JOLIET, Ill. — Entering Sunday’s Overton’s 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, the 17th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of the 2018 season, Daniel Suárez is 19th in the standings.
Nearly halfway through his sophomore season at NASCAR’s highest level, Suárez is still looking for his first victory. The best career results for the 26-year-old from Mexico are two third-place finishes, at Watkins Glen in 2017 and at Dover this year.
But one thing Suárez doesn’t lack is confidence, and on Saturday morning at Chicagoland Speedway, he called his own shot where the Cup Series Playoffs are concerned.
“I don’t really know (how), but we’re going to make it,” Suárez asserted. “I will tell you that. Somehow, we are going to work very hard like we’ve been doing. It’s a real shame that we haven’t showed the results we deserve, because the speed has been there.
“We have shown the ability to finish in the top-10 every race. I don’t know. I don’t know what I am doing wrong. Maybe some of my stuff, it needs a little bit of luck, but I don’t believe in luck 100 percent. We’re going to be fine. Maybe in a month, we’re going to be in a different position.”
Suárez can make the final 16 either with a victory or on points. As it stands now, with Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon 18th in points, Suárez would have to overtake 15th-place Alex Bowman to qualify for the Playoffs.
Though Suárez trails Bowman by 73 points, he doesn’t view that deficit as insurmountable.
“By points is very doable,” Suárez said. “I think if we have the speed to go out there and win a race, we will take that chance. But if we don’t and have to finish top-five or top-10, we’re going to be consistent and play that way, winning the stage points and stuff like that.
“I mean 70 points in 10 races is not a lot. It’s doable, but you have to race smart, and a lot of people freak out a little bit. I am not one of those. I have to stay calm. We will be fine.”
Brad Keselowski made it a Team Penske sweep on Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway by leading final practice in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Keselowski circled the 1.5-mile track at a session-best 180.826 mph in the No. 2 Ford. Ryan Blaney, who led the first practice, finished in 14th place in final practice in the No. 12 Ford.
Martin Truex Jr. finished second to Keselowski with a speed of 180.656 mph in the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota. Joey Logano, in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford, Kurt Busch, in the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, and Aric Almirola, in the No. 10 SHR Ford, rounded out the top five.
Hendrick Motorsports teammates Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott and Jimmie Johnson, who were fast in opening practice, finished 21st, 23rd and 30th, respectively, in final practice. Series points leader Kyle Busch was eighth in final practice in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota. Kevin Harvick, the leader in wins with five this season, was sixth in the No. 4 SHR Ford. Kyle Larson, who finished 16th in the session, made slight contact with the wall late in practice.
Focus in the Monster Energy Series now turns to Busch Pole Qualifying, set for 7:05 p.m. ET with coverage on NBCSN and the NBC Sports App. Be sure to set your pole-winning pick for NASCAR Fantasy Live in order to have a chance at earning five bonus points toward your score.
Practice 1
Ryan Blaney jumped to the top of the leaderboard in the final minute of practice on Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway. Blaney posted a speed of 178.992 mph in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford to best Jimmie Johnson, who had held the top spot for the first 49 minutes of the opening session in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammates Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott finished tied for third with identical speeds of 178.749 mph. Daniel Suarez, in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, rounded out the top five on a steamy morning in Illinois.
Defending race winner Martin Truex was 19th in the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota. Series points leader Kyle Busch was just ahead of Truex in 18th place in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Landon Cassill, in the No. 00 StarCom Racing Chevrolet, and BJ McLeod, in the No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet, served 15-minute penalties at the end of practice for being late to pre-race inspection.
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JOLIET, Ill. — In the waning laps of Friday’s Camping World Truck Series race at Chicagoland Speedway, runner-up Ben Rhodes thought about the 2017 Las Vegas race, when he took the lead on the final restart for the win.
“I was thinking about trying to pull down and make a pass and take it three-wide and take the lead,” Rhodes said. “But it was a little risky — I didn’t quite get the restart that I wanted and that was due in part because of the restart zone. John Hunter (Nemechek) didn’t get going as fast. And I couldn’t pull out until the start-finish line, so I didn’t time it quite correct, so I had to end up just pushing him and we ended up pushing him all the way to the lead by Turn 1. Kind of unfortunate for me because I was trying to use that momentum to my advantage and take the lead like Vegas that worked out so well for us. … It was an interesting race.
“Very tempting — I thought about making it really interesting, but I thought better of it. We just needed a good finish tonight.”
As leader John Hunter Nemechek’s No. 8 truck ran out of gas on the white-flag lap and Brett Moffitt scooted to the win, Rhodes held on for the runner-up finish. It marked the best result for his No. 41 ThorSport Racing Ford all year and his first top 10 since Charlotte in May.
“It’s just good to finally have a good finish because we’ve been having probably the world’s worst luck here lately. I thought I was going to get struck by lightning when thunder storms started rolling through Louisville, Kentucky,” he said with a smile. “… But now it just seems that things are finally starting to go our way a little bit and it’s very rewarding because our guys have been working so hard at ThorSport Racing. Seventy, 80 hours a week — 7 in the morning to 8/9 at night at times. I know it’s rewarding for them.”
While he says he’s disappointed he didn’t nab the win, the runner-up finish is encouraging for both Rhodes and his team — especially with the playoffs drawing closer every race. Rhodes sat on the bubble (on the “in” side) heading into Friday’s race. This finish gives them a boost of momentum heading into the next race at Kentucky Speedway — especially considering Kentucky is Rhodes’ home track.
“It’s just so good for morale,” he said. “You’ve got to think bigger than just yourself — you’ve got to think about your team. And seeing the smiles on their faces when I got out of the truck and seeing the smiles on their faces and hearing them talk about it. That was rewarding for me — it felt like a win to see the smiles on their faces. Thinking about the big picture, the amount of hours they’re putting in, thinking about ThorSport and (team owners) Duke Thorson and Rhonda Thorson and the opportunity we have here. Everybody coming together from Ford. It helps everybody out, just boosts the morale so much.
“And I’ve my home track coming up; so, this is awesome momentum. It’s a huge story line for me going into my home track, just being able to say ‘hey, we got second place.’ ”
JOLIET, Ill. – Brett Moffitt didn’t hear the words that turned Friday night’s Overton’s 225 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in his favor.
“I’m blowing up!” John Hunter Nemechek shouted over his team radio as he entered Turn 1 with the lead on the final lap at Chicagoland Speedway.
Nemechek’s misfortune proved an unexpected boon to Moffitt, who won the race by 5.092 seconds over Ben Rhodes, as Nemechek faded to seventh at the finish—not with a blown engine, as he had thought, but with an empty fuel cell.
Moffit’s victory—his third of the season and the fourth of his career—was all the more unlikely because his Hattori Racing Enterprises didn’t have the resources to come to the 1.5-mile track until Fr8Auctions.com made a midweek commitment to sponsor Moffitt’s Toyota in Friday’s race.
“We weren’t even supposed to be here,” said crew chief Scott Zipadelli.
Moffitt and Nemechek battled through the final 24-lap green-flag run, with Moffitt taking the lead by a nose on Lap 136 of 150. Nemechek regained the top spot on the following circuit, moved his line to the top of the track and began to pull away.
When he took the white flag to start the final lap, Nemechek was ahead by roughly five truck-lengths before his fuel tank ran dry and Moffitt sped past.
“This is great,” Moffitt said after climbing from his No. 16 Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota Tundra. “We didn’t know if we were coming. To be here in Victory Lane, it’s an honor and a blessing.
“These guys work hard. I feel like we threw away a couple of wins this season. I hate it for the No. 8 (Nemechek), whatever happened to him. But we’ll take it however we can get it right now.”
Moffitt was prepared to try a banzai run on the final lap, as Noah Gragson had tried unsuccessfully to do to Moffitt on June 16 at Iowa Speedway. As it turned out, Moffitt didn’t have to.
“I got a good run off Turn 4 as we took the white,” Moffitt said. “I committed to what Noah did to me at Iowa. And halfway up the hill (in Turn 1), something happened and they said ‘Just take it easy.’ That’s a great way to be able to just drive easy through 3 and 4 to win one.
“I can’t thank everyone on this team enough and Fr8Auctions that even got us here this week. Tuesday, we didn’t even know. They really extended a hand and helped us when we needed it the most.”
Nemechek, who is running a limited schedule in both the Camping World Truck Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series, bemoaned the ill fortune that kept him out of Victory Lane.
“We just don’t have luck on our side right now,” Nemechek said. “Overall, it’s a good showing. They knew we were here. We don’t know at what point we’ll be back with the trucks. It’s frustrating and disappointing, but we’ll move on from it.
“If we keep doing what we’re doing and running like we are, we’re going to win races. That’s the biggest thing. The results haven’t been what we wanted this year on the Xfinity side and the Truck side, but tonight was a real heartbreak.”
Johnny Sauter ran third and retained his series lead by 65 points over Gragson, who started from the pole and finished fourth. Brandon Jones completed the top five in the No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota.
The Camping World Truck Series will be back on track at Kentucky Speedway for the Buckle Up in Your Truck 225 (July 12 at 9 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Dalton Sargeant will carry his grandfather’s name above the door of the No. 25 GMS Racing Chevrolet for Friday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Chicagoland Speedway (9 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Lt. Commander Harry Sargeant served 26 years in the U.S. Navy and commanded two ships, the USS Preserver and the USS Sailfish, during his service, which ended in 1978 upon his retirement. The honor was part of NASCAR Salutes Refreshed by Coca-Cola, a program where NASCAR pays tribute to servicemembers and their families.
Among the NASCAR Salutes events planned for Chicagoland, Camping World Truck Series drivers were wearing red, white and blue patriotic-themed gloves that were to be gifted to the military families being hosted and to the track for fund-raising opportunities.
Meanwhile, check out Sargeant as he shows off his truck’s new look in the video below:
JOLIET, Ill. — Jimmie Johnson said he owes Chad Knaus one.
After winning at his home track of Auto Club Speedway, Johnson said he promised his crew chief that he would return the favor at Knaus’ home track of Chicagoland Speedway.
The pair have been close — as close as a runner-up finish — at the 1.5-mile venue. But in the pair’s 81 wins together over a 19-year period, Chicagoland remains one of three active tracks where the Johnson-Knaus duo has never captured the checkered flag with the No. 48 Chevrolet.
“Boy, we’ve had a lot of races where we’ve come down to the last pit stop or the last handful of laps, leading a lot of laps,” Knaus told NASCAR.com at the Hendrick Motorsports shop in Concord, North Carolina. “It’s unfortunate we’ve come so close. Quite honestly, I bet there’s been over the years maybe seven races where we should have won there, but just haven’t been able to put it together …
“To be able to get a victory there would be nice and definitely long-waited.”
“He’s put me in position a couple times and I’ve squandered it away,” Johnson said of his crew chief with a smile. “So, I owe him. Really, really hopeful to get it done. It is a fun mile-and-a-half race track. I really enjoy going there, I love the area and it would be awesome to win that for Chad.”
Knaus’ hometown of Rockford, Illinois, is less than 150 miles from the speedway. It’s where the 46-year-old got his start in racing, tapping into the local scene with his father, John Knaus. And it was at nearby Rockford Speedway where Knaus developed his well-known dogged determination, the drive that has helped eventually lead the No. 48 team to record-tying seven championships.
“The racing in the Midwest is extremely good from a Late Model standpoint or Modifieds, whether it be asphalt or dirt,” Knaus said. “I grew up and started my racing career at Rockford Speedway. My father won the championship there, I think seven times in total. A bunch of races and we were very successful.
“I think racing there with my father in that community was a huge benefit because it taught me the tenacity that you need to be able to go out there week in and week out to be able to be successful over a long period of time as opposed to just individual weekends. A lot of people in the racing community, what they do is they go and just run special events or they hit the big hitters. But a lot of the guys in the Midwest, because the racing season is so small, you have to do a lot of races back-to-back and that definitely helped me in the Cup Series.”
That tenacity has been tested this season for Johnson-Knaus, as the pair continue to search for their first win nearing the halfway point. With differing personalities and equally competitive natures the pair have seen their ups and downs in their nearly two decades together. Many like to bring up the infamous “milk and cookies” conversation that team owner Rick Hendrick orchestrated in 2005 when the duo’s relationship was fraying.
Today, both Johnson and Knaus credit their strong personal relationship and success as what’s held them together for so long.
“Jimmie and I are just like family,” Knaus said. “I think the way that I can read him and understand his emotion, understand what it is that he wants in the race car and vice versa; the way he understands my emotions and what it is that I’m trying to describe to him to get out of the car. I think that that’s invaluable, really unique to the industry.
“The only people that I can think of that have been together as long as Jimmie and I have would be Dale Inman and Richard Petty. And that’s going back a long time ago, so Jimmie and I definitely have a leg up on the competition from that standpoint, just from the standpoint that we’re comfortable, we understand one another and we always know that each one of us is giving everything that we’ve got.”
Johnson has expressed that he has more time left in Monster Energy Series competition. So has Knaus. But Johnson also acknowledged with the grueling nature of a crew chief’s job, he understands that Knaus’ career may not play out as long as his. Crew chiefs “live in dog years,” he said.
Knaus smiled upon hearing that and assured he still has a “handful of years to go.”
“Motorsports is very addictive,” he said. “The lifestyle is addictive, the pace is addictive. We’ve heard it time and time again that as people continue to go and perform, they want to continue to have that success and that euphoria of competition and what is there. I enjoy motorsports, I enjoy racing, still — I love going to the race track and having the opportunity to compete and race against people. So, I don’t see me transitioning any time real soon but I don’t see me going until I’m 55 years old, either.”
Ethan Miller | Getty Images
By that time, Knaus will have another figure in his life as wife Brooke is pregnant with the couple’s first child. Priorities have changed, he said, but not his career aspirations.
“You think about other things maybe a little bit differently; home life, housing, finances, all that kind of stuff,” Knaus said. “I think it just comes natural as you’re starting a family. I’m excited about the adventure … I’ve waited a long time to get to this point. I knew that I was not ready to have a child or start a family until I got to about this time. I needed to go out there and prove that I could be successful and have some success and kind of do what I needed to do. I don’t think having a family or a change in the family is going to take away from what I do in motorsports at all …
“Honestly I needed to mature and I have matured and I’ve learned an awful lot because of what it is with my job. Not by any means did I understand what it was like to have a child or a family yet. But working in the environment that we have with 600 teammates and different emotions that people go through has helped me a lot and got me ready for it.”
Knaus making the comment that he had to prove himself as a crew chief speaks volumes to his competitive nature and desire for perfectionism; he’s won seven championships and 81 races with Johnson over the past 19 years, but still felt that he needed to prove himself before starting a family. That drive that was forged on the local Midwestern tracks is ever-present today.
On Sunday, he’ll look to put a tally in the win column at Chicagoland Speedway, leaving only two tracks on the circuit where Johnson-Knaus have not won. That day, he’ll also be inducted into the track’s Legends Club, which plays homage to important and successful figures in racing.
True to form, Knaus hopes there’s room for amendments by his name.
“At first, I was like, ‘Man that’s really cool,’ and then as I thought about it, I was like ‘Man, that means I’m kind of old, too,’ ” Knaus said with a smile. “It’s one of those things – I like the fact that they’re doing that, it makes me feel very special obviously with the other people that have been inducted into that arena.
“But we’re also not done. So, when I spoke to some of the people a while ago, and said, ‘Well, I hope you guys just leave a little bit of space behind my name because I think we’re going to have some more stats to put in there.’ “
NASCAR announced this offseason it will standardize at-track team rosters across all three national series in 2018, providing a structure for the number of personnel working on each vehicle during the course of a race weekend.
Official team rosters for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) have been released. Click the print icon above, or the link below.
MOORESVILLE, N.C. – JR Motorsports announced today a multi-year agreement with driver Michael Annett and partner Pilot Flying J that will return the pairing to the team’s 2019 lineup. With the renewal of Annett and Pilot Flying J, the largest operator of travel centers in North America, the announcement puts JRM on pace to compete with four full-time teams next season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, Pilot Flying J has more than 750 retail locations. The company enters its third year of partnership with JRM next season and its 11th year backing Annett. Pilot Flying J has supported Annett since he first emerged on the NASCAR national stage in 2008.
“We’ve watched our partnership with Pilot Flying J grow over the past two seasons,” said Kelley Earnhardt Miller, general manager of JR Motorsports. “This renewal gives us the ability to continue to build that relationship. Both Pilot Flying J and Michael were integral in our expansion to four full-time teams last season, and they’ll continue as such as we plan for the team’s future. They’ve made a strong commitment to JRM and this sport.”
Annett, a 32-year-old native of Des Moines, Iowa, is currently in his second season driving the No. 5 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet for JRM. The team’s 2017 success was highlighted by a berth in the NXS playoffs during Annett’s first year with the team.
“Pilot Flying J is excited to continue our long-standing relationship with Michael,” said Ken Parent, president of Pilot Flying J. “We are excited to see where he will finish this year. We look forward to working with JRM and wish Michael the best of luck and success in the 2019 season.”
Annett earned a career-best finish of fifth in the championship standings in 2012. His career totals in NXS competition include 41 top-10 finishes and a ninth-place effort in points with JRM last season.
“JR Motorsports has been a great fit for me and I’m thankful to continue my relationship with them and my longtime sponsor Pilot Flying J,” said Annett. “I have tremendous support with the No. 5 team, my teammates and the entire staff over there. It’s very much a family atmosphere and they have everything it takes to be successful at this level.”
Additional details surrounding crew duties on the No. 5 Pilot Flying J team will be announced at a later date.
Kyle Larson and fellow Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers are helping to honor military spouses as part of the NASCAR Salutes Refreshed by Coca-Cola program, and he recently interviewed Brian Alvarado, the Armed Forces Insurance 2018 Navy Military Spouse of the Year.
“Being a Navy spouse is truly the honor of my life, but it does come with its challenges,” Alvarado told Larson. “But I say all the time that we have the toughest sailors in the world and the strongest families at home, and that’s something to be really prideful of.”
Alvarado’s platform as Military Spouse of the Year focuses on employment.
“This platform has given me the unique opportunity to work directly with military spouses to improve the unemployment rate and remove the stigma associated with being military spouses in the employment space,” Alvarado says.
On behalf of Brian, NASCAR & Coca-Cola will donate to USO programming that supports and strengthens military spouses, like the USO Pathfinder Program.
The USO Pathfinder program helps service members and military spouses as they transition from military service. Pathfinder Scouts provide support in employment, education, veterans benefits, financial readiness, housing, legal, family strength and wellness and volunteerism.
He says getting into the tight circle of a military community can be uplifting, but it means a lot to get out to NASCAR races and see people outside of that community show appreciation.
“Honoring the military to me is important,” Larson said. “I don’t think you can show enough support to them.”
From the Memorial Day weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 through the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona, Coca-Cola Racing Family drivers are honoring a military spouse each week as part of the USO’s Salute to Military Spouses. Click here to see Denny Hamlin, Austin Dillon and Ryan Newman’s interviews with servicemembers’ spouses, and stay tuned for upcoming interviews with Joey Logano and Bubba Wallace.
Based on average finish, Chicagoland Speedway is Chase Elliott’s best race track. While his second- and third-place results in two Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts may inspire optimism in the 22-year-old driver’s chances at winning there this weekend, he’ll need the 400-mile contest to break a specific and perhaps unlikely way to contend for his first series victory.
It’s certainly possible for Elliott to emerge the winner, but it’s easier said than done as his bid for the checkers begins with a diminished dependence on the single attribute that matters most in racing.
Elliott doesn’t have elite speed
An issue plaguing all of Hendrick Motorsports is the lack of elite speed. Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet is the fastest of the organization’s four cars, but it ranks just 11th in Central Speed through last week’s race at Sonoma. Tracks like Chicagoland, a 1.5-mile venue with moderate banking, have rewarded the fastest cars with a 1-to-1 correlation between speed and winning dating back to last year. Martin Truex, Jr. won all six races on moderate intermediates in 2017 while having the fastest overall car in the series; Kevin Harvick, utilizing the fastest car for all of 2018, has won two of two this season.
Elliott’s speed deficit presents two problems. First, it’ll be difficult for him to track down Harvick, Kyle Busch and the other speedsters in a straightforward race, barring an unforeseen advancement in Hendrick’s aero design. Second, Elliott’s greatest strength, his long-run passing ability, will be neutralized in the event long green-flag runs dominate the proceedings. While a race with few cautions would allow Elliott ample time to carve through traffic — he’s accumulated 54 positions on such runs at non-restrictor plate tracks this season — it’d also allow the faster cars, likely in clean air, to drive away from him.
What’s a driver to do when his strength is rendered irrelevant?
Pit now!
Chicagoland’s weathered surface is so rough on tires that grip quickly diminishes and lap times swell by nearly 2 seconds on natural green-flag runs. This makes short-pitting — pitting laps in advance of cars higher in the running order — an amenable strategy to those crew chiefs willing to stop early in the pit window.
Alan Gustafson, Elliott’s crew chief, has retained his driver’s running position on 77.78 percent of green-flag pit cycles this season, an above average-rate among all crew chiefs. This yielded 63 additional spots on the track for Elliott, the fourth-biggest net positional gain from green-flag stops. While Gustafson’s pit strategy has provided a positive output, he still may need to step outside his comfort zone in order to overtake those running ahead of the No. 9 car Sunday.
Chase Elliott’s best shot at winning Sunday may be through a differing pit strategy. Brian Lawdermilk | Getty Images
Nearly 89 percent of Elliott’s green-flag stops can be described as “conservatively timed,” having come when pit road was at its most populated within a cycle; the series average for crew chiefs pitting conservatively is 75 percent. Less than 4 percent of Elliott’s stops were done using a short-pitting strategy, the ideal game plan for those seeking giant leaps of track position at Chicagoland. In order to get around the likes of Harvick, who retains top-five running positions on more than 63 percent of green-flag stops, Gustafson will have to reference a seldom-used page from his playbook.
In the instance his crew chief remains conservative, there’s one other likely way for Elliott to emerge the victor.
Chaos equals restarts and restarts equal chaos
Based on recent history — 4.3 restarts per race dating back to 2015’s event — long green-flag runs rule at Chicagoland, meaning its races don’t elicit many restarts. That’s bad news for Elliott.
In prior years, Elliott had a faster car at his disposal and in 2017 he ranked as a top-five position defender in each restart groove. Neither of those high marks is in place this year, as Elliott is suffering through a 28 percent decrease in total restart position retention. Still, he scored four positions on two preferred groove restart attempts in last year’s Chicagoland race — perhaps his affinity for the track supersedes his yearlong dip — and lane assignment could fall in his favor.
In 2017, occupants in Chicagoland’s outside groove retained their positions on 89 percent of restarts from inside the first seven rows, while those in the inside groove did so 32 percent of the time. If Elliott ever finds himself in an even-numbered running position prior to a restart, that fortunate placement provides the ideal opportunity to score track position that may otherwise elude him, setting the tone for the rest of his race.
A caution-filled race, atypical but still possible, could allow for a large number of such opportunities, helping level the playing field for Elliott, a seemingly excellent Chicagoland driver in need of a non-traditional pathway to victory.
Knaus’ hometown of Rockford, Illinois, is less than 150 miles from the speedway. It’s where the 46-year-old got his start in racing, tapping into the local scene with his father, John Knaus. And it was at nearby Rockford Speedway where Knaus developed his well-known dogged determination, the drive that has helped eventually lead the No. 48 team to record-tying seven championships.
