Skip Barber Graduates win in NASCAR and IMSA

Over the weekend, Skip Barber Racing School graduates won races in the NASCAR Cup Series and IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship and finished in the top five in the NTT IndyCar and Indy NXT Series. Beginning in the NASCAR Cup Series at World Wide Technology Raceway, Skip Barber Racing School alumni Austin Cindric scored his second-career Cup Series victory and the first points-paying win of the season for Team Penske. The 2022 Daytona 500 winner started on the outside of the front row, alongside fellow Skip Barber graduate Michael McDowell, and was a consistent factor in the 240-lap race, leading 53 laps and finishing both stages in the top five. Sixty percent of the top ten racers in Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 graduated from a Skip Barber Racing School program, including Brad Keselowski (3rd), Tyler Reddick (4th), Joey Logano (5th), Austin Dillon (6th), and Carson Hocevar (8th). Hocevar’s eighth-place finish is the best of his NASCAR Cup Series career and his second top-ten of the season. Additionally, Dillon’s sixth-place result was the best finish of his season. Skip Barber graduate Christian Eckes was second in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Toyota 200. In Portland, the NASCAR Xfinity Series took to the road course where Skip Barber Racing School graduates Sammy Smith (3rd), AJ Allmendinger (4th), Josh Williams (7th), and Parker Retzlaff (9th) finished in the top ten. After a month of action at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the NTT IndyCar Series traveled to Detroit for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. Skip Barber Racing School graduates Kyle Kirkwood and Alexander Rossi finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Kirkwood’s fourth-place result stands as his best finish of the 2024 season. Fellow Skip Barber alumni Santino Ferruci was tenth. In INDY NXT, Skip Barber Racing School graduate Myles Rowe finished in fourth. Skip Barber Race Series alumni Michael d’Orlando was tenth. Sharing the streets of Detroit with IndyCar and INDY NXT was the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, where the GTP and GTD Pro classes hosted a two-class sprint race that was won by Skip Barber Racing School graduate Ricky Taylor, alongside teammate Filipe Albuquerque. Fellow Skip Barber alumni, and Ricky’s brother, Jordan Taylor finished in fifth in GTP. Graduates Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow were fifth in GTD Pro. A special congratulations to Skip Barber Racing School corporate partners Toyota, who won the Toyota 200 from Gateway, and Andretti Autosport who won the IMSA Detroit Grand Prix alongside their partner Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport. Looking ahead to next weekend, the Canadian Grand Prix will be held in Montreal where Skip Barber Race Series graduate Sergio Perez will carry the SBRS banner. The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series gets to take center stage in Ohio for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Four Hours of Mid-Ohio. The NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series will converge in Sonoma for a pair of races at Sonoma Raceway, one of Skip Barber’s eight home venues. Finally, the NTT IndyCar Series will move from Detroit to Wisconsin for the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America, another of Skip Barber’s home venues.