PressBox, Author at NXTbets Inc

September 10, 2026

Larson’s No. 5 gets Busch’s 2007 Hendrick throwback

Kyle Larson will run a Kyle Busch tribute paint scheme on his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in the Oct. 4 NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The throwback design will recreate Busch’s 2007 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, using the yellow, blue and red Carquest/Kellogg’s look from that car, with HendrickCars.com replacing the original sponsorship. The car will also carry the words “Tiny Kyle” above the driver’s door.

Larson said the tribute was meaningful because he shared Busch’s No. 5, looked up to him and valued their on-track battles. He called Busch the best driver he has competed against in stock cars and said the time they spent around their children at quarter midget races made the homage even more special. Larson thanked HendrickCars.com and the Busch family for allowing the tribute.

A portion of the merchandise royalties from the paint scheme will support the Busch family’s Bundle of Joy Fund. One source said the tribute was styled after the Hendrick Motorsports car Busch drove to victory at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2007, and Joe Gibbs Racing is also set to honor Busch next weekend at Bristol with a return of the M&Ms scheme on Ty Gibbs’ car.
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September 10, 2026

Hendrick backs Corey Day for 2027 ride and limited Cup starts

Corey Day signed a long-term contract extension with Hendrick Motorsports that will keep the 20-year-old in the No. 17 Chevrolet full time in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series in 2027 and also give him limited NASCAR Cup Series starts. Hendrick Motorsports has not announced which Cup races he will run.

Day, a rookie who moved from dirt racing to pavement in 2024, has won twice in his first full season, at Talladega on April 25 and Dover on May 16. He opened the 2026 Chase with a second-place finish at Darlington and was fifth in the standings with eight races left.

Rick Hendrick and Jeff Gordon praised Day’s rapid progress and upside. Day said he is still learning, feels supported by Hendrick Motorsports and is focused on winning a championship this year while continuing to grow with the team.
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September 10, 2026

Injury Won’t Stop João Chianca From Entering Trestles

João Chianca said he broke his left foot during the Fiji Pro at Cloudbreak and still plans to compete at the Trestles Pro, even though doctors advised against surfing. Chianca said he flew back to California to rehab the injury and intends to enter the event, which begins Sept. 11, despite the medical recommendation.

The injury was described as an acute, non-displaced oblique fracture in the cuboid bone, along with probable bruising in the fourth and fifth metatarsals. Chianca said he wants to try to compete at Trestles anyway.

Chianca was beaten by Morgan Cibilic at Cloudbreak despite landing an 8.67 ride. He is ranked 18th and needs a strong result at Trestles to stay inside the men’s tour top-22 cutoff.
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September 10, 2026

Ricky Warner wins High Limit Crew Chief honor for August

Ricky Warner of Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing won the Cometic Gasket Crew Chief of the Month Award for August, giving him his sixth career Crew Chief of the Month honor and the most in Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing history. Warner moved past his former protege Eric Prutzman for the all-time lead in the award.

Warner and driver Rico Abreu scored 412 points in seven August events. Their month included a preliminary win at Silver Dollar Speedway, a runner-up finish and a $100,072 victory in the Gold Cup Race of Champions, and a fifth-place finish in Oregon that put the No. 24 back atop the championship standings.

Brent Marks finished second in the August standings, 21 points behind Warner. The award standings reset in September, and High Limit Racing was scheduled to continue at Port Royal Speedway for the Tuscarora 50 before moving later in the month to Lucas Oil Speedway, Kokomo Speedway and Eldora Speedway.
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September 10, 2026

Justin Cooper to miss SMX Playoffs after concussion recovery

Justin Cooper will miss the three-round Monster Energy SuperMotocross World Championship Playoffs as Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha shifts its focus to his 2027 campaign after a concussion recovery cut short his preparation. The team said he did not have enough time on the bike to race at the level he expects, and team manager Wil Hahn said the goal is to help him come back healthy and fighting up front next season.

Cooper was injured in a hard crash in round two of the Pro Motocross Championship at Hangtown, where he suffered a concussion and missed multiple races while recovering. He returned at Unadilla, finished ninth overall, then sat out the final two rounds as he continued to recover.

Cooper said he wanted to race the Ohio round but did not feel ready to compete at his best. He said he needed more bike time and wanted to recover to full fitness before next season. Yamaha said he will rest and focus on being fully healthy for the 2027 SMX season.
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September 10, 2026

PBR Teams brings tight title race to Anaheim this weekend

PBR Teams heads to Honda Center in Anaheim, California, this weekend for its seventh event of the 2026 season, a three-day stop that marks the league’s second neutral-site event of the year. All 10 teams will compete in Anaheim, with the standings tight after Ridgedale as Missouri, Nashville and Carolina are tied atop the table at 11-6.

José Vitor Leme enters the event with a PBR Teams-record 12 consecutive qualified rides, one of the top individual storylines heading into the weekend. Missouri is coming off a loss after its eight-game win streak ended, adding more pressure to the team race as the league resumes in Southern California.

Friday’s event starts at 7:45 p.m. PT and streams on Paramount+, Saturday begins at 6:45 p.m. PT and also streams on Paramount+, and Sunday starts at 1:15 p.m. PT and airs live on The CW. Roster moves around the league include Bob Mitchell returning to New York’s lineup, Wingson Henrique da Silva and Kade Madsen going on injured reserve, and Brock Poulin joining Oklahoma’s roster before making his Wildcatters debut Friday against Florida.
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September 10, 2026

Stewards spare Tsunoda; Audi wants Monza ruling clarified

Audi will press ahead with its appeal over Yuki Tsunoda’s Italian Grand Prix penalty controversy after stewards declined to punish the Racing Bulls driver for causing an extra formation lap at Monza. Audi argued that the regulations were clear: a driver who causes an extra formation lap should start from the pit lane, and Gabriel Bortoleto said the team was appealing because “what’s right is right.”

Tsunoda lined up in the wrong grid box, which led to the start being abandoned and the extra formation lap being triggered. Race director Rui Marques was uneasy with Tsunoda’s position, but the stewards later accepted that Tsunoda had not been out of his slot and had not affected rivals, so they chose not to apply the usual stop-and-go penalty, which would have become a 30-second time penalty.

Audi wants clarification for future cases and is also seeking a possible reversal of the result. The team was affected because Bortoleto finished 11th behind Tsunoda, with Nico Hulkenberg 12th and Tsunoda 10th. The FIA had not yet set a hearing date.
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September 10, 2026

Denny Hamlin leads NASCAR playoffs into Enjoy Illinois 300

The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs continue this weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, where the Enjoy Illinois 300 will run Sunday, Sept. 13, as the second postseason race. The 300-mile event is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. ET, will air on USA Network, stream on HBO Max, and be carried on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. NASCAR’s championship battle will then move to Bristol Motor Speedway on Sept. 19.

Denny Hamlin enters the weekend as the defending winner and the driver to beat after winning last year’s race from the pole and opening the playoffs atop the standings. Hamlin also holds the track qualifying record at World Wide Technology Raceway. He leads the current playoff standings ahead of Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney, and he is listed among the track’s strongest performers along with Blaney, Bell and Austin Cindric. Since 2022, the last four Cup races at the track have been won by Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, Austin Cindric and Hamlin, with Logano cited for the best overall statistical consistency there.

The race will cover 240 laps, with stage breaks set for laps 45 and 140. Cup teams are scheduled for practice and qualifying on Saturday on truTV, and the starting lineup will be set after those sessions. Saturday also includes the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race, which will practice, qualify and race on the same day.
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September 10, 2026

Velocity Tour opens in Buffalo, ends in Corpus Christi

Professional Bull Riders announced the 2027 Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour schedule, which will feature 26 regular-season events across 27 cities in 19 states and span 55 event days. The season will open Dec. 4-5, 2026, in Buffalo, New York, and will conclude with the Velocity Tour Finals on April 30-May 1, 2027, at the Hilliard Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.

The schedule includes a Jan. 11-13 stop in Denver at the National Western Stock Show, along with returns to San Diego for the first time since 2015 and Baltimore for the first time since 2020. The tour also includes eight double-up weekends and a three-day stop in Bangor, Maine.

Tickets for the first eight events will go on sale Sept. 10, with later ticket blocks set for Oct. 15 and Nov. 19.
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