Latest news with #AustinDillon
Al Arabiya
3 hours ago
- Automotive
- Al Arabiya
NASCAR Set For Summer Stretch March Madness Style. Will New Tournament End Summer Schedule Malaise?
It's time to bust out the brackets, pick an upset or two, and follow winners on the road–a journey over city streets, concrete, and bricks–to the final four and beyond. Totally awesome, baby? Forget all the upset specials in March. NASCAR will find out soon enough if its attempt to snap out of a mid-summer malaise with its first in-season tournament is a success with drivers and fans as it strives to boost engagement and build buzz in the staid regular season. The concept has already juiced enthusiasm in NASCAR to levels not seen since the halcyon days when Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough duked it out in the 1979 Daytona 500. 'To be really honest with you,' 2020 NASCAR champion Chase Elliott said, 'I have not paid any attention to it.' Maybe a look at the matchup will get NASCAR's most popular driver pumped! Elliott is seeded fifth against No. 28 seed Austin Dillon in the first round of the head-to-head showdown in the race-within-the-race set for this weekend at the track better known as Atlanta Motor Speedway. Here's a refresher for Elliott and any other sports fan who missed out on the specifics of NASCAR joining the in-season tournament party, much like attempts in the NBA, NHL, and, of course, throughout the world in soccer. NASCAR is set to start the engines on a five-race bracket-style tournament called the In-Season Challenge in the midst of the summer slate, which comes with a $1 million prize to the winner. The final 32-driver field was set by results of the last three races at Michigan, Mexico City, and Pocono. The drivers are paired in head-to-head matchups based on seeding, with the winners advancing to the next round in a bracket format that mirrors the NCAA basketball tournament's. Buoyed by a win at Michigan and a runner-up finish at Pocono, Denny Hamlin earned the top seed. He'll square off–race off?–against No. 32 seed Ty Dillon. Pocono winner Chase Briscoe is the No. 2 seed and is pitted against No. 31 seed Noah Gragson. Chris Buescher is third, Christopher Bell fourth, and Elliott fifth among notable names. The format is single elimination, with the field cut to 16 at the street race in Chicago, eight at Sonoma, four on the lone concrete track in the series at Dover, and the final two over the yard of bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Challenge is part of NASCAR's media rights deal that includes TNT, and the Atlanta-based cable network will broadcast all five races in the tournament, starting with the 400-miler in Atlanta. Aside from a shrug from Elliott and a few others, drivers are intrigued by the idea of increasing the stakes in each race beyond a playoff berth, trophy, and the winner's purse. 'I love it. I think it's great,' three-time Cup champion Joey Logano said. 'I think it's placed perfectly where it is in the season. This is kind of that moment where the newness is worn off. We're into the rhythm, we're racing every week. It's starting to start a little bit of who's going to be in the playoffs, who's not, the cutoff line, all those types of things. But it's not really the main story quite yet.' Stories are what sell, of course, and the sizzle in Pocono over the weekend had little to do with which drivers or teams are the ones to beat for the 2025 championship. Rather, it was whether two pedestrian drivers were going to fight, the end of Amazon Prime's run of wildly popular telecasts, and Hall of Fame driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s win in his first race as a crew chief. 'This really spices up the mid-part of the season,' Logano said. So does placing a few bucks on No. 11 to win. But as of Monday afternoon, most sports gambling sites did not offer odds on specific matchups headed into Atlanta. NASCAR is offering $1 million to a winning fan with a perfect bracket in its fantasy game. There are some quirks to the bracket: Shane van Gisbergen won the Cup race in Mexico City and is not in the field, while series points leader William Byron is only a No. 9 seed. The tournament boasts matchups in the first round of past Cup champions (Kyle Busch–Brad Keselowski), former teammates (Briscoe–Gragson), and even best friends (Bubba Wallace–Daniel Suarez). The idea for the challenge was largely championed by Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 champion, who floated the idea of a mid-season tournament on his 'Actions Detrimental' podcast. When NASCAR bought into the idea and announced the creation of the tournament last year, Hamlin called the tournament on social media 'such a win for our sport and drivers.' He jokingly added, 'I will collect my $1M royalty next season.' Hamlin's on deck and clearly a favorite to win it all with three wins this year for Joe Gibbs Racing and the top seed. (And let's not haggle over who gets credit in court.) 'I'm a sports guy, so I'm going to be engaged with it,' Hamlin said. 'I'll know who I will have to beat next week. I've told the team we are going to try and do what we can. We are going to be up against it because we are going to tracks that aren't very favorable to me. But we are going to try to do our best to beat that one car for the next four to five weeks.' NASCAR will present the tournament winner at Indianapolis with a ring, jackets, trophy, and–oh yeah–a million bucks. That's enough cash to get anyone's attention–even Elliott's. 'I don't know what you get. You get anything?' Elliott asked. 'Oh, a million dollars to the winner? Then yeah, we want to win.'
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
NASCAR set for summer stretch March Madness style. Will new tournament end summer schedule malaise?
Chris Buescher walks to his car before a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Hermanos Rodríguez race track in Mexico City, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano) Chris Buescher walks to his car before a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Hermanos Rodríguez race track in Mexico City, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano) LONG POND, Pa. (AP) — It's time to bust out the brackets, pick an upset or two, and follow winners on the road — a journey over city streets, concrete and bricks — to the final four and beyond. Totally awesome, baby? Advertisement Forget all the upset specials in March. NASCAR will find out soon enough if its attempt to snap out of a mid-summer malaise with its first in-season tournament is a success with drivers and fans as it strives to boost engagement and build buzz in the staid regular season. The concept has already juiced enthusiasm in NASCAR to levels not seen since the halcyon days when Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough duked it out in the 1979 Daytona 500. 'To be really honest with you,' 2020 NASCAR champion Chase Elliott said, 'I have not paid any attention to it.' Maybe a look at the matchup will get NASCAR's most popular driver pumped! Advertisement Elliott is seeded fifth against No. 28 seed Austin Dillon in the first round of the head-to-head showdown in the race-within-the-race set for this weekend at the track better known as Atlanta Motor Speedway. Here's a refresher for Elliott and any other sports fan who missed out on the specifics of NASCAR joining the in-season tournament party, much like attempts in the NBA, NHL, and, of course, throughout the world in soccer. NASCAR is set to start the engines on a five-race, bracket-style tournament called the In-Season Challenge in the midst of the summer slate, which comes with a $1 million prize to the winner. The final 32-driver field was set by results of the last three races at Michigan, Mexico City and Pocono. The drivers are paired in head-to-head matchups based on seeding, with the winners advancing to the next round in a bracket format that mirrors the NCAA basketball tournaments. Advertisement Buoyed by a win at Michigan and a runner-up finish at Pocono, Denny Hamlin earned the top seed. He'll square off — race off? — against No. 32 seed Ty Dillon. Pocono winner Chase Briscoe is the No. 2 seed and is pitted against No. 31 seed Noah Gragson. Chris Buescher is third, Christopher Bell fourth and Elliott fifth, among notable names. The format is single elimination with the field cut to 16 at the street race in Chicago, eight at Sonoma, four on the lone concrete track in the series at Dover and the final two over the yard of bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Challenge is part of NASCAR's media rights deal that includes TNT, and the Atlanta-based cable network will broadcast all five races in the tournament, starting with the 400-miler in Atlanta. Advertisement Aside from a shrug from Elliott and a few others, drivers are intrigued by the idea of increasing the stakes in each race beyond a playoff berth, trophy and the winner's purse. 'I love it. I think it's great,' three-time Cup champion Joey Logano said. 'I think it's placed perfectly where it is in the season. This is kind of that moment where the newness is worn off. We're into the rhythm, we're racing every week. It's starting to start a little bit of, who's going to be in the playoffs, who's not, the cutoff line all those types of things. But it's not really the main story quite yet.' Stories are what sell, of course, and the sizzle in Pocono over the weekend had little to do with which drivers or teams are the ones to beat for the 2025 championship. Rather, it was whether two pedestrian drivers were going to fight, the end of Amazon Prime's run of wildly-popular telecasts and Hall of Fame driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s win in his first race as a crew chief. 'This really spices up the mid-part of the season,' Logano said. Advertisement So does placing a few bucks on No. 11 to win. But as of Monday afternoon, most sports gambling sites did not offer odds on specific matchups headed into Atlanta. NASCAR is offering $1 million to a winning fan with a perfect bracket in its fantasy game. There are some quirks to the bracket: Shane van Gisbergen won the Cup race in Mexico City and is not in the field while series points leader William Byron is only a No. 9 seed. The tournament boasts matchups in the first-round of past Cup champions (Kyle Busch-Brad Keselowski), former teammates (Briscoe-Gragson), and even best friends (Bubba Wallace-Daniel Suarez). The idea for the challenge was largely championed by Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 champion who floated the idea of a mid-season tournament on his 'Actions Detrimental" podcast. When NASCAR bought into the idea and announced the creation of the tournament last year, Hamlin called the tournament on social media 'such a win for our sport and drivers.' He jokingly added, 'I will collect my 1M royalty next season.' Advertisement Hamlin's on deck and clearly a favorite to win it all, with three wins this year for Joe Gibbs Racing and the top seed. (And let's not haggle over who gets credit in court.) 'I'm a sports guy, so I'm going to be engaged with it," Hamlin said. "I'll know who I will have to beat next week. I've told the team, we are going to try and do what we can. We are going to be up against it because we are going to tracks that aren't very favorable to me. But we are going to try to do our best to beat that one car for the next four to five weeks.' NASCAR will present the tournament winner at Indianapolis with a ring, jackets, trophy and — oh yeah, a million bucks. Advertisement That's enough cash to get anyone's attention — even Elliott's. 'I don't know what you get. You get anything,' Elliott asked. 'Oh, a million dollars to the winner? Then yeah, we want to win.' ___ AP auto racing:
Associated Press
3 hours ago
- Automotive
- Associated Press
NASCAR set for summer stretch March Madness style. Will new tournament end summer schedule malaise?
LONG POND, Pa. (AP) — It's time to bust out the brackets, pick an upset or two, and follow winners on the road — a journey over city streets, concrete and bricks — to the final four and beyond. Totally awesome, baby? Forget all the upset specials in March. NASCAR will find out soon enough if its attempt to snap out of a mid-summer malaise with its first in-season tournament is a success with drivers and fans as it strives to boost engagement and build buzz in the staid regular season. The concept has already juiced enthusiasm in NASCAR to levels not seen since the halcyon days when Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough duked it out in the 1979 Daytona 500. 'To be really honest with you,' 2020 NASCAR champion Chase Elliott said, 'I have not paid any attention to it.' Maybe a look at the matchup will get NASCAR's most popular driver pumped! Elliott is seeded fifth against No. 28 seed Austin Dillon in the first round of the head-to-head showdown in the race-within-the-race set for this weekend at the track better known as Atlanta Motor Speedway. Here's a refresher for Elliott and any other sports fan who missed out on the specifics of NASCAR joining the in-season tournament party, much like attempts in the NBA, NHL, and, of course, throughout the world in soccer. NASCAR is set to start the engines on a five-race, bracket-style tournament called the In-Season Challenge in the midst of the summer slate, which comes with a $1 million prize to the winner. The final 32-driver field was set by results of the last three races at Michigan, Mexico City and Pocono. The drivers are paired in head-to-head matchups based on seeding, with the winners advancing to the next round in a bracket format that mirrors the NCAA basketball tournaments. Buoyed by a win at Michigan and a runner-up finish at Pocono, Denny Hamlin earned the top seed. He'll square off — race off? — against No. 32 seed Ty Dillon. Pocono winner Chase Briscoe is the No. 2 seed and is pitted against No. 31 seed Noah Gragson. Chris Buescher is third, Christopher Bell fourth and Elliott fifth, among notable names. The format is single elimination with the field cut to 16 at the street race in Chicago, eight at Sonoma, four on the lone concrete track in the series at Dover and the final two over the yard of bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Challenge is part of NASCAR's media rights deal that includes TNT, and the Atlanta-based cable network will broadcast all five races in the tournament, starting with the 400-miler in Atlanta. Aside from a shrug from Elliott and a few others, drivers are intrigued by the idea of increasing the stakes in each race beyond a playoff berth, trophy and the winner's purse. 'I love it. I think it's great,' three-time Cup champion Joey Logano said. 'I think it's placed perfectly where it is in the season. This is kind of that moment where the newness is worn off. We're into the rhythm, we're racing every week. It's starting to start a little bit of, who's going to be in the playoffs, who's not, the cutoff line all those types of things. But it's not really the main story quite yet.' Stories are what sell, of course, and the sizzle in Pocono over the weekend had little to do with which drivers or teams are the ones to beat for the 2025 championship. Rather, it was whether two pedestrian drivers were going to fight, the end of Amazon Prime's run of wildly-popular telecasts and Hall of Fame driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s win in his first race as a crew chief. 'This really spices up the mid-part of the season,' Logano said. So does placing a few bucks on No. 11 to win. But as of Monday afternoon, most sports gambling sites did not offer odds on specific matchups headed into Atlanta. NASCAR is offering $1 million to a winning fan with a perfect bracket in its fantasy game. There are some quirks to the bracket: Shane van Gisbergen won the Cup race in Mexico City and is not in the field while series points leader William Byron is only a No. 9 seed. The tournament boasts matchups in the first-round of past Cup champions (Kyle Busch-Brad Keselowski), former teammates (Briscoe-Gragson), and even best friends (Bubba Wallace-Daniel Suarez). The idea for the challenge was largely championed by Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 champion who floated the idea of a mid-season tournament on his 'Actions Detrimental' podcast. When NASCAR bought into the idea and announced the creation of the tournament last year, Hamlin called the tournament on social media 'such a win for our sport and drivers.' He jokingly added, 'I will collect my 1M royalty next season.' Hamlin's on deck and clearly a favorite to win it all, with three wins this year for Joe Gibbs Racing and the top seed. (And let's not haggle over who gets credit in court.) 'I'm a sports guy, so I'm going to be engaged with it,' Hamlin said. 'I'll know who I will have to beat next week. I've told the team, we are going to try and do what we can. We are going to be up against it because we are going to tracks that aren't very favorable to me. But we are going to try to do our best to beat that one car for the next four to five weeks.' NASCAR will present the tournament winner at Indianapolis with a ring, jackets, trophy and — oh yeah, a million bucks. That's enough cash to get anyone's attention — even Elliott's. 'I don't know what you get. You get anything,' Elliott asked. 'Oh, a million dollars to the winner? Then yeah, we want to win.' ___ AP auto racing:
Associated Press
03-06-2025
- General
- Associated Press
Marine Toys for Tots and Richard Childress Racing United to Race for Hope with Austin Dillon's No. 3 Chevrolet in Nashville, Tennessee
TRIANGLE, Va., June 3, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Marine Toys for Tots proudly continued its multi-year partnership with Richard Childress Racing (RCR) this past Sunday, sponsoring Austin Dillon's No. 3 Chevrolet at the Nashville race to bring their shared mission of hope to the National stage. Dillon's iconic No. 3 Chevrolet carried the Toys for Tots logo—serving as a high-speed symbol of compassion, resilience, and the power of giving. Taking the track on June 1 at 6:00 p.m., Dillon raced with purpose, representing the millions of families across America who rely on the support and generosity of Toys for Tots and the American public. He raced across the finish line, and his impact reached far beyond the checkered flag. 'This was more than just a race—it was a symbol of the resilience and potential of children across America,' said LtGen Jim Laster, USMC (Retired), President & CEO of the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. 'Together with Richard Childress Racing, we were honored to bring visibility to our mission and empower communities to make a lasting difference in the lives of disadvantaged children.' More than a Christmastime charity, Toys for Tots delivers joy, emotional support, and a sense of normalcy to children in need all year long—through toys, books, and other meaningful gifts. As the Program expands its reach beyond the Christmas season, its collaboration with RCR and Austin Dillon is helping drive that mission forward with renewed energy and purpose. 'Our commitment to being a constant source of hope and support is stronger than ever—because no child living in poverty should ever be forgotten or left behind,' says LtGen Laster. 'The collaboration with RCR and Austin Dillon creates new opportunities for Toys for Tots to extend its mission, ensuring that disadvantaged children receive the hope and support they deserve.' Beyond the excitement of race day, this partnership is a powerful example of what can happen when passion meets purpose. Like a successful race, helping children thrive takes teamwork, perseverance, and a shared belief in something greater than ourselves. With Austin Dillon behind the wheel, this collaboration continues to raise awareness and mobilize support, ensuring that the spirit of giving extends beyond the holiday season and into the everyday lives of children who need it most. Every lap at Nashville was more than a competition—it was a call to come together and build a future full of hope, promise, and opportunity. To learn more about Toys for Tots or make a donation, visit Media Contact: Ted Silvester VP Marketing and Development (703) 649-2021 [email protected] View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Toys for Tots
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Richard Childress Weighs In on Kyle Busch's Nashville Spin With Austin Dillon Advice
Richard Childress Weighs In on Kyle Busch's Nashville Spin With Austin Dillon Advice originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Kyle Busch joined Richard Childress last weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway and announced that he had signed an extension to continue racing for the organization through the 2026 season. Shortly after the announcement, the No. 8 car had a steering issue and failed to make a lap during practice. Advertisement The two-time Cup Series champion qualified 24th and finished 15th in the race. A week later at Nashville was an improvement – sort of. He at least made it onto the track for practice. Unfortunately, during the session the 40-year-old lost control of his Chevrolet and went for a spin. Kyle Busch during practice at Nashville Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images 'Happened to just get loose over the bump,' crew chief Randall Burnett said over the team radio. 'I was loose before the bump,' Busch corrected. 'Spinning out on entry. It was all on the right rear through the corner, and then it hit the bump and spun out.' 'Copy that,' the crew chief responded. A short time later, team owner Richard Childress chimed in on the conversation. 'Hit anything Derek or just spun?' Childress questioned spotter Derek Kneeland about the No. 8 driver's incident. Advertisement 'No, just half spun,' Kneeland responded. 'He caught it. Went straight through the grass.' 'Yeah, Austin (Dillon) said when he hit it, you hit it wrong, it'll just turn sideways on you,' the 79-year-old relayed. Childress listening and commenting on the team radio isn't anything new. He's done it for years. For Busch, he knows this. And he also understands after last week's news, he'll get to hear it for at least a couple more years. Related: Kyle Busch and Team Upset With NASCAR on Day That Goes From Bad to Worse This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 1, 2025, where it first appeared.
