Author: John Sturbin

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio FORT WORTH _ Cooper Flagg says he “grew up pretty quick” during his rookie NBA season with the Dallas Mavericks. Flagg’s selection on Monday as 2025-2026 Kia NBA Rookie of the Year reiterated that fact and served as the perfect segue into his role as Honoray Pace Car Driver for Sunday’s NASCAR WURTH 400 presented by Liqui Moly. Flagg experienced his first Cup Series race from the best seat on the planet _ the cockpit of a blue 2026 Chevrolet Corvette pacing the field to the green flag. Flagg was given a preview of…

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio FORT WORTH – Kyle Larson spent his Saturday afternoon schooling the field around Texas Motor Speedway en route to a closer-than-it-appeared victory in the 22nd annual Andy’s Frozen Custard 340. Larson scored his second consecutive NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory in Cowtown and third overall at the expense of JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier, who fell 0.293-seconds short of what would have been his first series win on TMS’ high-banked/1.5-mile oval. The teammates scuffled for the lead even before the race went green after the day’s seventh and final caution flag fell…

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio FORT WORTH – Carson Hocevar is NASCAR’s definition of “smokin’ hot.” Five days after scoring his first NASCAR Cup Series victory at Talladega Superspeedway, Hocevar emerged as the winner of a two-lap shootout at Texas Motor Speedway that served as an exclamation point to a frantic NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series SpeedyCash.com 250. The night’s second red flag stoppage for 6 minutes, 12 seconds for a frontstretch incident involving five trucks set up the overtime after 166 laps of a race originally scheduled for 167 around TMS’ high-banked/1.5-mile oval. When the race went green on…

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio INDYCAR rookie Caio Collet of A.J. Foyt Racing rode the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s famed “aerodynamic wave” to the fastest overall speed on Wednesday, closing-out the Month of May’s annual Indianapolis 500 Open Test. The 2025 INDY NXT by Firestone series runner-up, Collet turned a top lap of 226.381 mph in the No. 4 A.J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet during the early moments of Wednesday’s session. The start of Day 2 of testing around the 2.5-mile oval was delayed 75 minutes by damp track conditions created by overnight and morning rain. Collet’s top speed was…

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio It’s late April, but the motorsports calendar officially flipped to the Month of May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Tuesday, Day 1 of the Indianapolis 500 Open Test. INDYCAR journeyman Conor Daly topped the speed chart with a hot lap of 225.394 mph in the No. 23 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet. A 12-time Indianapolis 500 starter, Daly was among five drivers at the top of the chart to have made at least 10 starts in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” The race’s 110th edition will take the green flag on Sunday, May…

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio With INDYCAR’s Month of May beckoning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Alex Palou is again threatening to take a wrecking ball to the championship point standings. Palou earned his third victory in five races this season in Sunday’s 51st Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach to retake the point lead by 17 in an early bid for his fifth series title and NTT IndyCar Series record-tying fourth in a row. Palou logged the 22nd victory of his career and first in America’s longest-running street race in the No. 10 OpenAI Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.…

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Felix Rosenqvist is determined to turn his latest NTT IndyCar Series pole position into a much-needed positive result during Sunday’s 51st Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Rosenqvist bagged his seventh career NTT P1 Award Saturday afternoon with a hot lap of 1-minute, 7.4635-seconds/105.017 mph around the famed 1.968-mile/11-turn Southern California street circuit. Starting P1, however, has hardly guaranteed the 34-year-old Swede a Victory Lane visit. “Yeah, I mean, I’m aware of that stat,” said Rosenqvist, driver of the No. 60 SiriusXM/Acura Honda fielded by Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian. “This is my…

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio The modernization of A.J. Foyt Racing now includes the organization’s first reserve driver. Brit Toby Sowery has joined the team founded by open-wheel icon A.J. Foyt Jr. of Houston for the remainder of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season. Sowery is the latest addition to an expanded driver development roster overseen by Team President Larry Foyt at a time of increasing competition and technical demand within the series. “My dad, A. J. Foyt, built this team’s name on grit, risk and winning, and I’m honored he trusts me to carry it forward,” said Larry…

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Same as it ever was, pole-sitter Alex Palou absolutely schooled the field at Barber Motorsports Park Sunday for his second victory of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season. The real intrigue emerging from the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst was the odd couple who shared the post-race podium with Palou in Birmingham, Ala. Rising series star Christian Lundgaard of Arrow McLaren and veteran Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing injected a bit of drama into an event that has morphed into The Alex Palou Invitational. The four-time/reigning series…

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio INDYCAR ace Alex Palou has plugged into “super-hero” mode at Barber Motorsports Park, where the field for today’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst should be super-concerned. Palou earned his first NTT P1 Award of the season and 13th of his brilliant career by leading Saturday’s Firestone Fast Six with a lap of 1-minute, 6.2341-seconds/125.011 mph around BMP’s picturesque, 2.3-mile/17-turn natural-terrain road-course in Birmingham, Ala. The four-time/reigning NTT IndyCar Series champion, Palou won this race last season by a massive 16.0035-seconds _ largest margin of victory in the series during…