DOVER, Del. (AP) — Kyle Larson ran into his first speed bump in his busy May.
Larson next month will become the fifth driver in history to attempt to complete “ The Double ” and run 1,100 miles in one day, starting with the Indianapolis 500 in an Indy car and then flying to Charlotte to drive in the Coca-Cola 600, NASCAR’s longest race of the year.
But ahead of the milestone attempt, Larson will stay in Indianapolis on May 17 to practice for the 500 rather than travel to North Wilkesboro Speedway to practice and qualify for the NASCAR All-Star race.
He is expected to qualify for the Indy 500 on May 18 before — barring any complications — he travels to North Carolina to compete in an All-Star heat race later that night. The All-Star race at North Wilkesboro is May 21, hours after the top 12 cars on the starting grid is set in Indianapolis.
“Hopefully, I'll be able to run a heat race,” Larson said. “I hope to make it back in time for the race itself. Kind of don't really know yet. Kind of depends on how the week is going in Indy. For sure, won't be able to practice, I know that.”
Larson’s next time on the track at Indy won’t be until May 14, when IMS opens for Indy 500 preparations. Larson is running an entry co-fielded by McLaren and Hendrick Motorsports, his NASCAR team and Rick Hendrick’s first entry into the Indianapolis 500.
“I need to get as much laps in Indy as possible,” Larson said. “The plane will be ready for me to go whenever it's free for me to leave.”
PENSKE PROBLEMS
What in the name of an amphibious-like glove is going on this season at Team Penske?
Cheating has seeped into Roger Penske's teams in both IndyCar and NASCAR.
Two-time NASCAR champion Joey Logano's infraction now seems innocuous — he was fined $10,000 and docked his second-place starting position for a NASCAR race at Atlanta this season because he was wearing an illegal glove during his qualifying — compared to the scandal this week that rocked Penske's IndyCar team.
Reigning Indianapolis 500 champion Josef Newgarden blinked back tears Friday as he accepted blame for manipulating the push-to-pass system — essentially a short-term power boost — in his season-opening IndyCar win that has since been stripped.
Team Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin, who finished third, also was disqualified while fourth-place finisher Will Power was docked 10 points though he wasn’t accused of any wrongdoing. The Penske drivers were fined $25,000 because the manipulated systems were on all three cars.
“They’re grown-ups, they have to deal with their issues," NASCAR driver and 2002 Daytona 500 champion Austin Cindric said. “Those are guys that I look up to. A lot of those guys, not just Josef and Scott but a lot of those guys on that team.”
Cindric plainly said “no” when asked if Team Penske had suffered a hit to its reputation. He has reason to defend the team beyond his role as driver; his father, Tim Cindric, is president of Team Penske.
“The only problem I have with the entire situation is, any time Roger Penske's credibility is questioned, I say ignorance,” Austin Cindric said. "And that's what frustrates me with all of it. The rest of it, look, it's racing, people make mistakes. Either believe or don't believe whatever you hear. That's life. But the rest of it, if there's anyone that has credibility in the motorsports world, it's Roger Penske.
“To see some of the very ignorant comments I've seen, it bothers me a lot because I can't think of a better role model, a better leader, and a better person to be in the position than he is than Roger.”
JIMMIE’S BACK
Jimmie Johnson races in Dover for the first time since 2020. Johnson has won a track-record 11 times, and the mile-concrete track remains the site of his last Cup victory in June 2017.
Johnson returned to NASCAR last season with an ownership stake in Legacy Motor Club and only races sporadically each season. He finished 28th in the Daytona 500 and was 29th earlier this month at Texas Motor Speedway.
Dover leaned into the anticipation of his return by selling a ticket package that included a meet-and-greet with Johnson and team ambassador Richard Petty.
Legacy fields cars this season for John Hunter Nemechek and Erik Jones. Jones is out at Dover with a back injury.
“The reason we run the third car — the reason that I’m out here — is to help our two primary cars,” Johnson said. “It is not to help me. It is upon me to study, learn, ask the right questions, listen in. I don’t want to take anything away from the 42 or 43 programs. I’m really here to help.”
BUILT FORD ROUGH
Tyler Reddick’s win last weekend at Talladega kept Ford out of victory lane again this season.
Logano has just three top-10 finishes in his No. 22 Ford this season while the Stewart-Haas Racing four-car fleet hasn’t won in any of the last 94 races.
“You look at Ford right now, yeah, we need some speed from that department,” Logano said. “You look at your other Ford compadres out there and see how they’re doing. The facts are, we haven’t won yet. We’ve got to keep fighting and trying to find every little ounce of speed we’ve got in that thing.”
Logano joked he gives Ford executives feedback, “kind of whether they want it or not.”
“Usually, if I think it, I’m going to say it,” said Logano, the two-time Cup champion. “Together, we’re going to work together to fix the issues. As a driver, that’s kind of a little bit of your job. You’re the one that’s inside the car and can feel it. So you’ve got to work together with the engineers to try to put the feelings into numbers and start working on it.”
Logano is 0-for-27 lifetime at Dover.
“I’m not putting this whole thing on Ford, don’t get me wrong,” Logano said. “The 22 car has to be better in a lot of areas, as well.”
ODDS AND ENDS
Larson is listed as the 5-1 favorite to win at Dover, according to BetMGM. He won the October 2019 race when Dover still held two NASCAR weekends each season. The 31-year-old Larson has led the most laps at a single track (899) in his Cup Series career at Dover. In 15 starts at Dover, Larson has one win, seven top-five finishes and 11 top-10s. He has led over 80 laps on five occasions at Dover and has never finished outside the top five in those races. He has run the most laps in the top five this season (1,532) and is in a six-way tie for the most top-five finishes with four.
AP NASCAR: https://apnews.com/hub/nascar-racing
FILE - Kyle Larson sits on the car that he will drive in the IndyCar Indianapolis 500 after is was unveiled at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023. Larson next month will become the fifth driver in history to attempt to complete “The Double” and run 1,100 miles in one day at both the Indianapolis 500 in an Indy car and the Coca-Cola 600, NASCAR's longest race of the year. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — To the casual viewer, competing at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show might look pretty simple: Get a dog. Groom it. Pose it. Lead it around a ring.
But there's a lot more involved in reaching the pinnacle of U.S. canine events, now in its 148th year. It's a year that has been challenging for the kennel club: The show chairman died last fall, and a planned judge was charged in March with possession of child sexual abuse materials.
Here are the ins and outs of Westminster, which started Saturday with an agility competition at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York:
Over 2,500 dogs from 200 different breeds and varieties, which are subsets of breeds, signed up to try for the best in show trophy to be awarded Tuesday night.
Hailing from every U.S. state and countries from Chile to Thailand, the lineup includes such familiar breeds as French bulldogs and Labrador retrievers, rarities such as Azawakhs and Norwegian lundehunds and a newcomer, the Lancashire heeler. Chihuahuas are this year’s best-represented breed, with 49 entered.
Two of last year's seven semifinalists are expected back: Trouble, an American Staffordshire terrier, and Monty, a giant schnauzer, who is currently the nation's top-ranked dog in The Canine Chronicle magazine's stats.
Also entered are Comet, a Shih Tzu who won the huge American Kennel Club National Championship show in December, and Stache, a Sealyham terrier who won the National Dog Show that was televised on Thanksgiving.
Then there's Zaida, an Afghan hound fresh off a win at last month's World Dog Show in Croatia. Other big-winning competitors include a German shepherd named Mercedes and an otterhound called Melody.
Westminster's agility and obedience contests Saturday involved a few hundred more dogs, including some mixed-breed ones.
All the dogs are champions, meaning they have racked up a certain amount of points in the sport's complicated system.
The process of becoming a show dog begins when breeders determine which puppies are physically and temperamentally suited for what's known as “conformation” competition.
Some owners show their own dogs. Other canines have professional handlers who crisscross the country to compete most weekends. They might gather intel about rivals' schedules and ponder judges' past picks. Some owners even run full-page ads in canine publications to salute and promote their animals.
“Conformation” dogs first face off against others of their breed, which sometimes can include dozens of others, sometimes few or even none. Each breed's winner moves on to a semifinal round of judging against others in a group of dozens of breeds. In the final round, the seven group winners compete for best in show.
Judges decide which dog best matches the ideal, or “standard,” for its breed. For example, a herding dog might need proportions allowing for tight turns, while some hounds might require thick paw pads for rough terrain.
Judges do hands-on examinations and watch the dogs in motion. Distinctions can be very subtle. Show folk often say victory can go to “the dog on the day,” meaning the one that has the performance of a lifetime.
“At Westminster, all the great dogs are in the same place for one of the only times this year," said dog expert David Frei, who hosted the Westminster telecast for decades. “Everybody wants to be there, and you’re going to have to go head-to-head with your greatest competition.”
Bragging rights and trophies are at stake. There are no cash prizes, though the agility and obedience winners each get to direct a $5,000 Westminster donation to a training club or to the American Kennel Club Humane Fund.
Wire fox terriers have scampered away with the top prize 15 times, most recently in 2019. Poodles of various sizes have won 10 times.
Many breeds have yet to triumph, including such favorites as the Labrador retriever. But a petit basset griffon Vendéen took best in show for the first time last year, as did a bloodhound in 2022.
All winners in the recently added agility and obedience contests also have been purebreds. But there is a special agility prize every year for the top mix, called an “all American dog” in show parlance.
Westminster has long faced protests from animal rights activists who view the competition as a deplorable canine beauty contest fueling faddish puppy buying and reckless breeding. The club routinely counters that it celebrates all dogs while highlighting “preservation” of breeds with particular traits.
But this year's event comes as the U.S. dog show world faces an unexpected and searing reckoning.
Dr. Adam Stafford King, a suburban Chicago veterinarian and Havanese breeder who was set to judge some toy breeds at Westminster, was arrested in March on federal charges of distributing child sexual abuse photos and videos to an online contact. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail.
His attorney, Jonathan Bedi, didn't respond to an inquiry from The Associated Press but told Chicago media in April that King has been wrongly accused.
Shortly after King's arrest, the American Kennel Club, which is essentially the governing body for Westminster and thousands of other U.S. dog competitions, revoked his judging privileges and his Westminster appointment was scrapped.
While King’s alleged crimes didn't occur at dog shows, the case helped reveal discussions that had percolated quietly for years about whether the AKC has done enough to protect children who compete and apprentice as handlers. A Business Insider investigation in April found four show-world professionals have been convicted since 2008 of crimes against children, some of them at dog events.
The AKC began requiring its field representatives and registered handlers to complete an abuse prevention program in 2021. The club recently switched to a different program and last month extended the requirement to judges, handlers and some others, covering about 20,000 people, spokesperson Brandi Hunter Munden said.
On Thursday, the club approved a policy that could make it easier to sever ties with people, particularly over conduct outside dog shows. The policy calls for discipline, which can include lifetime suspension, for anyone convicted of a crime or found to have engaged in sex offenses, harassment or any conduct endangering someone else's well-being or that undermines the club, among other misdeeds.
“Our goal is not just to protect the youth in our sport, it’s to protect every individual,” she said. “We want this sport to be safe, inclusive and family-friendly.”
A handler kisses his dog while watching an agility competition during the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Saturday, May 11, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
A woman shops with her dog during the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Saturday, May 11, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
A handler holds his dog on a leash in the Breed Showcase area during the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Saturday, May 11, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
A woman puts on a dog pin during an agility competition during the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Saturday, May 11, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Dogs and handlers wait backstage during the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Saturday, May 11, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
A dog sleeps in the Breed Showcase area during the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Saturday, May 11, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
People and dogs watch the dock diving competition during the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Saturday, May 11, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
A dog stands in the Breed Showcase area at the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Saturday, May 11, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
A dog competes in an agility competition during the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Saturday, May 11, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Shar peis stand in the Breed Showcase area during the 148th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Saturday, May 11, 2024, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
FILE - A judge examines dogs competing in the bracco Italiano breed during the breed's debut at the 147th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Tuesday, May 9, 2023, in New York. To the casual viewer, competing at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show might look as simple as getting a dog, grooming it and leading it around a ring. But there’s a lot more involved in getting to and exhibiting in the United States’ most prestigious canine event. (AP Photo/Jennifer Peltz, File)
FILE - Handler Janice Hays poses for photos with Buddy Holly, a petit basset griffon Vendéen, after he won best in show during the 147th Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, Tuesday, May 9, 2023, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. To the casual viewer, competing at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show might look as simple as getting a dog, grooming it and leading it around a ring. But there’s a lot more involved in getting to and exhibiting in the United States’ most prestigious canine event. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)
