Motorsports ‘Hot or Not’ #1

Join Rant Report Fantasy | See the Previous Editorial

With the NASCAR season hitting its stride a few weeks in, and most other motorsports series just getting starting, now is a better time than ever to play some ‘Hot or Not’ around the racing world to assess who is on a roll, and who needs to start turning things around.

HOT – Christopher Bell:

This is an obvious one. It’s only four weeks into the season and Christopher Bell has already put three winner stickers above the 20 car’s b-post. Even with a DNF in the Daytona 500, he was contending for the lead late and won a superspeedway race the very next week, so there may be a universe out there where Bell has won every race this year.

Let’s not forget that he has a very strong chance of winning again tomorrow. In the Next-Gen era, Bell is second in terms of laps led at Las Vegas, at 15.4%, and is 10^th in average finish. With two runner-up finishes in the last three Vegas races, we could see a driver go four in a row first time since Jimmie Johnson in 2007, a feat only eight other drivers have accomplished.

HOT – William Byron:

Despite the undeniable success of Christopher Bell so far this year, the actual points standings are led by William Byron. This year’s Daytona 500 winner (a back-to-back victory) has earned forty-nine stage points to Bell’s twenty-six, showing again that consistency is everything in motorsports, and not just at the end of races. Bell is second in the point charts with 152 total, trailing 13 behind Byron’s 165.

NOT – Cody Ware:

While this really is not a surprise to anyone familiar with this driver, I feel the need to point out that Ware is 37^th in the NASCAR Cup Series – a series with only 36 full time drivers. Four races into the year, he is still nine points behind Jimmie Johnson, who has only run one race this season.

NOT – Ty Gibbs:

Continuing with Jimmie Johnson as a benchmark, Gibbs is only seven points ahead in the standings, sitting at 34^th , despite the resounding success of his teammate Christopher Bell. Gibbs only has one finish inside the top 25 in the last nine races, and since 2023 (his rookie year), his average finish is 4.5 position worse than his teammates in the same timeframe. The breakout year that many were expecting has yet to show any chance of happening.

HOT – Spire Motorsports:

Spire has seemingly completely turned things around in the off season. Carson Hocevar has contended for wins this year, while Michael McDowell has been a mark of consistency, currently sitting 15^th in the points standings. There is still a long way to go, but if things keep up as they are, there could be a Spire car making its way into the playoffs. This is all in addition to the continuing success of their Truck Series program, already with a win, a pole position, and a handful of top 10 finishes.

Check out the previous Editorial:
NASCAR Officiating Needs To Meet New Expectations

NOT – Haas:

With the collapse of Stewart-Haas Racing last season, there were mixed expectations at best for the newly formed Haas Factory Team, but surely most were hoping for more. The 41 car is sitting second to last in the points among the full-time competitors, and driver Cole Custer hasn’t been able to get much out of his car so far, apart from getting up front in the Daytona 500 only to play a part in causing multiple late race pileups.

This is all in the shadow of pitiful performance of the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team. The team held the last spots every day in testing, only getting a car out of the bottom two on the last day. The practice and qualifying results are not much different for tomorrow’s season opener in Australia. Haas has been on the bottom of the charts in every session, and will start the GP at the rear, in 19^th and 20^th .

NOT – Formula 1 Rookie Drivers:

Even though expectations are not usually high for most rookies, the bosses of F1 teams typically have short fuses for lack-luster performance. Of the five rookies, not a single one made it to the final round of qualifying in Australia earlier this morning, and none outqualified their teammate.

Though he is not technically a rookie this year, Liam Lawson is in perhaps the worst position of them all for his first full season in Formula 1. His numbers in Australia have been pitiful so far, especially for Red Bull, and with Max Verstappen as a teammate, the expectations are very high. If things don’t turn around quickly for Lawson, I can’t help but look down the Red Bull pipeline to see who’s next in line for that seat.

HOT – McLaren:

In the early days of the 2025 Formula 1 Season, McLaren has shown they are continuing their late successes of last year. Both drivers head the starting grid for tomorrow’s Australian GP and Lando Norris is seemingly the favorite for the Drivers Championship. It’s been a few years since a team has provided this strong of a challenge to the dominance of Red Bull and Max Verstappen. This is in addition to a strong start for the manufacturer in both IndyCar and Formula E as well.

HOT – Penske:

Similar to McLaren, Penske is also off to a strong start in multiple racing series. IndyCar drivers Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden are third and fourth in the points and Penske started the 2025 racing calendar off as best as any team can, walking away with a second Rolex 24 victory in as many years. Not to mention the continuation of stellar performances for all of Penske’s NASCAR drivers after three Cup championships in a row for the team.

NOT – NASCAR Officials:

The NASCAR officiating has been all over the place year, and despite being only four races into the season there have already been multiple officiating controversies to discuss. Just in the last two weeks, there have been penalties given, penalties overturned, track limit controversies, restart violations, and just more inconsistent officiating across the board.

Check out the last Rant Report Editorial, NASCAR Officiating Needs To Meet New Expectations, so you can get a glimpse into some of my diagnoses and prognoses for NASCAR Officiating so far this year.

Pennzoil 400 Television Schedule:

TODAY - Saturday, March 15
1:30 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series Practice And Qualifying: Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Prime Video
4 p.m., NASCAR Countdown Live, The CW
4:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: The LiUNA! at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, The CW

Sunday, March 16
2 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay, FS1
3:30 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, FS1

This editorial is not written by AI and is 100% human.

Join Rant Report Fantasy | See the Previous Editorial