The tie is far from over however, and should they secure an early goal the hosts, at a sold out Stadio San Paolo, will feel they have the firepower to secure a place in the quarter finals of the Champions League for the first time in their history. In the first leg it was Lorenzo Insigne who opened the scoring with an audacious long-distance effort which caught Real Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas off guard, and the Italy international is offered at 2/1 (3....

According to the space agency, the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is a space observatory that’s designed to collect polarized (restricted to a single plane) X-ray light data from extreme phenomena such as black holes and neutron stars—incredibly dense, compact objects that are left behind when massive stars explode as supernovae. IXPE will also prove beneficial in the study of phenomena such as active galactic nuclei, magnetars (a type of neutron star with a particularly powerful magnetic field) and pulsar wind nebulae (nebulae found inside the remnants of supernovae), TechCrunch reported....

The visualization shows a black hole—remnants of stars that died in cataclysmic cosmic explosions known as supernovae—from different angles to show what one might look like if we were able to observe it from afar in space. One of the most visible features is the black hole’s “accretion disk”—a hot, thin, rotating disk formed by matter which is slowly spiralling into the center of the object. As this matter is being sucked in, the light emitted from it is distorted, producing the a distinctive “double-humped” appearance....

Most of us realize that turning the other cheek is not as easy as it sounds. The recent NASCAR incident involving Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano has really brought the art and purpose of revenge to the forefront. The penalty Kenseth received for retaliating against Logano is a topic for another story, but let’s delve deeper into why Kenseth exacted his revenge. MORE: Logano may have cost himself championship | Logano has plenty of enemies | Get your ‘Free Matt’ T-shirts An interesting article appeared in 2011 examining the complicated psychological aspects of being involved with revenge....

The Coca-Cola 600 represented his first win since taking the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas in March. It also broke a string of three consecutive second-place finishes for the Hendrick Motorsports driver. He led 327 of the race’s 400 laps at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He wasn’t the only Hendrick driver to perform well Sunday night. Teammates Chase Elliott, William Byron and Alex Bowman finished second, fourth and fifth, respectively. Kyle Busch (Joe Gibbs Racing) was the only driver to keep the four-car team from taking the top four spots for the second time this season (the first was at Dover)....

Brad Keselowski took back-to-back races after winning the Bojangles Southern 500 on Sept. 2nd and winning the Brickyard 400 on Monday. Keselowski led for nine of the 160 laps. Kyle Busch is the regular season champion. He finished in 8th place today and will receive 15 playoff points to add to his total and carry over to each round. Jimmie Johnson and Alex Bowman clinch the final two playoff spots after finishing today’s race in 16th and 33rd place respectively....

Truex is the first driver to sweep the track in the same season; he won at Kansas in May after leading 104 laps. Truex also set the Cup Series record for most wins on a 1.5-mile track in a season with six, and he has seven victories overall in 2017. NASCAR at KANSAS: Playoff standings | Race results Playoff drivers Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Larson and Ricky Stenhouse Jr....

The win comes a week after the No. 4 driver took home the win at Atlanta in the QuikTrip 500. Harvick led for a Las Vegas Motor Speedway record 214 laps and ended the race with over a three-second lead in front of Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson. MORE: Results from Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 “As you look at the last two weeks and our 1.5-mile program in general, it has been really good since I started here at SHR,” said Harvick, a native of Bakersfield, Calif....

Micah Roberts’ NASCAR Ratings Toyota/Save Mart 350 Sonoma Raceway Sunday, June 26, 2016 - 3:18 pm (ET) Rating Driver Odds Practice 1 Practice 2 Qualified Sonoma ‘15* 1. Kurt Busch (5/1) 11th 12th 4th 2nd 2011 winner, active leader with seven top-fives and 197 laps led; using 2015 road chassis. 2. Carl Edwards (10/1) 5th 4th 1st 40th 2014 winner, third-place in 2013 and 2011. Pole sitter won five of 27 Sonoma races (18....

Chastain — positioned near the front of the pack behind leader Erik Jones and second-place Kyle Larson heading toward the checkered flag — made a savvy inside move to overtake the leaders after Larson gave a hard block to Kurt Busch on the outside. Jones followed suit to block his pursuer, allowing Chastain to take the inside lane and take the checkered flag unobstructed. MORE: Watch NASCAR at Talladega live with fuboTV (free trial)...

In addition, NASCAR officials confiscated the right rear shock of the race-winning car of Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski. MORE: Keselowski wins race | Boyd Gaming 300 results | Pressure to win? | Kobalt 400 lineup breakdown NASCAR occasionally confiscates shocks and it is not automatic for a penalty to be issued after NASCAR does a thorough inspection early the following week. So while Team Penske is likely hoping for no penalty, JR Motorsports can expect one for Elliott, whose front splitter did not meet the minimum clearance of the ground....

The series has had 36 trucks show up for just five of its 18 races this year. At Eldora Speedway, where NASCAR started 30 trucks, 34 drivers attempted to qualify. MORE: Chase standings breakdown | Keselowski no Earnhardt | Payback at Martinsville | Danica crew swap In the 10 races where the maximum field was 36, there were 32 or fewer trucks taking the green flag, including five races of 30 or fewer....

Nationwide protests of police brutality in recent weeks have led to the removal of statues throughout the country honoring people who fought on behalf of slavery in the Civil War. On Tuesday, Bubba Wallace called for Confederate flags to be kept away from NASCAR so the sport could send a message disavowing racism. Other drivers, including Ryan Blaney, came out in support of Wallace’s request. NASCAR in a statement wrote that “the presence of the confederate flag at NASCAR events runs contrary to our commitment to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for all fans, our competitors and our industry....

The scantily-clad women, who have become synonymous with the brand and the sports the company sponsors, received some backlash on Twitter. MORE: Passion to race drives Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s return to the track Not all fans were offended by the outfits worn by the victory lane models.

Xfinity, the cable and internet provider division of Comcast, will replace Nationwide as the sponsor for what will be known as the NASCAR Xfinity Series for the next 10 years. MORE: Chase bubble | Chase scenarios | Controversy more likely in Chase | Stewart’s return NASCAR Chairman Brian France declined to comment on financial details of the deal, which was reported by the SportsBusiness Journal as being worth close to $200 million over 10 years....

Unlike last week at Kentucky when NASCAR tried a new down-force aero-package – which a smashing success (photos) – the package this week at New Hampshire will be identical to Phoenix and Richmond, which means not too many drivers are going to lead laps. Only four drivers led a lap at Phoenix, with Kevin Harvick leading the most (224) while winning his fourth straight race there. Only five drivers led a lap at Richmond, with Kurt Busch leading 291 of the 400 and winning the race....

Weather can have a tendency to get in the way of NASCAR Cup Series races, and Sunday’s EchoPark Texas Grand Prix is no exception to the rule. With lightning threatening the start of the race, the first road course of 2021 may be marred by weather. MORE: NASCAR EchoPark Texas Grand Prix updates, results and more Earlier in the year, the Food City Dirt Race at Bristol was pushed back a day because of rain....

After winning the Camping World Truck Series and Sprint Cup Series races at Martinsville last weekend, Busch followed it up with a win in the Xfinity Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 on Friday and a victory in Saturday night’s Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. MORE: Duck Commander 500 photos| Dale Earnhardt Jr. fiery pit stop Pole-sitter Carl Edwards and Martin Truex Jr. dominated early as the race began after a nearly two-hour rain delay....

It was an especially tough day for Chip Ganassi Racing, which saw drivers Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson also fail to advance in the Chase following a pair of issues. McMurray dropped a cylinder in the engine and fell over 100 laps down, while Larson experienced a tire issu e with 220 laps while already running three-laps down at the one-mile Delaware track. MORE: Best Chase battles | Harvick finds trouble too...

Some fans like a television announcer who is bubbling with enthusiasm and having fun in the TV booth, even if that means cracking a bad joke here and there. Some prefer a more calm approach, one where there’s less talking and more focus on the action on the track. Some want all the information they can get. Others don’t want to get overwhelmed by minutia. That was apparent when Sporting News asked fans to rank the best and worst NASCAR announcers....