During the miracle 2015-16 season, when Leicester defied all logic and 5,000-1 odds to be crowned Premier League champions, their fairy tale contained an asterisk. The achievement, one that resonated around the world for its "anything is possible" theme, was undoubtedly special. However, it was also coloured by the capitulation of the big clubs: Leicester were very good, but the traditional powers were staggeringly poor.

Arsenal, nearing the end of Arsene Wenger's reign, ended 10 points behind them in second as Tottenham lost their last two games by a 7-2 margin to stumble into third. Manchester City were prepping for the introduction of Pep Guardiola to replace Manuel Pellegrini, and with the club announcing that move four months before the end of the campaign, the distracted team crawled to the finish line.

Manchester United, dull and desperately counting down the final days of Louis van Gaal's tenure, lost out on a Champions League place on goal difference to their neighbours. Jurgen Klopp was navigating his way around English football with Liverpool, placing eighth while reaching the Europa League final, and Chelsea had sacked Jose Mourinho in December when the club were a lowly 16th.

With them all of them locked in battle against mediocrity, Leicester counterattacked their way to one of sport's greatest shocks. Now, however, up against the most relentless Liverpool and Man City sides, the East Midlands club are holding their own in a different sense. They're a much better unit than their title-winning vintage: they boast a more balanced squad, some of the most exciting and consistent young players in the league, an ability to play different systems and an all-encompassing strategy to maximise their potential.

It is no miracle or accident that they're third in the standings under Brendan Rodgers, with the joint-best defensive record -- despite selling Harry Maguire to Man United for £80 million -- and the second most goals scored behind City. Leicester are also more accomplished in every metric at this stage of the season than they were in 2015-16. (Then: Played 11, scored 23, conceded 19, goal difference 4, points 22. Now: Played 11, scored 27, conceded 8, goal difference 19, points 23.

On Saturday, Leicester host faltering Arsenal -- Unai Emery's side are without a league win in their past three -- in a fixture that can underscore their status as the definite best of the rest behind Liverpool and Man City.

Right man, right time, right tools

By October 2018, it was evident that Claude Puel and Leicester were approaching the end of their time together. The former Monaco, Southampton and Lille manager had lost the dressing room, frozen out director of football Jon Rudkin and failed to communicate properly with staff or players. Throughout the season, Puel always seemed on the brink and the volatility of his tenure could be seen on the pitch. Something needed to give.

Leicester's top candidate was Rodgers, who was busy navigating an all-conquering Celtic towards a third straight domestic treble. They'd inquired as to his interest earlier in the season, but he'd wanted to finish the campaign in Scotland. By February, however, there could be no more waiting: Puel's position became untenable and he was sacked after seven defeats in nine games.

Leicester went all in on Rodgers, paying £7.5 million in compensation to release him from his contract at Celtic. They needed a progressive manager who had experience in the Premier League, a track record of developing young players, an aggressive, appealing style of football and a burning desire to compete with the traditional powerhouses. Rodgers ticked all the boxes though many pundits questioned the wisdom of leaving the Scottish giants midseason to take charge of a middling English side, potentially ignoring the bigger picture.

Leicester had all the tools to succeed but needed the right leader. Rodgers was that man -- his spell at Liverpool judged largely unfairly -- at the right time in his career and with the right base to build from.

"This was an opportunity that arose very quickly and I had a decision I had to make very quickly," he explained after his appointment. "Removing the emotion from that was key. The opportunity to come to a club like Leicester wasn't going to wait for me. I certainly haven't swapped success for mediocrity. This is a club with a rich history of its own, and its recent history has been successful like we've all seen. It was difficult, but it's one I made from a career perspective."

So far, he has thrived in the responsibility of meeting and exceeding the club's exceptions.

"The change, in terms of everything from the mood around the place, how the players responded to messaging and the standards on the pitch and off it, has been massive," one staffer said.

"Someone mentioned it's like we were stumbling around in the dark, and now the lights are on and everything is clear."

Solid structures

Chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, known around the club as "Top," is determined to follow through on his late father Vichai's great hopes for the club following his tragic death in a helicopter crash outside the King Power Stadium last October.

"We want to improve all aspects of the club to make the club sustainable and successful for many generations to come," Aiyawatt said at the end of last season. "We will always make support available to areas of the club that needs strengthening, whether that's the playing squad, the training ground, the stadium, staffing and infrastructure. If a requirement for the squad is recognised and suitable talent identified, we're always ready to support progress and improvement."

Leicester's recruitment has been exceptional and ahead of the curve. A case in point is central defender Caglar Soyuncu -- one of the season's standout performers thus far -- who was brought in for just under £18m in the summer of 2018 in the knowledge that Man City, Man United and others would be circling around Maguire in the 2019 summer window. They therefore had a ready-made replacement who was settled in, sidestepping the need to pay over the odds for a defender given the record fee they gained for the England international.

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Head of senior recruitment, Lee Congerton, has a close relationship with Rodgers that stretches back to 2005 when the pair were at Chelsea. The Leicester boss was then reserve team manager at Stamford Bridge, while Congerton was a youth team coach before Jose Mourinho promoted him to chief scout. They were reunited at Celtic following their three-year stint at Chelsea, with Rodgers making the former Welsh player recruitment director at Parkhead in 2016. It was no surprise that Congerton joined Leicester too, overseeing Callum Smithson and Jose Fontes in the technical scouting team while working with director of football Rudkin and chief executive Susan Whelan.

In a nod to their already impressive squad and stellar academy, Leicester did minimal business in the summer. Making the Youri Tielemans deal permanent as a club record signing for £40m when Man United were scouting him was a coup and securing Ayoze Perez from Newcastle United was another smart move.

Equally, they've done well to keep their highly coveted assets. Left-back Ben Chilwell, 22, was pursued by Arsenal and Liverpool before committing his long-term future to the King Power Stadium, with Man City still keeping tabs on his development. Wilfred Ndidi has been considered by several elite teams during their search for defensive midfielders, while James Maddison continues to be heavily linked to Old Trafford. Both players are also 22 and are viewed as among the league's best talents in the centre of the park.

Jamie Vardy, now 32 but still leading the league's scoring chart, famously shunned Arsenal after being named FWA Footballer of the Year. Since joining the club, Rodgers has managed to extract the optimum out of the striker with small tweaks to his game.

"Firstly, from a defensive perspective, he is not having to press the whole back four," the manager explained. "He is a guy who will run all day for you. Now it is a lot more synchronised in how we want him to press and he is doing short bursts of pressing, which he is very good at. He is so clever at setting traps to press so he is a real focal point in that aspect. Then he is playing more on the corridor and central. The other guys, it is their job to create opportunities for him and others, and then actually asking him to stay on the last line.

"He is playing with a smile and really enjoying his football and that is always important as a player," said Rodgers. Vardy has scored eight goals in his eight league starts against Arsenal, which includes three braces, and you wouldn't bet against him embarrassing their defenders again on Saturday.

While Unai Emery's future is in doubt and his club's decision-making is constantly called into question -- from the handling of Mesut Ozil, the Granit Xhaka captaincy mess to further strengthening an explosive attack in the summer instead of fixing a self-detonating defence -- Leicester's start to the season has been a reflection of their smart choices. From the construction of an £80m new training complex, the assembling of an exhilarating squad with a high ceiling, the appointment of Rodgers, to the vital decision not to travel far in preseason (687 miles compared to Arsenal's 11,654) in order to properly implement Rodgers' blueprint, the 2015-16 champions are benefiting from solid planning.

Their opponents from north London this weekend would do well to take notes.

Toss Afghanistan chose to bowl v West Indies

Rashid Khan won the toss in the second ODI and elected to bowl as Afghanistan looked to stop a ten-match ODI losing streak. To that end, they chose to tweak the side that lost in the first ODI. Allrounder and former captain Gulbadin Naib was left out and replaced by spin-bowling allrounder Sharafuddin Ashraf.

West Indies made no changes to their XI. A win in the second ODI would give them their first series win since August 2014.

Afghanistan: 1 Hazratullah Zazai, 2 Javed Ahmadi, 3 Rahmat Shah, 4 Ikram Alikhil (wk), 5 Najibullah Zadran, 6 Asghar Afghan, 7 Mohammad Nabi, 8 Sharafuddin Ashraf, 9 Rashid Khan (capt), 10 Naveen-ul-Haq, 11 Mujeeb Ur Rahman

West Indies: 1 Evin Lewis, 2 Shai Hope (wk), 3 Shimron Hetmyer, 4 Nicholas Pooran 5 Roston Chase, 6 Kieron Pollard (capt), 7 Jason Holder, 8 Romario Shepherd, 9 Sheldon Cottrell, 10 Alzarri Joseph, 11 Hayden Walsh Jr

It's been a dramatic couple of weeks for Bangladesh cricket. Shakib Al Hasan was publicly blasted by BCB president Nazmul Hassan for not taking the board's approval for a sponsorship deal before he was banned for failing to report bookie approaches. It all happened on the eve of Bangladesh's tour of India, and in the aftermath of the players' strike a few days before, nothing seemed to have settled down.

And last week, amid all of this, they beat almighty India - for the first time in the format - in their own backyard in the first T20I in Delhi.

On Saturday, Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo sat in a press conference in Nagpur, the T20I series level with one match to go. Domingo said that before the team's arrival in India, nobody would have believed this scoreline.

"It has been a tough couple of weeks before this tour, but the players deserve a lot of credit," Domingo said. "The energy and desire they have shown in the last ten days has been fantastic. They were willing to try new things. They are playing against a quality side away from home. If someone said to us two weeks ago that we will be one-all coming into Nagpur, no one would have believed it.

"So we are pretty happy where are, and it is a great opportunity tomorrow. The guys are really excited by it. At the end of the day, India are one of the best sides in the world. No one gave Bangladesh a chance, but we think if we play to our potential, we have a chance tomorrow."

As Bangladesh look to move on from their off-field issues, Domingo also pointed out that they want to be known as a more settled team. Essentially, he believes in giving a group of players a longer run before making changes.

"We feel India has a lot of left-handed batters in their top six," he said. "Our offspinners worked a game ago, but just because it didn't work in the last game doesn't mean everything has to change. We don't want to be a team that makes knee-jerk reactions to a loss. It has been the case for this team for too long. We want to back a certain group of players.

"If somebody has a bad game doesn't mean he doesn't play for the next six months. It is part of T20 cricket. We believe that those who played in the first couple of games are good enough. We don't want to make a lot of tactical changes just because someone played really well against us."

Among the Bangladesh youngsters, Mohammad Naim and Aminul Islam have stood out so far. Naim, who did not have a striking T20 record before his call-up, has made a statement with his strokeplay in Rajkot, while Aminul, a batting allrounder, has showcased his skills as a legspinner, picking up four wickets in the two games.

"I have always liked a legspinner [in a playing XI] and I know [Aminul Islam] Biplob is more of a batsman who can bowl legspin, but I have been impressed by his energy, desire and work ethic," Domingo said. "He is a great guy to have in the team. Even against Rohit [Sharma] in the previous game, he ended up bowling 3.5 overs to take two wickets for 23 runs before going for a six. He bowled really well, for a young boy to bowl under that kind of pressure.

"Naim didn't have a good T20 record but this is a great format for us to trying and look at the next group of players are coming through. We don't know how long Tamim [Iqbal], Mushy [Mushfiqur Rahim] and Riyad [Mahmudullah] are going to be playing for, so it is a great opportunity for the younger guys. We have Saif Hassan joining us in the Test squad. We will look at how he trains as well. The most impressive thing isn't just their performances, but their energy, attitude and work ethic, which have been fantastic."

But Domingo also said unless one of Bangladesh's batsmen make a big score, they would find it difficult to beat India in the decider in Nagpur. "Mushfiqur [Rahim] got the big score in the first game, so we won. Rohit [Sharma] got the big score so they won the second game. When we get to the thirties, we need someone to get into seventies or eighties.

"[Bangladesh's batsmen] are not trying to get out. They are just making bad decisions in crucial stages of the innings. I don't think it is a technical thing. It might be decision-making at crucial stages that they need to improve."

Big picture

Short-term results, or long-term planning? Teams have to constantly manage the tussle between those two objectives while they build up towards a major tournament. During their T20I series against South Africa in September, India made it clear they were looking ahead to the T20 World Cup first and foremost, when they chose to bat first and, as their captain Virat Kohli put it, "push ourselves out of our comfort zone", in Bengaluru, one of the country's great chasing venues.

The experiment seemed like a throwback to the mid-2000s, when India, under Rahul Dravid, kept opting to bowl first in ODIs in order to improve as a chasing side

But, after India lost in Bengaluru, and began the series against Bangladesh with another defeat while batting first - being sent in, more accurately - they went back to their comfort zone in Rajkot, where they won the toss, chased, and won convincingly.

You can't fault India for that decision, but it was a clear example of the tension between short- and long-term objectives.

Now, in the series decider in Nagpur, which way will India go if they win the toss?

The decision may not cause too much soul-searching, given that the VCA Stadium is one of the rare bat-first venues in India. It has one of the largest outfields in the country, and the pitch usually brings spinners into play. Teams batting first have won eight of 11 previous games here, including the most recent one, in January 2017, when Jasprit Bumrah bowled an outstanding 20th over to help India defend 144 against England.

Bangladesh began the series by beating India in a T20I for the very first time, and they know they have every chance of going one better and winning the series. If there's a bit of grip in the surface, they have the spinners to exploit it, as well as a canny exponent of cutters in Mustafizur Rahman. Their batting is suited to a slower surface too, but they'll need to learn a few lessons from Rajkot, where they failed to build on a bright start and ended up - in their captain Mahmudullah's estimation - 25-30 runs short of a challenging total.

Form guide

India WLLWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Bangladesh LWWWL

In the spotlight

India have kept faith in Shikhar Dhawan as Rohit Sharma's partner at the top of the order despite KL Rahul making a strong case whenever he has had the chance to open. Dhawan has lately shown a greater willingness to take risks during the powerplay overs, and has tasted some success while doing so, both in the IPL and in recent T20I innings against West Indies and South Africa. Bangladesh, however, have managed to tie him down in this series by denying him width. How will he respond to that tactic in the decider?

Mohammad Naim has made runs in both matches so far, but his range of shots has often looked limited, and India have been able to keep him quiet, as his strike rate of 105.08 suggests. Bangladesh might wonder if Soumya Sarkar, who is one of their most gifted ball-strikers, is better equipped to exploit the powerplay field restrictions. In a decider, they will need to give their best players their best chances of succeeding.

Team news

Having conceded 81 runs in eight overs across the first two T20Is, Khaleel Ahmed has been the one misfiring component of an India attack that Bangladesh have otherwise found hard to get away for boundaries. The left-arm quick is a talented bowler and gives India a bit of variety, but they may choose to leave him out and play Shardul Thakur instead.

India (possible): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 KL Rahul, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 Rishabh Pant (wk) 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Deepak Chahar, 10 Khaleel Ahmed/Shardul Thakur, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal

Bangladesh, like India, stuck with the same XI in the first two games. They don't have any pressing reasons to make changes, though an extra spinner in Taijul Islam could come in handy if the Nagpur pitch plays true to nature. There are fitness concerns over Mustafizur (ankle) and Mosaddek Hossain (groin), but it is as yet unclear how serious they are.

Bangladesh (possible): 1 Liton Das, 2 Mohammad Naim, 3 Soumya Sarkar, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 5 Mahmudullah (capt), 6 Afif Hossain, 7 Mosaddek Hossain, 8 Aminul Islam, 9 Shafiul Islam/Taijul Islam, 10 Al-Amin Hossain, 11 Mustafizur Rahman

Pitch and conditions

Russell Domingo, Bangladesh's coach, was in charge of South Africa when he last came to Nagpur, for a Test match in 2015 on a square turner. "The last time I was in Nagpur, the game finished in two days," he said on the eve of this match. "It looks better this time. I think Nagpur historically has lower scores than Rajkot. There the average score was 185, while here it is 155. I think the spinners will have a bigger role than it had in Rajkot."

Atmospheric and weather conditions dominated the talk leading up to the first two T20Is. That won't be the case in Nagpur, with clear skies expected right through the day.

Stats and trivia

• Yuzvendra Chahal needs four wickets to go past R Ashwin and become India's most prolific T20I bowler. Chahal currently has 49 in 33 games at an average of 20.89.

• Among all the Bangladesh batsmen with 400 or more T20I runs, Liton Das is the only one with a 130-plus strike rate.

• Rohit and Dhawan are the most prolific T20I partnership ever, scoring 1740 runs in 51 innings. The Scottish pair of Kyle Coetzer and George Munsey are a distant second on 1348 runs.

Quotes

"Thirty-eight dot balls in a T20 match is not bad. Anything under 40 is not a big issue for us. The big problem was that no one got 70 or 80, more like Mushy (Mushfiqur Rahim) did in the first game. So the one who reaches thirty should look to make it a big one."
Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo

LOS ANGELES -- Amid a renaissance start to the season for both the Los Angeles Lakers as a successful franchise and LeBron James as a dominant player, James says he has no plans to miss games due to load management in anticipation of a postseason run.

"If I'm hurt, I don't play. If not, I'm playing," James told ESPN as he knocked on the wooden façade of his locker after the Lakers' 95-80 win over the Miami Heat on Friday night. "That's what has always been my motto."

Load management is a hot topic in the NBA after James' Staples Center cohabitant, Kawhi Leonard of the LA Clippers, sat out a nationally televised game for the second consecutive week on Wednesday.

James, six years Leonard's senior and coming off the first major injury of his 17-year career last season when he suffered a torn groin, remains committed to suiting up whenever possible.

Both games that Leonard sat out were part of a back-to-back situation, with Leonard playing the other leg.

James did not want to address how his plan differs from that of Leonard, whom the league determined had a legitimate reason to sit out as he continues to manage an ongoing injury to the patella tendon in his left knee.

"LeBron's healthy, LeBron'll play. That's all I'll talk about," James said. "I don't talk about nobody else but me."

James had 25 points on 10-of-19 shooting, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range, with six assists and four rebounds in Friday's win.

The Lakers, off to a 7-1 start thanks in large part to James' influence, are scheduled for their first back-to-back next week.

"There's a back-to-back Tuesday-Wednesday? Phoenix, [then] back home against Golden State? I'll be ready to go," James said. "What do you mean, 'How am I going to handle it?'"

There has been internal discussion within the Lakers' coaching and training staff about how to find time to rest James, sources told ESPN. But James, who turns 35 next month, is loath to accept it.

"Talk to my coaches," James said. "You know how many times me and T-Lue (Tyronn Lue) got into it in Cleveland when he wanted to sit me and I wanted to play.

"I'm healthy, I play. I probably got a good 45 years to not play basketball."

Lakers coach Frank Vogel, who accepted the job after negotiations with Lue this summer broke down, said the team plans to protect James from overwork "every way we can."

"Whether it's off days in practice or minimize his minutes, minimize his load," Vogel said after practice Thursday. "There's some things built in scheme-wise that require him to do -- to pass some guys off at certain times. Every way we can."

James entered Friday's game averaging 26.1 points, a league-best 11.1 assists and 8.3 rebounds. He had three-straight triple-doubles on the Lakers' 3-0 road trip to tie the longest triple-double streak of his career.

Moreover, his defensive effort has helped the Lakers leap to the top of the league in defensive efficiency in the early going.

"The guy is incredible," Vogel said Friday after James and the Lakers held the Heat to only 34 points in the second half. "He's giving it all to this team and really impacting both ends of the floor. The biggest impact probably is how he is setting a tone. He's setting a tone for our group with how hard he is playing on defense, how willing he is to pass the basketball offensively and obviously he's got the ability to make big shots in the clutch. So, the guy is just incredible."

Friday's win earned James and the rest of his team off from Saturday's scheduled practice -- that's one way to build in time off his feet.

And the win provided a platform to explain the "washed king" hashtag James has embraced on social media, as he has leaned into those who doubted his place in the game heading into this season.

"It's just my personal motivation," James said. "I'm extra motivated to put myself into the position where I know I belong.

"So, it's my personal motivation every single night I step on the floor to be great. I know the summer that I had. I know the rehab that I had with my groin."

James pointed to his experience shooting "Space Jam 2" this summer to explain his commitment to the Lakers.

"I shot 'Space Jam' for three months all summer. My call time every morning was at 6:30 in the morning and I was in the gym at like 3:30, 4 o'clock in the morning before shooting for 12, 13, 14 hours," James said. "So, I just know how much I put into my craft, I know what the main thing is. Even when I was shooting the movie, I know what was most important. And that's me getting ready for the fall, and I always had that in the front of my mind. So it's just my personal pressure that I'm putting on myself. Which is, I don't really believe in pressure much, but I believe in myself and I know what I'm capable of."

James was then asked how much of his motivation was drawn directly from others using the actual term "washed" to describe him in his mid-30s.

"Well, I don't know, man," James said. "Meet me at the cleaners."

A remarkable innings from skipper Jess Duffin guided Melbourne Renegades to a five-wicket win in a last-ball thriller against Hobart Hurricanes at Junction Oval.

The Renegades had slumped to 3 for 12 in the chase of 151, having lost international stars Tammy Beaumont and Danni Wyatt in the space of three balls. But Duffin took control, making 75 from 49 balls with eight fours and four sixes. She shared in a 42-run stand with Josie Dooley, who contributed just 8, before putting on 78 with Courtney Webb. The pair reduced the equation to 20 off 20 when Duffin fell. Webb was out to a superb return catch by Nicola Carey in the last over, but Georgia Wareham and Maitlin Brown scrounged the three runs needed from the last three balls to win the match.

Earlier, Corinne Hall had made an excellent unbeaten 50 in a key 82-run stand with Fran Wilson (45) to help Hobart overcome a poor start to post 5 for 150.

Perth Scorchers bowler Heather Graham held her nerve to secure a two-run win in another last-ball thriller at Karen Rolton Oval to deny Bridget Patterson stealing victory for the Adelaide Strikers.

The home side had been set 174 to win after England batter Amy Jones and Australia captain Meg Lanning smashed half-centuries during a 141-run opening partnership. Jones finished with 80 from 58 balls while Lanning made 64 from 50.

The game looked beyond the Strikers' reach when Sophie Devine was bowled by Nat Sciver for 58. The Strikers needed 42 from 20 balls after that, but Patterson nearly pulled off a miracle. She made her highest WBBL score, clubbing six fours and three sixes in her 60.

Graham had 11 runs to defend in the final over. She had Lauren Winfield dropped first ball before Patterson pulled her through square leg for a boundary. Graham conceded just two singles from the next three balls leaving Patterson with four to win from the last. She couldn't find the rope and was run out trying for a second.

A disciplined bowling display from the Brisbane Heat helped them defeat Sydney Sixers for the second time this season at North Sydney Oval.

Just a week after their record-breaking partnership, Alyssa Healy and Ellyse Perry were both dismissed cheaply in the powerplay. Sammy-Jo Johnson bowled Healy with a peach while Perry was adjudged lbw to a ball that darted a long way off the seam from Delissa Kimmince.

Johnson delivered her four overs for just 11 runs and Jess Jonassen bagged 2 for 20 from her four overs as the Sixers struggled to 7 for 123.

The Heat cruised to victory in the chase, winning with 19 balls to spare and seven wickets in hand. Jonassen top-scored with 33 in a superb all-round effort but there were even contributions from the Heat's top five.

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Stewart Friesen thought he had led the first lap of Friday night’s Lucas Oil 150 at ISM Raceway in Phoenix.

He was wrong.

After being penalizd for jumping the start of the race, Friesen rallied to lead the lap that counted most — the last one — and secured a spot in next weekend’s championship race with the second NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series victory of the season and his career.

“We’ve got a badass piece for next week, too,” promised Friesen, who will try for the title next Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Friesen will have to contend with defending series champion Brett Moffitt, who locked himself into the Championship 4 after finishing ninth in the second stage of Friday night’s race.

Ross Chastain also gained a berth in the title race with a 14-place finish, and two-time series champion Matt Crafton claimed the final spot after finishing sixth — and edging pole winner Austin Hill (13th) — by six points for the final spot.

After the fifth and final caution of the evening for a wreck in turn three involving Sam Mayer and John Hunter Nemechek, Friesen charged into the lead past Brandon Jones and Ben Rhodes and led the final 44 circuits.

It was no cakewalk, though. With five laps left, Jones made a last-ditch run to the inside of Friesen, but couldn’t get past the No. 52 Chevrolet. Friesen pulled away on the last two laps to beat Jones to the finish line by .860 seconds.

“It was a great race car,” said Friesen, who was sent to the rear of the field after getting to the stripe ahead of Hill, who spun his tires on the initial start. “We were able to pass ‘em all, pass ‘em all clean,” said Friesen.

“Great race car, great race team. We’ll all celebrate tomorrow, and then it’s game on.”

Moffitt came to Phoenix with the series lead and was first to clinch a spot in the final race. But the driver of the No. 24 GMS Racing Chevrolet, who won last year’s championship driving for Hattori Racing Enterprises, had two objectives on Friday.

“My main concern for the day was getting us locked into the owner points as well,” Moffitt said. “We got both jobs done today.”

Chastain finished with a 13-point margin over Hill, who lost ground to Crafton on the lap 107 restart and never recovered. Chastain didn’t declare for the Truck Series championship until nine races into the season but qualified for the Championship 4 nevertheless.

“Man, this is crazy — a dream come true though,” Chastain said.

Crafton came to Phoenix nine points behind Hill but made up most of the deficit with 17 points combined in the first two stages.

“I didn’t have anything to lose and everything to gain,” Crafton said. “And that’s the way I drove it from the green flag to the checkered flag.”

Hill joined fellow Toyota driver Tyler Ankrum on the sidelines for the final race. Ankrum suffered early damage and finished 26th, six laps down. Hill simply didn’t have any juice on the restarts.

“We just didn’t have any short-run speed,” Hill said. “I hate it for my guys. I just couldn’t do anything on the restarts. The front end would slide, the rear would slide, and during that last long green-flag run, it was terrible.

“I hate that we finished where we did, especially after qualifying from the pole. I definitely had high hopes for the race after qualifying on the pole and showing speed in second practice. We’ll move on to Homestead and regroup for next year.”

Chandler Smith finished third, followed by Rhodes and Grant Enfinger. Crafton, Harrison Burton, Johnny Sauter, Chastain and Moffitt completed the top 10.

For complete results, advance to the next page.

CONCORD, N.C. – David Gravel took a golden World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series victory home from Friday night’s portion of the Can-Am World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.

Gravel raced to his milestone 50th series win by leading all but one of 25 laps around a largely rubbered-down four-tenths-mile dirt oval.

The Watertown, Conn., native started on the pole after winning his DIRTvision Fast Pass Dash earlier in the night and weathered a mid-race challenge from Aaron Reutzel to take home the trophy.

Though Reutzel drove underneath Gravel to lead on the 12th revolution, a slowing Dave Blaney coming off turn two on lap 13 allowed Gravel to cut to the bottom and retake the lead as Reutzel broke momentum and dropped from first to fourth.

From there, Gravel never looked back and held off a closing Donny Schatz in the waning moments to collect his 11th Outlaw win of the season, tying Schatz for the second-most wins on tour in 2019.

Friday night’s performance was Gravel’s second-career World Finals win and second win overall at The Dirt Track at Charlotte. His last win at the track came in the World Finals finale two years ago.

“We had a couple goals, and I really wanted to get to (win) No. 50 this year,” Gravel said. “That is one of my accomplishments I wanted to check off. I couldn’t do it without this team. … We’ve still got one more race to go, and hopefully we can sweep the weekend, but this is a good start.

“I got a couple lucky breaks,” Gravel added. “I made a mistake there getting into lapped traffic, and Reutzel passed me, but luckily he went high and Dave Blaney went high – and the bottom opened up and I was able to get the lead back.”

The lone caution of the race waved with nine to go, when Gio Scelzi spun to a stop at the bottom of the second corner, opening the door for those behind Gravel to potentially pounce on the restart.

Schatz did that to an extent when the green flag waved, slicing past Schuchart to take the second position, but he could do nothing with Gravel as the Jason Johnson Racing No. 41 raced away down the stretch.

“It got close – we were just not good enough,” Schatz said. “That’s how it goes some days. We’ll do our best tomorrow. We’ve got one more day to go, and we’ll just make the best of it.”

With Schatz finishing second and point leader Brad Sweet coming home fifth, Schatz was able to cut Sweet’s cushion to a scant two markers going into the final night of the season on Saturday.

Under that scenario, both drivers control their own destinies. Schatz wins the title by coming home victorious on Saturday night – since the difference between first and second is four points – while Sweet takes home the title by finishing within one position of Schatz, as long as Schatz doesn’t win the race.

Logan Schuchart filled out the podium, followed by Reutzel, who faded to fourth at the finish.

Sweet, Sheldon Haudenschild, Brian Brown, Kerry Madsen, Paul McMahan and Carson Macedo were the balance of the top 10.

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