Sports
Layne Riggs holds on to claim first NASCAR Trucks street race
Feb 12, 2026; Daytona Beach, Florida, USA; NASCAR Truck Series driver Layne Riggs (34) during practice for the Fresh from Florida 250 at Daytona International Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — In a thrilling run to the checkered flag, Layne Riggs bobbed, weaved and saved just enough fuel to keep a pair of hard-charging fellow Ford drivers in Ty Majeski and Ben Rhodes behind him to win the OnlyBulls Green Flag 150 on Saturday afternoon.
Riggs’ No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford crossed the line .879 of a second ahead of Majeski for his first victory of the year and sixth of his career as the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series held its inaugural race on the streets of downtown St. Petersburg.
Starting 28th in the 36-car field, Riggs turned in remarkable work moving forward from the drop of the green flag. He finished seventh in the opening 20-lap stage and won the second stage 20 laps later. Riggs said the fuel light was flickering with about eight laps to go and that he was almost certain he wasn’t going to have enough to finish.
“Just didn’t know how long it was going to last,” Riggs said.
It lasted long enough to take the win and allow for victory donuts around the crowded course as he celebrated the first road course victory of his career, leading a race-best 41 of the 80 laps.
“It was a lot of fun racing here at St. Pete, I think everybody heard street course and thought they weren’t going to be able to pass and there wouldn’t be great side-by-side racing, but this was one of the race-iest tracks we’ve ever gone to, at least in the truck series in my time,” Riggs said with a smile. “It was a lot of fun.
“I call myself a road racer now,” he added, noting it was only the fifth road course race of his life. “It’s amazing to race so many well-known guys, going past some and knowing these guys are road-course ringers and we were faster today.”
Sunny skies and a scenic 1.8-mile 14-turn course along the downtown St. Pete waterfront provided a great scene for the series’ first street course event — and the trucks did not disappoint the large and enthusiastic crowd.
At one point late in the race, Riggs, 23, held a two minute-plus advantage on the field, but lapped traffic in the final 10 laps allowed Majeski and Rhodes to close in. With a lap to go, it looked like Majeski had put his No. 88 ThorSport Racing Ford in position to make a final challenge on Riggs, but he overshot Turn 13 for the second time on the day.
Majeski recovered enough to hold on to second, but left the track feeling he’d lost an opportunity.
The 2024 series champion also climbed out of his Ford truck encouraged by the venue.
“It was probably the most fun I’ve had in a race car in a long time,” Majeski said. “A lot of fun. It’s a racey race track with three good passing zones and rewards discipline.
“Just finding that balance between being aggressive and making mistakes and staying disciplined,” Majeski said of his day, which included two laps out front and that runner-up finish after starting 22nd.
“Just made a little mistake into (Turn) 13, got a little wheel-hop and had to chase it and battle my way back. Hope everyone enjoyed the show. We passed a lot of trucks today.”
Rhodes, who led 23 laps early, similarly could not mount a challenge in the closing laps as he, too, had to save fuel.
“That’s all we had in the tank for our F150 here, literally I was running out of gas those last two laps,” said Rhodes, who has a pair of top-five finishes through the season’s opening three races.
“Really proud of Ford Racing for bringing us a fast truck. Our truck’s in one piece and a lot of these trucks aren’t. Very excited, though. Brand-new truck and a good showing for it.”
Former IndyCar stars — Dario Franchitti and James Hinchcliffe and current IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Series full-timer Colin Braun — added an extra element of intrigue to the field. Braun, who started 16th in Kaulig Racing’s No. 25 RAM Truck, finished ninth to pace that esteemed trio.
Hinchcliffe, the former Indy 500 polesitter and multi-race winner, finished 10th in the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. Franchitti, the three-time Indianapolis 500 winner, was officially scored 27th as his No. 1 TRICON Garage Toyota pitted late in the race and lost a lap.
Fords swept the top four positions, with Riggs’ teammate Chandler Smith finishing fourth after leading seven laps. TRICON Garage’s Kaden Honeycutt rounded out the top five in a Toyota.
Neice Motorsports teammates Landen Lewis and Andres Perez De Lara were sixth and seventh with McAnally-Hilgemann’s Daniel Hemric, Braun and Hinchcliffe completing the top 10.
“I think the overall headliner is that a Bahamian, North Carolina, boy won on a road course against some of the best in the world,” a grinning Riggs said. “It’s a testament to everyone at Front Row Motorsports and a shoutout to (sports car driver) Joey Hand, who did a lot of work with me.”
“It is an amazing place to come and I don’t know why we couldn’t come back next year … I couldn’t believe how packed the grandstands were and I thought it was one of the best road course races the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series has ever seen,” Riggs said of running the doubleheader weekend along with the IndyCar Series, which races Sunday. “Thank you to all the fans for coming out.”
Smith now leads the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship standings by 34 points over former two-time series champion Rhodes.
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race — OnlyBulls Green Flag 150 at St. Petersburg
Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg, Florida
Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026
1. (28) Layne Riggs, Ford, 80.
2. (22) Ty Majeski, Ford, 80.
3. (4) Ben Rhodes, Ford, 80.
4. (5) Chandler Smith, Ford, 80.
5. (19) Kaden Honeycutt, Toyota, 80.
6. (8) Landen Lewis, Chevrolet, 80.
7. (14) Andres Perez De Lara, Chevrolet, 80.
8. (34) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 80.
9. (16) Colin Braun, RAM, 80.
10. (3) James Hinchcliffe, Chevrolet, 80.
11. (35) Ben Maier, Chevrolet, 80.
12. (11) Justin Haley, RAM, 80.
13. (1) Connor Mosack, Chevrolet, 80.
14. (30) Cole Butcher #, Ford, 80.
15. (31) Christian Eckes, Chevrolet, 80.
16. (18) Tyler Reif, Chevrolet, 80.
17. (12) Daniel Dye, RAM, 80.
18. (9) Jake Garcia, Ford, 80.
19. (20) Kris Wright, Chevrolet, 80.
20. (29) Tanner Gray, Toyota, 80.
21. (26) Carter Fartuch, Ford, 80.
22. (25) Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, 80.
23. (10) Adam Andretti, Toyota, 80.
24. (15) Brenden Queen #, RAM, 80.
25. (2) Giovanni Ruggiero, Toyota, 79.
26. (17) Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 79.
27. (6) Dario Franchitti, Toyota, 79.
28. (21) Mini Tyrrell #, RAM, 77.
29. (24) Jackson Lee, Ford, 75.
30. (23) Frankie Muniz, Ford, 74.
31. (13) Tyler Ankrum, Chevrolet, 70.
32. (36) Timmy Hill, Toyota, 63.
33. (33) Dawson Sutton, Chevrolet, Accident, 62.
34. (27) Nathan Nicholson, Chevrolet, Accident, 55.
35. (32) Derek White, Ford, Fuel Pump, 52.
36. (7) Wesley Slimp, Toyota, Power Steering, 15.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 58.756 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 27 Mins, 3 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.879 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 6 for 17 laps.
Lead Changes: 9 among 5 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C. Mosack 1-6;B. Rhodes 7-21;C. Mosack 22;B. Rhodes 23-30;C. Smith 31-37;L. Riggs 38-54;T. Majeski 55;L. Riggs 56-60;T. Majeski 61;L. Riggs 62-80.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Layne Riggs 3 times for 41 laps; Ben Rhodes 2 times for 23 laps; Chandler Smith 1 time for 7 laps; Connor Mosack 2 times for 7 laps; Ty Majeski 2 times for 2 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 99,7,45,38,17,1,34,18,11,44
Stage #2 Top Ten: 34,38,45,88,99,17,18,1,9,44
–NASCAR Wire Service
Sports
Knicks and Nuggets Blow Big Leads: What Went Wrong in Game 2?
Roughly 5,000 feet of elevation separate Denver and New York City.
Still, gravity works the same regardless of where one stands. Just ask the NBA teams in both towns.
“You get too high, and you get, I don’t want to say cocky, but feeling yourself,” Nuggets guard Tim Hardaway Jr. said.
That sensation went south on either side of the country Monday night.
After squandering sizable leads that would have cemented commanding 2-0 advantages in their respective first-round playoff series, the Nuggets and Knicks now find themselves bracing for a fight.
Should their opponents ultimately have their number, Denver and New York will look back with disdain on 19 and 14. Those were the Game 2 cushions the teams coughed up as the No. 3 seeds in the Eastern and Western Conference.
“It’s a game we should’ve won,” Knicks guard Josh Hart said. “In the playoffs, we can’t give away games.”
Be that as it may, the Knicks did just that against the Atlanta Hawks. They controlled the outcome for much of the night and took a 12-point edge into the fourth quarter after leading by as many as 14.
Then New York shot 5-for-22 from the floor in the final 12 minutes compared to 10-for-15 for Atlanta. Fighting through vulgar chants from the Madison Square Garden faithful, Hawks star CJ McCullom scored six straight points down the stretch during one key sequence on the way to a game-high 32.
“In that fourth quarter, you could tell [the Hawks] were playing with a level of desperation,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “There were four 50-50 balls, and they got three of the four. We always use that stat to gauge the level of aggression in a game. In that fourth quarter, their aggression stepped up.”
New York’s melted at the same time. How many late possessions saw the Knicks pass or hold the ball around the perimeter before settling for subpar looks from 3-point range? The Knicks went 3-for-11 from deep as part of their flop.
Denver led the Minnesota Timberwolves by 19 points early in the second quarter before crumbling. The Nuggets still were ahead by three points to start the fourth quarter but a combined 2-for-12 shooting effort from pillars Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray in the final 12 minutes took a toll.
“I feel like we had the game in hand, and then we just didn’t make our shots,” Murray said.
As with the Knicks and Hawks, the reversal of fortunes stemmed both from the hosts’ miscues and an outstanding effort from a visiting player, as Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards had 30 points.
“Great leadership, positive,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “He recognized he needed to get into attack mode and get downhill a little bit more. He did that.”
The Knicks and Nuggets no doubt sensed the need to amp up their own urgency as things started slipping away Monday.
That neither could act upon it didn’t signal the end for either New York or Denver, of course. But now there’s unnecessary added weight for the climb back to the top.
Sports
Pistons seek return to identity vs. Magic after Game 1 shocker
Apr 19, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Pistons forward Tobias Harris (12) is defended by Orlando Magic guard Desmond Bane (3) in the second half during the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Little Caesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images After an exceptional regular season, this wasn’t the start to the NBA playoffs that the Detroit Pistons envisioned.
Reeling from a stunning Game 1 loss in which only two players reached double figures, the Eastern Conference’s top seed heads into Game 2 Wednesday against the visiting Orlando Magic facing early pressure to reset the best-of-seven series.
The eighth-seeded Magic controlled the opener from the start, never trailing and leaning on a balanced offensive attack. Paolo Banchero led the way with 23 points while Franz Wagner scored 11 of his 19 in the fourth quarter to help close out the 112-101 win.
For Detroit, the issue wasn’t just the loss — it was how it happened. The Pistons never established their defensive identity and struggled to find consistent offense beyond star guard Cade Cunningham, two areas that will be central entering Game 2.
“It starts, always, with us defensively,” said Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff. “When you go back and watch the film of that (game), we weren’t ourselves defensively. The telling tale is typically when we play them, they go to the free-throw line a ton.
“… We went 38 (times) but they went 19. So that means we weren’t playing our brand of basketball, being physical, being handsy, being aggressive. That kind of sets the tone for us.”
Offensively, the Pistons leaned on Cunningham, who scored 39 points, but got little other support — scoring their fewest points in nearly three months, since a loss to the Phoenix Suns on Jan. 29. Detroit will need more help from All-Star center Jalen Duren, who was held to just eight points and seven rebounds in Game 1.
“They came out ready from the jump,” Duren said. “We didn’t really meet their intensity. They’ve been playing with their backs against the walls the last few weeks, so they were already kind of already rolling. I think we just got to do a better job meeting that intensity.”
Duren said the Pistons remain confident despite the loss, which extended their home playoff losing streak to 11 games, the longest in NBA history.
“We know the type of team we are,” Duren said. “We feel like we’re the better team. We know that we’ve just got to make adjustments and come out smarter, come out playing harder.”
Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley said he has talked to his team about not becoming too overconfident coming off Sunday’s win.
“It’s one game at a time,” Mosley said of his message to the team. “It’s the reality that, yeah, you did get the Game 1 win, but now you have to go and figure out how to get a Game 2 (win). There’s going to be, obviously, the positive talk about what you’ve done, and thinking there’s reasons to celebrate, but at the end of the day, it’s one game, and that’s the most important piece that we’ve talked about: just taking it one game at a time.”
Banchero said the team has received the message, and he believes the key for the Magic is to play defense like they did in the opener.
“I thought we were on a string, just communicating, talking out coverages,” Banchero said. “I think it’s just going to continue to take that, being aggressive, being the aggressors on defense and just not trying to give them much. Obviously they’re going to make shots, but just not trying to give them any free looks.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Lynx star Napheesa Collier (ankle) targets June for on-court work
Mar 2, 2026; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Unrivaled Co-founder Napheesa Collier at Barclay’s Center. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images The Minnesota Lynx said Tuesday that star forward Napheesa Collier’s rehab from left ankle surgery is “progressing as expected,” and she could resume on-court activities in early June.
The team plans to release updates on Collier’s progress when available.
The timeline means Collier will miss, at minimum, the first month of the WNBA season, which begins May 10 for the Lynx.
Collier underwent surgery on her ankle on March 24 after sustaining a severe injury during the 2025 playoffs. Per reports at the time, she sustained a Grade 2 tear of three ligaments in the ankle and a muscle in her left shin on a collision during Game 3 of the playoff semifinal series vs. Phoenix.
Collier, 29, averaged a career-high 22.9 points and shot 40.3% from 3-point range to go with 7.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.5 blocks per game last year. The back-to-back WNBA Most Valuable Player runner-up, Collier is a five-time All-Star and earned MVP honors in the 2024 Commissioner’s Cup final and the 2025 All-Star Game.
–Field Level Media
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