NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — Team Penske’s eight-year IndyCar winless skid at Iowa Speedway is hard to figure out. This might be the year that one of the circuit’s powerhouse programs finally knocks a win at Iowa off its to-do list.

Penske will enter Saturday’s race with three of the top five drivers in IndyCar, including series leader Juan Pablo Montoya. And all of those drivers will be powered by Chevrolet engines and aero kits, which have proven to have quite the advantage over their Honda counterparts this season.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Northern Iowa head track coach Dan Steele has resigned to become the associate head coach at Iowa State. Steele spent the past six seasons with the Panthers, who won 49 individual conference titles under his tutelage.

The move will reunite Steele with Martin Smith, the men’s and women’s cross country director for the Cyclones. Steele and Smith worked together at Oregon from 2001-05.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A man who had spent years a volunteer youth sports coach in West Des Moines has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison for having more than 100 images of child pornography. Des Moines television station KCCI reports that Frank Burns, of Urbandale, was sentenced Thursday in Federal Court in downtown Des Moines.

The judge called Burns’ crimes serious because in about half of the 121 pornographic images, Burns had edited his face onto the pictures. Burns also admitted to authorities that he had sexually abused a teenage girl. Besides coaching youth sports, Burns had worked on committees for Special Olympics Iowa and Reach Out and Read Iowa.

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast w/Jim Field.

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Class 1A- District 13
Van Meter 6 Guthrie Center 3
Nodaway Valley 11 Earlham 8
Class 1A- District 14
Lenox 7 Bedford 5
Martensdale-St. Mary’s 11 Murray 0 (6 inn)
Class 1A – District 15
Nishnabotna @ Sidney – PPD to 7-p.m. Friday (7/16)
Council Bluffs/St. Albert 11 Tri-Center 1 (5 inn)
Class 1A- District 16
Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton 4 West Harrison 0
Coon Rapids-Bayard 9 Gildden-Ralston 1
Class 1A – District 1
Remsen, St. Mary’s 4 Woodbury Central 0
Lawton-Bronson 7 West Monona 0

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The finale of last year’s IndyCar race in Iowa showed what Ryan Hunter-Reay can do when he’s in peak form. A similar showing this weekend would help erase some of the sting of a rough season.

In 2014, Hunter-Reay blew past half the field in just 10 laps to become the only active driver with multiple wins on Iowa’s short oval. This year, the 2012 series winner heads back to Newton mired in 14th place. Hunter-Reay and the rest of the IndyCar series will run for the ninth straight year at Iowa Speedway on Saturday night.

ST. LOUIS (AP) – The St. Louis Cardinals enter the second half of the season with the best record in baseball. But their once-imposing lead in the National League Central Division has dwindled to 2 1/2 games. The Cardinals hope to have slugger Matt Holliday back from the 15-day disabled list in time for their series against the New York Mets at home beginning Friday.

The Cardinals are 56-33 despite injuries to ace Adam Wainwright, Matt Adams, Jon Jay, Jordan Walden, Marco Gonzales and Holliday, out since early June with a quadriceps injury. St. Louis still has a 2.71 ERA, best at the break in the majors since the 1981 Astros posted a 2.81 ERA, according to STATS. They landed three pitchers on the National League All-Star team.

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast w/Jim Field.

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Sioux City, East 12, Lewis Central 1
Winterset 8, Perry 2

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – A person familiar with the situation tells The Associated Press that the Chiefs and All-Pro linebacker Justin Houston have agreed to a six-year, $101 million contract that includes $52.5 million in guarantees. The person spoke on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the deal has not been announced. The sides had until late afternoon to work out a deal, otherwise Houston would have played the upcoming season under the franchise tag.

The deal is not only the richest in franchise history but also the richest for a linebacker in NFL history. The only defensive player to sign for more is Ndamukong Suh, who reached a six-year, $114 million deal with Miami.