NASCAR began the 2024 season with the Busch Light Clash exhibition race at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. This weekend, the series heads to the venue nicknamed “The Last Great Colosseum.”

The NASCAR Cup Series speeds into Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday and will race on the track’s traditional concrete surface after using a dirt track for the past three spring races. Bristol in 2021 covered the high-banked, .0533-mile bullring in red Tennessee clay for its spring race, but as the novelty wore off, drivers grew tired of the gimmick and the sub-par racing.

So, NASCAR has returned to its roots, and teams will face their first true short-track test of the season with a Next Gen car that has disappointed both drivers and fans on its smaller tracks and was redesigned to improve performance – specifically on short tracks – for 2024.

Who will conquer the ‘Colosseum’ on Sunday? All the information you need to get ready for the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway:

What time does the Cup race at Bristol start?

The Food City 500 starts at 3:30 p.m. ET at Bristol Motor Speedway.

What TV channel is the Cup race at Bristol on?

Fox is broadcasting the Food City 500 and has a pre-race show beginning at 3 p.m. ET. Fox Sports 1 (FS1) has an earlier pre-race show at 2 p.m. ET.

Will there be a live stream of the Cup race at Bristol?

The Food City 500 can be live streamed on the FoxSports website and on the FoxSports app.

How many laps is the Cup race at Bristol?

The Food City 500 is 500 laps around the .0533-mile track for a total of 266.5 miles. The race will feature three segments (laps per stage) — Stage 1: 125 laps; Stage 2: 125 laps; Stage 3: 250 laps.

Who won the most recent races at Bristol?

Brad Keselowski, then driving the No. 2 Team Penske Ford, won the spring 2020 race, the last time a scheduled day race at Bristol was held on the traditional concrete. Keselowski led 115 laps and edged Clint Bowyer in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford by 0.471 seconds.

Denny Hamlin won the Bristol Night Race on Sept. 16, 2023 after leading 142 laps, including the final 135, and pulled away from Kyle Larson by 2.437 seconds in last year’s playoff race.

What is the lineup for the Food City 500 at Bristol?

(Car number in parentheses)

1. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford

2. (4) Josh Berry, Ford

3. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota

4. (22) Joey Logano, Ford

5. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet

6. (14) Chase Briscoe, Ford

7. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford

8. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet

9. (23) Bubba Wallace, Toyota

10. (5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet

11. (19) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota

12. (20) Christopher Bell, Toyota

13. (21) Harrison Burton, Ford

14. (8) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet

15. (43) Erik Jones, Toyota

16. (71) Zane Smith, Chevrolet

17. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford

18. (7) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet

19. (54) Ty Gibbs, Toyota

20. (31) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet

21. (2) Austin Cindric, Ford

22. (10) Noah Gragson, Ford

23. (45) Tyler Reddick, Toyota

24. (38) Todd Gilliland, Ford

25. (41) Ryan Preece, Ford

26. (42) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota

27. (47) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet

28. (99) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet

29. (48) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet

30. (16) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet

31. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet

32. (51) Justin Haley, Ford

33. (15) Kaz Grala, Ford

34. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford

35. (77) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet

36. (1) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet

Six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Keenan Allen is opening up about the shocking trade that sent him from the Los Angeles Chargers to the Chicago Bears earlier this week.

The Chargers traded Allen to the Chicago Bears in exchange for a fourth-round pick on Thursday, one day after Los Angeles released wide receiver Mike Williams. Allen confirmed that the Chargers had asked him to take a pay cut or restructure his contract, as linebackers Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack agreed to do. He said he declined.

‘There really was no emotion, it was, I’m not doing it,’ Allen said of the team’s request. ‘I’m not doing it. Came off my best season, so it’s not happening.’

Allen, who was drafted out of the University of California with the 76th overall pick by the Chargers in 2013, caught a career-high 108 receptions (a Chargers single-season record) for 1,243 yards and seven touchdowns through 13 games. He missed the final four games of the season with an ankle injury.

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Allen said he ‘obviously wanted to finish my career’ in Los Angeles, ‘but things happen and you’ve got to keep on going.’

Allen, 31, said he’s ‘definitely excited about the new opportunity and can’t wait to team up with Bears receiver DJ Moore. The Bears own the No. 1 overall pick and are widely expected to draft USC QB Caleb Williams.

‘Anytime you’ve got two guys that can make plays and beat man coverage, it’s going to be tough,’ Allen said. ‘That’s anytime. Obviously, he’s a guy who’s made plays in this league for a long time, and myself as well. Both of us together, it’s going to be pretty good.’

Allen said he’s going to ‘just continue what I’ve been doing’ in Chicago. He added, ‘Nothing changes but the jersey for me. That last name’s still gonna be on the back.’

‘I’m just a friendly guy,’ he said. ‘I’m a friendly guy on and off the field. Obviously on the football field, I know the game. I know the ins and outs. I know the zones. I know how to beat man (coverage). I know pretty much how to play the game, so I just think I’m friendly for the quarterback because I’ll be in the right spots. I know how to communicate with them.’

The guys are finally getting an idea of what it’s been like to be the women all these years.

March Madness kicks off next week, and all the buzz is squarely on the women’s NCAA tournament. The stars, the storylines, the spotlight – they’re all in the women’s game. Caitlin Clark is must-see TV, JuJu Watkins and Hannah Hidalgo are her heirs apparent, and the big question ahead of Selection Sunday is whether top-seeded South Carolina and LSU might fight, err, face each other again in the Final Four.

The men’s tournament? Well, they’re having one. Beyond that, there’s not a whole lot to say. Or see.

We watched Connecticut grind its way to the national title last year. We don’t need to watch it again. Zach Edey might be a wonderful human being, but he’s no Bill Walton. Or even Chet Holmgren. Outside of your alma mater, I dare you casual fans to name five other teams you’d sit down and watch.

“The women’s game is growing incredibly,” Jay Wright, who won two national titles at Villanova, said in a recent interview with USA TODAY’s Sports Seriously.

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“This is one of those years,” Wright added, “that women’s basketball is really getting a lot more attention.”

And this is someone whose job is to analyze the men’s game for CBS Sports!

Wright isn’t wrong, however. Interest in women’s sports has grown rapidly over the last several years, and it’s been super-sized this college basketball season.

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While much of the attention centers around Clark, who earlier this month passed Pete Maravich as college basketball’s all-time leading scorer, there’s been a spillover effect that’s led to blockbuster ratings, increased attendance and the kinds of debates and conversations that have traditionally been reserved for men’s sports.

Now here’s the point where some insecure man shouts, “Nobody cares about women’s sports!” or makes a crack about the “tens of people who watch.” But there’s data that shows just how wrong these knuckle-draggers are.

Beat many of the men’s games that day too.

But wait! There’s more. The SEC tournament title game between LSU and South Carolina, which aired Sunday afternoon, drew nearly 2 million viewers. The Pac-12 final between Watkins’ USC and Stanford also topped 1 million, a 461% increase over last year. No, that’s not a misprint.  

Of the top six basketball games, pro and college, that aired Sunday, three were women’s games, according to Sports Media Watch.

Programs across the country have set records for attendance, led by South Carolina. The Gamecocks are averaging 16,489 per game this season and could still – mathematically, at least – surpass Tennessee’s record for single-season average attendance, set in 1999 when they drew 16,565 per game.

And when ‘Pardon the Interruption’ did a segment Monday on the “most significant game of the weekend,” every one was a women’s game. Even with Duke-North Carolina on Sunday!

This wasn’t a patronizing “I suppose we have to talk about the women because their tournament is on our network” discussion either.

They spent almost four minutes rehashing the Big Ten, SEC and Pac-12 title games. Tony Kornheiser was dropping Clark stats from her monster second half and arguing for USC to be a No. 1 seed because the Trojans upset Stanford even though Watkins “had no game. She had two baskets and six turnovers, I believe.” Michael Wilbon called South Carolina-LSU the “most entertaining game, the greatest theater,” and said he’s rooting for a rematch in either the Final Four or the national title game.

“I want to see them again,” Wilbon said. “I want to see South Carolina-LSU go at it once more. That was the show.”

Then came the dagger.

“Men’s college basketball can’t touch that now,” Wilbon said. “Can’t touch that.”

Who’s going to argue with him on that? And if you are, show your work.

Casual fans will still tune in to the men’s tournament. In large numbers, at that. There’s nothing like an underdog knocking off a top seed or a small school that no one’s heard of taking down a powerhouse. Or having an excuse to skip work next Thursday and Friday.

But the attention and the buzz this year will belong to the women.

After so many years of being overlooked and underappreciated, it’s about time.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.

Lionel Messi could miss two Argentina friendlies later this month due to his lingering right hamstring injury, according to a report Saturday from Argentine sports newspaper Diario Olé.

Messi was expected to join Argentina for matches against El Salvador in Philadelphia on March 22, and against Costa Rica in Los Angeles on March 26. The matches will serve as warmups for this summer’s Copa America 2024.

The report states Messi could be sidelined to prevent further injury with hopes he fully recovers for future matches both with Inter Miami and Argentina. It’s unclear whether Messi will stay in Miami or travel to be with his Argentine teammates for the two matches.

Argentina is the defending Copa America and World Cup champion behind Messi, 36, who could be playing in his last major international tournament this summer.

Inter Miami coach Tata Martino said his goal is to have Messi prepared to help Inter Miami face Liga MX club Monterrey in the Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinals on April 3 and April 10.

“We’ll continuously evaluate what he’s doing. The objective is for him to arrive to be able to play in the quarterfinals of Concacaf Champions Cup. We don’t want to take a risk,” Martino said after Messi did not play in Inter Miami’s 3-1 win over D.C. United on Saturday. It was Messi’s second missed match for Inter Miami in the 2024 MLS regular season.

Messi left in the 50th minute of Inter Miami’s Concacaf Champions Cup round-of-16 win over Nashville SC Wednesday with the injury. He also favored his hamstring during the first of two matches against Nashville on March 7.

Martino also mentioned Messi’s hamstring injury is different from the groin injury that kept him out of an Inter Miami preseason match in Hong Kong in February.

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Messi is expected to miss Inter Miami’s road game against the New York Red Bulls on March 23. The game falls during a FIFA international window, during which MLS still schedules games – unlike most top-flight professional leagues around the world.

Messi could also be limited or miss Inter Miami’s home game against New York City FC on March 30 for rest purposes.

Inter Miami also has two MLS regular-season games scheduled following the first and second legs of the Champions Cup quarterfinals.

Messi’s availability could potentially be limited when Inter Miami hosts Colorado on April 6, and visits Sporting Kansas City at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, on April 13.

Messi has scored five goals with two assists in his five matches this season with Inter Miami. He has 16 goals with seven assists in 19 total appearances dating back to his debut last July.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The bar is forever raised.

With the opening of CPKC Stadium on Saturday, a women’s professional team finally has a stadium built just for them. Not one already occupied by a men’s team, or to be shared with a university or as part of a community complex. One designed to their specifications, including a locker room that’s theirs and theirs alone. One that has everything a stadium for a men’s team would have, including 10,000-plus seats, luxury boxes and high-end concession stands.

One that lets the world know the women’s game, and the athletes who play it, aren’t going anywhere, and should be treated like the professional athletes they are.

“You can’t unsee what we’ve done. And once you see it, it changes other people’s vision and other people’s expectations of what is right,” Kansas City Current co-owner Angie Long told USA TODAY Sports on Friday, the day before CPKC Stadium opened along the city’s riverfront.

“Not too many people are asking us now why those women need their own stadium,” Long added. ‘Because they see it and get it.”

There have been professional women’s leagues in the United States for almost 30 years now. But for too much of that time, general acceptance of the WNBA and the NWSL, as well as its predecessors, has been grudging. At best.

They were made to play on high school fields and at facilities that lacked basic amenities. Like locker rooms. They were relegated to the hinterlands, far from the cities they supposedly represented. Their own owners treated them like charity projects, rather than a worthwhile investment.

Even the two stadiums built previously for women’s teams as the primary tenants were, at least initially, small and/or not what a top-level professional men’s team would accept.

The message was clear: We’re letting you play, little girl. Be grateful for what you’ve got.

“We’ve never felt like we’ve had a home,” Michelle Akers, who was part of the first U.S. women’s national team in 1985 and went on to win World Cups in 1991 and 1999, said during the pre-game festivities Saturday.

Thankfully, that is changing. Interest in women’s sports is skyrocketing and women athletes have become more forceful in refusing to accept inequity. There also has been an influx of owners, in both the NWSL and WNBA, who recognize supporting women’s sports isn’t just a noble cause. There’s serious cash to be made, but it means treating women like the professionals they are.

“When we announced that we were going to be building the stadium, a reporter asked me, `Why can’t you just play at Children’s Mercy Park?” Long said, referring to the home of Sporting KC, the Major League Soccer team. “And my answer was, `Why should any professional team not deserve to have their own stadium, their own home, their own place to play?’”

Looking around CPKC Stadium, and seeing the players’ reaction to it, the answer seems so obvious. And so ridiculous that it has taken until now for it to happen.

When the Current saw their locker room in the new stadium for the first time, Michelle Cooper was so excited she skipped across the floor. Lo LaBonta, who has spent half of her 10-year career in Kansas City, joked, “I get a locker? I get a shower? Is this crazy?”

The signage, the colors, the merchandise being sold — everything is for the Current. Nothing is borrowed or handed down. They are not guests in somebody else’s home or part-time tenants, having to make sure they take everything with them and are leaving no trace of themselves behind after games.

This is their home, their permanent home. Everything in it is for them and belongs to them.

“It’s a game changer,” NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman said. “I think it’ll have an even greater impact than anyone can imagine.”

As Long said, once you see CPKC Stadium, you cannot unsee it. Nor can you ignore the question of why a women’s team is any less deserving of having a space of its very own than a men’s team.

One of the Current players who scored in the 5-4 victory against the Portland Thorns was 16-year-old Alex Pfeiffer. Unlike the veterans who are not far removed from the days of sub-standard facilities, Pfeiffer will play her entire career with there always being at least one stadium built specifically for a women’s team.

It might not sound like much. For women’s sports, however, it’s a monumental shift.

‘This is something that will change the world of women’s soccer,’ Current coach Vlatko Andonovski said. ‘This is the beginning of the change.’

One that is long overdue.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.

The first time Booger McFarland met Aaron Donald, the ESPN analyst found himself “in awe” while standing next to the Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle.

“You expect a guy that’s overbearing from a size standpoint,” McFarland told USA TODAY Sports on Friday, not long after Donald announced his retirement. 

For someone who stands 6-foot-1, 285 pounds, Donald could instill enough fear into an upcoming opponent’s entire building, beyond the opposing quarterback and offensive lines, McFarland said. 

In an era of prospect evaluation, spearheaded by the annual combine, in which numbers and measurements are fetishized, McFarland said Donald’s decade of dominance was a worthwhile reminder ‘that this game is played from the waist down.” 

“His agility and his quickness and his balance – those are his superpowers,” McFarland said. “And that’s how he played the game.” 

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Donald’s longtime teammate, former Rams tackle Andrew Whitworth, said that Donald’s greatness was most apparent on non-game days. 

“Watching the most relentless, selfless, hardest working athlete I ever been around – that’s what I walked away with,” Whitworth wrote on social media. 

Donald had all-time first-step quickness and rarely wound up on the ground against his will, according to McFarland. And McFarland sees a player riding off into the sunset while at the top of his game. 

“He may not be at the pinnacle of his career, but he’s pretty damn close to his peak. I think, for him to walk out on top, why not?” McFarland said. “There’s nothing else left for him to accomplish in this game. I think he walks away a first-ballot Hall of Famer.”

McFarland will almost certainly be proven right on that prediction come five years from now. Regardless, Donald is one of the best defensive players to ever play in the NFL. His name must be mentioned when discussing the “Mount Rushmore” of defenders, McFarland said. 

“He’s got a strong case to be on there,” McFarland, a two-time Super Bowl champion, said.

Donald, 32, was an eight-time All-Pro, made the Pro Bowl in all 10 of his seasons, won three Defensive Player of the Year awards and captured Super Bowl 56 with the Rams.

Like John Randle and Warren Sapp, whom McFarland played with on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Donald changed the defensive tackle position despite being considered undersized. 

“When you look at the great ones, the ones who have been truly legendary, the ones that have changed the position, they kind of all look the same, right?” McFarland said. 

Strategies and schemes are often cyclical in the NFL. Donald is at least partially responsible for the transition from defenses prioritizing edge pressure to disruption from the interior, McFarland said. 

Donald also made an impact on the economics of the league. He became the first interior defensive lineman to average more than $30 million per year in average annual value. 

Rising tides lift all boats. This offseason, for example, defensive tackle Christian Wilkins signed a $100 million deal with the Las Vegas Raiders. Offensive guards – responsible for blocking defensive tackles and nose guards opposite them – were considered the winners of free agency thus far. And Chris Jones of the Kansas City Chiefs became the second interior defensive lineman to break the $30 million annual mark.

Past Rams defensive coordinators such as Wade Phillips, Brandon Staley and Raheem Morris had the comfort of knowing Donald would always draw a double- or triple-team from opposing blocking schemes. Other defensive linemen knew they had 1-on-1s matchups. Coaches could dictate where the opposing center would slide.

Opposing offenses had to choose between sliding protections to account for blitzers – thus leaving Donald in his own 1-on-1 – or risk a free rusher going after the quarterback.

“Schematically, you could game plan for that,” McFarland said. 

Donald’s four-sack game against the San Francisco 49ers in 2020 is something that is seared into McFarland’s mind. It wasn’t a particularly flashy performance. Donald beat his man (men). He put the quarterback on the ground. Then he lined up and did it again and again. 

“He was just playing his game,” McFarland said.

Dear Black athlete: Congratulations to you! You’re a senior. You have a bright future. The colleges are knocking on your door. Southern Cal called. So did Alabama. Jim Harbaugh left Michigan but he called, too. Once a Wolverine, always a Wolverine.

Coaches at the University of Florida are recruiting you. Same with Florida State. You’re interested. But before deciding to attend a predominantly white institution in the state, please consider the words of the NAACP, written recently in a letter responding to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ attempts to weaken diversity, equity and inclusion efforts statewide. You need to sit down for this.

‘From racist voting policies, to unraveling reproductive freedoms and attempting to rewrite Black history, DeSantis has waged war on Black America,’ wrote NAACP Board of DirectorsChairman Leon Russell, and President and CEO Derrick Johnson, in a letter to Charlie Baker, the head of the NCAA.

‘To all current and prospective college student-athletes — the NAACP urges you to reconsider any potential decision to attend, and compete at a predominantly white institution in the state of Florida,’ they continued.

It’s an extraordinary letter and Black athletes you should take its message seriously.

Why? DeSantis has shifted the state to a more anti-Black place. There’s no protective shell solid enough to potentially stop those racist policies from impacting you. That is the NAACP’s main (correct) point.

DeSantis last year signed a law that prohibits the state’s 12 public universities and 28 four-year, and community colleges, from spending funds on DEI programs.

After the University of Florida this month eliminated all DEI positions, DeSantis took to X, formerly Twitter, and posted: ‘DEI is toxic and has no place in our public universities. I’m glad that Florida was the first state to eliminate DEI and I hope more states follow suit.’

DEI has become a boogeyman to some and few have attacked it more than DeSantis. It’s essentially a way to attack Black Americans and the NAACP, as well as others, aren’t the only ones who despise what DeSantis has done. Emmitt Smith, the Super Bowl winning running back for the Dallas Cowboys, who also played at the University of Florida, blasted his old school.

‘I’m utterly disgusted by UF’s decision and the precedent that it sets,” Smith wrote. “We cannot continue to believe and trust that a team of leaders all made up of the same background will make the right decision when it comes to equality and diversity. History has already proven that is not the case. We need diverse thinking and backgrounds to enhance our University and the DEI department is necessary to accomplish those goals.”

Smith added: “To the MANY minority athletes at UF, please be aware and vocal about the decision by the University who is now closing the doors on other minorities without any oversight,” Smith wrote. “And to those who think it’s not your problem and stay on the side lines and say nothing, you are complicit in supporting systemic issues.”

The NAACP has issued warnings about Florida before. In another remarkable letter, this one posted last year by Russell, who has spent over 40 years with the organization, issued a travel advisory for the state.

‘Recently my home state of Florida has been at the center of heated debates,’ Russell wrote. ‘We have faced a devastating near-total abortion ban, new laws further restricting trans rights, a war against immigrants, and extensive efforts to remove DEI programs and Black history curricula from our schools. Our state’s so-called leaders’ unrelenting assaults on fundamental rights have made Black residents and visitors alike feel unwelcome and unsafe in our state. 

‘The NAACP is committed to ensuring that Florida is a place where Black Floridians can exist freely and have every opportunity to thrive. Unfortunately, that is not a reality right now under Governor Ron DeSantis’ thumb. He has proven that his Florida poses a threat to our lives and livelihood. We refuse to allow his vision for Florida, and this nation, to become our reality. Our travel advisory is an effort to put the country on notice — if you are Black, if you are a woman, if you are an immigrant, if you are part of the LGBTQ+ community — be aware that your life, your full being, is not valued by Florida’s so-called leaders.’

It is a significant thing to ask young aspiring college athletes like yourselves to not go to Florida. The NAACP realizes this of course. But what the organization is also attempting to do with this warning is get Black athletes, really all athletes of color, to realize the immense power they have.

If there was a Black college athlete boycott of the state, it would significantly impact not just the quality of play, but even the viability of the two biggest money makers in college sports: football and men’s basketball. As NPR points out, Black players represent around half of Division I men’s basketball and football players across the nation.

‘The value of Black talent is undeniable, especially when it comes to college sports,’ Russell and Johnson wrote. ‘At UF and similar institutions, if football stadiums emptied, if merchandise stopped selling, if TV deals fell through, the monetary loss would extend beyond athletics to other university programs.’

So, yes, dear Black athlete: Congratulations to you! You’re a senior. You have a bright future. The colleges are knocking on your door.

You just might want to listen to the NAACP. You’ve been warned.