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NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — A little prep work paid off for Joey Logano.

Logano dominated the short track at North Wilkesboro Speedway leading all but one of 200 laps to win his second All-Star Race on Sunday night and earn $1 million.

Logano started on the pole after posting the fastest time in qualifying on Saturday and was never really challenged, setting a record by leading more laps than any driver has in the race’s 40-year history.

“We were so fast,” Logano said. “We came here before for testing and ran over 800 laps and really figured out what it was going to take to win the race.”

Logano compared it to a scene in the movie “Miracle” about the 1980 United States Olympic hockey team with crew chief Paul Wolfe making him run lap after lap until he was completely exhausted.

“It’s like when the coach is making the team run the suicide drills and he keeps saying, ‘Again! Again!,'” Logano said. “That was Paul Wolfe to me with the testing. I ran 800 laps. I was sore and I had enough.”

Logano has not won a points race this season, so he said this was a big boost for his team.

“The first thing that goes through your mind is gosh, I wish this counted for points,” Logano said. “But let’s be honest, a million is a lot of money and counts for something.”

He also won the All-Star Race in 2016.

Denny Hamlin finished second and Chris Buescher third in a race that lacked drama for the second straight year at the renovated track.

Kyle Larson, who arrived about an hour before the race after spending the afternoon qualifying fifth for the Indianapolis 500 and flying to North Wilkesboro, finished fourth and came up short in the quest to tie Jimmie Johnson for the most All-Star Race wins with four after starting at the back of the field.

The newly paved track and different versions of soft tires were supposed to create more passing. They didn’t.

Hamlin admitted afterward that he just couldn’t get the lead.

“I would run to him, and then you couldn’t pass,” Hamlin said. “I would lose a little bit of air there, and I would try to give my car a break and then run to him again — just have to be so much faster to get around.”

Said Logano: “If it wasn’t for the clean air [and being out front] I would not have won.”

Team Penske president Michael Nelson called it a great day for the organization after they swept the top three starting spots at Indianapolis 500 earlier in the day.

“We have been close this year [in NASCAR] and to finally make it happen on a day like today, if you had to wait this was the day to get that done,” Nelson said. “A great day for Mr. Penske and the whole organization.”

There only real fireworks came on the second lap when Kyle Busch sent Ricky Stenhouse Jr. into the wall after Stenhouse tried to pass him on the first lap. An upset Stenhouse pulled his wrecked car down pit lane and parked in Busch’s pit stall, got out and climbed a ladder to yell at Busch’s crew.

Afterward, Stenhouse confronted Busch in the pits, then threw a punch at Busch igniting a scuffle that involved members of both crews. Stenhouse said that he was tired of Busch “running his mouth talking about me” after he had wrecked him at Daytona in the past.

“I know he is frustrated because he doesn’t run as well as he used to,” Stenhouse said after the race.

Larson was the big story ahead of the race.

He arrived at North Wilkesboro Speedway about an hour before the race following a busy afternoon

His plane landed at Wilkes County Airport and was then transported via helicopter to the racetrack and then taken by golf cart to his hauler to begin preparations for the 200-lap exhibition race.

Fans cheered his arrival into the track and he waved to them along the way.

NASCAR and its broadcast partner Fox helped accommodate the sport’s star attraction and points leader by moving the start of the race back 16 minutes to 8:30 p.m. to ensure he would arrive in time after shocking some in the racing world by qualifying for the Fast 6 at Indianapolis.

Larson will have to do it again next weekend when he attempts to run the double and finish the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Seventeen drivers qualified for the race based on their past accomplishments. All-Star Open winner Ty Gibbs and second place finisher Bubba Wallace advanced into the race on Sunday, along with fan vote winner Noah Gragson.

Hendrick Motorsports vice president of competition Chad Knaus marveled at what Larson was able to do in his first qualifying runs in Indianapolis in an open-wheel racecar against the best drivers in the world.

“We were watching him run and we were like, my gosh, I can’t believe this,” Knaus said. “I was like my goodness how did that happen? Very limited track time. Did a couple of tests. Was able to go up there and he holds a pretty good wheel as anybody I have seen. He is a phenomenal talent. He gets it. He is so emotionally stable. You can put him in just about any environment and he is going to excel.”

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O’s SS Henderson dealing with intercostal strain

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O's SS Henderson dealing with intercostal strain

The Baltimore Orioles are “very, very hopeful” that star shortstop Gunnar Henderson (intercostal strain) will be ready for Opening Day.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde told reporters Wednesday that Henderson suffered a mild strain on his right side.

“I’m very, very hopeful. But we’re going to not push a strain there, and we want to make sure that he gets it taken care of. It’s one of those sensitive areas where we don’t want anything to reoccur,” Hyde said.

Henderson departed last Thursday’s 11-8 spring training victory over the Toronto Blue Jays after the first inning with what the team termed “lower right side discomfort.” Henderson made a leaping catch in the top of the first inning and apparently felt soreness after hitting the ground.

Henderson is batting .167 in six plate appearances so far this spring.

The 2023 American League Rookie of the Year earned his first All-Star nod in 2024 batting .281/.364/.529 with 37 home runs and 92 RBIs. He also stole 21 bases. He finished fourth in MVP balloting.

Henderson dealt with a left oblique injury during spring training in 2024 but recovered in time for the start of the regular season.

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Astros’ Walker out of lineup with oblique soreness

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Astros' Walker out of lineup with oblique soreness

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – New Houston Astros first baseman Christian Walker was scratched from the lineup for a spring training game Wednesday because of soreness in his left oblique.

Walker missed more than a month last season with Arizona because of a strained left oblique muscle. He joined the Astros on a $60 million, three-year contract during the offseason.

In his first four spring training games for Houston, Walker was 4 for 8 with three doubles. He also had two walks.

Adding a first baseman over the offseason was a priority for the Astros after struggling Jose Abreu was released less than halfway through a $58.5 million, three-year contract.

Walker, who turns 34 on March 28, hit .251 with 26 home runs and 84 RBIs in 130 games for the Diamondbacks last season. He won his third consecutive Gold Glove at first base.

In 832 big league games, Walker has hit .250 with 147 homers. All but 13 of those games came with Arizona over the past eight seasons, after his MLB debut with Baltimore in 2014 and 2015.

Walker had two stints on the injured list because of right oblique issues in 2021. He played 160 games in 2022 and 157 in 2023, hitting 69 homers and driving in 197 runs combined over those two seasons.

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HOF vet committee tweak limits future appearances

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HOF vet committee tweak limits future appearances

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — The Hall of Fame made some small adjustments to its veterans committee system to limit people with relatively little support from repeatedly remaining on future ballots, a decision that could make it harder to gain entry to Cooperstown for steroids-tainted stars such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.

Any candidate on the eight-person ballot who receives fewer than five votes from the 16-member panel will not be eligible for that committee’s ballot during the next three-year cycle, the hall said Wednesday. A candidate who is dropped, later reappears on a ballot and again receives fewer than five votes would be barred from future ballot appearances.

Bonds, Clemens, Rafael Palmeiro and Albert Belle each received fewer than four votes in December 2022, when Fred McGriff was a unanimous pick. Bonds and Clemens were on a hall ballot for the first time since their 10th and final appearances on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot. The rules change could limit reappraisals of their candidacies.

In addition, the historical overview committee appointed by the BBWAA that selects the ballot candidates must also be approved by the hall’s board of directors. The hall said the decisions were made by its board during a Feb. 26 meeting in Orlando, Florida.

In 2022, the hall restructured its veterans committees for the third time in 12 years, setting up panels to consider the contemporary era from 1980 on, as well as the classic era. The contemporary baseball era holds separate ballots for players and another for managers, executives and umpires.

Each committee meets every three years: contemporary players from 1980 on will be considered this December; managers, executives and umpires from 1980 on in December 2026; and pre-1980 candidates in December 2027.

Dave Parker and Dick Allen were elected last December and manager Jim Leyland in December 2023.

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