And that worked out perfectly for Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, who captured the pole position for Sunday’s race after posting a lap time of 29.848 seconds, about half a second faster than Team Penske’s Joey Logano. Hamlin hasn’t fared too well in recent races: he was 34th at Gateway and 31st at Sonoma. The Cup Series veteran is hoping that his display in Saturday’s rain-shortened qualifying is a prelude to an impressive display in the race....

The starting lineup for Monday’s NASCAR Cup Series playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway was set by applying the statistical formula NASCAR is using for the majority of Cup races in 2021. Drivers’ starting positions for the YellaWood 500, the fifth race of the 2021 Cup Series playoffs and the second race in the Round of 12 (1 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TSN3, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), were based on four factors:...

Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr. and Kurt Busch sit below the cutoff line that determines who advances to the Championship 4 race at Phoenix. But an outright victory by one of them Sunday at Martinsville — or a series of lucky breaks — would clinch a title berth. Here’s what the NASCAR standings look like ahead of the final weekend of the Round of 8: MORE: Highlights from NASCAR at Texas...

The NASCAR 2017 Hall of Fame class will be announced on Wednesday, May 25. Five nominees from a list of 20 will be selected for the class. MORE: All-Star Race voting under way | Complete Dover schedule The announcement will air live on NBCSN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NASCAR.com and MRN.com at 5 p.m. ET. Enshrinement of the 2017 class will be in January, NASCAR announced its first Hall of Fame class in 2010, inducting founder Bill France Sr....

In the commercial set to air during the Super Bowl, Nick Offerman, aka Ron Swanson from “Parks and Recreation,” thinks America has gone soft and NASCAR is the perfect fix. MORE: Tony Stewart is ‘back to being me’ | Danica Patrick hopes for contract extension | Jeff Gordon: the early years “Hello, glory. Goodbye, strife. You’ve got NASCAR in your life.”

Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer Brett Jewkes released a statement Tuesday. MORE: Changes to qualifying format | Winners and losers at Martinsville | Larson still hospitalized “NASCAR is disappointed by the recent legislation passed in Indiana. We will not embrace nor participate in exclusion or intolerance. “We are committed to diversity and inclusion within our sport and therefore will continue to welcome all competitors and fans at our events in the state of Indiana and anywhere else we race....

Delivered at the pre-race driver’s meeting, the mandate comes after Matt Kenseth wrecked Joey Logano at Martinsville. It clarifies NASCAR’s stance that hard racing is desired, but within limits. MORE: Must-win race at Texas | Word of weekend: weepers | Green flag: 2:16 p.m. ET Kenseth drew a two-race suspension, beginning this week, for his action at Martinsville. Nine laps down, he got behind Logano’s car and shoved it into the wall....

Joe Gibbs Racing co-founder Coy Gibbs died unexpectedly on Saturday night, the company announced Sunday afternoon. He was 49 years old. A cause of death was not immediately announced. Gibbs, the son of co-owner Joe Gibbs and father of Xfinity Series winner Ty Gibbs, was at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday to witness his son’s championship run. “I’ve always got his back as his father,” Coy said on Saturday. “… Watching it today, just to see his determination … it definitely made me proud....

National Cousins Day is a time to celebrate those extended family members who offer their love and support over the years. Commemorated annually on July 24, on Thursday, people may post photos or messages to express their love for their cousins. It’s not uncommon for celebrities to share a last name but absolutely no genetic connection. However, in the case of comedian Melissa McCarthy and actor Jenny McCarthy, their bond is deeper than just a name....

Recruits have a 72-hour period to sign to their school of choice, and several teams got a head start on putting together a five-star class. Here is a look at the top 10 classes, according to 247Sports.com, and one big takeaway for each of those classes. SIGNING DAY WINNERS & SURPRISES: Clemson, Ohio State, SEC powers clean up with top 2020 classes National Signing Day 2020: Top 10 recruiting classes 1....

Nationalism does not mean nationalization. It is not an assault on our free market tradition. Instead, nationalism requires rebalancing policy priorities away from greater globalization and toward the restoration of an integral domestic economy. Economic growth should be more widely spread around the country, rather than clustered in super-wealthy cities on the two coasts. Supply chains and key industries need to be brought back to America, not merely to ensure our security, but also to provide productive work for a wide range of Americans....

You sense a tiny whiff of hope the there could be something approximating a presidential election in 1992 after all. A couple of reasonable Democratic candidates are making start-up noises; a chorus of public-spirited rich people, foundation-niks and politicians of both parties lament the absence of a credible domestic policy in George Bush’s Washington; the postwar euphoria has diminished. The problem is the Democratic contenders cannot get anywhere just by coming up with a list of carefully constructed domestic remedies....

Maybe not everybody. But enough fans love them for more than 400 people to apply to drive the Nationals’ cart for the 2019 season, and the 21 candidates chosen to try out Tuesday morning at Nationals Park saw no downside to the return of a 1970s ballpark staple. MORE: Sporting News All-Star cards return in 2019 Topps Heritage set “It just sounded like a fun opportunity and, if you were lucky enough to do it, to get to be on the field of a major league baseball stadium, be around the players, interacting with them in some way,’’ said Jay, from Loudoun County in the northern Virginia suburbs....

When the Nationals called Soto up last May, they did so out of necessity. Adam Eaton was out with a severe bone bruise on his left ankle, Brian Goodwin was sidelined with a wrist contusion and Howie Kendrick had just ruptured his Achilles. Top prospect Victor Robles was dealing with elbow soreness. Washington promoted Soto straight from Double-A, hoping his strong minor league numbers would translate to big league success — but not expecting instant production....

Bob Carpenter gets Thursday’s broadcast going by telling viewers that there may be more swings early in counts because it’s a day game after a night game, while F.P. Santangelo informs everyone that “good teams take two out of three, great teams sweep.” Carpenter responds that he knew Santangelo was going to say that and he wanted to set up his partner, so even the cliché is clichéd for this broadcast, which does not engender a lot of hope for what is to come....

Workers are demanding hazard pay, more generous paid leave policies, better protective equipment and communication regarding sick employees. Protests across the country also accompanied the strike. “At Target, the foot traffic and guest behavior have been atrocious, putting us at needless risk when greater safety measures are required to ensure social distancing,” the group Target Workers Unite, an independent coalition of Target employees, said in a release. The mass action, which has been termed a sick-out, took place on May Day, a bastion for the international labor movement which has its origins in late-19th-century labor activism in the United States....

Following a meeting of the alliance on Friday, Jens Stoltenberg said that there was “proof beyond doubt” that Navalny had been targeted by “a military-grade nerve agent” from the Novichok group. Navalny lies in a coma in the Charite hospital in Berlin, where he was evacuated from the Siberian city of Omsk after he fell ill on a flight last month. The German government said on Wednesday there was “unequivocal evidence” that Navalny had been poisoned by Novichok, a nerve agent which had also been used in an attack in Salisbury, England, on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in 2018....

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said ahead of the meeting in Brussels, “the way the organization’s biggest-ever operation ended shows that the challenges of such endeavors should not be underestimated.” In 2003, NATO spearheaded international security efforts in Afghanistan, but in 2014, NATO ended combat action to train local forces to help build the Afghan army. However, those forces unraveled just after a couple days against Taliban forces. Part of the problem for NATO Stoltenberg put forward was its role became more demanding as the effort to rebuild Afghanistan developed, shifting the organization away from its original task to destroy the al-Qaida network....

Navas’ future has come under regular scrutiny this season and his desire to remain with the European champions was not aided by an error in the second leg of Madrid’s eventual Champions League quarter-final win over Juventus. Madrid were close to signing promising Spain shot-stopper Kepa Arrizabalaga from fellow La Liga outfit Athletic Bilbao in January, while they are known to be admirers of Manchester United’s David de Gea....