Sports
Christopher Bell primed for strong run at history in Sin City
Mar 9, 2025; Avondale, Arizona, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Christopher Bell (20) celebrates his victory of the Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images Christopher Bell has served emphatic notice that he is the early driver to beat in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series, and the 30-year-old is primed for a run at an historic fourth consecutive win on a track where he will be looking to exact some revenge.
With victories at Atlanta, Circuit of the Americas and Phoenix, the Norman, Okla., native is the first driver to win three Cup races in a row since Kyle Larson did so in 2021. He is also the first driver to win three out of the first four since Kevin Harvick in 2018.
Compared to Harvick’s early-season thrashing of the field seven years ago, Bell hasn’t been quite as dominant. That’s not a knock on Bell, but rather an indication of how NASCAR’s schedule has changed. The first four races of 2025 featured two superspeedways, a road course and a one-mile oval. The first four races of 2018 featured Daytona being followed by three conventional ovals in a pre-reconfiguration Atlanta, Las Vegas and Phoenix.
During his three-race win streak at the start of 2018, Harvick led 433 laps, compared to Bell’s 114 over his three-race win streak. During his streak, Harvick scored a combined 149 laps, compared to Bell’s 139 over his three-race streak.
As Bell prepares to race for a fourth consecutive win at Las Vegas on Sunday, it’s worth looking back at Harvick’s attempt at a fourth straight win in 2018. Harvick was involved in an early crash at that year’s Auto Club 400 and finished 35th. It was a race indicative of the nature of NASCAR: no matter how high you are, you can always be brought down. Bell hopes to avoid a similar fate at Las Vegas.
Harvick’s fourth win of 2018 came seven races after his third in the AAA 400 at Dover. While Harvick made the Championship 4 for the fourth time in five seasons, he and the rest of the ‘Big Three; that included Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. saw their title hopes crushed by Joey Logano.
When looking for the best start to a season in Cup Series history, Bill Elliott’s 1992 season has to come to mind. After leaving Melling Racing at the conclusion of 1991, Elliott landed with Junior Johnson as the driver of the flagship No. 11 car. While his season would ultimately end in a heartbreaking championship defeat at the hands of journeyman Alan Kulwicki, nobody could touch Elliott over the first five races of 1992.
A 27th-place finish at Daytona was disappointing for the two-time Daytona 500 winner, but over the next four weeks, Elliott was far and away the best driver in the field. Wins at Rockingham, Richmond, Atlanta and Darlington solidified him as a championship threat, though he remained behind fellow title contender Davey Allison in the points standings despite his tear.
Different points systems and race lengths prohibit a cross-examination between Elliott and Bell’s respective streaks, but it should be noted that Elliott led 747 of a possible 1,587 laps during his win streak.
Unfortunately for Elliott, his dominance ran out in race six at Bristol, where he finished 20th — 30 laps down. Following his four-race win streak, he would fail to find victory lane again until the infamous season-finale at Atlanta, where Elliott’s fifth win of 1992 failed to deliver him a second Winston Cup title.
Bell now shifts his attention to going for a fourth consecutive win, a feat accomplished by the aforementioned Elliott, Harry Gant — AKA ‘Mr. September’ for winning four races in a row in September of 1991 — and Richard Petty, who won 10 in a row in 1967, among others.
The bad news for the field? Bell is due for a trip to Victory Lane in Sin City.
In his past four starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Bell has three top-five finishes and has led 216 laps. Of those 216, 155 of them came in a dominant performance at LVMS in October of 2024, where Bell saw Joey Logano and crew chief Paul Wolfe steal a win that catapulted the No. 22 team to the Championship 4. That race wasn’t just a heartbreaking loss on an otherwise dominant day for Bell, but also ended up being the difference in Bell missing the Championship 4.
The spring race at Las Vegas hasn’t been quite as kind to Bell as its fall counterpart, but with how fast Bell is at the moment, that might not matter. He’ll undoubtedly be near the top of the list of race favorites this week and in the weeks following.
A glance further down the Cup Series schedule shows tracks where Bell can continue his white-hot start. Should Bell win his fourth consecutive race at Las Vegas, the chance for a fifth at Homestead-Miami glimmers in the Florida sun.
Bell has top-five finishes in the past two Homestead races, including a win that lifted him and the No. 20 team to the Championship 4 in 2023. The week after Homestead, the Cup Series travels to Martinsville, where Bell won in the fall of 2022 to advance to what was his first Championship 4.
With Darlington and Bristol leading off the month of April, Talladega on April 27 may be Bell’s biggest hurdle until the summer. Then again, superspeedway races likely seem less daunting to the No. 20 team following Bell’s victory at Atlanta.
Whether Bell’s streak ends next week or continues at Las Vegas and beyond, his three-race win streak has been an historic and undeniably impressive run that has the opportunity to grow and place him alongside the sport’s greats.
If you still don’t have Christopher Bell on your radar as a championship favorite, it’s past time to declare him the biggest threat the Cup Series field as seen since Larson in 2021.
–Samuel Stubbs, Field Level Media
Sports
A'ja Wilson has no shortage of motivation after Aces' early exit in '24
Oct 1, 2024; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson (22) and New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart (30) during game two of the 2024 WNBA Semi-finals at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images LAS VEGAS — Entering her eighth season in the WNBA, Las Vegas Aces superstar A’ja Wilson is poised to build on what was arguably the most dominant individual campaign in league history.
Wilson joined Cynthia Cooper (1997) as the second player in league history to win a unanimous MVP award and joined an exclusive club as the fourth player to win the award three times. She averaged 26.9 points and 11.9 rebounds per game last season and set the all-time single-season mark for points (1,021) and rebounds (451).
Unfortunately for Las Vegas, injuries and fatigue from their two previous championship runs mounted and resulted in the team’s worst regular-season record (27-13) since 2019. The Aces’ three-peat hopes ended with a 76-62 home loss to the New York Liberty to drop their semifinal series 3-1.
It’s that loss on her home floor that served as Wilson’s motivation this offseason.
“Losing sucks, especially on your home court,” Wilson said “It still kind of burns a little bit, but I’ve used that as fuel to help my teammates understand how hard it is to win in this league. Yes, we can celebrate the two championships. They were great. But for us to move forward, we have to understand how hard this league is and value the basketball and the little things. I think that’s what we lacked last season, so we’re going to make sure that we can show up better than we did.”
While the Aces appeared to be on top of the world heading into their potential three-peat campaign in 2024, the reality inside the locker room was that both the internal and external pressure to win another championship had become suffocating. A common theme across media day was the fact that the team feels less pressure entering the 2025 season, a sentiment Wilson shared as the unquestioned leader of the team.
“(Three-peat talks) obviously impacted us, because it’s like, y’all think we don’t want to win? We’re trying as well,” Wilson said.
“I would definitely say it’s refreshing this year. I feel like this is one of my only years where it feels like there’s no weight. There’s a lot of weight to be defending champs. It’s a lot of weight to be trying to win one. We don’t have that. We actually have a clean slate to really dial into getting back to who we are culturally, like, in our system and everything.”
Leading the Aces back to the top of the mountain for a third time in four years is one of a few historically significant achievements Wilson can collect this upcoming season. Wilson could also become the first four-time MVP in league history, though the meaning of that is something she hasn’t quite allowed herself to ponder yet.
“I haven’t given it much thought, but it would be a blessing to have my name in that conversation,” Wilson said. “Every year, I try to be better than I was the year before just to give myself a chance in this league. Because the league is getting better. We’re growing. At this point, you just want to maintain your stamina. You want to maintain your mental, all of that, because the season gets hard. I can’t think too much about that just yet, but I’m definitely going to try to be better than I was last year.”
As Aces coach Becky Hammon put it, fans can expect to see an even better version of Wilson this season.
“What I see is, she went and got better,” Hammon said. “Which is hard to do when you’re already the best, but it speaks to her work ethic, her desire and her mindset this whole offseason. We talked a lot this offseason. She’s a busy lady, but I can tell you what she always does is her workouts. She’s always getting her workouts in. That comes first and foremost, she never gets her priorities jumbled up.”
When Hammon was asked what a player like Wilson would possibly need to improve after last season’s campaign, the coach did not feel like revealing too much.
“There was (something for Wilson to improve), and she did,” Hammon said. “I’m not going to tell you what it was. Actually, there were two things.”
–Will Despart, Field Level Media
Sports
Jacob Wilson joins Aaron Judge in spotlight for Yankees-A's series
May 5, 2025; West Sacramento, California, USA; Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson (5) throws to first for an out against the Seattle Mariners during the seventh inning at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Lee-Imagn Images The top two hitters in the majors square off Friday night when the New York Yankees face the Athletics in the opener of a three-game series in Sacramento, Calif.
It’s no surprise to see Yankees star Aaron Judge off to a superb start after winning American League MVP honors last season. He has a major league-best .400 batting average and entered Thursday’s play tied for the big-league lead with 12 homers and 34 RBIs.
But who had Athletics rookie Jacob Wilson ranking second in the majors at .357 as the season nears the quarter pole? Wilson has played in just 64 career games and quickly has solidified himself as a future All-Star, perhaps even this season.
Sharing the marquee board with Judge seems quite surreal for the 23-year-old shortstop who was the No. 6 overall pick of the 2023 draft.
“It’s a great feeling, for sure,” Wilson said of his name being mentioned with Judge. “Obviously, everybody has seen what he is doing. It’s pretty incredible watching him do his thing on a daily basis. To be up there with him is pretty cool for me.
“I’m excited to play against him this week and see what it looks like in person.”
Wilson had his first career four-hit game during Wednesday’s 6-5 home loss against the Seattle Mariners and has six multi-hit outings in the past eight games. He went 8-for-14 with one game-winning hit in the three-game series against the Mariners and is 16-for-34 (.471) with four walks during the eight-game stretch.
The hot hitting led to Athletics manager Mark Kotsay moving Wilson to the leadoff spot on Wednesday. Kotsay indicated Wilson may be sticking at the top of the lineup.
“I think you’ll see Jacob up there now,” Kotsay said. “Jacob’s earned it. … Jacob has shown enough over the last week. He’s walking and taking pitches, and, obviously, swinging the bat really well.”
Judge arrives in Sacramento in the midst of a four-game funk in which he is 2-for-15.
The two-time MVP just went 1-for-10 in a three-game home series against the San Diego Padres, but the one hit was a homer.
Judge grew up 50 miles south of Sacramento in Linden and starred for Linden High but wasn’t highly sought by major league teams. The then-Oakland Athletics selected him in the 31st round in 2010.
Judge instead went the college route and starred for Fresno State. He was chosen in the first round (32nd overall) by the Yankees in the 2013 draft.
Trent Grisham was one of the heroes of Wednesday’s 4-3, 10-inning win over the Padres. He hit a tying two-run pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning.
Grisham had two homers and five RBIs in the series against the Padres — one of his former teams — and already has 10 long balls in just 89 at-bats. He hit just nine last season in 179 at-bats.
“I’m having fun with the guys, I would say that more than anything,” Grisham said. “The clubhouse is really good in here, led by Cap (Judge). So, I would say the guys have been the most enjoyable part.”
New York is starting right-hander Will Warren (1-2, 5.65 ERA) in Friday’s series opener. Right-hander Osvaldo Bido (2-2, 4.71) will be on the mound for the Athletics.
Warren, 25, struck out a career-high eight in 4 2/3 innings while losing to the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday. He gave up five runs (three earned) and seven hits. Warren hasn’t previously faced the Athletics.
Bido, 29, received a no-decision against the Miami Marlins last Saturday when he gave up four runs on three hits over five innings. He is winless (0-1) over his last three starts. Bido hasn’t faced the Yankees.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Report: Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao coming out of retirement
Aug 21, 2021; Las Vegas, Nevada; Manny Pacquiao (right) fights Yordenis Ugas in a world welterweight championship bout at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao plans to end his retirement and return to the ring on July 19 against Mario Barrios in Las Vegas, ESPN reported Thursday.
Pacquiao, 46, will be fighting for the first time since losing a unanimous decision to Yordenis Ugas in 2021.
The fight will be for Barrios’ WBC welterweight championship belt. Barrios turns 30 on May 18.
Pacquiao is an eight-division champion who is slated to be inducted into the boxing Hall of Fame in June. He reportedly will formally announce his return to boxing next week. The report stated that Pacquiao has been cleared to compete by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
In recent years, Pacquiao has been focusing on his political career in the Philippines.
The boxer nicknamed “PacMan” has a 62-8-2 record with 39 knockouts during his career. He won his first major title — the WBC flyweight crown — at age 19 in 1998.
Pacquiao was 54-3-2 prior to turning 33 and 8-5 afterward. One of those losses was to Floyd Mayweather Jr. via unanimous decision in 2015, a bout that reportedly drew nearly $400 million in pay-per-view sales.
Barrios (29-2-1, 18 knockouts) fought to a 12-round, split-decision draw against Abel Ramos last November. This will be his third defense since winning the title by beating Ugas in 2023.
–Field Level Media
A'ja Wilson has no shortage of motivation after Aces' early exit in '24
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