Update: Dylan Ferrandis return to racing delayed after Daytona Media Day crash

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DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – Dylan Ferrandis was schedule to return to the Monster Energy Supercross series at Daytona International Speedway after missing three races while he waited to clear concussion protocol following a violent crash in Houston with four of 17 rounds in the books. Another heavy crash on Media Day, (see tweet below), will force him to miss at least one more race as he is not “not feeling 100% after yesterday’s crash,” according to the Star Racing Yamaha team.

Ferrandis returns Daytona
Dylan Ferrandis returns to Supercross 15th in points and can still lock into the SuperMotocross World Championship. – Feld Motor Sports

Injuries in the Supercross series in 2022 stymied his results and with the SX title out of reach, he chose to skip the final four races of 2022 to focus on Motocross. That was a luxury he had before the two series unified to create a playoff style format of three races at the end of year called the SuperMotocross World Championship. Ferrandis was also injured in the outdoor series and set his sight on 2023.

“Every season is a reset,” Ferrandis told NBC Sports ahead of the opening round. “You start the first race with everybody at the same point, nobody has a point in the championship so everybody’s on the same page. So, for sure it’s a reset, but you also learn from the past season. I plan on not doing the same mistake and I want be better and the new Yamaha bike is a big step up for me and I’m sure it’s going to help me a lot to be better this season.”

The first three races of the season went remarkably well.

Ferrandis finished sixth or better in each race and was sixth in the standings, trailing Jason Anderson and the top five by a single point. Then came Houston, where the race was red flagged after Ferrandis landed on the back of Ken Roczen’s bike and hit the ground face first.

Ferrandis missed his first race the following week in Tampa.

“I was at my peak,” Ferrandis told NBC Sports as he waited to take return to the track for a second session around portions of the Daytona International Speedway infield Supercross track. “I lost a lot of physical strength and confidence, but we will see. Supercross is a short season, but now we have this SMX so we will see how it goes.”

Accidents are a regular part of Supercross and Ferrandis had another hard crash during Media Day.

The original report was that Ferrandis would be okay to race, but after riding practice, he made the decision to stay off the bike one more night.

The creation of the SuperMotocross Series means Ferrandis still has two shots to win a title in 2023.

And as good as Ferrandis is in Supercross, he is arguably better in the outdoor series after beating Eli Tomac for the 2021 title by 73 points, which is a gap of almost three full races.

Even with the four missing Supercross races this season and his next-to-last finish in Houston, Ferrandis sits 15th in the points’ standings entering Daytona, 30 points above the rider 20th in the standings. At the end of the Pro Motocross season in August, the SMX series will guarantee starts to riders who are in the top 20 in combined points.

“It’s good to be back, especially here at Daytona,” Ferrandis said. “It’s such a great race.”

Josef Newgarden claims first Indy 500 victory, outdueling Marcus Ericsson in 1-lap shootout

Josef Newgarden Indy 500
Marc Lebryk/USA TODAY Sports Images
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INDIANAPOLIS — Josef Newgarden won the 107th Indy 500 with a last-lap pass of Marcus Ericsson, giving team owner Roger Penske his 19th victory in the race but his first as the owner of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

In a one-lap shootout after the third red flag in the final 20 laps, Newgarden grabbed the lead from Ericsson on the backstretch and then weaved his way to the checkered flag (mimicking the same moves Ericsson had made to win at the Brickyard last year).

After Newgarden finally got his first Indy 500 victory on his 12th attempt the two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion climbed out of his No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet, squeezed through a hole in the catchfence and ran into the stands to celebrate with fans.

The race was stopped three times for 37 minutes for three crashes, including a terrifying wreck involving Felix Rosenqvist and Kyle Kirkwood that sent a tire over the Turn 2 catchfence.

It had been relatively clean with only two yellow flags until the final 50 miles.

After spending the first half of the race trading the lead, pole-sitter Alex Palou and Rinus VeeKay (who started second) collided while exiting the pits under yellow on Lap 94.

Leaving the pits after leading 24 laps, VeeKay lost control under acceleration. He looped his No. 21 Dallara-Chevy into the No. 10 Dallara-Honda of Palou that already had left the first pit stall after completing its stop,

Palou, who had led 36 laps. stayed on the lead lap despite multiple stops to replace the front wing but restarted in 28th.

“What an absolute legend trying to win it,” Palou sarcastically radioed his team about VeeKay, who received a drive-through penalty for the contact when the race returned to green.

The incident happened after the first yellow flag on Lap 92 after Sting Ray Robb slapped the outside wall in Turn 1 after battling with Graham Rahal.

Robb put the blame on Rahal in an interview with NBC Sports’ Dillon Welch.

“I think I just need to pay more attention to the stereotypes of the series,” Robb said. “Pay attention to who I’m racing, and that was just way too aggressive of a move I thought. But yeah, I guess we’re in the wall and not much further to say.”

An already miserable May for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing continued before the race even started.

Rahal, who failed to qualify but started his 16th consecutive Indy 500 in place of the injured Stefan Wilson, was unable to start his No. 24 for Dreyer & Reinbold/Cusick Motorsports.

After two aborted attempts at firing the car’s Chevrolet engine, team members pushed Rahal behind the pit wall and swapped out a dead battery. Rahal finally joined the field on the third lap, but he wouldn’t finish last.

RLL teammate Katherine Legge, who had been involved in the Monday practice crash that fractured Wilson’s back, struggled with the handling on her No. 44 Dallara-Honda and nearly spun while exiting the pits after her first stop on Lap 35.

Legge exited her car about 30 laps later as her team began working to fix a steering problem.