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Ryan Preece breaks through at NASCAR's snow-addled Clash

NASCAR: NASCAR Cup Series ChampionshipNov 2, 2025; Avondale, Arizona, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Preece (60) during the NASCAR Championship race at Phoenix Raceway. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Ryan Preece overcame snow and rain to win NASCAR’s inaugural race of 2026, the Cook Out Clash exhibition race, on Wednesday at historic Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Winless in 223 career Cup Series races, the RFK Racing Ford driver found the point by passing Shane van Gisbergen with 43 laps left and topped William Byron by 1.752 seconds in the 200-lap event that featured 17 cautions.

Preece, 35, joined Jeff Gordon (1994) and Denny Hamlin (2006) as drivers to win the Clash before recording a Cup victory.

Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suarez and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five.

After Josh Berry and Austin Cindric raced their way in during the last-chance race and Alex Bowman used a provisional to fill the 23-car field, the Clash, delayed from Sunday night due to snow consuming the Tar Heel State, began with polesitter Kyle Larson up front on the quarter-mile flat track.

Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet led the first 40 laps until caution flew for debris in Turn 4, which bunched up the field with teammate Byron and Chase Briscoe rounding out the top three drivers one-fifth of the way through the season’s first race.

Bubba Wallace was spun after an accordion effect led to Blaney spinning Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota entering Turn 3.

Off Turn 2 on Lap 72, Byron worked his No. 24 Chevrolet past Larson with Briscoe making the move as well. Soon, van Gisbergen hit Cindric and turned him for the third caution.

Briscoe’s hard charge hit its peak when he raced by Byron on Lap 85 with Ty Gibbs close behind. Blaney entered the top five as his No. 12 Ford came to life.

Gibbs made the right move and led at the 100-lap halftime break, but snow began to fall, creating a red-flag condition as crews put on rain tires to adapt to the moisture.

The wet-weather rubber proved to be a tricky proposition, so the second 100 laps was a mess as cars slid their way to 13 more caution periods.

Briscoe saw Gibbs slip up the track and pounced. Then Hamlin looped his No. 11 Toyota to wipe out Larson among others on the first lap under green after the lengthy red flag.

With Preece’s No. 60 Ford leading and 35 laps left, NASCAR decided teams should be allowed to pit for fuel, and every team came in for fuel and more rain tires as the track was not considered dry.

–Field Level Media

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Trail Blazers hosting Wizards as they hunt down No. 8 seed

NBA: Portland Trail Blazers at Denver NuggetsMar 22, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Portland Trail Blazers interim head coach Tiago Splitter reacts in the second quarter against the Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Fresh off a painful slip-up, the Portland Trail Blazers continue their pursuit of the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference when they host the Washington Wizards on Sunday.

The Trail Blazers had won five of six games, the previous two by 35 and 31 points, before dropping a 100-93 home decision against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.

The setback leaves Portland (37-38) 1.5 games behind the Los Angeles Clippers for the No. 8 berth — a play-in spot in which one win gets you into the main draw — with seven games remaining.

It was a missed opportunity for the Trail Blazers, and interim coach Tiago Splitter said the defeat was a blow for the team’s mood as well.

“Not great,” Splitter said of the team’s mood. “I think we all felt that we were in a growing moment, and this one hits hard.”

The Trail Blazers were sloppy with 25 turnovers, their fourth time with at least 25 this season and one off their season worst, which they accomplished twice.

Jrue Holiday scored 23 points, Deni Avdija added 20 and Jerami Grant had 19, but the trio of Toumani Camara (3 of 9), Donovan Clingan (2 of 9) and backup Scoot Henderson (3 of 11) were a combined 8-for-29 shooting for 23 points.

Portland scored just 17 points on 6-for-18 shooting to go with seven turnovers in the fourth quarter.

“Offensively, we were very poor,” Splitter said. “We didn’t make shots, turned over the ball all over. … We didn’t have it offensively.”

Grant exited the contest in the third quarter when he injured his right calf. He was slated to undergo testing Saturday.

“I’m always hopeful,” Grant said afterward. “Like I said, I can put some pressure on it, so it shouldn’t be too crazy.”

Washington (17-56) has dropped 17 of its last 18 games after losing 131-126 to the host Golden State Warriors on Friday night.

The Wizards lost 16 in a row before routing the Utah Jazz 133-110 on Wednesday in the second contest of a four-game road trip. But they returned to their losing ways after allowing 72 first-half points to the Warriors.

Rookie Will Riley had 22 points, five rebounds and five assists for Washington. The 20-year-old has topped 20 points four times this month and missed by one point on two other occasions.

Bilal Coulibaly had 21 points but was limited to 19 minutes by coach Brian Keefe for the second straight game. Bub Carrington had 16 points and played just 26 minutes, while Alex Sarr had eight points and nine boards while getting just 23 minutes of action.

“Our health of our players is our No. 1 thing,” Washington coach Brian Keefe said, explaining each of those players had a minutes limit. “We want to keep the rotation … similar rotations that they’re used to playing together. And when they hit (the minutes limit), that’s kind of it.”

Backup Anthony Gill scored 14 points on 7-for-9 shooting against Golden State and is averaging 13.3 points on 25-for-33 shooting (75.8%) over the past four games.

Sarr had 29 points and 12 rebounds when Washington notched a 115-111 home victory over the Trail Blazers on Jan. 27. Clingan collected 20 rebounds to go with 14 points for Portland.

–Field Level Media

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Connor McDavid helps Oilers close gap on Ducks with win

NHL: Anaheim Ducks at Edmonton OilersMar 28, 2026; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid (97) and Anaheim Ducks defensemen Ian Moore (3) battles for position during the first period at Rogers Place. Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-Imagn Images

NHL points leader Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists for the Edmonton Oilers in a 4-2 win against the visiting Anaheim Ducks on Saturday afternoon.

McDavid increased his points total to 124 (42 goals, 82 assists) and stretched his point streak to four games (five goals, four assists).

Zach Hyman had a goal and an assist, Jack Roslovic and Matt Savoie also scored, Evan Bouchard had two assists, and Connor Ingram made 28 saves for the Oilers (37-28-9, 83 points), who have won three in a row to match their season high and pulled within three points of the Ducks for first place in the Pacific Division.

Beckett Sennecke and Cutter Gauthier scored, John Carlson had two assists and Lukas Dostal made 30 saves for the Ducks (41-28-4, 86 points), who entered the finale of the three-game road trip on a six-game point streak (5-0-1).

The Ducks gave up the first goal of the game for the 15th time in 17 games since the Olympic break.

Bouchard took a one-timer from above the right circle that went wide and hit the back of the net on the carom.

Carlson tried to sweep the puck into the corner, but it hit McDavid’s skate and ricocheted back toward the crease, where McDavid backhanded it into the net for his 42nd goal of the season and a 1-0 lead at 7:36 of the second period.

The Ducks were outshot 11-3 in the second period.

Roslovic made it 2-0 at 4:59 of the third when he slid the puck through Dostal’s pass off a feed from Hyman to finish a rush.

The Oilers scored again 1:11 later when Savoie redirected a cross-ice feed from Vasily Podkolzin into the net off another rush for a 3-0 lead at 6:10.

Sennecke spoiled Ingram’s second shutout of the season when he scored on a tip to cut it to 3-1 at 6:53.

Jeffrey Viel made a no-look pass from below the goal line to Gauthier out front and he scored his team-leading 37th goal of the season to cut it to 3-2 at 9:41.

Hyman sealed it with an empty-net goal with 17 seconds left for a 4-2 lead.

Ducks forward Troy Terry returned after missing the 3-2 overtime win at the Calgary Flames on Thursday with a lower-body injury, but Anaheim defenseman Radko Gudas and Pavel Mintyukov sat out the finale of the three-game trip with lower-body injuries.

–Field Level Media

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Gary Woodland holds third-round lead at Houston Open

PGA: Texas Children's Houston Open - Third RoundMar 28, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; Gary Woodland hits a tee shot on the ninth hole during the third round of the Texas Children’s Houston Open golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-Imagn Images

Gary Woodland shot 5-under-par 65 on Saturday to maintain the lead through three rounds of the Texas Children’s Houston Open as he seeks his first victory in nearly seven years in Houston.

Woodland is at 18 under despite his highest score of the tournament.

Hard-charging Nicolai Hojgaard of Denmark posted the best round of the day with a 63, so he’s one stroke back going into Sunday’s final round at Memorial Park Golf Course

Woodland had four birdies on a six-hole stretch on the backside to maintain the lead. The last three of those birdies came with putts inside of 7 feet.

Hojgaard also was 4 under on that same six-hole stretch, with a 14-foot putt his longest birdie among those holes.

Both golfers had pars on No. 18.

Defending champion Min Woo Lee of Australia shot 67 to sit at 12 under, joined by Michael Thorbjornsen (66).

Lee took a bunker shot on one knee on No. 17, rolling the ball close enough for a birdie putt.

Sam Stevens (67) and Australia’s Jason Day (68) are at 11 under.

First-round leader Paul Waring of England moved back into contention by shooting 66. He’s at 10 under with Sahith Theegala (66) and Canada’s Sudarshan Yellamaraju (65).

–Field Level Media

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