Lutsenko wins race up Mont Aigoual. Hornets fire broadcaster over slur.

Positive test will end bid in NASCAR playoffs.

CHARLOTTE, N. C. » NASCAR has decided it will not grant COVID- 19 relief during the playoffs, meaning a positive coronavirus test will end a driver’s championship bid.

The playoffs begin Sunday at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina without a safety net for the 16 participants during the pandemic.

MONT AIGOUAL, FRANCE » Kazakh rider Alexey Lutsenko won his first stage in his fifth Tour de France with a solo effort up Mont Aigoual on Thursday. Among the overall contenders, there were no changes at the top. Briton Adam Yates kept the race leader’s yellow jersey, still three seconds ahead of Primoz Roglic from Slovenia.

CHARLOTTE, N. C. » The Charlotte Hornets have fired play- by- play radio broadcaster John Focke after he used a racial slur on his Twitter account.

The team announced on Twitter Thursday that Focke would not return due to “a violation of the organization’s social media policy.”

The team said it would not have any further comment. The decision comes after the team investigated the matter in which Focke used the slur while Tweeting about the Jazz- Nuggets playoff game on Aug. 17. He has apologized, saying it was a typo.

King Guillermo a Derby scratch.

The Kentucky Derby dream of Victor Martinez is over. The retired fivetime All- Star catcher owns King Guillermo, who was set to run in Saturday’s 146th Derby. But Martinez and trainer Juan Carlos Avila decided to scratch the colt because of a fever.

Dad is McIlroy’s latest title. ATLANTA » Rory McIlroy and his wife, Erica, welcomed Poppy Kennedy McIlroy on Monday in Florida. Poppy is their first child.

A’s pitcher tests positive. OAKLAND, CALIF. » Athletics right- hander Daniel Mengden has tested positive for the coronavirus and is quarantined at home in Houston, where he received the result that forced Major League Baseball to postpone four games this week. Mengden is asymptomatic and was placed on the 10- day injured list.

Mets dirty knees to honor Seaver.

Starting pitcher Robert Gsellman, his right knee already dirtied, led the New York Mets from the dugout onto the diamond at Citi Field on Thursday to face the Yankees. Every teammate who followed him had a smidge of dirt in the same spot along the right knee to honor team icon Tom Seaver and his classic, dropanddrive power pitch delivery.