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Last summer, three-time Australian Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen shocked the NASCAR world by winning his debut in the top-level Cup Series. It was the first time anyone had done so in 60 years, and it kicked off his whirlwind of a career change: moving to the United States to pursue NASCAR full time.

This summer, he’s four months into his tour as a full-time driver in the second-tier Xfinity Series, where he’s preparing for his eventual move to Cup. What has he learned about the car so far?

“Sometimes it feels like you’re driving a forklift,” he told ESPN.

Van Gisbergen’s NASCAR switch is fascinating for many reasons, including the car. His debut NASCAR victory came on the Chicago Street Course, which he ran with Trackhouse Racing’s “Project91” team, a part-time star car for drivers from other series. It was the perfect storm: It was NASCAR’s first time at a street course, and it happened in the rain — two things that come naturally for Van Gisbergen. That helped level the playing field between him and the drivers who race NASCAR every week.

The Chicago race was meant to be a one-off, and Van Gisbergen told ESPN that he didn’t expect to win, but “stuff just snowballed so quickly” after he did. He soon signed a development contract with Trackhouse, which included running the 2024 season with Kaulig Racing in Xfinity to adapt to NASCAR’s oval-heavy schedule.

“I had the perfect opportunity to come in and be on a reasonably equal playing field at Chicago, since street circuits are sort of my deal,” Van Gisbergen said. “America’s a massive place, and there are so many young, talented drivers coming through. It’s hard for people to come over here and break into it, so I’m pretty lucky.”

Perhaps the biggest factor in Van Gisbergen’s win was the new Cup Series race car, called the “Next Gen,” which debuted in 2022. It’s less like old NASCAR cars (built to go fast and turn left) and more like a sports car (built to go fast, plus turn left and right), making it easier for non-NASCAR drivers to be competitive.

That adaptability hasn’t trickled down to NASCAR’s top development leagues. So while Van Gisbergen adjusts to the NASCAR schedule in Xfinity, he’s doing so in a totally unfamiliar car — and he’s already won in it twice.

“[I’ve learned] a huge amount of things, like just how funky the Xfinity car is to drive,” he said. “The biggest thing is that the Cup car, it feels like a race car. It feels like every other car I’ve driven around the world, with the aero and the rear end. It’s a huge evolution of a NASCAR, I guess, to go the whole different route that they have. Even on the oval, it kind of feels like a normal car.

“Whereas the Xfinity car, it’s only specific to oval racing, basically. The style of car that has been designed and developed for years, that NASCAR type of stock car. The rear end is really, really interesting, how it moves around. I’ve never driven a car like that.”

Since the arrival of the Next Gen, the NASCAR Xfinity and Cup cars are fundamentally different vehicles. The Xfinity car is old-school NASCAR: 15-inch wheels with five lug nuts each, a solid rear axle, and a four-speed manual transmission. The Next Gen car is in line with the rest of the world: 18-inch wheels with large single lug nuts, an independent rear suspension and a five-speed sequential transmission.

Those changes manifest themselves in many ways. When talking about the old Cup car versus the new one last year, 23XI Racing Cup Series driver Tyler Reddick told me the new car is especially durable on road courses.

“Where a lot of drivers would have issues under braking with the [last] car was with the old-school truck arms, and just how much those flex and wheel hop,” Reddick said. “Once you had axle hop — wheel hop — you were more than likely crashing. The more you had that axle hop, if you didn’t crash the car, you would just shake all the parts loose. You had to really go into the approach of: ‘If I’m going to push this car, I’m going to save it for the end of the race, because I don’t want to just rip the car apart.’

“With the Next Gen car, that’s totally different. With independent rear suspension, all the beefy suspension parts it has, you don’t really have situations where the car falls apart like the other car did. You can launch it across curbs as hard as you want.”

Van Gisbergen’s first Xfinity win came at Portland International Raceway earlier this month. On the first lap, the wheel hop got him.

“I got into Sam Mayer,” he said. “The rear end just starts locking up and doing whatever it does. It’s certainly an interesting thing. I haven’t really felt that in many cars, so it’s weird, to say the least.”

But the car is only one challenge in Van Gisbergen’s NASCAR switch. Another is the tracks; he comes from a background of sports cars, endurance racing, rally and more, but much of the NASCAR season happens on ovals.

So far, both of Van Gisbergen’s Xfinity wins are on road courses. He has an average finish of 15.7 so far this season, and on ovals, his best result so far is third in Atlanta.

“The ovals are very, very, very difficult,” Van Gisbergen said. “But I feel like I’m getting better and better, finishing the races with straight cars and starting to get more and more competitive. Road courses are [my] strength, but I don’t know if ovals are a weakness. We’re obviously not running at the very front, but getting better and better and learning a lot. So it’s kind of about where we expect it to be.”

One of the main voices in Van Gisbergen’s decision to come Stateside was Marcos Ambrose, who moved to NASCAR as a Supercars champion nearly 20 years ago. He was always a standout on road courses in the Cup Series, even with the old car, but ovals didn’t come as easily.

Right now, Van Gisbergen thinks he just needs time to adapt.

“I’ve had some great people helping me, with Kevin Harvick and Marcos Ambrose, and then my teammates A.J. [Allmendinger] and Josh [Williams] as well,” he said. “They’re always open to anything I ever ask.

“A.J.’s a good yardstick. He’s obviously capable of winning on the ovals, and we’re in the same equipment. If I can be matching him or running near what he’s doing in the races, that can only be a good thing. I’m trying to learn what he’s doing with the car to make it faster to try and match him.”

Van Gisbergen’s NASCAR switch is compelling on a number of levels. He’s 35 years old, around the age when longtime NASCAR drivers near their performance peak, and he had a career for the history books overseas. If he’d continued that career, he would’ve been a threat to win Supercars championships for years to come.

Instead, he’s giving himself a new challenge in America. He told ESPN that his Chicago performance probably makes NASCAR more appealing for other drivers, but that once they get here, “it’s certainly not easy.”

“Everyone here is very, very good,” Van Gisbergen said. “They’ve been doing these tracks for so long, and driving these cars every week. It’s been a huge change and challenge in life, moving here and the career. It’s been a lot of new skills to learn. But most of all, it’s been a lot of fun.”

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Harris return short-lived as Ole Miss WR exits

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Harris return short-lived as Ole Miss WR exits

Ole Miss standout receiver Tre Harris aggravated an injury in the first half at Florida on Saturday and was ruled out for the remainder of the game, a 24-17 Gators win.

Harris initially injured his hip/groin area against LSU on Oct. 12. He returned against Florida, only to go down after a catch late in the second quarter.

During the broadcast, ABC’s Molly McGrath reported it was an aggravation of the original injury.

Harris was seen in street clothes on the sideline to start the second half. He had one catch for 43 yards and a touchdown before exiting.

Harris came into the game as one of the top receivers in the nation, leading the No. 9 Rebels with 987 yards and six touchdowns.

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Ward breaks Kosar’s season passing yards record

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Ward breaks Kosar's season passing yards record

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Another week, another pair of records for Miami quarterback Cam Ward, breaking 40-year-old marks by Bernie Kosar in both cases.

Ward, Miami’s Heisman Trophy contender who already holds the Hurricanes’ single-season record for touchdown passes and is on pace to break the school mark for completion percentage, on Saturday eclipsed Kosar’s school records for both passing yards in a season and completions in a season in the Hurricanes’ 42-14 win over Wake Forest.

Ward completed 27 of 38 passes for 280 yards, plus ran for a score. Ward now has 3,774 yards on 268 completions this season. Kosar threw for 3,642 yards on 262 completions in 1984.

Ward’s 13-yard completion to Damien Martinez with 1:27 left in the second quarter gave him 3,643 yards for the season. Kosar’s mark of 3,642 yards was set in 1984.

Later Saturday, Ward threw a 15-yard pass to Xavier Restrepo for his 263rd completion of the year, topping Kosar’s mark of 262, also set in 1984.

“Congrats #CamWard,” Kosar posted on social media. “U R Awesome.”

Ward is on pace to break Miami’s single-season completion percentage mark of 65.8% set last year by Tyler Van Dyke. He also is on pace to top the Miami career mark (among those with at least 300 attempts) of 64.3% set by D’Eriq King in 2020 and 2021.

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Judge giving Soto space amid free agency frenzy

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Judge giving Soto space amid free agency frenzy

NEW YORK — Aaron Judge is one of the few people on Earth who can relate to Juan Soto‘s current situation. Two years ago, Judge was the free agent superstar clubs across the majors coveted. Eventually, he chose to return to the New York Yankees. Now it’s Soto’s turn.

In a conference call with reporters Friday, after unanimously winning the American League MVP award Thursday night, Judge said he hopes Soto makes the same choice and returns to the Bronx. Judge is not, however, actively recruiting his All-Star teammate.

“I haven’t talked to him at all. I think the best thing is to really give those guys space,” Judge said. “And I talked to him all season. He knows how we feel about him. And I think the most important thing is now let him do his thing with his family, pray about it, talk with people and come to the right decision for him and his family. So I haven’t talked to him at all.”

Soto met with Yankees officials, a group that included owner Hal Streinbrenner, general manager Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone, in California on Monday. Two days later, Steinbrenner called it “a good meeting” with “very honest back-and-forth dialogue.” Soto has also met with the New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays.

While Judge said he hasn’t spoken with Soto, he disclosed that he has met with Steinbrenner to discuss Soto and other possible offseason moves.

“I went down to Tampa for about a week kind of right after the season and met with him and just discussed a lot of things,” Judge said. “From Juan to other guys that are out there that I think could definitely help this team. So, you know, I kind of just give my input on a couple of things.”

Judge partnered with Soto to become one of the most productive duos in recent baseball history. While Judge recorded arguably the greatest season by a right-handed hitter ever, Soto clubbed a career-high 41 home runs with a .989 OPS. His 8.1 fWAR ranked fourth in the majors.

That production helped the Yankees win 94 games and the American League East title after missing the postseason in 2023. He then shined in October, batting .327 with four home runs and a 1.102 OPS in 14 postseason games. His go-ahead three-run home run in Game 5 of the AL Championship Series sent the Yankees to the World Series. Six days later, the Yankees played Game 1 of the World Series against the Dodgers on Soto’s 26th birthday.

It was a platform year impending free agents dream of. And it drove Soto’s price — already projected to be historic coming off his age-25 season — to another bracket. With several big-market teams interested, Soto could command a contract approaching, if not surpassing, $600 million. He will surely sign a contract larger than the nine-year, $360 million deal Judge and the Yankees landed on two years ago. Judge said that doesn’t matter to him.

“It ain’t my money,” Judge said. “I really don’t care as long as we get the best players, we get the most that we can. I’m with whatever. That’s never been something on my mind about who gets paid the most. It’s just whatever we can do to get the best players, I’ll take it.”

Losing Soto after one season was a risk the Yankees assumed when they decided to trade five players to the San Diego Padres for Soto and outfielder Trent Grisham last December to give Judge the ideal complement — an elite, patient, left-handed hitter who posts every day. He performed as advertised — and then some — in helping the Yankees reach the World Series for the first time in 15 years and becoming a fan favorite, which would make his possible defection a tougher blow before the season started.

Soto hit second in the Yankees order, one spot ahead of Judge. All season, Judge marveled at Soto’s at-bats. His approach. His flair. His relentlessness. On Friday, he again credited Soto for directly helping him register his historic season by constantly making pitchers work.

“That was a big impact, having a guy like that in front of you,” Judge said. “If I could have eight Juan Sotos in the lineup with me, I would love that.”

The Yankees would settle for one.

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