Sports
Carson Hocevar avoids Big One at Talladega, nabs 1st Cup Series win
Mar 29, 2026; Martinsville, Virginia, USA; Spire Motorsports driver Carson Hocevar (77) during practice at Martinsville Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images Carson Hocevar told his fans on Instagram during the week he would win at Talladega Superspeedway.
He finally did his part to perfection on Sunday.
The Spire Motorsport driver recorded his first NASCAR Cup Series win, pulling away from Chris Buescher off the final turn in a three-lap shootout to win the wreck-ridden Jack Link’s 500 in Talladega, Ala.
The high-speed, 188-lap drafting race was interrupted by a chaotic accident on Lap 115 in Stage 2 that eliminated many competitors, but the two drivers ran side-by-side until Erik Jones, running third, wrecked with seven laps left.
Hocevar’s No. 77 Chevrolet then beat Buescher’s No. 17 Ford by 0.114 seconds for his first Cup win in his 91st start, becoming the 13th driver to notch his first-ever victory at the Alabama track.
As cars wrecked coming to the final flag, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott and Zane Smith navigated their way to finish third through fifth, respectively.
Hocevar celebrated by sitting on his Chevy’s door, with his body halfway hanging out, and waved to the fans as he slowly drove by the flagstand then pointed the car nose-first against the wall and did a celebratory burnout.
But it took a moment or two to get it right.
“I’ve had this thought up for a while and I’ve messed it up every which way not to do it,” said Hocevar, who led Chevy to its fifth win in the past nine starts at Talladega and second overall in 2026. “I didn’t care if it took me 20 minutes or whatever, I was going to figure out how to do it.”
The 23-year-old Portage, Mich., native took to the social media platform this week and told his fans a win was in store.
“I knew we were going to win, and we did,” he said.
In typical Talladega fashion, the 2.66-mile superspeedway produced several different leaders moving back and forth, including Chad Finchum, making his second start in 2026, coming from the back in his No. 66 Ford along with Cody Ware and leading his first NASCAR laps as the race became 10 circuits old.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs led after the field pitted in three different large groups — a wild session full of mistakes, which featured JGR teammates Denny Hamlin cited for speeding and Chase Briscoe for a safety violation as he roared the pits.
After the varying pit strategies and infractions played out in Stage 1, Ryan Preece’s No. 60 took the checkers for the top points as RFK Racing led the charge. Teammates Brad Keselowski and Buescher were second and fourth, respectively, while Joey Logano was third, Ryan Blaney fifth and Josh Berry sixth — all in Fords.
The Big One, Talladega’s massive crash, occurred on Lap 115 in Stage 2 as the front of the pack got together when second-place Ross Chastain turned leader Bubba Wallace to start the season’s biggest track mayhem by far.
While the front four cars of Chastain, Preece, Buescher and Christopher Bell all drove away unscathed as bedlam unfolded behind them, 26 cars were sent spinning and sliding in a wreck that forced a red-flag condition of nearly 10 minutes.
In hard two-wide racing to end Stage 2, Chastain held off Bell while Buescher, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Todd Gilliland rounded out the first five under the checkers.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Spurs dominate 2nd half to go up 3-1 on Trail Blazers
Apr 26, 2026; Portland, Oregon, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) celebrates a three point basket by guard De’aaron Fox (4) during the first half of game four of the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs against the Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images De’Aaron Fox scored 28 points and Victor Wembanyama had 27 in his return from concussion protocol, helping the visiting San Antonio Spurs to a 114-93 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 4 of their Western Conference first-round series on Sunday.
Fox sank 11 of 17 shots from the floor and drained four 3-pointers to aid the Spurs in overcoming a 19-point deficit to seize a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 5 is Tuesday in San Antonio.
After sitting out Game 3, Wembanyama showed why he was the NBA’s first-ever unanimous Defensive Player of the Year by recording 11 rebounds, seven blocks and four steals.
Stephon Castle collected 16 points and eight assists while dealing with both an injured left hand and foul trouble.
Devin Vassell added 11 points for the Spurs, who outscored the Trail Blazers by a 73-35 margin in the second half.
Deni Avdija scored 26 points, Jrue Holiday had 20 and Jerami Grant added 17 off the bench for the Trail Blazers.
Tied at 74 entering the fourth quarter, the Spurs opened the period on a 27-7 run. Castle set up Wembanyama for a trio of alley-oop dunks before Fox sank a pair of jumpers and a 3-pointer to give San Antonio an 87-77 lead with 7:47 left. Sixth Man of the Year Keldon Johnson converted from beyond the arc and added a pair of driving buckets to extend San Antonio’s lead to 101-81 with 4:31 remaining.
Tempers flared after Castle pushed the ball into the chest of Avdija. A shoving match ensued, resulting in a technical foul on both parties.
Portland held a two-point lead after the first quarter before extending that advantage to 19 points at 58-39 after Donovan Clingan’s 3-pointer with a minute left.
San Antonio cut into the deficit by scoring the last two points of the second quarter and the first 13 of the third, highlighted by 3-pointers from Justin Champagnie, Fox and Vassell on consecutive possessions. The Spurs seized a 64-62 lead after a pair of jump shots from Vassell and then Wembanyama added a dunk in the final second to forge the tie at the end of the third quarter.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Brotherly love: Matt, Alex Fitzpatrick capture meaningful Zurich win
Apr 25, 2026; Avondale, Louisiana, USA; Matt Fitzpatrick hits tee shot on hole 2 during the third round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images Brothers Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick of England birdied the final hole after their three-stroke lead vanished on the back nine Sunday, leading them to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans at Avondale, La.
The birdie on the par-5 18th hole gave them a 1-under-par 71, pushing their tournament total to 31-under 257 at TPC Louisiana in the PGA Tour’s only team event.
Matt is a PGA Tour winner on back-to-back Sundays after winning the RBC Heritage a week earlier. As for Alex, a DP World Tour player, he’ll receive a PGA Tour card through 2028 and a number of exemptions, including into the PGA Championship.
Sitting in a three-way tie going to the last hole, Alex’s approach went into a bunker in front of the 18th green for the team’s second shot, but on the next swing Matt put the ball within 2 feet of the cup and they avoided a playoff.
Alex Smalley/Hayden Springer (68) and the Norwegian pair of Kristoffer Reitan/Kris Ventura (65) shared second place at 30 under.
Reitan and Ventura pulled even with an eagle 3 at the 18th. Reitan’s shot onto the green left Ventura less than 7 feet for the putt.
Smalley/Springer were tied atop the leaderboard until a bogey on No. 17. They recovered to forge a three-way tie at the top when Springer’s approach shot on the 18th left Smalley a tap-in for birdie.
The Fitzpatrick team still had two holes to finish and they cashed in on the final one.
The Fitzpatrick brothers, who began the day with a four-shot lead, played the first 11 holes in a bogey-free 3 under. Then a double bogey on the 12th — initiated with Matt’s tee shot into the rough and taking a stroke for a drop — and a bogey on the 14th suddenly wiped out their advantage.
The Fitzpatricks set a tournament record by posting 57 in Saturday’s four-ball competition.
Ben Martin/Trace Crowe (66) and the Danish tandem of Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen/Jacob Skov Olesen (66) tied for fourth place at 28 under. Martin/Crowe had eight birdies but two bogeys, while Neergaard-Petersen/Skov Olesen did not make a bogey.
There was a three-way tie for sixth place at 27 under with Billy Horschel/Tom Hoge (68), Eric Cole/Hank Lebioda (68) and Doug Ghim/Jeffrey Kang (70).
The start of the final round was delayed a couple of hours because of morning storms. That led to adjustments with groups beginning on Nos. 1 and 10.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Justin Wrobleski moves to 4-0 as Dodgers blank Cubs
Apr 26, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Justin Wrobleski (70) pitches against the Chicago Cubs in the first inning at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Hui-Imagn Images Shohei Ohtani hit his first home run in 13 games and Justin Wrobleski continued his strong start to the season with six scoreless innings as the Los Angeles Dodgers finished off a 6-0 victory over the visiting Chicago Cubs on Sunday.
Miguel Rojas hit a two-run double in the first inning and Dalton Rushing had a two-run single in the sixth as the Dodgers won two of three against the Cubs and took a home series for the fourth time in five tries.
Wrobleski (4-0) gave up four hits with six strikeouts, but matched a season-high with four walks. The left-hander lowered his ERA to 1.50 in 30 innings over five appearances and four consecutive starts.
Shota Imanaga (2-2) gave up a season-high five runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings with three walks and six strikeouts. Imanaga allowed more runs than his last four starts combined (three).
Chicago’s offense was held to four hits and went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Michael Busch delivered the only extra-base hit, a double to lead off the second inning.
The Cubs lost their second consecutive game following a 10-game winning streak.
Andy Pages delivered a sacrifice fly to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead in the opening inning and Rojas added his two-run double two batters later.
Wrobleski worked through early trouble, leaving two Cubs runners aboard in the first inning and the bases loaded in the second. He put the leadoff batter on base in four of his six innings.
Rushing gave the Dodgers a 5-0 lead with his two-run single in the sixth and Ohtani hit a solo home run to left-center in the seventh inning, his sixth of the season. The blast ended Ohtani’s longest stretch without a home run since joining Los Angeles for the 2024 season.
Ohtani was the lone player to produce multiple hits, as he went 3-for-3 with a walk, two runs and an RBI.
Edgardo Henriquez, Jack Dreyer and Kyle Hurt each pitched a scoreless inning without allowing a hit as the Dodgers earned their third shutout victory of 2026 and the second in the past four games.
–Field Level Media
Spurs dominate 2nd half to go up 3-1 on Trail Blazers
Brotherly love: Matt, Alex Fitzpatrick capture meaningful Zurich win
