Sports
Sammy Smith uses last-lap pass to take Talladega
NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Sammy Smith speaks at NASCAR Experience in the fan zone at NASCAR Summer Race Weekend on Friday, June 14, 2024, in Newton. TALLADEGA, Ala. — Sammy Smith used a last-lap pass in overtime to win the United Rentals 250 at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday and advance to the next round of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs
It was a huge turn of fortune for the 20-year old Iowa native, who came into the race ranked last among the 12 playoff drivers and winless on the season. He started his No. 8 JRM Chevrolet 27th in the 38-car field but moved forward rapidly from the fall of the green flag.
“It’s been a really tough year,” said Smith, who was able to avoid multiple multi-car accidents and grab one of the eight spots in the next round. “It’s been a while and it’s been a struggle, but I’m very happy to be here and looking forward to getting better on these ovals and road courses.”
It was a high-stakes, clutch performance for the young talent, whose only other victory came in April 2023 at the Phoenix Raceway one-miler. Just this week with playoff elimination a possibility, he piqued his team co-owner’s brain for tips on racing on the Talladega 2.66-mile high banks — his team co-owner being Dale Earnhardt Jr., who won six NASCAR Cup Series races at Talladega, including an unprecedented four in a row.
“We sat down Wednesday,” Smith said. “It wasn’t a whole lot, but asking him what he would do in certain situations (on the big track). Feels really good to win again.”
Smith beat RSS Racing’s Ryan Sieg to the line by a slight 0.177-second with a three-wide battle on track right behind featuring Stewart-Haas Racing’s Riley Herbst and Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Sheldon Creed and Chandler Smith rounded out the top five.
Herbst was leading with a lap remaining, only to get passed in a massive push forward that included a run by Chandler Smith — ultimately both losing out to Sammy Smith and Sieg. Frustrated, after the race Herbst immediately walked over to Chandler Smith’s car and had words with the young driver.
“I was just telling him, he had his teammate behind him and was in the best spot you want to be in and I told him he made a right move but in the wrong place,” Herbst said. “He would have won the race and all he did was kill his run, my run and his teammate’s run and let the 8 (Sammy Smith) get away.”
Pole-sitter and series rookie Jesse Love led a race-best 28 of the 98 laps in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, finishing sixth in a race marked with six cautions, a brief red flag, 11 race leaders and 28 lead changes.
Although relatively calm through the early goings — Chandler Smith won the opening stage and RCR’s Austin Hill won the second stage — the final laps lived up to Talladega expectation. Only three of the 12 playoff drivers managed to avoid being caught up — in varying degrees — in accidents on the afternoon.
Two perennial championship favorites and current playoff drivers, Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger and JR Motorsports Justin Allgaier, were among those that led laps — as expected — but were also collected in multicar accidents.
Allmendinger still rallied to an 11th-place effort after his No. 16 Chevy suffered minor damage in a 12-car accident with three laps remaining that triggered a nearly 10-minute red-flag stoppage and forced overtime. Allgaier’s No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet suffered more damage in the crash and he finished 25th.
Reigning series champion Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer was also caught up in the accident and finished 26th. Fellow playoff competitor Kaulig Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen — a three-race winner this season — was part of a multicar accident earlier with 18 laps remaining and finished 35th.
Jeb Burton finished seventh with David Starr, Brennan Poole and Kyle Sieg rounding out the top 10.
–By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media
Sports
Manchester City look to extend win streak, take on Everton
[Subscription Customers Only] Jun 30, 2025; Orlando, Florida, USA; Manchester City forward Erling Haaland (9) celebrates scoring their second goal with midfielder Rodri (16) during a round of 16 match of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup at Camping World Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Lee Smith-Reuters via Imagn Images Manchester City will try to keep pace with Premier League front-runner Arsenal on Monday night when they pay a visit to an Everton side still on the fringes of the European picture.
City (21-5-7, 70 points) will begin the day six points back of Arsenal with two matches in hand after the Gunners dispatched Fulham 3-0 on Saturday. The Cityzens won’t be even on games played until May 13, when they make up a postponed match against Crystal Palace that was delayed because of City’s triumphant League Cup run.
As a result, there continues to be the appearance of a chase, although the teams would finish level on points if they win out.
Manager Pep Guardiola insists it shouldn’t matter.
“It’s normal, so it’s the calendar,” Guardiola said on Friday. “Sometimes you play first. Sometimes behind. It is what it is. So, nothing changes in these stages, and you know exactly what you have to do.”
City have won six in a row in all competitions, the last three by a single goal: A 2-1 home league win over the Gunners on April 19, a 1-0 league victory at Burnley three days later, and a 2-1 FA Cup semifinal triumph over Southampton on April 25.
Erling Haaland scored once in both league fixtures to bring his EPL-leading total to 24. In the FA Cup semifinal, Jeremy Doku and Nico Gonzalez scored inside the final 10 minutes to complete a late rally.
Everton (13-13-8, 47 points) finished Saturday in 11th place, but only four points out of seventh, which currently would earn a berth in the UEFA Europa Conference League. Should City win the FA Cup, it could be the top eight English league finishers who earn a spot in Europe.
And if Everton could return to continental competition for the first time since 2017-18, it would conclude a much-improved first season at their new Hill Dickson Stadium, after bringing the curtain down on historic Goodison Park last May.
“We still believe there could be something out there for us. And we’ll keep pushing,” manager David Moyes said. “Building Everton back up is a process which I think is going to take quite a bit of time, but I think the first year or so here, we’ve certainly put decent foundations down. And hopefully we can continue to build on it.”
The Toffees are looking to avoid a third consecutive league defeat for the first time this season after a 2-1 home loss to derby rivals Liverpool on April 19 and a 2-1 away defeat at West Ham last weekend.
Beto, one of two Everton players with eight goals, departed the former contest late with a head injury and missed the latter fixture working through the league’s concussion protocol. He should be available Monday night, Moyes said.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Yankees tee off on Orioles to win third straight in 4-game series
May 3, 2026; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge (99) hits a two run home run in the third inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images Jasson Dominguez scored the tiebreaking run in the sixth inning before hitting a two-run homer and an RBI double during a seven-run eighth as the New York Yankees pulled away for an 11-3 victory over the visiting Baltimore Orioles on Sunday afternoon.
The Yankees won for the 13th time in 15 games and beat the Orioles for the 11th time in the past 12 meetings.
Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer off Baltimore rookie Trey Gibson. Ben Rice hit his 12th home run of the season in the first and doubled ahead of Judge’s 13th homer in the third.
Rice exited after the Yankees batted in the third because of a bruised left hand. The Yankees announced X-rays were negative and the first baseman is day-to-day. Rice appeared to get injured fielding a low pickoff throw from Max Fried and was replaced by Paul Goldschmidt.
Dominguez started the tiebreaking rally with a double to left field against Grant Wolfram (1-1) and advanced to third on a groundout by Austin Wells. Ryan McMahon, facing a drawn-in infield, followed with a single that first baseman Coby Mayo couldn’t handle after diving to stop it.
Dominguez started New York’s big inning with a two-run drive into the right field seats off Andrew Kittredge for a 6-3 lead. After an RBI sacrifice fly by Trent Grisham, Goldschmidt ripped a two-run single after the Yankees executed a double steal.
Following a sacrifice fly by Jazz Chisholm Jr., Dominguez added a double to left field for an 11-3 lead.
The Orioles tied it twice before losing their fourth straight and for the 12th time in 18 games.
Blaze Alexander had an RBI single in the third before getting thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a double. After Judge’s 413-foot drive bounced into Baltimore’s bullpen in left field, Leody Taveras hit an RBI infield single and Tyler O’Neill scored on a double play grounder by Jeremiah Jackson in the fourth.
Fried allowed three runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings. The left-hander struck out six and walked three.
Fernando Cruz (3-0) got the final two outs of the sixth and the first out of the seventh. Brent Headrick ended the eighth by getting a double play grounder against Mayo.
Gibson allowed three runs on four hits in 4 2/3 innings during his major league debut.
The four-game series concludes Monday.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Cam Smith drives in 2 in 10th, Astros edge Red Sox
May 3, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Houston Astros right fielder Cam Smith (11) hits a two run RBI against the Boston Red Sox during the tenth inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images Cam Smith had three hits, including a two-run single in the top of the 10th inning, to help the visiting Houston Astros earn a 3-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday.
Smith’s two-out single came against Zack Kelly (0-2) and drove in Braden Shewmake and Jose Altuve.
Boston had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the 10th, but Bryan Abreu got Ceddanne Rafaela to ground into a double play to end the game.
Jarren Duran hit a solo home run for the Red Sox, who stranded 13 runners and were 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Duran’s home run was his third of the season and his second of the series. He hit a three-run homer in Boston’s 3-1 victory Friday night.
Abreu (1-2) pitched two scoreless innings to get the win. He gave up one hit, walked one and struck out one.
Willson Contreras collected three of Boston’s nine hits in the loss.
Christian Walker and Christian Vazquez each had two-hit games for the Astros, who won two games in the three-game set.
Boston starting pitcher Ranger Suarez was pulled after four scoreless innings because of hamstring tightness. He gave up three hits, walked one and struck out three. Suarez threw 70 pitches.
Duran’s home run off Houston reliever AJ Blubaugh opened the scoring in the fifth. Houston tied the game in the sixth, when Walker reached on an infield single, took third on Altuve’s double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Brice Matthews.
The Red Sox had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth. An error on Abreu allowed Contreras to reach second with two outs in the inning, but Roman Anthony grounded out to first to end the inning.
Houston had the bases loaded with no outs in the 10th, but Altuve grounded into a 6-2-5 double play. Following a walk to Matthews, Smith delivered his two-run single.
–Field Level Media
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