This is going to be a jam-packed weekend! Friday night NASCAR Xfinity action will head to Daytona as their regular season has 3 races left to go. Saturday has the Cup Series at Daytona as well for their regular season finale, then finally Sunday has 3 races. Formula 1 is back from it's summer break and will head to the Netherlands for the Dutch grand prix. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will race at Milwaukee for the 2nd race in their playoffs and the 2nd race in the round of 10. Finally, IndyCar will go to Gateway for their last oval race of 2023. Who will be the drivers with the trophies this weekend?

Xfinity predicted winner: Austin Hill

Austin is a great superspeedway racer with 4 of his 6 career wins at that discipline of racing. Especially at Daytona, he got his 1st career Truck win there, he got his 1st Xfinity win there as well, and fresh off announcing he will be racing at RCR for years to come win number 5 of 2023 can be big for Hill maintaining his regular season lead. 

Cup predicted winner: Bubba Wallace

Stress will be in the air for Bubba Wallace who is 1 race away from making his first playoff appearance in the NASCAR Cup Series. Been a long road to get here and it hasn't been easy. It looked like Wallace was going to be in a tougher position after Watkins Glen considering road courses are not his best tracks. Bubba was able to get a decent 12th place finish in what he felt like was his best road course race. Anyone can say at some point sometimes, you can be your own biggest critic. Bubba was no different, but advice from 6-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon got his head straight. Now Wallace can do what he needs to do and execute what at this moment and time will be a career defining moment.

F1 podium:

1st Max Verstappen

The future 3-time world champion is one race away from matching Sebastian Vettel for the record of most consecutive wins. Vettel has 9 straight while Max currently has 8, coming to his home grand prix there will be a lot of the orange army cheering him on to a 3rd straight home win and see history happen right before their eyes.

2nd Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes has come to the Dutch grand prix with solid speed the last 2 years. They finished 2nd and 3rd in 2021 and finished 2nd last year, they arguably had a chance to win last year with a strategy call. Red Bull is on a new level this year so another podium will be nice for the 7-time world champion

3rd Sergio Perez

The second half of the year can allow Checo to get reset and deliver better results. Last year he won the Singapore grand prix by just being the best driver that weekend. While we are not in Marina Bay yet, and while Max currently seems to not do a single thing wrong getting all the wins/glory another podium will be a strong first race back from the summer break.

Truck predicted winner: Grant Enfinger

Last year Enfinger won at IRP's return to the schedule after a decade plus hiatus. Now Milwaukee has returned for the first time since 2009. In 2023 Grant has won at Gateway, a track similar to Milwaukee. A flat oval that is a mile long with a short track feel can see the #23 be competitive. Now they perhaps have more motivation, earlier this week it was announced that the GMS Racing Truck operation will shut down at seasons end. This means a lot of people will be fighting for a job including the drivers. The best way to show that next team why he should be hired is to go out there and win propelling his championship hopes.

IndyCar podium:

1st Josef Newgarden

if Josef Newgarden gets it done, it will be his 30th career win putting him 13th alone on the all-time wins list. As a matter of fact, 15 of his 29 wins have come on ovals including his last 6. Newgarden has been on another level on the ovals, he won the last 3 straight races at Gateway so he can be undefeated on ovals in 2023.

2nd Marcus Ericsson

Silly season has dropped it like it's hot. This week it was revealed that Marcus Ericsson will not be back to Chip Ganassi Racing in 2024, he will drive for Andretti AutoSport. While it may be strange for the team knowing that their relationship will end in a few races, there is still a lot to race for. Marcus has won 4 races with CGR including the 2022 Indy 500. A top 5 finish in points is still up for grabs for this #8 team so a podium will help them finish off strong.

3rd Alex Palou

If Alex Palou didn't have contract drama to deal with, who knows how focused he could have been. Last year Chip Ganassi and McLaren both announced Palou would race for them in 2023. A legal war started, and the end result was for Alex to race at CGR for 2023 but go to McLaren in 2024, now that is completely up in the air. Another court session could be in the future and yet Palou is on the verge of becoming a 2-time IndyCar champion. Pressure seems to just not get to the Spaniard.