MOORESVILLE, N.C. — As winter raged on through much of the U.S., it became more and more apparent that the country and the racing industry were facing another six months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s been one year since the COVID-19 shutdown began and for all of those who believed last year was a bad year, it appears 2021 could be nearly as challenging, especially in auto racing.

While it is true that several promising vaccines have been approved for use in the United States and more are on the way, the vaccination schedule and procedures vary significantly from state to state.

The state policies in North Carolina and Indiana are not the same as California and New York.

When the Daytona 500 was run on Feb. 14 at Florida’s Daytona Int’l Speedway, NASCAR teams continued to operate in a “bubble” with spectator attendance limited to 30,000 fans. There were also highly restrictive media policies to limit the number of media covering the event.

While the vaccines give hope that one day this nightmare will come to an end, there simply aren’t enough people vaccinated in the United States to allow that to happen any time soon.

By early February, more than 445,000 COVID-related deaths had occurred in the U.S. with more people dying every day. By comparison, an average flu outbreak causes between 12,000 to 40,000 deaths.

President Joe Biden indicated that 75 percent of U.S. citizens should be vaccinated before many of the restrictions are lifted.

President Biden is hopeful that by October large groups of spectators can return to sporting events without wearing masks.

But the current vaccination rate is far behind the rate needed to hit 75 percent of the population by October. There isn’t enough vaccine, there is confusion about when certain population groups are eligible and, frankly, there remains a tremendous amount of skepticism about the safety of the vaccine.

Some citizens who have been eligible have chosen not to be vaccinated based on a fear of the vaccine’s safety.

Fans who thought they could return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the 105th Indianapolis 500 to celebrate another spectacle with a full crowd should be prepared for bad news.

It’s highly unlikely there will be enough vaccinations by May 30 to allow a near-capacity crowd.

“We are strategizing for next year’s 500 looking at it from 50 percent capacity to 30 percent to 10 percent capacity,” Penske Corp. President Bud Denker told SPEED SPORT. “All I can say is the race will be held on May 30, its traditional date, and we are going over different scenarios regarding how many spectators will be allowed to attend.

“If I were to guess, it will be a big crowd, closer to the larger number than the smaller one.”

Penske Entertainment CEO Mark Miles has hopes of at least 50 percent attendance on race day.

With 235,000 permanent seats, 50 percent capacity would be 117,500 fans at IMS. That is close to the 90,000 spectators that IMS officials originally wanted to have attend the 104th Indianapolis 500, that was run on Aug. 23 without spectators.

IndyCar has also adjusted its schedule because of the ongoing pandemic. Instead of starting the season March 7 with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the season will open April 18 at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama. The St. Petersburg event is now scheduled for April 25.

There was no race at Barber Motorsports Park last year because of COVID-19.

The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach has been moved from its traditional mid-April date to the season finale on Sept. 25 in the hope the state of California will allow spectators by then.

The Honda Indy Toronto is on the schedule for July 11, but that will once again be dependent on the Canadian government. For now, spectators are not allowed to attend sporting events in Canada.

Attendance at racing events in the United States depends on local and state government regulations during the pandemic and they are different depending on the location.

It’s another challenging time for auto racing, and even more troublesome for IMS and IndyCar owner Roger Penske.

Shortly after he purchased Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IndyCar from the Hulman- George family, the pandemic began and Penske has yet to see his massive purchase bear financial fruit.

SEBRING, Fla. – German driver Moritz Kranz maintained his perfect record by scoring his second consecutive IMSA Prototype Challenge pole position Saturday morning in qualifying for the afternoon’s one-hour, 45-minute race at Sebring Int’l Raceway.

Kranz piloted the No. 21 Muehlner Motorsports America Duqueine D08 to a best lap of one minute, 54.467 seconds (111.962 mph) to earn the P3-1 class pole.

Kranz also earned the P3-1 pole for January’s IMSA Prototype Challenge Scouts of America 145 season opener at Daytona and was the fastest qualifier in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship LMP3 class for January’s Motul Pole Award 100.

He also combined with co-driver Laurents Hoerr to win the Motul Pole Award 100. In short, he’s on quite a hot streak when it comes to qualifying.

Saturday morning’s 15-minute session was abbreviated due to red flag for an incident in turn seven involving Mel Johnson in the No. 81 One Motorsports Ligier JS P320, but Kranz made the most of the available time.

“It was a strange session,” said Kranz. “I didn’t get the radio call that there was only three minutes left, so I was a little bit surprised when I came to the start-finish and saw the checkered flag. Fortunately, it worked out in the end.”

Kranz and Hoerr are hoping everything works out again in Saturday afternoon’s race, the same way it did in January’s Scouts of America 145, which they won.

“I’ll try to run away from the pack in the first stint,” Hoerr said. “I hope I can give an advantage to Laurents that he can finish the race in P1, but I think it’s going to be an eventful race, so we’ve got to see.”

Dan Goldburg qualified second in the Motel 6-liveried No. 6 Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier he shares with co-driver Rasmus Lindh. Goldburg’s best lap was 1:57.732 (114.361 mph).

Josh Sarchet qualified third in the No. 54 MLT Motorsports Ligier at 1:58.550 (113.572 mph). Sarchet’s co-driver is Dakota Dickerson.

Danny Kok earned the P3-2 class pole at 2:03.207 (109.279 mph) in the No. 61 Conquest Racing Norma M30 that he co-drives with George Staikos.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres will be without captain Jack Eichel for what coach Ralph Krueger called "the foreseeable future" in delivering yet another blow to a team in the midst of a nine-game skid.

The injury is not considered season-ending, though Krueger on Saturday was unable to provide a fixed timetable on how much time Eichel will miss.

"An injury of this nature needs more assessment and more time to understand it," he said. "We just know that it will be some time here from shorter all the way to what you've already mentioned [season-ending], but it's somewhere in between that."

The update came after Eichel traveled to see a specialist over the past two days to further determine the severity of the injury. Under the NHL's COVID-19 protocol rules, Eichel is required to spend seven days in quarantine as a result of the trip, meaning he will miss at least Buffalo's next four games.

He has already missed two games since he was checked into the end boards by Casey Cizikas in the closing minutes of a 5-2 loss at the New York Islanders on Sunday. Eichel went to the bench, where he was spotted wincing in pain while flexing his neck.

The Sabres, who host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night, are in free fall. Buffalo (6-15-4) ranks last in the league in wins and on an 0-7-2 skid, putting the team already in danger of extending its playoff drought to an NHL-record-matching 10th season.

Eichel's latest injury is separate from the previous two that have severely hampered his production this season.

He missed the first week of training camp after suffering an upper-body injury during a precamp on-ice workout at the Sabres' practice facility. A person with direct knowledge of what happened told The Associated Press on Saturday that Eichel sustained a rib injury during a workout with Matt Ellis, the team's director of player development.

Eichel also missed two games last month with a lower-body injury.

A year after scoring a career-best 36 goals in 68 games, the five-time 20-plus goal-scorer has been limited to two goals and 16 assists in 21 games this year. He had not scored in 13 games before being hurt.

Eichel's scoring troubles reflect that of the Sabres, who rank 30th in the 31-team league in averaging 2.24 goals a game, and last in having scored 34 times in five-on-five situations.

His extended absence represents the latest setback to a team that's lurched from one crisis to another through the first two months of the season, and led to questions regarding Krueger's job security two years into his job.

Buffalo's schedule was placed on pause for two weeks after a COVID-19 outbreak struck the team in early February, during which seven players and Krueger were affected. The pause resulted in the Sabres facing a constricted schedule in which they are squeezing in their final 46 games over 83 days.

Injuries have become an issue.

Starting goalie Linus Ullmark is still weeks away from recovering from a lower-body injury last month. And the Sabres are also missing two key defensemen, including Jake McCabe, who sustained a season-ending knee injury last month.

Rookie center Dylan Cozens is the latest to be sidelined. Krueger said Cozens will not play Saturday and is listed day to day with an upper-body injury.

Cozens was hurt while crashing into the boards following a midice check from Pittsburgh's Zach Anton-Reese early in the third period of a 5-2 loss to the Penguins on Thursday. Cozens had just released the puck and appeared to hit his head while striking the boards.

Cozens has three goals and two assists in 20 games, and had been elevated to playing on Buffalo's top line in place of Eichel.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Twenty years ago, in Round 3 of The Players Championship, Tiger Woods made a long and winding putt on the par-3 17th hole, forever ingrained in golf's pop culture by Gary Koch's "Better than most!" call.

Earlier this week, Golf Channel looked back on the putt that was instrumental in Woods winning his first Players title.

On Saturday, the PGA Tour is paying tribute to the moment with the same hole location for the third round of this year's edition, with Koch's call and the 2001 date etched into the pin flag.

Woods, who also won this championship in 2013, is not in this week's field as he is recovering from a single-car crash in Los Angeles, California on Feb. 23. Earlier this week, Rory McIlroy appeared on the "Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" to say he had talked to Woods and that Woods was hoping to return home to Florida "in the next week or so."

Bayern Munich cruised to a 3-1 victory at Werder Bremen on Saturday with striker Robert Lewandowski climbing to second place in the Bundesliga's all-time scorers list as the champions opened up a five-point lead at the top.

The 32-year-old Lewandowski, the 2020 FIFA World Player, twice hit the woodwork early in the second half before tapping in for to make it 3-0 and join Klaus Fischer on 268 Bundesliga goals, second on the all-time scorers list only to Gerd Mueller and his astonishing 365-goal record.

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The Bavarians, who welcome Lazio for their Champions League Round of 16 second leg on Wednesday, were never troubled by the hosts, and Leon Goretzka headed them into the lead in the 22nd minute.

Thomas Mueller then delivered his 13th assist of the season in the 35th for Serge Gnabry to slot in.

Lewandowski, who has also played for Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga, was determined to join them on the score sheet after the break. But in the 54th and then 58th minute, he hit the woodwork, and twice more Werder keeper Jiri Pavlenka denied him with superb saves.

But a lucky bounce from a Kingsley Coman cross in the 67th allowed the Poland forward to tap in from close range and take his league tally this season to 32 goals, one step closer to Gerd Mueller's league record of 40 goals in a season dating back to the 1971/72 campaign.

Lewandowski hit the post a third time in the 78th minute and Niclas Fuellkrug scored a late goal for the hosts as Bayern moved up to 58 points, with second-placed RB Leipzig, on 53, in action against Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.

VfL Wolfsburg climbed to third spot on 48 points with a 5-0 demolition of basement club Schalke 044.

Karim Benzema scored two late goals to help Real Madrid come from a goal down to win 2-1 against Elche on Saturday.

Daniel Calvo had put Elche ahead just after the hour mark before the Frenchman scored twice in the last 20 minutes to give Madrid the win.

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Elche came close to scoring several times with Thibaut Courtois forced into several fine saves.

Guido Carrillo nearly opened the scoring for Elche five minutes from half-time after Tete Morente dropped a ball into the box which he headed towards goal.

Sergio Ramos, securing his first start in 10 games, had a penalty appeal waved away on 55 minutes after VAR found that Ivan Marcone had been fouled and not Ramos.

Madrid were made to pay for their missed chances when Calvo put Elche ahead with a header from a corner after 61 minutes.

However, their lead didn't last long as Benzema pulled one back for Zinedine Zidane's side just over 10 minutes later.

Substitute Luka Modric delivered a ball into the box and Benzema headed it in.

Madrid's winner came in the 91st minute after Benzema received the ball through a one-two with Casemiro before hitting a shot past Edgar Badia.

Big picture

Sri Lanka's tours over the past two months have a sense of haunting familiarity to them. Key players are absent due to various unfortunate reasons (on this tour, Lahiru Kumara couldn't make it because he contracted Covid-19, Dasun Shanaka's visa didn't come through, and Angelo Mathews has had to return home for personal reasons). The players that remain have shown fight at times, putting together decent partnerships, occasionally stringing together some solid spells. But the series wins have eluded them. Since December, Sri Lanka have lost all matches apart from that one T20I last week.

West Indies, meanwhile, have been propelled by their openers. In two matches, they've struck a century apiece, and the lowest score either has been dismissed for is 65. Hope's quality has been obvious for some time, but Lewis has been particularly impressive this series, showcasing a more measured approach to his batting than we are used to seeing from him.

Their success has also been down to the variety in their attack, and Jason Mohammed's offspin in particular, has made a substantial impact. He's taken 5 for 59 in the series so far, and on Friday was instrumental in keeping Sri Lanka pinned to the wall through the middle overs.

Form guide

West Indies: WWLLL
Sri Lanka: : LLWWW

In the spotlight

Hope might be West Indies' premier ODI batsman for now, but 24 innings in, Nicholas Pooran is putting together a mighty ODI record too. He needs 33 more runs to complete 1000 in ODIs (if he does it in the next two innings, he'll be the third-fastest West Indian to the milestone, behind Viv Richards and Gordon Greenidge). On Friday, he was nerveless in the final over, which West Indies needed nine from, punishing even slight errors of length from Nuwan Pradeep. A batsman who is both adept at rotating the strike against spin, as well as blasting the quicks, Pooran seems set to be a middle-order force for West Indies for a while.

Like many young Sri Lanka batsmen, Danushka Gunathilaka has had a long and at times difficult internship in the national team, but are there signs he is finally getting things together? He's been easily Sri Lanka's best batsman in the series so far, putting up scores of 55 off 61 and a run-a-ball 96. Part of his recent success has been because he has hit fours - along the ground - more frequently and proficiently than he ever has, and has put away some of the riskier aerial strokes. Sri Lanka desperately need Gunathilaka to become a consistent performer at the top of the order - something they haven't had since TM Dilshan's retirement.

Pitch and conditions

The pitch for the third ODI is likely to be batting-friendly, as the surfaces for the first two were. The weather is forecast to be good for the duration of the match.

Team news

West Indies may be tempted to give Kevin Sinclair or Kyle Mayers a game, though as ODI Super League points are on the line, there is the temptation to play their best XI even for this dead rubber.

West Indies (possible): 1 Shai Hope (wk), 2 Evin Lewis, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Jason Mohammed, 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Kieron Pollard (capt.), 7 Jason Holder, 8 Romario Shepherd, 9 Fabian Allen, 10 Akeal Hosein/Kevin Sinclair, 11 Alzarri Joseph

Dasun Shanaka becomes available for this game, so it is possible he comes in. Though as he's fresh out of quarantine, that's not a guarantee.

Sri Lanka (possible): 1 Dimuth Karunaratne (capt.), 2 Danushka Gunathilaka, 3 Pathum Nissanka, 4 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 5 Ashen Bandara, 6 Oshada Fernando/Dasun Shanaka 7 Thisara Perera, 8 Wanindu Hasaranga, 9 Lakshan Sandakan, 10 Dushmantha Chameera, 11 Nuwan Pradeep

Stats and trivia

• West Indies' spinners have taken seven wickets in the series (Mohammed claiming five of those). Sri Lanka's spinners only have a solitary breakthrough, to Lakshan Sandakan.
• Shai Hope (194 runs, average 97) and Evin Lewis (168 runs, average 84) are the two top-scorers of the series, both striking at around 80.
• Pooran has played five innings against Sri Lanka and averages 61.25 against them. This is his highest average against any nation.

Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha has become the first Premier League player to not take a knee before a game since the demonstration began last season, standing during the prematch ritual against West Brom on Saturday.

Players and officials have been taking a knee before games since protests began after the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis in May 2020.

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"My decision to stand at kick-off has been public knowledge for a couple of weeks now," Zaha said in a statement via his management team Rocnation. "There is no right or wrong decision, but for me personally I feel kneeling has just become a part of the prematch routine and at the moment it doesn't matter whether we kneel or stand, some of us still continue to receive abuse.

"I know there is a lot of work being done behind the scenes at the Premier League and other authorities to make change, and I fully respect that, and everyone involved. I also fully respect my teammates and players at other clubs who continue to take the knee.

"As a society, I feel we should be encouraging better education in schools, and social media companies should be taking stronger action against people who abuse others online -- not just footballers. I now just want to focus on football and enjoy being back playing on the pitch. I will continue to stand tall.

Zaha had previously said taking a knee before every game is "degrading" and called for tangible change instead of being used to "tick boxes."

"The whole kneeling down -- why must I kneel down for you to show that we matter," he told the "On The Judy" podcast. "Why must I even wear Black Lives Matter on the back of my top to show you that we matter? This is all degrading stuff.

"When people constantly want to get me to do Black Lives Matter talks and racial talks and I'm like, I'm not doing it just so you can put 'Zaha spoke for us.' Like a tick box, basically.

"I'm not doing any more because unless things change, I'm not coming to chat to you just for the sake of it, like all the interviews I've done."

The Ivory Coast international came up through Palace's academy and has spent 11 seasons of his senior career with them. He is not expected to face a punishment.

Premier League CEO Richard Masters said earlier Saturday that players would continue to take a knee before games until the end of the season.

"It is a big statement, it was player-led. We spent a lot of time talking to players. It was an emotional time during the pandemic," Masters told Sky Sports.

"Going back to Project Restart, when we were talking to players, they wanted to make a statement about their thanks to the NHS and key workers and to make a stand against the events in America last summer.

"We were happy to support the players. Perhaps for the first time, we had the Premier League, clubs and players on the same page on an important issue.

Palace beat West Brom 1-0 thanks to a first-half penalty by Luka Milivojevic.

Duke could play in the NCAA tournament if selected as an at-large team or a COVID-replacement team, a source told ESPN's Rece Davis.

The Blue Devils withdrew from the ACC tournament Thursday after a positive COVID-19 test within the program. At the time, athletic director Kevin White said in a statement that the cancellation of the conference tournament quarterfinal game "will end our 2020-21 season," ending Duke's streak of 24 consecutive NCAA tournament apperances.

The Blue Devils (13-11, 9-9 ACC), who won their first two games in the conference tournament, entered the week knowing that they likely needed to win the ACC tournament to extend the NCAA streak dating to 1996.

On Friday, Virginia became the second team in as many days forced to withdraw from the ACC tournament due to COVID-19 issues and contact tracing.

To play in the NCAA tournament, a team needs to show seven consecutive negative daily tests before arriving in Indianapolis, then undergo daily testing while inside the controlled environment there.

Dan Gavitt, NCAA senior vice president of men's basketball, has also said that a team just needs five healthy players to play in an NCAA tournament game.

Saturday night is the deadline for any team believing that it cannot meet the medical protocols to inform the Division I Men's Basketball Committee. There is also a 48-hour window after the bracket is announced during which teams can be replaced. After Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET, the bracket is locked.

Dave Ewers' try with five minutes left saw second-placed Exeter overturn a 13-point second-half deficit to beat third-placed Harlequins at Sandy Park.

Scott Baldwin's try and a Marcus Smith penalty saw Harlequins' lead grow to 20-7 before a Harry Williams try.

And after sustained pressure on the Quins line Ewers went over for the win.

The visitors almost crossed replied with a try of their own in the final minute after a line break by Smith, but Ewers forced a turnover on Exeter's own five-metre line to ensure victory.

Defending champions Exeter consolidate second place in the Premiership and are now five points clear of Harlequins, who earned a losing bonus point. Quins are two points clear of fourth-placed Sale, who visit Northampton on Saturday.

But for two fine last-ditch tackles, Exeter could have scored two tries from excellent line breaks in the first 10 minutes, as Joe Simmonds and the ever-dangerous Tom O'Flaherty were hauled down close to the line by Smith and Care respectively.

Both sides struggled to keep hold of the ball in wet conditions, but it was former England scrum-half Care who struck first. The 34-year-old went over unopposed for his 65th Premiership try after quick hands in the forwards released Alex Dombrandt with Care on his shoulder for the offload.

Townsend scored from close range after a well-worked line-out routine by Exeter, before 22-year-old Smith kicked his first penalty for Quins on his 100th appearance to give the visitors a 10-7 lead at the break.

Harlequins went further ahead five minutes after the restart when Baldwin was forced over from a five-metre line-out.

They then crucially saw a Ben Tapuai try ruled out for a knock on in the build-up before Smith went on to land a second penalty to make it 20-7 with 25 minutes left.

A quick tap penalty by Townsend gave Exeter the position for Williams to get his first try of the season and the Chiefs could have gone further ahead 12 minutes from time when Ewers broke through, but James Chisholm did well to turn the ball over close to his line.

But following a five-metre line-out Exeter stretched the field, and after a number of phases on the Quins line, Ewers was on hand to go over to secure a key win over a play-off rival.

Exeter forwards coach Rob Hunter:

"We showed a lot of character to come through the game, especially when we went two scores behind, and it was a tough test for us.

"We made a lot of mistakes, and our ability to move on and do the next thing well is usually pretty good, but at the moment we are dwelling on those mistakes a little while and you can see it in our body language.

"We are getting a little bit frustrated because maybe we are not hitting the heights that we know we can and that can be positive pressure and we have got to make sure we get on top of that a little bit and move on quickly from mistakes."

Harlequins general manager Billy Millard:

"In the second half we just leaked a couple more penalties and a couple more turnovers, and gave them some ball to kick to the corner, and they are pretty clinical when they get those opportunities.

"I thought our defence created a lot of turnovers and we were pretty clean on the penalty count. We just creaked over that a little bit in the second half and gave them a couple of opportunities to get into their driving line-out.

"We came down here pretty confident about what we needed to execute, and we played well and we did a lot of good things.

"It is important now that we reflect and keep driving forward. Playing the European champions is always a good challenge and I think we will get confidence out of it."

Exeter Chiefs: Cordero; Cuthbert, Whitten, Hendrickson, O'Flaherty; J Simmonds (capt), Townsend; Hepburn, Innard, Williams, Kirsten, S Skinner, Ewers, Vermeulen, S Simmonds.

Replacements: Taione, Moon, Street, Lonsdale, Capstick, Hidalgo-Clyne, H Skinner, Devoto.

Harlequins: Brown; Green, Marchant, Tapuai, Murley; Smith, Care; Marler, Baldwin, Louw, Symons, Lewies, Chisholm, Evans, Dombrandt.

Replacements: Gray, Garcia Botta, Collier, Young, Lawday, Landajo, Herron, Northmore.

Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys.