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Now we get to the good part. Last week’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover, Del., eliminated four playoff drivers – Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, and Austin Dillon . That leaves 12. Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson … they’re all still alive. And now they’re going to go straight at each other. The thing is, while the playoffs have been going on for three races, the…

NASCAR fans have nothing to worry about. That was the message NASCAR CEO Brian France delivered during a Wednesday appearance on SiriusXM satellite radio. His optimism comes during a time when there is diminishing interest in the sport, the lowest television ratings since 2000 and the imminent retirement of the sport’s most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr. But France says NASCAR is just stuck in an annual cycle….

Brazilian police have arrested the head of the national Olympics committee, Carlos Arthur Nuzman, who is accused of conspiring to bribe members of the International Olympic Committee to pick Rio de Janeiro as host of the 2016 games. Brazilian investigators claim Nuzman helped arrange a $2m bribe to get the games for Rio de Janeiro. Leonardo Gryner, a former director of the national Olympics committee, was also arrested in a…

NASCAR fans have nothing to worry about. That was the message NASCAR CEO Brian France delivered during a Wednesday appearance on SiriusXM satellite radio. His optimism comes during a time when there is diminishing interest in the sport, the lowest television ratings since 2000 and the imminent retirement of the sport’s most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr. But France says NASCAR is just stuck in an annual cycle….

Now we get to the good part. Last week’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover, Del., eliminated four playoff drivers – Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, and Austin Dillon . That leaves 12. Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson … they’re all still alive. And now they’re going to go straight at each other. The thing is, while the playoffs have been going on for three races, the…

Now we get to the good part. Last week’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover, Del., eliminated four playoff drivers – Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, and Austin Dillon . That leaves 12. Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson … they’re all still alive. And now they’re going to go straight at each other. The thing is, while the playoffs have been going on for three races, the…

1:00 PM ET Facebook Twitter Facebook Messenger Pinterest Email print comment The quarterfinal round of 12 has a different dynamic in 2017, and it’s not just because of the playoff points that drivers carry into the three-race stretch of Charlotte-Talladega-Kansas. With Talladega as the middle race instead of the final one, drivers won’t have the option to lay back and try to avoid an accident because they can’t count on…

Race: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Bank of America 500 Distance: 334 laps, or 501 miles. Where: Charlotte Motor Speedway, a 1.5-mile, asphalt quad oval in Concord. When: 2 p.m. Sunday. TV: NBCSN. Radio: PRN. Last year’s winner: Jimmie Johnson. Also this week: Drive for the Cure 300 Presented by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, Xfinity Series, Charlotte Motor Speedway, 3 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 7, NBCSN. Worth mentioning:…

In the 1990’s and early 2000’s, Ato Boldon was one of the world’s fastest men. He won Olympic medals in both the 100- and 200-meter sprints, collecting three bronzes and a silver over his illustrious career. He competed against track legends Maurice Green and Frankie Fredericks, and he came out ahead sometimes. He is, by all measures, one of the sport’s most accomplished sprinters. So what is he doing in…

11:02 AM ET Facebook Twitter Facebook Messenger Pinterest Email print comment CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Denny Hamlin knows NASCAR teams are struggling to find dollars, but when the suggestion that drivers should take pay cuts comes up, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver will lobby that those who risk their lives don’t get paid enough. Hamlin looks at the eight-figure and nine-figure deals that stars in other sports make and feels there’s…

And here we thought Martin Truex Jr. was cruising down the highway, heading to his first NASCAR Cup title. Not so fast. Things are about to get disruptive with The Rowdy One, Kyle Busch. Busch now has won two consecutive playoff races and is only 18 points behind Truex in the playoff standings. Every point is critical in trying to move forward to Homestead in late November for the final-four…

The future athletes village is already under construction near Paris ahead of the 2024 Olympics. (Benoit Tessier/Reuters) Olympic athletes hoping to live it up at the 2020 Games in Tokyo may be in for disappointment. In an attempt to save funds, the International Olympic Committee said Tuesday it will consider revising the “level of service” provided at the athletes village, the area set aside for athlete accommodations at the Olympics. “We…

NASCAR announced penalties on Tuesday following last weekend’s events at Dover International Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Among them were citations against two Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams for unsecured lug nuts and suspensions for a NASCAR XFINITY Series team for loss of added ballast. The Monster Energy Series teams hit for lug nuts were the No. 77 Furniture Row Racing Toyota driven by Erik Jones and the…

Intel says it’s planning to deliver a Windows Mixed Reality experience for the Winter Olympics next year. A company spokesperson appeared, in virtual reality, at Microsoft’s special Mixed Reality event in San Francisco this morning. While Intel hasn’t demonstrated exactly what it’s building, it will likely be similar to the VR broadcasts from NBC during the 2016 Rio Olympics. NBC previously broadcast a range of events on the Samsung Gear…

CONCORD, N.C. — After several seasons of reducing downforce and limiting horsepower, NASCAR’s 2018 rules package won’t take quite as big of a bite out of the aerodynamic platform currently employed by teams competing in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. There are changes, but overall the 2018 package, delivered to teams Tuesday, is more about maintaining the positive momentum from years prior. “We’ve got some things we would still…

Master engine builder and longtime NASCAR team owner Robert Yates of Charlotte died late Monday. Yates, 74, was selected for induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s Class of 2018. The Charlotte Observer reported earlier this year that he was battling liver cancer. Yates received his cancer diagnosis late in 2016 and immediately began treatment. But the cancer had been too advanced for chemotherapy to eradicate. His company, Roush Yates…

BARCELONA, Spain — Several thousand protesters gathered Tuesday outside the Barcelona headquarters of Spain’s National Police to protest alleged brutality by police during a disputed referendum on Catalonia’s secession that left hundreds of people injured. The crowd gathered in the Catalan capital, shouting slogans calling Spanish police an “occupying force” and urging them to leave the northeastern region. The protest came as several small labor unions and grassroots pro-independence groups…

The Diacks and the businessman, Arthur Cesar de Menezes Soares Filho, whose holding company made the payments, have been accused of corrupting the voting process that took the Olympics to South America for the first time. Investigators want to know whether Société Générale acted lawfully when Soares attempted to transfer funds to the younger Diack. Photo Prosecutors in France are investigating the role that Société Générale played in the transfer…

DOVER, Delaware — As NASCAR transitions to a younger generation of drivers, they will have their chance to influence the sport as Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and others have. This past weekend’s racing at Dover International Speedway gave the sport’s new kids a chance to show how to do things and possibly influence younger competitors elsewhere. Ryan Blaney set the tone after winning Saturday’s Xfinty race. He celebrated at…

I’ll admit that it can be a little odd to practice your skills in front of a screen, but the virtual trainer does a great job of not being obtrusive. All you see is the ball, your feet and, depending on the lesson, a set of digital cones and a speed bar that show how well (or not) you’re doing. The companion application gives you access to more than 100…