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(Photo by Jones Sports Media)

Inside Line Promotions – MESQUITE, Texas (Oct. 21, 2014) – Derek Hagar has high expectations entering the 27th annual COMP Cams Short Track Nationals Presented by Hoosier Tires this weekend.

Hagar has scored a career-high 15 wins this season, including two with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour, heading into one of the premier 360ci sprint car events at I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Ark., Wednesday through Saturday.

“We have real good momentum going into this deal,” he said. “I don’t see why we can’t win this race. We’ve won at I-30 Speedway twice this year and we’ve beat the best of the best twice this year at other race tracks.”

Hagar has advanced into the $15,000-to-win, $2,500-to-start main event three times in his career, including each of the past two seasons. He finished 14th those years and was 16th in 2006.

“I hope to do a lot better than that,” he said. “I’m aiming for more than my first top 10, I want to get my first win in the event.”

Hagar is going into the marquee event following a solid performance during the 41st annual Winter Nationals last weekend at Devil’s Bowl Speedway, where he drove for Danny King.

“Friday night we hot lapped pretty good,” he said. “In the heat race there was a guy who hit me in the right rear going down the straightaway and it spun me around. I got back going on the restart and we passed a couple of cars and it started spitting out oil pretty bad. I pulled in to play it safe.”

That relegated Hagar toward the rear of a B Main. He maneuvered from 13th to sixth, which was three spots out of a transfer.

The weekend concluded at the half-mile oval on Saturday when Hagar won his Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour heat race.

“We were supposed to start sixth and the guy starting on the outside of the front row didn’t make it so we moved up a row,” he said. “We jumped to second on the start and ran a pretty good distance behind the guy who was leading. He started smoking and pulled into the infield and I inherited the lead. It gave us some good passing points.”

Hagar earned the most points of any driver during the heat races and a trip into the feature redraw, where he pulled the No. 6 during the random draw. That lined him up on the outside of the third row for the main event.

“I had a real good first start, but it was called back,” he said. “On the second start I went in there and got really, really tight and pushed up the race track. Going into turn one the car pushed up on the right front. I fell back to ninth or 10th. I had to work my way back up through there.”

Hagar rallied to earn a fifth-place result, which marked his 23rd top five of the season.

QUICK RESULTS –

Oct. 17 – Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, Texas – Heat race: DNF (5); B Main: 6 (13).

Oct. 18 – Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, Texas – Heat race: 1 (6); Feature: 5 (6).

SEASON STATS –

46 races, 15 wins, 23 top fives, 28 top 10s, 32 top 15s, 38 top 20s

UP NEXT –

Wednesday through Saturday at I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Ark., for the 27th annual COMP Cams Short Track Nationals Presented by Hoosier Tires with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour

MEDIA LINKS –

Website: http://www.DerekHagarRacing.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HagarDerek

VIDEO –

Here is a video of Hagar winning the Jesse Hockett/Daniel McMillin Memorial with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour on Sept. 27 at Lucas Oil Speedway: http://youtu.be/C3_ieWghINg

Ride along with Hagar during his victory at I-30 Speedway on April 5 thanks to this video by Jones Sports Media: http://youtu.be/JDYTr1M4KjM

APPAREL –

Hagar has t-shirts, hats and koozies available for sale at his race trailer at every race he competes at. To see his schedule, visit http://www.DerekHagar.com/schedule.

SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – FSR Radiators

Located in Gallaway, Tenn., FSR Radiators has been supplying high-performance, all-aluminum radiators to the racing community for many years. For more information, visit http://www.FSRProducts.com.

“FSR Radiators make the best radiators to keep your motor as cool as it possibly can be,” Hagar said. “I’d definitely recommend them to any racer.”

Hagar would also like to thank J&J Auto Racing, R.E. Enterprises, Dynotech Performance, Xtreme Race Graphics, Fragola Performance Systems, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems, Hinchman Racewear, FK Rod Ends and Ti64 for their continued support.

INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –

Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.

To meet the media relations needs of your program and to join Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or InsideLinePromotions@gmail.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.