CONCORD, N.C. – Chip Ganassi Racing announced Saturday that Kurt Busch has signed a multi-year extension to remain as the driver of the No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet Camaro.

In addition, the team has also announced a multi-year extension to its partnership with Monster Energy.

Busch, a 31-time winner in NASCAR’s premier series, will look to build on his success with CGR after becoming both a race winner and playoff participant in 2019.

In just his first season with Chip Ganassi Racing, Busch extended his streak of winning at least one race per season in the Cup Series to six consecutive years.

Busch has won at least one Cup Series race in 16 of his 20 years of competition, and has also won a Cup Series race and claimed a pole on every type of track on which the series competes on – superspeedways, intermediates, short tracks and road courses.

“Chip made me an offer that I couldn’t refuse, and for me personally, it is the fun and refreshing atmosphere working with Matt McCall and all the team here at Chip Ganassi Racing that led to this,” Busch noted. “All signs pointed toward, ’let’s keep going; let’s keep winning,’ and that is what we intend to do. It has also been the fans, continuing to work with Monster Energy, the chance to be part of the Next Gen car introduction in 2021, along with building on our successes that together makes it an easy decision to continue here at Chip Ganassi Racing.

“Monster has been with me for nearly a decade and they are so much fun to work with; it is just a natural fit,” Busch added. “The outreach of fans to me this year has been inspiring to hear all of them encourage me to keep racing. Additionally I have enjoyed sending veterans and active-duty military to the races this year through our relationship with VetTix.org.

“This is a chance for me to continue being part of something that I have really enjoyed.”

Monster Energy has been a staple in the action sports world, sponsoring athletes, sporting events and musical acts and concerts, including a near decade-long relationship with Busch.

“We’re racing people at Monster Energy and we knew immediately that we had found fantastic racing partners in Chip Ganassi, Kurt Busch and all involved at Chip Ganassi Racing,” said Mitch Covington, Vice President of Sports Marketing for Monster Beverage Company. “NASCAR is a major part of who we are at Monster Energy and to be able to compete at a championship level with Kurt Busch and Chip Ganassi Racing truly reflects who we are and fires up our desire to not only win races, but to make a serious, all-in run at the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series title.”

Busch’s move to CGR yielded a victory earlier this summer at Kentucky Speedway, a win that came over his younger brother Kyle and propelled him into this year’s postseason.

Much like his driver, team owner Chip Ganassi is looking forward to the continuation of the partnerships with Busch and Monster for several years to come.

“We couldn’t be more pleased to be making this announcement. We have developed a great relationship with Rodney Sacks (CEO) and everyone at Monster. We look forward to this partnership lasting for a very long time,” said Ganassi. “As for Kurt, I must say that I have been nothing but impressed with him both in and outside of the car. He has such great instincts behind the wheel, has been tremendous with all of our partners and everyone on the shop floor feeds off his intensity on the track and his enthusiasm off it.”

SOUTHAMPTON, Bermuda – Harry Higgs rebounded from his first bogey of the week to take a two-stroke lead in the PGA Tour's inaugural Bermuda Championship.

After dropping a stroke on the par-4 14th at hilly Port Royal, Higgs birdied the par-3 16th and par-4 18th on Saturday for his second straight 6-under 65. He had a 17-under 196 total.

"Fourteen, I knew I needed to hit that putt way harder," Higgs said. "I got a little irritated, but I just laughed. I figured I was going to make a bogey at some point. I didn't want to, but I was probably going to do it at some point."

Bryson DeChambeau's teammate at SMU, Higgs is making his sixth start of his rookie season after winning on the Korn Ferry Tour and finishing fifth on the developmental tour's regular-season points list to earn PGA Tour card.

"Not trying to force too much, not trying to hit a perfect shot, maybe taking the one that gives you a little bit more room and then you can be more aggressive because you're just more comfortable with said club or the line or holding or riding the wind," Higgs said. "So, I've done a good job of darn near everything, obviously. To be winning, you've done things really well for three days. And tomorrow will be a difficult day with all that goes on with leading after three rounds, but I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to enjoy tomorrow, for sure."

Brendon Todd, tied for the second-round lead with Higgs and Scottie Scheffler, was second after a 67.

"I'm pleased. I'm not thrilled," Todd said. "I hit it pretty nice. I had 15 feet all day and didn't make many of them."

Todd won the 2014 HP Byron Nelson Championship for his lone PGA Tour title. He regained his tour card in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals.

"This is a huge opportunity for me and hopefully one of many this year," Todd said. "I'll just go out there tomorrow and make the best of it."

Bo Hoag and Brian Gay were 14 under. Hoag had his second 64 in three days, and Gay shot his second straight 65.

"Just one of those solid rounds," Hoag said. "No bogeys, just kept the train running there."

Scheffler was another stroke back, shooting his second 69 after an opening 62.

Jurgen Klopp has labelled VAR "a real problem," saying the system should be helping the game and "not confuse it" following Liverpool's 2-1 win at Aston Villa.

There were three checks during the match at Villa Park -- Trezeguet's opener stood after being examined for offside, the video assistant referee upheld the linesman's decision on Roberto Firmino being offside by an armpit when he had the ball in the back of the net and there was a quick pause to see whether Sadio Mane should have had a penalty when he was booked for diving.

There was, however, no probe into a possible penalty for handball against Bjorn Engels from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's shot on 74 minutes.

"Look, we have now a real problem," said Klopp, who admitted it wasn't a key talking point for him given his side secured the victory.

"But now we talk about serious moments, very important moments in football. It is not the right way that we sit here, talk about it and everybody wants to laugh about.

"It's not to laugh about, to be honest. For that it is too serious. Managers get the sack for losing football games. It's just like this. I don't want to make it bigger really than it is, but in fact we just have to clarify it.

"I don't say anybody is doing it on purpose or whatever, we just have to clarify it.

"My analysts showed me [the Firmino situation] after the game, I didn't see anything and now I heard it. Whoever did it is not doing it on purpose but at the end, we need to sort a couple of things obviously.

"The handball situation, nobody talks about that because it was not whistled. Imagine if it would have been whistled and then we would have talked about it. But nobody whistled it, we didn't say anything. Was it a penalty? The shot is here, the shot hits the arm, so in a good old time it was a penalty! Sometimes it's in your favour and sometimes it's against you, that's how it is. That's not a problem.

"But we have to make sure the new system helps the game and not confuse it, that's all. But I think that's in the interests of all of us."

On the decision of Mane being booked for simulation on 37 minutes under pressure from Frederic Guilbert, Klopp added: "I think when you see it back, it is for sure not diving, there is contact, but it is the decision you have to accept."

Washington Redskins tight end Jeremy Sprinkle was fined a total of $84,231 for two separate unnecessary roughness calls in last week's game against the Minnesota Vikings.

The fine is worth more than two game checks for Sprinkle, who is making $645,000 this season.

Sprinkle was fined $56,156 for the first unnecessary roughness call and $28,075 for the second. One of the calls was for lowering his helmet on a hit delivered to Vikings cornerback Xavier Rhodes on the second play of the third quarter.

Rhodes was taken to the medical tent on the sidelines and evaluated for a concussion after the play.

PITTSBURGH -- Veteran receiver Donte Moncrief, who was signed by the Steelers in free agency with the hope that he could replace some of the production lost with the departure of Antonio Brown, was waived by the team Saturday.

By signing Moncrief, the Steelers were likely going to lose a third-round compensatory pick that they initially gained for losing running back Le'Veon Bell. However, by releasing Moncrief before Week 10, the Steelers should regain that third-round pick in the 2020 NFL draft.

Moncrief signed a two-year, $9 million contract with the Steelers in March, and he got off to a rough start with his new team when a dislocated finger limited him in training camp. He played 90% of the offensive snaps and was targeted 10 times in the season-opening loss to the New England Patriots but had a dismal performance with four drops.

A week later, a pass from quarterback Mason Rudolph went through his hands against the Seattle Seahawks and led to Rudolph's first career interception.

Moncrief never found his footing after that, and he was demoted from the starting lineup in favor of rookie Diontae Johnson the following week. He then was inactive in Week 3 and Week 5 and had just one more catch -- an 11-yard reception against the Los Angeles Chargers.

He finishes his short stint in Pittsburgh with four receptions for 18 yards.

In Moncrief's place, the Steelers promoted practice squad running back Tony Brooks-James to fortify the depleted running back group ahead of Sunday's meeting with the Indianapolis Colts.

South London and Wolverhampton also among clubs to take titles at Mansfield’s Berry Hill Park

Leeds City retained their senior men’s title while Aldershot’s senior women were back on winning form at the Saucony English Cross Country Relays, as the morning and lunchtime rain gave way to rainbows and some wintery sun.

Leeds won at Mansfield’s Berry Hill Park despite an early setback, when opening stage runner, Phil Sesemann, who was third fastest on the longer stages last year, took a tumble when first leg eventual ‘winner’ Sam Stabler slowed on a downhill section.

They recovered, thanks to Matthew Grieve and Graham Rush, before Emile Cairess saw off a potential challenge by the in-form Marc Scott to given them a comfortable victory.

His Cambridge & Coleridge took silver as Bedford & County held off Aldershot, whose A team only disposed of their B outfit on the final stage.

In contrast, Aldershot’s women were ahead from near the end of the first lap when Emily Hosker-Thornhill finally shook off the attentions of Lincoln’s Abbie Donnelly to repeat her first leg ‘win’ of last winter.

Niamh Brown and Lauren Hall then completed the job and secured victory over Leeds and Cambridge.

Once again, Jess Judd was quickest over the longer later legs.

Vale Royal retained their under-15 girls’ title, thanks to Holly Weedall’s fastest split over the longer stages, but Ipswich Harriers’ Ruby Vinton, the Inter-Counties champion, was intrinsically quicker on the opening stage.

Will Barnicoat ensured that Windsor repeated their road relay victory in the under-17 men’s event with the fastest of the longer stages.

South London Harriers won the two youngest boys age groups, as Wolverhampton & Bilston matched their tally in the girls’ events, with under-13 and under-20 victories.

There, Amelia Samuels gave them a good start with perhaps the best run of their age group as Bracknell’s Amelia Quirk was best over the longer second and third circuits.

St Mary’s Joe Wigfield was the quickest of all in the under-17 men’s race, which was won by Shaftesbury.

Aldershot’s women also took the under-17 race as Pippa Roessler was the best of the longer stage runners after Sale’s Lara Crawford was much quicker over the shorter opener.

PERRIS, Calif. – Mike Grosswendt has publicly addressed rumors regarding this year’s reduction in purse for the three-day Budweiser Oval Nationals at Perris Auto Speedway.

Grosswendt’s All Coast Construction Company has been the presenting sponsor of the Oval Nationals for nearly a decade, and rumors were swirling that Grosswendt cut a portion of the purse due to USAC moving the last race of the year to Arizona.

He said this week that the rumors of that were untrue.

“Last year we put a lot of money into the event and it was spectacular,” Grosswendt said. “This year I had to cut back. Anybody that knows me or that knows me on social media knows that my wife was diagnosed with cancer. We decided to cut back expenses to see how it played out. Fortunately, it turned out very well. She is cancer-free now.  It took a year of aggressive treatment and her remarkable attitude.

“In that time, it came to my attention that a lot of people think that I cut the purse because USAC moved the crowning of the champions (the final race) to Arizona and the Western World,” Grosswendt continued. “I have to tell you, I was hugely disappointed, as was Don (Kazarian, Perris promoter). We put a lot of money and time into making the Oval Nationals a natural crowning of the champions. To read about it in the news that it was being yanked away and sent to Arizona was extremely hard to swallow, but cutting the purse had nothing to do with that.

“It was strictly a family decision based on what we were going through.”

While disappointed, Grosswendt understands and accepts USAC’s decision.

“I get it,” the longtime sponsor said. “I am just one of thousands of sponsors in racing.  The average race car owner throws more money into the sport than I do every year.  I am over it. I respect USAC and the guys I deal with like Richie Murray, Rich Forman, Levi Jones and the late Dick Jordan … all of the guys back east. It was their business decision (moving the last race to Arizona).

“I am looking forward to the Oval Nationals and it looks like it is shaping up to be another great event.”

ENSENADA, Mexico — The BFGoodrich Tires 52nd annual SCORE Baja 1,000 will feature competitors from a number of different motorsport disciplines on Nov. 19-24.

Among those expected to take part across the various classes include Dakar Rally winners Nasser Al-Attiyah and Toby Price, 2009 Formula One champion Jenson Button, Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi, Coca-Cola 600 winner Casey Mears, Formula Drift veteran and Pikes Peak Int’l Hill Climb champion Rhys Millen and NASCAR veteran Brendan Gaughan.

Winners of the top two divisions of the 2019 Dakar Rally in South America, Al-Attiyah and Price will be paired with 2010 SCORE Trophy Truck season champion Jesse Jones. The talented trio will pilot Jones’ new No. 76 Mason Motorsports-built all-wheel drive Ford F-250.

Al-Attiyah is a Qatari rally driver, sport shooter and sheik. He was the 2006 Production World Rally Champion, a 13-time Middle East Rally Champion, 2014 and 2015 WRC-2 champion, three times winner of FIA cross-country rally Cup (2008, 2015 and 2016) and the 2011, 2015 and 2019 Dakar Rally winner.

He currently competes in the World Rally Championship and Middle East Rally Championship for the Qatar World Rally Team. His three victories in the Dakar Rally make him the only Middle Easterner and West Asian to win the competition more than once.

Price, whose racing career has been primarily on motorcycles, has competed before in SCORE Baja races in SCORE Trophy Truck with Jones as driver of record as well as driving in several of Robby Gordon’s Stadium Super Truck series events over the past several years.

Price is an Australian off-road and enduro motorcycle racing world champion riding for the Red Bull Factory KTM Rally Team. He is a two-time motorcycle champion in the Dakar Rally, having won in 2016 and 2019. In 2016 he won five of the stages to dominate the race and this year he won while riding with a broken wrist.

After warming up with two domestic desert races in the U.S., Button will be the driver of record in the No. 203 Chevy Silverado (Builder-Mason Motorsports) in the highly competitive Trophy Truck Spec class.

His second driver will be long-time friend Chris Buncombe. Buncombe is a former LeMans Series racer who is a former Le Mans 24 Hours LMP2 class winner.

Button won the 2009 Formula One World Championship driving for Brawn GP. He currently competes in the Japanese Super GT Series driving a Honda NSX-GT for Team Kunimitsu.

Rossi, the International open-wheel racer who won the 2016 Indianapolis 500 as a rookie, became the sixth former winner of the great American race to compete in the Baja 1,000 when he raced in Class 7 in last year’s race with Jeff Proctor.

Proctor won his class in the SCORE Baja 1,000 in 2015 and ’16 and finished second in last year’s race with Rossi in his No. 709 Honda Ridgeline factory-supported race truck. The team’s third driver will be off-road veteran Pat Dailey.

Class 7 is the division for Unlimited, six-cylinder production appearing trucks or SUVs.

Returning to the desert after a few years in Indy car racing and 15 years in the NASCAR Cup Series, Casey Mears comes from one of the legendary families of motorsports.

A third generation racer, Mears returns to Baja in the dusty trail of his grandfather, Bill Mears, his father, Roger Mears, his uncle, Rick Mears, and his brother, Roger Mears Jr. All of this group, except Casey Mears, have at least one SCORE Baja 1,000 race win.

Despite the heritage and growing up in the deserts of Baja, Nevada and California, Casey Mears will still be considered a SCORE rookie in this year’s SCORE Baja 1,000 as he has never raced or navigated in a SCORE race.

For this year’s SCORE Baja 1,000, Casey Mears will be the driver of record for the No. 42 Axalta Ford Raptor (Geiser Brothers-built). His second driver will be veteran desert racer Doug Fortin, a three-time SCORE Baja 1,000 overall winner.

In a pairing of former Formula Drift racers, Millen and France’s Stephan Verdier have teamed up for this year’s race to run together in the unlimited Class 1. Millen is driver of record in the Ford-powered, Rhys Millen Racing-built No. 167 open-wheel desert race car with Verdier as his principal additional driver.

Millen is a Formula D champion, Global RallyCross racer and is also a noted Hollywood stunt driver with numerous movies and commercials to his credit. His famous father Rod Millen is a former desert racer, stadium off-road racer, rally racer and overall champion of the Pikes Peak Int’l Hill Climb.

Verdier is a retired Pro Skier who has competed in the X Games both in skiing and rallycross. He is a former pro drifting racer and Global RallyCross competitor. Like Millen, Verdier is also a prominent Hollywood stunt driver.

Las Vegas NASCAR Cup racer and second-generation desert racer, Gaughan has competed in nearly 500 total in his long career in the three top tier NASCAR race series. This year he has scaled back his NASCAR schedule, having raced in four NASCAR Cup Series races with a high finish of eighth at Talladega Superspeedway. He is competing full-time in the unlimited Class 1 in the SCORE World Desert Championship.

Driving the No. 162 South Point Racing Chevy-powered HMS open-wheel desert race car in the unlimited Class 1, Gaughan opened the season with a fifth place finish in the SCORE San Felipe 250 and followed that with an eighth place finish in his class in the SCORE Baja 500 and ninth at the SCORE Baja 400.

He is currently in fourth place in the Class 1 season points as just 12 points separate second through fourth place entering the season finale.