NASCAR news

[Hobie Hartkins]

I wonder if the havwe pictures of me, Hobie Hartkins, in  " The Moonshine Mauler" ? I won the Moonshine 400 last year......won't be long and we'll be having another Moonshine Race!  

[Spike]

Bidding is up to $7900. There was also a Dale Earnhardt jr edition too https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2004-chevrolet-monte-carlo-ss-dale-earnhardt/

I seen one of them locally recently and had to look it up to see if it was an actual car or one someone just put graphics on. 

[HossC]

The F1 race was in Saudi Arabia this weekend - a night race around a tight street circuit. McLaren looked quickest throughout practice, but Lando Norris made a rare mistake in the third qualifying session yesterday and crashed into the wall, meaning he had to start 10th. Team mate Oscar Piastri took provisional pole, but was then pipped by Red Bull's Max Verstappen. Qualifying highlights are here.

Oscar made a great start and pulled just ahead of Max at the first corner. Max was unable to stay on track and was given a 5 second penalty for passing off the track. The other Red Bull driver, Yuki Tsunoda, and Alpine driver Pierre Gasly collided at the fourth corner. Both cars retired and the safety car came out for a few laps, although none of the front runners pitted. After the restart, Lando made his way slowly up the top 10 after starting the race on the hard tires when most of the others were on mediums. All the top drivers only made one pit stop, and with the 5 second penalty for Max, Oscar took the lead which he held to the end. Max was second, and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was third (Ferrari's first podium finish of the year in a feature race). Lando nearly caught Charles at the end, but had to settle for fourth. They were followed by the Mercedeses of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, the other Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton, the Williamses of Carlos Sainz Jnr and Alexander Albon, and the RB of Isack Hadjar. Race highlights are here.

Oscar now leads the Drivers' Championship by 10 points from Lando with Max two points back in third. Due to consistently getting both cars home in the points, McLaren have a good lead in the Constructors' Championship ahead of Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari.

There's now a week's break before the Miami Grand Prix at the start of May.

[HossC]

General Motors have been given approval to become a Formula 1 engine supplier for the 2029 season. As mentioned previously, their Cadillac team will use Ferrari engines from their entry next year until their own engine is ready. Full story here.

[RogerDuke]

Dirt Bike races coming to Pittsburgh Saturday....first time in 40 years...no, I'm not going. They are racing in the Steelers stadium. 

[HossC]

On 4/18/2025 at 11:00 PM, Spike said:

Bidding is up to $7900. There was also a Dale Earnhardt jr edition too https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2004-chevrolet-monte-carlo-ss-dale-earnhardt/

The Dale Earnhardt Chevy just sold for $11,200.

[HossC]

Congratulations to Kimi Antonelli who, at 18, has become the youngest driver to take an F1 pole. The rookie Mercedes driver has qualified to start at the front for today's sprint event in Miami. The McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were very close behind, so it should be a tight race.

[RogerDuke]

It's a weekend off for pro dirt bikes. 

[Hobie Hartkins]

#88 ( can't remember his name) won today!  His car is pretty but kind of goofy! ( Where were all the big names at today?)

[HossC]

8 hours ago, Hobie Hartkins said:

#88 ( can't remember his name) won today!  His car is pretty but kind of goofy! ( Where were all the big names at today?)

Kyle Larson was driving the #88 for Connor Zilisch in the Xfinity Series. Conner was injured in last week's Talladega race.

Funnily enough, some of the F1 cars were looking different this week due to special paint schemes for Miami. Ferrari added blue and white to their traditional red for their HP sponsors, but fans didn't like it. Elsewhere, Racing Bulls went with eye-catching pink and Kick Sauber made their livery look like paint splats.

In yesterday's F1 sprint race, Kimi Antonelli's first pole start didn't go well for him. Heavy rain in Miami caused a 28-minute delay before the event, and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc crashed on the way to the grid. At the start, Oscar Piastri got away well from second on the grid, and both McLarens got past Kimi at the first corner. As the track dried, the drivers started coming in for slick tires. At Max Verstappen's stop, he was released into Kimi's path. Kimi had to do another lap and Max got a 10-second penalty for an unsafe release. Just after that, a crash involving Fernando Alonso brought out the safety car. Lando Norris was exiting the pits and managed to take the lead from Oscar. Lewis Hamilton had swapped tires early, and had overtaken Max for third. The safety car peeled into the pits before the final corner, so the cars finished pretty much in line. That meant that although Max crossed the line in fourth, his penalty put him down to 17th and last of the cars still running. A few other cars also got late penalties, so Kimi eventually got 2 points for seventh. We ended up with three British drivers in the top four. You can see the highlights here.

Places were switched a bit in qualifying for the main race. Max got pole ahead of Lando, with Kimi and Oscar in third and fourth. Lewis was eliminated in Q2 and starts twelfth. Qualifying highlights are here.

[Spike]

If any yanks are interested F1 is on at 4pm Eastern on ABC stations. 

[HossC]

1 minute ago, Spike said:

If any yanks are interested F1 is on at 4pm Eastern on ABC stations. 

Thanks, Spike. It's on at 9.00pm over here.

[HossC]

The race is over, but it's 11pm here, so I'm off to bed. I'll write my report tomorrow when the highlights video is available.

In the meantime, instead of the usual drivers' parade lap on the back of a truck, in Miami they drove round the circuit in full-size 2-seater Lego F1 cars. The drivers all seemed to enjoy it, so we may see it again. You can see today's Lego lap here.