​Detroit — The Detroit Grand Prix has the enviable or unenviable position of following the Indianapolis 500. Organizers from Penske Corp. want to have the race on the streets of Detroit before school lets out for the summer and those in the city begin taking summer vacations. That doesn’t give it a lot of time when the weather would be good enough to race and after the 500. The timing of the event hasn’t bothered Kyle Kirkwood, who won last year on the nine-turn, 1.645-mile street course that has a section along the Detroit River with Canada across the bay. The 100-lap race goes green Sunday at 12:51 p.m. ET, with FOX coverage starting at 12:30 p.m. Here’s what to know about the race: What are the keys to this race? It’s a tight street circuit, partly the result of the limitations of the city street layout, as there aren’t many more options to expand. So it’s tight and passing takes ultimate precision. So qualifying, track position and not making mistakes seem like the keys. "It's knowing what your limits are, not making mistakes, not hitting the walls," Kirkwood told me Thursday in Detroit. "It's also having a good car. It’s an important thing in every circuit we go to, and it's still true at street courses — if you have a good car, it goes over the bumps well, has good balance, makes grip, you're going to be fast. "That’s kind of the name of the game. Get all those together, then drive well, and you'll typically have a good weekend." Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin, who finished 12th last year, told me that the strategists will play a pivotal role. "I think strategies can be a little bit different, too [to make a difference]," McLaughlin told me Thursday. "I'm excited — I think our cars are normally pretty good on street circuits." Isn’t This Where Will Power ...? Yes, this was the track last year when Will Power became Will "Plower" as he pushed Kirkwood out of the way during practice. It was a NASCAR move but certainly one that bordered on dangerous in an INDYCAR. Power and Kirkwood are now teammates at Andretti Global. Kirkwood laughed when recalling the incident. "Any time you talk to him, like I bring it up or somebody's joking about it, it's always in funny humor style," Kirkwood said. "But he's just like, ‘Yeah, I don't really know what I was doing there. Yeah, I hit you, and I was just kept pushing you, I guess." "And he was like, "I wasn't angry, because I understood that everyone just backing up ... I hit you and I just kept pushing you and next thing you know, I had a clear lap. So I’d do it again." Are there new rules for street courses? Yes. This race will have two of the new rules that started or were instituted this year: --In qualifying, the final round ("Fast Six") will not be in a group format for a timed session but instead single-car, single-lap qualifying. That gives each driver a little more of a spotlight. This rule was finalized last month for all street courses. --In the race, teams must use two sets of soft tires and one set of primary tires. Last year, it was one set of each. What else is unique about Detroit? Detroit has a double-sided pit lane, just as Arlington had earlier this year. That means there are pits on both side of pit lane. Is Alex Palou running away with the championship? No. He is the leader by 37 points over David Malukas and 49 points over Kyle Kirkwood. There are 11 races left this season. Kirkwood isn’t looking at this race as one he has to win to make sure he stays in contention. "We want to win here," Kirkwood said. "We won last year. This is one of our top-on-our-list that we feel like we need to win. But at the same time, it's not like previous years, where it's like we have to win street courses to have any chance at winning championships. We're pretty good at all circuits now." Wasn’t Palou penalized after Indy? Yes he was. Palou lost five points (and the team was fined $10,000) for the front wing not meeting the minimum height measurement. The INDYCAR Independent Officiating Board determined it was an unintentional assembly error as it delivered a relatively light penalty. What do Palou’s competitors think? "I think it's probably the right call because it's probably one of those situations where you set the wing height, you add a few turns of wing in the race, and next thing you know, it's barely under," Kirkwood said. "So that's what I assume it was, which it's kind of not a performance gain. ... I would have loved it for him to go to the back, but quite honestly, I’d think that would be unfair." Does Penske have chance in its home race? Certainly Team Penske has a chance in the race near the Penske Corporation headquarters. But even if it doesn’t win, at least there is a better vibe around the organization than a year ago. David Malukas sits second in the standings (after experiencing Indy 500 heartbreak), McLaughlin is sixth and Newgarden is eighth. All three drivers (Malukas is new to the team) have different strategists than they did a year ago, and McLaughlin and Malukas have new engineers. "I feel like as a team we're working really well together," McLaughlin said. "I thought my stand with TC [Tim Cindric as strategist] and my engineer, I'm getting used to every race with Raul [Prados], I feel like we're just building a stronger combination as the year goes on, and that's been a lot of fun." Is Josef Newgarden hurt? Not enough to keep him out of the race, but he did show up at the Indianapolis 500 Victory Celebration with his left foot in a walking boot, the result of his hard crash in the Indianapolis 500. He said the foot doesn’t look very good, and he will have the boot on ""until the cosmetics are complete." And how is Rossi? Alexander Rossi might be hurting but he isn’t letting on how much his right ankle is bothering him after surgery last week following a crash in 500 practice. He said he was never concerned about being able to race Detroit and he didn’t have pain after the race at Indianapolis. "I felt great in the car," Rossi told me and other reporters Monday night. "I don’t think I once have been concerned about [driving]." Finally, how is Felix Rosenqvist doing? Rosenqvist is doing quite well, thanks for asking. The Indianapolis 500 winner has been on a media tour since his big win. He did get home Wednesday night to see his wife and their three-week-old daughter Stella. He threw out the first pitch at the Detroit Tigers game Thursday. Who needs sleep? "Apparently, sleep deprivation was a good ingredient already before the month [with a new baby] and I'm sure will be just as good there," Rosenqvist told me Wednesday afternoon as we chatted while overlooking New York City from near the top of the Empire State Building. Read More

​Geno Smith knows what a lot of New York Jets fans are daydreaming about. The quarterback has been here before, a much younger and less-experienced version, of course. The Jets had only missed the playoffs the previous two years when Smith was selected by the franchise in the second round of the 2013 NFL draft. He has come and gone elsewhere — four other stops, actually — and that postseason drought has since reached 15 years, the longest among teams in the NFL, NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball. Smith is now 35 years old and back where he began his professional career, a comeback story with the potential to be special if he can help return the downtrodden Jets to the playoffs. "Yeah, I mean, that would be like a story in a movie, right?" Smith said Thursday with a smile. "It’s kind of like one of those superhero movies, but my life is based on reality. We've got to focus on getting better every single day." After a successful five-year stint in Seattle, where he began as a backup to Russell Wilson before becoming the starter, winning the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year award in 2022 and making two Pro Bowls, Smith had a dismal season for lowly Las Vegas. He threw for 3,025 yards and 19 touchdowns — after having at least 20 in each of the previous three seasons with the Seahawks — and a league-high 17 interceptions. But the Jets desperately needed a veteran quarterback after a failed one-year experiment with Justin Fields and traded for Smith, sending a sixth-round pick to Seattle and also getting a seventh-rounder back. It was an unlikely reunion, especially since the quarterback's first stint with the Jets was largely remembered for the locker room incident in 2015 that left Smith sidelined with a broken jaw, the result of a punch from then-teammate IK Enemkpali. It changed the trajectory of his career with the Jets. He lasted one more season in New York before leaving. Because of all that, Smith acknowledged the surreal feeling he had being back at the facility — nine years later. "Coming in for physicals and just walking down the hall again — it was the very first hall I walked down when I got drafted — all those feelings come back," Smith said. "Just great feelings, great memories, seeing my mom in the locker room, and I started just thinking about my first time in the NFL, first time here. Immediately, it clicked right back in: I've got to get to work. I just got right back to that. "I’m really excited to be here and even seeing all your faces again, it’s really cool." Jets coach Aaron Glenn was in the team's scouting department during Smith's rookie season and he has watched the quarterback — mostly from afar — mature on and off the field in the years since. "Just the fact of how he’s grown from that time to now is outstanding," Glenn said. "And he’s still growing, even being in the league as long as he has. And he will tell you that." Linebacker Demario Davis, who's in his third stint with the Jets, played three seasons with Smith and also praised him for overcoming obstacles in his career and persevering. "He’s obviously walked through different things in life that’s brought his countenance and his spirit to a place of peace," Davis said. "He’s very comfortable in his skin. He knows who he is. He’s arriving at this moment with his mind right, and you can feel it." Smith's teammates rave about their quarterback's command in the huddle and having the presence of a true leader. He isn't sure when this Jets reunion will end, though. Or if it'll have that fairytale-like ending. "We want to be the best team in the world," he said. "I don’t feel shy about saying that, but I understand there’s a lot of work to be done." And Smith is focused on that. Each day he takes the field — again — for the Jets. "God has blessed me to play in the league this long and to have an opportunity to come back here, I’m very, very grateful for that, because they don’t come too often," he said. "These opportunities, you have to cherish them and that’s the way I look at it — I really cherish this opportunity. "I really look forward to, again, just going to practice tomorrow and trying to get better. That’s the way I’m going to treat this entire year and the rest of my career." Reporting by the Associated Press. Read More

​Argentina, the World Cup defending champion, is looking to achieve something only done twice in the history of the men’s World Cup. Something that’s almost impossible. To win it back-to-back. Two other great footballing countries – Italy and Brazil – have previously achieved that feat. Yes, I’ll get to Lionel Messi in a moment, but after seeing manager Lionel Scaloni’s 26-man roster for this summer's tournament, I do wonder if this brotherhood and its steel-minded tenacity that we have seen so much in competition is good enough to repeat the glory of what happened four years ago. Time will tell. Here are my takeaways: Back-to-Back Destiny? The Italians under the legendary manager Vittorio Pozzo were the first to do it in 1934 and 1938. They probably could have kept going had it not been for the tragic introduction of the Second World War, which postponed the tournament until 1950. Eight years later, a young 17-year-old Brazilian phenomenon by the name of Pelé led his nation’s first World Cup title. In 1962 in Chile, despite Pelé's injury in the group stage, Brazil won it again thanks to a wonderful squad that included Garrincha and Amarildo. France, who won in Russia in 2018, got dramatically close to joining that esteemed group in 2022. But Emiliano "Dibu" Martínez had something to say about it thanks to his incredible save that denied Randal Kolo Muani's attempt in the 123rd minute…and this now brings me back to Argentina. And destiny. The wonderful thing about Argentina under Scaloni is that when you analyze the roster, it shows that it is probably the most united squad in international football. Their bond, their cohesiveness speaks of something greater than strategy. It’s the football definition of a fraternity, and it’s in this togetherness where this team truly delivers. From winning the World Cup in Qatar and Copa América two years later, to topping CONMEBOL’s qualifiers by nine points, this remains the best team in South America – and the champion – until said otherwise. But things are changing. This is an older team, and you can't count out some of Europe's contenders on a mission (France, Spain, Portugal or England), their great rivals Brazil, or even dark horse candidates from across the globe. Lionel Messi’s Last Dance … How Will He Look? Messi will enter his sixth World Cup, and alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, will make history as the first player in the men’s game to reach this milestone. The problem is that with longevity comes the absence of security as Messi is currently dealing with muscle fatigue in his hamstring after he left the pitch last week, holding his left thigh, during Inter Miami's match against the Philadelphia Union. Scaloni now waits the waiting game with Messi and time, my friends, is our most valuable and fragile gift. It’s just fatigue and things could have been way worse but in a strenuous tournament in the U.S. with a demanding schedule and unforgiving climate, this is the one World Cup where Argentina’s physical training team have to do the very best to make sure he’s well-prepared. Messi is not like any other player so his role in this remains key towards Argentina’s plans as they will wait until the last second to have him ready. But as he turns 39 during the World Cup, one thing is for sure—which is the sad reality for all of us—-Messi’s last dance on the biggest stage is fast approaching and this Argentina squad has to find a way to perhaps contemplate the concept of relying less on him. And win it all. Again. New Kids On The Block There is no Franco Mastantuono but frankly, I am not surprised. The 18-year-old sadly did not live up to the glowing hype after joining Real Madrid, and did not make the squad. The good news is that time for him is on his side. There are eight new players on La Albiceleste for this World Cup that join 18 returning icons who lifted the trophy in Qatar in 2022. One new arrival to point out is José "Flaco" López, who is a welcoming surprise from Scaloni and lesser known outside of South America. López is the 25-year-old striker from Brazilian club Palmeiras who has 14 goals in all competitions and is attracting a lot of interest from the Premier League and La Liga. The list of Argentina forwards is obviously deep but López offers something different and his ability to also create (nine assists) will make him a good choice in a bench that needs diversity, especially without the recently retired legend Ángel Di María. Alvarez Ready For Golden Boot? I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Diego Simeone’s impact is ever so present with this squad. Scaloni wants metal-minded resilience in this tournament and Atlético Madrid's six players in the squad — more representatives than any club — will undoubtedly show that. And I am not even talking about the players who previously played under Simeone at the Spanish powerhouse. But of all of them, for me, this is the World Cup for Julián Alvarez as I think his role will be the most impactful, especially as Messi’s role often alters deeper in midfield (as we saw at Copa América in 2024). Wanted by Barcelona (and the feeling is reportedly mutual), this is a major summer for La Araña, who I think has a chance of challenging for top scorer in the tournament. Argentina’s first mission is to win its group (Algeria, Austria, Jordan) which on paper is more than doable. After that? The challenges surely come so it will be absolutely imperative for this team to stay healthy, continue on this path of compactness with or without Messi, and believe wholeheartedly that it can do it again. Will they? Only time will tell. Read More