MOORESVILLE, N.C. – Officials from Rick Ware Racing have announced the return of Victory Lane Quick Oil Change and several of its partners to the team for select NASCAR Cup Series events this season.

The renewed partnership starts with this weekend’s Cup Series event at the Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway road course on Sunday, where driver Garrett Smithley will be behind the wheel for RWR.

Victory Lane was originally founded as Pit Stop Quick Lube in Ann Arbor, Michigan by Derrick and Jane Oxender in 1980. When the company began offering franchise sales in 1986, the name was changed to Victory Lane Quick Oil Change.

That history makes Victory Lane the longest operating quick lube franchise in Michigan.

In July of 2014 after over 30 years of successful operation, the Oxenders sold Victory Lane to Justin and Lauren Cialella. At the time, the Cialella’s were the majority franchisees of the corporation, owning and operating 10 locations in the Southeast Michigan region.

“NASCAR sponsorship is a natural fit for Victory Lane,” said Victory Lane Quick Oil Change CEO Justin Cialella. “We have seen success in both brand recognition and franchise sales since our first race in NASCAR. This will be our fourth season with Garrett (Smithley) and we couldn’t ask for a better brand ambassador. He understands our brand and believes in it.

“We’re excited and honored to have many of our great partners believe in this program as much as we do and are looking forward to a great season.”

The Victory Lane franchise is licensed nationwide and currently operates 42 franchise locations in eight states. As of last year, Victory Lane is the 17th largest franchise quick lube in the United States as well as the fifth largest retail automotive franchise in Michigan.

Joining Victory Lane on Smithley’s Cup Series cars this season will be Kendall Motor Oil, Red Line Synthetic Oil, Water Wetter, TrueBrand, Buck’s Oil, and Clix Wipers.

“Justin, Lauren, Jim and the team at Victory Lane have been instrumental in the positive trajectory of my NASCAR career,” said Smithley. “Preventive maintenance, specifically oil changes are something that we all need to take care of but rarely have the time to do. Victory Lane truly offers the best solution. Their services are affordable and consistent, and their associates are honest and trustworthy. That is evident when looking at the growth of the Victory Lane brand, even during the pandemic.

“I’m humbled, honored, and excited to represent an organization like Victory Lane and it’s partners for another year.”

TAMPA, Fla. – Greg Wilson had planned to make his 410ci winged sprint car season debut this weekend with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series.

Mother Nature had other plans, as the series was forced to postpone its planned events.

As such, Wilson and his Hercules Tires, Ohio Logistics and DNC Hydraulics-supported team are now heading to Southern Raceway in Milton, Fla., with the United Sprint Car Series on Friday and Saturday.

Wilson hustled from 14th to sixth to earn hard charger honors for passing the most cars during his debut at Southern Raceway in February of last year.

He backed that up in March by scoring a pair of third-place finishes.

“We’ve been good,” he said. “Other than being a sandy race track, it reminds me of some tracks around home. I think that helps.”

Wilson invaded East Bay Raceway Park last weekend for two preliminary nights of the Ronald Laney Memorial King of the 360s, before the event finale rained out.

Wilson was handcuffed by a high pill draw each night. He moved forward in a heat race on both Thursday and Friday, but ended up narrowly missing a transfer into the main event by two positions on Thursday and only one spot on Friday.

“I hate using pill draws as an excuse, but we didn’t draw good,” he said. “With that format, not drawing good and not being good at racing it hampered our week. It’s one of those places where it’s pretty unique. Florida cars and guys like Tim Shaffer and Mark Smith that have always been pretty good at East Bay have a knack for that place and usually run pretty good.

“Bob Hampshire used to tell me if you unload good you’ll probably be good all weekend, and if you unload and you’re bad, you can only hope to be okay by the end of the weekend. We had a little different plan for our setup on Saturday, but it rained out.”

The blast of wintry weather in Texas has led to another postponement for the Dallas Stars.

The Stars' game against the Tampa Bay Lightning scheduled for Thursday was postponed on Wednesday.

It's the third consecutive postponement for the Stars, who had a pair of games against Nashville called off after officials in Dallas expressed concern over the games being played with residents experiencing lengthy power outages.

Dallas and Tampa Bay are still scheduled to play Saturday, and temperatures are expected to be above freezing by then.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The struggling New York Rangers will be without defenseman Jacob Trouba for the next four to six weeks because of a broken thumb.

That's a significant blow to an underachieving team with playoff aspirations that has lost four in a row.

"Unfortunately, we're going to miss everything he brings from a physicality standpoint, from a compete standpoint, from what he brings to us from a leadership standpoint," coach David Quinn said Wednesday. "He'll be missed. But the good news is it's not as serious as we originally thought and he's going to be back sooner than later."

MVP finalist Artemi Panarin is expected to to return Thursday against Philadelphia after missing the past two games with a lower-body injury. Panarin, who was injured last week in a game against Boston, leads the team with five goals, 10 assists and 15 points.

Quinn also expects defenseman K'Andre Miller to play after sitting out a loss Tuesday night to New Jersey with an upper-body injury. Jack Johnson was recently cleared to practice and isn't ready to play yet.

Trouba averaged over 22 minutes a game, so no one player will be able to make up for his absence.

"Everybody on that D corps has just got to play a little bit better," Quinn said. "That's all. It can't be one guy. It's got to be everybody."

Center Ryan Strome said the Rangers have "got to find a way." They are 4-7-3 so far this season, in seventh place in the eight-team East Division, and Trouba's injury is yet another setback.

"It's a tough loss," top defenseman Adam Fox said. "Injuries are kind of part of the game, but you lose one of our veteran guys on the D corps, it hurts. I think it's just an opportunity for guys to step up and kind of fill that role."

New York already waived defenseman Tony DeAngelo and assigned him to the taxi squad after a postgame incident with another player. DeAngelo is not around the team, and management is trying to trade him.

Chelsea Clinton and Jenna Bush Hager are part of a group investing in the National Women's Soccer League's (NWSL) Washington Spirit, along with Olympic gold-medal-winning gymnast Dominique Dawes, the team said on Wednesday.

The daughters of former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush are among more than 30 people in the new investor group, which also includes former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.

- Tennis champion Osaka investing in NWSL's Courage
- NWSL schedule: Challenge Cup begins April 9, final Nov. 20

"Our investor group reflects DC's political roots, sports legacy, international reach, and thriving business and technology community," said Devin Talbott, an entrepreneur and member of the new investment group. "We share a common vision and committed purpose to elevate women's soccer."

Spirit assistant coach Briana Scurry, a former goalkeeper who helped the U.S. women's national soccer team to win two Olympic gold medals and the World Cup, is also among the team's investors.

The group joins a number of new celebrity investors in the league, including three-time Grand Slam tennis champion Naomi Osaka, who has become an owner of the North Carolina Courage, which won back-to-back championships in 2018 and 2019.

The NWSL announced in July that it had awarded exclusive rights to bring a franchise to Los Angeles to an ownership group that includes 23-time tennis Grand Slam champion Serena Williams and Academy Award winner Natalie Portman.

Dubbed "Angel City," the Los Angeles team is the 11th franchise in the league. Tennis great Billie Jean King and Olympic skiing champion Lindsey Vonn are also investors.

The NWSL will return to action in April for the Challenge Cup tournament, before starting its 24-match regular season in May.

Danny Briggs has moved a step closer to an international recall more than seven years after he last represented England.

Briggs, the left-arm spinner, is the highest wicket-taker in the history of English domestic T20 cricket but played the last of his seven T20I in Australia in January 2014. He also played one ODI against Pakistan in the UAE in 2012.

But on the back of a decent BBL season - he was part of the Adelaide Strikers side which made it to the Eliminator phase - he has been named as a non-travelling reserve for the limited-overs section of England's tour of India. He was part of the England Lions tours to the UAE and India in the 2018-19 winter, and has recently signed a three-year contract with Warwickshire after leaving Sussex.

With Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid the two frontline spinners in the T20I squad and Matt Parkinson the only one among the travelling reserves, the naming of Briggs as a standby player suggests he is not far from a return.

It currently appears England will include only two spinners in their T20I side but, if pitches prove helpful to that style of bowling, they may well be inclined to include an extra spinner or two when they return to India for the T20 World Cup later in the year.

ESPNcricinfo understands that Tom Helm, the Middlesex seamer, and Will Jacks, the Surrey batsman, have also been put on standby as non-travelling reserves.

Helm was also a reserve for the limited-overs series in South Africa, while Jacks, although aged only 22, has long been seen as one of the most exciting young batsmen in the English game. Both players are uncapped.

Although encouraging news for the trio, it appears that the ECB have attempted not to name reserves who might have otherwise been in action in the PSL, which starts this weekend.

PITTSBURGH -- Ben Roethlisberger is the quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers right now, general manager Kevin Colbert said in a Wednesday news conference.

Beyond that, though, Colbert was lukewarm in his assessment of the franchise quarterback's future with the organization.

"As we sit here today, Ben is a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers," Colbert said. "... He reiterated that to us that he wants to continue to play, and we told him quite frankly we have to look at this current situation. ... With Ben's current cap number, some adjustment will have to be made."

Team owner and CEO Art Rooney II told reporters last month that the soon-to-be 39-year-old quarterback's $41.2 million cap hit for the 2021 season was untenable. Later the same day, Roethlisberger told The Athletic he was willing to work with the team and said he didn't "care 'bout my pay at all this year!"

Colbert placed emphasis on finding a solution that would benefit both the organization and the quarterback it drafted 11th overall in 2004.

"Ben Roethlisberger is on the team," the general manager said Wednesday. "Ben Roethlisberger did a lot of really good things last year. We anticipate that he could still do some good things going forward.

"Hopefully there's a way that we can try to figure out and do what's best for the organization and do what's best for Ben. Hopefully he'll be able to see that and feel the same way we do. There's a lot of work that needs to be done, not only with Ben, with the whole unrestricted free-agent class and our whole cap situation as well."

Colbert said the assessment of Roethlisberger's future with the organization begins with the financial situation for the 2021 season. If Roethlisberger retires or is cut, he would still count $22.25 million against the cap. If the team opts to give him an extension and convert his base salary and roster bonus into a signing bonus spread out over multiple years, the most the team can reduce his cap hit to is $27.125 million. Though it's not likely, Roethlisberger could also opt to play for the minimum and take a pay cut of $17.925 million, but his cap hit would still be $23.325 million.

Because the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to significantly lower the salary cap -- though it can't drop below $175 million -- the Steelers are firmly in cap trouble. ESPN's roster management system currently projects the Steelers to be over the cap by more than $22 million. The team must be cap-compliant by the start of the new league year on March 17.

"We were all dealt a loss through the pandemic, and we have to deal with that accordingly. And we will," Colbert said. "It's not unique to us. Two-thirds of the league is facing similar issues. How that all comes together in the next few weeks, we'll continue to look at it.

"It is first and foremost financially because we have to be in compliance," he added. "Then we're making guesstimates as to what we can do to put the best team together for our sake and for Ben's sake. What kind of team can he anticipate being around him if we decide we can move forward together."

When Roethlisberger met with Steelers brass shortly after the season, the group agreed they would met again "down the road" once some other factors like available free agents and cap number became more clear. Colbert declined to say specifically if he has met with Roethlisberger since or when he will meet again to sort out the future.

"It's an ongoing process," Colbert said. "It just doesn't involve him. It involves the players around him. I'm sure he's going to want to see what type of team we can keep together under our current situation. Hopefully we can all make the correct adjustments to keep the group together as much as possible."

In addition to figuring out Roethlisberger's situation, Colbert admitted that re-signing any of the team's 19 unrestricted free agents, such as wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, given the cap constraints will be difficult. But before they can truly evaluate free-agency options, the Steelers must determine the future of its quarterback.

"Going back on Ben's 2020, he really did do some special things," Colbert said. "In the beginning of the year, we talked about watching what he was doing because he was doing some incredible feats as we were building that 11-0 record. A lot of that was him performing in crucial times in games. Down the stretch, he didn't play as good, but we didn't play as good around him.

"Can he still do some special things? Absolutely. Did he do that to his expectations? I think he'd be the first to tell you, no. Ben cares about one thing: He cares about winning a Super Bowl. He's no different than us. When it doesn't happen, he's never going to be satisfied. So hopefully whatever team we come up with in 2021, that will be a team that again we're not talking about losing a first-round playoff game."

TAMPA, Fla. -- The family of late Buccaneers and Chargers wide receiver Vincent Jackson told the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office that it believes he was suffering from "chronic alcoholism" and concussions at the time of his death, the sheriff's office said Wednesday.

Jackson was found dead at a Tampa Bay-area hotel on Monday. He had just turned 38 years old and left behind a wife and four children.

A Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office spokesperson told ESPN there has been no indication of foul play and that "it will take a completed autopsy report and toxicology report to know with certainty what caused his death."

But they have begun painting a picture of Jackson's life in his final weeks, one that ended tragically and has left a community and former teammates in mourning and endless questions.

"It could be several weeks before we know what led to the untimely and tragic death of Vincent Jackson," the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. "The Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's Office continues to conduct a thorough investigation alongside the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. Based on statements made by relatives of Jackson to detectives, his family had reason to believe he may have suffered from chronic alcoholism and concussions, however, the exact cause and manner of Mr. Jackson's death will not be certain until his autopsy, among other reports, is complete."

The statement comes after Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister went on a local morning radio show on Q105 Wednesday to discuss Jackson's death.

Chronister said on the radio that an autopsy report would be made available Wednesday, but a spokesperson for the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's Office told ESPN that that was not the case, and that not even a preliminary report would be issued Wednesday, although they were made aware of Chronister's comments.

"The manner and cause of death are pending further study," said Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's Office spokesperson Michelle Van Dyke. "It could take up to several months for a formal autopsy report, depending on what tests need to be run."

The initial case summary is not available yet either, and won't be released Wednesday, Van Dyke said, adding that it's still being worked on.

Jackson had not been living with his family at the time of his death, but staying at a Homewood Suites in Brandon, Florida, for more than a month.

ESPN has attempted to reach a Jackson family spokesperson for comment.