Las Vegas Review-Journal - Heavy Pedal

Expect Martin Truex Jr. to be named to replace Michael Waltrip full time next year at Michael Waltrip Racing.

MWR has a press conference scheduled for 9 a.m. (PDT) Tuesday at the team’s shop near Charlotte, N.C.

Sources say Truex will take over the NAPA-sponsored Toyota but Waltrip will run some races next year.

If those dominoes fall, then who will replace Truex at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing? And will Bass Pro Shops stay with EGR?

The silly season has begun.

Drifting headed for LVMS

Formula Drift makes its second visit to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this Friday and Saturday nights. After two years of importing stars from Japan, the speedway turned to the U.S.-based series a year ago which attracted more racers and more American-made cars.

Racing will be on a revised course that will put more speed in front of the crowd.

To kick off the event, several of the top Formula Drift racers and their cars will be at a block party from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Town Square.

For more information: lvms.com and FormulaD.com. ....

In addition, the Wicked HP Championship Drag Racing Series will race Saturday night.

Gibbs Racing gets a win, but not at Daytona

Joe Gibbs Racing wasn’t thrilled about leaving Daytona on Saturday with a third (Denny Hamlin), 14th (Kyle Busch) and 19th (Joey Logano). Especially after Busch was leading and tried to block eventual winner Tony Stewart one too many times with the finish line in sight.

But at least Gibbs’ Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross team won Saturday at Red Budd MX in Buchanan, Mich.

Chad Reed leads the 450 class standings, followed by Andrew Short, Ivan Tedesco and Grant, who won a Supercross title early this year for Gibbs.

Persistence pays off

IndyCar owner Dale Coyne waited 25 years and 558 races but Justin Wilson finally drove him into victory lane in Sunday’s IndyCar race at Watkins Glen, N.Y.

Dale Coyne Racing's previous best finish in the IndyCar Series was third in the season opener in St. Petersburg, and its best overall in open-wheel racing had been second with Bruno Junqueira in a 2007 Champ Car-sanctioned race at Zolder, Belgium.

"You have a passion for this and you love it, and you keep fighting and going forward," Coyne said. "When we have lean years or bad years and don't have a sponsor, it just makes you try harder, and I think that's paid off. The last few years we've tried to do a better job with what we've put together.”