Motion Motorsport Report for InsideTrackNews.com – February 11, 2026

We’re baaaaaack! A new year, lots of off-season news and a great season ahead. I’ve had several questions about the meaning of the name – Motion Motorsport Report. Forty years ago, I was accepted as the dealer at the former Westmount Lincoln Mercury. Linda and I renamed it Motion Lincoln Mercury Ford Trucks. I quickly realized that London had little or no motorsport coverage. I approached the London Free Press and proposed a weekly motorsport report covering NASCAR, Formula One, IndyCar, IMSA, NHRA, as well as local racing. Deal. My good friend Clare Dear assembled all the information (by fax, as there was no internet back then), and the Motion Motorsport Report was born. Thus the name.

IMSA puts on the outstanding Rolex 24 Hours each January, and if you have never attended, you owe it to yourself to put it on your bucket list. I saw my first 24-hour race way back in 1968 when it was called the Continental (I think – that was a long time ago). But this year I had a problem covering the race. IMSA’s website is far too difficult to navigate. I always like to print out the starting lineup to use during the race. For some reason, Racer.com did not post the starting lineup, so I went looking elsewhere. Five sources – none with the complete lineup. One had the team names but no drivers’ names. Others had drivers’ names but no vehicle listed. Frustrating. However, Live Timing was perfect and worked flawlessly!

Apparently, the chaos created inside the walls at NASCAR World Headquarters due to the notorious lawsuit (which was settled) has spilled over into Canada. Doug Gonder has been released from his position as Series Director of NASCAR Canada. No announcement has been made about any potential replacement.

NASCAR wisely changed its much-criticized playoff system and reverted to the previous “Chase” format, a move that appears to have mollified the critics. I personally feel that most major sports have playoffs and NASCAR was on the right track.

I would LOVE to be a fly on the wall at the first board meeting on Volusia Ave. following the “Clash”! LOL.

The Winter Series for Pro Mods was held at Bradenton, Florida, a couple of weeks ago. Thirty-two cars qualified only 0.040 seconds apart. Think about that. Stratford ace Spencer Hyde qualified tenth and went three tough rounds.

The “new and improved” IHRA has released an aggressive 12-race series for this year, including events at several former NHRA facilities such as National Trail, Topeka, Memphis and Maple Grove. Atlanta Dragway is rumoured to be returning as well. Both Grand Bend Motorplex and St. Thomas Dragway have joined IHRA. Can another Canadian National Event be coming in the future?

I find it both interesting and reassuring that Brad Keselowski must be retested after his leg injury, suffered in an off-season skiing accident, before he can get his NASCAR licence back. He must prove that he can safely drive his car before officials medically clear him. He must not be taking prescription pain medication and must prove he can walk and safely enter and exit his race car.

In a truly head-scratching decision, it appears that the wildly ENTERTAINING Charlotte Roval will be dropped in favour of running the race on the oval.

President Trump has announced that an IndyCar race will be held in Washington, D.C., on the weekend of August 21–23. It will be named the “Greatness with American Motor Racing” and will tie in with the America250 celebrations. The course is expected to run along the National Mall and surrounding areas.

IMSA – in qualifying for the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, the Whelen Cadillac got the pole in GTP (11 cars) over the Meyer Shank Racing Acura and the No. 7 Penske Porsche. Wait, stop the presses! The car was disqualified because the “rear skid block friction surface was beyond the allowed tolerance.” And the irony – NASCAR owner Jim France is a co-owner of the car! In P2 (13 entries), the Inter Europol Competition entry topped the AO Racing car and the United Autosports USA team. The No. 3 Corvette Racing car was quickest in PRO (15 entries) over the Paul Miller Racing BMW and the RLL Team McLaren. The two Multimatic Mustangs started sixth and 13th, the Pfaff Lamborghini started ninth and the AO Racing Corvette started 15th. In GTD, the Heart of Racing Aston Martin set fast time over the Winward Racing Mercedes and the Turner Motorsports BMW.

Well, that didn’t take long – one P2 car couldn’t get into the infield on the initial start and collected three other P2 cars. Just in front of them, one of the P cars dropped a wheel and spun. So one minute in and the yellow is already out! On the subsequent yellow lap, Eric Zitza got his Porsche onto the grass and spanked the inside wall hard, destroying his Porsche. IMSA had me messed up for about 10 minutes while I was trying to find Hinch in the Pfaff car on Live Timing. Then I noticed that the tech gurus had switched the GTD and PRO buttons around, with PRO now on the far right instead of its decades-long spot second from the right.

Half an hour in and it’s time to CRINGE! Switching now from NBC and its fine coverage over to REV-TV and their “chirper” announce team that should have closed captioning. The good news? NBC will be back for the final laps. The first full-course yellow came out at just about the two-hour mark when the Ferrari PRO car of Daniel Serra had a tire explode and ended up against the wall. About an hour later, a multi-car wreck took out a bunch of cars.

At the six-hour mark, it was the JDC-Miller Porsche out front in GTP, the AO Racing car on top in P2, the Paul Miller Racing BMW in PRO and the Conquest Racing Ferrari leading GTD. At about the 8½-hour mark, another full-course yellow came out for “debris on the track,” the result of smoke from the fireworks and incoming fog. That fog really rolled in, and a full-course yellow came out at about the 11-hour mark and lasted until about six and a half hours remained.

At the 12-hour mark – under yellow – it was the Penske Porsche leading GTP, the AO Racing P2 car still out front, the Paul Miller BMW still leading PRO and the DXDT Corvette in front in GTD.

At the 18-hour mark – with the fog lifted somewhat and the green back out – it was the Penske Porsche in GTP, Tower Motorsports in P2, the No. 4 Corvette in PRO and the Turner Motorsports BMW in GTD. Things went smoothly until the full-course caution came out for a stranded P2 car (I couldn’t read its number) with a little less than five hours left. With two and a half hours to go, one of the Multimatic Mustangs “blew up real good” entering the infield for a yellow. Not wanting to be left out, the Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac started smoking and pitted.

At the flag, it was the No. 7 Porsche in GTP over the Whelen Cadillac and the M Team WRT BMW. In P2, the CrowdStrike Racing car topped the Inter Europol Competition entry and the second Inter Europol Competition car. The Paul Miller Racing BMW won PRO over the No. 75 Express Mercedes and the Winward Racing Mercedes. In GTD, the Winward Racing Mercedes took the win over the Magnus Racing Aston Martin and the Heart of Racing Aston Martin.

The Canadians had mixed results. In PRO, the Pfaff Racing Lamborghini finished sixth, the two Multimatic Mustangs ended up seventh and 14th, while the AO Corvette finished ninth.

Next race – Sebring, Saturday, March 21.

NASCAR Cup – after several postponements caused by snowy weather, the Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, finally got launched on Wednesday.

In qualifying for the 200-lap race, Kyle Larson won the pole over William Byron and Ty Gibbs. Twenty cars advanced to the main, while the Last Chance Qualifier saw Josh Berry get the win over Austin Cindric, with both moving to the main. Alex Bowman rounded out the 23 cars based on last year’s points.

The first yellow came out at lap 40 for debris on the track. When was the last time you heard that there was snow inside the guard walls and “weepers” coming onto the track? On lap 54, Bubba Wallace got spun for the second caution. Austin Cindric was spun by Shane van Gisbergen in Turn 4 on lap 77 for the third yellow. At the halfway mark, it was Ty Gibbs over Chase Briscoe and William Byron. And the snow returned! My son Paul called me laughing during the race and said that Delaware gets more spectators than that race had. In a real laugher, Mike Joy said they couldn’t use the jet blowers to clear the track because the heat would melt the snow against the outside retaining walls. Considering the recent weather, I was shocked to see an absence of windshield wipers on the cars.

The yellow flew over the damp track on lap 120 when Josh Berry slowed and stopped on the inside of the track. Lap 139 and Ryan Blaney got spun after contact with Denny Hamlin – yellow. Not sure what was going on with the red lights. All night, Live Timing and the TV feed showed red, but the cars were still moving. Austin Dillon got spun by Hamlin on the red-light lap 140. Yellow? Cars still running under red? Green on Live Timing, red on TV? Summer interns working already or everything frozen? Wow. Red out again, cars still moving around the track behind the pace car. I guess a red flag in North Carolina is different from everywhere else? Lap 143 saw Joey Logano spin, then get tapped by Elliott and Hamlin. Red flag. Nope – cars still moving. Ryan Preece in the lead at that point, followed by SVG and Carson Hocevar – not the usual suspects! On the restart, a six-car pileup in Turn 1. Is there a “mercy rule” in racing? Asking for a friend!

On lap 153, the yellow/red came out for Larson stopped inside Turn 4, apparently out of fuel. Mike Joy reported they had run 153 green laps and 133 yellow/red laps up to that point. Yellow/red at 165 for Elliott out of fuel. Red to let everybody fuel up? Nope. Live Timing showed Time Elapsed as 00:47.31. Something must be lost in the metric translation. And, of course, on the restart they got together in Turn 3 – yellow/red. Upon further review, the cars were being allowed to refuel only in the pits. Lap 181, Hocevar spins – yellow/red. On the restart, Elliott got chewed up after contact with Kyle Busch and Gibbs. This is getting PAINFUL!

At the flag, three hours and 35 minutes after the scheduled start, Ryan Preece grabbed the win over Byron and Blaney. Not a good way to start the season.

Next race – Thursday, February 12 – the Duels – at 7 p.m. on TSN 5.

NASCAR O’Reilly Series – next race – Daytona, Saturday, February 14 at 5 p.m. on USA.

NASCAR Craftsman Trucks – next race – Daytona, Friday, February 13 at 7:30 p.m. on Fox Sports Racing.

Formula One – next race – Australia, March 16 on TSN.

IndyCar – next race – St. Petersburg, Sunday, March 1 on Fox.

24 Hours of Le Mans – Sat., June 14 & Sun., June 15.

NHRA – next race – Gainesville, March 8 on Fox Sports Racing.

IHRA – next race – Benson, North Carolina, March 21.

NASCAR Canada Series – next race – Mosport, Sunday, May 17.

APC Series – next race – Delaware, Saturday, May 9.

Ontario Sportsman Series – next race – Delaware, May 16.

Delaware Speedway – next race – May 8.

Ohsweken Speedway – next race – Friday, May 15.

Flamboro Speedway – next race – Saturday, May 2.

Buxton Speedway – next race – Saturday, May 10.

Full Throttle Motor Speedway – next race – Saturday, May 9.

Grand Bend Speedway – next race – Saturday, June 6.

Grand Bend Dragway – next race – Saturday and Sunday, May 30 & 31.

St. Thomas Dragway – next race – Saturday, May 9.

Toronto Motorsport Park – next race – schedule not released yet.

Can Am Stock/Super Stock – next race – Cayuga, May 17.

John Scotti NHRA Canadian Championship Series – next race – Cayuga, May 17.

Quick 32 Sportsman Series, Pro Bike & Sled Series (PBSS) and 5.50 Super Series – next race – schedule not released yet.

Shannonville Drags – next race – June 8.

Any comments can be sent to Dave Mathers via email at motionman@rogers.com or by Facebook Messenger.