Welcome to one of the wildest weekends of the year, as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Daytona International Speedway for the Coke Zero 400. Where to start? Last year, the race went right on into Monday morning thanks to delays and ended prematurely after one of the most dangerous-looking wrecks in the sport's history, one featuring ghastly wreckage and injured fans. And just last week, a guy by the name of Tony Stewart seized a checkered flag to throw the Chase for a loop. Others like Dale Earnhardt Jr. are still on the outside looking in, scratching their heads. Here's everything you need to know about the event.   Viewing Details Where: Daytona International Speedway When: Saturday at 7:45 p.m. ET Watch: NBC Live Stream: NBC S...

Formula One championship leader Nico Rosberg edged out his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to top the standings again in a rain-soaked second practice session on Friday at the 2016 Austrian Grand Prix.  The Englishman was just one hundredth of a second back from the German as Force India's Nico Hulkenberg finished an excellent third at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. In the morning, Rosberg headed Hamilton by four tenths of a second in an entertaining session full of incident as grip and new kerbs caused problems for a number of drivers. The Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen sat behind the Mercedes in third and fourth, respectively, while Red Bull's Max Verstappen had problems throughout th...

Defending Coke Zero 400 champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. will try to win Saturday’s NASCAR race at Daytona International Speedway for the third time in his career, as he is listed as a +550 favorite (bet $100 to win $550) to repeat at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark. Earnhardt Jr. is also a two-time Daytona 500 winner and previously won the Coke Zero 400 in 2001 and 2015. The 41-year-old Earnhardt Jr. is still looking for his first win of 2016 and ranks 12th in the Sprint Cup standings with 413 points, which is 149 behind leader Kevin Harvick. Six-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin are tied as the +1000 second choices to win the Coke Zero 400, and both rank ahead of Earnhardt Jr. in the Sprint Cup standings at sev...

Tony Stewart, who is set to retire at the end of the year, ended an 84-race winless streak at Sonoma Raceway on June 26, and Denny Hamlin said on Thursday that he did not let the feel-good story happen on purpose. Hamlin overtook Stewart for the lead on the final lap, and he held a solid advantage before a wide turn allowed Stewart to make a late pass and win the Toyota/Save Mart 350. It was Stewart's last race at Sonoma, where he has won three times. Some on social media accused Hamlin of conceding the race to Stewart, which he denied, per ESPN.com's Bob Pockrass: I didn't let Tony win. I made a mistake. I didn't execute very good. ... He had an opportunity, he took it. If I'm in his situation, I'd probably do it the same. My biggest mist...

With Carlos Sainz Jr. staying with Toro Rosso for the 2017 Formula One season, Kimi Raikkonen is likely to breathe a sigh of relief as he prepares for the impending Austrian Grand Prix. With Sainz viewed as a potential team-mate for Sebastian Vettel, the 2007 world champion has seen off one of the main threats to his seat at Ferrari. But with Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez and Romain Grosjean all fluttering their eyelashes in the direction of the Prancing Horse, there are still a number of hurdles to clear before Raikkonen can celebrate another stay of execution. And Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne, who has been prone to putting unnecessary pressure on his employees in 2016, has challenged the Finn to prove he deserves a new contrac...

Daytona strikes back. That’s where we go—a Saturday(tona)-night romp in Florida. In this week’s episode, we look back and forward, back to Tony Stewart’s “win” at Sonoma Raceway and forward to his chances at making the Chase. Despite Fox’s Darrell Waltrip saying during Sunday’s broadcast that Smoke is now in the Chase, Stewart still needs to make the top 30 in points. (He’s 32nd, just nine points behind Brian Scott in 30th.) Stewart’s win puts serious pressure on Chase bubble drivers. Stewart will not be top 16 in points, so his win will bump a non-winner off the grid. There are several, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., who could fail to make the Chase if they don’t get their ca...

After visiting Baku, Azerbaijan, for the first time, the Formula One circus returns to more familiar territory this weekend for the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. Lewis Hamilton won in Monaco and Canada, but his Mercedes team-mate, Nico Rosberg, put an end to his short streak at the European Grand Prix in Baku. The German has also won both races since the series returned to Austria in 2014, and the Mercs are the firm favourites again at the high-speed circuit formerly known as the Osterreichring and A1-Ring. The other Mercedes-powered cars should also be strong on the Red Bull Ring's long straights. In fact, it is one of just three tracks where a team other than Mercedes has been on pole since the start of 2014&mdash...

MONTREAL — The rhythm and routine of each Formula One race weekend is the same, whether the teams find themselves in Melbourne or Monza, Monaco or Montreal. This season, the F1 travelling circus will visit 21 different countries, but the general outline of each event is always the same: press conference, practice, practice, press conference, practice, qualifying, press conference, race, press conference. Throw in a few media and sponsor commitments—and perhaps the occasional fashion show or yacht party—and you have a grand prix weekend. Before all of that, though, before the drivers jump into their cars and begin lapping the circuit at speeds in excess of 300 km/h, comes a ritual known as the track walk. It is exactly what...

The ninth round of the 2016 Formula One season will take place at this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring, where Nico Rosberg will be hoping to extend his points advantage over Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton. The German established a 43-point lead over the British driver after winning the opening four races of the campaign, but saw the gap quickly cut to nine following Hamilton's two successive victories in Monaco and Canada. Yet after a stabilising win in the European GP, where Hamilton could only recover to fifth after a crash in qualifying, Rosberg stretched his lead back to 24 and will have the opportunity to extend it further at a circuit where he won in comfortable fashion in 2014 and '15. With a look at a popu...

Tony Stewart's career may not have been the best in NASCAR history, but it has been among the more interesting. Perhaps the greatest tribute to the 45-year-old veteran in the twilight of his career is to note that the sport wouldn't have been nearly so intriguing without Stewart in it. The final lap of the Toyota/Save Mart 350 was Stewart in microcosm. After clinging to the lead for 21 laps, keeping the apparently faster Toyotas of Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin at bay, Stewart lost the lead to Hamlin...and then wrested it back. The 49th Sprint Cup victory of Stewart's career was the 49th triumph of his indomitable will. “This place has meant a lot to me,” Stewart said of Sonoma Raceway to Fox Sports: If I don’t win a...