Recorded at the 59th Knoxville Nationals in front of a live audience, two of sprint car racing’s biggest names grace the SPEED SPORT stage at the same time! Twelve-time Knoxville Nationals winner Steve Kinser and 1983 Knoxville Nationals winner Sammy Swindell join Ralph Sheheen to talk about all things sprint cars…including their heated rivalry which was one of the most fierce in motorsports.

Also joining the show: Dominic and Gio Scelzi, Brady Bacon, Danny Lasoski, and the editor of Sprint Car & Midget Magazine, Doug Auld.

Catch this week’s full episode on SPEEDSPORT.com or download the podcast on SoundCloud, iTunes, Spotify or iHeart Radio.

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MOORESVILLE N.C. – David Ragan will step away from full-time NASCAR competition after the conclusion of the season, after 13 straight years at the sport’s highest level.

Ragan, 33, began competing in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2007 with Roush Fenway Racing after finding success in the now NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series. He was also the NASCAR Xfinity Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year that season as well.

The Georgia driver has 457 career starts in the Cup Series heading into Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, with two wins, 15 top-five and 40 top-10 finishes to his credit.

Ragan’s first top-level victory was with Roush Fenway at Daytona Int’l Speedway in July of 2011, while his most recent Cup win – which came at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in 2013 – was the first victory for Front Row Motorsports as an organization.

He spent time as a substitute driver for the injured Kyle Busch at Joe Gibbs Racing in 2015, and also served stints at Michael Waltrip Racing and BK Racing as well before rejoining Front Row for the 2017 season. He previously drove for the team from 2012 through 2014.

“I’ve prayed and heavily considered this decision, but for myself and my family, I believe this is the right thing to do,” said Ragan. “I am a husband and a father to two young girls first, and I am a driver second. To compete in what I consider the greatest series in the world, you need full dedication of your time and focus. My children are growing up quickly, and I want to concentrate my time in being the best father and husband I can be.  I feel this is where God is leading my life, and therefore I’m making this decision.

“There aren’t enough words to thank everyone who has helped me in my career and to all the fans who have supported me in this journey,” he added. “It’s not over, but I’m ready to spend more time at home.”

In addition to his Cup Series statistics, Ragan also has two NASCAR Xfinity Series wins and one ARCA Menards Series victory on his resume. Both Xfinity Series triumphs came for Roush Fenway, while the ARCA win was while Ragan was driving for owner Wayne Day.

Front Row Motorsports has fielded three chartered cars this season in the Cup Series: the No. 38 for Ragan, the No. 36 for rookie Matt Tifft and the No. 34 for fellow veteran Michael McDowell.

The organization still plans to field the No. 38 entry next season and will announce plans for that car at a later date. Wednesday, team owner Bob Jenkins’ focus was on thanking Ragan for his contributions to the Front Row operation.

“We admire David for making what I’m sure was a very difficult decision,” said Jenkins. “We also commend him for his reasoning. David has always put family first, and as a father, I understand what it’s like to not be at that game or big event for your child. Throughout his time at Front Row Motorsports, David has always gone beyond what was asked of him – or even volunteering his own time to help grow our team. Now it’s time for him to give some of that back to his family and we totally support that.

“Our doors are always open for David and we’ll miss seeing him every week.”

Emiliano Sala and pilot David Ibbotson were exposed to high levels of carbon monoxide in the cockpit of the plane they were travelling in when it crashed near the isle of Guernsey in January, the UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch has said.

The Piper Malibu aircraft the pair were in went missing on Jan. 21 after disappearing from air traffic control's radar while flying over the English Channel on the way to Cardiff, Wales.

- Borden: In search for Emiliano Sala

Sala's body was found within the wreckage of the plane, while pilot Ibbotson's body is yet to be recovered. Toxicology results released on Wednesday showed the level of carbon monoxide (COHb level) in Sala's blood was 58%. Anything over 50% in a healthy individual is considered to be potentially fatal.

Daniel Machover of Hickman & Rose solicitors, lawyer for the Sala family, said in a statement: "That dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide have been found in Emiliano's body raises questions for the family. How he died will be determined at the inquest in due course.

"The family believe that a detailed technical examination of the plane is necessary.

"The family and the public need to know how the carbon monoxide was able to enter the cabin. Future air safety rests on knowing as much as possible on this issue.

"Emiliano's family call on the AAIB to salvage the wreckage of the plane without further delay."

The AAIB report states the symptoms of an individual with a COHb level of above 50% include seizures and unconsciousness, and could potentially cause a heart attack.

Sala had just completed a £15 million transfer to Cardiff City from French Ligue 1 side Nantes and had been due to train with his new teammates the day after the plane went missing.

"We have evidence to show that the passenger was suffering from the effects of carbon monoxide in his blood and we believe that the pilot is likely to have been suffering from exposure to carbon monoxide before the accident," AAIB principle investigator Geraint Herbert said in a video statement posted on Twitter.

"Carbon monoxide is an odourless colourless gas. Symptoms at low exposure levels can be drowsiness and dizziness, but as the exposure level increases it can lead to unconsciousness and death.

"The investigation continues to look into a wide range of areas in relation to this accident and particularly, we are looking at the potential ways in which the carbon monoxide could enter the cabin in this type of aircraft."

In a statement provided to ESPN, a Cardiff City club spokesperson said: "Cardiff City Football Club is concerned at the AAIB's latest report which once again highlights that the aircraft used for Emiliano Sala was not appropriate. We continue to believe that those who were instrumental in arranging its usage are held to account for this tragedy."

The AAIB did not confirm that carbon monoxide was the cause of the accident. A final report will be published in due course.

ESPN FC has approached Nantes for comment.

Chris Morris will not be part of South Africa's T20I side in India in September, but he remains in Cricket South Africa's plans for the future. "He still wants to play cricket for South Africa," CSA's acting Director of Cricket Corrie van Zyl said of Morris' status after the 32-year-old allrounder did not make himself available for selection for the India tour, which includes three T20Is and three Tests.

Morris' national contract expired after the World Cup in England, and he has spent the last month playing for Hampshire in the Vitality Blast, alongside former Proteas Rilee Rossouw and Kyle Abbott. Morris has taken eight wickets and scored 84 runs so far in his time with Hampshire, but they are currently nestled at No. 6 in the South Group points table, with five defeats from nine games. ESPNcricinfo understands that Hampshire are not pursuing a Kolpak deal for Morris.

"It is well known that Chris' national contract was not renewed beyond the World Cup," van Zyl explained to Sport24. "Then, following his super performance at the World Cup, negotiations began on awarding him a new national contract but by then he had already made other commitments."

Those commitments could well include the Caribbean Premier League, which starts on September 4. Morris has previously been contracted to the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in the competition. The Euro T20 Slam also takes at the same time as the T20 leg of South Africa's trip to India, starting on 30 August and ending on 22 September, the same day as the third T20I between South Africa and India.

"It absolutely does not mean that the door is closed, and we will start negotiations on a new contract again after the tour," Van Zyl added.

Morris should be in the frame for what will be a busy home summer, with England and Australia both visiting before South Africa return to India in March next year.

James Pattinson's back was in such a bad state less than two years ago that the world renowned surgeon recruited to give him one last chance at a sustainable international career initially told the fast bowler that it was unlikely he would be able to help.

As Pattinson is rested from the second Ashes Test at Lord's in recognition of the fact that too often in the past he was used by Cricket Australia when either at a high risk of injury or too soon after rehab from a previous problem, he has revealed that the New Zealand surgeon Grahame Inglis, who had worked wonders for the likes of Shane Bond and Matt Henry with spinal surgery, was at first highly hesitant about operating.

"There was probably a month after I found out about my stressy in my L4 [vertebra] where we were umming and ahhing whether the surgery would be a success," Pattinson told The Final Word podcast. "We had opinions from over in England, people who'd done surgeries over here and the guy in New Zealand initially said 'I don't think I can really do much, your back looks like it's too far gone'.

"For me that was pretty tough news to take. Maybe I was going to have a one-day career, I might play a few T20s or one-dayers and first-class cricket I might never get back there. So there was a fair bit of contemplating over that month then eventually he said 'if you're willing to take the risk, if I can make a 15% difference it might be what you need to keep you on the park with a bit of management'.

"I was in constant talks with [Shane Bond] about how he felt before the surgery leading into it and then post-surgery as well, and Corey Anderson as well had it before me, he was another guy I shot off a few texts to and got his opinion on a few things. Having people go through that experience and be able to lean on them is great."

Inglis, who went on to conduct the 2017 surgery with another surgeon, Rowan Schouten, said at the time that this was very much a final roll of the dice to see if Pattinson could find a way back to playing long form cricket.

"Pattinson is the highest risk of the ones I've done. I've kept very tight criteria... and if you do that you get a good outcome and you finish up with a good reputation," Inglis told Stuff.co.nz in 2017. "In my opinion he's on the margin and it's a last-ditch attempt to try and keep him bowling. He's got multiple problems up and down his back and we're trying to pick off the one that's stopping him from returning."

The surgery turned out to be a success, and a steady path back to playing resulted in Pattinson bowling at close to his best in the opening Ashes Test at Edgbaston, before he was spelled for Lord's. The Australian captain Tim Paine admitted in explaining the decision that Pattinson had been used and abused at times as a fast bowler in the past, and there have been numerous instances of the eagerness to play him overwhelming more rational and data-driven decisions about his welfare.

It was a pattern that began as early as his second Test series in 2011-12, when Pattinson played the second of back-to-back Tests against India in Sydney despite warnings that his workload was placing him at a high risk of injury - a foot stress fracture was the result. In 2013, Pattinson bowled 51 overs in the first Test of the Ashes at Trent Bridge, and played immediately after at Lord's while Mitchell Starc was rested instead. Another 40 overs - with a brief turnaround because of Australia's first innings batting collapse - contributed greatly to the first of the back stress fractures that ultimately led to the surgery in New Zealand five years later.

Pattinson said that in his younger years it had been difficult to say no to the offer of playing, no matter how his body was feeling. The pattern culminated in an unhappy match against New Zealand at Hagley Oval in 2016, the most recent of his Tests before this tour, where he ended the match with back and leg stress fractures, plus a torn ab muscle.

"The great thing with having so many bowlers around now is if you are a bit sore before the game, we are in a position now where you can go the other way rather than push through it ... there are plenty of Test matches, we've got to look long term" Pattinson said. "For me, that's probably a big learning curve.

"I'd come in with a stress fracture in my fibula into the [New Zealand] series, I was basically playing with a broken leg and in that Test match I started to feel my back start to go. I was in a bit of agony at the time. I tore my ab as well in that same game. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong…at the time I knew it was my last Test for a while and I just wanted to get it over and done with as quick as possible because at the time I wasn't really in a great place."

Earlier in 2017, Pattinson had made a significant change of his own by declining to go to India for that year's Test tour as he did not feel his body was yet up to the rigours of Test cricket - something proven by the need for the back surgery later that same year. It helped that he was growing into maturity, marriage and fatherhood, and better able to speak for his own body.

"As a young bloke it's hard to say no sometimes," Pattinson said. "That's why we're always in constant communication now with the selectors after Test matches, how you pull up, how do you think you'll go this game, and that's the beauty of having so many bowlers available now and that's what they've been wanting for ages, that opportunity for bowlers not at 100% we don't have to risk that, we can have someone come in and do just as good a job. Looking back on those sorts of Tests, if I had my time again I probably would have taken longer at that stage."

Toss West Indies opt to bat v India

For the first time in the white-ball leg of India's tour of the USA and West Indies, Virat Kohli lost the toss. He was asked to field first by West Indies captain Jason Holder. The hosts need a win to level the ODI series 1-1.

Despite showers expected later in the day, Holder backed his decision to bat first in Port-of-Spain. While announcing two changes that will bolster their batting, Holder said the team needed to bat as a collective.

"It's a good opportunity for the batsman to have a good bat," Holder said. "We try not to play the weather, need to focus on ourselves. We've done some talking, now it's time for execution. Told the boys to take it as deep as possible. I try to take responsibility too, but we need to play as a collection. Sheldon Cottrell's out with an illness, while Oshane Thomas has been rested. Keemo Paul and Fabian Allen are in."

Kohli was not opposed to chasing, announcing one change to the team that won the second ODI. Left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav makes way for legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal, getting a game in India's final white-ball match of the tour. Kohli also stressed that the team was looking to "plug" a few concerns, especially on the field.

"Not a bad thing, we have most often done what we wanted to do when we win the toss," Kohli said. "Sometimes you are put up against what you want, but it's a good chance to play on a pitch that may be challenging. We just spoke about how we sort of lost our way after drinks breaks, while batting and fielding. Sometimes you can make those mistakes during the breaks, and that brings the opposition back into the game."

West Indies: 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Evin Lewis, 3 Shai Hope (wk), 4 Shimron Hetmyer, 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Roston Chase, 7 Jason Holder (capt), 8 Carlos Brathwaite, 9 Fabian Allen, 10 Keemo Paul, 11 Kemar Roach

India: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 Rishabh Pant (wk), 5 Shreyas Iyer, 6 Kedar Jadhav, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Khaleel Ahmed, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal

On a day in which a 100-run fourth-wicket stand formed the centre piece of New Zealand's progress, one of the architects of that partnership suggested it was the mental capacity to deal with balls that beat the bat that helped the team recover from three quick wickets.

Three wickets had fallen in the space of four overs just before lunch. When Henry Nicholls joined Ross Taylor after the break, the innings was at risk of spiraling into collapse - a frequent phenomenon at Galle.

But Nicholls and Taylor resisted Sri Lanka's best bowler of the day - offspinner Akila Dananjaya - to lift their side to a reasonable position. Nicholls made 42 off 78.

"We know on these surfaces in the subcontinent when you do get a wicket sometimes it can turn into two or three," Nicholls said after rain had forced an early finish to the day. "When Ross and I went out after lunch it was a case of keeping it simple and expecting that the ball was going to turn and beat the bat sometimes. It's just being comfortable with that. We did a nice job for a while there.

"Conditions were tough at times. The ball certainly spun a little earlier than we thought, but we expected it to be turning."

Countering Akila's offbreaks were especially difficult for Nicholls, a left-hander. Akila had dismissed left-handed openers Jeet Raval and Tom Latham in quick session in the first session, on his way to 5 for 57 from the day. He was the only Sri Lanka bowler to take wickets.

"With the ball turning away from left-handers he's got a few options," Nicholls said. "He's a very good bowler as well. He deserved a five-wicket bag today. For me, trying to find a balance between defence and being comfortable with the ball turning the way it did, was important.

"The game ebbed and flowed a bit through that middle session. Ross and I were able to score between 3.5 to 4 an over for a while there. We expect it to be like that - ebbing and flowing. When the ball's a bit harder and it's turning a bit sharper, it will be tougher. But when you bring the seamers back, while they bowled well at times, you were also able to score a bit faster."

Galle pitches are known to deteriorate quickly, on account of the strong sea-breeze that blows across the ground. Although 203 for 5 does not immediately appear a commanding score, New Zealand remain capable of getting themselves into a strong position on a famously bowler-friendly surface. Taylor ended the day at 86 not out off 131 balls.

"First-innings runs in this part of the world are massive. We're expecting it will get harder to bat on. It's nice that Ross is not out overnight and is batting so beautifully."

Barrington (Rhode Island) Little League, the New England Region's representative in the Little League World Series, is accused of stealing signs to help get to the pinnacle of the sport in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Pat Dutton, the manager of the team from Goffstown, New Hampshire, which lost to Barrington in Saturday's region final, made the accusation after the game in Bristol, Connecticut.

"You can see [runners on second base] leaning in, looking in and they're doing hand gestures to their kid [at the plate] indicating what kind of pitch it is and where it's located," Dutton told the New Hampshire Union Leader. "You can do that in big league ball, but in Little League it's unsportsmanlike, it's dishonorable and it's disgusting.

"They did it the whole tournament and got away with it, and now that's what's representing New England in the Little League World Series. It's just a bad look."

Barrington Little League issued a statement to Boston.com on Tuesday, calling the allegations "unfortunate" while denying any sort of wrongdoing.

"We hold our coaches, players and teams to the highest standards," the Barrington statement said, "and do not coach or condone unsportsmanlike behavior of any kind."

Dutton told the Union Leader that he suspected the Barrington team of stealing signs during Goffstown's 2-1 win on Thursday and alerted the umpire, just as he did during Saturday's game.

Dutton said warnings were issued to Barrington's manager and a player on the next pitch after Saturday's complaint.

"That's something these kids don't learn on their own. That's something that they're taught," Dutton told the newspaper. "They're coached to do that. Obviously the team condones it, they coach it, and, personally, that's something that I'm completely against. Little League is supposedly against it, but you wouldn't know it this week."

While it is a frowned-upon practice and one of baseball's unwritten rules at higher levels, it is prohibited at the Little League level, with players and coaches being subject to ejection from the game.

According to Tournament Rule 3 from Little League Baseball, "If in the judgment of the umpire, a player/coach/manager is deemed to be stealing and relaying pitch selection or a location, it is considered unsportsmanlike, and said offender is to be ejected from the game."

Barrington opens the Little League World Series against the Southeast Region champs from South Riding, Virginia, on Thursday (ESPN, 3 p.m. ET).