KNOXVILLE, Iowa – Dominic Scelzi is making a habit of finding his way into the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals championship feature.

One year ago, Scelzi snuck into the Knoxville Nationals finale during FVP Hard Knox Night at the black-dirt half-mile in thrilling fashion, and Friday night he did so once again – in nearly the same fashion.

Last time, Scelzi won the SPEED SPORT World Challenge to earn the “golden ticket” 25th starting spot in the $150,000-to-win, 50-lap A-main, but when that race didn’t return to the docket this season, the California driver had to search for another way to crack the grid for the big dance.

He discovered it with a strong run during Friday night’s Hard Knox program at the Marion County Fairgrounds, qualifying inside the top five in his time trial flight, transferring through his heat race and finishing fourth in the 25-lap “second chance race,” taking the last guaranteed spot into the Nationals.

“They took away my golden ticket, so I figured that instead of starting 25th, I’d start 24th this year,” Scelzi grinned. “I like to make things hard, and boy, Knoxville is hard. Racing with these guys, beating some of them and being in the field is amazing, though.

“I felt like we were good enough to maybe be second or third – I never saw the (No.) 2 car, so he must have been pretty sporty,” Scelzi noted. “That’s two Knoxville Nationals that I never thought I’d get in. It’s so cool, and a dream come true to get in again. We can only go forward from here.”

Scelzi’s road to a transfer spot was built on the high side of the Knoxville dirt, as he rim-rode around for much of the distance in Friday night’s feature after struggling down low during his preliminary night.

“I feel like I’ve spent a lot more time on the top this week than I have on the bottom; we’ve been struggling down there with almost having too much drive down low,” Scelzi explained. “When I saw Sammy (Swindell) pass me down there, though, I figured I’d just roll the bottom … and I knew he probably wasn’t pounding the wall (down) off turn two.

“I went down there and did exactly what I’d hoped, and from there, chasing Shane … he was running good laps until he started having problems, but I couldn’t tell what was wrong for him because I had my eyes closed,” Scelzi added. “When he got tight, I just started cheating the cushion into (turn) three, but the last thing I wanted to do was race him, because I know that when two guys get racing here, they lose a lot of time.

“I just tried to stay with him and knew we’d both be OK where we were. It was a hectic race.”

Scelzi has now made the Knoxville Nationals finale two years in a row on Friday night, a unique feat.

While he was hesitant to compare the pair of performances, the 21-year-old recognized how important being back in the Knoxville Nationals A-main is for his family-owned Scelzi Motorsports operation.

“Winning the SPEED SPORT (Challenge) last year was the best moment of my life, for sure,” Scelzi said. “It was very, very special … in fact, Ralph (Sheheen, SPEED SPORT President) and I were talking about it earlier this week, but to make it into the Nationals finale racing in on Hard Knox Night is just as hard.

“Maybe I should just put my entry in for Friday every year, because for whatever reason, I seem to want to do it the hardest possible way,” Scelzi added. “I’m excited to get in, but I’m even more excited that I’m not alone in the back row now and can actually claim to be part of the field now! I can’t go backwards, either, so that’s a big deal for us.”

With the hardest task – making the Knoxville Nationals – now complete, Scelzi has one goal for his second Saturday A-main start besides moving as far forward in 50 laps as he can.

“This time, we’re gunning for Gio,” the elder Scelzi said of his younger brother. “I want to beat that 71.”

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Record signing Joao Felix scored two first-half goals for Atletico Madrid as they secured a 2-1 win over Juventus in the International Champions Cup at the Friends Arena on Saturday.

Although the vast majority of fans in the crowd seemed to be more interested in seeing his fellow Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, Felix opened the scoring by squeezing a first-time finish through two defenders and into the back of the net midway through the first half.

Sami Khedira equalised for the Italian champions in the 29th minute but Felix, who joined Atletico from Benfica for a reported €126 million ($141 million) in July, netted his second four minutes later.

The Spanish side open their La Liga campaign at home to Getafe next Sunday, while Juventus travel to Parma on Aug. 24 to begin their Serie A season.

In the rained-out first ODI in Guyana, Chris Gayle played the slowest innings of his career, scoring 4 off 31 balls.

This was perhaps an extreme case of it, but West Indies captain Jason Holder has said his batsmen will be looking to start their innings cautiously through the ODI series.

"I think in the past we have let ourselves down in having a foundation," Holder said on the eve of the second ODI in Trinidad. "It's just a matter for us to take a few balls at first and get ourselves set and then we take it as the innings goes on."

The second ODI on Sunday - if he features - will be Gayle's 300th - he will be the first West Indian cricketer to reach the landmark.

"300 games is a lot of games," Holder said. "Some of us in the dressing room can't even imagine that. We just hope he can get us off to a really good start tomorrow."

West Indies had a chance to look at the pitch at Queen's Park Oval before rain forced the covers to come on, and Holder hoped for good batting conditions.

"It's normally pretty humid." he said. "The wicket is a decent one, hopefully the rain stays away and it doesn't get too soggy. The pitch normally is a very good pitch here. The conditions should be really good tomorrow. We've got to see how the pitch plays, but ideally in one-day cricket, 300 runs is the benchmark. We'll see how it all plays out tomorrow."

While Gayle endured a struggle in Guyana, his opening partner Evin Lewis showed encouraging signs of a return to form, scoring an unbeaten 40 off 36 balls before showers forced the players off the field.

"Definitely happy to see Evin get some time in the middle," Holder said. "He didn't get the runs he was looking for in the T20 format but it's good to see him get into form in Guyana and hopefully he can transfer that performance here as well."

India's batting line-up is among the best in the world, and Holder was confident West Indies had the bowling to challenge it.

"We got to put pressure [on the batsmen] and try to get as deep into their batting line-up [as possible]. The wickets nowadays are very good for batting. It tends to play a little bit more in the batsmen's favour, [but] we've been doing a really good job, especially in the World Cup I thought our bowlers did a great job, and [we'll look to] just continue from there and just try to be consistent."

Tim Tebow's minor league season has ended early for the second straight year, according to multiple reports.

While playing for the New York Mets' Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse, the 2007 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback suffered a cut hand while fielding a ball in the outfield on July 21 and was placed on the injured list.

Newsday first reported that the injury would not heal in time for Tebow to return this season.

At the time of the injury, Syracuse manager Tony DeFrancesco said the cut was in a bad spot and required several stitches.

Tebow finishes 2019 hitting .163 with 4 home runs, 19 RBIs, 98 strikeouts and 20 walks in 239 at-bats over 77 games.

Tebow, who also works as an SEC Network analyst, is in his third year of professional baseball and first at Triple-A after a three-year stint at quarterback in the NFL.

In 2018, he hit .273 at Double-A Binghamton with 6 homers and 36 RBIs in 271 at-bats over 84 games before breaking a bone in his right hand, an injury that ended his season.

KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Shane Stewart finished third in Friday night’s Hard Knox feature and as a result will start his 19th consecutive NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals feature on Saturday night.

It’s a big deal for Stewart considering his CJB Motorsports team has struggled all season, and the fact that he wrecked the Barry Jackson-prepared No. 5 while leading his heat race on Thursday night.

Still, Stewart nearly ran out of fuel on the final lap Friday night.

“We were completely out of fuel. We were lucky to finish that race,” Stewart said. “This is a huge relief. When you come here your goal is to sit on the front row for the A-main. People like myself and a few others had a mishap on their qualifying night. Hats off to Barry and Tyler for working their butts off yesterday and last night. I am really happy I can make this A main for the team.”

Stewart and his team have struggled this season, but Knoxville Raceway is a place the Oklahoma driver has excelled during his career. He has seven top-five finishes in the Knoxville Nationals and he’s won the 360 Nationals five times.

“I have a lot of emotions. The 5 car hasn’t had the best season,” Stewart said. “There were big expectations going into this race. I have had a lot of success here and Barry has over the last several years, too, with different drivers. The plan is always to try to shoot for the front row. We felt like we jumped over the first hurdle of having quick time.”

But that’s when things got ugly and Stewart wrecked on the first lap of his heat race Thursday night.

“My wreck, honestly, it happened so quickly. There was a little greasy moisture before you got to the cushion,” he explained. “I thought the cushion was going to hold me and it didn’t. So I thought, ‘OK, if I get on the brakes I’m going to wreck no matter what, so maybe I can power through it and get back out of the cushion.’

“It is a lot of high emotions for this race,” Stewart added. “The amount of effort that goes into it is hard to explain. Fortunate and happy to be in this situation. My guys worked hard to get another car put together for today. We were completely out of gas coming under the checkered flag. We were very fortunate and happy that the CJB car is in the show.”

Stewart hopes Friday night was the turning point for his team.

“I hope it turns it around for us. This team deserves to run better than we have all year,” he said. “Some things happened this year that you start second guessing everything. We have all the key ingredients to make a good cookie, but we haven’t been making a good cookie. That’s been the frustrating part.

“Everything is there. It is up to Barry and I to keep working,” Stewart continued. “He has struggled getting me comfortable in the race car. It is pretty obvious that car has been fast the last few years and we had high expectations going into the year. We started the year strong and we kind of hit a wall and haven’t been able to get out of it.”

The CJB Motorsports team brought in Tanner Thorson to drive a second car this week and Stewart acknowledged he’s been lacking confidence.

“A lot of it is confidence. Sometimes like last night, you set quick time and you are nervous about the heat because I haven’t felt that great here since we unloaded on Sunday, and you are trying hard,” he said. “Every driver is on the edge. The start of my heat race wasn’t very good and then when you crash, none of it makes any sense. I don’t think I ever crashed at the Knoxville Nationals.

“You start second guessing things and a lot of it is getting your confidence back and knowing you can do your job the right way. Hopefully, this is a turning time for our team because they deserve it.”

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LEXINGTON, Ohio – The FirstEnergy Mid-Ohio 100, featuring the Trans-Am Series presented by Pirelli’s Trans-Am, SuperGT and GT classes, saw a dogfight at the front of the field for the entire 43-lap race Saturday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

In the end Ernie Francis Jr. managed to keep Chris Dyson in his rear-view mirror to capture his second victory of the season. In the SGT class, Mark Boden took the green flag from pole and never looked back, opening a lead of more than 23 seconds over second place Ken Thwaits before the race-ending yellow came out.

Twenty-one entries took the green flag in the TA/SGT/GT event, held in conjunction with the NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Mid-Ohio. The first race on the Saturday card, the teams dealt with dramatically different weather circumstances than they had earlier in the weekend, with cloudy and cool conditions for the early-morning event. The field included a late entry – sports car legend Boris Said, making his season debut in the No. 2 SRI Performance Dodge Challenger that had arrived at Mid-Ohio late Friday.

Pole sitter Francis started his No. 98 Frameless Shower Doors Ford Mustang in the TA and overall pole position, looking to repeat his Mid-Ohio win of 2018. But Chris Dyson, winner of two straight TA class races and driving the retro-liveried No. 20 Thetford/Norcold Ford Mustang, would not allow Francis a moment of comfort on the tight, twisty and technical 13-turn, 2.258-mile Mid-Ohio circuit.

The duo fought hard throughout the race, with Francis able to post a three-second lead early, but Dyson came back mid-race with a succession of quick race laps as the pair separated from the rest of the field. Doug Peterson – pulling double duty this weekend in both TA and his regular TA2 drive – tried valiantly to stay in the fight but headed for pit lane on Lap 10 with a mechanical issue, handing third position to Adam Andretti.

On Lap 39, the GT class entry of Larry Funk went wide out of turn nine and hard into the barrier in turn 10, leaving a significant debris field that could not be cleaned before the race end, with the checkered flag waving at the 65-minute mark. Ohio natives Amy Ruman and David Pintaric finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Said seemed poised for a charge through the field, climbing as high as fourth before mechanical issues placed him back in the field with a 13th place finish.

“I was pretty excited to see if we would get back to green flag racing,” said Francis. “It would have been an awesome shoot out to the end. (Chris) Dyson and I were very close in our lap times. The lapped traffic held us up at the end. We had a really great race and our Ford Mustang was awesome. I can’t thank everyone at Breathless enough, we were fasted in just about every session. The car was flawless all weekend, I’m happy about this win and it’s good for us in the points. I can’t wait to take it to Road America.”

“We had a bit of too much understeer, so I was a little too conservative, “said Dyson. “I thought I was going to give Ernie a good run there to the end since we were back and forth all weekend. We were so close and I think that is how this championship is shaping up. We will be neck and neck the entire time. We had a great car and we were quick all weekend. We can’t wait to get to Road America now.”

Meanwhile, the SGT race was a tale of dominance by Mark Boden in the No. 46 Beverage Flavors International Porsche 991 GT3 Cup, who held a sizable lead over Ken Thwaits. Neither Thwaits nor Tim Kezman could post a charge at Boden, who captured his second win of the season.

“The car was absolutely on rails today,” said Boden. “The conditions to start the race were perfect. There are a few tricks to this place when the track is right. You have to focus on what you are doing and not what is going on behind. I love racing here – it’s one of my favorite tracks. The car was perfect to push as hard as I could to come home with championship points.”

LIVE from the Knoxville Nationals
Presented by Mobil 1 Truck & SUV Oil
Race Day Report

Today is the day. Later this evening there will be a champion crowned during the 59th Knoxville Nationals. With four starting spots in the main event still up for grabs, Tony Bokhoven sets the stage for today’s action at historic Knoxville Raceway.

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KNOXVILLE, Iowa — The feature field for tonight’s 59th annual NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals at Knoxville Raceway includes the defending winner, champions and proven winners.

Twenty of the 24 spots are set, with the final four starters to be determined through tonight’s 22-lap B main.

The field includes eight World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series regulars, two drivers who chase the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions calendar, six drivers who pick and choose where and when they race, two Knoxville Raceway regulars and one Central Pennsylvania racer.

Reigning All Star champion Aaron Reutzel and WoO regular David Gravel will share the front row for the 50-lap event, $150,000-to-win main event.

Take a closer look at each Knoxville Nationals A-Main starter by clicking below.

Tottenham Hotspur scored three times late in the game to come from behind and beat Aston Villa 3-1 in their Premier League opener.

Aston Villa took a shock lead in ninth minute when Davinson Sanchez let a long ball from Tyrone Mings bounce through, but it fell to John McGinn who turned inside, leaving Danny Rose on the deck, and coolly slotted past Hugo Lloris.

Tottenham probed at the Villa defence in search of an equaliser without really looking threatening until Christian Eriksen was introduced from the bench, and the goal came indirectly from his involvement.

Eriksen's cross from the right was beautifully delivered into the danger area, only for Davinson Sanchez to see his attempt saved by Tom Heaton. The ball fall to Lucas Moura, who laid the ball off for debutant Tanguy Ndombele to calmly side-foot home from the edge of the area.

Eriksen then almost won the game with a free kick but for a sensational save from Heaton low to his right.

Spurs did get the second goal, and the three points, five minutes from time through England captain Harry Kane. Jack Grealish hesitated on the ball on the edge of the area, and he was robbed by Erik Lamela whose shot deflected off two defenders and fell to Kane, who dispatched past Heaton.

Kane made sure of the victory in the final minute with a fine arrowed finish from just inside the box, assisted by Moussa Sissoko.