Chris Snee was on the field with his New York Giants teammates for the most of the team’s recent Organized Team Activities.

The Giants are adjusting to a new offensive system under first-year offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo.

Snee, who missed much of training camp last season then played in only three games, is getting in as much practice time as possible.

The Montrose graduate is preparing for his 11th season as offensive guard with the National Football League team. Snee, a four-time Pro Bowler, has had surgeries on both hips and one of his elbows in the past 16 months.

“I feel like I can still play and play at a high level,” Snee said, according to a story on Giants.com. “I went up and I had meetings and got opinions from guys that I respect and they all felt I could play and they want me here. So, I’m here.”

Snee was on the field for the off-season practice sessions.

The 34th overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft, Snee has started in all 141 of his career regular-season games with the Giants. He helped the team to two Super Bowl titles.

The 6-foot-3, 310-pounder is 32 years old.

WEEK IN REVIEW

The future of professional baseball in northeastern Pennsylvania, in jeopardy less than three years ago, has been solidified through the end of the 2018 season.

During a home game at PNC Field in Moosic on the last day of May, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders and their parent club, the New York Yankees, announced a four-year extension of their player development contract.

Four years is the longest commitment allowed to a minor-league affiliate under the rules of professional baseball.

“We love our relationship with the Yankees,” RailRiders president and general manager Rob Crain said in a press release the night of the announcement. “The signing of the PDC’s maximum extension marks the formal acknowledgment of what everyone should know – the RailRiders and the Yankees enjoy a wonderfully positive partnership that will be here for a long, long time.”

The RailRiders are the top farm team of the Yankees, playing on the Class AAA level in the International League.

The team, then known as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, spent the 2012 season playing at various temporary sites, mostly in New York State while PNC Field was being reconstructed in time for the start of the 2013 season.

Crain and New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman signed the agreement and addressed the crowd after the third inning of the May 31 game against the Toledo Mud Hens. It was a night of celebration at the stadium, including a pre-game ceremony to honor long-time SWB Yankees and RailRiders manager on his induction into the International League Hall of Fame.

“We are excited,” Cashman said. “When we brought the franchise affiliation here in 2007, we told everyone we were here to stay and we meant business.

“We couldn’t be in a better place.”

Originally known as Lackawanna County Stadium, PNC Field opened in 1989 with the debut of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons, the top affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. The franchise became known as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees when the agreement with the New York Yankees was reached in time for the 2007 season.

TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com or followed on Twitter at @tomjrobinson.

JOHNSON GETS WIN NUMBER THREE

Jimmie Johnson gets win number three at Michigan. Furnished by NASCAR

BROOKLYN, Mich.—Jimmie Johnson has now won three of the last four Sprint Cup races. His latest win came Sunday, and was his first at the Michigan track.

Johnson, who led 39 laps of the 200-lap race, pitted for the last time on lap 164. He regained the lead with five-to-go, and from that point on, it was no contest.

“We’ve tried a long time to win this race and today we did it,” said Johnson. “We had an awesome car. I’d have to say it was a picture perfect race. Everyone did a fantastic job and the car ran great the entire race.”

Polesitter Kevin Harvick, who led the most laps (63) finished second, 1.214 seconds back.

“The car was good at times, and then the handling went away,” said Harvick. “We had some good runs, and some that was not so good. We needed a little something that we didn’t have there at the end.”

Brad Keselowski ran up front most of the day and came in third.

“Man, I was trying to drive the wheels off,” said Keselowski. “I knew we didn’t have a first-place car, but I knew it was a third or fourth-place one. We were in a good position to win. Obviously, we’ve got to do a little more work to keep up with those guys.”

Paul Menard, winner of Saturday’s Nationwide Series race finished fourth. Kasey Kahne was fifth, and then it was Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, and Clint Bowyer.

The race started off with two separate wrecks within the first five laps.

Before the first lap was completed, Brian Vickers hit the outside wall, collecting Travis Kvapil.

On the first green flag lap after the restart, Kyle Larson hit the wall coming out of turn-2. Kasey Kahne spun down into the infield to avoid Larsen’s car.

Both drivers were able to regroup and finish within the top-10.

Top-10 Chase leaders after 15 of 36: 1. Gordon-537, 2. Johnson-522, 3. Earnhardt-514, 4. Kenseth-513, 5. Keselowski-490, 6. Edwards-462, 7. Logano-454, 8. Larson-454, 9. Harvick-447, 10. Kyle Busch-446.

MENARD GETS BREAK AT MICHIGAN

Paul Menard wasn’t sure he could catch leader Joey Logano in Saturday’s Nationwide race before he ran out of laps. But he didn’t have to worry, because with four laps remaining in the 125-lap race, Logano had a flat tire and had to pull into his pits, giving the lead to Menard.

“I was trying to run Joey down, but I wasn’t having much luck,” said Menard. “I really thought I had given it away on that last restart, but the best car won today. It took us about three runs (during practice) Friday to get the car dialed in. After that I felt like we had the best car.”

Menard led three times for 28 laps. The win is just the second for him in the Nationwide Series. His previous win came at Milwaukee in 2006.

Sam Hornish was second, followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch, Brian Scott, Chase Elliott, Regan Smith, Kyle Larson, Ty Dillon, and Chris Buescher.

Logano did finish the race on the lead lap in the 15th spot.

“I’m not sure what we could have done to prevent something like that from happening, but I sure hate to give them away like that,” said Logano. “We had a fast car and I think we would have won the race if this (flat tire) hadn’t happened.”

Top-10 leaders after 13 of 33: 1. Smith-485, 2. Sadler-471, 3. Elliott-465, 4. T. Dillon-450, 5. Bayne-435, 6. Scott-430, 7. Gaughan-363, 8. C. Buescher-362, 9. J. Buescher-361, 10. Reed-333.

WALLACE JR WINS SECOND TRUCK RACE

Darrell Wallace Jr. won Saturday night’s truck race at Texas Motor Speedway for his second career win.

The remaining top-10 finishers were: German Quiroga, Timothy Peters, Johnny Sauter, Ron Hornaday, Cole Custer, Ryan Blaney, John Wes Townley, Chase Pistone, Tyler Malsam.

Top-10 leaders after 7 of 22: 1. Sauter-261, 2. Crafton-251, 3. Hornaday-248, 4. Peters-246, 5. Blaney-244, 6. Quiroga-243, 7. Townley-234, 8. Kennedy-229, Wallace-9. 218, 10. Burton-211.

HUMPY WHEELER SPEAKS OUT

For over three decades, Humpy Wheeler was the head honcho at Charlotte Motor Speedway, before leaving in 2008. He was considered one of the best salesmen and promoters to ever hit NASCAR.

Since his retirement from CMS, he has designed a program to help America’s small race tracks. Last week he did an interview with Autoweek.

AW: What is Sprint Cup missing?

WHEELER: The most important thing is the repass, when the leader gets passed and within 20 laps he comes back to pass the new leader. That's where rubbing comes in, and you've got to have some rubbing. Nobody except TV gets excited about rubbing for seventh, so you need rubbing up front. And you need a superhero like Tiger Woods or Joe Namath, somebody like that. Walt Disney told his people to draw in a villain within the first 90 seconds. We need something like that. We need villains, but, instead, we have too many pretty boys. There just aren't any personalities.

AW: Even though things have changed, does racing still get its fair shake?

WHEELER: The media is doing a great job, but the publicity isn't as great as it was because the flower isn't blooming like it was. It was that way with the PGA and the NBA and Major League Baseball at some points. Racing is at a plateau right now like so many other sports have been at plateaus. It's a normal thing because you just can't have these 10- or 15-year periods of percentage growth like we did. I think it's about to turn the corner.

AW: We're guessing you would have promoted and hyped Danica Patrick unlike anything we've ever seen.

WHEELER: Danica has sold a lot of tickets, just like Janet Guthrie did [in May 1976]. When Janet qualified here [for the Coca-Cola 600] it was the biggest day we ever had. Danica is good for racing because she gives girls—notice I didn't say women, I said girls—someone to pull for. They can relate to her because she's a little-bitty thing who looks like a high school kid. When she was in IndyCar, it was like a ballet; over here, it's more like a square dance. She's good for NASCAR, no doubt about it.

Weekend Racing: Both the Cup and Nationwide teams will be on road courses. The Cup teams will travel west to Sonoma, California while the Nationwide teams are at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The Trucks have an off week.

Sat., June 21, Nationwide Series race 14 of 33; Starting time: 2:30 pm ET; TV: ABC.

Sun., June 22, Sprint Cup race 16 of 36; Starting time: 2 pm ET; TV: TNT.

Racing Trivia Question: How many drivers will this year’s Chase consist of?

Last Week’s Question: Which Cup team does Martin Truex drive for? Answer. The No. 78 Cup team of Furniture Row Racing.

You may contact the Racing Reporter at hodges@race500.com.