EARLY START AT NORWALK

NORWALK – Due to potential inclement weather on Friday night, NHRA announced an earlier start for today’s qualifying at the 20th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park.

The revised schedule moves the first round of NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series qualifying to 11:45 a.m. , starting with Pro Stock Motorcycle and Pro Stock, followed by Funny Car and Top Fuel.

The second qualifying session is slated to start at 2:15 p.m.

Racing will begin at 8 a.m. in the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series.

ANDERSON RIGHT AT HOME

NORWALK – The Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals is always a special race for six-time Pro Stock world champion Greg Anderson and this year’s trip to Summit Motorsports Park gives him a chance to add two more trophies to his extensive collection: the GETTRX Pro Stock All-Star Callout trophy and another NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Diamond Wally.

Anderson, named one of NHRA Top 75 drivers, will have his pick of opponents in the eight-car field of the GETTRX Pro Stock All-Star Callout bonus race. He won the 2024 Callout and currently leads the Pro Stock points in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro. To top it all off, he’ll be looking for his fourth career victory in Norwalk.

“Well, any grudges you have against any other racer, you get to act on,” said Anderson. “At least in my case, I get first choice to pick out who I would like to try and even the score with or settle a score with – like a grudge match. So that’s always fun, and you don’t have to depend on any ladder to see who you get matched up with. You can decide who you want to race, so that’s cool to me. That’s fun, and it adds another layer of excitement that we don’t get at national events.”

EVERT SKIPPING WIMBLEDON

(AP) — Tennis Hall of Famer Chris Evert said Thursday her ovarian cancer has returned and treatment will prevent her from attending Wimbledon this year.

Evert, 71, was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer in December 2021. In December 2023 she revealed her cancer had returned.

She announced on social media on Thursday she already has had surgery “as the first step in my treatment and recovery” after tests revealed the cancer again had returned. She said she will begin chemotherapy “in the coming weeks.”

“Because of this, I will not be attending Wimbledon this year, and I will step back from my professional commitments over the next few months to focus on my health,” Evert said.

“Ovarian cancer is relentless, but I will stay optimistic and determined in continuing to fight this battle. I am deeply grateful to my medical team, my family, friends and everyone who has reached out with kindness and encouragement. I look forward to seeing everyone again soon.”

Evert is an 18-time Grand Slam singles champion and has remained prominent in the sport as an analyst for ESPN.

RAYS FLIRT WITH NO-HITTER

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Rays lost a combined no-hitter against the Kansas City Royals when Carter Jensen hit a two-run homer off Craig Kimbrel in the ninth inning on Thursday.

Opener Casey Legumina retired all four batters he faced through 1 1/3 innings before Ian Seymour took over in the second. Seymour struck out seven batters. Kimbrel started the ninth and allowed a walk to Starling Marte before Jensen went deep with one out.

Tampa Bay was leading Kansas City 13-0 to start the ninth behind a franchise record-tying three home runs by Junior Caminero, who drove in six runs in the 13-2 win.

The Rays retired the first 16 batters they faced before Marte drew a one-out walk on a full count in the top of the sixth before Seymour retired Tyler Tolbert and Jensen to end the inning.

Matt Garza has the only no-hitter in Tampa Bay history on July 26, 2010, against the Detroit Tigers.

SWANSON’S SONG

NEW YORK (AP) — Thanks to a historic doubleheader performance Wednesday, Dansby Swanson has the best four-game series in Chicago Cubs history — with a game to spare.

Swanson had a go-ahead RBI triple and four RBIs to cap the monster doubleheader and lead the Cubs to a sweep of the reeling New York Mets with a 10-5 win.

Swanson hit a three-run homer and a grand slam in the Cubs’ 10-3 victory in the opener. The 11 RBIs in a doubleheader are a franchise record, breaking the mark of 10 set by Hall of Famer Ron Santo on July 6, 1970.

The only other player in team history with a nine-RBI doubleheader is also a Hall of Famer — Billy Williams, who did it on Aug. 21, 1968.

“A dream come true, just being able to have your name next to those guys,” Swanson said. “It’s amazing and special.”

The 11 RBIs are tied for the third-most in a doubleheader. Nate Colbert had 13 RBIs for the San Diego Padres on Aug. 1, 1972, a mark equaled by the St. Louis Cardinals’ Mark Whiten on Sept. 7, 1993.

Swanson also homered Tuesday night and has three homers and 15 RBIs in the first three games of the series, which is slated to conclude Thursday night.

The 15 RBIs are the most ever by a Cubs player in a series of four or fewer games since 1920, when the RBI became an official statistic.

The 15 RBIs over the last three games are also the most ever by a shortstop, breaking the mark of 14 RBIs set by Nomar Garciaparra with the Boston Red Sox from May 10-12, 1999. The only other Cubs player with at least 15 RBIs in a three-game span is Sammy Sosa, who had 16 RBIs from Aug. 10-12, 2002.

COLE LEADS WITH 63

CROMWELL, Conn. (AP) — Eric Cole returned to the TPC River Highlands in much better shape than he left last year, pitching in for eagle from 65 yards on the par-5 13th and posting a 7-under 63 to take a one-shot lead over Scottie Scheffler and five others Thursday in the Travelers Championship.

Wyndham Clark found the gallery a lot kinder and the course a lot softer than when he won his second U.S. Open last week at Shinnecock Hills. His only battle was with the 12th hole when he put his tee shot out of play and made triple bogey in his round of 68.

“They were finally rooting for me instead of against me, so we like the Connecticut fans,” Clark said.

Scheffler, who hasn’t won since his first start of the year in January, at least got off to a good start. He played bogey-free in an efficient round of 64 that left him one shot behind along with Matt Fitzpatrick, Ben Griffin, Nico Echavarria, Bud Cauley and Kristoffer Reitan.

Cole had to withdraw from the final round a year ago — he was 10 shots behind, in the middle of the pack — with what he described as a nasty stomach bug. He has Addison’s Disease in which the body doesn’t produce enough hormones to handle stress and blood pressure. It was bad enough for him to spend a night in the hospital.

“I’m not sure if it’s redemption, but I’m happy to be here and feeling good,” Cole said.

Only 11 players in the 72-man field failed to break par in the final signature event of the regular season on the PGA Tour.

SAME RULES FOR ALL

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A federal magistrate ruled Thursday that multimedia rights companies that represent athletic departments can continue to be subject to the same rules governing millions in third party name-image-likeness payments to players that are reshaping college sports.

Northern District of California Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins, who was appointed to hear disputes related to the landmark House settlement, denied a request to rule that MMRs and third-party brand sponsors should not fall under the same reviews by the College Sports Commission as do collective and booster deals.

“This ruling affirms that the CSC has been correctly applying the language of the settlement as written,” commission CEO Bryan Seeley said in a statement. “Our enforcement of the rules has been, and will continue to be, fact-based and consistent with the settlement that plaintiffs’ lawyers negotiated and was agreed to by all parties.”

Cousins heard arguments on the request on June 10. Plaintiffs’ attorney Steve Berman told Sportico an appeal was planned to U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken, who oversaw the House settlement.

Many schools have arrangements with MMRs to act as the marketing arms for their athletic departments and arrange third-party NIL deals with athletes.

Plaintiffs attorney Jeffrey Kessler argued that boosters and booster collectives, which have in some cases been replaced by MMRs as the key NIL negotiators, should be deemed associated entities but not the MMRs themselves. The magistrate disagreed, siding with the NCAA and power conferences named as defendants.

“The court will not categorically declare MMRs as not associated entities. First, it is possible that some MMRs do fall within the term,” Cousins wrote. “Second, there is no support in the record for plaintiffs’ proposition that all MMRs are not associated entities. … it would be too speculative and overbroad to conclude MMRs are not associated entities.”