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Person
Shane van Gisbergen
An incredibly talented race car driver from New Zealand who shocked the American stock car world by winning his very first NASCAR race on the streets of Chicago. He is famous for his amazing car control and ability to win on twisty road courses.
Person
Kevin Harvick
A legendary American race car driver who won NASCAR's biggest championship in 2014 before retiring to become a TV commentator and podcast host.
Place
Sonoma Raceway
A famous, twisty race track in California's wine country that features lots of steep hills and sharp turns, making it very difficult for heavy stock cars to race on.
Person
James Hinchcliffe
A friendly Canadian race car driver who raced in the high-speed IndyCar series for many years and now works as a popular TV commentator.
Person
George Russell
A fast British Formula 1 driver who races for the famous Mercedes team and is known for being incredibly quick in qualifying sessions.
Term
regenerative braking
A clever system in modern race cars that captures the energy normally wasted when a driver steps on the brakes, turning it into electricity to give the car an extra speed boost later.
Term
tire degradation
How quickly a race car's tires wear out and lose their grip as they get hot and rub against the track. When tires wear down too much, the car slides around and goes slower.
Place
Silverstone Circuit
A historic and incredibly fast race track in England where the very first Formula 1 race was held in 1950. It is famous for its sweeping, high-speed corners.
Place
Red Bull Ring
A beautiful, short race track located in the mountains of Austria, known for having long straightaways where cars can easily pass each other.
Brand
Trackhouse Racing
A modern and popular race team co-owned by the musician Pitbull. They race in both NASCAR and motorcycle racing, and are known for bringing in famous drivers from all over the world.
Term
stock car
A heavy, powerful race car built from scratch with a steel safety cage and a loud V8 engine, designed to look like a normal sedan you might see on the street.
Concept
silly season
The time of year when race car drivers start signing new contracts, switching to different teams, and sparking lots of rumors about who will drive where next year.
Brand
Meyer Shank Racing
A successful American race team that competes in both IndyCar and sports car racing, famous for winning the legendary Indy 500 race in 2021.
Person
Scott Dixon
One of the greatest race car drivers of all time, who has won the IndyCar championship six times and is famous for his incredible ability to save fuel and win races from almost anywhere on the grid.
Brand
Chip Ganassi Racing
A powerhouse American race team that has won many championships in IndyCar and sports car racing over the last few decades.
Place
Watkins Glen International
A famous, very fast race track in New York State that has hosted some of the biggest racing events in America for over 70 years.
Car
Porsche 911 GT3 R
A special, race-only version of the famous Porsche 911 built specifically for professional sports car racing. It has a loud, powerful engine in the back and huge wings to help it grip the track at high speeds.
Car
Toyota GR Supra
A modern two-door sports car built by Toyota in partnership with BMW. It is famous for being fast, fun to drive, and highly popular among car customizers.
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But Superman's still Superman.
It's Buxton plus guests.
Kevin went racing this weekend and no one has been able to contact him.
If AJ Almondanger is our version of Tom Brady, right?
SVG is in fact Patrick Mahomes.
Welcome to Speed with Harvick and Buxton,
fuelled by poets.
Except this week it's not Harvick and Buxton because Kevin went racing this weekend
and no one has been able to contact him since Sunday night.
Instead it's Buxton plus guests.
And we're going to unpack the F1 Austrian Grand Prix,
breakdown Shane Van Gidsberg and spectacular road course masterclass sweep at Sonoma.
Plus, as always, we will span the globe this week covering the 24 hours of spa,
MotoGP madness, and major highlights from around the racing world alongside
a lineup of, as I said, special guests that are filling in for Kevin.
And the first needs very little introduction, although he may,
to those of you who watched IndyCar this weekend,
because his beard has grown back.
Hello, my friend James Hinchcliffe.
Hello, my brother. How are you doing?
I'm good, mate.
You impressed, eh? You're pretty happy about that?
I've been comparing this to the fact that I've had to regrow patches of my lawn this summer
and get the moss out, scarify it, put the seed down, water it, mow it, water it.
All of that good stuff.
You've just Chuck Norris regrown it.
You're doing it all wrong.
You need more maple syrup and a little whiskey.
And that's, I think, what fuels this.
Yeah.
It's impressive, mate.
Impressive.
Almost as impressive as Max Verstappen's fight through the field back onto the podium in Austria.
George Russell took the win from Paul.
But dude, there was an awful lot going on in Austria this weekend.
Talk us through it, given that you were there.
Well, I mean, really, it was a couple different big storylines.
You know, you come into the weekend with a massive upgrade package for Red Bull,
and everyone kind of keen to see what that's going to be about.
Ferrari already pulling the trigger on their first duo token and bringing an update to the
engine. What was that going to do with a power sensor to race track?
But Mercedes still always going to be the ones to beat.
And throughout practice, McLaren kind of looked like the closest team.
That was going to be the team battling for second place, certainly.
And they just, that all fell apart when it mattered for them and qualifying in the race.
Max stepped up in the way that only Max can do in what would have been an incredible qualifying
lap if he had able to finish it. And then ultimately in the race, I think the driver of the day.
But you got to give credit where credit's due.
George won the race from Paul. The way he got Paul was very clever and executed brilliantly
in qualifying. So yeah, it was exciting.
Talk to us about that because the stepping crashes in qualifying.
Russell finishes his lap under yellow, improves under yellow, but keeps it because George Russell
knows the rules.
Knows the rules and is very observant.
One thing I want to point out is make sure that everybody understands that Kimmy Antonelli,
because Kimmy also saw the yellow, but he totally backed out of the lap he thought he
had to abort. It's not because he didn't know the rules. It's because he misread the sign.
He knew that a single yellow you could keep going and the double yellow you've got to,
you've got to stop. He thought it was a double yellow. So George caught that it was a single.
He lifted in his defense. He lifted about a hundred meters earlier than he would have.
And you have to show that you made a meaningful effort to slow down.
Ultimately what that did do is it actually gave a little bit of recharge and regen.
So when he came out of the next corner, turn 10, he actually made up most of the time that he had
but that's not on him. And so I think more than anything, what it's done is it's raised questions
about kind of how that rule is written and how it is enforced moving forward, just especially
with these new generation cars, where in a quick corner to lifting can sometimes yield a faster
lap time. It's fascinating. But as you said, like George knew the rules inside out, recognized the
right light panel on the left was denoting a single yellow rather than a double yellow.
And then we rolled to the race, right? And surprisingly, I think it would have been a Ferrari
1-2 on the grid, were it not for Russell's brilliant last lap. But Ferrari's sort of
charge never really materialized. We've got a great battle between Lewis and Max,
two great world champions fighting tooth and nail corner after corner, which I thoroughly
enjoyed. I gotta say, I really, really loved watching that. But it wasn't necessarily easy
running for George. Max was coming back at him. Kimmy probably one of the fastest, if not the
fastest driver on track towards the end of the race, but it's George who brought home the win.
Yeah, it was, I think George was very fortunate to be totally honest that Kimmy build on that
lap and lined up force rather than on the front row alongside him. I'm with you though that these
battles early in the race were so much fun to watch. These 2026 cars, they really do race
quite a lot better. They can follow closely because they're narrower. You can kind of
hold those side by side moments. Like, I mean, that outside pass in turn six that
first app and pulled off unreal. So it was fun to watch. But yeah, I don't think George was
the quickest car on track, especially at the end there. Max did an incredible job. Like you say,
I think Kimmy was the quickest car at the end, kind of like we saw in Barcelona at the end of the
race. But the Ferraris were a bit of a disappointment for the team that kind of
really excelled at Barcelona when degradation was an issue, when it was very hot there as well.
They just could not keep the tires under them. And both cars ended up doing a three stop strategy.
Leclerc basically did a mercy stop for his third stop at the end of the race. They were
the handful to go because it had gone so poorly. It's just a little bit surprising. I'm not sure
they know yet why exactly the the deck was so much worse for them there than it was in Barcelona.
Hindsight is always 2020, right? But Max Verstappen pulling in George Russell at a rate of knots,
then George stops. Max stays out for the last stop. If Max had stopped earlier,
might Max have been able to take that fight to George and ultimately win this race? Because
when he came out, he had a 10 second deficit and it was like a second, second and a bit
when George took that last stop. And that's the thing. You say it's easy to, you know,
Hindsight 2020, easy to be Monday morning quarterback. In the moment, I remember kind
of screaming at the TV. It's like, no, no, once George hit with them because I get in theory
what they were trying to do. But the tire falloff was quite bad. And the thing is,
Max had closed him up so much tire for tire, he was quicker. So just pit the next lap,
don't let him get too far ahead, use the pace when the tires are still good and make the pass.
When you do that tire offset, what you risk is if you have to burn so much of the tire to close
that 10 second gap, there's nothing left to mount an attack when you get there. And I think
that's a little bit what happened. Max got to kind of within a second and a half again,
but couldn't really close it past that. So I in a moment thought they should have just
pit and covered the next lap, but you know, those are much more people than me.
You always run out of laps. Like how many times have we seen this? You go a little bit long and
think, oh yeah, it's going to be a grandstand finish. You always run out of laps every time.
I just think you have to do the opposite when beating him in a straight fight doesn't seem
realistic. But to me in that second stint, it seemed very realistic that Max was just faster.
So cover him, get on the same strategy and just beat him on pace because I think they had it at
that stage. Next up mate is Silverstone. This weekend, you won't be there. I won't be there,
despite the fact that it's literally five minutes down the road from my house because
we are going to Columbus, Ohio. But for those who will be there and for the Formula One World
Championship, who's it going to suit? Do you think? Whose weekend will it be?
You know, look, he's on a roll right now. It'd be hard to bet against George, I think.
He's really found the qualifying pace, obviously back-to-back polls. Caviar being in both those
races at the end of the Grand Prix, Kimmy was faster. He passed him in Barcelona before the
mechanical. So he got beat there, George did in Austria. Had Kimmy been able to finish his
qualifying run. I kind of liken it to what happened to George in China and Kimmy got that one,
even though George probably would have been on pole and what would have happened in that case.
So hometown crowd, he knows the track better than anybody. He's definitely in the card beat.
He's got a bit of momentum. He's finally got that duck off his back and he's got that second one
of the season. Even though Kimmy's been outperforming him, I still think he's got a really, really good
shot this weekend. And I know everybody's looking forward to getting there because it's just,
it's one of those amazing events, isn't it? How much did he need that win? And how wild is it
that it's only his second of the season? Because he's been the title favourite, you know, from early
on. I couldn't believe it when, you know, he crossed the line and it's like, it's his second
win of the season. And I'm like, is it? He must have won more than one. No, no, he's only won one
race this year. Like that. It just, it feels so bizarre to me that George, you know, started off
the season and was like, championship favourite, George Russell. Then Kimmy goes on this amazing
run and George hasn't, hasn't won since Melbourne. It is crazy. I mean, when we were, you know,
you're putting your notes together as they're doing podium and whatever before the post-race show.
And it's like second win of the season. I'm like, no, you mean second win at Red Bull, right? And
then I'm looking, I'm like, no. Oh, well, both things are true. It was, so I had the exact same
reaction. Crazy to think that this was the only the second one, but I kind of liken it to the
season we saw from, from Lando Norris last year, came out strong, title favourite, won in Australia,
tied really shifted to Piastri over that next in. And this was actually one of the races I thought
was a bit of a turning point last year in the championship battle because Lando had an incredible
pole position. Oscar was faster than him, certainly in the early part of that race,
but he, he withheld the pressure. He got the win, got the confidence and it seemed like the ball
was rolling a little bit more in his, in his favour for a little bit. So I think for George,
this is huge. You know, there's, he's admitted that it's been stressful. It's been tough.
Talks about the mental strain of getting beat by a teammate, especially one that says inexperience
is Kimmy. So this could be that kind of thing. You know what it's like. Sometimes a driver just
wins that one race and the floodgates open. And I know it's not his first win by any stretch,
but it's a big reset for him, I think. Feels to me like Silveston is a Kimmy type circuit.
Feels like it's going to suit him. I'm hoping Ferrari find form again, hoping McLaren find
form. And we get, well, the British fans get a Lewis Lando George fight at the front. But
I don't know. I think Kimmy passes to beat them and I really do.
We, look, we waited since 1968 to have an all British podium, which we pulled off in,
in Spain. We might go just a couple of weeks before it's very plausible it could happen again.
It is. And they've waited since 1953 for an Italian world champion. So
who knows, mate? Who knows? We're going to move on to Formula two and Formula three,
because in Formula two, Nicolas Solov, who bizarrely, and we'll just cover this off very
quickly, was mentioned as already having a Formula one seat in the run up to the Austrian
Grand Prix weekend at Racing Bulls. Racing Bulls have backtracked from that massively and said
that's absolutely not the case. Anyway, multiple performance at the Red Bull Ring secured his
fourth win of the season, which cuts the championship leader Gabriele Minis' advantage down
to just two points as the grid heads to Silveston. The sprint race saw Trident's John Bennett pull
off a dramatic final lap switchback to overtake Sebastian Montoya for the lead and his first
victory. What a rapid ascent Bennett's been on over the last couple of seasons. Great to see.
In Formula three, Trident's Noah Stromstead became the eighth different winner in eight races
after pulling off a patient late race charge to capture the feature race victory ahead of
championship leader Ugo Ugechukwu. The sprint race saw Campos Racing's Ernesto Rivera overcome
a fierce battle with pole sitter James Walton to secure his first ever F3 victory at the Red Bull Ring.
Hey Speed fans, this show is fueled by Poet. Poet's zero-carbon bioethanol gives NASCAR drivers
the octane they need with zero carbon intensity. When it comes to performance, you can't beat
zero. Learn more at Poet.com. And a big thanks to Hench for stopping by. He'll be back later to
discuss IndyCar and IndyCar's silly season. But now time to discuss all things. Shane Van
Gisburgen, who put on a road course clinic on Sunday, well actually all the way through the weekend,
but on Sunday in particular outduld Chase Briscoe in a thrilling race at Sonoma to lock down the
checkered flag in the main event and silence any remaining doubters as if there were any
about his road racing supremacy. And as we said, it wasn't just the main event. He actually swept
the entire weekend kicking things off by dominating the O'Reilly race for JRM Complete with a pretty
cool post-race victory lap alongside Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his daughter, a flawless weekend for the
Kiwi. And we have plenty to dissect. And we do so with my mate Mambo. Hello mate.
Hey man, is my attire good? Am I matching the show properly? I just want to make sure.
I think you're looking beautiful. You're looking beautiful buddy. It's odd to be having a conversation
not in person in Charlotte. Yeah, that's right. That's right. You should.
Because we're normally crossing over in the corridors. Yeah, the corridor and in the
in the makeup room. Does it hide? How you doing? How's your flight getting ready? Go back to London.
Sounds good. Yeah. And you've had enough flights this weekend, man. But I want to talk to you about
SVG. I want to talk to you about his weekend. Back to back at Sonoma to win those two races,
both on the weekend and last year into this year as well. The man's just unstoppable on road courses.
Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, I tell everybody that will listen if AJ Almond Dinger is our version
of Tom Brady, right? Like the prototypical quarterback that, you know, doesn't step out of
line, doesn't slide the car. SVG is in fact Patrick Mahomes and can do stuff from a completely
different standpoint. The way he is able to control the car, manage his tires, break the car,
all the things. And then he's clutching it and saving fuel while he's driving away on Saturday.
He's absolutely incredible. And you could tell by this burnout just how important this win really
meant to him and that whole trackouts team. Because obviously he's, you know, he's slipped
off in the championship standings and the fight for the chase at the end of the year. But when you
get to road and street courses, the focus is always on him and rightfully so. But there's a
difference. You know, I know they're locked together as one type of track, but a street course like we
had at San Diego last week and then a road course like you have at Sonoma, they are different beasts.
And I just feel like SVG on a road course, you look back at Watkins Glen, you look at this weekend
at Sonoma, he's just in his element. It's, it's, it's impressive. It's like watching,
I would imagine this is what it looked like watching Mozart make his music. You know what I
mean? It's just instrumental in how to drive a race car on a road course, especially a stock car,
right? We just never have never seen anything like it. And I think the interesting part about
it will is that he has moved the bar and the competition is chasing it. And they, I'm not
going to say that they, no, I will say this. I'll go on record. I think they've closed the gap,
but Superman is still Superman. You know what I mean? I think San Diego being a street course,
we've never been there. He's We felt like he was going to have the advantage.
But honestly, like they weren't as good. And I think the competition kind of saw some chinks
in the armor. Now Shane did what Shane did, does, and he put the cape on and started driving back
to the front. And then he did it again at Sonoma. And you see here, he's in the likes with Tony
Stewart and Jeff Gordon, like NASCAR greats on the road. So it's pretty impressive. And I think
that the competition has gotten better, but it's going to make Shane just get it even better too.
They still can't beat him. They can get to his bumper, but they haven't been able to beat him
yet. I feel like in San Diego, he was almost kind of driving within himself in that early part of
the race and hadn't fully deployed full SVG and was going to kind of save that for the later part
of the race. But he never made it obviously into the later part of the race because he got taken
out. Without that, it could have been very, very different. But we always talk about him on road
and street courses. Is he finding the edge now on ovals? How close are we to getting the complete
driver in SVG that was promised when the road course phenomenon that he is turned up and everyone's
like, I just going to be a road course specialist. Like how close are we to getting the real deal
full complete driver? Well, so I got to talk to Shane last week on the Happy Hour pod and just
kind of asked him about the journey and learning about the ovals and understanding air and where
to put the car and all these things. All that was, it was brand new, right? And he was starting to
learn it at the end of last year. And this year, we've seen it where he's actually ran in the top
10. Like he led laps at Nashville not too long ago, early on in the summer. So he, he's made the
turn. And now I think he's starting to understand those tools because that's really what they are,
right? They're, they're arrow blocking and putting your car in the right spot. Those are just tools
to your toolbox that you need to be able to use. So I don't think that it's going to be this year
because, and I don't think that's necessary. Shane, I think that trackhouse is, isn't as strong as
expected themselves to be, but also the Chevys as a whole, right? We haven't seen the dominates
from Hendricks. So if the mother ship of the OEM isn't, isn't doing great, then you can't expect
everybody else to be up to snuff as well. So they're working through a lot of things on the
Chevys camp. How, how long is, is SVG locked into his contract? Like is there going to be a bidding
war for him if and when he becomes available? Cause if he doesn't have the tools at his disposal
with a car, which is good on road and street and ovals, like could we see him move? Is there
going to be a bidding war for him? I mean, there should be a bidding war, right? Like if you're
not thinking about it, um, at least if you're not thinking about it, I think you're crazy,
but it also depends on the schedule because the schedule changed. We lost a road course and we
also lost the road course in our final 10 races. And then you take up, you add to the point where
we changed from the playoffs to the chase. So the winning year in thing has gone as well. Now
winning the points is so much. So it kind of evens that part out, but the advantage that he had,
was that he had a road course in the last 10 races and right now he doesn't have that. So
I think all those things are factors. Um, and you got to look at track house, like,
you know, there's people coming after Connor Zillich, like they're like, is Connor going to
move over to, over to Hendrick and the 48 and what are we doing there? So if they in fact lose
Connor, then you damn sure can't lose Connor and SVG. You know what I mean? So you're going to have
to lock him in. So I think there's a lot of things to, a lot of dominoes yet to fall on all that.
Or change at the top as well. Cause for the first time all season, Tyler Redick,
he's lost the number one spot in the championship standings. Um, obviously entered the weekend
with a very slim cushion, suffered horrible mechanical issue early in the race that dropped
in multiple laps down. Uh, Denny Hamlin also had a spin during the final stage, but managed to
recover enough, uh, to kind of now officially lead the standings. I think it's only by a,
by a single point. Yeah. Yeah. One point, man. Like it's, it's, it's proper, proper close. Um,
what does that mean for the championship as a whole that, you know, Tyler's led this thing
from the outset, that incredible run to start the season off. The fact that he's been
replaced at the top of the standings, does that say that everybody else is,
is catching up or that he's just had a run where he's not quite been as good as he was at the start?
Yeah. I think first of all, it says that the system, the point system is working, right?
It's, it's what we want. It's keeping everything close. Cause you know, last year, William Byron
kind of ran away with the regular season. Um, he won it. Basically he just had to start at Daytona
in the last regular season race and he had won the regular season championship. So we don't,
that's not what we want. Like I do love watching dominance, but like I want, I also love a nice
bow all the way through, right? So I think, um, that the system is working for one to,
if you look at Tyler Reddick's wins, there was, it wasn't like dominating fashion. Like they've
fast, but they executed really well. They didn't have any malfunctions or breaks or anything,
whereas a lot of the competition were kind of getting into their season and kind of the ebbs
and flows. They were just coming out of the gate executing really, really well. And so I think,
um, yeah. Yeah. Sorry, you hadn't finished. Sorry. No, no, I just, I was just eyeing.
Yeah. No, I think, I think that that's, uh, I think that's a big part of it, you know? And now,
now you got Danny on a run and his run has been dominant. You know what I mean? So he's like,
he's been putting belt to butt, you know what I mean? And so I think it's a different type of
win winning scenario. Um, and he's probably racing the best he's ever raced in his career.
And now he's running well on road courses. Like if, if Danny Hamlin now has figured out
road course racing in his 40s, it might keep him around longer than everyone thought it would.
That's kind of terrifying. It's kind of weird. Old dog getting new tricks. I don't know if you
want that if you're the competition. Madness. Madness. Uh, mate, we had a lot of racing this
weekend, uh, ARCA series at Elco Speedway. Um, 16 year old Max Reeves, uh, overcame an engine failure
in practice that forced him to start down in 20th, dead last on the grid, carved his way through
the field, uh, inherited the lead from a smoking Landon S. Huffman, uh, and cruise to his second
consecutive ARCA victory. Um, some great stuff there. Uh, also, uh, in ARCA West, 18 year old
Sam Corrie, uh, put on a clinic at Sonoma by leading all 47 laps from the pole to secure his first
victory, narrowly fending off nitro motorsports teammate, Mia Lovell, who finished a career
best second by less than a second after a furious late race duel. Really happy for her. Um, and really
happy for him. That felt like a really kind of meaningful, uh, race result for those two.
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I don't know, I don't know Sam super well. I've kind of,
I've looked at what he's been doing. He's run some TA stuff. It looks like pilot challenge stuff.
He knows the road course racing really well. So when, um, drivers like that come over and they
find some success in the, in the road ranks, um, and stock racing and NASCAR, I think it means a
lot. It means that their path has been correct and that they have the craft to do it. And then
Mia, man, me, Mia is so awesome. I got to sit down with her at the Lee Falk, uh, racing media day
and did an interview with her. I did not know that she was a skateboarder first. So she,
yeah, competitive skateboarding. Like she's really, really good. Well, like,
amazing, like really good. And then decided that she want to go, you know, racing with four wheels
instead. So, uh, multi talented. This person is, and I think that she has the ability to have a
high ceiling and a lot of potential. Um, you know, her team, the nitro team has, it went from
Venturini to nitro. So there's a lot of things that they're working through in their first season
as a, as a new company, uh, but for them to go out to Sonoma and for her to put her, you know,
her road course prowess to the test and, and have a really good run. I think that bodes well for the
rest of her season. Yeah. And she's doing it right. She's doing it properly. Interesting that
she's got background in, in skateboarding. We were talking to Miles Rowe, um, the other week
down at, at Road America. And he was saying the reason he finds this affinity with, with Oval's
harks back to his childhoods on skateboards and being like in the bowl and, you know,
carrying momentum and balance and, and all of that. I don't know if there's a commonality there,
but I just thought it was interesting that, you know, now twice in two weeks, I'm hearing
skateboarder successful. Um, although, you know, Sonoma's not an Oval, but it's got a,
it's got a hell of a sort of undulation flow to it. It ends up going negative at some point when
you go from the start finish line. Like when you go into turn 11, you know, you go from the
top of one to the bottom of 11, it must be a Gen Z thing will. Yeah, I'm not Gen Z. I don't
understand. I'm not. The words there, how they do stuff, like the takeovers in the towns. I,
I don't know anything about it. I'm, I'm, I'm not a TikTok trend person. I am perfectly okay with
being 45 and not understanding Instagram, Twitter, Facebook. All of the above. Uh,
Kate and Honeycutt started the Thunder Road, Harley Davidson, South Boston 200 in third place,
took the lead from Landon Lewis by lap 10 and was uncontested for the remainder of the race.
He led the final 190 laps to kick off NASCAR's Virginia Triple Crown for the late model stock
division. Uh, Cars Tour West in the Pacific Northwest at Evergreen Speedway in Washington,
the headline of the night belonged to the Harvick family. Uh, as our boy Kevin Harvick and his 13
year old son, Keelan, went door to door in a thrilling battle through the closing laps. The
spectacular family duel resulted in Keelan beating his dad in a historic 12 finish for the
father son duo, providing one of the coolest short track highlights of the entire season.
That folks is the real reason that Kevin Harvick isn't here today. Couldn't bear to show his face.
Factual. And let me get something straight. Keelan's my guy. Like I'm, I'm team 62 over 29, but
no, I mean Keelan will since the time Keelan started racing because he started in carts and
you know, obviously Kevin and Delaney took him overseas and I told him when he came back, I said
the way that he's going to process the information, everything else is going to be slower. Like
everything else after carting that you race from the stock art standpoint, it's like lazier. It
doesn't happen as fast and man, his race craft at 13. I've just been so impressed. He's going to
be an animal. He's only, I think he's only like two years away from being able to go
truck racing at the half miles. I do believe you once you're 15, I think you're allowed to do that.
If they haven't changed the rules, you never know. I got to get with Bob Pockers about that.
But he's not far away from being on a national scale and we're going to be seeing him a lot,
a lot. Wow. Wow. I love that because obviously, you know, Kevin always talks about him, but proud
dad will always big up his kids. So it's good to hear kind of an independent thought on that.
Watch out world. Another Harvick is coming. Mama, thanks so much for being on the show buddy. I
appreciate you being here and giving us an insight into the world of NASCAR this week.
Fascinating stuff. Absolutely wonderful. Where are you off to this week?
I am off to Chicago land. We got, we're going back there for the first time and
about a decade it seems like and I'm really excited. It's going to be fourth of July. It's
going to be hot, but we're going to have a good time all the same.
Lovely stuff, mate. Have fun. I'll see you next week back in Charlotte.
Yes, sir. Thanks buddy. See you.
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Okay folks, IndyCar news now and I'd like to welcome back to the show Mr. James Hinchcliffe.
Hello again, mate. Right, this is our normal bread and butter. There is no real news this week in
IndyCar, save for the fact that silly season has been kicked into overdrive because it was confirmed
that Felix Rosenquist will be leaving Maya Shank Racing. So when I said no news, actually,
there was a bit of news. But it was just kind of confirming this thing that was rumored and that
we talked about on the show last week, namely that Felix would be leaving MSR. What that does is
fascinating because that's the first domino to fall. And shall I run through the permutations
or do you want to run through the permutations? No, please, by all means. I mean, how long's this
show because there's a couple of different options here. There are a couple of different options,
but from what we understand and we caveat this once again by saying this is all rumors,
none of this is confirmed as fact. But last week we spoke about Scott Dixon and might Scott Dixon
be about to leave Chip Ganassi Racing as incredible and incredulous as that sounds.
Well, the rumour mill now states that Felix Rosenquist will go back to McLaren and will take
the number six car currently being pedalled by Nolan Siegel. The number seven car of Christian
Lundgard will be taken by Scott Dixon and Christian Lundgard will step into the number nine
at Chip Ganassi Racing replacing Scott Dixon. So in essence, a driver swap there.
McLaren may be on the verge of forming a technical alliance with Huncos,
which would see Nolan Siegel go to the 77. MSR have a seat to fill and Elio Castro Neves said
in the week to Brazilian press that they are talking to rookie sensation Caio Collette. So
potentially Collette leaves Voigt and drops into the number 60 at MSR, which leaves the four open
for Conor Daly to step into for a full time seat. I think that's pretty much the full circle
of the rumour mill as it stands on, what are we, the 29th of June, 2026. But it's all likely to
change by the 30th of June, 2026. It's a wild silly season. I'm here for it.
It is crazy. I mean, I genuinely thought a month ago that we were probably going to have a pretty
quiet silly season, especially in the top half of the grid. But it's really been blown open by
this news that Felix is leaving. And the, I don't know, the motivation for that move. I still
think it's a little bit murky. We're not super clear on why and how and what the impetus was
for looking elsewhere after the incredible victory here at the 8500. Makes you think that this
conversation had started well before, if not the deal had already been done before the 500.
We've heard from different sources that MSR did try to retain him, try to match or at least make
a competitive offer to keep him there, which he has ultimately turned down. So it's interesting to
think that after leaving a program that they won the 500 together, one that's got that technical
partnership with Chip Ganassi Racing, which is absolutely dominating the sport right now with
Alex Palo, you've got the inside to the playbook. You're seeing the data of the guy that's absolutely
dominating the sport. Why would you want to leave? Again, unless the deal was already done for some
of the reasons. So it's interesting. I've also heard that Lundgaard could be going to MSR to
fill that seat and that Marcus Armstrong could actually take Dixon seat at the Ganassi 18.
Should he leave to go to McLaren? And then there's the move from there, which is I also
heard Ericsson potentially in line for an MSR seat if Halga goes to Andretti or if Rosenquist
takes that Andretti seat, because it's still not absolutely 100% confirmed that Rosenquist is going
to McLaren. Yeah, we've heard the rumor of the Swedish swap, Rosenquist for Ericsson, MSR to
Andretti Global. So there are just so many different things. And of course, that's not taking
the consideration. Any drivers maybe graduating up from IndieNext, right? We've got a very stout
field there this year. So there's some strong candidates for some of those rides. DCR, we never
know what they're doing until St. Pete. So there's, you know, are Andretti going to continue to support
Halga if he's not going into the 28? Does he stay there for another season? There's actually,
when you break it down, a lot of balls up in the air right now. Yeah, it's fascinating. I think the
one thing that's really interesting for folks to try and wrap their head around is if Felix goes back
to McLaren, having already raced there, could you give us a little bit of insight just into how
that relationship ultimately ended last time? And what might lead Felix back to McLaren?
You know, from all accounts, it wasn't the most amicable split, I don't think.
Felix was sort of involved in the Polo situation there where his contract kind of got extended
by a year because they thought Polo was coming in. Ultimately, he wasn't. They had already sort of
said that, hey, Felix isn't our guy, but then kept him on board for another season, which is always
a bit of an awkward situation. So I don't get the sense it was the warmest and fuzziest goodbye,
but it certainly wasn't at McLaren when Alonzo left and he ended up back there,
or at Renault for a second time. So it's stranger things have happened, certainly.
What's the motivation? Obviously, you've got a team that's trying very hard to move themselves
genuinely up into championship contention. They want to win a 500. If that's where he goes,
he's the 500 winner on the squad, even though they don't need help there in a lot of ways,
because Paddle Award is so, so strong there every single season. Maybe there's some sports car play,
so maybe Felix has some sports car ambitions either in the present or in the future,
and with McLaren getting into hypercar over and wet, maybe there's something there.
We know that Paddle Awards is best friend, maybe it's just wanting to be close.
Yeah, and of course, that's what we were saying with Scott Dixon as well, of course,
when you look at hypercar, it's a nice carrot to dangle in front of him. There's no love loss
between Zack and Chip, especially after the Alex Palo Saga, and Zack now has a big wad of cash
after the Alex Palo Saga came to an end and he got a big payout for that, to be able to
splash around and offer to bring drivers into the team. How big would that be for Zack? You talk about
Felix having access to all of Palo's data. No one knows more than Scott Dixon about what Palo
does on the other side of that garage to have that, and a six-time champion. He's on Mount Rushmore,
one of the all-time greats of the championship. What a huge signing that would be for McLaren and
for Zack if the rumors are true and if they pull that off. It would be incredible. I mean,
he could just bring such a wealth of knowledge as to how a championship-winning organization
operates. You've got to remember that program is run by Tony Canon. That is a good friend and
former teammate of Scott Dixon. He knows exactly what Scott's capable of. He knows exactly what
Scott knows. I mean, Tony knows a lot of the same stuff as well, having driven for not just there,
he won a championship with Andretti. He knows how to get it done, but bringing that kind of knowledge
base into the field. This is a driver that still wins races. He's won races in 20-something
consecutive IndyCar seasons. Anybody would follow with themselves to try to get Dixon
another point, right? It's fascinating, mate, and I'm sure it will already have moved on another
step by the time we get to mid-Ohio. I'm going to let you get on, buddy. Thank you so much for
being on the show. Massively appreciate it, and I'll see you in a few days. Yeah, right, buddy.
We'll see you soon. Thanks, mate. Let's move over to two wheels now, and to Asin,
which hosted an absolute blockbuster of a weekend. The Dutch Grand Prix completely rewrote
their record books, history being made on Sunday as Iogura rode a flawless race to secure his first
ever MotoGP victory. It made him the first Japanese rider to stand on the top step of a
premier class podium in 22 long years. Iogura's milestone win kept off an unprecedented and
historic weekend for Trackhouse Racing, who swept the first and second spots in both Saturday's
sprint and Sunday's Grand Prix for the first time in team history, ignited by Ralph Fernandez
claiming a brilliant victory in the sprint race. But while Trackhouse celebrated a massive
championship crisis unfolding further down the grid, pre-race points leader Marco Bezecki
suffered a violent high-speed wreck at turn 15 early on, and while he was thankfully confirmed
to have avoided any major injuries, it marks another disastrous weekend where he has once again
walked away with zero points. The DNF blew the title fight wide open, Jorge Martín,
the new riders' championship leader with 193 points, holding a razor-thin seven-point cushion
over Bezecki at 186. Fabio Dijon Antonio lurking closely behind in third with 177.
Now over in Moto2, David Alonso emerged victorious in an absolute classic, executing a spectacular
round the outside overtake on Manuel Gonzalez at the very last corner to win the Dutch Grand Prix
by a mere 24 thousandths of a second. Rounding out the weekend at Aston with Moto3 leader Maximo
Quiles, I believe that's how you pronounce it, kept a cool head amidst the chaos to storm
to victory from pole position in a race that featured a brutal early incident where Alvaro
Carpe was incredibly run over by another bike but somehow remounted to carry on.
Right, Imsa now and the six hours of the Glen at Watkins Glen, which hosted a chaotic and
action-packed running of the Salens six hours. The number 31 wheeling Cadillac converted pole
position into a dominant victory, surviving a staggering nine full course cautions. They perfectly
executed the critical final pit stop sequence to jump the number 93 Maya Shank Akura.
Co-drivers Jack Aitken, Albaamba and Frederic Vesti ultimately coasted across the finish line
under yellow after a last lap crash, looking in back to back, Imsa wins and strengthening
their grip on the GTP Championship. In the GT World Challenge, 24 hours of Spa Lion Speed
GP celebrated the greatest triumph in team history as Fella, Praning and Boos drove the
number 80 Porsche 911 GT3R to an incredible overall victory after starting the race, believe it or
not, from the pit lane. The race had barely even got started before the number 17 Get Speed Mercedes
got caught up in midfield traffic and triggered a massive multi-car pile-up, that was actually just
seven minutes after the green flag. It wiped out several contenders before the field
had even had a chance to settle in. The nighttime hours at Spa proved to be, as they always are,
a critical turning point as the teams battled both traffic and vision. It was high attrition
under those floodlights and the Ardenne weather stayed true to its reputation because if it's
not raining at Spa, it's getting ready to rain at Spa. Sure enough, a biblical downpour,
completely flooded parts of the circuit, and forced drivers into survival mode, catching out
several front runners. Right, time for a voicemail. Remember, our voicemail line is always open at
213-534-7107, and this week we have a question from Ben in Milford, Connecticut.
Hey, Will and Kevin. My name's Ben. I'm calling from Milford, Connecticut. My question is about
getting fans to branch out from their first motorsport that they're into. I figured, hey,
I'll watch a few more NASCAR races, see if I'll get into it, and I actually did end up
falling in love with it even more than Formula One, but I can't seem to get any of my other
friends that are into Formula One to make the jump over. I'm curious, you guys,
this insight on getting people to jump from one to another. Thanks.
That's a great question, Ben, and it's something that I'm very passionate about,
because one thing I really hate is gatekeeping, and I think it's something that we in the media
have been guilty of for a very long time, and it really kind of occurred, I think,
or started to occur mostly around kind of that late 90s into the 2000s, and it's when most of the
championships were scared of other racing championships taking their viewership. Formula
One was really concerned about what was going on in endurance racing. It was concerned about what
was going on over in IndyCar until IndyCar shot itself in the foot by the tragic split
that split the fan base and split the sport in two and put it on the back foot. I think we have,
in all forms of the sport, whether it be NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula One, we've been so tribal and
so kind of protectionist around our sports that we've lost sight of the bigger picture,
and it's something that I was taught when I first started at Liberty. It was a great line
from Sean Bratches who was running up the marketing side of the company at that point,
and he said, the rising tide lifts all ships, and I think that's something which we in motorsport
in general can always be mindful of. A strong world endurance championship, a strong Formula E,
a strong Moto GP, NASCAR, World Rally Championship, Formula One, IndyCar, NHRA, every single championship
we should elevate and lift up and not be afraid of the others because everything complements
everything else. Racing is racing and we love racing, and if you love one form of racing,
why aren't you automatically going to find something that you adore about other forms
of motorsport? I think the time for being protection is the time for being gatekeeping
is done. Let's just sing from the rooftops how much we love racing, and then that's what this show
is all about, right? That's what this show is all about, is hopefully hooking you into
other forms of motorsport that you might not ordinarily have watched, but hopefully
after weeks and months of Kevin and I talking about anything and everything,
you'll want to try other things. Great questions, and hopefully a blueprint for a
positive future for all forms of motorsport in which we can just appreciate everything.
And talking about everything, time to move to NHRA because in top fuel rookie sensation
Maddie Gordon made history by capturing her first career victory, taking down a tire smoking
Antron Brown in a thrilling final round. Congratulations, sensational stuff. Love
to see it. Over in funny car, team owner Ron Capps parked his Toyota GR Supra
in the winner's circle, defeating Jack Beckman to secure his milestone 80th career victory.
In the factory hot rods, Aaron Stamfield utilised a blistering .002 reaction time
to win a high stakes pro stock whole shot battle over Matt Hartford taking home the
hardware at Norwalk. Rounding out the pro classes, Richard Gadsden took the victory in
pro stock motorcycle after his Vance and Heinz teammate, Gage Herrera, shockingly
red lighted away the final. Do we say that? Red lighted? Red lit? What's the correct verbiage
to be used there? I've probably used the wrong one. Anyway, never mind, no time to that.
On to driver of the week. And this week, we don't have Kevin to suggest somebody.
But here are the four that you got to choose from. Iogura, first MotoGP win in the Dutch
Grand Prix, deserving of his place in the four. Max Verstappen, fifth to second in the Austrian
Grand Prix. He didn't win it, you say. I know, but I think Max Verstappen with the race he put on
probably deserved to be driver of the week for the Austrian Grand Prix rather than taking
the fastest car and winning from pole. Starting fifth and finishing second with a chance of taking
the win. For me, felt like a more deserving place on the four. Shane Van Gisbergen,
does he deserve a place in the four? Given that every time we get to a road course, it's pretty
much just assured that he's going to win the damn thing. Yes, he does. I'm a massive Shane
Van Gisbergen fan and I vote for him even when he hasn't won the race. But you can guess who I
voted for this week. Maddie Gordon is the fourth on the list. I think she totally deserves her
place on the four. And it's time to see who has won. No surprises, you go for a cup driver,
cup driver wins. Shane Van Gisbergen with a massive percentage, deservedly so,
and he was my pick this week. So I knocked up another win. Not that Kevin was here to contest it,
but there you go. Time for final lap. And what do we have this week? We have IndyCar
at Mid-Ohio in Columbus. Well, it's not in Columbus. We stay in Columbus and it's about an hour to
the track. But it's in Ohio, Mid-Ohio somewhere in the middle of the cornfields. Great fun. Looking
forward to that one. NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR O'Reilly Series are at Chicagoland.
Remember told us that. Formula One is just down the road from where I'm at right now,
at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix. Formula E is in Shanghai and that is it for your final
lap. And that is all we've got time for on this episode. It's still plenty to come this week.
Coming up on Wednesday, we hear from David Maluchus, second in the NTT IndyCar Series.
Lovely young man has, of course, taken over the number 12 Verizon Chevrolet at Penske this year
and is doing an unbelievable job. If you're enjoying the show, do us a favor. Subscribe
to the channel. Follow us on social and jump into the comments letting us know what you like,
what you didn't like, what you want to see more of. Thanks, as always, to our dear friends
at Poet. Poet produces high-octane bioethanol, delivering maximum performance with zero carbon
intensity. You can't beat zero. For Kevin Harvick, that doesn't work this week, does it?
For Hinch and Mambo, I'm Will Buxton. Thanks for watching Speed With Harvick and Buxton,
fueled by Poet. Now, let's send you out with the wrecks of the week.
About this episode
With Kevin Harvick away racing, Will Buxton welcomes IndyCar star James Hinchcliffe to break down a wild weekend in motorsports. They dive deep into the F1 Austrian Grand Prix, analyzing George Russell's clever victory, Max Verstappen's charge through the field, and Ferrari's tire degradation struggles. The duo also previews the upcoming British Grand Prix at Silverstone and highlights Shane van Gisbergen's road course masterclass at Sonoma, alongside updates from MotoGP and the 24 Hours of Spa.
Original notes
Shane van Gisbergen and George Russell put on road-course clinics at Sonoma Raceway in California and the Red Bull Ring in Austria this weekend, respectively, headlining a massive weekend of global motorsports action.
James Hinchcliffe joins Will Buxton to unpack the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix, breaking down Russell’s win for Mercedes, Max Verstappen's fierce charge from fifth to second, and his on-track duel with Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton. Historic Silverstone is up next, and the Drivers' Championship race is just getting started.
Mamba Smith is in the studio to dissect SVG's perfect weekend, the shakeup at the top of the Cup standings after Tyler Reddick's mechanical trouble handed Denny Hamlin the points lead, and an unforgettable family finish at Evergreen Speedway where 13-year-old Keelan Harvick beat his dad, Kevin!
The INDYCAR Silly Season has officially blown wide open as Hinch returns to break down the bombshell confirmation that Indy 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist is leaving Meyer Shank Racing, alongside the news that six-time champion Scott Dixon is a free agent for the first time in over two decades as Arrow McLaren targets a massive roster overhaul.
Plus, we head over to two wheels and endurance racing to recap an unprecedented MotoGP Dutch GP at Assen, where Ai Ogura made history as the first Japanese premier-class winner in 22 years, securing a historic double-sweep for Trackhouse Racing while former points leader Marco Bezzecchi suffered a title-altering DNF. We wrap up a massive weekend with Cadillac's caution-filled victory at the IMSA Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen, Lionspeed GP's incredible pit-lane-to-victory triumph at the 24 Hours of Spa, and Maddi Gordon's historic NHRA victory at Norwalk before previewing the upcoming action at Mid-Ohio, Chicagoland, Silverstone, and Shanghai!
Our voicemail line is always open! Call us at (213) 534-7107 to get your questions featured on the show.
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