Author: Mike Haag

FORT WORTH, Texas – While the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series winds down to the last three races of the 2018 season, NASCAR’s current female driver Danica Patrick just might be competing in her last-ever race at Texas Motor Speedway next Sunday at the AAA Texas 500. Patrick, who drives the No. 10 Aspen Dental Ford Fusion for Stewart Haas Racing, announced a few months ago that she will not return to Stewart-Haas Racing next season, possibly ending her racing career after five years as a full-time NASCAR Cup driver. When the green flag waves Sunday at 1 p.m. to…

Courtesy of the NHRA LAS VEGAS – Jack Beckman set both ends of the track record for the Funny Car class during the final qualifying session to secure the No. 1 position at the 17th annual NHRA Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also clenched No. 1 qualifiers in their respective categories at the fifth of six events on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship. Beckman’s pass of 3.854-seconds at 335.57 mph in his Infinite Hero Foundation…

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Blowing around two-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Matt Crafton after a restart with 10 laps left, 19-year-old Noah Gragson scored his first victory in Saturday’s Texas Roadhouse 200 at Martinsville Speedway. The Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender frustrated Playoff competitors Crafton and Johnny Sauter, who finished second and third behind him. After talking the checkered flag, Gragson parked his No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota near the flag stand and climbed to the top of the frontstretch catchfence in celebration. After Bayley Currey spun in his No.…

Courtesy of the NHRA LAS VEGAS – Tony Schumacher, eight-time world champion, piloted his Top Fuel dragster to the top of the class Friday at 17th annual NHRA Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Jack Beckman (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle) were also provisional No. 1 qualifiers in their respective categories at the fifth of six events in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship. Schumacher raced a track elapsed-time record of 3.673-seconds at 332.67 mph in his U.S. Army dragster. He is in hot…

Courtesy of the NHRA LAS VEGAS – The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the site of this weekend’s NHRA Toyota Nationals, is one of the tracks closer to home for Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Karen Stoffer, a Minden, Nev., resident. Despite the proximity and her affinity for the facility, it’s a track she’s never been able to solve, something she hopes to finally change this weekend. Stoffer is searching for her first victory since 2015 on her Stoffer Enterprises Suzuki and her first ever victory in Las Vegas, which plays host to the penultimate event of the NHRA Mello Yello…

Courtesy of the NHRA LAS VEGAS – In his first year competing in Funny Car, J.R. Todd has managed to carve out a handful of big moments, winning a pair of races, including the prestigious race in Indy, and qualifying for the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship. There have been bumps as well, including first-round losses at each of the past three playoff races. Determined to put those behind him heading into the final two events, Todd is hunting for one final highlight in his 10,000-horsepower DHL Toyota Camry to cap off his 2017 season.…

Courtesy of Texas Motor Speedway Media Relations FORT WORTH, Texas – The following is an event recap of Monday’s Verizon IndyCar Series test session at Texas Motor Speedway’s 1.5-mile oval of the new universal aero kit. Event Recap The Verizon IndyCar Series’ new universal aero kit made its 1.5-mile oval debut at Texas Motor Speedway as Honda drivers Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing and James Hinchcliffe of Schmidt Peterson Motorsports participated in the one-day test session. The drivers hit the track beginning at 9 a.m. and continued throughout the late afternoon, breaking for lunch to visit with engineers as…

Courtesy of the NHRA LAS VEGAS – After winning four times and advancing to six final rounds during the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season, Leah Pritchett could have been content in what has already been a standout year. But the Top Fuel star wants to end the year in impressive fashion, and that means there are two races left to leave an even more noticeable mark. The first comes at this weekend’s NHRA Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the penultimate race in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown to the…

Courtesy of the NHRA LAS VEGAS – Big moments are what Antron Brown lives for and the upcoming NHRA Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Oct. 26-29, certainly qualifies as one. As the penultimate race of the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship, there is plenty on the line and those are the situations that Brown savors. The three-time Top Fuel world champion clinched back-to-back titles in Vegas the past two years, thriving in the pressure moments of the NHRA playoffs. This year, Brown will look to step back into the…

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Martin Truex Jr. survived a restart penalty and an unscheduled pit stop to return to what has become a thoroughly familiar locale—Victory Lane—in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. In a dramatic race that brought Truex his seventh Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win of the season, calamity eliminated four drivers from the series Playoff. Jamie McMurray, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Matt Kenseth and Kyle Larson all saw their postseason hopes end with the final event in the Round of 12. The shocker was Larson, who fell out of the…