CONCORD, N.C. — Bubba Wallace hasn’t been having a lot of fun in the last few months.

A difficult start to the season, combined with financial woes at Richard Petty Motorsports, left Wallace doubting himself and his ability. He desperately needed something good to happen to lift his spirts and those of his No. 43 team.

On Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway, good things happened for Wallace and Richard Petty Motorsports.

Wallace, who admitted he “didn’t give a damn,” muscled his way into the Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race for the first time with a determined drive during the Monster Energy Open.

It wasn’t easy, but nothing ever is for Wallace, who has had to fight and scrape for nearly every opportunity he has gotten in racing. On this particular Saturday night, Wallace simply refused to lose.

“We needed this, I needed this,” Wallace lamented after racing into the Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race. “It’s been tough.”

Strategy was the name of the game for Wallace and his crew chief Derek Stamets. When a caution flag waved with only a few laps left in the first stage of the Monster Energy Open, Stamets called for Wallace to stay out.

He lined up in the second row and pushed Kyle Larson into the lead, but Wallace wasn’t about to let Larson drive away. A tap to Larson’s bumper gave Wallace a run on the inside and somehow Wallace managed to complete the pass.

Unfortunately racing hard with Larson opened the door for fast-closing William Byron, who got to Wallace’s inside and beat him to the finish line to win the first stage and advance into the All-Star Race.

“I was pissed off. I was really pissed off after that. I let that one go. I thought that was it,” Wallace admitted.

But it wasn’t. Somehow, as if by divine intervention, Wallace got another opportunity in the second stage when Daniel Hemric and Ryan Preece crashed racing for third with two laps left.

“The caution came back out again, same scenario. I was like alright, ‘I’m going to get it this time.’ You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” Wallace said.

Most of the field pitted and Stamets called for Wallace to stay out, setting him up to restart second alongside Alex Bowman. This time Wallace wasn’t going to let anyone take victory away from him.

He got a push from Daniel Suarez behind him to get out front, but Suarez wanted to win, too. Two laps of intense racing followed, with Wallace managing to best Suarez to hang onto the lead. Suarez tried his best to take the lead from Wallace exiting turn four on the last lap, but Wallace blocked the move and sent Suarez spinning through the infield.

Wallace won and advanced to the All-Star Race.

“Damn it feels good to win something,” Wallace acknowledged.

The joy was evident. Tears flowed and Wallace got a hug from his best friend, fellow NASCAR star Ryan Blaney, in the garage. But perhaps the most important thing that happened in the moments after his triumph in the Monster Energy Open came in a conversation with his mother, Desiree.

“The first thing my mom says to me after the Open, she walks up on the grid here and she’s like, ‘You know who that was, ya know? That was God. He’s not giving up on you yet,’” Wallace said. “I’ve realized that. As many dark moments as I’ve had and telling myself to give up, I know it’s like a broken record, but man it’s been tough. It’s been really tough to keep climbing in and keep going.”

Wallace returned to the track for the Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race, joining the sports top stars in a battle for a $1 million payday.

The native of Mobile, Ala., backed up his stunning run in the Monster Energy Open with a fifth-place result in the All-Star Race. He didn’t win the $1 million, but he left Charlotte Motor Speedway with a smile on his face and that might have been worth more than the money.

“I honestly haven’t had this much fun in a long time,” Wallace said. “I guess dating back to the Bristol spring race last year. Since then it’s been a struggle. It’s a big night for us. A big night of momentum.

“I’m showing teeth in my smile, so it says a lot.”

SALISBURY, N.C. – Though Tanner Holmes is known in racing circles as “The YouTube Kid” due to his popular vlog series, lately he’s begun gaining respect in the dirt sprint car world as well.

Holmes, who has regularly competed in outlaw karts over the past few years, has already won two winged 360ci sprint car features this season – a feather in the cap of the Oregon teenager as he works to build his burgeoning racing career.

The 15-year-old is hoping to add another notch to his resume on Wednesday night when he returns to outlaw kart racing for the sixth-annual QRC Speed51 Open presented by HMS Motorsport at Millbridge Speedway.

Holmes has made the 51-lap, $5,151-to-win feature each of the last two years, but he’s yet to finish inside the top 10 during the biggest race of the year at the sixth-mile, North Carolina dirt oval.

That’s a mark he’d like to fix with a victory at a track he said he “really enjoys coming to.”

“Trying to tame the North Carolina dirt isn’t an easy task, by any means, but I really love coming out east and taking a shot at it every year,” said Holmes. “Last year, we passed a ton of cars on Tuesday during the two-stroke show and just couldn’t quite translate that same speed into the big race on Wednesday. We ran somewhat well every night, but we just couldn’t catch the right breaks.

“This time around, I am shooting for a little bit of redemption, because I know we’re capable of running up front in the right circumstances.”

Holmes was quick to note that he has learned a lot about improving his outlaw kart skills since he began running his sprint car last year, even though the bigger car doesn’t drive the same as his kart does.

“It’s a double-edged sword when it comes to things translating from one car to the other, but the confidence factor is always a big thing,” explained Holmes. “Of course, it takes two different driving styles to be successful in sprint cars compared to outlaw karts, but I firmly believe that running both cars can and does help, especially when you’re coming back down from the sprint car to the outlaw karts.

“There’s a lot to learn when it comes to hitting your marks in a sprint car, and I think the karts are just a little bit less line-sensitive in that you can sometimes search around a little bit more with them,” he added. “Right now I feel really confident no matter which car I’m driving, and I feel like I’m as on my A-game as I’ve ever been. Now it’s about being smooth and keeping the speed up over the whole week.”

Holmes raced during the winter with the Red Bluff Outlaws, proving he’s found his place within the ultra-competitive Open division by finishing as the runner-up in the championship and visiting victory lane several times during the 13-race schedule.

“All winter long, we ran Red Bluff, and we really came out with a great result. To finish second in points behind Tyler Seavey is nothing to hang your head over, because he’s one of the best there is right now in outlaw-kart racing,” noted Holmes. “What I was really proud of was that we won three A-mains during the winter season, which gives me a lot of confidence going into the summer and a big race like this.

“I figured out a lot of consistency over the past few months, which was something that maybe I didn’t have as much of in the past, and I’m hoping that’s something that can help me going into this week.”

In addition to both nights of the QRC Speed51 Open at Millbridge, Holmes will also tackle the second-annual Clash at the Creek on Sunday night at nearby Mountain Creek Speedway as well.

The young gun is seeking a marquee victory to add to his resume, and he’s hoping that he’ll be able to have that at some point over the next four days of competition.

“I think it would be a huge breakthrough for me if I could get to victory lane during this North Carolina swing, because that big-time win is definitely something that I feel like I do need,” Holmes said. “No matter what night it comes in, if I could get to victory lane … there’s so many eyes on this four-day stretch and so many good competitors in the field that we’ll be racing against this week.

“I think we’ve got the car to do it and the team to do it with, so now it’s up to the driver to put myself in a good spot, make the right moves and see how it all shakes out.”

Practice for the QRC Speed51 Open presented by HMS Motorsport at Millbridge Speedway begins on Monday, May 20.

Feature racing takes place on both Tuesday, May 21 and Wednesday, May 22.

BOWMANVILLE, Ontario – K-PAX Racing teammates Alvaro Parente and Andy Soucek piloted their Bentley Continental GT3 to victory in Sunday’s Blancpain GT World Challenge event at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Canadians Martin Barkey and Kyle Marcelli won in the Pro/AM class.

The 90-minute, 68-lap race was held under sunny conditions. Pro division pole sitter Parente from Portugal, in the No. 9 Bentley Continental GT3 led the pack to the line and the green flag ahead of second-on-the-grid Finland’s Toni Vilander, co-winner of Saturday’s race in the No. 61 Canadian team R. Ferri Motorsport Ferrari 488 GT3.

In the Pro/Am division, pole sitter Norwegian Dennis Olsen, piloting the No. 91 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, slotted into third overall with Scottish driver Ryan Dalziel slotted into fifth overall and second in class. The Japanese team of Naoto Takeda and Takuya Shirasaka led the Am/Am division.

At the end of the first lap Parente held a .572-second lead over Vilander, with Olsen in third, Belgium’s Maxime Soulet in the second K-PAX Racing Bentley Continental GT3 in fourth and Dalziel in fifth.

The leaders held their positions through lap 20 with Parente building his lead to over a second. In the Pro/Am division Marcelli in the #80 Racers Edge Acura NSX entry began to close on Dalziel for second in class running sixth overall. By lap 26 Parente and Vilander had gapped the rest of the field by more than three seconds.

The pit window opened on lap 30. The first to enter the pits was Soulet who changed over to Brazilian teammate Rodrigo Baptista. By lap 33 with the pit window still open, Vilander closed to .600 of a second on leader Parente. Two-laps later the lead was down to .461 of a second. On lap 34 Dalziel passed the car over to teammate American David Askew.

The leaders came in on lap 36, with Parente changing out for teammate Soucek, and Vilander changing out for Molina from Spain.  Soucek was able to leave the pits just ahead of Molina.

When the pit window closed on lap 38, Soucek had the No. 9 Bentley out front with Molina in the #61 Ferrari in pursuit. Baptista remained in third, while Olsen’s teammate Anthony Imperato  maintained the lead of the Pro/Am division.

By lap 47, Soucek pushed his lead over Molina to 7.5 seconds, with Baptista in third and Pro/Am leader Imperato in fourth overall.

On lap 50, Imperato entered the pit for a mechanical issue putting Barkey into the Pro/Am lead, seventh overall in the race. Imperato exited the pits back in 10th overall and third in class.

At the checkered, Soucek crossed the line first to claim the second race win of the season for the team. Molina and Baptista finished second and third, respectively. In Pro/Am Barkey crossed the line eighth overall and first in Pro/Am.

“Looking at the results from the weekend, second yesterday, first today we are really happy with that and got great points,” said Parente. “Andy’s qualifying session makes it look even better because unfortunately it happened but if it hadn’t happened, maybe we would’ve put it on pole for both races. Really good race weekend with good points, we both drove well, and the team did perfect.”

“Perfect race today. Good start from the beginning, a lot of pressure from Toni (Vilander),” said Soucek. “I think they started on new tires, we started on used which was the difference for the opening laps, but Alvaro held Toni behind which was key for the pit. We know K-PAX does a very good job on the pit stops, we also did a good job on the driver change so we were spot on, I think. I could push on the first few laps to make a bit of a gap on the new tires from Miguel (Molina) and after that I was just talking to the team instead of looking back to know the gap to the guys behind. Clean race, all perfect. The car felt really good and I want to thank K-PAX for another great car because every time we come to the U.S., the car is just phenomenal, and Alvaro did a mega job yesterday in qualifying. We are a good driver pairing, I just hope we can keep winning the races and be on the podium to get the points and be right up there at the end of the championship.”

TOLEDO, Ohio – Chandler Smith won the rain shortened ARCA Menards Series Sioux Chief PowerPEX 200 presented by Federated Car Care Sunday at Toledo Speedway, leading 140 of the race’s 152 laps.

Rain threatened throughout the day, but the race started on time. Smith started second, alongside Venturini Motorsports teammate Michael Self, who earned the General Tire Pole Award in qualifying on Saturday.

Self would lead the first ten laps but faced pressure from Smith the entire time. Eventually, Smith would dip to the inside and work his way by and drove off to a full straightaway advantage over the battle for second.

Smith could see the rain was coming as the race ran to its ultimate conclusion, and even hoped it would come sooner than later.

“Whenever you’re the leader and you can see rain coming and the race is past halfway you want it to hurry up and get there,” Smith said. “I knew as soon as it started raining it wasn’t going to stop so we needed to get out front and stay out front. That’s what we did. These Venturini Motorsports guys do a great job giving me racecars that can dominate these races. I drive them the same way I drive my late model cars and that’s where we were able to beat them all today. We had more drive off the corners and that’s what it took.”

Ty Gibbs finished second, his third runner-up finish in four career ARCA Menards Series races.

“I don’t know what the record is for most second-place finishes before someone gets their first win,” Gibbs asked, “but I think we’re in the hunt for it. We’re getting a little tired of finishing second at this point. We just ran out of time before the rain came. I think we needed another ten laps and we could have had something for them at the end.”

Christian Eckes finished third, Self was fourth, and Sam Mayer was fifth.

The race was slowed a total of four times by caution flags, two for incidents and two for rain, one of which ultimately ended the race. The first incident happened on lap 30 involving Joe Graf Jr. and Hailie Deegan, both of whom made contact with the foam blocks lining the outside wall in turn three. Graf would finish 17th and Deegan would finish 18th, and last, in her series debut.

The second incident of the day involved the championship leader going into the race Travis Braden, who hit the blocks in turn one on lap 79. Braden would finish 13th, falling back to second in the standings, 25 points behind Self.

The finish:

Chandler Smith, Ty Gibbs, Christian Eckes, Michael Self, Sam Mayer, Carson Hocevar, Bret Holmes, Tanner Gray, Tommy Vigh Jr., Corey Heim, Tim Richmond, Alex Clubb, Travis Braden, Rick Clifton, Dick Doheny, Mike Basham, Joe Graf Jr., Hailie Deegan.

KOSICE, Slovakia -- Dylan Larkin scored a tiebreaking goal midway through the third period and the United States went on to beat Germany 3-1 Sunday at the world championships.

The win clinches a spot for the Americans in the quarterfinals ahead of a matchup with red-hot Canada on Tuesday in their final preliminary-round game.

Jack Eichel put the Americans ahead by two goals late in the third and Cory Schneider was strong in net, helping them win a fifth straight game in Group A since opening the tournament with a 4-1 loss to the host Slovaks.

Frederik Tiffels put the Germans ahead 1-0 midway through the first period and James van Riemsdyk pulled the Americans into a tie less than two minutes later.

Michael Frolik scored to help the Czech Republic beat winless Austria 8-0 in Bratislava in Group B.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

BOSTON -- Three days after he had to miss Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final because of an undisclosed injury, Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara skated before practice on Sunday.

The Bruins defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 4-0 to complete a sweep without Chara. They advanced to the Stanley Cup Final, which won't start until May 27, to face either the San Jose Sharks or the St. Louis Blues, who are playing in the Western Conference final.

About 30 minutes before the Bruins held their first practice since winning the Eastern Conference title, Chara skated with fellow injured defenseman Steven Kampfer and Bruins skills coach Kim Brandvold. Chara did not participate in the full practice.

Center David Krejci did not practice because of a "maintenance day," but is expected to rejoin the team for its next practice.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ripped into his players after the shameful 2-0 home defeat to Cardiff City on the final day of the Premier League, telling them they were an embarrassment to Manchester United and themselves. He's right, but it'll be him that loses his job if things don't change after a wretched 2018-19 season.

Sixth place and finishing 32 points behind the champions was a disgrace for United, but the Norwegian has a very clear idea about which players he wants to stay and which are a problem. He's had six months to figure it out and has given chances to almost all of them -- though several have squandered their opportunities.

- Keep or dump: Who should Man United sell?
- Who qualifies for Europe from the Premier League?
- When does the transfer window close?

Ed Woodward might have put the most optimistic face on it as possible in an investor call to coincide with the third-quarter financial results, but the words of the Premier League's best-paid executive will barely resonate with fans. When one of the four highlights of the third quarter reads: "Announced global partnership and licensing agreement with Maui Jim eyewear" then don't expect supporters to be in raptures.

Fans want the highlights to come on the field: Words mean nothing when they translate into a failing team. So how do United pick themselves up off the floor?

Some have said that it was a mistake to give the job to Solskjaer full-time in March -- not that it was being said in the aftermath of the win in Paris two months ago in the Champions League. United have been rotten since then, and the manager must take some of the blame, but there's significant credit left for the Norwegian and the fans are still on his side.

One major advantage of that March appointment was that it allowed Solskjaer to plan for next season. He knew that recruitment was a priority and wanted assistant Mike Phelan to be on his permanent staff, too. His employers agreed and Phelan was offered a deal last week.

All along, Solskjaer has enjoyed a good communication with the scouts and the analysts in United's much-maligned recruitment department. Some of the people employed there may not have a public profile, but they have excellent CVs and have worked at some of the best clubs in the world.

Manager, scouts and analysts have collaborated to identify the right targets in terms of talent, attitude and style of play. United maintain that there's no shortage of quality players who want to join the club, though there is concern about the "Alexis Sanchez factor" -- that Old Trafford is attractive because the pay rates are so high. Footballers often go where the money is, but there needs to be more than that if United are to bounce back.

United have a plan of which areas the team needs strengthening and the type of players the club want. And they will stick with that plan. Sources have told ESPN that Solskjaer wants the players in early but fans need a lift from at least one early signing which shows them what else could lie in store. There will disquiet if there are no signings by July and trouble on the terraces if United are 10th come November.

Avoiding the mess of last summer will help. Then, the club were surprised to be told relatively late that another central defender was needed. Players (such as £70 million-rated Harry Maguire) are hard to get from now-wealthy clubs like Leicester City at the last minute. If Solskjaer doesn't get it right, United will be slipping behind the likes of Leicester, Everton and Wolves (that's the impressive Leicester who United beat home and away last season, by the way).

United's recruitment is under close scrutiny because it hasn't convinced. For example: Midfield misfit Fred cost £52 million. It will be fairer to judge the Brazilian this coming season rather than last, but let's not pretend things went any better for him in his first season than they did for Victor Lindelof in his first term at United. The latter was much better in his second, though hardly Virgil van Dijk class, and that's another problem -- United's rivals Liverpool, City and Spurs are at or close to their peak.

Solskjaer wants his players to be fitter, too, and there have been a couple of changes in the fitness staff in recent months.

On the end of his first batch of serious criticism, Solskjaer is not an idiot or a puppet to be dismissed because of his limited body of work at the highest level. He knows the job will eat him if he doesn't get the players performing, knows he has to be bold and to get some of the problem players out of the dressing room. He will make those decisions without hesitation.

When he came in it was all about "my team" and sharing glory with the players when United couldn't stop winning. Now he knows it's about him: He's the boss rather than part of a collective.

He also knows that the next couple of transfer windows are vital. In his very first days, United staff were struck by his attention to detail and constant questions. There's a negative lens over everything United do at the moment because the poor results have seen to that, but it was equally positive only three months ago.

Solskjaer knows his own mind. It was him -- well, him and Roy Keane -- who were most insistent to Sir Alex Ferguson that United sign Cristiano Ronaldo after that friendly against Sporting Lisbon in 2003.

That was then. Now, United are at a low ebb regardless of their impressive financial figures. This is a club whose Player of the Year, Luke Shaw, didn't even make the England squad for the UEFA Nations League finals this summer.

However, United are far from finished. This isn't Ajax, where the club are always trying to work out which players they'll lose every close season and which are talented enough to step up and replace them. United have the money to buy some of the best players in the world.

That money has not been spent well in the last six years. No club have been more profligate than United and you wonder just how much planning went into some signings, but there's a determination to get it right now -- one set against a backdrop of pessimism and fans still livid at how the season ended.