ST. LOUIS — The most staggering sights of Monday night’s State Farm Home Run Derby probably were those of the 503-foot moonshot hit by winner Prince Fielder, or that first-round ball into the fourth deck in left by runner-up Nelson Cruz, or the time when they turned the house music up to encourage Albert Pujols during his first-round at-bat as camera flashes sparkled.

All-Star Game rosters
• Enhanced roster
• By team | By league
• Starters: AL | NL
• Pitchers: AL | NL
• Reserves: AL | NL
• Sprint Final Vote
• Rosters unveiled
All-Stars: AL | NL
Final Vote: AL | NL

But really, it was hard to top what you saw on the giant check sitting in front of Fielder in the news conference afterward. It read: $665,000. That was about double the total of last year’s contribution to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, largely the result of adding $5,000 per normal home run in addition to the usual $17,000 per gold ball.

“It was really a part of Major League Baseball’s ‘Going Beyond’ efforts,” explained Todd Fischer, manager of national sponsorships for State Farm. “It was a matter of doing more, especially in this time. We have 17,000 agents and we’re out there where people live, and there’s no better way to help than with MLB’s ‘Going Beyond’ program.”

Every move that is made in the events surrounding this 80th All-Star Game at Busch Stadium is overshadowed by that “Going Beyond” theme, as fans have seen from the start and as they will see all the way through the end of the Midsummer Classic. The Home Run Derby was just the latest demonstration of the efforts that are taking center stage along with players.

MLB responded to President Barack Obama’s call for community service through “United We Serve,” a program that encourages Americans to engage in sustained and meaningful community service. Examples of the results so far have been the All-Star Charity Concert presented by Pepsi, which benefited Stand Up To Cancer; the first All-Star Charity 5K, which helped not only Stand Up To Cancer but also Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation; the presence of 30 People magazine All-Stars Among Us who will be introduced and celebrated by the living U.S. presidents before Tuesday’s game; and what just happened on a sultry summer night for long balls in front of a packed house at Busch.

Fielder won with a total of 23 home runs at an average of 439 feet, and that included two gold balls in the first round. Those, as is now customary each year, are inserted by the pitcher whenever the batter has nine of his allotted 10 outs per at-bat. That means Fielder accounted for $105,000 for the regular homers and another $34,000 for the gold balls. It’s a pretty good night when you can swing a baseball bat and give $139,000 total to a charity in the process.

“It’s really cool,” Fielder said, clearly exhausted after the night of swinging lumber loaned by Brewers teammates Rickie Weeks and then Ryan Braun. “It’s something you see growing up as a kid, and I’m just happy my kids were here and also I got to win. That’s a big plus. So a very cool night.”

There was a kid sitting right next to him at the dais during the post-Derby news conference. She was Kylie Kochel, 14, from a club in Bethalto, Ill., right across the river. Kochel was part of the Boys & Girls Club player matchup program, and she was matched up with Fielder. So her club now has part of that $665,000 — $50,000 that, according to Fischer, it can apply toward new computers, renovations and school supplies that will benefit the club for many years.

All of the eight matchup youths were representing local B&G Clubs, Fischer said, and the seven whose contestants did not win will each receive $10,000 for their club. So that means $120,000 stays in the local community after All-Star Week is over, and the rest goes to the national Boys & Girls Clubs organization, which is MLB’s longstanding official charity.

Fielder talked at length about the baseball-crushing matters of the night. He nudged the microphone over to Kylie to answer the question about what it meant for such a huge number to appear on that oversized check in front of them.

“It means a lot, because I know that I had a small part in helping with the teen center, and it is just a good feeling knowing that we’re going to have a better place to hang out, and I’m just very proud,” she said.

“What a wonderful evening for the city of St. Louis and State Farm and all these folks — an amazing State Farm Home Run Derby,” Fischer said. “While we sit here tonight and look at Prince as the overall Home Run Derby champion, there are so many winners to talk about. The largest group of them all is the Boys & Girls Club tonight. State Farm stepped up to the plate this year and beyond just the gold ball, came up with $5,000 for every non-gold ball home run. Hopefully at a time when it means the most, it will make a lasting impact.

“This night won’t be soon forgotten.”

Players get in the act by tying charity into this event as well. Adrian Gonzalez and his wife, Betsy, will donate $400 — $200 for each home run he hit — to The Adrian and Betsy Gonzalez Foundation and the Padres Foundation to benefit children. The Padres committed to match their donation and the Trinity Bat Co. will also donate $100 for each Gonzalez home run in the event. Naturally Gonzalez was hoping for a far larger total, but it’s something.

Mark Newman is enterprise editor of MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Basebal

ST. LOUIS — Tuesday night’s Major League All-Star Game represented a baseball fan’s dream — and a traffic cop’s nightmare.

The best players in Major League Baseball, as well as President Barack Obama, gathered at Busch Stadium for the 80th All-Star Game. A sellout crowd greeted the stars of the National and American leagues as they battled for bragging rights — and home-field advantage in this fall’s World Series.

The American League defeated the National League 4-3 in Tuesday’s game.

The fans endured a few headaches with traffic flow and security measures to soak up as much of the national baseball spotlight as possible. And once the festivities inside the stadium were under way, it was a feel-good celebration of baseball — St. Louis style.

It began with the Budweiser Clydesdales, included a salute to America’s volunteer heroes and the National Anthem sung by Missouri native Sheryl Crow. It finished with the Cardinals’ living Hall of Famers — Stan Musial, Bruce Sutter, Bob Gibson, Ozzie Smith, Red Schoendienst and Lou Brock, gathered at home plate to greet Obama.

The game was the centerpiece event of a long All-Star weekend in St. Louis. Thousands of fans jammed the sidewalks surrounding the stadium Tuesday afternoon top watch a red carpet parade of the All-Stars, who rode in the backs of pickup trucks, many with members of their families. St. Louis literally rolled out the red carpet for the event, with the street on the parade route covered in red.

“Look, there’s Marquis!” squealed Brittany Martin, who with five members of her family, traveled from Rolla, Mo., to take in the All-Star festivities. The 19-year-old college student, a lifelong Cardinals fan, was reacting to seeing former Cardinal pitcher Jason Marquis, now of the Colorado Rockies, in the parade.

“I know he’s not a Cardinal anymore, but it’s cool to see him. Having (the All-Star Game) here is fantastic.”

Martin said she and her group had tickets to Monday’s Home Run Derby, but would be watching the All-Star Game at one of downtown St. Louis’ watering holes.

Along with Monday’s Home Run Derby, the weekend-long FanFest at America’s Center and a 5K run Sunday, the All-Star game made for some great memories for baseball fans from around the Midwest.

Like the Martin family, many of the fans along the parade route or checking out the exhibits at the FanFest did not have tickets for the game.

“We just wanted to come down here and take some of it in,” Daniel Cooper of Kirkwood, Mo., said. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime event for us. They don’t give All-Star Games to St. Louis very often, you know.”

The last MLB All-Star Game staged in St. Louis was in 1966 in conjunction with the opening of then-new Busch Stadium. That venue was razed after the 2005 season and the current Busch Stadium was constructed next door.

It’s a safe bet the security measures taken for that 1966 All-Star Game were a far cry from the ones in use Tuesday. Interstate 64, which runs within a few hundred feet of the stadium, was closed from the Poplar Street Bridge to 14th Street starting at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Streets around the stadium were closed for the afternoon red carpet parade and fans went through security checks as they entered the stadium.

“I don’t mind at all,” said Frank DeMars, who drove to St. Louis from northern Iowa Monday night. “The security is necessary — it’s just a sign of the times. This is a high-profile event and besides, with the president in the house, they have to be extra sure about his safety.”

Souvenir seat cushions were a free giveaway to fans at the game, with some 50,000 waiting at each seat when fans began filtering into the stadium at 3:15 p.m.

July 9 (Bloomberg) — Former National Football League quarterback Steve McNair was murdered by his “distraught” girlfriend, who then committed suicide, Nashville police said.

McNair and his 20-year-old girlfriend, Sahel Kazemi, were found shot to death July 4 at a Nashville condominium that the former Tennessee Titans player owned with a friend.

Nashville Police Chief Ronal Serpas said at a televised news conference that Kazemi was “spinning out of control” in the days before the shootings, upset by money concerns and the belief that McNair was seeing another woman.

“While we may never know exactly what drove Miss Kazemi to make that decision on that Saturday morning, the totality of the evidence clearly points to a murder-suicide,” Serpas said.

Investigators determined that McNair was probably asleep sitting up on the couch when Kazemi shot him once in the right temple, twice in the chest and then once in the left temple. She then positioned herself next to him and killed herself with a single gunshot to the head.

McNair, who was married with four children, had been dating Kazemi for several months before the shootings. She bought the semi-automatic pistol two days before the killings.

“Over the last five to seven days of Miss Kazemi’s life, our investigation is learning that she was very distraught,” Serpas said. “On two occasions she told friends and associates that her life was all messed up and she was going to end it.”

Co-MVP

McNair was the NFL’s co-Most Valuable Player in 2003, sharing the award with Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts. He retired from the NFL in April 2008 after 13 seasons with the Houston Oilers-Titans franchise and the Baltimore Ravens.

McNair met Kazemi about six months ago while she was working as a waitress at a Nashville restaurant and took her on trips to Florida, Las Vegas, California and Hawaii, the Tennessean newspaper reported. He bought her a Cadillac Escalade for her 20th birthday and told her he planned to get a divorce, Kazemi’s nephew told the Tennessean.

Police said Kazemi was helping to make payments on the Cadillac as well as a second vehicle, and her roommate was about to move out, doubling her rent payments.

In addition, police said Kazemi thought McNair had another girlfriend. She had followed a woman who left the condominium several days before the shootings, Serpas said. McNair co-owned the residence with sporting goods dealer Wayne Neeley, who found the bodies.

“One of the stressers was whether or not her relationship with Mr. McNair was unraveling,” Serpas said. “We can’t put ourselves in the minds of people who do these terribly irrational acts, but we do believe there’s evidence that she was spinning out of control.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Matuszewski in New York at matuszewski@bloomberg.net

There may be more decisive favorites out there than Albert Pujols in the National League MVP race — after all, SEC teams still schedule Charleston Southern in football — but they’re few and far between. Pujols could take the rest of July off and probably still hold down a nearly insurmountable lead on his competition.

But if the race in the senior circuit looks more coronation than contest, things are more intriguing in the American League. The home run leader entered Tuesday hitting .231. The RBIs leader began the day hitting .261. The batting leader has just 21 RBIs. And whatever you think of back-of-the-baseball-card stats, voters have always loved their Triple Crown numbers. Which doesn’t even take into account two pitchers who may have the league’s most dominant players.

Welcome to SportsNation! On Tuesday, baseball Hall of Famer Lou Brock stops by to chat about the MLB season, including the upcoming all-star game.

Brock won two World Series titles, made six all-star teams and earned election into the Hall of Fame in 1985. His 938 career stolen bases sat as a record from 1979 until 1991 when Rickey Henderson broke it. The 3,023 hits he had in his career sits 23rd all-time.

Brock is working with “Feeding America” the nation’s largest domestic hunger relief organization, providing food and groceries to 36 million Americans in its “Hits for Hunger” program. Bank of America will donate $5,000 for every recorded hit during the All-Star Game and will match all donations, up to $100,000, made today to the Feeding America web site.

Who is destined for a second-half nosedive, who is waiting in the wings and who ultimately will remain standing come time for the autumn playoff push? With the All-Star break just a week away, let’s take a look around the league at some of the tightest division races.

First up, there’s the murky NL Central. I worry about the Brewers because of their pitching. They’ve talked about possibly grabbing a middle-of-the-road starter such as Doug Davis from Arizona, but they don’t have any pitchers right now. Milwaukee has managed to win thanks to its great offense, but it is a surprise this team is still in this race.

The real problem with the Brewers (and Cardinals, too) is that they played well, probably better than everyone thought, but the Cubs are still there. They couldn’t bury the Cubs. Chicago, despite its sluggish start, is going to be fine. Derrek Lee is starting to hit better and Aramis Ramirez is back from the disabled list, both of which should aid the Cubs in their quest for the division’s top spot. They might have struggled for much of the season so far, but they’re the best team in that division. And it’s reasonable to expect their performance in the second half to be indicative of that.

Shifting to the NL East, the debate tends to concentrate mostly on the Phillies and the Mets, but the Marlins certainly have begun to force their way into the conversation. They’re so explosive, with Hanley Ramirez leading the way. The only thing that’s going to hurt them — and it has hurt them in the past in this division — is they don’t defend well. And that’ll kill you. Florida does have some power pitchers, who will strike opposing batters out and overcome some of that, but Dan Uggla and Ramirez commit a lot of errors up the middle.

If they can improve their fielding, and if Andrew Miller can pitch up to his potential, then the Marlins have the best pitching staff in the division. Easily. For now, though, Philadelphia is the best team in the NL East even though they haven’t been able to pitch worth a darn recently.

Moving cross country to the AL West, it appears to be a two-team race between Texas and the Angels. The Rangers can score, their pitching is better than ever, their bullpen is really good and they’re playing better defense this season. As for the Angels, Vladimir Guerrero is finally starting to swing it well, but their pitching has been a little shaky.

Ervin Santana hasn’t pitched well even when he does take the mound, and he seems to fall on the DL after nearly every outing anyway. The Angels don’t know what’s left in that arm. John Lackey hasn’t been as good as he can be, either, so they worry me. But there’s no doubt, that’s going to be a dogfight all year.

The AL Central is home to some disappointments. It’s surprising that the White Sox are still struggling as much as they are, but their pitching is old and only getting older. Even offensively, with Jim Thome, Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye, the core of that lineup is old. Cleveland was predicted to accomplish great things again, but — just as in the past three years — the Indians have gotten off to a bad start. Look for them to make another second-half push that gets people excited and thinking World Series, but they just don’t have what it takes to overtake the division’s real powers.

Detroit and Minnesota are going to fight this out to the end. The Tigers’ pitching is great, and they defend better now, too. They’re solid up the middle; Brandon Inge is back at third base and playing Gold Glove-caliber ball; and Curtis Granderson is the leader of that outfield. When Carlos Guillen heals from a shoulder injury and retakes his DH spot, you’re talking about some pretty good pop in the middle of that lineup. The Tigers are the best team in this division because they’ve got it all: They have the best pitching, they play great defense and they can hit it, too.

BOSTON – Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein was making his way to the press conference to discuss his trade of Nomar Garciaparra(notes) when his cell phone rang. It was his brother, Paul, a social worker, who had heard the news on his car radio while driving home from Cape Cod.

“What did you do?” Paul Epstein said. “I hope you’re right, because they’re killing you.”

A few hours later, Theo had not yet left his office. The phone rang again. This time it was John W. Henry, the Red Sox owner.

“You must feel,” Henry said, “like the loneliest man in America.”

Five years later, Garciaparra returned Monday to Fenway Park for the first time since the trade that rivaled the sale of Babe Ruth as the most shocking exile of a Boston Red Sox player in franchise history. Garciaparra, who turns 36 on July 23, is in the uniform of the Oakland Athletics, the third he has worn since leaving Boston, having also played for the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers. As usual, he is hurt, a calf injury that already has sent him to the disabled list twice this season and limits how much he can play defensively.

The familiar No. 5 that was on his back during his nearly eight full seasons with the Red Sox, a number that seemed destined to find its spot above the right-field grandstand in Fenway Park with the retired number of other Sox greats, is now worn by Rocco Baldelli(notes), a backup Boston outfielder.

Garciaparra was in Kelly green and gold when he walked behind the cage while the Red Sox were taking batting practice and embraced captain Jason Varitek(notes), who led him down the dugout steps and toward the interview room where Garciaparra met with reporters.

“I have so many great memories here,” he said. “This is where my career started. For me, that’s what’s going to go through me. I’m excited to come back. The Red Sox are such a big part of my heart, my life.”

He said he’d be thinking about the dents left by line drives in the Green Monster wall, which remind him of a dimpled golf ball. “I know I left my dents,” he said. “So many great players left dents. I wonder whose dents are next to mine?”

A dozen years have passed since the Mexican-American kid with a Georgia Tech education and a funny name – his father Ramon’s name spelled backward – burst onto the scene with a debut as stunning as any seen in Boston since Fred Lynn and Jim Rice in 1975. His toe-tapping and glove-tugging rituals at the plate were emulated by a generation of Little Leaguers, his skills discussed by grizzled observers in glowing terms usually reserved for legends.

“This kid,” his first manager, Jimy Williams, said without a whiff of put-on, ”has been here before. He played with Cobb. He played with Shoeless Joe.”

He was Nomar, like Carl Yastrzemski was Yaz and Roger Clemens(notes) was The Rocket. On his way to winning Rookie of the Year in 1997, he hit in 30 consecutive games, an American League record for a rookie. He hit 30 home runs and set a major league record for RBIs by a leadoff hitter.

Ted Williams honored Garciaparra at his Hitters Hall of Fame, then anointed him with praise unlike any he’d ever uttered: “Boy, I’m looking at someone who is going to be as good as anyone who has ever played this game. I say that, and, boy, I believe it, too.”

That was before Garciaparra won back-to-back batting titles in 1999 and 2000, the first right-handed hitter to do so in the AL since Joe DiMaggio. The most popular debate of the day revolved around who was the better shortstop – Nomar or A-Rod or Derek Jeter(notes) – much like a bygone generation of New Yorkers used to fight over who was the better center fielder, Willie, Mick or the Duke.

But Garciaparra was never as comfortable off the field as he was on. He was wary and suspicious of the media, bristled at times at the front office, and was too much the loner to wear the mantle of leadership that might have been his.

Then came the injuries, in stunning succession after he’d appeared nearly indestructible while posing shirtless and muscle-bound on the cover of Sports Illustrated under the heading, “A Cut Above,” a pose that inadvertently was emblematic of an entire artificially enhanced era.

A wrist injury was the first major setback, requiring surgery in 2001. Garciaparra, after missing 103 games, would hit a home run and game-winning single in his first game back, but it remained an open question whether he would ever be the hitter he was before the surgery.

Even so, the Red Sox were committed to locking him long-term, offering him a four-year, $60 million deal in the spring of 2003, with Garciaparra eligible for free agency after the 2004 season. The offer paled compared to the deals given A-Rod and Jeter, and Garciaparra balked. It would be a fateful decision. The relationship between player and management would soon crumble. The Red Sox tried to trade for A-Rod in the offseason; they also offered Garciaparra less money to re-sign, saying the market had changed.

Those double blows sent Garciaparra into a funk from which he never recovered. Epstein was on his way to New York to meet with A-Rod when Garciaparra called; the Boston GM told Garciaparra he’d be lying if he said he wouldn’t be pursuing trades. What he didn’t tell Nomar was that he had a trade in place to send him to the White Sox for Magglio Ordonez(notes) if the A-Rod deal was consummated.

When spring training came around, Garciaparra was still bitter, even though the Yankees had wound up with Rodriguez. Now it was management’s turn to become excised; Garciaparra came up with an inflamed Achilles tendon, which he said was hurt on a back practice field while no one else evidently was watching. The Sox didn’t believe him; they assumed he’d gotten hurt during an offseason workout.

Garciaparra’s unhappiness about his contract situation was evident to anyone entering the Red Sox clubhouse, his chair turned inward to his locker. Sox officials heard stories that Garciaparra was becoming increasingly paranoid, even to the point that he thought that his phone was bugged.

Mindful that he could elect to leave after the season, the Red Sox became even more motivated to deal him when their defensive metrics showed his performance had slipped drastically. Exacerbating the situation further was Garciaparra telling Red Sox owners that he wasn’t certain whether he’d be able to play with the injury.

The Red Sox were locked in another tight race with the Yankees. Emblematic of the difference between the teams was the July game against the Red Sox when Jeter risked injury running full speed and diving into the box seats to catch a popup while Garciaparra skulked on the Boston bench.

Still, it’s one thing to decide that trading him was the right thing to do, another to actually pull the trigger. After the press conference, Epstein walked back to his office; on the TV was a photo of a smiling Garciaparra, a Cubs cap superimposed on his head, with the headline, “Red Sox trade franchise shortstop.” Epstein may not have been the loneliest man in America, but that night, unable to sleep, he took a sleeping pill.

The postscript to the trade, of course, could not have worked out better for Boston. Shortstop Orlando Cabrera(notes) and first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz(notes) dramatically upgraded the team’s defense, and the Red Sox embarked on a tear that ended with their first World Series title in 86 years. Three years later, there would be another.

For Garciaparra, a more somber tale: Multiple trips to the disabled list, six in the last three years alone. A total of just 434 games in five seasons, a .287 average and 50 home runs in life after Boston, compared to .323 and 228 home runs in a Red Sox uniform. His days as an everyday shortstop are long over; he fills in at third and first and serves as DH.

Monday night, Oakland manager Bob Geren had Garciaparra at DH, batting sixth.

“Regret or do anything differently?” he said, repeating a question. “On the field I gave everything I had. I know that’s one thing the fans always appreciated. I think when you look back on anyone’s life, there’s always something you could do different. I’m no different. Everybody’s got to look in the mirror at some time.

“But when I look in the mirror, I also know I did everything I could with good conscience and a good heart. Hopefully, I showed how much I respected the game.”

After winning in 2004, the Red Sox voted Garciaparra a World Series share and gave him a ring. And Monday night, another sellout at Fenway would remember him in sepia tones, tapping his toes in the batter’s box, pulling tight on his batting gloves, swinging like a kid destined to be remembered as one of the best to ever play the game.

Kyle Busch walked away. Yes, he walked away angrily when the Coke Zero 400 was over, but he walked off unscathed nonetheless.

Everyone did. Not a scratch on them after another scary last-lap melee in a restrictor-plate race that resulted in cars with crumbled sheet metal and mangled steel.

This car that so many of you love to hate is the safest race car ever built.

No, it’s not pretty. It doesn’t always race well, but it is eliminating serious injuries and probably saving lives.

Saturday night’s last-lap horror was one of those moments when most sensible people watching don’t say, “Hey, look who won.” Instead, their first thought is, “My gosh, I hope everyone is OK.”

Everyone was. Had you watched that same wreck 10 years ago, the answer almost certainly would have been different.

We can’t say for sure what the outcome would have been. But without head and neck restraints and without this car, logic tells us that Busch wouldn’t have been so lucky.

He was leading with the checkered flag in sight when he veered up the track to try to block eventual winner Tony Stewart, but Busch’s No. 18 Toyota hit the front of Stewart’s car.

The impact turned Busch’s car to the right. He violently slammed head-on into the wall before hitting it hard again on the driver’s side.

A moment later, the car was hit from behind by Kasey Kahne‘s car, which still was traveling almost full speed toward the finish line.

That impact was so hard that it lifted Busch’s back wheels off the ground and almost caused the car to flip over back to front.

Busch’s car turned sideways and took another brutal impact, T-boned by Joey Logano‘s car.

“I was really concerned about Kyle,” Carl Edwards, who finished fourth as he watched Busch crash, said on the telecast. “I thought, ‘Oh, man. That’s a hard hit.’ I was real nervous for him.”

Edwards has been there. He had a similar crash on the last lap at Talladega when his car went airborne and slammed into the frontstretch catch-fencing.

Edwards was fine, but a few fans suffered minor injuries from flying debris. Avoiding a repeat of that moment was Edwards’ priority at Daytona.

“I just yanked the wheel left and drove to the grass and hoped I didn’t hit [Busch],” Edwards said. “It was a crazy, crazy finish. I thought I wanted to be up there racing with those guys. Then I saw [the wreck], and I was just fine with where I was.”

One key thing to point out: Busch did not hit the SAFER barrier. He crashed into the concrete wall a few feet before the collapsible barrier starts on the curve of the tri-oval.

The car was the difference. This car has a larger crush panel at the front, which absorbs more G-forces at impact.

The car also was a factor in Busch’s going injury-free when he was T-boned by Logano’s car.

The steering wheel and driver’s seat were moved 4 inches toward the center of the vehicle, leaving more space between the driver and side of the car. And the door panel was filled with heavy foam padding that also absorbs impact.

The old car had none of these things. So would Busch be uninjured today without those improvements?

It’s a subjective question, of course, but I doubt it.

After Dale Earnhardt‘s death at Daytona in 2001, the old car became much safer, with head and neck restraints and cocoon-like seats that better protect the drivers.

Maybe that would have been enough Saturday night. I’m betting there isn’t a single driver who would trade cars to find out.

Many Sprint Cup cars were ready for the scrap heap, a junkyard dealer’s delight after the final lap.

The drivers were tired from a typical sweltering summer night at Daytona. Considering the scattered car parts and debris, tired is good.

But is there a dark side? Some people believe the car actually causes more accidents at the plate tracks.

Dangerous crashes always have been a part of plate racing. It was true in the old car; it’s true in this one. The Car of Tomorrow, as it was called, was used at a plate track for the first time at Talladega in 2007.

“This is a product of restrictor-plate racing with these race cars,” said Steve Addington, Busch’s crew chief. “What are you going to say?”

The best thing to say is thank you to the men who designed this car. Addington’s driver is a healthy man today because of it.

Alex Kovalev signed a two-year, $10 million deal Monday with the Ottawa Senators, leaving the rival Montreal Canadiens after parts of five seasons.

Kovalev, a 16-season NHL veteran, led Montreal with 26 goals and 65 points last season. He failed to reach a new deal before the free-agent season opened last Wednesday, and Montreal made several moves to spend its money elsewhere.

Kovalev

Kovalev earned $4.5 million last season and became an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

Earlier Monday, Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey told Montreal radio station CJAD that Kovalev would not be returning to the team. Gainey said he offered the 36-year-old forward a new contract last week, but the crafty winger took too long to mull over the deal.

“We hadn’t agreed on the amount, but another player was willing to come and join our team,” he said.

“So the dollars that we had allotted there for a particular position were grabbed up by another player.”

Montreal has also decided not to retain Saku Koivu, its longtime captain and popular forward who spent his first 13 NHL seasons with the Canadiens.

The Canadiens went on a shopping spree last week, signing free agent forwards Mike Cammalleri and Brian Gionta, and defensemen Jaroslav Spacek and Hal Gill. They also traded for high-priced center Scott Gomez, sending forward Chris Higgins to the New York Rangers in the six-player deal.

More than 100 people demonstrated outside the Bell Centre on Sunday, begging Gainey to re-sign Kovalev, who was acquired in 2004 in a trade with the Rangers.

Gainey said he considered the gathering as more of an homage to Kovalev rather than a protest.

“I think that Alex has really left a mark on people and the hockey fans in Montreal, and the fact that he won’t be returning with our team is a difficult and emotional separation for them,” he said.

In 1,151 career NHL games with the New York Rangers, Pittsburgh and Montreal, Kovalev has 394 goals and 547 assists.

Welcome to SportsNation! On Monday, Randy LaJoie will stop by to talk racing in the “NASCAR Now” chat.

Mike comes from a racing family, being the middle brother of Rusty and Kenny. He has run in over 187 Sprint Cup races in his 16-year career. He also placed a career-best eighth in the Nationwide Series last season. Wallace also owns 111 starts in the truck series, with a career-best finish of fourth following the 2000 season.

LaJoie owns a distinguished competitive driving record, including winning back-to-back Busch Series championships in 1996 and 1997. In his 19-year career in the Busch and Nationwide Series, LaJoie won 15 races with 118 top-10 finishes.

LaJoie has decided to hang up his helmet to concentrate more on his company , which provides custom seats for NASCAR rides.