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Michigan Native Johnny Benson is set to fill in for the Suspended Paul Tracy in Thursday's SRX event at West Michigan's Berlin Raceway.  Benson celebrating his Craftsman Truck win at Kentucky in 2008. Image: Twitter original credit not found In the long and storied history of Berlin Raceway, it has never hosted an event like the SRX Series. From Jeff Gordon to Dale Earnhardt, the track's list of competitors is long and distinguished. Track GM and MRN lead anchor, Jeff Striegle predicted back in December that it would be the biggest night in the track’s history. “What makes SRX unique is while those guys were here they raced against our locals, not one another. Now you take guys like Tony Stewart, Bill Elliott, Marco Andretti, and Helio Castroneves and put them on the same track in identically prepared cars and that’s what we’re going to have.” Striegle said. Among those drivers is Michigan native Brad Keselowski, along with Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, Hailie Deegan, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, Helio Castroneves, Tony Stewart, Marco Andretti, Bobby Labonte, and Ken Schrader. One driver missing from the field is Paul Tracy, who was suspended due to an incident that took out several competitors during the July 27th event at Motor Mile Speedway. The SRX needed a replacement for the upcoming event at Berlin Raceway on August 3rd. Berlin Raceway has several drivers who could come as substitutes. This could be a great opportunity for a driver like Evan Shotko, Brian Campbell, Tim DeVos, or even current NASCAR driver and former Berlin track champion, Carson Hocevar, to spread their wings in the national limelight. SRX CEO Don Hawk had a better idea: bring in Grand Rapids native, Johnny Benson, Jr Benson, 60, has a list of racing accomplishments that’s as long and distinguished as Berlin's history. The son of the Berlin all-time win holder, John Benson, Sr., and is also the 1989 track champion at Berlin. However, unlike his dad, Benson did not pursue a career of short tracks despite John Sr. running the 1973 Michigan race in Cup, Johnny took to the American Speed Association (ASA) in 1990, winning Rookie of the Year and the series championship in 1993, later joining BACE Motorsports and Bill Baumgartner in 1994, winning Rookie of the Year in the Busch Series and the series championship in 1995. He would move to Winston Cup in 1996 with Chuck Ryder and Bahari’ Racing, capturing yet another Rookie of the Year title, nearly scoring a win in the 1996 Brickyard 400 and an 11th-place points finish in 1997. He moved to Roush Racing in 1998 and 1999, before making what would be his best career move at that point, driving for Tyler Jet Motorsports in 2000, replacing the not-so-well-liked Rich Bickle. Benson would nearly win five races that year and acquired his Valvoline sponsorship for 2001. He would have a series of rib injuries plague his 2002 season but would capture his first (and only) career Cup Series victory at Rockingham in November. Benson left Cup full-time after an abysmal 2003 and raced in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series full-time beginning in 2005. He scored his first win at his home track, Michigan International Speedway in 2006, and nearly won the series championship, however, Todd Bodine had a better year. Benson shined in the truck series, continuing his dominance in 2007, and capturing the 2008 series championship. Benson would only race part-time in 2009 until a scary accident in an ISMA Supermodified race at Berlin Raceway (his home track) in June left him hospitalized and took him out of racing for the remainder of the year. Benson last competed in NASCAR in 2010 at Texas in the truck series and since then, Benson has been racing sporadically and helping Carson Hocevar with his development through the truck series. Benson has decided that he wants to win an ISMA championship before retirement as well as run his final career race at Berlin. “I’ve raced at probably 150 tracks, and (Berlin) is definitely in my top five hardest tracks,” Benson said. “This track is the perfect place (to develop skills for NASCAR). It’s hard, you can spin the wheels down the straightaway, you really need to manipulate the gas pedal, and you need to keep your corner speeds up. That really adapts to most tracks.” Benson previously served as the SRX pace car driver in 2021, the series’ inaugural run and the SRX race at Berlin will be held on August 3rd, three days before the NASCAR Cup Series makes their lone stop at Michigan International Speedway. By: Alex Wood
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With Chris Buescher winning Richmond, no new drivers have come into the Playoff conversation following the Cook-Out 400. That leaves one of the tightest Playoff bubble battles in years!  Credit: RICHMOND, VIRGINIA - JULY 29: Bubba Wallace, driver of the #23 McDonald's Toyota, drives during practice for the NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway on July 29, 2023 in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) Following the Cook-Out 400 at Richmond Raceway, the Playoff picture didn't change much. However, what did was each of these driver's points as they left the Action Track in Virginia. Chris Buescher LockedComing into the race at Richmond, Buescher was firmly into the Playoffs on points. 111 above the cutline to be exact. His race win however locks him into the 2023 Cup Series Playoff run where he now sits as the 11th seed after leading 88 laps. Kevin Harvick +182Harv had a solid race at Richmond finishing P.10 and scoring 6 Stage Points in Stage 1. Harvick has sat locked into the top spot of all non-winning drivers for a few weeks now. Harvick leaves Virginia adding a further 19 points to his cushion. He is essentially locked in as it would take 5 new winners in 4 races to bump him. Brad Keselowski +151Bad Brad came into Richmond safely 122 points above the cutline. Brad won Stage 2 scoring a total of 12 Stage points and the all-important 2nd Playoff Point of the season for himself. Brad led 102 laps at Richmond and added 29 points to his cushion. Along with Harvick, he is all but locked into the playoffs at this point Bubba Wallace +54Bubba is a great short-track racer, and that really showed this weekend leading a career-high 80 laps on the day and scoring a season-high 16 Stage Points. His fantastic day ended once again on Pit Lane where the No. 23 team had issues on the right side of the car and a 2 tire stop later in the day held him back outside of the Top-10 with a still respectable 12th place finish. He came into Richmond at +27 and leaves +54. His Playoff hopes can go away quickly as in 2 weeks we go to 2 road courses in a row. Tracks that Bubba admits are his worst. Michael McDowell +18McDowell is having a spectacular season in 2023, he came into Virginia +17 over the cutline but had one of the slowest days for any driver this high on the list. Finishing P. 22 despite leading 9 laps during pit cycles, McDowell scored 0 Stage points and was never really a factor for any. Despite this, he leaves Richmond +1 point higher over that line. Ty Gibbs -18Rookie Ty Gibbs is having a pretty decent rookie season, he even scored his first career Top-5 at Pocono two weekends ago. Ty had a great points day at Richmond going from -28 points behind the cutline to -18 scoring 3 Stage points and finishing P. 15. His saving grace was the horrible days posted by Suarez and Allmendinger. AJ Allmendinger -22AJ had a questionable call this weekend, skipping practice, and qualifying at Richmond where he sat only -17 points behind the cutline and instead ran the Xfinity race at Road America. Early on, AJ seemed like he was going to make a day out of it only to finish P. 27. Richmond was his worst finish since Talladega earlier in the year. Scoring no Stage Points, he leaves Richmond -22 from the cutline. Daniel Suarez -34Suarez has not really had a great season in 2023, with 14 finishes outside the Top-15 in 22 races. In a season we all expected to see a new and improved Suarez, Daniel came into Richmond -23 from the cutline only to have trouble all race long finishing P. 33, 4 laps down leaving 11 points further than he came in. Chase Elliott -40Coming in 56 points back and out of this conversation, Elliott brought the 9 team a pretty solid run at Richmond. Making up 16 points in a single race, this was his best points day in a while. Elliott scored 7 Stage Points and finishing P. 13, Elliott passed teammate Alex Bowman to get into the bubble by just 2 points. Elliott only has 4 races remaining to make up that 40-point deficit created by missing 6 races to injury and essentially 2 races due to poor decisions. Not a must-win, but he's close. By: Tom Luttermoser
Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing dominated the day at Richmond Raceway leading a combined 190 of 400 laps with Buescher scoring the team's 2nd win in as many years.  Chris Buescher and the entire No. 17 Fastenal team celebrating their win at Richmond. Image: Chris Buescher FB Chris Buescher and teammate/co-owner Brad Keselowski dominated the day at Richmond. Keselowski led 102 laps with Buescher leading 88. Richmond marks Buescher's 2nd career victory with the team with both coming on short tracks (his last at the Bristol Night Race last season).
Buescher scored 9 stage points on his way to this victory that now guarantees his playoff birth. Although Buescher was very secure with points, this win locks him in with 4 races to go and adds 5 more Playoff Points to his single Stage win Playoff Point making 6 on the season. By: Staff We have not seen a single driver run off with multiple wins in 2023, Carson Hocevar leads the Field with 3 wins after Rihmond.  Credit: RICHMOND, VIRGINIA - JULY 28: Ben Rhodes, driver of the #99 Campers Inn RV Ford, Matt DiBenedetto, driver of the #25 Rackley Roofing Chevrolet, and Carson Hocevar, driver of the #42 Worldwide Express Chevrolet, drive during practice for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Worldwide Express 250 at Richmond Raceway on July 28, 2023 in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) Your 2023 Craftsman Truck Series Playoff Drivers and their points standings
Despite being sick and missing the Truck Series race at Gateway, Corey Heim's dominant regular season lands him the 2023 Regular Season title.  Corey Heim at July Richmond. Image: Corey Heim Twitter Despite missing the race at Gateway 4 weekends ago, Corey Heim dominated the regular season with 2 wins, 7 Top-5s and 12 Top-10s with a series high, 5 Stage wins. All those stage and race wins adding up to another series high... 15 Playoff Points. Corey Heim ran his way to a 2nd place finish in Stage 1 to score 9 stage points, locking in his Regular Season title and the 15 extra Playoff Points that comes with it, doubling his overall Playoff Points and more than doubling the Playoff Points of the next closest competitors, Zane Smith and Christian Eckes who have 14 Playoff Points each. Staff
Over the last two seasons, Sam Mayer remained the only winless driver at Junior Motorsports. Surviving a few late race restarts, Sam Mayer held off teammate Justin Allgaier as well as hard chargers Parker Klingerman and Sage Karam to change that.  Credit: ELKHART LAKE, WISCONSIN - JULY 29: Sam Mayer, driver of the #1 Accelerate Pros Talent Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Road America 180 at Road America on July 29, 2023 in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. (Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images) Sam Mayer scored his first career Xfinity Series win in the pristine hills and twists and turns of Wisconsin at Road America. Mayer only led 2 laps, but he led the most important one while holding off fellow Xfinity Playoff hopeful Parker Klingerman. Mayer scored 8 Stage Points on his way to his first win. His win grants him his only 5 Playoff Points which leaves him 8th in the playoff picture with only 6 races remaining. Top-10:
Staff
In his SRX Series debut, Kyle Busch holds off Bowyer and Smoke to win his first SRX main event!  Kyle Busch's No. 51 SRX car at the Motor Mile. Image: Wayne Riegle/ SRX Kyle Busch, 2x NASCAR Cup Series champion, NASCAR team owner, and future NASCAR Hall of Famer scored a main event win in his first-ever SRX race at the Motor Mile in Radford, VA. Busch held off Series Co-Founder and 3x NASCAR Cup Champion Tony Stewart on 2 late restarts with a lot of pressure from 10x NASCAR Cup Series winner Clint Bowyer to score his win.
Marco Andretti scored the win in Heat 1 with Clint Bowyer scoring the Heat 2 win. Podium
Driver Jake Hughes sets a new Guinness World Record title for the fastest speeds set indoors by a vehicle this past Sunday 7-23-2023. He did so in Formula E's new, GENBETA modification to the 3rd Generation race car.  Jake Hughes with his official record from Guinness Book of World Records following his 218.71kph run. Image: FiA Jake Hughes set a blistering world record for indoor speed of 135.9 mph (218.71 kph) with his NEOM McLaren Formula E 3rd gen race car while competing against rival Lucas de Grassi of Mahindra Racing in London this past weekend while qualifying. The pair went head-to-head in the "duels" Formula E qualifying format to see who could break that top speed record. Hughes absolutely smashed the previous record and they did so on a small, 346m long straight part of the track using the same car. The previous record of 102.65 mph (165.2 kph) was smashed by just over 33 mph (over 50 kph). “Driving the GENBETA car and setting the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for the fastest speed achieved by a vehicle indoors was a really special experience. I feel very honored to have been asked and to be involved in such an exciting project. It wasn’t something I ever imagined I’d have the opportunity to even attempt, so now to hold the record is pretty incredible, especially in a Formula E car. I didn’t realize how much I wanted this record until I saw Lucas [Di Grassi] trying to break the record after me. When I was announced I was the record holder I felt a massive sense of pride.” - World Record holding driver Jake Hughes. “Huge congratulations to Jake and big thanks to Lucas for competing together to smash a world record and showcase the incredible potential of EVs. Everyone involved in the GENBETA project is driven by the same goal of pioneering innovation and development in EV technology and bringing that game-changing tech to the cars we drive on city streets to create a cleaner, electric future.” - Jeff Dodds, Formula E CEO By: Tom Luttermoser
Carson Hocevar’s impressive run in 2023 has many analysts speculating about the youngster’s future. There is only one place that makes sense: Jr Motorsports’ #8 car.  Carson Hocevar in the Spire Motorsports No. 77 Xfinity car at Nashville. Image: Carson Hocevar FB ALLENDALE, MI-- The racing resume of 20-year-old Carson Hocevar is growing by the second. Shortly before scoring his first career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win, Hocevar announced he’d be racing six races in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for Spire Motorsports. Due to the team’s shop not being able to house inventory for two series, Spire’s Xfinity Series team works out of the Jr Motorsports shop, where Josh Berry currently drives. Berry, who currently drives the number 8 Tire Pros Chevy for Jr Motorsports in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, will move to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2024, replacing the retiring Kevin Harvick. This leaves the door open for Hocevar to move up. Hocevar made his Cup Series debut in June at Gateway, the site of an accident where he broke his ankle in the 2022 truck race, but finished 36th due to brake failure. During most of the race, Hocevar was battling Cup Series champion Kyle Larson and Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin. Hocevar currently has two wins in the truck series in 2023 and has finished in the top-10 in two of his Xfinity Series races for Spire Motorsports (he made his debut at COTA for SS-Greenlight Racing). Added to those 2023 stat lines is that Hocevar has made the truck series playoffs the last two seasons, finishing 10th in points the last two years. Hocevar is also a standout on the short track scene as in 2020, Hocevar won all but two of the biggest short track races he entered. Hocevar has entered the chat lines of the NASCAR fanbase on social media that he’ll be going Cup Series racing in 2024 for Spire Motorsports replacing Ty Dillon, however, Hocevar has yet to prove that he’s up for the challenge (at least at this stage of his career). He has made the truck series playoffs the last two years, and just barely lost Rookie of the Year in 2021 to Chandler Smith, however, Hocevar does not have enough statistics to back up the claims that he should go Cup racing. His best option is to replace Josh Berry at Jr Motorsports. Hocevar is already developing a relationship with the team as Spire Motorsports’ Xfinity Series team works out of the JRM shop and Hocevar has been praised by people who are high up at JRM, including Dale Jr. He has funding from Premiere Security in the event JRM can’t use their current partners to fund the entire season, and there could be potential for Hocevar to race part-time in Cup if a team is willing to take the chance. As for Hocevar’s current truck series team, Niece Motorsports, they have two options for the number 42 truck, which could be to make the truck part-time or hire Chad Chastain or another developmental driver to take it over. Currently, rumor has it that Hocevar is the front-runner for the ride. There have also been reports that Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s nephew, Jeffrey, will take the ride over, but when asked about it, Jeffrey Earnhardt said, “It would be cool to drive for him, but the team needs to do what makes sense at the end of the day.” Based on all the factors surrounding both Hocevar and JRM’s current situations, it only makes sense for Jr Motorsports to hire Carson Hocevar to replace Josh Berry. By: Alex Wood
Liberty Media, owners of the Formula 1 racing series, threatened local restaurants, clubs, and other businesses overlooking the route of the upcoming Las Vegas Grand Prix.  The Las Vegas GP Circuit. Image: F1's Las Vegas GP website Many local restaurants, bars, and other venues around the GP circuit have claimed that higher-ups of Liberty Media have been demanding a $1,500 per person licensing fee for the night of the highly anticipated first-ever Las Vegas GP. The licensing fee would be applied toward the maximum capacity of each venue (per fire code), which means a venue with a 1,000-person capacity will have to fork over a whopping $1,500,000 for the night of the event. That skyrockets to $2,250,000 for a venue with 1,500 capacity. Some see this as a way for F1 to limit venues' ability to capitalize on the event. Now you may think, just don't pay it. Not that simple, they have threatened to block views of the venues that refuse using bleachers, barricades, and blinding lights. Staff
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