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With the playoffs firmly underway, it’s the business end of the NASCAR season, bringing plenty of tension to the sport’s protagonists. But this past weekend, as Chase Elliott won at Talladega Superspeedway, drivers’ disquiet that has bubbled beneath the surface for most of the season came to a head: questioning the safety of the Next Gen car.

Kurt Busch and Alex Bowman are missing from the grid with concussions suffered in the Next Gen car, Cody Ware confirmed Tuesday that he’ll skip the Charlotte Roval because of the broken foot he endured in the Next Gen. Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick have been vocal in their criticisms of NASCAR’s approach to safety this season. On Saturday, Elliott said he felt safety in the series was going “backward.”

With so many opinions being exchanged on what is the biggest topic in any motorsport, ESPN turned to Ryan McGee and Marty Smith for their takes on driver safety in NASCAR.

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Smith: It’s really obvious when you hear champion-level, first-ballot Hall of Fame-level drivers voicing the concern that they are. Hamlin was extremely vocal at Talladega that the racecar is not as safe as it should be, and that drivers have told that to NASCAR time and again. According to Hamlin, NASCAR wanted the Next Gen car on the racetrack at all costs, and then he repeated himself: at all costs. I’ve had conversations with drivers, this is something that they are very concerned about, and they are calling for change. I would expect NASCAR will listen to them, and they better listen to them.

McGee: And I think that’s the difference now versus not that long ago, and certainly not when you and I first started covering the sport, is that they’re going to listen. You and I have lived through multiple generations of racecars now, and there have been complaints before, and a lot of times the response was, “Well, this is what you got. Put your people to work.” I really think now the difference is that NASCAR President Steve Phelps talks with drivers all the time. It had to get to an unfortunate position with multiple drivers, but it sounds like they’re in the process of trying to make changes as immediately as they possibly can. Is that your take?

Smith: They need to, and I do think they’re going to make changes. These cars are very rigid. There’s not a lot of give when you crash, and they don’t crush the way that the previous racecar did. And so the previous racecar, because there was more crush in it, there was more give in it. It wasn’t as rigid. That energy was dissipated away from the driver in a different way than it is now. More energy is making its way to the driver now because the car is so much stiffer.

McGee: I go back to when I covered the Indy Racing League back in the late ’90s, and that was like this: This was a spec car, there wasn’t a whole lot of creative engineering going on the race shop; it was, “This is the car you have.” They were breaking guys’ backs because everything had been focused on forward impacts. They weren’t thinking clearly about cars backing into walls. Everybody was fine if they crashed straight ahead or even if they crashed side to side, but as soon as they backed in even a tiny little impact, they were cracking vertebra. That’s what this feels like. There was so much focus in one direction that maybe there wasn’t enough in the other direction.

Smith: The drivers will tell you, they implored NASCAR: “We need to change this.” And according to those drivers, NASCAR was hell bent to get this thing to the race track, and they did that, and it came with great fanfare. You and me have been very, very complimentary of the racing and the show, but when the show ends up with guys that maybe did not come out of accidents the way they would’ve in a past racecar, then it’s time for change. Period.

McGee: Everybody I’ve talked to is working really hard on this now. It’s just a matter of getting it out on a race track on a Sunday.

Smith: When you have a guy like Hamlin who says out loud, “It needs a complete redesign,” I don’t think that he says that flippantly. I think that he means what he’s saying, that the frustration and the concern has gotten to a place where NASCAR needs to listen to these engineers on these race teams, and I think we’re at that point. When the drivers start to get really vocal and “Good Morning America” is doing stories on NASCAR safety, I think that the sanctioning body will listen.

McGee: And I think they are listening. It’s just a matter of how quickly they can get it turned around. If they could take that car with the racing that we’ve seen this season and eliminate these issues, then it’s a home run.

Smith: Home run. The competition this year has been thrilling. We’ve had record numbers of winners and it’s just been a season full of new energy and it’s been awesome to see. But this is something that’s very concerning to the competitors, and so I think NASCAR is understanding that it’s time to make some alterations.

McGee: The only thing that could possibly take away from what we both agree is one of the greatest, most competitive seasons in the history of the sport is this story right here. And so you have to fix it. You have to.

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Daytona 500 stopped by rain after just 11 laps

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Daytona 500 stopped by rain after just 11 laps

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Rain has stopped the Daytona 500 on Sunday after 11 laps, not long after President Donald Trump in his heavily armored presidential limousine known in Washington as “The Beast” led the drivers on two laps around the track.

The caution flag came out with defending Daytona 500 champion William Byron out front.

Rain started falling in Turns 1 and 2, the West side of the 2½-mile Daytona International Speedway.

Trump spoke to the drivers as he led them through several ceremonial laps.

“This is your favorite president. I’m a big fan. I am a really big fan of you people,” Trump told the drivers. “How you do this I don’t know, but I just want you to be safe. You’re talented people and you’re great people and great Americans. Have a good day, have a lot of fun and I’ll see you later.”

Trump left the track during the rain delay and returned to Air Force One to head back to West Palm Beach, Florida, where he’s staying for the weekend.

Before it landed prior to the race, Air Force One buzzed the Daytona International Speedway. Trump traveled from West Palm Beach with several guests, including his son Eric.

NASCAR officials this week moved up the start time for Sunday’s race by 70 minutes because of potential rain. Inclement weather is expected to be in the area between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. ET, with forecasts showing 99% chance of rain. And since it takes roughly two hours to dry the track, it could be 7 p.m. before the race resumes.

“Captain America” actor Anthony Mackie gave the command for drivers to start their engines.

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Irish jockey O’Sullivan, 24, dies after Thurles fall

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Irish jockey O'Sullivan, 24, dies after Thurles fall

Irish jockey Michael O’Sullivan died on Sunday, 10 days after sustaining injuries in a fall at Thurles Racecourse in Ireland, the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) said.

O’Sullivan, aged 24, who has ridden 90 winners in Ireland and five in Britain, and his mount Wee Charlie were one of three fallers at the final fence in the second race on the Feb. 6 card.

O’Sullivan was treated on the course before being airlifted to hospital, where he was placed in intensive care.

“Michael sadly passed away in the early hours of Sunday morning surrounded by his loving family in Cork University Hospital,” Dr Jennifer Pugh, Chief Medical Officer of the IHRB, said in a statement.

His family took the decision to donate his organs, Pugh said.

“I have had the privilege of knowing Michael through his amateur and professional career and his dedication, modesty and kind nature always made him a pleasure to be around,” Pugh added.

“The O’Sullivan family have asked for privacy at this time.”

O’Sullivan turned professional in 2022 and he won the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and the Fred Winter at Cheltenham the following year.

“Michael was an exceptionally talented young rider who was always popular in the weighroom and will be deeply missed by everyone in racing who had the pleasure of knowing him,” Darragh O’Loughlin, chief executive of the IHRB, said.

As a mark of respect, Sunday’s fixture at Punchestown and the point-to-point fixtures in Ireland have been cancelled.

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Granlund OT goal gives Finland 1st 4 Nations win

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Granlund OT goal gives Finland 1st 4 Nations win

MONTREAL — Mikael Granlund scored the overtime winner, and Finland beat Sweden 4-3 Saturday in an instant classic, back-and-forth game between the bitter rivals at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Granlund scored 1:49 into 3-on-3 OT, sending fans in Finland’s blue and white at Bell Centre to the exits cheering and chanting, “Suomi!”

“It’s always great to beat Sweden,” Granlund said in his postgame media availability.

Anton Lundell and Mikko Rantanen also scored for Finland, and Kevin Lankinen made 21 saves in his debut at the NHL-run international tournament, including a pad stop on Mika Zibanejad seconds into overtime. Coach Antti Pennanen switched from Juuse Saros to Lankinen after his team lost 6-1 to the United States on Thursday night.

“I don’t think we needed to do much, we knew that there was a lot of good things we did in the game against USA,” Finland captain Aleksander Barkov said in his postgame interview on SportsNet. “Obviously, the result, 6-1, was not great, it did not look good. But I thought we did a lot of good things. And same thing today.”

Knocking off Sweden puts the Finns right back in it with one game for them left in round-robin play. The top two teams among the U.S., Canada, Sweden and Finland meet in the championship game next week in Boston.

Despite goals from Zibanejad and Rasmus Dahlin, the Swedes are in trouble and now might need some help to make the final. Filip Gustavsson was pulled after allowing two goals on four shots in the first period, and Linus Ullmark allowed two on 17 the rest of the way.

Finland also has a potential injury situation to monitor after Barkov came up limping from blocking a shot late in the second. The reigning Stanley Cup champion from the Florida Panthers continued playing through it.

“We got a little better, and played for a full 60-something minutes,” Barkov said. “We knew, playing against Sweden, even if it’s 4 a.m., it doesn’t matter. Everyone is going to be fired up. We came out hard, and we played really well.”

The U.S. faces Canada on Saturday night in the most anticipated game in Montreal, but Sweden and Finland put on quite the show in the matinee. Facing off 19 years after Sweden defeated Finland in the 2006 Olympic gold medal game in Turin, this time the Finns were on the winning end of an entertaining game featuring a blend of speed, skill and physicality — and some pushing and shoving after the whistles, which was expected of players from countries that do not like each other.

The tournament shifts to Boston, where Finland faces Canada on Monday afternoon at 1 p.m. ET and Sweden plays the United States at 8 p.m.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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