Nasser Al-Attiyah and Xavier de Soultrait were among the winners after the first stage of the 2017 Dakar Rally on Monday. The former won in the cars event, while Frenchman De Soultrait claimed victory after the opening stage on the bikes. Brazil's Marcelo Medeiros won on the quads, while Tim Coronel set the pace in the UTV event. Martin Kolomy took the first stage among the truck drivers, per Racer.com, on the opening day of official competition, stretching from Asuncion in Paraguay to Resistencia in Argentina. De Soultrait paced the rest in the bike category, clocking an impressive finish time of less than 20 minutes. Meanwhile, Al-Attiyah's vehicle crossed the line eight seconds shy of 18 minutes. The competition's official Twit...

NASCAR superstar Dale Earnhardt Jr. wed longtime girlfriend Amy Reimann in a ceremony at Childress Vineyards in Lexington, North Carolina, on New Year's Eve. According to ESPN.com's Bob Pockrass, Childress Vineyards is owned by NASCAR team owner Richard Childress, who was the car owner for Junior's father, Dale Earnhardt, for many years. On Sunday, Amy Earnhardt nee Reimann tweeted a photo of herself and her husband: Earnhardt also tweeted a photo from the big day: Team 88 Updates shared multiple snapshots of the couple's first kiss as husband and wife: The account also provided a look at the pair on the dance floor: While the focus was on the Earnhardts, some of the biggest names in NASCAR attended the wedding as guests. Among them was...

Asuncion, Paraguay, will be the starting point for the 2017 Dakar Rally, as the 38th edition of this iconic event gets going on January 2. Those taking part will have to make their way through three different countries in South America, with the finish scheduled in Buenos Aires on January 14 after passing through Bolivia. There are plenty of challenges for the competitors to negotiate; they will battle it out in bikes, quads, cars and truck categories across a variety of terrains. Day 1 of the event is never an occasion to be missed, as all involved seek to secure an early advantage in the race to the Argentine capital. Here is the schedule for the 12 stages of racing, where you can catch the action and a closer look at who will be in the h...

NASCAR has officially renamed its top-level competition to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. The organization announced the news on its Twitter account: Monster Energy was named the newest sponsor for the premier series Dec. 1, replacing Sprint, which had been a part of the racing competition since 2005. In addition to the rebranding of the name, NASCAR has also tweaked the logo it has had since 1976: NASCAR Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Jill Gregory broke down the purpose of the changes, per an official release: Our new NASCAR mark is modern, timeless, and embraces the heritage of our sport. It was important for us to recognize our history and implement a piece of each previous mark in the new design. O...

Nico Rosberg has announced his retirement from Formula One just days after winning his first world championship title at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver's decision was confirmed by BBC Sport's Andrew Benson: Rosberg, 31, released a statement on his Facebook page in which he said he felt it was the right time to retire having "climbed my mountain": The German sealed the 2016 title at the weekend as he beat team-mate Lewis Hamilton by five points despite coming second to the Englishman at the season-ending race. Rosberg won nine of the season's 21 grands prix and held off a late surge from three-time champion Hamilton to claim the title after four consecutive second-place race finishes. Per BBC 5 live Sport's Jack Nicholl...

Monster Energy is set to replace Sprint as the main sponsor for NASCAR's top series, Bob Pockrass of ESPN.com reported Thursday. The Sprint Cup Series has featured the best drivers in the sport, with Jimmie Johnson winning his seventh career title in November. It has also been known as the Nextel Cup Series and Winston Cup Series in the past. Sprint first became the sponsor after its 2005 merger with Nextel, which signed a 10-year agreement with NASCAR in 2004. The name officially changed to the Sprint Cup Series in 2008. While the company signed an extension in 2011, it announced two years ago it would not continue the partnership past 2016. "Sprint has long benefitted from the unprecedented level of brand integration available in NAS...

There was plenty of handwringing and questioning after Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix about whether Lewis Hamilton's tactics were on the up-and-up. In a last-ditch effort to swipe the Formula One title from Nico Rosberg, his Mercedes team-mate, Hamilton drove as slowly as he could, attempting to push Rosberg back into the clutches of Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen. Hamilton needed a victory coupled with Rosberg finishing off the podium if he was going to grab the championship, but Rosberg held on to second place despite the Brit's ploy. After the race, Mercedes executive director Toto Wolff was clearly not pleased that Hamilton had repeatedly ignored team orders to pick up the pace. He said the team would review the situation and might ...

Nico Rosberg secured the 2016 Formula One world championship in Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit. Nursing a 12-point advantage over Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton ahead of the final race, Rosberg knew a 16th podium finish of the season would be enough to secure his first world title. The German started and finished second in a tense race under the lights, beating Hamilton—who won the race from pole position, claiming his 10th victory of the year—to the title by five points and following in the footsteps of his father, 1982 world champion Keke. Joining the Mercedes drivers on the podium was Sebastian Vettel, who ended a difficult second season with Ferrari on a high by finishing third. With a look at McL...

Nico Rosberg was crowned 2016 Formula One champion on Sunday after a second-place finish in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix secured top spot in the drivers' standings, where he finished five points ahead of Lewis Hamilton.  Hamilton kept Rosberg at arm's reach, reneging on team orders to speed up his efforts in an attempt to increase his team-mate's chance of missing out on the top-three finish he needed to secure the title—but to no avail. It was a long and tense end to the season for Rosberg, but he eventually showed his excitement at a maiden Formula One championship, per Mercedes AMG's official Twitter account: Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull's Max Verstappen finished third and fourth, respectively, despite their ...

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton laid down the gauntlet to title rival and team-mate Nico Rosberg on Saturday, as he secured pole position for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with an excellent qualifying performance.The two rivals are set to battle it out for the world title in Sunday's Formula One season finale. It's a tussle Hamilton boosted his chances in after posting a time of one minute, 38.755 seconds to finish quickest; Rosberg will begin alongside the champion on the front row, while Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo will be in third.Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel had earlier topped final practice ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.The qualifying session sets things up wonderfully for a key race. Rosberg will win the world...