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DARLINGTON, S.C. — Martin Truex Jr. qualified for the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs after some nervous moments when he crashed out on the third lap of the Southern 500 on Sunday.

Truex slid up into defending champion Ryan Blaney and both cars went to the garage. But after two stages (230 laps) at Darlington Raceway, NASCAR announced that Truex, the 2017 series champ, was locked into the 16-driver field.

Truex is in his last full season as a driver for Joe Gibbs Racing. He started the race 58 points ahead of the cutoff line to reach the playoffs, which start next week at Atlanta, and he said Saturday he felt good about his position at 14th on the playoff grid entering the weekend.

The wreck left Truex watching the race unfold and hoping others behind him wouldn’t do enough on the track to knock him out.

“It was all my fault, all my doing,” Truex said outside the infield care center.

Truex said he had a run on William Byron‘s No. 24 when the car got away from him.

“I thought everything was going fine and I ran into him. Obviously, that was on me,” he said.

Blaney, like Truex, was taken to the care center. The Team Penske driver said he was hurting at first, but felt like he’d be OK going forward as he prepares to defend his series title beginning next week in Atlanta.

“I saw Martin get loose, and I thought he was going to spin to the bottom, so I kind of gassed up to get around him, but it was just terrible timing,” Blaney said. “He overcorrected, and we were just right there.”

Truex’s JGR teammate Ty Gibbs entered without a win in 15th, while Chris Buescher of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing was on the playoff bubble in 16th.

Bubba Wallace, who started from the pole, was the first man out of playoff position, 21 points behind Buescher when the race began.

Truex’s wreck shuffled him out of playoff position temporarily. Despite getting in, he knows he’ll need to turn things around to make a deep playoff run.

“It sucks. We just had a miserable two months,” he said. “Tonight was on me, sorry to my team and all the guys who work so hard.”

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Rich Rod bans Mountaineers from TikTok dancing

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Rich Rod bans Mountaineers from TikTok dancing

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez, like all football coaches, wants his players to show up on time, work hard and play their best.

Oh, and another thing: Don’t dance on TikTok.

“They’re going to be on it, so I’m not banning them from it,” he said Monday. “I’m just banning them from dancing on it. It’s like, look, we try to have a hard edge or whatever, and you’re in there in your tights dancing on TikTok, ain’t quite the image of our program that I want.”

Making TikTok dance videos is a popular activity among high school- and college-age users of the social media platform. Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, Boise State star Ashton Jeanty and Nebraska’s Dylan Raiola are among college football players who have posted dance videos.

Rodriguez is beginning his second stint as Mountaineers coach. He said he has talked to his players about the tendency in society to emphasize the individual rather than the team and that banning TikTok dancing is something he can do to put the focus where he thinks it belongs.

“I’m allowed to do that. I can have rules,” he said. “Twenty years from now, if they want to be sitting in their pajamas in the basement eating Cheetos and watching TikTok or whatever the hell, they can go at it, smoking cannabis, whatever. Knock yourself out.”

As for now, he said: “I hope our focus can be on winning football games. How about let’s win the football game and not worry about winning the TikTok?”

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Battle, DB star at USC and former Jet, dies at 78

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Battle, DB star at USC and former Jet, dies at 78

LOS ANGELES — Mike Battle, an All-American defensive back and a member of USC‘s 1967 national championship team who later played two seasons for the New York Jets, has died. He was 78.

He died of natural causes on March 6 in Nellysford, Virginia, the school said Tuesday.

In 1967, Battle led a USC defense that allowed only 87 points all season. The Trojans were 26-6-1 and won three conference titles during his three-year career. Battle played in the 1967, 1968 and 1969 Rose Bowl games, all won by the Trojans.

Battle was USC’s annual punt return leader in each of his three seasons and still owns the school record for most punts returned in a season. He was the NCAA statistical champion in 1967, when he had 49 returns for 608 yards, a 12.4-yard average. He also holds the school mark for most punts returned, with 99 during his three years.

He was chosen in the 12th round of the 1969 NFL draft by the Jets and played for two seasons in 1969 and 1970.

Battle appeared in the 1970 film “C.C. and Company,” a biker film starring Jets teammate Joe Namath and actor Ann-Margret.

He is survived by his wife Laura and children Christian Michael, Hunter, Frank, Michael, Kathleen, Murphy and Annie.

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Stars forward Hintz out a week with facial injury

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Stars forward Hintz out a week with facial injury

Dallas Stars forward Roope Hintz will be sidelined for a week with a facial injury but avoided a fracture.

General manager Jim Nill said Tuesday that Hintz has to keep his heart rate down for 5-7 days to avoid pressure or swelling.

Hintz, 28, was struck in the face by a puck midway through the second period in Saturday’s 5-4 loss at Edmonton. He did not return.

Hintz is tied for second on the Stars in goals (25) and is fourth in points (52) through 59 games this season.

He has 362 points (172 goals, 190 assists) in 451 career games in seven NHL seasons. Dallas drafted him in the second round in 2015.

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