TALLADEGA, Ala. — Corey Day claimed the first NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory of his career on Saturday, driving to the yellow and checkered flags in the Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega Superspeedway — his No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet leading only the last lap as he earned his first trophy in his first full-time season.

The 20-year old Californian sprint car driver delivered the multi-time NASCAR Cup Series championship Hendrick team its first O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory at Talladega and this weekend earned a win for a special “guest” crew member, former Philadelphia Eagles star Jason Kelce, who dressed out in Hendrick blue and helped transport tires for the team on pit road Saturday.

“I sure as heck didn’t think it [first win] would be at a superspeedway,” said a grinning Day, who also won a sprint car race in Nebraska earlier this week. “My 17 guys just built a rocket ship.

“I feel like we’ve been close, had a good day at Rockingham (North Carolina race) and had a couple other good days and just didn’t finish it off, so this is super cool.”

The time of the race was 1 hour, 58 minutes, 33 seconds.

Rookie Brent Crews finished a career-best runner-up in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, with Haas Factory Team driver Sheldon Creed third in a typical photo finish-type conclusion on the 2.66-mile Talladega high banks. Creed’s work was good enough to claim the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash incentive prize for his effort — the second straight week he did so.

“Hard to be too mad at second here when so much happens and very easily could have been in one of those crashes at the end,” he said. “Getting to take home the Dash 4 Cash is really special, and thank the guys in the shop for that.”

JR Motorsports driver Sammy Smith was fourth in the No. 8 Chevrolet, extending a top-10 streak for the team to 68 races, second best all-time in the series. Owner-driver Jeremy Clements was fifth in the South Carolina-based No. 51 Jeremy Clements Racing team Chevrolet, earning the independent team’s best showing since 2022.

Dean Thompson, Jesse Love, Brandon Jones, Parker Retzlaff and Austin Green rounded out the top-10, with J.J. Yeley earning the only Ford in the 38-car field an impressive 11th-place finish.

Love started on pole position in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, led the most laps (37), and was out front late before getting shuffled backward with six laps remaining. The field split his car high and low on track, with Creed moving into the lead with five laps remaining.

Creed’s Haas Factory Team teammate, Sam Mayer, who had been impressive throughout the afternoon, was scored the leader with two laps to go in a three-wide front row also featuring Creed and Day. And then as often happens at Talladega, contact during the final frantic laps of competition shuffled the front pack, slammed Mayer’s No. 41 Chevy and two-time former winner Jeb Burton’s No. 27 Jordan Anderson Chevrolet into the outside wall.

Mayer settled for 25th despite leading three times for eight laps on the day. Burton, a photo-finish runner-up last year in the race, settled for 26th.

JR Motorsports teammates Carson Kvapil (stage one) and Justin Allgaier (stage two) claimed the two wins, but both were unable to recover from a mid-race green flag penalty for “impeding” cars on track during the final stage of racing.

The four caution periods were the fewest since 2022. The 38 lead changes were the most at the track since 2013.

Despite recording the lowest finish of the season (23rd), Allgaier retains the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship lead by 105 points over Creed.

The series moves to Texas Motor Speedway for next Saturday’s Andy’s Frozen Custard 340. Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson is the defending race winner.

Day, Crews, Creed and Smith will be eligible for the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash award next week.

–By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service, Special to Field Level Media

NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Race – AG-PRO 300

Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway

Saturday

1. (3) Corey Day, Chevrolet, 113.

2. (18) Brent Crews #, Toyota, 113.

3. (5) Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 113.

4. (13) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 113.

5. (15) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 113.

6. (17) Dean Thompson, Toyota, 113.

7. (1) Jesse Love, Chevrolet, 113.

8. (22) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 113.

9. (19) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 113.

10. (31) Austin Green, Chevrolet, 113.

11. (25) JJ Yeley, Ford, 113.

12. (23) Blaine Perkins, Chevrolet, 113.

13. (6) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 113.

14. (35) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 113.

15. (34) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 113.

16. (27) Patrick Emerling(i), Chevrolet, 113.

17. (10) Mason Maggio, Chevrolet, 113.

18. (28) Kyle Sieg, Chevrolet, 113.

19. (29) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 113.

20. (37) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 113.

21. (12) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 113.

22. (8) Carson Kvapil, Chevrolet, 113.

23. (11) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 113.

24. (32) Lavar Scott #, Chevrolet, 113.

25. (2) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, Accident, 112.

26. (24) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, Accident, 112.

27. (30) Harrison Burton, Toyota, Accident, 112.

28. (16) William Sawalich, Toyota, 112.

29. (26) Taylor Gray, Toyota, 112.

30. (7) Rajah Caruth, Chevrolet, 112.

31. (9) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 112.

32. (33) Tyler Ankrum(i), Chevrolet, 112.

33. (36) Natalie Decker, Chevrolet, 112.

34. (38) Dawson Cram, Chevrolet, 112.

35. (4) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 112.

36. (21) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 111.

37. (14) Patrick Staropoli #, Chevrolet, 105.

38. (20) David Starr, Chevrolet, Overheating, 14.

Average speed of race winner: 152.128 mph.

Time of race: 1 hour, 58 minutes, 33 seconds. Margin of victory: Under caution seconds.

Caution flags: 4 for 15 laps. Lead changes: 38 among 16 drivers.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 1,8,00,88,26,31,41,24,2,51

Stage #2 Top Ten: 7,39,00,26,99,1,24,51,87,21

After a shocking 10-17 start to the season, the Boston Red Sox have fired manager Alex Cora and five coaches, the club announced on Saturday evening.

In addition to Cora, the club dismissed hitting coach Peter Fatse, assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson, third base coach Kyle Hudson, bench coach Ramon Vasquez and hitting strategy coach Joe Cronin.

Chad Tracy, 40, the club’s manager at Triple-A Worcester since 2022, has been named interim manager. Game planning and run-prevention coach Jason Varitek will be reassigned to a new role in the organization.

“Alex Cora led this organization to one of the greatest seasons in Red Sox history in 2018, and for that, and the many years that followed, he will always have our deepest gratitude,” Red Sox owner John Henry said in a team statement. “He has had a lasting impact on this team and on this city. He has led on and off the field in so many important ways. These decisions are never easy, but this one is especially difficult given what Alex has meant to the Red Sox since the day he arrived.

“I want to thank Alex, our coaches, and their families for everything they have given to this organization. They have been part of this club in a way that goes beyond the field, and they will always have our respect and gratitude.”

Boston dipped to 9-17 after a 10-3 loss in Baltimore on Friday. The Orioles blasted six home runs and 20 hits in that rout. After Friday’s game, the Red Sox sat eight games behind the New York Yankees in the American League East.

But the Red Sox did exact a measure of revenge on Saturday, shellacking the Orioles, 17-1.

After serving as bench coach for the 2017 world champion Houston Astros, Cora was hired as manager in Boston in 2018. He led the Red Sox to a franchise-record 108 victories and a World Series title.

However, after the 2019 campaign, Cora was implicated in an MLB investigation involving sign-stealing by the Astros. MLB undertook an investigation into the Red Sox practices, but Cora and the Red Sox mutually agreed to separate before the 2020 season.

Cora, 50, was suspended for the 2020 season for his role in Houston, but returned to Boston as manager in 2021.

After missing the playoffs from 2022-24, the Red Sox returned last season, but lost a American League wild-card series to the New York Yankees.

Cora posted an eight-year regular-season record of 619-541 and postseason mark of 18-10.

–Field Level Media

Red Murdock enjoyed a storied college career at Buffalo but all his accolades and production weren’t appearing especially relevant in the eyes of NFL teams.

But Murdock was finally chosen Sunday by the Denver Broncos with the 257th and last pick of the seven-round 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, earning him the label of “Mr. Irrelevant.”

The second-team All-American is the 51st player to earn the “Mr. Irrelevant” tag since the tradition began in 1976.

Murdock, whose birth name is Khalil, set the FBS record of 17 career forced fumbles during his time at Buffalo. He had four in 2023, seven in 2024 and six in 2025. Ironically, another former Buffalo star, longtime NFL player Khalil Mack, held the previous record of 16.

Murdock ranked third in the nation with 142 tackles in 2025 and also had five sacks among 13.5 tackles for loss. In 2024, he was second nationally with 156 stops. He was a first-team All-Mid-American-Conference choice in both seasons.

Still, Murdock was getting concerned in the latter stages of the three-day draft. He didn’t want to go undrafted.

“I feel extremely grateful and excited to help the Broncos win, above all else,” Murdock told reporters. “I know a little bit about Mr. Irrelevant, but the main thing is I got an opportunity, and I’m trying to make the most of it to help us win.”

The most prominent Mr. Irrelevant is quarterback Brock Purdy, who was the final pick of the 2022 draft by the San Francisco 49ers. Purdy was repeatedly passed over despite a highly decorated college career at Iowa State.

It didn’t take long for the pick to pay dividends as Purdy quarterbacked the 49ers to the 2023 season’s Super Bowl before his club lost to the Kansas City Chiefs.

The creator of Mr. Irrelevant, former NFL receiver Paul Salata, died at age 94 in 2021.

The last pick receives more attention than any other seventh-round selection and the notoriety reaches its zenith when the player travels to Southern California to be honored during Irrelevant Week. Among the festivities is the awarding of the “Lowsman Trophy.”

–Field Level Media