INDIANAPOLIS – Penske Corp., a global transportation, automotive and motorsports leader, announced Monday that it has completed its acquisition of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the NTT IndyCar Series and IMS Productions.

“We are looking forward to carrying on the tradition of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Indy car racing,” said Roger Penske. “We have been diligently working with the teams at IMS, IndyCar and IMS Productions over the last two months to ensure a smooth and productive transition and we are ready to hit the ground running.

“Now, it is time to get to work as we continue the growth of the Speedway and we build on the momentum of the NTT IndyCar Series.”

The purchase of IMS, the NTT IndyCar Series and IMS Productions by Penske was announced Nov. 4, ending a decades-long legacy of ownership by the Hulman-George family.

Penske Corp. becomes just the fourth owner in the history of the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which has hosted the world’s largest single-day sporting event – the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race – for more than 100 years.

Penske joins Carl Fisher, who built the track in 1909; Eddie Rickenbacker, who purchased IMS in 1927; and Tony Hulman and Hulman & Company, which has owned and managed the Speedway since 1945; as an owner of the historic race course.

The iconic venue has also hosted NASCAR, Formula One and other racing series events throughout its storied history.

DECORAH, Iowa – Tyler Bruening is set to run his first full season with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series this year as he pursues top rookie honors.

The pilot of the Skyline Motorsports No. 16 Bennett Explosives/Bruening Rock Products/Capital Race Car/Clements Racing Engine Super Late Model will tackle a national tour for the first time in his career.

Following a successful 2019 season that included nine wins, 25 top-five finishes and 32 top-10 outings, Bruening is confident the time is right for him to shift into the national spotlight.

“This is a big deal for me and my team,” Bruening explained. “We’ve been stepping out to some new tracks and events over the past few years and that has allowed us to make a lot of gains toward the success of our team. It’s an honor to be able to commit to the LOLMDS full-time. My primary goals are to be competitive and consistent each night and win the Rookie of the Year title.”

Bruening brings a wealth of experience behind the wheel to his quest of competing on the national tour. While he acknowledges the journey on the ultra-competitive tour will not be an effortless one, Bruening and his team are primed for the challenges ahead.

“I’ve been working toward this goal for a few years,” Bruening shared. “We’ve made a lot of preparations toward being able to do this, including me working to better myself as a driver. We have top-notch equipment and an experienced team that is well-prepared for what is ahead. With the help of Shane [Clanton] and Marshall [Green] we’ve been able to take our program to a whole new level.”

The Eibach Springs Rookie of the Year title with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series comes with a $10,000 cash prize at the seasons end, along with numerous other contingency awards.

“A lot of people play a role in the success of our season. I’m very excited to get the 2020 season underway and I want to thank everyone who supports this team to make these opportunities possible,” Bruening added.

COSTA MESA, Calif. – MotoAmerica has announced that the AMA has issued the rules package for the MotoAmerica Series, the home of AMA Superbike Championship, with regulations that feature slight changes to both the sporting and technical rules.

Starting with the Superbike class, the changes are minimal and apply to both the engine and the chassis to further keep the rules in line with World Superbike regulations.

“We haven’t made many changes to the technical rules,” said MotoAmerica’s Chuck Aksland. “Our competitors appreciate having consistency in the rules without having numerous changes every year. The majority of our changes are just to move things even closer to the rules found in the World Championship. Also the chassis changes in the non-Superbike classes should make things easier for our teams and racers when they are forced to use their spare motorcycles.”

The changes to the electronic packages also trickle down to the Supersport and Junior Cup classes with World Supersport-spec ECUs now allowed in both.

The only other change of any substance is freeing up the fairing/bodywork rules in the Twins Cup class with front and rear fender designs now free with some limitations.

Additionally, the AMA will allow competitors in all classes except Superbike to now have a rolling chassis with airbox, etc. as the spare motorcycle. In Superbike, this doesn’t apply because each rider is already allowed a complete spare motorcycle.

As for the sporting regulation changes, those center around opening up testing regulations and with the adjustment of the way results are calculated if a race ends with a red flag.

The rules package is available for download at this link.

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — There is almost no offseason in motorsports these days.

While many sanctioning bodies and tracks take some time off during the winter months, particularly the holiday season, if a person wants to race, attend races or watch them on streaming video, there is almost always an event somewhere.

More and more wintertime special events are being created every year, many with the purpose of creating streaming video content.

The World Racing Group recreated the Drydene Xtreme DIRTcar Series, adding six late model races in the Southeast from late November through mid-February. It also kicked off its World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series on Jan. 2 at Vado Speedway Park in New Mexico and created the DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals, which will be run Jan. 16-18 at Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park.

There is also more racing than ever in New Zealand and Australia, which draws many of this country’s racers and crew members overseas and attracts audiences via pay-per-view outlets such as World Racing Group’s DIRTVision and others.

Indoor racing is plentiful.

With the Performance Racing Industry Trade Show a little later this year, the Gateway Dirt Nationals inside The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis was pushed back almost until Christmas, with modifieds, midgets and late models in action Dec. 19-21.

Lenny Sammons’ Indoor Auto Racing Series offers eight nights of TQ midget racing in four cities in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. December’s popular Rumble in Fort Wayne midget program, the Tulsa Shootout, which kicks off the new year at Tulsa Expo Raceway and, of course, the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals Jan. 14-19 are other key players in the indoor scene.

And that’s only scratching the surface of the multitude of events that keep racers and fans busy during what was once the offseason.

Couple all this with the fact that many of the country’s short-track touring series are starting sooner and racing deeper into the calendar every year, and in many cases, the offseason has dwindled to only a handful of days for many.

As a result, many teams have much less time to prepare their cars for the new season, to enjoy time with their families and generally download from a long season of racing — be it on the road or on the local level.

While the mid-December PRI Show at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis drew huge crowds as usual, the number of racers seen walking the aisles was noticeably down from previous years.

Several folks we spoke with said they had to cut their annual treks to the Circle City to only a day this year in order to prepare cars for the Gateway Dirt Nationals, Tulsa Shootout or the Chili Bowl.

More racing means more potential for racers to make money, but it also means potentially more costs. At the same time, more racing equals more parts, tickets and pay-per-view telecasts being sold, which in turn should continue to fuel the racing machine.

Still, is an offseason too much to ask for?

– The biggest racing story out of PRI was the return of Scott Bloomquist to World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series competition with Drydene sponsorship.

Bloomquist’s two-car team will include Chris Madden. It will be the first time “Bloomer” has raced full time with the WoO LMS since winning the championship in 2004. Since then he’s won numerous Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series titles while picking up several WoO LMS wins as a part-time performer and being fined by or suspended from WoO and DIRTcar for various missteps.

World of Outlaws officials said they expected an immediate uptick in ticket sales because of Bloom­quist’s participation.

– Thanks to Scott Gobrecht Racing co-owner Jeff McCall and his Cyclone Trucking organization for transporting SPEED SPORT’s booth to and from PRI. Much appreciated gang.

– We knelt behind Scott Dixon’s Indy car fitted with the new aeroscreen, looked through the windshield and wondered, “How does he see out of that thing?”

The support pillar for the aeroscreen appears to be in the driver’s line of sight much like with Formula One’s halo system.

It would be interesting to sit in Dixon’s seat and see what he sees.

World Cup winner Daniele De Rossi will retire from football at the age of 36, sources have told ESPN.

De Rossi, who spent 18 years with boyhood club Roma after making his debut in 2001, left for Boca Juniors in July 2019 and helped the Argentine club reach the Copa Libertadores semifinals.

Despite having signed a one-year contract, after returning to Argentina following a Christmas break in Rome, sources told ESPN the midfielder reported back for his medicals but left the training ground and decided he would hang up his boots.

De Rossi, 36, was part of Italy's 2006 World Cup-winning squad, coming on as a substitute in the final victory over France. He had been sent off for a vicious elbow in the second match of the tournament and received a four-match ban, only returning for the final.

His 616 appearances for Roma is second only to Francesco Totti's 786 in terms of the most games played for the Giallorossi.

He was given his professional debut by Fabio Capello in 2001 -- just six months after they clinched their last-ever Serie A title -- in a Champions League clash with Anderlecht.

De Rossi never won Serie A, but finished as a runner-up on eight occasions. He also helped Roma win back-to-back Coppa Italia trophies in 2007 and 2008.

South Africa 126 for 2 (Malan 63*) and 223 require 312 more runs to beat England 269 and 391 for 8 dec (Sibley 133*, Root 61, Stokes 72)

Mark Boucher encouraged his South Africa side to channel the spirit of the 2008 Perth Test last night, and Pieter Malan's battling, unbeaten 63 left them dreaming of an improbable escape on the fourth evening of the Newlands Test despite James Anderson's late wicket.

After England looked to hammer their advantage home in the day's first session, with Dom Sibley completing his maiden Test hundred and Ben Stokes clubbing 72 off only 47 balls, South African heads began to drop with the lead soaring past 400.

But after the declaration came 20 minutes after lunch, Malan and Dean Elgar were resolute, leaving the ball well and blunting England's attack on a pitch that looked to possess few demons by the close. Elgar fell for 34 after struggling against the part-time legspin of Joe Denly, but Malan put on 52 with Zubayr Hamza to push South Africa towards the close before Anderson coaxed an edge out of Hamza to give England a vital breakthrough.

That wicket left South Africa needing 312 more runs on the final day. If that target seemed a tall order, then the fact that conditions have become increasingly favourable for batting suggests that a draw is by no means impossible.

After Dom Bess's dismissal to the final ball of the third day, Stokes wasted little time in signalling England's attacking intentions in the morning session. He bludgeoned the eighth delivery he faced to the midwicket boundary off Dwaine Pretorius, and hit the same bowler for six down the ground and through third man with a delicate reverse-lap in consecutive balls at the start of his next over.

Unexpectedly, Faf du Plessis had declined to take the new ball as soon as it became available, instead hoping that Keshav Maharaj might lull Stokes into a false stroke. Stokes took the bait, ripping it clean off while avoiding the hook as he deposited him over midwicket for six.

The new ball then came, but Stokes showed no signs of slowing down as Vernon Philander's 14th over of the innings went for as many runs (12) as his previous 13 combined. Kagiso Rabada fared little better, and at one stage, Stokes was on 38 off 26 balls at the same time that the unmoved Sibley had added only three from the 31 deliveries he had faced.

After edging through the vacant third-slip area for four, Sibley nailed a sweep shot off Maharaj to bring up his maiden Test hundred, the first by an England opener at Newlands since Jack Hobbs in 1910. He began to move through the gears himself, perhaps inspired by the carnage unfolding at the other end as Stokes smote four, six, four off three Maharaj balls to move to 70 from 42.

But he was soon to go, slapping the left-arm spinner to Rassie van der Dussen at long-on after 75 destructive minutes to start the day. Ollie Pope dragged on while looking to force the ball through the off side before Jos Buttler edged the unwell Anrich Nortje through to Quinton de Kock while scooping, and Sam Curran picked out Hamza at midwicket three balls after lunch.

Sibley, however, stuck to his task, hitting a rare six and reverse-sweeping four more off Maharaj, before Joe Root decided he had seen enough and called his men in with 438 the target.

Malan and Elgar started watchfully, showing good judgement in leaving the ball and looking to score when England erred from their lengths. England thought they had made the breakthrough only ten balls into the innings, as Stuart Broad rapped Malan on the pad, but Kumar Dharmasena shook his head and was proved right when Ultra-Edge revealed a large spike as the ball passed the inside edge following England's review.

Root turned to spin early in the piece, bringing Bess on to bowl the ninth over of the innings, but it was not until Denly's introduction immediately before tea that Elgar looked particularly troubled.

Perhaps by a quirk of fate, Elgar had only faced 106 balls of legspin in his Test career before this game, despite playing as many as 104 innings, and he immediately struggled to read Denly's legbreaks, which turned and bounced appreciably out of the rough. He survived until the interval after being struck on the thumb, but then feathered an edge through to Buttler when lunging forward in defence to give England the breakthrough.

Elgar reviewed Paul Reiffel's decision almost immediately, but Ultra-Edge suggested he had got the faintest of scratches on the ball, enough evidence for the on-field decision to be upheld, and he was left to rue what he perceived to be his misfortune.

It seemed like a big moment, with Hamza struggling against Broad throughout the series - the No. 3 had been dismissed by him in all three innings - and South Africa's first fifty stand for the first wicket in 17 Test innings coming to an end. But despite both batsmen taking regular body blows, and Malan in particular leaving several deliveries that seemed almost certain to hit the top of his off stump, South Africa were set to survive until the close.

But Anderson re-wrote the script's finale, after finding a fraction of reverse swing late in the day. After shaping the ball in towards Malan in the first over of his final spell, the second ball of Anderson's next over nibbled away off the seam, finding the outside edge as Hamza pushed at the ball expecting it to come back in. It was Anderson's 92nd wicket against South Africa, taking him past Shaun Pollock (91) as the leading wicket-taker in England-South Africa Tests.

It seemed as though Malan in particular would prove a tricky man for England to dismiss: as Boucher had hoped, he was positive in using his feet against the spinners, and survived a short-ball barrage from Stokes in the final session to make it to stumps unscathed. While victory seems highly improbable, South Africa will be hopeful that their new opener can lead the charge towards a crucial draw.

FRISCO, Texas -- Mike McCarthy will be the ninth head coach in the history of the Dallas Cowboys, a source confirmed to ESPN.

The news was first reported by Fox Sports.

McCarthy stayed at the home of Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones on Saturday night, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

"Once you stay at Jerry's house, he doesn't lose his guy," the source said.

McCarthy replaces Jason Garrett, who went 85-67 as Dallas' coach from 2010 to 2019, with the hope that McCarthy can do for the Cowboys what he did for another storied franchise -- win a Super Bowl.

In February 2011, McCarthy led the Green Bay Packers to a Super Bowl XLV win against the Pittsburgh Steelers at AT&T Stadium, his new home with the Cowboys.

McCarthy compiled a 125-77-2 record with the Packers and made the playoffs in nine of his 13 seasons. In addition to the Super Bowl season, the Packers made it to the NFC Championship Game two times, but his tenure ended sourly, missing the playoffs in 2017 and getting fired after 12 games in 2018.

McCarthy spent last season going through a study of trends across the league while also planning for his next job. He interviewed for the New York Jets' vacancy after the 2018 season and turned down the chance to speak with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Arizona Cardinals.

Before interviewing with the Cowboys over the weekend, he spoke with the Carolina Panthers, Cleveland Browns and New York Giants regarding their vacancies.

The approach by Jones and son Stephen, the Cowboys' executive vice president, was far different than the last full-scale coaching search they had in 2007, after Bill Parcells' retirement. They interviewed 10 coaches before settling on Wade Phillips, who was hired after Garrett was on board as offensive coordinator.

This time, the Cowboys interviewed just Marvin Lewis and McCarthy before making their decision.

McCarthy's arrival will bring an entirely new offense to the Cowboys after running mostly a Garrett scheme since 2007, even though the team has had three different playcallers since 2013 -- Bill Callahan (2013), Scott Linehan (2014 to 2018) and Kellen Moore (2019).

Moore, offensive line coach Marc Colombo, quarterbacks coach Jon Kitna and receivers coach Sanjay Lal are under contract. Most of the defensive staff, including coordinator Rod Marinelli and passing game coordinator Kris Richard, have expiring contracts.

McCarthy played a key role in the development of Aaron Rodgers, and the Cowboys believe he will be good for Dak Prescott, who is entering his fifth season. Perhaps of note to the Jones family, McCarthy had a 7-3 record against Dallas while with Green Bay and twice ended their season in painful ways, in the divisional round of the 2014 and '16 playoffs.

In 1993, McCarthy entered the NFL coaching ranks as an offensive assistant with the Kansas City Chiefs. From 1995 to 1998, he served as the Chiefs' quarterbacks coach before moving on to Green Bay for a season as a quarterbacks coach. From 2000 to 2004, he served as offensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints and had a one-year run in the same job with the San Francisco 49ers in 2005 before becoming the Packers' head coach.

In Green Bay, he dealt with the shadows of championship coaches Vince Lombardi and Mike Holmgren. In Dallas, he will deal with the shadows of championship coaches Tom Landry and Jimmy Johnson.

Jonny May says Leicester's win against Bristol was a moment that can help revive the former Premiership giants.

Two tries by the England winger helped the 10-time English champions to just their second league win of the season.

"The lessons we've learned came through and we turned it around," May said.

"I hope this is the point we get serious and start getting better every week because this is a club that has all the ingredients to be one of the best teams in Europe."

Two-time European champions Leicester are still second from bottom in the league and above only Saracens, who had a 35-point deduction imposed on them.

But May, whose second try late on helped seal the win against Bristol, said the result "was special".

He told BBC Radio Leicester: "It is as good a feeling I've had at Leicester Tigers because of how desperate we were for it.

"It's never a good thing to be desperate on the pitch, but you can't say you weren't because I was desperate."

May is one of six England internationals who missed the start of the season for Leicester because of World Cup duties and admits they were "embarrassed" on their league return when beaten 36-13 by derby rivals Northampton in November.

"That was the first proper game to see where we were at and it was a shock, it was a crash back to earth," he said.

"What we have done is be hard on ourselves. That takes character.

"We've lost a fair few games over the past couple of years and we have only ourselves to blame, whether defensively or because of indiscipline.

"Hopefully now we have a bit of belief and realisation that we can be a great team, and if we keep working on what we have been working on we can steady the ship and make progress.

"Things are starting to look better, but you can't speak too soon because the hard work needs to continue."

Leinster have said that Johnny Sexton is making "good progress" in his recovery from a knee injury and will increase his training load this week.

Sexton will miss Saturday's Champions Cup game against Lyon but looks to have a good chance of featuring in Ireland's Six Nations opener against Scotland.

The British and Irish Lions fly-half, 34, was injured in Leinster's win over Northampton in early December.

Ireland open their Six Nations campaign against Scotland on 1 February.

Leinster are awaiting news on the calf injury sustained by Ireland lock James Ryan in Saturday's Pro14 win over Connacht.

Ryan, 23, was substituted in the first half and Leinster say his fitness will be "monitored through the week" before a final decision is made on his availability for this weekend's contest against Lyon.

Exeter have donated their share of Saracens' fine for breaching the Premiership salary cap to charity.

The reigning English champions were fined £5.36m and docked 35 points after admitting breaching cap rules for the previous three seasons.

The remaining 12 clubs with Premiership shares have each been given £350,000 of the fine levied on Sarries.

Exeter's money has been donated to the Exeter Chiefs Foundation, the club's official charity.

The foundation has raised almost £2m for projects around the city, including play parks for disabled children, an outdoor learning centre, refurbishing hydrotherapy pools and wheelchairs for a wheelchair rugby team.

"As this sum was not budgeted for and looking at our own future forecasts, we feel we do not need to absorb this sum of money into the rugby club," Exeter chairman and chief executive Tony Rowe said.

"Given where it has come from, the board felt it should go straight into the Foundation's funds, which will benefit hugely and use the money to help a great deal of charities and organisations within our local community."

Exeter were one of the clubs most aggrieved about Saracens' financial transgressions, having lost to them in the last two Premiership finals.

Rowe stated in November that he believed Saracens should be relegated from the Premiership, but his side exacted some revenge when they put in a superb defensive display to beat their rivals 14-7 just after Christmas.