Hello! Alanis King here. It's officially our first Friday newsletter of the NASCAR offseason. For many of us, it's now well below freezing outside and dark by 5:00 p.m. I'm already pondering a trip to NASCAR's Clash in the LA Coliseum a few months from now, if only as an imaginary reprieve from the cold. But hey! It's not all Seasonal Affective Disorder out there. There are still two Formula 1 races left in the season, and one of them is this weekend. Let's prepare by catching up with everything that happened this week. |
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| Christian Petersen | Getty Images Joey Logano Wins the NASCAR Cup Series Championship NASCAR ran three championship races last weekend to decide its big national touring series—the Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and Truck Series—and if you follow modern NASCAR, you know that champions aren't decided until the checkered flag falls on the final race of the season. Only the four drivers who survive playoff knockout rounds toward the season's end go into the final race of the season with a shot at the title; the best finisher among those four wins the season title, full stop. This year, NASCAR held the finale at Phoenix Raceway. Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, and Ross Chastain battled for the Cup Series title—the latter two qualifying with a last-minute race win and a mind-bending wall ride, respectively. Unfortunately, there were no last-minute wins or wall rides at Phoenix. The race was straightforward. Logano qualified on pole ahead of his Penske Racing teammate, Ryan Blaney, and led 187 of the 312 laps. Blaney led 109. Elliott spun midway through the race and fell out of contention, while an issue on a pit stop put Bell in the middle of the field for a late restart. Chastain was the only one with a sliver of hope to catch Logano—and he was catching him—but Chastain just couldn't get close enough before the end. He finished third behind Logano and Blaney in the race, putting him second in the championship. Logano, meanwhile, had a bookend season. He won the inaugural Clash at the LA Coliseum, a non-points race that started the year, and won the season finale to claim his second Cup title. The other two series ran their season finales the Friday and Saturday before the Cup race. Twenty-year-old Ty Gibbs won the Xfinity Series title, while Zane Smith took the Trucks title. |
Meg Oliphant | Getty Images NASCAR Team Executive Coy Gibbs Dies Just hours after Ty Gibbs won the Xfinity Series title on Saturday, his father, Coy Gibbs, died unexpectedly. He was 49 years old. Ty Gibbs races for Joe Gibbs Racing, a team owned by his grandfather, former Washington Commanders head coach Joe Gibbs. Coy Gibbs is Joe Gibbs's son, a former NASCAR driver and football player himself. Coy ran the JGRMX motorcycle racing team before becoming chief operating officer at Joe Gibbs Racing. The team said on Sunday that Coy Gibbs died in his sleep. Joe Gibbs has lost two sons in recent years. The first was JD Gibbs, who played college football, drove race cars, and co-founded Joe Gibbs Racing. He began treatment for a neurological disease in 2015 and died in 2019, also at 49 years old. Coy Gibbs got to be at Phoenix for his son's first Xfinity Series championship, and he posed for a family photo with the trophy that night. The mood was heavy at the Cup race on Sunday, with many drivers and team members reflecting on their memories of Gibbs.
"He was a lot like me," said Kyle Busch, who was in his final race with JGR that day. "He didn't take any bullshit, and [he] told everybody the way it was, straight to their face. I loved Coy for that."
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Icon Sportswire - Getty Images F1's Crypto Sponsors Aren't Doing So Hot You've probably noticed that modern F1 is floating along in a sea of cryptocurrency sponsorship. The Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix even had a fake yacht marina. But lately, those crypto sponsors are crashing. Yikes! Our motorsports editor Fred Smith, whom you'll hear more from in just a moment, examined how the crypto industry's collapse is affecting the sport. That includes crypto exchange FTX, a now-suspended Mercedes F1 sponsor that's all over the news. Its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, just lost 94 percent of his wealth in one day. He previously had about $15 billion. There's also Velas, which partnered with the Ferrari F1 team in December of last year. Back then, it was worth $0.39. Now it's worth $0.03.
You know, I wrote a book about an F1 sponsorship crashing and burning. I'd rather not write another one so soon.
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What's Coming Up This Weekend? |
Fred Smith here! With the 2022 season winding down, opportunities to see racing are few and far between. Here's what to watch out for this weekend: Formula 1 — Brazilian Grand Prix
Sunday, 1:00 p.m. ET, ABC
Sprint Saturday, 2:30 p.m. ET, ESPNews We're in late November, the 38-race NASCAR season is over, and every single major championship in American racing has long since been decided. However, Formula 1 still soldiers on two more times this year. That continues with the Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend. With so few battles left to settle, the biggest storyline remaining in the 2022 season may be Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes racing against time. Both are trying to avoid a winless season, a would-be first for Mercedes since 2011, and a would-be first for Hamilton ever. They've come close, stringing together consecutive runner-up finishes in a car that seems to finally be quicker than the Ferrari and almost competitive with the leading Red Bull. However, a win in the final two races is a tall order and would represent a significant upset in what has become a record-setting season for Max Verstappen and Red Bull. Verstappen can extend his record for wins in a season from 14 (currently) to 15 or 16 over the next two races, but he has already secured sole possession of the record and cannot match Alberto Ascari's 1952 record for all-time record for percentage of wins in a season. If you're looking for a historic event, it is unlikely to be the Brazilian Grand Prix. If you're looking for one of your last chances to see F1 for months, however, you've come to the right place. |
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