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Busch Light announces Accelerate Her program to bring women racers to highest levels of NASCAR

Published

1 year ago

February 14, 2022

One of the unique elements of auto racing is that compared to other professional sports that have separate classes on the basis of gender, men and women are able to compete in the very same arena against one another behind the wheel of a racecar. But despite that, the very highest level of NASCAR has not seen a lady start her engine alongside gentlemen in some time.

Presently, zero women drivers are competing in the NASCAR Cup Series, a number which has persisted over the past several years since the retirement of former Daytona 500 polesitter and racing icon Danica Patrick. That number is one that Busch Light has set out to change with a new first-of-its-kind commitment to bringing women drivers to the highest level of racing.

On Monday, just ahead of the Daytona 500, Busch Light announced the creation of the Busch Light Accelerate Her Program, a $10 million commitment to sponsor every female driver 21 years or older over the next three years. The Accelerate Her program will help women racers by providing them the funding necessary to get more track time, as well as more media exposure and other training.

The program’s inaugural recipients include current female racers in NASCAR’s ladder system such as Xfinity Series driver Natalie Decker, Camping World Truck Series driver Jennifer Jo Cobb, ARCA Menards Series drivers Toni Breidinger, Amber Balcaen, Brittney Zamora and Stephanie Moyer, and NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver Melissa Fifield.

Decker, Breidinger, and Balcaen spoke with CBS Sports to discuss the launch of the program as well as its importance.

“The Accelerate Her program is a really great step in the right direction to get women competing at the highest level of NASCAR,” Breidinger said. “Busch Light’s really a trailblazer in this aspect. They’re really one of the first brands – or might even be the first brand – to be doing any sort of program like this. So I really do think it’s gonna create a snowball effect, have other brands be like ‘Oh hey, we should get in on this too and support female athletes and women drivers in general.’”

The significance of a major brand like Busch Light backing women in racing cannot be understated. Over the past several generations of racers, multiple women have made an impression on the top levels of NASCAR: Shawna Robinson won a pole in what is now the Xfinity Series and became one of only three women to qualify for the Daytona 500, and former Snowball Derby winner Johanna Long showed great promise during several years in NASCAR a decade ago.

However, lack of sponsorship kept those and other female racers from reaching their potential. And while finding sponsorship is a major hurdle for all racers, there is an extra burden on women to prove that they are to be taken seriously.

“We have to work harder to gain that respect. A lot of times when I’m talking with companies, they’re like ‘Well, you’re a girl. Are you even good?’” Balcaen said. “And it’s just having to constantly prove yourself and reiterate ‘Yes, I’m capable. I have the talent. I have the ability both on and off the track to market your brand and also drive a racecar to the best of my ability and win races.’

“So I think this program is really gonna help open that and break that stigma of ‘Women can do this, and you should get behind women because we can offer a lot of great things to you. That’s why this Busch partnership is so important to us all.”

Decker, Breidinger, Balcaen and more are following in the paths blazed by female drivers before them, such as Louise Smith, Janet Guthrie, Patty Moise and others. But compared to other women in racing, none captivated and gained the support of corporate America quite like Danica Patrick, who enjoyed a full career in both IndyCar and NASCAR with major sponsorship backing her throughout.

When discussing having the support of a major brand like Busch Light, Decker mentioned Patrick’s career as having shown women in racing what is possible with the right backing.

“It is really hard to find that company that believes in you and wants to be a part of your career, or maybe make you the face of their company,” Decker said. “It’s so hard to find that. But watching her do it has really inspired all of us to try and go and achieve that.

“And having Busch Light back us is just gonna open the door for other really big companies to say ‘Hey, Busch believes in these females, so we should too.’ And I really believe that’s gonna happen, and that’s why I feel so lucky and I know the other girls definitely feel very lucky too to be a part of this program. Because it’s really gonna be able to open off the doors for us.”

In addition to the inaugural recipients of the program, a portion of Busch Light’s $10 million commitment will also be reserved as a standing sponsorship fund for up-and-coming talent.

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Related Topics:Accelerate Announces bring Busch highest levels light NASCAR program Racers Women

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NBA Insider Reveals What Chris Paul Wants Moving Forward

Published

2 mins ago

June 8, 2023

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(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

The Phoenix Suns shocked the NBA after they reportedly told Chris Paul he would be waived.

Paul arrived in Phoenix in 2020, set to help Devin Booker compete for championships.

They did it in their very first year together, losing in the NBA Finals to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Now, the Suns reportedly have plenty of options for Paul but the point guard is clear on what he wants for his career.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Paul wants to run it back with the Suns and keep sharing touches with Booker and Kevin Durant.

ESPN story on the Suns’ conversations with Chris Paul and his representatives Wednesday on the guard’s future with franchise: https://t.co/ZTshNtevBR
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 7, 2023

However, the Suns have different options for him, including stretching his contract and waiving the player, a trade involving him and Deandre Ayton, or simply re-signing him in free agency.

In recent days, Kyrie Irving and Fred VanVleet have been linked with the Suns, and the Paul news couldn’t surface at a better moment.

Free agency is weeks away from its beginning but many teams are already making moves to get the pieces they want ahead of the 2023-24 NBA season.

Paul is one of the best and most talented point guards of all time, but with his age, it’s easy to say why the Suns could move on from him.

He averaged 13.9 points, 8.9 assists, and 4.3 rebounds in 59 games this season.

When the postseason arrived and he was hurt, the Suns played faster without him, which could be another reason why the team is looking to cut ties.

Paul can still provide good things for his team, but only the Suns have the final word on this.

The post NBA Insider Reveals What Chris Paul Wants Moving Forward appeared first on The Cold Wire.

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Blue Jays’ Daulton Varsho reaping rewards of improved plate discipline

Published

6 mins ago

June 8, 2023

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For most of the season, Daulton Varsho‘s offensive production has been like an underwhelming approximation of his 2022.

That looks like it might be about to change.

Although Varsho’s .222/.290/.404 line might not leap off the page, he’s been significantly better recently, slashing .267/.323/.533 in his last 15 games.

Without context those numbers look excellent, but not like a blazing hot streak. His 136 wRC+ in those games is star level, but not outlandish for a hitter having a strong stretch.

The way Varsho has authored his recent success is even more encouraging for the outfielder than the results, though. One reason for that is the fact that he simply isn’t striking out.

The 26-year-old entered the season with a career strikeout rate of 24.0 per cent and he’s gone down on strikes just four times in his last 15 contests, posting the lowest K% of his career over a span of that length.

The clearest explanation for this stretch has been far better plate discipline from Varsho. While he hasn’t piled up walks during his recent stretch, he’s chasing fewer bad pitches.

In his last 15 games, he’s chased just 22.7 per cent of pitches outside the zone, far less than his 34.9 per cent in the first 46 contests of 2023. While he’s taking more pitchers’ pitches, he’s been as aggressive in the zone as ever, swinging at 73.3 per cent of balls in the zone — a rate matching his approach earlier in the year (74.1 per cent).

At the same time that Varsho has cut down on his strikeouts, his power stroke has come alive. His ISO in his last 15 games sits at .267 and he’s hit four home runs — including a 446-footer that is his longest of the season, and the second-longest of his career.

That power production is supported by contact-quality numbers that are significantly better than what he managed earlier in the season.

Split	Average Exit Velocity	Hard-Hit Rate
First 46 games Advertisement	86.2 mph	35.4%
Last 15 games	90.0 mph	41.8% Advertisement

If Varsho had gotten a few more bounces going his way in the last three weeks he’d be in the midst of a sizzling run that would be elevating his 2023 numbers in a profound way.

As it is, he’s in the middle of a stretch where he’s doing everything right by avoiding strikeouts and making hard contact consistently, but his rewards haven’t been proportional to the quality of his at-bats.

Varsho’s luck isn’t going to magically even out over the rest of the season, but what he’s doing now may have something to tell us about where he can go from here.

It’s not realistic to expect him to run a single-digit strikeout rate while providing considerable power, but the fact he’s capable of doing that for a couple of weeks at a time is undoubtedly a good sign for the Toronto Blue Jays.

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Report: Bucks’ Middleton underwent surgery on right knee following playoffs

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10 mins ago

June 8, 2023

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Milwaukee Bucks forward Khris Middleton reportedly underwent successful arthroscopic surgery on his right knee following his team’s playoff exit, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.

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The report says that Middleton is expected to make a full recovery and return to action in July. The surgery was a clean-up process in his right knee which was reportedly planned prior to the end of the season.

Middleton, 31, is set to become a free agent if he chooses to decline his $40 million player option for next season. The deadline for that decision is June 21.

He struggled through injuries this year, only appearing in 33 regular season games for the Bucks and averaged 15.1 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.9 assists.

He missed the first 20 games of the season following off-season wrist surgery then missed 18 straight games due to knee soreness in December and January.