Posts

Permafrost is home to “untold” amounts of microbes and other chemicals, NASA said yesterday, with large regions of frozen ground melting at an increasing rate. Kimberley Miner, a climate researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, is working to characterize microbes frozen in permafrost. “Everyone is racing as fast as they can to understand what’s going on at the poles,” she said in a press release. “The more we understand, the better prepared we will be for the future....

The annual event regularly includes rule changes that are intended to heighten competition, but NASCAR took some of the adjustments to another level this year. It put in additional stages and devised intricate methods for setting the grid in the middle portion of the race. Expect a lot of people to say they’re confused as they try to figure out what will come next in the race. Fans might also be puzzled by the race being at Texas instead of the usual venue, Charlotte....

It’s actually quite exhilarating to have a wager on a driver to win the pole, especially while at the track. Friday’s first Cup practice (10:30 am PT) will be a huge part of the equation, but odds will be taken off the board while the session is in progress. They’ll also be off Thursday morning (9 am PT) during NASCAR’s five-hour mandated test session. The best way to approach wagering on the pole is to look at last week at Atlanta in the first practice and qualifying, and then mix in some past Las Vegas Motor Speedway qualifying history, as well the past two years of qualifying on intermediate tracks....

Wallace earned his first NASCAR Cup Series win at his home track after the YellaWood 500 playoff race was cut short because of rain Monday afternoon. He becomes the second Black driver to win a race at NASCAR’s top level, after Wendell Scott in 1963. The 27-year-old Alabama native cheered with his crew once the race was called. He had ralled in the second stage and took his first lead of the race on Lap 113 after passing Rickey Stenhouse Jr....

Kevin Harvick (11/4), Kyle Busch (7/2) and Martin Truex Jr. (5/1) have the best odds to win the AAA Texas 500 and rightfully so. The three drivers have dominated intermediate tracks of late and have combined to win at Texas four times while earning 25 top-5 finishes and 46 top-10 finishes in 82 career races. No one can start a conversation about who wins at the 1.44-mile track without first bringing these men up....

Rain and lightning hit near the track, forcing race officials to stop the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500. It had already been a chaotic day at the track, Playoff drivers Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott were knocked out of the race because of a wreck and a mechanical issue, respectively. Elliott’s car caught fire. MORE: Follow the NASCAR playoff race from Texas live In Stage 2, Cody Ware’s No. 51 car rammed into the wall in between Turns 3 and 4, barreled down the middle of the track at high speed and eventually hit a wall on pit road mere feet away from an opening that could have posed a risk to pit crew members working nearby....

There’s been plenty of other things thrown — helmets, water bottles, equipment, insults — but not many closed-fist haymakers. Given the intensity, passion and danger of the sport, that’s somewhat surprising, especially since the most famous incident in the sport was a brawl in Turn 4 at Daytona. Ambrose is likely not the only driver capable and willing to throw a punch, however. Here’s a look at the drivers most likely to settle a dispute with their fist instead of their fender....

But the 42-year-old representative of the sport’s old guard has no idea of what dirt racing will look like next March as part of the 2021 Cup Series schedule. Amid outrage from some fans at bringing stock car racing away from pavement, Busch is one of several drivers willing to play in the mud. He even speaks with a trace of boyish excitement about the upcoming experience. “It’s tough because you can’t please everybody,” Busch told Sporting News....

Yes, Brad, maybe we should start there. MORE: Putting Jeff Gordon in Junior’s car is difficult NASCAR, which is so quick to change race set-up packages for teams whenever it feels necessary, might be able to quickly address a few things before the start of this year’s Chase, which is scheduled to begin Sept. 18 at Chicagoland Speedway, or before the start of the 2017 season. The past two postseasons have produced outstanding drama, but some of the 16 Chase participants each year might have been rewarded too much for excelling in the final 10 races rather than for what they did during the first 26 races....

Busch’s lap of 192.644 mph under the cooler conditions of the early session was almost a full mph faster than the next fastest, Matt Kenseth. In the afternoon session, Busch’s lap of 188.653 mph was 1.6 mph faster the second-fastest, Kasey Kahne. This is a continuation from last week’s All-Star Race practices where Busch looked like the driver to beat until finishing third. The most surprising angle from Saturday’s Coca-Cola 600 practices was how mortal Kevin Harvick looked on a 1....

The National Hot Rod Association aims to resume its schedule June 5-7 at the Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida, and they plan on live spectators—not empty seats—according to NHRA president Glen Cromwell. “Our goal is to go back racing with fans,” Cromwell told NBC Sports. “We are the most fan-friendly [sport]. I think that’s what separates our sport from everybody else, the accessibility and interaction that our sport has. I just don’t see [racing] happening without fans....

Truex overcame an early setback in Stage 1 after a flat tire sent the No. 19 car into the wall on lap 74 while leading. Brad Keselowski won the first two stages, with Truex picking up wins in the final two stages of NASCAR’s longest race of the season. MORE: Watch NASCAR live with fuboTV (7-day free trial) Stage 1 was plagued by a record number of caution flags that predominantly featured Truex and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates blowing tires....

William Bryon was leading when the race was stopped with 57 of the scheduled 188 laps completed. The race will now be completed in Alabama on Monday. NASCAR red-flagged the race with Byron leading. Byron, who entered the playoff race eighth in the standings, won the first stage. Dryers were brought out in an attempt to dry the track, but more rain was forecast, forcing the decision to postpone the event’s finish....

Jeff Gordon set the track qualifying record at Michigan International Speedway on Friday with a speed of 206.558 mph, winning his 76th career pole in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series. Gordon broke the previous mark of 204.557 by a remarkable margin — and that record was set just two months ago by Kevin Harvick. Speeds at MIS have been climbing ever since the two-mile oval was repaved before the 2012 season....

It was a massive turnaround for Kenseth following his worst performance of the season last week at Phoenix. He finished 23rd to fall 28 points behind championship leader Jimmie Johnson leading into the finale. Now he's got his third pole of the season and will start in front of Johnson Sunday. Johnson qualified seventh. But he needs only to finish 23rd or higher to win his sixth championship. Kevin Harvick is the only other driver mathematically eligible to win the title and goes into the race 34 points behind Johnson....

Kenseth won his first pole of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing by turning a lap at 187.315 mph, beating Keselowski's 187.105. Five-time Fontana champion Jimmie Johnson was third at 38.516, followed by Kevin Harvick. Clint Bowyer came in fifth. The drivers emerged from the fourth edition of NASCAR's new knockout qualifying format with more praise for the fan-friendly style. Keselowski improved his time in each round, adding to Team Penske's list of impressive qualifying finishes this season....

In poetic synergy fitting for his farewell season, Stewart pulled off a last-lap pass of Denny Hamlin to steal a win at Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350, snapping a personal 84-race winless skid. Stewart, who will retire from NASCAR after this season, now sits nine points from 30th place in the Sprint Cup standings after missing the season’s first eight races. MORE: Stewart rules the road | Dale Earnhardt Jr. is smoked...

The Republicans were no less ill mannered. President Bush not-so-subtly questioned Patrick Buchanan’s patriotism (for failing to support the Persian Gulf War), while Buchanan attacked Bush’s morality. A Buchanan ad showed a clip of a federally funded film that portrayed gay black men dancing together. “Even after good people protested,” the ad blares, “Bush continued to fund this kind of art.” Forget the No Bull Campaign. For now, at least, it’s the All Swill Campaign....