Latest news with #MattMcCall
Associated Press
21-04-2025
- Automotive
- Associated Press
Spire Motorsports among the surprises of NASCAR season so far with Talladega up next
Despite five finishes of 30th or worst in the first eight races of the season, Carson Hocevar has avoided getting caught up in the dismal results. It's the encouraging performance of his No. 77 Chevrolet that has the 22-year-old from Portage, Michigan, believing his team is emerging as a force in NASCAR's premier Cup Series. 'Our group is so strong,' said Hocevar, who is in his second full Cup season. 'We're so good on pit road. We're good on the racetrack. We just got to be able to take advantage of the adversity. As my dad would remind me when I was a kid racing, they are character-building moments.' Despite the disappointments, Hocevar still is part of the best start in the six-year history of Spire Motorsports, one of the season's major surprises. At Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Michael McDowell (a two-time Cup winner hired for 2025 by Spire) delivered the first pole in team history. Hocevar finished a career-best second at Atlanta Motor Speedway Spire, which has yet to finish a season in the top 20 of the championship standings, has its three cars ranked between 19th and 25th in points after overhauling its roster with a host of championship veterans. Rodney Childers, who guided Kevin Harvick to the 2014 championship and earned 40 wins as a crew chief, joined the No. 7 of Justin Haley. Dax Gerringer, formerly a lead engineer for Childers at Stewart-Haas Racing, was hired as Spire's technical director. Matt McCall, a four-time winner as a Cup crew chief, was added as director of vehicle performance. 'A lot of the impact on our program is the unsung heroes,' Hocevar said before finishing 11th and leading two laps (despite a pit stop miscue) in the April 13 race at Bristol Motor Speedway. 'It's Matt McCall, Dax and a handful of others in the competition space.' Their mettle will be tested as Bristol marked the quarter-pole of a 36-race season that gets only more grueling. Emerging from the Easter off-weekend, the Cup Series will return Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway for a stretch of racing on 28 consecutive weeks through the Nov. 2 season finale at Phoenix Raceway. Denny Hamlin, who has been another 2025 surprise in ending a long winless drought with new crew chief Chris Gayle, said he understands the reason for the marathon but fears the stress. 'There is always a breaking point,' he said. 'It is harder and harder to keep people over the years. It is just generally a hard sport to be a part of because of the schedule. It is certainly not ideal.' Here are some other surprises, good and bad, from the season so far: Penske pain In three championships from 2022-24, Team Penske developed a title blueprint of playing possum in the regular season before reeling off hot playoff runs by Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney. The lack of early results from Penske's trio of drivers is befuddling this season. Logano needed seven races before his first top 10 finish, the longest stretch for a defending Cup series champion. Blaney has led five races in his No. 12 Ford but averaged a finish of 16.7 because of mechanical failures, mediocre pit stops and crash misfortune. Austin Cindric could have won the first two races at Daytonaand Atlanta but twice got wrecked. 'Last year, we didn't run very good and then we were able to fabricate a finish somehow,' Logano said. 'This year has kind of been the opposite. You name it, and it has happened. The fact that we have speed gives me a lot of confidence that a win will be around the corner at some point.' 23XI Racing's rise After his debut in the championship field, Tyler Reddick keeps gathering steam with top-three rankings in NASCAR's passing, defense and speed categories. Teammate Bubba Wallace, who missed the playoffs last year, has shown major gains on restarts (ranking third in the series with his No. 23 Toyota). In its fifth year, the team co-owned by Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan is on target for qualifying two title contenders despite the distractions of facing off with NASCAR in federal court for an antitrust battle that could drag through the year. Keselowski's swoon The preseason optimism was high for Brad Keselowski. He ended a 110-race winless streak last year and was reunited for 2025 with crew chief Jeremy Bullins, who took Keselowski to his most recent championship round appearance in 2020. But it's been a wipeout for the No. 6 Ford driver, whose best finish is 11th. The 2012 Cup champion is ranked 31st in the standings and is off to the worst start of his 16-season career. At 41, the driver-owner of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing could face career decisions if the trajectory continues. ___ AP auto racing:
NBC Sports
18-02-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
NO. 13 PURDUE AT NO. 14 MICHIGAN STATE IN BIG TEN MEN'S BASKETBALL TONIGHT EXCLUSIVELY ON PEACOCK, PLUS JUJU WATKINS & NO. 4 USC HOST NO. 22 MICHIGAN STATE TOMORROW ON PEACOCK, HIGHLIGHTING NINE GAMES ACROSS NBC SPORTS THIS WEEK
Tonight's Coverage Begins with College Countdown at 6:30 p.m. ET on Peacock, Followed by No. 13 Purdue vs. No. 14 Michigan (7 p.m. ET) and Butler vs. Xavier (8 p.m. ET) Four Ranked Teams Highlight Peacock's Exclusive Women's Schedule this Week: No. 22 Michigan State vs. No. 4 USC (Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. ET), No. 8 Ohio State vs. Indiana (Thursday at 7 p.m. ET) and No. 3 UCLA vs. Iowa (Sunday at 2 p.m. ET) Eligible Students Can Sign-Up to Receive Special Peacock Student Discount Offer for $2.99/Month STAMFORD, Conn. – Feb. 18, 2025 – This week's college basketball coverage across NBC Sports features six Top 25 teams, headlined by a Top 15 Big Ten men's showdown between No. 13 Purdue and No. 14 Michigan State tonight at 7 p.m. ET exclusively on Peacock and a Top 25 Peacock-exclusive women's Big Ten matchup between No. 22 Michigan State and No. 4 USC tomorrow, Wed., Feb. 19 at 9:30 p.m. ET. Tonight's coverage begins with College Countdown at 6:30 p.m. ET on Peacock featuring Jordan Cornette, Matt McCall, Josh Pastner, and Vaughn Dalzell leading into a men's doubleheader featuring No. 13 Purdue (19-7) visiting No. 14 Michigan State (20-5) at 7 p.m. ET and Xavier (16-10) hosting Butler (12-13) at 8 p.m. ET. Purdue looks to snap a two-game losing streak after falling to then-No. 16 Wisconsin, 94-84, on Saturday as forward Trey Kaufman-Renn led the Boilermakers with a career-high 30-points. Michigan State topped Illinois, 79-65, on Saturday behind a 23-point, 10-rebound double-double from forward Jaxon Kohler. Michigan State is in second place in the Big Ten with an 11-3 conference record, a half-game ahead of third-place Purdue (11-4). Noah Eagle (play-by-play), Robbie Hummel (analyst), who was a three-time First Team All-Big Ten selection at Purdue, and Caroline Pineda (sideline reporter) will call the Purdue-Michigan State game live from the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Mich. This week's women's college basketball coverage begins tomorrow, Wed., Feb. 19, with Big Ten College Countdown at 9 p.m. ET on Peacock leading into JuJu Watkins and No. 4 USC (23-2) hosting No. 22 Michigan State (19-6) at 9:30 p.m. ET. The Trojans have won four consecutive games, including a 69-64 win at Washington on Sunday and a 71-60 victory at home over then-No. 1 UCLA last Thursday, handing the Bruins their first defeat of the season. Watkins, who ranks fourth in the country averaging 24.2 points per game, scored 38 points and hauled in 11 rebounds in the win vs. UCLA. Michigan State lost to UCLA, 75-69, on Sunday as guard Theryn Hallock led the Spartans with 19 points. Zora Stephenson (play-by-play), Kim Adams (analyst), and Kira K. Dixon (sideline reporter) will call Michigan State-USC live from the Galen Center in Los Angeles, Calif. Peacock's exclusive women's basketball coverage this week also features No. 8 Ohio State (22-3) visiting Indiana (16-9) this Thursday, Feb. 20, at 7 p.m. ET and No. 3 UCLA (24-1) visiting Iowa (18-8) this Sunday, Feb. 23, at 2 p.m. ET. This week's men's college basketball schedule exclusively on Peacock (all times ET): This week's women's college basketball schedule exclusively on Peacock (all times ET): GOT NEXT WITH MEGHAN & ZORA On the most recent episode of Got Next with Meghan & Zora, hosted by NBC Sports commentators and former college basketball players Zora Stephenson and Meghan McKeown, the hosts discuss UConn upsetting South Carolina, and more. Got Next with Meghan & Zora sees the duo talk all things women's basketball, ranging from college to WNBA, on a weekly basis. Tune in for their analysis, news, and top stories, joined by guests to break it all down and share some laughs. Click here for more. NBC SPORTS' 2024-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL COVERAGE NBC Sports' 2024-25 college basketball season schedule features a record 150-plus games from the Big Ten (men's and women's), BIG EAST (men's), and Atlantic 10 (men's and women's) live on Peacock, NBC, and USA Network. Throughout the season, Peacock will exclusively stream more than 120 games live. Click here for more. Eligible students can sign-up for Peacock's Student Discount offer, available for $2.99/month. For more information and to sign-up, click here. Peacock's expansive sports programming features live coverage including Big Ten Football and Basketball, Sunday Night Football, Notre Dame Football, Big East men's basketball, Olympic and Paralympic Games, Premier League, NASCAR, golf, NBA and WNBA coming in 2025-26, and much more. Peacock also offers daily sports programming on the NBC Sports channel. – NBC Sports –
