Connect with us

Sports

New surface, new layout and new driver await field in Austin

NASCAR Xfinity: United Rentals 300 QualifyingFeb 15, 2025; Daytona Beach, Florida, USA; NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Connor Zilisch (88) during qualifying for the United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

NASCAR’s former two-race road course schedule is all grown up and has reached six.

Sunday’s Cup Series race at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA) will be the first of a half-dozen twisting layouts, a demanding, complex track in the wonderfully weird Texas capital of Austin.

A new racing surface, Goodyear tires and course design — shorter without a long straightaway — await the drivers. Using the “National” course for the first time, NASCAR will run the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon.

At 2.3 miles in length, the newer layout for the Cup drivers will have its race extended to 95 laps. Previously on the 3.41-mile design, the race went 68 circuits.

In the first four stops at the serpentine track, NASCAR has seen Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick and William Byron be first to the checkers.

Another new driver, short on experience but not talent or confidence, may be at the front Sunday as Trackhouse Racing’s 18-year-old Connor Zilisch will make his Cup debut in the No. 87 Chevrolet.

A winner in Xfinity and ARCA plus the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring in the LMP2 class, the Charlotte, N.C., native has lofty expectations in the Lone Star State in his first time in the sport’s top series.

While Shane van Gisbergen (+550) and Tyler Reddick (+750) are 1-2 with oddsmakers, Zilisch checks in with the third-best odds (+800).

“I want to try and become the youngest Cup Series winner,” Zilisch said Tuesday. “I don’t feel like there’s anything that tells me that I’m not ready to race on a road course on Sunday.”

Before leaving the first two races completely in the dust, the consensus is that the racing last week at Atlanta Motor Speedway far exceeded that of the kind witnessed in the Daytona 500, a fuel-conservation-oriented Great American Race that got messy as the laps wound down.

On his podcast this week Dale Earnhardt Jr. said the glaring difference in the racing shows that improvements need to be made at sister superspeedways Daytona and Talladega before the series returns to either.

“Watching (the 500) from the drivers’ standpoint, I was thinking, ‘We can do better,'” he said. “We went to Atlanta, and I thought what it could be — what Daytona, what Talladega could be. I don’t love the term ‘drafting tracks,’ … but we don’t run restrictor-plates anymore.”

A four-time Daytona winner including the 2004 and 2014 Daytona 500s, Earnhardt said Adam Stevens, crew chief for Atlanta winner Christopher Bell, had a great idea for preventing a fuel-strategy race.

“He had a great idea on how to get us (to better Daytona racing), which was to get it where they don’t need fuel during the stages — shorten the stage to the length of how far you can go on a tank of gas,” Earnhardt said. “I was wondering if another route for specifically Daytona and Talladega might be to get rid of the cautions at the stage breaks.

“What we saw at Atlanta was as good as it gets. … From the moment they dropped the green flag on the truck race to the (final) caution, it was edge of your seat.”

With Talladega not appearing until late April, NASCAR has some time to get off its seat and figure it out.

–Field Level Media

source

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sports

CF Montreal wins first game under Philippe Eullaffroy, beat Red Bulls

MLS: Red Bull New York at CF MontrealApr 18, 2026; Montreal, Province of Quebec, CAN; CF Montreal forward Prince Owusu (9) celebrates with teammate midfielder Victor Loturi (22) after scoring a goal against the Red Bull New York during the first half at Saputo Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images

Prince Owusu recorded a goal and three assists as CF Montreal bested the visiting New York Red Bulls 4-1 in the home side’s first match under interim head coach Philippe Eullaffroy.

Owusu scored his fifth goal of the season, as Montreal (2-6-0, 6 points) claimed their 100th win all-time at Stade Saputo.

Montreal strode past the visitors’ backline with relative ease in the early going. Red Bulls (3-3-2, 11 points) captain Emil Forsberg failed to control a hurried pass from his goalkeeper, allowing Owusu to play in Victor Loturi, who blasted it past Ethan Horvath in the fifth minute to make it 1-0.

Owusu nearly extended their lead soon after when Ivan Jaime played him through on a one-on-one. The towering center forward opted to hold the ball up before sending it wide of goal.

Owusu made no mistake on his 39th-minute penalty, catching out Horvath with a sly stutter step and slotting it into the left corner to make it 2-0. The penalty came as a result of Dylan Nealis’s handball.

Montreal’s Matty Longstaff knocked balls into both nets at the start of the second half. Longstaff met Owusu’s perfectly threaded through ball to make it 3-0 in the 49th minute. The English midfielder then overhit an attempted backpass to goalkeeper Thomas Gillier four minutes later and inadvertently brought the Red Bulls back within two.

More than the flurry of goals, the single biggest change in Montreal’s approach was in their defensive setup. Eullaffroy’s zonal marking stood in stark contrast to Marco Donadel’s aggressive man-marking, the Red Bulls managing just one shot on goal all game long. Eullaffroy also started Samuel Piette in the midfield after the Montreal captain remained on the bench in their last two outings.

Owusu chipped the ball over Matthew Dos Santos and into the path of Kwadwo Opoku, who guided it into the open net to restore Montreal’s three-goal lead.

The victory marked Montreal’s first at home since August of last year. Both of Montreal’s wins this season have come against the Red Bulls. New York, meanwhile, has won just one of its last six league matches.

–Field Level Media

source

Continue Reading

Sports

Carson Kelly's pinch-hit homer propels Cubs over hapless Mets

MLB: New York Mets at Chicago CubsApr 18, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Cubs pinch-hitter Carson Kelly (15) hits a three-run homer against the New York Mets during the sixth inning at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images

Carson Kelly hit a tie-breaking three-run pinch-hit home run in the sixth inning Saturday afternoon for the host Chicago Cubs, who beat the skidding New York Mets 4-2.

The pinch-hit homer was the second of Kelly’s career and his first since Aug. 25, 2021, when he went deep for the Arizona Diamondbacks against the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Anthony Banda.

Ian Happ homered in the second for the Cubs, who have won four straight and have scored 51 runs while winning five of their last six games. Chicago scored 59 runs in its first 14 games this season.

Kelly’s homer off Brooks Raley made a winner of Jameson Taillon (1-1), who gave up one run on five hits and three walks while striking out four over six innings.

Mark Vientos provided the visitors a short-lived lead by homering in the top of the second for the Mets, who have lost 10 straight — their longest skid since an 11-game losing streak from Aug. 28-Sept. 8, 2004. New York hasn’t led at the end of an inning since first inning of an 11-6 loss to the Athletics on Apr. 11 — a span of 62 frames.

New York’s Bo Bichette scored when second baseman Nico Hoerner threw wide of the bag on Francisco Alvarez’s two-out grounder in the eighth. But reliever Ben Brown induced Vientos to ground out to third and strand two before Caleb Thielbar struck out two in a perfect ninth to earn his first save of 2026.

Freddy Peralta (1-2) took the loss after allowing three runs on three hits and two walks while striking out three over 5 2/3 innings. Peralta issued both walks with two outs in the sixth, after which Kelly took Raley deep on the first pitch he saw. The homer was the first surrendered by Raley since 2023.

The Cubs only managed five hits as Happ reached in 3-of-4 plate appearances with a pair of walks.

Francisco Lindor and Luis Robert Jr. had two hits apiece for the Mets, who were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

–Field Level Media

source

Continue Reading

Sports

WTA roundup: Elena Rybakina continues sizzling start to 2026

Syndication: Desert SunElena Rybakina waves to the crowd after advancing to the quarterfinals after Sonay Kartal retired from their match at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., Wednesday, March 11, 2026.

Top-seeded Elena Rybakina continued her outstanding 2026 campaign by overwhelming sixth-seeded Mirra Andreeva 7-5, 6-1 on Saturday to reach the finals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany.

Rybakina, who represents Kazakhstan, will face No. 7 seed Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic in Sunday’s final. Muchova pulled off a mild upset with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 victory over No. 4 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine.

Rybakina, who won the 2026 Australian Open and reached the finals at Indian Wells, exchanged breaks with Andreeva before winning four of five points on the Russian’s serve to capture the first set. She cruised in the second set, winning a combined 21 of 25 points on her first serves and Andreeva’s second service offerings.

The deciding set between Muchova and Svitolina looked to be going the distance, but the Czech won the final eight points of the match — four on her opponent’s serve in the ninth game — to set up the fourth all-time meeting with Rybakina. Muchova has won two of three prior matches, including a quarterfinal victory in January at Brisbane.

Rouen Metropolitan Open

Top-seeded Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine cruised past Germany’s Tatjana Maria 6-3, 6-0 to reach the finals in Rouen, France.

Kostyuk will take on teenage qualifier and countrywoman Veronika Podrez. She advanced in a walkover prior to her scheduled match against Romania’s Sonia Cirstea, who withdrew due to a leg injury.

Kostyuk, who will be trying to win her second WTA title and first since a 2023 championship in Austin, Texas, fended off all four break points in the match against the 38-year old German. Maria could not contain Kostyuk’s power, dropping 32 of 43 (74.4%) service points.

Podrez, 19, advanced to the semifinals with wins over Sloane Stephens, No. 7 seed Elisabetta Cocciaretto of Italy and Great Britain’s Katie Boulter.

–Field Level Media

source

Continue Reading