When Sam Bass passed away earlier this year, many wondered if the tradition of painting guitars for victory lane at NASCAR events would continue. Thanks to Greg Stumpff and Off Axis Paint, the tradition won’t be ending anytime soon

CONCORD, N.C. – On a scorching Saturday afternoon that saw many of the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ top contenders wither, Tyler Reddick withstood the heat to win the Alsco 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Reddick dominated the event after taking the point for the first time on a lap-72 restart, pacing 110 of the 200 laps en route to his second Xfinity Series win of the season and the fifth of his career.

The defending series champion won the second stage handily, and then only gave up the top spot briefly due to various pit strategies and cycles the rest of the way.

Though he restarted outside the top seven after pitting for the final time with 42 to go, Reddick charged through traffic quickly on four fresh tires. He advanced to third in just three laps, and then regained full command with 35 laps left with a diving turn-three pass of John Hunter Nemechek.

A brief interruption following a restart with 23 to go, when Brandon Jones didn’t push Reddick on a restart and allowed Cole Custer to shoot out to the race lead, didn’t faze Reddick at all.

He patiently bided his time until the race’s 10th and final caution flew for a spinning Josh Williams with 20 to go, then powered away from the field on the race-deciding restart with 15 circuits remaining when Custer spun his tires and couldn’t get up to speed.

From there, Reddick drove off to a 2.102-second victory over Justin Allgaier at the checkered flag.

“Hats off to all of Richard Childress Racing,” Reddick said in victory lane. “We were pretty good going into the two off weeks, but we weren’t really happy with where we were and they worked really hard and worked on a couple of things. We’ve been really good since we’ve been back to Charlotte. I’m just so pumped by all the work ethic by all the guys back at the shop.

“The guys here with me today … they just worked their tails off on our Tame the Beast Chevrolet, and to hold off Justin Allgaier – who is very hard to beat – to win at Charlotte is a big deal for us.”

Allgaier looked as though he might have something for Reddick down the stretch, staying with the No. 2 Chevrolet for a couple of laps following the final restart, but couldn’t mount a challenge in the end.

“My biggest issue at the end was (turns) one and two,” noted Allgaier. “We were really good on the other end, in turns three and four, on the bottom … because he was giving up a lot of time on the bottom, but he could roll so much speed on the top and my car was too tight. I hit the fence early, trying to push it, but we could just never get the balance where I wanted it.

“It’s disappointing to finish second, but at the end of the day, Tyler had the best car. Hats off to him.”

Jeffrey Earnhardt rallied from a spin with 60 to go to post a NASCAR career-best third-place finish for Joe Gibbs Racing. Series rookies Noah Gragson and Justin Haley completed the top five.

Michael Annett finished sixth, ahead of Jeb Burton, Ryan Sieg, Austin Cindric and Brandon Jones.

Christopher Bell won the first stage from the pole, but shredded a tire coming to the finish of the second stage and retired from the race due to the extensive damage to his Toyota. Bell was credited with 31st.

Leaving Charlotte, Reddick holds the regular-season points lead over Bell by 65 markers.

MONTREAL -- The Montreal Canadiens have agreed to a three-year contract with defenseman Brett Kulak.

The deal was announced Saturday and runs through the 2021-22 season, carrying an average annual value of $1.85 million.

The 25-year-old Kulak appeared in 57 games for the Canadiens last season and set career highs in goals (six), assists (11) and points (17).

He was acquired from the Calgary Flames last October for defensemen Matt Taormina and Rinat Valiev.

Bayern Munich secured a domestic double after beating RB Leipzig 3-0 in the DFB Pokal final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin on Saturday.

Robert Lewandowski put the Bundesliga champions in front just before the half-hour mark with a difficult header from a David Alaba cross to give Bayern the lead at half-time.

Manuel Neuer kept Bayern in front with his second big stop of the match, denying Emil Forsberg with a kick save after the RB Leipzig winger had broken free on goal.

Bayern doubled their lead in the 78th minute when Kingsley Coman took a neat first touch on a loose ball in the Leipzig penalty area to set up a left-footed shot that he blasted past Peter Gulacsi.

Lewandowski sealed Bayern's 19th German Cup soon after, outrunning his defender to a through ball and chipping Gulacsi to make it 3-0 with his 40th goal in all competitions this season.

"It was the toughest opponent we could have had and we saw that in the opening 30 minutes," said Bayern boss Niko Kovac, whose future at the club looks more secure after winning two titles in the past week.

"Manuel Neuer kept us in the game with two superb saves but overall the victory was deserved. We had tough times back in October and November so compliments to the team. To be here with two titles makes me very proud."

Kovac brought on departing club legends Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben for a final runout in front of the Bayern faithful and the two almost combined for a fourth goal in the final match of their illustrious careers in Munich.

The win sees Kovac, who won the double with Bayern as a player too, become the first head coach since Felix Magath in 2005 and 2006 to win back-to-back German Cups after his Frankfurt team beat Bayern in last year's final.

"I am very satisfied with the way we played well and won clearly," Lewandowski said. "We had the game under control and the second half we pushed a bit more and won the Cup.

"We gave everything for the double. At the end we can say that this season was very good for us."

India's fightback after being reduced to 39 for 4 was the positive Virat Kohli chose to look back after their emphatic loss to New Zealand in their first warm-up fixture at The Oval. In the absence of Vijay Shankar and Kedar Jadhav, India found a savior in Ravindra Jadeja, who top scored with a 50-ball 54 to haul India to 179.

Jadeja added 62 with Kuldeep Yadav for the eight wicket, allowing India to reach the 40-over mark, a prospect that looked unlikely when Trent Boult ran through the top order. Hardik Pandya's brisk 30 led a brief revival, only for the innings to stutter again until Jadeja guided the lower order.

"Very good," Kohli said of the lower-order contributions at the post-match presentation. "I mean, the one thing we spoke about in a tournament like the World Cup is, you could easily have your top order out for not too many, so the lower order has to look forward to that and I think Hardik [Pandya] batted really well. MS [Dhoni] absorbs the pressure really well and [Ravindra] Jadeja got a few runs as well, so I think from that point of view, we got a lot out of this game, which is what we wanted to. The lower order getting some runs that was the biggest positive."

Kohli assessed the surface wasn't as bowler-friendly in the second innings, after Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor put on a century stand to deflate India. New Zealand sealed victory with six wickets in hand and nearly 13 overs to spare.

"It's going to be very different from batting second and we saw that in this [game] in the later half of our innings as well," he said. "I think we bowled it in the right areas, they were going at about four, four-and-a-half, which I think we would take any day in a tournament where the pitches are going to be good. If we can keep hitting those areas consistently, which I think we did with the new ball and the spinners as well, we're going to be fine with that bowling attack."

Steven Smith has dismissed his reception by the Hampshire crowd as "white noise" and "water off a duck's back" after his century helped Australia to a 12-run victory over England.

Both Smith and David Warner were booed loudly by large sections of the crowd when they came out to bat and when they were dismissed, but Smith was also jeered when he reached fifty and then when he completed a sprightly hundred.

"I heard a few things as I went out to bat, but it didn't really get to me," said Smith, speaking for the first time since his return to the Australian squad. "I'm kind of just trying to keep my head down and move straight ahead and just do my job. Fortunately today I was able to score a few runs for the team and, more importantly, spend some time in the middle before our first game of the World Cup."

While players have been booed on reaching milestones before, it remains a rarity in the game, but Smith is realistic about the likelihood of similar receptions over the course of the summer.

"It doesn't bother me, it's just doing my job and I know that I've got the support of my team-mates up on the balcony and that's the most important thing. If I can make them proud out in the middle and make Australians proud as much as I can well, that's my job.

"I just blank it out. They call it white noise. When I am out there I pay no attention to the crowd and just move on with playing the game."

While fans were vocal during the match, Smith said he hadn't received any abuse from the general public since arriving in England.

"No, it's been really good I haven't copped any which is really nice. I guess everyone is entitled their opinion and how they want to treat people, but it is water of a duck's back. I'll just do my own thing and just keep working hard to play hard."

While there was booing when Smith reached his century, there was also applause - none more enthusiastic than from his team-mates standing on the dressing room balcony. Justin Langer indicated after Australia's arrival in England that there would be special attention to the mental welfare of Smith and Warner and, after the match, Nathan Lyon emphasised the importance of mutual support over what is likely to be a gruelling summer.

"Obviously you always feel for them but it's part of the game isn't it? We were expecting it," said Lyon.

"I don't think it's just Steve and David. I think when you're in a team environment away from home and away from your loved ones and family etcetera, I think the word 'care' doesn't get thrown around enough.

"I think if you can actually care about your team-mates and staff members, I think it's very important. At the end of the day we're humans. Like, we all want to be loved but it just doesn't happen like that some days so it's just all about hanging tough together. We know that the crowds are going to be ruthless over here."

If anything, Smith's year in exile looks to have had a positive effect on his batting. The familiar fidgety twitching and aggressively unorthodox batting hasn't changed, but his 116 runs at the Ageus Bowl, following scores of 89 not out, 91 not out and 76 in three previous warm-up matches, suggests he is heading into the World Cup in better ODI form than he was in before the Newlands scandal forced his absence from the game.

"I was actually a little bit disappointed with my one-day form probably the last 18 months - take out the last 12 - so it was nice to spend a bit of time out in the middle today and the practice games that we've had so far I have felt really good. Everything is going well and I'm looking forward to the first game coming now."

"I'm not reading too much into it, they're just practice games at the moment, hopefully I can keep this form for the real stuff and we'll make a judgment then. I am feeling good, I'm feeling calm at the crease and hitting the right balls I want to the boundary."

While England had a frustrating day dominated by injury concerns, stand-in captain Jos Buttler saw much to admire in Smith's innings.

"He just looked like the Steve Smith of old, didn't he?" said Buttler. "He just played well. He played good cricket shots and very in control of his innings."

"He looks the same player doesn't he? He was a class player twelve months ago and he still is so he hasn't obviously forgotten how to bat in that time, he is one of the world's best batsmen and he knows his game very well and I think that's what you saw today."

DALLAS -- Gerry Fraley, a longtime baseball writer who spent most of his career with The Dallas Morning News, has died. He was 64.

Fraley died early Saturday after a two-year battle with cancer, the newspaper reported.

After covering the Braves for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Fraley joined the Dallas paper in 1989 to cover the Texas Rangers. Fraley also wrote about football, basketball and NASCAR among other assignments for the Morning News.

Assistant managing editor for sports Garry Leavell said Fraley's versatility "is what separated him from his peers."

Former President George W. Bush, who was part of the ownership group of the Rangers before going into politics, said, "It always seemed to me that baseball was his real passion, thereby establishing a kinship and a lasting friendship."

Former baseball commissioner Bud Selig also was among those who respected Fraley's no-nonsense approach to reporting, saying, "He was fair, honest, a great reporter."

The Oakland Athletics have designated relief pitcher Fernando Rodney for assignment, the team announced Saturday.

Rodney, 42, has seen his ERA balloon to a career-worst 9.42 this season. He had returned to Oakland for 2019 after the A's exercised a $5.25 million club option.

Rodney has pitched for 10 teams in a 17-year career and ranks 18th in MLB history with 325 saves.

The A's called up left-hander Wei-Chung Wang from Triple-A Las Vegas. He has 22 games of major league experience, all with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Astros right fielder George Springer has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain after he hurt himself chasing a pop foul during Friday's game.

Springer exited the 4-3 win over the Red Sox when he sprinted in from right field while trying to catch Xander Bogaerts' pop foul in the top of the eighth inning. He clutched at his left leg as he dived feet first for the ball, which bounced in front of him, and limped off the field.

Springer, who leads the American League with 17 home runs and 43 RBIs, was playing in his first game in five days after dealing with lower back tightness.

The Astros have called up outfielder Derek Fisher from Triple-A Round Rock to fill the open roster spot. He has hit .195 for Houston over the past three seasons, appearing in two games in 2019.