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CONCORD, N.C. — The next scheduled NASCAR race weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway is still a week and a half away, but on Wednesday afternoon, the 64-year-old racetrack was operating at full throttle.

Helicopters and jets streaked overhead. The squealing of air brakes produced by massive tractor-trailers filled the parking lots. Engines rumbled to life as convoys of digger line and bucket trucks rolled out, having waited in the lots adjacent to the speedway for their assignments, and suddenly headed to all points west into the Appalachian Mountains.

That’s where so many towns, valleys and hollers remain filled with helpless people. They are still stranded in the wake of Hurricane Helene, even now, nearly a full week since she vanished into the atmosphere.

“The goal is to carry supplies up there, but really it’s about delivering hope,” said one NASCAR team pilot alongside a hangar at Concord Regional Airport, the stock car community’s de facto air base located just across I-85 from Charlotte Motor Speedway. That motorsports air wing has been in constant motion this week. A temporary lighted street sign at the entrance to the airfield blinked: OPERATION AIR DROP. VOLUNTEERS GO STRAIGHT TO TERMINAL.

The people in the cockpits ask for anonymity because “that’s not what this is about,” but the man speaking here on a perfectly sunny Wednesday afternoon has been making nonstop round trips into the mountains since Saturday, the first morning after Helene tore through Florida, Georgia, Upstate South Carolina and directly over the border that joins East Tennessee and western North Carolina. He was one of many in the NASCAR community who became an impromptu air wing in 2010, delivering supplies to earthquake-ravaged Haiti.

As multiple people were quick to remind on Wednesday, though, Helene felt worse. This wasn’t an island 1,200 miles away. This is a 40-minute helicopter flight. It’s home.

“Some of what we are doing is very specific, working with relief organizations to deliver supplies,” one pilot said, “but a lot of it has become as simple as seeing a family in an isolated house with no roads left to get out, waving and hoping we see them to get them out of there.”

On the ground at Charlotte Motor Speedway, as those choppers and planes rose into the skies above them, they opened Wednesday’s planned 12-hour shift for the pop-up drive-through donation drop-off site at 9 a.m., admittedly worried about a sluggish response. By lunchtime, though, nine NASCAR race teams or stock car equipment suppliers had already delivered truckloads of everything from bottled water and canned goods to medication, diapers, baby food and pet food. Most race shops in the Charlotte area had announced local collections and now they were bringing their first wave of donations to be packed up by the speedway. Following a steady line of Charlotte-area citizens who had bought whatever they could load into their cars, the racetrack had already packed a fifth-wheel trailer, a pair of 53-foot trailers and four Sprinter vans.

By 4 p.m., there were already 20-plus pallets each of water, diapers, wipes and food. So Charlotte Motor Speedway officials announced they would do it all over again on Thursday.

Texted Speedway senior VP Scott Cooper, who was among the CMS employees who left the office to unload cars and trucks: “A couple with a 10-foot pull-behind trailer filled it up with donations and drove down from ATHENS, OH!!!”

A convoy of trucks, some provided by those same NASCAR teams, will move it all to Charlotte’s sister track that sits on the edge of the North Carolina hills, where the devastation begins. North Wilkesboro Speedway has been hosting its own collection efforts. There, emergency medical services and professional disaster relief organizations are waiting to distribute it all into the areas of need for as long as the need lasts. And it is expected to last for months, if not years. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Smoky Mountains, another sister track, Bristol Motor Speedway, is orchestrating similar efforts for similarly ravaged East Tennessee.

More than one of the pilots who have seen what Helene left behind commented that this feels different than other post-hurricane recoveries. Normally, after one week, there are already marked signs of improvement. But that is also typically in areas that are better fortified to handle tropical weather, like Daytona or Darlington. Mountain communities are constructed to survive snow, fires and even small earthquakes; homes and towns built alongside rivers and creeks are not prepared to have those water flows turn into unstoppable tidal waves, birthed from a 100-year rainfall estimated to have dumped 40 trillion gallons of water onto the eastern seaboard.

“There is a helplessness to it that is hard to describe,” one team pilot texted after a return from the North Carolina-Tennessee border after a supply drop-off became the extraction of stranded seniors from a memory care center that has been without water, power or the ability to communicate since last week. “Imagine losing everything and then on top of that, after days of hoping, having to process the fact that no one is coming because no one knows you are there. It puts the stuff we squabble over in perspective, doesn’t it?”

One would hope so. But then again, it seems that not even this millennium’s worst stateside natural disaster can compete with the force known as billable hours. Because while so many in the NASCAR community were pushing their way through a week of sleepless nights, wondering, “What more can we do?” others from within that same industry decided this was the perfect time to announce that they were suing the sanctioning body.

The move, from 23XI and Front Row Motorsports, has seemed inevitable ever since those two teams chose to hold out from signing off on last month’s charter agreement extension. There is tremendous debate and discussion to have over the antitrust lawsuit’s merit, the reasoning behind it, and the ultimate goal of it all. And there should be.

But the timing of their move, from the tipping off of the lawsuit on Tuesday and the media teleconference on Wednesday — the very same Wednesday that has been described to you above — there is no debate to be had about that. It was selfish, classless and thoughtless. Wait a damn week.

Yes, 23XI was one of the teams collecting relief donations. You can read all about it on their social media timelines, after you scroll through their joint statement about the lawsuit.

I listened to that teleconference while en route to Charlotte Motor Speedway, watching those donations roll by me on the highway and watching those aircraft taking off above me. I was there delivering our own contributions with my wife. Five days earlier, she was stuck atop a mountain above Lake Lure, North Carolina, stranded like so many others because the entire village of Chimney Rock below her had vanished. Helene took a giant broom and swept it all into the lake.

It was one of those NASCAR team-owned helicopters that saved her, perilously plucking her off of that mountainside. As the helicopter rose, she was rocked by realization, her first chance to look down onto that lake that was now filled with the debris that had been every restaurant, store and lakeside spot where we have spent so much of our lives together, and where we had been living this fall. As soon as she was dropped off in Concord, that chopper turned and went back to pick up more hurricane victims. And then it did it all over again. And again. And again. And again. It hasn’t stopped since. Trying to deliver that hope.

Perhaps those who decided that the NASCAR community should take a break from those efforts and listen to their complaints about revenue sharing and slices of billion-dollar pies should take one of those flights. Drivers, owners, NBA legends, lawyers, all of them.

I’m sure the folks who just lost everything would love to express their opinion on it all. I’m also sure that the others in the NASCAR world would, too. But not this week. They’re too busy helping.

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Red Sox deal All-Star Devers to Giants in stunner

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Red Sox deal All-Star Devers to Giants in stunner

The San Francisco Giants acquired three-time All-Star Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox on Sunday in a stunning trade that sent a player Boston once considered a franchise cornerstone to a San Francisco team needing an offensive infusion.

Boston received left-handed starter Kyle Harrison, right-hander Jordan Hicks, outfield prospect James Tibbs III and Rookie League right-hander Jose Bello.

The Red Sox announced the deal Sunday evening.

The Giants will cover the remainder of Devers’ contract, which runs through 2033 and will pay him more than $250 million, sources told ESPN.

The trade ends the fractured relationship between Devers and the Red Sox that had degraded since spring training, when Devers balked at moving off third base — the position where he had spent his whole career — after the signing of free agent Alex Bregman. The Red Sox gave no forewarning to Devers, who expressed frustration before relenting and agreeing to be their designated hitter.

After a season-ending injury to first baseman Triston Casas in early May, the Red Sox asked Devers to move to first base. Devers declined, suggesting the front office “should do their jobs” and find another player after the organization told him during spring training he would be the DH for the remainder of the season. The day after Devers’ comments, Red Sox owner John Henry, president Sam Kennedy and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow flew to Kansas City, where Boston was playing, to talk with Devers.

In the weeks since, Devers’ refusal to play first led to internal tension and helped facilitate the deal, sources said.

San Francisco pounced — and added a force to an offense that ranks 15th in runs scored in Major League Baseball. Devers, 28, is hitting .272/.401/.504 with 15 home runs and 58 RBIs, tied for the third most in MLB. Over his nine-year career, Devers is hitting .279/.349/.509 with 215 home runs and 696 RBIs in 1,053 games.

Boston believed enough in Devers to give him a 10-year, $313.5 million contract extension in January 2023. He rewarded the Red Sox with a Silver Slugger Award that season and made his third All-Star team in 2024.

Whether he slots in at designated hitter or first base with San Francisco — the Giants signed Gold Glove third baseman Matt Chapman to a six-year, $151 million deal last year — is unknown. But San Francisco sought Devers more for his bat, one that immediately makes the Giants — who are fighting for National League West supremacy with the Los Angeles Dodgers — a better team.

To do so, the Giants gave a package of young talent and took on the contract that multiple teams’ models had as underwater.

Harrison, 23, is the prize of the deal, particularly for a Red Sox team replete with young hitting talent but starving for young pitching. Once considered one of the best pitching prospects in baseball, Harrison has shuttled between San Francisco and Triple-A Sacramento this season.

Harrison, who was scratched from a planned start against the Dodgers on Sunday night, has a 4.48 ERA over 182⅔ innings since debuting with the Giants in 2023. He has struck out 178, walked 62 and allowed 30 home runs. The Red Sox optioned Harrison to Triple-A Worcester after the trade was announced.

Hicks, 28, who has toggled between starter and reliever since signing with the Giants for four years and $44 million before the 2024 season, is on the injured list because of right toe inflammation. One of the hardest-throwing pitchers in baseball, Hicks has a 6.47 ERA over 48⅔ innings this season. He could join the Red Sox’s ailing bullpen, which Breslow has sought to upgrade.

Tibbs, 22, was selected by the Giants with the 13th pick in last year’s draft out of Florida State. A 6-foot, 200-pound corner outfielder, Tibbs has spent the season at High-A, where he has hit .245/.377/.480 with 12 home runs and 32 RBIs in 56 games. Scouts laud his command of the strike zone — he has 41 walks and 45 strikeouts in 252 plate appearances — but question whether his swing will translate at higher levels.

Bello, 20, has spent the season as a reliever for the Giants’ Rookie League affiliate. In 18 innings, he has struck out 28 and walked three while posting a 2.00 ERA.

The deal is the latest in which Boston shipped a player central to the franchise.

Boston traded Mookie Betts to the Dodgers in February 2020, just more than a year after leading Boston to a franchise-record 108 wins and a World Series title and winning the American League MVP Award.

Devers was part of that World Series-winning team in 2018 and led the Red Sox in RBIs each season from 2020 to 2024, garnering AL MVP votes across each of the past four years. Devers had been with the Red Sox since 2013, when he signed as an international amateur free agent out of the Dominican Republic. He debuted four years later at age 20.

Boston is banking on its young talent to replace Devers’ production. The Red Sox regularly play four rookies — infielders Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer, outfielder Roman Anthony and catcher Carlos Narvaez — and infielder Franklin Arias and outfielder Jhostynxon Garcia are expected to contribute in the coming years.

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Ohtani to return to mound vs. Padres on Monday

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Ohtani to return to mound vs. Padres on Monday

Shohei Ohtani will make his long-awaited return to pitching on Monday night in a matchup against the division-rival San Diego Padres, the Los Angeles Dodgers announced.

Ohtani, 21 months removed from a second repair of his ulnar collateral ligament, will be used as an opener, likely throwing one inning. Because of his two-way designation, Ohtani qualifies as an extra pitcher on the roster, giving the Dodgers the flexibility to use a piggyback starter behind him.

That is essentially what will take place in his first handful of starts — a byproduct of the progress Ohtani has made in the late stages of his pitching rehab.

Ohtani, 30, initially seemed to be progressing toward a return some time around August. But he made a major step during his third simulated game from San Diego’s Petco Park on Tuesday, throwing 44 pitches over the course of three simulated innings and compiling six strikeouts against a couple of low-level minor leaguers.

Afterward, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said it was a “north of zero” chance Ohtani could return before the All-Star break. When he met with reporters prior to Sunday’s game against the San Francisco Giants — an eventual 5-4 victory — Roberts said it was a “possibility” Ohtani could pitch after just one more simulated game.

After the game, Roberts indicated the timeline might have been pushed even further, telling reporters it was a “high possibility” Ohtani would pitch in a big league game this week as an opener, likely during the upcoming four-game series against the Padres.

“He’s ready to pitch in a big league game,” Roberts told reporters. “He let us know.”

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What blockbuster trade means for Rafael Devers’ fantasy baseball potential

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What blockbuster trade means for Rafael Devers' fantasy baseball potential

If you’re just getting back home from your Father’s Day activities, you had better sit down, because Sunday evening’s Boston Red SoxSan Francisco Giants trade is a doozy.

Rafael Devers, second among third basemen and seventh among hitters in fantasy points this season, is headed to the Giants, traded minutes before their game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Boston’s return includes pitchers Kyle Harrison, who was the Giants’ scheduled starting pitcher Sunday night (subsequently scratched), pitcher Jordan Hicks, outfield prospect James Tibbs III and pitching prospect Jose Bello.

Expect Devers to continue to serve in a designated hitter-only capacity with his new team, considering his season-long stance, which is primarily an issue for his position eligibility for 2026. He might factor as the Giants’ future first baseman if given a full offseason to prepare for the shift to a new position — or it could happen sooner if he has a change of heart in his new environment.

As for the impact on Devers’ numbers, the move from Fenway Park to Oracle Park represents one of the steepest downgrades in terms of park factors, specifically run production and extra-base hits. With its close-proximity Green Monster in left field, Fenway Park is a much better environment for doubles and runs scored, Statcast reflecting that it’s 22% and 10% better than league average in those categories, respectively, compared with 8% worse and only 2% above par for Oracle Park.

Devers is a prime-age 28, with a contract averaging a relatively reasonable $31.8 million over the next eight seasons, and he’s leaving a Red Sox team where his defensive positioning — he has played all but six of his career defensive innings at third base — was a manner of much debate, to go to a team that has one of baseball’s best defensive third basemen in Matt Chapman (once he’s healthy following a hand injury). Devers’ unwillingness to play first base probably played a big part in his ultimately being traded, and it’s worth pointing out that one of the positions where the Giants are weakest is, well, also first base.

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Perez: Devers gives Giants a ‘really good offense’

Eduardo Perez, David Cone and Karl Ravech react to the Giants acquiring star 3B Rafael Devers from the Red Sox.

Devers’ raw power is immense, as he has greater than 95th percentile barrel and hard-hit rates this season. He has been in that tier or better in the latter in each of the past three seasons as well. He’s at a 33-homer (and 34 per 162 games) pace since the beginning of 2021, so the slugger should continue to homer at a similar rate regardless of his surroundings. He should easily snap the Giants’ drought of 30-homer hitters, which dates back to Barry Bonds in 2004. Devers’ fantasy value might slip slightly, mostly due to the park’s impact on his runs scored and RBIs, but he’ll remain a top-four fantasy third baseman.

If you play in an NL-only league, Devers is an open-the-wallet free agent target. He’s worth a maximum bid, considering he brings a similar ability to stars you might invest in come the July trade deadline, except in this case you’ll get an extra month and a half’s production.

Harrison is an intriguing pickup for the Red Sox, though in a disappointing development, he was immediately optioned to Triple-A Worcester. A top-25 overall prospect as recently as two years ago, Harrison’s spike in average fastball velocity this season (95.1 mph, up from 92.5) could be a signal of better things ahead. Once recalled to Fenway Park, his fantasy prospects would take a hit, as that’s a venue that isn’t forgiving to fly ball-oriented lefties, but he’d be a matchups option nevertheless.

Expect Hicks to serve in setup relief for his new team, though he’d at best be fourth in the Red Sox’s pecking order for saves.

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