Before the Carolina Hurricanes made their comeback, before the Vegas Golden Knights needed a goal with 81 seconds left in regulation to tie it and before Seth Jarvis scored in overtime, the sound of Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final was silence.

The same crowd that roared at the start of the series was stunned, with their beloved Hurricanes shut out through the first two periods for the first time since mid-January. They were fewer than 15 minutes away from a 2-0 hole that only five of 55 teams have overcome to hoist the Cup.

The topsy-turvy ride that followed ended with Carolina winning in emotional fashion and making this a competitive series between two of the best teams in the NHL. Game 3 is Saturday night in Las Vegas.

If it is anything like the first two, it is best to expect the unexpected the rest of the way.

“It’s obviously a new series, a five-game series now,” said defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, who leads the Hurricanes with three points so far in the final. “A lot of emotions throughout the games, too. For almost 50 minutes there it’s kind of low, and then kind of even, then really high, then low again, and then high. It’s a roller coaster for sure.”

This final is shaping up to be more like a seesaw, with wild momentum swings back and forth. This is the first Cup final in league history in which each of the first two games featured a multigoal comeback victory.

Carolina is now the first team in 82 years to win a game in the final when down by more than one goal within the final 10 minutes of regulation. That would also make Vegas — which fell behind by two goals in the opener — the first team since 1944 to blow such a lead.

“The sport of hockey is funny that way,” Golden Knights center William Karlsson said Friday. “I think that’s why we all love it. It can go either way at any times …. But it’s hockey. It’s a game of mistakes, and it’s bound to happen.”

The Hurricanes after cruising through the first three rounds with 12 wins and just one loss met their match in Vegas, and that was evident in Game 1. What also became clear is that neither of team is going to get pushed around for an entire night, even if there are stretches of domination by one side or the other.

“It’s going to be hard to play your best game — that’s the point,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “It would be great if you could do it for the whole 60 minutes. But it’s probably not going to be that way because they’re a very, very good team.”

Counterpart John Tortorella emphasized that again before he and his team flew home, insisting he likes where Vegas is at two games into its biggest challenge yet this postseason. The Golden Knights have stolen home-ice advantage and get to play the next two on The Strip, where Tortorella can better control matchups.

“There’s no difference,” Tortorella said. “We’re going to play. We know how to play. We know how we want to play.”

So do the Hurricanes, and it’s what they displayed at the end of Game 2. Logan Stankoven provided the spark, Mark Jankowski kept it going and Jordan Staal scored on a power play after Tortorella’s failed goaltender interference challenge became a difference-making moment.

Of course, the Golden Knights dominating for much of the first two periods and the start of the third showed why they’ve been such a buzzsaw since Tortorella took over in late March. Brind’Amour acknowledged the vibes around his team were better than they could have been if not for the turnaround, but neither team should expect to feel too good about itself for toon long in a series like this.

Players are embracing that as part of the fun.

“This is exciting,” Jarvis said. “This is what playoff hockey’s all about is tight games and momentum swings, and you never really know what’s going to happen next. I don’t think you can ask any more of a playoff series.”

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Randy Moss is still making big catches, long after he finished playing football.

The Hall of Fame wide receiver with the second-most touchdown receptions in NFL history has found his off-the-field calling on the boat, fishing for freshwater bass.

“That’s my passion right now. That’s my hobby. That’s my getaway. That’s my therapy,” Moss said.

Mostly confined to his home for about nine months while he underwent chemotherapy and radiation to beat cancer, Moss developed a deeper appreciation for being in nature. Since his treatment was completed last fall and his rare form of the disease — in the bile duct between the pancreas and the liver — was deemed to be in remission, Moss has often had a rod and reel in his hands.

This lifelong hobby for Moss has become a third career of sorts, following his work as an NFL analyst for ESPN that he resumed with the 2025 season.

“I’m just excited to be able to showcase my talent and go out there and show people that I have something else other than football that I love,” Moss said.

Moss was hired by World Bass Enterprises to serve as an ambassador for “ The Champions ” tournament this fall in Hendersonville, Tennessee, an inaugural five-day event just across the river from Nashville designed to determine a true title in a sport divided by two competing tours. WBE was founded earlier this year by Brian Bird, a Texas businessman and amateur angler who has become a fishing buddy to Moss.

In the meantime, Moss and his business partner, Andrew Grein, have been busy filming a documentary series, “ Chasing 10,” that features Moss fishing with celebrity guests in pursuit of the elusive 10-pound largemouth bass while offering tips and trading stories. He’s auctioning off a custom-made boat for each season to benefit the Children’s Cancer Research Fund in Minnesota.

“I had to take a year off to be able to get myself back right, but my health is great,” Moss said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “I still have my quarterly checkups every four months, my scans, but I just think that now that I’m back outside, this is one of the things that I couldn’t wait to see. I have the bass waiting on me, so I’m just a kid in the candy store having fun, man.”

The Champions event, which is carrying a total prize purse of $3.25 million for the largest in the history of the sport, will pay $1.25 million to the winner from a field of 50 anglers — the top 25 from each of the two biggest organizations in competitive bass fishing.

The Bass Anglers Sportsman Society — known as B.A.S.S. — runs the Bassmaster Elite Series. Major League Fishing has the newer Bass Pro Tour. For the past seven years, a bit like the PGA and LIV factions in golf, the best anglers in the world have been split between two groups. Moss is on board with Bird to try to help unite the sport and take it further into the mainstream.

“We both are trying to bring something that’s really positive to the sport of bass fishing,” said Bird, who sold his electrical construction services company three years ago and has invested his own money into the launch of the tournament. “It’s a good way for a family to spend time out in nature.”

The first batch of Chasing 10 episodes posted to YouTube this week included a spirited outing with the Kelce brothers and a reunion of fellow receivers from the Minnesota Vikings with Cris Carter and Jake Reed. While he was out on another show with Bird on a Texas lake, Moss giddily reeled in the hallowed 10-pounder, comparing the anxiety he felt during the process to the moments before a football play when he knew the pass was coming his way.

Moss first learned how to cast a line while growing up in West Virginia with his older half-brother, Eric Moss, who died in 2019. Soon after Moss started his NFL career in Minnesota in 1998, he was introduced to a professional angler, the late John Laub, who taught him the sport on the St. Croix River along the Wisconsin border.

“My first actual bass experience, I caught 20!” Moss said. “John, he was glowing. That’s the man who showed me bass fishing, and I haven’t looked back since.”

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

June 5 (Reuters) – Fans at World Cup matches in the United States and Canada will be allowed to bring one factory-sealed disposable water bottle into stadiums, FIFA said on Friday, days after stating that reusable bottles would be prohibited on safety grounds.

The governing body said fans could carry one soft plastic bottle of up to 20 ounces (590 ml) into venues but reiterated that hard-sided and reusable bottles would not be permitted.

FIFA Chief Operating Officer Heimo Schirgi said the restriction was based on safety and security considerations, with bottles among a number of items that could pose a risk if thrown.

The clarification comes after FIFA updated its Stadium Code of Conduct this week, reversing earlier guidance that had allowed empty, transparent reusable plastic bottles inside stadiums.

The move had raised concerns among supporters about staying hydrated during matches, particularly at venues where temperatures are expected to exceed 25 degrees Celsius.

FIFA has said host cities will provide heat-mitigation measures around stadiums, including hydration stations, misting areas and cooling tents, and that water prices inside venues will remain consistent with those charged at other events held at the stadiums.

The World Cup kicks off on Thursday when Mexico host South Africa at the Azteca Stadium.

(Reporting by Janina Nuno Rios in Mexico City; editing by Clare Fallon)

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Carolina Hurricanes have spent months regrouping quickly after losses and they have proven unshaken by the challenge of playing in hostile arenas or in next-goal-wins extra time.

Those responses in the most pressure-packed of scenarios helps explain why they’re back to even in the Stanley Cup Final after losing the opener to the Vegas Golden Knights heading into Saturday’s Game 3 on the road. If anything, they seem to be thriving on it with a perfect record in overtime and road games in the postseason, along with avoiding consecutive losses since mid-January.

“It’s a special time of year, and it’s a really cool opportunity and experience we all get to have,” goaltender Frederik Andersen said Friday. “And if we weren’t enjoying it as well, it would be a big shame, right?”

The Hurricanes improved to 13-2 in the playoffs in dramatic fashion Thursday, rallying from a two-goal deficit in the third period to win 4-3 in overtime and split the first two games of the best-of-seven series. The thriller ended with Seth Jarvis hammering a one-timer past Carter Hart from the left side with the man advantage, a moment the Hurricanes are hoping is a breakthrough moment for their regular-season goals leader and the power-play unit after both have sputtered in the postseason.

The story is just as much about the Hurricanes’ ability to navigate through turbulence. The win marked marked Carolina’s 13th straight win when coming off a loss, a run that started after consecutive losses at Detroit and St. Louis on Jan. 12 and 13.

“It goes to talking about belief,” forward Andrei Svechnikov said. “I think we believe in the group. We’re confident in what we’re doing and how we’re doing it. We believe in our system, and we just try to go there and play our game, and that’s what we’ve kind of been doing.”

Carolina’s first postseason loss came in the Eastern Conference Final against Montreal, with the Hurricanes emerging from an 11-day between-rounds break — the longest in the playoffs in more than a century — and giving up four first-period goals in a 6-2 loss.

They responded with four straight wins, twice in overtime and then two in romps by a combined 10-1 margin to close out the series.

Coming off a 5-4 loss in Game 1 to Vegas, Carolina responded again, though it looked grim facing a 2-0 deficit and being outplayed in a second period that coach Rod Brind’Amour admitted was “kind of a dud.”

The Hurricanes scored three unanswered goals in a span of roughly five minutes in the third period, the last being captain Jordan Staal’s deflection from the top of the crease on the power play.

Then Carolina shook off Vegas scoring an OT-forcing goal with 1:21 left in regulation to cash in for a second straight time on a power play with Jarvis banging in the winner. That came on a well-executed sequence with Shayne Gostisbehere — who assisted on Staal’s score — working up top.

Gostisbehere sold that he might shoot the puck enough to heighten the attention of the Golden Knights’ defenders packed in the middle, while Nikolaj Ehlers even hopped in the slot as though jumping over a shot. That kept Hart locked an extra beat in the middle as Gostisbehere instead passed to Jarvis on the left side for the winner.

Before those scores, Carolina’s power play stood at 7 for 60 (11.7%) in the playoffs after ranking fourth in the regular season (24.9%).

Now Carolina is 6-0 in overtime in the playoffs, including in all four Game 2 home wins, and a 6-0 on the road.

“For almost 50 minutes there (emotions are) kind of low, and then kind of even, then really high, then low again, and then high,” Gostisbehere said. “It’s a roller coaster, for sure. But it’s just managing them. We’re still human beings. We’re going to be nervous out there and have emotions, but the more you do it, the more you do anything, you get used to it.”

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) — President Donald Trump confirmed he will attend Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Monday at Madison Square Garden, but said he doesn’t have much sympathy for ordinary basketball fans who can’t afford sky-high ticket prices to do the same.

“They can watch it on television,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Friday as he flew to Wisconsin for an event with farmers, after he was asked about tickets that have climbed as high as $8,000 each when the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs square off in Manhattan for the first time in the series.

“It’s sorta semi-free to watch it on television,” the president added. “That’s the way life goes.”

Trump further noted that if the Knicks weren’t successful — as they haven’t been most seasons since last advancing to the finals in 1999 — “you could go very easily.”

The president of course doesn’t have to purchase tickets to attend major sporting events. Trump has been to a lot of them in his second term, including the 2025 Super Bowl, Daytona 500 and Ryder Cup.

But a centerpiece of his reelection campaign was a promise to tame inflation and bring down the price of groceries and other cost-of-living essentials. He has increasingly come under pressure to make good on that pledge as November midterm elections draw nearer — and as the war in Iran has caused gas prices to spike and global commodities markets to wobble, raising new fears about inflation and the strength of the U.S. economy.

A longtime Knicks fan, Trump said on Air Force One that he watched Game 1, which New York won 105-95 in San Antonio. “I think the Knicks have an amazing team the way they played,” he said.

“Started off slow and it just got stronger and stronger,” Trump said of Game 1. He pointed to Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns when asked to name his favorite player on the team.

Trump was also asked about Spurs star Victor Wembanyama having stood with his arms crossed for the national anthem before Game 1. That touched off a conservative firestorm online, even though Wembanyama is French, meaning his country’s anthem wasn’t being played.

Trump was complimentary of Wembanyama, saying that he “looks like he’s gonna be a great player.” But he ducked a chance to weigh in on the national anthem controversy, suggesting he’d not seen Wembanyamba’s crossed arms.

“Is that what he did? What did he mean by that?” Trump asked, before recommending that reporters seek the answer from Wembanyama himself.

Trump confirming his attendance for Game 3 follows NBA Commissioner Adam Silver saying on Wednesday that a presidential appearance at a finals game might be unifying in “our increasingly divided society.”

“It creates a sense of connectivity among people,” Silver said. “It creates a sense of belonging, and I feel that every day.”

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Weissert reported from Washington.

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An earlier version of this story said the Knicks were last in the NBA Finals in 1994. The last year the team competed in the Finals was 1999.

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Yankees placed Aaron Judge on the 10-day injured list Friday, a day after announcing the slugger has a stress fracture in one of his ribs that will keep him off the field indefinitely.

The three-time AL MVP will rest and have limited activity before getting re-evaluated and having additional imaging in about four to six weeks. The Yankees said in a statement that Judge is expected to return “at some point this season.”

They recalled Spencer Jones from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre for his second stint with the team to replace Judge.

Jones went 4 for 24 on May 8-21 after being called up to replace Jasson Domínguez, who injured the AC joint in his shoulder while crashing into the left-field fence on a catch against Brandon Nimmo on May 7 against Texas.

Judge underwent a CT scan on Thursday and had an MRI earlier in the week when he met with a specialist. The Yankees initially said Judge had shoulder soreness before clarifying the injury was to a rib on his right side, which was first revealed when Judge underwent testing on Monday, the team’s off day.

Including a stint on the COVID-19 injured list in July 2021, Judge is on the IL for the 10th time since debuting Aug. 13, 2016. He missed 45 games with a fractured right wrist in 2018, 54 games with a strained left oblique in 2019 and 42 games with a fractured toe in 2023 after crashing into a wall while making a catch at Dodger Stadium.

Judge has a rib injury for the second time in his career.

He was diagnosed with a stress fracture in one of his right ribs in March 2020. The injury occurred when he dived for a ball in September 2019, but Judge didn’t miss any time because of the 2020 season being delayed by the pandemic.

The 34-year-old is hitting .248 with 17 home runs and 38 RBIs. But he has just one homer in his last 18 games since May 10 and ended an 11-game homer and RBI drought with a game-ending, two-run drive on May 24 against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Judge entered the game against Tampa Bay in a 1-for-24 slump that dropped his batting average to .246. He was hitless in 15 at-bats before singling in the first inning.

Judge won the batting title last season, when he hit a career-high .331 with 53 homers and 114 RBIs in 152 games. He missed 10 games from July 26-Aug. 4 with a flexor strain in his right elbow that he sustained on a throw to home July 22 in Toronto. He underwent a plasma-rich injection and did not require offseason surgery.

Giancarlo Stanton played 17 games in the outfield when Judge was hurt last season. Stanton has been out since April 24 with a strained right calf and started taking live at-bats on the field Wednesday, though he was ruled out for New York’s upcoming road trip.

José Caballero started the first two games against Cleveland and has made four starts in right field since being acquired from Tampa Bay at the July 31 trade deadline. Max Schuemann made his first career start in right field Thursday and made a diving catch on Steven Kwan in the second along with a leaping catch on Brayan Rocchio in the seventh.

Judge had started 52 games in right field. Jones made four starts in right field before getting sent down May 22 and Cody Bellinger has started two games.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Bears are looking to build a stadium in Northwest Indiana after a proposal to provide financial incentives for the NFL team to build its new home in Illinois stalled in the state legislature.

The Bears’ board of directors voted Thursday to move forward with a stadium development project in Hammond, Indiana. The team had been doing its due diligence on a tract of land near Wolf Lake, but it said Friday that an exact site had not been selected.

“We believe a world-class stadium project in Hammond will transform the region, connecting Northwest Indiana to the South Side of Chicago through the Loop and across neighborhoods and suburbs stretching north of the city,” the Bears said in a statement that the team attributed to chairman George McCaskey and team president Kevin Warren. “It will bring Chicagoland together and deliver new opportunities to its residents and businesses.”

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun welcomed the team’s announcement. A committee in the Indiana House of Representatives passed a bill in February that established a Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority to finance, construct and lease a stadium.

“We look forward to building a partnership as strong as the ’85 Bears defense, creating opportunities and economic growth that will benefit our state and the Bears organization for decades to come,” Braun said in a statement. “An NFL franchise in Northwest Indiana will be an economic boost to the entire region like we haven’t seen before.”

The Bears, a charter NFL franchise, have played in Illinois since the team’s founding in 1920 as the Decatur Staleys. They moved to Chicago in 1921 and called Wrigley Field home before they started playing at Soldier Field in September 1971.

The Bears’ lease runs through 2033, but they can pay a fee to break the lease early. Soldier Field is about 40 miles south of Halas Hall — the team’s headquarters in Lake Forest, Illinois — and Hammond is about 20 miles south of the team’s lakefront stadium.

Matt Hill, a spokesperson for Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, said the governor “remains open to a sensible solution that protects taxpayers.”

“The Bears have built a storied legacy in Illinois for over 100 years but have spent the last six years, and especially the last few months, shifting their position on a stadium location,” Hill said in a statement. “That has hindered their progress. Today appears to be another instance of that after Illinois leaders have been working with the Bears in good faith.”

The Bears also had been considering Arlington Heights — about 30 miles northwest of Chicago — as a potential location for their new stadium.

The Illinois Senate passed a bill early Monday morning that would have cleared the way for Arlington Heights and Chicago to create local stadium authorities, creating a pathway for the Bears to avoid paying property taxes on a new stadium in Illinois. But the House adjourned without taking up the measure on the last day of the state’s spring legislative session.

State Rep. Kam Buckner, whose district includes Soldier Field, posted on social media that he spoke with Warren on Friday morning.

“He ended the conversation by committing to continue discussions around their pursuit of a new stadium in Illinois,” Buckner said.

While the Bears said as recently as May 21 that Hammond and Arlington Heights were the only sites under consideration, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has been lobbying for the team to stay in the city.

The mayor’s office issued a statement that said the city “will continue to engage in discussions grounded in the interests of our residents.”

The Bears still have to secure NFL approval for the location of their new stadium. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the team has kept the league apprised of all developments.

The Bears have been pursuing a new home for years, but the process has been hampered by repeated twists and turns.

The team announced in September 2021 that it had signed a purchase agreement for 326 acres of land in Arlington Heights. The $197 million deal with Churchill Downs Incorporated was finalized in 2023.

In September 2022, the team unveiled a nearly $5 billion plan for Arlington Heights that called for an enclosed stadium that could host Super Bowls and Final Fours. The conceptual illustrations also provided for a year-round entertainment district with restaurants and shopping.

But the Bears shifted their focus toward building a new stadium next to Soldier Field after Warren was hired as team president in January 2023, replacing the retiring Ted Phillips. The plan to transform Chicago’s Museum Campus got an enthusiastic endorsement from Johnson and a tepid reception from Pritzker and state legislators when it was announced in April 2024.

The team switched gears again in May 2025, announcing it had made “significant progress” with local leaders in Arlington Heights.

Amid lingering efforts to secure tax incentives in Illinois, along with as much as $855 million in public money for infrastructure at the Arlington Heights site, the Bears began to take a closer look at possible options in Northwest Indiana.

Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. said the Bears decided on Hammond because it’s “a successful city of opportunity and possibility, an excellent choice for such a significant investment.”

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL

The National Basketball Coaches Association named AAAAAAAas its 2026 Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award winner, it was announced Friday.

Westhead, who is the only head coach with both an NBA and WNBA title, was a head coach or an assistant for 38 years at the NBA, WNBA, NCAA and international basketball levels.

Westhead was an NBA head coach for the Los Angeles Lakers (1979-82), Chicago Bulls (1982-82) and Denver Nuggets (1990-92). He also was the head coach for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury from 2006-07.

He won an NBA title with the Lakers in 1980 and the Mercury in 2007.

At the college ranks, Westhead was head coach at La Salle (1970-79), Loyola Marymount (1985-90) and George Mason (1993-97), as well as the Oregon women’s team (2009-14). Internationally, he coached at Wakayama in Japan’s National Basketball League.

“I am thankful for all the coaches who worked with me during my NBA coaching career,” Westhead said in a statement. “From Jack McKinney, who gave me my start with the LA Lakers, to P.J. Carlesimo who hired me for my last job (as an assistant coach) with the Seattle SuperSonics.”

Westhead was known for developing up-tempo offenses that forced both teams into a fast-break style that put scoreboards to the test.

“Coach Westhead’s impact on the game extends far beyond wins and championships,” said NBCA president J.B. Bickerstaff, who also is the head coach of the Detroit Pistons. “He challenged conventional thinking, introduced ideas that were ahead of their time, and influenced generations of coaches across every level of men’s and women’s basketball.”

Previous recipients of the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award include Don Nelson (2025), Rudy Tomjanovich (2024), Rick Adelman (2023), Mike Fratello (2022), Larry Brown (2021), Del Harris (2020), Frank Layden (2019), Doug Moe (2018), Al Attles and Hubie Brown (2017), K.C. Jones and Jerry Sloan (2016), Dick Motta (2015), Bernie Bickerstaff (2014), Bill Fitch (2013), Pat Riley (2012), Lenny Wilkens (2011), Jack Ramsay and Tex Winter (2010), and Tommy Heinsohn (2009).

–Field Level Media

The Las Vegas Aces have one of the best records in the WNBA, but after four weeks of play they have yet to win a game at home.

A quirk in the schedule has the Aces (6-3) playing just their third home game when they meet the Golden State Valkyries (6-4) on Saturday afternoon.

Las Vegas went 2-1 on a six-day road trip that ended with a 79-69 road victory over the Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday. The Aces were short-handed in the backcourt and head coach Becky Hammon experimented with a lineup that had four-time MVP A’ja Wilson moving from her post position to a wing spot.

The Aces didn’t practice the lineup before Hammon told Wilson: “I’m putting you in at the three.”

“I was nervous,” Wilson said. “I’m not going to lie because I don’t practice the three. I just went out there and did it.”

Wilson responded with 25 points, 15 rebounds and a season-high five blocks as Jewell Loyd and Chennedy Carter joined Dana Evans on the sideline as all three are dealing with left leg injuries. Evans has not played this season.

Loyd and Carter are listed as day-to-day so Hammon might need Wilson at the guard/forward hybrid position again Saturday.

“I actually liked the big guard A’ja at the three lineup,” Hammon said.

A big lineup could be problematic for the Valkyries, who are having rebounding issues of late. They were outrebounded 43-31 in an 87-84 loss at Minnesota on Thursday. The Lynx had a 14-9 edge in offensive rebounds.

“We can’t give anyone 14 extra possessions,” Golden State head coach Natalie Nakase said.

Rebounding was also an issue for the Valkries in a 91-81 home loss to the Aces on Sunday. Las Vegas had a 45-33 edge on the boards, including a 12-9 advantage on the offensive glass.

“It was the same thing with Vegas — they outrebounded us,” Nakase said. “So we’ve got to make sure we get more possessions no matter who we play. That’s got to be part of it. We’ve got to make sure we own the boards.”

Wilson has 8.9 rebounds per game for the Aces, who are second in the WNBA in rebounds per game (37.3), while the Valkyries rank seventh (33.5).

–Field Level Media

NASCAR Hall of Famer Ned Jarrett, a two-time series champion, died on Thursday. He was 93.

The Jarrett family said he died at his home in North Carolina.

“With profound sadness, the family of NASCAR Hall of Fame driver and radio/TV personality, Ned Jarrett, announces his passing on Thursday, June 4, 2026,” the family statement began. “He died peacefully of natural causes at his home in Newton, North Carolina, with his family by his side. He was 93 years old.

“Our father was a devout Christian and a devoted, loving family man. He was a friend to everyone he met and NASCAR’s oldest living champion. By all accounts, he was a true NASCAR legend. While we mourn his passing, we celebrate the remarkable life of an amazing man and truly the best father anyone could have wished for. Rest in Peace, Dad.”

Jarrett’s top-level series championships came in 1961 and 1965. He had 50 wins and 185 top-five finishes in 352 starts between 1953-66. He was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2011.

Jarrett broke his back in a crash at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in South Carolina in 1965, partially leading to his retirement at age 34. The other part of the equation was Ford Motor Company’s withdrawal from stock-car racing.

Jarrett returned to racing in 1978 as a radio broadcaster and eventually had television stints with CBS and ESPN. During the 1993 Daytona 500, he openly rooted for son Dale Jarrett as he won the race over Dale Earnhardt.

“Despite his calm demeanor, ‘Gentleman’ Ned Jarrett was as fierce a competitor as NASCAR has ever seen,” NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell said in a statement. “His on-track accomplishments speak for themselves with wins and championships across several NASCAR divisions. But it was his off-the-track persona that separated Ned from his peers. He was as kind as his nickname indicated. And his endearing personality helped him excel in his second career as a broadcaster.

“Ned was an outstanding ambassador for the sport for more than six decades, and he will be dearly missed. On behalf of … all of NASCAR, I offer my deepest condolences to all of Ned’s family and friends on the loss of a NASCAR legend.”

Dale Jarrett also is a Hall of Famer. He was enshrined in 2014.

–Field Level Media