MOORESVILLE, N.C. – As a young boy growing up in El Cajon, Calif., Jimmie Johnson used to attend the Long Beach Grand Prix and marvel at the sleek, speedy Indy cars of CART.

His dream was to one day drive one of those cars.

Tuesday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the seven-time NASCAR Cup champion got the chance to fulfill that dream during a test session with Chip Ganassi Racing.

“Today was a really special today,” Johnson said after Tuesday’s test. “I’m thankful to Chip Ganassi Racing, Mike Hull, Scott Dixon, Barry Wanser – everybody involved to help this come together and give me an experience in an Indy car today.

“I grew up wanting to be an IndyCar racer. I grew up in Southern California, going to the Long Beach Grand Prix watching races there and wanted to be on the inside of the fence in one of these cars,” he added. “Today was fulfilling a childhood dream to be in an Indy car whipping around and I had a blast doing it.”

Johnson is in his final season as a full-time NASCAR competitor for Hendrick Motorsports. He has said numerous times he wants to drive in different forms of racing in the future, including a street and road course schedule in IndyCar.

Johnson got his first test in a Chip Ganassi Racing Honda on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

“What made today so fun is all of the aggression you remove to be successful in a Cup car, you can apply in an Indy car,” Johnson said Tuesday. “You really do get rewarded for aggression and commitment. Finding that limit and trying to figure out how to operate on that edge is what I spent most of the day trying to figure out. The amount of time you have to respond to the car getting out of control is so much smaller in one of these.

“I spun out twice trying to find the edge, but as the day went on, I was able to identify the early cues from the car and what was taking place.

The driver who was coaching him through the process was five-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon.

That’s a total of 12 major series championships between the two drivers.

“Experience is everything,” Johnson said. “To have a lot of familiar faces and friends on this team that I have known for years, including Scott Dixon coming out and hanging and talking and shooting straight and lead me go down the right road was really, really helpful.

“Chip even came out and when he showed up, my heart rate went up a few beats,” Johnson said of team owner Chip Ganassi. “A great group of people, a welcoming group of people who were there to help me and we had a successful day today.”

Johnson was originally scheduled to drive an Arrow McLaren Racing SP Chevrolet at Barber Motorsports Park the day after the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, but both the race and the test were canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Johnson was later scheduled to do a test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway a few days after this year’s July 5 Brickyard 400, but that was cancelled after Johnson tested positive for COVID-19.

Later that week, Johnson received two negative tests taken more than 24 hours apart and the Hendrick Motorsports driver returned to his NASCAR duties.

Dixon was very impressed with Johnson’s ability to understand and adapt to the different style of racing in an Indy car from a NASCAR Chevrolet.

“To me, it’s been a lot of fun, I’ve been a big Jimmie Johnson fan for a long time and it’s cool to work with him,” Dixon said. “He did a fantastic job. The hardest part is knowing baselines and when you don’t have a teammate running with you during the day, you don’t know where you stand. The biggest thing for me is when we went through the data and even video, how he was replicate when I told him, ‘Jimmie, do this’ or “Do that’ he would be able to just do it. That’s really difficult to do and comprehend when it’s not your comfort zone.

“Honestly, he did a tremendous job. Times are tough to read because of track conditions, the heat today and tire conditions, he did a mega job,” Dixon added. “For him, he was so excited to get to the test, get in the car and get running. It’s been a lot of fun to spend the day listening to what he feels and how different it is.

“You couldn’t get two more polar extremes from NASCAR to IndyCar, especially on a track like this.”

MILLSBORO, Del. – The Bob Hilbert Sportswear Short Track Super Series fueled by Sunoco has repeatedly burst into new territory during an unprecedented 2020 season.

Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Maryland have all already been added to that list, and now, Short Track Super Series fans can add Louisiana to the rostrum as well.

For the first time, STSS organizer Brett Deyo and Brandon Hightower of the Louisiana-based Southern Super Modified Series have joined forces for some ‘Cajun Flavor’ in November, bringing Northeast-style modifieds to the Bayou Nov. 11-14.

It all kicks off Wed., Nov. 11 and Thurs., Nov. 12 at Ark-La-Tex Speedway in Vivian, La., with back-to-back nights of racing. The Thursday event offers $4,000 to win for 40 laps, with $5,000 going to Friday’s 50-lap winner.

On Friday and Saturday, Nov. 13-14, teams travel approximately 130 miles east to Chatham Speedway in Chatham, La., to kick off the ‘Mods in the Marsh 100’ weekend.

Friday night will be reserved for practice and qualifying.

The 100-lap, $20,000-to-win ‘Mods in the Marsh 100’ will be the Saturday night headliner.

All the Louisiana events will be broadcast live on SPEED SPORT Network affiliate Dirt Track Digest TV.

“This is an exciting opportunity to expand our reach into a new portion of the country,” STSS organizer Brett Deyo said. “Brandon (Hightower) and the Southern Super Modified Series have done an awesome job bringing our style of Modifieds to Louisiana and the surrounding states.

“Putting our brands together will launch the modifieds into the national spotlight.”

Jerry Hobson’s Chatham Speedway played host to some of the Northeast’s biggest names in May, with Larry Wight and Matt Sheppard etching their names in the history books with victories.

Hobson, whose primary night paid $10,000 in May, upped the ante to $20,000 for the November visit after a huge crowd took in the action.

Gene Boyter, the owner and builder of Ark-La-Tex Speedway, only hosts special events at his quarter-mile facility, including the USMTS Cajun Clash.

Boyter was thrilled to see the Northeast-style modifieds at Ark-La-Tex and rented the facility to BD Motorsports Media LLC for the pair of events.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Motorsports Ass’n has submitted letters to President Donald Trump, House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell requesting their support of small businesses in the Phase 4 stimulus package currently in Congress.

The letter was submitted at the request of many racing-related manufacturers, suppliers, and race tracks, who are experiencing the hardships of the COVID-19 shutdowns.

The USMA remains focused on the restart of racing and helping tracks navigate their local and state government, but with the season already more than half over, the USMA is equally turning its focus to financial relief for impacted businesses.

Racing must be heard at all levels of government. Some of the relief funding from Congress will filter down to the state and local levels, and it remains important to pursue all relief options available to the racing industry.

As has been done throughout this entire pandemic, the USMA is committed to ensuring the racing industry does not fall to the back of the line. Small business makes up the majority of racing. It is also the hardest hit by the pandemic, according to the USMA’s survey data.

The letter submitted by the USMA can be read below.

KNOXVILLE, Iowa – The One and Only Weekend at Knoxville Raceway, Aug. 13-15, will be a one-of-a-kind event with a unique format and more than $400,000 in prize money on the line.

The format places importance on Thursday’s and Friday’s $10,000-to-win events, with points accumulated from results over the two nights determining drivers’ starting spots for Saturday’s $50,000-to-win Brownells Capitani Classic presented by Great Southern Bank.

Highlights of the unique format include the following:

Thursday and Friday

– Points will be earned for qualifying, heats, the D-main, the C-main, the Last Chance Showdown and the 25-lap feature.

– Drivers will be seeded based on hot lap times to determine the qualifying order for their group – with three cars qualifying at a time.

– The top 48 in qualifying will be inverted into six heat races, meaning eight cars will be inverted in each heat race.

– The top eight in accumulated points from qualifying and the heat races make up the night’s DIRTvision Fast Pass Dash.

Saturday

– Top 4 in accumulated points from Thursday & Friday are locked into Saturday’s DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash

– The balance of the cars will be split into four qualifying races – the four winners go to the DIRTvision Fast Pass Dash.

– A 30-lap feature paying $50,000-to-win and $3,000-to-start will cap the night.

“This event is like none other and it’s the richest three-day race this season, so since it’s ‘The One and Only’ it calls for a special format,” World of Outlaws CEO Brian Carter said. “This was put together by our World of Outlaws officials, with input from our teams, as well.

“It’s truly everybody coming together to make this week spectacular for the competitors and fans alike.”

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Early in the PGA Tour’s return to competition Rory McIlroy was asked about some of his fellow players who had decided not to endure a two-week quarantine to play in the United States.

“If I were in their shoes and I was asked to come over to the States and shelter in place or quarantine for two weeks before these tournaments, I would have done that. Because if you really care about your career and care about moving forward, you should be here,” McIlroy said in June at the RBC Heritage.

On Wednesday at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational the Northern Irishman was asked if the roles were reversed would he be willing to quarantine for 14 days to play The Open, which was cancelled this year.

“If it was an Open Championship and I had the chance to go over and play, I would probably take the risk and go and play,” McIlroy said.

However, McIlroy appeared to soften his stance on players who have made the decision to not travel despite a recent move by the White House to allow players and caddies coming to the United States to play Tour events to avoid the two-week quarantine.

“That’s not to say what Lee [Westwood] and Eddie [Pepperell] are doing isn't right, that they feel safer and they feel that their time is better spent at home and not exposing themselves to more people and not having the chance of getting sick or getting someone else sick,” McIlroy said. “I completely understand where they're coming from.”

Both Westwood and Pepperrell opted not to compete either this week or next week at the PGA Championship despite the quarantine waiver.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Without fans, there’s not much that distinguishes one PGA Tour event from another, and that includes next week’s PGA Championship, the first major championship played in over a year.

“All these tournaments are created by their atmosphere and everyone has a different feel, and every tournament since coming back off the lockdown has felt the same, whether it's the Colonial or the Travelers Championship or the Memorial or whatever it's been,” Rory McIlroy said on Wednesday at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. “It's the people and the atmosphere, that's what makes a tournament and when you don't have that, there's nothing really for them to differentiate themselves.”

After Wednesday’s announcement that the U.S. Open in September will be played without fans, it remains unclear when galleries will return to the Tour. For a player like McIlroy the answer is simple – when it’s safe.

“I guess when there's less of a chance of people getting sick. Whether that's they discover more with the virus or there's different treatments. I don't know,” McIlroy said. “Whether it's a vaccination or whether it's something happens where there's a breakthrough and we know a little bit more about what's going on with the virus, but I probably can't give you a definitive answer about when I would be comfortable with crowds again.”

The Tour recently moved to finish this season without fans or pro-ams, although a recent change to the circuit’s health and safety protocols will allow for up to 50 tournament and sponsor guests a day at select events. The earliest the Tour could reintroduce fans to tournaments would be in the fall portion of the 2020-21 schedule but that’s looking more unlikely as COVID-19 hotspots continue to flare up around the country.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – For the second consecutive tournament Justin Thomas will need a replacement caddie after his regular looper, Jimmy Johnson, became ill.

About halfway through the third round at the Memorial two weeks ago, Johnson left the course after becoming light-headed because of the intense heat. He was replaced for the remainder of the event by Thomas’ father, Mike.

On Wednesday, Thomas’s father was again on the bag and Thomas confirmed to Golf Channel that he will have Jim “Bones” McKay on the bag this week at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational and next week at the PGA Championship.

Johnson returned home and said via text that he plans to undergo testing on Thursday.

McKay recently returned to caddying after working for NBC Sports/Golf Channel as an on-course analyst. He spent two weeks on Matthew Fitzpatrick’s bag and the Englishman finished T-27 at the Workday Charity Open and third at the Memorial.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Following months of silence from the Premier Golf League, the offshoot circuit resurfaced last week with a report in The Guardian that several top players had received formal offer letters to join the PGL.

Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, Henrik Stenson, Brooks Koepka, Justin Rose and Rickie Fowler are among those who have been linked with the breakaway tour that has reportedly offered millions in guaranteed money and a new team concept.

Although one top player who has been mentioned as a possible PGL convert said last week that he’d received no offer from the league, on Wednesday at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational Stenson didn’t dismiss the notion.

“We've seen some of the things in the press and, yeah, I know a little bit what's going on behind the scenes and I'm following it closely, like a lot of other people,” said Stenson, who is making his first start since the pandemic halted play in March. “Yeah, we'll see what happens in the future, really.”

As for whether he received a formal letter, the Swede was coy: “Well . . .,” he said with a smile.

In March, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan appeared to quiet the growing PGL drumbeat when the circuit unveiled its new media rights agreements which came with substantial increases to the previous deals.

“I think that it's flattering when any entity is looking at what's happening on the PGA Tour and they see growth, they see momentum, they see a broadening reach to a larger fan base domestically and internationally, and it's no surprise that someone is coming to try and take a piece of that. That's the nature of business,” Monahan said on March 10.

Two days later, the Tour halted its schedule until early June because of COVID-19.

Gaby Lopez won’t get the chance to add to her two LPGA titles when the tour makes its restart at the Drive On Championship in Toledo, Ohio, this week.

She is the first LPGA player to test positive for COVID-19, in pre-tournament testing at Inverness Club.

Lopez has been withdrawn from the tournament and is in self-isolation. Tour and health officials are working with her on contact tracing. She was tested on Monday.

“I was very excited to get back to playing on tour after this long break and while I’m disappointed that I’ll have to wait a little longer, I am glad that I was able to get tested and to make sure I do not put anyone else at risk,” Lopez said in a statement. “I am self-isolating and will be following all the CDC and LPGA guidelines to get back to competing on Tour in a safe manner. I’m feeling good and looking forward to when I can return to playing on Tour.”

The LPGA will have full pre-tournament testing results for the Drive On Championship later this week.

LPGA protocols require Lopez to quarantine for a minimum of 10 days. She will take another saliva test on the 10th day and undergo a medical evaluation to determine if she is cleared to return to competition.

Lopez, 26, a former University of Arkansas standout from Mexico, won the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions earlier this year and also the Blue Bay LPGA in 2018.

And then there were eight. Both of last season's MLS Cup finalists, Toronto FC and the champion Seattle Sounders, were knocked out in the MLS is Back Tournament's round of 16, leaving a diverse field of quarterfinalists comprised of clubs vying for the Supporters' Shield, along with one or two surprise packages for some added drama.

With just six matches remaining before the final on Aug. 11 (8 p.m. ET, stream live on ESPN), we look ahead to the quarterfinal matchups on Thursday, Friday and Saturday to tell the story of how the teams made it this far, and whether they'll be able to continue their journey in Orlando.

Philadelphia Union vs. Sporting Kansas City
July 30, 8 p.m. ET (stream live on ESPN)

For the first time all tournament, Philadelphia controlled the pace of play in their knockout-round win over New England, but its opponents created more shots and more shots on target -- something that's emerged as a theme from the Union's play in Central Florida.

Jim Curtin's side has ground out results throughout the competition, drawing one match and winning the other three by single-goal margins. But what Philly lacks in gaudy attacking figures it makes up for in depth of scoring, with all five goals scored by five different players -- including just one by forward Kacper Przybylko, and none from 19-year-old rising star Brenden Aaronson.

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Sporting Kansas City have scored six goals in four matches in Orlando, but dig a little deeper and the numbers suggest an attack that is limping mightily. One of those goals came from the penalty spot, another two were scored in the 86th minute or later against opponents desperately chasing a result, and in the round of 16, they were shut out and taken to penalties by Vancouver -- a team that had conceded seven goals entering the contest. Alan Pulido was (expensively) brought in to alleviate SKC's scoring woes from a year ago, but he hasn't struck from open play yet in this tournament.

Both these clubs have kept it relatively tight at the back in Central Florida, and with both struggling to find the back of the net heading into Thursday's match, this has the makings of a hard-fought battle that will be determined by the plans and in-game adjustments of the league's longest-serving manager, Peter Vermes, and one of its brightest young tacticians, Curtin.

Our pick: Philadelphia

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— Major League Soccer (@MLS) July 29, 2020

Orlando City SC vs. LAFC
July 31, 7:30 p.m. ET

Orlando's narrow 1-0 knockout-round win over an organized Montreal side perhaps gave little reason for optimism in the remainder of the tournament, but consider how effective it was in the group-stage win over NYCFC, who dictated the tempo and controlled possession.

The Lions were exquisite on the counter-attack, with the work rate and pace of Chris Mueller particularly effective in that match. That will be their blueprint for success against Los Angeles, who averaged 64% of the ball in the group stage, giving the MLS is Back hosts a pristine opportunity for a famous upset.

Of course, that blueprint will be worth no more than the paper it's printed on if LAFC alter their game plan, like they did in a 4-1 round-of-16 win over defending MLS Cup champions Seattle Sounders. Last year's Supporters' Shield winners wreaked havoc in transition, finding countless opportunities against a Seattle defense that routinely found itself scrambling to get organized following turnovers. LAFC have scored 15 goals in four matches, with seven of those coming from Diego Rossi, who has proven more than capable of picking up the slack left by the absent Carlos Vela.

Bob Bradley demonstrated against the Sounders that his side have an effective Plan B to call upon when necessary, and against an Orlando team that poses such a threat on the counter, he may have to turn to such quick-strike tactics again.

Our pick: LAFC

San Jose Earthquakes vs. Minnesota United FC
Aug. 1, 8 p.m. ET (stream live on ESPN2)

San Jose has out-possessed and out-chanced its opponents in each of the four games it has played at MLS is Back, outscoring them 11-5 in the process. Chris Wondolowski has been the Quakes' leading scorer in Orlando with three goals in just an hour's worth of action spread across four games.

At the other end of the pitch, the Earthquakes have even found the stamina to execute Matias Almeyda's man-marking system in the heat and humidity of Central Florida, limiting opponents to just two goals in the past 211 minutes of action and keeping a clean sheet in their opener against Seattle. Of course, in between those two stretches, San Jose conceded three times in the space of 52 minutes.

Minnesota manager Adrian Heath took every opportunity to remind anyone who would listen that the whole world had counted the Loons out of their round-of-16 confrontation with Columbus long before it began, and while we did pick the Crew to advance, the characterization of an unbeaten-in-2020, third-placed team in the Supporters' Shield standing as a David matching up against Goliath misses the mark by some margin.

For the third time in four matches in Orlando, Minnesota was out-possessed and out-shot against Columbus, and for the third time this tournament it got to the end of 90 minutes with the score tied, but Heath's side kept Columbus's silky attack at arm's length as only a Gyasi Zardes penalty kept Tyler Miller from recording a clean sheet. Not to worry, though: five clinical penalties in the shootout booked their ticket to the quarterfinals.

This quarterfinal matchup pits the most unpredictable team of this tournament against the most predictable. San Jose has oscillated between benign and brilliant, but its quick-strike capability has made it perhaps the neutral fans' favorite in Orlando. Minnesota, meanwhile, has quietly cemented itself as one of the best organized and most defensively sound outfits in the league. Its composure at the back could spell trouble for the Quakes, but the Loons will need more from Luis Amarilla and the rest of the attack if they're to move on instead.

Our pick: Minnesota

New York City FC vs. Portland Timbers
Aug. 1, 10:30 p.m. ET

Where was this New York City FC side in the group stage? Averaging nearly 57% of possession, they scored just twice in their three matches before the knockout-round contest vs. Toronto. Against the reigning Eastern Conference champions, though, NYCFC saw just 44% of the ball but struck three times in an emphatic upset of the Reds.

Maxi Moralez was only fit enough to go 54 minutes against Toronto, but he still managed to assist on one goal and score one of his own. He's proven to be the straw that stirs NYCFC's drink in his three-plus seasons in the Bronx, and City and their young attackers will go as far as Moralez's playmaking can carry them.

Portland found opportunities limited against a compact and well-organized Cincinnati side in the round of 16, requiring penalties to move past the second-year club, but there were silver linings in a frustrating 90 minutes. Alongside Jeremy Ebobisse, Jaroslaw Niezgoda has scored in each of the Timbers' past two matches, demonstrating that Giovanni Savarese has no shortage of options up front to complement the creativity of Diego Valeri and Sebastian Blanco. And against more willing opponents, there will be opportunities aplenty for Portland's attacking threats.

NYCFC just happens to be one of those more willing opponents. While they were clinical in their counter-attacking play against Toronto, they won the possession battle in every group-stage match they played -- often by a wide margin -- creating the sort of opportunities in transition that Blanco in particular can feast on. But, just as Toronto learned, NYCFC have incredibly sharp attacking threats of their own, and if a Portland defense that has looked vulnerable throughout isn't hyper focused, they too could find themselves upset by a club that got out of its group by the skin of its teeth.

Our pick: Portland