Returning to his roots, Bubba Wallace is racing the entire Bojangles’ Summer Shootout this year at Charlotte Motor Speedway in his Legend Car. Why commit to all 10 rounds of racing, and what drew him to come back?

Video Courtesy of Legends Nation.

CONCORD, N.C. – Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway will mark the end of an era in the sport, with legendary driver/announcer Darrell Waltrip hanging up his microphone after 19 years in the TV booth.

In honor of Waltrip’s last call, Roush Fenway Racing and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will pay homage to the former driver and Hall of Famer with a special chrome numbered paint scheme on the No. 17 Ford Mustang.

“Darrell Waltrip has meant a great deal to our sport as both a competitor and a member of the broadcast media,” said Jack Roush, a fellow member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. “The thing that stands out to me about Darrell is that after I just announced I was starting the team with Mark Martin, I was invited into a driver’s meeting that season. Darrell Waltrip was one of the first to welcome me into the fold and say ‘come on in Jack, we are going to have a lot of fun with you’ and we sure have over the years.”

Waltrip piloted the No. 17 car in NASCAR’s premiere series from 1987 to 1998, sporting some of the most iconic paint schemes in the sports history.

Current No. 17 driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has long been a fan of Waltrip and this will mark the third time he has paid tribute to Waltrip on the No. 17, the first two coming at the Darlington throwback events.

“With as much as he’s done in the sport on and off the track, Darrell will definitely be missed,” Stenhouse said. “I have enjoyed all the sit-downs and seeing his passion that he has for the sport. I’ve gotten to pay homage to him with two Darlington throwback schemes so it will be extra special to drive his iconic paint scheme for his last appearance in the booth.”

In 2016 Stenhouse sported an orange and white Ford, with blue numbers that gave nod to Waltrip’s first winning car from 1975. The second came in 2017 with a car carrying the paint scheme from Waltrip’s 1997 NASCAR Cup season; one of Stenhouse’s favorite paint schemes along with the all-chrome variety Waltrip also ran that same season.

The Ford will also feature Roush Performance on the hood and Stenhouse’s primary sponsor Fastenal on the quarter panel and decklid.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Eastbound Dragway, a true showplace in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, has entered into a multi-year sanctioning agreement with the International Hot Rod Ass’n

The eighth-mile dragway is part of Eastbound Int’l Speedway and Concert Park, a state-of-the-art, 55-acre Motorsport Park. In addition to drag racing, the complex features NASCAR and INEX-sanctioned racing on a three-eighths-mile asphalt track, Monster Trucks, motocross and a world-class musical entertainment venue.

Located 1,200 miles northeast of Maine in Avondale NL, the picturesque community is named for the meeting of the waters. At Eastbound, there is often the meeting of the racers who compete in everything from dragsters and stock cars to motorcycles and snowmobiles.

Among the most popular events has been the “take it to the track” program to get racing off the streets.

“Every year, we’ve seen an increase in people involved,” Eastbound Park Director of Events Mike James said. “We worked with the local police who were concerned about the safety of street racing. We had burnouts on the oval and we opened up the drag strip. Thousands of people showed up, people who had never been on the drag strip before. They got a really good feel of what it’s like to be on the drag strip. It was incredible to see cars stretched all the way down the 1/8-mile.”

The history of drag racing in the area dates back to the 1960s, starting on an old U.S. Air Force strip.

Eastbound first opened in 2014 with a major Nashville-style music festival. Since then, the facility has hosted such acts as Rascal Flats, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Little Big Town.

However, racing is first on the marquee and James does a tour educating school children about math and science in the sport. He has 26 scheduled visits to school which introduces the sport to over 10,000 students.

“We’re a new track, only around five years,” James said. “Some tracks have been around 50-60 years. They have grandparents, fathers and so on. We were like, ‘Let’s go educate the kids because they don’t have anyone educating them about racing.’ We go in explain to them the simple aerodynamics, air flow and such. The kids are blown away with the simple math and science used in racing. We’ve had so many requests to do this at schools.”

One of his inspiring stories is that of 2017 track champion Darien Legge, then 11 years old, making it to the championship round in Junior Dragster at the IHRA Summit SuperSeries World Finals.

“The whole story of a little boy turning the drag racing world upside down, an 11-year-old to be able to take down the best junior drivers in the world, you should see their reaction,” James said. “We look to see some of them in the junior dragster ranks the next couple of years.”

Legge repeated as Eastbound track champion for the IHRA Summit SuperSeries in 2018 as did the Top division champion Dave Anthony. Curtis Mitchell was the Mod division champion.

PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Flyers continued to shore up their defense by acquiring veteran Justin Braun from the San Jose Sharks for two draft picks.

Philadelphia on Tuesday sent a 2019 second-round pick and 2019 third-round pick to San Jose for Braun. The Sharks were looking to clear salary-cap space after re-signing defenseman Erik Karlsson for $92 million over eight years.

Braun, 32, counts $3.8 million against the salary cap this season in the last year of his contract. He joins a remade Flyers blue line that includes fellow right-handed-shooting defenseman Matt Niskanen, who was acquired from Washington in a trade last week.

Braun is a defense-minded player who kills penalties. He had two goals and 14 assists and averaged 20:18 in 78 games last season with the Sharks.

England 397 for 6 (Morgan 148, Bairstow 90, Naib 3-68) beat Afghanistan 247 for 8 (Shahidi 76, Archer 3-52) by 150 runs

As it happened

That England decimated another attack, posted a massive total and batted their opponents out of the game is only surprising to someone who hasn't followed Eoin Morgan's side over the past four years. But even for avid enthusiasts of the 50-over game, the brutality of Tuesday's assault, led by the England captain himself, was so gruesome one might have been forgiven for wanting to look away by the end of the first innings. England blitzed their way to 397, 198 scored in the final 15, 148 smashed by Morgan in 16 overs he was at the crease. Afghanistan were reduced to batting out the overs, which, admirably though they did so, still meant they came up short by 150 runs in the end.

Watch on Hotstar (India only): England v Afghanistan - match highlights

The records tumbled off the page far easier than they rolled off the tongue: most sixes by an ODI player for Morgan (17) - most sixes by an ODI team (25), highest score for England at a World Cup (397), most expensive bowling figures at a World Cup for Rashid Khan (9-0-110-0) and the most sixes conceded by an individual bowler (Rashid Khan with 11). Morgan took the attack to Afghanistan almost as soon as he walked in to bat; the platform had been set in the first 30 overs by Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root, and the only thing they lacked was the impetus required to push a 300-score into something far more daunting.

Fair to say that was achieved, then. With Morgan hitting just about every fourth ball of his innings for six - 17 were deposited over the rope in 71 balls - Afghanistan were up against a man who had prepared for an innings like this by nursing for four years. Rashid Khan, who Gulbadin Naib had held back for this stage of the innings, had the heaviest punishment inflicted upon him, seeing the ball fly to the fence no fewer than 11 times. He conceded 74 in his last four overs, and 110 overall, with Afghanistan paying the price of failing to take early wickets. With the Morgan given the freedom of Old Trafford in the final 20, carnage was always possible.

ALSO READ - Eoin Morgan: Beyond the sixes, the heartbeat of 'new' England

Prior to the bloodbath, however, England had been curiously sedate, as if wary of finding themselves turned over on a day they couldn't quite field their best eleven. Jason Roy had been ruled out with a hamstring injury, and (ridiculous as it sounds now) Morgan's availability wasn't quite a guarantee, still not fully recovered from the back injury that had kept him from batting against West Indies.

The first Powerplay saw England score 46 runs - the lowest since the 2015 World Cup - with Mujeeb ur Rehman keeping things tight at one end and Dawlat Zadran removing James Vince after the batsman had played a characteristically charming cameo.

Bairstow and Root, who ended up with an anonymous 88 in the larger context, began to push through the gears, but it still wasn't the no-consequences cricket England have championed in the past four years. They were holding something back, you sensed, but when Morgan walked in after Bairstow fell 10 runs short of his hundred, the hosts were finally free.

What could Gulbadin Naib know of the beast he unleashed when he overstepped second ball of the 32nd over. It seemed like just another sloppy error - it wasn't like Afghanistan hadn't made plenty of those in the field anyway. Catches had been put down, ones had been allowed to turn into twos and balls had been dived over. But that no-ball meant Morgan would have a free-hit off the eighth ball he faced - he had scored just one off seven till then. He clubbed it over cow corner for six, and then treated every ball that followed as if it were a free-hit.

This may be Afghanistan's heaviest defeat in the tournament, but there was much to admire about how they went about their innings. Fully aware they wouldn't chase it down, they opted not to address the target at all, instead putting together a fine ODI innings in its own right, the type they've lacked in the tournament thus far. It's been a competition marked by unrest, infighting, accusations and recriminations, but this is the Afghanistan fans were hoping would turn up all tournament. It was more representative of the Afghanistan of 2019; what we've seen much too often at this World Cup thus far is the lazy, uninformed caricature.

Naib, surprisingly opening the batting alongside Noor Ali Zadran, strung together a breezy little innings of 37 that meant, somewhat amusingly, that Afghanistan had outscored England in the first Powerplay. While these were small victories, they'd be the biggest Afghanistan were likely to enjoy; England's bowlers are much too good to allow the type of carnage that was required for Afghanistan to get anywhere near what England had posted.

Hashmatullah Shahidi, as is his wont, took charge of the middle overs, preventing things from falling apart while building partnerships with Rahmat Shah and Asghar Afghan, the occasional acceleration giving off the impression they would tee off from time to time, but never quite managing to do so. Jofra Archer and Mark Wood kept Afghanistan on their toes with express pace, and a couple of damaged helmets had the scars to prove it. Ultimately, however, the scarring belonged to the bowlers who had fronted up to an England captain in the sort of form most cricketers are happy to find themselves in once in a lifetime.

That they ended up with 247, the highest score by an Afghanistan side at a World Cup, will be scant consolation as their tournament begins to draw to a close. England's, on the other hand, may only just have begun.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

Marcus Stoinis could return to the Australian team for Thursday's group game against Bangladesh after a side strain forced him to miss two matches. The allrounder bowled and batted during training at Trent Bridge and, while Justin Langer said Stoinis wasn't certain to play in the next match, he has allayed initial fears he could be ruled out for the remainder of the tournament.

"Not definitely, he's a chance," said Langer, when asked about the likelihood of Stoinis' imminent return. "It looked like he moved really well batting.

"We've been monitoring him. He's an elite athlete, he's an elite professional. He's done everything possible to get himself fit. He wouldn't give up the opportunity for anything, would he? He's determined so it doesn't surprise me with where he's at now. It's a credit to him, it's a credit to the medical staff that are getting him up. So hopefully he can have a real impact on the tournament."

Stoinis' absence forced Australia to tinker with the balance of the side for their game against Pakistan and Sri Lanka and, while they won both games, the bowling depth was challenged, with Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith and even Aaron Finch chiming in.

"We've played really well with another balance," said Langer. "We played in India and Dubai with two spinners. I'm really confident with whatever balance we go in. it's actually really exciting."

"We said at the start of the tour that we've got lots of options, very adaptable and that's our strength not our weakness. I get the sense some people think that's our weakness. I actually think it's our strength that we can play according to our opposition, we can play accordingly to grounds, we can play according to managing players."

"That's a strength, not a weakness."

Nathan Coulter-Nile is fully fit and available for Thursday's match after missing the Sri Lanka game due to back tightness.

"With his history and his back, and he is getting a bit tight in his back. he played three games [in seven days] and I don't think he has done that for a long time. He's fit and he's certainly fit to play the next game."

ALSO READ: Australia still trying to find best XI - Brad Haddin

Adam Zampa sat out Australia's last two matches while Nathan Lyon has yet to play in the World Cup but Langer was comfortable with the decision to rely on part-timers rather than playing specialist spinners if conditions and the balance of the side favoured such an approach.

"That was more brought upon us because 'Stoin' became injured," said Langer. "What was more exciting was how the two quicks took wickets in the middle overs. We know in one-day cricket you've got to take wickets in the middle overs. There's not many wickets falling up front in this tournament. And the way our quicks pulled it back in the middle overs against Pakistan and Sri Lanka was brilliant.

"That's something for us to think about as well in these conditions. It's been pace that's dominated the tournament. Over the last few years it's been spin that's dominated one-day cricket. That might change - it's been wet, it's been overcast, the wickets get a bit drier. This one looks dry. That's been the trend so far and it's worked really well.

"It might change when we get to Old Trafford for example. We might look at playing two spinners if it's a dry wicket. It's good to have those options."

But before thoughts can turn to Manchester there is the considerable task of facing Bangladesh, who travelled to Nottingham on Tuesday, fresh from an emphatic win over West Indies in Taunton. Shakib Al Hasan comes into this match in outrageous form: he has two centuries and two half-centuries in four innings in the tournament so far, in addition to taking five wickets.

"Well, we've got our plans against him, but he's playing well," said Langer. "I think he is the No.1 allrounder in the world, it's no surprise. He's a very good cricketer. But we'll be prepared for him."

Shakib and Bangladesh provide an intriguing challenge for Australia. They have not toured Australia for a bilateral series since 2008, which has been something of a sore point for Bangladesh cricket. At a time when Bangladesh have improved immensely as a one-day side, many of their players are still relatively unknown to the Australians, unlike most other teams in this World Cup.

"We haven't played against them and when we do play against them they are usually in their conditions," said Langer. "We've watched them closely, we've researched them closely. It's a really important game for us in the scheme of the competition. They all are, but this one in particular, the way it's starting to open up a little bit on the table. We'll be well prepared and all our boys know that."

Police in South Carolina have put out a missing person advisory for former Philadelphia Eagles and Carolina Panthers running back Rod Smart.

The Lancaster County Sheriff's Office says that Smart -- perhaps best known for his "He Hate Me" jersey in the XFL -- was last seen Wednesday in Indian Land, South Carolina.

"It is unusual for him to be out of touch for this long," police wrote in the advisory. "Mr. Smart's family is worried about his safety and well-being."

Smart, 42, played in one season for the Eagles (2001) and four with the Panthers (2002-05). He came to fame for his "He Hate Me" nickname, which he was allowed to put on his jersey for the one season of the XFL in 2001.

SAN FRANCISCO -- An attorney for a deputy involved in an altercation with the president of the Toronto Raptors as he tried to join his team on the court to celebrate their NBA championship said his client suffered a concussion and is on medical leave.

Attorney David Mastagni said Tuesday the 20-year-veteran of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office has a jaw injury and is considering filing a lawsuit.

Sheriff's Sgt. Ray Kelly says the deputy was checking court-access credentials after the game Thursday in Oakland against the Golden State Warriors when Raptors President Masai Ujiri shoved the deputy and Ujiri's arm struck him in the side of the head.

Kelly says investigators are questioning witnesses and the office hopes to file a report to prosecutors recommending a misdemeanor battery charge against Ujiri.

The team said last week it was cooperating with the investigation and gathering information on its own. It had no further comment Tuesday.

The name of the deputy has not been released.