Mazda MX-5 Cup – Syndication Server

Inside MX-5 Cup: meet 2024 Scholarship Shootout winner Noah Harmon

At the second time of trying, 18-year-old Noah Harmon (above) won the Mazda MX-5 Cup Scholarship Shootout’s top prize: a fully funded ride for the 2025 season. To get to this point, Harmon spent his 2024 season seat time wisely to include …

At the second time of trying, 18-year-old Noah Harmon (above) won the Mazda MX-5 Cup Scholarship Shootout’s top prize: a fully funded ride for the 2025 season.

To get to this point, Harmon spent his 2024 season seat time wisely to include participating in three Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by Michelin rounds, totaling six races. The move allowed him to retain his eligibility status, but also become more familiar with the driving nuances of the Mazda MX-5 Cup race car.

“Last year, I didn’t know what to expect coming into the Shootout. This year, I was much more familiar with the car,” says Harmon.

His racing trajectory has so far been less typical than those of his peers. Harmon was born in Toronto, Ont., but was raised from around the age of four in the Orlando, Fla., area. He enjoyed watching racing on TV with his father, and they made the occasional hour-plus journey to Daytona International Speedway to attend the Rolex 24 and the Daytona 500.

“At the end of 2019, my dad and I went to drive some rental karts, and that was the beginning,” Harmon recalls. “We went to look at proper racing karts and on my 14th birthday, I drove a real kart for the first time.”

Despite coming into the karting scene twice as old as many who are competitive at this stage in their careers, Harmon fell into the groove very quickly.

“I raced karts from 2020 to 2021, and I did well in the state of Florida,” says Harmon. “I did some national stuff, too, and I would run decent. I wasn’t one of the guys who would be at the front, but I went to Super Nats in Las Vegas and did OK.”

The transition to race cars came after only two seasons of karting.

“We got to know some people in racing, and I did the Lucas Oil Racing School,” he recalls. “I really fell in love with the race cars, so I did both of their racing schools and then did their two-race winter series in the beginning 2022.”

Along the way Harmon crossed paths with a few other MX-5 Cup rising stars such as Jeremy Fletcher, Westin Workman and Thomas Annunziata. It was also during this time that Harmon met Aaron Nash of Crucial Motorsports, who recommended that he take a look at racing Mazdas, beginning with Spec Miata, which he did in 2023 with Mazda powerhouse BSI.

For the 2024 season, Harmon took another step forward, competing in Spec MX-5 with Greenwood Motorsports in addition to the three MX-5 Cup races that netted him an impressive fourth-place finish along with a ninth place during the final round at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

The interesting part is that Harmon has yet to run a full season in any championship and a second-place finish in the Spec MX-5 class at the 2024 SCCA National Championship Runoffs is his best result so far. So, did he feel like the underdog when he came to the Scholarship Shootout this year?

“I felt like I definitely had a lot of experience going into this year’s Shootout with my knowledge of the MX-5 Cup car, so I didn’t feel like an underdog in that respect. I felt very prepared for the Shootout this year,” he explains. “Last year was very much like I had no idea what I was getting into. It’s a wild and awesome event, but it is super stressful to go into it, and this year I definitely knew what to expect, which helped”

Overall Scholarship Shootout winner Noah Harmon (center) with runner-up Helio Meza (right) and Mazda Women in Motorsport Initiative Scholarship winner Ashlyn Speed (left).

Embarking on his first full season in a single championship presents Harmon with a challenge he has yet to deal with.

“I think representing Mazda this year in MX-5 Cup and being the Shootout winner and just getting to do a full season is gonna be a big, big deal,” he muses. “I mean, I really haven’t run a full season where every race matters. I do a lot of race weekends. It’s just never a part of a single championship. Like, for Spec MX-5, I ran four weekends this year, but I did a bunch of random Spec Miata stuff at the same time. So, I really haven’t had to put a full season together like that before. I think that’s really going to be a good experience.”

At the moment, Harmon is just trying to process it all. Like so many Shootout Scholarship winners before him, his short-term career path has taken a very sudden and positive turn.

“After the Shootout, my dad and I were just super happy,” says Harmon. “I mean, he was crying because it meant everything that the last three years has been about trying to win it. So, it was just a lot of stress and expectation for us to know we had a good shot at it this year and it meant so much. I have to also thank Bob and Donna Mueller of Street Side Classics for their support, because I think just getting time in the MX-5 Cup car was the biggest thing — getting time testing in it this year and doing some races.”

Winning the MX-5 Cup Scholarship Shootout meant as much to Noah Harmon’s father (right) as it did to the winner himself.

Next January, Harmon and his dad will once again make the trip to Daytona International Speedway, only this time, he’ll be much closer to that dream of being a full-time sports car racer.

All Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by Michelin races are streamed live on RACER.com and archived on The RACER Channel on YouTube. The 2025 action kicks off with the always-unmissable Daytona International Speedway doubleheader on Thursday, Jan. 23 and Friday, Jan. 24. And for all the latest series news, head to mx-5cup.com.

Mazda MX-5 Cup $150,000 scholarship goes to Noah Harm

Second time was the charm for Noah Harmon, who took home the $150,000 scholarship from Mazda in his return to the MX-5 Cup Shootout this week. Harmon will use the prize money to compete in the 2025 Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin. Helio Meza graduated from last year’s Spec MX-5 scholarship to win the runner-up prize of $100,000 toward his 2025 season. The Mazda Women in Motorsport Initiative Scholarship was won by Ashlyn Speed, who will have $100,000 to put toward her racing career in MX-5 Cup next year.

With a talent pool deeper than the Mariana Trench, judges for the MX-5 Cup Shootout had their work cut out for them. Beyond fast lap times and personality, judges looked at each finalists’ ability to interpret data and apply coaching advice.

“I say it every year, but this year’s MX-5 Cup Shootout finalists keep getting more and more impressive,” said Jonathan Applegate, Senior Manager, Mazda Motorsports. “For both Noah and Helio, we’ve watched them take all the right steps to get where they are and grow as drivers. It’s a proud moment for everyone at Mazda. And for Ashlyn, we’re thrilled that Whelen Engineering saw the same potential in her as we do and will take her under their wing as part of the Whelen Motorsports family next year.”

Having the experience of last year’s Shootout under his belt made Harmon a lot more comfortable at this year’s event, as did the time spent in an MX-5 Cup car at several races this season.

“Last year definitely helped,” Harmon said. “I kind of knew what to expect when I came here, and just knew I had to put everything together; driving technique, how to present myself around the paddock, what I needed to run, what I needed to do, all around all year. So, I think it worked.”

Naturally, Harmon was on cloud nine after the awards ceremony and still taking in what it all meant.

“It’s everything that me and my dad, my family, we’ve all worked for the last three years,” he said. “Everyone just believed in me. This means the world to me. I don’t have the words to describe it.”

The Shootout process was also familiar to Meza, who earned a spot on the Mazda Club Racing Factory Team at last year’s Spec MX-5 Shootout. While several other drivers put up more impressive results in the 2024 Spec MX-5 season, Meza was on top of his game at the Shootout.

“It’s unbelievable, just getting the opportunity to come to the MX-5 Cup Shootout to making the final three, which was mind blowing on its own and then to get up on the podium… I’m at a loss for words,” Meza said. “It’s going to take me a little while to realize what just happened.

“Obviously, driving the car was amazing, but meeting everyone and the coaches were great. They helped me develop over these two days, and since it was my first time in the car, they really got me up to speed quick, so can’t thank everyone enough at Mazda. I’m really looking forward to next year.”

In addition to winning the Mazda Women in Motorsports Initiative Scholarship, Speed will get to work with Whelen Motorsports to heighten her profile and network within the racing community.

“After my name got announced, I just felt so overwhelmed, and I started crying, and I felt so warm inside,” Speed said. “I’m just so thankful, for MX-5 Cup, for Mazda Motorsports and Whelen. And for everyone back home, at Cresson [Motorsport Ranch], the guys at the garage, it would not have been ever possible without them.”

Make sure to watch these drivers in action in the 2025 Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin, which kicks off at Daytona International Speedway, January 22 – 24.

Inside MX-5 Cup: Champion Wagner resets and repeats

It took 17 years for the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by Michelin to have a repeat champion. But it only took another year for the super-competitive one-make series to have its second repeat winner. With victories at Daytona, Mid-Ohio Sports Car …

With victories at Daytona, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and the Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta finale, Gresham Wagner earned his second MX-5 Cup championship in 2024, three years after claiming his first.

“It’s nice to join a small club like that,” said Wagner shortly after the season wrapped up. “More than comparing myself to what other people have done, it was more of a personal achievement to be able to know that I could do it twice. It certainly wasn’t a fluke the first time I did it, but it always feels nice to be able to come back and, especially three years later, show that I can still do it. And to know that I’m still at the top my game, competing with all the new people who’ve come into the series since my first one, makes it special.”

It was one of those new people, second-season driver Jeremy Fletcher, who Wagner had to beat. But there was also a familiar rival in Jared Thomas, the other two-time champ – and so far, the only back-to-back title winner.

In the end, Wagner beat Thomas by only 60 points, with Fletcher 10 markers back in third place.

While Thomas was landing his consecutive championships in 2022 and ’23, 2021 title-winner Wagner struggled with only two wins across two seasons, finishing third, then fifth in the standings. But his performance this year is a story of growth, along with a little bit of a change in attitude.

“I don’t think my speed was ever anything that I questioned,” he said. “Maybe some of the decisions I made on track, some of the factors of luck that came into play, certainly didn’t help. But, yeah, I came in with a bit of a new approach. It still wasn’t a perfect year. I had a couple of incidents through the year and a little bit of misfortune, but so does everyone else. So, I just maximized what I could control and tried to minimize the stuff that I couldn’t.”

That new approach, which Wagner says includes an extra dose of patience, was necessary. In the six seasons that he’s contested the series – and even in the two seasons between his championships – the Mazda MX-5 Cup and the profile of its competitors have evolved.

“A lot of young, talented drivers have come in, more than ever,” Wagner said. “The teams that that have come in, and the teams that have stayed here, have only upped their game over the years. And I think the field is tighter than ever, which leads to a lot more variables, a lot more stuff happening in the races, and a lot more opportunities where your patience or lack thereof can either help you or hurt you.”

That increased level of competitiveness also means no pulling out a gap and running away like he sometimes did in his first championship season, and in years prior, too. Winning an MX-5 Cup race or championship now means fighting in a pack of six, seven, or even 10 cars, pretty much every single lap of every single race.

“There’s just no leeway for anything anymore,” Wagner explained. “You can’t get away with any mistakes, and you also can’t take advantage of certain situations as much as you used to. You’re always racing people. It’s so compact, right? Everybody’s capable of doing the same lap times and achieving the same results. It completely changes how the races develop and how you have to win these.”

But adapt, and win, Wagner did. And he now stands as one of only two people to do it twice. Already in rarefied company, can he make it three? Watch this space in 2025…

• All Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by Michelin races are streamed live on RACER.com and archived on The RACER Channel on YouTube. Up next, enjoy live action from the 2024 Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout, Nov. 11-12, when 12 aspiring racers will vie for a scholarship valued at $150,000 from Mazda to compete in the 2025 Mazda MX-5 Cup season. Plus, find all the latest series news at mx-5cup.com.

Watch the Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout live on The RACER Channel

Tune in to RACER’s YouTube channel to watch the MX-5 Cup Shootout live from Homestead-Miami Speedway. The Shootout is a unique blend of skill, strategy and grit, offering fans a preview of racing’s future stars. Session #1: Nov 11, 9:00AM – 1:00PM …

Session #1: Nov 11, 9:00AM – 1:00PM ET

Session #2: Nov 11, 2:30PM – 5:00PM ET

Session #3: Nov 12, 9:00AM – 11:00AM ET

Session #4 + Winner’s Circle: Nov 12, 12:30PM ET

Mazda is bringing top talent to the track with the 18th annual Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout. This exciting event will showcase 12 emerging drivers competing for a $150,000 scholarship to race in the 2025 Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin. The runner-up and best female driver each receive $100,000 scholarships.

From a highly competitive pool of applicants from Spec MX-5, Spec Miata, and karting, the finalists were handpicked by a panel of racing experts and Mazda Motorsports staff. Each driver submitted their racing resume, a personal bio, and a video describing their passion for MX-5 racing and their future career plans. Now, they’ll put their skills to the test on November 11-12 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

This shootout isn’t just about speed. Drivers will be evaluated on their lap times and their ability to interpret data, apply coaching insights, and showcase professionalism.

Pullen named as Mazda MX-5 Shootout finalist

Briton Luke Pullen has been named to the 2024 Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 11-12, 2924. In his fourth year competing in the British Racing & Sports Car Club (BRSCC) Mazda MX5 Championship, Pullen scored six wins, …

Briton Luke Pullen has been named to the 2024 Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 11-12, 2924.

In his fourth year competing in the British Racing & Sports Car Club (BRSCC) Mazda MX5 Championship, Pullen scored six wins, two pole positions and 13 podiums to end the season just 13 points out of the championship.

“To be able to take part in the MX5 Cup Shootout is a tremendous honor,” said Pullen. “ I firmly believe that the Mazda MX5 championship has some of the best racing globally. I am proud to be a part it by competing in the BRSCC.”

Coming off his best on-track season, Pullen also enjoyed the opportunity to compete in Spec Mazda Miata round at Road Atlanta. The trip further cemented Pullen’s commitment to the Mazda MX5 global programs.

Pullen, from Wiltshire, England, started racing in his late teens, unlike many of his competitors, but quickly found his footing improving in each of his four seasons in BRSCC.

“In a Mazda paddock you get a sense of a global community vibe,” said Pullen. “It is not just country to country, and this is why we’re so excited about the Mazda MX5 Cup Shootout.”

A total of 12 drivers have been selected to participate in the 18th running of the Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout. The winning driver will receive a scholarship valued at $150,000 to participate in the 2025 Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin.

Numerous drivers who have won the Shootout have gone on to be successful in Mazda MX-5 Cup. The last three Shootout winners have gone on to win MX-5 Cup Rookie of the Year.

Mazda selects 12 drivers for 2024 MX-5 Cup Shootout

Continuing a tradition that has long matched talent with opportunity, Mazda has announced the names of the 12 drivers who have been selected to participate in the 18th running of the Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout. The winning driver will receive a …

The finalists came from a pool of drivers with success primarily in Spec MX-5, Spec Miata and karting. Each driver was asked to submit a racing resume with career highlights, a bio explaining why they are a great fit for Mazda and a video detailing their interest in MX-5 Cup, what makes them successful and how they plan to support their racing career long-term. A panel of racing professionals and Mazda Motorsports staff reviewed the entries before selecting 12 individuals to invite to the Shootout.

Drivers selected for 2024 Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout:
Justin Adakonis
Stephanie Anderson
Ethan Goulart
Ethan Jacobs
Noah Harmon
Ethan Lampe
Helio Meza
Luke Pullen
Camryn Reed
Christian Sarnecki
Ashlyn Speed
Logan Stretch

These finalists will travel to Homestead-Miami Speedway, November 11 – 12. Each driver will be fitted to one of three Mazda MX-5 Cup cars prepared by Flis Performance. All drivers will have several timed lapping sessions around the track and receive data to debrief with a driving coach afterwards.

The winner of the Shootout will receive a scholarship valued at $150,000 to compete in the 2025 Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup season. A runner-up will receive a $100,000 value scholarship. As part of the Mazda Women in Motorsport Initiative, the best performing female driver will also receive a $100,000 scholarship.

“The long history of the Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout demonstrates the brand’s commitment to making racers dreams come true,” said Jonathan Applegate, Senior Manager, Mazda Motorsports. “Since 2007, we’ve witnessed the MX-5 Cup Shootout Scholarship become the extra weight that tips the scales in a driver’s favor and helps launch their professional racing careers. As always, it’s going to be a tough call, picking three scholarship recipients, let alone one winner.”

Lap times are not the sole determining factor in choosing a winner; drivers will also be judged on their ability to understand data, implement recommendations from coaches, media savvy and general attitude.

Numerous drivers who have won the Shootout have gone on to be successful in Mazda MX-5 Cup. The last three Shootout winners have gone on to win MX-5 Cup Rookie of the Year. Jared Thomas, who won the Shootout in 2019, went on to become the first two-time MX-5 Cup Champion and recently won the series’ first oval race at Martinsville Speedway.

The 2025 MX-5 Cup season kicks off at Daytona International Speedway, January 22 – 24.

Inside MX-5 Cup: Team building with Nathanial Sparks

“You need a hobby,” said Nathanial Sparks’ mother to him and his father. Thus, a career, racing championships, and eventually a business, were launched. “We were homeschooled all the way up until high school, which meant I was playing every sport …

“You need a hobby,” said Nathanial Sparks’ mother to him and his father.

Thus, a career, racing championships, and eventually a business, were launched.

“We were homeschooled all the way up until high school, which meant I was playing every sport every month of the year all over the place,” explains Sparks, now the owner of Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by Michelin prep shop Spark Performance. “I was always in a sports environment where you’re on a team and you have to work with your teammates to try to win the game.

“So then when Mom wanted Dad and I to have more of a hobby to do together, she said, ‘Well, [Sparks’ father] Jerry was always interested in cars. He always built his cars throughout the years, tinkering and all that kind of stuff back in the day when he was a kid. So, let’s do car stuff.’

“It started off with a couple of autocrosses, and then that’s kind of when you start getting involved in motorsports, and being competitive in motorsports gives you a lot of avenues to go down.”

The avenue that father and son Sparks chose led to Spec Miata and eventually the Teen Mazda Challenge. A win at the NASA Championships in 2011, and the scholarship money that came with it, steered them to MX-5 Cup. Back then, for the first-generation race car based on the NC MX-5, the cars weren’t built by a single company, but rather by the teams using the spec parts, so it was a perfect project for the father-son duo to tackle.

The first 2012 race weekend at Sebring International Raceway may not have gone to plan, with Sparks trying to straighten frame rails in between two palm trees after crashing the car in testing. He got it fixed, and while it wasn’t the most attractive car on the grid with its mis-matched body panels, he still drove it to top-10 finishes that weekend.

It’s been a long journey from that beginning to where Sparks (below) is now. The path was laid out before him by being in the right place at the right time.

“One of the races we went to, a fellow competitor crashed, so his car needed to be re-tubbed, and it was a really close, quick turnaround to the next event,” Sparks recounts. “I was standing next to the team owner, John Dean II of Sick Sideways Racing in Florida, and we’re looking at the car, and I said, ‘Hey, I can come down and help you build the next car and get your guy back out there.’ He said OK, so two or three days later, I’m talking to Mom and Dad telling them I’m going to go down to Florida to help this team build a car.”

Sick Sideways was growing in Sebring, and Sparks stayed with the team for several years. He won the first championship with the new ND-based Global MX-5 Cup car in 2016. He also won the multi-national Global MX-5 Cup Invitational. He followed that up with another Invitational win in 2018. That’s when things began to go in a different direction for Sparks and his wife Courtney, who got her degree in finance and was working in banking in Sebring.

“When I won the [Invitational] in 2016, they give you a decent amount of money to race the next year,” says Sparks. “But since I mostly took care of everything myself, I could race for as cheap as anyone could possibly do it. So, I took the money and bought a property and had a building built on it in Alabama. I knew I wanted to do this for myself one day, and I wanted to move home to Alabama.

“So then when ’18 happened and we won a little bit more money, it’s like, ‘All right, I’ve got a little bit of a cushion.’ So ’19 came around, and I was like, ‘Honey, I’m moving back to Alabama,’ because I had to make a decision to do it then or later; I didn’t want to leave mid-season.”

It was one of those let’s-just-do-it-and-figure-out-the-rest-later deals that ended up working out, because his first customer was Gresham Wagner, who would go on to take the 2021 MX-5 Cup championship.

“Then I was fortunate to say I won the championship in the car and out of the car, which was pretty cool, because in the end, I didn’t necessarily want to be a race driver, but I wanted to be in racing,” Sparks explains. “I really liked the trucks, the logistics of everything, and working on the cars. I think that’s something that I’m probably better at than the driving part. I was decent at the driving part, but I knew that I wasn’t good enough to do anything more than, if I could come up with the money, just keep driving. But the team part was really where I was excited.”

And indeed, he’s proved extremely good at it. Spark Performance ran three cars in the 2024 Mazda MX-5 Cup (above) for Alex Bachoura (No. 33), Grant West (50) and series rookie Sally Mott (15), while also expanding the operation to include running in other series. He hopes it’s just the beginning.

“If you were to ask me to dream big and tell you, ‘What’s the one thing that you wanted to come away from this?’ I would think it would be so cool that 30 years from now, people might still know the Spark Performance name in racing,” Sparks says. “We’ve got all these big guys now whose names are just part of motorsports. I’d like to be able to do that one day, have my name be a part of motorsports. Sure, it’d be great to win Daytona or run a car at Le Mans, but even if I don’t succeed in that, I still think that that would be the cool thing — if I could just still be around and make it into something.”

Follow Mazda MX-5 Cup to learn more about the upcoming 2024 Shootout including the 2025 schedule, until then check out the 2024 season championship at Road Atlanta and more on The RACER Channel.

Thomas wins Mazda MX-5 Cup race at Martinsville Speedway

With lap after lap of side-by-side racing for the lead, a late race green-white-checkered shootout for victory, and a close margin of victory, the first-ever Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin race on an oval lived up to the hype at Martinsville Speedway. Jared Thomas (No. 96 JTR Motorsports Engineering) took home $25,000 and a Martinsville clock at the end of the 105-lap exhibition race.

Thomas was nearly perfect in the single-day event at ‘The Short Track.’ He turned the fastest practice lap, set the pole time and led 82 laps, but coming to the final restart, he was behind Westin Workman (No. 13 BSI Racing).

Workman, who qualified second, was Thomas’ biggest opponent the entire race. The two were able to gap the rest of the field in the first half of the race, but Workman was on the attack with 20 laps to go and took over the lead after the duo dazzled as they ran side by side fighting for the lead without making contact before Thomas reclaimed the point.

“We were, I would say pacing is a good word,” Thomas said. “We were trying not to use our stuff up, because we knew it was going to be the last 25 when it was going to get hot and heavy. I could tell some of the guys around me were pushing really hard, so I was trying to play the game where I pushed a little bit and then would ride a little bit and kind of balance it out and make them use their stuff up to catch me. The second half was a different story.”

The Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup used a lot of traditional oval racing rules, including the “Choose Rule.” When preparing for a restart from yellow, cars get to choose which lane they restart in, left or right. Drivers can gain positions by choosing a lane with less cars, but will be in the “slower” lane for the restart. For the final restart, Workman chose the left lane and Thomas opted to stay behind Workman on the left side.

The pair sped into Turn 1 nose to tail, Workman appeared to get loose, and Thomas took rapid advantage.

“The outside here from practicing it and going back and watching a lot of video from all the other NASCAR series that run here, you know you’re never gonna get around the guy on the top unless something extreme happens,” Thomas said of his choice. “So, I figured my best bet was on the bottom, run with him and then see if we can make a move on him.

“I was trying not to get bumped and run myself,” Thomas said. “Because the 31 [Landen Lewis] was coming down. He was right on my bumper, and we all went in there and Weston got in a little hot.”

Workman nearly fell off the podium all together, but was able to collect himself and reclaim second. There was not enough time to catch Thomas though, who won by 0.374s.

Along with a $25,000 check, Thomas also picked up a famed Martinsville clock for his history-making win.

“[The clock] is gonna go in the shop for a while, and it’s going to stay there for a couple weeks, so all these guys that made this happen-all my crew guys-so they can enjoy it too.”

Unlike Thomas, who came into the event with a solid background in oval racing, Workman was racing on an oval for the first time ever. The 2024 Rookie of the Year didn’t even test at Martinsville. Workman was a quick learner, which probably helped him secure the 2023 Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout Scholarship. He didn’t get the clock or the big check, but Workman did earn an impressive $10,000 for finishing second.

“I thought we ran pretty well,” Workman said. “I thought we did pretty much everything right tonight. I felt like I wasn’t given a chance there in Turn One on the restart to really hold the position. There was literally nothing I could do, but happy with second place 10 grand in my pocket.”

The highest finishing driver without Mazda MX-5 Cup experience was Landen Lewis (No. 31 McCumbee McAleer Racing). Lewis qualified fourth but struggled to stay in the top five for the first half of the race. He excelled at restarts however, and nearly bested Workman for second on the final restart but went on to finish third in his first MX-5 Cup race and collected $7,000.

“I was kind of riding around, trying to bide my time, watching the laps go down, and then all of a sudden, I was getting shipped and moved and beat and banged,” Lewis said. “I come on the radio and I’m like, ‘I need to man up. This is no joke. These guys are racing hard every single lap.’ I just manned up and tried to get in there as much as I could. It was really fun.

“I felt like we had a top-three car right there at the end for sure. Before that caution come out, the leader and second, they were in a different zip code, so we just had what we had, but I learned a lot and would love to do this again.”

Veteran Mazda pilot Tom Long (No. 8 McCumbee McAleer Racing), who is usually working in race control during MX-5 Cup races, couldn’t resist the chance to race at Martinsville and ended the day one spot shy of the podium, but $5,000 richer.

Another MX-5 Cup newcomer, but Spec Miata ace, Capers Zentmeyer (No. 99 Spark Performance) completed the top five. It was a fairytale ending for Zentmeyer, who is a Martinsville native and qualified 14th, but played his hand wisely and ended up with a fifth-place finish and $4,000.

RESULTS

New race, new rules: Understanding the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup race format for Martinsville

After 19 seasons of staging races on some of the best road and street circuits in North America, the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin race at Martinsville Speedway will be unlike any MX-5 Cup race before it. For its first oval race, the …

First, qualifying will be single car. Each driver will receive two laps to set their fastest time, and all cars are impounded after qualifying.

The race is 100 laps with a stage break at lap 50. Any caution laps before the stage break do not count and therefore, no driver can lose a lap. The stage break is only five minutes and teams may only perform light bodywork repair and small setup changes.

At the stage break, the driver in first place receives $3,500, the driver running second gets $2,000 and the driver in third gets $1,000.

For the final 50 laps following the stage break, during a caution, the first car behind the leader that is a lap down receives a free pass. This sends the car to the back of the field and gives the driver a lap back. In IMSA, this is referred to as ‘the pass around.’

Restarts are where things get really fun. Typically, in Mazda MX-5 Cup, restarts are single file, but at Martinsville they will be side-by-side. Not only that, but drivers will get to choose which lane (high or low) they wish to start from. As each car approaches a specific mark on the track, they will choose a lane and must stay in that lane until the green flag is back out. This means drivers don’t necessarily restart in the position they were in prior to the yellow. Cars can simply gain position under yellow by selecting the lane with less cars. Drivers who receive a penalty must start at the back of the longest line.

Ultimately the race must end with a green, white, checkered finish. Once the white flag is displayed, the next flag has to be the checkered flag.

At the end, the winner will go home with $25,000 and the traditional Martinsville Ridgeway grandfather clock. Second place receives $10,000, third gets $7,000, fourth takes home $5,000 and fifth collects $4,000. Sixth through 10th place receive $1,000 each. All total more than $60,000 will be handed out in Saturday’s race.

“There was a lot of thought and planning that went into making this format, and everyone worked to integrate some rules and traditions from the oval formats, as well as developing a race that should see the kind of competitive racing that Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup is known for,” Mazda Motorsports Senior Manager Jonathan Applegate said. “This has been a highly collaborative effort between the series, our friends at NASCAR and Martinsville, as well as Andersen Promotions and Flis Performance. The support from Whelen, Michelin and Sunoco have been outstanding, and we are all very eager to see how things play out on Saturday.”

If you can’t be in the stands at Martinsville on Oct, 26, make sure you’re on the IMSA YouTube channel to watch the live stream. Green flag is scheduled for 6:00pm ET.

Mazda MX-5 Cup makes oval debut at Martinsville Speedway

The time has finally come for the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin to take on Martinsville Speedway. The Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300 will see the series racing on an oval for the very first time, with more than $60,000 in prize …

Saturday, October 26, is the culmination of months of planning to bring Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup racing to Martinsville Speedway. What started as a fun idea has officially morphed into reality and the Michelin rubber is about to meet the Paperclip.

A mix of Mazda MX-5 Cup regulars and some oval specialists make up the entry list for this first-of-its-kind event. This includes newly crowned Mazda MX-5 Cup champion Gresham Wagner (No. 5 McCumbee McAleer Racing) and two-time champion Jared Thomas (No. 96 JTR Motorsports Engineering), who had the chance to experience the track in the open test at Martinsville in August. Wagner did not but is still familiar with Martinsville.

“I wasn’t at the in-season test with all the other teams and drivers, but I was fortunate enough to be able to drive in the first feasibility test at Martinsville over a year ago,” Wagner said. “So, I know what to expect, and I’m very lucky to have Chad [McCumbee] and MMR, who obviously know what they’re doing when it comes to going quick at an oval. Between the team and my MMR teammates that were at the test, I know they’ll have everything sorted for me to be quick. I grew up around short track racing in Virginia and the first time I ever tested a racecar was at Langley Speedway. So, even though my firsthand experience is limited, it’s not too foreign to me.”

All three Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout Scholarship recipients will be on the grid at Martinsville. Both Nathan Nicholson (No. 56 Advanced Autosports) and Sally Mott (No. 15 Spark Performance) turned laps at the August test, but 2024 MX-5 Cup Rookie of the Year Westin Workman (No. 13 BSI Racing) did not.

Tom Long (No. 8 McCumbee McAleer Racing) who is usually in race control for MX-5 Cup events is putting his driving suit on at Martinsville. His professional racing resume is so vast that fans might not know Long was the 2005 Miata Cup Champion, the precursor to MX-5 Cup.

A name that’s been missing from the entry list for a while, Selin Rollan (No 87 Rollan Racing/BSI Racing) returns to take a crack at Martinsville. It’s something he’s had his eye on ever since it was announced.

“MX-5 Cup has been a huge portion of my life for the last seven years so I couldn’t miss the opportunity to do the biggest one-off event in series history,” said Rollan, who has moved his focus to his career in aviation. “Also being a NASCAR fan for my whole life, Martinsville has been a bucket list track for me. I cannot wait to make history and chase a clock!”

Of the new faces, several have Spec Miata experience, including Ruben Caceres Jr. (No. 01 Hendricks Motorsports), Bobby Gossett (No. 44 McCumbee McAleer Racing) and Martinsville local Capers Zentmeyer (No. 99 Spark Performance).

Will Mazda experience or oval experience be the winner at Martinsville? CARS Tour regulars Brandon Pierce (No. 02 McCumbee McAleer Racing) and Landen Lewis (No. 31 McCumbee McAleer Racing) are hoping their oval backgrounds are the key to winning on Saturday, as is ARCA and Whelen Modified driver Andy Jankowiak (No. 2 Hendricks Motorsports).

At stake is $25,000 and a Martinsville grandfather clock for the winner who will have to survive a 100-lap race with a stage break at lap 50. Yellow flag laps will not count until after the stage break, which means nobody can lose a lap during the first half of the race. Prize money will be paid out to the top three at the stage break, as well as to the top 10 finishers at the checkered flag.

All of it will be streamed live on IMSA’s YouTube channel, with the green flag slated for 6pm ET.