Just as battleships used in World War II were given the nickname “Big Berthas,” a particular Digard Racing Chevrolet Monte Carlo driven by three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Darrell Waltrip was similarly named.

It was also the car that helped the Owensboro, Ky., native establish himself as a star in the NASCAR’s premier series

Originally a 1974 model Chevrolet that was eventually re-skinned with 1977 Monte Carlo sheet metal, Bertha proved to be the team’s toughest car. It was routinely put into service when other cars were crashed or not ready for action, prompting the name given by those who prepped it for battle.

Bertha’s biggest victory came on May 28, 1978, at Charlotte Motor Speedway when the team’s primary car, named “Wicked Wanda,” was crashed. Bertha came through and gave Waltrip the first of five Coca-Cola 600 victories.

With Waltrip at the wheel of the highly recognizable green-white-and-orange Gatorade-sponsored machine, Bertha won five races in 1977, six races in ’78, five more in ’79 and three times in 1980.

TOLEDO, Ohio – In his racing career, Brian Gerster has thrived in USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget and AMSOIL National Sprint Car competition, winning eight times in the midget class and once in the sprint car division.

The Fishers, Ind., native has won on the high banks of Winchester and Salem, as well as Lucas Oil Raceway, Anderson and seemingly everywhere in between, including Toledo Speedway, host of this Saturday night’s Hemelgarn Racing/Super Fitness Rollie Beale Classic where he’ll make his first Silver Crown appearance since 2011 when he takes the wheel of Dick Myers’ Ram Engineering No. 94, the same team with which he’s accumulated numerous wins, fast times, track records and championships over the past decade in winged sprint car competition.

The possibility of a Silver Crown ride came together for Gerster at the beginning of the year and the two-time third-place finisher in the USAC National Midget point standings in 1995-96 jumped at the chance.

“(Team owner) Dick Myers and I have been together full-time in the sprint car stuff for about eight years,” Gerster explained.  “I’m very excited for the opportunity to run the Silver Crown Series again on the pavement with the same group of guys.  The Silver Crown Series is the most competitive open wheel racing going right now on pavement.  It’s a big challenge for us and that’s why we’re looking forward to doing it.  We just have to jump in and see how it goes.”

At Toledo, specifically, Gerster knows his way around the half-mile, high-banked paved oval. It was less than a year ago when he set the all-time one-lap track record of 12.096 seconds in a winged sprint car. Gerster is quick to note the differences between the winged sprint car and the Silver Crown car as he heads into his debut in a champ car at Toledo.

“The winged sprint car is obviously a different animal,” Gerster noted.  “I’ve got a really good program there. I don’t expect a lot of what we learn running the wing car will translate to the Silver Crown car. I’m probably going to rely more on the experience that I’ve gained running the USAC Midget and Sprint Car stuff back in the day.”

Though he and Ram Engineering have had their share of success on pavement race tracks in the Midwest, and certainly at Toledo, Gerster’s expectations are tempered.  After all, it’s been eight years since he’s been in a Silver Crown car and nearly two decades since Myers has been involved with one, most recently with the VanKlompenburg No. 3 driven by the likes of Bill Tyler and Johnny Parsons.

The objective is to complete all 100 laps and see where they stack up as they tackle the complete pavement Silver Crown schedule for the remainder of 2019 and into the future as Gerster has an eye on partnering up to tackle the full Silver Crown schedule in 2020.

“Compared to Gene Nolen’s car and what Bobby Santos has been doing, Aaron Pierce, and the guys who have been running the series, for us, it’s just a matter of being five or six years behind what everybody else has been doing.  We’ve just got to get back in there and build our notebook and see if we can run 100 laps and learn and apply that to the next race.

“This year, we just want to go out and run as competitively as we can,” Gerster said.  “There’s going to be a lot of learning for sure.  We realize that going in, and that’s why we’re taking on the challenge.  We wanted to do something new and different and see how we stack up.”

Real Madrid have rejected multiple offers of up to €180 million for Marco Asensio, with neither the club nor player having had any intention of taking them up, the Spain international's agent has told ESPN FC.

Asensio, 23, has emerged as one of Spanish football's most exciting talents in recent seasons, having scored goals in winning Champions League, European Super Cup and Spanish Supercopa finals as well as several spectacular strikes.

A disappointing 2018-19 campaign led to suggestions he could leave Madrid as part of a summer overhaul with Liverpool and Juventus reportedly to be leading the chase.

"Over the last year there have been offers as high as €150m and €180m, but Madrid did not want to listen to them," Horacio Gaggioli told ESPN FC. "There is always interest in Marco from other big clubs, seeing if he wanted to leave, which is normal for the player he is.

"But he always says that he is very happy with Madrid, is only interested in being a success there. He is still a young kid, improving all the time, and the club is very happy with him too."

Asensio has three goals in 33 La Liga and Champions League appearances this season, and was often benched by previous coach Santiago Solari, who favoured Vinicius Junior and Lucas Vazquez as his wingers.

However, he has started five of the six La Liga games since Zinedine Zidane returned to the club as manager last month -- and has also been among the players most used by Spain boss Luis Enrique.

Gaggioli, who also advises Barcelona's Lionel Messi, said Asensio has been a victim of the entire squad underperforming this season.

"This year it has been difficult for everyone at Madrid, it has not been a good year for anyone at the club," he said. "These things can happen in football -- the whole team dropped their level, not just Marco.

"Maybe there was more a focus on Asensio as he had shown such a high level before, there was lots of expectation, and it has not worked out this year. But on an individual level it is not easy if the team is not playing well.

"It does not matter who you are, whether you are Lionel Messi or Diego Maradona. But Marco has played well with Spain, has become a regular with the senior international team.

"He is just thinking now about next season, and winning things again with Real Madrid."

Big picture

This is arguably the biggest rivalry in the history of the tournament. Fans have dubbed it the IPL's El Clasico. Mumbai Indians ended Chennai Super Kings' three-match winning streak earlier this month. And while Super Kings are yet to lose a home game this season, the last team to beat them at Chepauk were Mumbai, in IPL 2015, breaking a two-year streak. Super Kings have a 44% win record against Mumbai, while it's 60% or above against every other team. Since 2015, Mumbai have won five of the seven meetings between the two teams.

All this sets up a perfect contest, as Mumbai face table-toppers Super Kings at a crucial stage in the tournament.

While Super Kings have all but sealed their spot in the playoffs, Mumbai are looking to solidify their position, with the race firing up. They're coming into the game following a five-day break after their loss to Rajasthan Royals. A win here would lift them to second, while a loss could land them in trouble, leaving their playoff hopes dependent on other closely-competing teams' results.

Super Kings went into their last game, against Sunrisers Hyderabad, facing questions over whether their batting was too dependent on MS Dhoni. They answered some of them, with Shane Watson and Suresh Raina stepping up to lead the chase of 175, and Dhoni didn't even come out to bat. There are, however, concerns surrounding Ambati Rayudu and Kedar Jadhav, who have been in middling form this season.

Rohit Sharma, meanwhile, has struggled to convert starts, but his form does not seem to be that big a concern yet for Mumbai, who have an enviable degree of batting depth. After producing slow turners in the first half of the tournament, a batting-friendly track was laid out at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Tuesday, which is good news for the visiting team. Hardik Pandya's late assault ended Super Kings' last major unbeaten home streak in 2015. Can Mumbai take down fortress Chennai yet again?

In the news

South Africa fast bowler Beuran Hendricks, who was named as the injured Alzarri Joseph's replacement, has linked up with the Mumbai Indians side in Chennai.

Likely XIs

Chennai Super Kings: 1 Faf du Plessis, 2 Shane Watson, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Kedar Jadhav, 5 Ambati Rayudu, 6 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Dwayne Bravo, 9 Deepak Chahar, 10 Harbhajan Singh, 11 Imran Tahir

Mumbai Indians: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Ishan Kishan, 4 Kieron Pollard, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Krunal Pandya, 7 Suryakumar Yadav, 8 Rahul Chahar, 9 Jason Behrendorff, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Lasith Malinga

Previous meeting

Mumbai's seamers razed through a sloppy Super Kings line-up when the teams met at the Wankhede earlier this month.

Strategy punt

• Quinton de Kock has been a force for Mumbai at the top of the order, having made 378 runs in 10 games. He's coming into this match with four consecutive 30-plus scores, including two fifties. But this year, he has managed only 114 off 99 balls against spin while being dismissed four times in eight innings. In the IPL since 2015, de Kock has lost his wicket 13 times in 25 innings to spinners. Super Kings could introduce spin early to counter the de Kock threat. Harbhajan Singh, who has had plenty of Powerplay success against left-handers, would be the obvious choice for this match-up.

• Suryakumar Yadav might be one of Mumbai's biggest assets, but this season he hasn't really taken off, particularly struggling in the middle overs against spin. In nine innings, he's lost his wicket three times to spinners and has scored just 107 off the 91 balls he's faced from them. A possible fix for this could be Mumbai sending in Ishan Kishan or Kieron Pollard earlier. Kishan has been aggressive against spinners, striking at 163.1 since 2018 in the IPL, while Pollard's best scores (83 v Kings XI and 46 not out v Sunrisers) this season have come when he's entered within the first 12 overs of the innings.

Stats that matter

• Hardik Pandya has an average of 42 in the death overs and has been striking at 207.9 in this phase in nine innings.

• Raina needs one more fifty to bring up 50 fifties in T20s and one more catch to get to 100 catches in the IPL

• Dhoni is one big hit away from 200 sixes for Chennai Super Kings

India Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane will join Hampshire for the County Championship season from next month.

Division One club Hampshire confirmed Rahane's signing as an overseas player on Thursday, as reported by ESPNcricinfo last week.

The 30-year-old Rahane is the first India player to represent Hampshire and will replace Aiden Markram, who will finish his stint with Hampshire at the end of the Royal London One-Day Cup group stage in early May to join South Africa's World Cup squad. Markram was a late signing after Dimuth Karunaratne entered the running to lead Sri Lanka at the World Cup and was subsequently confirmed as captain.

Having been overlooked for the World Cup, Rahane will make his County Championship debut and feature in eight matches throughout May, June and the start of July, subject to visa clearance. A right-hand top-order batsman, Rahane has played 56 Tests and 90 ODIs. He has scored 3,488 Test runs at an average of 40.55 with nine centuries and 17 fifties, while averaging above 50 with the bat in 125 first-class matches, including 29 hundreds.

"I am excited to be the first Indian to play for Hampshire, a county which has a glowing reputation," Rahane said. "I hope to score runs and win as a team and would like to thank BCCI for allowing me to play."

Hampshire Director of Cricket, Giles White said he was pleased to have a player of Rahane's stature at the club.

"We're delighted to attract a player of Ajinkya's class and with both Aiden and Dimuth selected for the World Cup, we were obviously in the market for a top-order batsman," White said. "Ajinkya showed an interest early on and the way things have played out it's a great opportunity to get him over - we're really excited to have him with us."

Two referees who worked the controversial Game 7 between the Vegas Golden Knights and San Jose Sharks in the first round will not officiate in the second round.

Dan O'Halloran and Eric Furlatt were on the ice for a pivotal major penalty call in the third period that gave the Sharks a five-minute power play. The Sharks scored four times on the man advantage to erase a 3-0 deficit, and won the game 5-4 in overtime. The Sharks will face the Colorado Avalanche in the second round.

Controversy stemmed from the fact that neither O'Halloran nor Furlatt signaled for a penalty when Sharks captain Joe Pavelski was cross-checked by Golden Knights forward Cody Eakin in the chest. Pavelski stumbled backward, collided with Vegas forward Paul Stastny, and fell to the ice -- hitting his head, and bleeding. As Pavelski was being attended to by trainers, the officials huddled and Eakin was given a major penalty for cross-checking and a game misconduct.

The NHL chooses which referees advance in the playoffs, with the pool whittled down after each series. It's especially notable that O'Halloran is not working, considering he leads all active refs in career playoff games officiated and has not missed a conference final round in a decade. Game 7 was O'Halloran's 212th career playoff game.

Vegas took exception to the penalty, especially forward Jonathan Marchessault, who delivered strong criticism in the locker room afterward.

"Furlatt said, 'It looks pretty bad.' If it looks pretty bad, then clearly you did not see it," Marchessault said. "It's a faceoff. It's a push. Probably 50 percent of the faceoffs, players -- if they lose -- they probably give a small cross-check, right? If you want to call the cross-check, fine, call it. It's a cross-check. But seriously, he falls bad. It's unfortunate. Don't get me wrong: I'm a huge fan of Joe Pavelski. And he went down, and I really hope he's OK and he comes back. But that call changes the whole outcome. It changes the whole future of us and the outcome this year. It's a joke. I would be embarrassed if I was them."

The NHL, through a pool reporter at Game 7, issued a statement from series officiating supervisor Don Van Massenhoven: "The referees called a cross-checking penalty for an infraction that caused a significant injury. In their judgment, the infraction and its result merited a major penalty."

Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said after the game he wasn't pleased with the explanation he was given by the officials.

"They said he cross-checked him across the face, and as we all saw, that didn't happen," Gallant said. "There was no high-stick that hit him in the face. When Stastny came out, he fell and banged his head on the ice. That's the unfortunate part of it. It was an awful call. We've all seen it. It's too bad we end up losing because of that because we're in control of the hockey game."

According to MoneyPuck.com, the Sharks had a 1.19 percent chance to win the game when they were given the five-minute major.

ESPN's Greg Wyshynski contributed to this report.

Kansas City Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill, who will not face charges of child abuse, issued a statement Thursday saying he is "working hard to be the best person for my family and our community I can be."

"I love and support my family above anything," Hill said in the statement issued Thursday. "My son's health and happiness is my number one priority. I want to thank the Kansas City Chiefs, my attorneys, my agent and my union for supporting me through this. My focus remains on working hard to be the best person for my family and our community I can be, and the best player to help our team win."

The Johnson County District Attorney's Office announced Wednesday that Hill and his fiancée, Crystal Espinal, will not be charged. District Attorney Stephen M. Howe said that although he believes a crime occurred, the evidence in the case doesn't clearly establish who committed the crime.

According to police reports, officers in Overland Park, Kansas, were called to Hill's home on March 14 to investigate an alleged battery in which a juvenile was a victim. Hill was not listed in the report, but Espinal was listed under "others involved."

Although Hill referred to his son in his statement, neither the district attorney's office nor police have identified the child referenced in the police reports.

Attorneys for Hill also released a statement Thursday, saying Hill has maintained he was "innocent of any crime" and that he has been cooperating with authorities.

"Contrary to some media reports, Tyreek cooperated with law enforcement, waived his Fifth Amendment rights, and answered questions from both law enforcement and DCF [Kansas Department of Children and Families]," Hill's attorneys said in the release. "Unfortunately, due to laws related to confidentiality, as much as he would like to, he cannot comment regarding specific allegations."

On Wednesday, Howe said officials were "deeply troubled" by the situation.

"[We] are concerned about the health and welfare of the child in question," Howe said. "We believe a crime has occurred. However, the evidence in this case does not conclusively establish who committed this crime."

Officers had previously been called to Hill's address March 5 to investigate a report of child abuse or neglect. Hill's name was listed on that report. According to Overland Park police, the case was closed three days later when prosecution was declined.

The Kansas Department of Children and Families has been investigating the alleged battery.

Hill is still subject to discipline by the NFL.

The Chiefs issued a comment late Wednesday acknowledging the district attorney's decision but declining further comment, citing the ongoing investigation by the Department for Children and Families.

Hill, a three-time Pro Bowl selection, caught 87 passes last season and ranked fourth in the NFL in both receiving yardage (1,479) and touchdown receptions (12).

While at Oklahoma State, Hill was convicted of domestic assault and battery after punching and choking his girlfriend. He was sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to undergo anger management classes. He was dismissed from OSU and finished his collegiate career at West Alabama.

He completed probation in 2018 and his conviction was dismissed.

ESPN's Adam Teicher contributed to this report.

Victoria Azarenka said jetlag left her with "no idea of the time or what's happening" after beating Vera Zvonareva at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.

Former world number one Azarenka, who travelled to the Stuttgart event from Australia, won 7-5 6-4 in round one.

The Belarusian said the effects of her flight proved a "huge challenge", adding: "I'm very happy with the way I handled it."

Azarenka, 29, now faces defending champion Karolina Pliskova.

Pliskova - the Czech world number four - is among four of the world's top five players featuring in the event.

Her compatriot and world number three Petra Kvitova, who received a bye to the second round, cruised through to the quarter-finals with a 6-1 6-4 win over Belgian qualifier Greet Minnen.

Rafael Nadal avoided successive shock losses on clay as he began his Barcelona Open title defence with a 6-7 (7-9) 6-4 6-2 win over Leonardo Mayer.

The top seed, 32, lost to Fabio Fognini on Saturday in the Monte Carlo Masters semi-finals, and on Wednesday struggled at times against Argentine Mayer.

The 11-time French Open champion will now play fellow Spaniard David Ferrer in the last 16.

Ferrer, 37, recorded a 6-3 6-1 win over 15th seed Lucas Pouille.

Also through is Argentine Guido Pella who beat sixth seedKaren Khachanov 6-2 7-6 (7-4).

Another seed to fall in the last 32 was French 11th seed Gilles Simon, beaten 6-3 6-3 by USA's Mackenzie McDonald.

There was no such hiccup for Russian seventh seed Daniil Medvedev who defeated Albert Ramos Vinolas 6-3 2-6 6-1.