TALLADEGA, Ala. — Ryan Blaney emerged from a chaotic overtime restart to score his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season in a photo finish during Monday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Blaney was one of several competitors who had fallen back into the pack to save fuel after hitting pit road following a lap-141 caution flag for an incident involving Brennan Poole and Joey Gase.

With fuel mileage numbers being tight Blaney, who led the most laps during the race, was directed by his Team Penske crew to tuck into the pack to save fuel so he could make it to the end of the race.

“We were riding there. We came back in and topped off and we were just riding around until maybe 12 to go,” Blaney said. “I was waiting for Kevin (Harvick) to kind of go, but he had to save more than I did, so we just kind of had to get going. You’re just biding your time and hoping you saved enough.”

He, along with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Aric Almirola, started to make the run back through the field with 12 laps left. With four laps left Blaney was back at the front and, using a push from Stenhouse on the top side, took the lead down the backstretch. The battle continued behind Blaney, with drivers jockeying for position as several competitors prepared to pit for fuel.

Just as the field crossed under the start/finish line with three laps left, contact between Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick near the front of the field sent Johnson spinning as the field roared toward the first turn. The spin brought out the caution flag, setting up a green-white-checkered restart.

A number of competitors opted to hit the pits for fuel during the caution period, but Blaney, Kevin Harvick, Stenhouse and Chris Buescher chose not to pit and restarted in the first two races.

On the restart, Blaney didn’t get a big push from Stenhouse on the bottom lane, which allowed Harvick and Buescher to pull out into the lead from the top. Stenhouse said later that was by design.

“What that intended to do was let me and the 12 (Blaney) get hooked up and get a draft from those two cars that were out front,” Stenhouse said.

Harvick and Buescher led the field as they raced back to the white flag, with Blaney running third. Out of turn two Blaney got a big run on the two leaders and jumped to the top lane in front of Stenhouse to challenge for the race lead.

Blaney quickly dispatched Buescher, but he didn’t have the momentum on the top to catch Harvick. Blaney adjusted his strategy, diving low entering turn three to get alongside Harvick just as several cars crashed behind the leaders.

With the leaders clear of the crash entering turn three, NASCAR opted not to wave the caution flag so the race could play out.

Blaney cleared Harvick in turn three on the bottom, with Harvick finding himself three-wide with Stenhouse and Erik Jones for second exiting turn four. Jones got a push from rookie John Hunter Nemechek as they raced towards the tri-oval, with Jones attempting to go to Blaney’s outside to take the lead.

Blaney moved up to block that move, with Jones reacting with a quick move to the inside and then back to the top. Blaney moved back up in an attempt to block and the two made contact, sending Jones into the outside wall.

At the same time, Stenhouse made contact with Almirola on the inside of Blaney, sending Almirola spinning and giving Stenhouse a run at Blaney as they sped to the finish line.

Blaney managed to get to the line first, .007 seconds ahead of Stenhouse to earn his fourth series victory and his second-straight at Talladega.

“I just kind of blocked, just trying to block the best we could,” Blaney said. “Ride the top, ride the bottom. The 20 (Jones) got to my outside and I tried to go up there to slow him down and I’m not sure, I don’t know (if we were) three-wide. I hate that I hit him, but just kind of trying to beat and bang to the line and things like that. We just edged it out.”

Stenhouse fell just shy of his third NASCAR Cup Series victory aboard the No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet.

“I thought I was done, I thought I was a sitting duck,” Stenhouse said. “The outside lanes were coming, the 20 (Jones) had a good run. Then they started banging, slowing each other down. I just kept in the throttle and was able to get close to the nose of the 12 (Blaney) there coming across the line.”

Despite spinning at the checkered flag, Almirola crossed the finish line in third. Denny Hamlin was fourth, with Jones being scored fifth despite slamming into the outside wall during the run to the checkered flag.

Blaney’s victory came on an emotional day for the NASCAR community after a noose was found in the garage stall of the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports car driven by Bubba Wallace Sunday.

The NASCAR community came together in support of Wallace, with all of the drivers pushing Wallace’s Chevrolet to the front of the grid prior to the start of the race. The drivers were followed by all of the crews and they all stood in unison during the pre-race prayer and the performance of the National Anthem.

Wallace would go on to finish Monday’s race 14th after briefly leading late in the race.

“The start of the day, all of the drivers on pit road pushing Bubba’s car, showing their support. It was just an honor to be a part of that,” Blaney said. “Not only the drivers, but the crew members that were in attendance as well, NASCAR, that’s something that everyone will remember for a long time.”

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TALLADEGA, Ala. — It started with a group text message. It turned into a statement of unity that will be remembered for years to come.

With the NASCAR community reeling from the news that a noose had been discovered in the Talladega Superspeedway garage stall of the sport’s only African American driver, Bubba Wallace, on Sunday, NASCAR’s top stars decided to do something to support their fellow competitor and friend.

The result was every NASCAR driver pushing Wallace’s car, with Wallace sitting inside, to the front of the grid prior to the start of Monday’s GEICO 500. They were followed closely by seemingly every crew member and NASCAR official in the garage area.

It was truly an emotional sight. Wallace emerged from his car and was greeted, one by one, by his competitors and friends. His team owner, 82-year-old Richard Petty, was also there to support the 26-year-old Alabama native amid one of the most difficult 24-hour periods of his life.

Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson explained after Monday’s race how the idea to escort Wallace and his car to the front of the field prior to the race came about.

“Early on this morning I mentioned to the driver group (text) that I was just going to go stand with Bubba at his car during the National Anthem and if anybody wanted to meet me there, I was going to stand with him and just be there,” Johnson said. “When that seed was planted, the group really started coming up with ideas. Everybody wanted to get involved.

“After the drivers had a short period of time conversing, I understood that team managers and crew chiefs caught wind and they wanted to be involved,” Johnson continued. “Within a short period of time there was a plan in place. Of course, NASCAR was behind what we wanted to do 100 percent and supported that. That’s really the details leading into what happened today.”

Johnson said Monday’s statement of unity was the result of all of the drivers coming together. He credited Stewart-Haas Racing driver Kevin Harvick with the idea to push Wallace’s car down pit road to the front of the field prior to the race.

“A lot of people reached out to me in the morning with ideas and wanting to do something,” Johnson said. “I certainly have been involved in playing a role in trying to help organize and get things executed and done, but this is really a driver initiative. Many drivers chipped in. Kevin Harvick had the idea of pushing Bubba’s car down the frontstretch up to the front of the field and having the teams follow.

“I’m happy to play a role in it. I want to, I know I need to. I feel like to see the garage area to stand up as they have as well the last few weeks and again today is just sending a very strong message and I’m very proud of our sport.”

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The National Hockey League has begun winnowing its possible locations to restart the season amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Blue Jackets were informed Monday that Columbus will not be one of the NHL's hub cities. Columbus was one of 10 finalists, including seven in the U.S.

Las Vegas is now considered the U.S. favorite to host NHL playoff games, unless two Canadian cities are selected. Canada's federal government last week said it would allow the league to quarantine internally, making Toronto, Vancouver and Edmonton realistic possibilities -- if not the front-runners.

The NHL has said it will select two hub cities -- one for the Eastern Conference playoffs and one for the Western Conference. The Stanley Cup Final or "final four" would likely be in one of the two cities.

St. Louis Blues winger Vladimir Tarasenko participated in his first on-ice practice session Monday since the pandemic began, and said he is on track to rejoin the defending Stanley Cup champions when the NHL begins its 24-team postseason later this summer.

The 28-year-old underwent surgery on his left shoulder in late October after being injured in a game against the Los Angeles Kings.

"I was really close to coming back playing when the season got delayed, so I got some extra time for recovery and practice to make [my shoulder] more strong," Tarasenko said in a video interview for the Blues website. "Everything is good."

Tarasenko, who has 214 goals since breaking into the league in 2012-13, played in only 10 games this season. He had three goals and seven assists, with points in five straight games at the time of his injury. The Blues persevered without him, and sat atop the Western Conference standings when the NHL went on pause on March 12 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"It was hard in the start," Tarasenko said of watching from the sideline. "It's a really weird feeling. I've never missed a season like this. I think my family helps me a lot, because if I was single it [would be] very different emotions to stay home by yourself. They always support me, always be on my side. The closer you get, the more positive emotions you have, the more happy you are for seeing the boys for the first time, skating with them. I was lucky enough to go to a couple road trips with the team, and I am ready to come back and play some hockey."

As a top seed, St. Louis will not have to play in the NHL's "play-in round," instead qualifying directly for the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Blues will play round-robin games against other No. 1 teams to determine seeding moving forward.

All practices right now are voluntary. NHL training camps are scheduled to begin on July 10.

After dislocating his left shoulder in October, Tarasenko and the Blues were told that he could be re-evaluated in five months. In December, general manager Doug Armstrong told ESPN that Tarasenko was so diligent with his rehab, the team "actually tried to slow him down a little bit."

"We told him to spend time with family, take vacations, because when we get into January and he can start going full barrel, we want him to," Armstrong said.

Since Tarasenko was on long-term injury reserve, the Blues could have spent his salary-cap space ($7.5 million) for a player at the trade deadline, but they would have had to get back to being cap-compliant if Tarasenko returned before the regular season. The Blues opted not to add any forwards, instead getting only depth defenseman Marco Scandella.

"There's no player we're going to get that's as good as Vladdy," Armstrong told ESPN in December. "So I'd rather get Vladdy back than spend that money."

The Dallas Stars fired Alex Kleuser, a visual effects designer for the team, after they were alerted to a racist comment he made on social media.

"Alex was an employee of the Dallas Stars. This individual's statement does not represent the culture and values of the club. As such, this employee is no longer a part of the organization," the team said in a statement.

According to screenshots of his post, Kleuser was responding to a thread on Nextdoor, a social networking hub focused on specific neighborhoods, regarding how to deal with a squirrel infestation and made a racist comment about Chinese people.

Kleuser had been with the team since September 2018, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The NHL has stepped up its efforts on diversity and inclusion in response to the global protests following the May 25 death of George Floyd, a black man, while in Minneapolis police custody. The league is developing four new groups to study these issues from the perspective of executives, players, fans and youth hockey. That includes the recently announced Executive Inclusion Council, which is co-chaired by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and Buffalo Sabres president Kim Pegula, who was born in South Korea.

The PGA of America confirmed Monday that the PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park will be played this year without spectators.

In a statement, the PGA said that the decision was made in coordination with the state of California and the city and county of San Francisco. The PGA will continue to monitor developments with the coronavirus pandemic and work with state and local authorities to ensure the safety and well-being of those involved.

The news of a fan-less major was first reported last week by the San Francisco Chronicle.

“We are both inspired and honored to ‘play on,’” PGA CEO Seth Waugh said in the release. “In doing so, we will spotlight not only the beauty of TPC Harding Park, but the fortitude or San Francisco and its remarkable people. We’d like to thank the state of California and the city and county of San Francisco for being terrific partners in helping us get to this place. While the local community cannot be with us physically on-site, we will certainly carry their spirit of resilience and unity with us as we stage our major championship, on their behalf, for all the world to see and enjoy.”

The PGA Championship, the first men’s major of the year, will be held Aug. 6-9.

The PGA said that fans who purchased tickets will be contacted in the next few days to facilitate refunds.

Brooks Koepka is the two-time defending champion. No player has won the same major three consecutive times since Peter Thomson at the 1954-56 Open.

Previously, the PGA was scheduled to be played May 14-17. On the upcoming Tour schedule, only the Memorial Tournament, scheduled for July 16-19, has announced that a limited number of fans will be allowed on-site.

A decision on the fate of the Ryder Cup was expected sometime this month, and another media outlet is reporting that the biennial matches are set to be postponed until 2021.

The Guardian said that an announcement is expected sometime next week.

A PGA of America spokesman told GolfChannel.com that the organization had no comment on the latest report.

A decision on whether to play the Ryder Cup, with or without fans, has been a significant topic of conversation over the past few months. Several players on both the U.S. and European side said they would prefer the matches be moved to 2021 if spectators weren’t going to be allowed on-site at Whistling Straits because of the threat of the coronavirus. The Guardian reported that the spectator build-out “is not believed to have meaningfully started” at the tournament site, and that travel restrictions into the U.S. remain a concern.

The Telegraph first reported in March that the matches would be pushed back a year, but European captain Padraig Harrington dismissed that report as “made-up stuff.”

The PGA announced Monday that the PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, scheduled for Aug. 6-9, will be played without fans.  

The Guardian said that the Ryder Cup would then remain in odd-numbered years following the expected postponement to 2021.

There will be two Koepkas in this week’s Travelers Championship field.

Chase Koepka made it through a five-for-two playoff to grab one of two Monday qualifying spots up for grabs at Ellington Ridge Country Club in Ellington, Connecticut. He will now join his older brother, Brooks Koepka, in this week’s field at TPC River Highlands in nearby Cromwell.

The start will mark Chase’s third PGA Tour start of the season, though it will be the first event that he hasn’t needed a sponsor exemption for. He made the cut and tied for 67^th at the Shriners Open last fall before tying for 46^th two weeks later at the CJ Cup in South Korea.

Brooks is coming off his best finish since the Tour Championship, a solo seventh at last week’s RBC Heritage. After flying to Connecticut last night, Koepka actually showed up at Ellington Ridge to cheer his little brother on as Chase shot 5-under 67.

David Pastore was the other qualifier while Billy Tom Sargent, Kurt Kitayama and Max Theodorakis were eliminated in the playoff.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has admitted the injury that forced off Sergio Aguero during the 5-0 victory over Burnley on Monday night "does not look good."

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Aguero limped off just before half-time with a knee injury and will have a scan on Tuesday to determine the extent of the problem but Guardiola expects the striker to miss the trip to Chelsea on Thursday.

"It doesn't look good," said Guardiola. "We will see [on Tuesday]. He has struggled the last month with a problem in the knee and now he felt something but we will see exactly what he has. It doesn't look good.

"The doctor says it will take time. A few games [out] for sure but maybe the tests he will get good news we will see."

Aside from Aguero's injury, City enjoyed a comfortable night against Burnley, thanks, in part, to the performance of Phil Foden. Starting for just the fourth time in the Premier League this season, the 20-year-old midfielder scored two and helped create another for David Silva.

"When Phil plays, he's never played badly," said Guardiola. "Especially his behaviour and his attitude, it doesn't matter if he plays or doesn't play, he loves to play football.

"He loves being the first out for a training session with the ball, he loves to play and ever time he has played since he was promoted to play with us, he has always been a high level.

"But we cannot forget he is 20 and he has to improve. He will be an important player for our next decade at this club. The minutes he has, he deserves it."

After the game -- marred by a "White Lives Banner flown over the Etihad Stadium at kick-off -- Burnley manager Sean Dyche was critical of board decisions which left him with a threadbare squad to face City. On top of a host of injury problems, Jeff Hendrick, Phil Bardsley and Aaron Lennon were left out of the squad after choosing not to sign short extensions to their deals, which are all due to end on June 30.

"The club decided to offer month contracts late in the day and the players had to make a choice and their choice is not to be involved," said Dyche. "We are in incredible financial shape so there is a balance. We have been run very well financially in the time I have been here. I can only advise which I have done and the chairman decided to make different decisions.

"There is no lack of work [from the players picked]. They were disappointed with some of the things that happened to their teammates. City looked like they got their eye in and certainly delivered it."

Manchester City's Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez scored two goals apiece as the hosts showed their impressive strength in depth, making eight changes but still crushing a woeful Burnley 5-0 in the Premier League at the Etihad on Monday.

City's win at the Etihad means runaway leaders Liverpool cannot clinch the Premier League title regardless of the Reds' result against Crystal Palace on Wednesday.

Burnley manager Sean Dyche could only name seven of the allowed nine substitutes, two of them goalkeepers, with his inexperienced bench without four regulars who have not signed contract extensions and it was a long night for the Clarets.

Phil Foden opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, drilling a low shot past keeper Nick Pope after a short-corner routine.

Riyad Mahrez made it 2-0 with a superb finish, collecting a long pass from Fernandinho and then jinking past the Burnley defence before firing home.

City made it 3-0 just before the break when a VAR review ruled that Burnley's Ben Mee had fouled Sergio Aguero inside the box and, while the Argentine striker went off injured, Mahrez converted from the spot.

Burnley's defending was then sloppy at a corner again, with Foden left free to cleverly pick out Bernardo Silva who put a ball across the face of goal for David Silva to slide home six minutes into the second half.

The outstanding Foden made it 5-0 in the 63rd minute, finishing off a sweeping counter-attack.

"I like to think that was my best game in a City shirt," said Foden. "I am still learning every day and I am still young but I am just happy when I put a performance like that in."

The match witnessed a disturbing incident when a plane towing a banner declaring "White Lives Matter Burnley" flew over the match in the first half. Burnley condemned the banner, saying the police are investigating who had organised the gesture.