Sports
Late charge propels Kyle Larson to O’Reilly Series win in Vegas
Mar 14, 2026; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; JR Motorsports driver Kyle Larson (88) celebrates his victory of the LiUNA! at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images LAS VEGAS — No matter the series, Las Vegas Motor Speedway agrees with Kyle Larson.
Surging into the lead from the seventh position moments after the final restart on Lap 154 of 200, Larson pulled away to win The LiUNA! on Saturday, becoming the fifth different winner in five NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series events this season.
Larson crossed the finish line 2.557 seconds ahead of Chase Briscoe, who recovered from a brush with the outside wall and resulting flat tire to finish second.
The victory was Larson’s second at Las Vegas to go with three in the NASCAR Cup Series. In his first O’Reilly Series start of the season, the driver of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet registered the 18th win of his career in the series.
Sheldon Creed ran third, followed by series leader Justin Allgaier and Sammy Smith.
“I was a bit nervous,” Larson said of the final run. “I knew the 00 (Creed) and Briscoe were ripping the top. I tried it once, and I didn’t feel good up there at all.
“I don’t know — clean air just must have meant a lot today. So, glad I was able to get the lead when it mattered.”
Briscoe took responsibility for the mistake that cost him a chance to win.
“Even with the adversity we were dealing with, I knew if we got a lucky break, we were going to hopefully get back up there,” Briscoe said. “Honestly, it wasn’t an unfortunate break with the tire — I think it was my own fault.
“I just drove it into the fence and cost myself. I had a lot of fun. It was certainly fun slipping and sliding around the race track. You could kind of run all over. I had a blast.”
Jesse Love ran sixth in one of the fastest cars in the race. Love led 36 laps and was first off pit road after stops on Lap 120. But his team incurred a safety violation when a crew member fell over the wall on that stop, and Love restarted 32nd under penalty. A determined charge through the field earned the sixth-place finish.
Creed’s third-place run was not without incident. On Lap 148, a tap from Creed’s front bumper sent Taylor Gray’s Toyota rocketing into the Turn 3 wall and out of the race as the drivers were battling for second.
“I just got into him,” Creed said. “I was trying to pack some air. I didn’t know he was that close to the 17 (eighth-place finisher Corey Day). I could have cut him more of a break there, and I didn’t. That’s not the way I wanted to race him.”
Connor Zilisch ran seventh as the fourth JR Motorsports driver in the top seven. Day in eighth scored his fourth consecutive top 10 after leading nine laps before the Creed/Gray accident caused the eighth and final caution.
William Sawalich finished ninth, and Daytona winner Austin Hill ran 10th.
Allgaier led a race-high 48 laps to Larson’s 47 and swept the first two stages to expand his series lead over Love to 13 points.
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Race — The LiUNA!
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Las Vegas, Nevada
Saturday, March 14, 2026
1. (2) Kyle Larson(i), Chevrolet, 200.
2. (23) Chase Briscoe(i), Toyota, 200.
3. (3) Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 200.
4. (9) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 200.
5. (4) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 200.
6. (7) Jesse Love, Chevrolet, 200.
7. (17) Connor Zilisch(i), Chevrolet, 200.
8. (11) Corey Day, Chevrolet, 200.
9. (14) William Sawalich, Toyota, 200.
10. (13) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 200.
11. (18) Carson Kvapil, Chevrolet, 200.
12. (12) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 200.
13. (5) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 200.
14. (29) Kyle Sieg, Chevrolet, 200.
15. (27) Daniel Dye(i), Ford, 200.
16. (32) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 200.
17. (24) Harrison Burton, Toyota, 200.
18. (16) Cole Custer(i), Chevrolet, 200.
19. (8) Rajah Caruth, Chevrolet, 200.
20. (26) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 199.
21. (22) Patrick Staropoli #, Chevrolet, 199.
22. (33) Blaine Perkins, Chevrolet, 199.
23. (38) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 199.
24. (10) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 199.
25. (19) Austin Green, Chevrolet, 199.
26. (30) Lavar Scott #, Chevrolet, 199.
27. (15) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 199.
28. (37) Mason Maggio, Chevrolet, 199.
29. (36) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 199.
30. (35) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 198.
31. (25) Dean Thompson, Toyota, 198.
32. (34) Nathan Byrd, Chevrolet, 198.
33. (20) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 197.
34. (31) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 197.
35. (1) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 196.
36. (28) Chandler Smith(i), Ford, Ignition, 184.
37. (6) Taylor Gray, Toyota, Accident, 148.
38. (21) Nick Sanchez, Ford, Fuel Pump, 141.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 116.82 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 34 Mins, 5 Secs. Margin of Victory: 2.557 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 8 for 42 laps.
Lead Changes: 16 among 9 drivers.
Lap Leaders: S. Mayer 1-5;S. Creed 6;S. Mayer 7-33;J. Allgaier 34-48;C. Briscoe(i) 49;J. Love 50-56;T. Gray 57;J. Love 58-64;J. Allgaier 65-93;C. Briscoe(i) 94;J. Love 95-104;J. Allgaier 105-108;J. Love 109-120;T. Gray 121-140;C. Day 141-149;B. Jones 150-153;K. Larson(i) 154-200.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Justin Allgaier 3 times for 48 laps; Kyle Larson(i) 1 time for 47 laps; Jesse Love 4 times for 36 laps; Sam Mayer 2 times for 32 laps; Taylor Gray 2 times for 21 laps; Corey Day 1 time for 9 laps; Brandon Jones 1 time for 4 laps; Chase Briscoe(i) 2 times for 2 laps; Sheldon Creed 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 7,41,19,54,00,2,88,17,0,20
Stage #2 Top Ten: 7,19,54,2,88,00,17,1,21,9
–By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.
Sports
Oilers, Predators out to improve positioning in playoff race
Mar 13, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (97) is congratulated by teammates after scoring against the St. Louis Blues during the third period at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images The Edmonton Oilers return home to host the Nashville Predators on Sunday, looking to move on from a 3-2 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues on Friday night.
“I think the first two periods, we were playing extremely well, and even in the third, we had some chances and a good push,” said Kasperi Kapanen, who opened the scoring.
“It sucks right now, but we just got to forget this one and move on.”
Connor McDavid also scored for the Oilers as they jumped to a 2-0 lead. However, the Blues responded with three unanswered to steal the extra point.
Connor Ingram made 22 saves for Edmonton, which has dropped back-to-back games while clinging to the third seed in the Pacific Division.
“I don’t think it could have went much better for us in the first 40 minutes and in the third with a nice lead,” said Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch. “(St. Louis) had a strong push, and it’s unfortunate that it could have been an outstanding road trip getting three out of the four, but losing and only getting one point in the last two games is disappointing for us.”
The Oilers, who are 16-11-4 on home ice, open a four-game homestand looking to improve on a 4-5-1 stretch.
McDavid entered Saturday with a league-leading 74 assists and 111 points and paces the Oilers with 37 goals through 67 games.
Ingram is 9-6-2 in 20 games, posting an .891 save percentage and a 2.79 goals-against average. Stuart Skinner, Edmonton’s other goalie, is 11-8-4 with an .891 save percentage and a 2.83 GAA in 23 games.
Edmonton was without Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on Friday night. The Oilers forward returned home for personal reasons and was replaced in the lineup by Max Jones.
Sunday is the teams’ third and final meeting. The Oilers picked up a 6-2 home win on Jan. 6. Seven days later, the Predators responded with a 4-3 home victory in overtime.
Nashville travels to Edmonton as part of a five-game road trip, looking to keep its Western Conference wild-card chase alive. The Predators, 3-4-3 over their last 10, trailed the Los Angeles Kings by two points for the final spot entering Saturday’s action.
The Predators have been off since Thursday night, when they surrendered a 3-1 lead and lost 4-3 in a shootout to the Vancouver Canucks.
Tyson Jost scored a pair and Matthew Wood had the other for the Predators, who are 12-14-6 on the road. Juuse Saros made 24 saves.
Wood’s goal extended his career-high point streak to four games (four goals, one assist).
“Grateful to get a point. Probably didn’t deserve one,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “(Vancouver was) the better team from the puck drop, and it’s one of those nights for a group that we’re kind of hard to figure out. Obviously, it hurts blowing a two-goal lead late in the game, but we didn’t really deserve to be in the game.”
Steven Stamkos has a team-high 31 goals in 65 games, while Ryan O’Reilly paces the Predators with 39 assists and 61 points through 64 contests.
Saros is 23-19-7 with an .893 save percentage and a 3.15 GAA in 50 starts. He handled both previous games with the Oilers.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Italy stays hot, dispenses Puerto Rico to advance to WBC semifinal
Mar 14, 2026; Houston, TX, United States; Italy catcher JJ D’Orazio (28) and pitcher Greg Weissert (57) celebrate on the mound after the game against Puerto Rico during a quarterfinal game of the 2026 World Baseball Classic at Daikin Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images Italy chased Puerto Rico starter Seth Lugo with four runs in the first inning en route to an 8-6 World Baseball Classic quarterfinal victory on Saturday afternoon in Houston.
The Italian team remained undefeated and advanced to Tuesday’s semifinal against the winner of Saturday’s quarterfinal between Venezuela and Japan.
JJ D’Orazio drove in three runs and Andrew Fischer knocked in two for Italy, which erased an 1-0 deficit with four runs in the first and then pushed its lead to 8-2 with a four-run fourth. Dylan Delucia threw four scoreless innings in middle relief while Greg Weissert got the final five outs to earn his third save of the tournament.
Puerto Rico’s Willi Castro led off the game with a home run off Italy starter Sam Aldegheri (1-0), but Lugo (1-1) retired just one batter in the bottom of the first. He was pulled after allowing four runs, three hits and two walks.
Christian Vazquez poked a two-run single with one out in the eighth to cap a four-run inning and pull Puerto Rico within 8-6, but Weissert retired five of six batters with the tying run at the plate.
–Field Level Media
Sports
F1 officially cancels Bahrain, Saudi Arabia GPs due to Iran war
May 1, 2025; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Fans pose for a picture in front of the F1 logo in the team village ahead of the F1 Miami Grand Prix at Miami International Autodrome. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-Imagn Images Formula 1 officially canceled races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia scheduled for April because of safety concerns from the ongoing war in the Middle East.
The Bahrain Grand Prix was scheduled for April 12, while the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix was set for April 19.
“While several alternatives were considered, it was ultimately decided that no substitutions will be made in April,” F1 said in a statement released Saturday.
Iran is accused of launching drone and missile attacks on both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in response to the Israel- and U.S.-led war on Iran.
Just a month ago, teams were conducting testing at the Bahrain International Circuit.
The races are not likely to be rescheduled at a later date, given the full F1 calendar, ESPN reported.
The decision to cancel the two races leaves F1 with a 22-race schedule and a five-week gap between the Japanese Grand Prix on March 29 and the Miami Grand Prix on May 3.
The Chinese Grand Prix is scheduled for Sunday.
–Field Level Media
Oilers, Predators out to improve positioning in playoff race
Italy stays hot, dispenses Puerto Rico to advance to WBC semifinal
