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Daniel Suárez winning the third-closest NASCAR race in history. Shane van Gisbergen becoming the first driver to win on their Cup Series debut in 60 years. Ross Chastain stealing a place in the Championship 4 with his rulebook-bending wall ride at Martinsville.

Three of the most viral, genre-defying moments in recent NASCAR history, all tied together by one common thread: all were accomplished by drivers for Trackhouse Racing.

The team founded by Justin Marks and co-owned by Pitbull has a knack for making headlines, either by winning races (only NASCAR behemoths Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske have more victories in the past three-plus seasons than Trackhouse’s seven), by employing drivers who make any given event must-see TV (see: van Gisbergen’s win on the streets of Chicago last summer or 2007 Formula One world champion Kimi Räikkönen contesting rounds at Watkins Glen and Circuit of the Americas), or by having its Grammy-winning co-owner headline concerts corresponding with major dates on the NASCAR calendar.

Trackhouse is a marketer’s dream, boasting a unique combination of on-track success with off-track intrigue. The team’s headquarters in Concord, North Carolina is filled to the brim with knowledge of the American racing landscape.

“[Marks] is an exceptionally open-minded person. He’s always looking for opportunities, but not opportunities to do things like other people do them, for opportunities for him to do things the way he wants to do them,” former NASCAR Cup Series race winner and Marks’ CARS Tour co-owner Jeff Burton said to ESPN. “He’s very innovative, creative. Over there in the Cup team, they talk about being disruptive and trying to do things differently, and that’s the experience that I’ve had.”

You can understand, then, why Trackhouse would be attractive to MotoGP, whose teams are all owned by outfits based in Western Europe and Japan. While F1 continues to enjoy its boom in popularity in the U.S. and NASCAR continues to deliver dependable ratings (even if they aren’t what they were during stock car racing’s height of popularity 25 years ago), the two-wheeled equivalent of Formula One is still waiting for its “Drive to Survive” moment, the pop-culture crossover from niche audience to water-cooler conversation.

When the sport announced in November that it was not selecting CryptoData RNF Aprilia to participate in the 2024 championship, it didn’t take long for confirmation to arrive that Trackhouse would take its places on the grid.

“There is probably some pressure on us to deliver some value for MotoGP in the North American market, but I think it’s something that we’re uniquely positioned to be able to do just because of the voice that we already have in motorsports in North America,” Marks told ESPN. “There’s a lot of people that are already paying attention to us because of Project 91 (the operation that brought Räikkönen and Van Gisbergen to the Cup Series), because of the moments that we’ve had in NASCAR, because of Pitbull and all the things that we do. So we’ve already got a voice, and being able to introduce MotoGP into that conversation, I think we’ve got endemic followers and fans that are going to automatically maybe tune into MotoGP because Trackhouse is there.”

Converting even a fraction of those Trackhouse fans would be a boon for motorcycle grand prix racing. While the series enjoyed record in-person attendance in 2023, up 17% from the previous year, that hasn’t necessarily translated to success in the United States. Live broadcasts for the Saturday Sprint and Sunday grand prix from the second round in Portugal last month were seen by 182,000 American viewers, while the NASCAR Cup Series circulated Circuit of the Americas that same weekend in front of a television audience of 3.31 million.

MotoGP’s new broadcast rights deal in the U.S. with Warner Brothers Discovery will undoubtedly help, with 30 GPs and Sprints airing live in 2024 compared with zero last season, but Trackhouse’s ability to tap into an existing audience of American race fans holds enormous potential for the sport.

How will Marks’ team do that? For starters, cross-promotion.

Trackhouse brought one of its Aprilia RS-GP show bikes to Daytona International Speedway in February, on display for everyone wandering through the hospitality area of the Daytona 500. Marks helped organize a NASCAR demonstration lap when MotoGP visits Circuit of the Americas in Austin this weekend. Ahead of Trackhouse Aprilia’s arrival in the Texas capital, it stopped in North Carolina to visit the NASCAR shop, where riders Miguel Oliveira and Raúl Fernández got behind the wheel of a stock car.

All of it captured on camera, curated for social media. This is the second, and arguably biggest, tenet of Trackhouse’s ability to attract new fans.

The 2024 MotoGP season is just two races (and two preseason tests) old, but already the content that the Trackhouse Aprilia team has produced has stood out from its rivals. There is a polish to its video edits that is unrivaled in the paddock, fans are being introduced to the personalities behind Oliveira and Fernández, there is an attention to detail that comes from an organization dedicated to the craft.

“We’ve really leaned into that on the NASCAR side and built a very strong content team. It’s one of the strongest divisions in the company on the NASCAR side, and that’s something that we want to grow on the MotoGP side,” Marks said. “We want to be able to tell the stories of our riders and the stories of our executives and our mechanics going down the road and flying all over the world. Right now we basically have one content guy that goes around the world with the MotoGP team but has the support of our content team here in North America, but I think that we will grow that over time.

“The broadcast of the races, that’s really telling the story of what happens on the race track, but social media is where you tell all the ancillary stories around what happens on the race track. So that’s where we’ve made big investments and continue to make big investments, and I think we have a massive opportunity on the MotoGP side to really establish our voice and our personality and work to bring content and behind-the-scenes stories to the MotoGP fans that they haven’t seen yet.”

There’s much more to winning over the American audience and new fans of MotoGP, though. The production quality of the team’s content can be worthy of an Academy Award, but if Trackhouse Aprilia doesn’t deliver on track, it will count for little.

Talk to anyone who knows Marks, though, and, yes, they will rave about his creativity and his innovation and his vision, but they will also bring up how competitive he is.

“I don’t think [Marks is] in this to just show up,” Dan Rossomondo, chief commercial officer of Dorna Sports, the commercial rights holder of MotoGP, said to ESPN. “I think he’s in this to compete.

“I think that if you give them time, they’re going to invest in the right — when I say ‘invest,’ I just don’t mean money. I think they’re going to spend the right amount of time and the right amount of resources and the right amount of ideation on getting to the top of the grid.”

Trackhouse Racing was winless with Suárez in its first season in the NASCAR Cup Series. When it expanded to become a two-car operation in 2022, the team claimed three victories. Marks thinks it will take a year for his MotoGP operation, which largely absorbed the now-defunct CryptoData RNF team, to fully embrace the Trackhouse way of doing business. When it does, though, he has a clear vision for his outfit.

“What we really want, and this is where [former Yamaha, Suzuki and Alpine F1 boss and newly appointed Trackhouse Aprilia team principal Davide Brivio] is going to be very instrumental for us, is we want to be the strongest independent team in the sport,” Marks said.

In 2023, Pramac Ducati became the first independent team in the history of MotoGP to win the teams’ championship. If Trackhouse can replicate that feat in the years to come, you can bet that Marks’ team will have won over a few fans — in the U.S. and beyond — along the way.

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Crowning a champion in our 64-team college football bracket

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Crowning a champion in our 64-team college football bracket

By this time in any postseason, talent and depth typically rise to the top.

Now that we’re down to the Sweet 16 in our 2025 mock NCAA football tournament, that’s apparent with 11 of the 16 teams coming from either the Big Ten or SEC.

All four No. 1 seeds are still alive, and No. 12 seed Memphis has engineered two upsets to get this far. Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik, LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier and BYU linebacker Isaiah Glasker all played starring roles in the first two rounds, and Ryan Silverfield has Memphis riding an eight-game winning streak.

To recap, the original seeds were based to a large degree on ESPN’s latest SP+ projections entering the 2025 season, although seeds are a moot point as we tee it back up.

Time to finish the tournament. And the best news? There’s no blaming anything on a committee.

Midwest Regional

Semifinals

(1) Ohio State 28, (5) BYU 23: How do you cover Buckeyes receivers Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate? It’s a question teams asked all season. The Cougars do their best to keep Smith from torching them, but Tate does most of the damage with eight catches for 124 yards and two touchdowns.

(3) Tennessee 34, (2) Oregon 32: The Vols get back to their explosive ways on offense in 2025 with quarterback Nico Iamaleava making a big jump in his third year on campus. Oregon matches that explosiveness with Evan Stewart pulling in two acrobatic catches, leading to a late touchdown. The Ducks get the ball back, but an Arion Carter sack seals the game for Tennessee.


Regional final

(1) Ohio State 31, (3) Tennessee 21: The Vols get another shot at the Buckeyes after getting blown out in Columbus last season in the first round of the playoff. This game is much closer, and Tim Banks’ Tennessee defense holds up most of the way. But the same guy who wreaked havoc on the Vols a year ago does it again. Smith has two of his three touchdown catches in the second half to lead Ohio State to its 10th straight win.


How we got here

First round

(1) Ohio State over (16) Boston College

(2) Oregon over (15) UCF

(3) Tennessee over (14) Pittsburgh

(4) South Carolina over (13) North Carolina

(5) BYU over (12) Colorado

(11) Kentucky over (6) Louisville

(7) TCU over Georgia Tech

(9) Arkansas over (8) Boise State

Second round

(1) Ohio State over (9) Arkansas

(2) Oregon over (7) TCU

(3) Tennessee over (11) Kentucky

(5) BYU over (4) South Carolina

South Regional

Semifinals

(5) Illinois 27, (1) Texas 24: The shocker of the tournament so far, but don’t tell that to Illinois coach Bret Bielema. In his fifth season at Illinois, he had a good feeling about this team all along. The Illini returned 18 starters from their bowl team a year ago, and the two stars on defense, outside linebacker Gabe Jacas and cornerback Xavier Scott, play like stars against a Texas offense that never finds any rhythm.

(2) Notre Dame 31, (3) Miami 20: The infamous “Catholics vs. Convicts” T-shirts are reintroduced to the college football world, and that’s what everybody is talking about in the buildup to this game. Notre Dame cornerback Leonard Moore steals the show with interceptions in each half, the final one leading to the clinching touchdown for the Irish.


Regional final

(2) Notre Dame 28, (5) Illinois 21: Jeremiyah Love’s development and toughness epitomized Notre Dame’s run to the semifinals last year. He’s even more of a factor this year, and his ability to make big plays and earn the tough yards against a stout Illinois defense is the difference in this Elite Eight matchup. Love’s tackle-breaking 8-yard touchdown run gives the Irish the lead for good and caps a 138-yard rushing night.


How we got here

First round

(1) Texas over (16) Maryland

(2) Notre Dame over (15) California

(3) Miami over (14) Kansas

(4) Florida over (13) James Madison

(5) Illinois over (12) N.C. State

(11) Virginia Tech over (6) Iowa

(7) USC over (10) Minnesota

(8) Texas Tech over (9) Utah

Second round

(1) Texas over (8) Texas Tech

(2) Notre Dame over (7) USC

(3) Miami over (6) Virginia Tech

(5) Illinois over (4) Florida

East Regional

Semifinals

(1) Penn State 35, (12) Memphis 17: Memphis’ improbable run to the Sweet 16 comes to a crushing end as Penn State builds a 21-3 lead, then tees off defensively on a Memphis offense that has to resort to throwing the ball on just about every down. Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen each rush for more than 100 yards for the Nittany Lions, who finish with 290 yards on the ground as a team.

(2) Alabama 27, (3) Michigan 23: In a rematch of the Rose Bowl two years ago (Nick Saban’s final game), Alabama gets a little revenge for its old coach. The Crimson Tide are held to a single touchdown in the first half, but the defense keeps them in it. Trailing 20-17 entering the fourth quarter, Alabama finds its running game. Jam Miller erupts for 72 rushing yards in the final quarter, and the Tide bullies their way into the Elite Eight.


Regional final

(2) Alabama 22, (1) Penn State 19: Ty Simpson has waited his turn at quarterback for the Crimson Tide, and even though they don’t light up the scoreboard in this defense-dominated matchup of blue bloods, he doesn’t commit a single turnover and keeps everybody on offense focused. But on Alabama’s final two drives, Simpson throws a 28-yard touchdown pass to put the Tide ahead and later converts a fourth-and-short to put the game away.


How we got here

First round

(1) Penn State over (16) West Virginia

(2) Alabama over (15) Syracuse

(3) Michigan over (14) Army

(4) SMU over (13) Tulane

(12) Memphis over (5) Texas A&M

(11) Wisconsin over (6) Oklahoma

(7) Indiana over (10) Washington

(9) Nebraska over (8) Arizona State

Second round

(1) Penn State over (9) Nebraska

(2) Alabama over (7) Indiana

(3) Michigan over (11) Wisconsin

(12) Memphis over (4) SMU

West Regional

Semifinals

(1) Georgia 35, (4) LSU 31: Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton got a taste of postseason football last year when he filled in for Carson Beck. That experience proves valuable in this back-and-forth game, with Nussmeier throwing three touchdown passes for LSU. But Stockton is able to spread the ball around with Noah Thomas and Zachariah Branch, both transfer receivers, and tight end Oscar Delp all catching touchdown passes.

(2) Clemson 33, (3) Ole Miss 24: Dabo Swinney and Lane Kiffin have been on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to using the transfer portal. Swinney has barely dipped into it at all, and Kiffin has lived in it. Swinney did bring in three transfers this season, and one of them, former Purdue defensive end Will Heldt, makes life miserable for the Ole Miss offensive line. Heldt finishes with two sacks and a forced fumble, and the Tigers march onward.


Regional final

(2) Clemson 31, (1) Georgia 30: Once upon a time, these teams played every year in one of the South’s best nonconference rivalries. The Tigers, who had lost eight of their past nine games against the Bulldogs, fall behind early in this one. But Clemson cornerback Avieon Terrell, flagged for pass interference on the previous possession, intercepts a Stockton pass deep in Clemson territory, leading to a quick touchdown. That’s where the game swings, and the Tigers move a step closer to their third national title in 10 years.


How we got here

First round

(1) Georgia over (16) Oklahoma State

(2) Clemson over (15) Mississippi State

(3) Ole Miss over (14) Cincinnati

(4) LSU over (13) Florida State

(5) Missouri over (12) Rutgers

(11) Vanderbilt over (6) Kansas State

(7) Auburn over (10) Duke

(8) Iowa State over (9) Baylor

Second round

(1) Georgia over (8) Iowa State

(2) Clemson over Auburn (7)

(3) Ole Miss over (11) Vanderbilt

(4) LSU over (5) Missouri

Final Four

(2) Clemson 35, (1) Ohio State 28: The first time these teams played was back in 1978, with Clemson winning 17-15 in the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida. It was a blah game until legendary coach Woody Hayes punched Clemson’s Charlie Bauman on the sideline late in the fourth quarter after Bauman intercepted a pass. Hayes was fired the next day. This national semifinal game doesn’t include any extracurricular fireworks that rise to that level, but Klubnik and Ohio State’s Julian Sayin provide plenty of fireworks on the field. They both pass for more than 300 yards, but freshman running back Gideon Davidson delivers the winning 24-yard touchdown run for the Tigers.

(2) Alabama 33, (2) Notre Dame 27: Here the Irish are knocking on the door of a national championship for the second straight season under Marcus Freeman, who’s the subject of countless reports that NFL teams are lining up to hire him. Freeman never gives any credence to those reports, and his Notre Dame team fights its way back from a two-touchdown deficit. Driving inside the Alabama 45 with just under four minutes remaining, Notre Dame tries to run right at 326-pound defensive tackle Tim Keenan III. Big mistake. Keenan blows up the play, forcing a 5-yard loss. Notre Dame has to punt and never gets the ball back, as Alabama’s offensive line takes control of the game.

National Championship

(2) Alabama 30, (2) Clemson 24: It’s not the first time Swinney has gone up against his alma mater in the national championship game. It happened in 2015 with Alabama winning, again in 2016 with Clemson winning and then in 2018 with the Tigers claiming their second national title under Swinney. So, now, welcome to Part 4. All the gnashing of teeth in Tuscaloosa over Kalen DeBoer’s first season as coach when he lost (gasp) four games has quieted. Alabama is playing its best football of the season with some of its younger players and veterans stepping up in key roles. But it’s the most electrifying player on Alabama’s roster, receiver Ryan Williams, who wins it for the Tide, their 19th “claimed” national championship. After Antonio Williams gives Clemson the lead with a 46-yard touchdown catch down the right sideline, Ryan Williams caps a 77-yard drive for Alabama with a 2-yard touchdown catch on a pick/rub play. Sound familiar? With Clemson fans cursing the play the same way Alabama did back in 2016, DeBoer breaks through in his second season. His statue on the Walk of Champions is up by the start of the 2026 season.

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Deion wants foe for CU spring game; Cuse willing

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Deion wants foe for CU spring game; Cuse willing

Colorado coach Deion Sanders wants the NCAA to consider borrowing from the NFL model and allow programs to practice and scrimmage against another team during the spring.

“I would actually like to play the spring game against another team, in the spring. That’s what I’m trying to do right now,” Sanders said Monday after announcing that the Buffaloes’ spring game at Folsom Field on April 19 will be televised (ESPN2, 4:30 p.m. ET).

“I would like to style it like the pros. I’d like to go against someone [in practice] for a few days, and then you have the spring game. I think the public would be satisfied with that tremendously. I think it’s a tremendous idea. I’ve told those personnel, who should understand that, that it’s a tremendous idea.”

It didn’t take long for Sanders to find an interested party. Syracuse head coach Fran Brown on Monday posted to social media platform X, offering for the Orange to “come to Boulder for 3 days.”

Under current NCAA bylaws, football teams cannot play against another school in the spring, an NCAA spokesperson told ESPN on Monday.

During the summer, NFL teams often conduct joint practices with another team for a week leading up to an exhibition game between the two sides. In college, teams practice against themselves leading up to an intrasquad scrimmage. For larger programs, those exhibition games would be played in front of large crowds.

Of late, however, many of these spring games are being adjusted into something completely different — such as a skills competition format — or canceled altogether.

Nebraska, Texas, Ohio State, Oklahoma and USC are among programs ending traditions this spring.

“The way the trend is going, is you never know if this is going to be the last spring game,” said the 57-year-old Sanders, who is entering his third season at Colorado. “Now, I don’t believe in that, and I don’t really want to condone that. … To have it competitive, and to play against your own guys, it can get kind of monotonous, and you really can’t tell the level of your guys.”

The Cornhuskers recently announced that they were replacing their spring football game with skills competitions and 7-on-7 games at Memorial Stadium on April 26. This comes on the heels of coach Matt Rhule expressing concerns about other teams scouting players in the scrimmage and possibly poaching them through the transfer portal.

Sanders said the threat of other programs possibly luring players away via the transfer portal after showcasing their talents during spring games isn’t a factor, at least for him. The spring portal window runs April 16-25.

“Everybody’s moving to stop spring games, I don’t know why,” Sanders said. “You’re not going to stop nobody from leaving your program by not having a spring game. If you want to save money, just say that. The kid’s already gone. They already reached out and contacted somebody else. They’re already gone.”

Sanders on Monday also downplayed talk about his contract extension, saying “there may be” discussions.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Let’s get everybody else [on the coaching staff] straight first, then I’m good.”

Sanders signed a five-year, $29.5 million deal before the 2023 season. The Buffaloes went 4-8 that year and 9-4 last season.

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Belichick flips 4-star Ruffin from A&M to UNC

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Belichick flips 4-star Ruffin from A&M to UNC

Four-star defensive tackle Trashawn Ruffin, No. 238 in the ESPN Junior 300, flipped his commitment from Texas A&M to North Carolina on Monday, marking the Tar Heels’ highest-rated new pledge since coach Bill Belichick took over the program in December.

Ruffin, the 12th-ranked prospect from the state of North Carolina in the 2026 cycle, announced his decision via social media. The 6-foot-3, 305-pound defender had been committed to Texas A&M since October 2024 and was the fourth-ranked member of the Aggies’ latest class prior to his flip. Ruffin is now the No. 1 prospect pledged to the Tar Heels’ incoming class in 2026, Belichick’s first full recruiting cycle in college football.

Ruffin, ESPN’s No. 17 defensive tackle prospect, initially committed to Texas A&M last fall over offers from schools including Ohio State, Georgia, Texas, Michigan and Florida State. Yet Belichick and his staff — which has placed an emphasis on in-state recruiting since the six-time Super Bowl champion head coach arrived at North Carolina — made Ruffin a priority target in 2025.

The flip comes weeks after Ruffin took an unofficial visit with the Tar Heels, during which he attended a North Carolina-Duke basketball game and met former North Carolina All-American defenders Lawrence Taylor and Julius Peppers.

Ruffin, who plays at North Duplin High School in Mt. Olive, North Carolina, is the ninth prospect committed to the Tar Heels’ 2026 class. He joins Charlotte, North Carolina, quarterback Zaid Lott as the second in-state prospect pledged to the program in the cycle.

Belichick and the Tar Heels signed the nation’s 45th-ranked recruiting class at the close of the 2025 cycle last month. That group of high school signees included four-star quarterback Bryce Baker (No. 200 in the ESPN 300), who initially committed to North Carolina coach Mack Brown before affirming his pledge to the program shortly after Belichick’s hiring.

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