Fire cancels Northport racing, autism fundraiser

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – (Aug. 10, 2025) Shane Van Gisbergen claimed his fourth NASCAR Cup Series road course victory of the season Sunday afternoon and second win of more than 10-seconds on the field … and he made it look effortless.

The 36-year-old New Zealander led a race-best 38 of 90 laps - including the final 17 - at the historic Watkins Glen International in picturesque upstate New York, his No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet officially crossing the finish line by 11.116-seconds ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell.

Van Gisbergen, a former Australian SuperCars Series multi-time champion, joins racing legend Dan Gurney in scoring his first five career NASCAR Cup Series victories on road courses and he did it the same weekend as his Trackhouse team announced his multi-year contract extension.

“Good to get that one back,’’ said Van Gisbergen, in a nod to finishing runner-up in this race last year. “What an awesome race. Coming back through (the field after his final pit stop) I had lot of fun.

Van Gisbergen, in his first fulltime season at NASCAR’s elite level, has been essentially unstoppable on the road courses. His four victories on the year – also at Mexico City, Chicago and Sonoma, Calif. – gives him that rookie win record and he now ties perennial championship contender Denny Hamlin for most victories in the series this year.

For all intents and purposes, when it comes to this style of racing, his competition judges itself on how close it can come to him.

The third-place finish for Buescher, who edged Van Gisbergen for the win at Watkins Glen in 2024, still had a good day as far as his championship chances are concerned. The driver of the No. 17 RFK Racing Ford holds onto the final Playoff position – by 34 points over RFK teammate Ryan Preece – among the 16 drivers currently eligible for the Playoff field.

Two regular season races – at Richmond, Va. and Daytona Beach - now remain.

St. Louis pole winner Hamlin delivers Toyota's 200th victory

Reid Spencer /NASCAR Wire Service

ADISON, Ill. (September 7, 2025) —In a race that featured a strange brew of divergent strategies, pole winner Denny Hamlin claimed his series-best fifth victory of the season and advanced to the Round of 12 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Finishing 1.620 seconds ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe in front of a sellout crowd, Hamlin won Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway to earn his first win at the 1.25-mile track and 59th of his career—11th all-time and one win short of Kevin Harvick in 10th.

Hamlin also delivered the 200th victory for Toyota. After taking the checkered flag, the 44-year-old driver had some choice words for his detractors in the grandstands.
“You can either get on the bandwagon or get run over by it,” Hamlin told the crowd, generating another chorus of boos.

But the reality is that Hamlin announced emphatically his stature as a serious contender for the championship that has eluded him during his 20-year Cup career.
“Yeah, it’s so big for everyone at Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing,” Hamlin said. 

“Progressive Toyota was great there at the end. So happy to get this victory. My dad’s not feeling well at home. Just shout-out to him…
“Fantastic day. Man, couldn’t be better.”
Before the race, grand marshal Bill Murray, who typically plays in Hamlin’s annual golf tournament, leaned into the No. 11 Toyota and talked to the driver.
“Yeah, I just told him to talk to the guys behind me and make sure they stay behind me the rest of the race,” Hamlin quipped. “We made that happen.”
Both Hamlin and Briscoe pitted early during a cycle of green-flag pit stops with roughly 65 laps left in the race. After Ty Dillon’s contact with the outside wall caused the 10th and final caution on Lap 209—effectively negating the strategy of drivers who were stretching fuel to the end of the event—Hamlin passed Brad Keselowski for the lead moments after the subsequent restart on Lap 216 and held it the rest of the way.

Slowed by an issue with the left rear tire on pit road, Briscoe recovered to secure the runner-up spot.

The second race of the 2025 Playoffs widened the chasm between the top 12 in the standings and the four drivers below the current elimination line.

Austin Cindric came home 19th and held onto 12th on the Playoff grid, 11 points ahead of 13th-place Austin Dillon. Four-time winner Shane van Gisbergen finished 25th and fell 15 points below the elimination line.

Continued pit road woes left Alex Bowman (26th) 35 points behind Cindric. An early crash relegated Josh Berry to a second straight last-place finish that left him 45 points below the cut line, almost certainly needing a victory in Saturday’s Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway to advance to the Round of 12.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, other Playoff contenders solidified their positions in the standings. Briscoe, already exempt into the next round on the strength of last Sunday’s win at Darlington, won the first stage.

Bubba Wallace took the honors in Stage 2 on the way to an eighth-place result. Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano ran third, fourth and fifth, respectively, as both Hendrick Motorsports and Team Penske reasserted their strength after disappointing performances at Darlington.

For Logano, the inaugural Cup winner at Gateway in 2022, the top-five finish was his fourth straight, a feat no other driver in the series has been able to accomplish.
Christopher Bell ran consistently in the top 10, finished seventh and leaves the St. Louis-area track 32 points above the elimination line. Hendrick Motorsports drivers Kyle Larson and William Byron were 11th and 12th, respectively, and are third and sixth in the Playoff standings, needing only to avert disaster at Bristol to advance the Round of 12.