LAS VEGAS – Austin Hill was not going to be denied Friday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The Hattori Racing Enterprises driver gave up track position to bolt on four new tires during a late pit stop, then proceeded to drive back through the field to win the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series World of Westgate 200.

A caution period on lap 81 for the expired engine in Tyler Dippel’s truck brought most of the field down pit road, but Hill’s No. 16 Toyota was not one of those to hit the pits. When Hill’s team saw the rest of the field pit, they realized they may have made a mistake.

It was at that point the team made the decision to pit the next time back around the track. While most of the field that pitted on the previous lap just took fuel, Hill’s team instead chose to pit for four tires in addition to fuel.

That decision proved to be the race winning call.

Restarting 17th on lap 87, Hill began storming through the field. By the 108th lap Hill was in third and one lap later he moved into second and began to track down race-long leader Ross Chastain.

Chastain quickly watched his lead, which was more than a second when Hill moved into the second position, disappear. With 12 laps to go Hill caught Chastain and began looking for a way around the Florida watermelon farmer.

Coming out of turn four Hill made his move, looking to the inside of Chastain. Hill beat Chastain to the start-finish line and completed the pass in turns one and two, dispatching Chastain with ease.

Once out front Hill drove off into the distance, easily beating Chastain to the checkered flag by more than two seconds to earn his third NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series victory of the season.

“This is the hardest one I’ve had to win,” Hill said, who has earned wins at Daytona Int’l Speedway and Michigan Int’l Speedway this year. “We were going to stay out that last caution and we stayed out and everybody else pitted. So we decided that we needed to pit or we were going to be screwed.

“We came down pit road, restarted at the tail end of the longest line. Man, it stayed green and I had to drive all the way through the field. This truck was unbelievable.”

Christian Eckes finished third after starting from the pole, followed by Sheldon Creed and Todd Gilliland.

Friday’s race was the final event in the first round of the Truck Series playoffs and saw two drivers eliminated from championship contention. Those drivers were ThorSport Racing competitors Grant Enfinger and Johnny Sauter, both of whom fell out of the race with engine issues.

The drivers who advanced to the second round of the Truck Series playoffs include Brett Moffitt, Hill, Chastain, Stewart Friesen, Matt Crafton and Tyler Ankrum.

For complete results, advance to the next page.

LANCASTER, N.Y. – Matt Hirschman won the 30th annual Tommy Druar/Tony Jankowiak Memorial 110 for the Race of Champions Modified Series on Friday night at Lancaster Speedway @ New York International Raceway Park.

The 110-lap race originally started on Aug. 17, but was halted after six laps after a crash by Karl Hehr damaged the catch fence on the front straightaway. The race resumed on Friday night to kick off the 31st annual U.S. Open weekend at Lancaster.

When the race was stopped Eric Beers was scored as the leader followed by Chuck Hossfeld, Patrick Emerling, Daren Scherer and Daryl Lewis, Jr.

The race resumed 27 days after it was halted, and Beers retained his command of the field followed by Hossfeld and Emerling. Hossfeld developed an issue around lap 20 and began dropping through field. He eventually spun out in turn two on lap 24 to bring out the yellow flag. Hossfeld would be in and out of the pits throughout the rest of the race.

Several of the front runners pitted during the caution period, including Emerling, Daren Scherer, Amy Catalano and Kevin Miller. The race restarted on lap 32, but was quickly under the caution flag again when RoC Series points leader Andy Jankowiak, Chris Ridsdale and George Skora III tangled in turn three. Jankowiak’s car drove over the front end of Ridsdale. He went to the pits, but came back out with something dragging from the rear of the car.

Beers continued to lead the race with Tommy Catalano now in second place followed by Matt Hirschman and Amy Catalano. Jankowiak stopped on the track to bring out the yellow flag again on lap 41.

The race went past the halfway point with Beers still leading. Catalano and Hirschman traded the runner-up position back and forth. Emerling led the cars that pitted earlier in the race, and was up to fourth place by lap 57.

Owen Bednasz spun out on lap 71 to bring out the caution flag after just over 20 laps of racing under green. This gave Beers and Hirschman the opportunity to pit for a new tire while Catalano elected to stay out.

Catalano inherited the lead when Beers pitted, which also moved Emerling to second followed by Scherer, Skora, Hirschman and Beers. It took Emerling just three laps to get by Catalano when the race restarted. Hirschman quickly moved his way to the front of the field, and he passed Catalano for second lap 83. Emerling and Hirschman eventually pulled away from the pack.

Skora and Miller tangled on lap 97 to cause another caution period. Hirschman continued to pursue Emerling when the race restarted. On lap 100, Hirschman got a run to the inside of Emerling down the frontstretch. He was able to stay to the inside of Emerling going into turn one, and took the lead for good by the time they exited turn two.

One final caution with five laps to go was all that separated Matt Hirschman from his fourth career win in the Tommy/Tony 110. He pulled away in the final circuits to secure his first RoC Modified Series win of 2019. Emerling had to settle for second, but he managed to cut Andy Jankowiak’s series points lead to just 12. Beers finished third with Kevin Miller and Tommy Catalano rounded out the top five.

The finish:

Matt Hirschman, Patrick Emerling, Eric Beers, Kevin Miller, Tommy Catalano, Daren Scherer, Owen Bednasz, Amy Catalano, George Skora III, Alan Bookmiller, Chris Ridsdale, Austin Beers, Andy Jankowiak, Chuck Hossfeld, Scott Wylie, Bobby Hanel, Timmy Catalano, Dave Kozlowski, Daryl Lewis Jr., Mike Leaty, Tyler Catalano, Karl Hehr, Bill Mislin, Randall Richard.

RANSOMVILLE, N.Y. – Two-time and defending series champion Chad Chevalier won the second annual Sean Letts Memorial for the BEI Lightning Series for the Investors Service Sportsman Friday at Ransomville Speedway.

Derek Wagner and Chevalier Brought the field to the green flag for the Sean Letts Memorial 40 for the BEI Lightning Series, with Wagner showing the way. Brett Senek and Brad Rouse was on the move early as both entered the top five after passing Trevor Wright and Andrew Smith.

While in lap traffic, the leaders would have a tough time to get through as Chevalier was able to start to reel in Wagner. Noah Walker would enter the top five for the first time on lap 16 after passing Andrew Smith.

After a couple of mid-race restarts, Chevalier was able to take the lead away from Wagner. Jim Harbison would race inside the top five and would start to go after the race leaders. Chevalier would lead the final 15 laps to score his second series win over Brad Rouse and Derek Wagner.

In other action, Brian Woodhall won the inaugural visit from RUSH Wingless Crate Sprint Cars. Pete Stefanski won the main event for the KiPo Chevrolet Street Stocks and Cole Susice took home the checkered flag in the Gippsters Collision Mini Stocks.

KNOXVILLE, Iowa – Ricky Weiss became the first Canadian late model winner at Knoxville Raceway on night two of the 16th annual Lucas Oil Knoxville Late Model Nationals.

Chris Madden led from outside of row one early in the 25-lap main event.  Weiss, Tyler Bruening, Dennis Erb Jr. and Tyler Erb rounded out the top five.  Don O’Neal passed Erb for fifth in what was a good battle that saw the two exchange the spot twice.

Eleventh starting Josh Richards was on the move as well, and passed both Erb and Don O’Neal, entering the top five on lap eight.  Richards passed Erb Jr. for fourth on lap 10.

Up front, Madden found comfort through the middle of the track until approaching lapped traffic on the fourteenth circuit.  On lap 16, he tried to shoot under the lapped car of Mike Mataragas, and slid across turn one.  It was all Weiss needed to jump to the point.

Weiss would pull away to win his second Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event.

“It’s just awesome,” said Weiss, who recently scored a marquee victory in the Baltes Classic at Eldora Speedway.  “Never did we think we’d be in victory lane at Eldora. We didn’t get to capitalize on it. We’re just taking baby steps at it.  We’re there. After last night, we were happy with that. We knew we were locked in the show.  We debated on switching cars tonight and trying something, but we knew this thing was good.  Every time we touched the track, we just got better and better.  (Madden) was struggling a little bit.  I eased a little bit, and when he got up in the middle of the track, I tried to hold the bottom. This car’s been phenomenal since we unloaded here.”

Madden held on for second, ahead of a late charging Richards, Bruening and Don O’Neal.

“We had a good car about half the race there,” said Madden. “Then I got extremely tight and I couldn’t turn across the middle there. We were trying to bide our own, and if we didn’t get to lapped traffic, I think we would have been OK. I about spun out there, and that left the door open for Ricky. To have the night we did last night, we were able to bounce back and have a good one tonight.”

Erb, Earl Pearson Jr., hard-charger Brandon Sheppard, Frank Heckenast Jr. and Hudson O’Neal rounded out the top 10.

Weiss’s win gave him $7,000 and 472 points, placing him in row two of Saturday night’s $40,000 to win finale. Thursday’s winner Shane Clanton will start on the pole alongside Darrell Lanigan. Friday’s runner-up Madden will start fourth alongside Weiss.

Others who have locked themselves into Saturday’s feature include Erb, Ricky Thornton Jr., Don O’Neal, Bruening, Sheppard, Scott Bloomquist, Richards, Chris Simpson, Chad Simpson, Erb Jr., Pearson, Hudson O’Neal, Devin Moran, defending event winner Jimmy Owens, Bobby Pierce, Kyle Bronson, Heckenast, Shanon Buckingham, Stormy Scott and World 100 winner Jonathan Davenport.

The finish:

Ricky Weiss, Chris Madden, Josh Richards, Tyler Bruening, Don O’Neal, Tyler Erb, Earl Pearson Jr., Brandon Sheppard, Frank Heckenast Jr., Hudson O’Neal, Dennis Erb Jr., Chad Simpson, Kyle Bronson, Scott Bloomquist, Jimmy Owens, Chris Simpson, Jonathan Davenport, Darrell Lanigan, Ricky Thornton Jr., Shannon Babb, Brian Birkhofer, Shane Clanton, Jason Feger, Mike Mataragas.

OHSWEKEN, Ontario – Rain was all around Ohsweken Speedway on Friday night, but the wet weather held off just long enough for all of the scheduled racing to be completed in the Night Before the Nationals.

Cory Turner, Jason Barney, and Parker Price-Miller took full advantage of their opportunity by claiming wins in the Triple 15’s for the Kool Kidz-Corr/Pak 360 Sprint Cars, locking themselves into Saturday night’s Canadian Sprint Car Nationals A-Main in the process.

The first of the three Triple 15’s began with Mark Smith and Cory Turner on the front row. Smith was looking for the third Night Before the Nationals win of his career, but Turner had other ideas and took the lead from Smith on lap three.

Smith spent the remainder of the caution-free race unsuccessfully trying to chase Turner down, but Turner took his first Night Before the Nationals win by 1.239 seconds. Smith settled for the runner-up spot, followed by Jared Horstman, Shone Evans, and Ryan Turner.

Dylan Westbrook and Jason Barney made up the front row for the second Triple 15, but third place starter Max Stambaugh quickly entered the fray to lead the first lap. Barney did not allow Stambaugh to get away though, and took the lead at the start/finish line at the completion of lap two.

Yellow flags for Tyler Rand and Al Gilleta Jr. followed, but Barney stayed ahead of the field to take the win by 1.232 seconds over Mitch Brown. Stambaugh, row four starter Sam Hafertepe Jr., and row five starter Jordan Poirier rounded out the top five.

The third Triple 15 of the night started with Parker Price-Miller and Jonathan Preston on the front row. It appeared two-time Canadian Sprint Car Nationals winner Price-Miller was going to run away with the win, but Matt Farnham had other ideas; the rookie 360 Sprint Car driver drove past Price-Miller on lap five and began to open a lead. Farnham’s lead shrunk as he negotiated traffic and Price-Miller adjusted his line.

Disaster almost struck for the leaders with two laps to go, as Price-Miller had a big run out of turn four and almost got squeezed into the wall as Farnham drifted up the track. Farnham fought off a slide job from Price-Miller in turn one on the last lap, but Price-Miller drove around the outside to take the win in turns three and four. Farnham settled for second, followed by Preston, Jake Brown, and Billy VanInwegen.

In other action, Logan Shwedyk and Kyle Wert finished their seasons off with wins in the Middleport Mechanical Thunder Stock and HRW Automotive Mini Stock divisions, respectively.

FRISCO, Texas -- Dallas Stars forward Corey Perry has a broken foot that could sideline him for the opener with his new team.

Perry said on the opening day of training camp Friday that he tripped on a step earlier in the week and broke a small bone in his left foot. General manager Jim Nill said Perry wouldn't skate for two weeks, and the Oct. 3 season opener at home against Boston is less than three weeks away.

The 34-year-old spent his first 14 seasons with Anaheim before signing a $1.5 million, one-year contract with Dallas. Perry was limited to a career-low 31 games last season because of a knee injury.

Perry said he didn't have any issues with the knee in the offseason. He said the foot injury was "frustrating, obviously, two days before camp." The four-time All-Star is third in Anaheim franchise history with 776 points (372 goals, 404 assists) in 988 games.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and restricted free-agent winger Mitch Marner have agreed to a six-year deal, the team announced Friday, ending one of the most controversial negotiations of the NHL offseason.

Marner's deal carries a $10.893 million average annual value against the salary cap. That makes the 22-year-old the third-highest paid member of the Leafs via the cap, behind centers Auston Matthews ($11.634 million) and John Tavares ($11 million). Marner's cap hit is the seventh-highest in the NHL among all players, and is second only to New York Rangers free agent signee Artemi Panarin ($11,642,857) among wingers.

Marner had 26 goals and 68 assists for a team-leading 94 points last season for Toronto while skating primarily with Tavares. In three seasons, he has 67 goals and 157 assists, and his 224 points ranked him 22nd overall in that span.

He was drafted fourth overall by the Leafs, his hometown team, in 2015.

I'm exactly where I want to be, in front of the greatest hockey fans in the world, proudly continuing the tradition with the @MapleLeafs. See you soon.

— Mitchell Marner (@Marner93) September 14, 2019

The negotiation between the Leafs and Marner was the talk of the NHL during this summer. A slew of other restricted-free-agent forwards -- including Brayden Point of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Matthew Tkachuk of the Calgary Flames and Mikko Rantanen of the Colorado Avalanche -- remained unsigned, with some indication that they were waiting on Marner to set the market.

It was a controversial negotiation, too, as Marner's camp ignored any comparable wingers' salaries to focus on what Matthews signed for earlier this year. Toronto GM Kyle Dubas went as far as to say that if Marner signed a free-agent offer sheet, there was no guarantee Toronto would match it. Leaks to the Toronto media from both sides of the table showed a wide gulf between the player and team; especially on term, as the Leafs wanted and eventually won a long-term deal that eats up two unrestricted-free-agent years for Marner.

With Marner signed, the Leafs are currently $13,365,199 over the NHL salary cap ceiling of $81.5 million, but that's before Toronto places forwards Nathan Horton, David Clarkson, Zach Hyman and defenseman Travis Dermott on long-term injured reserve, where their cap hits will no longer count toward that number.

CHICAGO -- A posthumous study of Stan Mikita's brain shows the Hockey Hall of Famer suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy at the time of his death a year ago.

Dr. Ann McKee, the director of the BU CTE Center, announced the findings during the Concussion Legacy Foundation's Chicago Honors Dinner on Friday night at the request of Mikita's family.

CTE is a degenerative brain disease associated with repeated blows to the head. It is known to cause memory loss, violent moods and other cognitive difficulties. It can be diagnosed only after death.

Mikita is the eighth former NHL player diagnosed with CTE at the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank, a list that also includes Derek Boogaard, Bob Probert and Reggie Fleming.

"The NHL is nowhere on this," McKee said. "They have completely denied a link. They have denied any responsibility, and it's clear that they are just protecting the bottom line."

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has consistently denied there is a conclusive link between repeated blows to the head and CTE. A message was left late Friday night seeking comment from the league about Mikita's diagnosis.

The NHL formed a concussion study group in 1997, cracked down on certain hits after the 2004-05 lockout, instituted a formal protocol and a rule against head contact in 2010, and added spotters in 2015.

McKee said she feels the concussion spotters are being too lax in having players examined.

"They need to really, really just be very conservative about what represents a hit," she said, "because what looks like a minor hit to you or me when we're looking at it can be a devastating hit to the player, and we need to keep these players safe. That's how these leagues got to be what they are."

Mikita, who helped Chicago to the 1961 Stanley Cup title, died last August at age 78. He had been in poor health after being diagnosed with Lewy body dementia, a progressive disease that causes problems with thinking, movement, behavior and mood.

McKee said Mikita had Stage III CTE and Lewy body disease.

"What was interesting was he didn't just have CTE, which we know is associated with contact sports," she said, "but we're finding out that there are other neurodegenerative diseases, in particular Lewy body disease, which is a Parkinson's sort of disease that spreads through your brain, believe it or not, that's associated with contact sports."

Mikita spent his entire career with the Blackhawks, beginning with his NHL debut in 1959 and running through his retirement after playing 17 games in the 1979-80 season. He is the franchise's career leader for assists (926), points (1,467) and games played (1,394), and is second to Bobby Hull with 541 goals.

He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983. He also was the first player to have his jersey retired by the Blackhawks in 1980.

Mikita's family declined to speak with the media at the dinner. Mikita's daughter Jane accepted the 2019 Courage Award on behalf of the family.

"While my dad's professional hockey accomplishments were many, we are most proud of his legacy of giving back and caring for others," Jane said during her speech.