Good morning! If you don't read this email in its entirety and share with your friends, there's a very good chance that you will be levied a hefty fine or at least docked a few positions on the grid... Just kidding! (or are we?) Penalties were handed out galore this week. See how that sets up another race weekend as we gear up for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and NASCAR in Atlanta!

Who has the most wins at Atlanta Motor Speedway?

*Answer at the bottom

As always, at the bottom, we'd appreciate your feedback in our poll.

Money Lap Fantasy by eRacr

BIG NEWS! Our entry limit to our NASCAR Fantasy league has finally been increased! You can now join both our NASCAR and F1 fantasy leagues to compete with other Money Lap fans and win exclusive prizes throughout the season! Don't worry about joining late, we've added four drop weeks to compensate for lost time! Join using the links below:

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Standings

Motorsports Moneyline

Saudi Arabia Driver Odds (provided by BetMGM)

-200 Max Verstappen

+450 Sergio Perez

+800 Fernando Alonso

+1200 Carlos Sainz Jr.

+1600 Charles Leclerc

Atlanta Driver Odds (provided by BetMGM)

+900 William Byron

+1200 Kyle Busch

+1200 Kyle Larson

+1200 Ross Chastain

+1200 Joey Logano

Trending Up 📈

Fernando Alonso - Fernando lived up to all of the pre-season hype with his podium run in Bahrain. As for now, expect him to keep up the fast pace.

Kyle Larson - After narrowly missing out on two wins in the past two weeks, Larson is hungry and a victory could be just around the corner in ATL.

Trending Down 📉

Charles Leclerc - A lot of questions surround the Ferrari camp right now. Starting the season off with a DNF and already having a grid penalty to deal with in Saudi Arabia, you should be weary of adding Leclerc to your lineup.

Austin Dillon - A ton of hype was built up around the RCR team heading into this season. Unfortunately for Austin, most of that was centered around Kyle Busch. Rightfully so, as Busch has outpaced his teammate in all four races this year.

eRacr's AI Generated Fantasy Lineup

Based on previous race statistics here is the ideal lineup for your NASCAR Fantasy team heading into Atlanta:

1. Denny Hamlin

2. Kyle Larson

3. Joey Logano

4. Martin Truex Jr.

5. William Byron

Garage: Ryan Blaney

F1

Leclerc Takes on Grid Penalty ahead of Saudi Arabia

Charles Leclerc will receive a grid penalty of at least 10 places for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix due to his retirement from the Bahrain GP, which required Ferrari to install a fresh electronics power unit component. The team had already replaced the energy store and control electronics on Leclerc's car before the season-opening race, and teams are only permitted to use two control electronics components per season without penalty.

There is a possibility that Leclerc's grid penalty could increase if Ferrari replaces the energy store component on his car. Ferrari's team principal, Fred Vasseur, remains optimistic that Leclerc will have a good race despite the setback.

Verstappen Hops on Board the Alonso Hype Train

Max Verstappen believes that Fernando Alonso could win races this season, given the strong starting point of the Aston Martin team. Alonso finished third at the opening race of the season in Bahrain and appears capable of competing with Ferrari and Mercedes to be the best of the rest.

Verstappen thinks that race wins are definitely possible for Alonso and the Aston Martin team, even though it is difficult to predict whether they will challenge for the championship. Verstappen also believes that the improvement of the Aston Martin team is down to the right people being in charge and their drive to win along with the 2022 technical regulation changes making the grid more competitive throughout the field.

All in the Details

Formula 1 race wear manufacturers such as Puma are making extreme tweaks to reduce the weight of overalls, gloves and boots. This includes replacing metal zip pullers for fabric ones and using perforated Velcro inside overalls to save as little as 2g. Manufacturers have hit the limit of being able to make big gains in reducing weight due to the FIA’s stringent safety standards, meaning details such as these are increasingly important in delivering extra performance.

Puma's Motorsport race wear consultant Maurizio Sicco explained in an interview, "The velcro inside the overalls is perforated to save a few grams. It looks crazy, but if you talk about two grams - whit it goes through a corner at 4G, that is eight grams."

More F1

📅 The Austrian GP is here to stay... Austria gets a 4-year extension committing the race to the F1 calendar through 2027

👀 Mercedes to roll out 'visible changes' in the coming weeks... After a slow start to the season, Mercedes has big plans to bounce back

NASCAR

Hendrick Motorsport Hammered with Penalties

NASCAR has issued its largest penalties yet to five Cup Series teams, including all four Hendrick Motorsports teams and one from Kaulig Racing, for the unapproved modification of a single-source part. The teams were found to have altered the hood louvers from a single-source supplier on the Next Gen car, in violation of the Overall Assembled Vehicle Rules. As a result, the teams were penalized 100 driver points, 100 owner points, and 10 playoff points, and all five crew chiefs were fined $100,000 and suspended for four races each. Hendrick Motorsports will appeal the penalties.

Boys have at it! (Unless you openly admit to it on your podcast)

NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin has been fined $50,000 and docked 25 driver points by the sanctioning body after admitting to intentionally wrecking Ross Chastain at the end of the NASCAR Cup Series race in Phoenix. The feud between the two drivers has been ongoing since last June, with multiple clashes since then. NASCAR cited two sections of the rulebook in assessing the penalties, and the senior vice president of competition said that Hamlin's admission on his podcast "rises to a level that we're going to get involved".

More NASCAR

📅 Jimmie Johnson rounds out Cup schedule... He adds the Coca-Cola 600 and COTA to his list of races for 2023

📺 Jenson Button gets his NASCAR aspirations from an iconic racing film... He's eager to make his first NASCAR start at COTA

IndyCar

Indy 500 Entry List Update

The 2023 Indianapolis 500 is expected to have a full grid of 33 entries, with all but one driver already confirmed. Two teams, A.J. Foyt Racing and Abel Motorsports, may still add additional cars to the grid if they are able to secure sponsorship. Last year's race had only 32 entries, but a consortium of teams came together to assemble a car for Stefan Wilson to avoid running with less than 33. The absence of bumping in recent years has been a source of concern for some fans, but there is still a chance that additional entries could be added to the field.

Full preliminary entry list can be seen here

More IndyCar

4️⃣ After the season opener, which of the Big 4 teams has the advantage... Marcus Ericsson won in St. Pete but he may not be the championship favorite

GLOBAL MOTORSPORT

Take a trip to far away motorsport lands

🔀 Prolugue crash at Sebring prompts some changes... drivers expressed concerns over dangerous pit road entry

🇲🇽 WRC heads back to Mexico after two year hiatus... Here's everything you need to know ahead of Round #3

❌ WEC tire warmer ban called into question again... Sebring Prologue crash blamed on cold tires

🟢 WEC takes the green in Sebring... Ferrari closes the gap on Toyota in FP1

eNASCAR

Hold onto your steering wheels, folks, because Steven Wilson is back in the winner's circle! Despite an unlucky start to the season and a changed track layout, Wilson drove his way to victory in Tuesday night's eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. But it wasn't all smooth sailing for the other racers, with former series champion Ryan Luza and points leader Malik Ray finding themselves with finishes that didn't quite match their pace. And let's not forget the first major wreck of the night that caught Luza under the hood of eRacr's Collin Bowden car, sending him all the way down to 24th place by the end of the race. Ouch!

In the end, it was a nail-biting finish with multiple two-lap attempts and plenty of bumper-to-bumper action. But Wilson held his own and took the checkered flag, narrowly beating out eRacr's Kollin Keister who recovered from an earlier incident. So buckle up, racing fans, because this eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series returns in two weeks on March 28th at the virtual Richmond Raceway!

Memes

ONBOARD OF THE DAY

Kevin Harvick Atlanta 2018 Onboard

Strap in for a late-race restart with Kevin Harvick at the Atlanta Motor Speedway! Watch him dice through traffic running from top to bottom on the old worn out asphalt. Harvick would go on to finish P9 in the race.

TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS

*Answer

Dale Earnhardt has the most wins at the Atlanta Motor Speedway with nine victories!

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