CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR’s All-Star Race will be a midweek event on July 15 at Charlotte Motor Speedway as part of a new revision to the schedule that runs through the first weekend of August. The revisions involve Pocono Raceway and the speedways in Indianapolis, Kentucky, Texas, Kansas and New Hampshire. NASCAR made no mention of whether spectators will be allowed at any of the events but Indianapolis, Kentucky and Kansas all said their events would not have fans. NASCAR leadership has not been available for public comment since May 17.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Dozens of University of Texas football players marched with Austin police officers from campus to the state Capitol to honor the memory of George Floyd on Thursday. Many of the players locked arms on the two-mile walk that stopped on the opposite side of the building from where protesters have gathered for several days. Once there, the group and police officers took a knee for nine minutes to symbolize the amount of time Floyd was detained on the ground by Minneapolis police before he died.
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — Two more Oklahoma State football players have tested positive for COVID-19 since returning to campus for voluntary workouts. That brings the total to three. Senior associate athletic director Kevin Klintworth wrote on his Twitter account that of the 150 staff, administrators and athletes tested, three were positive. None are showing symptoms. Linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga announced Tuesday he tested positive after he attended a protest in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The other two players were not identified. Athletes or staff members at Marshall and Iowa State also have tested positive this week.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Johnny Majors, the coach of Pittsburgh’s 1976 national championship football team and a former coach and star player at Tennessee, has died. Majors died Wednesday at his home in Knoxville, according to his wife. He was 85. Majors compiled a 185-137-10 record in 29 seasons as a head coach at Iowa State, Pitt and Tennessee. In his playing days, he finished second to Notre Dame’s Paul Hornung in the 1956 Heisman Trophy balloting. Majors was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1987.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Transitioning from head coach at the college level to the NFL is never easy. But for Carolina Panthers first-year coach Matt Rhule, it has been particularly challenging because of the coronavirus pandemic. Nearly five months after being hired away from Baylor to help rebuild a struggling franchise, Rhule has met in person only about 20 of the 90 players on the roster. And he still hasn’t run his players through a practice because of the league stoppage due to the pandemic. In a little more than three months, he’ll need to field a team for the first regular-season game — assuming the NFL season goes ahead as scheduled.
UNDATED (AP) — The NBA’s Board of Governors has approved a 22-team format for restarting the league season in late July at the Disney campus near Orlando, Florida. The format calls for each team playing eight games to determine playoff seeding plus the possible utilization of a play-in tournament for the final spot in the Eastern Conference and Western Conference postseason fields. The National Basketball Players Association has a call on Friday to approve the plan as well, the final step as the league tries to finish a season stopped short by the coronavirus pandemic.
UNDATED (AP) — The NCAA has set a new schedule for early entrants to the NBA draft to withdraw and return to school. Players will now have until 10 days after the NBA scouting combine or Aug. 3, whichever comes earlier. The original June 3 deadline was set to come 10 days after the completion of the combine, but the NBA postponed the combine amid the coronavirus pandemic and has yet to announce a new date.
UNDATED (AP) — The NHL says each of its playoff series will be a best-of-seven format after the initial qualifying round. Teams will be reseeded throughout if the league is able to return with its 24-team plan later this summer. The announcement came at nearly the same time the Pittsburgh Penguins revealed one of their players had tested positive for the coronavirus, raising the total to nine players throughout the league. The NHL is still assessing health and safety protocols for what it has said could be 24 teams playing each other in two hub cities.
UNDATED (AP) — NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has told the 32 clubs in a memo obtained by The Associated Press that coaching staffs may work from team complexes starting Friday. Previously, only up to 75 people per day could be at the facilities, with coaches and players not seeking treatment for injuries barred. The maximum number of club employees in each facility will be increased to 100, subject to governmental regulations and implementation of health protocols developed by the NFL's medical staff.