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Carson Hocevar avoids Big One at Talladega, nabs 1st Cup Series win

NASCAR: Cup Series-Practice & QualifyingMar 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

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Jose Tena's HR in 10th helps Nationals edge White Sox

MLB: Washington Nationals at Chicago White SoxApr 26, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Washington Nationals pitcher Foster Griffin (22) throws the ball against the Chicago White Sox during the first inning at Rate Field. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images

Jose Tena hit a pinch-hit solo home run in the 10th inning after CJ Abrams provided a go-ahead sacrifice fly as the visiting Washington Nationals defeated the Chicago White Sox 2-1 on Sunday.

Both pitching staffs allowed just four hits. Paxton Schultz worked around Tristan Peters’ RBI single in the bottom of the 10th for his first save.

Nationals left-hander Foster Griffin delivered his second consecutive quality start, scattering two hits in seven shutout innings. Griffin walked two and struck out a career-high eight.

Chicago righty Sean Burke shined, as well, limiting the Nationals to three hits in 7 1/3 innings with zero walks and four strikeouts.

After both clubs scored at least three runs in the first two games of the series, offense was a dicey proposition as Griffin and Burke matched zeroes for much of the afternoon.

The White Sox nearly gave Burke an early lead after opener Bryan Hudson pitched a scoreless bottom of the first. Chase Meidroth opened the game with a single, advanced to second on a balk and took third on a wild pitch. But Griffin struck out the side to keep Meidroth from scoring.

Tanner Murray contributed a one-out single in the second and Drew Romo walked two batters later before the rally faded. Griffin hit Colson Montgomery with a pitch in the fourth inning before recovering to retire 11 of the next 12.

Burke yielded a two-out double to Jacob Young in the second and a two-out single to James Wood in the third but kept the Nationals off the scoreboard. Romo, Chicago’s catcher, caught Wood stealing to end the threat in the second.

Burke mowed through the next 15 Washington batters after that, with a four-pitch seventh inning highlighting his dominance. Nasim Nunez broke the streak with a leadoff single in the ninth, stole second and advanced to third on a sacrifice fly. Reliever Sean Newcomb got two popouts to end the inning.

Chicago was unable to score in the bottom of the ninth. Everson Pereira singled with one out for the team’s first hit since the second and went to second on an errant pickoff attempt but was stranded.

Murray left the game with an apparent left-shoulder injury while making a diving catch on Abrams’ sacrifice fly to left field.

Richard Lovelady (1-1) pitched a scoreless ninth for the victory.

Seranthony Dominguez (1-3) took the loss.

–Field Level Media

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Dominant Kyle Harrison fans 12 as Brewers end slide vs. Pirates

MLB: Pittsburgh Pirates at Milwaukee BrewersApr 26, 2026; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Kyle Harrison (52) throws a pitch in the first inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

Kyle Harrison tossed six innings of one-hit ball with a career-high 12 strikeouts and the Milwaukee Brewers snapped a four-game skid with a 5-0 victory over the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday.

The Brewers backed Harrison with a five-run fourth inning to avoid their first sweep against Pittsburgh since 2022 and first at home to the Pirates since a four-game series in August 2016.

The only hit off Harrison (2-1) in his 101-pitch outing was a leadoff single in the second by Marcell Ozuna, who was erased on a double play. The only other runner off Harrison came on a two-out walk in the fourth.

Held hitless through three innings, the Brewers erupted for five runs in the decisive fourth off Carmen Mlodzinski (1-2). William Contreras capped a 10-pitch at-bat with a leadoff single and Jake Bauers lined a ground rule double to right-center. Contreras scored on Gary Sanchez’s RBI groundout.

Sal Frelick reached on catcher’s interference with two outs and Luis Rengifo followed with an RBI single. David Hamilton lined an RBI double off the wall in right-center to make it 3-0. Brandon Lockridge followed with a two-run single, chasing Mlodzinski, who allowed five runs (four earned) on five hits in 3 2/3 innings.

The Pirates had runners in scoring position in the seventh and eighth innings, but failed to convert.

Milwaukee’s Trevor Megill, recently demoted from the closer role, allowed a double and a walk to open the seventh, but retired three straight with two strikeouts for his fifth consecutive appearance without an earned run.

Pittsburgh loaded the bases in the eighth against Aaron Ashby on two walks and an error, but Bryan Reynolds bounced to second to end the inning.

The Brewers failed to homer for the seventh consecutive game, their most since a franchise-record 13 straight games in 1999. Milwaukee has one home run in its last 11 games.

–Field Level Media

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Sabres smash Bruins to take 3-1 lead back to Buffalo

NHL: Stanley Cup Playoffs-Buffalo Sabres at Boston BruinsApr 26, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Buffalo Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram (4) celebrates his goal with his teammates during the first period in game four of the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images

The visiting Buffalo Sabres ripped off a four-goal first period and never looked back en route to a 6-1 win over the Boston Bruins in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series on Sunday afternoon.

Peyton Krebs, Josh Doan, Bowen Byram and Alex Tuch all notched a goal and an assist, while Zach Benson and Beck Malenstyn also scored for Buffalo, which carries a 3-1 series lead back home for Game 5 on Tuesday after claiming back-to-back victories in Boston.

Krebs netted the opening goal only 4:17 into the first and it was 3-0 less than 10 minutes into the game.

The early flurry was more than enough offense to back goaltender Alex Lyon, who made 23 saves and held a shutout until Boston’s lone goal by Sean Kuraly with 40 seconds left in the third.

Boston’s Jeremy Swayman allowed six goals on 29 shots before Joonas Korpisalo entered in relief for the final 13:19.

In the midst of falling into a 4-0 deficit in the first period of a playoff game for the first time ever, the Bruins lost Viktor Arvidsson to an upper-body injury after he was hit by Buffalo defenseman Mattias Samuelsson.

Buffalo had a 19-5 shot advantage and eight high-danger scoring chances in the opening period.

Krebs scored Buffalo’s first game-opening goal of the series. A turnover led to Tuch creating the scoring chance, firing a no-look pass to his oncoming winger for a wrister from the slot.

Just two seconds after Boston killed off a penalty, Doan made it a 2-0 game by deflecting Ryan McLeod’s centering pass from the right goal line to the top of the crease at 7:10.

Benson added to the tally only 2:05 later. After picking defenseman Jordan Harris’ pocket along the left wing, he drove hard to the net and snuck a backhand shot five-hole on Swayman.

Byram’s third goal in three games capped off the four-goal period with 5:36 left. The defenseman took a pass from partner Owen Power down the left side and scored across the grain past a diving Swayman.

Two goals in a span of 84 third-period seconds put an exclamation point on Buffalo’s win.

Starting the quick-fire sequence, Jordan Greenway’s point shot took deflections off Tyson Kozak and then Malenstyn on its way past Swayman at 5:08. Malenstyn made the ultimate tip from between the circles.

Tuch finalized the Sabres’ scoring to make it 6-0 at 6:32, slotting home Tage Thompson’s feed from behind the net.

Kuraly scored on the rebound of Andrew Peeke’s point shot for the lone Bruins goal, which came short-handed.

–Field Level Media

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