内容摘要：Pope Francis waves faithfuls after celebrating over New Year’s Eve Vespers and Te Deum, in St.Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis waves faithfuls after celebrating over New Year’s Eve Vespers and Te Deum, in St.Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Nashville kicks off NASCAR’s newinvolving 32 drivers and a single-elimination over five races starting June 28 at Atlanta. The top 32 drivers in points after Sunday night’s race in Nashville will make up the field for the three seeding races.

Those races start at Michigan on June 8, and conclude at Pocono on June 22. Drivers will be seeded by their best finish over those three races for the competition starting at Atlanta. The field will be narrowed to 16 at Chicago, eight at Sonoma, four at Dover and finally two at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.comes with a $1 million prize to the winner and is part of a new media rights deal including TNT.Denny Hamlin at +350 is the betting favorite to win Sunday night, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, followed by Kyle Larson (+550), Christopher Bell (+650) and William Byron (+725). If Hamlin makes the starting line Sunday night remains to be seen. His fiancee is expecting their third child, a boy, with Sunday the due date. Hamlin said he has an eight-hour window to race and get home but hadn’t set a timeline to make a final decision before qualifying. “I can’t miss it,” Hamlin said of his new son’s arrival. ... This race has had a different winner each of the first four years at this track. ... Country music singer Chase Rice, a former NASCAR pit crew member, will be the honorary pace car driver Sunday night. Rice has sold more than 2.8 million albums and had more than 2.9 billion total streams. His hits include “Eyes on You,” “Drinkin’ Beer. Talkin’ God. Amen.” and “Lonely If You Are.”

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Richard Childress Racing announced Saturday it has picked up the option on Kyle Busch’s contract, meaning the two-time Cup Series champion will be back with the team for the 2026 season.is in the midst of the longest slump of his career, with his winless streak closing in on 70 races. Busch has won 63 Cup Series races since joining the circuit in 2003, but has not taken the checkered flag since St. Louis on June 4, 2023.

Still, Busch believes RCR will get things turned around soon.

“It’s a great place to be, a great place to work and a great atmosphere — there is a lot of determination there from a lot of people (to win),” said Busch, who won Cup Series championships in 2015 and 2019.group who had gone missing, were found in the northern city of Reynosa along the Texas border, authorities said on Thursday.

The musicians from the band Grupo Fugitivo, which played at parties and local dances in the region, had been reported missing since Sunday.Tamaulipas state prosecutors, who had been investigating their disappearance, said the men were kidnapped around 10 p.m. that night while traveling in a SUV on the way to a venue where they were hired to play. Their bodies were found on the fringes of Reynosa. Prosecutors said nine suspects believed to be part of a faction of the Gulf Cartel, which has strong presence in the city, have been arrested.

Authorities were not immediately able to say why the men were slain, and did not deny reports by local media that the bodies had been burned.The genre they played – Mexican regional music, which encapsulates a wide range of styles including corridos and cumbia – has in recent years gained a spotlight as it’s entered a sort of international musical renaissance. Young artists sometimes pay homage to leaders of drug cartels, often portrayed as Robin Hood-type figures.