Lockie Ferguson, the New Zealand fast bowler, could be in line for a Test debut after missing the final T20 internationals against England to allow him some red-ball practice for Auckland in the Plunket Shield.

New Zealand face a punishing schedule over the Christmas period with five Tests spanning just under seven weeks, and head coach Gary Stead has suggested that they will have to rotate their seam bowlers, opening up the possibility of a debut for Ferguson.

ALSO READ: Ferguson has sights set on Test breakthrough

The first two of those Tests - against England, with the series starting at Mount Maunganui on November 21 - do not form part of the World Test Championship, meaning there is less riding on them than the three-match series in Australia.

"We have five Test matches in six weeks and I'm not sure the last time a New Zealand team has ever done that," Stead told stuff.co.nz.

"We have to be really conscious of wear and tear and make sure every Test we play we have fighting fresh bowlers who can do the job for us."

Established seam-bowling trio Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Neil Wagner have been almost ever-present in home Tests since 2015 - they have played 16, 16 and 18 respectively out of a possible 19 - but given the nature of the fixture list, it is unlikely that they will be able to play in all five of the upcoming games.

Ferguson, who recently recovered from a thumb injury in time to take four wickets with an economy rate of just 7.25 in the T20I series against England, is the fastest bowler available to New Zealand, and Stead admitted that his pace made him a tempting option.

"That's the point of difference Lockie brings that other guys don't have," he said. "We have to work out our best line-up and what we think is right for the conditions, and if we fight fire with fire we'll see. There's no doubt that X-factor is an exciting prospect."

Ferguson took 4 for 23 in the first innings of Auckland's rain-affected Plunket Shield game against Wellington last week, while Matt Henry, whose ten Tests to date have been spread over four years, will also be in contention.

Stead also said that New Zealand would look to learn from how Australia managed their bowlers' workloads during the recent Ashes series in England, in which Pat Cummins was the only ever-present as the management made a point of trying to keep the seamers "cherry-ripe".

"It would be silly for us not to look at that," he said. "They did rotate their bowlers and it was horses for courses a bit.

"Like us, they have quite a bit of difference in their attack and definitely we have to consider that."

England's preparations begin with a two-day match against a New Zealand XI at Whangarei on Tuesday, before a first-class game against a New Zealand A side at the same venue on Friday.

The second fixture, against an 'A' team captained by Tom Blundell which includes 11 recent international call-ups, will only be England's fourth first-class warm-up match in six years.

England's other winter tours to South Africa and Sri Lanka include a three-day game against an 'A' team and first-class four-day warm-up against a Board President's XI respectively, emphasising a shift in focus towards Test cricket as stressed by Ashley Giles.

Sir Alastair Cook has backed Chris Silverwood to bring the same clarity to England's Test cricket that he offered to Essex during his agenda-setting spell as head coach, and believes that the team's renewed focus on the longer form of the game will help bring out the best in his own successor as Test captain, Joe Root.

Speaking to ESPNcricinfo on the eve of the New Zealand Test series, Cook acknowledged that England's once-in-a-generation opportunity to win a World Cup on home soil this summer had led to an understandable prioritisation of their white-ball fortunes. But given the challenge of winning back the Ashes in Australia in two years' time, he sees no reason why the red-ball squad shouldn't be able to reach similar heights in the coming months.

"New Zealand is a good place for Chris Silverwood and Joe Root to start a new cycle," Cook said. "It's only a two-match series, which is a bit of a shame, as their recent history has brought some cracking matches. You feel a long way away from everywhere, it doesn't have the hype of an Australia or India series, but they are a brilliant side, and it's a great but tough place to play cricket."

Though it sits outside the Future Tours Programme, and will therefore not count towards the World Test Championship, England have recognised the New Zealand series as a vital staging post as they begin to give the old format a bit of TLC - having rather muddled through this year's Ashes, drawing 2-2 thanks to moments of inspiration from Ben Stokes in particular, rather than any coherent plan for Test success.

And Cook, who stood down as captain at the end of a 4-0 defeat in India in December 2016, midway through Trevor Bayliss's four-year tenure, is sure that the arrival of Silverwood as head coach will lead to a marked improvement in Test cricket - much as he oversaw Essex's rise from the second division in 2016 to a first Championship title in 25 years the following summer.

"Clarity, that is one thing he'll bring," Cook said. "He's very clear on what he wants and it's very simple what he wants. The players will know, they'll be very well prepared, they'll know exactly what he demands of them, and he'll be a real helping hand for Joe Root, taking a lot of pressure off Root in terms of off-field stuff."

Root's role across all formats has come under particular scrutiny in recent months. While there is no question about his enduring quality as a Test cricketer, his returns have slipped from the heights in recent years, along with his average, which - in spite of four fifties in five Tests against Australia - was 47.91 by the end of this summer's Ashes, the lowest it has been for five years.

Furthermore, Root's average as captain has slipped to 40.81 in 33 matches - leading many commentators to question whether the burden of leadership is cramping his obvious style as a batsman. Cook, however, believes that a change of sidekick could be the key to unlocking his potential.

"Trevor was a very hands-off coach, and he had a lot of success," Cook said. "But there are different ways of skinning cats, and you can see that Joe needs that support around him. That's quite obvious, and Silverwood and his team will give a bit more than Trev did.

"I'm not saying that's right or wrong, but I think that's what will happen. And I think we'll see the next stage of Joe Root's England captaincy career. Looking back on my [time as captain], I think I took two and a half years to feel totally comfortable in the role, in terms of what you know, what you want from the side, and how you go about all the extra demands. Joe Root is at that kind of stage, I think he'll bat at No. 4 again, and I'm expecting another spike from him."

Cook had sympathy, too, for the extent to which Root - a key member of the World Cup-winning squad - was forced to compromise his own team's ambitions to support those of the white-ball captain, Eoin Morgan.

"I don't think Test cricket was [marginalised] when Trevor first came in for the 2015 Ashes," said Cook. "But then, as the World Cup loomed, and the instant transformation of the 50-over team after 2015 brought momentum, I can see that [was true] for the latter period, those last two years.

"But that was mainly for the players, they had that goal of being world champions, which is something no England team had done before, and at home too, so the opportunity was massive and you can see how the focus migrated that way.

"But now the challenge will be doing it in both, and there's no reason why England can't be successful, looking at the facilities we've got and the players we've got."

If England are to find any sort of consistency in Test cricket, however, then the first thing they need to address is the flimsiness of their top three. Though Cook's own returns at the top of the order tailed off in his final year of Test cricket (with the notable exception of his glorious farewell at The Oval in 2018), his absence was felt throughout a torrid summer in 2019, in which Rory Burns' diligent crease occupation was the closest that any opener came to matching the sort of resolve that Cook displayed during his 161-match, 12,472-run career.

"It's been clear over the last six months that when England have played their best cricket, the platform has been laid at the top of the order," Cook said. "And it's not been runs scored but balls faced as well. As an opener you want to score runs, no doubt, but as Goochie says, you set up games, you have the opportunity at 0 for 0 when you want out to bat, to score 150 and set up a game of cricket.

"Trevor was a very hands-off coach, and he had a lot of success. But there are different ways of skinning cats, and you can see that Joe needs that support around him"

"Rory Burns faced a hell of a lot of balls," he added. "After one bad game against Ireland [6 and 6], a certain Sky pundit [Nasser Hussain] said he'd pick 'Opener A and Opener B' for the Ashes. So he did really well in tough conditions to come back and score a hundred in the very next game, especially compared to the Australian openers."

Burns' 'Opener B' in New Zealand may well be another player who has forced his way into the reckoning through his sheer weight of runs in county cricket. And while Cook anticipates a steep learning curve should Dom Sibley make his debut in next week's first Test, he believes he's already shown promising resilience in his short but eventful county career.

"He's done everything that's been asked of him - an amazing start with a double-hundred at Surrey against Yorkshire as a 17-year-old, then a bit of a downward curve, then in and out of the side before a move to Warwickshire. He's had a bit of a journey, and he'll have that same journey in international cricket.

"You're never totally sure how he will play amid all that scrutiny - he has a slightly different technique to what is so-called 'classical', but he will do what he will do, which is face a lot of balls and hopefully leave well, and if he gets off to a good start, hopefully we'll see a guy who is what Goochie calls a 'run-maker'. He's not going to blow sides away scoring quickly, but he will take a lot of shifting, and for this England side, that's exactly what they need."

The message, Cook believes, will be that England's top three will have licence to bat all day if needs be, because that will give the strokeplayers in the middle order - the likes of Stokes, Jos Buttler and, if he earns a recall, Jonny Bairstow - all the more opportunity to turn a match in a session with their natural free-flowing games.

"I wouldn't say there were mixed messages from Rooty and Trev to play positively, but there was confusion around how England want to play their Test match cricket," said Cook. "There has to be a platform laid, and I think we'll start seeing that under Silverwood.

"The top three will be very specific in their roles. Your job is to score a hundred, and if it takes you all day, that's your job - it's not how quickly you score. If you're batting at lunch, you are putting guys into their second and third spells, and if England are very clear on that, the message will filter down in county cricket. If you want to bat in the top three for England, you've got to be able to bat a long period of time. And if you can't, you won't."

Sir Alastair Cook was speaking at an event to mark 25 years of the National Lottery, which has raised £5.7 billion for grassroots sport. #BecauseYouPlay

Former Michigan State star and Detroit Lions wide receiver Charles Rogers has died at age 38.

Rogers' former high school coaches told mlive.com that Rogers died from liver failure and that he recently was diagnosed with cancer.

"I called his mom at the hospital over the weekend and got a chance to talk to Charles," Don Durrett, Rogers' former football coach at Saginaw High School, told mlive.com. "He said he was going to the Lord."

Neither Durrett nor Marshall Thomas, the former basketball coach and athletic director at Saginaw High, specified what type of cancer Rogers was diagnosed with.

"He had cancer, whether that was related to his liver I don't know," Thomas told mlive.com. "They had given him 30 days to live if he didn't get a liver transplant."

The Lions said Monday that they "are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Charles Rogers."

"From Saginaw, to East Lansing, to Detroit, Charles' connection to the state of Michigan and its football community was felt by many during the course of his life," the Lions said in a statement. "We extend our heartfelt sympathies and condolences to his friends and family during this difficult time."

Rogers was selected by the Lions with the second overall pick in the 2003 NFL draft after two outstanding seasons at Michigan State.

Rogers' career with the Lions was derailed by season-ending injuries to his clavicle in 2003 and 2004, which limited him to a total of just six games in those seasons. He appeared in nine games for Detroit in 2005, when his season was abbreviated by a four-game drug suspension, before being released by the Lions in September 2006.

"I am very saddened to hear of Charles' passing. Charles was our first draft choice in my time with the Lions, and having the opportunity to select a premier player from Michigan State and a local Saginaw standout athlete was tremendously exciting," former Lions coach Steve Mariucci said in a statement. "In coaching Charles. his talent and ability were very evident early on in his career. I feel strongly had he not suffered unfortunate injuries, he would have gone on to become an excellent NFL wide receiver. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and I offer my deepest condolences during this difficult time."

A five-star recruit out of Saginaw High, Rogers enjoyed a record-setting two seasons at Michigan State, where he is the school's all-time leader with 27 touchdown catches. He won the Biletnikoff Award, given to the nation's best receiver, in 2002 after hauling in 68 catches for 1,351 yards and 13 touchdowns.

"We are deeply saddened to learn the news of Charles Rogers passing away. We send our condolences to his family, friends and former teammates during this difficult time," Michigan State said in a statement posted to Twitter.

Even before a startling news conference in the wake of a blowout loss to Cleveland on Sunday, New York Knicks president Steve Mills had started to lay the internal groundwork for the eventual dismissal of coach David Fizdale, league sources told ESPN.

Mills is selling owner James Dolan on a roster constructed to be highly competitive in the Eastern Conference, leaving Fizdale vulnerable to an ouster only weeks into the second season of a four-year contract that league sources say is worth $22 million.

Days before exiled star Kristaps Porzingis returns to Madison Square Garden with the Dallas Mavericks, Mills delivered the first public salvo on shaping an organizational narrative that the Knicks' struggles aren't born of an overmatched roster, but the lack of a "consistent level of effort and execution."

Rival coaches and executives see a mismatched Knicks roster slow of foot, without legitimate NBA guard play, but Mills is selling Dolan on a poorly coached team that is underachieving at 2-8 to start the season, league sources said. Around Madison Square Garden and the league, the timing and tone of the news conference was met with considerable surprise and dismay -- and it was considered to be a complete undermining of Fizdale.

"Everyone is moving to their positions now," a league source close to management and the coaching staff told ESPN. "This is how they'll make (Fizdale) the fall guy."

After the Knicks' 108-87 loss to Cleveland, Fizdale had been meeting with players in the postgame locker room when Mills led general manager Scott Perry into an impromptu news conference. It is customary for a head coach to be the first team official to talk to the media in a postgame setting, but Mills marched to the lectern to tells fans that the Knicks had fallen short of management's expectations.

"Scott and I are not happy with where we are right now," Mills said. "We think the team is not performing to the level that we anticipated or we expected to perform at, and that's something that we think we collectively have to do a better job of delivering the product on the floor..."

Mills has presided over the arrivals and departures of five Knicks coaches. His overall record as team president is 165-337, including 48-126 since taking the job over from Phil Jackson in 2017.

As an organization, the Knicks could have survived missing out on Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in July free agency -- but the trading of Porzingis to the Mavericks for role players and two first-round picks looms far more devastating to the franchise's future. Porzingis asked for a trade in February after management was unable to correct a rift with him --- or convince him of a path toward competency in the Eastern Conference.

Fizdale chose the Knicks over several other offers in 2018 -- including Atlanta, Charlotte and Phoenix -- under the assumption that he'd eventually coach Porzingis. Fizdale accepted responsibility for the team's struggles in his own postgame news conference Sunday night.

"I take the brunt of that responsibility because I am the head coach," Fizdale said. "I make these decisions -- what's happening on the court, what players play, who plays together, what plays we call the defensive system. That's on me."

CONCORD, N.C. – Brad Sweet was officially crowned as the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series champion during Sunday’s World of Outlaws Awards Night at Great Wolf Lodge of Concord.

Sweet was honored for his efforts over the Outlaws’ 72-race schedule, which saw him collect a career-high 16 victories and defeat perennial series titlist Donny Schatz by a scant four points for top honors.

The night was full of jubilation, emotion and reflection, as the 13 full-time Outlaws were all feted for their accomplishments during the season and multiple special awards were given out.

As fourth-place point finisher Daryn Pittman noted in his speech, “Jacob Allen won the banquet for the sixth year running,” and no truer statement was uttered all night long.

Allen delivered a pair of emotional speeches, one of which was impromptu after he was selected as the inaugural NOS Energy Drink Human Horsepower Award winner for perseverance and dedication in the face of adversity on the Outlaw trail.

“I’m thankful. I’m very thankful,” noted Allen, who was 12th in driver points this year. “It’s very humbling, both to receive this award and when I look back on what we did this season. When I sit down and think about my six years on the road, I could never give this up. I love what we do out here on the Outlaw tour and it’s made a good life for me and for my guys. It’s what we do as a family and a team.

“I’ve got a 75-year-old dad and I’m 25 years old, so I’m this young guy, but I’m passionate about what we do and he’s passionate about it too,” Allen added. “As long as my dad’s around and he’s dedicated, you’ll find me too.”

Other special awards included Engine Builder of the Year (Cappetta Engines), Chassis Builder of the Year (Maxim Racing), the year-long KSE Hard Charger Award (Brent Marks), the Jason Johnson Sportsmanship Award (Drew Brenner) and the Ted Johnson Award, given to Danny Schatz, Donny’s father.

Sixth-place points man Carson Macedo received the Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award as the highest-finishing first year driver on tour, and even had a playful jab for longtime World of Outlaws announcer Johnny Gibson in his speech.

“Johnny said every night that I was the leading contender for rookie of the year, but I was the only one, so I’d hope I was the leading one,” Macedo said with a laugh. “It’s still an honor, though. A great group of guys have won this award, including my crew chief Joe (Gaerte), and I’m proud to join that list.”

All past Kevin Gobrecht Rookies of the Year in attendance Sunday were presented with a replica of the new perpetual plaque that will reside in the World Racing Group headquarters in Concord, N.C.

The top five in points all received hefty points-fund checks for their season-long efforts.

Fifth-place Logan Schuchart took home $45,000; fourth-place Daryn Pittman earned $50,000 and third-place David Gravel netted $55,000 from a prize pool of roughly $1 million.

Runner-up for the first time since 2013, Donny Schatz earned $75,000 for Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing and was very emotional in delivering his speech on-stage.

It didn’t come without a joke at the beginning, though.

“I know what it feels like to sit at that (head) table, and I was actually hoping Eric (Prutzman, Sweet’s crew chief) would bring me as his date because I wanted to sit there that bad,” Schatz quipped to a roar of laughter from the crowd.

Schatz then congratulated Sweet for their titanic title fight before tearing up a moment as he continued.

“Twenty-three years I’ve done this, and it’s a fast-paced life. … It gets the best of you sometimes,” Schatz noted. “I took my eyes off some things that I should have paid more attention to, but I’ve made changes, and I’m proud of myself for that.”

As the final group of speeches for the night, Kasey Kahne Racing with Mike Curb ran the table in terms of the big honors.

Sweet received his champion’s check for $150,000, while Kasey Kahne was honored as the champion car owner and Prutzman collected Crew Chief of the Year honors for his efforts turning the wrenches all year long.

Kahne was quick to note the passion in the room as he gave his speech, the penultimate one on the night.

“The passion in this room … it’s amazing,” Kahne noted. “We have the same passion that everyone else does and I love being a part of this.

“Our whole KKR group is as strong in fun and friendship as it has ever been,” he added. “It’s been a great run with Brad so far and I couldn’t be more proud of everything he’s done for us.”

Sweet closed the night with a simple speech, offering thanks en masse to his crew and sponsors before turning to Schatz with a heartfelt appreciation for their season-long battle.

“Donny, damn it you make it hard,” Sweet smiled. “I couldn’t be more thankful for how you’ve pushed me over the last six years we’ve been racing together. You’ve changed my life, basically, trying to chase you down and it’s a friendly rivalry with a lot of respect there.”

But the overarching theme of Sweet’s season-ending remarks?

Sunday night was the realization of his wildest dreams, and Sweet knew it.

“This is a dream come true,” he said. “When I was a kid, I never even dreamed I’d be able to be a World of Outlaws driver, let alone to stand here tonight as a champion. This is a true honor and I’m so grateful.

“We’ll take time to celebrate tonight, and then Volusia is a new start for all of us in 2020.”

BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. — Since our initial look at the past highlighting signs that you might be an old timer, a number of other standards have come to mind.

For example, you might be an old timer if you remember when “nail head” Buicks were a popular powerplant in Oswego supermodifieds, which at the time were far more rudimentary than today’s extreme offsets powered by big-block Chevrolets. You might even recall when Nolan Swift’s famed “Ten Pins” car was a tube-frame super with a coupe body. He was the force that pushed the track away from full-bodied cars to supermodifieds.

You might also be an old timer if you remember the 10 small bowling pins on the roof of Swift’s car lit up when he took the lead.

You also meet the standard if you remember when many of Oswego’s teams towed in from Michigan, including Dave Paul, Johnny Benson Sr. and the Johncocks — Nolan and Gordy.

If you recall that talented modified racer Bucky Buckholtz and supermodified star Ronnie Lux, who perished in a USAC sprint car crash, were the same person, you may be an old timer.

And speaking of popular western New Yorkers, you may be an old timer if you recall when USAC star Jim Hurtubise ran stock cars in New York after recovering from burns suffered in a champ car event.

In those days, one had to run a certain number of races to be eligible for the National Open/Race of Champions at Langhorne (Pa.) Speedway, which Hurtubise wanted to run.

If that rings a bell, you may remember when Midwesterners Joy Fair and Benny Parsons, in full-size cars, joined the 100-plus car fields on the treacherous Pennsylvania mile after it was paved. By then, the minimum race requirement had been dropped.

You also qualify as an old timer if you remember the last few years before Langhorne was paved, when the coupes and sedans raced against a handful of central Pennsylvania “bugs” that bridged the gap between coupes and sprint cars.

The basic rules were that they had to be 30 inches wide at the driver’s seat and have a 90-inch wheelbase, making them lighter and faster than the modifieds, though they were also less-suited to Langhorne’s many holes over the 100-mile distance.

If you’re one of the many who built those coupes and coaches, you also remember when one-piece bodies salvaged from the junkyard were bolted onto the chassis instead of being formed from multiple flat sheets and fastened on with Dzus buttons.

Turning to past National Speed Sport News editions, you might be an old timer if you remember when ads for big sprint car races in the Midwest carried the notation “No Dual Wheels or Corn Pickers,” the latter being rudimentary, wedge-shaped wings built into the side nerf bars that resembled a harvester.

To this day, Ohio’s Rick Ferkel tells us he always found out about lucrative races far away from his home by faithfully checking NSSN ads.

You also qualify as an old timer if you remember when Earl Halaquist was the top dog in the United Racing Club, wheeling the immaculate Nesler Deuce Trevis Craft sprinter.

Halaquist loved nothing more than cutting a sub-20-second lap during hot laps to kick off the club’s annual Memorial Day appearance at Fonda (N.Y.) Speed­way, then telling observers that the lap should end stock car hero Kenny Shoemaker’s bragging about turning a 24-second lap on the egg-shaped fairgrounds half-mile for a while.

Extremely talented, Halaquist nearly took a shot at the Indianapolis 500 at the urging of A.J. Foyt, but in the end he opted to put his family first and keep his job at the local magneto factory that he would have lost had he gone to Indy for the month of May.

One of Halaquist’s favorite stories involved him taking son Dennis o Nazareth (Pa.) National Speedway. After winning the URC race, an owner asked him to tag the midget field in his car and he won that race, too.

Will Cagle then asked Halaquist to run his spare stock car in the nightcap, but Halaquist declined. All the way home, he reminded Dennis not to tell his mother that dad had won the midget feature, as he’d promised his wife he would quit racing midgets after a number of fatal crashes occurred in the division.

When Halaquist went down to breakfast the next morning, he found Dennis proudly telling his mom all about the two wins as he ate his cornflakes, fueling a brief bout of marital strife in the process.

You might also be an old timer if you remember flaggers working from the track rather than a platform high above the racing surface.

At Fonda, Chet Hames would wave the green flag from the edge of the track and then retreat. In Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Tex Enright, often in an Indian headdress and bright shirt, would stand in the middle of the two rows of cars before running toward the rear of the field, letting cars go on both sides of him.

And at New York’s Lebanon Valley Speedway, Marty Beberwyck had the best idea, waving the green and retreating behind a tow truck that shielded him as they both backed into the infield.

Looking back, each memory triggers two more. That’s another sign you are definitely an old timer!

ROCKY MOUNT, Mo. — Jason Johnson Racing owner Bobbi Johnson confirmed the news Monday morning that many fans wanted to hear.

David Gravel will return to the seat of the No. 41 sprint car next season.

However, with Gravel’s eyes on running a limited schedule in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series, it is unclear at the moment exactly how many races Gravel will race for JJR in the coming year.

Johnson confirmed the news of Gravel’s new deal with the team in a lengthy statement released on social media, thanking the JJR team for their support before revealing the news.

Johnson added that the team will run the full World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series schedule once again, putting them squarely in the hunt for the owner’s championship in 2020 after a third-place finish this season.

“When we sat in the Saich family’s house in late October last year and decided to hire (David) as our driver, I don’t think any of us thought that this was the type of success we’d accomplish in our first year together,” Johnson said. “David and his family have been nothing but great and we couldn’t be prouder to have them as part of the JJR family forever.

“As we focus our attention to 2020, we are pleased to welcome David back to the seat of the JJR No. 41,” Johnson continued. “The JJR team will continue racing full time with the World of Outlaws. We are currently collaborating and coordinating schedules with David as he works out details related to fulfilling his dream of racing a partial schedule in the NASCAR Truck Series.

“We will provide more details as they become clear.”

In his first year with JJR, Gravel’s fourth-straight finish of third in the World of Outlaws standings came on the strength of 12 wins, 44 top-five and 61 top-10 finishes in 72 starts.

Those wins included marquee triumphs in the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway in August, as well as the Jason Johnson Classic at Missouri’s Lake Ozark Speedway in October.

Gravel closed his year with a sweep of both days of the Can-Am World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte, collecting his 50th World of Outlaws victory during the Friday night feature.

SPEED SPORT will have more on this developing story soon.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Mo-Kan Dragway, the oldest continuously-operated drag strip in Missouri, has agreed to a multi-year sanctioning agreement with the International Hot Rod Ass’n.

The track in Asbury, Mo., has been in operation at the same location since 1962, but has seen plenty of upgrades over the years with new timing system, new track surface, new tower, improved bleachers and other fan and racer amenities. Sunoco Race Fuels are offered at track.

Carl Blanton purchased the track from original owners, Jim and Ron Wilbert, in 1999. Blanton operates the quarter-mile track with his son Craig as they have events from February through November. The Sunday Fun Drags are scheduled through Nov. 24 which includes test and tune, grudge racing and fun runs.

It’s a diversified schedule of events with the Spring Hot Rod Reunion, brand-specific races for Mopar and Ford, the Midwest Motorcycle Drags and Funny Car Chaos among the highlights.

Their bracket racing program provides a strong foundation for the track. They have embraced the IHRA Summit Racing Equipment SuperSeries and the IHRA Summit Team Finals. It is the home track of IHRA Summit SuperSeries Mod World Champion Dustin Avondet.

To show how tough the competition is at Mo-Kan Dragway, Avondet didn’t win the track championship until a week before the IHRA Summit SuperSeries World Finals.

Other Mo-Kan qualifiers for the IHRA Summit World Finals were: Michael Johnson (Top), John Dost (Sportsman) and Andrew Goss (Junior).

“Carl Blanton and his crew do a wonderful job providing a great facility for the racers in that area,” IHRA Division Director Frank Kohutek said. “They’ve been huge supporters of the IHRA Summit SuperSeries and IHRA Summit Team Finals programs. We are grateful for their passion for the racers, the programs and their support of the IHRA.”

Mo-Kan Dragway happens to be in a great location less than 30 minutes from Joplin, Mo., 90 minutes from Springfield and two hours south of Kansas City. Obviously near the Missouri-Kansas border, there are plenty of racers from the neighboring states of Arkansas and Oklahoma who also enjoy the facility.