Barcelona are seriously looking into bringing Neymar back to Camp Nou next season, with a high ranking source at the Catalan club telling ESPN FC a transfer "could be doable, but it won't be simple."

Barca, though, are aware that negotiating with Paris Saint-Germain is not like negotiating with other clubs, given the huge economic backing the Ligue 1 champions enjoy from their Qatari owners.

"If it wasn't for that, signing Neymar would be even simpler," the source said.

The source at the Spanish champions also stated that "there has been no direct contact with Neymar's people" but added that "once Neymar makes it known he wants to return to Barca, anything is possible."

Neymar joined PSG from Barca in the summer of 2017 for €222 million, making him the world's most expensive player.

One of the main reasons Barca are now contemplating re-signing him is because of key players in the team's desire to have him back in the dressing room, said the source.

The Brazil international remains good friends with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, in particular. Messi recently explained that the trio still speak regularly in a WhatsApp group called "The Three South Americans."

But relations between Barcelona and PSG have been non-existent for a while. The Blaugrana have unsuccessfully tried to sign Thiago Silva, Marquinhos and Marco Verratti from them in the past and in January beat them to the signing of Frenkie de Jong when PSG thought they had the Dutch midfielder tied up.

- When does the transfer window close?
- Check out all the completed transfers

Therefore, Barca have to approach the situation cautiously and also must have Neymar on board to be able to bring him back.

France Football reported last week that PSG would be willing to listen to offers, while Globoesporte in Brazil indicated on Monday that Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu has already contacted Neymar, his father and the intermediaries in charge of negotiating the player's future.

According to Globoesporte, Barca could even include players in any potential deal. Ivan Rakitic, Ousmane Dembele and Samuel Umtiti were all mentioned in the report. Rakitic came close to joining PSG last summer.

PSG owner Nasser Al-Khelaifi has hinted that Neymar could be allowed to leave in the current transfer window. He told France Football this week that the club will no longer tolerate superstar attitudes from their biggest players and warned Neymar he only wants players who are "willing to give everything for the shirt."

ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Texas Rangers are juggling their banged-up outfielders, with Hunter Pence the latest to go on the injured list.

Pence was placed on the 10-day injured list Monday, a day after he sustained a right groin strain in a loss at Cincinnati.

While Pence joined slugging outfielder Joey Gallo on the injured list, the Rangers activated outfielder Willie Calhoun from the list. Calhoun played in the series opener against Cleveland for his first action since a left quad strain May 21.

Gallo has been out since June 2 with a left oblique strain. The Rangers home run leader, with 17, worked out in Texas after a scheduled flight to Arizona was cancelled. He is scheduled to the team's spring training complex in Arizona on Tuesday to continue his rehab.

Pence got hurt Sunday when playing right field in place of Nomar Mazara, who was out of the lineup for the second game in a row Monday because of right hamstring tightness.

The 36-year-old Pence has had quite a comeback season in his debut with his hometown Rangers, hitting .294 in 55 games. He has 15 homers and a team-leading 48 RBIs, including a two-run homer Sunday before getting hurt.

Both Pence and Mazara had MRIs on Monday.

Manager Chris Woodward said Mazara has a mild strain that he could play through, but the team wanted to give him another day to get treatment. Mazara is expected to be the designated hitter on Tuesday, though Woodward said there was also the possibility he could go back into the outfield.

Calhoun, who hit safely in five of his six games for Texas before getting hurt, played left field for the series opener against the Indians. Utility player Danny Santana made his 14th outfield start, only his second in right field.

San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado was suspended one game and fined an undisclosed amount on Monday for arguing and making contact with an umpire over the weekend, Major League Baseball said in a statement.

Machado was ejected by umpire Bill Welke in the top of the fifth inning Saturday against the Colorado Rockies in Denver after a called third strike. MLB said the punishment was "for aggressively arguing and making contact."

"He didn't like the call on the last pitch, so he voiced it, and Bill felt like he needed to be ejected," Padres manager Andy Green said after Saturday's game.

MLB said Machado has elected to appeal the punishment, meaning he is eligible to play in Monday's game against the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The conferences for the Pro14 championship have been revamped for the next two seasons, with six teams switching from one to the other.

Champions Leinster are with runners-up Glasgow Warriors, semi-finalists Ulster and top-ranked Welsh team Ospreys in Conference A.

Munster and Connacht are in Conference B with Edinburgh, Blues and Scarlets.

The draw is based on 2018-19 finishing positions and allows for an equal spread of teams from each nation.

The new conference make up will stay in place until the end of the 2020-21 season.

Conferences were introduced for the 2017-18 season when the championship was expanded from 12 to 14 teams with the addition of South African outfits Southern Kings and Cheetahs.

The 2019-20 season is not expected to start until the weekend of 27 September because of the World Cup.

The 21-match season allows teams to play home and away derbies against all the teams from their own union, irrespective of which conference they are in.

Conference changes

Conference A

2018-19: Glasgow, Munster, Connacht, Ospreys, Cardiff Blues, Cheetahs, Zebre

2019-20: Glasgow, Leinster, Ulster, Ospreys, Dragons, Zebre, Cheetahs.

Conference B

2018-19: Leinster, Ulster, Benetton, Scarlets, Edinburgh, Dragons, Southern Kings

2019-20: Edinburgh, Munster, Connacht, Cardiff Blues, Scarlets, Benetton, Southern Kings.

NEWTON, Iowa – Harrison Burton put together an impressive Sunday at Iowa Speedway, completing 450 laps between two different race vehicles and scoring top-five finishes in both the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Though he started 10th in both races, Burton didn’t stay mired in traffic for very long all day.

He cracked the top six by the end of the second stage of the Truck Series event and ultimately crossed the line fourth at the checkered flag, elevated to the podium after apparent race winner Ross Chastain was disqualified for failing post-race inspection.

The third-place run matched Burton’s best Truck Series finish of the season, and coupled with Chastain’s issues, allowed him to strengthen his hold on the eighth and final spot on the provisional playoff grid.

However, Burton – ever the racer – wanted more out of a short-track event he felt he could have capitalized on.

“We had a tough race because we had really high expectations for Iowa. We had a chance to win last year and ran fourth this year, which isn’t bad, but it’s not what we come here to do,” noted Burton. “It was a good points day overall; we just really had to battle there. We really struggled firing off and couldn’t get spots on restarts, but over the long runs we could maintain and get better and better.

“Iowa is pretty fun. I love this race track,” Burton added. “It’s a lot of fun to pull slide jobs on people and things like that – it’s like a dirt track sometimes. I’m proud of the way we fought and had good pit stops and made it work to come away with a good result.”

Burton was also pleased to have the amount of options that he did, particularly in the Truck race, where the groove widened out dramatically as the afternoon progressed.

“I think no matter where you are, it’s all about clean air – like at a mile-and-a-half – because there are just so many options for lanes,” Burton noted of Iowa. “The top and bottom were just as good for me in one and two … either way in the truck.”

In the Xfinity Series race, Burton showed quickly that he was going to be a threat for the long haul, and made plenty of noise in the No. 18 DEX Imaging Toyota Supra.

The second-generation driver cracked the top five within 20 laps and remained there for nearly the rest of the distance, snagging stage finishes of fifth and third before slotting into fourth following the final restart of the day with 10 to go.

It marked Burton’s best-career finish in his young Xfinity Series career and backed up the top-10 effort he run in during his series debut at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in April.

“I wanted to win one of these things, but we had a really good run and I had a lot of fun doing it,” said Burton. “Me and (Justin) Allgaier had a really fun race there at the end. This place is so hard to pass and he did a really good job of blocking, to where I just couldn’t necessarily give him a slide job. He drove it in deeper than I thought I could because he was on the top and kind of blocked that for me, so he did a good job holding me off there.

“I just had a lot of fun driving this Xfinity car. These cars really match my style and this race track matches my style,” he added. “I had a lot of fun today and I hope to be able to come back and do it again soon.”

Despite nearly 400 miles of racing in an eight-hour time span, Burton still flashed his trademark grin after his second race of the afternoon, as well.

“I feel pretty good,” he noted. “This was a great day, all around.”

LE MANS, France – A penalty has cost Keating Motorsports the 24 Hours of Le Mans GTE-Am class victory.

The No. 85 Ford GT, which was shared by team owner Ben Keating, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Felipe Fraga, was disqualified Monday because the total onboard fuel volume was in excess of the permitted limit.

The penalty elevated the Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR of Jorg Bergmeister, Egidio Perfetti and Patrick Lindsey to the top step of the podium in the GTE-Am class.

The penalty against Keating Motorsports is the second such penalty levied against a Ford GT following the conclusion of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Earlier on Monday the No. 68 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT, which finished fourth in GTE-Pro with drivers Sebastien Bourdais, Joey Hand and Dirk Muller, was disqualified for the same reason.

A .001-second margin of victory for Zane Ferrell allowed him to eek out Jennerstown Speedway Complex veteran Barry Awtey in a nailbiter on Saturday night at the .522-mile facility in Pennsylvania! (Video Courtesy of Pit Row TV)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – CARSTAR, a North American network of independently owned collision repair facilities, will support Alex Bowman at Watkins Glen Int’l.

The opportunity to sponsor Bowman’s No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet is thanks to a joint promotion with paint partner Axalta Coating Systems, which sponsors the No. 88 team and Bowman.

The CARSTAR logo will be featured on the roof and television panel.  In addition, Bowman will wear a unique helmet in the race featuring a design created through a contest with cystic fibrosis chapters across North America.

“What CARSTAR is doing by building awareness in the need for a cystic fibrosis cure is amazing,” Bowman said. “I’m excited to see the winning design of the ‘Accelerate the Cure’ contest and will be honored to wear that helmet at Watkins Glen.  Our team plans to put on a great show for everyone at Axalta, CARSTAR and their guests.”

“We appreciate the co-branding opportunity with one of our most important North American customers, CARSTAR,” said Seth Wilcox, Sales & Distribution Director, North America, for Axalta Coating Systems. “We’ve been partnered with CARSTAR for several years and our partnership has never been stronger. We are thrilled to go build on that relationship here and as we continue to grow together in the future. CARSTAR is one of the fastest growing MSOs in North America and we are fortunate to be their partner. We’d also like to acknowledge Alex for offering up his helmet to be custom designed in a promotion between Axalta, Hendrick Motorsports, CARSTAR and Cystic Fibrosis.”

“This year marks our 30th anniversary and we’re doing something special every month to celebrate this tremendous milestone, ” said Michael Macaluso, president of CARSTAR. “For our August celebration we are thrilled to take the CARSTAR brand to one of North America’s top spectator sports with a young star like Alex Bowman, as he helps us raise awareness for our charity of choice – cystic fibrosis. We can’t wait to see the No. 88 Axalta/CARSTAR Chevrolet on the track and share the CARSTAR story with millions of race fans.”

The Accelerate the Cure contest allows participants to illustrate what a cure for cystic fibrosis would allow them the freedom and ability to do. The contest is open to those with cystic fibrosis, their families and those affected by the disease. To participate, visit the Accelerate the Cure contest page www.acceleratethecurecf.com to download the helmet design template and contest rules.  The contest runs June 17 to July 5.

The winning design will be selected by representatives from Axalta, Hendrick Motorsports, CARSTAR, Cystic Fibrosis Canada and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The winner will receive a special VIP race experience at the Watkins Glen race from Aug. 2-4, including travel and accommodations and suite passes for the NASCAR Cup Series race.

COLUMBUS, Ind. — Indiana Midget Week was, until this month, something that had sat unchecked near the top of my bucket list as far as an event I wanted to go and experience firsthand.

It’s one thing to read about the six-races-in-six-days grind that makes up one of short-track racing’s most unique and highly regarded challenges, but it’s quite another to traverse it in person.

So, armed with my (slightly) beat-up Saturn SUV and a general idea of my road map for the week, I took the recent trip to the Hoosier State to add a check to my racing résuméand learn what Indiana Midget Week was all about.

The prevailing answer I got from everyone I met along the way? Passion.

Those seven letters were evident in every nook and cranny that I peered into over the course of my five-day sojourn. There was no moment when the passion of teams, drivers, officials and fans wasn’t easily observed; whether racing had yet to begin or on-track activities had long-since ceased for the night.

Why else would drivers from as far as Oklahoma, Nevada and California — or in New Zealander Michael Pickens’ case, overseas — come from hours or days away just to lose sleep and work tirelessly for a week straight at dirt tracks across Indiana — some squarely nestled in the hardest-to-find places?

Indiana Midget Week is rooted in a passion for the sport, and not just racing in general, but the purest form of the sport that still exists in the United States.

This isn’t NASCAR or Formula One, with millions of dollars of technology and equipment crammed into haulers and garage bays, and where drivers race at tracks more akin to palaces than sports stadiums.

No, this is grassroots competition at its finest, where family teams can race toe to toe with the bigger-budget operations and where you’re going to leave at the end of the night with dirt and grime on your hands, in your hair and stuck in places you didn’t even know it could get stuck.

Trust me, I found that out really quickly.

Indiana Midget Week is a place where, as a media member, you’re lucky if there’s space in some of the control towers to be able to set up a laptop and provide updates during the night, but as a fan, the old-school setup and feel allows greater access to the stars of the night than any national-level racing event anywhere in the country.

When some of those stars are nationally-known — like Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series regular Kyle Larson or Tanner Thorson, who spent time in the NASCAR ranks before returning to his dirt-track roots this year — it’s more proof of that passion I spoke of earlier, because why else would they come?

They, like everyone else in attendance, simply love the sport enough to keep coming back.

And make no mistake, these stars took the time each night to make sure the fans who came to see them compete went home happy, with an experience they won’t soon forget.

“It’s just about the enjoyment of racing and being able to come back at this level,” said Larson of his yearly returns for select Indiana Midget Week shows. “It’s a lot of fun … even though I only get to come in for a couple of nights now. It can be stressful for the teams running for the title, but the atmosphere is pretty special, with all the campers that come in and the fans that come out to support this deal.

“It’s got a big fan following and it’s a place where a lot of friendships are fostered.”

If you attend Midget Week for the first time, like I did, you realize by about the third day you’re going to lose sleep before it’s all over. That’s just how it is, when you combine late nights and work after each race with early wake-up calls to be able to get up or down the road to the next day’s race track.

It’s the same way for all the race teams. Whether it’s rooted in victory celebrations, routine maintenance or repairing a car from the ills of the most-recent race, each driver and crew member burns the midnight oil making sure everything is squarely in place for the next day. Then, the cycle repeats all over again.

But at the end of the day — pun intended — we all do so because we love what we do within the sport. And none of us would have it any other way.

Throughout the course of the week, this year’s Indiana Midget Week saw a different driver win the feature each night, with three different teams — Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, Clauson-Marshall Racing and the single-car RAMS Racing outfit — triumphing during the five-day stretch.

But interwoven among those powerhouses were stories like Cannon McIntosh’s runner-up result at Gas City I-69 Speedway and Ethan Mitchell’s fast-time-to-top-five effort at Bloomington Speedway, both achieved with smaller, family-owned and operated organizations that took the fight to the big squads.

It didn’t matter who you were, or how you got there, anyone could succeed on Indiana Midget Week.

That theory was why more than 30 cars showed up every night, because on any given day, each driver knew he or she had a shot for something special to happen.

At its core, that belief is what the passion of auto racing is all about.

It’s what I found interwoven throughout Indiana Midget Week — and for that reason it won’t be my last journey to Midget Week.