CLERMONT, Ind. – After setting the fastest time in practice, Chandler Smith closed the night by celebrating in victory lane after scoring his fifth ARCA Menards Series victory of the season in Saturday night’s rain-shortened Herr’s Potato Chips 200 at Lucas Oil Raceway.

Smith took the lead from his Venturini Motorsports teammate Christian Eckes on lap 161. The next time around, a heavy sprinkle turned into a rain shower necessitating a caution flag. The field circulated behind the pace car for five laps before ARCA officials put out the red flag. The rains persisted and officials were forced to end the race 37 laps before its scheduled conclusion.

“It was meant to be,” Smith said in a makeshift victory lane celebration. “We couldn’t have timed that pass out any better than we did.”

Eckes was disappointed with second, but was able to lock up the Sioux Chief Short Track Challenge championship.

“We’re obviously disappointed with second,” Eckes said, “but it’s our sixth top-two finish in a row. We really have things turned around after a tough stretch in the summer. We’d have liked to have had that caution for rain a few laps earlier though.”

Ty Gibbs started from the General Tire Pole and was the dominant driver throughout the first half of the race. Gibbs led the first 143 laps before contact with Joe Graf Jr. while battling for the lead resulted in Gibbs sliding into the wall and damaging the right rear corner of his car.

The damage led to a flat right rear tire that put Gibbs into the wall again four laps later. The damage was too severe for Gibbs to continue leaving him 15th at the finish.

“I don’t even know who that guy is or what happened out there,” Gibbs said. “We had a really great car. I am pretty bummed. Most of all I am sorry for my guys, the deserved a win here tonight.”

Graf had rejoined the lead lap after receiving the free pass under the second caution of the night. He pitted for tires under the yellow and knifed his way through the field racing against other lead lap cars that had not yet pitted. The resulting caution from Gibbs’ crash allowed the remaining lead lap cars to pit, ending Graf’s chances to win. He finished tenth.

Sam Mayer finished third a day after locking up the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East championship with a win at Dover Int’l Speedway. Corey Heim and Hailie Deegan rounded out the top five finishers.

Combined with a sixth-place finish by teammate Michael Self, Eckes assumes the ARCA Menards Series championship lead by 20 points with the season finale at Kansas Speedway remaining.

The finish:

Chandler Smith, Christian Eckes, Sam Mayer, Corey Heim, Hailie Deegan, Michael Self, Travis Braden, Bret Holmes, Carson Hocevar, Joe Graf Jr., Bobby Gerhart, Tommy Vigh Jr., Mike Basham, Scott Melton, Ty Gibbs, Howie DiSavino III, Tim Richmond, Dick Doheny, Brad Smith, Eric Caudell, Darrell Basham.

Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin left Saturday's 7-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets in the second period and did not return after suffering an undisclosed injury.

Malkin suffered the injury when he collided with Penguins defenseman Kris Letang near center ice and awkwardly fell into the boards.

Malkin, the 2012 NHL MVP, scored a power-play goal in Pittsburgh's season-opening loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday.

Malkin had 21 goals and 51 assists for the Pens last season.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

LAS VEGAS – Kevin Na has been so brilliant on the greens the last two days that he actually had to justify why he only made 177 feet worth of putts Saturday.

You know, compared to Friday’s 202 and an inch.

“I hit it closer,” he said. “That's probably why.”

Good answer.

After rounds of 68-62-61, Na leads the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open by two at TPC Summerlin, where he just set a new 54-hole tournament scoring record of 191.

On Sunday, he’ll take a shot at winning is fourth PGA Tour title and at rewriting the circuit’s record book. With 445 feet worth of putts made so far this week, he needs 107 more to set a new record and pass Ben Martin’s 551 feet from the 2015 Charles Schwab Challenge, the highest total since the Tour began keeping track in 2003.

Na’s weapon of choice since the Masters has been an Odyssey Toulon Madison model with a graphite shaft. It’s the same putter he won with earlier this year at Colonial. So, why graphite?

“It's a very stiff shaft,” he explained. It's stiffer than steel, and it's helped me and given me the consistency of good speed. … When you hit good putts at a good speed, you're using the whole hole.”

Asked back-to-back questions about the putter, he had to interject:

“How about giving me some credit?” he implored.

Of course, when it came to his short miss for birdie at the par-5 16th, he took a different tact.

“[Caddie Kenny Harms] had a bad read,” he joked.

Na is now 18 holes from his fourth win, his third in the last three seasons and his second in 2019. He similarly took the 54-hole lead back in 2011, when he broke through for the first time. He also converted earlier this year at Colonial. But in total, he’s 2-for-7 closing. And with the scores TPC Summerlin is yielding – the third-round scoring average was 67.75 Saturday – he’s not going to have the luxury of playing defense.

Not with another past Shriners champ like Patrick Cantlay giving chase.

Two back, Cantlay won this event in a playoff two years ago and was runner-up last year to Bryson DeChambeau. Las Vegas has become his personal playground, although he says he doesn’t go out much – just to dinner, really.

While Na has been torching the greens, Cantlay has been leading the field on the way there. He’s first in strokes gained: off the tee, second tee-to-green, and first in driving distance.

“I just didn't make any of those 15-, 20-, 25-footers,” he acknowledged.

If those start dropping on Sunday, and Na cools off even a little, then it might be Cantlay who walks away a two-time Shriners champ.

It’s tempting to think of this as a two-man race, but six players shot 63 or better Saturday. Na and Cantlay will have a nice head start, but that’s about it.

“I’ve still got to keep the pedal to the metal,” Na said “A lot of low scores out here. Anybody can shoot 8 or 9 under.”

You saw today … 8-, 9-, 10-under is totally possible around here,” Cantlay echoed. “The lead is at 22. It will probably take around 26-27 under par, I would imagine. Get to a number like that, and you’ll probably be in a good spot.”

As comfortable as Cantlay has proven himself here in Vegas, it’s Na who is the local resident. He’s been leaving tickets for friends all week and will play tomorrow in front of his family, which includes a recent addition.

“It would mean a lot, especially with having a newborn, my son Leo,” Na said. “I won in front of [my daughter] Sophia, so it would be nice if I could get another W in front of both of them.”

NEW ORLEANS -- For many Pelicans fans, Saturday night was their first chance to lay eyes on No. 1 pick Zion Williamson.

And they showed out in a way they never have before. Pelicans' officials estimated over 10,000 fans in attendance for Saturday's open scrimmage, with some waiting in line for over an hour outside of the Smoothie King Center in temperatures pushing 90 degrees.

When they arrived inside, they were greeted with a practice and scrimmage featuring plenty of action from Williamson and his teammates.

"I feel like I've had a lot of new experiences that have been great, but to actually walk onto the court that we'll be playing on a lot, it was great," Williamson said. "I think we'll have a lot of great memories here."

Williamson had his fair share of plays around the rim, including throwing down an alley-oop from Lonzo Ball. But there also were a couple of misses.

On one pass from Josh Hart, Williamson tried to finish with a 360-degree dunk, but the ball went off the back of the rim. Then late in the scrimmage, Ball threw one up for Williamson, but he missed again. The play carried Williamson into the stands, where he decided just to sit with some fans pondering the missed attempt.

Fans still had a chance to go out on a Williamson slam, though, as Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin called upon Williamson to end the night with a dunk. Williamson tossed the ball off the backboard and dunked it in to send the faithful home happy.

"Mr. Griffin did put me on the spot with that last one," Williamson said. "But it was great. I know the people have been wanting to see the Lonzo-Z connection, so we tried to give that to them. I think we were 1-for-2 on that."

Williamson and Ball also connected on an alley-oop that Williamson threw from beyond the 3-point line to Ball at the rim.

"We'll be seeing a lot of those too, but he might not finish them," Williamson said. "He might lay it in."

Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday and coach Alvin Gentry both credited the team with playing hard during the final part of the scrimmage and not letting it turn into a free-for-all.

"I was happy because I thought we did a great job of competing and we got a lot out of it," Gentry said. "A lot of times these things end up like an All-Star Game, but our guys got a lot out of it. We competed at a high level and did a good job of taking what we've done in practice and use it in the scrimmage."

New Orleans had 18 players available for the scrimmage, as the team held out center Derrick Favors because of a tight hamstring, according to general manager Trajan Langdon.

The Pelicans officially kick off their preseason schedule on Monday at the Atlanta Hawks.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Anthony Davis cleaned up a LeBron James miss for the first score of the game. James got his first bucket to go -- plus an and-one free throw -- a few minutes later to put the Los Angeles Lakers up 11-0 over the Golden State Warriors and L.A. rolled to a 123-101 win in their preseason opener Saturday.

Yes, there was a lot to like out of the Lakers' dynamic duo in their first taste of action together after L.A. acquired Davis, the six-time All-Star, with a blockbuster offseason trade in June.

Lakers coach Frank Vogel rested the pair the entire second half, but they did plenty of damage before the break. Davis finished with 22 points on 9-for-16 shooting, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal. James had 15 points on 5-for-10 shooting, 8 assists, 3 rebounds and a steal.

In 18 minutes played apiece, James was a plus-14 and Anthony was a plus-13.

They looked so good together early that Magic Johnson, who shocked the organization by resigning from his post in April, chimed in on Twitter to praise what he was witnessing.

Laker Nation, I just watched Lebron and Anthony Davis put on a show in the 1st quarter of the Lakers vs. Warriors exhibition game. Watch out rest of the NBA!

— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) October 6, 2019

L.A. led by 13 after the first quarter, with Davis nearly matching the Warriors' output himself: He went 7-for-11 for 17 points while the entire Golden State team was 9-for-27 for 20 points.

Davis had one 43-second stretch midway through the first that was so dominant he scored on dunks on three consecutive possessions: the first following an offensive rebound, the next rolling to the rim off a pocket pass from James and finally by throwing down an alley-oop feed from Rajon Rondo to punctuate the flourish.

Vogel started Avery Bradley, Danny Green and JaVale McGee alongside James and Davis, vowing to continue to shuffle the first unit in L.A.'s five remaining preseason games.

"We're going to mix it up every night throughout the preseason and potentially into the season," Vogel said before the game. "The guys are going to have opportunities to start just to see different (combinations). The preseason is just about combinations."

It was a pretty potent 1-2 combo between James and Davis on Saturday, to say the least.

NEW YORK -- Just too much traffic for Minnesota Twins rookie Randy Dobnak.

The feel-good story of the Uber driver-turned-big league pitcher came to a screeching halt Saturday when the New York Yankees tagged him from the get-go in an 8-2 rout, putting Minnesota in a serious jam down 0-2 in the American League Division Series.

"Nerves were fine," Dobnak said. "I don't know what it was."

A week removed from his in-season wedding in Maryland, and with his new bride, Aerial, in the stands, Dobnak soaked in the mocking, taunting cheers of "Uber, Uber" from the bleacher crowd at Yankee Stadium when he limbered up in the outfield before Game 2.

"I figured that was going to happen," he said, smiling. In fact, he asked his bullpen catcher: "How many Uber chants are we getting tonight?"

Dobnak looked loose, too, as he hopped over the third-base line on the way to the mound. With his Fu Manchu mustache, big glasses and red-shaded shoes, No. 68 certainly stood out before throwing a pitch, even to those who didn't know his backstory.

Then the Yankees geared up. Quickly, they drove Dobnak out of the game.

"Throttle down," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said later.

DJ LeMahieu sliced a leadoff double against Dobnak, and things didn't improve much for the 24-year-old righty. He left with the bases loaded and none out in the third inning, the start of a seven-run burst that made it 8-0.

His totals: two-plus innings, four runs on six hits and two walks without a strikeout. The Yankees didn't chase his pitches out of the strike zone, and swatted what they could reach.

"Every guy can swing it," he said.

Dobnak, who hadn't pitched in 10 days, was a surprise choice over All-Star Jake Odorizzi (15-7, 3.51 ERA) to throw a day after New York romped 10-4 in the opener. His success at inducing grounders at homer-friendly Yankee Stadium helped get him the nod.

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli thought Dobnak's demeanor would work, too.

"He's about as unique a story as you're going to find, and in a way, probably that whole story and everything that goes along with it is probably what's made him who he is and what's allowed him to take this journey and find his way to the big leagues," Baldelli said before the game.

His postgame assessment: "I thought Dob threw the ball pretty well ... he competed well."

Dobnak made his major league debut in August and kept excelling, going 2-1 with a 1.59 ERA in nine games, including five starts. Featuring a funky delivery, he struck out 23 and walked five in 28⅓ innings. He became only the sixth pitcher to start a postseason game with no more than five previous starts, the Elias Sports Bureau said.

It was a most unlikely ascent.

Undrafted out of Division II Alderson Broaddus University in West Virginia, he played for the Utica Unicorns of the independent United Shore Professional Baseball League. He signed with the Twins in the summer of 2017 and spent last year in Class A.

Dobnak began this season in Class A, climbed to Double-A and Triple-A, and eventually got the call from Minnesota.

Along the way, his lore grew. Trying to earn extra money while in the minors, he took a different road.

On Twitter, he proudly mentions his 4.99 (out of 5) Uber driver rating. In fact, the daily press notes distributed by the Twins list other aspects of his past off-the-field résumé: Lyft driver and pizza delivery, among them.

"I had no idea his history was so vivid and kind of well explored, if you will," said Odorizzi, who is slated to start Game 3 on Monday at Target Field in the best-of-five series.

More than two years ago, Dobnak and his future wife set the date for their wedding -- Sept. 28, 2019. No way he imagined back then he'd be pitching for the AL Central champs.

Dobnak nonetheless got permission from Baldelli to attend his own wedding. When Dobnak walked into the reception with 250 guests, he wore the same oversized goggles he sported during the bubbly-soaked clubhouse celebration after Minnesota clinched the division crown earlier in the week. The maid of honor's speech ended with "Go Twins!"

Right after Saturday's game ended, Dobnak walked from the clubhouse and down a tunnel to the visiting family room, waiting a couple minutes for his rooting section. When it took them a while to make their way through the stands, he returned to the locker room.

Despite the defeat, he said he appreciated the moment.

"I was really excited for it," he said. "Pretty special."

According to ESPN Stats & Info, Houston's Gerrit Cole joins Jacob deGrom, Clayton Kershaw, and Aníbal Sánchez as the only pitchers with 10 strikeouts through 5 innings of a postseason game during the last decade.

WEST SALEM, Wis. — With rain showers throughout the day, race officials were forced to cancel Saturday night’s portion of the 50th annual Oktoberfest Race Weekend at LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway.

Practice and qualifying for the ARCA Midwest Tour, Big 8 Late Model Series and Mid-American Stock Car Series competitors was rained out.

Sunday will now feature the ARCA Midwest Tour super late models in the Oktoberfest 200, as well as the Big 8 Late Model Series, Mid-American Stock Car Series, Midwest Dash Series, Upper Midwest Vintage Series and the Gandrud Chevrolet Cratetoberfest 602 Challenge.

Spectator gates will open at 8:30 a.m. with cars taking to the track at 9 a.m., racing is slated to start at Noon for the Sunday afternoon event.

Adult general admission tickets for the day are $26, students ages 12-17 are $12, kids ages 6-11 $6 with kids 5 and under admitted free.

AUSTIN, Texas – Qualifying times could not have been tighter in the Trans-Am Series presented by Pirelli TA2 class Saturday at Circuit of the Americas.

When the dust settled, just over one tenth of a second covered the first two rows on the grid for Sunday’s 100-mile TA2 presented by AEM feature.

While Marc Miller needs only to take the green on Sunday to clinch the TA2 championship, he pushed his No. 40 Prefix/Stevens-Miller Racing Dodge Challenger as if everything was on the line. He reeled off two laps before setting a flyer, the resulting 2:15.038 clocking earned the experienced Stevens-Miller Racing driver his third pole-position start of the season.

“I love this track,” said Miller. “My very first Grand Am win was here at COTA, so it has a soft spot in my heart. The only trophy I really want to talk about right now is the first-place race trophy. As far as I am concerned, we haven’t won this championship until the checkered drops tomorrow and I’m on that top step.”

For the first half of qualifying, Misha Goikhberg’s times in the No. 10 BC Race Cars Chevrolet Camaro were just inside the top 10. But after a pit stop to cool his Pirelli PZero tires, the Canadian driver clicked off a 2:15.150 lap that was five one-thousandths of a second faster than Edward Sevadjian, earning him a front row start.

“We didn’t have much of a plan for qualifying besides go out there and set fastest time in the first two laps,” said Goikhberg. “Unfortunately, I got a bit greedy out there and dropped down to around sixth place in times. I came in to pit and the team and I decided to go back out for one more Hail Mary lap, and it was a good decision in the end.”

Driving a new Chevrolet Camaro, Sevadjian was the wild-card in TA2 qualifying. Eclipsing Scott Lagasse Jr. by six one hundredths of a second with a time of 2:15.155, the Texas native will start third. Earlier this season at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Sevadijan won the SVRA’s Vintage Race of Champions title co-driving with Trans-Am legend Willy T. Ribbs.

“It’s our first time out in this car,” Sevadjian said. “I didn’t expect to do as well as we did, so we are all excited right now. I feel like I left just a little bit out there — we missed the pole by such a small margin. We are going to go to work and hopefully we can be on the podium at the end of this race.”

Dillon Machavern rounded out the top-five times with a fast lap of 2:15.578.

In the duel for the West Coast TA2 title, Brad McAllister came out the winner on the day, his No. 24 PortlandImplantDentistry.com Ford Mustang qualifying 10th overall with a 2m16.922s best that was fastest of the six West Coast contenders.

Points leader Anthony Honeywell, meanwhile, will start Sunday’s race three rows back in 15th overall.

However, it was Ethan Wilson, in the No. 25 BC Race Cars/Western Grinding Services Chevrolet Camaro, who was fastest in the TA2 West Coast lineup, claiming pole position and earning the maximum points in qualifying.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Floyd Smith still vividly remembers the ceremonial faceoff he took against Montreal Canadiens captain Jean Beliveau before the Buffalo Sabres' first home game in franchise history.

"[Beliveau] let me win it," Smith said with a laugh.

At 35, Smith was lured out of retirement to serve as the Sabres' first captain in 1970.

Some 50 years later, the 84-year-old Smith was back in Buffalo on Saturday night. Amid chants of "Let's go Buffalo!" Smith dropped the puck for a ceremonial faceoff and to kick off the Sabres' golden anniversary season before their home opener against the New Jersey Devils.

"Ah, that was neat," Smith said, reflecting back to the one-plus season he spent in Buffalo before retiring. "You don't think as much about it then as you do now, how important it was."

Smith, who eventually went on to coach the Sabres, was among 15 former team captains on hand for the team's home opener. The group included Gilbert Perreault, Mike Foligno, Michael Peca and Brian Gionta.

The Sabres distributed commemorative T-shirts to each fan, and celebrated their past with a lengthy video montage featuring numerous on- and off-ice highlights broadcast on the video scoreboard.

The former captains walked the red carpet in front of fans outside the arena before the game, and were each then introduced on the ice during a pregame ceremony.

They wore the Sabres' specially designed 50th anniversary jerseys featuring a gold-emblazoned buffalo and two crossed swords on the chest.

Perreault joked about how tight-fitting his No. 11 jersey was by saying it's been a while since he was at his playing weight.

Perreault, who still holds most every offensive franchise record, including 512 goals and 1,326 goals, said it was a privilege to spend his entire 16-plus season career with one team.

He recalled Buffalo's first home game, a 3-0 loss to Montreal, as being special because he was from Quebec and played his junior hockey in Montreal.

"I thought I was going to play against my idol, Jean Beliveau that night," Perreault said. "But I didn't have a chance to play one shift against him."

The Sabres and Vancouver Canucks were part of the NHL's second wave of expansion, entering the league together in 1970.

Buffalo won the spin of a wheel to earn the right to draft Perreault with the No. 1 pick ahead of Vancouver, and went on to reach the Stanley Cup Final in 1975. The Sabres, coached by Smith, lost in six games to Philadelphia.

The 50th anniversary comes at a time the Sabres are in the midst of their toughest stretch in team history. Their eight-year playoff drought is a franchise worst and ranks as the NHL's longest active streak. And Buffalo has not won a playoff series since reaching the Eastern Conference finals in 2007.

Under new coach Ralph Krueger, the Sabres are coming off a season-opening 3-1 victory at Pittsburgh.

"They had a good start with a win, so I'm hoping it's going to be a great year," Perreault said.