It’s no secret that the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing pit crew of Denny Hamlin’s car this season is in a slump. This was a crew leading the charts in individual and average pit stop time for the first quarter of the 2024 season. But as the playoffs approached, things seemingly started to fall apart, leaving the fate of Hamlin’s appearance in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 round at Phoenix in uncertain hands. 

It’s not that a driver’s performance can’t make an impact on a race, but a pit crew can certainly make or break it. We saw this with the No. 11 crew’s heroic performance in the final laps of the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway in March. Hamlin entered pit lane in third but his pit crew sent him out into first place as they beat the crews of the two leading cars by over a second. We’ve also seen the flip side of this over the summer as the No. 11 crew moved too quickly during a pit stop at the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway that resulted in having to jack the car back up to tighten a right rear wheel which lost them over ten positions while sitting on pit road.

“They were just outlier good,” shared the No. 11’s Crew Chief, Chris Gabehart. “My group is a hard working group, very analytical group and they kind of tried to make that better but couldn’t. Then they got into some injuries — that has probably not been very high profile for eight, or ten, maybe twelve races changed the way they could approach the week.”

Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, Yahoo! Toyota Camry

Photo by: John Harrelson / NKP / Motorsport Images

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Top tier NASCAR pit crews spend about three to four days per week on practice and preparation for races. The daily schedule is typically set up in multiple hourly blocks split between things like pit stop practice, weight training, cardio, rehab, and film review. With NASCAR racing on so many different types of tracks, this means that there are typically new positions for things like the wheels each week because of changes to suspension setups. So the pit crew needs weekly practice to get used to that new specific setup. Organizations like Joe Gibbs Racing also have development pit crew members that they can use as backups, for instance to use when one of their crewmates are injured, but pit stops require so much chemistry and tight choreography that it can take weeks for a new member of crew to get into that rhythm, let alone adjust for the unique setups from track to track.

“When you’re hurt you can’t practice like you were, especially when you were thrashing every week when that’s kind of your style. So, they had to throttle back a little bit,” Gabehart said. “Then the pressure of the playoffs comes and it’s very disjointed as you know. You go from an Atlanta to a Talladega to a road course, and for a pit crew it’s hard to find a weekly rhythm because races aren’t pit-crew focused. Then you’re expected to step up at Kansas and perform and step up at Bristol and perform — so I think it’s been a rhythm thing for that group coupled with the pressure of the playoffs as any pit crew is going to live. We’ve seen that.”

Based on Gabehart comments it’s easy to see how lower profile injuries can impact the success of a pit crew. Having races like Atlanta and Watkins Glen to start the playoffs doesn’t help restore that cadence either, as those races are more reliant on fuel fill time than tire change time, so it wasn’t until Bristol before the crew had an opportunity to follow a rhythm where they needed to complete fast tire changes. 

They still had some hiccups after that but Gabehart is confident in their performance and what he observed at Homestead last weekend.

“The speed and the greatness is still there, we just got to put a whole race together.”

IF he does it the feat will be history making and history defying, and one that would leave Coolmore Godfather John Magnier on top of the world.

But the simple truth is before the event no-one knows whether City Of Troy can land Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Classic on the Del Mar dirt.

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For trainer Aidan O’Brien and the Coolmore ‘lads’, this is the ultimate moment of truth.

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Since the year 2000 they have tried to bag a Classic, and it has become their Holy Grail.

But despite sending sixteen horses into battle – including legendary sire Galileo, the ‘iron horse’ Giant’s Causeway, Hawk Wing, gorgeous George Washington and So You Think – they have found success elusive.

On Saturday, at 9.41pm live like every Breeders’ Cup race on Sky Sports Racing, that could all change.

On Thursday I walked into the Pacific Ocean just off the Del Mar coast dressed in my City of Troy gillet to pause and think for a moment.

Seas are, of course, associated with chaos. European turf star City Of Troy will face chaos in the Classic that he has never come close to tackling before in his illustrious, Epsom Derby-winning career.

O’Brien has looked under every stone he can to try and prepare his monster for this test of all tests.

He’s taken the son of Justify to Southwell for a day out on that track’s artificial surface. He’s sat US star Jerry Bailey down with Ryan Moore to go over every tactical scenario. He’s talked the talk and walked the walk.

Now it’s down to Troy to deliver.

Gosh I hope he does. Coolmore deserves this. How many other Europeans would take up this challenge? Not many.

Dirt racing is all about the break. About speed of the speed. City Of Troy won’t know what has hit him. But he might just do it. That’s the beauty of all this. He might just do it.

If he does, he’ll have to deny Fierceness from the Todd Pletcher yard and, incidentally, soon to become a Coolmore sire.

The son of City of Light – himself a Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile hero – blew out in the Kentucky Derby, but around that defeat has banged in a Florida Derby and Grade 1 Travers, defeating the magnificent filly Thorpedo Anna who you will see in the Distaff.

Then there is Japanese star Forever Young, the winner of no less than six of his seven starts and a close third in the Kentucky Derby.

As a bet, I think you could do a lot worse than SIERRA LEONE who for me is a cracking each-way proposition.

Stateside people laugh at us Sierra Leone supporters. They say he’s essentially a twicer and doesn’t put it all in. Everyone has given up on Sierra Leone. Not me!

Sierra Leone is a Grade 1 winner who was third in the Travers, third in the Belmont and second in the Kentucky Derby. He’s at long odds and should get a fast pace to run at. He might just fall in.

Away from the Classic, a fabulous night of racing awaits us, and that includes a belting Breeders’ Cup Mile.

The 2000 Guineas hero Notable Speech is up against Porta Fortuna, who was runner-up in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf at Santa Anita, second in the 1000 Guineas and the winner of the Group 1 Coronation, Falmouth and Matron Stakes.

Carl Spackler is the American turfer not to ignore in the same race, while Diego Velazquez might have more to give at this trip having been dropped in distance.

I’m sticking with NOTABLE SPEECH for Godolphin and Charlie Appleby, who are trying to win the Mile for a record fourth time in a row.

The Turf Sprint numbers Bradsell, Believing and Big Evs, although I wonder if filly STAR OF MYSTERY is the value eachway here.

Emily Upjohn and Frankie Dettori tackle REBEL’S ROMANCE in the Turf, a race the latter won in 2022, while Yorkshire Oaks heroine Content bids to get her season back on track in the Filly & Mare Turf.

The local hope WAR LIKE GODDESS might be hard to beat in that contest. She tackled Auguste Rodin in the Turf last year and this is much easier, although be warned she’s a quirky strong traveller that doesn’t always find.

Boy, what a day ahead in California. I just wish the ocean had all the answers. The results could yet leave me all at sea.

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Alex Pereira won’t save another UFC pay-per-view on short notice.

“Poatan” had the MMA world wondering if he would step up and headline UFC 310 on Dec. 7 after welterweight champion Belal Muhammad withdrew from a main event matchup with Shavkat Rakhmonov. The light heavyweight champion appeared to tease another quick turnaround after posting a phone emoji on social media in reaction to the Muhammad news, but MMA Fighting has learned that the fight is not being discussed for the card.

“Poatan” fought three times in 2024, defending his title with knockouts over Jamahal Hill, Jiri Prochazka and Khalil Rountree Jr.— two of those on short notice—and competing on just over a month’s notice yet again has been ruled out.

The Alexandre Pantoja vs. Kai Asakura clash for the UFC flyweight championship, and originally the co-main event for UFC 310, remains the top bout on the line-up at the moment.

It’s still early to pinpoint when Pereira will defend his title next. However, with UFC’s first pay-per-view card of 2025 scheduled for Jan. 18, it’s unlikely that Poatan could be part of that numbered show. UFC 312, the following pay-per-view on Feb. 8, could be an option. That event takes place in Sydney, Australia.

Ankalaev has solidified himself as the next man up for the 205-pound championship, and volunteered to face Pereira as soon as Dec. 7. The Russian fighter is currently riding a 13-fight unbeaten streak with a trio of victories against Brazilian fighters. Ankalaev won twice in 2024, stopping Johnny Walker before earning a decision over Aleksandar Rakic.

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Former Manchester United and Trinidad and Tobago striker Dwight Yorke has been appointed head coach of his home country.

Yorke, 52, won 72 caps for Trinidad and Tobago between 1989 and 2009, scoring 19 goals, and captained them at the 2006 World Cup.

He previously had a spell as his country’s assistant manager after retiring from playing in 2009.

It is Yorke’s second job as a manager, having managed Australian A-League side Macarthur during the 2022-23 season.

“I am proud and privileged to receive the honour of leading the Trinidad and Tobago national team,” said Yorke.

“The opportunity to work with this talented, close-knit group of players is something I look forward to.

“Having helped Trinidad and Tobago to the semi-finals of the Concacaf Gold Cup in 2000, captained the side at the 2006 World Cup and been assistant manager, my love and commitment to my national team is well documented.”

Trinidad and Tobago are currently ranked 102nd in the world.

While at Macarthur between July 2022 and January 2023, Yorke won 10 of his 19 matches, drawing three and losing the other six, and winning the Australia Cup.

EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada – Derrick Lewis thinks Jon Jones makes quick work of Stipe Miocic.

Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) defends his heavyweight title against former champion Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) in the UFC 309 main event Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Jones is a massive betting favorite over Miocic, and Lewis thinks the odds will accurately depict the outcome.

“I think Jones will beat him in the first round,” Lewis told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night 246 media day. “It’s crazy to see a lot of people just disrespect Jones like that, like he ain’t the GOAT, for real. A lot of people keep throwing around these GOAT terms and this and that. Jones has been doing this for so many years at the top of the level against all these opponents, like top-ranked guys.

“Even though he have been having all this trouble outside of the UFC, it’s like people outside of the UFC don’t know, it’s 80 percent mental that you got to go into these fights, and it’s like 20 percent physical. If you don’t have the mentality going into these fights, you’re not going to do well. For him to be going through all that stuff that he’s been going through, and still beaten these guys like this, it says a lot.”

Heavyweight champion and former light heavyweight champ Jones is currently the No. 3 ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC. Lewis echoes Dana White’s same sentiment on the rankings.

“Of course, he’s for sure pound-for-pound (No. 1),” Lewis said. “It’s crazy how a lot of these guys keep getting (ranked) pound-for-pound and they ain’t even had that many fights. Think about my run when I had six-fight winning streak going on and they ain’t even mentioning me being in pound-for-pound.

“It’s crazy that these guys come into the UFC now, they get two or three fights, and already pass up everyone who has been fighting for years and already ranked pound-for-pound. I’m like, ‘Damn, that’s just complete disrespect.’”

Former title challenger Lewis (28-12 MMA, 19-10 UFC) returns against Jhonata Diniz (8-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) on Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 246 (ESPN+) main card at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 246.