Author Archives: PressBox

July 26, 2026

Scelzi Wins at Port Royal After 16-Month Drought

Giovanni Scelzi ended a 110-race, 16-month winless streak Sunday night at Port Royal Speedway by winning the Bob Weikert Memorial in High Limit Racing and collecting $100,000 in the 40-lap feature. It was his first win since March 14, 2025, his first at Port Royal, the first High Limit Racing victory for Spire Motorsports’ sprint car program and the biggest payday of his career. Scelzi said he was surprised to win at a track where he had struggled before and credited crew chief Eric Prutzman and the team’s growing confidence.

Scelzi started from the inside of row two and battled Chase Dietz, Tyler Courtney and Brent Marks through the middle of the race. After a mid-race stoppage, he moved ahead of Dietz and pulled away over the closing laps. Dietz finished second after leading 22 laps, Courtney was third, Marks was fourth and Ryan Smith charged from 24th to fifth.

Dietz’s runner-up finish kept him No. 1 in the National Sprint Car Rankings for the eighth straight week. Dietz, who has raced mostly on the Central Pennsylvania circuit, leads the nation with 17 wins and a 5.149 average finish in 47 races. Cap Henry was second in the rankings, Anthony Macri moved up to third after winning the Kings Royal at Eldora Speedway for the second straight year, and David Gravel and Justin Sanders completed the top five.
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July 26, 2026

Heim’s Late Move Secures Brickyard 400 Victory

Corey Heim won the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, making the decisive move in the final stage and holding off the field on the restart sequence. The victory was Heim’s second of the 2026 season, and he did it while competing part-time for 23XI Racing. The race also featured stage wins from Ty Gibbs in Stage 1 and Ross Chastain in Stage 2 under caution, while Gibbs led much of Stage 3 before the pit cycle shuffled him back. Late cautions came from Kyle Larson’s tire failure, Daniel Dye’s crash and a restart incident involving Ryan Blaney.

The Brickyard 400 also settled the NASCAR In-Season Challenge, where Todd Gilliland finished ahead of Ryan Blaney and earned the $1 million prize. Blaney had entered the matchup as the favorite, but Gilliland took the head-to-head title at the 2.5-mile Indianapolis track. The race was held with five events left in the Cup Series regular season and was scheduled for 160 laps with stage breaks at 50 and 100 laps.

Carson Hocevar won the pole in Saturday qualifying with a 48.232-second lap at 186.598 mph. Daniel Suarez started second, followed by Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs and Denny Hamlin, who entered Indianapolis as the Cup Series points leader. Hamlin led the standings after the race as well with 886 points, 84 ahead of Reddick, while Blaney was third, 120 back, and Gibbs fourth, 135 behind. The 39-car field raced for a listed purse of $11,233,037, with coverage on TNT Sports and HBO Max.
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July 26, 2026

Hendrick Loans No. 48 to Johnson for Final Cup Start

Jimmie Johnson will return to the No. 48 for his final NASCAR Cup Series start in the 2027 Daytona 500, after Rick Hendrick announced a one-race loan of the number that defined Johnson’s Hall of Fame career. Hendrick said the deal, reached with Legacy Motor Club and Ally Financial, was arranged to give Johnson a fitting farewell, and NASCAR approved the move without affecting owner or driver points standings.

Johnson won all 83 of his Cup Series races and all seven of his championships in the No. 48, including five straight titles from 2006 through 2010. He also won the Daytona 500 twice and the Brickyard 400 four times. Johnson said the number is far more than a number and said it represents the relationships and memories that shaped him.

Hendrick made the announcement during the Brickyard 400 pre-race show on TNT Sports, saying the arrangement gives Johnson back the car number he first drove in 2001 and last raced in 2020. Johnson’s final Cup start will come in the 69th Daytona 500, his 703rd career Cup start. Hendrick Motorsports’ current No. 48 driver, Alex Bowman, will switch to another number for the race, and Hendrick Motorsports said its Ally-sponsored number for the 2027 Daytona 500 will be announced later.
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July 26, 2026

BKFC adds Uruguay, reaches 13 countries on expansion push

Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship held its first event in Uruguay on Saturday, staging a sold-out card at Antel Arena in Montevideo as part of the promotion’s continued international expansion. The Uruguay show brought BKFC to 13 countries overall, and the company said its sold-out events have also taken place in the United States, Mexico, Thailand, England, Bulgaria, Canada, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Montenegro and Australia. BKFC also staged fights in Japan with Rizin Fighting Federation in 2024.

The promotion has two more international debuts scheduled later this year. BKFC is set to debut in Belgrade, Serbia, on Oct. 17, and in Glasgow, Scotland, on Nov. 7.

Inside the arena, Gaston “Tonga” Reyno remained unbeaten at 4-0 by stopping Josh Krejci 1:29 into the first round in the main event. Guido “Ninja” Cannetti won his BKFC debut over Emiliano Nielli by unanimous decision in the co-main event, Luis Jimenez earned a unanimous decision in his promotional debut against Javier Torres, Marilyn Contin stopped Gisela Luna in 73 seconds, Nicolas Jara defeated Ramon Mascarena by unanimous decision after dropping him nine times, and Leandro Torres won the first BKFC fight ever held in Uruguay when a ringside doctor stopped his bout against Gonzalo Jara in the third round.
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July 26, 2026

Norris wins Hungary to give McLaren first 2026 F1 victory

Lando Norris won the Hungarian Grand Prix from pole position, giving McLaren its first victory of the 2026 Formula 1 season. Norris recovered after Oscar Piastri passed him on the opening lap, then used McLaren’s strategy and stronger pace on used tires to pull clear and beat Max Verstappen by about 15 seconds. Norris said he was better than Piastri “in every sense,” and the result marked his first win of the year and the 12th of his career.

McLaren’s first win of the season came after a tense race for Piastri, whose drive ended in frustration. He led early, then lost time after a collision with Carlos Sainz while being lapped, an incident stewards ruled Sainz caused wholly and penalized with five seconds. Piastri called the move “unacceptable,” said it cost him the race lead, and later retired with a suspected gearbox failure. McLaren defended its pit strategy, saying it acted to protect against Ferrari undercutting the McLarens and to manage both cars’ race.

Ferrari entered the weekend as a favorite after strong Friday practice, but qualifying mistakes, strategy errors and penalties undermined its race. Charles Leclerc finished fourth and set the fastest lap, while Lewis Hamilton was classified fifth after a three-place grid penalty for impeding Piastri and a five-second pit-lane speeding penalty. Hamilton said races like Hungary are where championships are lost, and Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur said the team made too many mistakes and produced a “very poor execution.”

Verstappen finished second despite describing severe handling problems and unexpected damage in his Red Bull, while Kimi Antonelli took third to extend his championship lead. Behind them, Racing Bulls scored a double points finish to move up to fifth in the constructors’ standings, Nico Hulkenberg scored Audi’s first points of the season in ninth, and Aston Martin showed improved pace with its upgraded AMR26 but still left Hungary without points.
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July 25, 2026

Jett Lawrence penalty hands Hunter Washougal overall win

Jett Lawrence’s bid to win the Washougal National and tighten the 450 championship race was derailed by a Moto 2 penalty after officials ruled he gained an advantage while off the track in section 6. The penalty dropped him from second to third in the moto, cost him two points, and moved him from a tie for the overall win to second place behind his brother, Hunter Lawrence. Hunter Lawrence won the 450 overall with a 2-1 score, claimed his fifth victory of the 2026 season and his second straight, and left Washougal leading Jett by 12 points with three races remaining. Haiden Deegan finished third overall on 4-2 results, earned his fifth podium of the season, and collected his first back-to-back podium streak in his rookie year.

Cole Davies swept the 250 class with 1-1 moto finishes for his third overall win of the season. Ryder DiFrancesco took second and Chance Hymas finished third, while Davies led every lap of Moto 1 and passed both riders in Moto 2. The result moved Davies back into second in the 250 standings behind Levi Kitchen, who retained the points lead after finishing fifth overall with 6-6 moto results. Julien Beaumer slipped to third in the standings.

Washougal served as the Pro Motocross Championship’s final West Coast stop, Round 25 of the Monster Energy SMX World Championship, and the annual Military Appreciation Race. The event ran in ideal, unusually mild weather, with temperatures in the low to mid-70s under overcast skies. Jason Thomas said the cooler conditions reduced the late-race fatigue that can separate riders on hotter weekends and made it harder for endurance to decide the outcome. Post-race review also handed penalties to Briggs and Warda in 450 B qualifying for jumping on a red cross light, Mumford in 250 Moto 1 for going off track, and Prado in 450 Moto 2 for off-track riding with no advantage gained, while other reviewed incidents involving Deegan, DiFrancesco and Lawrence did not result in penalties.
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July 25, 2026

Carson Kvapil Earns First NASCAR O’Reilly Win at Indy

Carson Kvapil earned his first NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, holding off Justin Allgaier in the Pennzoil 250 to capture the win in his 64th series start. Kvapil took the lead late from Ross Chastain and finished 0.643 seconds ahead of Allgaier in the 100-lap race.

The race featured stage wins from Jeremy Clements in Stage 1, Rajah Caruth in Stage 2 and Kvapil in Stage 3. Allgaier finished second, Chastain was third and Chase Elliott placed fourth, giving JR Motorsports a 1-2-3-4 finish. William Sawalich finished fifth, and Corey Day, Brandon Jones and Austin Hill were among the other top-10 finishers.

The victory was JR Motorsports’ 14th of the season and came with six different drivers reaching Victory Lane for the team this year. The organization also extended its top-10 streak to 79 straight races, tying a series record. Kvapil moved up to second in the standings, 265 points behind Allgaier, with two regular-season races remaining and the battle for the remaining Chase spots tightening.
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July 25, 2026

RFK exercises Preece option, securing No. 60 Ford

Brad Keselowski said Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway that Ryan Preece will return to RFK Racing’s No. 60 Ford in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2027. Keselowski said the team exercised the option on Preece’s multiyear contract a few months ago, locking in the driver who joined RFK in 2025 after two seasons at Stewart-Haas Racing.

The move means RFK expects all three of its Cup drivers, Keselowski, Chris Buescher and Preece, to have rides in 2027. Buescher signed a multiyear extension in June. RFK Racing is set to lose its third charter next year, and team president Chip Bowers said in May that the organization planned to keep all three Cup teams on track in 2027.

Preece is in his seventh full Cup Series season and is 18th in the standings with five races left in the regular season, 48 points below the playoff cutline. He has started all 21 NASCAR races for RFK this season and has four top-10 finishes, including a win in the preseason Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. Preece narrowly missed the playoffs in 2025 and posted a career-best three top-five finishes last year. He finished 10th at North Wilkesboro in his most recent noted result and has three top-11 finishes in his last six races.
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July 25, 2026

Stevens tops USAC passing standings after 14-pass night

Kevin Thomas Jr. scored his first USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship victory of 2026 on Saturday night at Kokomo Speedway, leading all 30 laps in round three of the 39th annual USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week. Thomas, who had switched to BBI Motorsports in late June, beat Justin Grant to the line by 1.032 seconds for his 49th career USAC National Sprint Car win. It was Thomas and BBI’s first national sprint car victory together in their fifth start as a pairing, and his 2026 season already included USAC CRA and USAC Southwest wins for the team earlier in the year.
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