B SPORTS SUNDAY, JULY 19, 2020 TYLERPAPER.COM © 2020, TYLER MORNING TELEGRAPH THE GREAT OUTDOORS 4B FROM THE SIDELINES: SENIOR SPOTLIGHT Name: Maci Plunk MACI PLUNK BRAYDEN JOHNSON Name: Brayden Johnson School: Spring Hill High School, Longview School: Kilgore High School Parents: David and Sheila Plunk Parents: Mike and Angel Johnson Brothers/sisters: Katie Montgomery and Ken- Brothers/sisters: Braddox Johnson dra Plunk Sports you play: Baseball and football Sports you play: Volleyball, soccer, track and Favorite high school sports memory: Going to field the state tournament in baseball last year Favorite high school sports memory: When Plans after high school: Attend Texas A&M-Tex- we won district in soccer last season and made it arkana to continue my baseball career and even- into the fifth round of playoffs. We beat the state tually become a dentist champions from the previous year. All the crazy Favorite song: Sum 2 Prove by: Lil Baby bus rides listening to loud music Coach Dowell Favorite food: Mexican hates. Favorite TV show: All American Plans after high school: Attend Tarleton State Favorite movie: The Sandlot University and study Psychology Who are your role models: Both of my parents Favorite song: Jesus You Alone by Highlands Which coaches have had the most influence Worship on you and why: My high school coaches helped Favorite food: Chinese food/Canes push myself to become a better player and per- Favorite TV show: Psych son; my summer coach’s, coach Thomas and Favorite movie: Jumanji 2 coach Curt who always helped me see what was Who are your role models: My great-grandfa- needed to get to the next level. ther and Sadie Robertson Who is your favorite teacher: Mrs. Crocker Which coaches have had the most influence Where do you see yourself in 10 years: Hope- on you and why: Coach Dowell and my father, fully fresh out of dental school working my dream Coach Plunk. Coach Dowell has helped me with job my skills and has been the best coach hands son to learn. He’s taught me that not everything COURTESY Something about yourself that most people down I’ve ever had. He’s made me get faster and is about scoring or winning, but a good mind- while serving God in my house and community don’t know: I had seizures when I was really little stronger in playing. He has not only helped me set and being a team player. The best thing he Something about yourself that most people and I was told I’d never be able to do the things become a better soccer player, but all my team- taught me, after we lost the round before state, don’t know: I’ve been singing since I was five. I’m doing today with baseball. mates. Each of us get better every single practice was that I don’t find my identity in soccer, but I love to play my baritone ukulele and sing in What will you miss most about high school and game. My dad has taught me everything I in Christ. church. sports: The bonds I have created with my best know about the game. He’s showed me how to Who is your favorite teacher: Mrs. Hales What will you miss most about high school friends. High school has shown me a brotherhood be the best teammate I can be, and to always put Where do you see yourself in 10 years: Work- sports: All the friends I’ve made in sports and I can never forget not only with just baseball but others before myself which is the greatest les- ing in a clinic being an occupational therapist being forced to stay in shape. football also. EDITOR’S With spring sports canceled, the Tyler Morning Telegraph wants to profile East Texas seniors in those sports in a feature called “From the Sidelines.” If you’re an East Texas senior who NOTE competes in a spring sport and would like to be featured, answer the questions above and send it to [email protected], along with a photo. AUTO RACING MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL | TEXAS RANGERS Harvick, Hamlin still predictable PEEK AT THE PARK Cup favorites at Rangers’ new field brings cool back to Texas baseball hot Texas track BY STEPHEN HAWKINS Associated Press FORT WORTH — Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin can easily be considered favorites for the first summertime race at Texas, even in this unpredictable and un- precedented NASCAR Cup season. While there have been no practice ses- sions or qualifying laps since racing re- sumed two months ago, Harvick and Hamlin are both three-time winners at Texas, and combined to win four of the last five races there. They are tied with a Cup-best four wins apiece this season, and all but one of those have come since mid-May. The 1 1/2-mile track could get slick on a scorching Sunday afternoon, with tem- peratures forecast in the upper 90s and the heat index into the 100s. It will be about 30 degrees warmer than on March 29, the day the race was originally scheduled before the coronavirus pandemic. The NASCAR Cup O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 is scheduled for 2 p.m. (TV: NBCSN). “You’d be hard to bet against those two. This track, with one and two being so flat and having so little grip, that’s right up Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick’s alley,” NBC Sports analyst Jeff Burton said. “That’s right what they’re so good at, so I expect they’ll both run very well.” Burton, who won the inaugural Texas race in 1997 and became the first two-time winner at the track in 2007, said the fasci- nating part about this season is the unpre- dictability of what’s going to happen with- out practice and the application of traction PHIL HICKS/STAFF compound on tracks. Above: A view of the retractable roof at Globe Life Field in Arlington, home of the Texas Rangers. Below: A look at the Rangers There are no rules changes from last year uniforms through the years at Globe Life Field in Arlington. for the aerodynamic or engine packages used at Texas, where Hamlin won in the BY PHIL HICKS spring before Harvick won his third con- [email protected] secutive fall race there. “We’re going to use some notes from the RLINGTON — The old saying, previous races there last year. … We will you can’t judge a book by its take into account weather and all that stuff cover, would apply to the new to figure out what kind of car we need to A Texas Rangers ballpark. take to that race track to be successful,” While the $1.2 billion Globe Life Field said Hamlin, who won both Texas races in does not have the beautiful architecture 2010. “Hopefully, we guess right.” of the adjacent Globe Life Park (or as I As for the traction compound, applied in still call it, The Ballpark), the inside cli- corners to create more passing opportuni- mate-controlled new structure more than ties, Hamlin described a “50-50 crapshoot” makes up for the exterior. whether it’s “going to be the same and in With a retractable roof, fans will not the same line.” have to swelter through the brutal Texas Hamlin and points leader Harvick both summer they have experienced since the expressed concerns about how the com- Rangers moved to the Metroplex from pound was reapplied last week at Kentucky, Washington in 1972. which like Texas is a 1 1/2-mile track owned The new fieldhas a 5.5-acre retractable by Speedway Motorsports. roof that features clear roof panels, allow- “I think you have to be concerned with ing natural light into the ballpark when it going to Texas because it hasn’t been the it is closed. When the roof is open, it is same as what it was last year,” said Harvick, docked behind the third base grandstand. who has 11 consecutive top-10 finishes in When closed, the temperatures will be in Texas. the mid-70s. It is the largest single-panel TMS president Eddie Gossage said he operable roof in the world and weighs 24 has long wanted a NASCAR race in the real million pounds. about 40,300. The old park could seat up The Rangers’ first scheduled regular Texas heat. The track’s usual schedule is an The concourses are much wider than to 48,000, including a record 52,419 for the season game at the new stadium is Thurs- early spring race and then a fall race in late the The Ballpark and although the new firstWo rld Series home game in Rangers’ day, July 24 against the Colorado Rockies. October or early November. park is much larger than the old park history on Oct. 30, 2010. Rangers officials are hopeful in the “Drivers always talk about how they (Globe Life Field measures 1.8 million In the north concourse brick arches future fans will be able to attend games square feet, 400,000 square feet more are present, reminiscent of the exterior NASCAR >> PAGE 3B than Globe Life Park), the capacity is less, of Globe Life Park. PARK >> PAGE 3B.