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Our experts weigh in on four of the biggest questions in NASCAR as the Sprint Cup Series braces for Chase race No. 7 Sunday at Martinsville Speedway:Turn 1: NASCAR put new rules in for Sprint Cup veterans running in Xfinity and Trucks. No more than 10 Xfinity races and seven Truck events a season, and none during the Chase in each series. Whats your take?Ricky Craven, ESPN NASCAR analyst:?it was time for a formula like this to be created. Its an opportunity to expand the field of young drivers in the Xfinity series, and we need young talent to be identified. There is a long list of stars retiring in the next five years, and those seats need to be filled with talent.Ryan McGee, ESPN.com: Im all for it. Ive been for it for years. I totally understand the rock and the hard place that Xfinity and Truck owners are between. Sponsors are incredibly difficult to come by in those series and those sponsors want established names behind the wheel. This allows for just enough of that but also allows those owners to bring along young racers. Plus, the Cup guys winning races within those series Chase formats unquestionably waters down the postseason. Fans have been telling me they wanted something like this for years, like all the way back to the Mark Martin-stinking-up-the-Busch-Series show days. Now they have it.John Oreovicz, ESPN.com: Fan unrest has been building up for quite some time, so this came as no surprise. It took only a couple of races this playoff season for NASCAR to realize that Cup drivers were not only sometimes devaluing the Xfinity and Truck Chases, they also had the potential to actually affect the championships, whether through a wreck or team orders. I think its a good move to keep Cup veterans out of the lower series Chases.Bob Pockrass, ESPN.com: Wait and see. The Kyle Busch rule -- this year it would have impacted only Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano -- will help quiet fans angry over Cup drivers taking Xfinity/Truck glory and potentially impacting their championships. But Im not convinced it helps developmental drivers because it encourages sponsors who want Cup drivers to spend less money, and that could impact opportunities down the road.Turn 2: NASCAR had hoped to announce an entitlement sponsor by the end of October. Its the end of October and no announcement. Concerned?Craven:?I am not concerned, and I truly dont understand why an announcement will be made in the middle of our playoffs. Ive been told an announcement is coming and I have no reason not to believe that. I also believe that in spite of some of the challenges our sport faces, we bring value that cant be found elsewhere.McGee: Yes. And Im far from alone. These days, when Im dropping in at the track sporadically, the single biggest conversation people want to have is about this. Theres uncertainty in the garage air. Thats not good.Oreovicz: Yes. Its getting late in the game and in the not-so-distant past, blue-chip companies would have been lined up to bid for the opportunity to take over title sponsorship of the Cup Series. With attendance and television numbers down, NASCAR needs this transition between title sponsors to have a positive impact at what is a critical point in time for auto racing as a whole.Pockrass: For sure. It should have announced a sponsor over the summer as corporations started making 2017 budgets. This is not a good sign. Those in the industry and the garage are concerned. While the racing has improved in 2016, the vibe on the sport has not.Turn 3: What did you think of the Joe Gibbs Racing driver strategy to run in the back at Talladega?Craven:?I thought they did exactly what they needed to do to enhance their chances at winning the title. They played within the rules. At the very least they played in the environment that creates unintended consequences. I feel for the fans of those drivers, but its hard to blame teams trying to win a title.McGee: It was the racing equivalent of an NFL team not playing its starters in the final game of the regular season. I understood it, but I hated it. Gibbs and his people are smart enough to know the big picture from the little one.?If one of those cars goes on to win the championship, the Talladega thing will become nothing more than a footnote. So taking a ton of flak this week from fans and media will be a small price if they meet their ultimate goal.Oreovicz: It cheated fans of the team and its drivers and proved that under the right circumstances, you can still points race in the elimination-style Chase. Nobody predicted 37 cars would be running at the finish, including 34 on the lead lap, and that darn near made the strategy backfire on JGR. But as Kyle Busch said, dont blame the players, blame the game.Pockrass: Hated anyone who did it -- Tony Stewart included -- but understood why they did it. The best thing is they wont do it next year for the full race because it is the second race in the round.Turn 4:?Of the final eight drivers in the Chase, which would you consider the long shot to win the title?Craven:?I would say Kurt Busch has gotten less attention than any of the other seven drivers and hes probably made the least noise in terms of performance. I think its nice that every one of the eight drivers remaining has won in 2016, which makes it especially tough to pick an underdog.McGee: At this point, were down to all big-timers, so long shot is a tough term to apply. But as Denny Hamlin fans will angrily tell you, Ive questioned that teams ability to be consistent enough to win the Cup. His three wins are great and that run of top-10s he posted leading into the Chase was one of the best of the year, but since the Chase started, hes posted three finishes of 15-plus in six races. The good news is that Martinsville is up next, wheres hes lights out. But based on his postseason thus far it might be win or bust.Oreovicz: Carl Edwards out of the Gibbs/Toyota half of the equation, Kurt Busch from the rest.Pockrass: Kurt Busch. His winning drought is longer than any other driver remaining in the Chase except Carl Edwards, and Busch has led only seven laps in the last 14 races. Alex Rodriguez Jersey . 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On a day filled mostly with qualifying matches, fifth-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain also entered the second with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 win over Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia, while Guido Pella of Argentina defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-6 (6), 6-4 to advance. Giancarlo Stanton Jersey .ca NHL Power Rankings for the second straight week, ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Colorado Avalanche. RIO DE JANEIRO -- China is golden again, winning its fifth diving title of the Rio Olympics.Cao Yuan led throughout to win the mens 3-meter springboard with 547.60 points on Thursday. He climbed out of the water after his last dive and pumped both fists in celebration.Jack Laugher of Britain earned silver with 523.85 for his countrys first medal in the event and his second in Rio de Janeiro. He and Chris Mears won synchronized 3-meter to give Britain its first gold in diving, spoiling Chinas bid to sweep all eight golds in Brazil.Patrick Hausding of Germany rallied from 10th after the semifinals to take bronze at 498.50.The water in the diving pool was back to its usual blue color a week after turning a murky green in one of the biggest embarrassments of the games for local organizers.With four-time Olympic champion Greg Louganis looking on, Cao led all six rounds in the final. The 21-year-old Chinese finished off his performance by scoring 96.90 on his last dive, a forward 4+ somersault tuck.Hes incredible, American Kristian Ipsen said. Hes so athletic, just really, really quick. Hes fun to watch.In the fifth round, Laugher performed the same dive that Cao saved for last and received the same 96.90 total.But it was Hausding who did the difficult dive the best of anyone. He earned 98.80, the highest score of anyone in the 12-man final.Why am I not first? Hausding said, laughing. But Im totally fine with third place.The 27-year-old German overcame knee and shoulder injuries to make it to Rio. He had surgery on his knee and is taking painkillers for his shoulder.Ive had a rough season with less training. I started very badly into this competition, Hausding said. But I kept myself mentally strong. Didnt watch the scores. Just diid my thing.dddddddddddd It was the right decision in the end.Cao added gold to the bronze he won earlier in synchro 3-meter. His teammate, He Chao, didnt make it out of the preliminaries on Monday, when strong winds and cold wreaked havoc on the competition. World champion He balked on his second and third dives and scored just 27.75 on his third attempt -- the lowest score given to a Chinese diver so far in Rio.Competing in the finals by myself added a lot of pressure, Cao said through a translator. I was able to let go and really focus on putting on my performance and putting up a show.Defending Olympic champion Ilya Zakharov of Russia failed to advance out of the semifinals. He hit his feet on the board on his first dive in the prelims and then he barely topped 50 points in the next two rounds.Laugher had his own problems, barely grabbing the last spot for the final earlier in the day.Its actually my personal worst score since London, where I actually failed a dive, he said, laughing. For me, it was a bit of a shocker, literally 60 points less than what Ive scored in ages. I realized if I just did a good dive to finish, I might make the final. I had luck on my side today.Ipsen finished fifth and teammate Mike Hixon was 10th.The semifinals were held in sunny and hot conditions; the nighttime finals were in cooler weather.I actually knew going into it that it was going to be an interesting Olympics, it was going to be different than some of the others just because its an outdoor facility, Ipsen said. There are a lot more variables that you have to deal with compared to an Olympics thats indoors. ' ' '