CONCORD, N.C. — Michael Self is no fool.

The ARCA Menards Series regular and the driver of the No. 25 Toyota for Venturini Motorsports has been around racing for a long time. At 28 years old, he’s pretty sure he won’t be racing in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series anytime soon.

In fact, Self doubts he’ll ever make it that far, and he’s OK with that.

“That would be a great goal to have, but I’m not going to sit here and tell you that is a goal of mine because I know how unrealistic it is,” Self said. “I don’t want to be disappointed if it doesn’t happen.”

Self has had his fair share of success at the lower levels of NASCAR. From late 2010 through the 2013 season, Self drove for Jim Offenbach in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West and was a Richard Childress Racing developmental driver.

He earned six victories in three full seasons of racing for Offenbach, but his career stalled after the 2013 season and he was left rideless due to a lack of sponsorship.

“I’ll sit here and tell you honestly that I was never slated to go up the Richard Childress ladder by any means, because we didn’t have the financial resources to do it,” Self acknowledged. “Even though I was technically an RCR development driver, that didn’t mean the money was just there.

“After the 2013 season, we didn’t have any sponsorship because I had been funded by my dad up until that point and we didn’t have the money to go on any further,” Self added. “In 2014, I knew I still wanted to race. I’d only known racing up until that point. I didn’t know what else I would do.”

The next few years were rough for Self. He moved to Charlotte, N.C., in 2014 and began knocking on doors in search of a job. He was a spotter and driver coach at Turner Scott Motorsports, working with Kaz Grala and Justin Haley.

From 2014 through ’16, Self was rarely on the race track. In 2014, he ran a pair of ARCA Menards Series races. In 2015, he raced in seven NASCAR Xfinity Series events for JD Motorsports.

In 2016, he ran just one race — the ARCA finale at Kansas Speedway. It was the turning point in his career. However, in the months leading up to that race, Self admits he nearly gave up racing.

“I kind of had … I don’t want to say given up, but I had succumbed to the fact that you know, I’m probably not going to race again,” Self said. “I’d been searching for sponsors and trying to do my own thing. I’d kind of just gotten sick of it.

“I went back to school that year,” Self continued. “I decided I wanted to go to college and get a degree and focus on that.”

Everything changed for Self after his father cold-called someone with the Sinclair Oil Corp.

“My dad called up and basically was like ‘my son races cars, and we’d like to talk to you about sponsorship,’” Self recalled. “We have a platform that could generate a couple million dollars for you guys in business-to-business relationships. They took that really seriously and invited us in for a meeting.”

That meeting led to a sponsorship deal for Self to compete in the ARCA finale that season at Kansas. Driving for MDM Motorsports, Self finished third in his return to racing.

“I think we kind of knocked it out of the park that weekend,” Self said. “We put in what I felt was a really solid showing for Sinclair on and off the race track.

“That kind of kick-started that sponsorship agreement going forward.”

Since then Self’s driving career has continued to grow. He ran all but one of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West races in 2017, winning two races while driving for Bob Bruncati. He also was back in the ARCA Menards Series with sponsorship from Sinclair, running six races and winning the season finale at Kansas Speedway.

He upped the ante last year, running 10 ARCA events and winning twice, including a marquee victory in the opener at Daytona Int’l Speedway.

This season, Self and Sinclair are all-in, teaming with Venturini Motorsports to chase the ARCA Menards Series championship. After a rough outing in the opener at Daytona, Self scored his fourth ARCA victory at Florida’s Five Flags Speedway in March.

With all these good things going on, you’d think he’d be chomping at the bit to move up the ladder. Not Self.

“I’m really proud of every opportunity I get to race because of what I’ve done with Sinclair,” Self said. “Because of what I’ve done with them, I think my long-term goal is to race. Selfishly, that’s what I want to do. It’s what I have fun doing.

“More specifically, my long-term goal is to continue building a program that is beneficial to them and continue being the guy who has brought this oil and petroleum company into auto racing and successfully built a sponsorship.

“If I can do that, then my realistic goal may be outside of a race car. My realistic goal may be working for Sinclair or maybe working in sports marketing.”

Even if he never makes it to the upper levels of NASCAR, it appears Self is already comfortable with his place in the sport and what he’s accomplished.

You can’t fault him for that.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – While Brad Keselowski was celebrating in victory lane Saturday night at Kansas Speedway, Clint Bowyer was fuming on pit road after a late clash with Erik Jones in the Digital Ally 400.

Bowyer had a big run coming to the white flag during an overtime restart at the 1.5-mile oval, but found Jones’ No. 20 Toyota Camry in the way of his No. 14 Ford Mustang as he tried to make a move for third.

The Kansas native, who had pitted for fresh tires before the final restart and was clawing forward from eighth, looked to the bottom on the frontstretch as Jones sliced down two lanes to throw the block.

When Bowyer went back up the track, Jones went with him, further stymieing the Stewart-Haas Racing driver.

Bowyer gave a final shot to the rear bumper of the Toyota in question, before falling back due to a loss of momentum and ending up fifth, while Jones crossed third at the checkered flag.

From the moment he climbed out of his race car on pit road, Bowyer had no shortage of frustration to aim at Jones for his actions on the final lap.

“What are you going to do? Turn him right in front of the field and hurt him?” quipped Bowyer. “He put me in a bad situation. I lifted for him, and it cost me three spots right there. We should’ve finished second, and I think everybody knows that. That was dumb on his part. I guess that’s what he wants is to just go down and wreck in front of the field. If you’re going to run like that, you just don’t move up.

“I should’ve just wrecked him, I guess. That pisses me off,” Bowyer added. “It was a struggle; it wasn’t exactly what I thought it was going to be at home. We were fast yesterday in practice and qualifying. This was just a chaotic evening.”

Unsurprisingly, Jones had a different view of the late battle between himself and Bowyer afterward.

“I think it was just racing,” noted Jones. “We were racing hard, and this package really kind of leads into a lot of blocking and protecting your position. We’re taking the white flag; I’m not going to give up a lane to give up two, three or four spots if he would’ve gotten to the inside. Besides that, we had a car that could’ve won. We just got in the wrong spot at the end of the race and weren’t able to capitalize on it.

“We’ll keep moving forward. It’s been two good weeks,” Jones continued. “This the best car we’ve had since Texas and it’s just nice to be up in contention and have a shot.”

However, Jones admitted he understood Bowyer’s frustration after the race, as well.

“I’d be mad if I was him, but it’s just racing,” said Jones. “I’ve been blocked a lot, especially with this package … and I haven’t done a lot of blocking. You have to get aggressive and fight for every position.

“That’s all I was doing at the end of the race.”

BARGNANA, Italy — Alon Day became a 19-time winner in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series and a five-time winner at Autodromo di Franciacorta on Sunday with a clean sweep of the NASCAR GP Italy.

The CAAL Racing driver led the final race of the weekend from flag to flag, allowing the reigning series champion to reinforce his lead in the ELITE 1 Division point standings.

In the early stages of the race, Day had to fend off the attacks brought by Loris Hezemans. The Israeli defended the lead, and then benefited from an intense battle between the Dutchman and former Formula One World Champion Jacques Villeneuve.

Day took the checkered flag with a seven-second advantage over Hezemans.

“It was much harder than yesterday because Loris was there the whole time,” said Day. “Luckily Villeneuve was very strong today, so they slowed each other. I saw that battle and I tried to open the gap as much as I could. Hezemans was catching up very fast as soon as he was alone. He would have probably caught me. I’m very happy to be in victory lane again. I wanted to catch Vilarino in the point standings and I did it.”

Hezemans finished second by winning the heated duel with Villeneuve. In the middle of the race, the two made contact, sending body parts of the Hendriks Motorsport Ford Mustang flying through the air.

However, Hezemans resisted every attack and crossed the finish line ahead of Villeneuve, who grabbed his second consecutive Euro Series podium in Italy.

“I’m happy but also a little disappointed,” said Hezemans, who won the Junior Trophy classification. “The race was a little bit too exciting for me. In the beginning I made a mistake and over-drove the car. I damaged my left side. From then on I was just trying to survive and protect my position from Jacques.”

“With Loris, we had a really intense battle,” added Villeneuve, who leaves Italy with two third-place finishes. “My car was really good in the corners. There was too much blocking going on, though. In the (United) States, he would have been in the wall in two corners. Apart from that, the racing was a lot of fun.”

Stienes Longin was fourth in his PK Carsport Chevrolet Camaro, while Nicolo Rocca completed the top five. Ander Vilarino finished sixth.

The Spaniard, who won both races during the season opener at Valencia, had to focus on limiting damage in Italy after contact on Saturday.

Francesco Sini put together a strong comeback after starting 11th, managing to climb up to seventh, with Lucas Lasserre also showing his climbing skills by carving forward from 19th to finish eighth.

“It was a competitive race,” said Lasserre, who won at the Italian track in 2018. “It was a great and clean race. The team worked really hard each day. In Franciacorta it’s difficult to overtake, but I was able to gain a lot of positions. I like this track, the Autodromo is fantastic. But I’m also a little bit frustrated, because I always want more. Now it’s important to understand why our qualifying and the first race were so tough for us.”

Romain Iannetta and Alexander Graff rounded out the top 10.

Ellen Lohr grabbed her first ever Challenger Trophy win at the Autodromo di Franciacorta. The only woman to win a DTM race started 25th, but in the end the Dexwet-df1 Racing driver gained 11 positions to finish 14th.

Real Madrid slumped to a 3-1 defeat at Real Sociedad on Sunday as Zinedine Zidane's men confirmed third position in La Liga with their 11th loss of the campaign.

Zidane returned as manager in March after a nightmare run of form that resulted in Madrid's title challenge falling away as well as elimination from the Champions League at the hands of Ajax. But Sunday's defeat was the club's third in Zidane's second spell as manager, with the club having one more match to play, at home to Real Betis, in what has been a testing season.

Brahim Diaz gave Madrid the perfect start with a sensational solo strike on six minutes but Mikel Merino equalised with a left-footed effort that arrowed into the net.

Things went from bad to worse for the visitors when Jesus Vallejo was sent off for handling the ball on the goal line, but Thibaut Courtois saved the resulting penalty from Willian Jose.

Madrid fell behind on 57 minutes when Joseba Zaldua headed home as Courtois lost his footing and Ander Barrenetxea made it 3-1 on 67 minutes.

Madrid started their penultimate match of the season off the back of a 3-2 win over Villarreal last time out and they were soon ahead thanks to former Manchester City man Diaz. After some neat skill down the left, Diaz cut in and finished superbly from an acute angle to put Madrid in front.

Sociedad were level on 25 minutes when Willian Jose found Merino, and he drove his effort past Courtois to peg Madrid back, before Zidane's side went down to 10 men. Willian Jose met Mikel Oyarzabal's pass and looked certain to make it 2-1, but Vallejo blocked his effort on the line.

Replays showed Vallejo handled the ball and the referee pointed to the spot before brandishing a red card but Sociedad could not capitalise. Willian Jose blasted the ball but Courtois guessed the right way and saved his spot kick.

Madrid were stretched with a man light in the second half and the home side went in search of a second, with Igor Zubeldia forcing Courtois into a smart stop six minutes after the re-start. Aihen Munoz was next to go close, but his effort whistled past the post.

Zidane responded by taking off Isco for Luka Modric but soon after the change, his side fell behind. Zaldua planted a header into the corner but it should have been routine for Courtois, who slipped at the crucial moment and saw the ball bounce in.

Courtois was again at fault when Barrenetxea's effort squirmed underneath his grasp to deepen the gloom on Zidane's men.

Barcelona bounced back from a midweek Champions League loss to Liverpool with a 2-0 win against Getafe at the Camp Nou on Sunday.

Arturo Vidal opened the scoring for the hosts before half-time, knocking home a rebound from a Gerard Pique header to give Barcelona a 1-0 lead at the break.

Dakonam Djene's own goal for the visitors padded the lead for La Liga champions Barcelona, who were playing their last home match of the season, while Getafe will have all to play for in the final weekend of the season to hold on to the final UCL spot ahead of Valencia.

MANCHESTER, England -- Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has hinted at major changes over the summer, saying executive vice chairman Ed Woodward and the club's owners know the extent of the rebuild required at Old Trafford.

United ended the season 32 points behind champions Manchester City after signing off with a dismal 2-0 home defeat to relegated Cardiff.

It leaves Solskjaer with a mountain to climb to get the club back to competing for major honours, and he said the owners and the board knew the work that needed to be done.

"I've had loads of conversations and they've been up front and honest -- we know where we are," he said.

"The end of the season makes it clearer than when we had that great run of form. We played some great football at times, and towards the end we've seen that exceptional efficiency we had didn't last and they know we're in for a rebuild."

Solskjaer started his reign with 14 wins from 17 games in all competitions but ended the campaign with two wins from the final 12 matches.

United have not won for a month and have taken just eight points from the final 27 available to fall out of the race for the top four, eventually finishing sixth.

"We've been poor," Solskjaer said. "We've hit a brick wall towards the end of the season. It's very disappointing, and a big plus is that the season is over.

"We are too far behind where we want to be. We're five or six [points] behind third, fourth and fifth, and that's who we need to challenge next year."

Ander Herrera and Antonio Valencia ended their United careers against Cardiff, while there are doubts over the futures of Matteo Darmian, Marcos Rojo, Juan Mata, Eric Bailly, Alexis Sanchez, Romelu Lukaku and Paul Pogba.

Solskjaer is hopeful of finalising his squad before the players return to Carrington on July 1 but, following the defeat to Cardiff, the 46-year-old refused to go into specifics about what his rebuild could look like.

"It's going to be a very important preseason for us," he said. "David [De Gea] has got one year left and we want to extend with him and we're in talks, and let's hope it will get sorted.

"Alexis has a contract with us. I'm not going to speak about individuals."

Liverpool beat Wolves 2-0 on the final day but, despite finishing with 97 points, were denied a first league title since 1990 as Manchester City also won 4-1 against Brighton.

Sadio Mane scored in the first half to give Liverpool hope, but despite going a goal down, City came back to claim back-to-back titles for the first time in England since Man United did it in 2009.

"As long as City are around, with the quality and financial power, it's not easy that any other team will pass them. That is clear," Jurgen Klopp said.

"We have to be very close to perfection to win the Premier League, I think this is the case. The season is a very long, hard one. You have to deal with setbacks.

"We were always competitive. City got the points they have because we were there. They have 198 points in two years, that's special. We made such big steps. It's only the first step."

Fresh off their remarkable Champions League comeback against Barcelona in midweek, Liverpool knew they needed to win to stand any chance of lifting the title and Mohamed Salah was back in the XI again after missing out through injury. Champions League hero Divock Origi also kept his place with Roberto Firmino still not fit to play.

Chances were few and far between in the opening exchanges but Liverpool took the lead on 17 minutes as Trent Alexander-Arnold found space to cross low from the right and the ball found Mane unmarked in the box, who hammered it home.

Controlling possession, Liverpool almost had a second as Andrew Robertson (fit again after being injured against Barcelona) lined up a powerful shot that was well blocked by goalkeeper Rui Patricio.

Fans were celebrating in the Anfield stands as news filtered through of a goal from Brighton, but it was a false alarm. Then, incredibly, a few minutes later Glenn Murray scored. But, inside 83 seconds, Sergio Aguero levelled for City to return things to how they were.

Back in Liverpool, Salah blasted a shot over the bar and Diogo Jota wasted a good chance for Wolves after getting in behind the defence and failing to pick out a teammate with his cross.

Since scoring, the Reds looked nervous and those nerves were felt in the crowd as news came through of Aymeric Laporte's goal to put Man City 2-1 up.

Things almost went from bad to worse before half-time as a flowing break from Wolves saw Matthew Doherty slid through on the right, but his looped shot deflected off the top of the bar with Alisson beaten.

Early in the second half, Alexander-Arnold tried a speculative effort from a free kick that hit the side netting and Ryan Bennett was booked for hacking down Mane on the break.

Doherty again found space down the right after a fine pass, but his cross found nobody in the box and Joel Matip was there to block a long shot from Jonny. Raul Jiminez then hammered a shot well wide.

Origi sent Mane away and the Senegal winger's ball across was deflected back into the striker's path, but he shot over the bar after turning well. It was his last action of the game though, as James Milner replaced him.

On 63 minutes, the crowd fell silent again as Riyad Mahrez made it 3-1 to Man City, leaving Liverpool needing a miracle. Then Jota was sent through but Alisson did well to come out and stop him before he could get a meaningful shot on goal.

As 71 minutes ticked by, Jota's point blank header was saved by Alisson and City made it 4-1 on the south coast through Ilkay Gundogan -- virtually assuring themselves of the title. Georginio Wijnaldum appeared at the back post to almost get another for Liverpool but the atmosphere in the stadium mirrored those of the players.

Liverpool fans were given something else to cheer as Alexander-Arnold whipped in another fine cross for Mane to head his second goal and make the result more comfortable. Then Premier League Player of the Year Virgil van Dijk was denied by the crossbar.

But it was the result in Brighton that mattered and Liverpool missed out on the title by a single point. Though of course they do have a Champions League final on June 1 to play.

Manchester City retained the Premier League after surviving a scare on the final day of the season to eventually see off Brighton and beat Liverpool to the title.

For 21 minutes, Liverpool were champions on the final day as they led Wolves with Manchester City falling behind at the Amex, but Pep Guardiola's men found their stride to finish on 98 points -- one ahead of their nearest challengers. Liverpool's 97 points is the highest total amassed by a runner-up in English top flight history.

"Back to back, it was the hardest and most satisfying ever. Liverpool were exceptional this year. I don't mean to rub it in -- they didn't deserve to lose," Vincent Kompany said.

"But we played against such a good team all season and until now we were able to stay in front."

"It means a lot. We have to say congratulations to Liverpool as well. They helped us to push on. It's been an incredible season for us," Guardiola said.

"I think last season, Ciy raised the standard higher. To win the title, we needed 14 wins in a row and couldn't drop points. So, it's incredible to do it after 100 points (last season). Liverpool helped us.

"It was the toughest title win in all my career so far."

Glenn Murray gave Brighton a shock lead on 26 minutes, his clever flick from a corner sending Liverpool fans at Anfield into delirium, but City soon responded.

First, Sergio Aguero struck through Mat Ryan's legs after a fine touch from David Silva two minutes after City fell behind and then Aymeric Laporte headed unmarked from a corner on 38 minutes to make it 2-1.

Riyad Mahrez, making a rare start, finished excellently just after the hour mark and Ilkay Gundogan's majestic free kick put City further in control as their fans celebrated another success.

City were comfortable in the second half as the goals flowed, killing off any lingering Liverpool hope and making it the first time a team has retained the league since Manchester United in 2009.

With the title destiny in their hands before kick-off, City started tentatively with Brighton bright and posing problems on the counter attack.

Bernardo Silva had a good chance to settle the nerves early on but he was blocked in the area as he burst through on goal.

City were sloppy in patches and fell behind when Murray got ahead of his marker to beat Ederson and put Brighton 1-0 up. It sparked joyous scenes at Anfield as Liverpool were top as it stood, but City hit back.

Aguero got City back on level terms with a fine finish past Ryan and then Laporte's header put Guardiola's men in front before the break.

Mahrez then jinked his way through and finished with a brilliant right-footed shot into the top corner to make it 3-1 to the visitors. Lewis Dunk was turned inside out by Mahrez, whose effort was met with exuberant celebrations on the City bench.

Gundogan put the finishing touches on a fine win and another Premier League title when he hit a sublime free kick 18 minutes from time as City finally saw off a spirited title challenge from Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool, who beat Wolves 2-0.

"I am delighted. This is why I came to the club -- to win trophies. The mentality is the best here -- no matter what game it is, it's all about winning," Raheem Sterling said.

"Players challenge each other. Nobody is comfortable here. It's been a lovely season, I'm happy to have a decent season."

Kompany added: "I had no interest in what Liverpool were doing all season. If anyone wanted to try and figure out permutations or see what they were doing I would have lost my head and lost my mind.

"We didn't come this far having to worry about someone else. We played Brighton and we knew we could beat them playing our way and that's what we needed. I'm so happy that we could go behind and come back with the big players who make the difference in big games."