CONCORD, N.C. – The most harrowing moment of Saturday night’s portion of the United Rentals Patriot Nationals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte came during time trials, when Parker Price-Miller lost a wheel and flipped in the third turn.

Luckily Price-Miller was able to climb from his car and walk away from the crash unscathed, though his participation was scratched for the remainder of the night.

“The car is junk after that one,” he noted upon his arrival back to the pit area.

Price-Miller waited to see a replay of the incident before detailing what he felt from inside the car, but said he had “absolutely no warning” before he started tumbling through the corner.

“I just went into turn three, turned the car, heard a snap, and then the motor revved up and that was all she wrote after that,” Price-Miller told SPEED SPORT. “When you’re going that fast, you just don’t want to hit the wall with the cage open that hard. There’s been a lot of issues like that in the past few years and injuries … but I just closed my eyes and hoped for the best.

“It wasn’t that bad of a wreck,” he added. “We just kind of hit in a few of the wrong spots … hit the top of the cage and it caved the cage in, but I’m OK and I’ll be good to take on Mansfield in a week.”

Price-Miller’s flip called to mind several rule changes announced last August designed with driver safety in mid, including a major addition to the roll cage and rules requiring a steel left-front radius rod, the strengthening of the wing posts, and the nerf bars being mounted with three points.

The roll cage changes made a difference, according to Price-Miller.

“I’m just glad we didn’t have to experience any injuries or that major cage-to-wall type of a hit like some others have gone through in the past few years,” said Price-Miller. “My MAXIM Chassis held up really well, and I can’t thank them enough for good race cars.

“Obviously these support systems have made a difference, because I hit with the cage pretty hard and it didn’t collapse, so that’s a good thing.

Though he wasn’t too enthusiastic about it, Price-Miller did say that occasionally, crashes like the spill he took are necessary to make sure that safety swings as big as the one that the sprint car industry took before the start of this season are ones that pay off by keeping drivers safer than ever before.

“You’ve got to have tests like that to see if we’re going the right direction for safety; you just hate any time you become the test dummy and, unluckily, I was the test dummy tonight,” he pointed out. “But it happened, we’re OK and we’ll go on to race another day.

“These cars are safe and I’m thankful to have walked away from that one.”

INDIANAPOLIS – John Menard’s famed neon-yellow colors have been adorning cars at the Indianapolis 500 for years, but the Wisconsin business owner had never been able to taste the milk in victory lane.

Sunday afternoon, that goose-egg was finally erased, as Simon Pagenaud took Menards to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway winner’s circle as a sponsor in The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

Menard’s history at IMS is well-documented, and his cars were part of some of the greatest heartbreaks in Indianapolis 500 history, including Tony Stewart’s engine failure while leading in 1998 and Robby Gordon famously running out of fuel on the final lap one year later.

After walking away from Indy car racing at the end of the 2004 season, Menard returned with his chain of Midwestern home-improvement stores to the Indianapolis 500 with Pagenaud in 2016.

Three years later, the duo are Indianapolis 500 champions together.

“You ever watch that movie called The Candidate when that guy works and works and works and finally gets elected, and after the election he won, he gazed into the mirror and says to himself, ‘What the hell do I do now?’ That’s the way I feel. We just won the Indianapolis 500.”

Menard reflected on his four-decade history in American open-wheel racing on Sunday evening following Pagenaud’s victory, a roller-coaster of ups and downs that saw some of the most famous names in Indy car history drive entries under the Team Menard banner.

In addition to Stewart and Gordon, Al Unser, Nelson Piquet, Greg Ray, the late Scott Brayton and even 20-time World of Outlaws sprint car champion Steve Kinser drove for Menard over the years.

“It was 40 years ago when I first came down here in 1979, and I didn’t get all the way in, and I had a big sign that we used to put up over the garages,” Menard recalled. “So I’m dragging the sign on Georgetown road, and I’m walking — I didn’t know where the entrance was. I didn’t know enough to go there on 16th and drive under. So this guy at the gate in a yellow shirt was standing there, and he goes, ‘Where are you going with that sign?’ and I told him I wanted to get in the garage area.

“He said, ‘I’ll open the gate for you,’ and he unlocked the gate and let me in,” Menard added. “I didn’t have a credential. I didn’t know where I was going. … I think he thought I was crazy, but we had a good time. That was the first time I was here, 40 years ago, and I’ve been trying (to win) ever since. I was some stubborn, stupid guy. But this is great fun.”

Menard had nothing but praise for his driver on Sunday, after Pagenaud led 116 of 200 laps en route to both his and his sponsor’s first victories in the Indianapolis 500.

“Simon is just one wonderful human being. If you get to know him, you’ll love him,” said Menard. “Second of all, if you watched the last few laps of this race, then you know that as a race car driver, Simon is really, really good. I mean, he was – Rossi is really, really good, and that could have ended badly in turn one or two or three or four … or a lot of other places, but that was just plain good racing.

“That was two really talented guys, just going after each other, back and forth, back and forth. Simon didn’t give up, though. He’s the real deal.”

Though Menard won the Brickyard 400 in 2011 with son Paul, that was a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race and wasn’t the biggest event at IMS.

Sunday’s triumph was the pinnacle, according to Menard.

“That 400 was a NASCAR race, which is pretty distinct from this race. That was probably the highlight of my personal racing career, just because it was my son that won, but this ranks right in there,” said John Menard. “I’ll tell you what, this is a good deal, and I can’t thank Team Penske and Indianapolis Motor Speedway enough for all the great memories and times over the years that we’ve had here.

“It’s amazing. What a feeling this is.”

SPEED SPORT has been reporting on and covering motorsports happenings from all over the world for 85 years, so we thought it would be fun to take a look back in the archives to see what happened 10, 25 and 50 years ago each week.

So check out what SPEED SPORT was covering 10, 25 and 50 years ago this week in Looking Back!

10 Years Ago (May 27, 2009): Helio Castroneves repaid Roger Penske’s faith in him with his third Indianapolis 500 victory. Castroneves, who on April 17 had gained his acquittal in a tax evasion case, became the ninth driver to win the Indianapolis 500 three times. He took the lead on lap 142 and led the rest of the distance to give Penske his record 15th Indianapolis 500 win over Dan Wheldon and Danica Patrick.

Other Happenings: David Reutimann was in the right place at the right time when the rains came at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, allowing him to collect his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series triumph in the Coca-Cola 600; Jenson Button continued Brawn’s Cinderella season with a victory in the Monaco Grand Prix; Chuck Gurney Jr. added another page to the history books for the Gurney family with a triumph in the Night Before the 500 midget race at O’Reilly Raceway Park.

25 Years Ago (May 25, 1994): Al Unser Sr. and Johnny Rutherford, two of Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s legendary figures, both officially retired from Indy car racing. Unser’s retirement came after the four-time Indianapolis 500 winner said he felt his skills were no longer up to the task of putting a car in the Indianapolis 500 field. Rutherford, on the other hand, had not driven a race car since 1988, but did borrow a car from A.J. Foyt and make one final tour of Indianapolis Motor Speedway before making his retirement official.

Other Happenings: Geoff Bodine earned a $250,000 payday with his victory in the Winston Select at Charlotte Motor Speedway, outrunning Sterling Marlin; Top Fuel legend Jimmy Nix was killed in an accident at the Texas Motorplex that saw his dragster go out of control and hit a guardrail; Sammy Swindell headlined the list of weekend winners for the World of Outlaws that also included Steve Kinser and Stevie Smith.

50 Years Ago (May 28, 1969): LeeRoy Yarbrough enjoyed a perfect day at Charlotte Motor Speedway aboard Junior Johnson’s 1969 Mercury Cyclone, winning the 10th running of the World 100 stock car race. He led 274 laps and finished two laps ahead of Donnie Allison in second. Yarbrough’s victory at Charlotte came after he qualified eighth for the Indianapolis 500 driving the Jim Robbins Special turbocharged Ford Eagle.

Other Happenings: A.J. Foyt, with his father serving as crew chief, qualified on the pole for the Indianapolis 500 with an average speed of 170.568 mph; Jim Paschal gave the AMC Javelin it’s first victory in NASCAR Grand Touring competition at Baton Rouge Int’l Speedway; Buzz Gregory held on to win the Little 500 at Sun Valley Speedway despite failing brakes and low fuel; team owner Ray Fox announced he was quitting stock car racing to pursue a less hectic lifestyle.

INDIANAPOLIS – Simon Pagenaud earned $2,669,529 from an overall purse of $13,090,536 for his victory Sunday in the 103rd Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Pagenaud, from Montmorillon, France, captured his first victory in The Greatest Spectacle in Racing in the No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet. He beat 2016 winner Alexander Rossi to the finish by .2086 of a second to score the record-extending 18th Indianapolis 500 victory for Team Penske.

Pagenaud took the lead for good on lap 199 of the 200-lap race. He led seven times for 116 laps, becoming the first pole sitter to win since Helio Castroneves in 2009.

Rossi, from Nevada City, California, earned $759,179 in the No. 27 NAPA Auto Parts Honda. He led five times for 22 laps, continuing his streak of leading in all four of his Indianapolis 500 starts.

2017 Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato earned $540,454 for finishing third in the No. 30 Mi-Jack/Panasonic Honda.

2017 NTT IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden earned $462,904 for finishing fourth in the No. 2 Shell V-Power Nitro Plus Team Penske Chevrolet.

Rounding out the top five was 2018 winner and 2014 series champion Will Power in the No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet, who earned $444,554.

Team Penske placed three cars in the top five.

Santino Ferrucci earned $435,404 for his seventh-place finish after starting 23rd in the No. 19 Cly-Del Manufacturing Honda, including $50,000 for being named Rookie of the Year. Ferrucci, who led one lap, was the highest-finishing rookie among the six drivers making their first Indianapolis 500 starts this year.

LAKEVILLE, Conn. – A true Cinderella story unfolded on Monday at Lime Rock Park after Chris Dyson claimed the Trans-Am presented by Pirelli victory in the No. 20 Plaid Ford Mustang.

Ernie Francis Jr. recovered from an early-race setback to claim a hard-fought second place result ahead of Josh Hurley to complete the podium as Trans-Am returned to the traditional Memorial Day weekend event at Lime Rock Park. Tomy Drissi scored fourth at the finish, with Paul Fix crossing the line fifth.

Starting from the pole, Dyson never surrendered the lead to claim his first TA victory of the season following 100 minutes of flat out racing, just days after suffering a crash in sprint car competition.

Dyson, unsure if he was going to be medically cleared to participate following a wreck in the Hoosier 100 on Thursday that sent him to the hospital, slipped on the glass slipper to seize the points lead in the tight TA championship, making for a perfect ending to his fairytale weekend.

“To think two days ago I was laying in a hospital bed, not knowing if I was going to make it here,” said Dyson. “I told my dad they were going to have to tie me to this bed if they’re going to keep me from racing in Lime Rock. Luckily I was cleared to race because this might be my biggest career win. It’s so special to see all my friends and family members waiving as I drive by, it’s just a fantastic feeling.”

Starting from pole, Dyson didn’t shy away from unleashing the 850+ horsepower around the tight Connecticut circuit that’s knowns as road racing’s bullring.

Muscling his way through traffic, Dyson started to build a gap from Hurley in the No. 03 McAleese and Associates Chevrolet Camaro, who was pressuring the hometown favorite for the lead.

“I was just waiting for Chris to make a mistake, and the mistake never came,” Hurley said. “I got caught in traffic. This course is basically an oval in the woods  with limited areas to pass. Lapped traffic played a huge role in the outcome and traffic just didn’t fall into my favor.”

Starting from row two, Hurley got the jump on Ernie Francis Jr. in the No. 98 Frameless Shower Doors Ford Mustang entering turn one to take second. Francis tailed Hurley, waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack. But it was late-race lapped traffic that allowed the defending TA champion to pay back Hurley, reclaiming second with four laps left in the race. The podium finish edged Francis back into championship contention, only trailing the newest championship leader Dyson by eight points.

“It felt like a Late Model Race out there,” Francis said. “We were never a single lap without traffic. Never a lap where we were trying to get around a car and figure out a way to go. It’s really tough to pass here. Every time Josh and I caught up to traffic it was a battle on who could get around it quickest. We came up to a large group near the end of the race and I was able to get through the whole the fastest. The podium really came down to who could work traffic the fastest.”

The race featured three classes of competition, with SuperGT and GT machines sharing the track with the high-horsepowered TA class entries.

In a perfect balance of battling competitors while watching for the TA traffic in his mirrors, Fall Line Motorsports driver Mark Boden went flag-to-flag in the SGT class race for his first win of the season in the No. 46 Beverage Flavors Int’l/Porsche 991 GT3 Cup .

Brian Kleeman in the No. 07 Advanced Composite Products Inc./Cadillac CTSV SGT took second while Adrian Wlostowski in the No. 96 F.A.S.T. Auto/Ford Mustang found himself on the bottom step of the podium in third.

“It’s awesome to win here at Lime Rock Park,” said Boden. “The set up to the car was great and the whole crowd here is wonderful. It was hot out here and the Pirelli tires held up for me to finish on top.”

In a near perfect drive, Steven Davison wheeled his No. 22 Davinci Plastic Surgery / Aston Martin Vantage to score the GT class victory.

“Sometimes surviving is winning, and that was today,” said Davison. “I am happy to be here and these fans here at Lime Rock are some of the best in the country.”

Kerry Hitt won the Masters award in the TA class following a 10th-place finish in the No. 19 Advanced Composite Products Inc. Cadillac CTSV.

BOSTON -- Commissioner Gary Bettman considers the NHL's current video review system "a blessing and a curse." There are times when it's a vital mechanism for getting calls on the ice correct. But in the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs, there have been a dozen instances of controversial plays that couldn't be remedied with replay because they fell outside of their scope.

Before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, Bettman said the NHL will consider expanding video review when the league's competition committee and general managers meet next month.

"Clearly, what we already do still may not be enough," Bettman said. "If we are to extend video replay -- and we will be looking at that possibility -- we must find the right balance when it comes to how much more to use and when to use it without affecting the flow, pace and excitement of our game. Perhaps most important, we've got to have a system that enables us to be consistent. This is the challenge, and it's a challenge we are focused on and we will meet."

Currently, the NHL uses video review to determine the validity of goals scored and to assess goalie interference calls. The league also uses it to determine potential offside plays when a goal is scored. These reviews are initiated by on-ice officials, by the "war room" in Toronto or through coach's challenges during the game.

Bettman said the potential expansion of video reviews is a complicated issue. He said the league is "very" concerned with slowing down the pace of the game. But the bigger concern, he said, is what the parameters of expanded video reviews look like.

"We want to get it right, but what is the 'it'? How far do you go back? What actually affects the actual result?" he said.

Take that missed hand pass that handed Game 3 of the Western Conference finals to the San Jose Sharks in overtime.

"What I thought [at the time] was that it would be good if I kept my head from exploding," Bettman said. "I was unhappy. We all were."

But he argued that if you review a missed hand pass, where is the cutoff for when you can review a play?

"What if the hand pass happened a minute earlier? Or it cleared the zone? You can roll it back endlessness," he said. "If we decide to extend replay, we have to define it in a way where we don't ruin the game and get it right."

Yet while playoff controversies such as the missed hand pass, a missed puck off the netting in the Boston Bruins vs. Columbus Blue Jackets series and a phantom major penalty called in Game 7 between the Sharks and Vegas Golden Knights seem to argue for expanded replay, there are many players and general managers who argue that video review should be reduced. More specifically, they believe one aspect of it should be that offside plays should no longer be reviewed.

The spirit of the rule was to catch egregious missed calls, such as the offside on Colorado Avalanche forward Matt Duchene in 2013 that inspired the rule change. But over time, it has been used for minutia, with officials counting video pixels on unclear images to determine if a scoring play was onside.

Bettman, however, doesn't have an appetite for reduction of the video review system, even though it has been a topic of conversation in previous general managers meetings.

"Whatever your view is of video replay, what we're doing is working well, and I don't think you can go backward anymore," he said. "I think that ship has sailed."

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said it is more likely that there would be a rule change related to offside than the elimination of video reviews for offside plays. "I think if anything, there would be consideration to changing the rule instead. And then it's probably still a pixel review, but it might be friendlier to the players on the ice," he said.

But if the NHL competition committee -- a group of league officials, executives and current players that is scheduled to meet June 11 in Toronto -- determines that they'd like to see offside taken out of the video review system, Daly said Bettman would listen. "Gary always has an open mind about everything," he said.

Well, not everything. Bettman shut down the idea that all calls made on the ice should be open to video reviews.

"It's not as simple as saying, 'Let's review everything.' The flow of our game would be interrupted if we reviewed everything. It's not possible," he said.

Other news from the commissioner's state of the NHL address:

Former Los Angeles Kings defenseman Slava Voynov to become unrestricted free agent

Voynov will become an unrestricted free agent at the midpoint of next season, per an independent arbitrator's ruling that Voynov already served half of his yearlong suspension.

But his eligibility is more complicated than that. Since Voynov is on the voluntary retirement list, there are certain mechanisms for his return to the NHL. That includes the ability of the Kings to tender a contract to Voynov, as long as the amount is "reasonable," according to Daly, which would grant the team additional rights in potentially moving his rights.

In other words, though suspended players can be traded, Voynov can't as long as he is on the voluntary retirement list. Tendering him an offer would allow that kind of move, per Daly.

No preseason games in China next season

"That doesn't mean we're slowing down any kind of Chinese strategy," Daly said. "The reason for that has to do with the 70th anniversary of the rise of power of the communist party and Mao Zedong and our inability to book appropriate arrangements in arenas and cities because of that celebration at that time of the year."

The NHL has hosted two preseason games in China in each of the past two years.

Daly said the league will continue to invest in grassroots and school programs to fuel the growth of hockey in China. The deputy commissioner said the expectation would return in the fall of 2020.

No change on Olympics stance

Bettman said the NHL has not changed its stance on sending players to the Olympics. The NHL took an Olympic break from 1998 to 2014 but did not for the 2018 games in Pyeonchang, which angered many players.

Bettman said the IIHF has not communicated a deadline for when it needs to know about NHL player participation. The next Winter Olympics will be held in 2022 in Beijing.

NHL undecided on starting women's league

The NHL is letting "the dust settle" on the women's hockey landscape before deciding whether to launch its own women's league, according to Bettman.

"Whether it's appropriate or not to get involved or start our own league is not something everyone agrees on," Bettman said.

More than 200 women's hockey players announced that they will not be playing in a league next season until a more viable, sustainable league emerges. The NHL has previously said it doesn't want to interfere with any existing leagues. There is currently one women's professional league in North America, the NWHL, and Bettman alluded to rumors about another league sprouting up.

The NHL invited women's hockey players to participate at the 2019 All-Star game, and the NHL helped facilitate the Canada-USA series last year. Bettman said the league will continue to support "one-offs" such as that as it explores whether to get involved in a more meaningful way.

Kuraly, Bruins rally, beat Blues 4-2 in Stanley Cup opener

Sean Kuraly scored to break a third-period tie and assisted on another goal to help the Boston Bruins rally from a two-goal deficit and beat the St. Louis Blues 4-2 on Monday night in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Brazilian star Neymar has lost his national team's captaincy for this summer's Copa America to veteran Dani Alves.

Brazil's football confederation, CBF, said in a statement Monday that the 36-year-old defender -- also a teammate of Neymar's with Paris Saint-Germain -- will start wearing the armband in the friendly against Qatar on June 5 in Brasilia.

The 27-year-old Neymar has been Brazil's captain since its elimination in the World Cup quarterfinals against Belgium in 2018. Marcelo was the captain for that tournament, during which Dani Alves was injured.

The CBF said Brazil coach Tite informed Neymar of his decision on Saturday, the day the PSG striker arrived at the national team's training ground outside Rio de Janeiro.

Tite's decision comes after Neymar's altercation with a fan at the French Cup final on April 27 and a Champions League suspension for insulting a match official after PSG's defeat to Manchester United.

Tite said last week that he planned to speak to Neymar about his behavior.

"Neymar made a mistake, which was his fault," Tite said. "I will speak with Neymar about it. I will speak with him about manners. I will speak with Neymar as the Brazil coach, but also as a human being. It will be about manners and principles.

"The most important thing is to have an exchange with Neymar, as I did with Douglas Costa (when the Juventus player was involved in a spitting incident). Any problems regarding a player's behavior will be treated as a matter of education."

The Copa America will be played in Brazil between June 14 and July 7. Brazil are in Group A with Bolivia, Venezuela and Peru.

Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos asked to leave to join a team in China on a free transfer, club president Florentino Perez has said, adding that he turned down the defender's request.

"They [Ramos and his agent] came to see me in my office and told me they had a very good offer from China but the league rules over there wouldn't permit them to pay the transfer fee," Perez told radio station Onda Cero on Monday.

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"What was I going to tell him? We said this couldn't happen but we'd speak to the club to satisfy him but that Real Madrid could not afford to let its captain leave for free as that would set a terrible precedent for other players."

The Spain defender, 33, is Madrid's longest serving player and one of club's most beloved players for his role in winning four Champions League titles, but he shouldered a lot of criticism for the team's harrowing last campaign.

Ramos was found by UEFA to have intentionally got suspended for the second leg of Madrid's Champions League last-16 tie with Ajax Amsterdam, which they lost 4-1 to exit the competition at the earliest stage since 2010.

Madrid also had one of their worst domestic campaigns in recent memory, finishing 19 points behind champions Barcelona and losing 12 league matches for the first time in 20 years, as well as being knocked out of the Copa del Rey by Barca.