WHEATLAND, Mo.- Much of the intrigue surrounding this weekend’s sixth annual Big Buck 50 Presented by Whitetail Trophy Hunt will be surrounding the O’Reilly Auto Parts Street Stocks, which is understandable considering the $10,000 check awaiting Saturday night’s feature winner.

But the storyline for the Warsaw Auto Marine & RV ULMA Late Models also is shaping up as a dandy. Full programs are set for both Friday and Saturday nights, with feature winners collecting $1,000 and $2,000. A season champion of the Lucas Cattle Company ULMA Series also will be crowned.

For Aaron Marrant of Richmond, Missouri, it’s a chance to lock down his second ULMA title in three years. He enters the weekend 54 points ahead of Rookie of the Year leader Cole Henson and 92 in front of Ryan Johnson, another top rookie contender.

“It means the world to us,” Marrant said of another championship bid for him and car owners Michael Meise and Bob Morton. “I couldn’t even imagine trying to do what we’re doing without those guys and just everything they do for me. They give me the opportunity to race every week. I’ve had my own race team and I know what it takes.

“For those guys  to let me do the fun part, it’s just awesome. Hopefully we can bring it home.”

Marrant said the ULMA division has rapidly ascended in the quality of competition the last few years. He cites the last two Lucas Oil Speedway points chases, in which he’s been locked in a three-way battle with eventual champion Johnny Fennewald and Kaeden Cornell until the final lap of the final race the last two years.

“This class, this is my fifth year in it and it has advanced to much from when we started,” Marrant said. “It’s gotten so competitive. All of us, when it comes down to two or three points in the top three positions, it shows nobody has a real advantage on the other. It’s who starts where, who gets out front. We’re all so close to the same speed. It’s just how things fall.”

Marrant has six feature wins and 11 other top-five finishes this season. He’s only been outside the top five one time in 18 ULMA events.

Marrant said he’s focusing on his usual strategy of chasing wins and top-fives and letting the points shake themselves out.

“That’s how we approach it every week,” Marrant said. “You figure if you go there and win, the points will take care of themselves. As long as we do what we’re supposed to do, the points will fall into place.”

Not far behind the top trio at Lucas Oil Speedway this season was Henson, a fast-learning newcomer to the Late Models. The Russellville, Missouri, driver has four feature wins and 10 other top-five finishes in ULMA features in 2019.

“It’s been a great season,” Henson said. “We started out and didn’t focus on points a lot. We were just focused on top-fives and getting as many wins as we could. We’ve picked up some great wins this year, some that are the biggest of my career.

“As the season started to wind down, we noticed that we were in the hunt for this championship. We started to focus on it a little more and make sure we were running as good as we could. My car owner Rob Schlup has been working hard and Tony Jackson Jr. has been helping us. It’s been a great season.”

Henson said he knows overtaking Marrant in points will be a longshot, adding that “some things will have to happen” to Marrant in order for that to happen.

“I never want to see anything bad happen to any of my competitors,” Henson added. “I want to race as hard and clean as I can, just like I want them to race me. Our focus is to just go out there and finish the best we can. If we win it, that would be amazing. But we would be happy with winning Rookie of the Year and finishing second in points. That would be pretty awesome.”

The ULMA Late Models will have heat races, B-mains and features both Friday (25 laps) and Saturday (30 laps).

“We’re excited. It’s always fun to get to stay at a track and run two nights in a row like this,” Henson said.

SARVER, Pa. – Tim Shaffer will join Sides Motorsports this weekend during one of winged sprint car racing’s marquee events.

Shaffer and team owner Jason Sides will be the drivers for the team during the Champion Racing Oil National Open on Friday and Saturday at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pa. Shaffer was victorious at the half-mile oval in July during the most recent World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series two-day event at the track.

“The last time Shaffer was there he won the Friday night race and Saturday he was running good when the motor broke,” Sides said. “If we can get both our cars in the main event this Saturday it’d be a good weekend.”

Shaffer made his debut with Sides Motorsports last Saturday at Lernerville Speedway, which hosted the Commonwealth Clash. He qualified 12th quickest, advanced from third to second in a heat race and from eighth to seventh in the dash before closing the night with a ninth-place result in the A Main.

“He lives close to there so we went ahead and did it,” Sides said. “I knew he was out of a ride and we were going there so it just worked out. For the first night in the car it was pretty good. He was in the dash and ran seventh most of the race until the last restart.”

Shaffer lost his ride with Demyan-Rudzik Racing in mid-August and has driven for Sides Motorsports, Tony Stewart Racing, Ron Gorby and Johnny Mackison/Lee Stauffer since then.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Risi Competizione has confirmed their return to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for the season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans on Oct. 12 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

The team will field the No. 62 Ferrari 488 GTE in the GT Le Mans class for the first time since the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona with a powerhouse driver lineup. James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Daniel Serra – who co-drove to the GTE Pro class victory in the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans – will share the lone Ferrari in the GTLM class at Motul Petit Le Mans.

“Petit Le Mans has been a special race to me and the team since it first started at Road Atlanta 22 years ago,” said Team Principal Giuseppe Risi. “Having won that inaugural race in 1998 and three additional victories, I’m quite fond of this race and this venue.”

In January, the Risi team opened the year with a runner-up result in the GTLM class in the Rolex 24 At Daytona by co-drivers Calado, Pier Guidi, Davide Rigon and Miguel Molina. Risi Competizione also competed in the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans, finishing 12th in the GTE Pro class.

The first of the Risi team’s four victories came in the inaugural race in 1998, when Wayne Taylor, Eric van der Poele and Emmanuel Collard won in the Doyle-Risi Ferrari 333 SP. The team’s second victory came in 2008, when Jamie Melo and Mika Salo won in the Ferrari 430 GT3.

The following year, Melo and Salo partnered with Pierre Kaffer to successfully defend the team’s GT2 class victory. The team’s last Motul Petit Le Mans win came in 2016, when Giancarlo Fisichella, Toni Vilander and Calado took the GTLM class win. That also was the team’s most recent IMSA victory.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – NASCAR officials revealed Tuesday that only a handful of rule changes will be put into place for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series next season.

These procedural updates are meant to contain costs for teams, ahead of the planned debut of the Gen-7 car for the Cup Series in 2021.

Among the rule changes announced Tuesday are:

• Each car number will be allowed a maximum of 12 certified chassis designated as “active” at any given time, as opposed to the current rules, where teams could have an unlimited number of certified chassis at their disposals. Each vehicle number will also be allowed to retain four chassis designated as “inactive,” set aside for future use.

Chassis can be decertified or retired only after use in a minimum of three races or if damage from a crash is deemed irreparable. Chassis designated for the preseason Clash exhibition race at Daytona International Speedway will not count against a car number’s active allotment, unless that chassis is also used in the Daytona 500.

Also, each organization will be permitted a maximum of 10 unique chassis designs.

• Organizations will be limited to a total of 150 hours of wind-tunnel testing per year, after previously being unlimited in the amount of wind tunnel testing that could be carried out. Testing is only permitted at four approved wind-tunnel facilities: Aerodyn Wind Tunnel in Mooresville, N.C.; Auto Research Center (ARC) in Indianapolis; Penske Technology Group Wind Tunnel in Mooresville, N.C.; and Windshear Wind Tunnel in Concord, N.C.

Manufacturers, however, are not permitted to conduct wind-tunnel tests on current-generation cars. There is no restriction on the amount of wind-tunnel testing and development for the Next Gen car model slated for 2021.

• Officials have introduced new at-track roster limits for the 2020 season, reducing the maximum number of “road crew” personnel (engineers, mechanics, crew/car chief, spotters) from 12 to 10 during race weekends.

Additionally, the new structure will limit the amount of “organizational staff” for each organization to three. Previously, three- or four-car teams were allowed to carry a fourth rostered member at the organizational level (i.e., technical director, competition manager).

• Teams must compete in a minimum of eight events with a full long-block sealed engine and at least eight events with a short-block sealed engine. Before, three full long-block seals and 13 short-block sealed engines were required to be used.

Cup Series officials and teams recently began the post-race procedure of sealing engines — either fully (long block) or just the bottom portion (short block) — as a measure to prevent costly and time-consuming rebuilds.

The practice originated in other NASCAR national series.

• The extended parts freeze for the NASCAR Cup Series will remain in place through 2020, as development continues to shift toward the Next Gen stock car.

“The 2019 season has produced great racing and we anticipate the level of competition to continue to rise as teams build off this rules package in 2020,” said John Probst, NASCAR senior vice president of innovation and racing development. “Collectively, we continue to work closely as an industry to put on the best racing possible for our fans, while working diligently on the Next Gen car, scheduled to make its debut in 2021.”

Lee Stempniak has retired from the NHL after playing for 10 teams in 14 seasons.

The 36-year-old winger announced his decision Tuesday through the players' union. He says he is "extremely grateful to have lived my dream every day throughout my career."

Stempniak was a steady presence, playing in 70 games or more in nine seasons. He broke in with St. Louis Blues in 2005 and spent four seasons with them, his longest stretch with any team. His most productive year came with the Blues in 2006-07 when he had 27 goals and 25 assists.

The Dartmouth graduate also played for Toronto, Arizona, Calgary, Pittsburgh, the New York Rangers, Winnipeg, New Jersey, Carolina and Boston. He played two games last season with the Bruins.

He finished with 203 goals and 266 assists in 911 games.

Devils general manager Ray Shero calls Stempniak a "consummate pro and role model on every team he has been a part of."

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Minnesota Wild defenseman Greg Pateryn has undergone surgery on his midsection and will be out about six more weeks.

The Wild said Tuesday that the procedure for a bilateral core muscle repair went as planned in Philadelphia. Pateryn missed most of training camp because of the injury.

The seven-year veteran is starting his second season with the Wild. He had one goal and six assists with a minus-11 rating in 80 games last season.

The injury to Pateryn paved the way for rookie Carson Soucy to make the roster, with Brad Hunt and Nick Seeler the other options for the third blue-line pair behind Ryan Suter, Matt Dumba, Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin.

The Wild open the season Thursday at Nashville.

The European Tour's "Content Committee" is constantly delivering.

Whether it's cats ... playing the piano or a show hosted by Colin Montgomerie called "Monty's Pythons," the braintrust of Tommy Fleetwood, Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood, Thomas Bjorn, and Eddie Pepperell are full of great ideas.

And now, according to their latest viral video, they've been tasked with rebranding the European Tour with something not funny at all, a totally foreign concept to these guys.

Luckily, European Tour CEO Keith Pelley followed it up with a statement explaining it further.

"Today marks an exciting new chapter in the history and the modern evolution of the European Tour as we unveil our new brand identity along with our new website and app," said Pelley. "We have found ourselves in a position where our organization had accelerated beyond our brand, but the fresh, modern identity we have unveiled today, flanked by our strapline ‘Driving Golf Further’ and underpinned by our three pillars of being innovative, inclusive and global, unequivocally reflects where we are at now. This is us. This is the European Tour as we head into 2020."

So the big question remains, can the "Content Committee" exist somewhere in the realm of this rebrand?

Only time will tell.

Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane described the goals they conceded in their 2-2 draw at home to Club Brugge in their Champions League group stage clash as "laughable."

Madrid went into half-time 2-0 down at the Bernabeu thanks to two goals from Emmanuel Dennis, but rallied back to draw thanks to second half strikes from Sergio Ramos and Casemiro.

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Zidane said he was not happy with the result, but took positives from the reaction as Madrid picked up the first point of their European campaign, having lost 3-0 away to Paris Saint-Germain in their opener.