WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Sunday was finally Mazda’s day.

Mazda Team Joest dominated Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, with the No. 55 Mazda RT24-P DPi shared by co-drivers Harry Tincknell, Jonathan Bomarito and Olivier Pla earning the program’s first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victory.

The No. 77 Mazda DPi shared by Oliver Jarvis, Tristan Nunez and Timo Bernhard finished second, with Jarvis crossing the stripe .353 of a second behind Tincknell.

The scene in the Mazda Team Joest pits was sheer pandemonium, with screams, hugs and high fives all around. It was the culmination of six years of hard work and dedication amid struggles, close calls and heartbreak.

The pair of Mazdas were the class of the field throughout the six hours, but entering the final hour, they both were trailing Juan Pablo Montoya – winner of the previous two consecutive WeatherTech Championship races in the No. 6 Acura Team Penske ARX-05 DPi – who grabbed the lead through pit strategy.

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Tincknell spent the better part of the next 30 minutes pressuring Montoya and looking for any opportunity to pass. He finally took his shot with 45 minutes to go, diving to the inside going through the heel of the famed Watkins Glen Int’l boot section and came away as the leader.

“I had to attack and it was difficult to pass,” Tincknell said. “I tried once around the outside and he kind of had a little bit of rubbin’ is racin’ and kind of pushed me off, so I knew it was going to have to be a super-bold move. In those circumstances you’re better off committing 100 percent. It’s the 95 percent commitment move that causes the crash, so I think I was probably 110 percent committed going into that corner, a little bit of rubbin’ is racin’ at the apex, and luckily we came out unscathed.”

Jarvis got past Montoya and into second a few minutes later, and both Mazdas then pulled away from the field as they’d done for most of the race. But that didn’t mean the ending was without drama.

With less than 20 minutes to go in the race, the cover on the left side of the No. 55’s engine dislodged and came to a rest on the car’s sidepod, wreaking havoc on the car’s aerodynamics and allowing Jarvis to close up and potentially overtake Tincknell for the victory. But with little to no pressure from behind, the pair of Mazdas elected to remain in formation where they finished.

“It sounds like it was more terrifying outside the car than it was in it,” said Tincknell of the bodywork damage. “I certainly started to feel the car was a little bit freer on the rear, a little bit more loose, but I just thought it was the tires, to be honest. I didn’t quite realize it was the damage that was there. Where that was caused and why, I’m not 100 percent sure.”

“Me and Olly (Pla) were way more nervous, I can tell you that,” added Bomarito.

It was the first overall IMSA race victory for Mazda since the American Le Mans Series Baltimore Grand Prix on Sept. 3, 2011, when Humaid Al Masaood and Steven Kane co-drove the No. 20 Oryx Dyson Racing Mazda-Lola to the win. It was Mazda’s first IMSA win of any kind since Sylvain Tremblay and Tom Long co-drove the diesel-powered No. 70 Mazda 6 GX to the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series GX class victory at Lime Rock Park on Sept. 28, 2013.

“It’s been an amazingly long journey,” said Mazda Director of Motorsports John Doonan. “All we wanted to do was to reach the top step for all the Mazda fans, all the Mazda owners, all of our Mazda racers, our dealers, our employees, it was trying to have a Mazda day and we finally got there. We didn’t quit. There was plenty of times where faced insane challenges, so many close calls. We almost thought we had it so many times.”

It was Tincknell’s first IMSA victory and the third for Pla. It was Bomarito’s seventh IMSA win (three WeatherTech Championship, four Grand-Am) and first since a GTLM class win at Circuit of The Americas in 2014. The No. 55 led 106 of the 291 total laps in the six hours, with the No. 77 leading – appropriately enough – another 77 laps.

“Oh man, it’s so amazing, so amazing,” said Bomarito, who rejoined Mazda’s WeatherTech Championship Prototype team prior to the 2015 season and is a graduate of Mazda’s driver development ladder system. “A Mazda 1-2, this has been a long, long time coming. I’ve been with this program for so long, seen so many ups and downs, but both cars, both crews, amazing job. It’s just as important for the 77. We’ll share it all together tonight.”

In addition to winning the race, the No. 55 team also was the Round 3 winner of the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup as the DPi team that scored the most points in the race.

It was a huge points day for Montoya and co-driver Dane Cameron, who finished third in the Six Hours. After qualifying second on Saturday, Cameron noticed the No. 6 car had a flat tire on the starting grid, forcing the team to change tires and start the race from pit lane.

They battled back from the early setback and Montoya led 19 laps before taking the team’s fourth consecutive podium result, and second consecutive third-place run at Watkins Glen. That result coupled with a seventh-place result by the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R shared by Felipe Nasr, Pipo Derani and Eric Curran moved the No. 6 driving duo into the DPi championship lead by one point, 177-176, over full-season co-drivers Derani and Nasr.

In the LMP2 class, No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA co-drivers Matt McMurry, Gabriel Aubry and Eric Lux took the class victory by 20 laps over the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA squad of Cameron Cassels, Kyle Masson and Andrew Evans.

TOLEDO, Ohio – Brian Campbell bested Johnny VanDoorn and Kyle Crump to win Sunday’s ARCA/CRA Super Series JEGS 100 at Toledo Speedway.

Campbell continued his dominating runs at the Glass City oval, taking the lead after race leader Harold Fair Jr. was collected in a turn four incident early on. Campbell survived a mid-race battle with VanDoorn and Crump during the 100-lap event before earning his trip to victory lane.

The trio diced back and forth, with each driver leading at some point. Campbell broke loose and sailed to the win over fast qualifier Travis Braden, VanDoorn, Cody Coughlin and Crump.

Sixteen-year-old Albert Francis won the companion 50-lap ARCA Late Model Gold Cup Series race after taking the lead during a lap-48 restart.

The race was dominated by Cayden Lapcevich, but his car faltered with and he coasted into the infield. That left Brian Bergakker and Mike Mazzagatti to battle for the lead, only for Mazzagatti to spin with two laps to go.

That set up the two-lap dash to the checkered, which saw Francis steal the lead and pick up the victory over Bergakker, Mike Root, Mazzagatti and Joe Hawes.

DODGE CITY, Kan. – Four racers remain perfect atop the seventh-mile Little DCRP clay oval at Dodge City Raceway Park following Sunday’s fourth round of competition for Micro Sprints and Karts.

Since the opening round of features fell victim to rain in May, Tanner Johnson (Winged A Class), Trey Zorn (Restricted A Class) and Deekan McRoberts (Novice Junior Sprints) have each gone three-for-three in the Micro ranks while Caleb Berthof (Junior Karts) has duplicated the feat in the Karting ranks.

While those four each ran win streak to three, another four drivers notched their first Little DCRP triumph including Jayce Caldwell (Advanced Junior Sprints), Randle McRoberts (Open Outlaw Karts), Daniel Williams (Adult Karts) and Chad Garrison (Outlaw Cage Karts).

Zak Moore, who won the first Little DCRP feature on May 19, added his second win in the Non-Wing A Class ranks.

JOLIET, Ill. – After three runner-up finishers in a row earlier this year, Alex Bowman knew his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory was right around the corner.

On Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway, Bowman finally kicked down the door to victory lane.

The driver of the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet fended off a late challenge from Kyle Larson, holding on for his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory in the Camping World 400.

“I feel like this is a lot of validation for a lot of people who said we couldn’t do this,” Bowman said moments after earning his first series victory. “My guys have worked so hard. We struggled so bad last year and the beginning of this year. I had questions if Mr. H (Rick Hendrick) was going to let me keep doing this.

“Winning a race in the Cup Series just means so much.”

Bowman ran near the front most of the day, but he didn’t take command for the first time until lap 171 when he drove by Larson shortly after a restart. Once out front Bowman seized command of the race, at times leading by more than three seconds.

After the final round of pit stops Bowman cycled back into the race lead with Larson, fresh off a USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series triumph Saturday night, still chasing him.

With a little more than 20 laps left things began to change for Bowman as he got stuck trying to overtake the lap car of Paul Menard. That allowed Larson to close the gap to Bowman significantly.

With 17 laps left Larson closed the gap to Bowman to one second and four laps later Larson was within half a second of Bowman. Two laps later Larson was there and looking for a way around Bowman.

Larson continued to chase Bowman for the next few laps, sizing up his opponent before making his move. That move came with eight laps left when Larson when low in turns one and two, getting alongside Bowman as they exited turn two down the backstretch.

They stayed side-by-side down the backstretch before Larson pulled clear into the lead in turn three. Bowman stayed on the gas and quickly got himself focused on chasing Larson back down.

With six laps left Bowman got a run on Larson entering turn one and managed to get to Larson’s inside at the exit of turn two. They side drafted down the backstretch, with the pair briefly banging fenders before Bowman pulled clear of Larson as they entered turn three.

Larson was unable to mount another challenge, falling a little more than half a second short of Bowman when the checkered flag waved.

“I just am tired of running second. I don’t want to do that anymore,” said Bowman, who earned his first series victory in his 134th start. “I can’t believe it. There are so many people capable of doing this. So thankful that I got the opportunity.

“I didn’t change anything from running 35th every week. I might work out a little harder and study a little harder, but I didn’t change much. To go from doing that to doing this is pretty incredible.”

One year after a dramatic finish saw Larson spin on the last lap while battling Kyle Busch at Chicagoland, the California native was again on the losing end of a great finish at the 1.5-mile track.

“I could see him struggling when I was getting to him. When I got by him I was like, ‘OK, good. Now he’ll be in my dirty air and get loose,’” Larson said. “He could get big runs on me down the straightaways and I think that allowed him to get that run into one.

“He got to my inside and I got a little bit tight. I don’t know if him putting air on my spoiler got me tight. I had to kind of breath it a little bit and then we side-drafted on the backstretch. I wish I would have done some things different going into three.”

Joey Logano finished third and was chased to the checkers by Jimmie Johnson, who earned his best finish of the season in fourth. Brad Keselowski completed the top-five in fifth.

The race was stopped for more than three hours after the completion of 12 laps because of a rain storm that brought severe lightning to the area.

For complete results, advance to the next page.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – On a somber day at the summit of Pikes Peak, Robin Shute emerged as the overall winner of the 97th edition of the Pikes Peak Int’l Hill Climb on Sunday afternoon.

Shute, competing in the Unlimited class in his 2018 Wolf TSC-Honda, reached the summit of Pikes Peak with a time of 9 minutes and 12.476 seconds. That was enough to give him the overall victory by a little more than 11 seconds over Time Attack 1 division winner Raphael Astier.

Several competitors in the car divisions were unable to make the full assent up the mountain when a storm forced officials to move the finish line to Geln Cove, guaranteeing Shute the fastest time on the full course.

Astier ended the day second overall and first in the Time Attack 1 class with his time of 9:23.721 in his 2017 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Turbo. The next three finishers were all competing in the Pikes Peak Open class, with RealTime Racing’s Peter Cunningham claiming the class victory and the final place on the overall podium aboard his 2019 Acura TLX GT with a time of 9:24.433.

The excitement of the day at Pikes Peak was overshadowed by a tragedy near the top of the mountain. Ducati motorcycle rider Carlin Dunne was ejected from his bike near the finish line and fell down the mountain, suffering fatal injuries. Click here for more.

David Donohue was fourth overall and second in the Pikes Peak Open class, more than eight seconds behind the time set by Cunningham. Layne Schranz was fifth overall and third in the Pikes Peak Open division. Paul Dallenbach was sixth overall, which was enough to give him the Open Wheel division triumph.

Seventh overall went to the fastest bike on the mountain this year, with Rennie Scaysbrook shattering the motorcycle record with a time of 9:44.963 aboard his 2018 Aprilia Tuono V4 1100. The time easily gave him the class victory in the Pikes Peak Heavyweight division and made him the fastest motorcycle rider in Pikes Peak history.

Clint Vahsholtz was eighth overall and second in Time Attack 1, with Greg Tracy ending the day ninth overall and second in the Unlimited division. Lucy Glockner finished 10th overall to win the Exhibition Powersport class.

Another notable result during Sunday’s Hill Climb included the run by Rhys Millen, who reset the production car record up the mountain aboard a 2019 Bentley Continental GT with a time of 10:18.488.

X-Games star and former NASCAR competitor Travis Pastrana also came away a winner Sunday at Pikes Peak, taking the Porsche Trophy by Yokohama division victory for the second year in a row.

Other division winners included Chris Fillmore (Pikes Peak Lightweight) and Rafael Paschoalin (Pikes Peak Middleweight).

Free-agent center Matt Duchene is set to join the Nashville Predators when NHL free agency officially opens Monday at noon, according to multiple reports.

The deal is expected to be for around $56 million over seven years, according to The Athletic, which was first to report the agreement.

Duchene, 28, was just one of the Columbus Blue Jackets' many prominent free agents. Despite speculation that general manager Jarmo Kekalainen would trade the likes of Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky before they could walk, the GM actually doubled down, bringing in more players for a playoff run.

Duchene headlined that strategy, and it kind of paid off, with Columbus winning its first playoff series ever. But the Jackets fell short of the ultimate goal, losing in the second round to Boston.

Duchene had only four goals and 12 points in 23 games after the Jackets acquired him from the Senators, but he upped his production in the playoffs, with five goals and 10 points in 10 games.

Duchene is a two-time All-Star who had a career-high 31 goals last season. He equaled his career high in points with 70.

Duchene spent parts of two seasons with Ottawa after being acquired from Colorado in a blockbuster three-team trade in November 2017. The Avalanche ended up with the fourth pick in this year's NHL draft.