Ricky Rudd, driver of the No. 88 Pedigree/Snickers Ford, stands in the garage during practice for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series USG Sheetrock 400 at Chicagoland Speedway on July 13, 2007, in Joliet, Illinois. (Jason Smith//Keynote USA/Getty Images)
NASCAR has announced that Ricky Rudd, Carl Edwards and Ralph Moody have been selected as members of the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2025.
Rudd was under consideration for several years, dating back to the days when I was on the Voting Panel.
Additionally, Dr. Dean Sicking received the Landmark Award for his outstanding contributions to NASCAR.
Members of the NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel met in a closed in-person session at the Charlotte Convention Center to discuss and vote on the 15 nominees for the 2025 induction class and the five nominees for the Award Landmark.
Ten nominees appeared on the Modern Era ballot, which was selected by the traditional Nominating Committee. The same committee selected the five Landmark Award nominees. The Pioneer ballot, which included five nominees whose careers began in 1965 or earlier, was selected by the Honors Committee. Beginning with the class of 2021, each Hall of Fame class features two members from the Modern Era ballot and one from the Pioneers ballot.
The Class of 2025 was determined by votes cast by the Voting Panel, including representatives from NASCAR, the NASCAR Hall of Fame, track owners from major facilities and historic short tracks, members of the media, manufacturer representatives , competitors (drivers, owners, team leaders). , recognized industry leaders, a nationwide fan vote conducted through NASCAR.com and the past two NASCAR Cup Series champions (Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson). In total, 62 votes were cast, with two additional members of the Voting Panel abstaining from voting as potential nominees for induction (Jeff Burton and Ricky Rudd). The EY accounting firm presided over the vote counting.
Rudd received 87 percent of the Modern Era votes, Edwards received 52 percent. Harry Gant finished third, followed by Jeff Burton and Harry Hyde. Ralph Moody received 60 percent of the Pioneer votes. Ray Hendrick finished second.
The NASCAR.com fan voting results were: Ray Hendrick (Pioneer); Carl Edwards and Harry Gant (Modern Era).
The two new members come from a group of 10 nominees that included: Greg Biffle, Neil Bonnett, Tim Brewer, Jeff Burton, Randy Dorton, Carl Edwards, Harry Gant, Harry Hyde, Ricky Rudd and Jack Sprague.
Nominees for the pioneer ballot included Ray Hendrick, Banjo Matthews, Ralph Moody, Larry Phillips and Bob Welborn.
Landmark Award nominees included Alvin Hawkins, Lesa France Kennedy, Dr. Joseph Mattioli, Les Richter and Dr. Dean Sicking.
The Class of 2025 induction ceremony is scheduled for February 7, 2025 at the NASCAR Hall of Fame and Charlotte Convention Center. Tickets for the induction ceremony will be available later this month at NASCARHall.com.
Frankly, I think more should be added or there will be many deserving of the honor who will never achieve it. And I firmly believe that drivers should be in their own category.
Pocono named best track
Pocono Raceway has earned the esteemed title of “Best NASCAR Track” in Keynote USA’s recently published 10Best Readers’ Choice travel awards.
The “Tricky Triangle” was nominated by a Keynote USA panel of experts in the “Best NASCAR Track” category and fans voted over a four-week period throughout April to determine the winner.
Pocono Raceway took first place and was followed by Chicago Street Race, Sonoma Raceway, Michigan Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway, respectively, to round out the top five tracks.
Pocono Raceway, which has hosted NASCAR events since 1974, enjoyed a highly successful race weekend last season that earned the track the “2023 Event of the Year” from the NASCAR Restaurant and Lodging Association. Pennsylvania. “The Tricky Triangle” sold out its frontstretch main grandstand and all premium seats and suites at the NASCAR Cup Series race for its largest race day crowd since 2010. The racetrack also sold out its entire camp inventory in the field.
Pocono Raceway is preparing for the return of NASCAR this season with a July 12-14 weekend featuring all three national series. The weekend begins with the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series CRC Brakleen 175 on Friday, July 12 at 5:30 pm ET and followed by the Explore the Pocono Mountains 225 on Saturday, July 13 at 3 pm Race weekend culminates on Sunday, July 14. with the Cup Series Pocono 400 at 2:30 p.m.
For more ticket information and news, visit www.poconoraceway.com.
New sprint car event
A new event is coming for the HJ Towing & Recovery 358 sprint cars at Williams Grove Speedway, as the first Dirty Deeds 25 of the season is scheduled for Friday night, May 31.
The Dirty Deeds 25 will pay $2,500 to the winner of a purse valued at nearly $12,000 for the limited sprints.
Action, including Diamond Series racing for the 410 sprint cars, begins at 7:30 p.m.
A second version of the race will be held later this season at Williams Grove on August 30.
Thanks to Bill Devine and Devine Motorsports, the Hard Charger and Hard Luck prizes will be awarded after the Dirty Deeds main event, valued at $250 each.
Heats will be aligned using regular handicap and feature alignment will be established using direct heat finishes.
Dirty Deeds Repair and Fabrication ., of Honey Brook, is the title sponsor of Dirty Deeds 25.
The winners so far this season in the 358 sprint division at Williams Grove have been Dylan Norris, Doug Hammaker and Andy Best.
Hammaker is the current leader with 358 sprint points on the track.
Audience record for the Miami Grand Prix
The recent Miami Grand Prix set a new Formula One viewership record for its live television audience in the United States.
Keynote USA reported that an average of 3.1 million viewers tuned in to the Keynote USA broadcast, with a high of 3.6 million. The previous record for average viewership was 2.6 million viewers (and peaked at 2.9 million), which was set during the inaugural Miami GP in 2022. Television ratings then fell for last year’s race , reaching 1.96 million.
That’s a 48 percent increase in viewership from 2023 to this year, and a nearly 20 percent increase over 2022 numbers.
It’s also strange that F1 has surpassed NASCAR in ratings. The Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway was scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. on Sunday, while the Miami GP was scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. But the AdventHealth 400 was delayed three hours due to rain. Kyle Larson ended up winning the race in the closest finish of the series: a difference of 0.001 seconds over Chris Buescher. NASCAR ended up having 2.296 million people watching on FS1, down two percent from last year, according to Sports Business Journal’s Adam Stern.
Note: The US GP is held on a Sunday in October, so it competes with the NFL’s viewership in the US.
The Grand Prix’s live audience wasn’t the only record set by American audiences this weekend. Saturday’s sprint race, which aired on Keynote USA, averaged 946,000 viewers, a new record since the format was introduced in 2021. The previous record was held by the 2023 Azerbaijan sprint race, which averaged of 883,000 spectators.
The increase in F1 viewership was probably related to Lando Norris’ victory by 7.6 seconds over Max Verstappen, marking the Briton’s first victory in F1. (F1 may have also benefited from another sport: Keynote USA aired Game 7 between the Orlando Magic and Cleveland Cavaliers before the grand prix.)
At the end of Lap 1, Norris was sixth, but “I knew we had a good pace and I knew we would be there for the long haul.” The McLaren driver kept his head down and pushed, with Verstappen in sight.
“I could still see Max. And when you can see Max, there is hope,” Norris said. “And it’s not often you get to see Max on the track. So I knew the whole time, even when I got back to sixth, that there could be opportunities, whether it was a Safety Car or if something went my way.”
And the safety car period went well, allowing him to pit and get newer tires. The gap grew between Norris and Verstappen as the laps decreased and the Briton continued to push. He said: “I wanted to do the fastest lap on the last lap. But I imagined Andrea (Stella, McLaren team principal) on the pit wall, saying: “No, Lando, please.” So, yeah, he was talking to me, but I thought I’d take him home and take it easy. But until then, you know, I wanted to stay away, and I didn’t want Max to be in the picture when he was over the line, and I don’t think he was. So that was the job done.”
Norris’ victory came at a critical time for the sport. While TV viewership is nearly double what it was in 2018 (before the debut of Netflix’s “Drive to Survive”), it fell 9.1 percent last year compared to 2022. That’s not surprising, considering how one-sided the race has been lately. Before Miami, Verstappen won 23 of the last 27 races (Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez won two each). The Dutchman was expected to achieve another victory in Miami.
As George Russell said of Norris’ victory: “He deserved a victory in the race probably many, many years ago. And I think for all Formula One drivers in this era of one-team, one-driver dominance, it’s always great to see someone get a chance to get a win.”
Viewers seem to agree.
Ernie Saxton is an auto racing contributor for MediaNews Group. He co-founded the Eastern Motorsports Press Association, served as public relations director for Grandview Speedway for 47 years and is in multiple halls of fame for his sports-related journalism and promotion. He has called races at over 100 tracks and is the only person to have called a race at Madison Square Garden. Email him at ESaxton144@aol.com.
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