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.

NASCAR completes wet weather tire test at Homestead

NASCAR held its first wet weather tire test at an intermediate track on Monday, and the first reports were positive. The test was held at Homestead-Miami Speedway a day after its Round of 8 race. Alex Bowman (Chevrolet), John Hunter Nemechek …

NASCAR held its first wet weather tire test at an intermediate track on Monday, and the first reports were positive.

The test was held at Homestead-Miami Speedway a day after its Round of 8 race. Alex Bowman (Chevrolet), John Hunter Nemechek (Toyota), and Ryan Preece (Ford) were the drivers who participated. There were five sets of tires, with four of them being different wet weather options to work through.

“They wet the track down the night before, so it was damp, and they got it wet prior to the start of the test,” NASCAR Cup Series managing director Brad Moran told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “From my reports – and we’ll go through this thoroughly later today in our competition meeting – the tires held up really well. They did a great job.

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“They were running up against the wall and kind of all over the racetrack in the wet. There was some spray, which we anticipated. The speeds are obviously much higher when we go to mile-and-a-halfs, so we’ve probably got a little work to do there. But overall, it was a really good test. All three drivers agreed on the tire they all liked; they were all in agreement that it was the best tire. We gained a lot.”

Moran anticipates seeing more wet weather tires being used next season. NASCAR used wet weather tires on an oval for the first time at North Wilkesboro last season in the non-points event All-Star Race.

The first time they were used on an oval in a points-paying event was at Richmond Raceway in April. The series then had the chance to use them to finish the June event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

NASCAR does not use its tires when in a hard rain. However, a light rain or a track that does not need to be completely dried allows NASCAR to restart an event sooner.

“This is a directive from Jim France a couple of years back; we’ve been working hard at it,” Moran said. “We started doing some testing a few years ago. Obviously, we got to see more of it this year, and it worked out very well in New Hampshire as well as North Wilkesboro. It certainly helped us get back to racing and helped the fans have the opportunity to enjoy the race when they come.

“So, again, we have not been running in downpours, but we certainly have run on wet tracks. Goodyear has done a fabulous job with the tires.”

Reddick earns pole for Homestead-Miami Cup race

Tyler Reddick (P) completed the NASCAR Cup Series sweep of Saturday activity at Homestead-Miami Speedway by claiming the pole for the Straight Talk Wireless 400. Reddick’s pole-winning lap was 167.452 mph (32.248 seconds) in the final round of …

Tyler Reddick (P) completed the NASCAR Cup Series sweep of Saturday activity at Homestead-Miami Speedway by claiming the pole for the Straight Talk Wireless 400.

Reddick’s pole-winning lap was 167.452 mph (32.248 seconds) in the final round of qualifying. It is Reddick’s ninth career pole in the Cup Series and first at Homestead-Miami.

“It’s a huge deal for us (to start on the pole),” Reddick said. “This Beast Camry is really, really fast, and it was nice to be able to capitalize on qualifying. All things considered with how last week ended, we’re picking up right where we left off to be honest. I’m excited for tomorrow. This is my kind of place and we know what we need to do tomorrow.”

The 23XI Racing driver goes into Sunday’s race sitting outside of a transfer spot into the championship race. Reddick, who won the regular season championship, is at a 30-point deficit after earning a DNF in the opening race of the Round of 8 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. On lap 89, Reddick made contact with the wall and Chase Elliott of Turn 4, and his car rolled over on the frontstretch.

Kyle Larson (P) qualified second at 167.053 mph. Christopher Bell (P), the defending race winner, qualified third at 166.826 mph.

Denny Hamlin (P) will start Sunday’s race in fourth at 166.523 mph, ahead of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in fifth at 165.629 mph. Martin Truex Jr. qualified sixth at 166.312 mph.

Chase Elliott (P) qualified seventh at 165.173 mph with Bubba Wallace eighth at 166.128 mph. Daniel Hemric qualified ninth at 163.344 mph and Justin Haley completed the top 10 at 165.664 mph.

There were three playoff drivers who qualified outside the top 10.

Ryan Blaney qualified 20th. The reigning series champion clocked in at 166.272 mph.

William Byron qualified 25th at 165.741 mph and Joey Logano qualified 26th at 165.837 mph. Logano’s team is working through a potential power steering issue that needs to be addressed before Sunday’s race.

RESULTS

*P denotes playoff driver.

Reddick paces Miami practice as Logano, Bell encounter issues

Tyler Reddick was fastest in Saturday morning’s NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Homestead-Miami Speedway at 167.770 mph (32.187 seconds). Reddick (P) ran 31 laps in the session. But he laid down the fastest time on his first lap on track. Ross …

Tyler Reddick was fastest in Saturday morning’s NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Homestead-Miami Speedway at 167.770 mph (32.187 seconds).

Reddick (P) ran 31 laps in the session. But he laid down the fastest time on his first lap on track.

Ross Chastain was second fastest at 167.764 mph. Bubba Wallace was third at 167.754 mph, with Michael McDowell fourth at 167.676 mph, and Brad Keselowski fifth at 167.338 mph.

Erik Jones was sixth fastest at 167.338 mph, Martin Truex Jr. was seventh at 166.842 mph, and Denny Hamlin (P) was fastest at 166.646 mph. Joey Logano (P) and Zane Smith completed the top 10 at 166.636 mph and 166.543 mph respectively.

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Logano did not run the full session. After logging 25 laps, Logano communicated to his Team Penske group that he might have a power steering issue.

“I wish I knew; we’d be able to fix it,” Logano said of the issue. “It just seemed like it was locking up as it was going, so we’re probably going to have to take a look at that after qualifying. It’s not one of the approved changes, I don’t believe, so we’ll have to figure that one out later. But we can still qualify for a pit stall, at least.

“I think our Hunt Brothers Mustang is pretty good on the long run. That’s kind of where we’ve been: good on the long run, not so great on the short run. So, we’ll try to give the short run some love for tomorrow and get the power steering working as well.”

Kyle Larson (P) was 14th fastest with Christopher Bell (P) 16th. Bell ran 17 laps and then reported his Toyota had “hit the ground” during a run. The team told Bell to come to pit road if it might be a tire issue, which turned out to be a flat right front.

“It’s going to be hard to say but I don’t think so,” Bell said when asked by NBC Sports if the practice was wasted. “I think we got a number of competitive laps and we learned a little bit. I’m very thankful I was able to catch it and these guys gave me good direction to bring it in because if you drag the underbodies on these cars, it’s pretty much a weekend ruiner. So, I think we got away with one there.”

William Byron (P) was 26th fastest, Ryan Blaney (P) was 29th, and Chase Elliott (P) was 33rd. Elliott was the slowest of the eight playoff drivers.

Noah Gragson was fastest in the best 10 consecutive lap average. Gragson topped Keselowski, Reddick, Wallace, and Michael McDowell.

There are 38 drivers entered in the Straight Talk Wireless 400.

*P denotes playoff driver.

Racing on TV, October 25-27

All times Eastern; live broadcasts unless noted. Friday, October 25 Valencia Day 1 11:45am- 4:00pm Mexican GP practice 1 2:25-3:30pm Homestead qualifying 4:00-5:30pm Mexican GP practice 2 5:55-7:30pm Idaho Falls race 1 9:00pm Gold Coast Shootout …

All times Eastern; live broadcasts unless noted.

Friday, October 25

	Valencia Day 1	11:45am- 4:00pm
	Mexican GP practice 1	2:25-3:30pm
	Homestead qualifying	4:00-5:30pm
	Mexican GP practice 2	5:55-7:30pm
	Idaho Falls race 1	9:00pm
	Gold Coast Shootout	10:30pm

Saturday, October 26

	Gold Coast race 1	1:00am (repeated at 5:30pm)
	Valencia Day 2	4:00am- 5:10pm
	Homestead qualifying	9:00- 10:30am
	Thailand sprint	10:30am- 12:00pm
	Homestead	12:00- 2:00pm
	Mexican GP practice 3	1:25-2:30pm
	Homestead	3:30-4:00pm pre-race 4:00-7:00pm race
	Mexican GP qualifying	5:55-7:00pm
	Idaho Falls race 2	9:00pm

Sunday, October 27

	Gold Coast race 2	12:00am (repeated at 5:30pm)
	Valencia Day 3	4:00am- 4:30pm
	Thailand GP	10:30am- 1:00pm
	Homestead	2:00-2:30pm pre-race 2:30-6:00pm race
	Mexican GP	2:30-4:00pm pre-race 4:00-6:00pm race

Key: SDD: Same day delay; D = delayed; R = Replay

FIA WEC is available on Max’s B/R Sports Add-On in addition to Motor Trend. Check your streaming provider for air times

MotoGP is now airing live on TruTV and Max’s B/R Sports Add-On. Check your streaming provider for air times

A variety of motor racing is available for streaming on demand at the following sites:

MAVTV.com

Chance to return to Miami ‘a big draw’ for Formula E – Dodds

Formula E’s calendar for the upcoming 2024-25 season, announced today, featured the standout revelation that the series would be returning to Miami for the first time in a decade. The championship visited the south Florida city in its inaugural …

Formula E’s calendar for the upcoming 2024-25 season, announced today, featured the standout revelation that the series would be returning to Miami for the first time in a decade.

The championship visited the south Florida city in its inaugural season, with a race on the streets being won by Nicolas Prost for the e.dams Renault team ahead of Scott Speed for Andretti and Abt Sportsline’s Daniel Abt.

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Formula E has made no secret of its desire to increase its footprint in North America, having also raced in Long Beach in that first year (as well as the year after), New York between 2017-22, and north of the border in Montreal in 2017. More recently it’s raced in Portland – where it will return in two-week’s time – but while the Pacific Northwest event was a huge success on its debut last year, the championship couldn’t resist the lure of Homestead Miami Speedway.

Formula E’s only previous visit to Miami came in its first season. Andrew Ferraro/Motorsport Images

“We think it’s a really good circuit, well suited to our style of racing, and the Miami name that comes with it, from a global audience, a global television audience, is a big draw,” Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds said of the move to Miami.

“I thought it was a very successful race in Portland last year, a very strong turnout and ticket sales have been pretty good this year as well for what is a doubleheader,” he said of Portland. “The race in Portland last year was a little bit of a surprise for us, I think. It delivered a much better race than we thought it might, and I think it being an IndyCar track, that opened our eyes up to the possibility of using other IndyCar tracks in the U.S. and the IndyCar crowd who largely came to watch it, because it is an IndyCar crowd there, were very very positive about our style of racing, the infrastructure we brought, the extent of the show.”

But while Miami’s return to the calendar has come at Portland’s expense, that’s not intended to be a trend that will continue, with Dodds describing the U.S as one of two “priority markets” for the series, along with China.

“We probably have around seven or eight different large U.S. cities currently talking to us about putting a race on in their city, so those conversations are live and always ongoing,” Dodds said. “One thing I’ve said previously is our calendar can sustain two races in North America and probably two races in China as the two locations in the world where we could put on two races, so I think what you might find in time is the North America market is an ‘and’, not an ‘or’, so we add an additional race location as opposed to continually changing out the U.S. locations.”

One potential additional U.S. location remains Los Angeles. Often talked about, it had been expected to be on next season’s schedule. But while Dodds confirmed “it’s not one for Season 11”, he did insist “I wouldn’t write off Los Angeles as a potential venue” for a future race.

‘We ran out of laps a little bit’ – Blaney

Ryan Blaney needed a longer run at the end of Sunday’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway to have a shot at catching and challenging Christopher Bell for the victory. Blaney finished second to Bell and was over 1.6 seconds behind at the finish. …

Ryan Blaney needed a longer run at the end of Sunday’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway to have a shot at catching and challenging Christopher Bell for the victory.

Blaney finished second to Bell and was over 1.6 seconds behind at the finish. Although he had a fast enough car to get to second place, Blaney’s car needed long green-flag runs to really flex its muscle. Sunday’s race restarted for the final time with 25 laps to go.

“We were trying,” Blaney said. “We just needed laps. The long-run car was really good. I just couldn’t fire off for 10 laps or so. I think the track cooling off helped those guys. I think we were better in the hotter, slicker conditions when fire-off speed didn’t matter as much and it fell off quicker. That played into our benefit.

“It got a little cooler at the end and we never really found the front-end speed and they did. We ran out of laps a little bit. I am proud of the effort. It was a really good day, we just got beat a little bit there at the end.”

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Blaney won the second stage and led 53 laps, which was the second-most in Sunday’s event. Kyle Larson led the most laps, and it was an incident in the middle of the final stage between the two that changed the complexion of the race.

On lap 213, Blaney made his way to pit road with a healthy gap over Larson. But Larson tried to make it up coming to the commitment line and wound up overdoing it, tagged Blaney in the back bumper and then hitting the sand barrels.

The incident ended Larson’s day as the damage broke suspension parts in the right front. He apologized for hitting Blaney and said he wasn’t expecting the Team Penske driver to slow as quickly as he did to make pit road speed.

“I didn’t see anything,” Blaney said. “You guys watch it. All I know is I got hit in the bumper. I don’t think it hurt it at all. I didn’t even know what happened until I saw him in my mirror. I don’t look at that stuff.”

It was another moment in time in what’s been an eventful week for Blaney and his team. Blaney was initially disqualified after a sixth-place finish in Las Vegas before it was rescinded by NASCAR a day later after finding a problem with the template. However, he was still 17 points below the cutline going into Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Blaney had a fruitful day in the second race of the round and is now 10 points above the cutline. Martinsville Speedway will finalize the four championship contenders, which Blaney is looking to be a part of for the first time in his career.

“I hope we can perform,” he said. “We’ve had two good weeks in a row at Vegas and here. We have had solid weekends, so hopefully, we can do it again next week. It is nice to come in here a decent chunk down and then go to Martinsville in the positive. We just have to perform. We have to run well.”

Truex adds to Toyota’s playoff pole haul at Homestead

Martin Truex Jr. will lead the field to the green flag on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway after earning the pole with a lap of 167.411 mph (32.256 seconds). it is Truex’s second pole of the season and his first in Miami, as well as being the …

Martin Truex Jr. will lead the field to the green flag on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway after earning the pole with a lap of 167.411 mph (32.256 seconds).

it is Truex’s second pole of the season and his first in Miami, as well as being the 500th NASCAR pole for Toyota. Truex also makes it seven out of eight poles for a Toyota driver in the Cup Series playoffs.

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“I feel good; I felt good coming into this round,” Truex said. “I think last week probably didn’t go as well as I thought it was going to or would have hoped. But there was potential – more potential there than we than achieved, so that’s good. And then, coming here, I felt good just because it’s been a good track for us, and we’ve run up front a lot, and it’s just a comfort zone for me, I think, at this kind of racetrack.

“I had confidence. I don’t really expect to get the pole today, honestly, even after practice. I felt like our car was pretty good on the long run, and we needed to make some tweaks to be better for tomorrow, but pretty excited to be on the pole here after that. Didn’t really expect it; was hoping for a top-five and got a little surprise. So, it’s always good when it goes the right way.”

Bubba Wallace qualified second (167.115 mph) with Tyler Reddick qualified third (166.955 mph) to make it a 1-2-3 sweep for Toyota. Wallace had been fastest in practice.

Brad Keselowski was fourth (166.579 mph), ahead of last year’s Homestead winner Kyle Larson in fifth (166.103 mph), and Austin Dillon in sixth (165.894 mph). William Byron qualified seventh (165.853 mph), while Ross Chastain was eighth (165.832 mph), Ty Gibbs ninth (165.817 mph), and Ryan Blaney 10th (165.675 mph).

Denny Hamlin qualified 11th (167.984 mph) and Christopher Bell qualified 13th (167.785 mph). Chris Buescher was the lowest qualifying playoff driver in 17th (166.971 mph).

“We definitely made some really big gains from practice with our fire-off speed with our Fastenal Mustang, so I am happy with that,” Buescher said. “Just missed the second round though with it. At the same time, we needed just a little more there. Maybe a half a 10th, if I am remembering correctly. It was big pickup for us there on those laps.

“Our long run speed was pretty good in practice, it just took us way too long to get to that point to get decent. We had to make some changes that I think we have already started tackling for the qualifying lap and beyond to get going a little quicker but still maintain pace as we get deep into this thing. Good work today.

“There were some rather large changes there to get us in the ballpark and we are there now. We just missed the second round by just a little bit.”

John Hunter Nemechek qualified 24th in the No. 42 Chevrolet. Nemechek is getting his first run with Legacy Motor Club before joining the team next season.

Joey Logano did not make a qualifying lap after crashing off Turn 2 in practice. Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske team is preparing the backup car and he will start at the rear of the field Sunday.

NBC will carry race coverage of the second race in the Round of 8 at 2:30 p.m. ET.

RESULTS

Wallace tops Homestead-Miami practice

Bubba Wallace was the fastest overall in NASCAR Cup Series practice on Saturday morning at Homestead-Miami Speedway in his purple Grimace machine. Wallace’s fastest lap was 169.088 mph (31.936 seconds) and came on his first lap on the track. He was …

Bubba Wallace was the fastest overall in NASCAR Cup Series practice on Saturday morning at Homestead-Miami Speedway in his purple Grimace machine.

Wallace’s fastest lap was 169.088 mph (31.936 seconds) and came on his first lap on the track. He was among the first group of drivers to participate in practice. The 23XI Racing driver was also fastest in the best 10 consecutive lap average.

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“It’s good,” Wallace said. “I think the race is like 300 laps or something, so we’ve got to be fast for all of them. But the Grimace Toyota Camry TRD looks really good. Runs really good. I think the driver just has to show up and play really good tomorrow. So, it feels good to be back in Miami. I forgot how fun this place was.”

Wallace did not compete in the event at Homestead-Miami Speedway last season. After hooking Kyle Larson in the right rear the week before at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Wallace was suspended for one race.

Austin Cindric was second fastest at 167.999 mph and Ryan Blaney was third fastest at 167.764 mph. Christopher Bell was fourth fastest at 167.650 mph with Michael McDowell was fifth fastest at 167.468 mph.

Martin Truex Jr. was sixth fastest at 167.364 mph, ahead of Denny Hamlin in seventh at 167.152 mph. Tyler Reddick was eighth fastest at 166.935 mph, with Brad Keselowski at 166.770 mph and Chase Briscoe at 166.744 mph completing the top 10.

Kyle Larson, who is already locked into the Championship 4, was 17th fastest, while William Byron was 21st fastest and Chris Buescher, the slowest playoff driver in practice, was 32nd.

There was one incident in practice – Joey Logano clocked in 11th fastest overall before spinning off Turn 2 and hitting the inside wall on the backstretch. The Penske driver will go to a backup car for Sunday’s race and not make a qualifying lap.

“I was stuck in dirty air the whole run and I went to the bottom to try to pass Reddick and just lost it,” Logano said. “Just coming off the corner was throttling up and seemed everything was OK, and it just snapped around really late. It was kind of weird and surprised how late it happened.

“It’s a bummer. I thought we had a pretty good Shell/Pennzoil Mustang from the lap time perspective, and even being in traffic I thought we were decent. But we’ll have to pull out the backup and hopefully, it’s just as good.”

There are 36 drivers entered in the 4EVER 400 at Homestead.

‘I wish it was another track’ – Bell seeking confidence boost at Homestead

Christopher Bell felt his gold ticket to the championship race slipped through his fingers last weekend in Las Vegas when he could do nothing but chase Kyle Larson across the finish line. Bell, although gracious in defeat, took the loss hard. Aside …

Christopher Bell felt his gold ticket to the championship race slipped through his fingers last weekend in Las Vegas when he could do nothing but chase Kyle Larson across the finish line.

Bell, although gracious in defeat, took the loss hard. Aside from wrecking Larson, which wasn’t an option Bell was willing to use, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver felt he did all he could to grab the victory. But it was just the first race in the round – Bell still has two chances to earn a return trip to the Championship 4, even if it didn’t sound like it with his outlook on Homestead-Miami Speedway.

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“I wish it was another track, I’ll be honest with you,” Bell said this week. “I do wish we were going to a handful of other racetracks. But with that being said, Homestead is certainly a place where you can control your own destiny, and if you go there and you’re fast, you’re going to have a great day. If you go there and you’re slow, you’re going to have a really bad day.

“My track record there is full of ups and downs, so it’s not my most confident track, but it’s a great racetrack. It’s a place where, if you’re fast, you can control your own destiny. We just have to be fast and if we’re not fast, we don’t deserve to be going to the final four. So, it is what it is.”

Bell has three NASCAR Cup series starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway with a best finish of eighth from the 2020 season. His average finish is 13th with four laps led.

The numbers are similar for Bell from his time in the Xfinity series and Craftsman Truck series at the track: an average finish of 17.3 in the Xfinity series with a best finish of fifth from 2019. It was an 11.7 average finish for Bell in his three Truck series races at the 1.5-miler in south Florida, finishing a best eighth in 2016.

In the third round of the postseason, Bell views each race as a must-win. And if that doesn’t happen, a driver better be taking all the points possible.

Bell came close in Las Vegas, scoring 52 of 60 possible points. He and Larson were the class of the field, but it was Larson who clinched a spot competing for the championship.

“The reason why I felt like that was my moment was because going into the race, we had a great Saturday, we won the pole, I passed the 5 car early on in the race and ran in front of him for a period of time,” Bell said. “So, we had everything we needed to go out there and win the race and you never know what’s going to happen and certainly, my opportunity to make the final four is not over by any means, but that was a golden ticket that was a car length away from me, and it didn’t happen.

“I know that if I want to make Phoenix, I’m going to have to basically win at Homestead and Martinsville. If everything goes normal.

“Now, certainly, if people have issues, then it can be dramatically different, but we’re going to have to duplicate what we did at Las Vegas at Homestead and again at Martinsville.

“Frankly, if I’m a championship driver and we’re a championship team, we need to be doing anyway. So, I guess I felt like that was our moment to make the final four, and it was a moment to make the final four, but I don’t think that it was the only moment to make the final four.”

Bell is two points below the Cup series playoff grid going into Homestead (Sunday, 2:30 p.m. ET, NBC).