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  SPORTSFriday 11 March 2016

After Trump endorsement, NASCAR leader faces the fallout 

JENNA FRYER                      In this Feb. 29, 2016 file photo, NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France, right, speaks at a rally                     not far from Charlotte Mo-
AP Auto Racing Writer                                                                                                                                 tor Speedway and the
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina        for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, 	                       headquarters of many top
(AP) — When Brian France                                                                                                                              NASCAR teams, Trump was
endorsed Donald Trump            								                                                                             Ga.  Associated Press           ebullient in describing his
for U.S. president, the chair-                                                                                                                        backing from the  sport.
man and chief executive          the track. France’s grand-                           ey. There was a movement        sider and a friendship with     “I just had a visitor back-
of NASCAR thought of it as       father, NASCAR founder                               going on, and I was really      one of Trump’s sons, Don-       stage. NASCAR endorsed
nothing more than a “rou-        Bill France Sr., endorsed                            thrilled with the idea of the   ald Trump Jr. that dates        Trump, can you believe
tine endorsement.”               George Wallace for presi-                            first African-American presi-   back nearly two decades.        that?” he asked the crowd.
He’s been dealing with the       dent. Its all-time most suc-                         dent,” he said. “I did the      “I’m not supporting him for     Except it wasn’t NASCAR
fallout ever since.              cessful driver, Richard Pet-                         same for Mitt Romney. In        all of his views, or his immi-  that made the endorse-
France’s decision to per-        ty, celebrated his 200th vic-                        both of those cases, I have     gration views,” France said.    ment. It was France.
sonally back the front-          tory with President Ronald                           never agreed with all of        “I happen to be very en-        “We talked to the cam-
runner for the Republican        Reagan and ran for state-                            their policies.”                amored by the excitement        paign about the endorse-
nomination has roiled            wide office in North Caro-                           But Trump is a candidate        he’s brought and the voter      ment that I made, versus
a sport his family built from    lina in the 1990s.                                   that strongly divides opin-     turnout that it is creating.”   the  sport, and it’s hard to
the ground up. It’s threat-      France told the AP on                                ions, with his policies to      France’s efforts to quell       get that perfectly right all
ened a decade of work            Wednesday he backed                                  restrict immigration from       criticism over a “personal      the time,” France said.
to broaden NASCAR’s ap-          Barack Obama in 2008 and                             Mexico and the Muslim           and private” decision have      Hope Hicks, a spokeswom-
peal among minorities, up-       actively participated in the                         world.                          also been complicated           an for Trump’s campaign,
set one of the most power-       campaign, shifting his sup-                          “I don’t even know all their    by Trump’s continued            said in a statement that
ful teams in the  sport  and     port to Mitt Romney four                             policies, truthfully,” France   mentioning of how he’s          he spoke broadly because
risked a break with corpo-       years later.                                         said.                           received “NASCAR’s en-          the “endorsement is from
rate sponsors.                   “I supported Obama. I                                He said he likes Trump’s        dorsement.”                     the great Brian France, in
“I was frankly, very sur-        went to his rallies. I parted                        “business approach”, his        On Monday, at a North           addition to several NAS-
prised, that my diversity ef-    with my hard-earned mon-                             status as a Washington out-     Carolina campaign rally         CAR drivers.”
forts for my whole career                                                                                                                             In a company-wide email
would have been called                                                                                                                                sent last week to all his em-
into question, over this,                                                                                                                             ployees, France reiterated
in my view, a routine en-                                                                                                                             that NASCAR has never
dorsement,” France said                                                                                                                               had a policy prohibiting
Wednesday in an interview                                                                                                                             employees or competi-
with The Associated Press.                                                                                                                            tors from participating in
France acknowledged                                                                                                                                   politics, but said that could
he’s had to have conver-                                                                                                                              change in the future.
sations with sponsors since                                                                                                                           He told the AP on Wednes-
making the endorsement,                                                                                                                               day he understands that
which came as NASCAR is                                                                                                                               his endorsement can be
seeking a new main spon-                                                                                                                              viewed as one that comes
sor for its top series.                                                                                                                               from NASCAR itself.
“I made a few phone calls                                                                                                                             “I understand that the
and clarified some things,”                                                                                                                           family is closely linked with
he said. “That kind of goes                                                                                                                           NASCAR. ... We’ve just al-
with the territory.”                                                                                                                                  ways, you’ve seen politi-
France’s appearance at                                                                                                                                cians come to tracks, and
a Trump rally last week                                                                                                                               it varies, some Democrats,
fits with the  sport’s  history                                                                                                                       some are Republicans, all
of occasionally blending                                                                                                                              have policies we do and
politics with the action at                                                                                                                           don’t agree with,” he said.

                                                                                      Frenchman Nacer Bouhanni wins

                                                                                      stage 4 of Paris-Nice race 

Cofidis’ Nacer Bouhanni of France celebrates as he crosses the                        ROMANS-SUR-ISERE, France        “This time there’s no con-      at the foot of the Vercors
finish line to win the fourth stage of the Paris Nice cycling race                    (AP) — French rider Nacer       troversy, I won,” Bouhanni      mountain range in the Alps
between Julienas and Romans sur Isere, central France, Thurs-                         Bouhanni outpaced his ri-       said. “Of course I was a        of southeastern France.
day, March 10, 2016.                                                                  vals in a sprint finish to win  bit revengeful, what hap-       Matthews leads Tom Du-
                                                                                      the fourth stage of the Par-    pened in Tuesday’s sprint       moulin of the Netherlands
                                                                    Associated Press  is-Nice race on Thursday,       upset me, and I slept badly     by 14 seconds overall, with
                                                                                      while Australian Michael        that night. It consumed         Patrick Bevin of New Zea-
                                                                                      Matthews retained the           a lot of my energy and I        land 19 seconds back in
                                                                                      overall lead.                   wanted this win to forget all   third place.
                                                                                      Matthews beat Bouhanni          of that.”                       The standings are set for a
                                                                                      in controversial circum-        Bouhanni held off Belgian       shakeup on Friday, when
                                                                                      stances on Tuesday’s sec-       rider Edward Theuns and         Stage 5 takes the pelo-
                                                                                      ond stage when Bouhanni         Andre Greipel of Germany        ton up the famed Mont
                                                                                      was penalized for deviat-       to win the 195.5-kilome-        Ventoux, one of the most
                                                                                      ing from his line in the final  ter (121-mile) trek from Ju-    feared climbs on the Tour
                                                                                      sprint.                         lienas to Romans-sur-Isere      de France.
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