Austin, TX
PBR’s Austin Gamblers Primary Car Sponsor for NASCAR’s Xfinity Series Race at Circuit of the Americas – EverythingCowboy.com
Gamblers partner with Young’s Motorsports on the No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro of Leland Honeyman Jr. for Focused Health 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series Race
AUSTIN, Texas — The Austin Gamblers, who compete in the groundbreaking PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Teams’ league, and Young’s Motorsports have announced a partnership designating the Gamblers as the primary sponsor of Leland Honeyman Jr.’s No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) when NASCAR rolls in for a thrilling weekend of racing March 22-24.
Racing fans from the Capital City will have their own car to cheer for as the partnership will showcase Gamblers branding on the custom-designed car that will participate in the NASCAR Xfinity Series practice session and qualifying on Friday, March 22, and the Focused Health 250 on Saturday, March 23.
In addition to Gamblers’ branding, the car also features the logos of two additional iconic Austin-based brands supporting the new bull riding league: Tecovas and YETI. Tecovas is the presenting partner of Gambler Days, the annual three-day PBR Camping World Team Series event scheduled at the Moody Center in Austin August 23 – 25. YETI is a founding partner of the Gamblers, who are Austin’s first professional bull riding team and regular season champions in the league’s first two seasons.
“This partnership with Young’s Motorsports is a unique opportunity to showcase the Gamblers brand and give bull riding fans and Austin-area NASCAR fans a car to root for,” said J.J. Gottsch, Gamblers CEO. “We’re grateful to have this opportunity with Youngs to bring a little bit more of Austin to NASCAR with Tecovas, YETI and the Gamblers.”
Additional events during the weekend include the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and the NASCAR Cup Series, highlighted by the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix on Sunday.
“Racing at Circuit of The Americas with the Austin Gamblers, YETI, and Tecovas onboard with me is a thrill,” said Honeyman Jr. “As the driver for Young’s Motorsports, I’m excited to bring the energy of Austin’s PBR fans to the racetrack. It’s all about combining the excitement of bull riding with the speed of racing, showing the true spirit of Austin and making the fans proud.”
About the Austin Gamblers: The Austin Gamblers, regular season champions in the 2022 and 2023 PBR Camping World Team Series, are based in Austin, Texas, where the team’s third-annual PBR Gambler Days homestand will be held at the Moody Center on August 23-25, 2024. The team is coached by PBR legend and World Champion Michael Gaffney. The team’s Assistant Coach is Brazilian native and PBR’s first World Champion and first three-time World Champion Adriano Moraes, who also serves as Director of Brazil Operations. Under the leadership of JJ Gottsch as CEO, the Austin Gamblers are owned by Egon and Abby Durban. Both originally from Texas, Egon is Co-CEO of Silver Lake, the global leader in technology investing, and serves on the board of directors of Dell Technologies, whose founder, Michael Dell, is also a minority investor in the Gamblers.
About Young’s Motorsports: Young’s Motorsports is an American professional stock car racing team that competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and the ARCA Menards Series. In the Xfinity Series, they field the No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro for Leland Honeyman. In the Truck Series, they field the No. 02 Chevrolet Silverado for Mason Massey. In the ARCA Menards Series, they field the No. 02 Chevrolet SS part-time for Leland Honeyman.
About Leland Honeyman, Jr: (born February 23, 2005) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series driving the No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro for Young’s Motorsports and part-time in the ARCA Menards Series driving the No. 02 for Young’s. He previously competed full-time in the ARCA Menards Series East and the NASCAR Truck Series for Young’s.
About NASCAR at COTA: Race fans will experience another unforgettable weekend of NASCAR in Austin, Texas when the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS), NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) and NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) return to Circuit of The Americas (COTA) March 22-24, 2024. The action-packed NASCAR at COTA weekend will Keep Austin Wheeled with the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix on Sunday preceded by the NASCAR Xfinity Series 250 and XPEL 225 on Saturday.
About PBR Team Series: The PBR Camping World Team Series is an elite league featuring the world’s top bull riders competing on teams in five-on-five games leading to a Team Championship at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. During the 2024 season, the league’s third, each of the 10 teams – Austin Gamblers of Austin, TX; Arizona Ridge Riders of Glendale, AZ; Carolina Cowboys of Greensboro, NC; Florida Freedom of Sunrise, FL; Kansas City Outlaws of Kansas City, MO; Nashville Stampede of Nashville, TN; New York Mavericks of Brooklyn, NY; OK; Oklahoma Wildcatters of Oklahoma City, OK; Missouri Thunder of Springfield, MO; and Texas Rattlers of Fort Worth, TX– will host a homestand. Neutral-site games to be announced are planned as well.
PBR Teams, launched in July 2022, builds on the existing structure of professional bull riding with the same basic rules for judging and scoring qualified 8-second bull rides. In events staged in a tournament-style format, all teams compete in head-to-head matchups against a different opponent each day. Each game features five riders per team squaring off against another team. Full team rosters are comprised of seven riders on the Protected Roster and five Reserve riders. The team with the highest aggregate score of qualified rides among its riders is declared the winner of each game. All PBR Teams events are carried on either the CBS Television Network, streaming live on Paramount+, CBS Sports Network, or RidePass on Pluto TV.
PBR is part of Endeavor, a global sports and entertainment company. For more information, visit PBR.com, or follow on Facebook at Facebook.com/PBR, Twitter at Twitter.com/PBR, and YouTube at YouTube.com/PBR.
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AUSTIN, Texas – State and federal agriculture officials said highly pathogenic avian flu has been found in a herd of dairy cows in Texas.
What we know:
Officials said the H5N1 virus was confirmed with laboratory tests in late May after cows at an unspecified farm became sick and milk production dropped. The dairy has since been quarantined and an investigation is underway.
This is the first case of avian flu in a Texas dairy herd this year, officials said.
What they’re saying:
“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is confident that pasteurization is effective at inactivating H5N1, and that the commercial, pasteurized milk supply is safe,” officials at the Texas Animal Health Commission said in a statement.
A dairy cow is seen at a farm on June 1, 2026. (Tim Evans/Bloomberg / Getty Images)
Dig deeper:
H5N1 has a high rate of severe disease and death in animals that become infected.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the risk to the general public from avian flu is low. Some sporadic human infections have been reported around the world since 1997. There have been no known cases of person-to-person spreading of avian flu.
The Source: Information in this story came from the Texas Animal Health Commission, the USDA, the FDA and the CDC.
AUSTIN, Texas — Self-driving cars have become a common sight on Austin streets, but a new Texas law is adding tougher requirements for the companies behind the wheelless vehicles.
Senate Bill 2807 imposes stricter rules on autonomous vehicle companies operating in the state, including state authorization, emergency response plans for law enforcement, and a public portal where residents can verify operators and file safety complaints.
The changes come as Austin continues to track incidents involving autonomous vehicles. The city’s autonomous vehicle dashboard shows 75 incidents in 2026, including a collision, eight near misses, and seven incidents of ignoring police direction.
Attorney Drew Gibbs, a partner at Slingshot Law, said one crash involved a Waymo vehicle.
“There was a T-bone collision. A pretty serious T-bone collision where a Waymo just crashed into the side of my client’s vehicle,” Gibbs said.
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One of the incidents of ignoring police direction happened during the mass shooting on West Sixth Street back in March, when three people died, and 15 others were injured.
Austin Police Association President Michael Bullock said autonomous vehicles can struggle in unusual situations.
“It didn’t impede on anything in the moment, but it’s not necessarily uncommon where these vehicles don’t quite know how to deal with these one-off scenarios,” Bullock said.
The new law requires autonomous vehicle companies to be authorized by the state, to provide an emergency response plan for law enforcement, and to participate in a public-facing portal that allows the public to verify operators and submit safety complaints.
Kara Kockelman, a professor of transportation and engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, welcomed the added oversight.
“I’m glad that the state is taking this a bit more seriously now,” she said. “It’s important not to just let others slip in without kind of meeting those basic minimums.”
Bullock said the emergency planning requirement may not make a major difference in fast-moving situations. Asked how impactful it is to have a fully laid out emergency response plan, Bullock said, “These plans are great, but it takes time to work through all of those versus the immediacy of having someone behind the wheel.”
The four autonomous vehicle companies operating in Austin — Waymo, Zoox, AV-Ride, and Tesla — are all state-authorized.
The Texas DMV said an autonomous vehicle company can lose its authorization to operate in Texas if the agency deems the vehicles are operating in a way that endangers public safety.
Waymo was contacted for comment, but had not responded.
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson said Tuesday she will leave the post next month.
What we know:
In a statement, Nelson said her resignation will be effective July 17 but did not provide a reason for the departure.
“It has been an honor to serve the people of Texas in this role,” Nelson said. “My time as Secretary came at an important moment for Texas, and I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish as an agency in under four years.”
Nelson has served in the role since 2023.
Among other things, the Secretary of State oversees elections and business filings in the state and serves as the chief diplomat of Texas.
View of Texas State Senator Jane Nelson, during the 80th Texas Legislature, on the floor of the Senate at the Texas State Capitol, Austin, Texas, January 22, 2007. (John Anderson/The Austin Chronicle / Getty Images)
What they’re saying:
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott described Nelson as extraordinary.
“I am deeply grateful for her long and loyal service and outstanding leadership. She has represented our state with grace and honor across the globe, and Texas is better because of it,” Abbott said. “Cecilia and I wish her all the best in the next chapter of her distinguished career.”
Dig deeper:
According to the Secretary of State’s office, Nelson has presided over seven statewide elections during her tenure with a cumulative 27 million ballots cast and broke a record with more than 3 million active business filers.
Nelson also served three decades in the Texas Senate, where she remains the longest-serving Republican in state history.
The Source: Information in this story came from the Texas Secretary of State’s office.
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