MOORESVILLE, N.C. – FOX Sports NASCAR analyst Regan Smith is temporarily trading in his microphone for the familiarity of a steering wheel this summer.

Smith broke the news on NASCAR Race Hub and JR Motorsports later confirmed that he’ll return to his former team to drive the No. 8 Chevrolet in NASCAR Xfinity Series races at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (Aug. 10) and Road America (Aug. 24).

Smith will also reunite with long-time partner Fire Alarm Services for the events.

It marks the 35-year-old Smith’s first Xfinity Series start in two years and his first for JRM since 2016. The Cato, N.Y. native started his JRM career in a memorable way in 2012, winning in his team debut at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Smith moved into a full-time role for the organization from 2013-2015, a highly successful three-year stint that produced five wins – including one at Mid-Ohio – 26 top fives and 71 top 10s, along with a Most Popular Driver Award.

His best points finish, a second-place effort in the 2014 Xfinity Series championship, crowned JRM the first team in 14 years to claim first and second in the series standings.

“I can’t tell you how pumped I am for this,” Smith said. “Dale, Kelley and everyone at JRM have been like family to me, so in a way, it feels like I’m coming home. I have great memories of the years I spent there and the success we had during that time. And to have Fire Alarm on board for these races makes it all the more meaningful. They’ve been both friends and supporters of mine for a long time.”

Smith’s No. 8 Fire Alarm Services entry will be nearly identical to the neon green and flat black paint scheme he carried to victory with JRM in 2015 at Dover Int’l Speedway.

With headquarters in Arvada, Colo., Fire Alarm Services, Inc. provides superior Fire Life Safety and Security services and products for protecting its clients’ real-estate investment. The company brings a fresh and innovative approach to the Fire Life Safety industry, with an emphasis on developing lasting client relationships and unmatched customer service.

“Regan is a great friend, and he means so much to our company,” said team co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. “He won a lot of races here, but for me his significance was no more evident than in his very first race for JRM at the end of 2012. That win at Homestead was enormous. It ended a winless streak for JR Motorsports that had dragged us down for more than two years. It was a tone-setter. It gave us momentum that, to be honest, I’m not sure we’ve ever lost.

“That’s what Regan means to this company, and that’s why I’m thrilled to have him back for these two races at Mid-Ohio and Road America.”

Smith is the ninth driver named to the No. 8 this season. The team, led by crew chief Taylor Moyer, is currently ranked 10th in owner points on the strength of four top-five and 11 top-10 finishes.

TULSA, Okla. – Good news for Oklahoma race fans was confirmed on Wednesday evening: the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Announced on the lower level of the River Spirit Expo Center, where the premier midget-car race is annually held, the Chili Bowl will remain at the quarter-mile Tulsa Expo Raceway through 2034.

The agreement marks an 11-year extension on top of the current deal, which ran for another four years.

“What a great day for the city of Tulsa and for our state,” said Oklahoma Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell. “The Chili Bowl has evolved into one of the country’s biggest auto races, as well as the biggest indoor event in the country. It marks economic development, through and through, for our region. This extension is not just good for our city and state, but for racing fans across the globe, as we solidify this event for decades to come.

“The Chili Bowl illustrates partnerships, improves tourism and aids in quality of life in Oklahoma, and we’re excited to make this announcement official.”

Chili Bowl co-founder Emmett Hahn called Wednesday’s press conference “a landmark moment” for the event that he and Lanny Edwards started in 1987.

“First and foremost, I wish my business partner (Edwards) was here,” noted Hahn. “He would be so proud of this moment. … We’ve had the who’s who in racing and plenty of local talent come to the Chili Bowl for years, and we’ve had a lot of great people backing this event for a long time. It’s an honor to be here and an honor to keep the Chili Bowl at home here in Oklahoma.

“This deal is a win-win, both for the city and county and for old Emmett Hahn.”

Oklahoma native Holley Hollan, who raced in her second Chili Bowl this past January and first with the powerhouse Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports organization, was among the other notable names in attendance for Wednesday’s announcement.

“It’s amazing to see Emmett and the Hahn family getting the recognition they deserve,” said Hollan. “They’ve worked countless hours to give drivers like myself an opportunity to race on the biggest stage in dirt racing. I couldn’t have imagined it when I was five years old and it’s incredible to think where it will be 15 years from now. I look forward to being here to support this event for years to come.”

Christopher Bell won this year’s Chili Bowl, his third-straight victory in the crown jewel event.

LAS VEGAS -- The Arizona Coyotes will have a new majority owner in Alex Meruelo, and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman hopes Meruelo can be the person to find a long-term arena solution and keep the team in Arizona.

Meruelo will take over for Andrew Barroway, who became the Coyotes' majority owner in 2014. Barroway will still keep a minority stake in the team. The transaction was unanimously approved by the NHL's Board of Governors at their meeting on Wednesday in Las Vegas, but the deal is expected to close sometime in July, according to Bettman.

"He's committed to trying to get a new arena in the right location, and making it work," Bettman said of Meruelo. "He's a person of substantial means and he's very good -- when you look at his career -- in turning around businesses and making them successful. So I think this is an extraordinarily positive step for the Coyotes and their fans in Arizona."

The NHL has a standard agreement that prevents new owners from applying for relocation for seven years after they take over. When asked if this applies to Meruelo, Bettman said: "Yes, for a period of time. But we also understand the importance of a new arena. Because Glendale is not viable long-term."

The Coyotes have played at Gila Arena in Glendale since 2003, but have been looking for a new home that is closer to their fan base for the past several years. The team's relationship with Glendale has long been fractured, and the Coyotes regularly finish close to last in NHL attendance.

"There's a hope that [Meruelo] can crack that code," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said. "That's part of what made him an attractive potential owner."

Meruelo, 55, is the son of Cuban immigrants. He will become the NHL's only majority Latino owner. Meruelo has several business ventures that include real estate, construction and banks as well as TV and radio stations. He had previously put in a bid to buy the NBA's Atlanta Hawks, but was not successful.

In a statement, the Coyotes called the board's approval a "major milestone" for the franchise.

"As we move forward, our team will do everything we can to continue building the positive momentum and progress we have achieved on and off the ice," the team said in a statement. "We are determined to make this summer a success as we head into the 2019-20 season. We will keep Our Pack updated on further milestones in this process."

The NHL reiterated that it is optimistic that the team can stay in Arizona. The Coyotes will move from the Pacific Division to the Central Division when the league expands to 32 teams with the addition of Seattle.

"A combination of circumstances conspired against that club for a long time now," Daly said. "We've never seemed to hit it at the right time. We're hoping that the circumstances are better and obviously Mr. Meruelo comes in and -- I know he's motivated by the market -- makes it work."

LAS VEGAS -- Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning has won the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player.

The Russian right wing won the award for the first time after his prolific 128-point regular season. He beat out two-time MVP Sidney Crosby of Pittsburgh and 2017 Hart winner Connor McDavid.

Kucherov, who turned 26 on Monday, also won the Ted Lindsay Award as the league's outstanding player as selected by his fellow players.

A year after scoring 100 points, Kucherov emerged as a dominant NHL forward for the powerhouse Lightning. He won the Art Ross Trophy for leading the league in scoring with a career-best 41 goals and 87 assists.

He tied Jaromir Jagr's NHL record for assists by a wing, and he surpassed Alexander Mogilny's single-season record for points by a Russian-born player. His 128 points were the most by any NHL player since 1996 -- and the Lightning coincidentally also had 128 points in the standings, also the most by any team since 1996.

Earlier in the night, Lightning teammate Andrei Vasilevskiy took home his first Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goalie.

Vasilevskiy beat out Dallas' Ben Bishop and the New York Islanders' Robin Lehner, who also won the Masterton Trophy.

Vasilevskiy led the NHL with 39 victories for the powerhouse Lightning, who took the Presidents' Trophy with 128 points. The Russian goalie had a 2.40 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage in 53 games.

Vasilevskiy is the first Lightning goalie to win the Vezina.

Canucks center Elias Pettersson opened the NHL Awards show by winning the Calder Trophy as the NHL's best rookie.

The 20-year-old Pettersson beat out St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington and Buffalo defenseman Rasmus Dahlin for the award. Pettersson joins Pavel Bure (1992) as the only Calder winners in Canucks history.

Pettersson provided an offensive jolt to the Canucks in his first North American season, scoring a goal on his first NHL shot and seamlessly adapting to the world's best league. One year after Vancouver drafted him with the fifth overall pick in 2017, Pettersson posted a rookie-best 28 goals and 38 assists as a tremendous playmaker with a wicked shot.

Pettersson is the 31st player in NHL history to lead all rookies in goals, assists and points.

Calgary's Mark Giordano won the Norris Trophy as the NHL's top defenseman.

The 35-year-old Giordano was awarded the Norris for the first time in a 13-year NHL career spent entirely with the Flames. Giordano beat out two vaunted finalists: San Jose's Brent Burns, who won it in 2017, and Tampa Bay's Victor Hedman, who won it last year.

The Calgary captain was instrumental in the Flames' breakthrough season, leading the NHL with a plus-39 rating while regularly playing against opponents' best lines. Giordano also scored a career-best 74 points and played more than 24 minutes per game.

Giordano is the fourth defenseman to win the Norris at 35 or older, joining Nicklas Lidstrom, Doug Harvey and Al MacInnis.

Ryan O'Reilly of the Stanley Cup champion Blues won his first Selke Trophy as the NHL's top defensive forward.

O'Reilly beat out Boston's Patrice Bergeron, a four-time Selke winner and a finalist for the eighth consecutive year, and Vegas' Mark Stone.

O'Reilly was the Blues' top scorer with 77 points, including 28 goals in his first season in St. Louis. He also compiled a plus-22 rating and finished fourth in the NHL with 94 takeaways while winning an NHL-best 1,086 faceoffs during the Blues' remarkable season.

The Islanders' Barry Trotz won the Jack Adams Award as the league's top coach.

Trotz beat out Tampa Bay's Jon Cooper and St. Louis' Craig Berube for the honor, which is based on regular-season performance. Trotz also won the award with Washington three years ago.

After winning the Stanley Cup and subsequently leaving the Capitals last summer, Trotz engineered an impressive one-season turnaround for the Islanders. New York went 48-27-7 for a 23-point increase from 2018 and its best single-season total since 1983-84, even after losing John Tavares to Toronto.

Boston's Don Sweeney was named the NHL's General Manager of the Year, and Florida center Alexander Barkov won the Lady Byng Trophy as the player best combining sportsmanship, gentlemanly conduct and ability.

Sweeney has built a consistent winner since the longtime Bruins defenseman took over the front office in 2015. Boston reached the Stanley Cup Final this season, losing in seven games to St. Louis.

Barkov scored a franchise-record 96 points for the Panthers, yet he committed just four minor penalties while playing more than 22 minutes per game. The Finn was a Lady Byng finalist for the third time in four seasons.

Barkov drew a few laughs when he apparently heard a few shouts in Finnish as he took the stage to accept his trophy.

"We have more fans from Finland than Florida here,'' Barkov said.

The other Lady Byng finalists were O'Reilly and Calgary's Sean Monahan.

Wild forward Jason Zucker won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy for leadership and humanitarian contributions to hockey. Zucker, who is from Las Vegas, has done extensive fundraising for children's causes in Minnesota.

Lehner was awarded the Masterton Trophy, given to the player exemplifying the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.

Lehner had an outstanding season after revealing during training camp that he has struggled with addiction and bipolar disorder. He is the third player in Islanders history to win the award.

"I'm not ashamed to say I'm mentally ill, but that doesn't mean mentally weak,'' Lehner said after accepting his award.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Austin FC owner Anthony Precourt said Mexico star Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez is the type of player he wants at the MLS expansion club, saying they'll be active in recruiting him.

Speaking on Austin's Soccer Pod, Precourt said: "I'd be as excited as anyone. That's the type of player we'll target, and we'll give our best pitch. I think he's got a year left on his contract at West Ham and I think there's other clubs that are rumored to be looking at him in MLS."

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"We'll certainly be active in trying to recruit him in the years to come."

Austin FC will join MLS in 2021, and recently set a MLS record for season ticket deposits, reaching more than 30,000 pledges.

Hernandez has been regularly linked to moves to MLS but has repeatedly stated he wants to remain in Europe. He has spent the last two seasons at West Ham, where he has scored 15 goals in 53 appearances. The former Manchester United forward has also played at Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen.

He remains a popular figure in Mexican soccer despite skipping out on the Gold Cup for El Tri this summer due to personal reasons. His wife gave birth to their son earlier this week.

Hernandez his Mexico's all-time leading goal scorer (51) and has played at three World Cups.

It is the 25th over of the chase. Kane Williamson has caressed his way to 45 off 56. It is a slow pitch where every batsman has struggled because of the dual pace, but he has been smoother than the others. Lungi Ngidi runs in, Williamson punches sweetly again, but he hits straight to mid-off. Two balls later, another punch-drive, straight to mid-off again. Imran Tahir bowls the next over. A superb dive from Aiden Markram at cover denies Williamson runs. Williamson sweeps next ball, finds short fine this time.

Very rarely do you see a batsman of Williamson's skill hit the fielders four times in a row. "They were coming out of the middle too, which is seemingly enjoyable," he even says. Yet he is struggling with the placement. The problem is the team is four wickets down, South Africa are bowling straight lines, and he knows if he opens the face or hits across the line to try to find the gap, he is taking a risk because of the conditions. Jimmy Neesham, at the other end, is facing similar issues. The asking rate has gone from 5.42 to 6 in four overs, but the ESPNcricinfo forecaster has actually increased their chances of winning from 42.11% to 43.08%.

Williamson doesn't need a forecaster to tell him that. His mind has one. Four good shots for no run, eight straight dots, but he takes a calm single next ball. Not thinking of the possible 16 runs missed, but the 60 to get that can take New Zealand through. This is a master at work. In the 27th over, he hits what looks like million-dollar drives straight to mid-off and mid-on, but he is not anxious.

WATCH on Hotstar (India only) - Williamson's century

By the 30th over, the asking rate has gone up to 6.26, but the forecaster has taken them to a 55.24% chance of winning. However, Williamson is now reaching a slightly more urgent stage of the innings. He is going to target Andile Phehlukwayo because Kagiso Rabada is getting extra bounce to go with the slowness in the pitch. The whole 30th over is full of frustration. He hits straight to point, he mis-hits one to mid-off. He takes a break, walks to Neesham, knocks gloves, refocuses. The next ball he tries a pull, and the ball squeezes under the bat. He goes down, knocks the pitch with his bat. The next bottom edge narrowly evades the stumps.

When he is finding the timing, he is struggling to place the ball; when he is trying to place the ball, timing has deserted him. The internal forecaster is working. It is telling him it is all down to him. When Neesham's wicket will fall in the 33rd over, the forecaster will fall down from backing them 65.9% to 48.5% in one ball. Imagine if Williamson gets out at this point. That's not an option even if the asking rate keeps going up.

There are question marks on this batting unit outside himself, Ross Taylor and Tom Latham, and he is the only one left to answer those questions. No matter how in control of the asking rate you are, these continuous dot balls can be suffocating. You feel the walls are moving closer. You want a release.

In that moment only the real good ones have the clarity to do the right thing. Sometimes there is no right thing. Sometimes you get out trying to transfer the pressure back. Sometimes you eat up too many dots and then get out to leave the following batsmen a high asking rate. You just pick one thing and go with it. Williamson has clearly decided he is going to bat through the innings.

In Phehlukwayo's next over, Williamson tries to cut hard, and gets a bottom edge for four. He tries to whip across the line but still finds mid-on. He is hit on the back arm because he is early into a pull off Chris Morris. And this is not a slower ball. He is hit in the elbow later by one that skids off. This just is not a day for a pretty innings. The third man area - where he tends to score a high percentage of his singles - is plugged with a wide slip. He keeps trying that shot by instinct, but his soft hands keep making sure the ball falls in front of that slip.

There is not a lot else he can do right now except wait for the death overs where there are fewer decisions to make. His second 56 balls have brought just 31 runs. He has hit just 28 runs in boundaries in his first 92 runs, which is the 12th-lowest out of 170 innings of 80 or above in the last five years. After beginning like Kohli, he is now in the Dhoni mode in the same innings.

It is tempting to imagine he doesn't walk despite knowing he has edged Imran Tahir because it adds to the whole story, but Williamson hasn't felt it. In fact, he is going to challenge this if he is given out on the field. Yet the replays show a scratch. There is a run-out chance missed. It is David Miller this time. It was AB de Villiers four years ago. And yet, he and the risk-taking Colin de Grandhomme have brought New Zealand close enough for these to not matter a lot. We are into the final scramble, and in recent times the bowlers are under extra pressure in these stages.

Even in the final scramble, he takes it upon himself. The plan - with 12 required off seven - is to look for a single, but he somehow gets enough bat on a dab to beat the short third man to get a four. Point to be noted is: Williamson is backing himself to get 11 off the last over. He knows it is Phehlukwayo in the last over, he knows he can slog-sweep him if he delays the shot a little.

This has been an unkind tournament. It is poorly represented, the weather has not been co-operative, key players are getting injured, and we are staring at a lot of dead rubbers. This is a tournament crying out for some silken loving from the soft hands of Williamson, but for now we have to make do with the cussedness. There is some loving in that too.