TOLEDO, Ohio – Sixteen drivers have earned their first ARCA Menards Series victory at the series’ home track, Toledo Speedway.

Of those, three of them earned their way into victory lane in their series debut, including current NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series championship contender and recent ARCA winner at Talladega Superspeedway Todd Gilliland.

Hailie Deegan, from Temecula, Calif., will be making her series debut May 19 in the Sioux Chief PowerPEX 200 looking to become the fourth driver to win at Toledo in their first series start. Should she do it, she’d also become the first female to win an ARCA Menards Series race in the series’ 67-year history.

Deegan is the daughter of X Games star Brian Deegan. That alone is enough to generate buzz and excitement wherever she goes. Deegan is also the first female driver to win in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series in more than 30 years. Deegan earned her first win last year at Meridian Speedway in Idaho and backed it up with her second victory in February at the Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Just like virtually every other second-generation athlete, Deegan is happy to have had doors opened by a recognizable last name but also wants to build a name of her own. While she enjoys many of the same activities that made her father an X Games superstar, she’s also happy to have found success in a field that’s completely different than freestyle motocross.

“My Dad has definitely taught me a lot when it comes to my training and my determination towards my goals,” said Deegan. “He’s always reminding me how hard you have to work in order to be successful and he’s right there by my side at the gym, at the race track, at test sessions and I know I’ll be leaning on him a lot as I start this next chapter of my racing career.”

With two K&N Pro Series wins on her resume, Deegan is on the radar screen of virtually every race team and sponsor in NASCAR’s national touring series. Her future is seemingly wide open, but the next step on the ladder is a partial schedule in the ARCA Menards Series.

A part of the Toyota Racing Development driver development program, Deegan has aligned with Venturini Motorsports for six starts in the ARCA Menards Series in 2019. The team started the season with three consecutive wins, at Daytona with Harrison Burton, and at Five Flags and Salem with Michael Self. Signing with one of the most successful teams in the series, with 53 wins since 1983, is reason enough to be excited but Deegan stands to benefit from the organization’s long record of success developing young drivers as well.

Current NASCAR drivers Alex Bowman, who replaced Dale Earnhardt, Jr. when he retired in 2018, and Erik Jones, who won his first Cup Series race at Daytona last July, got their start with Venturini Motorsports. Others like defending Cup Series champion Joey Logano and William Byron, ran limited schedules with the team but had success before moving on.

Developing young drivers and then seeing them go on to success in their career is a skill that team co-owner Billy Venturini takes tremendous pride in.

“Working alongside a group like TRD on driver development is incredible,” said Venturini. “Our team has had the opportunity to work with so many talented young drivers over the years, but to now be a part of the system to evaluate drivers in the TRD system as they move up the ranks is a great privilege for our whole team. Hailie has shown a lot of success thus far in her career and more importantly, she shows the determination and willingness to work hard that it takes to succeed in motorsports.”

Perhaps success at the ARCA level will allow Deegan to follow in the footsteps of others who have gone on to NASCAR success, like Bowman, Jones, Logano, and previous ARCA champions Chris Buescher and Ty Dillon, all of whom race on Sundays in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

But Deegan wants to blaze her own trail.

Fernando Alonso has never been satisfied with being known as one of the best drivers in Formula One. The Spanish racer has always wanted to be considered one of the best drivers in history.

That was evident early in his career when he became the youngest driver at that time to win the Formula One title. He was 24 years, 59 days old in 2005 and that broke Emerson Fittipaldi’s record as the youngest F-1 champion.

Alonso won his second F-1 crown the following year.

Alonso has enjoyed celebrity status all over the world. With 32 wins and 97 podiums, he is one of the most accomplished drivers in F-1 history

But that isn’t enough to satisfy Alonso. He wants to be one of the best drivers in the history of auto racing.

That is why he came to the Indianapolis 500 for the first time in 2017. He wanted to join the ranks of Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, Mario Andretti and Nigel Mansell —  Formula One champions who tackled the most intimidating race in the world.

Alonso quickly adapted to the McLaren Honda that was prepared in an alliance with Andretti Autosport. He called the high-speed pack running “the most fun he’s ever had” behind the wheel of a race car.

Alonso started fifth, led 27 laps and was a contender to win before his Honda engine blew 21 laps from the checkered flag. He finished 24th but vowed to return.

He skipped last year’s Indy 500 to concentrate on McLaren’s F-1 team and compete in the Grand Prix of Monaco.

But he accomplished another one of his dreams last year by winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

After sharing the winning Toyota at Le Mans, it created an even stronger desire for Alonso to return to the Indianapolis 500. It’s the only jewel missing from racing’s Triple Crown — victories at Monaco, Le Mans and Indianapolis. Hill is the only driver to win all three. The British driver won the Formula One race at Monaco in 1963, the 1966 Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1972.

Alonso won at Monaco in 2006 and ’07 and won in his Le Mans debut last June.

“The aim is to do something unprecedented in motorsports,” Alonso said. “I realized I could have different things in my life.”

Alonso’s full focus is on the 103rd Indianapolis 500.

“I think it’s a race that we consider one of the three biggest in motorsports,” Alonso said. “The way of driving those cars, the way of anticipating the tows, the overtaking maneuvers, everything is quite different to what we have in Formula One. Going out of that comfort zone, and to start from zero, it was quite fascinating. And I liked that feeling.

“I’ve made clear for some time my desire to achieve the Triple Crown,” Alonso said. “I had an incredible experience at Indianapolis in 2017 and I knew in my heart of hearts I had to go back if the opportunity was there.”

INDIANAPOLIS – Jon Schaffer has joined Tasca Racing and will share tuning duties with Eric Lane of Bob Tasca III’s Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Funny Car beginning at the Virginia NHRA Nationals this weekend.

Schaffer moves from John Force Racing in a trade for Mike Green, who joined Tasca Racing at the end of last year.

At 31, Schaffer, the youngest professional full-time crew chief in NHRA, brings energy, a wealth of Funny Car experience and a hard-working attitude to Tasca’s operation.

“I’ve known Jon and raced against Jon for many years, and I’ve always looked at him as an up-and-coming talent, no different than I feel about Eric,” Tasca said. “I’m optimistic that the two of them working together will be a powerful combination.

“Part of putting this program together in conjunction with Ford was to win races. We committed to that from the beginning and I’ve been working to create the best team I can that’s capable of producing the best results. I have very high expectations for our program. The only thing that is acceptable to me is for this team to win races and compete for a championship this year.

“It may take us a few runs, or a few races to get exactly where we want to be, but these changes are being based on the long-term goal, and that goal is to win races and win the championship with this Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang. I didn’t feel like the set-up that I had was capable of doing that at any point this season, and just like the leader of any company, I wanted to set our team up for success in the near term to meet the long-term goals.”

Schaffer, who now lives in the Indianapolis area, grew up through the kart and open wheel ranks before trying stock car racing. Ultimately, his friendship with longtime NHRA Top Fuel driver Dave Baca, who was based in Schaffer’s hometown of Discovery Bay, Calif., brought him to the NHRA.

Expecting to stay only a short while, Schaffer was drawn in by the extraordinary power of the Top Fuel and Funny Car engines and decided to make a career of tuning them.

“Bob has a great organization that has been well-established, so there’s already a team, the parts, everything’s already here to succeed,” said Schaffer, who took his first NHRA job in the early 2000s. “I’m just bringing the knowledge I’ve gained over the last few years. I’m looking forward to working with Eric Lane to see if we can get this thing a little quicker and consistent and start winning some races.

“I’m looking forward to working with the Tasca family. I appreciate them giving me a chance and I’m excited for what the future will bring for Tasca Racing.”

BARCELONA, Spain – While Sunday’s Formula One Emirates Spanish Grand Prix did feature a clash between Haas F1 Team stablemates Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean, it wasn’t all bad for the American squad.

The fifth race of the season marked Haas F1’s first double points finish of 2019, with Magnussen and Grosjean both finishing inside the top 10 at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Magnussen crossed the line seventh, best among the duo, after passing his teammate when they came together at turn one following a restart with 14 laps left on Sunday at the 2.892-mile, 16-turn course.

“We had a brilliant second pit stop from the team when the safety car came out that let us jump Kvyat. I had good temperature in my tires on the restart and I got past Romain,” Magnussen recalled. “There was contact between me and Romain, which isn’t what you want to see but it was nothing intentional.

“It is not what you want, contact between teammates, but there was no intention from me or Romain; I’m sure.”

As Magnussen got away over the closing laps, Grosjean slipped behind McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, but was able to fend off Kvyat’s teammate Alexander Albon to remain in the points.

Sunday marked Grosjean’s best finish of the season and was a sign of progress for the Swiss-Frenchman.

“It was a good weekend; we had good pace,” said Grosjean. “Before the safety car, we were running on our own, doing a good race – I was happy (with) that. The restart was a bit more complicated, and it wasn’t ideal for me, as I lost a few positions in there. Overall though, I’m happy with the way we’ve acted this weekend, and I’m happy we’ve shown that the car is fast. Now it’s onto the next one.”

With Magnussen and Grosjean’s results in Barcelona, Haas F1 jumped up to sixth in the constructor’s standings, two points behind Racing Point and two points ahead of Alfa Romeo.

That positive move forward was the focus for Haas F1 team principal Gunther Steiner, not the contact that produced a bit of a stir during and after the final laps on Sunday.

“It’s ended as being a little bit of a controversial weekend, but we’ve sorted it out – cleared the air between the drivers. That’s the most important thing after their race,” noted Steiner. “We maybe lost a couple of points, but we’re all happy to move forward from here and everything is fine.

“It’s been a good weekend points-wise, with getting two cars into the points.”

Next up for Haas F1 is an in-season test session this week at Barcelona, before the squad gears up for the Monaco Grand Prix in two weeks’ time.

“Hopefully we can learn a lot from the test here this week, so we can do the same (score double points) in Monaco and Canada,” Steiner said. “At the moment it looks like they’ll be a little bit more difficult for us, because of the track layouts, but I think we can still score points.

“The whole team did a very good job this weekend and we came away with double points – happy.”

KOSICE, Slovakia -- Dylan Larkin scored with 1:13 left in overtime and Cory Schneider stopped 24 shots, lifting the United States to a 3-2 win over Finland on Monday at the world hockey championship.

Larkin ended the 3-on-3 overtime, carrying the puck inside the right circle and scoring on a wrist shot that got past Veini Vehvilainen's blocker. The Finns complained about an open-ice hit that wasn't ruled a penalty against the U.S. shortly before Larkin scored the game-winning goal.

Brady Skjei scored in the opening minute and Johnny Gaudreau put the Americans up 2-0 midway through the third period. The Finns rallied to tie the game 2-all with Harri Pesonen's goal in the last minute of the opening period and Niko Ojamaki's goal in the final minute of the second.

The matchup in Group A featured American center Jack Hughes and Finnish winger Kaapo Kakko, who are expected to be picked No. 1 and 2 overall, respectively, in the NHL draft next month.

Russia stayed undefeated in Group B and handed the Czech Republic its first loss, winning 3-0 in Bratislava.

Sergei Andronov scored midway through the first period and Nikita Gusev gave the Russians a 2-0 lead in the middle of the second. Nikita Zaitsev added an empty-net goal late in the game and Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with a 23-save shutout.

The Russians are 3-0, outscoring opponents 13-2.

Paris Saint-Germain will listen to offers for Timothy Weah this summer, sources have told ESPN FC, but they will not necessarily actively look to sell him.

The United States attacker, who spent the second half of this season on loan with Scottish giants Celtic, has headed back to PSG before he links up with the U.S. Under-20 World Cup squad after Bhoys' boss Neil Lennon cut his temporary deal short.

As first reported by RMC Sport, and since confirmed by ESPN FC sources, the French champions are not against selling Weah this summer but will not be actively looking to cash in on him either.

Weah, 19, is under contract until 2021.

Other senior players are of higher priority in terms of permanent moves away, such as Thomas Meunier, Christopher Nkunku and Layvin Kurzawa, and all will likely fetch higher transfer fees than Weah.

However, ESPN FC sources say that a good offer could persuade PSG to part with Weah permanently -- particularly if coach Thomas Tuchel remains unconvinced, which is what led to the free transfer signing of error-prone Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting last summer.

Strasbourg have already revived their interest in the New York City native from last summer, per ESPN FC sources, while there are other Ligue 1 clubs keen, as well as Premier League suitors, on top of the possibility of a return to Celtic.

Weah is keeping the door open for the Scottish champions, but that is now less likely to happen as it was current Leicester City coach Brendan Rodgers who played a key role in landing the American -- not Lennon.

Speaking with the Scottish Sun, Weah admitted that nothing has been decided and played down the change in coach as an obstacle to any potential return.

"There have not been any talks yet," he said. "I will talk to my parents and lawyers. I have got a couple of options.

"Coming back to Celtic is definitely an option. The manager situation does not matter to me -- it is more about the club and me feeling comfortable here. If you know you have the opportunity to develop and get game time, that is the most important thing at this stage.

"I am ambitious and want to be somewhere where I can break into the first team. These are the things you have to think about."

Weah scored four goals from 16 appearances across all competitions during his time with Celtic and has Scottish and French league winners' medals after his split season between Paris and Glasgow.

MANCHESTER, England -- Outgoing Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera has warned that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer faces a "tough" job to get the club back competing for top trophies.

The United manager is facing a rebuild over the summer after finishing 32 points behind champions Manchester City following their 2-0 defeat at home defeat to already relegated Cardiff.

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Herrera is one of the players that will need to be replaced after coming to the end of his Old Trafford contract and the Spaniard, who is set to join Paris Saint-Germain, has pleaded with supporters to give the Norwegian time.

"I think there is a tough job ahead," Herrera said. "That is my opinion as a fan and as someone who knows the club at the moment.

"These fans are the best, they are amazing, but they need time. They need time because this is not going to be from the first day. The club will need time, confidence and support.

"I am sure they will give it but the only thing I ask for them is time because this is not easy. There are examples. Liverpool are probably going to win the Champions League but I am leaving this club and they haven't won one title in five years I have been here.

"They have done incredible work but the fans have given them time. That's what this club needs at the moment."

Solskjaer is coming under pressure after a disappointing end to the season which saw United win just two of their final 12 games.

The 46-year-old has only been in the post permanently for two months but there are already calls from some fans for the board to make a change -- particularly after Mauricio Pochettino raised doubts about his future at Tottenham.

"The right person is at the wheel," Herrera said. "He's the right person but he needs time.

"I hope I am wrong and Manchester United win the next Premier League but the club needs time to work. I am optimistic for the future but I ask the fans to give them time. Some of them might tell me to shut up because they have been waiting already.

"I have been here five years, not the five most successful years in the history of the club, but I have won four titles and lost two finals. In a bad moment for the club we have won some trophies. It shows how big the club is."

Herrera will leave Old Trafford having made 189 appearances in five seasons. The 29-year-old has won three major trophies and lifted the Player of the Year award in 2017 but will move on with one significant regret.

"I have won some trophies but the league is something I wanted to win," Herrera said. "This is the greatest and biggest club in England.

"That was one of my dreams but it is what it is. We have done some good things but for Manchester United it is not enough.

"I have enjoyed a lot playing for this club. For me it has been a dream. I have always tried to represent this club always by giving my best.

"You are not going to hear one bad word about anyone because they don't deserve it and I'm not like that."