Sunoco Race Fuels, well known in the Philadelphia area and the largest manufacturer of racing gasolines in the world, will fuel Kubota High Limit Racing for the 2024 season and beyond as the “Official Racing Fuel of High Limit Racing.”
Sunoco Race Fuels has 60 years of on-track victories and will now add Kubota High Limit Racing wins to its storied history. Sunoco is also the official fuel of NASCAR.
“Sunoco Race Fuels is thrilled to be a part of the High Limit Racing family and proud to be the official fuel of one of the most exciting forms of motorsports on the planet,” said Ritchie Lewis, Partnership Sales Manager of Sunoco Race Fuels. “We offer only the highest quality racing fuel available through our extensive distributor network to keep the cars and stars of High Limit slinging dirt across the country. For more information on Sunoco Race Fuels or to find a dealer in your area please visit SunocoRaceFuels.com.”
Sunoco Race Fuels sells fuel through a network of Regional Distributors. These distributors will work directly with Kubota High Limit Racing to provide pure methanol for the sprint car teams racing on the tour.
And you can see the High Limit racers at Grandview Speedway on May 28.
‘Liquid Death’ comes aboard
I just have to say, I just would not be comfortable carrying this sponsor name for a motorsports event. Liquid Death, the healthy beverage platform and one of the fastest growing non-alcoholic brands, is now officially a NASCAR partner. The brand will be on-site this weekend in Talladega to jumpstart the partnership with an interactive display featuring the “Thirst Hearse” and offering samples of select iced tea flavors to fans.
As part of a wide-ranging, multi-year agreement that makes Liquid Death the Official Iced Tea of NASCAR, fans will see Liquid Death iced teas at select NASCAR-owned racetracks, including social and digital content, on-site experiences, activations, and more.
IROC Series returns
I have great memories of the old IROC Series that I got to cover quite a few years back. Hope Ray and his team can do just as well.
IROC Holdings LLC has announced the first IROC event to be held in nearly 20 years is set to take place July 19-20 at Lime Rock Park as part of the SpeedTour All-Star Race weekend. Featuring both an on-track racing exhibition and static display, the event will reunite original IROC competitors with cars actually raced in the legendary series.
IROC (International Race of Champions) is a series that held races from 1973 to 2006, which brought together the greatest drivers from all forms of motorsport to race identical cars on historic tracks for an all-star extravaganza. In early 2024, NASCAR Hall of Fame member Ray Evernham and former NASCAR Cup Series team owner and venture capitalist Rob Kauffman founded IROC Holdings LLC and announced they had acquired the rights to the iconic IROC brand. The return of IROC to the track this July marks the first step in revitalizing this iconic brand.
“We are thrilled to announce the first IROC event since 2006 will take place at historic Lime Rock Park,” said Evernham. “I began my professional racing career at IROC, so to be part of the team bringing the brand back to life and to the fans is extremely gratifying.”
The IROC event at Lime Rock Park will feature original IROC racecars on track and on display in the IROC paddock throughout the weekend. Fans will have the opportunity to see nearly every generation of IROC racecar with many being driven by former IROC drivers. A fan-forward display, the IROC paddock will feature appearances by some of the original IROC racers, Q&A sessions and IROC-branded merchandise.
IROC has also opened entry applications for anyone who owns IROC racecars and would like to display or drive them in the event. Those interested in applying can visit iroc-racing.com for more information. In addition, IROC has simultaneously launched their official webstore at shop.iroc-racing.com.
IROC’s return will take place during the SpeedTour All-Star Race weekend at Lime Rock Park, hosted by Parella Motorsports Holdings (PMH). The event will also feature the 60-minute SpeedTour All-Star Race, which gathers icons from Formula 1, NASCAR, INDYCAR and IMSA, and pairs them with competitors from the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli’s CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series to compete as co-drivers in a race that airs live on MAVTV.
NASCAR launches In-App Stories
NASCAR is enhancing its NASCAR Mobile app experience by launching today a new In-App Stories product from WSC Sports, the global leader in AI-powered sports video content.
In-App Stories offers NASCAR fans a user-friendly, multi-clip vertical video experience in a format they are familiar with seeing on other social media platforms. Fans can tap into the new experience on race weekends and beyond, as the Stories will provide live in-race highlights for NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races. Additionally, In-App Stories will have a prominent place on the NASCAR Mobile homepage throughout the week, so fans can continue to engage with the best on-track action and additional stories centered around their favorite drivers.
“NASCAR’s unique style of close, side-by-side racing delivers plenty of highlight-reel moments each week and In-App Stories are an ideal way for us to deliver the type of compelling content fans crave on mobile,” said Wyatt Hicks, Vice President of Digital Media at NASCAR. “We’re eager to continue collaborating with WSC Sports and building deeper connections with NASCAR fans around the world.”
The new integration comes as part of an expanded partnership between NASCAR and WSC Sports, in which NASCAR has been using the WSC Sports platform to quickly ingest and create highlight content from a multitude of video sources.
The expansion coincides with NASCAR’s continued brand resurgence and growth the past several years, including increases in unique users, visits and page views inside the NASCAR Mobile app to start 2024.
NASCAR not sold on aerodynamic package
With four races so far this year using the new aerodynamic package for short tracks and road courses, NASCAR has seen enough to know one thing when it comes to the aerodynamic tweaks it has made for those styles of tracks:
“The bottom line is, it doesn’t move the needle, and the drivers will tell you that,” NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer said last week on SiriusXM’s NASCAR channel.
“So there is no need for us to put a lot of energy towards that type of testing.”
Is it frustrating to hear that? For sure. When NASCAR tested its new “simplified” diffuser last year in the days following the race at Richmond, there were high hopes that it could change the dynamic of short-track racing. The idea was that the car could potentially improve aerodynamically in traffic, allowing for drivers with a stronger car to make a pass.
It didn’t happen at the test — that’s why there is testing, to see if theory and reality match — and even after another test at Phoenix in the offseason, the changes didn’t produce significantly different results in the racing dynamic at Phoenix, Circuit of the Americas, Richmond and Martinsville.
So, where does NASCAR go from here? What does it do for the rest of the season? It can’t just sit still, and Sawyer indicated that the sanctioning body is exploring options.
A significant increase in horsepower remains off of NASCAR’s table — that debate we chronicled last month — so the other main option is tires.
NASCAR wants a tire that wears not as aggressively as what occurred at Bristol earlier this year but close to it. While there has been nothing definitive on why the tires unexpectedly wore out so quickly at Bristol, it seems that track temperature is the leading theory.
That isn’t great news for Goodyear, which brings 1,500 to 2,000 tires for a short-track weekend. Could there be different tire compounds depending on the track temperature? That would create significant labor and manufacturing costs, be a logistical challenge and be difficult for teams trying to come with setups based on simulation (teams use data for that specific tire to help create setups).
So Goodyear has to develop a tire they hope wears within a reasonable range of temperatures.
Goodyear would need at least a month, if not more, to manufacture enough tires for a race weekend that has a new tire compound that hasn’t been used before.
NASCAR has two short-track tire tests scheduled over the next few months, starting in late May at Iowa Speedway, which will confirm the tire selection for that race on the 0.825-mile track. That test will have to be done with tire codes that Goodyear already has constructed for Iowa because the time frame (a couple weeks) doesn’t give it the ability for a wholesale change.
There also will be a test in mid-July at Bristol, which was originally slated for Atlanta.
Those tests likely wouldn’t be early enough for any changes for the New Hampshire race in June (and Richmond in August might be a challenge) but would be possible for changes for playoff races at Watkins Glen, Bristol, Charlotte road course, Martinsville and Phoenix.
If NASCAR doesn’t find a tire that wears better, what’s next?
NASCAR’s main goal with the Next Gen car was to have the same car able to run at Las Vegas and Bristol and Daytona. But it might have to do something more drastic if an answer when it comes to tires isn’t figured out soon.
Upcoming events
On Friday, Williams Grove is offering the Lawrence Chevrolet 410 Sprint Cars World of Outlaws Champagne Tune Up and HJ Towing & Recovery 358 Sprints.
Coming up at Lincoln Speedway on Saturday are 410 Sprints, 358 Sprints and the York County Racing Club Night. Starting time is 7 p.m..
And on Wednesday May 8 at 7:30 p.m. the very popular World of Outlaws Sprint Series performs.
Friday at Big Diamond, the Quandel Concrete Modifieds will be in action along with Mid-Atlantic Modifieds, USS Achey Crate 602 Sportsman and Red White and Blue Autos Roadrunners. Racing starts at 7 p.m.
Bridgeport, N.J., Speedway offers a Saturday show that includes Modifieds, MASS Sprints, Sportsman, NEWS Sprints, Street Stocks and Rookies. Warmups are at 5 p.m.
New Egypt, NJ Speedways goes with a Saturday show that includes Modifieds, MASS 305 Sprints, Crate Spoortsman, 4 Cylinders and Rookies. Racing at 6 p.m.
Grandview Speedway presents NASCAR Advance Parts Modifieds and Sportsman on Saturday. Racing starts at 7:30 p.m.
Ernie Saxton is an auto racing contributor for MediaNews Group. He co-founded the Eastern Motorsports Press Association, served as public relations director for Grandview Speedway for 47 years, and is in multiple halls of fame for his promotion and journalism related to the sport. He has announced races at more than 100 tracks, and he is the only person to have announced a race at Madison Square Garden. Email him at ESaxton144@aol.com.
