PressBox, Author at NXTbets Inc

August 12, 2026

Promising talks, funding hurdles cloud Berry’s 2027 plans

Josh Berry said he still does not have a 2027 NASCAR Cup Series contract and is actively looking for a new ride, after Wood Brothers Racing declined to pick up his option and brought in Jesse Love, the defending O’Reilly Series champion. Berry said he wants to remain in one of NASCAR’s top three series, but may look at other racing options if that does not happen, with his family’s future part of his thinking.

Berry said he has held multiple conversations with teams about his future, but none has led to a deal. He said some talks have been promising, while others have been complicated by funding demands, including one request for as much as $3 million. Berry has said sponsorship money is a major factor in driver opportunities, and that has made the search difficult for a driver who does not bring significant funding.

The uncertainty follows Berry learning earlier this season that he would not return to Wood Brothers Racing after 2026. He is in the second and final year of his current deal, and he said he feels he is racing for his career while trying to stay focused on Sundays. Berry enters Richmond Raceway with some momentum after back-to-back top-10 finishes, seventh at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and a season-best fourth at Iowa Speedway. He said the No. 21 team has “turned a little bit of a corner,” especially on short tracks, after finishing outside the top 25 in 16 of his first 23 races.
More
August 12, 2026

Brazil’s Italo Ferreira Stands By Three Airs on One Wave

Italo Ferreira defended his aerial-heavy surfing strategy after criticism from peers over the three nearly identical air reverses he used on one wave at the inaugural New Zealand Pro Championship Tour event in Raglan. The wave earned him a 9.33 and helped him win the event earlier this year, but the approach drew questions from Ethan Ewing and Morgan Cibilic, who wondered why judges rewarded Ferreira’s style over more traditional rail surfing.

In a podcast interview with Brazilian surf journalist Guilherme Dorini, Ferreira said he understood that viewpoint but saw no reason to avoid airs if they can produce high scores in the limited time of a heat. He said that approach can apply even on waves that favor rail surfing, and that in a 30-minute heat it is smarter to score on closing-out waves than to wait for a perfect one.

Ferreira said he grew up surfing windy, messy waves in northeastern Brazil, where he learned to do airs, and later adapted that style to heavy-wave breaks such as Pipeline, Teahupo’o and Fiji. He said surfers from better-wave regions should also learn to perform in difficult conditions, and argued that the criticism from Ewing and Cibilic reflected self-interest rather than any responsibility on his part to change a winning approach.
More
August 12, 2026

North Wilkesboro lands first tripleheader for All-Star weekend

NASCAR is sending its All-Star Race back to North Wilkesboro Speedway in 2027 and turning the weekend into the track’s first tripleheader. The event is set for May 21-23, with the Craftsman Truck Series on Friday, May 21, the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series on Saturday, May 22, and the All-Star Race on Sunday, May 23. The race will run in prime time under the lights, marking the 35th anniversary of “One Hot Night,” and Speedway Motorsports said NASCAR is looking at a unique innovation element that could affect the format or car setup. The winner’s purse for the All-Star Race will be $1 million.

The move sends North Wilkesboro out of the Cup Series points schedule after it staged a sold-out points race in 2026, the track’s first since 1996. Dover Motor Speedway is slated to return to the Cup points calendar on May 16, 2027, one year after hosting the All-Star Race, with the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series set to race there on May 15. Martinsville Speedway is also scheduled to host Cup and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series races on April 17-18 and championship-weekend races for all three national series on Nov. 5-7.

The 2027 North Wilkesboro weekend will also celebrate the track’s 80th birthday and its revival since reopening for NASCAR in 2023 after a restoration. North Wilkesboro first hosted a NASCAR race in 1947 and was closed in 1996. Speedway Motorsports called the weekend the most historic week in the track’s 80-year history, and NASCAR and track officials said it will reflect the speedway’s return to prominence.
More
August 12, 2026

Cadillac names Budkowski team principal in F1 shakeup

Cadillac announced a planned leadership change in its first Formula 1 season, naming former Alpine executive director Marcin Budkowski as its new team principal and replacing Graeme Lowdon. The team said the move was part of a transition from its build phase to a new focus on racing performance and strengthening its leadership team. Budkowski began the role immediately, while Lowdon had led the team from its formation and through the first 11 rounds of Cadillac’s maiden campaign.

Cadillac chief executive Dan Towriss thanked Lowdon for helping establish the organization and build the team from the ground up. He said Budkowski’s Formula 1 experience and technical leadership would help develop the tools and mindset needed for long-term success. The announcement did not include further details.

Budkowski, who left Alpine in 2022 after joining from the FIA in 2018 and later worked as a television pundit in Poland, said his focus would be on maximizing car development within the cost cap and improving decision-making and execution. He said his work leading the team’s on-track efforts would begin at Zandvoort next weekend. Cadillac had not scored a point at the time of the article, though it had started stronger than expected despite reliability issues in races before the summer shutdown.
More
August 12, 2026

Colapinto deletes post after backlash over Italy theft joke

Franco Colapinto said thieves stole his suitcases, clothes and mate kit while he was staying near Lake Como during Formula 1’s summer break in northern Italy. The Alpine driver posted photos of the missing items on social media, first joked about the theft, then deleted a more pointed message after backlash online. In one version of the post, he wrote that Italians would steal everything from a Latino before changing the reference to Europeans. He also said the photos were the last ones of the stolen clothes and mate, and the post drew more than 700,000 likes.

Colapinto later said he hoped whoever took the items enjoyed them. He was not confronted during the theft, and the incident involved personal belongings rather than a luxury watch. The burglary came during the Formula 1 summer shutdown, when many drivers are away from the track.

The case fit a pattern of thefts and robberies affecting Formula 1 drivers in recent years. Charles Leclerc had his watch stolen in Viareggio, Carlos Sainz chased down robbers after an attempted watch theft in Milan, and Lando Norris was mugged outside Wembley Stadium in 2023. Colapinto has scored points in six of the first 11 rounds of the 2026 season.
More
August 11, 2026

Colapinto posts record 19.6 in Tahiti Pro Day 3

Day 3 of the Tahiti Pro at Teahupo’o produced several standout heats even though the surf was not firing nonstop all day, and Griffin Colapinto delivered the round’s biggest moment. Colapinto posted the top heat of the 2026 season with a 19.6 total, built on a perfect 10 and a 9.60 in his win over Rio Waida. He called it the best heat of his life and said Kelly Slater’s advice to “sit in and under” helped him navigate wind chop, find the sets he needed and take waves under Waida’s priority.

Colapinto said Slater’s performance inspired him and that he had asked the veteran for advice on the lineup and conditions. Colapinto is set to face Miguel Pupo in round three, with a possible matchup against the winner of Slater’s heat with Jack Robinson if he advances.

The day also featured a high-scoring showdown between Gabriel Medina and Kelly Slater, who was competing as a wildcard. Slater said he briefly found himself rooting for a Medina comeback because of the story it would create, and described their heat as highly emotional. In another notable heat, Jack Robinson defeated Callum Robson.
More
August 11, 2026

Goodyear Brings Familiar Short-Track Tire Package to Richmond

Goodyear is bringing a familiar short-track tire setup to Richmond Raceway this weekend, giving NASCAR Cup Series teams a compound package they have already seen at Martinsville in the spring and at North Wilkesboro last month. The left-side and right-side Goodyear Racing Eagle tires first debuted in the 2025 Martinsville fall race, and Goodyear said the goal is to increase grip and create more lap-time fall-off over a run.

Goodyear NASCAR product manager Rick Heinrich said teams already have data on the tire setup, but he still expects tire management to be critical at Richmond because of the track’s high tire wear. The right-side tire in the package has also been used this season at Bowman Gray Stadium and Phoenix Raceway.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will race Friday night with the same tire combinations it used at North Wilkesboro and Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. Cup teams will have 11 total tire sets available and Truck Series teams will have 6, with wet-weather tires available for both series if needed.
More
August 11, 2026

Darlington adds spring tripleheader, Labor Day return for 2027

Darlington Raceway announced its 2027 NASCAR National Series schedule on Tuesday and will host two race weekends next year. The first is a spring tripleheader set for April 2-4, followed by a Labor Day Weekend return on Sept. 4-5.

The spring weekend opens with the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Buckle Up South Carolina 200 on Friday, April 2, continues with the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200 on Saturday, April 3, and concludes with the Cup Series Goodyear 400 on Sunday, April 4. Darlington also said the weekend will include the fourth annual NASCAR Alumni Weekend.

The Labor Day event will feature the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race on Saturday, Sept. 4, and the Cup Series Cook Out Southern 500 on Sunday, Sept. 5. The Southern 500 will close the 2027 Cup Series regular season. Darlington president Josh Harris said the schedule highlights the track’s tradition and brings back two of its most important race weekends, while NASCAR said start times and broadcast details will be announced later.
More
August 11, 2026

Nemechek squeeze sends Larson, Bowman into Iowa wall

Kyle Larson’s Iowa Corn 350 unraveled on a restart when a four-wide squeeze involving John Hunter Nemechek sent Larson and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman into the outside wall, leaving both cars heavily damaged and adding to a rough day for the team. Bowman’s No. 48 was too damaged to continue, and he radioed that the cars were “destroyed.”

Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet suffered a broken right-rear toe link and front-end damage. He returned to the track several laps down, with reports putting him 16 to 18 laps behind race winner Ty Gibbs, and finished 33rd as a DNF. Larson said he was angry on the radio after being told Nemechek had claimed Larson was on the downshift, then later blamed Nemechek for shoving him up the track in the incident.

The result left Larson winless since May 2025 and dropped him to 10th in the NASCAR Cup Series standings. It also continued his difficult record at Iowa Speedway, where his three Cup finishes are 34th, 28th and 33rd. Bowman finished 34th, and Hendrick Motorsports had a tough overall race even as William Byron ran sixth and Chase Elliott was 30th.
More