SALISBURY, N.C. – Kyle Larson became the first repeat winner of the QRC Open presented by HMS Motorsport on Wednesday night, driving to victory and a $5,151 payday at Millbridge Speedway.

Larson started fourth and passed polesitter Max McLaughlin with a turn-one slide job on lap two, never looking back after that. He led 50 of the 51 laps in his No. 1k Factory QRC/Chevrolet Accessories mount.

Including lap money, Larson’s total haul was $6,401 at the one-sixth mile dirt oval.

While he may have made winning the feature look easy, Larson’s night was anything but. He struggled with the handling of his outlaw kart during his heat race and then had to use a borrowed top wing from Brent Crews for the main event, after a side panel sheared off his primary wing during the pole shuffle.

If that wasn’t enough, Larson lost the muffler off his kart with 15 to go, but even that couldn’t keep him from parking in victory lane at the end of the night.

“Sorry for everyone’s ears,” Larson said in victory lane. “We pinched a pipe in the heat race and had to put a new one on for the feature, and it broke there before the finish. I just couldn’t believe that the kart kept falling apart but we were still able to stay up there with some pretty good power.

“From the heat race to now, we didn’t stop working on it the whole way,” he continued. “This was a night where we had a fast car, but all the issues and gremlins we battled made it so tough. Getting to the lead early helped, but the handling went away quick and we had to hold on. It worked out, though, and it feels good to get the job done and cash in with a lot of money.”

After taking the $25,000 Back Row Challenge the last two years and crashing out before halfway both times, Larson knew this time, track position was more important than another shot at the extra cash.

“Starting closer to the front definitely helped; it’s so difficult in a race like this to fight your way through all the traffic,” Larson noted. “I honestly felt like (Carson) Kvapil was better than me the whole race, even with his wing coming apart, but we were able to catch cautions at the right times and do what we needed to do to stay out front in the end.”

While Larson won the feature, the star of the show was Tuesday night preliminary winner Chase Majdic, who was scheduled to start second on the grid but elected to take the Phantom Racing Chassis Back Row Challenge for a shot at the five-figure payday and a potential $31,000-plus haul for the week.

He nearly made the decision pay off, too.

Majdic ripped through the field with his No. 42x Mittry Construction-backed outlaw kart, going from 24th to eighth by the competition break at halfway and utilizing a sequence of restarts during the second half of the race to pick off the frontrunning karts one by one.

A flip by Majdic’s teammate, Demo Mittry, brought out the final caution flag of the night with nine laps to go and set up the pivotal restart of the race.

At that point, Majdic was running fourth behind Larson, Carson Kvapil and Brent Crews, but he didn’t stay there long. The Redding, Calif., native slid Crews for third on the restart and took only one more circuit to dispatch Kvapil for second place in the same manner.

Majdic then charged from eight car lengths adrift of Larson in seven laps to end up right on Larson’s tail tank in turn three on the final lap.

He ducked to the bottom in an attempt to make the pass, but the slide job didn’t stick and Majdic ended up one car length short at the checkered flag.

Though dejected at coming up one spot short, Majdic still carried a smile after the race thanks to what he called “a fun run up through there.

“That was freaking exciting out there. I’ve never done anything like that in my life,” said Majdic. “Finishing second in a big race like this, you should be proud, but after coming so close it’s a little bit of a disappointment. I just needed a couple more laps.

“We had the car, we had the speed, we just needed Larson to get caught up a little more in traffic in those final couple laps to really have a shot at him.”

Eleven-year-old Brent Crews completed the podium, followed by Kvapil and McLaughlin, who started from the point after winning the pole shuffle earlier in the night.

The finish:

Kyle Larson, Chase Majdic, Brent Crews, Carson Kvapil, Max McLaughlin, Tom Hubert, Jesse Colwell, Caden Kvapil, Nick Hoffman, Maria Cofer, Demo Mittry, Anissa Curtice, Nick O’Dell, Colby Copeland, Tanner Holmes, Carson Sousa, Dillon Latour, Joey Robinson, Tyler Letarte, Max Mittry, Daniel Whitley, Chase Johnson, Zach Daum, Logan Seavey.

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. – iK9 and Joe Gibbs Racing will pay tribute to Officer Jordan Sheldon of the Mooresville (N.C.) Police Department this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The No. 18 iK9 Toyota Supra of driver Jeffrey Earnhardt will carry a special memorial paint scheme in the May 25 Alsco 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Officer Sheldon lost his life in the line of duty May 4 while conducting a routine traffic stop. The six-year veteran of the Mooresville Police Department spent the last four years as member of the K9 unit. He and his dog, Ramon, were trained at the iK9 facility in Anniston, Ala. The duo made a lasting impression on the iK9 staff, as Officer Sheldon was a standout in his training class who had a remarkable bond with Ramon and his comrades.

“It’s terrible anytime we lose someone who has given their life to serve and protect our communities or country, but it’s extremely personal for us anytime we lose someone who has completed our program,” said Landon Ash, founder of Birmingham, Alabama-based Xtreme Concepts, the parent company of iK9. “Spending weeks together training, we develop bonds with those who work hard and excel through the training programs we offer. Officer Sheldon’s class from Mooresville was one of those exceptional classes that we’re often reminded of, and his passing has left our organization deeply saddened. Our hearts and condolences go out to his family, friends and co-workers at the Mooresville Police Department. We’re proud to honor his memory and service.”

Officer Sheldon was a Charlotte native who grew up focused on sports. His passion for helping and protecting others led him to pursue a career in law enforcement. A 2010 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Officer Sheldon put his degree in criminal justice to good use, joining the Mooresville Police Department in 2013. Officer Sheldon was appointed to the K9 unit in 2015 alongside his K9 partner, Loki. When Loki retired, Officer Sheldon began working with a new K9 partner, Ramon, and that partnership began at iK9.

“Charlotte race weekend is always special, but this race will have a different feeling to it,” said Earnhardt. “There are no words to describe how thankful I am for the opportunity to pay tribute to Officer Sheldon and Ramon. As a Mooresville native, it means so much to honor a man who put his life on the line to protect our community and I appreciate everything that iK9, Xtreme Concepts and Toyota have done to make this possible. Hopefully we can give Officer Sheldon’s friends and family a weekend to remember.”

“The loss of Officer Sheldon hits close to home as he was an outstanding K9 officer who will forever be a member of the iK9 family. The bond between an Officer and his K9 is indescribable and it’s important to highlight the work both do to protect us. We are honored to have Officer Sheldon and K9 Officer Ramon riding along on the 18 and appreciate Toyota bringing us all together to celebrate the legacy of a true hero,” added Jennifer Yohe, president, Xtreme Concepts Racing.

NEW EGYPT, N.J. – With rain in the area throughout the morning and predicted severe weather in the evening hours, Thursday night’s Dirty Jersey 6 at New Egypt Speedway has been postponed to Aug. 20.

Rain formed over the Central Jersey facility during the morning hours and forecasters called for another wave in the late afternoon and evening, forcing the Bob Hilbert Sportswear Short Track Super Series Fueled By Sunoco to shift the date to the 20th of August.

The program in its entirety will go to August with the STSS Velocita-USA South Region presented by Design for Vision and Sunglass Central big-block/small-block Modifieds offering $6,000 to win for 40 laps, Capitol Renegade United Racing Club (URC) Sprint Cars ($2,000 to win) and STSS Crate 602 Sportsman.

All times and prices will remain the same.

MOORESVILLE, N.C. – LS Tractor USA will be joining JR Motorsports as a primary partner for the No. 8 Chevrolet and driver Jeb Burton in two NASCAR Xfinity Series events.

LS Tractor USA will back JR Motorsports and Burton at Michigan Int’l Speedway (June 8) and Bristol Motor Speedway (Aug. 16).

Founded in 2009 in Battleboro, N.C., LS Tractor offers sub-compact, compact and utility tractors made from steel that provide the greatest loader lift capacity of any tractors in their class. To date, there are roughly 400 LS Tractor dealers in the United States and Canada that have sold close to 50,000 tractors across North America.

“LS Tractor has done a great job expanding its brand presence and we’re pleased to give them additional market exposure this season,” said Joe Mattes, JRM vice president of marketing. “They’re a company from right here in North Carolina that we’re proud to represent. They have a good relationship with the Burton family and I know Jeb will give it his all in the No. 8 car. It’s only a matter of time until we see that group in victory lane.”

In addition to the two primary events, LS Tractor will be featured as an associate partner on Burton’s Chevrolet Camaro beginning this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, as well as in races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Sept. 7), Texas Motor Speedway (Nov. 2) and Homestead-Miami Speedway (Nov. 16).

“Everyone here at LS Tractor is excited to support Jeb and JRM this race season,” said Amanda Clark, LS Tractor marketing manager. “The Burtons are such avid supporters of LS Tractor that this is not just a partnership for us – it’s the kind of mutual support that builds great futures.  We look forward to seeing Jeb in Victory Lane and in the fields on his LS Tractor, many times over.”

Burton has been one of six drivers to wheel the No. 8 Chevrolet for JRM in 2019. In his only Xfinity Series start to date this season, Burton drove the No. 8 entry to a top-five finish at Texas Motor Speedway. Overall, the team has recorded two top-five and seven top-10s through the first 10 races of the season.

“I can’t say thank you enough to LS Tractor for coming on board our No. 8 Chevrolet,” said Burton. “It means a lot to have the support of a company as strong as LS Tractor and I can’t wait to get to the racetrack and contend for victories with them on our Camaro. We are going to give it everything we have.”

The last domestic final played at Lord's will not take place in September. There will be no sense of summer's farewell, a last hurrah for careless heat before football recolonises sport. Such occasions belong to distant seasons, when Lancashire or Kent always seemed to be playing and St John's Wood was packed with supporters making a weekend of it in what was still the big city.

But if, as most neutrals hope, Saturday's Royal London game goes the distance in the manner of those fondly remembered BBC Saturdays, at least one player should know how to cope with the tension that became almost routine in the heyday of Jack Bond and Asif Iqbal.

Hampshire's Kyle Abbott is used to the big occasion and having missed the whole of Hampshire's triumphant Royal London Cup campaign last year because of an ankle problem he will be delighted to do more in 2019 than offer his support from cricket's most famous balcony.

"Obviously I'm looking forward to it," he said. "Having missed out last year with a pretty silly injury, I was motivated a bit more towards helping the team to get to Lord's this season. So yes, I'm pretty excited. I know the boys are up for it and the club certainly have a decent reputation when it comes to Lord's finals."

But things have changed at the Ageas Bowl since Hampshire beat Kent last June. Former head coach Craig White left in October and has been replaced by Adi Birrell, an appointment Abbott sees as vital in the club's development.

"There's been a big mindset change and it's one that's been driven by the coach," he said. "The players have begged to be challenged and so Adi's been telling us at the start of every session: 'Right you guys have asked to be challenged. Well, we need wickets, we need to do this or do that.'

"I don't think it's been a question of the lack of talent Hampshire have had over the years, I think there's sometimes been a lack of direction. People say we're professionals and we should know what to do but sometimes you get so involved and mentally tired that you need these reminders."

Fair enough, of course, but Hampshire's players have been challenged in a way they almost certainly did not welcome this week following Liam Dawson's selection in England's World Cup squad. Despite representations being made to the ICC on the club's behalf by the ECB both Dawson and James Vince will now be unavailable for the final.

"James and Liam have been huge in getting us to the final but so was Aiden Markram," said Abbott. "It's quite strange that some players' first games in this year's Royal London will be in the final but that provides an opportunity for those guys and I always feel that it's a question of who holds their nerves on the day. I'd say it's a 50-50 contest in finals.

"I think where Hampshire have the edge over Somerset is that we have been to a Lord's final and to T20 Finals Day a lot more regularly than they have. That will help us on Saturday because suddenly for somebody the occasion will become bigger than it should be. Instead of Taunton they will be at Lord's on a bigger stage and nerves show."

No one could accuse Abbott of being a spear carrier on the big stage - or, indeed, of being timid when it comes to the big decision. Although he has never played anything more than T20 cricket at Lord's, he has represented South Africa in even bigger matches than that he will play on Saturday.

"When you are two-all against India in India and you have to go out to perform, that's as big as it gets," he pointed out. "I've played in the quarter-final of the World Cup. That sort of occasion doesn't bother me. It will make Lord's a little bit more comfortable for me."

Abbott's reference to his career with South Africa and his obvious pride in his achievements when doing so only reinforces the magnitude of the choice he made in 2017 when he turned his back on international cricket and signed a Kolpak deal with Hampshire. Making that call was all the more difficult given that after a stuttering start his Test career appeared to be flourishing.

But Abbott was convinced his place was secure only because Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel were unfit and he had already been omitted from a World Cup semi-final, some suggested for partly political reasons, in favour of Vernon Philander. Many cricketers might claim that having made such the decision to step away from the international game, they had filed the matter as "case closed", but Abbott is too honest for such self-deluding escapes.

"I do sometimes think what might have been and from the outset I've always said I made the decision six months too early," he said. "But I'd rather have been six months too early than six months too late. Had I waited, I would have played in the Champions Trophy and I would have played in the England Test series in 2017.

"But things became very clear straight after that series when South Africa toured Bangladesh. Dale Steyn was straight back in the side and then Morne Morkel was straight back in. That's what I kept telling people. They said, 'You're going to have a run now,' but I replied, 'No, you don't understand how this works.'

"The convenor of selectors said Steyn and Morkel would have to prove themselves in first-class cricket but I said: 'They won't. They are world-class bowlers and they'll come straight back in.' And they did come in. I knew international cricket and I could read their minds from a mile off. I do miss international cricket. Even a Lord's final is not going to replicate an international match but I'm proud of the cricket I played for South Africa in those four years, the games I played in, the wickets I took."

It appears that Juwan Howard's hiring as Michigan coach will heal decades of wounds that had existed with the Wolverines program.

Former Fab Five member and current ESPN analyst Jalen Rose said during Get Up! on Thursday that the hiring of Howard resolves ongoing tension between the former teammates and with the school.

"There will be no splintering. There will be no disrespect," Rose said. "It's about following Juwan as the leader of the program."

Rose said the hiring specifically fixes issues that had existed with Chris Webber. The two had been at odds for nearly a decade, with one example of the divide being Webber's absence from ESPN's 30 for 30 documentary on the team that debuted in 2011.

But all that is in the past now, according to Rose, who said there is no more "beef" between them.

"We're not going to bring that to Ann Arbor's campus with Juwan Howard as our head coach," Rose said.

The Fab Five -- Rose, Webber, Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson -- was Michigan's 1991 recruiting class that would go on to national championship game appearances in 1992 and 1993. The school later removed those Final Four banners from Crisler Arena as part of self-imposed sanctions that stemmed from one of the NCAA's largest financial scandals, which included a six-figure sum given to Webber by a booster.

On Friday, Webber, now a TNT analyst, said that Howard's hiring would be great for the university and "would bring everyone back together." Howard was announced as Michigan coach on Wednesday.

Six years ago, when Christian Yelich was just a prospect looking forward to a long career as a Miami Marlin, an interviewer asked him a question:

MiLB.com: Do you consider yourself a five-tool player?

Yelich: That word's thrown around a lot. Everyone likes to categorize people as five-tool players, four-tool players or whatever. I just like to try and be a complete player and go out every night and give my team a chance to win. Whether you steal a bag, get on base or whatever, I think by the time a 140-game season is over, you look up my numbers and they are what they are.

In the past few weeks, as Yelich has established himself as one of the five best players in the game, he has been referred to as a five-tool player on at least a couple MLB game broadcasts. Last September, the league's digital media arm put together a sizzle reel for the 2018 MVP, under the heading "Yelich shows off all 5 tools."

Yelich is right: The phrase "five-tool player" is thrown around a lot, with fair reason, since this is arguably a golden age of five-tool stars. A pleasant side effect of MLB's Great Youthening -- 23 is the new 27 -- is that the stars of the game today tend to have "young" skill sets. They can run fast, and they can throw hard -- two skills that deteriorate quickly with age. The superstars of this era aren't 30-year-old mashers with thick thighs and first-baseman's gloves, but rather shortstops and center fielders and Gold Glove winners who steal bases and hit triples and dive and leap. They're highlight machines. Yelich, certainly, is a highlight machine.

But he's probably not actually a five-tool player. Traditionally, a five-tool player is meant to be average or better at hitting for average, hitting for power, running fast, catching baseballs and throwing hard. Yelich is absolutely elite at the first two, way above average in the third, probably good enough in the fourth. But his arm is below average. His "max effort" throw is about 85 mph, according to Statcast data. The typical outfielder's max-effort throws are around 90 mph. And his fastest throw, which wasn't very fast by fast-throw standards, came almost four years ago, so it's probably getting a little worse.

Does this change your opinion of Christian Yelich at all? It shouldn't. He's one of the five best players in baseball! But it should make you consider what we mean when we say "five tools," and how much of what we mean is based on misunderstanding it all.

1. The five tools -- originally called the five talents -- are primarily about scouting non-major leaguers.

In "Dollar Sign On The Muscle," the classic book about baseball scouting, author Kevin Kerrane describes the context of the five talents: "The business of baseball scouts is to describe the future, and the future is generally four years away. Consequently, their vocabulary emphasizes energies rather than static quantities."

Tools are very explicitly not about performance. They were about the innate abilities of the body being scouted. Branch Rickey -- often credited as the originator of "the five talents" -- thought that "power is inborn, and its control and explosive use is instinctive." An "arm" grade refers mostly to arm strength, not accuracy, because strength is innate while accuracy can be taught. "Speed," as a tool, means actual speed, not baserunning acumen, and a hit grade usually focuses on the physical attributes that are conducive to a high batting average, such as swing mechanics, plate coverage and pitch recognition. That's because scouts aren't concerned about what a player's batting average in college or High-A is, but what tools he has that can be developed for four years later. They're looking for the energy.

2. The concept of well-roundedness is, furthermore, much more valuable for prospects than it is for major leaguers.

For a prospect, the future is broad and unknowable: Some tools will develop, some will stagnate, some will regress, some will be lost to physical change or against more difficult competition. The more tools a player has, the more paths to success he could have, the more he can fall back on. A shortstop who shows five tools as a prospect could become a five-tool shortstop in the best case, but in less perfect cases he could settle in as a defense-only shortstop or a power-hitting third baseman or as superutility man who hits .275 or, heck, a relief pitcher. In this sense, well-roundedness is almost the metaskill that most predicts success; it's kind of a sixth tool.

For a major leaguer, well-roundedness is a false god. One- or two-tool players can have long careers, especially when those one or two tools are hitting and power. (Miguel Cabrera was a two-time two-tool MVP). For the most part, we use WAR as the best guide to player value, and WAR gives no extra points for well-roundedness.

No, in the majors, performance is all that matters. In 2011, when Ben Lindbergh used statistical performance to identify five-tool players in the majors, his search yielded (among others) Ryan Ludwick, a 32-year-old corner outfielder who, at that point, had seven career triples and 16 career steals, in 32 attempts. Ludwick was not remotely fast, not remotely. But he had been a good, smart baserunner in his career (at least, according to the metrics Lindbergh was using), which arguably made his tools irrelevant. Lindbergh's method turned up five-stat players, more than five-tool players, but in the majors it's the former that actually makes money.

3. The five tools are not all-encompassing.

There is, for instance, the glaring omission of plate discipline, the ability and willingness to draw a walk, which is no small part of the game. Joey Gallo has almost as many walks this season as he has hits -- his ability to walk is arguably more important than his inability to hit singles -- but there's no sixth tool to credit it. One doesn't need to walk a lot to be a great player, any more than one needs to hit for power, or be fast, but a player with all five tools who walks a lot is obviously more well-rounded than one who has all five tools but doesn't.

Again, though, it's only a misunderstanding of scouting jargon that treats these five tools as the whole package. For decades, scouting reports have (a) had more than five fields and (b) been expanding. A 1951 report had seven fields -- the main five, plus "hustle" and "habits." A 1968 report's seven fields (the five, plus baserunning and "miscellaneous," which referred to grit-type attributes) each have four different subfields, establishing 28 distinct skills. And when they scouted Bo Jackson in the 1980s, there were 10 fields -- not subcategories, but 10 distinct skills.

So while it makes sense for scouts to think of the five physical "tools" underlying physical projection, it's a fallacy to import that language to the majors and conclude those are the only five ways a baseball player contributes. Nor even the five most important ways.

Yelich is pretty close to a perfect ballplayer. So are Alex Bregman, Francisco Lindor and Cody Bellinger. Mookie Betts is probably even closer to perfect, and Mike Trout, though faintly imperfect, is most perfect-like of all. Given five lines on a sheet of paper, what would you use to capture the broadness of Trout's (and Lindor's) greatness?

Consider this a personal swing at the question, not definitive, but:

1. The ability to hit the ball over outfielders, best expressed in long extra-base hits and home runs.

2. The ability to play a position of value, which encompasses both a strong-enough arm and good-enough speed or agility.

3. The ability to control the strike zone, most often (but not always) expressed by a combination of low swing rates on pitches out of the zone and somewhat higher swing rates on pitches in the zone.

4. The ability to make solid contact, expressed in consistently high exit velocities and more line drives/productive fly balls than grounders and popups.

5. The ability to pressure defenses with speed, either as baserunner or as a batter.

Pretty close to the same list as scouting's five talents! But these five are all framed around performance, rather than tools. They're a bit closer to equal value, so that we don't go through the silly charade of treating a major leaguer's arm strength as being on the same level as his ability to hit for power. And they reflect a more modern understanding of how baseball is played, how performance is valued, and what we can measure at the major league level.

Ultimately, though, maybe it's not important to improve on the "five-tool" conversation. When we say Christian Yelich is a five-tool player, it has a literal meaning. But it also has an idiomatic meaning -- he's a superstar in the style of Mickey Mantle rather than of Mark McGwire -- and it's not uncommon for idioms to gradually lose connection with their original, literal meanings. There's a good chance we'll be calling guys five-tool players long after scouts have quit using the five tools at all. Fair enough: Christian Yelich is great. He is a complete player and he goes out every night and he gives his team a chance to win.

Bristol forward Nick Fenton-Wells has retired from playing rugby and been appointed as the Premiership club's team manager.

The South African, who has spent the past three seasons at Ashton Gate, will join Pat Lam's backroom team on 1 June.

The ex-Bedford, Saracens and Stormers flanker, 32, was named Premiership Community Player of the Year this week.

"Nick has a detailed understanding of our culture and vision," director of rugby Lam told the club website.

"He epitomises that commitment to our community and we believe he will be a phenomenal team manager.

"When we revealed the appointment to the squad in a team meeting, there was a fantastic reaction and a standing ovation for Nick - that underlines how much he is trusted and respected by the group."