The World of Outlaws and SLS Promotions said Sunday tickets would be honored Monday.

Kofoid edged Carson Macedo in a 30-lap main event that featured a late-race duel and several lead changes in the closing laps. Macedo started on the pole, briefly retook the lead on the final lap with a slide job, but Kofoid passed him back underneath in the last corner to secure the victory.

The win was Kofoid’s 11th of the 2026 season and moved him into the World of Outlaws points lead. It was also the 33rd World of Outlaws victory of his career. Sheldon Haudenschild finished third, Garet Williamson was fourth and Spencer Bayston placed fifth.
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August 30, 2026

Macedo Charges From Sixth to Win at West Fargo

Carson Macedo won the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series’ Danny Schatz Memorial on Saturday at Fix It Forward Speedway in West Fargo, North Dakota, ending a 24-race drought and giving him his fifth victory of the season and 63rd career World of Outlaws win. Macedo started sixth in the 35-lap feature, reached second by Lap 12 and took the lead three laps later before pulling away for the victory.

Jason Johnson Racing entered the event after dealing with hauler problems and a crash the day before the race. Garet Williamson finished second, Bill Balog was third, and David Gravel and Michael “Buddy” Kofoid rounded out the top five.
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