Inside Line Promotions – COLUMBUS, Miss. (March 1, 2016) – Derek Hagar opened his season with a podium finish last Saturday at Magnolia Motor Speedway.

Hagar, who had claimed his sprint car season opener at the track two of the past three years, kicked off the USCS event by charging from fourth to win a heat race.

“We took the lead early, but on the start someone lost a torque tube,” he said. “I had to get off the gas to get around it and ended up getting passed. I tried to run the bottom and it was really slow so I moved back up to the preferred line. The torque tube never got out of the groove so I kept running it over. I was hoping it didn’t hit the oil pan and hurt the car.”

Hagar survived the part on the track and he made a last-lap pass to claim the triumph, which put him second points following the heat races.

“It had to have been a photo finish,” he said. “If it wasn’t for transponders I don’t know who would have won.”

The feature inversion lined Hagar up on the inside of the second row for the 30-lap main event.

“I went down into the corner and everything was good,” he said. “The car just snapped and it spun out. I didn’t have any control of trying to save it. It was gone. I tried to get it turned around and couldn’t do it. I collected another car and it brought out a red flag. It crinkled the nose wing and top wing and crunched the right header.”

Once the race restarted Hagar was on a mission.

“Within the first four laps I was in sixth,” he said. “We had a fast race car. I just had a bonehead move on my part at the start of the race that put us behind to start.”

Hagar rallied from 19th to the third-place result.

He also put Marshall Skinner in a backup car for the event. Skinner advanced from 11th to seventh in the main event.

Hagar will return to competition this Friday at Hattiesburg Speedway in Hattiesburg, Miss., and Saturday at Deep South Speedway in Loxley, Ala., with the ASCS Southern Outlaw Sprints.

QUICK RESULTS –

Feb. 27 – Magnolia Motor Speedway in Columbus, Miss. – Heat race: 1 (4); Feature: 3 (3).

SEASON STATS –

3 races, 0 wins, 1 top five, 1 top 10, 1 top 15, 1 top 20

UP NEXT –

Friday at Hattiesburg Speedway in Hattiesburg, Miss., and Saturday at Deep South Speedway in Loxley, Ala., with the ASCS Southern Outlaw Sprints

MEDIA LINKS –

Website: http://www.DerekHagarRacing.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HagarDerek

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 B&D Towing, Dynotech Performance, DHR Suspension, J&J Auto Racing, Xtreme Race Graphics, Fragola Performance Systems, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems, Hinchman Racewear, Wings Unlimited, FK Rod Ends, R.E. Enterprises 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 by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.