Leicester Tigers winger Jonny May faces an "extended period" out after fracturing a cheekbone in England's Six Nations win over Wales on Saturday.

The 29-year-old was forced off at Twickenham and has had surgery.

Back row Sione Kalamafoni, 31, and fly-half Johnny McPhillips, 22, will also be long-term absentees through injury.

Kalamafoni will miss three months after suffering concussion symptoms, while McPhillips is out for a similar time with a ligament tear in his right knee.

"As we enter the final half of the Premiership season and approach the knockout stages of Europe, the loss of three players is a blow," said Leicester head coach Geordan Murphy.

"We are fortunate to have returning players from the Six Nations to add vital depth to the squad."

Tonga international Kalamafoni has been stood down by a neurologist after Leicester's weekend defeat by Saracens. McPhillips was also forced off in that game, his first Premiership start for the club.

CORONA, Calif. — Dave Wonser has been promoted to the position of vice president of brand development for Lucas Oil Products.

Wonser has been with Lucas Oil for close to 15 years, climbing the ranks with his dedication and commitment to his work.

“Dave has been part of the Lucas Oil family since 2005 and has always remained a versed professional. He played an integral part in developing Lucas Oil Production Studios in 2007, developed and launched Lucas Oil Racing TV,” said Thomas Fredrickson, COO, Lucas Oil Products. “And has always shown initiative in the performance of his duties, even going above and beyond what was expected of him. We know the same level of dedication and commitment will be applied in his new position and can’t wait to see where he will help lead the company.”

“I look forward to this new challenge and opportunity. Lucas Oil is such a diverse company with the various entities that we have and I enjoy pushing the limits on new ideas, company growth and development to further the company,” said Wonser.

MILLINGTON, Tenn. — Memphis Int’l Raceway and parent company IRG Sports + Entertainment have announced the expansion of MIR’s sales and marketing team with the hiring of motorsports industry professionals Tyler West and Brandon Schulhof.

West has been named director of corporate partnerships for Memphis Int’l Raceway. Schulhof is the new marketing specialist for the multi-purpose facility.

The moves highlight MIR’s commitment to bring experienced industry professionals to the Mid-South’s premier motorsports facility.

West and Schulhof will report to Memphis Int’l Raceway General Manager Justin Kamm.

“Tyler and Brandon bring proven sales and marketing knowledge and experience to the MIR team,” Kamm said. “These talented professionals will focus on growing and building partner and community relationships. They will be tremendous assets to MIR and our partners.”

West began his career in motorsports as a 14-year-old working the front gate at Mo-Kan Dragway in Asbury, Mo. He later served multiple roles at the historic dragway, in addition to working as a sales professional outside the motorsports industry.

Most recently, he was marketing manager at Mo-Kan Dragway. Through his current role, West will oversee business development and sales activities at MIR.

Schulhof, a graduate of the University of Missouri, earned a Bachelor of Science in Sport Management. Most recently, he served as a sales and marketing associate at Racing Electronics in Concord, N.C.

His prior experience includes internships at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Gateway Motorsports Park and Global Rallycross. Schulhof has specialized in event activation, marketing and ticketing campaigns to increase ticket sales and build brand awareness.

MOORESVILLE, N.C. – Kyle Busch Motorsports announced Wednesday that Brandon Jones, the most recent winner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, will return to the organization for four races in the No. 51 Tundra this season in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series.

Jones registered 53 laps led and three top-five finishes across five starts for KBM in 2019, including a runner-up finish at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway that helped the No. 51 advance to the Championship 4 of the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors owner’s playoffs.

Overall, in 10 starts for KBM since 2018, Jones has posted six top-five and seven top-10 finishes, resulting in an average finish of 9.2.

Since making his Gander Trucks debut in August of 2013, the 23-year-old driver has recorded five runner-up, 13 top-five and 22 top-10 finishes across 45 starts.

The Georgia native has already locked himself into the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs via his win last weekend at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway.

Across 141 career Xfinity Series starts, Jones has registered two wins, three poles, 11 top-five and 53 top-10 finishes. Additionally, the 22-year-old driver has collected five career ARCA Menards Series victories and one ARCA Menards Series East win.

“After ending last year in the Truck Series on such a high note with almost winning Phoenix, it gives me great confidence to come back and compete at KBM,” Jones said. “Based on the tracks that we have scheduled; I feel that my chances are very strong to put the No. 51 Tundra in victory lane at all of them and check off my first truck win in 2020.

“I am pumped to have Danny Stockman as my crew chief since we have worked together in the past and have had multiple successful runs in my early years in the Xfinity Series. And, I feel that running a limited truck schedule with KBM helps have dialogue with Kyle on a weekly basis. The main reason we are participating in the selected truck schedule is so that I can have some on-track laps before getting in the Xfinity car. This will be especially important when we run Martinsville Speedway, since the Xfinity series has added that back to the 2020 schedules.”

Jones will make his first Gander Trucks start of the year at Iowa Speedway in Newton on June 12 with primary sponsorship from Barracuda Pumps.

He will also compete at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa., on June 27 with primary sponsorship from DuPont Air Filtration, Kentucky Speedway on July 9 with primary sponsorship from Delta Faucet Company and Martinsville (Va.) Speedway on Oct. 30 with primary sponsorship from Magick Woods.

Menards will be an associate sponsor for all four races.

“I am really excited to have PPA/Dupont and Delta Faucets back on the truck, and also pleased to be bringing on two new sponsors to the track, Barracuda Pumps and Magick Woods Vanities,” Jones noted. “Sponsors play a very important role in our sport and I believe we have a great chance to take them all to victory lane. I especially appreciate my longtime sponsor Menards for supporting me in both the Xfinity and Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series. I couldn’t do it without them.”

“Brandon was an integral part of the 51 team bringing home the owner’s championship last year and we’re excited to have him back in the driver lineup as we try to repeat that feat this year,” added team owner and driver Kyle Busch. “He was so close to victory a couple of times last year in the Truck Series and in the Xfinity Series was able to pick up a win late last year and has carried that momentum over to another win and a strong start to the season. We’re looking forward to getting him his first Truck Series victory this year.”

The No. 51 team, led by veteran crew chief Danny Stockman, leads the 2020 owner’s point standings by 19 points after two events.

Busch led 108 laps and swept all three stages en route to victory at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway and Riley Herbst captured the pole, led the first 21 laps and won a stage in the season-opening race at Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – NASCAR announced Wednesday afternoon that several changes will be made to race-weekend operations in the wake of the worldwide Novel Coronavirus outbreak.

In addition to remaining in daily consultation with public health officials and prominent sports and entertainment properties, an infectious disease specialist has been added to the NASCAR consulting physician group to provide technical assistance and inform policy.

Among the changes suggested by medical counsel are the following:

– The driver/crew chief meeting will be held in open air locations across all series and attendance will be restricted to drivers, crew chiefs, team owners and select officials and dignitaries.

– The informal rotations for all three series will be changed to press conferences on the riser in the media center.

Full-field driver availabilities during qualifying, infield care center driver availability and the post-race bullpen will remain in effect, but with a six-foot buffer in place.

– The track services meeting will be held in open air locations across all series.

– NASCAR recommends that access to team haulers be restricted to necessary personnel at team’s discretion.

– Driver appearances should be structured to ensure that drivers are visible to fans in an open-air setting, such as Q&A sessions.

– Drivers should pre-sign items whenever possible, carry their own Sharpie and hero cards should be the primary form for all autographs.

– Pre-race and post-race activities, including driver introductions, grid and victory lane ceremonies, will be conducted with a six-foot buffer around the grid and driver introduction stage.

– All advance in-market driver appearances will be replaced with remote media activities and/or rescheduled for a later date in coordination with race tracks.

– All individuals coming to the infield care center demonstrating symptoms potentially consistent with coronavirus will be appropriately handled by medical professionals.

All facilities have been provided a standard operating process following CDC guidelines.

“The health, safety and well-being of our industry, employees, media, fans and everyone associated with our events remains our top priority,” NASCAR communications officials said in a statement. “We will remain diligent as we actively monitor this situation with medical experts and health officials. We will keep everyone informed as to any additional prospective operational or scheduling changes.”

The Colorado Avalanche will be without top scorer Nathan MacKinnon for at least a week after he suffered a lower-body injury.

MacKinnon was hurt during the second period of Monday's loss to the Los Angeles Kings. It's the latest blow to an injury-plagued Avalanche team that is trying to catch the St. Louis Blues for the top seed in the Western Conference.

The Avalanche are missing six other players. They will have defenseman Cale Makar back in the lineup when they face the New York Rangers on Wednesday night.

Makar has been out the past five games with an upper-body injury. He is second among rookies with 47 points.

The speedy MacKinnon will be hard to replace, as the center ranks among the league's top 10 in points (93), goals (35) and assists (58) this season. He has a career-high 29 multipoint contests this season, the most by an Avalanche player since Peter Forsberg had the same number in 2002-03.

Colorado coach Jared Bednar said MacKinnon will miss "one to two weeks." Bednar plans to insert J.T. Compher into the center spot on the top line versus the Rangers.

Bednar is running thin on options these days. The team already is without forwards Matt Calvert, Nazem Kadri, Andre Burakovsky, Colin Wilson and Mikko Rantanen. Also sidelined is goaltender Philipp Grubauer.

Asked if he has ever experienced this many injuries all at once, Bednar responded: "Simple answer is no. ... The sheer number of guys we have out and guys that play key roles for us -- it's getting to be a lot."

A welcomed sight for the Avalanche: Kadri, Burakovsky, Rantanen and Calvert all skated Wednesday morning during drills with the team. Grubauer was on the ice as well.

"We could be trickling them into the lineup during this homestand," said Bednar, whose team plays four straight at home as it enters the night two points behind St. Louis for the top spot. "Hopefully we have some reinforcements coming soon."

Although Vladislav Namestnikov wasn't on the ice with the team Wednesday, Bednar said it was just a maintenance day and the center will suit up. Namestnikov was acquired from the Ottawa Senators on Feb. 24 and has three goals with Colorado. He began the season with the Rangers before being dealt to the Senators.

The injury predicament could prove especially cumbersome during this stretch, when Colorado plays 16 games in March. That matches a franchise record for most contests in a particular month.

"Obviously, we're losing key players," forward Tyson Jost said. "Different guys have stepped up each and every night. ... We have to keep doing that."

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Tyrrell Hatton didn’t disappoint.

After winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational Sunday, the Englishman said he might need until Wednesday to recover from the celebration he was planning.

“I'm still quite tired, to be honest,” he said Wednesday at The Players. “I was cuddling the toilet by 5 in the morning, so it was a good night.”

Inquiring media wanted to know how many glasses of his favored red wine he finished off.

“There was a lot of red wine, and then, unfortunately, I think the finisher was drinking the vodka and tequila out of the bottle, which never kind of ends well,” he said. “Yeah, I fell victim of that, definitely.”

It was Hatton’s first PGA Tour title, to go with his four European Tour titles. He knows going back-to-back with a victory this week won’t be easy. This is his fourth start at The Players. He tied for 41st in his first start three years ago and missed the cut each of the last two years.

“Last year, it was kind of typical for me, where I was like one shot outside the cut line, with five holes to go, and I had a blowup,” he said. “Snapped my 3-wood and basically started hitting shots on the run. I think we missed the cut by five, or something like that.”

At least Hatton arrives at The Players in a better mood than he left last year.

“It kind of just goes back to making sure I kind of control myself,” he said. “That’s normally the first step to me having a decent week.”

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The search continues for Jordan Spieth, but he’s hopeful that a detour to one of his favorite destinations will spark a turnaround this week at The Players.

Spieth hasn’t played since a T-58 finish in Mexico City, a result that has become something of a pattern for him in the new year. While he flirted with contention at Pebble Beach, tying for ninth, that’s the only time in five starts this year that he has cracked the top 50.

Nearly three years removed from his most recent victory at The Open, Spieth is well aware that he remains in the midst of a prolonged slide.

“I’m just trying to reverse a year and a half of kind of bad reps,” Spieth told GolfChannel.com. “I’m trying to reverse it quickly and then trust it at the same time, and that gets difficult on hard golf courses.”

TPC Sawgrass certainly qualifies as “hard,” although Spieth made it look anything but in his 2014 debut. That year he played the first 54 holes without dropping a shot, ultimately tying for fourth, but he has missed the cut here four of the five years since.

Spieth’s recent down time included a bit of fun, as last week he made his annual pilgrimage to Augusta National along with his dad, agent and a few close friends. The open invitation to return to the club remains one of the biggest perks of his 2015 Masters triumph.

“Usually I go in December, and I didn’t this year,” he explained. “We had a day off, and I had to go to Orlando Tuesday for board meetings anyway. So I felt like it was on the way. Any excuse to get there, I try to.”

While a trip back to Augusta is surely good for the soul, there are still some big pieces to sort when it comes to Spieth’s game. He’s currently languishing at 195^th this season in strokes gained: off-the-tee, and he was wild with the driver last year at Sawgrass en route to a missed cut.

While Spieth claimed Wednesday that he feels “as good today as I’ve felt in a long time,” he admitted that he’ll attack the Tour’s flagship event without a full arsenal at his disposal.

“I don’t feel like I have all the tools. I don’t quite have control of every shot, so I’ve got to go sometimes with a shot that may not be the best one for the widest area or whatever,” he said. “Kind of just playing right-to-left shots right now because that’s getting me where I need to be in the swing.”

The Seattle Sounders' March 21 home match against FC Dallas has been postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak in Washington, the club has announced.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Wednesday announced a ban on gatherings and events of more than 250 people in virtually the entire Seattle metro area to try to stop the spread of the virus.

- Coronavirus: Cancellations and reactions in sports

The ban includes sporting events and concerts.

"As the developments surrounding COVID-19 in our region evolve, Seattle Sounders FC has been working in real time with regional health authorities and government officials to do our part in combating this public health crisis," the defending MLS champs said in a statement.

"Our organization must remain flexible in these efforts, and at this time, that includes heeding Governor Inslee's call to postpone our home match on March 21 versus FC Dallas at CenturyLink Field.

"Throughout this process, Sounders FC has stated that nothing is more important than public safety and the well-being of our fans. With that in mind, we respect the difficult decision that has been made today, and our club will continue following the guidelines set forth by our public health authorities and government agencies.

"We will maintain our consistent dialogue with elected leadership, public health officials and Major League Soccer, and as more information becomes available, the club will continue to provide public updates. This includes details about rescheduling the FC Dallas match for a later date."

Seattle general manager Garth Lagerwey said the decision was made with the area's overall safety in mind.

"This is not about the Sounders. This is about the community and what is in everybody's best interests. I think certainly as a company, we need to shoulder our responsibilities for our part of it," Lagerway, who added that this weekend's match at the Houston Dynamo will go on as scheduled, said.

"The guys are not sharing towels, they're not sharing water bottles. Everyone has their own individual hand sanitizer so we are taking measures to try to enforce these individual protections as much as possible. Certainly no one on the team, to my knowledge has requested any kind of testing, and no one has been sick. So that's been a positive for us."

In a related move, the Sounders also announced that its reserve team, USL Championship side the Tacoma Defiance, would play Wednesday's match against San Diego Loyal behind closed doors.

"With San Diego Loyal's squad already in town to play the contest, we have been in touch with the United Soccer League, regional government agencies and health authorities about the best path forward," the Sounders said in a separate statement. "Because Cheney Stadium will be closed to the public, it has been deemed safe to proceed with Tacoma Defiance's second match of the season."

The statement added that the Defiance's home match on Sunday, March 22 versus Oklahoma City is set to be rescheduled.

It wasn't immediately clear how long the order to suspend gatherings in the Seattle area would last, or whether it would eventually extend to other parts of the state.

At least 24 people in Washington have died from the coronavirus, most of them in the Seattle metro area.

World soccer has been greatly affected by the spread of the coronavirus. Italy has postponed all sporting events -- including Serie A matches -- until April 3 as part of a nationwide lockdown, while leagues across the globe have also cancelled matches and imposed stadium bans.

Coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, is a new strain of coronavirus that has surged around the globe in recent months. The coronaviruses are a family of viruses that cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more serious respiratory diseases. Flu is caused by a different virus. There is no vaccine for coronavirus, though researchers are working on one and hope to begin testing soon. Older people, especially those with chronic illnesses such as heart or lung disease, are most at risk.

The coronavirus spreads mainly through coughs and sneezes, though it also can be transferred from surfaces. The best way to prevent infection is by frequent hand-washing, cleaning surfaces with regular household sprays and wipes, and avoiding close contact with people who are sick.

ESPN FC U.S. correspondent Jeff Carlisle contributed to this report.