Fort Worth, Texas (August 27, 2016)- Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage announced today the addition of the SPEED Energy Stadium SUPER Trucks Presented by TRAXXAS to the speedway’s racing lineup in 2017.

The addition of Stadium SUPER Trucks will create a diverse tripleheader weekend in June as the racing series will be paired with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and Verizon IndyCar Series. The Stadium SUPER trucks feature event will take place in advance of the Firestone 600 on Saturday, June 10.

The widely popular SST Series features 12 identically prepared 650-horsepower trucks that are built to take flight much like their scaled down TRAXXAS radio-control-car counterparts. Able to race on virtually any surface, the SST trucks will race along the speedway’s pit road, frontstretch and portion of the infield. A detailed layout of the course will be announced at a later date.

Compared to the oval racing of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and Verizon IndyCar Series, the SST races will feature 36-inch tall aluminum ramps placed in strategic locations throughout the course, allowing the trucks to fly 20 feet off the ground and hundreds of feet down the course, all while hitting speeds upwards of 140 miles per hour.

The announcement was made by Gossage and former INDYCAR and NASCAR driver Robby Gordon, who created the series in 2013, at Texas Motor Speedway prior to Saturday night’s resumption of the Firestone 600 that was suspended from its June date due to weather-related issues.

“For Stadium SUPER Trucks to return back to the state of Texas, after competing at X Games Austin for two successful years, I cannot be more excited,” Stadium SUPER Trucks President Robby Gordon said. “When you think of Texas two things come to mind; trucks and things that are big. Stadium SUPER Trucks gives you both, with the excitement of competitive door-to-door racing with big air.”

Stadium SUPER Trucks feature an 11-event schedule in 2016 spanning five different countries, touring as co-events with INDYCAR and V8 Supercar in Australia and New Zealand.

With a wide variety of drivers from all forms of motorsports, competitors such as 2015 series champion Sheldon Creed, Arie Luyendyk Jr., Tyler McQuarrie, as well as Australian’s Matt Brabham and Paul Morris all have an equal opportunity at winning.

Visit http://www.texasmotorspeedway in the coming weeks to purchase advanced tickets for the 2017 event.

LA RIOJA, Argentina (January 13, 2016) – Robby Gordon continued to improve positions at the 38th Dakar Rally Wednesday, bringing his Traxxas/Toyo Tires HST Gordini Supercar home in fifteenth-place of the weather shortened 244 Km special.

As the heat of the day increased, so did Gordon’s intensity, as the twenty-sixth starter wasted no time working his way past competitors into the ninetieth position thru Km 140 with no troubles. When many of the other drivers were finding themselves stuck, over heating or experiencing navigational issues, Gordon and navigator Kellon Walch pressed thru in the Toyo Tires/TRAXXAS Gordini all the way up to the seventieth position by Km 180.

Knowing the stage was being cut short 34 Km, Gordon would set a consistent pace the last 30 Km with no mistakes to finish the Stage in 4 hours, 51 minutes, 28 seconds.

Gordon’s recorded time would be logged as the fifteenth quickest of the day only 52 minutes, 56 second behind the leaders.

Despite Gordon’s trouble-free free run, the tenth stage was topped by two Frenchman. As Stephan Peterhansel picked up his third win of 2016, winning the shortened Stage in a time of 3 hours, 58 minutes, 22 seconds, he was followed in second by fellow countryman and teammate Cyril Despres with a time of 4 hours, 4 minutes, 12 seconds. Claiming his first podium of the 2016 Rally, Vladimir Vasilyev of Russia completed the stage in 4 hours, 11 minutes, and 28 seconds to finish third, while Spaniard Nani Roma was credited with fourth with a time of 4 hours, 13 minutes, 5 seconds. Three-time Stage winner Sebastien Loeb would re-group after his Stage eight crash to round out the top five with a time of 4 hours, 16 minutes, and 12 seconds.

After ten stages of the 2016 Dakar Rally, Peterhansel has moved back into the overall lead opening up a gap 1 hour ahead of second place Qatar driver Nasser Al-Attiyah. South African Ginel De Villers would claim the third position 1 hour, 12 minutes, 31 seconds back, followed by Mikko Hirvonen of Finland in the fourth position 1 hour, 23 minutes, 51 seconds back. LeeRoy Poulter slides back into the top five 1 hour, 33 minutes, 58 seconds behind.

Robby Gordon’s fifteenth place finish today would move him up into the twenty-eighth position in the overall standings 10 hours, 24 minutes, and 22 seconds behind the winning pace of Peterhansel.

The level of difficulty for Thursday’s Stage 11 will remain the same as the last few days, as Gordon and the HST Gordini will tackle different varieties of terrain throughout the special, including the famous fesh-fesh of Argentina. Fesh-Fesh, a heavy form of sand will test the patience of Gordon and navigator Kellon Walch as they try to navigate that section without getting stuck. Other portions of the special will feature quick straight gravel sections that are more suited for cars that are set-up to excel on the WRC style course, the HST Gordni being one look for Gordon to cut more time off the overall deficit today.

Follow the quest for an American finish in the 2016 Dakar Rally for Team SPEED through live timing and scoring as well as live updates with chat at http://www.planetrobby.com and https://stadiumsupertrucks.com

NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) will provide daily highlights after each stage of the 2016 Dakar Rally at 5:30 p.m. ET. Check your local listings for exact time and channel for availability.