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Kasey Kahne Interview

Kasey Kahne Racing has had a great deal of success at Knoxville Raceway recently. Last year, the team won the 58th Knoxville Nationals with driver Brad Sweet and last week the team won the 360 Knoxville Nationals with James McFadden. Just last night, McFadden finished second in the Knoxville Nationals opening night feature. How has this team found so much strength at this track? Tony Bokhoven spoke with team owner Kasey Kahne to find out.

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IT WAS A three-minute walk from Kekuta Manneh's home in Bakau, Gambia, to his local soccer field, an uneven dirt pitch also used for daily prayer and naming ceremonies. Manneh and his friends played wherever they could; even ramshackle streets with slippers for goals would do.

Today, like so many others, a 10-year-old Manneh and his cadre were en route to pickup. When people started running past them into his compound, Manneh's shine dimmed. Sobbing wails hung in the air. His group doubled back with trepidation, balls and shoes in hand, only to see neighbors encircling Manneh's family. When murmurs of his mother's name registered, Manneh understood: His mother was gone. Her kidneys had finally given out.

"The most painful moment of my life," Manneh, the 24-year-old winger, says now.

Then and there, he resolved to live a life that would honor her. Manneh threw himself deeper into soccer, his sport becoming more obsession than hobby. Manneh subsequently lived with his grandmother, and his time at home drew scarce. Whether he was playing soccer alone against a wall, small-sided or four corners, every moment went into honing his craft, prowess with a ball the fulcrum of the life he knew -- and a ticket to another.

Manneh knew, if he eventually turned pro, it was something the whole country would talk about. Europe was Shangri-La, but felt unattainable. There were whispers, though, that a certain continent to the northwest had budding soccer promise.

The United States was a place he could thrive, a place he might be able to call home.

WHEN GAMBIA WON the 2005 and 2009 U-17 African Cup of Nations and qualified for the World Cup with Manneh's contemporaries, the country seemingly overnight became an untapped fount of soccer talent to American scouts. Major League Soccer was entering its second decade and had reportedly lost $350 million in its first. Globalization was imperative, not aspirational.

"Nike did a partnership with my academy," Manneh says, "looking to establish an exchange program, take players to America every year and develop them into professionals."

America? Manneh thought, MTV's America?

"Nobody saw America as a footb-," he catches himself, "a soccer nation. I knew 50 Cent, Nelly, Chuck Norris.

"That was the America I knew," Manneh says with a chuckle. "Until [some] Gambians got signed by MLS teams. People said: 'Wait, you can actually play in America?'"

Manneh, then with the Gambia Rush, an offshoot of the American Rush Soccer's international academy, had become one of the most talented young players in the country. He was also one of the lucky ones chosen and still remembers his family crowding him as he held aloft, like de facto Golden Tickets, a newly minted passport and visa.

"I don't think I'll ever forget that," he says.

He absconded to Georgia in 2010 through the Rush program; extended family he'd never met offered a bed. Before leaving home, his family told him about the America they knew, rife with guns, violence and prejudice. (Unbeknownst to him, Manneh would be living 20 minutes from Forsyth, where in 1912 white locals had forced out all 1,098 black residents.) They advised him not to go out much, but said going to the movies would be OK.

"With that narrative in my head, outside of soccer, I barely left the house," he says.

He quickly became disillusioned with the soccer. Games were few and far between, the competition was subpar, and Manneh had expected a built-in pathway to the MLS.

"I wanted more," Manneh says.

A more competitive team in Texas within the academy was taking on players. The Niccums, a white Christian family of five, gladly opened their home. Their eldest son, Cameron, and matriarch, LaRhonda, were both involved with the team -- defender and team mom, respectively. Hosting Manneh seemed a natural fit.

LaRhonda Niccum remembers a cripplingly shy 15-year-old who arrived at her doorstep malnourished and with latent tuberculosis.

"He so blessed our family," Niccum says, a slight drawl peppering her speech. "He was very likeable right off the bat, but very shy. Coming into a new culture, of course he was."

Manneh, an African-born Muslim, was living squarely in the Bible Belt.

"Everybody was really accepting," Niccum says. "He went to church with us, we listened to him, and there was never any issue. Just love."

Manneh says: "We had some cultural differences, at first, and I didn't know how to act around them. It was my first time living with people that don't look like me. Once we got to know each other, that went away.

"[Muslims, Christians], we both believe that God is leading the way, that everything happens for a reason."

Within months, he'd taken to the Niccums. They'd bonded on road trips, at church and at family dinners. He eventually confided in them about his mother's death.

Then news reached that he needed to return home to renew his visa. The thought nearly destroyed him.

"Most of the time, you don't [come] back," Manneh says.

The Niccums told Manneh they wanted him to stay and talked to him about adoption. They detailed an arduous process, but Kekuta had fallen in love with America and the Niccums with him. Manneh wanted to become a citizen. Adopting Manneh wouldn't win him citizenship right away, but it was a start.

Manneh's father, who wasn't around much when Manneh lived in Gambia, relinquished parental rights; Manneh's new life in the U.S. began.

"We loved him to pieces," Niccum says. "God just popped him into our lap."

By 2012, the family had moved to Austin, and Manneh had attracted the attention of the Austin Aztex of the Premier Development League, the highest level of amateur competition U.S. Soccer offers.

Manneh wasn't a role player; at 17, he was all-conference in a league of more than a thousand of America's best 18- to 22-year-olds. He trained briefly with the LA Galaxy but never signed with the team. Less than two weeks after turning 18, ahead of the 2013 MLS Draft, Manneh inked a contract with Generation Adidas, a joint effort between MLS and U.S. Soccer to grow local talent. It was the crescendo to his meteoric rise.

The kicker: Manneh was told a Canadian team would be taking him. He was crestfallen. He'd been progressing toward citizenship, and applicants had to remain in the States for five years without significant absence. Canada meant starting over.

The Vancouver Whitecaps traded up to get Manneh fourth overall. Manneh thought his fate was sealed. But someone within the Whitecaps organization had a suggestion.

"They said, 'There's this place that's basically Canada, but it's in the U.S.,'" Manneh recalls.

He could play for the Whitecaps and stay eligible for American citizenship.

Manneh was told the place was used for witness protection, that there's only one way in or out.

POINT ROBERTS, WASHINGTON, is cartographic fantasy: In 1846, the United States and Britain signed the Oregon Treaty, extending the boundary between Canada and the U.S.

But there was an aberration. Canadian land beneath the 49th parallel had been amputated: a 5-square-mile peninsula at the foot of British Columbia, mistakenly bequeathed to America.

The Point, as it's known, is an unincorporated community and census-designated U.S. soil, a crabbing haven unattached to the United States with only 1,300 full-time residents.

It was irony writ large: Again, Manneh would straddle cultures and countries to gain agency.

Manneh found an apartment fewer than 500 feet from the border, consummate wintry mountains looming in the distance.

New York Red Bulls and U.S. men's national team defender Tim Parker was a rookie in Vancouver in 2015 when he met Manneh. "He told me he was living in America and I said, 'How is that possible?'" Parker remembers.

Carol and Stephen Fowler, Canadian and English (as well as U.S. citizens), respectively, were his new landlords. Stephen had called The Point home for 40 years.

"We'd have him down for dinner," Carol Fowler says. "Lovely person. I'd never seen professional soccer before, but we started going to games." (They rib the witness protection myth: "Guess you'd never know, would you?")

On practice and game days, Manneh would drive nearly two hours round-trip, liaising with border patrol agents twice a day, his most consistent personal interactions.

His teammates originally had no idea he was commuting to become an American. Solitude weighed heavy on the 20-year-old.

"He was a fun, great kid, so separated from everyone else," Parker says. "A couple guys might've visited him once or twice? I never made it out there."

The quiet anonymity of The Point sometimes amused Manneh, though. "I would watch [the neighborhood] get ready for Whitecaps games Saturday mornings," he says. "They'd have their jerseys on in the street and I'm just driving by, waving."

"People didn't understand why I lived there. I said, 'This is my home.'"

The response was often an unconvinced shrug.

In 2013, he was the youngest in league history to notch a hat trick. In 2014, he was 12th on MLS' 24 Under 24 list, then second the following year. Rumors of interest from Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal abounded.

Such was the tedium of his routine, Manneh's five-year anniversary in America snuck up on him. He applied for citizenship and prayed. Manneh needed good news: Injuries had hampered his progress, and he played only 17 games in 2016.

That September, with the Niccums in tow, Kekuta Manneh became an American citizen in a private ceremony in Seattle. Six months later, Vancouver shipped him to Columbus.

Manneh was overjoyed to learn under Crew head coach Gregg Berhalter, now helming the U.S. men's national team.

"Gregg knows his system inside and out," Manneh recalls. "It was beautiful to be part of how football should be played."

Yet Manneh averaged only 45 minutes a game, still tallying four goals and three assists despite only starting nine matches.

"Kekuta has a unique skill set," says Berhalter, fresh off the U.S. men's runner-up showing at the Gold Cup. "He's very dynamic individually, extremely calm and calculated in front of goal, and finishes plays."

But during a magical playoff run amid unceasing rumors of team relocation -- birthing the viral hashtag #SaveTheCrew -- Manneh was deemed surplus. At contract's end, he elected to go abroad.

Union Berlin, then in Bundesliga 2, extended Manneh an offer. He hopped on a flight, planning to sign, feeling reborn.

"I get to the locker room," he says, "and the coaching staff gets fired."

Weeks before his 23rd birthday, Manneh was unincorporated territory himself.

"Every high-level player experiences moments where it doesn't go their way," Berhalter says. "It's about how you respond to those challenges."

Manneh linked up with Pachuca in Liga MX, but fell out of favor and left after only eight minutes of league play. He was called into U.S. camp, but uncapped. Then Swiss side St. Gallen took him on, but he couldn't break into the starting 11. MLS teams reached out; newly named U.S. men's coach Berhalter discussed January camp if he was returning. Manneh felt in form, determined to succeed in Europe. He stayed, to no avail. This past February, when FC Cincinnati inquired, he nearly leapt back across the Atlantic.

"I saw the noise Cincinnati fans make, while I was with Columbus, the run in the Open Cup," Manneh says. "I wanted to be a part of that."

After two years of Sisyphean catastrophe, unceremoniously rejected in Germany, playing fewer than 10 games in Mexico and Switzerland combined, his boulder found purchase atop the hill.

Now, Manneh is playing regular soccer again.

Former Cincinnati assistant and Gambian native Pa-Modou Kah can't say enough about Manneh's resilience. "He's only 24, with all the talent in the world and a wonderful understanding of the game. He's a whatever-it-takes [kind of player]," says Kah.

Calling America home was once a pipe dream. Now? Manneh wants to play for the U.S., see those Stars and Stripes draped over his chest.

"It's up to him," Berhalter says. "We have a lot of respect for him and what he brings to the team. He can change the game at any moment: Now it's about performance. We don't close doors on players and giving opportunities to immigrants made us who we are as a country.

"As long as he's performing at a high level, you get an opportunity."

Manneh has kept long-distance relationships with his father and brothers, and he's finally considering visiting Gambia. Having gained agency, literally and aesthetically adopted by America, it's time to retrace those 4,500 miles to the provenance of everything, to visit his mother.

At training recently, while exiting the pitch, a teammate asked Manneh where he was headed at season's end.

Manneh walked down the tunnel toward the locker room, the teammate falling behind, lost in his phone.

"Home," Manneh called back.

"Gambia?"

"Home," he breathed. "Texas."

The Premier League's summer transfer window is closed, meaning there will be no more incoming players until January 1. With the new season set to begin on Friday when Liverpool host Norwich City, we take a look at the teams that did the business and those that didn't seal the deals they were hoping for.

WINNERS

Arsenal

Who would have thought Arsenal could come out on top in a transfer window? They have strengthened key areas with the club's record signing, Nicolas Pepe, the excellent Celtic left-back Kieran Tierney, Real Madrid's twinkle-toed Dani Ceballos on loan and the hair-raising arrival of David Luiz. The latter was necessary after Laurent Koscielny's unpalatable departure and is certainly not a long-term measure, but Arsenal now have a proven winner and character at the back. They can also call upon one of the world's most sought-after wingers in Pepe, whose arrival from Lille is a major coup.

- Transfer Tracker: All the major deals
- Marcotti: Anatomy of a transfer story
- Transfer Grades: Rating every big transfer

Arsenal may have to wait a while to see much of Tierney, who is still recovering after double hernia surgery, but he is a fine attacking full-back whose best years are ahead of him. The sale of Alex Iwobi to Everton, essentially a book-balancing measure, takes one option away but he never quite caught fire at Arsenal and the overall sense is that they have freshened up intriguingly for a new tilt at Champions League qualification.

Everton

Are Everton and Marco Silva about to make a concerted push for the top four? You might not bet against it after the summer they've enjoyed.

Losing Idrissa Gueye, an outstanding midfielder but one who turns 30 next month, to Paris Saint-Germain looked a worry but their incoming players have more than compensated for that. Moise Kean, the thrilling young striker from Juventus, has arrived for £29 million in one of the summer's stand-out signings while Jean-Philippe Gbamin and Fabian Delph add depth and quality in Gueye's absence.

Andre Gomes' move from Barcelona has been made permanent while full-back Djibril Sidibe, a star of Monaco's Champions League semifinalists two years ago, looks a shrewd loan addition. Ademola Lookman eventually got his drawn-out move to RB Leipzig but Everton look covered with sufficient quality and options in all areas of the pitch. Their only weakness might be a lack of depth at centre-back, where Kurt Zouma may be missed after returning to Chelsea.

Over to you, Marco.

Aston Villa

What a show of intent it has been from promoted Villa, who are wasting no time in their return to the top flight. They've spent almost £150m on 13 new players and even though that might sound perilously close to Fulham's misadventures this time last year, the names look impressive.

It might seem steep to pay £26.5m for Tyrone Mings but the defender was excellent for them on loan from Bournemouth in last season's run-in, while the £22m striker Wesley Moraes seems equipped for the top level. Midfielder Douglas Luiz is an exciting arrival from Manchester City while Jota, the forward from Birmingham, could be a bargain at £4m. Egypt winger Trezeguet, who had an impressive AFCON but has had a largely mercurial career, could be a masterstroke too.

Dean Smith has a task on his hands to put it all together but Villa look well set for a push towards mid-table if all goes well.

LOSERS

Manchester United

United have spent £120m in this transfer window but they more than anyone should know that splashing the cash only makes a difference if it comes with an element of planning.

Their two major signings, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Harry Maguire, certainly strengthen their defensive options but neither quite comes with "sure thing" status attached. Maguire, who arrived for a gigantic £85m fee from Leicester, is the kind of character United have long lacked on and off the pitch and should give them a presence they needed at centre-back. But there are doubts over whether he is a genuinely top-bracket talent (he certainly lacks pace) while Wan-Bissaka, a very promising right-back from Crystal Palace, remains raw defensively.

They are good additions but United look weaker in midfield and attack now that Ander Herrera and Romelu Lukaku have departed. Paul Pogba looks like sticking around, despite speculation earlier in the window, but United do not look like a squad that can force their way back into the Champions League places. Daniel James, the Swansea winger, is a decent punt at £10m but will not reinvigorate them on his own.

Chelsea

An obvious one, this, because their transfer ban has limited Frank Lampard's hand enormously. In one way that could be a blessing: Chelsea have a vast stock of players and this will be a chance for Lampard to blood players like Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori, who both enjoyed excellent seasons on loan for his Derby side last term.

The arrival of Christian Pulisic, sealed while Mauricio Sarri was still in charge and Chelsea were still able to deal, is undoubtedly a boost too. But despite the young American's undoubted talent, he's still no Eden Hazard and Chelsea are, however anyone spins it, considerably weaker for their talisman's departure to Real Madrid. They also lack a leader and character at the back now David Luiz has made his shock move to Arsenal, even though some of his relationships within the club had apparently soured towards the end.

Lampard, who has at least seen Chelsea make Mateo Kovacic's move permanent, has his work cut out with the cards he has been dealt.

Burnley

Every year it's sorely tempting to tip Sean Dyche's side for relegation and every year they confound those expectations. But the danger is that those around them are outstripping them in terms of quality and the woes they endured in the first half of last season, when they seemed to lose to vim and vigour that served them so well for so long, might be a warning sign.

For now they keep going: the return of Jay Rodriguez could be a shrewd switch, Danny Drinkwater has a six-month loan to get his career back on track in midfield and Erik Pieters adds solidity from Stoke. But there is a nagging sense that they need more and that this time, all the fire and brimstone in the world might not be enough. Or can Dyche perform miracles once again?

Middlesex 210 for 8 (Morgan 70, de Villiers 64, T Curran 3-36) beat Surrey 146 (Finch 47, Finn 5-16) by 64 runs

The Middlesex website had it down as the hottest ticket in town. There was a bit of competition: Rachmaninov at the Albert Hall, the Bolshoi Ballet at the Royal Opera House and Harry Potter on Shaftesbury Avenue. But nothing, really, to quite match AB de Villiers and Eoin Morgan at Lord's.

From the first Twenty20 fixture at Lord's in 2004, which just happened to pit Middlesex against Surrey, this particular game has been viewed as a barometer for the success of the format. And it is clearly thriving. The 27,773 crowd, in beating the 27,509 of 15 years ago, is believed to be a record for a limited-overs game in England apart from finals. No wonder touts were lining up outside.

Problems on the Jubilee Line meant it was well underway before the attendance passed 25,000, but few seats remained unoccupied by the time Morgan and de Villiers came together in the seventh over. And even fewer were vacated during the 10.2 overs that followed, a period bringing 115 runs with the World Cup-winning captain out-hitting the great South African.

They posted the highest fourth-wicket stand for Middlesex in Twenty20 and, with a couple of late sixes by John Simpson thrown in, established a target that meant Surrey could not afford even a short fallow period across the reply. Aaron Finch started with typical fire and Sam Curran maintained something close to that tempo, but they needed more and for longer.

The collapse when it came was alarming - eight wickets for 29 runs - but not entirely unpredictable. It also represented a personal triumph for Steven Finn, who would have completed a six-wicket haul had he held on to a tough return push from Gareth Batty in his final over. As it was, figures of 5 for 16 represent the best of his career and the second best of the competition this season.

De Villiers, therefore, leaves Middlesex with the victory that makes his return next month the more likely. He is heading home to honour commitments made before he signed, but is available again if they reach the quarter-finals. As things stand, they sit third in the southern group with five wins from seven games. Surrey, next to bottom, are almost doomed.

Thames-side bragging rights are also assured because this was the first time since 2008 that Middlesex have beaten their neighbours home and away in Twenty20. Victory at the Oval last month owed most to a crunching 117 by Dawid Malan, and when Malan succumbed third ball for 117 fewer this time, Surrey might have imagined a reversal of the earlier result.

Unfortunately, they missed the one chance offered by de Villiers before his eventual dismissal, a throw by Ben Foakes that could have pulled off a run out with the batsman in single figures. There felt something symbolic in the way the ball sped for overthrows, and de Villiers quickly forced Imran Tahir for three successive fours where speed of hand matched ingenuity of footwork.

Morgan did not make batting look as easy or smooth, but he consistently clouted the bowling, driving and smearing Tahir for a quartet of sixes and raising his fifty from 27 balls. A first six from de Villiers raised his own half-century from seven balls more and he continued on to 64 before mistiming a full toss from Tom Curran into the leg side. Morgan fell in the next over, the 19th, trying to repeat a six over long-on against Jade Dernbach. By this stage, Dernbach might have rued his decision to insert.

A short boundary towards the Mound Stand created hitting opportunities, and Finch began aggressively with four fours in a row when Helm allowed too much width towards that side of the field. Middlesex were fortunate to remove him on 47, Simpson fumbling a ball from Nathan Sowter with Finch beaten in the flight only to see it drop from the keeper's gloves on to the stumps. Sam Curran became Finn's first victim with a top-edged pull, Ollie Pope screwed into the off side and Middlesex finished the innings ruthlessly.

For star quality as well as crowd and a sheer sense of occasion it is hard to think The Hundred next year will bring any greater allure. Between them the teams fielded 16 internationals; it would have been 17 had England allowed Jason Roy to play. Strange times, indeed, when Roy is rested from the white-ball game to prepare for a Test, though it was nice to imagine him blocking out a maiden here and then explaining to baffled team-mates: "That's the way I play."

A fine catch by Helm ended the evening eight balls ahead of schedule, prompting a final chorus of "Sweet Caroline" which might well have echoed as far as the Opera House. Crowds approaching 28,000 are not always tuneful, but they do make a heck of a noise even at the home of the MCC.

NAPA, Calif. -- Oakland Raiders right guard Gabe Jackson was carted off the practice field late in Thursday's joint practice with the Los Angeles Rams because of an injury to his left leg.

Jackson, who was later seen on crutches and wearing a brace on his left knee, was rolled up on from behind during a live team drill, a few minutes after being involved in a scrap with Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald.

"We're concerned, obviously," Raiders coach Jon Gruden said. "Really concerned about him. But we'll get more information here and we can be specific for you. I don't want to speculate. Unfortunate. Hope he's OK."

Jackson, a third-round pick of the Raiders in 2014 who signed a five-year, $56 million extension in 2017, is expected to anchor the right side of the Raiders' rebuilt line. Right tackle Trent Brown signed the richest deal for an offensive lineman in league history at $66 million over six years this offseason.

With Jackson out, the Raiders rotated Denver Kirkland and new swing guard/backup center Jordan Devey at right guard with the starters for the rest of practice.

The Raiders are already thin at guard, with left guard Richie Incognito set to serve an NFL-mandated two-game suspension to begin the season and Denzelle Good out for at least two months following offseason back surgery.

Jonathan Cooper, who will start in place of Incognito to begin the season, could potentially move to right guard should Jackson be out an extended amount of time.

"We'll have to put our heads together to take a look where at we're going, if we need to," Gruden said.

OXNARD, Calif. -- Dallas Cowboys defensive end Robert Quinn has been suspended for the first two games of the season for violating the NFL's performance-enhancing drug policy.

Quinn will be eligible to return to game action Sept. 22 against the Miami Dolphins, who traded him to the Cowboys in March. On Wednesday, Quinn had surgery to repair a fractured left hand suffered in Tuesday's practice, and the team believed he would be ready to play for the Sept. 8 season opener against the New York Giants.

Quinn's agent, Sean Kiernan, released a lengthy statement defending his client, saying the failed test was a result of Quinn's use of a preventative medication for seizures.

"Rob has a medical history with seizures that requires him to take multiple doses of preventative medication daily to regulate them," Kiernan wrote. "He was tested on April 2nd under the NFL Steroid Policy. He failed the test for a substance called probenecid, which is classified as a masking agent under the policy. He does not take any supplements and took nothing else during this period that would create a positive test for probenecid, in fact, he had no idea what probenecid was or what it was used for."

Kiernan also took exception to the league's tactics during the hearing process.

"I've been working with NFL Players for 20 years, and I can't think of a situation where I've been personally involved where the league was as tone deaf as it was here," he wrote. "Now, Rob will be punished for something that would have been impossible for him to prevent, and even though the NFL admitted during the hearing that it did not believe Rob was intentionally doping, they still suspended him. The arbitrator gave us a fair hearing, but the strength at which the league argued against Rob was incredibly disappointing."

Before the suspension was announced, Quinn had his appeal denied by an independent arbitrator selected by the NFL and NFL Players Association. Under the PED policy, a player is subject to a two-game suspension if a masking agent is found in testing.

Coach Jason Garrett said the team is 100% behind Quinn.

"We support Robert Quinn. We trust Robert Quinn," Garrett said. "We really like everything he's done for our team since he's been here. We're excited about his future with our team."

Garrett said the Cowboys became aware of the possibility of a suspension in the past few weeks. Quinn is expected to return to the Cowboys on Sunday to begin his rehab on his left hand and continue conditioning work.

With Quinn out for the first two games, it creates some potential roster issues for the Cowboys when the final cuts are due and opens opportunities for other players, like Taco Charlton, Dorance Armstrong and Kerry Hyder.

Randy Gregory has yet to file for reinstatement from his indefinite suspension, and DeMarcus Lawrence (shoulder) and Tyrone Crawford (hip) have opened training camp on the physically unable to perform list.

The expectation is Lawrence and Crawford will begin practicing when the Cowboys return to Frisco, Texas, after their Aug. 17 preseason game against the Los Angeles Rams in Honolulu.