Sport

After hitting the West Coast for three consecutive races, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is off this weekend but then will race on southeastern short tracks during three of the next four weekends. Who are the best current drivers on short tracks? The answers may surprise you. 6. KEVIN HARVICK — With an average short-track finish of 13.74, Harvick is a solid threat to win. Of course, that’s pretty much…

To save articles or get newsletters, alerts or recommendations – all free. Don’t have an account yet?Create an account » Subscribed through iTunes and need an NYTimes.com account?Learn more » Need to connect your Home Delivery subscription to NYTimes.com?Link your subscription »

GIF via YouTube Two of NASCAR’s biggest stars—Danica Patrick and Kyle Busch—received penalties today from NASCAR’s weekend at Auto Club Speedway. Patrick’s penalty is a clear message that NASCAR wants no one to ever walk towards the track itself, and Busch’s may involve something else he said. (Big “may.”) Let’s take a look. Danica In Doo-Doo Danica Patrick’s crash at this weekend’s Sprint Cup Auto Club 400 was arguably the…

In the beginning, recalls David Patey, soccer was like sushi. In order to be able to suffer the offending morsels, he would have to pinch his nose before allowing himself to swallow. But then we all know the malleability of the human palate. Expose it long and often enough, et voilà. Which is just as well. Because Patey had just placed himself center stage in an ownership group which had…

Kyle Busch and Danica Patrick were penalized by NASCAR Thursday for behavioral infractions during last weekend’s Sprint Cup and Xfinity Series races at Auto Club Speedway. Busch was fined $10,000 for not fulfilling media obligations, while Patrick was fined $20,000 for walking toward the racing surface while on-track activity was taking place. Both drivers were also put on probation: Busch for Xfinity races through April 27, Patrick for the…

To save articles or get newsletters, alerts or recommendations – all free. Don’t have an account yet?Create an account » Subscribed through iTunes and need an NYTimes.com account?Learn more » Need to connect your Home Delivery subscription to NYTimes.com?Link your subscription »

LONDON Double Olympic gold medalist Rebecca Adlington has called for a ‘full-on investigation’ into claims of widespread doping in Russian and Chinese swimming. The Times newspaper reported on Thursday that Chinese swimming was being investigated by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) over claims by whistleblowers that five positive tests had been covered up before Olympic trials next month. It said two tests were believed to have been failed in October…

Johnson was sacked by Sunderland after admitting on the first day of his trial that he had kissed the girl As Adam Johnson begins his six-year sentence after being convicted of sexual activity with a child, having also pleaded guilty to one count of grooming and one count of kissing the girl, there is an understandable desire to make sure football is doing everything it can to stop such a…

To save articles or get newsletters, alerts or recommendations – all free. Don’t have an account yet?Create an account » Subscribed through iTunes and need an NYTimes.com account?Learn more » Need to connect your Home Delivery subscription to NYTimes.com?Link your subscription »

The University of Notre Dame announced Wednesday that it is joining the Big Ten Conference as an affiliate member for men’s ice hockey starting in 2017-18. The Fighting Irish hockey team will continue playing in Hockey East, where they’ve been since 2013-14, through the 2016-17 season before making the move. The Big Ten has six full-time members that sponsor hockey: Michigan, Minnesota, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Penn State….

The debate has raged for decades: Will Notre Dame join the Big Ten? The answer is yes, but there’s a catch. Notre Dame announced its men’s hockey team will join the Big Ten as a sport affiliate member, and will begin conference play in the 2017-18 season. “While we have enjoyed our affiliation with Hockey East, the opportunity to participate in Big Ten hockey is a compelling one from the…

Kyle Busch and Danica Patrick likely will find themselves poorer on Wednesday for their actions last weekend. Both broke NASCAR rules; both will pay. There’s a good argument that emotional response is to blame for both drivers’ actions. That won’t wash. MORE: Fontana radio rants | Truex-Logano run-in | Auto Club 400 results Danica Patrick and Kyle Busch (Getty Images) Busch, a man among boys when he drives in the Xfinity…

Kyle Larson said Wednesday that he is still sore from his hard crash Sunday at Auto Club Speedway and that he has placed some of his extracurricular racing on hold. Larson was scheduled to drive in the Short Track Outlaw Showdown sprint-car race Wednesday night at Placerville (Calif.) Speedway. But the 23-year-old driver indicated through Twitter that he was still feeling the effects from a heavy, nose-first impact during Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series…

American soccer legend Abby Wambach may have retired from “the beautiful game,” but she still gets a kick out of playing as herself in FIFA 16. These days, she spends a lot of time playing video games, including Sega and Nintendo’s new Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games for Nintendo 3DS (which includes soccer, of course). Wambach remains the all-time women’s leading goal scorer in international play….

Wednesday is penalty day in NASCAR and late Wednesday afternoon the sanctioning body is expected to announce any infractions or warnings incurred in last weekend’s races at Auto Club Speedway in Southern California. There are at least three situations that occurred last weekend that could potentially — the key word being “potentially” — merit NASCAR action. The first occurred in Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race, when Kyle Busch blew a…

The Big Ten Conference will add a boost of brand-name power and massive national reach to its fledgling hockey conference by welcoming Notre Dame as a single-sport affiliate member after next season. The three-year-old hockey conference has endured sagging ticket sales and mediocre results and support throughout its infancy. Conference deputy commissioner Brad Traviolia told the Star Tribune on Tuesday that adding the Fighting Irish in 2017 will inaugurate a…

The proactive addition of Notre Dame means Big Ten hockey has yet another historically successful program with national appeal, and one with Big Ten ties, as longtime head coach Jeff Jackson played at Michigan State. Beyond its coach, Notre Dame has previously shared a conference with five of the six Big Ten hockey programs, the lone exception being Penn State, which made hockey a varsity sport in the 2012-13 season….

He helped re-create “Smokey and the Bandit” and brought the phrase “soda cookies” into the NASCAR vernacular. Both with the help of sponsor Mobil 1.   Now, as Tony Stewart prepares to ride off into the sunset, he and the folks from one of his longtime sponsors are at it again.   “Tony’s Last Chapter,” a digital video series consisting of four 30-second pieces, debuted March 3 with the three-time NASCAR…

Notre Dame will join the Big Ten hockey conference in 2017. Big Ten conference officials told the Star Tribune on Tuesday that it will expand to seven teams for men’s hockey, and Notre Dame later confirmed it would join as an affiliate member. Notre Dame will play a final season in the Hockey East conference where it landed after the formation of the Big Ten in 2013. The program will…