Friday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Naval Base Coronado ended in complete chaos, but a familiar name in Victory Lane as Layne Riggs claimed a dramatic win for Front Row Motorsports.

On the final overtime restart, Kaden Honeycutt ran wide and slammed the wall at the exit of Turn 2, collecting Chandler Smith and eliminated both drivers from the battle for the win.

Chandler Smith goes around. pic.twitter.com/eV1GxYA6nZ

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) June 20, 2026

Suddenly, Daniel Hemric was leading the race, but Tyler Reif muscled his way by, igniting a full-contact battle for the top spot. Hemric and Reif made major contact entering the final chicane, and smoke began to billow from Reif's Niece Motorsports No. 42 Chevrolet.

Reif held the lead, dragging the wounded truck around the track as he now had to defend from Riggs. The championship leader was all over Reif, who blew the final chicane on the final lap. Riggs moved by, and they slammed doors at the exit of the corner before Reif stopped to serve a penalty for missing the corner.

Layne Riggs wins at Naval Base Coronado! pic.twitter.com/YbpeBekuXg

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) June 20, 2026

For Riggs, it was his fourth win of the 2026 season and the ninth of his career. Daniel Hemric slammed the wall coming to the checkered flag, but still finished second with Kaz Grala third, Landen Lewis fourth, and Ty Majeski fifth.

Unofficially, Justin Haley, Brenden Queen, Ben Rhodes, Christian Eckes, and Gio Ruggiero filled out the remainder of the top ten.

Stage 1

A dozen trucks had to start from the rear after an incident-filled practice and qualifying session. Honeycutt led the field to the green flag, and was briefly challenged by Riggs before holding onto the lead in a clean opening lap.

Riggs ultimately wrestled the lead away from Honeycutt, three laps into the race.

Nicholson and Sutton collided for the first incident of the race, sending both trucks spinning and triggering a full-course yellow.

On the restart, Majeski pulled off a wild save after locking up at corner entry, straightening his truck out and narrowly avoiding contact.

Riggs went on to win Stage 1, while several trucks opted to pit early and flip the stage.

Stage 2

Riggs pitted from the lead, but about 15 trucks stayed out, with Honeycutt and former NASCAR Cup champion Jimmie Johnson now in control, in a one-off appearance just 19 miles from where he grew up in California.

Connor Mosack spun in the final chicane, and both Rhodes and LaJoie sustained damage trying to avoid. It actually ended LaJoie's race.

Johnson took the lead after Honeycutt blew Turn 2, leading laps for the first time in any NASCAR race since he was racing Cup full-time in 2020.

Trackhouse Racing founder Justin Marks, who crashed heavily in practice, slammed the wall again during the race in his backup truck. Corey Lajoie also fell out of the race at this point due to contact in the middle of the field.

Johnson pitted from the lead with five laps left in Stage 2. Several leading trucks followed soon after, flipping the stage.

Riggs pitted from the lead with just two laps to go in the stage, but it was a slow stop for the No. 34 team.

Parker Kligerman then held off a hard-charging Majeski for the Stage 2 win, crossing the finish line bumper-to-bumper.

On the final lap of the stage, Jamie McMurray slammed the wall at the exit of the final corner, ending the day for him and the No. 25 Kaulig RAM team.

Big trouble for Jamie McMurray at Naval Base Coronado. https://t.co/DqMg5ngtPXpic.twitter.com/s7BfPGu9iu

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) June 20, 2026

Stage 3

Honeycutt cycled into the race lead, but while being pressured by C. Smith, he ran wide and hit the wall at the exit of Turn 2. Honeycutt pitted at the end of the lap, as Riggs passed Johnson to make it a FRM 1-2 at the front.

Elsewhere in the field, Friesen reported broken steering and pitted, while Frankie Muniz spun out and crashed. The caution flew for debris with 18 laps to go in the race.

During the caution, Smith pitted from the lead, with Johnson and several others following suit. Brendan Gaughan suffered damage at some point around the track under yellow, while Dawson Sutton stalled on track, and Grant Enfinger lost power after a strong run.

Riggs was back in control for the restart, followed by Majeski and Ruggiero. There was a lot of contact throughout the field as Honeycutt, Smith, and Johnson tried to slice their way through the field. Johnson went for a spin while battling for eighth, but only lost a few positions.

Jake Garcia stalled on track, triggering the fifth caution of the race with ten laps to go. Johnson pitted during the caution to make repairs to his wounded truck and get a fresher set of tires.

Tanner Gray went for a spin following a hectic restart, as the FRM teammates battled it out for the race win. Smith passed Riggs to the outside through Turn 1 with just seven laps remaining. Johnson went for another spin back in the back, and later stalled.

The caution flew with four laps to go when Tyler Ankrum slammed the wall while running fifth, completely sheering the right-side off his truck. They needed to fix the concrete wall, red-flagging the race.

Caution is out late after a big crash for Tyler Ankrum. pic.twitter.com/I5WhPMGtuW

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) June 20, 2026

On the restart, there was a pileup in the back of the pack, collecting several trucks. Rhodes ran wide and hit the tire barrier at Turn 2, and the field ran out of room as trucks arrived on scene already three-wide. Both Perez and Kligerman were involved, as was Nicholson, who was unable to roll away on his own, and another caution was needed, pushing the race into overtime.

As you read at the top of the story, chaos ensued, with Honeycutt and Smith wrecking from the lead, allowing Hemric, Reif, and Laynes to engage in all-out slugfest for the win.

Reif was hoping to earn his first NCTS win in just his seventh career start, but blew the final chicane, opening the door for Riggs to door-slam his way by and take a truly spectacular win.

Watch: Riggs dubs himself 'Layne van Riggsbergen' after Coronado victory

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Jorge Martin says persistent front-end issues left him without the “spark to push” after missing out on a direct place in Qualifying 2 for the Czech Grand Prix. 

The Spaniard could only set the 11th-fastest lap time during Friday Practice at Brno, ending up 0.6s off the ultimate pace aboard the factory Aprilia.

He was the only rider from the Italian manufacturer who didn’t progress into Q2; Trackhouse’s Ai Ogura topped the times ahead of works rider Marco Bezzecchi, while Raul Fernandez also made the cut while still recovering from appendicitis.

MotoGP Czech GP: Ai Ogura leads Marco Bezzecchi in Friday practice, Jorge Martin to Q1

Martin made it clear that his one-lap struggles were not down to his physical fitness, insisting his recent crash at the start of the Hungarian GP had no impact on his performance on track.

Instead, he revealed that he simply lacked the confidence to push due to inexplicable issues with the front tyre on his RS-GP.

“I had good fun on the bike. I was always on the limit,” he said. “Physically, I feel much better than what I expected, so this is really good. I don't feel any limitation at all while riding. For sure, off the track, I feel the pain, but on the track, everything is good.

“Overall, I felt a really low feeling with the front during practice. I think I had some issue with the front tyre. 

“Then I lost all that confidence. When I went into time attack, I didn't have that spark to push. I was improving every run, but I didn't have it, and I wasn't able to go to Q2.”

Jorge Martin, Aprilia Racing Team

Martin said the problem he faced at Brno on Friday was similar to the issue that held him back during the previous two rounds in Italy and Hungary.

"Yes, it's been a few races [where I’ve had this problem]," he admitted. "Mugello, then Balaton, and now here, a bit of the same issue with the front. 

“I don't really understand why, but we need to analyse and check what is going on.
I feel we improved a lot during the practice, but still I'm far from the other guys, so we need to understand for tomorrow.”

However, Martin remains optimistic about his chances for Saturday, where he will have another chance to make it into Q2.

“I think tomorrow will be another story. Everything will come to normal,” he said. “For sure, we need to work. It's not that it will come just like this, but I feel that the other athletes are going fast. For sure, something was wrong with my motorbike.”

Martin will have to serve a double long-lap penalty in Sunday’s race, with the stewards having found him guilty of triggering the opening lap melee at Balaton Park a fortnight ago.

The 2024 champion tried the long-lap loop several times during practice to prepare, admitting the asphalt was dirty as expected.

Jorge Martin, Aprilia Racing Team

“It was really dirty in the morning,” he said. “Every lap is a bit better, but you cannot lean like usual. I hope some of the Moto2 riders also have long laps because I was watching the practice, and nobody was going there, just myself.

“But every in-lap, out-lap, I'm going there, and I feel now it's much better than in the morning.

“Overall, in terms of safety, I think it's safer to go on the green [section], because if somebody comes [in my way], I just go there. I don't lose a lot.

“Honestly, I'm cleaning quite a lot, and I hope that I will be losing around 1.5s, so it's not a disaster for each long lap. It's not a disaster, and I think it's one of the fastest things in the calendar.”

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The DTM is already battling massive heat on the first day of practice at the Lausitzring, as evidenced by the occasional swimming pool positioned in front of the team trucks. Only Mercedes-AMG seems to be comfortable with temperatures exceeding 30 degrees: DTM leader Maro Engel secured the fastest time of the day in the second session with a 1:20.408, ahead of his Landgraf brand mate Lucas Auer, who was just two thousandths of a second slower.

Third place went to Arjun Maini (+0.079), the best of the two Ford Mustang drivers, who had already dominated the official test day. The Indian driver was the fastest in the first session with a 1:20.986 - set on used tyres. Fourth was Manthey Porsche driver Thomas Preining (+0.212), who recorded an even faster first sector before running into traffic.

Will the tyre-friendly Mercedes-AMG GT3 live up to its role as the favourite in the heat? A strong long run by Auer in the first practice session, where the Austrian consistently stayed below the 1:22 mark, certainly suggests so. "Basically, it should be positive for us, but it is still a bit early to really draw conclusions," says pace-setter Maro Engel, downplaying expectations.

"Changes the handling": The influence of the trucks

"At the Red Bull Ring, the heat was very good for us. In Zandvoort, where you generally switch the tyre on faster, it was rather difficult," he adds, putting things into perspective. According to Engel, track conditions are different from the test two weeks ago, when the asphalt temperature was 25 degrees instead of 45.

"And the trucks with the truck rubber are here, so we still have to adjust a bit," the 40-year-old adds. The racing trucks of the German TGP championship on the support bill play a major role again this year, as the Goodyear truck tyres harmonise well with the DTM tyre - and the Lausitzring, which offers little grip and is rarely used, generally becomes significantly faster over the course of the weekend anyway.

"Basically, the track is faster, meaning more grip. You can definitely feel that," Engel says, describing the influence of the trucks. "But it also changes the handling here and there - and you have to adjust to that a little bit."

Lamborghini: Engstler off-track and strong Paul long run

The practice sessions generally proceeded without major incidents. Abt Lamborghini driver Luca Engstler lost the rear in the second session and ended up in the gravel trap. In the first session, the Kempten-based driver, who finished twelfth overall with a 0.363-second deficit, also reported an incident over the radio: "I hit the wall but no further damage."

The Lamborghini drivers put in a good showing: Mirko Bortolotti was eighth, 0.310 seconds back - placing him ahead of his Grasser teammate Maximilian Paul, who finished ninth (+0.329). The local hero from Dresden caught the eye in the first practice session with a strong long run - his consistent lap times well below 1:22 were even stronger than those of Bortolotti.

The HRT drivers in the Ford Mustang confirmed the strong results from the test, but the big challenge will be the long runs: despite the Evo package, the tyres on the US-built machine tend to overheat, especially at these temperatures - and only three sets of tyres are available per vehicle this weekend.

Glocks run of bad luck continues

For Timo Glock, the streak of bad luck continues: the 44-year-old had to park his Dorr McLaren eleven minutes before the end of the first practice session. "Timo, suspension damage - end of session," race engineer Gerd Kusstatscher radioed to him. In the second session, he finished 17th, 0.611 seconds off the pace, while teammate Ben Dorr took fifth place, just 0.225 seconds back.

It was also a disappointing day for the Ferrari squad Emil Frey: the Swiss team, which won here last year with Jack Aitken, finished in the lower ranks in both sessions. Zandvoort winner Matteo Cairoli (+0.694) was 19th in the overall standings, while Thierry Vermeulen (+0.738) could manage no better than 20th.

Ferrari and BMW failing to find momentum

Emil Frey technical director Jurg Flach had decided at short notice to attend the official test due to an unfavourable Balance of Performance (BoP), but even the additional boost pressure granted by a BoP change before the weekend does not seem to have the desired effect.

The Ferrari has to run with the maximum rear wing setting; furthermore, the vehicle was raised by two millimetres at the front axle and six millimetres at the rear axle, which has a negative impact in the corners. But things are not looking great for BMW either at the moment: Kelvin van der Linde (+0.403) and Marco Wittmann (+0.753) did not get beyond 14th and 21st places respectively.

It remains to be seen how the first qualifying session on Saturday will unfold: despite the heat, teams expect four to six outlaps before the tyre reaches temperature and fast laps become possible. At that point, the brakes - which are also under heavy strain - could become the limiting factor.

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MotoGP is not currently holding any discussions over adding further street circuits to the calendar, with the series stressing that Adelaide will remain a standalone case for the foreseeable future. 

Earlier this year, the championship sparked a major debate by announcing that Adelaide will replace the popular Phillip Island Circuit as the venue for the Australian Grand Prix in 2027.

The proposed event will see the next-generation 850cc bikes racing around the city centre and Victoria Park, on a site previously used by Formula 1 from 1985 to 1995.

Following initial concerns from fans about rider safety at a fully urban venue, MotoGP had already clarified that the Adelaide project didn’t mark a shift to broader city-based tracks.

Now, MotoGP SEG sporting director Carlos Ezpeleta has reiterated that position, revealing that the series is not discussing the possibility of replicating that concept in other cities at present.

“There are two very distinct sorts of scenarios,” Ezpeleta told select media at Brno.

“One is Buenos Aires, which is a huge opportunity for us with an urban population of 14 million people, and a permanent circuit in the centre of that. 

“That is easier than something like Adelaide, where there's a specific geographical feat about the city where they can build something and take it down. 

“With regards to Adelaide, we're not having any other conversation like that at the moment.

Carlos Ezpeleta, Dorna Sports

“The world has to sort of see what that looks like, and it's an incredible opportunity also for MotoGP to showcase that it is possible.

“We're really, really excited, but we're not having any other conversations like that.”

Under new owner Liberty Media, MotoGP is pushing on bringing the series closer to fans, with the addition of both the Adelaide street circuit and the revamped permanent track in Argentina’s capital city a part of the same strategy.

Separately, Liberty is also exploring the possibility of bringing MotoGP to Miami, which has become an important commercial destination for F1.

MotoGP is indeed holding discussions to race at the Miami Autodrome in the long term, but Ezpeleta clarified that he doesn’t view the Florida venue as a bona fide street circuit.

“I consider Miami and Adelaide very different,” he said, referring to the temporary circuit built around the Hard Rock Stadium.

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MotoGP chiefs visit Buenos Aires construction site ahead of 2027 Argentina GP

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Mercedes has identified an issue with its battery that is at the heart of its recent Formula 1 race retirements which have cost both George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, and is working on a permanent fix.

After Russell’s Mercedes conked out while he was leading the Canadian Grand Prix last month, Antonelli suffered the same fate while running in second place in the Barcelona GP last weekend. Both were linked to a failure with Mercedes' battery.

While not specifically linked to the works team’s problem, customer squad McLaren has also suffered a run of electrical trouble; Lando Norris needed a battery change during the Monaco GP weekend and retired from the race with power unit settings being noted as the cause of his DNF, while both Norris and Oscar Piastri failed to start the Chinese GP with separate electrical issues.

Speaking immediately after the Barcelona GP, Wolff said Mercedes can’t afford the run of retirements in the battle for the F1 world titles and the team would “leave no stone unturned to understand” what was causing the unreliability.

Kimi Antonelli's Barcelona GP retirement prompts reliability concerns at Mercedes

After diagnosing Antonelli's car after the Barcelona race, Mercedes technical director James Allison said the team has pinpointed the issue to its power unit’s battery and a permanent fix is being worked on.

“I think anyone who's a keen watcher of the sport will have seen that this has laid a few Mercedes engine cars low over the season so far,” Allison said on Mercedes’ Nu Silver Arrows Radio Show. “They're not all identical, but they do sort of originate in the same broad part of the battery.

George Russell, Mercedes

“I think that most of the areas of risk have been understood. And with a bit of luck, when we start to sort of phase in the new modules into the racing season – then our fortunes as a fleet should pick up.

“Obviously for us, that's an important thing. These DNFs are very, very painful.”

Speaking more broadly about how the team designs and builds parts with reliability in mind, Allison explained how the team aims to identify failures either in testing or in engine rigs to avoid being exposed in races – but inevitably, when pushed to extremes and in different racing conditions, previously unidentified weaknesses can appear.

“You accept that there will be failure. We try to make sure that failure happens in testing or on rigs and that it happens as little as possible when you're out there trying to earn championship points,” Allison said.

“Now, clearly it doesn't always work because occasionally the car will DNF and that is definitely a failure of our process and all of our attempts to deliver performance without the downside of that performance.

“But when a failure like that does happen, then in the first instance and perhaps before it's fully understood, then the team will tend to take a slight half-step backwards to be more cautious with the equipment, to push it slightly less hard, just to give a little bit of resilience to the kit that's obviously suffering.

James Allison, Mercedes

“But a different part of the team will try to figure out what was the root cause of that failure to design that out, prove that out and put something back on the table that is sufficiently robust.

“So you do a first intervention that is just to try to sort of give the vulnerable thing an easier life while then working on a proper cure that lets you really cane it.”

Mercedes hasn’t given a timeline on when the “proper cure” will be ready as it begins preparations for four race weekends across five weeks, starting with the Austrian GP next weekend.

But given its two DNFs in Canada and Barcelona have effectively cost 43 points - ignoring changes of positions for the sister car after the retirements - Mercedes' dominant position in the F1 world constructors' championship has been eroded to 72 points by Ferrari.

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Cam Waters and Tickford Racing have put a tough mid-season behind them with a first win of the season in the first of three Supercars races at Hidden Valley in Australia’s Northern Territory.

In the first-ever Friday race at the Darwin circuit, Waters and his Ford Mustang came from fourth on the grid and pitted later than early leader Brodie Kostecki (Dick Johnson Racing Ford) to take the lead at Turn 1 and come home to a narrow victory, in a race that featured a one-lap dash to the flag after a late safety car.

“A long hard slog, for sure,” said Waters, whose victory ended a 47-race winless streak. “We haven’t had the best start to the year but we have been there or thereabouts.

“I thought he [Kostecki] was going to make it a little bit harder for me but I had a fresher tyre. Amazing to get a win, it has been a hard year."

In unseasonably cool conditions (it even rained lightly during the second part of Qualifying), Kostecki took the early lead from the Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro of Anton De Pasquale – the pair shared the front row for the fifth time of their careers. Both lost positions in the race, with the Grove Racing Fords of Kai Allen and Matt Payne pushing the 2023 champion back to fourth in one fell swoop on lap 32.

Allen, who scored a podium at the track a year ago, said: “I love this track.

“I need to get the qualifying a little better but the race car was really good. I got to the back of Brodie’s rear bar and we tried to get a double podium, and it worked out.”

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Payne rued the loss a couple of seconds when a rear wheel stuck during his pitstop.

“Kai was making the moves for us,” he said. “I thought the car was pretty speedy but we just had a hiccup during the pitstop.”

Earlier, Kostecki shrugged off a problem with his engine’s throttle body, which stranded him in the garage for the opening 15 minutes of the sole Practice session, and a bout of flu, to take pole position. But his car lacked the race pace of the other Fords and he had to settle for fourth place at the finish.

Will Brown took fifth for Triple Eight Racing, thereby giving Ford a sweep of the top five places at a track that has previously featured only Chevrolet wins during the Gen3 era.

The best of the rest was De Pasquale, just ahead of the Toyota GR Supra of Walkinshaw TWG’s Chaz Mostert. The defending Supercars Champion just missed making the Qualifying cut to the top 10 session and started 11th, before passing team-mate Ryan Wood on his way to seventh.

Points leader Broc Feeney, the winner of six of the eight previous Gen3 races at the circuit, started from 13th on the grid after a tricky qualifying session. He did his cause no good at all by running off immediately when rejoining after his pitstop and complained of a lack of straightline speed during the race, finishing 14th. As a result, the 90-point lead he brought to the event has been reduced to 59.

The Supercars teams and drivers will return to action on Saturday and Sunday with two 70-lap, 200km races.

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In a rare move, NASCAR moved the start time for last weekend's race at Pocono up a full two hours, which they were only able to do thanks to flexibility provided by Prime Video as a streaming service.

On this week's edition ofInside the Race, both Steve Letarte and Kyle Petty praised NASCAR and Prime for the proactive measure, which allowed for all 400 miles/160 laps of racing to take place without a single delay.

"Bravo to Prime," remarked Letarte, a former Daytona 500-winning crew chief. "I know I work for them, but bravo because I will tell you, about five minutes after we got off the post-race stage, there would have been no racing. The rain was there."

Petty agreed, saying: "There's a million fans you could probably call up on the phone right now that have sat in the grandstands for five or six hours to see the last half of a race, saying 'oh my gosh I wish they would have moved it up so we could see the whole race.' I applaud Amazon, NASCAR, everybody. We are very blessed to be with Amazon in this period of time, when they can make that adjustment. Some networks can't make that adjustment, some networks can't. I completely understand that, but to be with a partner like Amazon who can adjust for the fans and the competitors, everybody won in this."

Well it was certainly a good call,, the late change didn't reflect positively in TV ratings, with 1.66 million viewers (down eleven percent from 2025).

'Inside the Race' will be live from San Diego this Sunday, hosting a post-race show from Naval Base Coronado. Our Senior NASCAR Editor Matt Weaver will make an appearance on the show, which you can watch live on Motorsport.com following the conclusion of Prime's final broadcast of the 2026 season.

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Former Formula 1 driver and Sky Sports analyst Martin Brundle has branded the handling of the Monaco Grand Prix pitlane penalties and Pierre Gasly's reinstated podium "a mess with no easy solution".

Writing in his regular post-race column following the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, which saw Lewis Hamilton secure his maiden grand prix victory for Ferrari, Brundle commented on the Monaco penalty situation.

Several drivers were handed penalties during the Monaco Grand Prix for speeding in the pitlane. While the majority of those drivers served the penalties during the race, Gasly, who finished third on the road, had the time added after the chequered flag and lost the podium as a result.

Alpine lodged a right of review, which was ultimately successful after the French team was able to provide evidence clearing Gasly that was not available to the stewards at the time. Gasly's podium was subsequently reinstated ahead of the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix. 

McLaren and Red Bull, whose drivers either served their penalties during the race or were affected by the reinstated podium, have now begun the appeals process. Mercedes had, but has since withdrawn.

Martin Brundle

"That's a very complicated and uncomfortable decision," Brundle wrote of Gasly's reinstated podium. "Other drivers in Monaco had served their penalties and adjusted strategies accordingly, and Russell's race was destroyed, but because they were not post-race penalties nothing was changed for them retrospectively in the results.

"This will now be appealed by Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull who all lost out. Ferrari are not too bothered as it cost Mercedes and McLaren points. This also sets a precedent of not serving marginal in-race penalties to preserve the right to contest them post-race.

"It's all a mess with no easy solution. It turns out one of the timing loops in the Monaco pit lane was 77cm shorter than calibrated hence lots of 60.1kph recordings when the limit was 60kph."

He concluded: "Lessons will be learned no doubt and the story will presumably run a while."

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Tyler Reddick still leads the NASCAR Cup Series standings, but Denny Hamlin has quietly turned the regular-season championship battle into one of the biggest storylines heading into NASCAR’s inaugural San Diego weekend.

Following Pocono Raceway, Reddick sits atop the standings with 704 points. Hamlin is second with 685, trimming the gap to just 19 points with 10 races remaining before the playoffs begin.

Now the series heads to Naval Base Coronado, where NASCAR will compete on a temporary street circuit unlike anything currently on the Cup Series schedule. While every driver will face a learning curve, the track type could play directly into one driver’s strengths.

And that’s not Hamlin.

Tyler Reddick’s Track Record Makes Him a Favorite

Over the past several seasons, Reddick has established himself as one of NASCAR’s premier road-course racers.

The 23XI Racing driver owns four career Cup Series victories on road-course and street-style circuits, including wins at Road America, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, and two victories at Circuit of The Americas.

His recent results on similar tracks are even more impressive.

In his last six road-course starts entering San Diego, Reddick has finished fifth, first, tenth, ninth, sixth, and third. He also opened the 2026 season by winning at COTA, further cementing his reputation as one of the sport’s most complete road racers.

Those numbers help explain why many observers will view Reddick as one of the favorites this weekend despite the unknowns surrounding NASCAR’s newest venue.

For the No. 45 team, San Diego also represents an opportunity to regain momentum in the standings race. While Reddick still holds the lead, Hamlin has steadily chipped away at his advantage over the past several weeks.

A strong finish Sunday could help create some breathing room once again.

Hamlin Has Closed the Gap, but San Diego Could Be a Challenge

Hamlin arrives in Southern California carrying plenty of momentum.

The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran has four victories this season and remains firmly in the hunt for the regular-season championship. More importantly, he has reduced Reddick’s lead to fewer than 20 points, putting real pressure on the standings leader entering the second half of the season.

The challenge is that road courses have not produced the same level of consistency.

Hamlin’s lone Cup Series road-course victory came at Watkins Glen in 2016. More recently, he has recorded just one top-10 finish in his last five road-course starts entering San Diego, a stretch that includes finishes of 10th, 16th, 23rd, 25th, and 20th.

Those results are respectable, but they do not match the standard Reddick has established on similar circuits.

That is what makes this weekend so intriguing.

If Reddick performs like he has throughout much of his road-course career, he could leave San Diego with a larger cushion atop the standings. But if Hamlin can match or beat Reddick on a track type that has historically favored the No. 45 team, the fight for the regular-season championship could tighten even further.

With 10 races remaining before the playoffs begin, every point matters.

Reddick still holds the advantage.

Hamlin keeps getting closer.

Peugeot is planning a major upgrade of its 9X8 Le Mans Hypercar for next year’s World Endurance Championship.

The French manufacturer is aiming to take advantage of a new Hypercar class regulation introduced for this year that allows additional evo joker updates in cases where there is a “demonstrated significant lack of performance”.

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Peugeot did not make any performance upgrades for 2026 because it is understood to have used up the five evo jokers allowed to each manufacturer over the initial lifespan of each LMH and LMDh design. 

Olivier Jansonnie, motorsport boss of Peugeot parent company Stellantis and formerly technical director of the Peugeot Sport in-house competitions department, said: “We must deliver performance on track, we must evolve and we must be allowed to do an evolution of the car.

“The rules have changed for this year to allow this kind of thing; they [series organisers the FIA and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest] are adapting the rules to re-homologate cars that are showing they are missing performance.

“We have been preparing this for some time now and hopefully should get it on track next year.”

#93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Paul Di Resta, Stoffel Vandoorne, Nick Cassidy

Peugeot joined the WEC after Le Mans in 2022, but has yet to win a race. The best result for the 9X8 so far is a second at Fuji last year, while it also took a solitary third-place finish in each of the 2023, ’24 and ’25 seasons.

A major overhaul of the car was undertaken in time for the Imola round of the WEC in April 2024 when the 9X8 swapped from equal-size wheels and tyres all round to the narrower fronts and wider rears option raced by fellow LMH competitors Toyota and Ferrari. 

That was followed by further updates for 2025, which are believed to have used up its final jokers. 

Jansonnie stressed that Peugeot is not planning a new car, which is also allowed under the regulations, but he explained how the car is homologated is “completely in the hands of the ACO and the FIA”.

When Toyota undertook a series of updates to its GR010 HYBRID LMH (now known as the TR010) for 2023, the car was re-homologated as a new car. 

Jansonnie would not be drawn on which areas of Peugeot’s WEC contender, which was dubbed the 9X8 2024 after the switch to wider rear tyres, will focus on. 

#94 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Loic Duval, Malthe Jakobsen, Theo Pourchaire

Peugeot remains committed to the WEC through to the end of the homologation period of existing LMH and LMDh machinery at the climax of the 2029 season.

Company CEO Alain Favey said: “Peugeot is 216 years old and is extremely resilient, and that is what we want to demonstrate in our involvement in the WEC and at Le Mans 24 Hours. 

“Therefore we confirmed that we will be part of the championship until 2029 in the knowledge that something would happen to the rules for 2030.”

Peugeot supports 2030 Hypercar rules direction but is not committing at this stage

Jansonnie added that the announcement of the broad principles of the 2030 rules during Le Mans week was good news for the championship because it offered stability. 

He explained that the ability of manufacturers to continue to build their own chassis and develop their own hybrid systems under the new regulations was also important to Peugeot. 

But he stated that there are two areas in which Peugeot is “challenging” the ACO and the FIA, one concerning the technological road map for the series and the other regarding the Balance of Performance. 

The FIA and the ACO announced that a 20kW (26bhp) increase in maximum power, up from the current 520kW (697bhp), would be introduced for 2030 but that it could come only from the internal combustion component of the hybrid powertrain.

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