Author: Mike Haag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Jimmie Johnson needs another miracle in final Round of 8 race AVONDALE, Ariz. – Last year at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Jimmie Johnson won his seventh Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship with a serendipitous victory in the Championship 4 race. This year, Johnson will need more than serendipity. He’ll need what amounts to a miracle just to earn a shot at a record eighth title. Johnson comes to Phoenix Raceway eighth in the series standings, last among the drivers trying to survive the Playoff’s Round of 8. With one berth available in the Championship 4, the…

Courtesy of the NHRA GLENDORA, Calif. — Top Fuel title contender Brittany Force piloted her Monster Energy dragster to the quickest pass in Auto Club Raceway at Pomona history during qualifying at the 53rd annual Auto Club NHRA Finals. Jack Beckman (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Chip Ellis (Pro Stock Motorcycle) were also preliminary qualifiers in their respective categories at the final event of the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season. Force, who entered the race only 20 points behind first, put down a 3.667-second pass at 330.31 mph in the second qualifying session to take…

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – Ryan Blaney got what he needed in Friday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series knockout qualifying session—but only by a thousandth of a second. In the final round, Blaney covered the one-mile distance at Phoenix Raceway in 26.098 seconds (137.942 mph) to edge Denny Hamlin (137.936 mph) by .001 for the top starting spot in Sunday’s Can-Am 500, the final race in the Playoff’s Round of 8 (on NBC at 2:30 p.m. ET). With the Playoff field set to be trimmed from eight drivers to four after the race at Phoenix, both Blaney…

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Tex. – Martin Truex Jr. isn’t invincible after all. Kevin Harvick put a serious dent in Truex’s sense of invulnerability on Sunday afternoon, passing Truex with nine laps left in the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway and pulling away to win by 1.580 seconds. In beating this year’s unrivaled master of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series’ 1.5-mile intermediate speedways, Harvick earned a spot in the Nov. 19 Championship 4 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, which Harvick won the first title contested under an elimination format in 2014. The driver of…

Courtesy of Texas Motor Speedway Media Relations FORT WORTH, Texas – AAA and Texas Motor Speedway announced jointly Sunday prior to the running of the AAA Texas 500 that the national insurance company and auto club has signed a multi-year renewal of its race entitlement of the marquee Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoff race at the world-renowned motorsports facility. The announcement was made by AAA Texas Vice President and General Manager Kent Livesay and Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage at the AAA Texas display stage in the venue’s Fan Zone. AAA also announced that the company extended its…

By John Sturbin FORT WORTH, Texas – Reality TV star Chip Gaines’ reputation as “risk-taker” proved a perfect fit Sunday for his next great adventure – honorary pace car driver for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Chip and wife Joanna, hosts of HGTV’s Fixer Upper, experienced a real speed fix around TMS’ high-banked, 1.5-mile oval a few hours before the start of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race (1 p.m. CT, TV: NBC Sports Network, Radio: PRN, SiriusXM, 95.9 The Ranch locally). Chip strapped into a 2018 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 pace car for training with a…

News, notes and photos courtesy of NASCAR Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Next Race: AAA Texas 500 The Place: Texas Motor Speedway The Date: Sunday, Nov. 5 The Time: 2 p.m. ET TV: NBCSN, 1:30 p.m. ET Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Distance: 501 miles (334 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 85), Stage 2 (Ends on lap 170), Final Stage (Ends on lap 334) Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Turbos Into Texas One week after the dramatic Round of 8 opener at Martinsville, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Texas Motor Speedway for Sunday’s…

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Tex. – There was no keeping up with Erik Jones on Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway – though Ryan Blaney tried his level best over the closing laps of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300. Jones, the pole winner, swept the first and second stages of the event, led 142-of-200 laps and completed the season sweep of NASCAR XFINITY Series races at the 1.5-mile track – the first time that’s happened since Kyle Busch won both races in 2009. The victory was Jones’ third of the season, his third in six starts…

Courtesy of Texas Motor Speedway Media Relations FORT WORTH, Texas – Sixty AAA emergency roadside assistance technicians that aided in the Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts in south Texas will be honored by having the group serve in the Grand Marshal role for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race at Texas Motor Speedway. The group will have the honor of giving the “Start Your Engines” command to the 40-car field for the AAA Texas 500 that will begin at 1 p.m. CT (TV: NBC Sports Network, Radio: PRN, SiriusXM and 95.9 The Ranch locally). In the…

FORT WORTH, Texas – Dale Earnhardt Jr. was inducted into the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame on Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway. Some 500 fans saw Earnhardt Jr. become the 19th member to be inducted during a special ceremony held in The Grand Ballroom of The Speedway Club. Other honorees during the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame event included Vice Chairman of NASCAR Mike Helton, Texas Motor Speedway’s winningest NASCAR driver Kyle Busch and Verizon IndyCar Series driver James Hinchcliffe. Helton received the Bruton Smith Legend Award for his leadership in his role as NASCAR President and shaping the legacy…