Tim Brown, 53, is finally getting the opportunity to be a NASCAR Cup Series driver.

Bowman Gray Stadium is the reason why. For the first time since 1971, the track will host a NASCAR Cup Series race with the Cook Out Clash taking place Sunday. It’s an annual exhibition event to kick off the season, but not every driver makes it into the field. The format for this year’s edition will have 23 drivers in the main event.

Brown might not be a household name among Cup Series followers and probably will be unfamiliar to some who tune into the Clash. At the regional level, though, he will go down as one of the greatest to get behind the wheel — certainly at Bowman Gray Stadium. He is the winningest driver in the venue’s history in the modified division with 101 victories, 12 track championships and 146 poles.

Fittingly, Bowman Gray is where the North Carolina native makes his debut, even if it comes 35 years after first chasing the dream.

“I’ll be honest with you, once I turned about 30 years old, I gave up on my lifelong dream of being a Cup driver,” Brown said. “Just because I had seen that transition to where you either had to be 12 or 13 years old and get signed or you had to have big money to pay an owner to let you drive, so I had already given up on that dream.”

Rick Ware Racing is fielding the car for Brown. The two are familiar because Brown is a Ware employee, one who will be among those building the car he’ll drive. When the rumors began about NASCAR bringing the Clash to Bowman Gray, Ware and team president Robby Benton immediately told Brown the goal was to put him in the car.

Brown won’t be alone in fulfilling a dream at Bowman Gray. Burt Myers, another 12-time track champion and rival of Brown’s, will also make his Cup Series debut, doing so with Team AmeriVet.

The two local stars are among a number of reasons why all eyes will be on Bowman Gray Stadium on Sunday. It’s already considered a special weekend without a car having yet hit the track.

Bowman Gray Stadium is a quarter-mile racetrack, one that circles the Winston-Salem State University football field, with deep roots in NASCAR. It is advertised as the series’ first and longest-running weekly track, dating to 1949 when two of NASCAR’s founding fathers, Bill France Sr. and Alvin Hawkins, brought racing to the facility.

Ben Kennedy, the great-grandson of France, won a NASCAR regional series race at the track in 2013. Last year, Kennedy was the one who went to Bowman Gray Stadium to announce in person that the Clash was coming to the track.

Though Brown and Myers might not be known to fans of NASCAR’s highest level, those followers will be familiar with many other names with Bowman Gray connections.

A young Richard Childress, now a NASCAR Hall of Fame car owner with his Richard Childress Racing operation, worked concussions at the track. Richard Petty recorded his 100th race win at Bowman Gray in 1969. Junior Johnson, David Pearson, along with the Allisons and Earnhardts, all once raced at Bowman Gray.

For the longest time, NASCAR was hardly a sport that returned to things it had once moved away from. The quest has been to find ways to evolve, whether through competing in new markets, schedule changes, championship format changes or different versions of the race car itself. It’s a monumental moment to bring the Cup Series back to Bowman Gray Stadium.

“I do like that we’re at home at Bowman Gray,” Team Penske’s Austin Cindric said. “When I think of downtown Los Angeles, I don’t think of short-track racing. When I think of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, it’s a lot closer to short-track racing. I do think the fan base is very passionate at that place and will definitely appreciate having Cup cars there, maybe more than anywhere else. I can’t wait to see that. I can’t wait to see the turnout.”

The turnout will also be noticeable on the racetrack. During the three years NASCAR spent in Los Angeles at the Coliseum, the entry list consisted of the 36 charter teams required to make the cross-country trip and compete. Bowman Gray has an entry list of 39.

North Carolina is considered the home of NASCAR and where many of its teams and drivers are based. Starting the season at home and at a track beloved by many has resonated within the industry.

In the three years the Clash was held in L.A., the racing was decent but secondary as entertainment took center stage with musical acts, celebrities and athletes appearing. The feel is set to be different this weekend, and it should be because this could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for some.

“As much as it is an exhibition race, anybody that says they don’t want to win at Bowman Gray is lying,” Ryan Preece of RFK Racing said. “Winning in general, you want to do, but Bowman Gray, the history that’s behind it, you look back at some of the names and adding your name to that list of the Cup Series going and winning at Bowman Gray. That’s where NASCAR was pretty much born, so it would be pretty special to go and do that, and what better way than to kick it off here in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.”

Federal prosecutors disputed claims by Shohei Ohtani‘s former interpreter that he stole from the slugger to pay back massive gambling debts, saying there was no evidence he suffered from a gambling addiction before he started draining the Los Angeles Dodgers star’s bank account, according to court documents filed Thursday.

Ippei Mizuhara is due to be sentenced Feb. 6 after his June guilty plea. Last week, he asked U.S. District Judge John W. Holcomb for an 18-month sentence, instead of the nearly five years prosecutors seek. Mizuhara said he was remorseful and blamed the crime on what he called a “long-standing” addiction to gambling in which he “frequented casinos four to five times a week.”

But in their new response, prosecutors doubled down on their sentencing recommendation and said their research showed there was no evidence of a long-standing addiction other than Mizuhara’s “self-serving and uncorroborated statements to the psychologist he hired for the purposes of sentencing.”

“All defendants claim to be remorseful at the time of sentencing,” prosecutors wrote. “The question courts must answer is whether the defendant is truly remorseful or whether they are just sorry they were caught.”

Mizuhara’s attorney, Michael Freedman, declined to comment Thursday.

Prosecutors said the government’s investigation found “only minimal evidence” of Mizuhara’s past legal gambling, stating that investigators had looked at more than 30 casinos across the country and that “the only evidence found was defendant spending $200 at the Mirage casino during a weekend in 2008.”

Prosecutors attached a document containing a color photocopy of Mizuhara’s California driver’s license, along with spreadsheet images showing bets he placed at the Mirage.

Mizuhara registered for an account on FanDuel in 2018 but never placed a bet on the website, according to prosecutors. He began betting with DraftKings in 2023 after he “had already stolen millions of dollars from Mr. Ohtani,” the filing states.

Other exhibits showed Mizuhara placing bets ranging from $5 to $1,400 on NBA, NHL, soccer and college baseball games.

Prosecutors contend Mizuhara did not accumulate a “tremendous debt” that forced him to steal from Ohtani, as Mizuhara has claimed. At the time of the first fraudulent wire transfer from Ohtani’s bank account, for “a modest $40,000” in September 2021, Mizuhara had more than $34,000 in his checking account, prosecutors said.

“[Mizuhara] could have used his own money to pay the bookie but instead chose to steal from Mr. Ohtani,” prosecutors wrote.

They allege Mizuhara deposited money he received from his winnings from the bookie and DraftKings into his personal account and “had no intention of repaying Mr. Ohtani.”

In his filing to Holcomb, Mizuhara claimed that he “had to rent a place” near Ohtani and “paid hefty rent” where he ultimately settled in Newport Beach, California, while simultaneously paying rent for an apartment in Japan. He also stated in his filing that he was “living paycheck to paycheck.”

“But this is also not true,” prosecutors wrote in their filing, submitting bank statements as evidence showing “he was using Mr. Ohtani’s debit card to pay his rent” without Ohtani’s “knowledge or authorization.”

“He had no expenses,” the prosecutors continued. “He had no loans, car payments, or rent expenses,” noting Ohtani gave Mizuhara a Porsche to drive.

Mizuhara always had a “significant balance” in his checking account, prosecutors state, noting it was more than $30,000 in March 2023 and more than $195,000 in March 2024, when inquiries from ESPN led to his firing from the Dodgers and to Ohtani’s attorneys calling the wire transfers a “massive theft.”

Prosecutors also said Mizuhara turned down book and commercial deals in spite of Ohtani encouraging him “to accept the deals.” Mizuhara “did in fact write at least one book” — an illustrated children’s book about Ohtani, according to an exhibit.

Prosecutors concluded their filing by stating “a significant period of incarceration is necessary,” and reiterated their request for a sentence of 57 months in prison, three years supervised release, more than $16 million in restitution to Ohtani and $1.1 million to the IRS.

“There is no doubt” Mizuhara “feels ashamed from the international attention he received from his fraud schemes and web of lies,” the prosecutors wrote. “But instead of showing true remorse,” they allege, Mizuhara is trying to “justify stealing millions from Mr. Ohtani.”

Right-hander Max Scherzer and the Toronto Blue Jays are in agreement on a one-year, $15.5 million contract, sources told ESPN on Thursday, uniting the future Hall of Famer with a Toronto team trying to salvage the winter after missing on high-profile free-agent pursuits.

The 40-year-old Scherzer, one of the best pitchers of his generation and a future first-ballot Hall of Famer, is coming off an injury-plagued season with the Texas Rangers in which he made just nine starts and went 2-4 with a 3.95 ERA. He didn’t make his first start until June 23 following surgery in the offseason to repair a herniated disk in his back. He then missed all of August with shoulder fatigue, returning to make one start in September before a hamstring injury ended his season.

Toronto nevertheless will slot Scherzer into its rotation, pending a physical, and add to what was already a strength, with veterans Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios and Chris Bassitt, plus Bowden Francis, who was one of the best pitchers in baseball down the stretch in 2024.

The Blue Jays had aimed to sign multiple nine-figure players this winter, going after outfielder Juan Soto and starters Corbin Burnes and Max Fried. Each opted to sign elsewhere, as did Roki Sasaki, the 23-year-old Japanese star who’s now No. 1 on Kiley McDaniel’s Top 100 prospect list for ESPN. Toronto did strike a five-year, $92.5 million deal with outfielder Anthony Santander to bolster its outfield, and in Scherzer, it adds a veteran whose postseason experience should help if the Blue Jays can navigate the American League East gauntlet.

Once a durable workhorse who made 30-plus starts each season from 2009 through 2018, Scherzer has now missed significant time each of the past three seasons, making 23 starts in 2022 while missing time with an oblique strain and making 27 starts in 2023 due to a strained shoulder and back spasms.

While Scherzer’s fastball took a step back last year, he wields a five-pitch arsenal and will rely on control that has been a hallmark throughout his 17-year career. His strikeout rate last year dropped to 22.6%, down from 28%, and was well below his 2021-22 seasons, when he was over 30%. He allowed a .724 OPS, higher than the MLB average of .711.

Scherzer was a free agent for the third time in his career. Ahead of the 2015 season, he agreed to a seven-year, $210 million contract with the Washington Nationals that proved to be one of the best signings ever for a free-agent pitcher. Scherzer won the second and third Cy Young Awards of his career, finished in the top three in three other seasons and helped the Nationals win the World Series in 2019, going 3-0 with a 2.40 ERA that postseason and starting Game 7 of the World Series while pitching through a neck injury.

He was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2021 in the final year of that contract and then signed a three-year, $130 million deal with the New York Mets, the highest annual average value for a player at the time (matched a year later by Justin Verlander and then surpassed by Shohei Ohtani in 2024). The Mets made the playoffs that first year as Scherzer posted a 2.23 ERA, but he was traded to the Rangers in 2023 — and helped them to a World Series title, although injuries limited him to just 9.2 innings in three postseason starts (he did pitch three scoreless innings in his one World Series start).

The eight-time All-Star is 216-112 in his career with the three Cy Young Awards and 75.4 WAR. Among active pitchers, only Verlander has more wins, and only Verlander and Clayton Kershaw have a higher WAR.

The New York Post first reported the agreement between Scherzer and the Blue Jays.

ESPN’s David Schoenfield contributed to this report.