Author: Mike Haag

YORBA LINDA, CA – John Force spent his last free weekend before a grueling stretch of NHRA national events kicks off at a race track meeting with sponsors, chatting up racing legends and spending time with hundreds of fans. The 16-time Funny Car champion was easy to spot in his ever present PEAK uniform shirt and white PEAK baseball hat as he cruised the paddock area on Saturday and Sunday. “I wanted to come out to the Long Beach Grand Prix for a couple of reasons. It is almost a hometown race for me since we live just up the…

CONCORD, N.C. – Del Worsham is used to making the most of big moments throughout his standout NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series career. He grabbed the spotlight a year ago during the Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship, winning four races and claiming his first Funny Car world championship. Now in the midst of trying to defend his title in a loaded class, Worsham’s next big chance to shine comes at the most unique race on the NHRA circuit, the seventh annual NHRA Four-Wide Nationals presented by Lowes Foods, April 22-24, at zMAX Dragway. The one-of-a-kind spectacle features four…

LONG BEACH, Calif.  – Simon Pagenaud has knocked on the door of victory lane in each of the first two races of the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series season. Today at the 42nd Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, the Frenchman broke through to earn the win. Pagenaud, in the No. 22 PPG Automotive Refinish Chevrolet, edged reigning series champion Scott Dixon across the finish line by 0.3032 of a second, the closest finish in the 33 Indy car races held at Long Beach and the fastest ever with an average speed of 100.592 mph. It gave Pagenaud five career Verizon…

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – The record will show that polesitter Carl Edwards won Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway in dominating fashion, leading 276 of 500 laps and beating runner-up Dale Earnhardt Jr. to the finish line by .766 seconds. But while Edwards cruised to victory with the fastest car in the eighth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race of the season, drivers behind him suffered a litany of troubles, populating the top 10 with the most unlikely array of competitors this season. Consider that: Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Chase Elliott posted a…

LONG BEACH, Calif. – Helio Castroneves continued his mastery of Verizon IndyCar Series qualifying by winning the Verizon P1 Award today, earning the pole position at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The Team Penske driver, in his 19th Indy car season, collected his 47th career pole with a lap of 1 minute, 7.1246 seconds (105.547 mph) in Firestone Fast Six competition. It moved the 40-year-old Brazilian within two poles of third-place Bobby Unser in Indy car history as Castroneves led all four Team Penske entries qualifying in the top six for Sunday’s 80-lap race on the iconic 1.968-mile…

HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet): “I am very happy, first of all, for the AAA car. We have been good all weekend long. We have been working together all weekend long. I want to say Team Penske probably had the upper hand. You know, at the end of the day, the No. 3 had the top spot. They said it’s better to be lucky than good and we planned very well.  Will (Power) was definitely in a league of his own and he seems to be putting in phenomenal laps. But in the end, putting…

By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – Erik Jones’ third NASCAR XFINITY Series victory was a real triple play. In the series’ new Dash 4 Cash format featuring two heat races and a main event, Jones took advantage of a restart with three laps left in Saturday’s Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 and 1) won the race, 2) earned the $100,000 dash for cash bonus and 3) stopped Joe Gibbs Racing teammate and race runner-up Kyle Busch’s streak of four straight NASCAR national series victories. Jones, the pole winner, restarted fourth on the final restart and charged into second…

CONCORD, N.C. — The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series will treat fans to four times the fun and excitement when it returns to zMAX Dragway for the seventh annual NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, April 22-24, the fifth of 24 events during the 2016 season and one of the most unique races on the marquee drag racing touring circuit. The event is the only one of its kind, allowing fans to witness not two, but four 10,000-horsepower nitro machines powering down the dragway simultaneously at speeds over 300 mph, with winners determined sometimes by the length of an eyelash. Top Fuel,…

HAMPTON, Ga. – A rare, record-setting lap was recorded at the historic Atlanta Motor Speedway this afternoon, but it wasn’t the typical high-speed feat one might expect at a facility where stock car racing’s elite drivers approach the 200 mph mark at its annual NASCAR weekend. Instead, adding to the 56-year-old track’s lore was a century-old relic. A 1909 Stevens Duryea Torpedo Speedster, owned by Fayetteville’s Drena Miller, became the oldest car ever to complete a lap on the 1.54-mile asphalt oval. The vehicle is the oldest continually-driven car in Georgia, and it will be the centerpiece in the Million Dollar Salon…

LONG BEACH – It’s no shock to see a Team Penske entry atop the practice leaderboard for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Will Power, a three-time Verizon IndyCar Series pole winner on the 1.968-mile temporary street course in Southern California, set the pace with a best lap of 1 minute, 7.5992 seconds (104.806 mph) in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. In five of the last seven years, drivers from Team Penske have captured pole position for the race, including three straight by Power (2009-11). “It’s been a good start,” Power said. “This morning I learned some…