PressBox, Author at NXTbets Inc

October 20, 2026

Colton Herta withdraws from planned 2026 Indianapolis 500 return

Colton Herta said he is still “100 per cent” committed to returning to the Indianapolis 500 and would never turn it down. He had planned to race in the 2026 Indy 500, but he withdrew after two Formula 2 rounds were rescheduled to Miami and Montreal.

Herta moved from IndyCar to Formula 2 in 2026 to chase the Super Licence points he needs for an F1 seat with Cadillac, but his debut season has been tougher than expected. With two rounds left, he was 19th in the standings, still needed more Super Licence points, and had not yet reached the podium. Formula 2 CEO Bruno Michel said qualifying had been especially difficult and hoped Herta could finish the year strongly.

Herta’s 2027 racing schedule remains uncertain as he continues his push toward Formula 1, and he has also balanced his Formula 2 program with IMSA endurance races for Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing. He earned a podium finish at Petit Le Mans, and he was set for his fourth FP1 appearance of the year with Cadillac at the United States Grand Prix at COTA, where he said driving in front of American fans would be special.
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October 20, 2026

NASCAR national series get familiar tire setups for Talladega weekend

Goodyear will bring familiar superspeedway tire compounds to Talladega Superspeedway for all three NASCAR national series this weekend, with each series set to run a tire setup already used at the track or at Daytona earlier this season. The Cup Series will use the same left- and right-side tires it has raced on since the spring 2025 Talladega event, a combination that also was used in both Daytona races this year. The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series will use the same tires it ran at Talladega in April, and the Craftsman Truck Series will race on the Daytona season-opening tire combination in Friday’s Love’s RV Stop 225.
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October 20, 2026

Nate Thrasher becomes first Supercross rider with 250SX wins in six straight seasons

Nate Thrasher’s 2026 Cleveland Supercross victory gave him a historic distinction during his time with Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing, making him the first rider in Supercross history to win at least one 250SX race in six straight seasons. Across 54 total 250SX starts, he has posted an 8.4 average finish, with 13 podiums and seven wins, even though he had poor opening-round finishes in all six of his 250SX seasons.

His recent results underline that consistency. Thrasher posted an 8.88888 average finish in 2024, followed by an 8.9 average finish in both 2025 and 2026.

After 103 total Yamaha starts in Supercross, Motocross and the SMX Playoffs, Thrasher is set to join Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki in 2027. Thrasher said he wants to add to his win total and chase a championship.
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October 20, 2026

Fred Lorenzen, first known NASCAR driver diagnosed with CTE, dies at 89

Fred Lorenzen was identified posthumously as the first known NASCAR driver diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, after Boston University’s CTE Center found stage 3 CTE in his brain following his death. Lorenzen, who died Dec. 18, 2024, at age 89, lived with dementia for the final 20 years of his life. CTE can only be confirmed after death.

His children, Chris Lorenzen and Amanda Lorenzen Gardstrom, donated $1 million to the Concussion & CTE Foundation to support CTE research and help drivers and their families get care and support. The family also created the Fred Lorenzen Memorial HelpLine to connect drivers and families with care and support. The family said NASCAR had not helped with efforts to study CTE in drivers.

Lorenzen won 26 NASCAR Cup Series races in 158 starts, including the 1965 Daytona 500 and the World 600 in 1963 and 1965. He was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2015.
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October 20, 2026

Ben Sulayem confirms Qatar and Abu Dhabi F1 races stay on schedule

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem said the final two Formula 1 races of the 2026 season in Qatar and Abu Dhabi will go ahead as planned, despite ongoing volatility in the Middle East. He said there was nothing at present to suggest the races should be moved or canceled, and described both venues as fine for Formula 1.

Ben Sulayem said he believed Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were currently safe, and said he would not send FIA staff, drivers or officials anywhere he believed was unsafe or risky. He also said the situation in the Middle East was different from media coverage.

The FIA remains ready to use Imola as a backup venue if conditions change. It also has contingency plans and replacement personnel in case travel restrictions or official advice prevent key personnel from attending. The timing of a decision on the races had shifted from a mid-September deadline to mid-October.
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October 20, 2026

Austin Hill, RCR add United Rentals as Cup sponsor starting in 2027

Richard Childress Racing announced that United Rentals will continue as a multi-race primary sponsor of Austin Hill and the team’s No. 33 Chevrolet in NASCAR starting in 2027, when Hill is scheduled for his first full-time Cup season. United Rentals and RCR said the extension is designed to drive customer engagement and motorsports activations, with the company planning to use the NASCAR platform and RCR hospitality programs for that purpose.

The deal extends a partnership that began in 2017 and followed Hill from the Truck Series to the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and now into the Cup Series. United Rentals also supported Hill in his first Cup start with RCR at Michigan International Speedway in 2022.

Hill won the 2023 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series regular-season championship and has 24 combined victories in the Truck and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. RCR said the renewed partnership reflects “trust, shared goals, and continued customer engagement.”
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October 20, 2026

AbbVie signs as McLaren Formula 1’s official pharmaceutical partner

AbbVie has signed with the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team in a deal that will make it McLaren’s official pharmaceutical partner in Formula 1, marking AbbVie’s first global sports sponsorship and first motorsports sponsorship. The partnership centers on a cause-related platform called “Race to Innovate.”

Under the program, every 10 constructor points McLaren earns will trigger a $10,000 AbbVie donation to patient-advocacy organizations. AbbVie branding will appear on McLaren cars driven by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and on each driver’s sleeve at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.

The partnership is set to begin at the United States Grand Prix in Austin. AbbVie will share McLaren’s pharma-category sponsorship rights with Sanofi through the end of the year, then hold exclusivity in that category next year.
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October 20, 2026

MotoGP to stage first Formula 1 weekend demo at COTA

MotoGP will make its first appearance during a Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend at Circuit of The Americas in Austin this week, staging a high-speed demonstration as part of the 2026 Formula 1 MSC Cruises United States Grand Prix. Four premier-class MotoGP bikes will run in the demonstration, which is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 24, from 11:40 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. CDT, ahead of Formula 1 Free Practice 3.

Dani Pedrosa, Nicolo Bulega, Andrea Dovizioso and Lorenzo Savadori will ride in the demonstration. MotoGP will also have a fan activation in the Circuit of The Americas Fan Zone throughout the weekend, and MotoGP teams and riders will remain onsite from Thursday through Sunday.

The Formula 1 weekend will begin with practice on Friday, Oct. 23, and the race is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 25. More than 400,000 fans are expected across the event as MotoGP uses the Austin stop to build toward its 2027 Grand Prix of the United States, which will return to COTA from April 23-25, 2027.
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October 20, 2026

Talladega hosts packed NASCAR entry lists for Cup, O’Reilly and Trucks

Talladega Superspeedway will host packed entry lists across NASCAR’s Cup, O’Reilly and Craftsman Truck Series races this weekend at the 2.66-mile Alabama track. The Cup Series will race Sunday in the YellaWood 500, the eighth of 10 Chase races and the 34th points-paying event of the season, with 40 cars entered and defending fall winner Chase Briscoe returning.

The Cup field will include Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Shane Van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch. The O’Reilly Series entry list at Talladega will feature 41 entries, including Justin Allgaier, Sheldon Creed, Jesse Love, Austin Hill, Harrison Burton, Sam Mayer, Rajah Caruth and Parker Retzlaff.

The Craftsman Truck Series race, the Love’s RV Stop 225, will be run Friday at 4 p.m. ET. It will be the fifth of seven Chase races and the 23rd points-paying event of the season, with 38 trucks entered and Gio Ruggiero back as the defending Talladega winner. The Truck field will include Corey Heim, Grant Enfinger, Ty Majeski, Christian Eckes, Ben Rhodes, Frankie Muniz and Tony Stewart, while Cleetus McFarland is entered in the No. 4 truck.
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