CONCORD, N.C. – Chris Madden led a Scott Bloomquist Racing sweep of the top-two positions during the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series portion of the Can-Am World Finals on Friday night.

Jonathan Davenport started the 50-lap feature at The Dirt Track at Charlotte from the pole and dominated the first half of the race as Madden rocketed from fourth to second on the opening lap, with Scott Bloomquist following Madden in third.

The first caution waved seven laps in just as Davenport caught the tail of the field. Boom Briggs suddenly slowed right in front of Davenport, forcing the leader and runner-up Madden to take evasive action to avoid Briggs as the caution waved.

Davenport retained the lead on the restart, but the field only got two more laps in before Darrell Lanigan spun in turns three and four to bring out the caution flag. Brent Larson and Blake Spencer also spun in an effort to avoid Lanigan.

When the race resumed Davenport held serve, but behind him Bloomquist made the move to take second from Madden. Davenport continued to lead with Bloomquist and Madden in pursuit until reaching the tail of the field on lap 19.

With Davenport battling traffic, that allowed Bloomquist and Madden to close in on the race leader. On lap 22 Madden was able to get a run on Bloomquist coming out of turn two, taking the second position back from his boss going down the backstretch.

Davenport continued to lead while working traffic, but Madden and Bloomquist were hot on his trail. Madden managed to get under Davenport out of turn two on lap 30, but Davenport used a run on the high side of turns three and four to pull clear down the frontstretch.

Two laps later Madden took another shot coming out of turn two, but this time he had company as Bloomquist went to the outside while Madden went under Davenport to take the leaders three-wide.

Just as that was happening the caution flag waved when Dustin Mitchell slowed on track, saving Davenport’s lead for the moment. On the ensuing restart Madden saw his chance, rocketing to the inside of Davenport to take the lead by the time the field was through turn two.

Now out front, Madden wasted no time pulling away as Bloomquist worked over Davenport for second. He led comfortably until catching traffic with five laps left in the feature, which allowed Davenport and Bloomquist to close back in.

Neither were able to get close enough to make a move on Madden, who scored his third World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model feature victory of the season by .533 seconds at the checkered flag.

“I just had to keep missing the berm and make sure I didn’t scoot out of the rubber,” said Madden, who collected his third World Finals triumph of his career. “It’s pretty bittersweet for me and Scott today. We lost Randy Sweet today. It’s a big moment.”

Davenport tried one last time to make a move on Madden on the final lap entering turn one by trying the high side, which opened the door for Bloomquist to drive under him and take second to give the Scott Bloomquist Racing team the top two positions at the checkered flag.

“It’s pretty special,” Bloomquist said about Scott Bloomquist Racing sweeping the top-two positions. “We’ve had a good time with Chris here.”

Bloomquist said he’s almost back to full strength after suffering a leg injury in a motorcycle accident earlier this season.

“I’m getting close to back. I’ve got most of the feeling back in my leg,” Bloomquist noted. “The car was really good.”

Davenport was forced to settle for third after leading more than half of the race. Chris Ferguson finished fourth, with Cade Dillard in fifth.

World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series champion Brandon Sheppard came from 13th to finish sixth.

The finish:

Chris Madden, Scott Bloomquist, Jonathan Davenport, Chris Ferguson, Cade Dillard, Brandon Sheppard, Shane Clanton, Josh Richards, Kyle Hardy, Don O’Neal, Steven Roberts, Hudson O’Neal, Dale McDowell, Ricky Weiss, Mike Marlar, Ryan King, Chase Junghans, Tim McCreadie, Joey Coulter, Dennis Erb Jr., John Blankenship, Darrell Lanigan, Blake Spencer, Ross Bailes, Brian Birkhofer, Jimmy Owens, Dustin Mitchell, Brent Larson, Boom Briggs.

Only one thing is certain: at the start of this weekend's matches in Spain, FC Barcelona will be top of the table. Nothing else is. Barcelona are on top. By 11 p.m., it could be Real Sociedad who are leaders of the league. At 6 p.m. Saturday, it could be Granada. At 8.30 p.m., Real Madrid. And at 11 p.m., Barcelona again. By 6 p.m., the following night, it could be Atlético Madrid and by 11 p.m. Sunday, Sevilla.

Spain has had six league leaders at the end of a weekend so far this season: Real Madrid four times, Barcelona three, Sevilla two and once each for Atlético, Athletic Bilbao and Granada. This weekend, if the results go right -- and none of them have to be outrageous or are unlikely -- it could have six league leaders in a single round of games. It won't happen, you might say, and you're probably right. But it could, and that alone is something. It doesn't even need any of the big teams to lose, as Barça did at Levante last week or a few weeks before at newly promoted Granada.

This weekend in the Premier League, there's a game being billed as a title-decider in November, a game between the only two contenders and one that that feels like it could mean there is just one leader in England for the rest of the season. Liverpool have a chance to go nine points clear and extend their unbeaten run in the league to 28 league games. Meanwhile, La Liga hosts seven games that could lead to a change at the top. But, you know, La Liga is boring and noncompetitive and all that. The league where there are only two teams who beat up on everyone else, where it's impossible for Real Madrid and Barcelona to lose. Where there's just no opposition and everyone else is rubbish, there to make up the numbers, or so it goes.

Right now, you could argue that La Liga's making pretty good numbers.

Look at the table this morning and there are three teams level at the top. One of them is Real Sociedad, who haven't been there for 16 years. The sports daily Marca was looking even further back: "like Arconada time," their cover said, harking back to the early 1980s when la Real won the league. The week before, the team at the top was Granada, who hadn't been there for 46 years.

There are no points between the top three. Just one point separates the top five. Two points separate the top six, three the top seven and and four the top nine. The top thirteen are separated by just five points. On Monday morning, in the week building towards yet more general elections in Spain, AS's front page used a political play on words to declare the end of the two-party/team system. This was odd because as usual, they were talking about Madrid and Barcelona, when the reality is that if there have been only two teams in the title race over the past two years, it's been Atletico and Barcelona.

The shadow hanging over the table involves the number of games played. There's an asterisk by the league table and there will be until Dec. 18, when Madrid and Barcelona finally play the postponed clásico, but it's never been tighter. The top seven haven't been within three points of each other at this stage this century. Spain has never had it good.

Or maybe Spain has never had it so bad? At the end of their 0-0 draw with Betis last weekend, Sergio Ramos said that the result made some kind of sense. "The competition there is between teams here is what makes this the best league in the world, and we feel lucky to play here," he said. "You have to play as well as you possibly can because the smallest mistake leaves you slipping down the table."

His Real team had just failed to beat a goalkeeper who couldn't see. Joel Robles lost a contact lens but still managed to stop Madrid. They had just drawn with a team whose manager had been on the verge of the sack. It shows how strong they are, but it also reveal Madrid's flaws. That they are still joint top may reveal all their flaws. When it comes to the storyline, the attention, it's always about the big teams here, even when they are beaten by the smaller ones. The question this time is: is it about the big teams? There was excitement at Spain's newfound tightness last weekend, but it came laced with concern.

Look at the structure and La Liga has greater strength in depth than before. Although the economic differences remain huge -- Barcelona's budget is 18 times the size of Valladolid's -- the gaps have been reduced and the base amount has increased at the bottom. La Liga's financial controls, the signing of a collective TV deal enshrined in law to ensure it wasn't broken, and the redistribution of the money from that have improved the health of the smaller clubs. Debt has been reduced to almost nothing now while spending has increased. This summer, while it was of course top-heavy -- Atletico, Real and Barcelona spent over 800 million this summer, with a net spend above 200m -- spending was greater than ever before. Clever, imaginative clubs with bright coaches use that money well; those that have less of it use it even better, which is often the way. Too much money can make you lazy. The response of the promoted clubs tells a small story: Mallorca, the worst of them, beat Real Madrid. Osasuna drew with Barcelona and already have 18 points after 12 games. Granada beat Barcelona. They were top last week.

But the coming together of clubs, the tightness is the table, is necessarily driven by pressures from both sides: from the bottom upwards, but also from the top down. Barcelona have not had so few points as these for fifteen years. Valverde's team have nine points fewer than at the same stage of his first season. They have lost three times already -- three times as many as in the whole of that first season. the days of 100-point leagues are gone. Madrid's totals are not so far off what they were in the past two seasons -- they trailed the title winners by 10 wins over the past two campaigns -- but this time it is enough for them to be joint top.

Atlético may just have been given the best opportunity they've had to win the league -- yes, an even better chance than the year they actually did. Instead, they have won only three of their past nine games. That's the bad news; the good news is that nor has anyone else. Atletico could be top this weekend.

The stats alone wouldn't be enough, and could be read any way -- lies, damned lines and all that -- but the feelings reinforce that focus. Europe can too, although it has been a good week in the Europa League. It may be too soon, and far too dramatic, to talk of such decadence, but Spain's predominance is diminishing. Four Premier League teams as European finalists was a warning to Spain last season but is it temporary, and will it be heeded? Can it be?

Put bluntly, Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético have not impressed this season; when it comes to the big two, it's hard to avoid the feeling that these are teams without a clear identity, a work in progress. Take that line above about this weekend and rethink it: no one would seriously suggest right now that Madrid or Barcelona are as well-constructed, well-built or as clearly conceived as Liverpool or Man City.

And so you get a title race that can feel flawed. But it's fun, too.

Perth Scorchers have signed Lancashire batsman Liam Livingstone as their first overseas player for the upcoming Big Bash League season.

Livingstone, 26, played two T20 internationals for England in 2017 but has been become a highly sort after commodity on the global T20 circuit after his exploits for Lancashire in the T20 Blast in England.

He played in the Pakistan Super League for the Karachi Kings earlier this season and also played four games for the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL.

He is currently playing for Cape Town Blitz in the Mzansi Super League in South Africa alongside Melbourne Stars recruit Dale Steyn.

The Scorchers have had to reshape their batting line-up following the retirement of Michael Klinger and the exit of Shaun Marsh to the Melbourne Renegades. Livingstone will add some much-needed power and explosiveness to the top order.

"He has performed really well in T20 cricket all around the world over the past 12 months," Scorchers coach Adam Voges said.

"Liam's a great all-round package. He'll give us some aggression at the top of the order, he's a handy spinner and a fantastic fielder."

Livingstone is well known in Perth having played a season of grade cricket for Willetton in 2015-16. He played alongside Scorchers batsman Cameron Bancroft at club level and showed his tremendous hitting ability with some dazzling T20 innings.

He said he has watched the BBL closely for many years and was keen to be part of it.

"I'm so excited to have signed with the Scorchers for the upcoming Big Bash, it's a tournament I've always wanted to play in so I can't wait to get to Perth," Livingstone said.

"I've spent a winter in Perth, I know the place well and I'm looking forward to getting back there."

The Scorchers have one more overseas slot to fill on their roster after opting not to renew the contracts of David Willey and Usman Qadir.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Multi-faceted racer and noted industry giant Randy Sweet, the founder of Sweet Manufacturing, died Friday morning at the age of 72.

Sweet was a legendary innovator in the sport, but just as well-known for a time as a driver in his own right, with four late model track championships at Michigan’s Berlin Raceway (1975, ‘94, ‘95, ’99) and 63 late model feature victories at the seven-sixteenths-mile oval.

He began racing in 1963 and moved into supermodifieds late in the decade, all while developing and building his own race cars. The dawn of the 1970s saw Sweet step into the seat for car owners Glenn Miniat and Harry Obie, setting a track record at Indiana’s Winchester Speedway in 1978.

It was that same year that Sweet began manufacturing and selling products that he had tested and proven on his own machines already, debuting the Sweet Manufacturing brand which still exists today and supplies parts to stock cars and sprint cars across the nation.

The mid-1980s saw Sweet begin touring in his legendary “rocket car,” a purpose-built late model created for the purpose of shattering track records across the nation.

Sweet turned his final laps in a sprint car at Kalamazoo (Mich.) Speedway on July 21, 2013, while his last racing laps of any kind came at Berlin three years ago.

A 1997 inductee into the Michigan Motorsports Hall of Fame, Sweet was inducted into the Berlin Raceway Hall of Fame on Nov. 1, a well-deserved honor for one of the kings of the Marne facility.

“Randy was a great racer in his own right, but his innovations over the years with things in motorsports and especially short-racing and a lot of that stuff is still used today,” said Berlin Raceway track announcer Matt McKenzie on Friday. “A lot of that stuff was innovated in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s. That’s why so many people have so much respect for him.

“It’s not just because of his ability as a race car driver, which he was one of the best. He set track records in the ‘80s with his modified late model car. His innovations and his unique personality made for a combination of epic proportions.

“He was one of the giants of short-track racing.”

In recent years, outside of his product work with Sweet Manufacturing, Sweet was also well-known as a major backer of Scott Bloomquist’s Team Zero Racing operation.

Bloomquist, who won his Drydene heat race with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series on Friday night at The Dirt Track at Charlotte, was emotional in discussing his longtime supporter and friend’s passing.

“We certainly wish he was still here with us, particularly on this weekend. He was like a father to me,” noted Bloomquist. “We’re going to miss him a lot, but this No. 0 feels really good and I think we’ll be in there tonight to try and win one for him, that’s for sure.”

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Seeking to secure a spot in the Championship 4, Austin Hill secured the pole for Friday night’s Lucas Oil 150 during qualifying at Arizona’s ISM Raceway.

Hill took down his third-career NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series pole with a lap of 27.021 seconds (133.230 mph) around the one-mile D-shaped oval in the No. 16 AISIN Group Toyota Tundra.

The Winston, Ga., native is seeking his fourth victory of the season, a win that would move him into the championship race at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway next weekend with a shot at the title.

“I knew that our mock run was really good, but after seeing everyone slipping and sliding around out there, I just tried to hit my marks the best I could,” Hill said. “I didn’t think it was that good of a lap, honestly, because I came off turn two and it was chattering the front tires pretty bad. The guys did a heck of a job adjusting on it, though, and I think we really picked up a lot (of time) in turns three and four.

“That’s the best the truck has felt in turns three and four all day, and now we’re starting on the pole, so we just have to go and finish it off here to go on to Homestead.”

Fellow playoff contender Stewart Friesen will join Hill on the front row, with non-playoff drivers Sheldon Creed and Ben Rhodes sharing the second row of the starting grid.

Ty Majeski, making his Truck Series debut, completed the top five qualifiers.

Chandler Smith, Brandon Jones, Grant Enfinger, Todd Gilliland and Matt Crafton fill out the front five rows. Tyler Ankrum starts lowest among the six playoff contenders after qualifying 15th.

The Lucas Oil 150 takes the green flag at 8:30 p.m. ET, with live coverage on FOX Sports 1, the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.

STARTING LINEUP: NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series; ISM Raceway; Nov. 8, 2019

1. Austin Hill
2. Stewart Friesen
3. Sheldon Creed
4. Ben Rhodes
5. Ty Majeski
6. Chandler Smith
7. Brandon Jones
8. Grant Enfinger
9. Todd Gilliland
10. Matt Crafton
11. Johnny Sauter
12. Brett Moffitt
13. Anthony Alfredo
14. Ross Chastain
15. Tyler Ankrum
16. Dylan Lupton
17. Carson Hocevar
18. Tyler Dippel
19. Gus Dean
20. Tanner Gray
21. Sam Mayer
22. John Hunter Nemechek
23. Derek Kraus
24. Jordan Anderson
25. Austin Wayne Self
26. Joe Nemechek
27. Danny Bohn
28. Colby Howard
29. Kyle Plott
30. Natalie Decker
31. Carson Ware
32. Harrison Burton

DNQ: Jesse Little, Jennifer Jo Cobb

CONCORD, N.C. – As an international audience enjoys the Can-Am World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte, track and World of Outlaws officials have announced that reserved grandstand seats for the event are sold out for the 11th straight year.

For those still looking to attend the race, standing-room only tickets, as well as pit passes, are still available. Fans are encouraged to call 1-800-455-FANS to buy and then pick up at will call.

Pit passes are available for race fans 18 year of age and older.

The Can-Am World Finals brings together the top series in the sport – the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series, the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series and the Super DIRTcar Series Big-Block Modifieds – for a full weekend of racing which culminates in Saturday’s crowning of all three series champions.

Fans from all 50 U.S. states have joined attendees from as far away as Tanzania and New Zealand to make the World Finals a world-class showcase of speed, excitement and drama.

Club Brugge striker Mbaye Diagne has been fined and dropped after he missed a penalty that he was not supposed to take in the Belgian club's 1-0 Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.

The striker got up off the turf after being fouled by Thiago Silva in the 74th minute at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday and took the kick himself, instead of designated penalty taker Hans Vanaken.

Yet his feeble effort was saved by PSG goalkeeper Keylor Navas. It effectively cost his side a valuable point, leaving them with just two points from four matches in Group A.

The 28-year-old Senegal international has been fined and left out of the squad for Sunday's Belgian league encounter at Antwerp and coach Philippe Clement said he had yet to decide whether Diagne would play for the club in the future.

"It was a dumb mistake. A mistake that had consequences for the result and we are all very cross about it," Clement told a news conference on Friday.

"This sort of incident leads to emotions and there was a confrontation in the changing room after, but it was verbal and not physical. Diagne realised he made a mistake and did not argue back."

Clement said a strong punishment was needed and that Diagne's future at the club would depend on his reaction in the coming weeks. He is on loan from Galatasaray.

"We have had disciplinary incidents at this club in the past and players have been given a second chance. It is now up to Diagne to show that he accepts and understands the norms and values of our club," the coach said.

"He can still have a future with us although it depends on what he shows in the coming weeks."

Clement also told reporters that it was wrong to criticise Vanaken for not insisting on taking the kick.

"Some have suggested he didn't want to accept the responsibility but he told Diagne not to take the kick," Clement said. "But when he realised this was not going to happen, he did not want to get into an argument on the biggest stage in the world. I'm proud of the way Hans dealt with the situation."

SEATTLE -- MLS commissioner Don Garber said Friday that the league's next expansion announcement is very likely to come in "the next number of months" and that Charlotte, North Carolina, has moved to the front of the line in terms of candidates.

Speaking at the annual state of the league address ahead of Sunday's MLS Cup final between the host Seattle Sounders and Toronto FC (3 p.m. ET, watch live on ABC), Garber touched on a variety of topics, noting that five teams -- in Miami; Nashville, Tennessee; Austin, Texas; St. Louis; and Sacramento, California -- will come online over the course of the next several seasons.

But the news about further expansion revealed an acceleration in the timeline for team No. 30. As recently as last month's expansion announcement for Sacramento, Garber hinted that the league would take its time in announcing the 30th team. Now it appears that thinking has changed. Garber added that Las Vegas and Phoenix are also among the top contenders, although they are playing catch-up.

"It's fair to say that Charlotte has done a lot of work, to move their bid really to the front of line," Garber said. "It starts with David Tepper, the owner of the [Carolina] Panthers. He's a very passionate guy about sport, he's very passionate about Charlotte."

One stumbling block has been the Charlotte bid's plan to play at Bank of America Stadium, the home of the NFL's Panthers. The venue's capacity of 75,523 is much larger than what MLS usually prefers for an expansion team's home, but Garber indicated that Tepper has been pointing to the success of Atlanta United -- which plays its games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home to the NFL's Atlanta Falcons -- as an example of the potential upside.

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"[Tepper] is reminding us that the league didn't see what Atlanta would become," Garber said. "I would be the first to admit that. There are lots of things happening in Charlotte that are very similar to the things that are happening in Atlanta in terms of the diversity of their fan base and a lot of the corporate energy that's going on down there. We've been engaged with them and will continue to do so. ... I think the Carolinas are a good state for soccer. You know that from the women's soccer perspective and the youth soccer perspective. Should we be able to move forward, and end up with a team in Charlotte, I'm confident we'll be successful."

Las Vegas is in talks with the Baupost Group and its chief executive, Seth Klarman, over the building of a 25,000-seat stadium. That venue would be part of a proposed redevelopment of a 62-acre site that includes Cashman Field, the home of USL Championship side the Las Vegas Lights. Baupost would also purchase the Lights contingent on the company and Las Vegas entering into a master development agreement.

Phoenix has long been eyed by MLS as a potential expansion market, with USL Championship side Phoenix Rising -- with an ownership group that includes Didier Drogba, Advantage Sports Union CEO Alex Zheng and club governor Berke Bakay -- enjoying considerable success both on and off the field, with the team claiming the Western Conference regular-season title last season.

The United States District Court for the Central District of California granted a motion for class certification in the ongoing gender discrimination lawsuit between members of the U.S. women's national team and the United States Soccer Federation, handing the players an early procedural success.

Judge R. Gary Klausner ruled Friday that the plaintiffs can proceed with certification that names Carli Lloyd, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe and Becky Sauerbrunn as class representatives. The class includes players who appeared for the national team dating back to Feb. 4, 2015.

Certifying a class would allow the players to argue their case as a group and allow any players to opt in to the class. Those who don't opt in can still sue on their own.

"We've sort of learned in this whole process there are all these steps you have to go through and different things mean different things and sometimes you don't know the context or the gravity of things," Megan Rapinoe told ESPN.com. "But this is a really big one. For us, personally, to feel from someone very important to the case, the judge, the sense of validation in what we're saying and the case that we have.

"From a legal perspective, I think it's a huge step forward for us."

In making the ruling, which was on the procedural question and not specifically the merits of the lawsuit, the judge nonetheless rejected several arguments made in U.S. Soccer's motion to deny certification. Most notably, that the four proposed class representatives lacked standing because they earned more than men's national team players during the period in question.

The Court cited previous rulings involving both the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, under which the players brought the lawsuit, that discrimination involves rates of pay and not the total income earned. U.S. Soccer had argued in the motion to deny class certification that because the players earned more total income, they did not suffer legal injury.

"Further, courts interpreting the EPA and [to a lesser extent] Title VII have explicitly rejected this argument - for good reason," Friday's ruling stated.

The Court also rejected U.S. Soccer's assertion that the plaintiffs provided "insufficient proof" for the contention that unequal working conditions -- including inferior playing surfaces, lower ticket prices, fewer marketing resources and fewer charter flights -- constitute "concrete" legal injury.

According to the judge's written ruling, agreeing with U.S. Soccer's argument could yield an "absurd result," in which a woman could be paid half as much as a man as long as she negated the disparity by working twice as many hours.

"This is a historic step forward in the struggle to achieve equal pay," said Molly Levinson, spokesperson for the plaintiffs. "We are so pleased that the Court has recognized USSF's ongoing discrimination against women players -- rejecting USSF's tired arguments that women must work twice as hard and accept lesser working conditions to get paid the same as men. We are calling on Carlos Cordeiro to lead USSF and demand an end to the unlawful discrimination against women now."

U.S. Soccer was not immediately available for comment on the ruling. At an Oct. 28 press conference to introduce Vlatko Andonovski as the new coach of the women's national team, federation president Cordeiro was asked about the status of the lawsuit.

"I will just reiterate what I have said in the past," Cordeiro said. "Which is the federation has always been committed to paying our players, our senior national team players -- both our women and our men -- fairly, equitably, regardless of gender."

Mediation between the sides broke down in August. The suit remains in the discovery phase, and U.S. Soccer last week filed a motion for the disclosure from players of all soccer-related income that did not come from U.S. Soccer.

A trial is current scheduled to begin May 5, 2020.