Author: Mike Haag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DOVER, Del. – Call him the Grinch. Halloween may be the next holiday on the calendar, but Kyle Busch stole Christmas morning from Chase Elliott late on Sunday afternoon at Dover International Speedway. Running Elliott down from more than four seconds back in the last 40 laps of the Apache Warrior 400 at the Monster Mile, Busch powered his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota around the outside of Elliott’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and cleared him off Turn 4 as the cars approached the white flag. A lap later, Busch had…

Courtesy of the NHRA MADISON, Ill. – Top Fuel points leader Steve Torrence piloted to victory for the eighth time this season Sunday afternoon at the sixth annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park. Ron Capps (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock), and LE Tonglet (Pro Stock Motorcycle) were also victorious in their respective categories at the third of six playoff events during the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship. Torrence powered to victory with a 3.684-second pass at 329.34 in his Capco Contractors / Torrence Racing dragster to take down Doug Kalitta’s…

News, notes and photos courtesy of NASCAR Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Next Race: Apache Warrior 400 Presented by Lucas Oil The Place: Dover International Speedway The Date: Sunday, Oct. 1 The Time: 2 p.m. ET TV: NBCSN, 1:30 p.m. ET Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Distance: 400 miles (400 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 120), Stage 2 (Ends on lap 240), Final Stage (Ends on lap 400) Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Heads To Dover For Playoff Cutoff Race The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series travels to Dover International Speedway Sunday for the Round of 16…

By Owen A. Kearns, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Ben Rhodes took the lead on the final restart and held off Christopher Bell to capture his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career win in Saturday night’s Las Vegas 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Rhodes, who earlier in the season lost what appeared to be a sure victory at Kansas Speedway when a piece of debris punctured his Toyota’s radiator, blocked Bell’s last-gasp effort by going all the way to the track’s apron to take the checkered flag. Rhodes, who drives for ThorSport Racing, started sixth in…

Courtesy of the NHRA MADISON, Ill. — Robert Hight powered to a track record to secure the Funny Car No. 1 qualifying position Saturday at the sixth annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park. Clay Millican (Top Fuel), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle) were also No. 1 qualifiers in their respective categories at the third of six events in the NHRA Mello Yello Series Countdown to the Championship. Hight’s track elapsed-time record 3.830-second pass at 333.91 mph in his AAA Missouri Chevrolet Camaro SS held up from Friday to earn him his…

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DOVER, Del. – Once Ryan Blaney got the lead in Saturday’s Use Your Melon. Drive Sober 200 at Dover International Speedway, it was “game over” in the second NASCAR XFINITY Series Playoff race of the season. After Playoff driver William Byron led every lap of the 60-circuit first stage and banked a playoff point, Blaney took the lead off pit road under caution on Lap 64. Blaney kept his No. 22 Team Penske Ford out front the rest of the way, except for one lap led by Daniel Suarez on pit road under caution…

Courtesy of Texas Motor Speedway Media Relations FORT WORTH, Texas – Miniature Shetland ponies and a life-sized bobblehead. Those are two of the extravagant gifts Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage presented departing Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series stars Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart in recent years during their final races at the 1.5-mile speedway. Next on the list of outgoing veterans is NASCAR’s most popular driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., who announced in April that the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season would be his last. Fully aware tracks would shower him with gifts during his farewell tour, one track president…

Courtesy of the NHRA MADISON, Ill. – Top Fuel pilot Clay Millican set the national elapsed time record for the category under the lights at the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park. Robert Hight (Funny Car) Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle) are also current No. 1 qualifiers in their respective categories at the third of six playoff events during the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship. Millican raced his Parts Plus / Great Clips dragster to a 3.631-second pass at 330.39 mph at the home race for Stringer…

Courtesy of the NHRA MADISON, Ill. – Eddie Krawiec’s start to the NHRA Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship has been nothing short of perfect. He has won the first two Pro Stock Motorcycle events, firmly putting the three-time world champion in the driver’s seat heading to this weekend’s AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park. But all Krawiec has to do is take one look at his competition to know the work is far from over and this is no time for celebrating. The NHRA’s six-race playoffs hits the halfway mark in St. Louis and, despite the…

Courtesy of the NHRA MADISON, Ill. – Gateway Motorsports Park, the site of this weekend’s AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals will always have a special place in the heart of two-time world champion Erica Enders, and it goes much deeper than the back-to-back wins she enjoyed there in 2012 and 2013. Enders officially announced the start of her Pro Stock career at the track in 2004, going on to become one of the most recognizable names in the sport. She became the first female to win in Pro Stock, claimed back-to-back world titles and is again in the NHRA Mello…