Sport

NASCAR driver Ryan Newman knows the importance of staying strong and fit for his day job. But he has his own way of exercising, which includes doing work on his 208-acre, North Carolina farm. So he doesn’t really understand the cycling fad that seems to have taken over NASCAR, with drivers like Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth and Jamie McMurray regularly trading their four wheels for two —…

Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth, and Kurt Busch are former Cup Series champions with a combined 90 wins and credentials of future first-ballot NASCAR Hall of Famers. Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones, and William Byron are three of the sport’s rising stars, possessing the kind of talent that owners covet. These are six of the major players in what is shaping up to be a seismic Silly Season in which some of…

While too early in the morning for a torch lighting, a new television network designed to highlight Olympic sports and American athletes chasing gold medal dreams is set to debut Saturday. The Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA network launches at 6 a.m. ET in some 35 million American homes with NBC’s Mike Tirico previewing the live sports, archival footage and documentaries that will make up most of its programming….

It was ostensibly a press conference for Ferrari’s 2016 Finali Mondiali at Daytona International Speedway last December 4, but perhaps the biggest revelation to come out of that presser concerned NASCAR, with Sergio Marchionne, chief executive officer of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, saying he was interested in getting Chrysler, most likely Dodge, back into NASCAR. This came as a surprise to Dodge employees at the highest level. But given Marchionne’s revelation,…

Dak Prescott is the starting quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. He’s coming off a phenomenally successful season, and if his play in the future bears any resemblance to what he did in 2016, he’ll be in that position for a long, long time. So, why does Dak wish he played soccer as a kid? Here’s how he explained it to Pro Football Talk while answering a question about his favorite…

Even before he was born, Jacob Roger Poulin was destined to play hockey. His grandfather got him skates while he was “still in the belly,” and he held a hockey stick as soon as he could. He seemingly had natural athletic talent, on skates at 18 months old, even before he began walking a month later. By age 3, he was swinging across monkey bars. His father, Steve Poulin described…

When the IOC approved 3-on-3 basketball as an official Olympic sport last month, BIG3 co-founder Jeff Kwatinetz wasn’t surprised. The Olympic approval came five months after Kwatinetz and media mogul Ice Cube announced their endeavor of a halfcourt league featuring retired NBA stars such as Allen Iverson, Mike Bibby, Chauncey Billups, and Rashard Lewis. BIG3 CEO Amy…

Chuck Blazer died Wednesday at the age of 72. (Bernd Kammerer/ AP file) In 2009, Guardian journalist David Conn first encountered Chuck Blazer at a luxury hotel in Abu Dhabi, where Blazer was overseeing that year’s Club World Cup as a member of FIFA’s executive committee. Somewhat stunned by the sight of a fantastically obese man in a motorized mobility scooter barking orders at nearly everyone in sight, Conn eventually…

NASCAR announced Thursday that Brent Dewar has been promoted to the role of President of NASCAR, effective immediately. Dewar, hired as NASCAR’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) in December 2013, becomes the fourth President of NASCAR. Mike Helton served in that capacity from 2000 until his promotion to Vice Chairman of NASCAR in 2015. Bill France Sr. ruled the sanctioning body as President from its founding in 1948 until 1972, when…

RANDLEMAN, N.C. – The 10 trophies are front and center as you enter the door. “That’s Petty Enterprises; that’s what it’s all about,” says Richard Petty, recipient of seven of the 10 pieces of hardware inside the glass case that stretches from floor to ceiling.  The other three were won by his father, Lee Petty. They are championship trophies. NASCAR championship trophies. The first was won in 1954, the last…

Chuck Blazer died Wednesday at the age of 72. (Bernd Kammerer/ AP file) In 2009, Guardian journalist David Conn first encountered Chuck Blazer at a luxury hotel in Abu Dhabi, where Blazer was overseeing that year’s Club World Cup as a member of FIFA’s executive committee. Somewhat stunned by the sight of a fantastically obese man in a motorized mobility scooter barking orders at nearly everyone in sight, Conn eventually…

For most people the Olympics are an extravaganza that’s broadcast on television for two weeks every two years. A baroque opening ceremony is followed by several sports—including many rarely seen on TV otherwise—and then a torch gets put out. For those who’ve tuned out since the flame was extinguished in Rio de Janeiro last summer, an update: The Olympics and the International Olympic Committee—the organization that parcels out the rights…

Ulysse Delsaux climbed onto the roof of his car, clapped his hands together seven times and raised his arms in triumph. When he hopped down, the hugs and handshakes came from everywhere — fellow drivers, spotters and NASCAR officials. All first wins are special, and the one Ulysse had just earned in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series was even more so. Everybody wanted to congratulate Ulysse, and his dad, Emmanuel,…

For most people the Olympics are an extravaganza that’s broadcast on television for two weeks every two years. A baroque opening ceremony is followed by several sports—including many rarely seen on TV otherwise—and then a torch gets put out. For those who’ve tuned out since the flame was extinguished in Rio de Janeiro last summer, an update: The Olympics and the International Olympic Committee—the organization that parcels out the rights…

Chuck Blazer died Wednesday at the age of 72. (Bernd Kammerer/ AP file) In 2009, Guardian journalist David Conn first encountered Chuck Blazer at a luxury hotel in Abu Dhabi, where Blazer was overseeing that year’s Club World Cup as a member of FIFA’s executive committee. Somewhat stunned by the sight of a fantastically obese man in a motorized mobility scooter barking orders at nearly everyone in sight, Conn eventually…

Mikhail Grigorenko, a former first-round NHL pick, is headed back to the KHL. (David Zalubowski/Associated Press) In April, the NHL announced that it would not be sending players to the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, with Commissioner Gary Bettman saying the league did not want to disrupt its regular season. Among those affected by that decision are several players from Russia, and some are apparently deciding to leave the…

NEW YORK — Chuck Blazer, the disgraced American soccer executive whose admissions of corruption set off a global scandal that ultimately toppled FIFA President Sepp Blatter, died Wednesday. He was 72. Blazer’s death was announced by his lawyers, Eric Corngold and Mary Mulligan. At a November 2013 court hearing during which Blazer entered guilty pleas to 10 federal charges, Blazer said he had rectal cancer, diabetes and coronary artery disease….

So in the summer of 2008, he invented a player. He would be a promising 16-year-old from Moldova, a country distant enough that his fictional roots might not easily be exposed. And his name would come straight from the statue of Ó Conaire. After all, the plot of his short story centers on a character who “knows his donkey is useless, but tries to sell it to the highest bidder,”…

RELATED: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series standings | Owner points standings NASCAR handed out an L1-level penalty to the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing team of Kyle Larson following Saturday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Kentucky Speedway. The penalty was for rear brake cooling assembly that didn’t meet standards, and Larson’s second-place finish was ruled encumbered. In addition, crew chief Chad Johnston was fined $75,000 and suspended for…

NASHVILLE—Saturday afternoon in Nashville, and the smell of smoking meats wafted above a frying-pan hot pavement in a parking lot near Nissan Stadium. Flags – both the Stars and Stripes and those of other various regional and tribal allegiances – flapped slowly in an only intermittent breeze. A nearby Shoney’s offered a “Welcome Soccer Fans” message above a line about their ribs.  But all around the stadium, its western edge…