CONCORD, N.C. — World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series point leader Brad Sweet remains at the top of the National Sprint Car Rankings for the fifth consecutive week.

Despite a subpar weekend at Pennsylvania’s Williams Grove Speedway, Sweet, who has won 17 races this season, has a 3.298 average finish in 72 starts this year.

Sweet leads fellow World of Outlaws drivers David Gravel and Donny Schatz. Gravel has a 3.473 average finish in 70 starts, with Schatz right behind at 3.481 in 69 races.

Central Pennsylvania driver Danny Dietrich and Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions titlist Aaron Reutzel round out the top five.

Reutzel and Sweet lead the country with 17 victories each.

Dietrich leads the Eastern region on the strength of 14 victories, while other regional leaders are Buddy Kofoid (Great Lakes), Billy Balog (Great Plains), Dominic Scelzi (West), Jacob Patton (Mid-America), Donny Schatz (Northwestern) and Carl Bowser. (Ohio-PA).

One hundred and 29 drivers have combined to win 369 features run through Oct. 6, with 706 drivers participating.

View the complete rankings by clicking below.

KNOXVILLE, Iowa — National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum officials have announced that next year’s “Salute to Champion” exhibition will honor late Greg Hodnett.

The plans for the exhibit were announced during the 57th annual Williams Grove National Open at Pennsylvania’s Williams Grove Speedway. Also, Hodnett’s widow, Sherry, accepted the 2018 North American Sprint Car Poll Thomas J. Schmeh Outstanding Contribution to the Sport Award on Greg’s behalf.

The exhibit, tentatively scheduled for May 1 through Oct. 1 will feature cars from Hodnett’s career beginning in Memphis, all the way to his dominance in central Pennsylvania and points between. In addition, memorabilia from Hodnett’s career will be showcased.

Hodnett’s career began in Memphis and branched out nationally with the World of Outlaws, where he was named their rookie of the year. He accumulated over 250 wins in his career, as well as multiple championships.

“We’re absolutely honored to have Greg Hodnett as our spotlight for our annual Salute to Champion at the museum,” said National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum’s Bill Wright. “Greg had such an impact on not only what was going on on the track, but off it as well. It’s going to be a lot of fun for us to tell his story. He was dedicated to going faster every time out and used his engineering background and his experience to make it work on the track. More importantly, he was a great person. We’re excited that one of our longtime supporters, Roger Johnson, will be on board helping us with this one. Roger was an important part of Greg’s career, starting from the beginning.”

The “Salute to Champion” exhibit will be the 10th and final salute exhibit for the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum. Others honored have included Tony Stewart (2011), Jeff Gordon (2012), Mario Andretti (2013), Steve Kinser (2014), Doug Wolfgang (2015), Hall of Fame inductees at Indy (2016), Sammy Swindell (2017), Bryan Clauson and (2018) and A.J. Foyt (2019).

For more information on the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum, visit www.SprintCarHoF.com!

CONCORD, N.C. — Mike Stefanik should be in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

That statement was true long before the Rhode Island native’s untimely death (see separate story here) in a Sept. 15 plane crash near Sterling, Conn.

Stefanik, 61, won nine NASCAR championships. Seven titles came in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and two in NASCAR K&N Pro Series East (then Busch North) competition. In 1997 and again in ’98, he won the championship in both divisions. No other driver has won the title in both classes, let alone in a single season and in back-to-back years.

Stefanik retired following the 2014 season. He ran his first Modified Tour event in 1987 and is the winningest driver in the history of the series with 74 triumphs in 453 starts. His last victory came at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in 2013.

Also racing full-bodied cars, Stefanik won 12 times in 164 K&N Pro Series starts. During the aforementioned 1997 and ’98 seasons, he won 28 races in the two divisions. While he never won a NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race, Stefanik earned rookie-of-the-year honors in the series in 1999, when he was 41 years old.

Stefanik also won 32 times in a multitude of classes, including the Modified Tour and K&N Pro Series, at Connecticut’s Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.

He was nominated for the NASCAR Hall of Fame this year but came up just short of election. He should have been nominated and elected years ago.

Stefanik’s nine championships tie legendary modified driver Richie Evans, who raced prior to the creation of the Modified Tour, for the most in NASCAR history. More than Richard Petty, more than Dale Earnhardt and more than Jimmie Johnson — all who have won seven NASCAR Cup Series titles.

Evans was elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame as part of its third induction class in 2012.

Stefanik should already have a place in the Hall of Fame, and so should five-time NASCAR Weekly Racing Series national champion Larry Phillips and West Coast legend Hershel McGriff, among others.

Somehow, it seems winning a handful of Cup Series races in front of large national television audiences is what it takes to be recognized by many on the Hall of Fame voting panel.

Stefanik, like Phillips, did his work on short tracks in a time before social media and plentiful highlight reels.

In many ways, it seems that if it happens on a small, dimly lit track without live television, it is deemed less important than winning on Sundays on network television. It is after all the NASCAR Hall of Fame, not the Cup Series Hall of Fame, and there may not be a more pure NASCAR racer than Mike Stefanik.

Having seen more than a few of his victories when SPEED SPORT was based in New Jersey, there were few smoother racers on the track and even fewer as classy as Stefanik was off of it.

Sure, he raced hard at times, but that’s what it takes to win at short asphalt tracks on hot summer nights, and that’s what it takes to get to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

In 1997 and ’98, Stefanik won 22 Modified Tour races at 10 different tracks, ranging from quarter-mile Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway to the one-mile tracks at Nazareth (Pa.) Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the three-quarter-mile Richmond (Va.) Raceway and the road course at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l.

Throw in K&N victories at New Hampshire’s Star Speedway and the road course at Lime Rock (Conn.) Park and he won NASCAR touring series races at 12 different tracks in two seasons.

He also won seven Modified Tour races and a K&N Pro Series race at the half-mile Stafford Motor Speedway in Connecticut during those two seasons.

If that’s not versatility and excellence on a variety of types of tracks, it would be difficult to define what would be.

Mike Stefanik will be elected into the NASCAR Hall of Fame one day soon; it’s just too bad he won’t be there to see it.

WHEATLAND, Mo. – One year later, Will Vaught finds himself in the opposite position entering the final weekend of the Lucas Oil MLRA championship chase.

Instead of chasing, he is the one being chased, and that’s a good feeling.

“I’d a lot rather be in the situation we’re in this year, rather than last year when we were the underdog,” Vaught said in looking ahead to the sixth annual MLRA Fall Nationals, this Saturday and Sunday at Lucas Oil Speedway.

Action has been pushed back by a day due to rain and cold weather expected to enter the area by late week.

The COMP Cams Super Dirt Series Presented by Lucas Oil will combine with the MLRA for a 50-lap, $5,000-to-win feature on Saturday and a 40-lapper for $3,000 to win on Sunday.

The B-Mod Clash of Champions II will co-headline the doubleheader.

The Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods will have two sets of heat races on Saturday to help set the lineup for Sunday’s $3,000-to-win feature.

Vaught, of Crane, can almost taste his first MLRA championship. He enters the action 88 points in front of Mitch McGrath and 99 clear of Logan Martin.

One year ago, Vaught was riding a three-race winning streak into the Fall Nationals, but was still digging out of an early-season points hole and trailed Chad Simpson by 24 points.

Simpson went on to win the weekend, taking the lone feature after night one was rained out.

“The weather didn’t cooperate and our run didn’t cooperate, either,” Vaught said.

This time, Vaught has some cushion to work with where solid runs should clinch the championship. It’s conceivable that he could clinch the title by the time the checkered flag flies on Saturday.

Vaught admits that it’s difficult to dial anything back, as winning always is the primary goal. He has three MLRA feature wins in 2019 and was second to Jesse Stovall in the last event, the Larry Phillips Memorial at Lucas Oil Speedway over Labor Day weekend.

“We approach every race the same,” Vaught said. “We go there to win. I catch myself sometimes trying to finish, before winning, and I don’t really like racing that way. But we do have a pretty good lead. We still need to win races, though.”

Vaught said winning his first MLRA championship “would mean a lot.”

“I’ve never been that guy who really followed a series like we have the last couple of years,” he added. “I’ve never won a series championship. It would be a good accomplishment and something to put on the resume to say we did it.”

Showing how seriously he’s taking this weekend, Vaught said he wanted to race a few times since the Larry Phillips Memorial, but decided to keep his car in the shop instead and go through it with the proverbial “fine-tooth comb.”

“We’re going into this weekend fresh and really looking forward to getting back on the track,” he said. “We’re excited to get back to Wheatland. We’ve been pretty successful there in recent years.”

The battle for second in points is razor close, with McGrath and Martin separated by just 10 points. Martin has clinched the Sunoco Race Fuels Rookie of the Year Award, with a 255-point lead over Joseph Gorby.

The COMP Cams Series finds a tight championship battle brewing. Timothy Culp of Prattsville, Ark., leads Tony Jackson of Lebanon by 28 points. Unlike the MLRA, the Comp Cams Series does not conclude this weekend, with two November events remaining.

LAS VEGAS – NASCAR Xfinity Series playoff contender and Las Vegas native Noah Gragson will return home again to take on a talented field in The Open Comp during Saturday night’s Fall Classic at Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s Bullring.

Gragson – a 14-time winner at The Bullring – will be among a hungry group of super late models drivers looking to claim the $10,000 winner’s check in the 150-lap race.

Regional racing stars Jeremy Doss and Derek Thorn won the last two Open Comps, respectively, but will not be back this year to contend for the title, opening the door for the likes of Gragson and Bullring track champions Scott Gafforini and Jimmy Parker Jr.

The 150-lap Open Comp and 100-lap features for the late model and 602 Modified divisions highlight a full slate of races at the three-eighths-mile paved oval.

The Open Comp will feature a break at the midway point, where car crews can add fuel for the race’s second half.

In addition, the Super Stock division will have a 50-lap race, and there also will be a 20-lap combined Bandoleros feature. Gates open at 3 p.m. PT, with racing starting at 5.

Past Bullring track champions Chris Bosley, Kyle Keller and Jadan Walbridge will run in the late model feature, while champions Doug Hamm, Jason Kiser and Vinny Raucci Jr. are competing in the 602 Modified race.

Three-time track champion Sam Jacks is running in the Super Stock feature.

A Houston Open champion will be crowned on the Golf Club of Houston's 18th hole for the final time Sunday, a sendoff that wouldn't have been possible a month ago.

Tropical Storm Imelda dropped about 18 inches of rain on the property over the course of a few days in mid-September, flooding most of the first and 18th holes on the tournament course. The damage wasn't nearly to the extent of Hurricane Harvey, which hit the area in August 2017, but it was enough to keep the holes flooded for nearly three days, according to Brian Buckner, director of agronomy at Golf Club of Houston.

Buckner posted several images of the flooding, adding that the bayou that runs through the course had only flooded twice, for Harvey and Imelda.

But thanks to hard work from Buckner, whose own house was flooded during Imelda, and his team, Nos. 1 and 18 are ready for Golf Club of Houston's final PGA Tour event.

It will be a different course than in years past as the tournament has transitioned from its week-before-the-Masters date to its current fall slot. Gone is the ryegrass. Gone are the shaved runoffs around the greens. In is Bermuda grass and more rough.

HUMBLE, Texas – Henrik Stenson recently said goodbye to an old friend.

Since 2011, Stenson had played a Callaway Diablo Octane Tour 3-wood, a club that helped him rocket from near-obscurity all the way up to No. 2 in the world with eight wins, including the Open Championship in 2016 and a FedExCup-winning Tour Championship in 2013. But after the face of his third replacement caved in before last month’s BMW PGA Championship, Stenson knew it was time to move on.

This week at the Houston Open, Stenson’s bag includes a shiny new Callaway Epic Flash Sub Zero 3-wood.

“When a club gives out that you’ve had for a long time, it’s going to take a little bit of time to get used to,” said Stenson, who first replaced his trusty Diablo in February 2017. His last version of the club was only about “75 percent as good” as the original, he estimated.

“It was time to get something new,” Stenson added. “Technology has moved on.”

It will be a week full of adjustments. Stenson also had to replace the 3-wood’s 15-plus-year-old Grafalloy Blue shaft with a Project X HZRDUS Yellow prototype – painted blue, of course. This will be the first time that he’s seen the Golf Club of Houston in the fall, as the tournament moved this year from its usual pre-Masters April slot and brought with it a change from ryegrass to Bermuda.

And Stenson, at age 43, is trying to rediscover some of that form that brought him so much success for much of the past decade. Still playing the percentages, Stenson guessed Tuesday that he was “50 percent, maybe” the player he was when he lifted the claret jug just three years ago.

“I don’t feel like I’m going to go out there and shoot 63 in the final round at the moment,” Stenson said.

Stenson took an extended break after the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in July, skipping the FedExCup Playoffs, and returned to finish T-3 at the European Tour’s Scandinavian Invitation. He then took three more weeks off prior to tying for 17^th at Wentworth last month.

“I was just playing golf to play golf in Memphis and that’s not what you want to feel when you’re at one of the biggest tournaments of the year. You don’t want to feel like you’re just going through the motions,” Stenson said. “I guess at 43, even though it was a very hard decision not to come back and play the FedExCup Playoffs, I just felt like I had not much left to give.”

Now, Stenson is back in Houston, feeling somewhat recharged at a place where he’s finished in the top 3 on three different occasions. Last year, he tied for sixth. This week, he is the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 37 in the world.

Asked how surprised he was by that fact, Stenson quipped: “Maybe not highest-ranked, but if I’m the favorite you may have to reconsider.”

Especially without one of the most iconic fairway woods in golf history.

Thomas Muller has responded to speculation around his future at Bayern Munich by saying he is "too ambitious" for a role on the bench at the Bundesliga club.

Former Germany international Muller, 30, has featured in all seven Bundesliga matches for Bayern this term, however, he has yet to complete a full 90 minutes.

Having failed to start in five consecutive club matches for the first time in his career, the 2014 World Cup winner is finally beginning to resemble a substitute rather than a starter. Muller was brought on from the bench in four of the last five games and remained an unused substitute in Bayern's 7-2 win at Tottenham in the Champions League.

His demotion at the club comes just over six months after he lost his place in the Germany team.

Since the arrival of Philippe Coutinho from Barcelona in late August, Muller has dropped down the pecking order, with the Brazil international taking his place in the starting formation.

- When does the transfer window reopen?

"Sure. [The Coutinho loan] increased competition for my favourite position, but that's not the problem," Muller told kicker on Wednesday. "It's not about that."

Only last weekend, Bayern coach Niko Kovac addressed Muller's current situation at the club.

The Croat told Sky ahead of the 2-1 defeat to Hoffenheim: "Thomas Muller is very important, but other players are, too."

He added that Muller "will certainly get his minutes" when other players are not available.

Muller, a senior figure in the Bayern dressing room, did not take kindly to the statement, rushing past reporters on Saturday.

Under contract until 2021, Muller has been considered a one-club player. He had to fight for his place under former Bayern bosses Jupp Heynckes, Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti, but never once considered leaving the club, despite a tempting €100 million offer from Manchester United in 2015 and enquiries from Liverpool, Inter Milan and Arsenal in recent seasons.

However, things could now change, with Muller slowly losing his power at the club. He has yet to be backed by the leadership and earlier on Wednesday, Sport Bild reported that he has asked the club for a transfer this winter.

"The media have speculated wildly in the past few days," Muller told kicker. "I won't join in. It's about focusing on sporting things again to make the coming weeks with Bayern Munich successful.

"I will keep at it when it comes to competition for a place, and I'll continue to give it my all in training and during matches. There's nothing more to say from side."

Even before a ball was kicked, Manchester United bosses expected a hard season in 2019-20.

Everton more than matched the asking price to loan defender Marcos Rojo on deadline day, but the deal was canned at the last minute over fears that Marco Silva already had a stronger squad. Chris Smalling was told he could not move to Goodison Park but was allowed to join Roma.

Privately, Silva accused United of sabotaging Everton's season before it had started by leaving him with just two senior centre-backs, one of whom (Yerry Mina) only managed 10 league starts in 2018-19 because of injury. Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward and the Glazers would ultimately be wrong about Everton -- they're 17th after eight games -- but they were right about United.

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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's team are 12th in the table, two points above the relegation places, after Sunday's 1-0 defeat at Newcastle. Woodward has promised Solskjaer time to complete a rebuild that only began in the summer and not allow himself to be influenced by "short-term distractions" but after such a poor start, the question is simple. How much more can he take?

Squad depth is only partially Solskjaer's fault

There's an acceptance within the club that Solskjaer has been left with a squad seriously short in midfield and up front. He decided to jettison Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez for the good of the dressing room because both had made it clear they wanted to leave, becoming increasingly distant and withdrawn from the rest of the group. Money was available for a replacement for Lukaku, but Solskjaer decided against bringing in a short-term fix even as long-term targets were unavailable.

The current injury crisis is another mitigating factor. Of the team that beat Chelsea 4-0 on the opening weekend of the season, six were absent against Newcastle. Paul Pogba has missed five of the past seven games with an ankle injury. Anthony Martial, identified during preseason as the first-choice centre-forward, has been sidelined since August with a thigh problem.

Behind the scenes, Woodward has spoken of "fine margins" like penalty misses against Wolves and Crystal Palace, and penalties that weren't given against Arsenal and AZ Alkmaar. The fact remains, however, that in two weeks' time, United could find themselves in the bottom three.

The 2019-20 campaign already marks their worst start to a season for 30 years. A return to the top four looks unlikely and a second successive season without Champions League football would see the annual payment from kit supplier, Adidas, reduce by 30 percent to around £20 million.

Solskjaer is aware he has gambled on the goodwill of Woodward and the Glazers. The story goes that while United fans were apoplectic at the club's transfer business in the summer of 2013, the manager, David Moyes, was far more relaxed. With the security of a six-year contract, his approach would be "evolution rather than revolution," but while he thought there would be plenty of time for change, he was sacked after just 10 months.

Solskjaer has improved the defence -- United have the fourth-best defensive record in the league through eight games -- but he will need at least one more summer window to fix everything else. However, even those around him accept a heavy defeat to Liverpool at Old Trafford after the international break could end his reign though a recent report suggested that the club had already written that match off as a loss and were more concerned with a positive result against Norwich.

If it does, Solskjaer will leave with more than a few frustrations. For example, his concerns in the summer that deals were taking too long to get over the line. Discussions for players were never done simultaneously, with chief negotiator Matt Judge instead telling targets they were "next on the list" once the latest deal had been completed. It meant they ran out of time when it came to signing a striker and despite Solskjaer making it clear he wanted five new players to improve the squad's quality and depth in the summer, he ended up with three (Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Daniel James and Harry Maguire).

Funds will be made available in January but there are doubts the right players can be brought in midway through the season.

The team needs sharper coaching

The Norwegian has remedied some problems he encountered when he took over for Jose Mourinho 10 months ago -- the team leaks that would anger Mourinho have stopped -- but other issues remain. There are unhelpful divisions in the dressing room and when a meal in Manchester was organised after the Carabao Cup tie with Rochdale, some players opted to attend despite another disappointing performance while others decided it was inappropriate to be seen out on the town after a 1-1 draw with team near the bottom of League One.

There are also concerns among some senior players that the youngsters thrown in by Solskjaer are not ready to play such a key role. The inexperience of Mason Greenwood, Tahith Chong and Angel Gomes is in contrast to Frank Lampard's core of young players at Chelsea (Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori) who have made 340 senior appearances between them. Meanwhile, the muscle injuries that decimated the squad in March have not been eradicated and Martial (thigh), Luke Shaw (hamstring) and Jesse Lingard (hamstring) all missed the defeat at St James' Park on Sunday.

Solskjaer has styled himself as a manager rather than a coach, and besides shouting "Let's see if you can get to 20" during the Rondo passing drills, much of the work on the training pitch is left to Kieran McKenna, who was looking after the Under-18s little more than a year ago. This lack of hands-on instruction has a trickle-down effect: Opposition coaches say United are so predictable going forward that the way to beat them is to sit back, soak up pressure and counter attack. Newcastle's goal on Sunday came from a United corner.

Woodward and the Glazers were prepared for a difficult season but no away win since March and five wins and just 18 goals scored in 21 games as permanent manager is pushing the limits of what is acceptable. Match-going fans will never turn on a man who played for the club with such distinction en masse but there are rumblings about a manager many in Norway felt did not deserve a new contract at Molde before United came calling.

For now, Solskjaer retains enough support within the corridors of power at Old Trafford but he is well aware that Woodward has shown an itchy trigger finger in the past. A defeat to Liverpool on Oct. 20 would further test that patience.

In what is likely to have a bearing on the BCCI elections, the Committee of Administrators (CoA) has disqualified three key state associations - Tamil Nadu, Haryana and Maharashtra - for failing to comply with the board's new constitution. These three states have been declared non-compliant and are barred from participating in the BCCI elections scheduled for October 23 in Mumbai.

In response, the TNCA has said they will ask the Supreme Court to intervene should the board's electoral officer N Gopalswami, who is likely to announce the final electoral roll on Thursday, rules against their representative attending the elections. This CoA directive has been sent to both Gopalswami and P Narasimha, the amicus curiae appointed by the Supreme Court.

Vinod Rai, the CoA chairman, confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that all three associations were informed of their non-compliance on Tuesday. "We found their explanations to be unsatisfactory," he said.

In an e-mail directive sent to all three states associations on Tuesday, the CoA said they were being "disqualified from participating in cricket administration and governance at the BCCI in any way whatsoever, including by participating and voting in the BCCI general body meeting."

In the directive, the CoA also said all three state associations had lost the right to cast a vote at the BCCI elections "because it has not complied with the (court) judgment and it is necessary for the purpose of proper implementation as mandated by the Supreme Court."

ESPNcricinfo understands the three-member CoA was split on the decision to bar the three state associations. While Rai and Ravindra Thodge were in favour of disqualification, Diana Edulji, the former Indian woman's captain, objected. Rai and Thodge were of the opinion that the TNCA, HCA and MCA couldn't have been exempted from complying with the new orders if a majority of the associations, around 30, did so.

Edulji is believed to have said compliance was just one thing and presented examples of several state associations, including Delhi & Districts Cricket Association and Baroda Cricket Association, that had violated various eligibility criterion while electing their office bearers.

The CoA had earlier issued a show cause notice and sought an explanation for non-compliance from the TNCA, HCA and MCA, while also asking them to comply with the new regulations. In Maharashtra's case, it was pointed out that the MCA hadn't even registered its constitution, which is mandatory.

While notifying all state associations about the elections in September, Gopalswami made it clear no association could send a representative or vote at the election if the CoA felt they were non-compliant with the new BCCI constitution drawn up on the basis of the Lodha Committee recommendations.

Among the three associations, the TNCA has been most vocal about its opposition to CoA's stance on compliance. In their response to the show cause notice, the TNCA stated the CoA didn't have the authority to decide if a state association was compliant or not.

"The job of the CoA is only to file a status report with reference to the compliance undertaken by the state associations," RS Ramasamy, the newly elected TNCA secretary, wrote in an email to Gopalswami on September 30.

Ramasamy, who has also been chosen by the TNCA to attend the BCCI elections, also pointed out that only the Supreme Court had the right to suspend any state association from attending the BCCI election. In the email to Gopalswami, he said the TNCA "shall not be restrained" from attending the board elections on the "ground of having not being found to be compliant" by the CoA.

"Any such act on your part of restraining the TNCA from participating in the BCCI elections would amount to contempt of the 9th August Judgment and 20th September order."