INDIANAPOLIS – Just one week after celebrating his 20th birthday, Braden Eves extended his string of Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship wins to four with another triumph in Saturday’s USF2000 Grand Prix of Indianapolis.

Eves fought off a challenge in the closing stages from Cape Motorsports teammate Darren Keane, who in turn remained under close scrutiny from Pabst Racing’s Hunter McElrea.

Eves joined an exclusive group to win the opening four races of the season alongside J.R. Hildebrand, who began his 2006 title-winning campaign by claiming the first seven races (and 12 out of 14 in total), and Jay Howard, who one year earlier won six races in a row to lay the foundation for his own championship.

Eves’ domination was such that he led all 20 laps, having started on the pole position with a new lap record of 1:24.5396. He also posted another new fastest race lap mark at 1:24.7440, an average speed of 103.611 mph. A trio of brief caution periods kept Eves on his toes, but on each occasion he timed his restarts to perfection to remain just out of Keane’s reach.

“With Darren behind me at the start, I was able to give him a little more of a draft because he’s further behind in the championship, but that was about it – we’re teammates off track and we help each other to get better, but it’s all on when we’re racing,” Eves said. “I focused on what I needed to do and keeping him behind me. But it still hasn’t set in, my start to the season, especially since Darren has been right with me all through testing. Everyone at Cape Motorsports is working super hard and they’re very good at what they do, and everything has worked in my favor so far. It was so cool to see all the fans out there today – it really puts it all in perspective on the cool down lap, when everyone is waving at you. It’s a great feeling.”

For Keane, the result represented a breakthrough of sorts following a desperately disappointing start to the season during which he has been struck by misfortune of one sort or another in each of the opening three races.

This time he spent most of the race focused on his battle with McElrea, who briefly snagged second place just before the second full-course caution period. Keane made amends at the ensuing restart, then mounted a strong challenge to Eves during the final three-lap dash to the checkered flag before coming up just more than a half-second short.

DEForce Racing’s Jak Crawford impressed on his USF2000 debut, taking over fourth place from teammate Manuel Sulaiman on the second lap when the Mexican encountered some gear-shifting problems which caused him to fall down the order. Sulaiman spun off a couple of laps later, then charged from 18th to 12th before making another mistake and ending his day early.

Another strong run for Cameron Shields  also was ended by contact. The Australian’s misfortune opened the door for second-generation racer Eduardo Barrichello, who enjoyed his best result to date as he fought past Legacy Autosport teammates Alex Baron and Dakota Dickerson in the closing laps to finish fifth for Miller Vinatieri Motorsports.

INDIANAPOLIS – Rasmus Lindh completed a sweep of the Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix of Indianapolis, leading throughout Saturday’s 25-lap race to finish just more than two seconds clear of Juncos Racing teammate Sting Ray Robb.

Coming hot on the heels of his first Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires win yesterday, the victory catapults Lindh into the championship lead ahead of Canadian Parker Thompson, who finished fifth.

Rookie Danial Frost, extended his streak of podium finishes to three following another strong drive for Exclusive Autosport.

Lindh, who started on pole for the second straight race after narrowly eclipsing his own Indy Pro 2000 qualifying lap record on Friday, took off confidently at the start. Behind, a good getaway from third on the grid saw Kyle Kirkwood briefly challenging for the lead as the field accelerated toward the tight turn one.

The Jupiter, Fla., native elected not to push the issue and instead attempted to tuck in behind Lindh, but his conservative approach sadly backfired when Robb and Nikita Lastochkin made aggressive moves of their own to tag onto the leader’s tail.

In an instant, Kirkwood’s front wing was broken and he was obliged to head to the pit lane for repairs. He resumed a lap down and showed what might have been by turning the fastest lap of the race – for the third race in a row – but could manage no better than 13th at the finish.

The only other driver able to challenge Juncos Racing’s dominance was Frost, who overcame a poor start to demote Lastochkin from third on lap two. Frost quickly closed onto Robb’s tail but was unable to find a way past. Still, his third consecutive third-place finish represented another substantial points haul.

“The start was perfect from my perspective,” said Lindh. “I never let up. I saw that Sting Ray was behind me and while I knew I had been faster than him all weekend, I know where my weakness is and where I’m strong. So I focused forward, working on getting a gap and driving away as fast as I could. Once the gap got up to two seconds, I worked on keeping that gap. It was a perfect weekend for the team. But I still can’t believe it. We didn’t have the speed to win here last year (in USF2000), so I said to myself that I need to win here this year, and I did, so I am very happy for that.”

Lastochkin finished a distant fourth, having been embroiled in a close battle with Ian Rodriguez, from Guatemala, whose impressive debut weekend was sadly hindered by a mechanical problem which caused him to fall all the way to an unrepresentative 12th at the finish.

After sweeping both races at the opening event of the season at St. Petersburg, Fla., in March, Thompson suffered a torrid weekend with the Abel Motorsports team, although he was able to salvage a fifth-place finish following a protracted scrap with Mexico’s Moises de la Vara, who produced his strongest drive to date for DEForce Racing, and teammate Jacob Abel.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Five teams who qualified inside the top-10 have had their qualifying times disallowed after failing inspection ahead of Saturday’s Digital Ally 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Aric Almirola, Daniel Suarez, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson, all of whom qualified inside the top-10, will now be forced to start at the rear of the field after their cars failed inspection Saturday afternoon.

Almirola was originally scheduled to start second, Suarez was slated to start fourth, Chase Elliott was going to line up fifth, Truex was scheduled to start sixth and Larson was set to start eighth.

In addition, the cars of Elliott, Larson and Logano all failed inspection a second time, resulting one crew member from each team being ejected from the track.

Kevin Harvick will still lead the field to the green flag Saturday, but he’ll now be joined on the front row by Clint Bowyer. The rest of the top-10 starters are now William Byron, Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman, Erik Jones, Darrell Wallace Jr., Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch and Paul Menard.

Others who also failed inspection and will be forced to start the race from the rear of the field include Ty Dillon (originally slated to start 15th), Joey Logano (20th), Michael McDowell (23rd), Landon Cassill (25th), Joey Gase (38th) and Timmy Hill (39th).

NASCAR officials have not indicated why the teams failed inspection. Those who failed inspection will be lined up at the tail of the field based on owner points.

INDIANAPOLIS – Nothing was going to stop Simon Pagenaud from winning Saturday’s IndyCar Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Grand Prix circuit.

The driver of the No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet chased down Scott Dixon from more than five seconds back in the final laps and passed him on the penultimate lap to earn his first victory of the season.

Pagenaud started eighth in the 85-lap affair that featured varying levels of rain throughout the event. He charged from sixth in the final 18 laps on a slick track to hunt down Dixon, eventually beating him to the checkers by more than two seconds.

He first had to dispatch Matheius Leist and Jack Harvey, moving into second with five laps left. From there he quickly closed the gap on Dixon, who was doing his best to maintain a gap between himself and Pagenaud.

When the five-time series champion slid a little wide at the exit of turn seven on lap 84, Pagenaud pounced. He dove to the inside of Dixon’s No. 9 Honda and the two made slight contact. Pagenaud emerged from turn nine with the race lead and never looked back.

The victory, his third in the IndyCar Grand Prix, was his first in NTT IndyCar Series competition since the 2017 season finale.

This Story Will Be Updated

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- As the San Jose Sharks face the St. Louis Blues in the Western Conference final, much of the attention is on 39-year-old center Joe Thornton, who is chasing his first Stanley Cup championship in a career that began in 1997. Each round, there has been focus on that pursuit, Thornton's legacy in the NHL and the impact he has had on his franchise.

St. Louis forward David Perron says Thornton had an impact on his career, too. Though not exactly a positive one.

On Nov. 4, 2010, Thornton made contact with Perron's head on a huge hit in the neutral zone. Perron was carrying the puck after a pass out of the Blues' defensive end. Thornton had just emerged from the penalty box and collided with him. Perron dropped to the ice headfirst and was motionless.

The concussion he suffered on the play ended his season after just 10 games. He wouldn't return to action for the Blues until the following season, on Dec. 3, 2011. Thornton was given a major penalty and suspended for two games in a decision that was hotly debated around the NHL.

"I think about it all the time, because I think it's affected my life a lot. I really do think that," Perron told ESPN on Friday, on the eve of Game 1 between the Blues and Sharks in San Jose. "Other than that, I hope it's not going to be too much of a story right now. It's been a long time ago."

Perron and Thornton have competed against each other on numerous occasions since the incident, both in the regular season and the postseason -- including the 2018 series between the Sharks and Perron's Vegas Golden Knights. They met in the playoffs in 2012: Perron recalled getting some measure of vengeance when the Blues ousted the Sharks in five games, as Perron scored the winning goal in the clinching game.

"The next year, when I came back, we beat them in five games. I was thinking more about it then," Perron said. "But maybe after [this series], we'll see. I want to win. It doesn't matter if he's on the team or not."

He recalled Thornton reaching out to him after the incident. "He's really respected around the league. I really admire him as a player. The skills he has, when he passes the puck -- I always try to do some of those things, and it's not easy," Perron said.

"The way he plays was awesome. But I really didn't like that other part."

That concussion was the first major one of Perron's NHL career, but far from his last. The latest one cost him 24 games this season with the Blues.

"It's harder and harder every time," he told NHL.com. "It's so hard on the mental side of it to go through. Basically, you have some situations that heal up quicker, and some that linger and there's no reason why, and that's why it gets harder on you, it gets harder on your family. You start to wonder about other things and you get in your head a lot."

The hit remains one of the most contentious of the past decade. At the time, the NHL's "Rule 48" was newly introduced, banning "lateral or blind side hit to an opponent where the head is targeted." The Sharks and Thornton argued that the hit was a "north/south" one as Thornton stepped in front of Perron.

"I didn't intend to hurt or do anything bad to him," Thornton said at the time. "He kind of ran into me, to be honest with you. Last night and this morning I had about three dozen text messages from players around the league saying they can't believe I even got a penalty."

They also argued that the size disparity between the players was a factor -- Thornton, at 6-foot-4, is four inches taller than Perron.

"I guess being 5-9 was Joe's only solution to avoid this suspension," John Thornton, Joe's brother and agent, said at the time.

Perron was accused by some partisans of embellishing on the play, as he did return to the game after the hit. But he missed his next game for the Blues and, in the end, 97 total games until his return the following season.

"With head injuries, sometimes these symptoms show up a little later," John Davidson, the Blues' president at the time, said in 2010. "What's really disappointing is to know there were people out there actually being critical of him and questioning the validity of it."

A lot has changed in the nearly nine years since the hit. While "Rule 48" was in place in 2010-11, the NHL Department of Player Safety wasn't created until the following season. How the league deals with concussions has changed -- it's stomach-turning to think how quickly Perron returned to that game, knowing what we know now. How the league punishes hits that target the head has changed. And how the hockey world reacts to head injuries may have changed most of all.

"It was a different time, for sure," Perron said on Friday. "We've come a long way."