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A22 SPORTS
Wednesday 15 January 2020
NASCAR changes Sainz’s Dakar Rally lead down

rules to try to improve to 24 seconds over Al-Attiyah

short-track racing

HARADH, Saudi Arabia (AP)
JENNA FRYER racing at short tracks. — Carlos Sainz's lead of the
AP Auto Racing Writer Teams will now use a sep- Dakar Rally was slashed for
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — arate rules package at a second straight day and
NASCAR has changed the Bristol, Dover, Martinsville, reduced to 24 seconds on
rules on its aerodynamic New Hampshire, Phoenix, Tuesday with three stages
package for short tracks Richmond, the Charlotte to go.
and road courses because Roval, Sonoma and Wat- Sainz was powering over
the racing didn’t improve kins Glen. The changes in- the 410-kilometer stony
at those venues under rules clude a significantly smaller route from Wadi Al-Dawasir
introduced last season. rear spoiler, which shrinks northeast to Haradh with
NASCAR had been fairly from an 8-inch height to title rivals Nasser Al-Attiyah
adamant the rules pack- 2.75 inches. and Stephane Peterhansel
age would remain un- The front splitter’s over- when he made a naviga-
changed but reversed hang will now measure a tion error and was left be-
course late last season quarter-inch (down from 2 hind. Driver Nasser Al-Attiyah, of Qatar, and co-driver Matthieu
when it was evident the inches), with approximate- The Spaniard conceded Baumel, of France, race their Toyota during stage nine of the
racing clearly had suffered ly 2-inch wings (reduced five minutes at the time Dakar Rally between Wadi Al Dawasir and Haradth, Saudi
at smaller tracks. from 10.5 inches). then lost tread on a tire Arabia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020.
The most glaring issue was The dimensions of the pan and eventually finished 6 Associated Press
a ho-hum penultimate remain the same. 1/2 minutes behind Peter-
race at Phoenix Raceway, “Our goal has always been hansel, who earned a rally- that there was still lots of tory, and eighth in cars.
which this season will host to provide the best possible leading third stage win. room for error on Wednes- "We made no mistakes at
the championship finale. racing for our fans, regard- Sainz, 10 minutes up on day on the longest stage, all with the navigation," Pe-
A week after the dud in less of venue,” said Steve Al-Attiyah on Sunday, was 534 kilometers. terhansel said. "We only lost
Phoenix, NASCAR President O’Donnell, NASCAR ex- just 24 seconds up on the "Peterhansel, third overall, 10 or 15 minutes, but that's
Steve Phelps promised fans ecutive vice president and defending champion from was 6 1/2 minutes back. nothing.
the sanctioning body was chief racing development Qatar. The teammate of Sainz was We'll try to keep the pres-
working on improving the officer. q But Al-Attiyah was wary chasing his 14th Dakar vic- sure on the leader."q
Astros

Continued from Page 18 the second year in a row no way for their fans to feel
at Chavez Ravine? good about anything from
But does anyone really be- That would be Cora, who the 2017 season.
lieve it? at least for the moment There's also no way to
Watch the second inning is still the manager of the make things right for the
of Game 3 once again Red Sox. Manfred didn't Dodgers, who were the
and then decide. That's discipline him Monday real victims in all this.
when Darvish was touched but only because MLB is Baseball isn't about to
up for four runs and the As- still investigating to see if vacate a title from three
tros took a 2-1 lead in the Cora cheated in Boston as years back, and you can't
series. much as he did in Houston. claim a championship
It was almost as if the hit- And cheat he did as the you didn't win on the field
ters knew what was com- In this Oct. 23, 2017, file photo, Houston Astros bench coach bench coach of the As- anyway, even if you were
ing — which, of course, Alex Cora watches batting practice during media day for tros, setting up the system cheated.In the end, the
they did. baseball’s World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, in Los that fed sign sequences to Dodgers never got to hold
If you're still not con- Angeles. a monitor near the dugout. the World Series trophy.
vinced, Game 5 should Associated Press Manfred's investigation They sat and shed tears
be evidence enough. Like called chokers. Manager for both Dodger fans and put Cora at the center of in their clubhouse after
Game 3 it took place at Dave Roberts was taken players. it all, and the guess is he Game 7 instead of cele-
Minute Maid Park, where to task on social media for ``We were close, but we will eventually be kicked brating with 55,000 faithful
the cameras were rolling, not handling his pitchers did it the right way,'' Na- out of baseball, never to fans.
the dugout trash can was properly. tional League MVP Cody return. There's one other thing
booming and the Astros It turns out what really Bellinger told ESPN before So now the Astros will go they missed out on, as
bats were blazing. happened is the Astros the results of MLB's investi- down in baseball infamy Darvish — who was pretty
All with arguably the best cheated. Cora, their gation were released. for being cheaters on a much run out of town by
pitcher in baseball since bench coach at the time, It didn't help that the level never seen before. angry Dodger fans after
the turn of the century on concocted a scheme to Dodgers would make the They're not quite the Black the series — reminded ev-
the mound for the Dodg- steal signs that made an World Series the next year, Sox of 1919 but the dam- eryone on Twitter after the
ers. Kershaw didn't make it already good team even too, only to see the visiting age they've done to the news broke.
out of the fifth inning, sur- better. team celebrating a cham- sport is not insignificant. ``If the Dodgers are plan-
rendering six runs in a wild To make matters worse, pionship once again at Their reputation is in tatters, ning a 2017 World Series
game that saw the Dodg- they celebrated on the Dodger Stadium. And who the feel good story of a city parade, I would love to
ers score a dozen times — field at Dodger Stadium was the manager jumping recovering from Hurricane join!'' Darvish tweeted. ``So
and still lose. like they had earned every up and down with his play- Harvey obliterated. There's if that is in the works, can
Kershaw, Darvish and the moment of it. ers and spraying cham- an asterisk attached to someone make a Yu Gar-
rest of the Dodgers were The bitter taste still lingers pagne with his players for their championship, and bage Jersey for me?''q