Latest news with #SillySeason
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Trackhouse, Daniel Suárez mutually agree to part ways after Cup Series season
Trackhouse Racing and Daniel Suárez announced Tuesday that they had mutually agreed to part ways at the end of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, marking one of the first dominos in the annual 'Silly Season' shift of personnel. As driver of the No. 99 Chevrolet, Suárez scored both of his Cup Series victories under the Trackhouse banner — Sonoma in 2022 and Atlanta last season — and his looming departure at year's end creates a vacancy at one of NASCAR's fastest-growing organizations. Suárez currently ranks 29th in the Cup Series standings at the season's midpoint. Advertisement RELATED: Cup Series standings | Chicago weekend schedule Suárez joined the Justin Marks-founded team as the driver for the team's inaugural season of competition in 2021, when it forged into the Cup Series as a single-car operation. The organization has since grown to three chartered teams, with Suárez aligned with teammates Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen. Suárez has yet to qualify for this year's NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, needing a victory in the final eight regular-season races to reach the postseason. Both of his teammates have clinched playoff berths, with Chastain winning the Coca-Cola 600 in May and SVG prevailing in Suárez's home country of Mexico three weeks later. The 33-year-old veteran said June 4 that his free-agent status was a complication ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series' first event in Mexico City. 'Definitely, it's a distraction,' Suárez said. 'I won't sit here and tell you that it doesn't really matter. It's definitely a distraction, but I'm trying to be as smart as possible and to put all this stuff on the side and to just do my thing on the track.' Advertisement Suárez's most recent contract extension with Trackhouse was announced in August 2024, a one-year deal that kept him in the No. 99 Chevy for a fifth season. But in reaching that agreement, Suárez said that he hoped for company-wide performance gains to sustain their relationship. 'There is a lot of things in Trackhouse that are adjusting and changing,' Suárez said then. 'Performance-wise, we're not exactly where we want to be — not just in the 99 but in Trackhouse as a company, and we have to make sure that we fix that before we want to go any longer. This goes really both ways.' The growth of Trackhouse has been steady. The organization expanded to two teams in 2022, adding Chastain in the first season of NASCAR's Next Gen car. The team also founded Project 91 that year as an avenue to attract global motorsports stars to NASCAR's top series, setting a course to becoming a three-car operation this season with SVG's promotion to Cup. The team also signed teenaged prospect Connor Zilisch to a developmental deal, partnering with JR Motorsports for a full Xfinity Series campaign this year. The 18-year-old rookie, who has made three Cup starts for Trackhouse this season, is a top candidate to replace Suárez in the No. 99.
USA Today
01-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
What should we make of some of the latest Boston Celtics trade rumors?
What should we make of some of the latest Boston Celtics trade rumors? What should we make of some of the latest Boston Celtics trade rumors? We are in the thick of the Celtics' Silly Season (that time of the NBA calendar when a team is in the rumor mill, with interested parties likely having a thumb on the scale), so most things we hear about Boston ought to be taken with several grains of salt. Right now, most of the rumbles that we are hearing mostly revolve around veteran guard Jrue Holiday and ball clubs like the Los Angeles Clippers and Dallas Mavericks. How much stock should we put in what we have been hearing for Celtics trade rumors of late? The hosts of the CLNS Media "Garden Report" podcast, Bobby Manning, Noa Dalzell, Jimmy Toscano, A. Sherrod Blakely and John Zannis took a deep dive into the topic on a recent episode. Check it out! If you enjoy this pod, check out the "How Bout Them Celtics," "First to the Floor," and the many other New England sports podcasts available on the CLNS Media network:
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What should we make of some of the latest Boston Celtics trade rumors?
What should we make of some of the latest Boston Celtics trade rumors? We are in the thick of the Celtics' Silly Season (that time of the NBA calendar when a team is in the rumor mill, with interested parties likely having a thumb on the scale), so most things we hear about Boston ought to be taken with several grains of salt. Right now, most of the rumbles that we are hearing mostly revolve around veteran guard Jrue Holiday and ball clubs like the Los Angeles Clippers and Dallas Mavericks. How much stock should we put in what we have been hearing for Celtics trade rumors of late? Advertisement The hosts of the CLNS Media "Garden Report" podcast, Bobby Manning, Noa Dalzell, Jimmy Toscano, A. Sherrod Blakely and John Zannis took a deep dive into the topic on a recent episode. Check it out! If you enjoy this pod, check out the "How Bout Them Celtics," "First to the Floor," and the many other New England sports podcasts available on the CLNS Media network: This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: What should we make of some of the latest Celtics trade rumors?
New York Times
30-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
NASCAR free agency: What we're hearing about Trackhouse, Connor Zilisch, Kaulig and more
NASCAR's Silly Season — that time of year when drivers and teams are looking to solidify their plans for the next year and speculation about potential moves ramps up — can often be quiet at the onset, giving the feel that no notable major free agency moves will occur. And then, something out of nowhere drops, causing a ripple effect across the Cup Series landscape. Advertisement Quiet is how things presently stand for this year's version of Silly Season — 'very, very quiet,' according to one executive whose team is often in the middle of NASCAR's free-agency period. 'Crickets' is how another industry source described it. This time, though, the expectation from sources throughout the industry is that Silly Season will remain rather uneventful. That's primarily because four of NASCAR's biggest teams — Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske, Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI Racing — essentially have their driver lineups locked in for 2026. Not much change is anticipated among many other teams either, for various reasons (drivers in the middle of contracts, sponsorship, performance, etc.). Still, there are things to keep an eye on into the summer, when many deals are brokered and contracts signed. Let's take a look at the drivers and teams to watch. The big domino this Silly Season is Trackhouse. The Justin Marks-owned team has four drivers under contract and only three spots on its Cup roster — one of which is taken, with Ross Chastain still under contract for multiple years and delivering exceptional performance. Jockeying for the other rides are Daniel Suárez, Shane van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch. The former two are currently teammates with Chastain in Cup, while the latter is a promising rookie in NASCAR's second-tier Xfinity Series. Both van Gisbergen and Zilisch have term remaining on their respective contracts, with Suárez's contract up at the end of the season. And, ultimately, it may come down to just this factor — letting pending free agent Suárez, who sits 30th in points, walk to promote Zilisch. Of course, it may not be this straightforward. Suárez is well-liked within Trackhouse, has sponsorship, and is more proven on ovals than van Gisbergen, who, in just his first full Cup season, has largely struggled with this type of racing after years focusing exclusively on road courses. Trackhouse could decide that van Gisbergen, who is three spots behind Suárez in the points standings, has hit his ceiling as a NASCAR driver and opt to retain Suárez. All of that is predicated on Trackhouse promoting Zilisch. And this is no sure thing. He'll turn just 19 in July, and he's in his first full season competing at NASCAR's national level. Another year of development isn't necessarily a bad thing. And even if he stays in Xfinity full-time, Trackhouse would continue to provide Zilisch limited Cup starts with its fourth part-time entry. Advertisement 'We'll see what his future holds, but right now we have a mechanism in the company to put that extra car out,' Marks said. 'We just want him to get that experience. No expectations for results or anything like that. 'We have the opportunity to give him the learning experience, and we'll continue to do that. The Cup Series is a different sport than the Xfinity Series. It is just so, so difficult. The only way to learn is to go out there and do it.' Keeping Zilisch in Xfinity for another year also effectively allows Trackhouse to kick any major decisions down the road. This pathway would allow Suárez to keep his ride while also giving Marks more of a sample size to see whether van Gisbergen can adapt to ovals. Then, next year, Trackhouse could decide on whether to retain Suárez or van Gisbergen. Marks told The Athletic that no decisions have been made about Trackhouse's 2026 roster, and the team hasn't even started contemplating it. Something to keep in mind, though, there are three street/road courses in the upcoming seven races, giving van Gisbergen a strong chance to score a win. Should he cash in, it would go a long way to firming up his future with Trackhouse for next year. '(Road courses) are where everyone expects us to perform,' van Gisbergen said. '… It's been a big learning process the last couple of months. It'll be nice to have a break and turn right.' A superstar, championship-contending driver like Denny Hamlin being in a contract year would usually generate plenty of discourse on his future. Except in this case, there is a high probability he re-signs with Joe Gibbs Racing, where he's spent the entirety of his 20-year career. Hamlin said as much last week when asked where negotiations stood. 'Working on it,' Hamlin said. 'Should be something done somewhat soon.' Advertisement Seemingly, no Silly Season overview is complete without mentioning Kaulig Racing, whose driver lineup often is in flux from year to year. It came as no surprise, then, that AJ Allmendinger was uncertain about his status for next season — he has bounced between Kaulig's Cup and Xfinity programs in recent years — when asked by The Athletic. Allmendinger said he wasn't sure where things stood, but was happy to do whatever team owner Matt Kaulig and president Chris Rice thought best. But while Allmendinger may be unclear, Rice left no doubt which series Allmendinger will be competing in next year, saying that '100 percent' Allmendinger will remain as driver of Kaulig's No. 16 Cup entry. Keeping Allmendinger in Cup makes sense considering how much he's elevated the team's performance. He is currently ranked 18th in the standings, just 13 points behind the provisional cutoff to make the playoffs. Ask someone in the garage what they think of 23XI Racing reserve driver Corey Heim and the likely response is that he's both ready for and deserving of a full-time Cup ride. The soon-to-be 23-year-old has 15 Truck Series wins in 75 career starts and impressed in limited Cup starts. 'He's going to be a Sunday Cup guy,' said Hamlin, 23XI co-owner. 'There's no doubt in my mind about it. He's going to be with 23XI for the long haul.' But while Heim will likely be in Cup full-time someday, it won't be next year. Instead, he'll continue to race full-time outside of Cup (with spot Cup starts mixed in) while waiting for an opportunity to materialize. Currently, that opportunity isn't there. 23XI's 2026 lineup is set with Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace and Riley Herbst all under contract. That makes 2027 the earliest timeline for Heim to secure a full-time Cup ride. '(Heim is) doing everything (he's been) asked to,' Hamlin said. 'He's in the building multiple times per week, working on his craft, continuing to get better, waiting on the opportunity. And he knows he's got a long-term future with 23XI Racing, and he's happy with that. And he's happy with the development process that we have set out for him in the future. But, ultimately, there's only three cars, three charters that we're allowed to have, and so we have to figure out in the future where we go with that.' Other names to watch (listed alphabetically): Aric Almirola, Corey LaJoie, Jesse Love, Sam Mayer, Chandler Smith (Top photo of Connor Zilisch hugging Trackhouse teammate Ross Chastain: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)
USA Today
28-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Taking the pulse of some recent Boston Celtics trade proposals
Taking the pulse of some recent Boston Celtics trade proposals The Boston Celtics have seen their start to Silly Season -- that period of the NBA calendar when many if not most of the rumors you hear are quietly being driven by agendas, and speculation on what a team might do next runs rampant -- come early. With a Boston loss in six games to the New York Knicks in the 2025 NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals, said speculation has begun with a vengeance, and not all of it makes very much sense. The hosts of the CLNS Media "How Bout Them Celtics!" podcast, Jack Simone and Sam LaFrance, took some time on a recent episode of their show to talk over some of the trade proposals involving the Celtics, sharing their thoughts on how realistic any of them were. Take a look at the clip embedded below to hear what they had to say! If you enjoy this pod, check out the "How Bout Them Celtics," "First to the Floor," and the many other New England sports podcasts available on the CLNS Media network:
