PressBox, Author at NXTbets Inc

October 7, 2026

Buckeye Brawl opens World of Outlaws Ohio swing Oct. 8

The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series will open its Buckeye Brawl on Oct. 8 at Millstream Speedway in Findlay, then move to Mansfield Speedway on Oct. 9 and Sharon Speedway in Hartford on Oct. 10. Each feature will pay $18,000 to the winner as the series begins a three-race Ohio swing.

Sheldon Haudenschild will return home for the weekend. The Wooster, Ohio native has 55 career World of Outlaws victories and nine wins this season, and he won at Millstream Speedway in 2016.

David Gravel will enter the stretch with a 142-point lead in the standings as he chases a third straight World of Outlaws championship. He has 10 races left in that pursuit, and a third consecutive title would make him only the fourth driver ever to do it. Michael Kofoid and Carson Macedo are among the other contenders in the title chase, and Ohio drivers Dale Blaney, Nate Dussel and Cap Henry are also entered for the Buckeye Brawl.
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October 7, 2026

Austin brings five-game winning streak into Glendale PBR event

PBR Teams’ Ridge Rider Days presented by Energy Transfer will arrive at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, from Oct. 8-10, with the regular-season event set to air on Paramount+, CBS and The CW. Coverage will span Thursday through Sunday as the circuit moves into the closing stretch of the season.

The Glendale event comes with only three regular-season stops left before the PBR Teams Championship in Las Vegas, and the standings are tightening. Oklahoma will make its first start after parting ways with head coach Greg Rhodes, while New York will bring near-perfect-game momentum into the weekend. Austin enters Glendale on a five-game winning streak.

Several individual and roster storylines will also follow the event. Jose Vitor Leme is chasing Chris Shivers’ Premier Series record with his 94th 90-point ride. Arizona will return home with Cody Jesus on the roster, and Florida will be without John Crimber and Austin Richardson.
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October 7, 2026

Marko says Horner tried to block Verstappen’s 2016 Red Bull promotion

Christian Horner and Helmut Marko have renewed their long-running dispute over Max Verstappen’s move to Red Bull, with Horner saying in his upcoming autobiography, “Drive,” that Marko did not want Verstappen at the team and that Jos Verstappen had to push the deal through. The book is due out on Oct. 22.

Marko rejected Horner’s account and said he was ignoring it as much as possible. He said he first approached Verstappen when the future Formula 1 champion was 11 and a half years old, and that Jos Verstappen initially thought it was too early for his son to make the move. Marko said Verstappen’s success in karting and later Formula 3 helped drive his rise at Red Bull.

Marko also said Horner doubted Verstappen was ready when he joined Red Bull in 2016 and tried to block Verstappen’s promotion to the Formula 1 team that year. He said he had to stand his ground before Verstappen’s first race for Red Bull in Barcelona. Marko said his relationship with Horner worsened after Dietrich Mateschitz’s death, and that it had deteriorated before Horner was removed after the 2025 British Grand Prix. He also backed Ralf Schumacher’s description of Horner’s claim as “an absolute lie.”
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October 7, 2026

George Russell will start Singapore Grand Prix from back after engine penalty

Mercedes will use the Singapore Grand Prix to compare its latest aerodynamic upgrade with older-specification parts after the new W17 package failed to produce the expected gain in Malaysia. Toto Wolff said the team has identified areas to investigate and warned the update may have made the car slower rather than faster, with Mercedes expecting around 0.3 seconds of improvement but fearing the package could have cost as much as 0.5 seconds.

Singapore’s very different street circuit should help show whether the issue lies with the aero package or with the rough, hot conditions in Sepang, and Mercedes could roll back the upgrade later if it is judged not to have worked. The team will also have to contend with George Russell’s separate Singapore grid penalty, which will drop him to the back of the field and adds to Mercedes’ difficult weekend context.
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October 7, 2026

Verstappen wins Bahrain as Ferrari tire gamble leaves Hamilton third, Leclerc fourth

Charles Leclerc said Ferrari need to study why Red Bull make better race-day strategy calls after Ferrari’s tire gamble backfired in changing conditions at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Ferrari started Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton on soft, slick tires on a damp track, while Red Bull sent Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar out on intermediates. The rain and wetter-than-expected surface quickly sent Ferrari backward, and Leclerc said the team had underestimated how much water was on the track.

Leclerc said Ferrari had agreed on the tire decision, then acknowledged the team had made the wrong call after initially saying he was aligned with it. He said Red Bull, led by chief strategist Hannah Schmitz, gets its calls right most of the time with both cars and that Ferrari needs to understand what Red Bull is doing better. Leclerc pitted at the end of the opening lap, clipped Nico Hulkenberg’s Audi later, needed a new front wing and switched to intermediates.

Ferrari’s recovery left Hamilton third and Leclerc fourth, with George Russell’s retirement after a Mercedes power unit failure helping open the door. Verstappen converted pole position into victory. Leclerc said the result was broadly where Ferrari expected to finish, but the opening tire choice left the team with work to do on strategy in mixed conditions.
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October 7, 2026

Casey Stoner says he is extremely disappointed MotoGP will leave Phillip Island

Casey Stoner has strongly criticized MotoGP’s planned move away from Phillip Island, saying he is “extremely disappointed” that the series will shift to Adelaide and that he will fight to bring the Australian Grand Prix back to the Victorian circuit. In a YouTube interview with Chris Vermeulen, he called Phillip Island “the world’s greatest motorcycle track” and said he did not agree with replacing it with a street circuit.

Stoner said Phillip Island produces some of the best racing in MotoGP, while also warning that street circuits bring greater safety risks because of walls and limited runoff. He added that Phillip Island itself needs pit upgrades and said modern aerodynamics and electronics mean riders no longer experience the track in the same way, since the bikes react differently in the wind. Even so, he said it remains one of the best and most enjoyable tracks on the calendar.

His attachment to the circuit is also tied to personal memories. Stoner said his favorite moment there was his 2011 MotoGP win, which clinched the championship on his birthday, and he also highlighted the 2012 race after his return from an ankle injury as especially meaningful. He described Phillip Island as the most beautiful track in the world, with its lack of grip, dirty asphalt and unpredictable conditions making it difficult but rewarding to ride. Reports differed on the final Phillip Island MotoGP date, with some saying the last race will be in 2026 and others listing Oct. 23-25, 2027, before Adelaide’s first MotoGP event on Nov. 12-14, 2027.
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October 6, 2026

Jeb Burton will drive RSS Racing’s No. 22 Chevrolet in 2027

Jeb Burton will join RSS Racing for the 2027 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season, driving the No. 22 Chevrolet full time. Burton spent the previous four seasons with Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport, where he delivered the team’s first victory at Talladega Superspeedway in 2023 and recorded a personal-best eight top-10 finishes in 2025. Jordan Anderson Racing said it will share more about its 2027 plans later.

Burton brings extensive series experience to the move, with 236 NASCAR O’Reilly Series starts, two wins and 51 top-10 finishes. His victories came at Talladega in 2021 and 2023, and he also has one Truck Series win and 34 Cup Series starts. With five races left in the 2026 season, he was 21st in the standings with three top-10s and a best finish of seventh at Phoenix Raceway in March.

The No. 22 carries added meaning for Burton because it matches the number and font his father, Ward Burton, used in the Cup Series. Ward Burton won all five of his Cup races in the No. 22, including the 2001 Southern 500 and the 2002 Daytona 500. RSS Racing is owned by Rod and Pamela Sieg and has two series victories as an organization. Burton said he was grateful and excited for the opportunity.
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October 6, 2026

Keelan Harvick reportedly headed to Nitro Motorsports for 2027 ARCA schedule

Rumors that Keelan Harvick could join Nitro Motorsports for a part-time ARCA Menards Series schedule in 2027 drew a public response from his father, Kevin Harvick, who wrote on X that the “rumor mill is working overtime.” Harvick said KHI Racing still exists and did not confirm the reported move, which was sparked by comments on the “Door Bumper Clear” podcast, where Freddie Kraft suggested Keelan could be headed to a Toyota ARCA team in the future.

Neither Nitro Motorsports nor Toyota has officially confirmed the reported plan. The move would keep the 14-year-old in Toyota’s development pipeline, and the timing would fit ARCA age rules because he turns 15 in July 2027. The reported schedule would involve select short-track and road-course starts rather than a full-time ARCA campaign.

Keelan Harvick has built momentum through several levels of stock-car racing. He won seven Pro Late Model races in 2025, including four zMAX CARS Tour Pro Late Model victories in his first full season and two CARS Tour West wins. He also won the Snowflake 125 and the Icebreaker in 2026, made his CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series debut for Kevin Harvick Inc. in September 2026, and began racing go-karts in 2020 after moving through Bandoleros, Legends and Late Models.
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October 6, 2026

Goodyear Keeps Charlotte Tire Package for All Three Series

Goodyear is bringing the same Racing Eagle tire setup to Charlotte Motor Speedway for NASCAR Cup Series teams for a third straight race Sunday, keeping the package that was used at Kansas Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte in May. The Cup race, the Bank of America 400, returns to the 1.5-mile oval for the first time since 2017.

The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will also run the same Charlotte tire setups they used in May. Both series will use a left-side 15-inch tire they have run several times since then, and all three national series will use inner liners at Charlotte, where they are required on the 1.5-mile track and are customary at tracks one mile or longer.

Goodyear NASCAR product manager Rick Heinrich said the company is entering the final stretch of the season with all three series racing every weekend and needs tire setups that balance performance, reliability and competitive racing. The Charlotte weekend opens Friday with the Craftsman Truck Series Ecosave 250, continues Saturday with the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Blue Cross NC 250, and ends Sunday with the Cup Series Bank of America 400. Cup teams will receive 11 sets of tires, O’Reilly Auto Parts Series teams six and Craftsman Truck Series teams five.
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