TORONTO -- The 2019 NBA Finals have twisted into a series of developing dramas, nuanced tugs of war and a seemingly constant transition from heroes to goats -- and goats to heroes.

Pascal Siakam announced his presence on the NBA's biggest stage, then not 72 hours later, the Golden State Warriors responded with their patented third-quarter devastation that was dormant in the opener.

With the series tied 1-1 following the Warriors' come-from-behind 109-104 victory over the Toronto Raptors, here are the main factors to watch, heading into Game 3 on Wednesday in Oakland.

Tricks and wrinkles

Steve Kerr and Nick Nurse are working hard trying to surprise each other. In Game 1, Kerr threw a defensive scheme Nurse had never seen the Warriors use, a gimmick defense aimed at Kawhi Leonard. Called the "switch-then-blitz," the Warriors tried to bait Leonard and the Raptors into one read, only to flip into another scheme, trapping Leonard when he wasn't prepared.

In Game 2, Kerr made a gutsy decision to start DeMarcus Cousins after he'd played just eight up-and-down Game 1 minutes after sitting out six weeks because of an injury. Cousins picked up two fouls in the game's first four minutes and wasn't effective in his first shift. But Kerr stuck with the game plan and was rewarded for it. Cousins capped a fantastic all-around game with 11 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and two blocks and amassed a plus-12 on the floor, tied for the team high.

"We came in thinking, all right, he can maybe play 20 minutes, and he gave us almost 28," Kerr said. "He was fantastic, and we needed everything he gave out there -- his rebounding, his toughness, his physical presence, getting the ball in the paint and just playing big, like he does. We needed all of that."

Meanwhile, Nurse played only eight players in Game 2 and rode Fred VanVleet 38 minutes off the bench, using him in lineups with Kyle Lowry for a smallish backcourt. He was able to slow Stephen Curry with his own gimmick defense.

After Curry posted 23 points through three quarters, Nurse pulled out a box-and-one when the Warriors point guard came back in the fourth, relying on VanVleet to chase Curry around with the rest of the team zoning up behind him. It was easier to do with Klay Thompson sidelined, and it maximized VanVleet, who has proven to be one of the most effective players in the league in hounding Curry.

Curry went scoreless in the fourth and finished with his fewest points (23) in the past eight games.

Trainers doing work

Alarms sounded within league circles last summer when the Warriors turned over their training staff for the third time in four seasons. They brought in four people, including new director of sports medicine Rick Celebrini, who had been with Vancouver Whitecaps FC of Major League Soccer.

Over the past few weeks, Celebrini and his staff have been playing a vital role behind the scenes. They've been monitoring DeMarcus Cousins' and Kevin Durant's recoveries from injuries, getting Cousins back ahead of schedule, while taking care of a hobbled Andre Iguodala.

Iguodala is getting heavy treatment on a left leg injury that has been bothering him for weeks and has required two MRIs. Yet there he was, playing 28 minutes and hitting the game-clinching 3-pointer on Sunday.

"You go play," Iguodala said. "Not saying it's smart, but you only have about a week left to gut it out and see if you can help the team."

On Sunday, Celebrini had to administer in-game treatment to Curry, who was under the weather, giving him medication and gels on the bench. After Curry missed his first six shots, he went to the locker room with Celebrini. Upon his return, Curry came back in and scored 12 points to help reduce Toronto's lead from 12 to five at the half.

The trainers will spend the next two days caring for Thompson, who pulled his hamstring Sunday, in addition to trying to get Durant back. Thompson's status will be of huge importance heading into Game 3.

"F---ing giants"

Golden State's preference is to play small. Call it the Hamptons 5 or the death lineup, but it means putting Draymond Green at center and switching on pick-and-rolls to create a flexible defense that spreads the floor with shooting on offense.

That has become next to impossible with their injuries, which now include backup center Kevon Looney, who missed the second half with a shoulder injury. In response, Kerr has gone old-school, using traditional bigs Cousins and Andrew Bogut as centers while keeping Green at power forward.

Doing so has hurt the Warriors' ability to trap Leonard because the Raptors have put the big men in pick-and-rolls with Leonard as the ball handler. The big men have no choice but to back up and allow more room. Leonard was more effective in Game 2 because of it, as he scored 34 points after posting 23 in Game 1.

But the side effect is this: It has given the Warriors great size around the rim, which has bothered the Raptors. Toronto has smaller guards, Lowry and VanVleet, who often struggle to score against size at the rim. It also can bother Siakam, who can be pushed around inside.

In Game 1, the Raptors went 20-of-28 in the paint, with Siakam especially taking advantage, shooting 10-of-11 inside. In Game 2, with Cousins and Bogut playing a combined 35 minutes, Toronto went 22-of-46 in the paint. Siakam shot 5-of-14 at the rim.

Lowry's "foul" performance

Over the years, Lowry's playoff yo-yoing has been a source of stress for himself and Raptors fans. With the arrival of Leonard and the emergence of Siakam, Lowry's scoring has become less important in playoff games. He has shown leadership and an ability to make plays elsewhere, and he has become elite at drawing charges. He has taken 16 in these playoffs, more than twice as many as anyone else in the league.

That said, Lowry's play the first two games simply hasn't been what the Raptors need. He shot 2-of-9 in Game 1, which was covered by his teammates' strong shooting performance. He was 4-of-11 in Game 2 and fouled out in 27 minutes.

For the second time this postseason, he wasn't there for the game's most important minutes, which forced Nurse to alter his rotation at a delicate time. Lowry has been in foul trouble regularly the past two rounds, something Toronto simply cannot afford.

Lowry wasn't thrilled with several of the calls Sunday, but his sixth foul, with just under four minutes left, came on an unnecessary gamble in the backcourt.

"A couple of them I didn't think I fouled," Lowry said. "At the end of the day, I just have to put myself in a better position not to foul."

Somewhere out there is the next great star. Maybe it will be the first player taken in the MLB draft or another first-round pick. Maybe it will be somebody buried deeper in the draft, like second-rounder Nolan Arenado or fourth-rounder Cody Bellinger. It could be a college player or a 17-year-old kid. It's part scouting expertise and part luck.

Here are some questions and issues heading into Monday's first round, the first of three days of drafting:

Click here for Keith Law's latest mock draft

Will the Orioles draft Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman No. 1?

Some have called Rutschman the best top overall prospect since Bryce Harper in 2010. He's a switch-hitting catcher with defensive skills, power potential and huge numbers with the Beavers: .427/.584/.772 with 16 home runs in 171 at-bats and nearly twice as many walks as strikeouts. The stat line backs up the scouting reports that he's an elite-level talent, and as Keith Law wrote on his big board of the top 100 prospects, Rutschman's floor is that he'll be a longtime big league catcher because of his defense, and the ceiling is an All-Star catcher because of his power.

If the Orioles take him first, Rutschman will be the fifth catcher taken first overall:

1966: Steve Chilcott, Mets
1970: Mike Ivie, Padres
1971: Danny Goodwin, White Sox (did not sign)
1975: Danny Goodwin, Angels
2001: Joe Mauer, Twins

Goodwin is a great trivia question, the only player to be drafted first overall twice (he ended up playing just 252 games in the majors, none of them at catcher). Chilcott and Ivie were high school catchers. Chilcott, famously drafted one spot ahead of Reggie Jackson, never made the majors, and Ivie had to move to first base. Mauer has the second-most career WAR of any catcher drafted in the first round, behind only that of Craig Biggio, who moved to second base after four seasons behind the plate with the Astros.

The Giants took Georgia Tech backstop Joey Bart second overall last year, the first catcher selected that high since Mauer. In comparing Rutschman with Bart, the obvious difference is control of the strike zone during their junior seasons:

Rutschsman: 69 walks, 36 strikeouts
Bart: 41 walks, 56 strikeouts

Even factoring in that the ACC might be a tougher league than the Pac-12, that's a big edge for Rutschman. Bart struck out a lot for an elite college hitter -- similar to Mike Zunino, the third overall pick in 2012, who has struggled to hit for average in the majors -- adding some risk to his profile. I see no such risk with Rutschman.

So why wouldn't the Orioles draft him? They could draft Cal first baseman Andrew Vaughn or high school shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. to save money in their bonus pool allotment that they could then use later in the draft to give an over-slot bonus to a high school player.

Will Witt go second overall to the Royals?

In a year in which Fernando Tatis Jr., Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Cavan Biggio have made their big league debuts, it's fitting that one of the top prospects is the son of a former major leaguer. Bobby Witt Sr. won 142 games in a 16-year career and was the third overall pick in 1985, so if Witt Jr. goes this high, it would make them the highest-drafted father-son duo, surpassing Tom Grieve (the sixth pick in 1966) and Ben Grieve (second in 1994).

While Witt is a five-tool talent, there is one potential red flag: He turns 19 in June, making him one of the older high school prospects in the draft. Third baseman Brett Baty, like Witt a Texas high schooler, is 17th on Keith's big board, but he's already 19½. Rany Jazeryerli first studied the impact of draft age for high school hitters in a series of articles years ago at Baseball Prospectus, writing that "a team that drafted one of the five youngest high school hitters selected among the top 100 picks could expect more than twice as much value from him as a team that selected one of the five oldest high school hitters."

Two of the most famous No. 1 overall picks were 17 on draft day: Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez. Carlos Correa was 17 when the Astros drafted him first overall in 2012. Mike Trout didn't turn 18 until August of his draft year. Rany presented a list of examples, concluding that "young draft picks are a MASSIVE market inefficiency."

This doesn't mean that Witt and Baty aren't worthwhile first-round picks or that Witt doesn't deserve to go second overall. It's just another data point that teams will throw into their evaluations, and their statistical models won't like that these players are older.

In the other direction, shortstops Gunnar Henderson (No. 41 on Keith's board) and Kyren Paris (No. 49) are two players who could outperform their draft slots, as they don't turn 18 until later in the year.

When will the first pitcher go?

Keith's top eight players are position players, and he projects the first pitcher to go to the Reds at No. 7. The mock drafts at MLB.com, The Athletic and FanGraphs predict the same scenario (Keith, The Athletic and MLB.com have the Reds going with TCU lefty Nick Lodolo, while FanGraphs predicts West Virginia righty Alek Manoah). If the first six picks end up being position players, it would be a draft first. The first five picks in 2005 were all hitters: Justin Upton, Alex Gordon, Jeff Clement, Ryan Zimmerman and Ryan Braun. (That was a legendary first round that also included Troy Tulowitzki, Andrew McCutchen, Jay Bruce and Jacoby Ellsbury.)

High school pitchers versus college pitchers

This is one of the longest-standing draft debates. Eno Sarris recently reported at The Athletic that the average age of first-round pitchers has dropped in recent seasons. Indeed, when I checked the number of high school and four-year college players selected in the first 30 picks, the trend is away from college pitchers (though the trend is toward a few more position players in the first round, not necessarily toward high school pitchers):

2006-2010: 43 college pitchers, 30 high school pitchers
2014-2018: 35 college pitchers, 31 high school pitchers

Those numbers don't answer the question, however, of whether high school or college pitchers are the better bet. I recently wrote an article asking "Where do the best starting pitchers come from?" I created a list of the 75 best starters, 60 of which came via the draft. The breakdown:

College: 34
Junior college: 2
High School: 24

That would seem to point to favoring college pitchers, but of the 35 first-round picks out of those 60 pitchers, 18 were college guys, and 17 were high school players. It doesn't seem like there is any obvious trend here or reason to focus on one group.

Who is the most interesting pitcher in the draft?

Elon right-hander George Kirby is fascinating because of his 107-to-6 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and Keith Law has him No. 24 on his board, and two of the mock drafts have Kirby going at No. 14 to the Phillies. He has size (6-foot-4) and hits 95 mph, but Keith writes that he wouldn't be a first-rounder in a typical year. He's also from a small college -- Elon plays in the Colonial Athletic Association -- and you don't see many first-round pitchers from non-power conferences. (The Mariners took Stetson righty Logan Gilbert last year, hoping he follows in the path of late-round picks Jacob deGrom and Corey Kluber.)

Who is the most interesting hitter in the draft?

Vanderbilt outfielder JJ Bleday had six home runs his first season but broke out with 25 home runs this year and will be one of those hitters to go in the top six. His 45-to-45 strikeout-to-walk ratio is good, but it pales in comparison to that of Rutschman, and elite college hitters usually have more walks than K's, so Bleday might have swing-and-miss issues as a pro.

Arizona State outfielder Hunter Bishop, a potential top-10 pick, is the younger brother of Mariners outfielder Braden Bishop and broke out with 22 home runs. He has some swing-and-miss concerns as well, however, with a 22 percent strikeout rate.

Baylor catcher Shea Langeliers is a first-rounder based on his stud defense and leadership, and while there are questions about his bat, he suffered a broken hamate bone early in the season (returning after missing just three weeks), and on Saturday, he had a record-setting three-homer, 11-RBI game in the NCAA tournament.

Which team has the most to gain from this draft?

Obviously, the teams at the top of the draft have to hit their picks -- young, good players are more important than ever, and if you're going to tank, you better take advantage -- but this could be an important day for the future of the Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks don't pick until 16th, but after losing Patrick Corbin and A.J. Pollock as free agents, they have the most bonus pool money and also pick 26th, 33rd, 34th, 56th, 74th and 75th -- that's seven of the first 75 picks. This is somewhat reminiscent of 2011, when the Rays had 10 of the first 60 picks. The Rays almost flubbed that entirely, though they did end up with Blake Snell. The Diamondbacks hope to find their own Snell -- and two or three other future major leaguers.

Halle Throws International action, plus a world record by Hannah Cockroft, Stockholm Marathon results and more

Coverage of the England area championships in Bedford, Nuneaton and Manchester can be found here, while other recent highlights are below.

Halle Throws International, Germany, June 1-2

European indoor silver medallist Christina Schwanitz threw a European lead of 19.23m on her season opener to win the shot put competition ahead of Sweden’s Fanny Roos with a national record 18.88m.

Britain’s Sophie McKinna, who has thrown beyond 18 metres recently, was seventh with 17.57m.

Canada’s Tim Nedow won the men’s competition with 20.87m.

Also on the first day, Jamaica’s Commonwealth champion Fedrick Dacres threw 68.64m in the discus to beat Olympic silver medallist Piotr Malachowski with 65.87m as the top seven all surpassed 65 metres.

Cuba’s Denia Caballero threw 65.99m in the women’s competition to win ahead of China’s Feng Bin with 64.89m.

World champion Pawel Fajdek was a clear winner in the hammer as he threw 79.04m ahead of Michail Anastasakis of Greece’s 75.16m. Britain’s Commonwealth champion Nick Miller was fifth with 73.62m while his team-mate Taylor Campbell was ninth with 68.45m. China’s Wang Zheng with 74.89m won the women’s hammer competition.

Bernhard Seifert won the javelin with 83.05m and Kara Winger threw 62.08m to claim the women’s title ahead of European champion Christin Hussong with 61.81m.

British javelin thrower Harry Hughes, who recently set a PB of 80.32m in Loughborough, won the under-23 competition with a throw of 74.80m.

Scott Lincoln threw a shot put PB of 19.77m for the best mark by a British athlete since 2012 to win the B competition.

GB junior athletes James Tomlinson and Sarah Omoregie both also set personal bests with respective marks of 60.24m in the discus and 15.45m in the shot put.

In the women’s under-20 hammer, Britain’s Charlotte Williams and Charlotte Payne placed third and fourth respectively with 60.89m and 59.66m. In the under-16 competition Lily Murray was fourth with a 55.60m PB.

George Armstrong was sixth in the under-23 discus with 56.46m.

Arbon, Switzerland, June 1-2 

Hannah Cockroft improved her T34 400m world record, taking 0.25 off her previous best from 2017 with a time of 57.48.

European Mountain Running Championships Trials, Skiddaw, June 2

Scotland’s Jacob Adkin and Andrew Douglas claimed the top two spots in the senior men’s race to secure automatic selection for the European Mountain Running Championships in Zermatt.

Sarah Tunstall won the senior women’s race ahead of Hatti Archer as they both also secured selection.

Matthew Mackay and Eve Pannone won the junior races.

Irish Life Health All Ireland Schools’ Track and Field Championships, June 1

Aaron Sexton secured an impressive double in the senior boys’ 100m and 200m, clocking record times of 10.43 (+1.9m/sec) and 20.69 (+1.4m/sec).

Sexton, who now heads the European under-20 rankings for the 200m, will compete at the European U20 Championships in Boras before playing professional rugby with Ulster.

Sarah Healy won the senior girls’ 3000m in a championship record of 9:24.52.

Poland, June 2

Harry Aikines-Aryeetey won the 100m in 10.26 (0.2m/sec), while Anyika Onuora clocked 23.90 (0.0m/sec) in the 200m.

Lina Nielsen ran a 400m hurdles PB of 56.70.

Stockholm Marathon, Sweden, June 2

Nigussie Sahlesilassie won the men’s race in a 2:10:10 course record from fellow Ethiopian Tafese Delegen with 2:11:40.

It was an Ethiopian double as Aberash Fayesa won the women’s race in 2:33:38 from Japan’s Haruka Yamaguchi with 2:34:04.

Top Swedish athletes were Adhanom Abraha in sixth in 2:16:48 and Mikaela Larsson in third in 2:36:32.

Mattoni České Budějovice Half Marathon, Czech Republic, June 1

Italy’s Yassine Rachik won in a European race record of 63:02, while Lilia Fisikovici from Moldova won the women’s race in 73:29.

Britain’s Luke Traynor, who was the pre-race favourite, finished in 10th and later collapsed but posted an update on social media saying he is fine and will be undergoing tests to find out what caused his collapse.

I collapsed shortly after finishing the race. Im fine now and get tests done this week to find out what happened. Again thank you @RunCzech

— Luke Traynor (@luketraynor1) June 3, 2019

Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon, San Diego, California, June 2

Kenya’s Bernard Ngeno won the men’s race in 60:08 ahead of Lawrence Cherono with 60:48.

Ethiopia’s Rahma Tusa claimed the women’s title in 69:09 from Meseret Belete with 70:31, while Britain’s Alice Wright ran a PB of 71:37 to finish third.

Nashville, USA, May 31-June 1

Thomas Staines, the son of Olympians Linda and Gary, ran a World Championships qualifier of 1:45.67 for third in his 800m race in Tennessee.

CALIFORNIA, Mo. — Tyler Blank picked up another winged 360 sprint car victory Sunday night at Double-X Speedway.

Blank took the lead from Taylor Walton on lap six and led the remainder of the distance for his third victory of the season.

Kyle Bellm came on to finish second with Ayrton Gennetten, Taylor Walton and Ben Brown rounding out the top five.

Chad Staus won the 15-lap B Mod Mania feature and Rick Girard won the hobby stock main event.

Joe Miller was best in the super stock class.

VERNON, N.Y. — Matt Tanner always looks forward to the Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprint stops at the Utica-Rome Speedway.

The Stephentown, N.Y., admits that the slick half-mile is his favorite track on the schedule.  He came into Sunday night with three series wins at the facility. On Sunday night, he left with his fourth.

Tanner was methodical in working to the front after starting in the eighth. Tanner first appeared into the top on lap seven before moving into second on lap eight. A lap later he was able he able to wrestle the lead away from Chuck Hebing. They remained the top two with Danny Varin entering the fray late. At the checkered it was Tanner taking the E&V Energy, NAPA Auto Parts and Mach 1 Chassis A-Main feature win.

By setting fast time in his time trial group, winning his heat and then the A-Main, he won the Wick-edly Sent Triple Crown which was worth $500.

“It’s been a struggle this year,” said Tanner. “We blew the motor up the first week and bent this car last week. This is someplace we always circle on the calendar. We can’t wait to get back here. Bill and Kim (Shea) do a great job with the place. I wish they’d run sprint cars every week.”

Varin came home in second for his second podium finish of the weekend as he always finished second on Friday night at the Brewerton Speedway.

“We had a really great car tonight,” mentioned Varin.  “These are two great drivers, and there are more than two in this group.  These guys are very, very good.  It’s fun to race with them.  We just came up short tonight.”

Hebing held on to finish in third.

“We are really good car early in the race right now, but we have to figure out the laps 10 to 15 when the tires get hot on me,” stated Hebing. “That’s what happened last night at Fulton also. The car is fast. We just have to fine tune it. Both of these guys are really good here.”

Cory Sparks advanced from 12th to finish in the fourth spot while Paulie Colagiovanni scored another top-five run in fifth.

The finish:

Matt Tanner, Danny Varin, Chuck Hebing, Cory Sparks, Paulie Colagiovanni, Dylan Swiernik, Shawn Donath, Scott Holcomb, Davie Franek, Larry Wight, Sammy Reakes IV, Billy VanInwegen, Jonathan Preston, Chad Miller, Jason Barney, Jeff Cook, Brett Wright, Dave Axton, Kyle Moffit, Kelly Hebing, Tyler Cartier, Josh Pieniazek, Emily VanInwegen, Bobby Varin, Todd Gracey, Danny Peebles.

KELLYVILLE, Okla. — Ryan Gustin roped himself a rugged victory Sunday night when the USMTS invaded the Creek County Speedway for the second annual Bullring Badass.

Following up last year’s inaugural event where fans were treated to a caution-free 40-lap barnburner, another epic battle in the tight confines of the 35-year-old quarter-mile dirt oval produced another 40 circuits of rush hour traffic.

“It was elbows up, no doubt,” said Gustin, who rode into the USMTS winners circle for the first time since the final night of the Featherlite Fall Jamboree on Sept. 23, 2017. “I broke something in the left front there and, man, that thing was tight on entry.

“I didn’t want no more laps, that’s for sure. I was wore out and the car didn’t want no more either.”

Unfortunately for USMTS national points leader Rodney Sanders, his tire only had 30 laps in it. In the heat of a three-way tussle between himself, Dereck Ramirez and Gustin, Sanders slowed on the exit of turn two, which allowed Ramirez and Gustin to scoot past while Sanders came to a stop in the next corner.

Following the caution flag with ten laps remaining, Ramirez was able to nose in front of Gustin to lead lap 31, but ‘The Reaper’ came storming back on the high side to take the lead for good with eight to go.

From there, Gustin rode the dangerous but faster high line to the checkered flag with Jake O’Neil advancing to claim the runner-up spot while Ramirez held strong in third.

With last year’s winless season and a rash of mechanical woes since March of 2019, the win was just what the doctor ordered for the two-time USMTS National Champion.

“We’ve just had some tough luck you know; That’s how it goes,” said Gustin, who unveiled his new livery last weekend with new sponsor Spike Hardcore Energy. “We can’t be having any more failures or anything going on, so we have to stay on top of our maintenance program.”

It was Gustin’s 95th career triumph-third on the USMTS all-time wins list.

Terry Phillips and Mike Striegel each passed a dozen drivers en route to finishing fourth and fifth, respectively, in Sunday’s main event.

The finish:

Ryan Gustin, Jake O’Neil, Dereck Ramirez, Terry Phillips, Mike Striegel, Randy Timms, Chad Davis, Hunter Marriott, Rodney Sanders, Kyle Ledford, Tyler Davis, Kale Westover, Lance Mari, Brandon Dean, Ho Dean, James Esmond, Scott Glover, Tyler Wolff, Joe Duvall, Andy Morris, Adam Kates, Joe Wright, Jason Hughes, Mark Shipman.

SLINGER, Wis. — Brad Mueller cherishes each victory he gets at any race track and he’s done quite a bit of that lately.

One victory that he’ll likely remember the most, long after he’s done racing, won’t be from the race track.

On Sunday afternoon, mere hours before the 24th running of the Alan Kulwicki Memorial at Slinger Super Speedway, Mueller watched his oldest daughter, Julia, walk across the stage and graduate from Sheboygan Falls High School.

When Julia was 13 months old, she was adopted by Mueller’s family and was brought to the U.S. from Russia.

“It was awesome; it was very awesome,” Mueller said of watching Julia graduate from high school. “To see her accomplish so much like that, knowing where she came from. We adopted her from Russia back when she was 13 months old to the young woman she is today is a great feeling.”

Mueller capped the memorable day with a victory in the Alan Kulwicki Memorial, his second triumph in the annual celebration of the former NASCAR and Slinger champion. Mueller also won the Alan Kulwicki Memorial in 2003. The race was rained out in 2007, ’11 and ’12.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee engineering professor Jean Optiz waved the green flag to start the 75-lap feature. Kulwicki graduated from UWM with a degree in engineering.

“It’s a prestigious race,” Mueller said, adding, “to win at Slinger Speedway, you got your program together if you’re winning here.”

Brad Keith finished second, followed by Nick Wagner, Chris Blawat and RJ Braun to round out the top five.

“That old guy can still wheel pretty damn good I’ll tell ya,” Keith said of Mueller. “Last year about halfway through the year we clicked on some stuff and it’s taken us a little bit this year to get back to it. Tonight’s a good testament.”

For Braun, it was his first top-five finish in only his third career super late model feature start. And it was Wagner’s best career finish in a super late model, a division he’s raced full-time in since 2012.

“Finally got something to show for all the hard work we put in,” Wagner said.

Mueller is on a hot streak.

He’s won back-to-back features at Slinger, while setting fast time in both weeks. He also won the dirt late model feature at Plymouth (Wis.) Dirt Track on Saturday. It is the second time Mueller has won dirt and asphalt feature races in the same weekend, also doing the same feat at the same two tracks in 2015.

In addition, Mueller got a firm hold of the championship lead as contenders Steve Apel and Alex Prunty posted DNFs. Mueller leads by 64 points over Apel. But, Mueller said, it’s too early to think about championship positioning.

“You don’t start thinking at all,” Mueller said. “All of a sudden I could happen what happened on the dirt where I got wrecked three weeks in a row.”

He added, “Always count your blessings whenever you have a great few weeks, always remember that bad weeks can happen.”

One thing he has been thinking about for a while is the elusive Slinger Nationals title. Mueller has been trying to win the Slinger Nationals for more than 15 years. Is 2019 his year?

It’d be hard to bet against the three-time track champion right now, who led 69 laps and finished third at last year’s Nationals.

“We have a car that’s capable of winning it every year we come here,” Mueller said. “It’s just about survival and how the cards fall at the end of the race.”

Also picking up feature wins were Matt Rose (American Super Cup), Jacob Nottestad (limited late model), Ryan Gutknecht (sportsman), Matt Urban (Slinger Bees) and Rick Bruskiewicz (Figure 8).

SUN PRAIRIE, Wis. — Davey Ray won the 73rd Opening Night 20-lap Zimbrick Chevrolet of Sun Prairie Badger Midget Racing Series feature Sunday at Angell Park Speedway.

The event also kicked off the 73rd year of racing at the track and is the first of nine nights of racing this season at the facility.

Mike Ungar led the opening lap, before fast qualifier Justin Peck took over the top position. Ray who after failing to record a qualifying lap, won the semi feature, to start in the 15th position. Ray passed four cars on the first lap and improved another four positions by the completion of lap three.
Ray moved into fourth position, when the events only yellow appeared for a stalled car. On the restart Peck led Chase Jones, Andy Baugh, and Ray. Ray passed Baugh on the restart.

Peck increased his lead over Jones and Ray as the paired battled for the second position. Ray gained the position on lap 12, and then chased down Peck, taking the lead at the start/finish line with five laps remaining.

Ray driving the Mark Ray No. 3 DRC/Honda finished 1.953 seconds ahead of Peck, Jones, Jack Routson and Jordan Mattson who competed the top five.

“It was a big drive to come from deep in the field, but the caution helped us and we chased everyone down, Mark and Robby had the car perfect for the feature” commented Ray after winning his 18th career midget feature at the track.
The finish:

Davey Ray, Justin Peck, Chase Jones, Jack Routson, Joran Mattson, Andy Baugh, Chase McDermand, Ryan Probst, Kevin Olson, Kurt Mayhew, Brian Peterson, Matt ReCheck, Mike Ungar, Mike Stroik, Zach Boden, Kevin Douglas, Dave Collins Jr., Pat Henson, Jeremy Douglas, Kyle Koch, Harrison Kleven, Jeff Sparks.