Good morning! It's the first week of April but let's skip the hyjinx... We trust that you've already seen your fair share of fake driver announcements and other ludacris attempts at April Fool's day jokes on Twitter.

Between the absolute throwdown that IndyCar had in Texas, a red flag filled Australian GP and NASCAR's return to Richmond, there's a lot to cover... Let's get to it!

What do you get when dinosaurs crash their cars?

*Answer at the bottom

Don't forget to share your feedback in our poll at the bottom of each email.

Money Lap Fantasy by eRacr

Join the eRacr Fantasy leagues to compete against other Money Lap subscribers and compete for exclusive prizes all season long! It's not too late to enter! Join below:

Join NASCAR here!

Join F1 Fantasy here!

Fantasy Results

F1

Verstappen Captures First Australian GP

Max Verstappen won the Australian Grand Prix, beating Lewis Hamilton in a race that ended in chaos with three red flags. Verstappen had dominated most of the race despite losing the initial lead to Mercedes' George Russell and Hamilton. Verstappen returned to the top of the podium with Hamilton in second and Fernando Alonso in third. The hectic restart resulted in several incidents, including a collision between Carlos Sainz and Alonso, which saw Sainz penalized and dropped to 12th in the final results. Sergio Perez charged from a pitlane start to finish in fifth place. Lando Norris and Nico Hulkenberg had a thrilling battle during the race and ended up sixth and seventh, respectively.

Protest Denied

Haas has failed with its protest against the race result at the Australian Grand Prix, in which the team argued the restart order for the cars to roll over the line on the final lap was taken from the previous restart positions rather than the last point where it was possible to determine the position of all cars.

Haas argued that the order should have been taken from the first sector, where Nico Hulkenberg was higher up, but the stewards dismissed the protest, stating that GPS data was unreliable and that the most appropriate point had been selected to determine the order. The race result was confirmed, with Nico Hulkenburg finishing in seventh and Kevin Magnussen in 17th.

Hamilton Confident in Closing the Gap

Lewis Hamilton believes that Mercedes can close the gap to Red Bull after finishing second in the Australian GP with a car he’s still not even comfortable with. Max Verstappen started on pole position but was overtaken by both Mercedes drivers on the opening lap, with Hamilton going on to lead after a red flag period. Hamilton held off Fernando Alonso for second place and says it’s a big result for Mercedes given how he doesn’t like the feedback his car gives him yet.

Hamilton had told Mercedes over team radio he didn’t believe he could finish the race on an old set of tires at the same pace as Alonso behind, but having done so the seven-time world champion is relishing competing with an array of different drivers at the front of the field this season.

More F1

🤬 Sainz sounds off on unfair penalty... "too angry to talk" after penalty relegates him out of the points

😴 How do drivers deal with jet lag during the demanding F1 season?... Heres how drivers and teams deal with traveling to 20 different countries in a nine month span

🏅 McLaren makes progress in Melbourne... Piastri bags points in home grand prix

NASCAR

Hendrick Continues Reign in Richmond

Kyle Larson won the Richmond Cup race, leading a 1-2 finish for Hendrick Motorsports, with teammate Josh Berry taking a career-best finish in second place. The victory was Larson's 20th of his career and his first of the 2023 season. He became the sixth different winner in the first seven races, earning HMS its third win of the year. Ross Chastain was third, Christopher Bell fourth, and Kevin Harvick fifth. Michael McDowell, Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, Ty Gibbs, and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top-ten.

Smith Repeats Richmond Success

Chandler Smith has won his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory at Richmond Raceway. Smith has impressed as a rookie in the Xfinity Series, with four top-fives in the first seven races of the year. He had previously won at Richmond last year as a NASCAR Truck Series driver. John-Hunter Nemechek finished a close second, followed by Josh Berry, Kaz Grala, and Cole Custer, respectively. Justin Allgaier was the top-finishing Dash 4 Cash driver, earning the $100,000 bonus. The race was the second consecutive win for Kaulig Racing, which also won last weekend at COTA with A.J Allmendinger.

Sanchez Slips, Hocevar Captures First Win

Carson Hocevar secured his first career win in the NASCAR Truck Series at Texas Motor Speedway in a dramatic overtime finish. The race was dominated by Nick Sanchez, who won both stages and led for 168 of the 171 laps. However, Sanchez was battling with reigning Truck Series champion Zane Smith at the white flag when he got sideways, collecting Smith and Christian Eckes, leaving the way clear for Hocevar to take the win.

Teams Sound off on Appeal Controversy

In an exclusive with The Athletic, crew chiefs and competition directors expressed their confusion over the recent appeal decision and the perceived lack of clarity over NASCAR's rules.The overturning of NASCAR's penalties to Hendrick Motorsports by the National Motorsports Appeals Panel has left many people in the NASCAR Cup Series garage feeling frustrated and confused. 

The panel agreed that Hendrick had violated the rules, but still decided to rescind a significant portion of the penalty. It ruled that Hendrick drivers should not be docked points nor be subject to suspensions, while each of the team's four teams should not be docked 100 owner points.

More NASCAR

🤬 Miscommunications with Martin Truex Jr. and James Small... Truex never knew he was on scuffs for the final restart

IndyCar

Newgarden Rallies Late for Another Texas Win

Josef Newgarden of Team Penske took back-to-back victories at the PPG 375 event in Texas Motor Speedway, finishing ahead of Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren, who led the race until the 239th lap, when Newgarden overtook him. Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing came third, followed by David Malukas and Scott Dixon. The race had plenty of crashes and close calls making for a . O’Ward took over the championship lead with a pair of second-place finishes.

More IndyCar

🚀 New team on the block over exceeding expectations... After their return to IndyCar in '21, the team has become a contender already securing a pair of Top 10s

GLOBAL MOTORSPORT

Take a trip to far away motorsport lands

🇦🇷 MotoGP's rain filled Argentina GP... the champ crashed and a first time winner

🏁 Entertainment vs. tradition... Le Mans' new rule could produce closest finish in history

😡 MotoGP championship leader "very angry" at Argentina GP crash... he doesn't understand what caused the crash

Memes

ONBOARD OF THE DAY

Mark Webber Turkey Pole Lap 2010 Onboard

Mark Webber took the pole in the Turkish Grand Prix in 2010 with his Red Bull RB6. Hop on board with him as he navigates Istanbul Park to set quick time over Lewis Hamilton by 0.138 seconds.

TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS

*Answer

Tyrannosaurus Wrecks!

Please send this to friends who want 5 minutes of everything motorsports delivered directly to their inbox multiple times a week!