SEATTLE — It’s unclear how the subject came up — again — but in early July, drag-racing media outlets had a handful of drivers and crew chiefs discussing whether the NHRA nitro-powered classes should return to racing on a quarter-mile track.

Why?

Certainly, that’s the traditional length of a course, 1,320 feet. But immediately following Scott Kalitta’s fatal 2008 accident, competition was limited to 1,000 feet, where it remains today. But who’s to say the sanctioning body might not have instituted that seemingly radical change before now, anyway?

“Big Daddy” Don Garlits advocated for it months before Kalitta’s incident.

Still, the controversy keeps popping up. It seems the self-proclaimed “purists” (whoever they might be and however they might define themselves) either can’t let go of the sport’s new normal or honestly believe if they whine loudly enough quarter-mile racing will come back. The latest round of bench-racing discussions floated the idea of racing at a quarter-mile distance during select races on the Mello Yello Series tour.

It’s fine to label oneself as a purist. It’s America. Everyone is allowed to have and peacefully express opinions. But consider that in America, even as late as the 1950s and ’60s, we slept with the doors to our homes unlocked.

We didn’t use or even have seat belts in passenger cars. We had party lines on our telephones, which all were black, had dials with finger holes and were affixed to the walls. We didn’t have cellphones or computers. And life was much simpler.

But the world changed — in many cases for the better, in some ways not. But safety, practicality and convenience motivated new ways of living. And if drag racing is a microcosm of society, then it isn’t hard to understand why equipment and practices evolved. And these purists aren’t team owners who pay the bills.

In an environment of (justifiable) hand-wringing about the need to trim costs, the notion of teams racing on a quarter-mile drag strip, especially only at a few venues, is counterproductive.

Already the teams have to have a special combination to compete every summer in the oxygen-sucking thin air and high altitude at Colorado’s Bandimere Speedway, and they tolerate it because it’s once a year. But it’s almost criminal to ask crew chiefs to bounce back and forth from 1,000-foot tune-ups to 1,320-foot tune-ups.

Of course, it always means more money, the primary factor in the equation. The sanctioning body isn’t poised to raise purses. Sponsorship is harder to come by, so racers can’t expect an abundant increase there to offset more expenses. Top Fuel owner-driver Terry McMillen said, “Even if you win a race, you are still $120,000 in the hole.”

Such a move would jeopardize performance, not improve it. Two-time Funny Car champion Matt Hagan said his strategy no longer is to win races but to win titles, which is more of a mental and physical shift than one might think.

He told Competition Plus’ Tracy Renck, “For us, it is about having a combination that worked through the entire year. Changing some of these races to quarter-miles and going back to 1,000-feet would change your combination. Everybody will adapt and everybody will figure it out, but it is just more time and energy spent for what?”

Moreover, technology has outpaced the tracks themselves. When racers were setting elapsed-time and speed records in the quarter-mile, they weren’t posting numbers like the ones today. The track could hold them. Today, those same racing surfaces might not. The tires may not hold them either.

For veteran Funny Car racer and 2016 champion Ron Capps, stopping the car is a major concern.

“Most tracks, their shutdown areas, you can’t add on to a lot of these tracks and it’s a safety issue to get these cars stopped,” Capps explained. “It’s not a matter that we don’t want to go fast. We would love to go 345 mph, but we just have to be able to stop. It’s like sending a Space Shuttle crew up into space with no plan to get them back to Earth.”

Antron Brown, a three-time Top Fuel champion, said he thought the quarter-mile course length should have remained, with added safety features put in place. But he said he knows with the change to 1,000-foot racing, like it or not, the die is cast.

“I honestly just don’t see how you can make it happen unless you handicap or cripple the cars somehow,” Brown said. “Where we are at now is where we have to live.”

The sanctioning body privately has considered a hybrid schedule, but it isn’t likely to adopt one. Insurance, tires, cost, pragmatism and a jumble of other factors play key roles. So the subject needs to move from hot-stove banter to far back on a cold burner.

LAS VEGAS – After retiring from full-time competition at the end of last season, Elliott Sadler has confirmed that Saturday’s Rhino Pro Truck Outfitters 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will be his final start as a professional racer.

Sadler, a winner in all three of NASCAR’s national touring series, will make his farewell appearance in a Kaulig Racing-prepared Chevrolet Camaro carrying a livery honoring Sadler’s first late model from 1993.

Prior to stepping away from full-time competition last year, Sadler competed for JR Motorsports, earning three wins and two runner-up points finishes under the command of Dale Earnhardt Jr.

“This is a pretty emotional week for me. (I’m) going into my last ever time of buckling up the helmet as a professional race car driver,” noted Sadler. “I’ve got a lot on my mind. There’s a lot of emotions and a lot of memories. I know this is the final time I’ll put my seat belt on and take a green flag of a NASCAR race.

“It’s a lot to go through, but I also want to put my best foot forward and end on a strong note as well. I can’t thank Matt Kaulig, Chris Rice and everyone at Kaulig Racing for giving me this opportunity to be a part of their team,” Sadler added. “And I definitely can’t thank Nutrien Ag Solutions enough for their support of my career and my final race.”

Sadler is a four-time runner-up in the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship and 13-time winner in the series across 22 years of competition. Saturday will be his 397th Xfinity Series start.

At the top level, Sadler made 438 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts, with three victories, 19 top fives and 69 top-10 finishes, as well as eight pole positions. His last Cup win came in September of 2004.

But much of Sadler’s tenure has been as a veteran in the Xfinity Series, which makes it a fitting place to say his good-byes this weekend, as he closes a chapter of his life and moves forward with family.

He’ll do so in a pale yellow and red-accented machine that takes the Emporia, Va., native back 26 years, to the earliest short-track days of his career.

“I thought all of the surprises in my driving career had come to an end, until Kaulig Racing showed me my first ever late model paint scheme on the No. 10 car this weekend for what will be my final race of the year,” Sadler noted. “I’m so thankful to Nutrien Ag Solutions for allowing me to drive this car. This is the perfect paint scheme for me, personally, this weekend. It’s going to be a lot of fun to strap in one last time at a fast place like Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“The paint scheme – that was a surprise I truly wasn’t expecting. I appreciate the Nutrien Ag guys so much for doing that,” said Sadler. “It means a lot to me and my family. That paint scheme really helped kick start my career in the right direction. (It’s) kinda what we were known for back in the day. Thanks to them for giving up their paint scheme and their look – kudos to them guys. Thanks again for that.

“We’ll try to do them right and do them proud and go out on top with a bang at Las Vegas.”

If that weren’t enough, Kaulig Racing team president Chris Rice will be Sadler’s crew chief on Saturday, just like he was in the early 1990s when Rice and Sadler won the South Boston Speedway track championship together in 1995.

“It’s so awesome to have Nutrien Ag Solutions allow us and join us in running this special paint scheme from Elliott’s original stockcar days,” Rice said. “This paint scheme means so much to not only Elliott, but to his parents Herman and Bell, his family, myself, and various other fans throughout his career.

“We won tons of races with this paint scheme, and thanks to Nutrien Ag Solutions, Matt Kaulig and all of those at Kaulig Racing, we have the opportunity to go out and try to win one more.”

HOLLY, Mich. – Christian Koehler is hoping to convert the momentum of his recent career-best finish with the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series presented by Engine Pro into even more success.

Koehler, a part-time competitor with the 410ci winged asphalt sprint car tour in recent years, grabbed a top-five result Saturday at Berlin Raceway, part of a consistent performance from start to finish.

The South Bend, Ind., native qualified sixth, ran well in his heat race and then finished fifth in the 30-lap main event at the seven-sixteenths-mile oval, the first top-five finish of his Must See Racing career.

“It’s definitely a good feeling,” said Koehler of his top-five effort. “To come out here and build on the way that we ran last time, which was all right, but not quite where we want to be … and to get up in the top five and be behind guys like Jimmy and Anthony (McCune) and Jason (Blonde) is just great for a team like ours. Heck, even Charlie Schultz was up there, and he was our feature winner last time we were here, so that tells you the competition level of this series that we were in the middle of all that.

“It feels good to be up there with that company and competing, so now hopefully we can try and get that first top three or maybe even that first feature win,” Koehler added. “We’re raising the bar.”

Koehler noted that he felt the speed in his No. 10k sprinter from the moment he laid a tire onto the race track for qualifying.

“That qualifying lab was pretty impressive, but you know, I had to let off a little bit coming out of (turn) four and that hurt us,” Koehler tipped. “Otherwise, we may have even been a little bit quicker, but we did a lot of things right and a lot of things we’re proud of right now. This car definitely has been hooked up, and if we can get everything dialed in right where it needs to be, we have a chance to go for a win.

“But yes, from the start, that qualifying lap definitely gave us a lot of hope.”

Koehler was among those who was able to navigate traffic well during the 30-lap Engine Pro Fast Car Dash feature event, staying on the lead lap for the entire distance and running as high as fourth before a late caution allowed Anthony McCune to rally past him on a green-white-checkered finish.

Still, however, Koehler was pleased with the overall effort of his family race team.

“It was a little bit crowded out there, but the slower cars did a good job of keeping it in one lane so that the faster cars could make it around them,” Koehler said. “A few times, we did have a couple of close calls running up on the back of slower cars … but that’s just a learning process for me as our car gets quicker and I learn more about how to get through that lap traffic.”

With one top-five finish in hand, Koehler’s long-term goal is continued improvement.

“We’re planning to be at the next race at Jennerstown Speedway, so hopefully everything goes good this Thursday when we run non-winged in the Anderson 125-lap event and then we can get the car set up for a winged race on Saturday and go out to Jennerstown and hopefully have another solid outing.

“The goal is to build on the last race and get another top five, if not better.”

Koehler and the rest of the Must See Racing travelers, including four-time defending series champion Jimmy McCune, current series point leader Anthony McCune, Canadian hotshoe Ryan Litt, Ohio veterans Charlie Schultz and Adam Biltz, National Sprint Car Hall of Famer Jeff Bloom and more will next test their skills during the second annual David D. Mateer Tribute Race, Sept. 14 at Jennerstown (Pa.) Speedway.

Additional heavy hitters expected to make the haul to Pennsylvania include recent Berlin winner Jason Blonde, all-time series fast qualifier and two-time champion Brian Gerster and Bobby Santos III, a former NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour titlist.

The lightning-quick half-mile oval is welcoming Must See Racing back for a second-straight season, after Jimmy McCune won the series’ debut appearance last year to clinch his fourth championship.

Pit gates at Jennerstown open at 10 a.m. on Saturday, with a one-hour sprint car practice session scheduled from 12:45 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. in the afternoon. Sprint car qualifying begins at 3 p.m., with opening ceremonies and feature racing beginning just before 6 p.m. local time.

The Super Cup Stock Car Series will co-headline the racing card alongside Must See Racing, with late models, street stocks, chargers, modifieds and 4-cylinders also in action at Jennerstown as well.

BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins have signed coach Bruce Cassidy to a multiyear contract extension, rewarding him for the team's trip to the Stanley Cup Final in just his second full season on the bench.

General manager Don Sweeney announced the extension Wednesday, a day before training camp begins. How many seasons the extension covers was not disclosed, though Cassidy reportedly had one-year left on his previous contract.

Cassidy has a 117-74 record with the Bruins, leading them to back-to-back 100-point seasons. The Bruins reached Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final in June, losing to the St. Louis Blues 4-1.

Cassidy, a 54-year-old former defenseman, played 36 games over six seasons for the Chicago Blackhawks. He had a 47-53-9 record in his first head coaching stint, with the Washington Capitals from 2002 to 2004, before he was fired 25 games into his second season.

The Minnesota Wild announced that they have re-signed forward Kevin Fiala to a two-year, $6 million deal.

The 23-year-old Swiss native had 13 goals and 26 assists last season, split between the Wild and Nashville Predators.

Fiala was drafted in the first round (11th overall) by the Predators in 2014. He was traded to Minnesota for Mikael Granlund in February.

Fiala has 48 goals and 56 assists in 223 career games.

The 16th Solheim Cup gets underway Friday at Gleneagles in Scotland. Golf Channel's Randall Mell and Brentley Romine are on site and offer up some thoughts to four big questions ahead of the matches.

Which rookie will have the biggest impact?

RANDALL MELL: Bronte Law seems to have been born for match play, with an almost pugnacious approach to the format. “It’s kind of nice to look someone in the eye and think that you’re intimidating them in some way,” she said before the UL International Crown last year. She was the first player from Great/Britain Ireland to go 5-0 in the Curtis Cup. She ought to be fun to see on the Solheim Cup stage for the first time.

BRENTLEY ROMINE: Nelly Korda. The younger Korda sister is a future world No. 1 and figures to be a mainstay on this U.S. team. She’ll have sister Jessica to lean on early as she begins her Solheim Cup career, but make no mistake, she’s more than ready for the pressure. Wet conditions will benefit the longer hitters, and Nelly is one of the best drivers of the golf ball in the world. She should play every session and rack up points for the Americans.

The most important player for the U.S. is …

MELL: Brittany Altomare is basically taking Cristie Kerr’s place in the American ranks. Altomare looks as if she’s going to replace Kerr in the pairing alongside Lexi Thompson. Kerr and Thompson have been the most dynamic pairing in women’s international team golf. They’re 11-1-2 together in Solheim Cup and UL International Crown play, but Kerr didn’t make this year’s team. There’s a big hole to fill with Kerr owning the record for most Solheim Cup points (21) in American team history.

ROMINE: Lexi Thompson. It’s been a roller-coaster couple of years for Thompson since the last Solheim Cup, yet she’ll enter her fourth cup as the Americans’ highest-ranked player. She needs to continue to play like it, because there’s a strong correlation between her play and the play of her team at this event. She’s gone 4-0-4, not losing a single match, in each of the past two cups (both U.S. wins). However, she played just three times in her Solheim debut in 2013, going 1-2 for a losing American side.

The most important player for Europe is …

MELL: Suzann Pettersen is the heart and soul of the European effort. Somehow, some way, she makes a difference. She was the centerpiece when Europe needed to turn the tide with the Americans dominating the event with three straight victories in ’05, ’07 and ’09. Pettersen was cumulatively 5-2-1 helping the Euros win in Ireland in ’11 and in Colorado in ’13. She was even the focus of the epic American comeback in ’15, when Pettersen called out Alison Lee for picking up a putt that wasn’t conceded, spurring the ire of the U.S. team in its Sunday singles charge.

ROMINE: Bronte Law. At 26th in the world rankings, she’s the second-highest-ranked European here at Gleneagles. With Suzann Pettersen a huge question mark this week, Team Europe needs someone to be a table-setter when it comes to killer instinct and fearlessness. The confident Law is the best fit to have that torch passed to. She’s just a rookie, but her 5-0 performance at the 2016 Curtis Cup is an indicator of the type of match-play maven she can be.

What storyline will ultimately decide the Solheim Cup?

MELL: Six American rookies will dictate the U.S. fate. It won’t be all on them, of course, but with so many first-timers, there’s no way the Americans can win without their collective success. The Americans haven’t had so many rookies since the competition’s inaugural event in 1990, when everyone was a rookie. With these rookies playing their first Solheim ever on foreign soil, in Scotland, the challenge is even greater.

ROMINE: Gleneagles’ PGA Centenary Course may be located in Scotland, but it is designed by an American (Jack Nicklaus) and is far from the classic links test found so frequently over here. The course will be soft and long this week, favoring the longer hitters, which the Americans have more of, and making these undulating greens less tricky. We’ll see a lot of birdies this week, which also favors an American team that features slightly better putters across the board. Most signs are pointing to an American victory, but it will come down to how they handle the cold, rainy and windy conditions because the golf course is very much right in front of them.

GLENEAGLES, Scotland – Danielle Kang made an entertaining rookie debut at the Solheim Cup in Iowa two years ago.

She sang, she danced, and she buried putts from all over the place winning three of her four matches while helping the Americans rout the Europeans.

Kang relishes attention. She said that during her debut.

But will she curb her flamboyance on the road, in Scotland?

“I hear that I’m going to be booed,” Kang said after a practice round Wednesday at Gleneagles.

Kang later said she was joking about that, but she did say she won’t be curbing her enthusiasm for the format.

“I'm loud, whether I'm in Nevada or in Scotland,” Kang said. “I don't think I change, no matter where I am.

“I'm definitely going to embrace the first tee. I'm going to embrace whenever I get a chance to hit it. I'm going to embrace the fans out there for the entire golf course, whenever I get to play. And I'm just embracing this vibe, that we all get to have and experience among teammates and the rival team.

“It's a lot of fun, and I'm excited to have a lot of fun out here.”

Kang, 26, a two-time LPGA winner and major champion, likes the match-play format. She showed that winning the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 2010 and ’11.

So, about that booing.

A British reporter reminded Kang of the Scots’ reputation as knowledgeable fans with great respect for the game.

“You're right,” Kang said. “Scotsmen are very respectful and honorable. This is where the home of golf started. This is where the home of golf is. So, I'm excited to see what the fans are going to be like, and I know I'm going to hear that ‘Ole’ song as well.

“It's definitely going to be a different vibe from Des Moines. I do know that. There will be more Europe chants than U.S.A. chants.”

GLENEAGLES, Scotland – American Annie Park didn’t abandon the long putter when the Rules of Golf outlawed anchoring.

In fact, she didn’t commit herself to the broomstick until after the ban was established in 2016.

Why?

Because she was desperate.

Park said she might not be on the U.S. Solheim Cup team taking on Europe this week if not for the long putter.

“To be honest, in 2017 I was going to quit golf,” Park said. “I was thinking about possible other professions that I wanted to do.”

Park, winner of the NCAA individual title while at USC in 2013, was struggling with a back injury and swing changes and lost full LPGA status at the end of the 2017 season. That’s when a friend recommended she try the long putter.

Six months later, Park won the ShopRite Classic for her first LPGA title.

The USGA and R&A never banned the putter. They just banned bracing the putter against the body.

“The long putter was kind of the turning point in my career,” Park said. “I went from almost quitting golf to winning a golf event, and this week making it to the Solheim. So, it's huge.”

Park is the only player using a long putter in the Solheim Cup. She might be the only full-time LPGA pro still using one. She is 21st in putting average on tour this year. She was 158th the year before she began using the long putter.

Park can’t definitively say why her putting came together with the broomstick. She just knows putts began falling shortly after she made the switch.

“I kind of clicked from that instant,” she said.

GLENEAGLES, Scotland – The U.S. holds a 10-5 all-time series lead in the Solheim Cup and has won the past two contests and five of the last seven.

But are the Europeans a better team?

Azahara Munoz and Carlota Ciganda seem to think so. In Wednesday’s final press conference, the Spaniards were asked about the differences in attitudes between themselves and the Americans.

“To be honest, I think that playing as a team comes very natural to Europeans,” Munoz said. “I feel that maybe because we grew up playing as a team a lot and American is more of an individualistic lifestyle, I guess. And we do everything together. We're more family-oriented – not that they're not; that sounded terrible. Sorry, I didn't mean that.”

But Munoz, who has been on three previous Solheim Cup teams (two winning), continued.

“We tend to do everything in groups ... and I think that really helps us,” she said. “A lot of people have been asking me, 'What do you do to make the team better?' And we don't try anything. We just do. Carlota and I were talking last night; I don't remember the last time I laughed so much. Every dinner is just nonstop. Like, we were joking how we had to get the physio to work on our faces because I was sore here from laughing.

“We just get along so great and we have so much fun together, so I think we really have that going on for us.”

Ciganda, now a four-time Solheim Cupper who joined Munoz on the winning Spanish team at the 2014 International Crown, agreed.

“Americans, they are great players. I think, as Azahara said, they're more individual,” she said. “They like to do their own thing. They like to be the best at anything they do, and I think that's really good. I think that's why in singles they're always very good.

"I think it's just the lifestyle. I think Europeans, we're more used to playing as a team. And we love that. I think you have to like that, have to love that. I think Americans, they want to be more – maybe more leaders or more – I don't know what's the word. We're just all one. We're all the same. We are a team and we are Europe.”

And they likely just gave the Americans some bulletin-board material.