PressBox, Author at NXTbets Inc

October 14, 2026

USAC opens 2027 Sprint Car season with five races at Ocala Speedway

USAC’s 2027 AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship will open with a five-race Florida swing at Ocala Speedway, with the season opener scheduled for Feb. 15-20, 2027, during Winter Dirt Games XVIII Presented by Yokohama Tires. The program will begin with an open practice on Feb. 15, and all five races will award full points toward the 2027 USAC championship.

The five-race stretch will include two 30-lap events that will pay $6,000 to win, two 35-lap races that will pay $7,500 to win and a 40-lap finale that will pay $10,000 to win. The driver with the best five-race total will earn a $12,000 bonus from a $24,000 point fund, with additional payouts going to second through fifth place in the series standings.

Logan Seavey was the 2026 Winter Dirt Games champion, and Justin Grant is the event’s all-time wins leader with nine victories.
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October 14, 2026

World of Outlaws debuts at Belle-Clair and races Lincoln Park Friday

The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series will close out its 2026 visits to Lincoln Park Speedway and Belle-Clair Fairgrounds Park Speedway this weekend, with the Cushion Capital Clash set for Friday at Lincoln Park in Putnamville, Indiana, and a debut race Saturday at Belle-Clair in Belleville, Illinois. Both tracks are quarter-mile ovals, and the weekend will mark the series’ first trip to Belle-Clair.

The Lincoln Park race will bring added local interest for Indiana natives Emerson Axsom and Spencer Bayston, who will race on home turf. Chris Windom will also return to his home state of Illinois, where he won at Lincoln Park in 2017 and at I-55 earlier this season. Axsom and Bayston are separated by 18 points in the standings.

Sheldon Haudenschild will arrive off back-to-back Buckeye Brawl wins, giving him 11 victories this season, a career high. Points leader David Gravel and former series champion Donny Schatz have each won the last two Lincoln Park races, while Bill Balog and Cole Macedo are still chasing late-season victories. The series has produced 23 different winners this season and is closing in on the single-season record of 25.
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October 14, 2026

Red Bull KTM signs Ryder DiFrancesco, Daxton Bennick for 2027

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing has signed Ryder DiFrancesco and Daxton Bennick for the 2027 SMX World Championship season, expanding its 250 program to four riders. The lineup also includes Julien Beaumer and Sacha Coenen.

DiFrancesco joined after finishing runner-up in the 2026 250SMX World Championship, fifth in 250MX and fourth in the 250SX Western Division. Bennick came off a 2026 season in which he placed third in the 250SX East standings and earned his first 250SMX podium at SMX Playoff 1 in Columbus.

The four-rider KTM 250 program will race KTM 250 SX-F FACTORY EDITION bikes in AMA Supercross, Pro Motocross and the SMX Finals. Beaumer is returning after extending through 2027, and Coenen is joining from the MX2 World Championship after finishing third in 2026. The expanded program is set to debut at the opening round of the 2027 AMA Supercross Championship in Anaheim, California, on Jan. 9.
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October 14, 2026

O’Donnell says wider media reach is drawing younger NASCAR fans

NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell said the sport has regained momentum after several difficult years, with its expanded presence across streaming, cable and digital platforms helping drive the push. He said the broader media reach is giving fans more ways to find NASCAR and is helping the series connect with younger audiences as it works to broaden its overall fan base.

NASCAR’s current media partners include Fox, NBC, USA Network, TNT Sports and Amazon Prime Video, under seven-year rights deals. O’Donnell said those agreements should help raise brand awareness across the sport’s wider distribution footprint.

The brand-expansion effort also includes Paramount’s planned film “Days of Thunder 2,” which O’Donnell said could help attract new fans. He said he is open to international expansion, but wants NASCAR to build brand awareness first rather than simply export a race to another country. NASCAR currently races in the United States and Mexico, and O’Donnell, named CEO in April, is the first NASCAR chief executive outside the France family.
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October 14, 2026

ARCA Menards Series to open 2027 season Feb. 20 at Daytona

The ARCA Menards Series released its 2027 schedule for its 75th season, a 20-race slate that covers 19 tracks in 11 states. The lineup includes Daytona International Speedway, Phoenix Raceway, Talladega Superspeedway, Toledo, Berlin, Elko, Michigan International Speedway, Chicagoland, Iowa, Lime Rock, Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Springfield, Bristol, World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison International Speedway, DuQuoin, Watkins Glen and Salem.

The season is scheduled to begin Feb. 20 at Daytona, which will host the opener for the 63rd straight year, and end Oct. 1 at Kansas Speedway. Kansas is the only track on the schedule set for two races, with its second event scheduled for May 8. The March 12 race at Phoenix will be a combination event with the ARCA Menards West Series.

ARCA president Ron Drager said the series will continue serving as a bridge from grassroots racing to the NASCAR national series, and said the 75th-season schedule will send the series to a diverse group of tracks. Some races will run on NASCAR national series weekends.
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October 14, 2026

Hadjar drives from the pit lane to 10th in the Singapore Grand Prix

Isack Hadjar’s Singapore Grand Prix weekend was derailed by repeated technical failures, and Red Bull’s reliability problems became the central issue as the team scrambled to keep him racing. Hadjar lost his only SQ3 lap because of a track-limits deletion, then retired from the Sprint on lap 3 after a power unit failure that he said left the car on fire. Red Bull later broke parc fermé to fit a new power unit, and the changes sent him to the pit lane for the Grand Prix.

Hadjar still recovered to finish 10th and score one point, passing Pierre Gasly late in the race, including on lap 58. Laurent Mekies apologized for the team’s reliability problems and said, “we owe him one,” adding that Hadjar showed strong pace in traffic and might have been able to fight near the front. Hadjar also said his pace on soft tires was strong once he could push flat-out.

After the setbacks in Malaysia and Singapore, Hadjar said he wanted a cleaner weekend at the United States Grand Prix in Austin so he could fight for podiums. He also said Red Bull needed to understand what had gone wrong before Austin.
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October 14, 2026

Fermin Aldeguer undergoes successful right-hand surgery after Indonesian GP crash

Fermin Aldeguer’s participation in next weekend’s Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island remained in doubt after he underwent successful surgery on his right hand in Barcelona following a crash at the Indonesian Grand Prix in Mandalika. Aldeguer said on social media that the operation was successful and that he was OK after the procedure, which was performed after he fractured the base of the first metacarpal bone in his right hand in a Turn 16 crash.

Aldeguer traveled from Mandalika to Barcelona for treatment and was treated by Dr. Xavier Mir’s medical team. A short statement said, “Another setback this season… the rider is doing well.” No official recovery timeline had been released.

Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi said he did not think Aldeguer would be fit to race. The hand injury was Aldeguer’s third injury of the year, following a fractured femur, a fractured vertebra and a recent operation to remove metalwork from his left leg.
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October 14, 2026

George Russell expected to serve another power unit grid penalty in Las Vegas

George Russell is expected to take another engine-related grid penalty at the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Nov. 22 as Mercedes manages its 2026 power unit situation. Mercedes had initially expected to take the penalty in Austin, where it is set to introduce an updated power unit, but the team has also been using an FIA-granted upgrade opportunity to improve its engine after reliability problems this season.

Russell already served one power unit change in Malaysia, which forced him to start from the back in Singapore. He fought back to ninth place there, then said Mercedes can choose when to fit the new part and has the flexibility to wait for a “slightly easier track” than Marina Bay.

Russell trails teammate Kimi Antonelli by 102 points with six rounds left and is effectively out of the title race. Antonelli finished on the Singapore podium and said the team is still learning how to get the most from its new package.
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October 13, 2026

Spire Motorsports signs Daniel Suárez to contract extension through 2027

Spire Motorsports confirmed that Daniel Suárez will return to the team for the 2027 NASCAR Cup Series season, keeping him in the No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. He will also remain with crew chief Ryan Sparks. The team did not disclose the financial terms of the extension or any contract length beyond 2027.

Suárez said negotiations were close to being finalized and that he believes in the team and the direction it is heading. He is in his first season with Spire after five years with Trackhouse Racing, and he has helped Spire and teammate Carson Hocevar secure the organization’s first postseason appearances.

Suárez won the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May and has posted a career-best 15.2 average finish with four races remaining in the 2026 season. Through 32 races, he had three top-five finishes and seven top-10 finishes. He qualified for the Cup Series playoffs and enters the Freeway Insurance 500 at Phoenix Raceway 14th in the standings.
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