The siren was wailing at the Dawsonville Pool Room Sunday evening, because Chase Elliott had just joined dad Bill as NASCAR Cup Atlanta winners from the town. It was a wild race at the mile and a half track that races like a superspeedway since last year’s reconfiguration. And like superspeedways there were a couple of “big ones” and unusual drivers running at the front, like Corey Lajoie who led laps and was in the hunt until a last-lap crash.
With the win, Elliott becomes the first and only three-time Cup winner this season. Elliot’s win freezes the winners’ playoff berths at 13… at least until this weekend’s New Hampshire round. With seven races to go in the regular season, there could still be 16 or more winners in the playoff field.
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The last three NASCAR Cup winners at New Hampshire Motor Speedway are all winless on the 2022 season. Aric Almirola won last year, Brad Keselowski the year before, and Kevin Harvick in 2018 and 2019. Other recent winners include Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, and Joey Logano.
New Hampshire has been pretty much a Ford/Toyota playground with only one Chevrolet win since 2012. The oddsmakers are going with that trend, with Ryan Blaney the 6-1 favorite in a Penske Ford, followed by Kyle Busch at 13-2 and Joey Logano 7-1. Toyota driver Denny Hamlin is 17-2 and teammate Martin Truex Jr. 9-1. The first Chevy driver is Ross Chastain at 9-1, followed by Chase Elliott at 10-1 and Kyle Larson at 12-1.
Cup qualifying airs Saturday at 9 a.m. with the Xfinity race at 11:30 a.m. Sunday’s Cup race airs at noon. All are on the USA network.
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Charles Leclerc won last Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix from the pole with a 1.5 second margin of victory. It was shaping up to be a Ferrari 1-2 until Carlos Sainz’s engine exploded 15 laps from the end, as he was about to overtake Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Sainz’s retirement promoted Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton to a distant third 41 seconds back, his third podium in a row. Teammate George Russel was fourth, making it a 27-point day for Mercedes in the constructors’ championship battle. The next race will be the French Grand Prix on July 24.
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The NTT IndyCar series is back in action after a week off. The series returns to Toronto after being absent the last two seasons due to COVID restrictions. There were no repeat winners in the four previous Toronto contests with Simon Pagenaud winning in 2019, Scott Dixon in 2018, Josef Newgarden in 2017, and Will Power in 2016. Team Penske has four wins at the 1.786, 11-turn street circuit while Chip Ganassi Racing has five.
The Ganassi organization was involved in a controversy last week, prematurely announcing they had renewed the contract of 2021 series champion Alex Palou, only to have Arrow McLaren SP announce that Palou would be joining them for 2023. Palou denied re-signing with CGR and will be taking the McLaren offer which includes a Formula 1 test.
Qualifying for the Honda Indy Toronto race airs Saturday at 11 a.m. with the race at noon Sunday, both on Peacock.
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Finally, the Nashville round of the Superstar Racing Experience last Saturday went to former NASCAR champion Bobby Labonte. The win vaulted Labonte into the series points lead, 140 to Marco Andretti’s 137 and Ryan Newman’s 135.
Saturday, the Camping World SRX series will race at the I-55 Speedway in Pevely, Missouri, a 1/3-mile dirt oval. Tony Stewart has the most dirt racing experience in the field, but second is Kenny Schrader, making his debut appearance in the series.
CBS will broadcast the event at 5 p.m.
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