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.

After second-seeded Italian Jannik Sinner polished off No. 4 Alexander Zverev of Germany 6-2, 6-4, in the first semifinal in the California desert, most observers likely penciled in another Sinner-Carlos Alcaraz final of an ATP 1000 event.

But Danill Medvedev had other ideas.

The resurgent 11th-seeded Russian stunned the Spaniard, 6-3, 7-6 (3) and will face Sinner for the championship on Sunday at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif.

Alcaraz was 12-0 in 2026 and had won 16 consecutive matches, capturing the Australian Open and the ATP 500 event in Doha, Qatar. But Medvedev broke on his only two opportunities and saved four of five of Alcaraz’s break chances to snap a four-match losing streak to the World No. 1.

Medvedev, who has never won the title at Indian Wells, rallied from 30-0 down to break Alcaraz in the fourth game of the match and only lost three more points on his serve to take the first set.

Alcaraz had two set points in the 10th game of the second set, but the crafty 30-year-old held him off and the set reached a tiebreaker. Medvedev raced to a 6-1 lead and won the match on his next service opportunity.

“Playing someone like Carlos, you play many times, you lose many times,” Medvedev said. “He’s an amazing player with amazing shots, defense, attack, return, everything. So, you need to be at your best.”

After playing Zverev on level terms for the first four games, Sinner ran off the final four games of the first set and was back in his chair in only 32 minutes.

The second set was more competitive and Zverev had one chance to move ahead 4-2. But Sinner erased the one break point chance, broke the German in a five-point seventh game and coasted to and posted his sixth consecutive win over Zrerev.

“Yes … it means a lot to me,” Sinner said about reaching his first final at Indian Wells. “Third time that I play in semifinals, so I’m very happy to be for the first time in the final. Now we see what’s coming tomorrow.”

As many elite players do, Sinner took advantage of Zrerev’s second serve, winning 14 of 22 points. He recorded 16 winners and only six errors in the 83-minute match.

Sinner was questioned about facing Medvedev if the upset did take place.

“Yeah, you know, he’s back to very, very high level,” said Sinner. “Very big serve, I feel like. You know, he’s returning very well. Very, very deep.

“And I think Daniil has found again a good, good balance on court, winning a title in Dubai, coming here, making again great results. But also last time we played has been quite a while now.”

The two have met 15 times since 2020, but not since the Nitto ATP Finals in 2024. Sinner leads the series 8-7, winning eight of the last nine meetings after Medvedev captured the first six. They have faced off in five finals, with Sinner holding a 3-2 edge, including a five-set victory in the 2024 Australian Open.

Medvedev expressed confidence in procuring his third ATP title of the season and first at Indian Wells.

“If I manage to maintain the level I had throughout the tournament and maybe even raise it, I will have my chances,” he said.

–Field Level Media

Simon Holmstrom scored consecutive goals late in the first period to cap a three-goal flurry Saturday night by the New York Islanders, who ensured they would maintain their spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race by edging the Calgary Flames 3-2 in Elmont, N.Y.

Casey Cizikas opened the scoring for the Islanders, who entered the day tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for second place in the Metropolitan Division and tied with the Detroit Red Wings for the top wild-card spot.

David Rittich made 30 saves as New York improved to 6-3-0 since returning from the Olympic break.

Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman scored in the third for the Flames, who have lost seven of 10 (3-6-1) since resuming play following the Olympics. Dustin Wolf stopped all 17 shots he faced in relief of Devin Cooley, who gave up the three first-period goals on 10 shots.

A gritty effort by Cizikas led to his goal with 9:54 left in the first. After checking Olli Maatta into the back boards, Cizikas teamed up with Kyle MacLean to steal the puck from Flames defenseman Kevin Bahl. Cizikas then approached the right post and poked the puck into the far corner of the net with his third shot.

Holmstrom scored twice exactly three minutes apart later in the period.

Holmstrom, who changed his number from 10 to 92 after Brayden Schenn was acquired from the St. Louis Blues on March 6, teamed up with Schenn to finish off a 2-on-1. With Bahl between them, Schenn fed Holmstrom, who sent a shot over Cooley’s stick with 3:25 left.

The Islanders’ Calum Ritchie was whistled for tripping with 1:56 left, but Yegor Sharangovich whiffed on a shot and Jean-Gabriel Pageau picked up the puck and dished to a streaking Holmstrom, who bore in on Cooley and scored to cap his second multi-goal game of the season and the sixth of his career.

The Flames began their comeback bid 2:17 into the third, when Backlund, stationed in the slot, redirected Maatta’s shot. Calgary pulled within a goal following a fortuitous line change 6:11 later, when Coleman got a step on Ritchie and beat Rittich stick side.

–Field Level Media