Sports
Kyle Larson among drivers seeking Music City breakthrough
May 16, 2026; Dover, Delaware, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson climbs into his car during qualifying for the NASCAR All-Star Race at Dover Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O’Haren-Imagn Images Thirteen races.
That is how deep we are in a wild 2026 with a new format, and the baker’s dozen also represents the halfway point of this wacky regular season.
How crazy is it?
For starters, defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson has unimaginably gone 37 consecutive regular-season points races without a win.
That’s like starting at the Daytona 500, failing to find Victory Lane during a frustrating season and coming back to Florida for the next Speedweeks after the calendar has flipped with a big zero in the win column.
It has been an entire campaign for the No. 5 car — plus one.
The craziness was truly evident Sunday night when Kyle Busch’s former trucks series driver and close friend Daniel Suarez notched his third win by beating Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin when the heavens opened up and ended the Coca-Cola 600 after 373 laps, which turned the crown jewel event into the Coke 559.5.
However, the victory is penned into the record books just like the rain-shortened wins for Buddy Baker, Jimmie Johnson, David Reutimann and Bell. And also David Pearson’s 1974 victory that was trimmed to 360 laps for the nation’s energy crisis.
The win moved Suarez (-270 points) up to 10th in points from 14th, gridding him one spot behind teammate Carson Hocevar (-264) and giving Spire Motorsports two wins in 2026.
The next three drivers in front of the Spire ones in points are Bell, Chris Buescher and Larson, who have combined for exactly no wins.
Collect your payout if you had Spire Motorsports with two victories after 13 races while that trio of heavy hitters is completely winless.
“A bummer, just wasn’t meant to be today,” said Joe Gibbs Racing’s Bell, who won the 2024 600 after rain stopped it on Lap 249.
The frustrated No. 20 driver would not go all Milli Vanilli and blame it on the rain, adding, “That’s 2026 for us.”
This Sunday east of Nashville, the Cup Series will send out its best for the 300-lap Cracker Barrel 400 in Lebanon, Tenn.
It will be the sixth time for the series to travel to Nashville Superspeedway, a 1.33-mile, concrete, tri-oval track with 14 degrees of banking in the turns.
Of note, of course, is that it’s not that Nashville speedway, the venerable old short track that’s the second-longest running racing venue in the U.S.
That one is the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, where a Cup race was held every year from 1958 to 1984. More on that maybe later this season.
Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney is the defending winner in Nashville.
A dark-horse first-timer for Sunday night: Front Row Motorsports’ Zane Smith.
Then driving the No. 71 Chevrolet for Spire, the current No. 38 Ford driver finished a career-best second in the 2024 Music City event behind winner Joey Logano, who miraculously held on racing on fumes during multiple restarts in the 15-caution thriller that ran 31 extra laps.
Smith, 26, led 31 circuits in Sunday’s 600 and has been up front often this season.
“Comparing last year to this year, I really like where we’re at,” the Californian said. “I feel like we’ve taken that next step and are a lot stronger in a lot of areas. Our whole weekend seems to be going smoother and just better from a performance standpoint.”
Actually, Smith winning Sunday wouldn’t be that much of a longshot at all.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Ian Poulter plays on torn meniscus, surgery set for September
Ian Poulter tees off on the ninth hole Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, during day one of the LIV Golf Indianapolis tournament held at The Club at Chatham Hills in Westfield, Indiana. Ian Poulter said he needs surgery after tearing his meniscus while hopping up two steps at LIV Golf Virginia earlier this month.
Poulter didn’t let the injury impede him on the golf course on Thursday, as he shot a 4-under 66 in the first round of LIV Golf Korea at Asiad Country Club. The co-captain of Majesticks GC followed with a 2-over 72 on Friday to reside in a tie for 13th place, six strokes in back of leader Talor Gooch.
“I tore my meniscus Thursday of Virginia just hopping up two steps, so went for an MRI when I got back from Virginia, and yeah, I’m going to have to have surgery in September,” Poulter said Thursday.
Poulter, 50, admitted that he wasn’t sure he’d be able to compete in Korea.
“Bizarrely I have no sensation throughout the golf swing that there’s anything wrong with it,” he said. “I sense it when I’m walking downhill, steep downhills. I’m just edging it a little bit. But look, I’m going to have to strengthen that leg. It’s not affecting my golf in any way, shape or form.
“I just have to be reminding myself that I can’t go and play paddle tennis or do anything stupid or hop up steps like I did a couple of weeks ago. Walking in straight lines and being super sensible is not something I’m used to doing.
“Look, I feel good. I feel great. The body feels good. We’ll deal with that at some stage.”
Poulter has yet to win an individual LIV Golf event since joining the upstart league in 2022. He has 17 professional wins, including three on the PGA Tour.
–Field Level Media
Sports
MLB Betting Picks for Friday, May 29: Phillies and Marlins Featured
May 23, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper (L) and third baseman Alec Bohm (R) slap hands after scoring during the fourth inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images A light MLB slate two consecutive days sets the stage for the full Friday night menu in baseball.
There are several key series to keep an eye on, including a pair in the National League. The Chicago Cubs (31-26) seek their third consecutive win, facing the St. Louis Cardinals (29-25) in an NL Central battle.
Out west, the Philadelphia Phillies (29-27) square off with the Los Angeles Dodgers (36-20) in a playoff rematch at Dodger Stadium.
We’ll break down two plays for the Friday action. Remember to monitor the odds throughout the day, as the sides and totals market is constantly changing.
Here are the free MLB picks for Friday, May 29. Odds Courtesy of DraftKings.
Best MLB plays today
- Marlins F5 (-104) at Mets
- Phillies (+100) at Dodgers
Marlins F5 (-104) at Mets – 7:10 p.m. ET
The Marlins (26-31) swept the Mets at home last week as the two NL East rivals meet tonight at Citi Field. Miami P Max Meyer owns a tremendous 10-1 record in the first five innings, which includes leading New York, 4-0 last Saturday through five frames in a 4-1 win.
Freddy Peralta has led through five innings in three of 11 starts this season for the Mets, including a 1-3-2 mark in his last six home outings. New York is 2-6-1 in the first five innings of the past nine games.
Meyer has tossed at least five innings in nine consecutive games and has not allowed a run in the opening five frames in this stretch. Let’s go with the Marlins to continue their domination of the Mets and back them in the first five innings.
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Phillies (+100) at Dodgers – 10:15 p.m. ET
Philadelphia (29-27) faces Los Angeles (36-20) for the first time since getting knocked out in the NLDS last season. The Phillies started their west coast swing with a three-game sweep of the Padres, highlighted by a pair of shutouts. Tonight, Zack Wheeler heads to the mound as the Phillies are 6-0 in the right-hander’s six starts, while owning an ERA of 1.67.
The Dodgers cruised past the Rockies for a three-game sweep, extending their winning streak to five games. Left-hander Justin Wrobleski hasn’t lost consecutive starts this season after allowing five runs in five innings against Milwaukee. Wrobleski owns a 13.7% strikeout rate, which sits in the fifth percentile in MLB.
The Phillies are 11-2 in their last 13 road games since May 1, after starting 4-8 in their first 12 outings away from Citizens Bank Park. Wheeler didn’t face the Dodgers last season, but I expect a strong showing from him to continue his dominance and the Phillies to get revenge for their playoff loss.
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Sports
The NCAA May Be Losing Control of College Football as SEC Frustrations Boil Over
For all of you who appreciate college football as deeply as I do, I would strongly advise you to make the most of your enjoyment of the sport for as long as you can.
Because it’s getting hard to see the sport staying as it is now for very much longer.
Georgia president Jere Morehead and head coach Kirby Smart were the first people to say what has been boiling under the surface for years at this point: The way things are trending, it seems less and less likely that the future of the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference are in the NCAA.
As the NCAA pushes Congress to institute laws that would govern the sport and these attempts, like the SCORE Act, which stalled out this week, fail, college sports continue to be Wild West of sorts.
While the NCAA has instituted a cap for how much of its revenue it can share with players ($20.5 million across all sports for the 2025-26 academic year) and instituted a clearing house to approve all NIL transactions, things aren’t being forced on that front.
Tampering continues to be rampant — just ask Dabo Swinney — but we’re still waiting on the first punishment for anything of the sort. That leaves coaches at power programs, like Georgia, open to what they view as a better, NCAA-less future.
“I’ve been a huge advocate that if we can’t find rules that everybody plays by, then we should play on our own,” Smart told reporters this week at the SEC’s spring meetings in Miramar Beach, Fla. “I’m not afraid of that. I’m not afraid to break away and say that our conference is strong enough to go out and play.
“If we could actually function financially, it would make our programs more stable. We could support things financially — I’m talking about all the sports — and do our own rules. I’d be all for that.”
There have been discussions for years about if the college sports landscape, especially college football, is heading for a super league. Could a subset of the SEC and Big Ten break off and go independent, with a few ACC/Big 12 schools potentially replacing those conference’s lower tiers?
It’s always been a possibility this is where things were heading. This new league, which would likely contain an even greater percentage of the best players than these conferences already do, would have no trouble getting a TV contract to televise its games.
If these basketball programs also left the NCAA’s purview, that would seriously hinder the organization’s main cash cow in March Madness and drastically change its finances.
The NCAA is left with no real choice. It needs to bring actionable rules and real governance to college sports or it feels like just a matter of time until it becomes a college sports afterthought.
Even if it does those things, it’s still possible that there’s no keeping the band together at this point. But the NCAA has to try.
Ian Poulter plays on torn meniscus, surgery set for September
New Star Wars Movie Failed By Solving Marvel’s Biggest Problem
