After The Line Vol. 9 (June 10-July 11)

New Champions Abound
Since the last installment of "After The Line", not 1, not 2, but 3 champions have been crowned throughout the GreenFlagTV Roster. In Thurday's Speed Tires Plus Cup Series, Jason Gracias was able to comfortably win the championship after Ryan Shelton had the misfortune of missing the penultimate race of the season. Gracias will enter season 3 as the defending champion just one week from today, looking eager to defend his crown.

The TNGG IEL Truck Series championship was decided a week early, with the championship coming down to a caution-filled race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Main championship contenders Scott Rankin, Paul Witt, and Zane Bailey all suffered issues throughout the 200 lap race, allowing for Raymond to sneak his way into a back-to-back title, leaving the last race at Gateway as a battle for bragging rights, a battle Zane Bailey would win.

One championship that came right down to the wire, was that of the Beer League. Points leader Tyler Agostino was forced to miss the final 2 races of the championship at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Suzuka, meaning he would have to rely on drop weeks to keep him in the lead. The final race at Suzuka was an intense one, with the other main title contenders Alexander Hammonds, Giovanni Romano, and Chris Hannigan involved themselves in fierce dogfighting. Hammonds, despite being spun late in the game, was able to make a late race charge and steal the title by just 5 points.

Summer Break
The Classic Indycar Series and VSCA SportsCar Championship have both entered extended breaks, with neither series hosting events in July, with the intention of returning in August. Ethan Agan has remained in the points lead of CIS straight from the start of the season, but lately his gap has been showing signs of closing, with Cameron Dance slowly, but surely closing in, only 20 points behind as they enter the back half of the season. 

For VSCA meanwhile, Mayer Simspeed Performance continues to lead by nearly 200 points in the GTP category, and Screeching Moose Motorsports up by over 250 points in GT Am. The close battles are in LMP2 and GT Pro, with the two Fischer Motorsports Porsches constantly switching back and forth for the points lead almost every race in the faster GT3 class.

For LMP2 though, it's looking like an early-season titan could be toppled. After winning the first 4 races, Gowin Racing has not seen victory lane since, allowing for Rising Panda Racing to reel in the gap. After race 7 at Road America, Rising Panda was able to finally usurp Gowin for the points lead, now up by a mere 13 points entering the summer break.

All of the VSCA drama follows two of the wildest races we've seen yet in the championship, with a suddenly rain-soaked race throwing the JRT Summer Sprint into pandemonium in the final hour, and the 6 Hours of the Glen seeing the biggest crash in VSCA history, with over 20 cars being collected in a massive pileup in the Esses.

Coming Up
The OMSRL Cup Series has kicked off its season once again, sporting over 30 cars in the first 2 races at Daytona and Gateway. The races proved to be thrilling, albeit with a few cautions to speak of between the two, with drivers being urged to attempt to clean it up for the upcoming race at Texas. So far, the cup cars have worked out well for OMSRL, with it being the 2nd car change in 3 seasons, it'll be interesting to see how some adapt, or if newcomers can rise to the occasion.

Speed and ASRL will both be making their returns in July, with both championships hoping to be back, more competitive than ever. After both championships saw some thrillers in the last season, the return of Thursday and Sunday night racing has been long anticipated. For the Saturday night TNGG fans, they'll have a longer wait ahead, as TNGG has rebranded to the Sim Racer's Association.

​The Saturday night truck series itself won't return until winter of 2025, though in its place will be a weekly Street Stock championship, kicking off racing action in October of 2024, and racing all the way into December.