Sports
NASCAR Notebook: Austin Dillon can’t wait for teammate Kyle Busch to win again
Mar 22, 2026; Darlington, South Carolina, USA; Richard Childress Racing Austin Dillon (3) comes out for the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway. Mandatory Credit: Scott Kinser-Imagn Images FORT WORTH, Texas — During a question-and-answer session with reporters on Friday afternoon, Austin Dillon made a comment about Richard Childress Racing teammate Kyle Busch that raised eyebrows.
“I talked to Kyle, and his next win is going to be the biggest of his career, if you think of it the right way,” Dillon said.
That’s a bold assertion, given that Busch has amassed 63 NASCAR Cup Series victories during a career that has consumed more than two decades and produced two Cup championships. The list includes victories in such Crown Jewel events as the Brickyard 400 and Coca-Cola 600.
However, Busch is currently in the throes of a winless streak that reached 103 races last Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway. That’s what prompted the comment from Dillon, who has a vested interest in the organization founded by his grandfather, Richard Childress.
“All the stuff that has been said and brought up over this year, I feel like if he puts his head down and takes that team back to Victory Lane, that’s going to be the biggest win of his career,” Dillon said.
“So, that’s what we’re all fighting for. We want to see that. As a competitor, that’s what I’d like to see.”
Busch won three races in 2023, his first season with RCR and the second year of NASCAR’s Gen 7 race car. His victory at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway on June 4, 2023 was his most recent.
After a barren first 10 races of 2026, RCR announced a crew chief change on Busch’s No. 8 Chevrolet, with Andy Street replacing Jim Pohlman in that vital role.
“We’ve got to put the train back on the tracks and have a direction of what we need to do in order to be able to go forward,” Busch said after finishing second in Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
“I feel like the 3 car (Dillon) has done a good job of that lately. Those guys are clicking on all cylinders and making things look good for them, and we’ve got to be able to do the same so we can carry our weight and help improve the program.”
CHRIS BUESCHER HOPES TO END JINX AT HIS HOME TRACK
To say Texan Chris Buescher has been snakebit in his home state is putting it mildly.
In 16 starts at Texas Motor Speedway, Buescher has never scored a top 10. He has led just two of the 5,006 laps he has run at the 1.5-mile intermediate speedway. His average finish is 21.9.
Nevertheless, Buescher frequently has shown speed at Texas, and he’s looking for a breakthrough in Sunday’s Wurth 400 Presented by LIQUI MOLY (3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“We’ve had more tire failures here than any other race track,” Buescher said. “Early on, we came here and had speed, but we were still understanding the new (Gen 7) car, the sensitivities to having tire blowouts.
“We’ve had days here when we’ve been pretty good, and it’s started drizzling–the great fog from five or six years ago, right? Unfortunately, I was the one who found the moisture that ended the race for three days before we got back going…
“You go through the years here, and I feel like we’ve had very few days here where we haven’t been competitive, but, man, the stats don’t show that. I hope we fix that this go-round–I think we can.”
CHALLENGING TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY HAS FEW MASTERS
Perhaps the most telling statistic relative to the difficulty of Texas Motor Speedway is the active streak of top-10 finishes at the 1.5-mile track.
Daniel Suarez leads the category with three straight top 10s. Austin Dillon has two. No other NASCAR Cup Series driver has more than one.
“That’s not very long,” Suarez said with a laugh. “We’ll take the small victories, right? It’s just very tricky. It doesn’t take a lot for you to crash or get out of the groove. I love it, though. I think it’s a great race track.
“I would say that five, eight years ago, more drivers used to hate this track, but right now, the race track is getting to a point where it’s not a brand new race track anymore. It’s tough. There are some bumps. It’s getting some wear. So, it’s a lot of fun.”
The consensus among Cup drivers is that passing is difficult at Texas because of the narrow nature of the racing line. Suarez doesn’t see it that way.
“I think it’s already to the point where we have two-and-a-half lanes in (Turns) 1 and 2 and maybe two or two-and-a-quarter lanes in 3 and 4,” Suarez said. “I think it’s getting wider every single year, so that’s positive.”
PIT CREW IS A CONSISTENT ASSET FOR JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
For the past two seasons, John Hunter Nemechek’s pit crew has been a consistent presence at LEGACY Motor Club.
“We have some new guys and also some veteran guys,” Nemechek said on Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway. “I think my front tire changer Scottie (Brzozowski), I think pitted for my dad (Joe Nemechek) back in the early 2000’s. He’s been changing tires for 20 plus years and still (has) some of the best metrics as far as tire changers go.”
In fact, Brzozowski was a mainstay at Hendrick Motorsports, where he changed tires for both Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 team and Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88.
“It’s pretty cool to be able to have a group of guys like that,” Nemechek said of his crew. “It’s the same group that I’ve had the last two years as well. We took everything in-house, I think it was ‘25. I think that was when we started taking everything in-house.”
— By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
Sports
Cardinals continue hot stretch with shutout of Cubs
Jul 4, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Kyle Leahy (62) delivers the ball during the first inning against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Images JJ Wetherholt hit a home run and reached base four times as the visiting St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs 3-0 on Saturday.
The rookie homered in the first, walked in the third, doubled in the fifth and singled in the seventh as the Cardinals picked up their fifth win in six games. St. Louis goes for the sweep Sunday.
Cardinals starter Kyle Leahy (7-4) gave up three hits in five shutout innings. The right-hander walked two and struck out six in 77 pitches.
Riley O’Brien picked up his 22nd save with a scoreless ninth.
Cubs starter Shota Imanaga (5-7) gave up four hits and two runs in four 2/3 innings. The southpaw walked three and had eight strikeouts over 86 pitches.
The game was delayed an hour at the start because of rain. In the fifth inning, fog rolled into Wrigley Field and by the sixth inning players were complaining they could not see the ball.
The game was delayed 15 minutes while the fog lifted.
Wetherholt wasted little time putting the Cardinals out in front as he drove the first pitch of the game over the left-field fence.
St. Louis scored again in the third when Nathan Church and Wetherholt walked to lead off the inning. Ivan Herrera gave the Cardinals a two-run lead by singling in Church.
The Cubs had chances to score in the third and fifth innings, but struggling Alex Bregman failed to deliver in both innings.
Michael Conforto singled to lead off the third and went to second when Pete Crow-Armstrong walked with two outs. Bregman, however, grounded into a fielder’s choice at third to end the threat.
Conforto also led off the fifth with a single and went to second when Crow-Armstrong was hit by a pitch with two outs. Bregman popped out to first base to keep the Cubs scoreless.
The Cubs were 0-for-15 with men on base. After scoring 35 runs in a three-game sweep of the Padres, the Cubs have scored just once in two games against St. Louis.
The Cardinals added an insurance run in the eighth when Jordan Walker led off with a double and Alec Burleson singled him in.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Sonny Gray, Red Sox hand Angels fifth straight loss
Jun 23, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Sonny Gray (54) pitches in the first inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images Sonny Gray allowed a run and four hits in six innings and Willson Contreras and Romy Gonzalez hit home runs as the Boston Red Sox routed the Los Angeles Angels 8-1 on Saturday night in Anaheim, Calif.
Wilyer Abreu added two RBIs and scored two runs for the Red Sox, who have won the first two games of the series.
Josh Lowe homered for the Angels, who lost their fifth in a row.
Gray (10-1, 2.61 ERA) walked two and struck out seven. Neither he nor Contreras (19 HR, 56 RBI, .285 batting average, .914 OPS) were among the All-Star Game participants announced earlier in the day.
Los Angeles starter Sam Aldegheri (3-4) gave up three runs and one hit in four innings with four walks and two strikeouts.
Contreras’ three-run homer in the first inning gave Boston a 3-0 lead.
He belted Aldegheri’s 2-1 changeup an estimated 421 feet into the left field stands. Anthony Seigler and Abreu, who had both walked, scored ahead of Contreras.
Lowe’s solo homer in the second put the Angels on the board and made it 3-1. He drove Gray’s first-pitch cutter high over the center field fence an estimated 437 feet. It was Lowe’s seventh homer of the season.
Los Angeles had runners on first and second with one out later in the inning, but Gray struck out Donovan Walton and Tyler Heineman.
Boston put the game out of reach with four runs in the fifth for a 7-1 lead. Abreu hit a two-run double and Gonzalez lofted a two-run homer just inside the foul pole in left for his first home run.
All four runs came off of reliever Samy Natera Jr.
Ceddanne Rafaela doubled in a run in the eighth for the final margin.
Relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman and starter Ranger Suarez were selected for the All-Star Game for Boston and Los Angeles outfielder Mike Trout, who is on the injured list with a hamstring injury, was picked as a starter for the game in Philadelphia on July 14.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Sandy Alcantara, Otto Lopez lead Marlins past struggling A's
Jul 4, 2026; West Sacramento, California, USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara (22) throws a pitch against the Athletics during the first inning at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Lee-Imagn Images Otto Lopez celebrated being named to his first career All-Star Game by going 3-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs to help the Miami Marlins record a 7-2 victory over the Athletics on Saturday night at West Sacramento, Calif.
Kyle Stowers added a two-run shot and Joe Mack had a solo blast for the Marlins, who have scored 19 runs while winning the first two games of the series. Liam Hicks had three hits and scored twice, while Stowers and Mack each had two hits for Miami.
Sandy Alcantara (10-4) allowed one run and six hits over eight innings to record his seventh consecutive victory. He struck out eight and walked one.
Carlos Cortes, Henry Bolte and Joshua Kuroda-Grauer each had two hits for the Athletics, who lost for the 10th time in the past 13 games.
Aaron Civale (5-6) of the Athletics gave up four runs and six hits over 4 2/3 innings. He struck out six and walked two while losing his fifth straight start and remaining winless over his past six turns.
Mack led off the third inning with a homer to right off Civale to get the Marlins on the board.
One out later, Hicks singled to left. Lopez came up with two outs and lined a two-run shot that narrowly cleared the left-field wall.
Javier Sanoja doubled to lead off the Miami fifth. Two outs later, Lopez stroked an RBI double to left to make it 4-0.
Hicks singled with one out in the seventh off Kade Morris. Stowers followed with a two-run shot over the wall in left to make it a six-run game. Stowers has three homers in the first two games of the series.
The Athletics struck in the seventh as Bolte and Kuroda-Grauer hit back-to-back singles. Jeff McNeil’s sacrifice fly scored Bolte to end Alcantara’s shutout bid.
Stowers, Lopez and Xavier Edwards all singled to start the ninth to make it 7-1.
Carlos Cortes doubled off Tyler Zuber to start the bottom of the ninth. He scored when Bolte reached on an infield single and the ensuing throw by Lopez was wide of first.
–Field Level Media
Cardinals continue hot stretch with shutout of Cubs
Sonny Gray, Red Sox hand Angels fifth straight loss
