 By Tom Luttermoser Image Via: 23XI Racing Twitter
In what has got to be one of the oddest things we've seen in NASCAR in a while, 23XI Racing announced Wednesday that Bubba Wallace will be changing numbers. The 23 team will change numbers to 45 for the remainder of the 2022 season in order to give 23XI the best opportunity possible to compete for the 2022 Owners Championship. “After consulting with NASCAR, we made this decision in the best interest of the entire organization and for all our employees who helped earn a spot in the playoffs for the Owner’s Championship through their hard work,” said team president Steve Lauletta. 23XI has so far said no changes will be made to the crew or sponsors (23 sponsors will move to the 45 and 45 to the 23). Ty Gibbs will field the 23 Starting at Darlington. As for why not keep Ty Gibbs in the 45, Team President Steve Lauletta stated, “While Ty has done a great job for us in the No. 45 car, we feel that Bubba’s experience in this car, at the upcoming playoff tracks and his recent momentum will give 23XI the best chance at maximizing our points each weekend. We recognize that this is a unique opportunity in the Cup Series, and we’re grateful to our employees and partners for standing with the team and supporting this decision.”
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Without saying, all of us here at Seriously Fast Media condemn racism by anyone and in any form. I am very happy to see that Tanner had nothing to do with this and that no one in our great sport did at all.
But I also refuse to jump to baseless accusations without facts first despite seeing the video and accusations within the first hours. The accusations against Tanner Gray had no facts behind them and even some of the larger, very well known online NASCAR media personalities jumped on the opportunity to be "first" instead of right and that is nearly as unacceptable to me. First for views and clicks is unacceptable. Accusations like this can not only destroy careers... But also lives as well. Not just the drivers, athletes or public faces... But their families too. I vow never to allow these types of accusations to EVER have a place here on Seriously Fast Media. I would much rather have SFM be last to the story and have the right information that first with the wrong information. -Founder, Tom Luttermoser  By: Tom Luttermoser Image Via Lionel Twitter
Jeremy Clements and the #51 Chevrolet Team have been hit with a massive L2 penalty Tuesday afternoon after their dramatic Daytona win this past weekend. The R&D center found an Intake manifold violation on the 51 car and the crew chief has now been hit with a $60,000 fine. The team will also face a loss of 75 points. They will be able to keep the Daytona win but it will no longer lock them into the playoffs bringing Ryan Sieg back into the fold.  By: Tom Luttermoser Image Via: Ally Racing
After a 17 year career in motorsports, Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Greg Ives announced Friday that he will be retiring from the sport at the end of 2022. Greg is currently the Crew Chef of the #48 Ally Chevrolet for Alex Bowman. Greg is most notably known for his current role at HMS as well as his term as the lead engineer on the 48 car under Jimmie Johnson during their unrivaled 5 Titles in a row, plus the 2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series Championship on top of the box for Chase Elliott and Junior Motorsports. Greg hails from my home state of Michigan and got his technical education at Michigan Technical Institute and moved to Charlotte and began working on the 24 Team as a mechanic and moved through the ranks at both JRM and HMS eventually becoming the CC for Dale Jr in the 88 car starting in 2015 earning his first career Cup series victory on top of the box at Talladega that May. In 2016 He got his first experience working with the young fill-in driver Alex Bowman for 10 races following Dale's concussion and in 2017, the 2 would pair up full-time. In 2019 Greg would lead the young driver to his first career victory at Chicagoland and the team even managed to advance to the round of 12. In 2020 they scored another victory together and advanced to the Round of 8 this time. As of this point in his career, Greg has led his Hendrick/JRM drivers to 10 Cup Series victories and 5 Xfinity victories. It will be a huge loss to see Ives leave the track, But we do wish him the best in his future with family!  By: Tom Luttermoser Image Via : Twitter, Unknown Photographer Kurt Busch's medial issues have been front and center since that day at Pocono nearly a month ago now. announced Thursday that he is essentially forfeiting his spot in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. 23XI announced today that they are withdrawing their medical waver request for Kurt Busch. Kurt's spot was locked in regardless of another winner at Daytona after Kyle Larson won his second race of the Season at Watkins Glen. Kurt published this statement on all KB social media roughly an hour before this article is to be published.  This is massive news as now that leaves 2 open Playoff spots going into this weekends Daytona race. The race between Martin Truex Jr and Ryan Blaney has been weeks in the making as to who would lock themselves into that final spot coming out of Daytona. Now, I believe we will have the same desperation to perform from most of the top 30 who are not already locked in with a win, but Blaney and Truex will have to still fight over that potential final spot yet again in the case of a 16th race winner.
Per Fox Sports Bob Pockrass on Twitter if there was in fact a 16th winner, Blaney locks in with 31 points, a sixth-place finish if no stage points, no matter what anyone else does. If he is 36 points ahead of Truex after second stage (meaning he earns 11 more stage points than Truex), he would be locked in. This announcement from Busch and 23XI today goes to tell me that he will not likely be returning to the track in the round of 16 and could quite possibly be a medically forced retirement of the longest tenured driver in the sport and the only driver left who raced with Dale Earnhardt.  By: Tom Luttermoser Image Via: Xfinity Racing Twitter
Team Penske and Joey Logano announced Wednesday a "long-term" contract extension for the 32 year old Cup Series champion. Neither Penske or Logano have specified the exact term of the contract was not specified, but after a seven-year contract was set to expire at the end of the 2023 year, it appears that a competitive, winning season in '22 motivated an announcement a year early and neither party is looking for a change in the next several years. Joey Logano and Team Penske partnered in 2013 after he was let go from Joe Gibbs Racing and the success was near immediate scoring his first win with the Blue Oval powerhouse team at Michigan that year starting a string of 27 victories, 4 Championship-4 appearances and finally a Cup Series title in 2018. Here in 2022, Logano won the race season inaugural Clash at the LA Coliseum which was also the inaugural NEXT GEN race as well. He also has 2 points paying race wins on the season as well, becoming one of only eight drivers with more than 1 win this season. Logano has been with Penske for 9 years now, that is stability only beaten by the likes of Hamlin and Kyle Busch (up to now) in today's Cup Series. in an interview with The Athletic's Jeff Gluck he stated when asked about what kind of peace of mind a long-term contract offers, Logano said this, "This allows me to focus and not to have the distraction of negotiating contracts. I hate that. I enjoy it to a certain point, but I also don’t like uncertainty. I like knowing what I’ve got and then focusing on doing my job. Because you’re not necessarily doing your job when you’re spending hours upon hours negotiating contracts, right? It’s not what you’re getting paid to do, and it becomes something that’s on your mind too much. And to do that every year or every two years, it’s just not what I’m into." That is arguably what could be hindering the performance of one of Joey's rivals in the sport, Kyle Busch. A lack of certainty and stability. One thing's for sure, Joey Logano and Team Penske will be winning races for a long time to come.  By Tom Luttermoser Image: Daytona International Speedway Twitter
It's 2022, NASCAR has given it's fans a gift. Many still refer to it as the NEXT GEN Cup car. Then Generation 7 NASCAR Cup car has brought us some of the best racing we have seen in a decade or more, even at some tracks long thought to be dead (except Texas, only a bulldozer can fix Texas). It has brought us more winners than we have ever seen in the Modern Era, 15 Points paying winners and 18 including the Duels at Daytona & the All-Star races. As of today, Ryan Blaney is in that final Playoff spot by a slim 25 points over Martin Truex Jr. 25 Points in today's Cup series might as well be 5, good Stage Points and a better finishing position lock Truex into the Playoffs... So could a win. Now, of course we have all heard non-stop since Michigan about the 1 remaining spot and about Blaney and Truex. But there 13 OTHER drivers who technically could lock themselves into the Playoffs with a win at Daytona. Remember, the rules state that you must be in the Top-30 in points to lock yourself in with a win. That means the drivers who can lock themselves in on Saturday night with a win are; Martin Truex Jr, Aric Almirola, Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, Bubba Wallace, Justin Haley, Chris(topher) Buescher, Michael McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Cole Custer, Brad Keselowski, Ty Dillon, Harrison Burton and Todd Gilliland. Can is obviously very different than being able to do so. Of that list, 8 have won at Daytona in Cup before. Keselowski, Jones, Stenhouse, Almirola, Austin Dillon, McDowell, Buescher (in the Duel earlier this year) and Haley. But! You also have to look at the guys who have performed without that all important win as well. Wallace is a 2x Daytona 500 runner up and is very very good on Superspeedways. Gilliland was impressive earlier this year, Erik Jones was impressive at Talladega and the 500 earlier in the season as well. Tom's Top-5 picks for this Daytona cutoff race who are not already locked in would have to be (in no order) Bubba Wallace Ricky Stenhouse Jr Buescher Keselowski Jones Dark Horse: Todd Gilliland  Article and Image By: Tom Luttermoser Image: Kyle Busch being taken to the infield care center at Michigan International Speedway 8/7/22
Kyle Busch has been in the NASCAR Cup Series full-time since 2005 with Hendrick Motorsports in the #5 Kellogg's Chevrolet. Since 2008, Kyle has grown to dominate the sport, racing for (at the time) the new Toyota powerhouse at Joe Gibbs Racing and has been the top driver for that team ever since. Now that may be coming to an end with the departure of his full-time main sponsor, Mars Candy. Mars has supported Kyle and the 18 team since 2008 and announced earlier this season that 2022 would be the end of their sponsorship in NASCAR leaving a gaping hole in the funding of Kyle (who is the highest paid active driver in the sport) and the 18 team. Both JGR and Busch have made it very clear that they have not found a sponsor and that it could very easily lead to Kyle leaving the 18 Toyota. Kyle Busch has stated publicly that other teams have shown interest in signing him if he does not return to Joe Gibbs Racing. It has been nearly half a season and the winningest driver in the history of the sport and the man who is now tied for 9th all time Cup wins at 60 does not have a contract for 2023. It is no secret that the only active 2 time Cup Champion demands a massive salary, and rightfully so, but the days of those 8-figure salaries seem to be over. Kyle has stated that he is willing to take a pay cut to stay with the JGR organization and even then, nothing has been announced. Kyle did come out publicly last week with a statement on his future "I've got six, seven maybe eight more years. If I play all this out perfectly, Brexton and I share a truck when he turns 16 years old and it's his when he's 18 and I'm done." Now, I see this as the kind of thing a potential sponsor or team partner can look at with respect. It is a plan. It tells people, I'm not leaving because I have to take care of the future (Brexton). Kyle has a HUGE position with Toyota, being the owner of the dominant Truck Series team in series history. He is also the winningest driver in Toyota's history in the sport at well. David Wilson, President of TRD USA (Toyota Racing Development) had stated that they are "optimistic" in keeping Busch back in May, now several months later that word has changed to "We're in a bad place." Some of the teams that have been in the rumor mills as of late for possible landing spots have been Richard Childress Racing, 23XI Racing, Kaulig and Stewart-Hass Racing as well. I know the entire NASCAR world is standing on edge waiting for an official announcement of some sort, and it will not come soon enough for us. Definitely not soon enough for the younger of the Busch brothers.  By: Tom Luttermoser Image via: Disney
Best Friends off the track, Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace have announced in the last couple weeks that they have both received Multi-year contract extensions. Bubba Wallace received a Multi-year deal on Friday Aug. 12th following his runner up finish at MIS and his first career Pole award. With Multi-Year extensions becoming more and more rare in our sport, it is awesome to see two teams making huge investments like this in their veteran drivers. “Ryan has become one of the top competitors in the NASCAR Cup Series and we are excited for him to continue his career and build on his success with Team Penske,” said Roger Penske. “He has been a key part of our team for more than a decade and we have seen him grow and develop, both on and off the track. He has become a consistent winner behind the wheel of the No. 12 Ford, and he also does a great job representing our team partners. We look forward to what the future holds with Ryan and Team Penske.” Great words to hear from The Capitan about Ryan who is now 28, so he has some years left in him at the sports highest level. Clearly Penske thinks so too. Ryan is winless so far this season and is currently in a heated battle with Martin Truex Jr for the final spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with just 2 races to go. Bubba Wallace, fresh off his runner up finish at Michigan got the news last week that he will be a set fixture of the 23XI organization. Although just like his friend Ryan, no official contract lengths have been publicly announced. It is assumed Wallace has been signed for 3+ years, keeping him in the 23 Toyota Camry into 2025 or longer. Wallace stated, "Thanks to MJ and Denny for continuing to believe in me. We've come a long way together in less than two years and we've checked off some major goals along the way. We know we still have work to do, both on and off the racetrack, but I feel good about our team and the direction we're heading." Denny Hamlin, Co-owner of 23XI Racing with basketball legend Michael Jordan called Bubba Wallace a "key part of the early stages of 23XI." Adding, "The goal was to help him take his career to a higher level, and we have done just that," Hamlin said. "Bubba is continuing to get more competitive each week. We're excited to see his growth as he and the team work toward achieving our goals." Now to the opposite end of the spectrum, Kyle Busch. Busch has been in the NASCAR Cup Series full-time since 2005 with Hendrick Motorsports in the #5 Kellogg's Chevrolet. Since 2008, Kyle has grown to dominate the sport racing for (at the time) the new Toyota powerhouse at Joe Gibbs Racing and has been the top driver for that team ever since. Now that may be coming to an end with the departure of his full-time main sponsor, Mars Candy. Mars has supported Kyle and the 18 team since 2008 and announced earlier this season that 2022 would be the end of their sponsorship in NASCAR leaving a gaping hole in the funding of Kyle (who is the highest paid active driver in the sport) and the 18 team. Both JGR and Busch have made it very clear that they have not found a sponsor and that it could very easily lead to Kyle leaving the 18 Toyota. Kyle Busch has stated publicly that other teams have shown interest in signing him if he does not return to Joe Gibbs Racing. It has been nearly half a season and the winningest driver in the history of the sport and the man who is now tied for 9th all time Cup wins at 60 does not have a contract for 2023. It is no secret that the only active 2 time Cup Champion demands a massive salary, and rightfully so, but the days of those 8-figure salaries seem to be over. Kyle has stated that he is willing to take a pay cut to stay with the JGR organization and even then, nothing has been announced. Some of the teams that have been in the rumor mills as of late for possible landing spots have been Richard Childress Racing, 23XI Racing, Kaulig and Stewart-Hass Racing as well. I know the entire NASCAR world is standing on edge waiting for an official announcement of some sort, and it will not come soon enough for us. Definitely not soon enough for the younger of the Busch brothers.  By: Tom Luttermoser Image Via: Tom Luttermoser
When NASCAR announced that they would change the placement of the iconic door numbers, naturally, fans panicked. NASCAR is a sport shrouded in tradition, even to a fault. The fans hate and often times resent change even if that change is 100% necessary for the good of the sport and has zero effect on the on track product. The perfect point here, number movement. NASCAR proposed so many number placement ideas and even offered a preview at the All-Star Race at Bristol in 2020 by moving the number to just in front of the rear wheel well. They also proposed placing the number (much smaller) on the rear quarter panel and the contingency panel, which is where it ended up. The sanctioning body stated it would give more room and value for the sponsors, and according to a Nielsen analysis, it has. According to information shared to the teams and Adam Stern at the Sports Business Journal, the added space on the side of the cars has added 15% to sponsorship value. That value is based on TV exposure vs the cost of traditional TV advertisement. Nielsen also stated for teams who usually run outside the Top-10, that 15% value jumped to 36%. The firm said the back running cars “are showing up more than in the past because they have larger branding.” Nielsen uses its Sports Connect TV valuation product that tracks visible logos on surface areas like the hood, side and quarter panels of a car. They then add up the exposures to determine the quality and total on air screen time. Sports Business Journal surveyed about a dozen team and sponsor execs about the change. Only a couple were neutral about the move, saying it didn’t make a big difference but wasn’t a negative, the majority agreed that it was a positive. Paul Zindrick, vice president of corporate partnerships for JTG Daugherty Racing said, “The end result from what I’m seeing is our sponsors are saying, ‘Wow, we’re getting a lot more for our investments,’ so that’s generating a lot more excitement and enthusiasm around our current sponsor set.” One of the best examples of using the space has almost always been Anheuser-Busch, parent company of Budweiser and Busch beer products, and the Gen 7 car has been no different. Two weekends ago at Michigan International Speedway, they used the extra space to push their social media promotion #BuschelOfBusch. The hashtag took up the entire side of the car, which, got the best possible exposure doing burnouts on the front stretch. |