Latest news with #Next-Gen
Reuters
11-04-2025
- Automotive
- Reuters
Stubbs: Bristol an ideal venue for Hamlin's race for three straight
April 11 - Denny Hamlin has the chance to reach a mark no NASCAR Cup Series driver has reached since all the way back in March -- and despite the fact that only a month has gone by since it was last accomplished, it would be very impressive. Christopher Bell's three wins in a row at Atlanta, Circuit of the Americas and Phoenix Raceway may lighten the impact of what Hamlin could accomplish in Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, but make no mistake, winning three NASCAR races in a row is no small feat. If Hamlin crosses the line first, it would be his third consecutive win after he collected victories at Martinsville Speedway (March 30) and Darlington Raceway (April 6). Bristol is the perfect venue for Hamlin to go for his third win in a row. In the four Next-Gen races held at "Thunder Valley," Hamlin hasn't finished worse than ninth. That four-race stretch includes wins in the 2023 Bristol night race and the 2024 Food City 500. His finishes at Bristol before the current era vary on a wider scale, but there's no denying that Bristol has been Hamlin's playground with the Next-Gen car. Hamlin has no short list of rivals threatening to end his winning streak at two. Kyle Larson hasn't finished worse than fifth at Bristol in the Next-Gen era. The winner of the 2024 Bristol night race is seeking history of his own this weekend, as he looks to be the first driver other than Kyle Busch to complete a triple sweep and win all three NASCAR races on a given weekend. Hamlin won't win a third consecutive race without competition from the last driver to win three in a row. Bell hasn't finished worse than 10th in the four Bristol races with the Next-Gen car, and in eight races this season, he has five top-five finishes. After an uncharacteristically poor two-race stretch at Las Vegas and Homestead (12th, 29th), the No. 20 team bounced back with top-five finishes at Martinsville and Darlington. Comparing Hamlin's potential streak to Bell's and the drivers that have won three in a row before them provides more context to Hamlin's own run. In 2021, Larson won the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, Sonoma and Nashville consecutively. Before Bell, he was the last driver to win three races in a row, and nearly made it four at Pocono before a flat tire on the final lap gave the win to Alex Bowman. In 2018, Brad Keselowski won the Southern 500 at Darlington, the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis and the Cup Series playoff opener at Las Vegas consecutively. Like the drivers that won three in a row after him, Keselowski found his three wins at three very different racetracks. The bottom line? It's hard to win three NASCAR Cup Series races in a row, especially in a modern era where the variety of the schedule puts different disciplines of racing on tap constantly. Only the best drivers can accomplish such a feat. Just take a look at those who came before Keselowski, Larson and Bell. Jimmie Johnson won four Chase races in a row in 2007 en route to his second consecutive championship, while Mark Martin won four in a row in the summer of 1993. In 1992, Bill Elliott won four of the first five races of the season before ultimately falling just shy of the 1992 championship. Hamlin's resume and legacy already rival those whose feat he will try to match inside the "Last Great Colosseum" on Sunday, but winning three races in a row would just be another accolade on a long list of them for a man who is currently the best driver in NASCAR history to never win a Cup Series title.
Reuters
28-03-2025
- Automotive
- Reuters
Stubbs: Controlled aggression key as Martinsville puts best to test
March 28 - The NASCAR Cup Series will see the pack tightly bunched and organized Sunday when the seventh race of the 2025 season takes to the track at the famed "Paperclip" that is Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. Martinsville has been on the NASCAR schedule since the first season of competition in 1948. The half-mile oval, known for its long straightaways and tight corners, is famous for pushing man and machine to their absolute limit over the course of an afternoon. A few drivers have made Martinsville their playground over the years. Richard Petty is atop Martinsville's all-time wins list with 15 victories, while those below him also are known as true Martinsville masters. Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson each won nine grandfather clocks, given to the drivers that can keep time the best on the Cup Series' shortest track. Darrell Waltrip and Rusty Wallace won at Martinsville 11 and seven times, respectively. Denny Hamlin is the active wins leader at Martinsville with five victories. Martinsville lends itself to those who toe the line between aggression and foolishness. It's a track where drivers have to keep both themselves and their car cool, as tempers and brake issues have been the focal point on a number of occasions. The tight confines favor only the best drivers in the sport -- you won't find fluke winners at Martinsville under normal circumstances. Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell -- four of the best drivers currently competing in the Cup Series -- are the four most recent Martinsville winners. Simply put, Martinsville is a track that favors the best. Ahead of the Cook Out 400, here are the drivers to watch during Sunday's race: Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Ford, Team Penske It's not a stretch to call Martinsville Blaney's best track. In 18 starts, Blaney has 12 top-10 finishes and an average finish of 8.3. He hasn't finished worse than 11th at the half-mile short track since October of 2018, and in the six races run at Martinsville with the Next-Gen car, Blaney hasn't finished worse than seventh. He's also won the last two fall races at Martinsville, and he'll be hungry for a win after a dominant performance at Homestead was negated by a blown engine. William Byron, No. 24 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports Byron is the defending winner of the Martinsville spring race and also won at Martinsville in the spring of 2022. He has eight top-10 finishes in 14 Martinsville starts, and has quickly turned into a consistent favorite whenever the Cup Series pays a visit to the asphalt straightaways and concrete turns. Byron has been one of the best drivers to start the 2025 season, and a win at Martinsville on Sunday would be a nice compliment to his season-opening win in the Daytona 500. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing Hamlin hasn't won at Martinsville since 2015, but he didn't win five races at his home track by accident. In 38 Martinsville starts, Hamlin has 20 top-five finishes and 26 top-10 efforts. The last time the Cup Series visited Martinsville, Hamlin started 37th and finished fifth in one of his best drives in recent memory. He hasn't won at Martinsville in a decade, but he has an excellent shot to break his 10-year Martinsville drought on Sunday. Josh Berry, No. 21 Ford, Wood Brothers Racing For the first time in his young Cup Series career, Berry can't be called an underdog. After collecting his first career win at Las Vegas on Mar. 16, Berry enters Martinsville looking to add to his impressive short-track resume. His two Cup Series starts at the track yielded finishes of 25th and 16th, but he does have three top-five finishes at Martinsville in Xfinity Series competition. In his first Xfinity Series start at Martinsville, Berry collected the first win of his NASCAR career, which effectively turned him into a star overnight. Four years later, Berry returns looking for the second win of his Cup Series career, while trying to establish himself as a weekly contender.
USA Today
20-03-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Bengals legend Chad 'Ochocinco' Johnson gives advice to prospects in 2025 draft class
Bengals legend Chad 'Ochocinco' Johnson gives advice to prospects in 2025 draft class This week, Touchdown Wire's Ed Easton Jr. spoke to Cincinnati Bengals legend and retired NFL wide receiver Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson at the Whitney Museum in New York City during his panel appearance for eMLS CUP 2025. During his interview with Easton Jr., Johnson shared valuable advice for the talented crop of wide receiver prospects in the 2025 NFL draft class, and gave his opinion on touchdown celebrations in the league today. "Focus on your craft and not your brand because of social media right now; everybody wants to create this brand, and, you know, without working on the craft, but if you're good at your craft, the brand can create itself," Johnson advised. "So everybody's getting lost and worrying about a brand deal. Take care of everything if you're that boy on the field. Social media is somewhat of a drug, in a sense. You have to be seen focusing on your craft. I haven't played football in 13-14 years, and that brand of mine is still just as strong as if I had just played yesterday, but I was great at what I did on the field. So you take care of that part. The rest is carrying itself. The name is carrying itself. I ain't caught the ball in years." The six-time Pro Bowler spoke on Major League Soccer's GAME ON: Next-Gen Fandom panel, which featured thought leaders, industry disruptors, and Gen Z voices. The panel explored the evolution of sports consumption, the influences of gaming, hip-hop, digital art, and sneaker culture, and how authenticity in the digital age is essential for audience engagement. "There's another example of how sports expands and transcends boundaries and athletes today," said MLS Executive Vice President and Chief Engagement Officer Sola Winley. "They resonate, and so you look for heroes, right, people that can transcend teams, since athletes are moving around, and people feel connected to athletes and individuals and want to know what they're doing in their life. So Chad [Johnson is] out here today, hanging out with us and enjoying some Major League Soccer." Johnson enjoyed pushing the boundaries of how he could celebrate touchdowns during his successful football career, and he chimed in strongly on the freedom players have today with their ideas. "That's what made it so fun, the fact that you couldn't do it," Johnson explained. "So, [we] always [found] loopholes around it. Today, they let everybody celebrate, but nobody's pushing the [expletive] envelope. Push the envelope. I would push it. Listen, if I was playing today and you're allowed to celebrate, I'm pulling the fan out of the stands or some [expletive] that hadn't been done before. We can celebrate as a group. I would integrate. Listen, the game of football is all about fan interaction. I would take that to the next level: fan engagement. I'll pull somebody out of the stands so fast. Can you imagine?" "We've seen it. No matter what you do, the stuff I did was authentic. It was one of one. It's organic, not everything you see now. We've seen that before," said Johnson in his evaluation of today's NFL celebrations. "Doing the Temptations and the Five Heartbeats are doing stuff that we've already seen, whether through TV media. I would push the envelope. Do something not in the rule book and force them to make a rule."
