Latest news with #Daytona
Fox News
19 hours ago
- Automotive
- Fox News
10 Races Left In NASCAR Regular Season: Who Makes Playoffs And Who Doesn't
With 10 races left in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season, 10 drivers should feel like they can breathe easy when it comes to making the playoffs. Two more should feel pretty good. The other 24 full-time drivers? They must take a win-and-in approach. The playoff field of 16 drivers is made up of the regular-season champion plus the 15 drivers based on the number of wins with ties broken by points. There have never been more than 16 winners in the 26-race regular season, so typically there are a couple of spots available to those highest in points with no wins. Of the 10 races remaining, three are on street or road courses (Chicago, Sonoma, Watkins Glen), three on tracks between 0.75-to-1 mile (Dover, Iowa, Richmond), two are on drafting tracks (Atlanta, Daytona) and two are on big tracks that race as a hybrid of intermediates and speedways (Pocono, Indianapolis). So who's in the field and who should be nervous? Let's take a look. They Won. They're In Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell are absolutely locked in with three wins apiece this year. The only way a driver with one win doesn't get in is if there are seven new winners in the next 10 races. That's highly unlikely in a season where there have been 10 winners in 16 races. Here are the one-win drivers and their points: William Byron (604), Ryan Blaney (466), Ross Chastain (443), Joey Logano (411), Austin Cindric (337), Josh Berry (320) and Shane van Gisbergen (242). All of those drivers should feel safe. Good On Points? Chase Elliott, who currently has a 146-point edge on the current cutoff, and Tyler Reddick (+123) should be in. That's unless there are five new winners, and they aren't among those five in the final 10 races. But for the moment, count them in. That leaves four spots available. Good … For Now? The four other drivers currently above the bubble are Bubba Wallace (+57), Chase Briscoe (+39), Alex Bowman (+22) and Chris Buescher (+19). All four would be no surprise if they won and all four would be no surprise if they slumped and miss the playoffs. None of these drivers have necessarily been on the verge of consistently winning. Bowman has 110 laps led (of 4,331 this year), Wallace has led 103 laps, Briscoe 92 laps and Buescher 16 laps. Let's take a look at each one: Wallace (+57): Wallace will have the best shot to win at the drafting tracks as well as Pocono and Indianapolis. He has two career victories, one at a drafting track and another at an intermediate. He has three top fives this year. Briscoe (+39): Briscoe has shown speed with three recent poles. He has two career victories, and his best shots will be Pocono and Indianapolis, as he has run his best on intermediate tracks. Of all these four drivers, he has the most top fives (five) this year. Briscoe made the playoffs last year in dramatic fashion by winning the regular-season finale at Darlington (which is the playoff opener this year). Bowman (+22): Bowman has the most career wins of any of these drivers with eight, and he has won at a variety of tracks. He won at Chicago last year to make the playoffs. He has three top fives this year. Buescher (+19): In 2023, Buescher won three of the final five regular-season races, including at two tracks (Richmond and Daytona) that are among the remaining races. The thing is, he has had just two top-five finishes this year. Slight Chance On Points These drivers currently behind the cutoff would need everything to fall their way and a strong final 10 races to make it on points. Their best bet is to win. Let's take a look. Ryan Preece (-19): Preece has never won a Cup race. But he would be above the cutline if he wasn't disqualified from Talladega for too many shims on his spoiler. Preece has shown more consistent speed than all the drivers below the cutoff. Michael McDowell (-43): McDowell has two career Cup wins — one at Daytona and then at the Indianapolis road course. The drafting tracks and road courses remain his best chances. AJ Allmendinger (-45): Allmendinger has one top five this year (at Charlotte) but his best bet will be at the road courses, where all three of his career Cup wins have come. Kyle Busch (-50): The driver with 63 Cup wins but riding a 73-race winless streak could be a threat anywhere. His top-10 finishes this year have come on a variety of tracks. Could they win? Carson Hocevar (-60): Hocevar has had a pair of runner-up finishes this year. His biggest problem is that he has angered too many other drivers. And in the world of give-and-take, he won't be given anything. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (-61): Stenhouse has four career victories but hasn't led a lap this year. The drafting tracks are likely his only shot to win. Erik Jones (-62): Jones has three career wins but is riding a 95-race winless streak. The drafting tracks are likely his best chance, although his two top 10s this year have come on intermediate tracks. John Hunter Nemechek (-72): Nemechek has three top 10s in his last six races. He would need things to fall his way, but he has 24 career wins in Xfinity and trucks. So he shouldn't be flustered if he gets in the position to win. Ty Gibbs (-77): Gibbs is still looking for his first career win, as he enters his 104th career start. He appeared to be the only driver who would possibly challenge Shane van Gisbergen last week at Mexico City. His best finishes this year were a third at Michigan and a third at Bristol. This shows that it could be any track where he threatens for his first career win. Austin Dillon (-89): Dillon, who has five career victories, won at Richmond last year in controversial fashion, but he has always been stronger there. Richmond and the drafting tracks are his best shots. Daniel Suarez (-99): With three top 10s this year, Suarez's two career victories have come on a road course (Sonoma) and a drafting track (Atlanta). Both are on the remaining schedule for the regular season. Brad Keselowski (-140): Keselowski has 36 career win,s and while he hasn't had the season he wanted, if he is in position to win, he knows how to get to the finish line first. But the facts are that he has just one top five this year. Long Shots This group winning would be upset city, as they have yet to show much this season when it comes to challenging for a win: Zane Smith (-86, two top 10s this year), Todd Gilliland (-87, two top 10s), Justin Haley (-126, one top 10), Ty Dillon (-137, no top 10s this year), Noah Gragson (-142, three top 10s), Cole Custer (-169, one top 10), Riley Herbst (-177, no top 10s): Cody Ware (-272, no top 20s). Among them, Haley and Custer each have one career win. Prediction It is hard to say, but beyond the 10 winners already this year … Elliott, Reddick, Wallace, Bowman, Buescher and Gibbs. While other drivers have been more consistent this year, Gibbs has been the strongest lately to show he is close to the win. And he has done it at a variety of tracks. Is this a diss of Briscoe? Maybe, but he hasn't turned his recent poles into race-winning threats. Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Swim with a Purpose: CLASH Endurance Announces New Charity Swim Events with Swim Across America
1-Mile Swim and 100M Dolphin Dash Take Place December 7 at Daytona International Speedway DAYTONA, Fla., June 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- CLASH Endurance® and Swim Across America are thrilled to announce two new charity swims in Lake Lloyd, located in the infield of the iconic Daytona International Speedway® on Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. Participants of all ages will have the opportunity to swim alongside notable Olympians in an inspirational one-mile swim or a 100-meter Dolphin Dash with fundraising for critical cancer research as their top priority. Funds raised will support Swim Across America's breakthrough pediatric cancer grants with its beneficiaries and CLASH Endurance's philanthropic partner The NASCAR Foundation. Swim Across America, founded in 1987, hosts 24 annual open-water swims from Nantucket to under the Golden Gate Bridge, and hundreds and pool swims each year that fund cancer research and patient programs, raising more than $100M to date. Swim Across America has funded transformative trials that led to the FDA-approved immunotherapy cancer medications Keytruda, Opdivo, Yervoy and Tecentriq. The organization has also supported Memorial Sloan Kettering's landmark trials including the recent Phase II clinical trial published in The New England Journal of Medicine showing an 80% success rate treating MMRd cancers with immunotherapy alone. Swim Across America also recently awarded the first-of-their-kind gene editing innovation grants to Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to advance safer, more effective targeted treatments. "Swim Across America, CLASH Endurance and The NASCAR Foundation joining together makes so much sense as The NASCAR Foundation helps so many kids who are battling cancer," commented Rob Butcher, CEO of Swim Across America. "To have a Swim Across America charity event in Daytona on the CLASH Endurance Family Weekend means we will make even bigger strides together in the fight against cancer." The NASCAR Foundation is a leading charity that works to improve the lives of children who need it most in NASCAR racing communities through the Speediatrics Children's Fund and the Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award. Serving as a designated 4-Star Charity by Charity Navigator for its strong financial health and ongoing accountability and transparency, it has contributed more than $50 Million to impact the lives of more than 1.7 million children nationwide since 2006. "We are excited to be a part of the new Swim Across America swims during the CLASH Endurance weekend at Daytona International Speedway. We truly appreciate the many years of support from our friends at CLASH and it is a privilege to team up again to help improve the health and well-being of kids across the country and in our race communities," said Nichole Krieger, vice president and executive director of The NASCAR Foundation. On December 7, when hundreds of swimmers and volunteers dive into Lake Lloyd to make waves to fight cancer, one-mile swimmers will be required to raise at least $400 by event day; swimmers under 18 will raise a minimum of $200; Dolphin Dash participants can register for$50 and have no fundraising minimum. To register as a swimmer or a volunteer, visit CLASH Endurance CEO Bill Christy says, "We are proud to collaborate with Swim Across America that continues to make a lasting impact in the cancer community. This is a cause that has touched all our lives and we are honored to further support the fight at one of our flagship event weekends." Each December when much of the country battles snow, more than 3,000 participants ranging in age from four to 80+ will take on the speedway through a variety of events including a 5K, kids' triathlon, duathlon, aquabike, triathlons, Test Track and Redline Relay. CLASH Endurance strives to provide a festival-style weekend, which in addition to free activities for spectators and athletes alike, include a wellness expo, food trucks, beer/wine garden and much more. The weekend kicks off with a festive "Jingle Jog 5K" on Friday evening with a start and finish at ONEDaytona. Participants, including those in jogging strollers, will experience Florida's "Magic of Lights" holiday display taking them under the iconic grandstands of the speedway. The Swim Across America 1-mile swim and Dolphin Dash will help cap-off the weekend on Sunday, December 7. "We have swum in some incredible venues and Daytona International Speedway is certainly one of the most iconic," noted Olympic swimmer and Swim Across America Ambassador Rowdy Gaines. "To have a Swim Across America charity swim in Daytona is going to be extra special - I will definitely be there!" CLASH Endurance® is an innovative endurance event company led by athletes with a passion to provide exceptional race experiences at iconic speedways across the U.S. CLASH embraces inclusion and welcomes athletes of all ages and abilities, from elite professionals to first-time participants. The popular CLASH Endurance DAYTONA event is held at the Daytona International Speedway®, home of 'The Great American Race"- the Daytona 500, and has been featured on NBC and Fox Sports 1/2. Each February, the Daytona Beach Half Marathon & 5K takes athletes on a scenic tour of Daytona and its numerous landmarks and attractions. In addition, CLASH Endurance Miami in March continues to draw a decorated pro field, collegiate athletes from dozens of prestigious universities and weekend warriors for a challenging course at the historic Homestead-Miami Speedway®. Follow The NASCAR Foundation on Facebook at or on X at @NASCAR_FDN. For more information visit Swim Across America hosts open water and pool swims in numerous communities nationwide, from Nantucket to under San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. More than 150 Olympians swim with the organization, including Michael Phelps, Kate Douglass and Missy Franklin. The organization supports more than 60 cancer research projects annually and has ten named Swim Across America Labs at major institutions nationwide. To learn more, visit or follow on social media @SwimAcrossAmerica on Facebook and @SAASwim on Instagram. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Clash USA, LLC Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Asharq Al-Awsat
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Movie Review: From Bumper to Bumper, ‘F1' Is Formula One Spectacle
The wide-screen spectacle of Formula One gets a gleaming, rip-roaring workout in Joseph Kosinski's 'F1,' a fine-tuned machine of a movie that, in its most riveting racing scenes, approaches a kind of high-speed splendor. Kosinski, who last endeavored to put moviegoers in the seat of a fighter jet in 'Top Gun: Maverick,' has moved to the open cockpits of Formula One with much the same affection, if not outright need, for speed. A lot of the same team is back. Jerry Bruckheimer produces. Ehren Kruger, a co-writer on 'Maverick,' takes sole credit here. Hans Zimmer, a co-composer previously, supplies the thumping score. And, again, our central figure is an older, high-flying cowboy plucked down in an ultramodern, gas-guzzling conveyance to teach a younger generation about old-school ingenuity and, maybe, the enduring appeal of denim. But whereas Tom Cruise is a particularly forward-moving action star, Brad Pitt, who stars as the driving-addicted Sonny Hayes in 'F1,' has always been a more arrestingly poised presence. Think of the way he so calmly and half-interestedly faces off with Bruce Lee in Quentin Tarantino's 'Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood.' In the opening scene of 'F1,' he's sleeping in a van with headphones on when someone rouses him. He splashes some water on his face and walks a few steps over to the Daytona oval, where he quickly enters his team's car, in the midst of a 24-hour race. Pitt goes from zero to 180 mph in a minute. Sonny, a long-ago phenom who crashed out of Formula One decades earlier and has since been racing any vehicle, even a taxi, he can get behind the wheel of, is approached by an old friend, Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) about joining his flagging F1 team, APX. Sonny turns him down at first but, of course, he joins and 'F1' is off to the races. The title sequence, exquisitely timed to the syncopated rhythms of Zimmer's score, is a blistering introduction. The hotshot rookie driver Noah Pearce (Damson Idris) is just running a practice lap, but Kosinski, his camera adeptly moving in and out of the cockpit, uses the moment to plunge us into the high-tech world of Formula One, where every inch of the car is connected to digital sensors monitored by a watchful team. Here, that includes technical director Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon) and Kaspar Molinski (Kim Bodnia), the team's chief. Verisimilitude is of obvious importance to the filmmakers, who bathe this very Formula One-authorized film in all the sleek operations and globe-trotting spectacle of the sport. That Apple, which produced the film, would even go for such a high-priced summer movie about Formula One is a testament to the upswing in popularity of a sport once quite niche in America, and of the halo effects of both the Netflix series 'Formula 1: Drive to Survive' and the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, an executive producer on 'F1.' Whether 'F1' pleases diehards, I'll leave to more ardent followers of the circuit. But what I can say definitively is that Claudio Miranda knows how to shoot it. The cinematographer, who has shot all of Kosinski's films as well as wonders like Ang Lee's 'Life of Pi,' brings Formula One to vivid, visceral life. When 'F1' heads to the big races, Miranda is always simultaneously capturing the zooming cars from the asphalt while backgrounding it with the sweeping spectacle of a course like the UK's fabled Silverstone Circuit. OK, you might be thinking, so the racing is good; is there a story? There's what I'd call enough of one, though you might have to go to the photo finish to verify that. When Sonny shows up, and rapidly turns one practice vehicle into toast, it's clear that he's going to be an agent of chaos at APX, a low-ranking team that's in heavy debt and struggling to find a car that performs. This gives Pitt a fine opportunity to flash his charisma, playing Sonny as an obsessive who refuses any trophy and has no real interest in money, either. The flashier, media-ready Noah watches Sonny's arrival with skepticism, and the two begin more as rivals than teammates. Idris is up to the mano-a-mano challenge, but he's limited by a role ultimately revolving around and reducing to a young Black man learning a lesson in work ethic. A relationship does develop, but 'F1' struggles to get its characters out of the starting blocks, keeping them closer to the cliches they start out as. The actor who, more than anyone, keeps the momentum going is Condon, playing an aerodynamics specialist whose connection with Pitt's Sonny is immediate. Just as she did in between another pair of headstrong men in 'The Banshees of Inisherin,' Condon is a rush of naturalism. If there's something preventing 'F1' from hitting full speed, it's its insistence on having its characters constantly voice Sonny's motivations. The same holds true on the race course, where broadcast commentary narrates virtually every moment of the drama. That may be a necessity for a sport where the crucial strategies of hot tires and pit-stop timing aren't quite household concepts. But the best car race movies — from 'Grand Prix' to 'Senna' to 'Ferrari' — know when to rely on nothing but the roar of an engine. 'F1' steers predictably to the finish line, cribbing here and there from sports dramas before it. (Tobias Menzies plays a board member with uncertain corporate goals.) When 'F1' does, finally, quiet down, for one blissful moment, the movie, almost literally, soars. It's not quite enough to forget all the high-octane macho dramatics before it, but it's enough to glimpse another road 'F1' might have taken.
Time Out
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time Out
F1: The Movie
Loosely doing for Days of Thunder what Top Gun: Maverick did for Top Gun, and filling a big Top Gear gap for your dad in the process, F1 is the Jerry Bruckheimiest thing to hit our screens in an age – and it's a full-throttle triumph. The '90s are officially back and they're really, really loud. With Brad Pitt engaging A-list god mode, a booming Hans Zimmer score, a crateload full of pop and dance bangers, and writer-director Joseph Kosinski hitting the same punch-the-air beats as his superlative 2022 Top Gun reboot, it's a throwback to simpler days when multi-dimensional characters were a luxury no one could afford, because they'd spent all the money on helicopter shots. But switch off your brain and F1 will overwhelm your senses with spectacle, sonics and just enough human drama to hold it all together. A sport so in love with its soapy dramatics, its team chiefs were bitching about each other at the premiere of this movie, the gleaming, hermetic world of F1 isn't a natural fit for Pitt's languid charisma. Which is ideal, because his impulsive veteran racing driver, Sonny Hayes, isn't either. When we meet him, Sonny is an ex-F1 superstar with a troubled past and a transient present as a driver-for-hire at Daytona. His old pal and F1 team owner Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem, bringing his A-game to a B-grade character) has a proposal for him: help his struggling team finish the season in something other than disgraceful fashion, and stave off the vultures on the board in the process. Pitt's veteran wheel-jockey is soon rocking up at Silverstone with a bag slung over his shoulder, a chest full of medallions and the air of a man in completely the wrong place. 'He's a gambling junkie who's missed his shot,' grumbles a new team member. 'Not a has-been, a never-was', adds another. The '90s are officially back and they're really, really loud There's immediate tension with his new team's cocky star driver Joshua Peace (Farming 's Damson Idris) and a tense-but-flirty standoff with the team's technical director (The Banshees of Inisherin 's Kerry Condon). So, yes, F1 does deliver just about every available comeback story cliché, but when there's this much rizz and this many thrills, it scarcely matters. And Londoner Idris is a real star-in-the-making here. And the races? Even for someone who's sat through about four laps of Formula 1 in his entire life, the race track action is electrifying. It only dragged when the movie ticked well into its second hour and we'd toured most of the world's race tracks and clocked up our thousandth F1 celebrity cameo (hello – checks notes – Toto Wolff). It's hard to draw too much old-school romance from this world of sponsorship, celebrity and sports washing, but F1 manages it on the back of Pitt's earthy charm. Watch it rev into the canon of great sports movies. Motion sickness tablets recommended.
Associated Press
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Movie Review: From bumper to bumper, 'F1' is Formula One spectacle
The wide-screen spectacle of Formula One gets a gleaming, rip-roaring workout in Joseph Kosinski's 'F1,' a fine-tuned machine of a movie that, in its most riveting racing scenes, approaches a kind of high-speed splendor. Kosinski, who last endeavored to put moviegoers in the seat of a fighter jet in 'Top Gun: Maverick,' has moved to the open cockpits of Formula One with much the same affection, if not outright need, for speed. A lot of the same team is back. Jerry Bruckheimer produces. Ehren Kruger, a co-writer on 'Maverick,' takes sole credit here. Hans Zimmer, a co-composer previously, supplies the thumping score. And, again, our central figure is an older, high-flying cowboy plucked down in an ultramodern, gas-guzzling conveyance to teach a younger generation about old-school ingenuity and, maybe, the enduring appeal of denim. But whereas Tom Cruise is a particularly forward-moving action star, Brad Pitt , who stars as the driving-addicted Sonny Hayes in 'F1,' has always been a more arrestingly poised presence. Think of the way he so calmly and half-interestedly faces off with Bruce Lee in Quentin Tarantino's 'Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.' In the opening scene of 'F1,' he's sleeping in a van with headphones on when someone rouses him. He splashes some water on his face and walks a few steps over to the Daytona oval, where he quickly enters his team's car, in the midst of a 24-hour race. Pitt goes from zero to 180 mph in a minute. Sonny, a long-ago phenom who crashed out of Formula One decades earlier and has since been racing any vehicle, even a taxi, he can get behind the wheel of, is approached by an old friend, Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) about joining his flagging F1 team, APX. Sonny turns him down at first but, of course, he joins and 'F1' is off to the races. The title sequence, exquisitely timed to the syncopated rhythms of Zimmer's score, is a blistering introduction. The hotshot rookie driver Noah Pearce (Damson Idris) is just running a practice lap, but Kosinski, his camera adeptly moving in and out of the cockpit, uses the moment to plunge us into the high-tech world of Formula One, where every inch of the car is connected to digital sensors monitored by a watchful team. Here, that includes technical director Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon) and Kaspar Molinski (Kim Bodnia), the team's chief. Verisimilitude is of obvious importance to the filmmakers, who bathe this very Formula One-authorized film in all the sleek operations and globe-trotting spectacle of the sport. That Apple, which produced the film, would even go for such a high-priced summer movie about Formula One is a testament to the upswing in popularity of a sport once quite niche in America, and of the halo effects of both the Netflix series 'Formula 1: Drive to Survive' and the much-celebrated driver Lewis Hamilton , an executive producer on 'F1.' Whether 'F1' pleases diehards I'll leave to more ardent followers of the circuit. But what I can say definitively is that Claudio Miranda knows how to shoot it. The cinematographer, who has shot all of Kosinski's films as well as wonders like Ang Lee's 'Life of Pi,' brings Formula One to vivid, visceral life. When 'F1' heads to the big races, Miranda is always simultaneously capturing the zooming cars from the asphalt while backgrounding it with the sweeping spectacle of a course like the U.K.'s fabled Silverstone Circuit. OK, you might be thinking, so the racing is good; is there a story? There's what I'd call enough of one, though you might have to go to the photo finish to verify that. When Sonny shows up, and rapidly turns one practice vehicle into toast, it's clear that he's going to be an agent of chaos at APX, a low-ranking team that's in heavy debt and struggling to find a car that performs. This gives Pitt a fine opportunity to flash his charisma, playing Sonny as an obsessive who refuses any trophy and has no real interest in money, either. The flashier, media-ready Noah watches Sonny's arrival with skepticism, and two begin more as rivals than teammates. Idris is up to the mano-a-mano challenge, but he's limited by a role ultimately revolving around — and reducing to — a young Black man learning a lesson in work ethic. A relationship does develop, but 'F1' struggles to get its characters out of the starting blocks, keeping them closer to the cliches they start out as. The actor who, more than anyone, keeps the momentum going is Condon, playing an aerodynamics specialist whose connection with Pitt's Sonny is immediate. Just as she did in between another pair of headstrong men in 'The Banshees of Inisherin,' Condon is a rush of naturalism. If there's something preventing 'F1' from hitting full speed, it's its insistence on having its characters constantly voice Sonny's motivations. The same holds true on the race course, where broadcast commentary narrates virtually every moment of the drama. That may be a necessity for a sport where the crucial strategies of hot tires and pit-stop timing aren't quite household concepts. But the best car race movies — from 'Grand Prix' to 'Senna' to 'Ferrari' — know when to rely on nothing but the roar of an engine. 'F1' steers predictably to the finish line, cribbing here and there from sports dramas before it. (Tobias Menzies plays a board member with uncertain corporate goals.) When 'F1' does, finally, quiet down, for one blissful moment, the movie, almost literally, soars. It's not quite enough to forget all the high-octane macho dramatics before it, but it's enough to glimpse another road 'F1' might have taken. 'F1,' an Apple Studios productions released by Warner Bros., is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for strong language and action. Running time: 155 minutes. Three stars out of four.
