TMW: IndyCar Doubles Up at Iowa, NASCAR Powers Through Pocono
It was a busy race weekend in America amid the industry's summer stretch.
The Morning Warmup
July 15, 2024
Race Recaps
NASCAR
Cup Series: The defending champ’s got another win. Ryan Blaney held off a charge from Alex Bowman and kept Denny Hamlin at bay to score his second victory of 2024 at Pocono Raceway. (Holly Cain / NASCAR.com)
Xfinity Series: Defending champion Cole Custer finally had his day in PA. Custer fended off Justin Allgaier to score the first win of his championship defense. (Holly Cain / NASCAR.com)
Truck Series: Intermittent storms and encroaching darkness threatened to call the race off short. But in the end Corey Heim struck on the final restart to cap off a race he’d led the bulk of with another win. (Holly Cain / NASCAR.com)
Takeaways from the Tricky Triangle:
Here’s what drivers had to say leaving Pocono Raceway. (Dustin Long / NBC Sports)
Denny Hamlin had pace. He just ran out of time to challenge for an eighth Cup victory. (Jim Utter / Motorsport)
Alex Bowman was left wanting more after a strong third place run. (Kelly Crandall / RACER)
Top prospects Chandler Smith and Sam Mayers exchanged words after Saturday’s Xfinity Series race. (Zach Sturniolo / NASCAR.com)
Christian Eckes and Grant Enfinger came up just short in Friday’s Truck race. (Zach Sturniolo / NASCAR.com)
IndyCar
IndyCar:
In the first leg of the Iowa Speedway doubleheader, Supercars transplant Scott McLaughlin finally earned an elusive oval win to firmly declare himself an IndyCar regular. (Curt Cavin / IndyCar.com)
Team Penske wound up sweeping the weekend, with Will Power rising from 22nd to score his first Iowa win over a chasing Alex Palou. (Curt Cavin / IndyCar.com)
Stories from an eventful Iowa race weekend:
Conor Daly was brought in to replace a hurt Jack Harvey for Sunday’s leg of the doubleheader. (IndyCar.com)
The field saved the scariest moment for last, ending Sunday’s race with the most frightening accident of the weekend as Sting Ray Robb caught air in a crash with Alexander Rossi. Robb was airlifted to a local hospital afterward. (Joey Barnes / Motorsport)
A rare mistake from points leader Alex Palou shuffled the championship order heading into Sunday. (Marshall Pruett / RACER)
Four teams made hybrid replacements after the first of two Iowa races. (Marshall Pruett / RACER)
Saturday night brought a much-needed solid showing for A.J. Foyt Racing. (Marshall Pruett / RACER)
The team’s oval ace, Santino Ferrucci, launched a furious comeback to salvage sixth after being penalized for a restart violation. (Joey Barnes / Motorsport)
McLaughlin credited tutor and former Penske driver Simon Pagenaud for his help after the Aussie’s first oval win. (Marshall Pruett / RACER)
Power put the combination of luck and skill to good use in his surprising Sunday win. (Andrew Crask / RACER)
Sports Cars
FIA World Endurance Championship: Toyota Gazoo Racing’s No. 8 team added to the list of 2024 winners with a dominant drive in Sau Paolo. Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa and Sebastien Buemi claimed the win. (Daily Sportscar)
IMSA:
In a rare LMP2 headline event, Inter Europol by PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports struck for an overall win at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller went 1-2 in GTD Pro. (Davey Euwema / Sportscar365)
On the Michelin Pilot Challenge side, a one-stop strategy delivered RS1 to a drought-ending victory with Stevan McAleer and Trent Hindman. (Davey Euwema / Sportscar365)
Dirt
World of Outlaws Sprint Cars:
Carson Macedo couldn’t be stopped at Wilmot Raceway. Macedo was flawless in his third-straight win at the track on Friday night. (Alex Nieten / WorldofOutlaws.com)
It wouldn’t be four, though. Veteran Donny Schatz struck Saturday for his second Badger 40 triumph and third win of the season. (Alex Nieten / WorldofOutlaws.com)
High Limit Racing: In a race controlled by Chris Windom, a small bobble from the Vermeer Motorsports driver in traffic opened the door for Rico Abreu to strike for a $25,554 win at Portsmouth Raceway Park. (HighLimitRacing.com)
World of Outlaws Late Models:
Get ready to see the name Bobby Pierce a lot. He took the Billy Win Classic at Bedford Speedway on Friday. (Matt Skipper / WorldofOutlaws.com)
The next day Pierce took his 25th feature win at Sharon Speedway. (Matt Skipper / WorldofOutlaws.com)
On Saturday, Pierce picked up yet another win at Sharon to complete the weekend sweep. (Matt Skipper / WorldofOutlaws.com)
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series: It was a rainout for the late model field at Lucas Oil Speedway on Saturday. (LucasDirt.com)
USAC:
One of USAC’s star drivers, Justin Grant, snagged his first Midget win of the year Friday at Jefferson County Speedway. (Richie Murray / USAC Media)
The series returned to the 1/5-mile oval on Saturday night, when Ryan Timms took advantage for a victory from third. (Richie Murray / USAC Media)
Short Tracks
UARA Super Late Models: One I missed from late last week - Cup Series star Erik Jones picked up a short track win in the Motor Mountain Masters 150 at Jennerstown Speedway. (Matt Weaver / Short Track Scene)
Southern Super Series: Amid a consistent, but winless campaign, Casey Roderick finally broke through Saturday at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway. (Matt Weaver / Short Track Scene)
South Boston Twin 65s: It was all Peyton Sellers on Saturday night. Sellers swept a pair of 65-lap Late Model Stock Car Division races, upping his track win total to five on the year. (Short Track Scene)
Electric Racing
It was all E.ON NEXT Veloce Racing in Scotland. The duo of Kevin Hansen and Molly Taylor swept the Hydro X Prix weekend. (Dominik Wilde / RACER)
Other
Goodwood Festival of Speed: A truncated weekend of speed ended with Romain Dumas as the Goodwood Shootout winner, laying down a 43.987s run in the Ford SuperVan 4.2. (Tom Howard / Motorsport)
News and Notes
NASCAR
With the regular season winding down, Kyle Larson admits he’s paying close attention to the point standings. (Kelly Crandall / RACER)
An elusive Cup title is still Denny Hamlin’s north star, but chasing wins continues to fuel him. (Jim Utter / Motorsport)
Tyler Reddick chose to focus ahead after a difficult stretch emotionally with multiple narrow defeats. (Kelly Crandall / RACER)
That was a theme for 23XI Racing, with teammate Bubba Wallace noticeably looser despite the $50,000 fine levied to him for post-race contact with winner Alex Bowman. (Dustin Long / NBC Sports)
IndyCar
Scott Dixon felt the unfortunate hybrid issue he suffered at Mid-Oio could have happened to many cars in the field. (Charles Bradley / Motorsport)
F1
Oliver Bearman claims a proving run in Saudi Arabia made the difference for him in his efforts to secure a Haas drive for next year. (Ben Vinal / Motorsport)
Franco Colapinto impressed in his practice debut, upstaging many F1 hopefuls for next year. (Scott Mitchell-Malm / The Race)
If Red Bull replaces the struggling Sergio Perez, is Liam Lawson the team’s best bet moving forward? (Ben Vinal / Motorsport)
Mercedes has put in work to shield and encourage young prospect Andrea Kimi Antonelli ahead of his potential promotion in 2025. (Alex Kalinauckas / Motorsport)
Sports Cars
Ferrari claims its ‘Joker’ updates were made to target balance and consistency. (Stephen Kilbey / RACER)
DragonSpeed is set to make a surprise return to GT racing with a Ferrari 296 GT3 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this September. (Daily Sportscar)
Dirt
Two-time USAC National Midget feature winner Dean Billings passed away Wednesday. He was 68. (Richie Murray / USAC Media)
Short Tracks
Teams have called for closer inspections in the short track world. That’s why Casey Roderick and Anthony Campi Racing had their engine pulled Saturday night. (Matt Weaver / Short Track Scene)
Moto
With its decision made, Ducati admits the decision to hire Marc Marquez over Jorge Martin for its factory team has been divisive. (Rachit Thukral & German Garcia Casanova / Motorsport)
Aleix Espargaro has explained his decision to wrap up at Aprilia and help Honda as a test rider moving forward. (Rachit Thukral & German Garcia Casanova / Motorsport)
Marco Bezzecchi landed a career lifeline with Aprilia for 2025 and 2026. But any sense of relief hasn’t shown in his results or demeanor. (Valentin Khorounzhiy / The Race)
VR46 disagrees with Ducati over the direction for next year. It wants two factory bikes, but will have to settle for one. (Rachit Thukral & Lorenza D’Adderio / Motorsport)
Rally
Ford revealed its rally-raid challenger at Goodwood as it prepares to contest the Dakar Rally in 2025. (Rachit Thukral / Motorsport)
Sebastien Ogier has been deemed for to return to the WRC after suffering a reconnaissance crash that kept him out in Poland. (Tom Howard / Motorsport)
The World Rally Championship is expecting an increased Rally1 field for its inaugural Rally Paraguay. (Tom Howard / Motorsport)
Electric Racing
What does the new majority ownership from Liberty Global mean for the future of Formula E? (Sam Smith / The Race)
On Track This Week
All Times ET
Monday, July 15
Dirt
Lucas Oil Late Models (Eagle Raceway): 7:15 p.m., FloRacing
Short Tracks
Wild Thing Kart Series (Stafford Motor Speedway): 6:30 p.m., FloRacing
-
Tuesday, July 16
Dirt
World of Outlaws Sprint Cars (Attica Raceway Park): 6:15 p.m., DirtVision
Lucas Oil Late Models (Shelby County Speedway): 7:15 p.m., FloRacing
Southern Nationals (I-75 Raceway): 7:00 p.m., FloRacing
IMCA King of the Creel (141 Speedway): 8:00 p.m., FloRacing
Short Tracks
Summer Shootout (Charlotte Motor Speedway): 5:00 p.m., FloRacing
Sim Racing
eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series (Indianapolis Motor Speedway): 8:00 p.m., eNASCAR.com/Twitch/YouTube
Fast Fact
It took Ryan Blaney until his sixth season to mount a multi-win campaign. But with Sunday’s win at Pocono Raceway, the 2023 champ has tallied three multi-win seasons in the past four years. The wild thing, though? It’s the line miss in that stretch - a winless 2022 campaign - where Blaney set a personal bests in top-fives (12) and led the most laps (636) during the stretch thus far. Things just never worked out for him to get to victory lane that year.
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