RICHMOND, Va. – Thanks to DGM Racing team owner Mario Gosselin, NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Josh Williams will have an opportunity to keep his season on track this weekend at Richmond Raceway.

Williams will pilot the No. 92 Chevrolet Camaro, a third car for Gosselin’s organization, during Friday night’s ToyotaCare 250 at the three-quarter-mile, D-shaped oval.

After previously running the team’s primary entry – the No. 36 – for the first seven races of the season, Williams’ number change  comes after the default of product distributor All Sports Coffee and brand partner JoeFroyo, which came on to sponsor Williams starting at Daytona Int’l Speedway in February.

Following the Daytona season opener, All Sports Coffee defaulted on their sponsor agreement, leading the team and Williams to pull the All Sports Coffee logos off the car for the season’s third event at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway.

However, the JoeFroyo executive team attended the Las Vegas event and their logos were run on the No. 36 Chevrolet for that race, after which Williams’ team was notified the sponsor agreement would not be honored.

With Williams on the ropes due to the sponsorship situation heading into Richmond, Gosselin stepped up to ensure that the Florida native could continue his fast start to the Xfinity Series season.

Williams has reset his career-best finish twice already this year, including a 14th-place finish in the Xfinity Series event at Texas Motor Speedway on March 30, and put the No. 36 team 21st in owner points going into this weekend’s action at Richmond.

“First off, I want to say that I’m extremely grateful for Mario Gosselin’s willingness to step up and support me in a situation like this. It’s not easy and for him to put a third car on the track for us is obviously a big statement and one we’re appreciative of,” said Williams. “We do understand that business is business and things can happen … and for a larger-scale team they can just plug another partner in, but for a smaller team like us, this type of default can be crippling to our season.

“The fact that we have a chance to keep our momentum going this weekend at Richmond, a place I enjoy but have never had the opportunity to race at before, is a big deal and I’m looking forward to it.”

Williams sits in a tie for 19th in the driver’s standings heading into Friday night, with three top-20 finishes in the first seven races of the year – easily the best start he’s had to a season in his career.

That kind of positive momentum helped further justify Gosselin’s move to add a third car this weekend.

“Josh has had a very strong start to the year with DGM Racing and we’re very pleased with the job he’s done for us in these first seven races,” Gosselin said. “He’s achieved many of the goals we set out to hit as a team at this juncture and we wanted to give him every opportunity we could to continue forward this weekend and maintain the foundation he has built in points.

“We look forward to having Josh on track in the No. 92 Chevrolet on Friday night at Richmond.”

Canadian Donald Theetge, who raced the No. 90 for DGM Racing at Las Vegas in March, will pilot the No. 36 that Williams has run in the first seven races at Richmond this weekend, carrying sponsorship from Circuit Acura and Mercedes-Benz St-Nicolas.

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. – After spending three years building an impressive resume in the world of rallycross, 18-year-old Californian Christian Brooks has elected to re-direct his career target towards the NTT IndyCar Series, his childhood dream.

This year, the Santa Clarita, CA resident will begin his new journey with Jay Howard Driver Development in the F4 United States Championship Powered by Honda, supported by Global Electronic Technology and Hot Wheels.

Pre-season testing has been extremely productive, as the nationally-ranked kart racer has transitioned seamlessly to the 160 hp Honda-powered Ligier JS F4 open wheel formula car.

“It has been my goal since I was a young boy to compete in the prestigious IndyCar Series,” said Brooks, who looks at Scott Dixon as a role model. “Competing in the F4 US Championship will be the first step in achieving that goal. Being a rallycross driver these past three seasons has given me the confidence to know that I can excel in all forms of motorsports.

“Rallycross is known as one of, if not, the most difficult forms of motorsports with changing conditions including dirt, jumps, and asphalt, not to mention a whole lot of bumping and banging,” Brooks continued. “My grassroots experience in kart racing has also helped mold me into the experienced driver I am today, and I feel as if all my experience in karting and rallycross will translate very well into the F4 US Championship. I am beyond excited to get this season underway and prove that I will be a fast and successful open wheel driver!”

Through his entire run in the Red Bull Global Rallycross series, Brooks continued to compete in national-level karting events and has not been ranked outside the top 10 since 2015. Brooks won countless races and titles during his decade-plus in competition karting, including championships in Superkarts USA, the Challenge of the Americas, the US Rotax Grand Nationals and the International Kart Federation.

Brooks was also a member of Team USA at the Rotax Grand Finals three times, competing in the Junior category in 2014 in Valencia, Spain and then as a Senior in 2015 in Algarve, Portugal and in 2016 in Sarno, Italy.

In preparation for his F4 debut season, Brooks has logged significant testing laps with Jay Howard’s squad. He has quickly adapted to the car and is on pace to challenge the veterans in the category.

“I’ve watched Christian literally since he was a baby in the Cadet categories, working his way through Mini Max, Junior and the Senior ranks,” said Howard. “He has won at every level and is always the one to watch. I’m excited to have Christian join my Driver Development program. I believe he will continue the trend of running up front and I look forward to a great season ahead.”

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Justin Grant has seen it all at the Terre Haute Action Track, host of Sunday’s 19th annual Fatheadz Eyewear Sumar Classic for the USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series.

Grant has been quick time and he’s led an astounding number of laps. He’s even flipped out of the ballpark in turn one.

However, until last spring’s Sumar Classic, he had not reached victory lane in USAC national competition at the famed half-mile dirt oval.

In 2016, the Ione, Calif. native came heartbreakingly close, starting from the pole and holding dominance at the front for the first 93 laps. However, a slight mishap off turn four with seven laps left cost him a shot at victory, as C.J. Leary drove to his first career win.

Fast forward to 2018, and with a couple more years of experience under the belt and on a similar track surface he faced that afternoon, Grant was determined to not let the past repeat itself on his way to Terre Haute glory.

With more experience in the big cars under his belt, Grant knew he had to devise a game plan that would result in a victory, but with a surging, four-time series champ in Kody Swanson erasing the gap, that’s easier said than done.

However, Grant wasn’t going to let this one get away.

“You have to keep your eye on the rubber or have your spotter keeping an eye on the rubber for you,” Grant detailed. “A couple years ago here, I was just concentrating on what I was doing, banging the fence and running as hard as I could. As I’ve gotten more comfortable in the Crown cars, I worry as much, or more, about what other guys are doing behind me and make sure to get to the rubber before somebody drives by.”

From his third starting spot, Grant held down the fort near the front as polesitter Jerry Coons, Jr. and C.J. Leary swapped the top spot for the first third of the event.

Leary led until lap 36, when Grant caught him in lapped traffic and outlasted him down the back straightaway before sliding back up to the berm, where he would stand pat until nearly three-quarters of the event were in the books.

On lap 70, Shane Cottle dueled with Grant as the two swapped the top spot four times over the span of a lap and a half. Cottle was credited with leading the lap before the two resumed their race-leading surge.

Grant made the ultimate, lasting move, ducking down to the inside of Cottle off turn two to recapture the lead.

By lap 77, a date with the Sumar Classic trophy appeared to be slipping through his grasp yet again as a surging Swanson was in position to pounce for the lead, ringing around the outside of both Cottle and Grant in a single move between turns three and four.

However, with just 16 laps remaining, the now third-running Cottle took a chance on a two-for-one deal entering the third turn. In one fell swoop, Cottle breezed by Grant on the inside, then pulled along the inside of Swanson on the inner guardrail. The two touched wheels, sending both into 360-degree spins.

Cottle’s race came to an end backwards near the outside wall while Swanson managed to continue, albeit with a flat left rear tire.

That put Grant back into position at the front of the field once racing resumed, and he never looked back after that, even as Swanson rallied all the way back to second.

Grant flawlessly finished out the final laps to take his second career Silver Crown win by 1.33 seconds over Swanson and polesitter Tyler Courtney, who came from 22nd to third after an early race spin.

Grant is basically playing with house money right now. He’s experienced the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat in recent times at the Sumar and is game for anything that is thrown his way.

He’s proven that time and time again, and perhaps, he could erase the long-running streak of a new Sumar Classic winner each year since 1999 with a victory on Sunday.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Colorado Avalanche All-Star forward Mikko Rantanen has recovered from an upper-body injury and will play in the team's first-round playoff series against Calgary.

Game 1 is Thursday night in Calgary.

Rantanen has been sidelined since taking a check into the boards near the team benches at Dallas on March 21. He's coming off a regular season in which he had career highs of 31 goals and 87 points. The right winger led the team with 16 power-play goals.

Colorado coach Jared Bednar said after practice Wednesday that he expects Rantanen to "play a lot, just like he normally does."

Rantanen said he feels "really good" heading into the Flames series. He had four assists in six games last season during a first-round playoff loss to Nashville.

NEW YORK -- Slava Voynov is appealing the suspension imposed by the NHL after it determined he committed acts of domestic violence.

Jonathan Weatherdon, a spokesman for the NHL Players' Association, said Wednesday that the organization had filed an appeal on behalf of Voynov. Players have the right to appeal suspensions to a neutral arbitrator, though a hearing date has not yet been set.

Commissioner Gary Bettman suspended Voynov on Tuesday for the 2019-20 season and 2020 playoffs for what the league called unacceptable off-ice conduct. The 29-year-old Russian could have his eligibility restored on July 1, 2020, based on good behavior.

Voynov was suspended indefinitely in October 2014 after being arrested and accused of abusing his wife. Voynov was a member of the Los Angeles Kings at the time of his arrest and subsequent suspension.

He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor, left the United States to go back to Russia and in July had the conviction dismissed by a judge in Los Angeles. He has applied to be reinstated by the NHL.

The NHL conducted an investigation and held a hearing March 21 under the terms of the collective-bargaining agreement regarding the Oct. 19, 2014, incident involving Voynov and his wife. Bettman said he determined after that investigation and hearing that Voynov engaged in acts of domestic violence.

Nashville forward Austin Watson was suspended 27 games in September for unacceptable off-ice conduct following an investigation and hearing after he pleaded no contest in July to a charge of domestic assault stemming from an incident in June. Arbitrator Shyam Das reduced the suspension to 18 games on appeal.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.