Martin Truex Jr. is planning to take part in the Daytona 500 and reunite with his former crew chief Cole Pearn.
Truex said in June that he no longer will be a full-time driver after this season, but revealed his plans for the season-opening race Wednesday at the NASCAR playoffs media day in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“That’s right. I didn’t know it was that big of news,” Truex said. “I thought people knew already, so I might have let the cat out of the bag prematurely.”
Pearn retired in 2019 after spending five seasons (2015-19) as the crew chief for Truex’s team. During their time together, the duo won 24 races and the Cup Series title in 2017. In recent years, Pearn became a consultant for Joe Gibbs Racing and Truex believes their chemistry is still strong.
“We don’t talk very often, but when we do, it’s just like old times,” Truex, 44, said. “He can pretty much read me like a book. He knows exactly what I’m thinking. I don’t know, it’s just, he’s a special guy. He’s different than anyone I’ve ever known. He knows everything. He knows the answer to everything. And he tells you things, you’re like, how’d you know that?”
Truex enters the Nascar Cup Playoffs as the No. 16 seed in the 16-driver field after narrowly clinching the last spot despite a crash at the Southern 500 on Sunday.
hasn’t laid out specifics regarding his potential part-time status next year, but he has narrowed down the number he’d like on his door.
“It’s probably either going to be 78 or 56, 78 being our championship number (in 2017), which is a special one for me, obviously,” said Truex, who drove the No. 56 for Michael Waltrip Racing from 2010 to 2013 and the No. 78 with Furniture Row Racing from 2014 to 2018. “And then my number was always 56, so we’ll see.”
Information from Field Level Media was used in this story.
Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco will face charges of illegal use and possession of a firearm related to his arrest in an armed altercation in the Dominican Republic countryside, public prosecutors said Tuesday.
Franco, 23, was arrested in San Juan de la Maguana, 116 miles west of Santo Domingo after what police said was an altercation Sunday in the parking lot of an apartment complex in which guns were drawn. He had been held for questioning by police but is expected to be granted provisional release Tuesday, with terms of his bail yet to be defined.
Prosecutors said a Glock with its magazine and 15 rounds of ammunition but no registration papers was found in Franco’s black Mercedes-Benz at the time of the altercation.
Police said the firearm was registered to Branly Fernando Lugo Rodríguez, who Franco said was his uncle.
The armed altercation occurred Sunday between Franco, another man and the father of that man over Franco’s relationship with a woman prosecutors said lived in the apartment complex. The dispute took place in the parking lot of the apartment complex after Franco arrived there.
There were no injuries, and the involved parties agreed they will not press charges.
No court date has yet been set for Franco’s arraignment. The use and possession of illegal firearms carries a maximum sentence of three to five years plus a fine.
Franco, who was placed on indefinite administrative leave from Major League Baseball on Aug. 22, 2023, is due to stand trial in the Dominican Republic on Dec. 12 in a separate case involving charges of sexual abuse, sexual exploitation against a minor and human trafficking that could result in a sentence of up to 20 years.
Franco was placed on MLB’s restricted list in July, sources had told ESPN, after prosecutors in the Dominican Republic accused him of having a sexual relationship with a then-14-year-old girl.
He is also under an MLB investigation under its domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy until the case is resolved.
The court summoned Franco and the mother of the girl for the trial after an investigation that opened in 2022. The case will be heard by a panel of three or five judges.
Franco cannot leave the Dominican Republic under his bail agreement as he awaits the trial, but he is free to travel within the country, police confirmed.
The Rays gave Franco an 11-year, $182 million extension in 2021, just 70 games into his major league career.
He made the All-Star team for the first time in 2023.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A detailed assessment of the hurricane damage to Tropicana Field concludes that the home of the Tampa Bay Rays is structurally sound and can be repaired for about $55.7 million in time for the 2026 season.
The 412-page report released Tuesday by the city of St. Petersburg, which owns the building, found that the basic structure of the domed stadium “does not appear to have been adversely affected” by Hurricane Milton’s winds, which shredded most of its fabric roof.
“The primary structure is serviceable and capable of supporting a replacement tension membrane fabric roof,” said the report by Hennessy Construction Services.
Eighteen of the ballpark’s 24 fabric panels failed when Milton roared ashore Oct. 9, the report found. There was also damage to interior parts of the Trop, as it’s known for short, from rainwater and other storm-related causes. The ballpark opened in 1990 and has been the Rays’ home since their inception in 1998.
The Rays did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment. Since the ballpark, under this damage and repair assessment, would not be ready until the 2026 season, the Rays must find another place to play next year.
Major League Baseball wants the Rays to remain in the area near their fan base if at all possible, with several Tampa Bay-area spring training sites suggested. These include ballparks in Clearwater (Phillies), Tampa (Yankees), Dunedin (Blue Jays), Sarasota (Orioles), Lakeland (Tigers) and the Rays’ own spring training home in Port Charlotte. Most of these locations host minor league teams in the summer.
Tropicana Field is already scheduled to be demolished when a new, $1.3 billion ballpark is finished in time for the 2028 season. With unforeseen costs to the city and Pinellas County from two hurricanes — vast amounts of debris removal, damage to parks and infrastructure — two of the main financial sources for the new ballpark could reconsider those plans or decide not to repair the Trop at all.
The St. Petersburg City Council will discuss the report at its Nov. 21 meeting.
“We have so much need across the city,” council member Brandi Gabbard said at a meeting last week. “I love the Rays. I love Tropicana Field. It’s not about not wanting to do this. It’s about a balance of priorities.”
The council recently approved $6.5 million to clean up the ballpark and protect it from any further damage, including waterproofing areas such as the press box, seating areas and scoreboard.
The city does have an insurance claim for the damage and repairs, but it includes a $22 million deductible and probably would cover only part of the overall costs. That means taxpayer dollars would have to be used.
The planned new Rays ballpark is part of a $6.5 billion project that will include affordable housing, a Black history museum, retail and office space, and restaurants and bars. The project is known as the Historic Gas Plant District, which was once a thriving Black community but was displaced by construction of the ballpark and an interstate highway.
Gerry Faust, who was famously plucked from an Ohio high school to lead Notre Dame’s storied football program in 1981, died Monday, his family confirmed in a statement. He was 89.
Faust, who had no college coaching experience prior to replacing Dan Devine in what was dubbed the “Bold Experiment,” had a 30-26-1 record from 1981 to 1985. He guided the Fighting Irish to just one bowl victory, 19-18 over Boston College in the 1983 Liberty Bowl, and his teams lost at least four games in each of his five seasons on the sideline.
Despite Notre Dame’s mediocre stretch during his tenure, Faust was grateful for the unlikely opportunity to live out his dream by coaching the Fighting Irish.
“I only had 26 miserable days at Notre Dame, and that’s when we lost,” Faust told the Los Angeles Times in 2008. “Other than that, I was the happiest guy in the world. If I had the opportunity to do it again and knew the results would be the same, I’d do it again in a minute.”
The son of a successful high school coach in Ohio, Faust had grown up dreaming about playing at Notre Dame. At an early age, Faust told anyone who would listen that he was going to play football for the Irish.
“I’d loved Notre Dame as long as I can remember,” Faust wrote in his book, “The Golden Dream.” “When I was in the fifth or sixth grade, I’d ride my bike to practice with my cleats slung over my handlebars, my helmet on my head, whistling the ‘Notre Dame Victory March.’ Even in the fourth grade, I knew what I wanted and I wasn’t bashful about telling others.”
As a high school senior, Faust visited Notre Dame the day before the season finale against USC. Back then, recruiting rules allowed college teams to work out recruits. Faust was one of 18 quarterbacks on campus that day, according to his book.
“I was about eighth in line,” Faust said. “After I saw the first seven throw the football, I knew I couldn’t play football at Notre Dame. They were too good. My next dream was to be the coach at Notre Dame.”
Notre Dame offered Faust a partial scholarship, but he didn’t accept it because he didn’t want to burden his parents with the cost of tuition. He played quarterback at the University of Dayton from 1955 to ’57.
In 1960, Faust started building a new football program with borrowed equipment at Archbishop Moeller High School, an all-boys Catholic School in the Cincinnati suburbs. From 1962 to 1980, Faust’s teams had a 174-17-2 record (.906 winning percentage), and went unbeaten in seven seasons. They captured nine state championships and four national titles.
In 1977, Faust wrote a letter to Edmund P. Joyce, Notre Dame’s executive vice president, and expressed his interest in coaching the Fighting Irish if the job opened one day. Cleveland Browns co-founder Paul Brown later wrote Faust a recommendation, and Faust’s lawyer, Ken Schneider, sent Joyce newspaper clippings about Moeller High’s accomplishments.
Three years later, Joyce called Faust and asked to meet him at a Cincinnati hotel. It was in the middle of May, and Joyce confided in Faust that Devine was thinking about stepping down because of his wife’s ailing health.
In the initial meeting, Joyce told Faust that he had one concern about hiring him: He had never recruited high school players, which was the lifeblood of every college football program. Faust told him that he’d watched Joe Paterno, Bear Bryant, John Robinson and other college coaches recruit his Moeller High players for 18 years.
Devine announced on Aug. 15, 1980, that he would retire at the end of the season.
The day after Faust guided Moeller High to a 30-7 victory over Massillon Washington High in the state championship game, he was hired as Notre Dame’s new head coach.
“He was totally dedicated to Notre Dame, almost with a passion, and he was terribly enthusiastic, totally optimistic,” then-Notre Dame president Theodore Hesburgh wrote in his book, “God, Country, Notre Dame.” “He was the high school football coach with the best record in the country, and [Joyce] and I thought it was worth taking a chance on him.”
When Faust saw Notre Dame’s schedule for 1981, he said, “I hope my lifelong dream doesn’t end in a nightmare.”
Unfortunately for Faust and the Fighting Irish, his tenure was more of a nightmare. Notre Dame defeated LSU 27-9 in Faust’s first game and ascended to No. 1 in the AP poll. It was the peak of his five-year tenure. The Fighting Irish dropped four of their next five games and finished 5-6.
Notre Dame went 6-4-1 in 1982 and 7-5 in 1983 and 1984.
Joyce and Hesburgh had promised Faust they’d give him five years to build a program and stood by him, despite mounting pressure from alumni and fans to dump him.
The Irish lost three of their first four games in 1985. In a 10-7 loss to LSU on Nov. 23, 1985, Irish receiver Tim Brown dropped a pass across the middle that might have put his team in position to win the game. Brown was inconsolable in the locker room, and Faust knew it was time for his tenure to end.
“Tim, you didn’t cost us the game,” Faust told him. “You wouldn’t have had to catch the ball if I’d made the right decisions. Don’t put that burden on you. That burden should be on me.”
With a 5-5 record, Faust announced his resignation on Nov. 26, 1985. The Irish lost to Miami 58-7 in his final game.
“If you’re ever going to put the blame somewhere, put it on the coach,” Faust said at the news conference announcing his resignation. “That’s where it ought to be. We got started on the wrong foot five years ago and never did bail out of the thing.”
Faust coached at the University of Akron for nine seasons (1986 to ’94), posting a record of 43-53-3. He worked as a fundraiser at the school before retiring in 2001.
Faust returned to Notre Dame often in his later years and was a mainstay in the press box on game days.
“Certainly, it was a highlight of his life to get the Notre Dame job,” Joyce once told ESPN. “It was the answer of his dreams from the time he was a toddler. The low part of his life is possibly not succeeding there, but he doesn’t let it get him down. When he’s going to be judged up above for his whole life, he might get more credit for the way he’s reacted to adversity than all the good fortune he had.”