All-Star point guard John Wall and Adidas are engaged in ongoing buyout negotiations that will soon bring his five-year footwear and apparel endorsement deal to an end less than two years into the agreement, industry sources told ESPN.

Since signing the deal in January 2018, Wall has been sidelined by a series of injuries, limiting his on-court visibility while wearing the brand's products. Just three weeks after landing the contract, Wall missed 27 games because of a left-knee injury.

The injury cost him what would have been his fifth All-Star game appearance the following month, when he was expected to help headline the brand's Crazy BYW X sneaker in Los Angeles.

Once the 2018-19 season was underway, Wall once again was sidelined for an extended period because of a left Achilles tendon injury in late December. After already expecting to miss the remainder of that season, Wall suffered a full tear of the Achilles in February, potentially costing him the entirety of this season as well.

Over the summer, Wizards owner Ted Leonsis acknowledged that Wall "probably won't play next season," with an expected return now slated for the start of the 2020-21 season.

Wall first wore Adidas and launched two "JWall" signature sneakers during his 2013-15 span with the company after he began his career with Reebok.

When the two sides couldn't agree to terms on a shoe deal extension during the fall of 2015, Wall played the following two seasons as a sneaker free-agent without an endorsement deal, despite his status as an All-Star point guard guiding a playoff team.

During an aggressive window in which the brand was looking to ramp up its player signings, Wall and Adidas reunited during his eighth season on a five-year deal that was expected to pay him nearly $25 million in total but will likely instead come to an end.

DALLAS -- Portland Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts credited star guard Damian Lillard for convincing him to challenge a critical foul call late in the Trail Blazers' 121-119 win over the Mavericks, the most impactful use yet of the NBA's new rule that is being used on a one-year trial basis.

With the Blazers leading by one with 8.4 seconds remaining, Lillard was called for a foul that would have sent Dallas forward Dorian Finney-Smith to the line for the potential go-ahead free throws. The call was overturned after being reviewed, resulting in a jump ball at midcourt, with Portland's Kent Bazemore chasing down the loose ball after Dallas' Kristaps Porzingis tipped it.

"If Dame hadn't have been so adamant, I probably wouldn't have challenged," said Stotts, who has won two of his three challenges. "We've had this discussion. I told the players, 'When I ask you, you've got to be truthful because most of you think you didn't foul.' They have a responsibility. I will trust you in those situations, but they have a responsibility to know if they fouled him or not."

Mavs coach Rick Carlisle didn't offer an opinion on the overturned call, but Dallas owner Mark Cuban tweeted his concerns about the call.

I'm a fan of the nba challenge rule , but if a play is overturned and they don't show the replay that justifies overturning a call along with an explanation then it's going to have real problems. From the angles we saw in arena it looked like a clean strip but body contact first

— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) October 28, 2019

Fans in our arena have no idea why the foul was overturned. That's not the way this should work

— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) October 28, 2019

"Once Portland challenged the play and we were able to go and look at replay, we were able to have clear, conclusive evidence that Damian Lillard legally deflected the ball from Dorian Finney-Smith," referee Courtney Kirkland told a pool reporter. "Once the ball was legally deflected, the ball was loose when the whistle blew, which led to an inadvertent whistle. Therefore, we ended up having a jump ball at center circle between any two players."

Coaches are allowed to challenge one call per game. If the challenge is not successful, the team loses a timeout. In this instance, it would have been Portland's final timeout, which factored into Stotts' initial hesitance to use the challenge.

"I was like, this would be the perfect time, and I knew I got all ball, because when I hit it, I heard the ball. I told him," said Lillard, who scored 26 of his 28 points in the second half, including a driving layup that gave the Blazers the lead with 26.8 seconds remaining. "I walked up and said, 'Coach, you've got to trust me. I hit all ball.' He was like, 'We've only got one timeout.' I was like, 'I hit all ball.' That was when he called for the review. After the game when I was walking through the tunnel, I was like, 'You can trust me now. I didn't lie to you.'"

Finney-Smith, who was trying to score after grabbing an offensive rebound when the call was made, thought he was fouled more than once on the play.

"I mean, he fouled me on the rebound, he had to come across my arm and he also had his right hand on my hip," Finney-Smith said. "They're the same calls he gets. I just probably should have sold it a little more. I should have sold it, but it is what it is. We had opportunities. We just didn't get it done. I ain't gonna make no excuse."

The challenge was a major factor in deciding a game that featured spectacular performances by a pair of star duos.

CJ McCollum kept the Blazers in the game with 35 points on 13-of-26 shooting, and Lillard got hot after halftime, scoring 19 points in the third quarter as Portland rallied from a 12-point deficit. Dallas' Luka Doncic (29 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists) came just shy of his second straight triple-double, and Kristaps Porzingis scored a season-high 32 points, highlighted by a 3-pointer he hit with his heels on the halfcourt logo.

As much as the overturned call impacted the outcome, Doncic blamed himself for the loss.

"I lost that game. Bad shot selection," said Doncic, who was 8-of-22 from the floor and 2-of-11 from 3-point range, missing all four of his long-distance attempts in the fourth quarter. "They were in the bonus. I should have drove it."

The Mavs still had a chance to win the game at the buzzer after Bazemore was fouled and split a pair of free throws. Tim Hardaway Jr. missed a 31-footer.

Although the challenge helped the Blazers win, Stotts remains lukewarm on the rule, saying he didn't consider the overturned call "a referendum on the challenge." Lillard, on the other hand, is firmly in favor of the rule.

"I think it's pretty good, especially after tonight," Lillard said. "I'm sure it might come a time where it doesn't work in our favor, but I think it's still a good thing because the right call is being made. We've had situations where we've lost games at the end of the game because of situations like that. If they don't overturn that, he's going to the line and we're down one and we have to score up against the clock. I think it's going to be a good rule."

WASHINGTON -- It's not the way you want a World Series game to be decided. You want Gerrit Cole, maybe the best pitcher in the game in 2019, battling Max Scherzer, maybe the best pitcher over the past several seasons, in an epic duel for the ages.

Instead we got Cole versus Joe Ross in Game 5 when Scherzer had to be scratched because of spasms in his neck and upper right trapezius and it played out exactly the way you might expect a Gerrit Cole-Joe Ross game to go. Cole was brilliant and the Astros took full advantage of not having to face Scherzer, jumping on Ross for hard-hit balls throughout his five innings, including a pair of two-run home runs that carried them to a 7-1 victory Sunday night. The Astros are now one win from their second World Series title in three seasons, the potential exclamation point on a dominant three-year run of baseball.

The loss capped a disappointing three home games for the Nationals, the first World Series games in the nation's capital since 1933. The fans were loud and enthusiastic but had little to cheer for as the Nats scored only three runs in three games. Now the Nationals will have to pull off something that has never been done before: win the World Series without winning a game at home. They'll have to win Games 6 and 7 at Minute Maid Park.

Cole allowed just one run and three hits in seven innings and his only trouble early came in the bottom of the second when Juan Soto and Howie Kendrick laced back-to-back singles to put runners at first and third with no outs. But Cole struck out Ryan Zimmerman on a curveball and got Victor Robles to ground into a 6-4-3 double play on an 0-2 slider. Cole retired 15 of the next 16 batters -- Anthony Rendon walked in the fourth -- before Juan Soto finally homered in the seventh to finally put the Nats on the board.

"I hope I go home with nothing left in the tank," Cole had said on Saturday. "So whether tomorrow is the last time I pitch or I get the opportunity to pitch another time after that, I just hope I'm just absolutely dog tired by the time I get home."

He got early support from Yordan Alvarez, the supremely talented rookie slugger who started his first game in the field this postseason, starting in left field after making just nine starts in left in the regular season. In the second inning, Álvarez lasered a 95 mph sinker on a 2-1 count from Joe Ross to left-center. Álvarez's balls do not travel like normal balls. They come attached with Saturn rockets and this ball kept carrying until it cleared the fence in left-center -- drilling a spectator in a Nationals T-shirt who had Bud Lights in both hands right in his gut. A literal gut-punch to the Nats. It was Álvarez's first postseason home run and it was impressive.

In the fourth inning, Álvarez fouled off a 3-2 slider and then drilled another slider through the shift for a base hit. He scored six pitches later when Carlos Correa homered to left field off a hanging slider. Álvarez completed a 3-for-3 day when singled again in the seventh and was removed for a pinch-runner. His three hits: 106.4 mph, 100.5 mph, 106.9 mph.

AJ Hinch had earmarked this game for Álvarez all along. Of course, he thought he would need the extra bat in the lineup because Scherzer was starting. He had explained his thinking before the game. "I targeted this day for two reasons," Hinch said. "One, I've usually started Álvarez in the outfield when Gerrit Cole is pitching or when Wade Miley was pitching. One, because Gerrit would get so many strikeouts, there's less balls in play and less opportunity for something crazy to happen in the outfield. Factor in Gerrit being on the mound and then when Max was going to start, he put up two really good at-bats against Scherzer in Game 1. So there was a dual reason for that."

Hinch refused to call Álvarez a defensive liability, although he admitted that Álvarez doesn't have the most range out there. But his summary was this: "That would be a great advantage to get two or three at-bats of his."

Indeed it was. Probably helped that they didn't come against Max Scherzer as well.

• One big moment of controversy came with two outs in the seventh after a tiring Cole had given up the home run and walked Zimmerman with two outs. The score was still 4-1 at the time. Robles worked the count full and Cole's 110th pitch was a 98 mph fastball up and away -- a pitch that normally has a 14 percent strike probability, according to ESPN Stats & Info. Instead, home-plate umpire Lance Barksdale rung up Robles, who had taken a step towards first base. Dave Martinez and the Nationals kept yelling at Barksdale more than a minute after the inning and the fans lustily booed with chants of "Ump, you suck" as the eighth inning began.

• Following up on that, before Correa's home run, Ross had just missed on a 0-2 slider off the plate. Or maybe just caught the corner. That pitch had a 76 percent strike probability. Needless to say, the Nationals were not happy with Barksdale's strike zone. Did it change the game? Most likely not, but it's hard enough to beat Cole and the Astros without a few critical calls not going your way.

• All that said, Ross was not effective at all and was lucky the Astros didn't score more run off him. They hit seven balls off him at 100-plus mph in his five innings and two more classified as hard-hit balls (95-plus). That's a lot of hard-hit balls in a relatively short stint. Ross has a good arm and a power two-seam fastball and pitched fairly well in August and September after joining the rotation, but this was still a guy who had the fifth-highest ERA ever for a World Series starter. He lacks a good put-away pitch, and that's death against a team like the Astros that had the lowest strikeout rate in the majors.

• In fact, overall in the World Series, the Astros have had more hard-hit balls than the Nationals. The last two games they hit into a ton of hard-hit outs and have 23 hard outs compared to 14 for the Nationals. This lineup is tough. And now Álvarez will be back in the thick of things as the DH in Games 6 and (if necessary) 7.

• Behind the plate, give credit to Martin Maldonado, who has become Cole's personal catcher. He caught Cole 10 times in the regular season and Cole posted a 1.57 ERA in those games with 114 strikeouts in 68 ⅔ innings.

• We haven't talked much about the defense in this series, but it's mostly been wonderful on both sides (Alex Bregman's one bad inning in Game 2 being the exception). Rendon has made several highlight-reel plays and Yuri Gurriel has made a couple outstanding plays at first base for the Astros, including a nice play in the sixth on the speedy Trea Turner when he had to dive glove-first into first base to just get Turner. When you watch good teams day after day in the postseason, you see how important defense becomes -- and how many bad or mediocre teams fail miserably in that area.

• Stephen Strasburg versus Justin Verlander in Game 6 on Tuesday. Sign me up, thank you very much.

El Welily and El Tayeb set to clash
By SEAN REUTHE – Squash Mad Correspondent

World No.1 Raneem El Welily and World No.3 Nour El Tayeb will face off in a blockbuster quarter-final contest at the CIB PSA Women’s World Championship after the pair claimed respective wins over England’s Alison Waters and Egypt’s Salma Hany in round three in front of Cairo’s famous Great Pyramid of Giza.

El Welily – who is the only female to win a professional squash tournament in front of the Pyramids – and El Tayeb met at the semi-final stage of last season’s World Championship in Chicago, with El Tayeb taking the honours after 64 minutes of intense squash.

The pair have met three times already this season, with El Tayeb winning two of them, including her semi-final triumph two weeks ago at the FS Investments U.S. Open. They will now meet against the backdrop of the iconic Egyptian landmark after both players claimed comfortable 3-0 wins in their third round fixtures.

“I’m pleased with the way I played, I couldn’t have asked for a better performance today,” said El Welily afterwards.

“Alison is such a strong player, she is one of those players that I have seen since day one and she, along with Laura [Massaro], Jenny [Duncalf] and many other English girls took the game to a new level. I’m always pleased to be with Alison on court, I was just trying to stay in every rally as much as possible and not let anything go loose.

“Nour [El Tayeb] is at the top of her game right now and playing very good squash. She has had very good results so far this season, and I know it’s not going to be an easy match, but I’m definitely up for the challenge.”

El Tayeb said: “I was just getting used to the court and the conditions, so I’m very glad to stick in the first game. The first game is very important and builds a lot of confidence so it was important to take that one.

“It’s all the pressure combined in one event – it’s the World Championship, Pyramids – everything. I’m playing well so I want to keep the momentum going as well and I’m very glad to be in the quarter-finals. I hope I can come back the next round and play well.”

England’s Sarah-Jane Perry continued her fine record at the Pyramids as she got the better of fellow Brit Tesni Evans, dominating the Welsh World No.9 to win by an 11-7, 11-6, 11-5 scoreline.

Five of their previous 10 matches had gone the distance to five games, with Evans winning their last match in five during the semi-finals of May’s Manchester Open.

But it was a one-sided affair this time around as Perry established her game plan on the match right from the off, and she will play the in-form World No.4 Nouran Gohar in the next round.

“She has beaten me three out of the last four times,” said Birmingham-born Perry afterwards. “The last time we played was in Manchester and we both had match ball, but she won.

“Today, I just wanted to play how I wanted to play and stamp my authority on the game and hopefully that was good enough, so I’m really pleased with that.”

In the men’s CIB Egyptian Squash Open, England’s Daryl Selby reached his first PSA Platinum quarter-final in two years as he came through a 73-minute, five-game battle with compatriot Chris Simpson, winning 11-5, 6-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-2 at the Shooting Club 6th of October.

Neither player played well at the same time, with momentum shifting between each Englishman on a game-by-game basis. Twice, Selby found himself a game ahead but Simpson, playing less than 24 hours after upsetting No.6 seed Mohamed Abouelghar, clawed his way back into the encounter both times. In the fifth it was all Selby and he closed out the win to set up a last eight match with Egypt’s World No.1 Ali Farag.

“Abou has been out for a little bit, but they said it was such a high quality match, and I know what Chris is capable of quality-wise, it’s very high and the last few times we’ve played with we’ve always had a 3-2,” 36-year-old Selby said.

“I think we’ve shared the spoils a little bit, so I knew it was going to be tough but he finished a bit later than me yesterday, so tactically I just wanted to start really fast, really strong and show him that he was going to be in for a hard game, and if he had any stiffness or anything from yesterday, I wanted to try and expose that early on.”

Farag defeated compatriot Mazen Hesham in straight games, while New Zealand’s Paul Coll and World No.14 Fares Dessouky were the other men’s winners.

Round three action at both the CIB PSA Women’s World Championship and CIB Egyptian Squash Open continues on Monday October 28. Play at the men’s tournament begins at 12:00 (GMT+2) at the Shooting Club 6th of October, while the women’s matches at the Pyramids get under way at 17:30. 

2019-20 CIB PSA Women’s £340k World Championship, Great Pyramid, Giza, Egypt.

Third Round (Top Half):
[1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) bt [11] Alison Waters (ENG) 3-0: 11-1, 11-3, 11-4 (24m)
[5] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) bt [13] Salma Hany (EGY) 3-0: 13-11, 11-5, 11-4 (30m)
[7] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) bt [9] Tesni Evans (WAL) 3-0: 11-7, 11-6, 11-5 (38m)
[4] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bt [26] Tinne Gilis (BEL) 3-0: 11-8, 11-3, 11-6 (24m)

Third Round (Bottom Half) October 28:
[3] Camille Serme (FRA) v [15] Yathreb Adel (EGY)
[14] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) v Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS)
[6] Joelle King (NZL) v [10] Annie Au (HKG)
[12] Joshna Chinappa (IND) v [2] Nour El Sherbini (EGY)

Quarter-Finals (Top Half) October 29:
[1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) v [5] Nour El Tayeb (EGY)
[7] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) v [4] Nouran Gohar (EGY)

2019 Men’s CIB Egyptian Squash Open
Third Round (Top Half):
[1] Ali Farag (EGY) bt Mazen Hesham (EGY) 3-0: 11-4, 11-8, 11-7 (42m)
Daryl Selby (ENG) bt Chris Simpson (ENG): 3-2: 11-5, 6-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-2 (73m)
[5] Paul Coll (NZL) bt Gregoire Marche (FRA) 3-1: 13-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-2 (69m)
Fares Dessouky (EGY) bt Saurav Ghosal (IND) 3-0: 11-6, 11-5, 11-5 (42m)

Third Round (Bottom Half) October 28:
[3] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v Leo Au (HKG)
Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) v Mostafa Asal (EGY)
Baptiste Masotti (FRA) v Eain Yow Ng (MAS)
Victor Crouin (FRA) v Joel Makin (WAL)

Quarter-Finals (Top Half) October 29:
[1] Ali Farag (EGY) v Daryl Selby (ENG)
[5] Paul Coll (NZL) v Fares Dessouky (EGY) 

Pictures courtesy of PSA

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Chase Elliott’s hopes of making the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway will rest on winning one of the next two Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoff races.

After having to start from the tail of the field due to an engine change following first practice on Friday, Elliott charged his way up inside the top 10 and scored stage points by crossing eighth after 130 laps.

However, it was a pit stop following a lap-178 caution for the spinning car of Ty Dillon that led to Elliott’s seemingly-promising day unraveling in a hurry.

As he attempted to leave after receiving service, Elliott reported a potential axle failure on his No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, having to come quickly back to pit road and then eventually going to the garage area for more extensive repairs.

After a lengthy stay in the infield, Elliott finally returned to the race just prior to the halfway point, 53 circuits in arrears and last in the running order. However, any hope he had of a decent day was over and the Dawsonville, Ga., native ended up finishing 36th as the final car running.

He leaves Martinsville eighth of the eight remaining playoff drivers in the standings, 44 points below the cut line for elimination, and likely must win at either Texas Motor Speedway or Arizona’s ISM Raceway in order to make the four-driver grid for the championship race at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway.

After the race, Elliott was short with reporters in regards to his trying afternoon and evening.

Told he made up a couple of spots by going back out, Elliott noted “yeah, (for) whatever that is worth. (It’s) frustrating. Just disappointing for a day like that. We know better and we can do better than that.”

The Dawsonville, Ga., native was also quick to lay out his plan for the next two playoff races, as well.

“I’m going to go win,” he said.

Pressed on whether the next two weeks were “must-win races,” Elliott offered an affirmative.

“That is certainly the case now,” said Elliott. “We do have to win.”

That task may be more difficult if the mechanical woes that have plagued Elliott in recent weeks persist, something that he admitted he’s thinking about going forward before walking off into the Virginia night.

“Yeah, they do (concern me),” Elliott said.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs continue Nov. 3 at Texas Motor Speedway.

MEXICO CITY – A one stop strategy proved to be the right call for Lewis Hamilton Sunday during the Mexican Grand Prix.

Hamilton and the Mercedes camp implemented the ambitious pit strategy call perfectly, allowing the Formula One championship leader to best the Ferrari squad to conquer the Mexican Grand Prix at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Charles Leclerc, who inherited the pole after Max Verstappen was penalized by stewards on Saturday, took the lead off the starting line with his Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel in tow.

Behind them Hamilton was scrapping with Verstappen for third, with the pair running briefly off the track after some slight contact. Hamilton rejoined the field in fifth while Verstappen slotted in eighth.

Disaster soon struck for Verstappen, who made contact with Valtteri Bottas and cut down a rear tire shortly after passing the pits. The resulting pit stop dropped the two-time and defending race winner out of contention.

Pit stops for the leaders began on lap 15 with third-place Alexander Albon hitting the pits. Leclerc soon followed suit, opting for the softer medium tires and a two-stop pit strategy. Hamilton, on the other hand, opted for the hard tires with the intent to run the remainder of the race without stopping again.

At the front, Vettel and Bottas decided to stay out and go as long as possible before making their one pit stop. Bottas hit the pits on lap 37, with Vettel following a lap later. Leclerc and Albon both hit the pits for their second stops on laps 44 and 45, giving the race lead to Hamilton.

From there it was a cat and mouse game for the Mercedes driver as he tried his best to maintain a gap over a fast closing Vettel. In the end Hamilton had just enough to hang on, earning his 83rd Grand Prix victory – and 10th this year – by nearly two seconds.

“Today was a surprise, we’ve really struggled here for quite some time and we came into this weekend expecting it to be very difficult,” said Hamilton. “We really thought we would be on the back foot, but we kept our heads down, we kept working hard and it all came together in the end. I had a crazy first couple of corners today, I was pushed on the grass at the start and then Max hit me. It was not easy to recover from that afterwards – I had a massive chunk of my floor missing, so the rear end was moving a lot and I had to really change the dynamic of how I was driving. I don’t know how I managed to keep it going, but I did.

“The guys also did a fantastic job with the strategy – we stopped pretty early, and honestly I thought it might have been too early, but it all worked out in the end. I really wanted to deliver for the fans today; they were all out there during the drivers’ parade supporting me, so I really wanted to give them a good performance and I’m so grateful we won.”

Bottas finished third to complete the podium, while Leclerc finished fourth after an agonizing slow final pit stop. Albon completed the top-five for Red Bull as Verstappen recovered from his disaster of a start to finish sixth.

Mexican favorite Sergio Perez finished seventh, followed by Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly and Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg.

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – One year ago at Martinsville Speedway, Martin Truex Jr. lost the battle after a final-lap, final-corner scuffle with playoff rival Joey Logano.

However, at the end of Sunday’s First Data 500, Truex both won the battle and gave himself another shot at winning the war.

In a performance even more dominant than Brad Keselowski’s spring victory at the .526-mile paper clip, Truex led a staggering 464 of 500 laps en route to his first win at Martinsville and the 26th of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career.

After an early debris caution led to pit stops, Truex beat polesitter Denny Hamlin off pit road to gain control of the race at lap 31 and never gave up his stranglehold after that.

Aside from laps 254 through 259, when Kyle Larson stayed out under caution to try and steal the win in the second stage, Truex led the rest of the way for his seventh trip to victory lane this season.

“I can’t believe we just won Martinsville, man. Miami is awesome, but we’ve wanted to win here for a long time,” said Truex, who swept both stages and the race for a perfect 60-point haul, but more importantly guaranteed himself a berth in the Championship 4.

“I used to just be terrible here, and today we just dominated the dang thing. I don’t think anyone expected that,” Truex added. “(At) this racetrack in general, you don’t see that.  Hats off to my guys. Our pit crew was stellar today, and we didn’t make many adjustments. We adjusted on it early and it came to life.

“That was a lot of fun. Maybe now I’ve got this place figured out, who knows?”

Though Truex’s performance may have appeared easy just by looking at the box score, he had to hold a hard-charging William Byron at bay in the final laps.

After three cautions in the final 52 laps bunched the field up and gave Byron a fighting chance, the 21-year-old Charlotte, N.C., native stayed within a half second of Truex’s No. 19 Auto Owner’s Insurance Toyota Camry for the duration of the final run – a 24-lap sprint set up by a crash between Michael McDowell and Daniel Hemric in turn four on lap 472.

However, Truex knew that a win meant both a guaranteed trip to Miami and a little redemption for his loss in the same race 12 months earlier, even if he didn’t see as much of the latter in the moments after climbing from his car.

“Man, I don’t know (if this is redemption); that was completely unrelated to today in my opinion,” Truex noted. “We were just able to do all the right things. I didn’t feel great about our car after practice, but we made a lot of changes on it. … I’m just proud to win here.  This is a big, big race for anyone in this sport. A grandfather clock coming home with me, baby. I never would have thought it.

“I’m a lucky guy to drive for these (Joe Gibbs Racing) guys, and hopefully we can spend the next two weeks getting ready to go to Homestead and do this again.”

Byron hung on to second, finishing .373 seconds back of Truex at the checkered flag.

Keselowski followed that pair home in third, with Hamlin and Ryan Blaney filling out the top five.

Kurt Busch was sixth, ahead of Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Kyle Larson and Ryan Newman.

Logano and Hamlin ended up in a heated discussion after the race that devolved into a fight between both drivers and a majority of their crews on pit road, though all parties walked away from the melee.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs continue on Nov. 3 at Texas Motor Speedway, where Harvick is the defending race winner.

To view complete race results, advance to the next page.

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – A late-race battle between Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano turned into a full-on, post-race brawl between the pair and their crews on pit road after Sunday’s First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

Hamlin and Logano were scrapping for position on lap 458 when Hamlin squeezed Logano up into the outside wall exiting turn four, leading to a major right-side tire rub on Logano’s No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Mustang.

The defending Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion spun moments later in turn two with a flat left-rear tire, drawing the 10th of 11 cautions in the race. Logano came down pit road for repairs but never lost a lap and stayed in position to rally at the end.

Hamlin ended up finishing fourth after leading the first 30 laps from the pole, while Logano rebounded to an eighth-place finish that kept him above the elimination cut line heading into next weekend’s race at Texas Motor Speedway.

However, after the race was when things got dicey.

Hamlin and Logano engaged in a feisty conversation after climbing from their race cars, which led to Logano giving a push off Hamlin’s right shoulder as he began to walk away.

Hamlin quickly went to follow after Logano, and moments later the situation escalated into pushing and shoving between the two drivers and a myriad of crew members from both the Nos. 11 and 22 teams, with Hamlin ending up getting shoved to the ground in the chaos.

Take another look at the altercation between @joeylogano and @dennyhamlin following tonight’s #NASCARPlayoffs race at @MartinsvilleSwy. pic.twitter.com/6CjGOxwou3

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 27, 2019

“We were having a discussion; everything was civil, and then Joey does … he does a little push and then runs away,” Hamlin told NBCSN. “So that’s Joey. Scared ‑‑ he said, ‘Do you want to go?’ I said, ‘Yes, I’m here,’ but then he runs away.

“I got close (to him) off of turn four. It looks like we got together, and it looks like collateral damage,” Hamlin added, referencing the lap-458 incident. “He blew a tire. I mean, he would probably say, ‘oh, short track racing.'”

Logano didn’t speak to TV or reporters until after changing in his team hauler, but did admit afterward that perhaps his shove to Hamlin’s shoulder wasn’t the best course of action.

He did, however, defend his initial frustration in regards to the incident that ended with his car in the outside wall.

“I just wanted to talk to him about it and, yeah, I was pretty frustrated,” said Logano. “He just came off the corner like there wasn’t another car on the outside of him and ruined our day, or at least our shot at the win. We probably weren’t going to beat the 19 (Truex), but we had a top five (car) for sure, and we just were able to survive there at the very end.

“I don’t really know what happened, because once he started hitting me he didn’t lift; he just kept finishing me off. We ran each other fine all day, so I don’t know,” Logano added. “I don’t really know what happened. He just kind of sent me up there and kept on going with it. It cut down my tires and left fender rubs everywhere.

“At the end of the day, we still got a decent finish out of it and some points in the stages at least, but I’m a little frustrated with the situation. I wanted to talk to him about it, and maybe I shouldn’t have shoved him at the end. It may have escalated it a little bit more,” Logano noted. “It’s frustrating. There’s a lot of passion out there.”

Logano leaves Martinsville on the bubble, 14 points clear of elimination, while Hamlin is 24 points above the cut line and second in points – only marginally safer with two races to go.

That means that the intensity to try and lock into the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway will continue to be on display over the next two weeks, just as it was on Sunday night.

Logano spoke to that point briefly at the post-race media bullpen.

“It’s just the playoffs. It just happens,” Logano said. “It’s part of it. Emotions run high.”

For his part, Hamlin was quick to note that he wasn’t worried about talking things down as he left pit road after his television interview.

“I don’t need to find him,” Hamlin said before walking off.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs continue Nov. 3 at Texas Motor Speedway.

We go a touch slower yet again next week, down to 43 NHL games on the week. Once again we have another team with only a single game on the schedule, however, this time it probably doesn't greatly impact your fantasy grand plans.

The Ottawa Senators are off until a Saturday matchup against arguably the best home team so far this season. It's not a pretty picture. Given the Boston Bruins are 3-0 with an 18-6 goal differential at home this season, you can take the Sens right out of consideration for the week.

But, to be fair, that was probably already the case.

Thomas Chabot is, rightly so, on rosters in 90 percent of leagues. He hasn't been a letdown, with seven points in nine games. He's third in the NHL in average ice time, only has a minus-3 rating (solid given situation) and is tied for 12th in shots among defensemen. But outside of Chabot, the outlook on these Senators for fantasy is grim.

Brady Tkachuk started strong with the first goal of the NHL season and two goals in his first two games, but in seven games since then he's accounted for a lone assist. His most-frequent linemate, Colin White, has also been knocked out for three to five weeks with a lower-body injury. Tkachuk is still rostered in 80 percent of leagues and I wouldn't dream of cutting bait in a league with hits as a category, but in a 10-teamer standard league? I think he can go to the waiver wire for a while.

After those two, no one else on the Senators is rostered in more than 10 percent of leagues. Vladislav Namestnikov has been a pickup this past week thanks to four goals in five games and some big minutes, but it's not something we should expect to last. Connor Brown has a respectable seven assists this season and is somehow plus-4, so could be worth rostering in deeper leagues. Jean-Gabriel Pageau may be a short-term add with White on the sidelines, as he'll probably be the team's top pivot in that stretch. But, at the same time, that role will likely expose his plus-8 to some damage, which is the main fuel for his value so far this season.

In net, Craig Anderson is doing about as well as a 38-year-old goaltender on a tanking team can be expected to do - which is to say not great for fantasy. However, Anders Nilsson, who is still listed as the backup for now, is actually somewhat intriguing. Doing his best mid-2000s Roberto Luongo impression, Nilsson has faced a minimum of 36 shots in all four of his starts - and as many as 54! His .935 save percentage is third in the NHL at this stage. While that may be useful for fantasy, it's tricky to use him as the wins won't come and the goals-against average isn't exactly stellar at 2.73. Still, it's worth taking stock of Nilsson and keeping him on the radar.

After losing the draft lottery despite the best odds last season, the Sens seem to determined to take another swing this season. At least this time they would get to keep the pick! For fantasy purposes, things are about as bleak as outlined above, but that doesn't mean there won't be stretches where individual pieces have value.

Just, you know, not next week.

Fantasy Forecaster: Oct. 28 to Nov. 3

The Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks are the only teams with the enhanced four-game schedule next week, so take advantage of it. The fewer teams with the extra game, the greater the advantage is when you can find a way to use the players.

Aside from the Senators one game, the Bruins, Los Angeles Kings, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Toronto Maple Leafs and Vegas Golden Knights all only play twice.

For those new to the forecaster chart, here are some explanations: "O" (offense), which is on the left for each game, and "D" (defense), on the right, matchup ratings are based upon a scale from 1 (poor matchup) to 10 (excellent matchup) and are calculated using a formula that evaluates the team's season-to-date statistics, their performance in home/road games depending on where the game is to be played, as well as their opponents' numbers in those categories. The "Ratings" column lists the cumulative rating from 1 to 10 of that week's offensive ("O") and defensive ("D") matchups.

In the notes below, the focus every week will be mainly on players that are available for potential use. Ownership below 50 percent of ESPN leagues is a good generalized cutoff. I'll try to also include players below 10 percent ownership whenever possible to cater to deeper formats.

Team notes

Calgary Flames: By virtue of one of two four-game schedules, some of the Flames offense should come out on top next week. If you've been passive about Mikael Backlund until now, that's fine, but get him into lineups for next week. He has goals in two straight as the line of Backlund, Matthew Tkachuk and Michael Frolik are heating up. T.J. Brodie is available in most leagues and could be used on the blue line for a boost. He has six assists and a plus-4 in 12 games.

Vancouver Canucks: The other four-game set next week belongs to the Canucks. J.T. Miller is scooped up in most leagues, but may be available in shallower formats (72 percent rostered). He's been doing what one might expect on a top line and power play with Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser, with four goals and 10 points in nine games. And don't forget Alexander Edler (71 percent rostered) and his six points. Quinn Hughes (48 percent rostered) is also worthy of a roster spot in most leagues, playing big minutes for a rookie (heck, 20:26 is good for anyone, not just a rookie). He has six points, with four of them on the power play and is currently rolling on the top unit.

Minnesota Wild: The Forecaster likes the Wild next week, despite the team's rough showing thus far. While the team is still - yes, still - juggling its lines to find the right combination, it should be safe to follow the power play in roster decisions. That means starting Jason Zucker, Zach Parise and Mikko Koivu up front, while going with Ryan Suter and Jared Spurgeon on the point. The nice part about those combinations is that they stay together on and off the power play. Admittedly, this recommendation doesn't feel great - but I'm trusting in the Forecaster here. Outside of Parise and Suter, the other three players are available in more than 50 percent of leagues.

Player notes

J.T. Compher, W/C, Colorado Avalanche: A must-add in all formats, Compher will get first crack at winging Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog while Mikko Rantanen sits on a week-to-week basis.

Kirby Dach, C, Chicago Blackhawks: The 18-year-old rookie is certainly getting his feet wet in the NHL in good company. He's skated with Patrick Kane and Dylan Strome at even strength for his minutes in the past two games and has a goal and assist to show for it.

Joel Armia, W, Montreal Canadiens: After spreading things out to start the season, the Habs are stacking the box on offense now. Armia is the third man out with Max Domi and Jonathan Drouin of late, which is a fine situation to be in for the team's surprising leader in goals at this stage.

Quick hits (from the AHL)

• Keep Vegas Golden Knights prospect Lucas Elvenes on your radar. In his first year in North America, the 20-year-old fifth-round pick is leading the AHL in scoring by factoring in on 11 of the Chicago Wolves 15 total goals this season.

• Goals against haven't been devastating for the New York Rangers so far, but they are in the bottom-third of the league with 3.38 goals allowed per game. If it becomes a bigger issue, Igor Shesterkin is waiting in the wings with a 1.34 goals-against average in the AHL so far.