The new Netflix series launched last month. The Clash at the Coliseum was last week. Come Sunday, the eyes of the racing world will be on Daytona International Speedway once again.
That’s right, a brand-new season of NASCAR is right around the corner. Qualifying for the 2024 Daytona 500 begins on Wednesday night. Twenty-four hours later, the Duel kicks off to confirm the final few places in the Great American Race, and the green flag drops on Sunday.
Who better to get you primed for another season of spirited stock-car shenanigans than Marty Smith and Ryan McGee?
McGee: All right, son. Daytona is here. Is there an overarching theme for the 2024 NASCAR season that you’re watching out for?
Marty: I think the sport has a lot of momentum coming off of the “Full Speed” documentary on Netflix.
Marty: It really developed a lot of characters that I think will garner interest from people that otherwise wouldn’t have known or cared. Certainly, Denny Hamlin was the big winner in that and he’ll be a factor at Daytona. You can put that in the bank.
McGee: One of only four three-time winners. The only drivers with more are Richard Petty with seven and Cale Yarborough with four.
Marty: There always feels like there’s a new and beautiful energy down there at Daytona every time we go, because it is a new season. There is that sense of renewal, rebirth.
McGee: We say it all the time, the Daytona 500 prerace grid is Earth’s happiest place. Remember that time we got caught out there walking the length of the pit lane? The only humans on the hot side of the wall were the drivers rolling out onto the track and Marty & McGee, walking our butts off, just hoping no NASCAR officials saw us.
Marty: We were pumping our fists and walking like hell, and the Wood Brothers were like, “Hey guys … um … what are you doing out there?” But that’s that energy I’m talking about. It’s always there. But I just think that this season has so much potential. Look at a champion like Ryan Blaney. I think because he is so invested in the sport, McGee, he gives so much of his own time to grow the sport on all these different platforms.
Marty: It just feels like there’s a lot of positive momentum.
McGee: And youthful momentum. I remember the last real preseason NASCAR Media Tour, five years ago, and this huge rift opened up between Blaney’s generation of guys versus the established guard of the sport. Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch were mad because those younger guys were doing all of this marketing work and, in the minds of the veterans, hadn’t yet earned that right. We all wrote then, “Is this the changing of the guard?” But it wasn’t because the older dudes answered by winning all the next championships and races. But I feel like it’s happened now. Do you?
Marty: Yes, I do. But I also think that part of that is that all the old dudes are gone. You know, the standard-bearing guys for so many years are all retired now. Harvick is now in the TV booth. All these guys that won all these races and all these championships for so long are now ambassadors, owners, television analysts. So yeah, man, I do feel like there is this group of young drivers, and I feel like they do have personalities to grow the sport, if they want to.
McGee: That’s the key phrase: “If they want to.” I have argued with some of the guys that we’re talking about, that they have the personality, but the fans say they don’t because they haven’t actually been introduced to these guys. Period. Maybe Netflix changes that. We just saw Jimmie Johnson go into the NASCAR Hall of Fame last month, and you and I wrestled with that perception his entire career, people telling us, “Well, this guy is boring” and we’re like, “No, he’s actually the least boring person you’ll ever meet!” But for whatever reason, that connection never happened, and I feel like these guys now maybe have a better handle on that.
Marty: I look at it, Blaney is a great personality, but he’s a very unique personality in that he’s very jovial away from it all. When he puts the helmet on, he turns into an assassin. Then there’s those guys that have been around a while that still have a competitive fire, whether that’s Hamlin, Busch, Joey Logano …
Marty: All those guys, young and old, have the potential to be great factors. All of them are champions. So, you know they know how to do it, but can you put it together in this current format? It’s just so hard to win in the format right now. No Daytona 500 winner has gone on to win the championship since Jimmie Johnson in 2013.
McGee: Whoa.
Marty: Right?
McGee: I like it being hard on these guys. I’m a sick sportswriter. So, mix it up! That’s why I like what NASCAR keeps doing to the schedule, too. Really ever since 2020, they are willing to try some stuff and if it works, great. If it doesn’t, OK, they won’t do it like that again. But the idea of moving dates around, bringing back North Wilkesboro, finally sending a Cup race to Iowa Speedway, I just like the fact that they are willing to try things, and I really like the fact that it keeps teams on their toes.
Marty: I agree. And I am really fascinated to see what it really means for Jimmie Johnson’s team, Legacy Motor Club, because they have moved to Toyota and have two young drivers in Erik Jones — even though he’s been around a while — and John Hunter Nemechek. Jimmie Johnson has been in a Chevrolet quite literally his entire life, but he moves to Toyota based on the fact that they go from a team that was not considered elite tier by their own manufacturer to one that is by Toyota. So, what does that ultimately mean? They have Matt Kenseth on board in an executive role. Jimmie driving in nine races, starting at Daytona. Jimmie Johnson with something to prove is a scary idea.
McGee: Meanwhile, over at his former team, Hendrick Motorsports, Chase Elliott has something to prove, too. He’s this mix of everything we’ve talked about: a young guy but also a veteran, a former champion but facing the hurdles of the format while also coming off a brutally disappointing season in which he was hurt, suspended and missed the Playoff. Worst-case scenario.
Marty: The most popular driver in the sport. And he didn’t win a race in 2023. So, what kind of fire does he show up with? I think he probably will have a chip on his shoulder to prove some things.
McGee: As we like to say on “Marty & McGee,” we’ll get you out of here on this. We’ve talked about drivers. We’ve talked about racetracks. We’ve talked about NASCAR in general. Would you like to now have a rousing, lengthy conversation about charters and the ongoing financial negotiations between NASCAR and team owners?
In the third period, with the Panthers cruising to a 6-2 win and a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals, Tkachuk went after Aho with a series of shoves and cross-checks, eventually putting him in a headlock and bringing him down to the ice. The incident was seen as retaliation for Aho’s low hit on Florida’s Sam Reinhart that injured him in Game 2 and kept the forward out of the lineup on Saturday.
“I don’t really look at it as intent or intimidation at all. It’s just sticking up for teammates,” said Tkachuk, who was given a roughing penalty and a 10-minute misconduct. “We’re a family in there. It could happen to anybody and there’s probably 20 guys racing to be the guy to stick up for a teammate like that. That’s just how our team’s built. That’s why we’re successful. I don’t think any of us would be thrilled at that play in Game 2.”
But while Tkachuk was on top of Aho, who remained in the game, there was no chaotic response from the Hurricanes, nor any retaliation for the rest of the game. Carolina forward Taylor Hall said, in hindsight, there needed to be some reaction.
“I think what happened is that we don’t want to take penalties after the whistle, and they’re very good at goading you into them. But we have to support each other and make sure all five of us are having each other’s backs,” Hall said. “That was a tough look there, but we’ll battle for each other to no end.”
Coach Rod Brind’Amour said there needed to be a response, especially since the game was all but over on the scoreboard
“In that situation, there probably does. There’s a fine line. You don’t want to start advocating for that kind of hockey, necessarily. But with the game out of hand, yes, we have to do a better job of that with the game out of hand,” he said.
The Hurricanes face elimination on Monday night in Sunrise. They also face a 16th straight loss in the Eastern Conference finals, a streak that stretches back to 2009.
“We’re going to give our best tomorrow,” Hall said. “I think that we have a belief in our room, honestly. We’re playing for our season.”
Kristen Shilton is a national NHL reporter for ESPN.
EDMONTON — Dallas forward Roope Hintz has been ruled out for Game 3 of the Stars’ Western Conference finals series against the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.
Hintz was a game-time decision for Dallas after leaving the third period of Game 2 on Friday with an injury. The center took a slash from Edmonton defenseman Darnell Nurse less than four minutes into that final frame and was helped off the ice without appearing to put weight on his left leg.
Stars’ coach Pete DeBoer said on Saturday they were awaiting test results on Hintz before determining his status for Game 3. Hintz travelled with the team from Dallas and arrived at Rogers Place on Sunday without wearing a walking boot.
DeBoer still declared Hintz’s status uncertain about an hour before puck drop. Hintz took warmups with the Stars before Game 3 but left several minutes early without participating in line rushes.
Hintz has five goals and 11 points in 15 postseason games and ranked fourth on the Stars in regular-season scoring with 28 goals and 67 points in 76 games.
Christophe Clement, who trained longshot Tonalist to victory in the 2014 Belmont Stakes and won a Breeders’ Cup race in 2021, has died. He was 59.
Clement announced his own death in a prepared statement that was posted to his stable’s X account on Sunday.
“Unfortunately, if you are reading this, it means I was unable to beat my cancer,” the post said. “As many of you know, I have been fighting an incurable disease, metastatic uveal melanoma.”
It’s a type of cancer that affects the uvea, the middle layer of the eye. It accounts for just 5% of all melanoma cases in the U.S., however, it can be aggressive and spread to other parts of the body in up to 50% of cases, according to the Melanoma Research Alliance’s website.
The Paris-born Clement has been one of the top trainers in the U.S. over the last 34 years. He learned under his father, Miguel, who was a leading trainer in France. Clement later worked for the prominent French racing family of Alec Head. In the U.S., he first worked for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey.
Clement went out on his own in 1991, winning with the first horse he saddled at Belmont Park in New York.
“Beyond his accomplishments as a trainer, which are many, Christophe Clement was a kind and generous man who made lasting contributions to the fabric of racing in New York,” Dave O’Rouke, president and CEO of the New York Racing Association said in a statement.
Clement had 2,576 career victories and purse earnings of over $184 million, according to Equibase.
“I am very proud that for over 30 years in this industry, we have operated every single day with the highest integrity, always putting the horses’ wellbeing first,” he wrote in his farewell message.
One of his best-known horses was Gio Ponti, winner of Eclipse Awards as champion male turf horse in 2009 and 2010. He finished second to Zenyatta in the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic.
In the 2014 Belmont, Tonalist spoiled the Triple Crown bid of California Chrome, who tied for fourth. Tonalist won by a head, after not having competed in the Kentucky Derby or Preakness that year.
Steve Coburn, co-owner of California Chrome, caused controversy when he said afterward the horses that hadn’t run in the other two races took “the coward’s way out.” He later apologized and congratulated the connections of Tonalist.
Clement’s lone Breeders’ Cup victory was with Pizza Bianca, owned by celebrity chef Bobby Flay, in the Juvenile Fillies Turf. Clement had seven seconds and six thirds in other Cup races.
“It was Christophe’s genuine love for the horse that truly set him apart,” Eric Hamelback, CEO of the National Horseman’s Benevolent and Protective Association, said in a statement. “He was a consummate professional and a welcoming gentleman whose demeanor was always positive, gracious and upbeat.”
Clement’s statement said he would leave his stable in the hands of his son and longtime assistant, Miguel.
“As I reflect on my journey, I realize I never worked a day in my life,” Clement’s statement said. “Every morning, I woke up and did what I loved most surrounded by so much love.”
Besides his son, he is survived by wife Valerie, daughter Charlotte Clement Collins and grandson Hugo Collins.