Author: Mike Haag

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – William Byron’s face brightened and he laughed a bit talking about his new high-definition reality as a member of the championship Hendrick Motorsports team in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. The 20-year old rookie got his first taste of stardom earlier this week and said he was a little taken aback when he unexpectedly got “recognized” having dinner at an Outback Steakhouse near Daytona International Speedway. “That part has been different,’’ Byron said smiling. “I went out to eat last night and I got stopped by four or five…

Courtesy of the NHRA POMONA, Calif. — The season-opening event of the 2018 s NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series concluded Sunday at the 58th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. Matt Hagan (Funny Car), Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel) and Bo Butner (Pro Stock) were victorious in their respective categories at the first of 24 events during the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. Matt Hagan took home the Funny Car victory with a 3.823-second pass at 335.90 mph in his Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T to defeat defending world champion Robert…

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – What fans saw in Sunday’s Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona International Speedway should constitute a promising look ahead to the Daytona 500 a week later. Thanks to NASCAR’s elimination of the ride-height rules on superspeedways, the cars in the Clash were low-slung and dicey to control, with the rear spoilers much lower than in previous years. Closing rates were magnified, as runs developed quickly with enormous momentum. “Yeah, I just think the runs happen quicker,” said Joey Logano, who finished second to Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski. “It’s kind…

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Rick Hendrick conceded with a smile that when he first began interacting with driver Alex Bowman two years ago he sometimes mistakenly referred to the young racer as Alex Baldwin. Getting Bowman’s name right certainly isn’t an issue now as it goes down in the history books as pole winner for next weekend’s 60th annual Daytona 500. While the two joked about it Sunday afternoon shortly after Bowman’s headline-earning run in the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet, the 24-year old driver acknowledged it has been a long and hard-knocks road to finding a…

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – For once, as he put it, Brad Keselowski didn’t “choke away” a chance at victory during Speedweeks at Daytona. Just the opposite. Taking the lead on Lap 39 of the Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona International Speedway, Keselowski held it the rest of the way to win the exhibition kick-off race to the 2018 season, leading Team Penske to a 1-2-4 finish. And Keselowski, who led 41 of the 75 laps, took the checkered flag with a large piece of debris on the nose of his No. 2…

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Junior Nation, you have a new standard bearer. Alex Bowman, the successor to Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, couldn’t have had a more auspicious start to the next phase of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career—namely, winning the pole position for next Sunday’s season-opening Daytona 500 (on FOX at 2:30 p.m.). In his first official competition as the full-time driver of the vaunted No. 88, Bowman sped around 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway in 46.002 seconds in the second and final round of…

Courtesy of the Verizon IndyCar Series AVONDALE, Arizona – After two days and 12 hours of testing involving 23 Verizon IndyCar Series entries at ISM Raceway, a couple things are clear: teams learned more about the performance of the 2018 car and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing established the early advantage. RLL drivers Takuma Sato and Graham Rahal set the fastest lap in each of the four three-hour sessions spread over Friday and Saturday. Sato, in the No. 30 Honda, recorded the best lap of the Phoenix open test in this evening’s final practice, at 189.855 mph (19.3790 seconds). The reigning…

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – New motor coach. Friends and family tickets to the Daytona 500. Lively media mixer at local go-kart track. Motivational call from Dale Earnhardt Jr. Check, check, check and CHECK. Darrell Wallace Jr. figures he’s pretty set for his inaugural debut driving Richard Petty’s No. 43 Smithfield Chevrolet in NASCAR’s biggest race, the Feb. 18 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway (on FOX at 2:30 p.m.). The popular driver known by friends and fans simply as, “Bubba” showed up to participate in the “NASCAR Road To Daytona 500 Tour” in Orlando…

Courtesy of the NHRA POMONA, Calif. – Clay Millican powered to the Top Fuel No. 1 qualifying position with a national elapsed time record of 3.628-seconds at 322.04 mph in his Great Clips/Parts Plus dragster at the 58th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. Matt Hagan (Funny Car) and Vincent Nobile (Pro Stock) are also No. 1 qualifiers in their respective categories at the first of 24 events on the 2018 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule. Millican stands atop the Top Fuel category after setting the record, breaking his record of 3.631…

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Dressed simply in blue jeans and a black polo shirt with a GoDaddy-green sponsor patch, Danica Patrick addressed the assembled NASCAR media Friday morning – one of the last times she will do so as a professional race car driver. The last time she formally took questions at the November season-finale in Homestead, Fla., she was at times visibly emotional about this important decision in her career. On Saturday, however, Patrick, 35, was businesslike and frank in addressing her final NASCAR start. “There was so much loaded emotion in that…