BROOKLYN, Mich. — Bubba Wallace sat down at the Michigan International Speedway media center desk and smirked.

“Can only imagine what is going to be asked about,” Wallace said.

It was entirely obvious, of course. The topic in the garage Saturday was the same as it has been all week after Austin Dillon wrecked two drivers on the final lap to win at Richmond Raceway: What did people make of NASCAR’s decision to penalize Dillon, and what sort of message does that send?

Wednesday, after a couple of days of deliberation, NASCAR said it would allow Dillon to keep his victory but stripped the playoff eligibility that accompanies a typical win. Dillon went into Turn 4 on the final lap at Richmond and intentionally took out Joey Logano, then swerved and hooked Denny Hamlin into the wall.

Drivers largely expressed satisfaction with NASCAR stepping in to make a call on what they viewed as over-the-line racing for the first time in the playoffs era, which began in 2004. Kyle Larson estimated “99 percent of the field” was happy with NASCAR’s decision to enforce a minimum driving standard.

“We have to determine what we’re going to be and how we’re going to be as a sport,” veteran Michael McDowell said. “Are we going to be ‘Boys, have at it’ and do anything you can to win a race and get your team into the playoffs? Or is there going to be sporting conduct and a code that says, ‘We want you to race hard, and we want you to go for it, but there’s a limit’?

“The line was crossed, and NASCAR responded correctly.”

Veteran driver Michael McDowell was pleased with NASCAR’s decision to penalize Austin Dillon. (David Yeazell / USA Today)

For the most part, drivers said the decision wouldn’t change how they raced. Wallace said the frequent boasts about how most of them would “wreck your mother to win” were actually hot air, and in reality “you do everything in your power under the respectful line to win a race.”

To wit, Erik Jones firmly declared: “I don’t race that way. I wouldn’t have done it. … It is really not in my playbook.”

Added Chris Buescher: “I know what I’m here to do, what I’m willing to do and what I’m comfortable with. Whatever the ruling — there may not be the most clarity there if you’re trying to put it on paper, but we understand what’s acceptable.”

On the other hand, some drivers understood why Dillon made his move. McDowell called it a “$3 million lap” in terms of the difference between qualifying for the playoffs and not, which is why Dillon launched his desperate attempt to win.

“If he makes that stick and everything goes good, it’s a big swing for his team and his partners,” McDowell said. “I don’t sit here being like, ‘Oh, that was stupid. That was uncalled for.’ I go, ‘I get it.’ Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t, and it just didn’t work.”

But the question remained: Do drivers know where the line is? NASCAR has yet to spell it out, other than to say Dillon was penalized due to the “totality” of his actions.

Hamlin said the line was clear: Cars battling and making contact because of close racing will be deemed OK, but intentionally wrecking the leader to win the race is not.

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Still, he added: “Sometimes balls and strikes aren’t totally clear. There is one right on the edge and you have to call it, but it is up to us to make the decision … to put ourselves in that position where it could be called one way or the other.”

The lack of specific reasoning as to why Dillon was penalized prompted Kyle Busch, Dillon’s Richard Childress Racing teammate, to say the rule isn’t clear at all.

“They all want to say we know where the line is; we don’t know where the line is,” Busch said. “Logano flat out wrecked me at Vegas for third place in the exact fashion that (Dillon) knocked him out of the way for a win. That’s why he got punched in the face (in a viral 2017 fight).”

Team Penske’s Austin Cindric said he understood why officials had yet to spell out the specifics — and what actions could stop just short of crossing that line — with an appeal pending from Dillon’s team Wednesday. Cindric said he hoped NASCAR would clarify its decision in the coming weeks.

But there’s a chance that clarity will never come. Brad Keselowski said that while it would be nice for NASCAR to able to spell out the rules for every potential situation in a perfect world, the reality is something new will always pop up and makes it challenging for NASCAR to predict the future.

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In that regard, Keselowski said officials “made as good of an attempt as you could make to draw a line in the sand.”

“We want them to be proactive and not reactive, but they’re outnumbered significantly by people who are always trying to find new ways to beat systems,” Keselowski said. “And in some cases, they have to be reactive. This is one of those cases, in my mind.”

Ross Chastain has been the poster child for recently exploited loopholes that were closed. He found a shortcut at the Indianapolis road course that drew a penalty because it was too glaring, and his “Hail Melon” move at Martinsville was allowed to stand but later banned for future uses.

Similarly, Chastain said the line after Richmond is “not clear, but I am constantly aware of what I feel like everyone is thinking.”

“You just can’t be too far against the grain, in my opinion,” he said of what causes NASCAR to react.

Chastain and Dillon seemed to suggest Hamlin’s outspokenness may have played a role in the penalty. Dillon said Hamlin displayed “gamesmanship” with his comments on the “Actions Detrimental” podcast and showed the veteran was good at knowing how to work the system.

“He plays the game well, and in the end, this is a game,” Dillon said, politely declining to elaborate on his feelings about the penalty decision. “I’ve got to do the same thing right now with my approach to everything that’s going on. We’re in the middle of the thick of it for that process.”

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Chastain was more subtle about NASCAR potentially being influenced by the public discourse.

“We’re listening to people, hearing who is loud and who is the squeaky wheel,” he said. “It looks like they got some grease.”

Dillon wasn’t the only one penalized after Richmond. Logano was fined $50,000 for dangerous actions on pit road when he did a burnout near Dillon’s family and friends who were walking toward the track as cars were returning to the pits.

Logano acknowledged what he did was wrong but said he had full control of his car and was never in danger of running anyone over. He showed restraint considering the circumstances, he added.

“It’s comparable to somebody breaking into your house and taking all your stuff, and a minute and a half later, you see them all celebrating with your stuff in your front yard,” he said. “What would you do?”

(Top photo: Sean Gardner / Getty Images)

A year after his younger brother claimed AVP Manhattan Beach Open glory, it was Trevor Crabb’s turn to hoist another pier plaque.

Crabb and his partner, Theo Brunner won Sunday’s final 21-18, 21-18 against U.S. Olympic pair Andy Benesh and Miles Partain, never losing in six matches as the first seed. Crabb grabbed his fourth Open winin five years and his first with Brunner as his partner.

“They just came back from the Olympics, and obviously we didn’t make it,” Crabb said. “[We] wanted a little redemption, and knew that deep down, we’re still the best team out here on any given day.”

The Crabb brothers met in Sunday morning’s Open semifinal — a rematch of the 2023 final. Taylor Crabb and his partner, Taylor Sander, pushed Trevor Crabb and Brunner to three sets for the first time all weekend.

“He ruined the four-peat,” Trevor Crabb said. “Today, I got the revenge.”

For Brunner, named the AVP’s best blocker in 2023, it was his first Manhattan Beach Open victory. He said as a 39-year-old, playing with Crabb gives him his best chance at playing “serious volleyball,” saying his partner gives him the best shot at winning and continuing his career.

When Brunner hoisted the winner’s plaque — to be inscribed with his name at next year’s ceremony — he lifted his daughter Isadora alongside it.

“I feel like she’s never in her life gonna care,” he said about the moment. “In my mind, I’m like, ‘She’s gonna look back and it’s gonna be amazing,’ but I don’t think she cares.”

Isadora, cradled in her father’s arms as he spoke to the media, disagreed.

“My dad was super good and he won the championship,” she said.

Unlike the men’s final, Olympic redemption was on the table later in the afternoon.

Taryn Kloth, right, celebrates with teammate Kristen Nuss after their championship win Sunday.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss failed to medal in Paris for the U.S. alongside Open semifinalists Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes — the first time the country exited medal-less in both men’s and women’s beach volleyball.

“Talk about a mix of emotions,” Nuss said. “There hasn’t been time to fully think.”

But when it came to the beach Sunday, performance trumped thought.

Down one set, Kloth — using her 6-foot-4 height to her advantage — overpowered Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles with her blocking ability, leading the pair to win 18-21, 21-17, 15-9 in Sunday afternoon’s final.

“Kristen does not let the ball touch the ground, and you can just tell that she has so much hustle in her and so much fight,” Kloth said, praising her partner’s ability to save points after blocks and deflections. “[It] really inspires me, and it makes me want to work even harder.”

Nuss said that while they’re still processing their Olympic defeat, she hopes that they can “float on cloud nine” for the rest of today and into tomorrow.

Taryn Kloth, right, jumps to block a hit by Julia Scoles during the Manhattan Beach Open final on Sunday.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

She added that the trust she has in Kloth — built from their collegiate years at Louisiana State when the duo went 61-0 — allows them to have “difficult conversations” on the court.

“Having that partnership for so long, I don’t know if other teams have that trust when it comes to those tough conversations,” Nuss said. “This is my sister right here. I’m not saying it’s always sunshine and rainbows. Sisters bicker, but there’s no one else I would want to compete with.”

The winners of the Open secured spots in the inaugural AVP League, which is set to begin when UCLA hosts the competition in September.

But for now, the champions are basking in the glow of their newfound hardware.

“After coming back from Paris with nothing, I think to be able to come back and now walk away with this, it definitely means … it means a little more,” Nuss said.

INDIANAPOLIS — Tyrese Haliburton couldn’t contain himself. The Indiana Pacers star, who was sitting courtside Friday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, wasn’t just watching basketball. He was watching art.

And Caitlin Clark was painting a masterpiece.

With each pinpoint pass from the Indiana Fever’s No. 1 pick, Haliburton moved closer to the edge of his seat until he finally jumped out of it. Haliburton knows what a great pass looks like. He led the NBA in assists last year. But this full-court dart from Clark to Kelsey Mitchell for a fast-break layup made him react like he’d just seen a magic trick.

First, his hands went up in the air. Then, they went on his head in disbelief.

“Hope y’all seeing what 22 doin at Gainbridge,” Haliburton shared via X.

What Ty is referring to … Elite vision from #IndianaFever’s Caitlin Clark. https://t.co/HT4sFXO00Y pic.twitter.com/dinxT2XACJ

— James Boyd (@RomeovilleKid) August 17, 2024

Clark’s dime to Mitchell in the second quarter was one of many highlights in the Fever’s 98-89 victory over the Phoenix Mercury. The resounding win, against a team with a trio of newly crowned Olympic gold medalists, secured Indiana’s first season sweep against any opponent since 2020 and the franchise’s first season sweep against the Mercury since 2015.

Back then, Clark was 13 and the Fever was in the WNBA Finals. The team has had only one playoff appearance since, and after a month-long break for the Olympics, it’s fighting for another. Friday was simply the first of 14 remaining regular-season bouts, and Clark came out swinging.

The 22-year-old scored or assisted on 17 points in the first quarter, one more point than the Mercury scored as a team. Clark was doing whatever she wanted: nailing deep 3s, converting and-1 layups and dishing out passes as if she has a sixth sense.

“I think just getting to know my teammates and playing with them, it’s just a comfortability,” Clark said. “It was gonna take me a little bit of time to get used to. It was hard to adjust, and once I kind of found my groove so far, I think we’ve just been getting better and better.”

Clark finished with 29 points, 10 assists and five rebounds. She’s reached the 25-point, 10-assist threshold twice in her last five games. All other rookies in WNBA history combined have done it only once, per Stat Mamba.

Mitchell has been one of the main beneficiaries of Clark’s growing command of Indiana’s offense. The fellow All-Star guard scored a season-high 28 points against the Mercury, including 10 points off passes from Clark. Eight of those points were in the fourth quarter and helped stave off a furious Phoenix comeback.

“Basketball is a language,” Mitchell said. “You gotta get on the same page with your counterparts. I think me and C-Squared like to play a certain way and that’s fast and up-tempo, so I’m gonna always align (with her) based on how she’s playing and how the game is going.”

Fever coach Christie Sides said she challenged Clark over the break to “empower her teammates” even more when the season resumed. That message resonated with Clark, evidenced by how she trusted her counterparts when Phoenix stormed back from a 28-point second-quarter deficit and briefly took a 62-61 lead late in the third quarter.

Instead of getting frustrated, which Clark visibly displayed earlier in the season, she remained poised and kept the ball moving. Lexie Hull nailed a 3-pointer to put the Fever back in front, and at the end of the period, when Clark could’ve taken a 3-pointer that everyone in the crowd was hoping she’d shoot, she passed it to Katie Lou Samuelson.

The veteran forward had yet to attempt a shot, but she nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer. Those were her only points of the night.

“She was wide open,” Clark said through a smile. “She was almost like too open.”

There were moments Friday, particularly in the third quarter, when it looked like the Fever were going to fold. It had been a theme at the beginning of the season: building a big lead only to get bullied into a brutal loss. The Mercury tried that approach and became the aggressor behind All-Star Kahleah Copper, who finished with a game-high 32 points, and clawed its way back into the game.

But Clark didn’t panic and neither did her teammates. After Mitchell took exception to how Phoenix’s Natasha Cloud was defending her in the third quarter, Mitchell shoved Cloud in the chest and was whistled for an offensive foul. The two came face-to-face and were given technical fouls.

“Sometimes having passion for the game, some moments can spike your team up to go and play well,” Mitchell said. “I had a moment myself. … But I think it kind of helped us. The grit and the game in those third quarters and when teams make runs is how you win a game in the WNBA. You just gotta be gritty. You gotta be able to get trenchy a little bit.”

However, there’s a big difference between being “trenchy” and being in the trenches. The latter is mainly where the Fever have resided ever since Hall of Famer Tamika Catchings retired after the 2016 season. This year, with Clark holding the paintbrush, could be a different picture.

“I always say that C-Squared is one of those players where her IQ is gonna take us a lot of places,” Mitchell said. “So, you really gotta fill in where you fit in as far as knowing how to read and adjust off her. And once you make that adjustment, I think obviously it’s really good basketball.”

 (Photo: Darron Cummings / Associated Press)