NASCAR is at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France this weekend. The American stock car series is celebrating its new car in its 75th season during the 100th running of the most prestigious endurance race in the world. The Chevrolet Camaro fielded by Hendrick Motorsports has been a popular attraction this week heading into Saturday's twice-around-the-clock race. Its trio of drivers is determined to finish the race. NASCAR's presence at Le Mans marks the first time since 1976 it has challenged the top talent in Europe.

Kyle Busch continues to lead a return to the upper echelon for Richard Childress Racing. Busch started in the pole position and held off former teammate Denny Hamlin in a two-lap dash to the finish at World Wide Technology Raceway for his third victory of the season. He' and William Byron are the lone three-time winners this season. The Cup and Xfinity series head to Sonoma, California, this weekend. Alex Palou won for the second time in less than a month in the IndyCar Series' return to the streets of Detroit. And Max Verstappen led from start to finish in Spain for his fifth victory in seven races.

The Oakland Athletics won back-to-back games for just the third time season as Ryan Noda homered and reached base four times in a 9-5 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Oakland’s first seven batters reached against Roansy Contreras. All seven scored to give Oakland its second road victory in less than 24 hours following a 15-game slide away from home. Seth Brown had three of the A’s season-high tying 17 hits. Jace Peterson followed up a five-hit night with two more hits, including a two-run double that helped break things open in the first.

Major League Baseball celebrations have turned into a full-on production for some teams. About half the clubs in MLB are using some kind of prop or ritual to celebrate a big hit or a big play in ways that often go viral. The Pittsburgh Pirates use a sword and a “home run jacket.” The Minnesota Twins act like they're going fishing. The Baltimore Orioles operate a “human sprinkler.” The players say the celebrations are a way to connect with fans and break up the monotony of a season. Pirates star Andrew McCutchen says players are “showmen” and it's their job to put on a show when they take the field.

NASCAR has issued its second massive penalty in as many days by levying huge fines against Stewart-Haas Racing for an “counterfeit part” found on Chase Briscoe’s car after the Coca-Cola 600. SHR’s No. 14 team was docked 120 points in both the owner standings and Briscoe’s driver standings, and he also was stripped of 25 playoff points. John Klausmeier, the crew chief, is suspended six races and was fined $250,000. The penalties issued Wednesday are the harshest NASCAR can impose under its written deterrence system. It comes a day after Chase Elliott was suspended one race for deliberately wrecking Denny Hamlin on Monday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

It’s been nearly a decade since there was this much hype surrounding the Spanish Grand Prix. The last time the Formula One crowd in Spain had such high hopes of celebrating a victory by Fernando Alonso was back in 2013 when the two-time champion was driving for Ferrari. Alonso went on to win that race in Barcelona but since then has never been in a realistic position to make it to the top step of the podium again at home. That was his last win in F1 anywhere and the last by any Spaniard in the local race. The 41-year-old Alonso arrives this season revitalized with a strong Aston Martin team.

Ryan Blaney made a race delayed to Monday by rain worth the wait, especially after going nearly 60 races without a victory. Blaney's win at Charlotte gave Team Penske its first-ever sweep of the Coca-Cola 600 and Indy 500 in the same year. The series heads to World Wide Technology Raceway this weekend. Josef Newgarden became the first American to win the Indianapolis 500 since 2016 by passing defending race winner Marcus Ericsson on the last lap. And Max Verstappen was dominant to win for the fourth time in six starts in Formula One. He's won 20 of the past 30 races.

McLaren Racing missed the Indianapolis 500 in 2019 with Fernando Alonso in a humiliating defeat that could have stopped the team from making a full-time move to IndyCar. But McLaren did enter the series in 2020 and has slowly built itself into a top contender. Arrow McLaren will start all four of its cars in the top 12 in Sunday's 107th running of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” The team believes the chemistry it has built inside the organization has helped turn it into one of IndyCar's elite.

Auto racing's biggest weekend looms with the 107th Indianapolis 500, Coca-Cola 600 in NASCAR and Formula One's Monaco Grand Prix. Alex Palou seeks consecutive wins at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after claiming the pole for Sunday's 107th running of the 500. He won the Indy Grand Prix there earlier this month. Later that day, NASCAR's longest race commences with the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The day begins with F-1's Monaco Grand Prix through the streets of Monte Carlo, which arguably offers the best scenery along with the world's best race car drivers.

The relative lack of minority-race coaches in prominent leadership roles has been a long-running problem for the NFL. Filling the pipelines with more diverse candidates has been one of the goals. The creation of “accelerator” programs for front office and coaching jobs has been one of the more recent strategies. A pool of 40 coaches participated in the latest edition at the spring league meetings in Minnesota this week. Sixteen of them took part in the inaugural event a year ago. Eight coaches and three executives were hired in new roles after that including Tennessee Titans general manager Ran Carthon.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have signed former Arizona Cardinals linebacker Markus Golden to a one-year contract. The deal gives the Steelers some depth behind star edge rushers T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith. The 32-year-old Golden has spent most of his eight seasons in the NFL with Arizona, racking up 47 sacks in 111 games with the Cardinals and New York Giants. Golden had 2 1/2 sacks last year for Arizona while finishing with 48 tackles, tied for the third-highest total in his career.

Martín Pérez pitched seven strong innings, Marcus Semien hit his eighth home run and the Texas Rangers held off the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-2. Pérez allowed two runs on six hits with two walks and three strikeouts to win his fifth straight decision. The 32-year-old left-hander kept the Pirates in check inducing 12 groundball outs, with a pair of inning-ending double plays. Johan Oviedo threw the second “immaculate inning” by a Pittsburgh pitcher this season when he struck out the side on nine pitches in the fourth inning. It wasn't enough for the Pirates to avoid falling to 5-15 in May.

The NFL has pushed the kickoff return further toward irrelevance with a priority on player safety. League owners voted for a one-year trial of an enhanced touchback rule that will give the receiving team the ball at its own 25 with a fair catch of a kickoff anywhere behind that yard line. The proposal passed despite an expression of distaste for it from coaches and players across the league. They argued that it will create uglier plays with squib and corner kicks that are impossible for fair catches.

Track and field is introducing new rules and a “short track” format for races run on 200-meter tracks which have traditionally been in enclosed arenas and referred to as “indoor” events. World Athletics says short track world records can be set at indoor and outdoor events under the proposal. Short track world records will be recognized in races from 200 meters up to 5,000 meters and in some other events. The proposal has the backing of World Athletics’ decision-making council and is set to be formally approved at a meeting in August.

Los Angeles FC midfielder Timmy Tillman has been approved by FIFA to change his national team affiliation to the United States from Germany, following a move made by younger brother Malik a year earlier. The 24-year-old Timmy Tillman was born in Germany to a father in the U.S. military and a German mother. He played for Germany in qualifying for the 2018 European Under-19 Championship and joined LA this year after four seasons with Greuther Fürth.  Malik Tillman turns 21 on Sunday. He made his U.S. senior debut last June 1 and has played three international matches, all exhibitions.

Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin eased his way back onto the practice field by taking part in individual drills and stretching sessions during the team's voluntary minicamp some five months after having a near-death experience on the field. Coach Sean McDermott said the team is taking things one day at a time when asked of Hamlin’s status. McDermott did not provide any timetable as to when Hamlin can begin on-field sessions a month after being cleared to resume his career. The 25-year-old Hamlin went into cardiac arrest and had to be resuscitated on the field during a game at Cincinnati on Jan. 2.

U.S. Ski and Snowboard will add the Paralympic Alpine ski and snowboard teams back under its umbrella. The two Paralympic squads have been under the management of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee since 2010. The switch allows the association to provide more integrated support and resources to Paralympians. The resources include coaching and psychology along with educational opportunities. The move also allows Paralympians to mingle with the likes of world-class ski racers such as Mikaela Shiffrin and Ryan Cochran-Siegle along with snowboarder Chloe Kim to share tips and advice.

Organizers of the Paris Olympics say they have sold 6.8 million tickets out of 10 million available with 14 months left before the opening ceremony. They have also brushed off criticism that prices are too high. Organizing committee president Tony Estanguet says the second ticketing phase that ended last week exceeded expectations despite some fans and athletes complaining about hefty prices. The most expensive tickets are 2,700 euros ($2,900) for the opening ceremony, and the sports with the highest prices are the athletics, swimming and basketball finals. The cheapest tickets are 24 euros ($26) and were quickly snapped up, leaving just 200,000 low-cost seats available in a later round to the frustration of many buyers.

The Masters will be the most significant major of the year because it showed golf can still be civil amid the great divide caused by LIV Golf. The PGA Championship was the same way. The Ryder Cup should be no different. That's why it's hard to imagine a Ryder Cup without Brooks Koepka. His win at Oak Hill stamped his legacy as the greatest major champion since Tiger Woods. U.S. captain Zach Johnson says it's premature to think about picks. But it's becoming increasingly clear that where a player chooses to play shouldn't matter when it comes to the majors.

The Super Bowl will return to the Bay Area in 2026 at the home of the San Francisco 49ers. NFL owners approved the site at their spring meetings. This will be the third time for the big game in the Bay Area. Levi’s Stadium hosted Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara when Denver beat Carolina. The 49ers won Super Bowl 19 at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto when they beat Miami after the 1984 season. The 2026 game will be Super Bowl 60. The next Super Bowl is scheduled for Feb. 11, 2024, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

Carmelo Anthony, the star forward who led Syracuse to an NCAA championship in his lone college season and went on to spend 19 years in the NBA, announced his retirement on Monday. Anthony, who was not in the NBA this season, retires as the No. 9 scorer in league history. Only LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Dirk Nowitzki, Wilt Chamberlain and Shaquille O’Neal scored more than Anthony. He finishes his career with 28,289 points.

The NFL draft will be coming to Green Bay in 2025. The league made the announcement during its spring meetings. The draft and related activities will take place inside and around Lambeau Field and Titletown, the collection of shops and restaurants surrounding the stadium. The NFL began taking the draft out of New York and to various cities starting in 2015. More than 2.2 million people have attended draft festivities since then.

Rookie quarterbacks will get much of the attention this week when most NFL teams hit the field for non-contact practices. Twenty teams kicked off their voluntary organized team activities on Monday and 10 more will do so on Tuesday. Only the defending NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles and the AFC runner-up Cincinnati Bengals aren’t holding workouts this week. Teams are allowed, per the collective bargaining agreement, to hold 10 days of practices without pads and no live contact over a four-week span. They can run 7-on-7, 9-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills.

NFL owners have approved a flexible scheduling policy for Thursday night games on Amazon Prime Video. The rule covers Weeks 13-17, and teams would have their games moved only with at least 28 days’ notice. The league could push a Thursday night matchup in that range to Sunday afternoon if there is a more desirable game. The mechanism is currently in place for Sunday night and Monday night games. The flexible scheduling for Thursday night games was approved on a trial basis for 2023 only. Owners also approved at their spring meetings a rule allowing teams to play an emergency quarterback from the inactive list if the first two are injured during a game.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have signed backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky to a three-year contract. Trubisky was about to enter the second season of a two-year deal he signed with Pittsburgh last spring. The agreement gives the Steelers some salary cap relief and some stability behind starter Kenny Pickett as they head into the 2023 season. Trubisky began 2022 as the starter in Pittsburgh before being replaced by Pickett at halftime of what became a loss to the New York Jets in Week 4.

Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato and 2008 race winner Scott Dixon gave Chip Ganassi Racing a big boost as the two fastest drivers at the first Indianapolis 500 practice. Dixon posted a fast lap of 229.174 mph, a time that lasted more than five hours before Sato topped it at 229.439 with a late run. Ganassi's other two drivers were fourth and sixth. The 42-year-old Dixon will try to match Rick Mears’ career record with a sixth Indy 500 pole on Sunday. He's also trying to become the first driver to win three straight poles.

This weekend’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in northern Italy has been canceled because of deadly floods. Formula One said it made the decision for safety reasons and to avoid any extra burden on the emergency services. F1 personnel had earlier been told to stay away from the track after floods affected large parts of the Emilia-Romagna region. Some residents of the nearby city of Imola were warned to move to higher floors of their homes. The Santerno River runs right next to the track. It is the second race on the 2023 calendar to be canceled. The Chinese Grand Prix was scheduled for April but was canceled in December amid concerns about pandemic-related restrictions.

Mason Rudolph is staying with the Pittsburgh Steelers after all. Pittsburgh has signed the longtime backup quarterback to a one-year deal. The contract marks a somewhat unlikely return for Rudolph, who was essentially passed over twice for the chance to become the starter following Ben Roethlisberger’s retirement after the 2021 season. Rudolph is 5-4-1 as a starter in his NFL career, throwing for 16 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. The signing gives the Steelers an insurance policy behind second-year starter Kenny Pickett and backup Mitch Trubisky.

Rich Hill gave up one hit in six innings, Austin Hedges drove in three runs and the Pittsburgh Pirates rolled to an 8-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday. The 43-year-old Hill, the oldest active player in the majors, gave up an infield single to Matt Vierling and two walks while striking out seven. A trio of relievers completed the shutout as Pittsburgh won for just the third time in 15 games. Rodolfo Castro homered and knocked in two runs, while Bryan Reynolds contributed three hits and scored two runs.

Industry leaders believe horse racing is at at crossroads after seven horses died at Churchill Downs in the leadup to the Kentucky Derby. Those deaths happening at the start of Triple Crown season when the most attention is on horse racing led to public outcry. Many inside the sport also have questions about what caused the cluster of fatalities at the same track over a 10-day span. They're being raised during Preakness week with a Triple Crown still possible and on the horizon of new national medication and anti-doping rules going into effect next week.

The European tour is not done punishing players who went to LIV Golf without permission. The tour says it has told 26 players of fines for paying LIV Golf or Asian Tour events without a release. The Asian Tour is aligned with LIV and has two more events planned for the UK this year. The tour says the fines could range from 12,500 pounds ($15,600) to 100,000 pounds ($125,000) for each tournament played without a release. The difference is based on what kind of impact it had on European tour interests. The tournaments in question are over eight months.

The NCAA Football Rules Committee is considering a proposal to delay the Division III implementation of the new game clock rule for first downs for a year. The biggest rule change for 2023 will have the game clock continue to run when a first down is gained except in the last two minutes of either half. Previously the clock stopped when a first down was gained and restarted on the referee’s signal. It was put on hold in Division III after the division’s management council request to have the Football Rules Committee give it further review.

The Vegas Golden Knights will be without their best defenseman in Game 5 with their second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers hanging in the balance. Alex Pietrangelo was suspended for one game for his slash on Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl in the final two minutes of the Oilers’ 4-1 victory. The series is tied at two games apiece. The Oilers will be without defenseman Darnell Nurse for Friday night's Game 5. He was given a one-game suspension for penalties after the Pietrangelo slash.

Kentucky Derby winner Mage remains on track to run in the Preakness next week to continue a pursuit of horse racing’s first Triple Crown. Co-owner Ramiro Restrepo says a final decision is expected Friday after the horse has one more workout. Restrepo downplayed concern about the two-week turnaround that's rare in North American racing. He cited trainer Gustavo Delgado's experience with similar time frames in Venezuela. Last year's long shot Derby winner Rich Strike did not run in the Preakness because his owner and trainer thought the horse needed extra rest.

Marcus Ericsson spent most of his career trying to show he could win races. Now the defending Indianapolis 500 champion and current IndyCar points leader has another goal: proving his newfound success is no fluke. The 32-year-old Swede is making a strong case for a contract extension with Chip Ganassi Racing. He won the season-opening race in St. Petersburg, Florida, and has four straight top-10 finishes. He now returns to Indy with his image plastered all around the city.

Patrick Mahomes and the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs will kick off the season against the upstart Detroit Lions in a matchup of high-powered offenses and they’ll host Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles in a Super Bowl rematch on “Monday Night Football” in Week 11. Aaron Rodgers will make his New York Jets debut in the first Monday night game of the season against the Buffalo Bills and later faces the Miami Dolphins in the NFL’s first Black Friday game on Nov. 24. Thanks to Rodgers’ arrival in the Big Apple, the Jets will have six nationally televised games, including their first Sunday night game since 2011 vs. the Chiefs on Oct. 1.