CONCORD, N.C. – Saturday’s Drive for the Cure 250 turned sour for Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell on the 59th lap.

Both drivers were in contention to win Saturday’s race, with Briscoe starting from the pole and leading a race-high 21 laps while Bell led 19 laps. However, an incident between the two while battling for the second position behind eventual race winner A.J. Allmendinger left both drivers a bit frustrated.

Briscoe was attempting to pass Bell through the frontstretch chicane when the two came together, forcing Bell to run wide and miss the second portion of the chicane. Bell stayed in the gas and ran alongside Briscoe through turn one and into turn two, but they made contact and Briscoe spun to bring out the caution flag.

Briscoe rejoined the race at the rear of the field while Bell was penalized for skipping part of the chicane and not coming to a complete stop on the frontstretch, with NASCAR officials sending him to the tail of the field as his penance.

Bell was able to race back through the field to finish 12th while Briscoe rebounded to finish ninth. Neither driver was very pleased in the moments after the race.

“I felt like we had the car to beat all day long. We were able to constantly come back through the field,” Briscoe said. “We had to go for points obviously because of our situation and we were always able to get back.  There at the end I felt like I still could have ran down A.J.  I felt like we were really good on the long run and that’s kind of where he struggled.

“I still haven’t seen a replay of what happened, so it’s hard for me to say (what happened). It always feels different, I feel like, than the way you actually see outside of the car, so I don’t know what happened. I felt like I was doing everything I could do try to win the race and knew that pass was crucial down there to try to have a shot to catch A.J. and, like I said, I haven’t really seen it so I don’t know what happened.”

Bell said he was going to let Briscoe take the position, but Briscoe forced the issue through the frontstretch chicane.

“The 98 (Chase Briscoe) was really fast and I was going to let him go as soon as he got beside me and then whenever we got into the chicane, he didn’t leave me any option besides running me off the race track,” Briscoe said. “At that point, I was just going to race him back as hard as I could.”

Bell thought NASCAR would give him a pass for missing the chicane because he felt like he was forced by Briscoe to miss it, but officials penalized him anyway.

“I knew it was a penalty to miss the chicane, but there was a clause in there in the driver’s meeting where if you missed the chicane due to an incident, NASCAR would review it,” Bell said. “I figured that me getting run off the race track and having no other option was a justifiable reason, but I guess not.”

Briscoe felt like the incident was simply the result of two drivers racing hard for a position, but admitted he was a bit confused about the contact and resulting spin.

“It was a racing deal.  I feel like we were both trying to win the race and there’s nothing wrong with that.  I felt like I got turned down here and that’s what I don’t understand,” Briscoe said. “I mean, we’re both racing for the win and I felt I was doing everything I could.  I had no reason to move him off the race track or anything.”

Bell said that if Briscoe felt the need to discuss what happened Saturday, he was welcome to come talk to him at any time.

“We haven’t ever had any issues before. He’s a hard racer, I’m a hard racer. If he has a problem with it, he can come ask me my opinion. That’s that,” Bell said.

MAQUOKETA, Iowa – The rush from work to the track turned into a rush of domination on the track for Joe Bonney.

The hometown ace took the lead for good on lap 38 and ran away with the annual Junky Garien 100 Enduro at Maquoketa Speedway.

Bonney took off from the first row of three and paced the early going on the makeshift road course within the three-eighths-mile dirt oval.

The infield portion of the road course became impassable due to the mud after several cars became stuck in the same area. So the race was re-routed to the oval.

Bonney swapped the top spot early with Kile Vohringer before taking the advantage for good on lap 38. The race was shortened to 72 laps due to time limit. By that time, Bonney had lapped the field and cruised behind a group of cars.

Vohringer pulled to a stop on turn three on lap 61, pitted and came back to finish sixth, four laps behind.

Bryan Maher was the only car one lap down. Lukas Short, Chris Hansen and Lane Vohringer rounded out the top five.

Bonney fell to fourth at one point on lap 27 during a fierce four-car battle with Kile Vohringer, Chris Vohringer and Shane Oberbreckling before racing back to the point.

Chris Vohringer finished seventh, but was credited with leading a lap during that tense battle.

BRASELTON, Ga. – NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott headlined the list of winners during Saturday during the HSR Fall Classic at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

With Sunday’s final day of competition still ahead, more than a dozen different race winners have been crowned in the opening two days of competition Friday and Saturday at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

Among this weekend’s winners was Elliott, who took the overall and American-class victories in Friday’s Sasco Sports International/American Challenge sprint race. Driving a Ray Evernham-owned 1965 No. 19 Chevrolet Corvette Roadster, Elliott topped a field of 29 entries with a 3.473 second margin of victory.

Elliott’s win was his fourth HSR feature race victory of the season in three different race cars. He swept the Stock Car feature races at this past April’s HSR Mitty at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta and earned his first Sasco Sports overall race win in May at the Barber Historics. The stock car wins at The Mitty were in a more-than-familiar red 2006 No. 9 Dodge Charger while the Barber Sasco Sports victory came at the wheel of the Vintage Race Car Restorations 1970 No. 9 Ford Mustang Boss 302.

On Friday, Elliott shared the overall Sasco Sports podium with runner-up and Porsche class winner Todd Treffert in his Speedconcepts 1974 No. 14 Porsche 911 IROC. Treffert built on that success today with an overall and GT Classic (GTC) class win in the featured B.R.M Chronographes Endurance Challenge race.

Treffert was followed across the line by B.R.M. Challenge Vintage class winner Jamie Busby, who finished a solid second overall in his 1970 No. 88 Porsche 914/6 prepared by the 901 Shop.

Robert Albino finished third overall and second in the Vintage division in the B.R.M. race in a strong follow up to a victorious performance on Friday. Winning the International division, Albino joined Elliott and Treffert as class winners in the Sasco Sports race.

The Friday victory was Albino’s second-straight Sasco Sports International class win in his Hudson Historics 2000 No. 99 BMW Z3 Coupe, one race after taking the same honor in the Le Sommet des Légendes HMSA/HSR event at Circuit Mont-Tremblant this summer. Albino also scored the overall victory in his BMW in the special Sasco Sports Race B for small-bore cars last April at The Mitty.

Other podium players in Friday’s Sasco Sports race included Craig Ross who was third overall and second in the American division in his 1970 No. 72 Cross Ross Boss Racing Ford Mustang Boss 302.

The overall Sasco Sports top five was completed by the final two podium-placing Porsche-class competitors. Mike Banz was fourth overall and second in class in his Heritage Motorsports 1974 No. 13 Porsche 911 RSR. Phil Gilsdorf took the final top-five overall finishing spot and was third in class in his 1968 No. 61 Porsche 911.

Third in Friday’s Sasco Sports American class went to Mike Levine in his 1965 No. 4 Chevrolet Corvair.

Ernie Wilding and Aaron Nash joined Albino in an all-BMW sweep of the Sasco Sports International class in their Crucial Motorsports BMW M3s. Repeating his runner-up showing in the Sasco Sports race at The Mitty, Wilding was second in his FAS Autosports 1995 No. 82 BMW M3. Nash finished third in his Crucial Motorsports No. 83 1997 BMW M3.

Wilding returned to victory lane Saturday with a runner-up GTC finish behind Treffert and just ahead of Banz and co-driver Kathy Blaha in third in the 1974 No. 40 Porsche 911 RS prepared by Heritage Motorsports.

The B.R.M. Vintage-class podium was completed by co-drivers Jerry Peters and Brady Refenning in the 901 Shop 1970 No. 8 Porsche 914/6.

ROSSBURG, Ohio – Tyler Courtney came out on top of a wild race with Tanner Carrick and Logan Seavey to win the NOS Energy Drink USAC National Midget Series portion of the 4-Crown Nationals Saturday night at Eldora Speedway.

Courtney led only the final two laps, but was in touch with the lead battle for most of the night. He ran past Rico Abreu on lap seven and latched on to the back nerf bars of Carrick and Seavey from there.

When Carrick and Seavey traded barbs up front on the 19th round, Courtney was there to pounce, driving underneath Seavey to claim second as Carrick reasserted his command at the front of the field.

Finally, with two to go, Courtney made his winning move. He pitched a feverish slider into turn one to pass Carrick’s No. 71k, then pinched Carrick down against the lapped car of Karsyn Elledge exiting the second corner to take a lead he wouldn’t relinquish over the final three-quarters of a mile.

Courtney’s victory was his seventh of the USAC National Midget Series season, most among all drivers, and his second midget win in a row during 4-Crown Nationals competition.

“Man, that wasn’t easy,” said Courtney in victory lane. “There for a while, I just couldn’t gain any ground on those Kunz guys out front. I felt like we were all three the same speed, but we got into lapped traffic and those guys started racing there a little bit and I just tried to time my moves right. But Tanner kept coming back, man. He’s one heck of a driver.”

Courtney’s midget victory was his first win in a pursuit of all three USAC victories on the same night.

“To win all three, you gotta start with one. That one was just a lot harder than I was hoping for,” Courtney noted. “But this is Eldora; that’s what this place is all about, and hopefully that’s a good way to start out the night for these fans here.

“It feels awful good to put our Clauson-Marshall guys back in victory lane for the second year in a row.”

Carrick, who started from the outside pole and led 20 of the 25 laps, had to settle for a gut-wrenching second and was .591 seconds adrift of Courtney’s NOS Energy Drink No. 7bc at the checkered flag.

Carrick’s teammate Logan Seavey, who was out front from laps 16 through 18, completed the podium. Rico Abreu was fourth and Kevin Thomas Jr. finished fifth.

Chris Windom, Justin Grant, Zeb Wise, Tucker Klaasmeyer and Tanner Thorson were the balance of the top 10.

To view complete race results, advance to the next page.

ROSSBURG, Ohio – Tyler Courtney capitalized on a rare mistake by Kevin Thomas Jr. in the second half of Saturday’s AMSOIL USAC National Sprint Car Series feature at Eldora Speedway to secure back-to-back victories at the 4-Crown Nationals.

Courtney, who won the USAC national midget feature to kick off the night, pounced after Thomas slapped the outside wall coming onto the frontstretch at the conclusion of lap 17.

Thomas was able to hold the point for one more revolution, but coming off the second corner Courtney raced to the inside of the McDonald’s-backed No. 19 and never looked back with his NOS Energy Drink-sponsored No. 7bc.

Not even a restart with nine laps left, after C.J. Leary spun off turn two thanks to contact with Chris Windom while racing for second, could stop Courtney’s march to victory lane.

Sunshine pulled away from Windom when the green flag waved and, despite tagging the outside wall in his own right with a lap and a half to go, held on to reign victorious by 1.424 seconds in the end.

It was Courtney’s second win in two races Saturday night and his fourth consecutive USAC national sprint car win at Eldora, setting a record at the historic half-mile dirt oval.

“It’s great to double down here, but honestly, I think KT (Kevin Thomas Jr.) was definitely the car to beat in that race,” Courtney said. “He just got sucked in the wall. He was fast the whole race though. I knew it was going to be tough to get around him because it was really tough to pass guys. It took a mistake and we were there when we needed to be to take advantage of it.”

After a slow start to the year, Courtney has turned up the wick through the late summer months, with five wins since July 4 and seven victories overall on the season as he chases a second straight title.

“Hats off to my whole Clauson-Marshall-Newman team. We’ve kind of struggled the first half of the season,” Courtney admitted. “We’ve turned it on here the last few weeks though, to put a little pressure on C.J. (Leary, points leader). I hate to see what happened to him tonight, but this is a great night for us as a team … and it’s two in a row here tonight, but four in a row here at Eldora in the sprint car.

“That second one is the number we’re really proud of.”

Windom crossed the line second ahead of Justin Grant, making for an all NOS Energy Drink-sponsored podium, with Thomas fading to fourth and Brady Bacon finishing fifth.

Leary’s incident was the only caution during the 30-lap non-winged sprint car feature. The first 21 laps ran uninterrupted, with the final nine following suit in the same fashion after cleanup.

To view complete race results, advance to the next page.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- The Winnipeg Jets re-signed restricted free-agent forward Kyle Connor on Saturday to a seven-year, $50 million deal.

Connor's deal carries an average annual value of $7.14 million.

The 22-year-old just completed his three-year entry-level deal that had a $925,000 cap hit. He was the final player general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff needed to get under contract after Patrik Laine agreed to a two-year, $13.5 million contract Friday.

Laine was the more talked-about Jets restricted free agent, but Connor actually had more goals and assists last season. Connor, from Shelby Township, Michigan, had 34 goals and 32 assists in 82 regular-season games last season. Laine had 30 and 20, playing most of his time on the top line with Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler.

He has 67 goals and 61 assists in 178 career games in three seasons, all with the Jets.

The Jets will open the season Thursday night in New York against the Rangers.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

PITTSBURGH -- Sidney Crosby left the Pittsburgh Penguins' preseason finale against the Buffalo Sabres in the first period Saturday after taking a shot off his skate.

Hit by a shot from Sabres defenseman Marco Scandella, Crosby played on for 6 minutes, 42 seconds before leaving. Pittsburgh forward Bryan Rust left the game after he was hit in the hand in the third period.

"They both got hit with shots," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "They are being evaluated now. We will probably have more definitive answers tomorrow morning."

The Sabres won the game 3-2 in a shootout, with Casey Mittelstadt scoring in the sixth round.

Tage Thompson also scored for Buffalo in the shootout. Thompson's goal in the second round drew Buffalo even, after Pittsburgh's Kris Letang opened the round by scoring on a wrist shot. Letang was the only Penguin to score in the shootout.

Buffalo's Linus Ullmark made 34 saves, and Scandella and Zemgus Girgensons scored for the Sabres. Patric Hornqvist and Rust scored for the Penguins, and Matt Murray made 28 saves.

The two teams will open the regular season Thursday in Buffalo.

After three rounds in Napa, Cameron Champ leads the Safeway Open as he looks for his second career PGA Tour victory. Here’s what happened Saturday at Silverado Resort and Spa:

Leaderboard: Champ (-14), Sebastian Munoz (-11), Adam Hadwin (-11), Nick Taylor (-11), Chez Reavie (-10), Collin Morikawa (-10), Justin Thomas (-10)

What it means: Champ put together a bogey-free, 5-under 67 to take a three-shot lead into Sunday’s final round. The second-year Tour pro out of Texas A&M hasn’t been in contention much since last fall’s maiden Tour win at the Sanderson Farms. Champ has just two top-25 finishes this year and only one since Kapalua in early January.

Rounds of the day: Zac Blair birdied five of his last seven holes and Bud Cauley birdied three of his final four as each shot 6-under 66 to climb to 9 under. Daniel Berger and Rhein Gibson, each at 8 under, also carded 66s.

Best of the rest: Just a week removed from his victory at the Sanderson Farms, Munoz fired 67 to vault to 11 under, where Hadwin also sits after a 67 of his own.

Biggest disappointment: Bryson DeChambeau led by two entering the day, but he fell down the leaderboard with a third-round 76.

Biggest storyline entering Sunday: A Champ victory Sunday would mean more than just a young talent ending a lengthy slump. It would also be a special moment for Champ and his family as Champ’s grandfather, Mack, is in hospice with terminal, Stage IV stomach cancer.

STERLING, Va. — President Donald Trump enjoyed a unique mix of playing partners for his round of golf Saturday, though his partners report he ended up on the losing end.

Trump played with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and two retired pro golfers, Gary Player and Annika Sörenstam, both members of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Graham reported that Trump was in good spirits, though he says the president and Player lost the match to Sorenstam and himself.

“We defrocked the Black Knight and the president,” said Graham, using a nickname for Player, who has long liked to wear all black on the golf course.

“They beat the hell out of us,” Player admitted with a big smile.

The press pool following Trump spoke to Graham and Player briefly on the South Lawn upon the return to the White House. Graham was asked about the president’s mood, in light of the Democratic-led House launching a formal impeachment inquiry against Trump.

“This is the most fun I’ve ever had playing golf with him. It was wonderful,” Graham said. “Playing with Gary Player and Annika Sorenstram was one of the best days I’ve ever spent on the golf course. The president was a charmingly great host, a lot of fun.”

Player is the winner of 24 PGA Tour events and 118 international tournaments. Sörenstam completed her LPGA career with 72 tournament victories and was the dominant female player of her era, earning the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year award three consecutive years beginning in 2003.

The group joined the president for a round at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia.

NAPA, Calif. – Bryson DeChambeau quickly went from bogey-free to birdie-free at the Safeway Open.

DeChambeau was the only player not to drop a shot through the first two rounds at Silverado Resort and Spa, amassing a two-shot lead heading into the weekend. But things unraveled in a hurry for the five-time PGA Tour winner, who struggled to a 4-over 76 without making a single third-round birdie.

That score beat only three players among the 67 who made the cut and dropped DeChambeau from solo leader into a tie for 15^th, six shots behind Cameron Champ. DeChambeau declined to speak with media following his round.

After rolling in more than 116 feet worth of putts en route to a second-round 64, DeChambeau struggled on the greens Saturday amid swirling winds. He needed 33 putts to complete his round, including five misses from inside 10 feet.

DeChambeau’s woes included an adventurous 18^th hole, where his approach to the par-5 bounced over the greenside grandstand and into an adjacent penalty area. That initiated a lengthy discussion with PGA Tour officials as to where he would be allowed to take relief from the grandstand.

Mark Russell, the Tour’s vice president of rules and competitions, oversaw a ruling in which DeChambeau was allowed to move the ball to a different spot behind the green to get relief from the temporary immovable obstruction while maintaining a position within the penalty area.

“He could not take the ball freely outside of the hazard. He would have to take a penalty stroke to do that, but he got maximum relief from the TIOs in the hazard,” Russell said. “He only gets maximum relief. Not complete relief, maximum relief. So that’s what he did.”

DeChambeau played a pitch shot from the penalty area over the grandstand that landed on the green en route to a closing par.