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RELATED: Full qualifying speeds  Kyle Busch topped Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Award qualifying Friday evening at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but it will be his brother, Kurt, who will start from the pole position in Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (1 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN). The reigning champion notched the best speed in the final round of qualifying at 191.668 mph, but it was announced around 7:15 p.m. ET that his No. 18 Toyota Camry had…

3:54 PM ET print HAMPTON, Ga. — Kevin Harvick spent part of Friday morning working with JR Motorsports. He’s driving an Xfinity Series car for the team this weekend, and for him it appeared business as usual in a Chevrolet working with an affiliate of Hendrick Motorsports. He then went to the Sprint Cup garage to his full-time ride for Stewart-Haas Racing, also an affiliate of Hendrick Motorsports. Stewart-Haas Racing…

Soccer leaders have started voting in Friday’s election for a new FIFA president, with Asian confederation head Sheikh Salman of Bahrain the favorite to succeed Sepp Blatter. Four candidates are in the contest after South African businessman Tokyo Sexwale withdrew at the end of a lively, funny and unscripted speech to the 207 eligible voters. “My campaign is suspended as of now,” said Sexwale, who pledged himself ready to serve…

Soccer leaders are meeting Friday to elect a new FIFA president, with Asian confederation head Sheikh Salman of Bahrain the favorite to succeed Sepp Blatter. Voting was scheduled to begin at about 1300 GMT following speeches by the five candidates. No candidate is expected to win in the first round, where 138 votes from the 207 eligible voters are needed for victory. Sheikh Salman, backed by most voters in Asia…

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were the currency. When I first started playing squirt hockey, I was obsessed with the Turtles. We’d go to Toys”R”Us and I’d be bugging my parents to get me a new action figure. So my dad got smart about it. “Alright, Ryan, you want a Ninja Turtle?” “Yeah! Michelangelo! With the nunchucks!” “You know the deal. Remember what we talked about. If you do what I…

Stewart-Haas Racing shocked the NASCAR world on Wednesday when team officials announced they would change manufacturers from Chevrolet to Ford, starting in 2017. It was a blockbuster announcement, one that surely will affect the balance of power among Chevy, Ford and Toyota in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. It’s not the first time that a championship-caliber team as switched manufacturers, but it ranks up there among the biggest. Following are…

A onetime standout Twin Cities high school hockey player was left paralyzed below the shoulders after falling at full speed and flying headfirst into the boards during a junior game in suburban Chicago while chasing his dream of a spot on a college roster. Defenseman Matt Olson, 20, who led Totino-Grace High School of Fridley to the state tournament in 2014 and graduated as the program’s iron man, was hurt…

Meet Murtaza Ahmadi, a 5-year-old boy from Ghazni, Afghnistan, who just may be Argentine soccer player Leo Messi‘s biggest fan. Murtaza stole the hearts of millions on social media this past January, when photos of him wearing a blue and white plastic bag with “Messi” and “10” written in marker went viral. Today, the 5-year-old’s dreams have come true. UNICEF Afghanistan surprised Murtaza with two new signed Messi soccer jerseys…

More: Gymnastics McKayla Maroney earns vault silver at London Olympics (video) McKayla Maroney’s near-perfect Olympic team final vault (video) Jonathan Horton to miss Rio Olympics McKayla Maroney‘s first thought when she fell in the 2012 Olympic vault final was that she must go to the next Olympics to grab gold in her trademark event. But Maroney won’t compete in Rio in August, announcing she’s moving on following a series of health problems that began before the London Games….

A onetime standout Twin Cities high school hockey player was left paralyzed below the shoulders after falling at full speed and flying headfirst into the boards during a junior game in suburban Chicago while chasing his dream of a spot on a college roster. Defenseman Matt Olson, 20, who led Totino-Grace High School of Fridley to the state tournament in 2014 and graduated as the program’s iron man, was hurt…

A onetime standout Twin Cities high school hockey player was left paralyzed below the shoulders after falling at full speed and flying headfirst into the boards during a junior game in suburban Chicago while chasing his dream of a spot on a college roster. Defenseman Matt Olson, 20, who led Totino-Grace High School of Fridley to the state tournament in 2014 and graduated as the program’s iron man, was hurt…

A onetime standout Twin Cities high school hockey player was left paralyzed below the shoulders after falling at full speed and flying headfirst into the boards during a junior game in suburban Chicago while chasing his dream of a spot on a college roster. Defenseman Matt Olson, 20, who led Totino-Grace High School of Fridley to the state tournament in 2014 and graduated as the program’s iron man, was hurt…

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A onetime standout Twin Cities high school hockey player was left paralyzed below the shoulders after falling at full speed and flying headfirst into the boards during a junior game in suburban Chicago while chasing his dream of a spot on a college roster. Defenseman Matt Olson, 20, who led Totino-Grace High School of Fridley to the state tournament in 2014 and graduated as the program’s iron man, was hurt…

With Tony Stewart still sidelined with a back injury, Ty Dillon has been named as his replacement for the upcoming race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. USA TODAY Sports

A Twin Cities hockey player fell in a race for the puck during a junior game in suburban Chicago over the weekend, hit his head on the boards and suffered a “very serious spinal injury” that has left him paralyzed below the shoulders, according to his family and the team. Defenseman Matt Olson, 20, who played in high school for Totino-Grace of Fridley and graduated in 2014, was hurt in…

http://c.espnradio.com/audio/2686653/hottakedown_2016-02-23-181253.64k.mp3?ad_params=zones%3DPreroll%2CPreroll2%2CMidroll%2CMidroll2%2CMidroll3%2CMidroll4%2CMidroll5%2CMidroll6%2CPostroll%2CPostroll2%7Cstation_id%3D2786 Subscribe: iTunes | Download | RSS | Video Welcome to the latest episode of Hot Takedown, FiveThirtyEight’s sports podcast. On this week’s show (Feb. 23, 2016),1 we ask why Canadian hockey teams have failed to win the Stanley Cup for the past 20-odd years and whether that makes them unlucky or just bad, we make our first foray into the world of Nascar and wonder why Daytona 500 finishes…

Ever since Robert “Red” Byron in 1948 drove his Ford over the sands of Daytona Beach, Fla., at 75 miles per hour for a $1,000 prize, Nascar has operated pretty much the same way. Teams showed up at the track with a car, a driver, and a crew and tried to win prize money; they had no larger stake in the enterprise. That all changed this year: When Denny Hamlin…

FC Barcelona, the current champion of European and world soccer, is seen as the gold standard in the game. And in the last decade, some of that success is due to players from Africa, such as Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o and Ivory Coast’s Yaya Toure. Now, to facilitate the flow of talented young players from the continent, Barcelona is going to the source. The club is setting up a satellite of…

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