Author: Mike Haag

FORT WORTH, Texas – Verizon IndyCar Series fans waited 76 days for the Firestone 600 to be completed at Texas Motor Speedway. It was definitely worth the wait. Graham Rahal passed James Hinchcliffe coming out of the last turn of the last lap and held on for the win by 0.0080 of a second – the closest finish in the 20-year history of the 1.455-mile oval and the fifth-closest finish of any Indy car race in history. “I didn’t want to go through this year without a win,” Rahal said. “On that last yellow, I was telling myself this could…

By Frank Rigas NASCAR Wire Service ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Michael McDowell’s Twitter handle is @Mc_Driver. After Saturday, he may want to consider changing it — to something like @Mc_Winner.  McDowell led 24 of the final 25 laps of the NASCAR XFINITY Series Road America 180 Fired Up by Johnsonville for his first victory in 94 series races. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regular finished .534 seconds ahead of his Richard Childress Racing teammate Brendan Gaughan after two late restarts, including a green-while-checkered that pushed the race to 48 laps from its scheduled 45. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Brennan Poole was…

By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service BROOKLYN, Mich. – In five NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts, Brett Moffitt had never led a lap. But in Saturday’s Careers for Veterans 200 at Michigan International Speedway, Moffitt picked the perfect time to take the point for the first time. Powering around Red Horse Racing teammate Timothy Peters and five-time series winner William Byron off the second corner of the final lap at the two-mile track, Moffitt held off Peters by .098 seconds to win a NASCAR national series race for the first time. Moffitt’s victory, however, left Shane Huffman, Peters’ crew…

FORT WORTH – When the Firestone 600 Verizon IndyCar Series race resumes Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway, Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports driver James Hinchcliffe will have held the lead for 76 days since the event was suspended due to weather on Sunday, June 12. While his lead and the field have remained frozen since then, plenty has happened in the sports world between then and now. The graphic below outlines several of the major events that occurred in the world of sports during that 76-day span, ranging from LeBron James leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA title to swimmer Michael Phelps…

FORT WORTH – Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage announced today the addition of the SPEED Energy Stadium SUPER Trucks Presented by TRAXXAS to the speedway’s racing lineup in 2017. The addition of Stadium SUPER Trucks will create a diverse tripleheader weekend in June as the racing series will be paired with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and Verizon IndyCar Series. The Stadium SUPER trucks feature event will take place in advance of the Firestone 600 on Saturday, June 10. The widely popular SST Series features 12 identically prepared 650-horsepower trucks that are built to take flight much like…

FORT WORTH  – INDYCAR has announced the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series schedule, a 17-race season that provides continuity and confirms multi-year agreements for new events at Gateway Motorsports Park and Watkins Glen International. The series calendar features the return of all venues on the 2016 schedule and consists of a total of six events on ovals including the Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway in June, six on permanent road courses and five on temporary street circuits. INDYCAR experienced a 38-percent growth in both television ratings and viewership from 2013 to 2015 and the same numbers are up this season by a…

INDIANAPOLIS – Winning the world’s most prestigious drag race is not something that Morgan Lucas takes lightly. The NHRA Top Fuel standout won the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals a year ago for the first time, cementing a memory that will forever be at the top of his successful career. The driver of the 10,000 horsepower Lucas Oil dragster will return to Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis for the 62nd edition of the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals, Aug. 31-Sept. 5, with hopes of going back-to-back at the biggest drag race in the world – which he knows will be no easy…

FORT WORTH, Texas  – “Big Hoss,” already acknowledged by Guinness World Records as the world’s largest TV, has gotten even bigger … and better. Texas Motor Speedway has completed the expansion project that added a massive ribbon-style, high-definition scoreboard for fans to follow the lap count, running order and more beginning with Saturday night’s Firestone 600 Verizon IndyCar Series race (8 p.m. CT, TV: NBC Sports Network, Radio: IMS Radio Network, 95.9 The Ranch locally). The scoreboard, 9½ feet high by 218 feet in length that runs at the bottom of “Big Hoss,” adds 2,064 square feet to the behemoth TV…

Race weekend: Friday, June 10 – Saturday, Aug. 27 (Race was scheduled for June 11, started on June 12 and was red-flagged after 71 laps. Race is scheduled to restart on Aug. 27) Track: Texas Motor Speedway, a 1.455-mile oval in Fort Worth, Texas Race distance: 248 laps / 360.84 miles (177 laps/257.535 miles remaining) Firestone tire allotment: Each Entrant will be allotted one new set of tires for the mandatory install lap and practice session. Entrants will be allotted six new sets for the race. Twitter: @TXMotorSpeedway @IndyCar, #Firestone600, #IndyCar Event website: www.TexasMotorSpeedway.com INDYCAR website: www.IndyCar.com 2015 race winner:…

FORT WORTH – Dallas Police Department Officer Jorge Barrientos, who was wounded in the July 7 ambush in the city’s downtown that killed five officers, will be joining Fort Worth Police Department Officer Matt Pearce, who was shot multiple times during a manhunt in March, to serve as the co-Grand Marshals of Saturday night’s Firestone 600 Verizon IndyCar Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. Barrientos and Pearce will provide the command to the drivers to start their engines for the resumption of the Firestone 600 (8 p.m. CT, NBC Sports Network) and highlight the various salutes to law enforcement officers…