Motorsports Network And Yahoo Sports Partner To Expand Audience
Yahoo Sports and Motorsports Network have now partnered.
Motorsports Network, the world's largest independent motorsports media outlet, and Yahoo Sports have partnered to allow both to expand their reach in the growing sports sector.
The deal between the two is a content partnership that will see Motorsports Network's stable of reporters and analysts provide key content off the main Yahoo Sports masthead under yahoosports.com/racing. The deal will see Motorsports Network branding on the dedicated section of Yahoo Sports.
By partnering with Yahoo Sports, additional exclusive opportunities for Motorsports Network including Daily Draw, the new free-to-play game in the Yahoo Sports app, that will feature Motorsport in contests connected to major races, beginning with the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix, which sees race week May 2-4. Additional, the new hub on Yahoo Sports will expand to see the two co-produce new video shows in the future.
For Motorsports Network, they see the partnership of expanding their reach. Well entrenched with the endemic racing community, the growth of F1, the sizeable audience of NASCAR, the history and prominence of IndyCar, and the expanding fan base of MotoGP in the U.S. is something they see as a core reason to partner with Yahoo Sports.
'Our conversations with Yahoo Sports truly became something where we learned this is much bigger than just a content syndication deal,' said Werner Brell, CEO of Motorsport Network in the exclusive interview. 'It's truly a content partnership deal. It became clear very quickly that discussions on how can we build and grow the Motorsport fan base in the US where we come with the expertise of Yahoo that comes with a really wide reach, the capabilities of doing video content series together, the capabilities of doing events together, the capabilities of fantasy through the Daily Draw game.'
Brell also noted that, in addition to Yahoo's vertical, they could tap into Yahoo Finance, given Motorsports Network and Autosport Business, which focus on the motorsports business community.
For Yahoo Sports, the addition of Motorsports Network was the next logical step in growing their network of content partnerships, given the increased interest in motorsports in the U.S., especially on the open-wheel side, as Formula 1 has now broken into the market.
'What we want to do is bring the best racing coverage we can to as many fans as possible,' said Jon Shaw, head of Revenue and Partnerships for Yahoo Sports. 'We have millions of those on Yahoo Sports across various platforms of every month, and we think we have found the very best partner to work with. Werner and the team at Motorsports Network, they're clearly an extremely trusted authority on racing, which makes them the ideal partner for what we need to do when we fill gaps in our coverage today, I think what we want to do is build the best destination we can on either sports on our site, make it a one stop shop for fans of racing, as he mentioned, notably F1 but also IndyCar, and NASCAR. We'll probably dip into some other things, like MotoGP, Formula E… racing series we were not going to cover ourselves in-depth the same way that they can with the expertise that they have.'
Yahoo Sports and Motorsports Network have been working on the partnership for several months. Financial details were not revealed, although the sides did say they are sharing revenue from advertising and sponsorships connected to the content in the hub and any shows they co-produce.
The partnership also creates new opportunities for advertisers to connect with a passionate U.S. racing audience. Brands will have access to cross-platform media placements and sponsored franchises across both Yahoo Sports and Motorsport Network. Shaw from Yahoo Sports specifically noted they've seen strong interest from tech and financial service categories.
The partnership tees up not just ahead of the F1 Miami Grand Prix, but also the Indianapolis 500, the NASCAR All-Star race, as well as the Coca-Cola 600.
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Indianapolis Star
4 hours ago
- Indianapolis Star
10 drivers to watch in up-for-grabs primetime race at World Wide Technology Racewawy
MADISON, Ill. — If ever there were a weekend for pseudo-IndyCar title contenders Pato O'Ward, Kyle Kirkwood, Christian Lundgaard and Co. to take a chunk out of runaway points leader Alex Palou, there may be no better time than the Sunday primetime stage at World Wide Technology Raceway. Yes, Palou finally turned a corner last month and won on an oval for the first time in his career at the Indianapolis 500, but the egg-shaped 1.25-mile oval just outside St. Louis is a different beast entirely — a track many drivers say is almost as similar to running a couple of high-speed road course corners as an oval. And despite Palou's road course prowess across his five-plus IndyCar seasons that feature three titles and 16 victories, WWTR is a track that hasn't been kind to him. If you can believe it, across his 37 career IndyCar podium—s, none have come at WWTR – one of two tracks (along with The Milwaukee Mile, where he only has two starts) where he's never logged a podium. It's one of just three tracks where Palou's never even led a single lap. Last year's fourth-place finish remains his only top-5 finish in his six starts at the venue and one of three top 10s. With seven wins across the five remaining road and street course venues on the 2025 IndyCar calendar and podiums each of the last two years at Iowa Speedway, if Palou's rivals wish to take a meaningful bite out of his championship cushion, which stands at 90 points to O'Ward and more than 100 to the rest of the field, Sunday's battle under the lights may be the best opportunity to get it done. 'You've got to win races. That's the only way you can answer back at Alex at this point. He's just flawless, and the only time that he hasn't finished well this season is a track where someone else crashed him completely out of his control,' Kirkwood, IndyCar's only other race-winner in 2025, said. 'The only way I can catch back up is either a) winning a ton of races, or b) him having a lot of back luck, and I don't see him having a lot of bad luck.' The potential for a title fight swing along makes IndyCar's first primetime Sunday night race on network TV in recent memory a compelling battle to be fought under the lights, but here are 10 other drivers to watch. Blame it in part on Palou's other-worldly dominance in 2025, including wins in five of the season's first six races on all three types of IndyCar tracks, but it's not often we see such a lengthy absence of Team Penske drivers in victory lane. Following Kirkwood's second win of the year at the Detroit Grand Prix, that stretch has extended to eight races, dating back to last season's finale at Nashville Superspeedway. It's only the team's fourth such dry spell in the wins category since the start of the 2015 season. And the arrival of WWTR on the calendar couldn't come at a better time. The team has now snagged pole each of IndyCar's last six trips to the track — with Will Power taking the latest Saturday to go with ones from 2020, 2021 and 2022 and Scott McLaughlin's from 2023 and '24. Newgarden has won four the last five races at WWTR, and five of IndyCar's nine races at the track since it returned to the calendar since 2017. Power also won at the track in 2018, and McLaughlin has finishes of second, third, fourth and fifth in his four career starts. Newgarden famously isn't one to dwell on past performance, good or bad, when theorizing about his team's potential for an upcoming race, typically offering up a version of his quote from Friday afternoon's bullpen to IndyStar: 'I feel good everywhere we go.' Still, it's hard to look past the fact that only one other time in his nine seasons with Team Penske has the two-time series champion gone this deep into the year without a win. In that 2021 season, Newgarden still totaled three runner-up finishes in his first eight starts, only suffered one finish outside the top 12 in that stretch and would go on to finish runner-up in the championship. Heading into Sunday night's race, Newgarden sits a colossally disappointing 12th in points in 2025 with just a single podium, two finishes outside the top 20 and four top 12s. 'It sorta just is what it is,' Newgarden said. 'That's the simplest way to deal with it. You've just got to go to the next one and put your best foot forward.' The motivation for McLaughlin, who grabbed his first two career IndyCar wins on ovals last year at Iowa Speedway and The Milwaukee Mile, is somewhat similar to Newgarden, as a driver who opened the 2025 campaign with serious title aspirations after a pair of back-to-back third-place championship finishes, but who after crashing out of the Indy 500 on the parade laps and suffering a mechanical failure at The Thermal Club has two finishes of 27th or worse this year. Unlike Newgarden, McLaughlin otherwise has had solid performances throughout the season with four top-6s, though a 12th-place finish at Detroit earlier this month after a stop-and-go penalty for avoidable contact with Nolan Siegel piled on a second consecutive disappointment on top of the debilitating one at the 500. 'I don't believe that it's not my year yet, but I certainly need to get on the train and start winning races and getting some consistency back,' McLaughlin said. 'I guess you can't dwell too much on the fact we haven't won a race yet. We go to strong tracks, and I think we showed really good pace. We just haven't put it together. 'I feel like we've been there or thereabout, pace-wise, but we just haven't quite executed, and that's on us.' 'I'm very good at it': Will Power has unshaken confidence in contract year with Team Penske Power sits three spots higher than McLaughlin in the championship standings in fifth and has logged Team Penske's best finish at five of the seven races, and yet he lacks a contract beyond the end of this season in a ride he's manned full-time since 2010. The 44-year-old told IndyStar this week he's focused on not pressing the issue in on-track situations and yearning for a win any more than normal, though Sunday's polesitter also admitted a victory would continue to build himself 'little bits of credit' as he politics for an extension. 'Anytime you're P1, in any session, it's just little bits of credit, and one race win would be one chunk of credit," Power said after grabbing pole Saturday. 'You just have to keep doing that. Just the nature of this series. It's very competitive right now. Teams are looking for top-level drivers. It's come down to that. People that can execute week in and week out. You've got to keep putting runs on the board.' Perhaps one of the biggest threats to Team Penske's bounce-back weekend is a driver manning a sister car also starting in the top 5. AJ Foyt Racing's David Malukas, who starts fourth Sunday, has quickly become a folk hero around this short oval with two podium finishes, the first two of his IndyCar career, coming in his first and second starts at WWTR with Dale Coyne Racing in 2022 (second) and '23 (third). Famously, that stellar rookie performance came in a rain-delayed evening final sprint of the race where he shot like a rocket through the front of the field, passing McLaughlin in the process and finished second only to Newgarden, the proverbial king of the track of late. Last year, though, the record books show a DNF in 21st place, Malukas seemed to be on the winning strategy and attempted what at the time looked as if it might be the race-winning pass on Power with 21 laps to go up the inside into Turn 1. With a car ahead, Malukas, who was racing for Meyer Shank Racing at the time, had nowhere to go, and as the pair rounded the Turn 1-2 complex side by side, Power inched up to try and take the position back and pinched Malukas with a tiny tap that sent the MSR car into a slide into the wall and ended his pursuit of his first IndyCar victory. Saturday, Malukas finished third fastest in the afternoon practice before his top-5 qualifying performance and turning the fastest lap in Saturday night's final practice, only further solidifying the 23-year-old as a legitimate favorite come Sunday, something Malukas almost blushed when asked about. 'IndyCar always posts about (my record) every time we come here, and I think last year, we really had that opportunity,' Malukas said. 'But we'll go at it again, and as long as we get a good result up around there, I'm happy.' 'Nothing in front of me': Will Power won his IndyCar-best pole despite near-2-year drought Perhaps other than the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, there may be no other race track on the IndyCar calendar that Conor Daly looks forward to more than the short oval just outside St. Louis. Though he's not always qualified all that superbly — Daly only has one top-10 start at WWTR in eight previous races — the Hoosier has an affinity for carving into the top 10 by the checkered flag with four such finishes and others of 11th and 13th. And as Daly looks at Sunday, the driver who sits fifth all-time in IndyCar history in starts without a win (122 and counting) thinks he and the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing crew should, at minimum, be fighting for a top-5, if not a podium to match the one they earned together last year at Milwaukee. This race, too, offers the first time the team and driver return to a track where Daly ran for JHR last year in his end-of-the-year fill-in role, giving them an opportunity to improve upon a car that despite damage incurred early in the race could still make passes and carve through the midfield. Daly was admittedly irked to have qualified 15th, but he still held firm on his belief the No. 76 can be a dark horse challenger come Sunday night. 'We were already excited (coming to WWTR) because of what we could see in where we were a little down last year,' Daly said. 'I love this track. I've wanted to win here ever since I started coming here. Obviously, it's really tough to beat the Penske cars here, and it always has been, but we're going to put up a fight I hope. 'We have to aim high. It's important to, and there's no reason for us to not be confident. We just have to execute. To win one of these races, you just have to be perfect.' How to watch: IndyCar Bommarito Automotive Grand Prix near St. Louis qualifying, lineup, time, TV, radio Neither Kirkwood (third in the championship, 102 points back) or Lundgaard (fourth, 106 points back) have logged a top-10 at WWTR in their full-time careers that include three previous visits each. Power, back in fifth place with that one win in 2018, holds a 136-point gap to Palou. It puts all the brighter spotlight on O'Ward to capitalize at a track where up until last year he done just about everything up front but win. The No. 5 Chevy driver bowed out of the 2024 race with a mechanical failure after finishes of third, second, second, fourth and second in his first five starts that began with the 2020 doubleheader. He starts third Sunday, and with a win and a finish from Palou outside the top 5, O'Ward would cut at least 20 points off that deficit still before the season's halfway point. Though he's well outside the championship conversation down in 19th with just a single top 10 in 2025, there may be no legitimate race-contending driver more sorely in need of a pick-me-up than Marcus Ericsson, who last year was running comfortably in the top 5 until a hybrid failure ended his day. In six starts at the track, the Andretti Global driver has logged four top-10s with a best finish of fifth. Ericsson lost 10 spots in the championship when his runner-up finish in the 500 last month was thrown out for a post-race tech inspection failure. The 2022 Indy 500 winner has taken to oval racing during his seven years in the sport, and even if it's not a win Sunday, a finish toward the top of the field could begin to inject some much-needed momentum into the No. 28 Honda crew as it begins this strenuous summer stretch. Though his second qualifying performance (18th) with new race engineer Michael Cannon wasn't nearly as stellar as his first at Detroit (seventh), there's reason to wonder if Rinus VeeKay might be able to put on a show from the back half of the field. In the car that Malukas drove to his pair of podiums while at Coyne, VeeKay, a strong oval racer, makes his first short-oval start with an engineer on his timing stand he's called "the Albert Einstein of IndyCar" and who helped turn AJ Foyt Racing from a relative afterthought into a race-contending program in a couple years. You need look at nothing more than Indy 500 polesitter Robert Shwartzman's qualifying results (24th) to know that Sunday's race and this weekend is unlikely to be much like the superspeedway the rookie excelled on at times last month. With just a brief, segmented practice to get up to speed before hopping in for qualifying, Shwartzman said he struggled to find the same comfort he rode to his surprise 500 pole earlier this spring. His teammate Callum Ilott will slot in 16th, giving the young British driver a legitimate shot to deliver the first-year Prema Racing team its best finish to date, should he best Shwartzman's 16th-place performance from Detroit.
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
Drivers react to NASCAR's use of tire packs to enforce track limits
In Mexico City, NASCAR has placed tire packs around the track at the apex of several corners, even adding another one after the first practice session. While drivers may use as much pavement as they want in some areas, such as the exit of the final corner, NASCAR wants to avoid drivers cutting corners. They've also painted yellow lines through the esses, and crossing that line will result in a stop-and-go penalty at a designated location around the track. But the addition of tire packs is a welcomed one for most drivers, who would rather focus on avoiding those than having to worry about the painted lines on the track. Wallace in favor of tire packs Bubba Wallace, 23XI Racing Toyota Bubba Wallace, 23XI Racing Toyota "I think it is good for us," said Bubba Wallace when asked about the tire packs in a Friday press conference. "Us Cup drivers, we push to find the limits of the race cars and the race tracks, and it seems like we are always revamping the race tracks to meet the driver's needs – like, well the track needs to be wider here for us. Slow down, slow down and we can make the corner. Advertisement "We are taking a race track and making it 'Cup cars 2.0' and it doesn't make sense to me, so I was a big fan of the tire packs. It forces you to stay on the track limits and I spent the majority of my time on the sim, staying tidy and staying on the racing surface, and I think hopefully that pays dividends for when we get on track later. But I'm a big fan of the tire packs, keeping us on line and keeping us on the racing surface.' NASCAR is also being cautious about placing tire packs in the faster sections of the track. They infamously put a tire pack at the exit of the original Charlotte Roval chicane, which several drivers (including Wallace) clobbered in ugly practice crashes. So far, the tire packs have caused no issues in Mexico City. Changing the way you approach the corner with tire packs Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott was also asked by a different media outlet about track limits, noting how the tire barriers weren't there when they practiced on the sim in preparation for this weekend. Advertisement "I ran laps (on the sim) where I was really aggressive running off the road and kind of taking advantage of different areas that I felt might be worth a little bit of time. But I would say the majority of laps that I ran, you know by choice, was just really staying inside the lines because I had a feeling that might be a little more of a reality," said Elliott. "But, you know, there are some areas that I think you'll take advantage of off the racetrack. I think the tire barriers have, especially through (turns) eight and nine or whatever numbers… I don't know which track map you're looking at, right, the numbers change. But the last two, that's before you get to the stadium section, for clarity, the tire packs, where they're located through that section, I think will significantly change how at least I was approaching that section in the sim. "But ... we have some practice to get some time on the track. I think everyone's going to be super aggressive with taking every advantage that you can take and probably stepping over that line. And if you get caught, you'll get caught, and you'll learn what you can and can't do. So my intention is to go and push the limits as far as I can push them. I'll probably step over them, you know, at different points in time. And I want to know for sure what's going to be called and what wasn't. Allgaier: "Any mistake can be a big mistake here" Justin Allgaier, JR Motorsports Chevrolet Justin Allgaier, JR Motorsports Chevrolet also asked reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier about the tire packs during his press conference appearance. The JR Motorsports driver said he and Michel Jourdain Jr. have been going over this very topic as he prepares for Saturday's Xfinity race. Advertisement "For us, there are sections with track limits and there are sections without and I think it's going to be interesting because we're in a little bit of a moving target," said Allgaier. "I think track limits can be relaxed or enforced harder based on how aggressive we are, and how much we're trying to make in those sections. The tire packs, or the barriers that they've put in some of the different corners of the racetrack, I think are different than what I expected, until you see it and you feel it and understand it. I mean, even so, (even before making) a lap on track, I'm already changing my approach to a couple of different corners. That's going to be something else that's very interesting to me, is how do we race here? Where are the most effective passing zones?" The tire packs also mean that drivers will have to be extra careful in minimizing mistakes as any off-road excursion could result in significant damage to the car. "Any mistake can be a big mistake here," noted Allgaier. "If you get off and you make a mistake, maybe other than turn one, it has the potential to be a big moment and damage to your car right so without really having the ability to go to a backup car, those are going to be important moments to not have, right." Read Also: Daniel Suarez crashes in Xfinity qualifying disaster, will start last in Mexico Shane van Gisbergen 'hates' racing in the rain, "but I'm good at it" Ryan Truex: 'Crazy few weeks' before his surprise JGR ride in Mexico Daniel Suarez: 'Sky is the limit' when Mexico and US work together To read more articles visit our website.
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
Will Power: 'I sent it' to snatch pole position for IndyCar WWTR oval night race
Will Power laid down a 49.9088s qualifying effort with a 180.329mph two-lap average to claim pole for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500. The result was Power's fifth pole on the 1.25-mile oval and his 71st overall, extending his record for indy car racing poles. It was the two-time IndyCar champion's first time topping the charts in qualifying since Aug. 2024 at Portland International Raceway. Power's strategy was simple. Advertisement 'I sent it a lot,' Power said of his run. 'I knew you would have to. You'd have to try to be flat in (turns) 3 and 4. Which I wasn't quite flat, but very, very close. 'Cool, man. Cool. It's been a while since I've had a pole, so I'm really excited for the Verizon 12 car. Chevy did a great job, good power. Hopefully we can execute in the race. It'd be awesome to get a win here.' It'll be an all-Team Penske front row, continuing a day of strength for the organization after Josef Newgarden led opening practice. Scott McLaughlin fell just .1515s shy of Power in an earlier run. Newgarden couldn't match his teammates in qualifying, but ended up a strong fifth at session's end. As qualifying unfolded The company is looking for its first win of 2025, hoping to break a season-long sweep for Honda drivers Alex Palou and Kyle Kirkwood. Chevrolet will have many frontrunners looking to break through at Gateway. The Bowtie brand claimed the top-five qualifiers on Saturday, with Pato O'Ward, David Malukas and Newgarden capping off the top-five. Advertisement Meyer Shank Racing's Marcus Armstrong was quickest among Honda drivers in sixth, followed by teammate Felix Herta, Alex Palou and Kirkwood wrapping up the top-10. Honda controls sixth through 11th, with Scott Dixon completing the group. Championship hopeful ChristianChristian Lundgaard will have ground to make up if he hopes to salvage the weekend. Lundgaard was a disappointing 14th at day's end, clear of teammate Nolan Siegel (20th) but well behind O'Ward and unable to capitalize on a pedestrian run for championship frontrunner Palou. Rookie Robert Shwartzman was unable to repeat the magic of his shock Indianapolis 500 pole run. The Prema Racing driver suffered a slight bobble during his run and wound up 24th at session's end. With only one race on the weekend, the field was set based on two-lap averages. Drivers qualified in reverse order of the series' current point standings. The session started later than initially planned, pushed back two hours by lingering storms that dropped light moisture through the morning and early afternoon. Early sunshine gave way to overcast skies as the session went on, dropping the track temp and aiding drivers that qualified later. Track preparation in focus Conor Daly, Juncos Hollinger Racing Conor Daly, Juncos Hollinger Racing Qualifying was preceded by practice for the USAC Silver Crown Series, where a blown motor may also have impacted time trials for some of the session's early qualifiers. Advertisement 'Cars blowing up just before we go and qualify is really a shame for us,' Conor Daly told Frontstretch after an early run. 'I like to turn in really late into (turns) 3 and 4. That's exactly where the oil dry is, and a bunch of sand. Our safety team does a great job doing that, but it's still slick.' It'll be a late evening for the IndyCar field. The 27 competitors will return to the racing surface for final practice at 8:15 p.m. ET. Sunday's race is slated to go live on FOX at 8:00 p.m. ET. Qualifying results – 2025 IndyCar Bommarito Automotive Group 500 To read more articles visit our website.
