PITTSBURGH -- Maurkice Pouncey says he doesn't have any regrets about his role in the fight between Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph and Browns defensive end Myles Garrett three weeks ago in Cleveland.

Pouncey, who served a two-game suspension, was gregarious and lighthearted Wednesday while speaking publicly for the first time since the brawl.

"The NFL had to make a statement, and rightfully so," the Steelers center said of league-imposed discipline that followed the altercation. "At the end of the day, the fight didn't look good, but the fight was worth it."

Pouncey was initially suspended three games and fined $35,096 for the fight. He ran toward the skirmish as Garrett swung Rudolph's helmet at the quarterback, hitting him in the head. Pouncey punched and kicked Garrett.

Pouncey won his appeal after telling the NFL that he stopped fighting when the brawl ended. His punishment was reduced by a game.

"As soon as the brawl stopped, I stopped," Pouncey said. "They didn't have to stop me. I wasn't chasing down the players. It was just one guy."

Despite the discipline, the 10-year veteran said he didn't regret his actions from that night.

"No regrets," Pouncey said. "I've moved on now, man. Everyone had to pay their fines. Everyone had to do their due diligence. The money was worth it, trust me."

Pouncey also refuted Garrett's allegation that Rudolph used a racial slur.

"Come on man, that's not true at all," Pouncey said. "Honestly, you guys know Mason. You guys have been around him a long time. It's not his first time. Trust me, if he was racist, it would've got exposed."

Pouncey spent his two-week suspension working out in gyms around Pittsburgh. Sunday morning, he got up and did a cardio workout to fill the void of not playing. He said he was greeted frequently at local gyms by fans holding up fists and telling him they would've gotten in another punch or kick.

"It was funny just to hear from people," he said. "Everywhere I go, people are like this, putting the fist up."

Pouncey also received strong support from his own locker room. Not only did they wear "Free Pouncey" sweatshirts, but team captain Cam Heyward brought a game ball to Pouncey at his house after Sunday's victory in a rematch with the Browns.

"I never got a game ball sitting at the house," Pouncey said. "It was pretty cool."

The center picked up some extra custom sweatshirts ordered by Ramon Foster. He's also sending one to his twin, Chargers center Mike Pouncey.

"I got one for my brother, too. Just in case he gets locked up," Pouncey said with a laugh.

Refreshed after the two-week break, Pouncey is ready to return to practice ahead of a crucial stretch that could very well end with a playoff berth for the 7-5 Steelers.

"I feel like this is the beginning of the year," Pouncey said. "I've got a lot of energy. We're going to see how things turn out today at practice. I know all the guys are excited. We've just got to stay humbled and focused."

MIAMI -- The Miami Marlins will join Major League Baseball's trend toward artificial turf by installing the surface at Marlins Park for 2020, and they'll move in the fences for the second time in four years.

CEO Derek Jeter said an artificial surface solves the challenge the Marlins have had growing grass in the retractable-roof stadium since it opened in 2012. They'll install the same turf used by the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers.

Five of the 30 teams in the majors now will have artificial turf. Arizona added it this year, joining Toronto and Tampa Bay. Texas' new ballpark opens in 2020.

"While playing the Diamondbacks in Arizona, we were able to get a close look and examine the new surface at Chase Field," Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill said on a team website. "We agreed as an organization that this change was for the best after our players and staff had encouraging remarks regarding the playability of the playing surface."

The Marlins also plan to move in their fence in center and right-center field. The distances are changing from 407 to 400 feet in center and from 399 to 387 in right.

The distances "will now be more in line with the field dimensions you see across many of today's ballparks," Jeter said.

Since it opened, Marlins Park has had a reputation for being pitcher-friendly. This year the stadium had the third-lowest home run rate in the majors.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- The dimensions at the new Texas Rangers' ballpark will be similar to their old stadium, with slightly altered distances designed to honor the team's retired jersey numbers.

The left field pole will be 329 feet from home plate -- a nod to former third baseman Adrian Beltre's No. 29 jersey. It will be 407 feet to straightaway center field, honoring Hall of Fame catcher Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez (No. 7), and 410 at the deepest points to recognize Michael Young (No. 10).

Former manager Johnny Oates' No. 26 will be marked by the 326 feet to the right field pole at Globe Life Field.

Rangers officials unveiled the dimensions Wednesday. The first game in the new stadium will be an exhibition against the St. Louis Cardinals on March 23, and the first regular-season game will be March 31 against the Los Angeles Angels.

For the past 26 seasons, the old stadium's dimensions were 332 feet to left field, 400 in straightaway center (407 to the deepest points) and 325 to right.

There will be a marker at 334 feet on the 8-foot wall in left field, recognizing Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan (No. 34). A 42 for Jackie Robinson will mark the distance from home plate to the backstop.

When it comes to dirt late model racing, no driver has been better in recent seasons than Brandon Sheppard and Jonathan Davenport.

Sheppard and Davenport have combined to win more than 50 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series features during the last two years.

The two racers have dominated their respective tours, with Sheppard winning two of the last three World of Outlaws titles while Davenport has won the last two Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series crowns.

In short, the road to winning a World of Outlaws or Lucas Oil Late Model feature goes through Sheppard or Davenport.

Sheppard, a 26-year-old native of Illinois, drives the Rocket Chassis house car owned and prepared by Mark Richards. He took over the car full time for the 2017 season after previously driving the No. 1 entry for a short time in 2012. Since then, Sheppard has won 49 WoO features and two championships, including this year’s title.

This season has been one for the record books as Sheppard racked up 18 WoO LMS victories en route to the championship. He also won four Lucas Oil Late Model Series races and three events that paid $100,000 or more to win.

“I knew we were capable of it, obviously. My team, in my eyes, is the best team in the business,” said Sheppard. “For us to go as above and beyond as we have this year is definitely mind blowing even to me.”

Sheppard and the Rocket team started the season slowly, but once they found their groove they were nearly unstoppable.

“At the very beginning part in Florida in February we didn’t necessarily struggle, but we didn’t have the win we were looking for at East Bay and then Golden Isles (in Georgia),” Sheppard said. “We weren’t off necessarily, but we weren’t as good as we needed to be. We went into Volusia on Monday and we got into a little crash and then we rained out Tuesday.

“Me, Mark and the guys kind of gathered our thoughts and got things together,” Sheppard noted. “Mark got together what he thought was going to be the best package for the rest of the weekend and we just found a really, really good balance for our race car that basically ended up changing our whole season.”

From there, Sheppard rattled off six straight victories, including four in a row during the DIRTcar Nationals at Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park. It was the start of a monumental season that resulted in 26 victories across multiple sanctioning bodies.

After his first win of the season Feb. 13 at Volusia, Sheppard didn’t finish worse than second again until a sixth-place finish during a co-sanctioned MARS Super Late Model and Sunoco American Late Model Series event at Illinois’ Farmer City Raceway on May 10.

“When we did that and we made those changes, it redirected the way our cars get around race tracks,” Sheppard said. “We went from chasing the brown and needing the cushion a lot of the times to be able to make something happen. Now we can run in the middle of the race track on the slick. That’s anywhere we go, whenever we need to.

“That’s been the ultimate goal, to have a race car we can take to any race track in the country and be competitive.”

Davenport, meanwhile, has been no slouch. Driving for Double L Motorsports and team owner Lance Landers, Davenport has owned the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series the last two years.

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NORTH WOODSTOCK, N.H. – White Mountain Motorsports Park has officially set the 2020 racing schedule for teams and fans.

The track’s 28th season of racing currently has 20 events planned with several additions and changes from the previous year.

The White Mountain Motorsports Park season officially opens on Saturday, May 9. The annual Car Show will be held at the track that morning from 10 a.m. to Noon. It will be followed by an open practice for all divisions with post time at 6:00pm. All Saturday events will start at 6 p.m. except for those held on major race weekends at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The following weekend, the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) Super Late Models will make their first visit of the season for a special Sunday afternoon show. The PASS 150 presented by 7-Eleven of Lincoln, NH is slated for Sunday, May 17 at 1 p.m.

PASS will make two other visits to White Mountain Motorsports Park in 2020. Their second 150-lapper of the year in the White Mountains is Saturday, July 18. The third visit is set for Saturday, Sept. 19, which will also include the PASS Modifieds and Honey Badger Bar & Grill Street Stock Series.

This season includes the return of the Modified Racing Series to White Mountain Motorsports Park for the first time since 2005. The 100-lap event will be held on Saturday, July 4 as part of the Independence Day spectacular with the annual holiday fireworks.

The American-Canadian Tour is again making two trips to WMMP. The Caron Fabrication Spring Green 120 is slated to Saturday, June 13. The GoMotorsportsShop.com NELCAR Legends Tour is also on the card that night. NELCAR will make a second visit on Saturday, Aug. 22.

The ACT Late Model Tour returns on Saturday, August 8 for the third annual Midsummer 250. The $10,000-to-win event is fast becoming one of the biggest events on the Northeast Late Model racing schedule.

Saturday, July 25 will be a Night for the Little Guys. Both the North East Mini Stock Tour and Street Stock Showdown Series will be in town for a pair of 50-lap specials. The Foley Oil & Propane Late Models will be given the night off as they prepare for the Coca-Cola New Hampshire Governor’s Cup 150 and the Midsummer 250 the following two weeks. The Late Models also have 100-lap specials as part of Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends, respectively.

The Triple Crown Series for the Wells River Chevrolet Flying Tigers returns in 2020 after a successful first season. The three-race series will be contested on May 30, June 27, and Aug. 22, respectively. A Woodsville Guaranty Savings Bank Strictly Stock Mini Special is set for Saturday, Sept. 12 while the 7-Eleven Dwarf Cars have a special event on Saturday, Aug. 15.

The season hits the halfway mark with the Country Camper Midseason Championships on Saturday, July 11. The weekly champions will be crowned at the Championship Night season finale on Saturday, Sept. 26.

San Jose Sharks forward Evander Kane was fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the CBA, for elbowing Capitals defenseman Radko Gudas, the league announced Wednesday.

With just over five minutes left in Tuesday night's game in San Jose, Kane and Gudas were skating to a loose puck. Kane raised his right glove, clutching the butt end of his stick, and struck Gudas in the head. The on-ice officials reviewed the hit and determined that Kane would receive a five-minute major for elbowing and a game misconduct.

Capitals coach Todd Reirden said after the game that he hoped the league would "deal with" Kane's hit.

"It's a high hit. It's a reviewable penalty. The league will deal with it from there," Reirden said. "But it's the type of stuff we're working to remove from the game."

The Capitals didn't score on the major, but they defeated the Sharks 5-2. San Jose coach Pete DeBoer said he hoped the penalty on Kane would suffice.

"I did see the Kane hit. Definitely a penalty. I don't think it's more than that. That's my opinion. But that's not my department," he said.

Kane was suspended three games in September for physical abuse of officials, costing him more than $112,000. His last suspension for a physical altercation with another player was in April 2018, when he was suspended for one playoff game following a cross-check to Vegas forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.

The Capitals said they'll have an update on Gudas on Wednesday, before their game at the Los Angeles Kings.

ESPN's Greg Wyshynski contributed to this report.

Left-hander Cole Hamels and the Atlanta Braves have agreed to a one-year, $18 million contract, sources told ESPN's Jeff Passan on Wednesday.

Hamels, when right, was every bit as good as anyone in the National League last season, but he was plagued by injuries, both small and large, for the Chicago Cubs.

Before an oblique strain sent him to the injured list, his ERA hovered under 3.00. In 10 starts for the Cubs after returning, Hamels compiled a 5.79 mark. He was just never the same, mostly because of his mechanics.

"Trying to correct things while I built up the arm strength was a recipe for disaster," said Hamels, a three-time All-Star selection who will be 36 on Opening Day in 2020.

It bothered him so much that even after the Cubs were out of the playoff race, Hamels wanted to take the mound to show teams he was healthy.

"This is the first time I'm going into free agency, and I don't want that in the back of team's heads, how I finished," he said.

The 14-year veteran finished last season with a 7-7 record and 143 strikeouts with a 3.81 ERA.

When healthy, Hamels spotted his fastball exactly where he wanted to in 2019, setting up his devastating change-up as his out pitch. His cutter also proved to be a solid second weapon to help him generate more ground balls. Early on, he put together a string of 22 consecutive innings pitched without issuing a walk. But that control was lost after his injury -- he walked 21 in his final 42 innings in 2019.

For his career, Hamels is 163-121 with a 3.42 ERA and 2,558 strikeouts. He was the MVP of the 2008 World Series and NLCS with the Philadelphia Phillies, with whom he entered the majors in 2006 and spent the first nine-plus seasons of his career before being traded to the Texas Rangers in 2015.

ESPN's Jesse Rogers and Keith Law contributed to this report.

Sale Sharks will be without Jean-Luc du Preez for three matches after the lock accepted a charge of "striking an opponent with the shoulder" following his red card against Worcester.

Du Preez, 24 was sent off in Saturday's 20-13 defeat for a shoulder-led challenge on Graham Kitchener.

He will miss two European Champions Cup group games against Exeter and the Premiership meeting with Northampton.

The South African is free to play against Bath at The Rec on 28 December.

BOULDER, Colo. — Loni Unser will race with the Shift Up Now organization in this weekend’s USAF 25 Hours of Thunderhill at California’s Thunderhill Raceway Park.

“Racing the 25 Hours of Thunderhill is a giant challenge that attracts some of the best teams in the country,” said Unser. “It’s a bucket-list race for me and I’m grateful to Shift Up Now for the opportunity.”

The Thunderhill event is a highlight stop on the amateur racing calendar each year. The field is typically deep, with a number of leading professional teams viewing it as an unofficial test for the prestigious 24 Hours of Daytona.

Shift Up Now will partner with HQ Autosport for the event, fielding the No. 28 BMW 128i in the competitive E2 class.

“I love that we’re racing on these mixed teams with men and women taking turns behind the wheel,” said Unser. “It’s what racing is supposed to be: a racecar driver is anybody who can drive a car fast – regardless of gender.”

Unser will share driving duties with fellow Shift Up Now drivers Sarah Montgomery and Michele Abbate, along with HQ Autosport regulars Peter Engels and Travis Weltzien.

HQ Autosport is an endurance racing team founded by Paul Quattrocchi and Rob Henretta. They are the 2018 defending NASA Western Endurance Racing Champions and the 2018 NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill Champions in the E2 class.

Shift Up Now is a collective of female racers who strive to inspire confidence and courage in girls and women through motorsport. It was founded by Lynn Schultz Kehoe in 2016. The racing program is managed by Karen Salvaggio.

Unser started competing in 2017 and has shown promise in NASA Rocky Mountain Spec Miata competition as well as the professional Global MX-5 Cup.

Unser’s grandfather, Jerry, was the first of the famous Unsers to race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

She is currently a student of Environmental Design at the University of Colorado Boulder.

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – Alias CBD has been named the official CBD of the GEICO Honda/Factory Connection race team and will assume associate-sponsor placement on all team gear, motorcycles and vehicles.

The multi-year deal extends businessman Mike Grondahl’s financial support of the team into its 13th year, making it one of the longest in the industry. Grondahl first promoted Planet Fitness through the team in 2008 when his company was in its infancy. He later used the team to advertise Alias MX, an entity that manufactured superior riding gear for Motocross competitors and enthusiasts.

“We’ve enjoyed Motocross for years as a family and we’re always looking for ways to give back,” Grondahl said. “From our initial involvement with the Planet Fitness brand in 2008 when I became part-owner of the team, through the development of Alias MX gear and now with Alias CBD, we’ve made it a point to put Motocross riders first.

“We kept the Alias brand with the CBD products to solidify that commitment, and we picked the CBD industry because we know its making a huge difference in so many lives. We were proud to create and manufacture the best riding gear because we wanted to be absolutely sure people were properly equipped, all while charging considerably less than the competitors. Nearly 40,000 customers agreed with our Alias MX philosophy.

“Now we’re bringing the same moral intent and desire to help others by bringing plant-based medical solutions to cure a vast array of pain issues affecting people across the United States. Unlike others in the crowded CBD market, we manufacture our products ourselves at our home base in New Hampshire. In that way, we can make absolutely sure the end user gets the very best treatment.”

Pointing to the punishing nature of Motocross and the abuse riders routinely take, alleviating the pain and soreness that adversely affects enthusiasts became a focal point for Grondahl, especially as his son Eric became involved in the sport.

“Extreme sports athletes are the early adopters of new technology and once people begin to reap the benefits of Alias CBD products they’ll be sold on the science as well,” said Eric Grondahl, creative director at Alias CBD. “We’re offering safe, hemp-derived products that have been exhaustively tested. We’re putting everything we have behind this venture and we’re so confident we can alleviate pain that we’re starting off by offering a double-your-money-back guarantee on everything we sell.”