BYRON SCORES 3RD VIRTUAL VICTORY OF NASCAR’S SERIES
N.C.» William Byron
CH A RLOTTE, showed he’s the sharpest gamer in NASCAR’s iRacing Series with his third victory in four events.
Byron passed Timmy Hill with seven laps remaining at virtual Dover International Speedway, where NASCAR was scheduled to actually race Sunday, to win yet again on the iRacing platform.
“I’ve enjoyed this iRacing Series, but I’m definitely ready to get going in my real car,” Byron said.
The stock car series plans to resume competition without spectators starting May 17 at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina.
Former A’s pitcher Matt Keough and executive dies at 64.
O A KL A ND, LIF.» Matt Keough, the former
C A
Oakland Athletics pitcher and special assistant, has died. He was 64.
The Athletics announced the death Saturday night without providing details.
“Matt was a great baseball man and a proud Oakland A,” Billy Beane, the team’s executive vice president of baseball operations, said in a statement.
Keough was an American League All-Star as a rookie in 1978 and was selected AL Comeback Player of the Year in 1980.
Keough’s father, Marty and uncle, Joe, were major league outfielders.
Former NHL enforcer Laraque fighting coronavirus. A coupe of weeks ago, former Montreal Canadiens tough guy Georges Laraque was running five or six days a week as he trained for a marathon.
Now, the former NHL enforcer’s biggest challenge is trying to breathe clearly as he fights COVID-19 from a hospital in Montreal.
“Now I can’t even get up without losing my breath. It’s insane,” he said.
In a series of videos from his hospital bed, the 43-year-old said he began feeling symptoms a week ago.
“I have pneumonia in both my lungs, they’re affected by the COVID because I have asthma, I have to have oxygen blowing through my nose,” said Laraque, who wore a hospital gown and could be seen coughing at times during the videos.
“The nights are the worst,” he said.
Undrafted Michigan QB Patterson reaches deal with Chiefs.
A NN MICH.» Former Michigan quarterback A RBOR, Shea Patterson has agreed to terms with the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent.
Agent Bryan Ehrlich confirmed the deal Sunday. Patterson started all 26 games for the Wolverines over the past two seasons after transferring from Mississippi.
Soccer attempts to get back on the pitch. The chairman of Crystal Palace says the Premier League could face years of legal challenges if this season is not completed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Steve Parish offered public support for the league’s “Project Restart” plans after Brighton and West Ham expressed concerns about teams being forced to play their remaining games in neutral stadiums.
The league is working with the government to find a safe way of players resuming group training and playing games by June at the earliest.
Parish says, “I want to complete the competition for reasons of sporting integrity. I want to crown Liverpool champions and give every other club a fair crack at the best league position they can achieve.”
Palace is 11th in the 20-team standings with nine games remaining.
Parish added, “I certainly don’t want to have difficult conversations about curtailing, voiding and points per game. The ramifications of each are complex and could involve legal challenges that run on for months, if not years.”
• Players from Spanish league clubs and Serie A in Italy will be allowed to resume training this week as countries ease some of the lockdown measures that had been in place because of the coronavirus pandemic.