Sports
Taylor Gray fends off Sheldon Creed, wins eventful race in Kansas
Apr 18, 2026; Kansas City, Kansas, USA; NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series driver Taylor Gray (54) poses with his team after winning the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Scott Sewell-Imagn Images KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The early bird got the victory on Saturday night.
The first of the frontrunners to pit during the final 95-lap green-flag run in the Kansas Lottery 300, Taylor Gray grabbed the lead during the cycle and held off charging Sheldon Creed to score the second NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory of his career.
Crew chief Jason Ratcliff, who won at Kansas with driver David Green in 2003, called Gray into the pits on Lap 143 of 200. Creed and Brandon Jones, running first and second on Lap 146, emerged from pit road after stops on Lap 147 roughly three seconds behind Gray.
Jones, winner of the first two stages, had to serve a pass-through penalty for a tire violation during his stop and lost the chance to win. But Creed, with Justin Allgaier behind him in third, began a methodical pursuit of Gray that ultimately came up 0.718 seconds short.
“How about Jason Ratcliff?” Gray exclaimed after climbing from his No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. “That pit call was awesome. We had a car capable of winning. I thought the 20 (Jones) was a little better than us before the green-flag cycle started, but we just had to stay locked in, and we had to be a little bit freer.
“Jason made a really good adjustment on the car and a really good pit call and got us in clean air. It’s been a long start to the year, man — not that we’re not bringing speed to the race track. It’s just that things haven’t really gone our way. So it’s nice to finally be able to close one out.”
Gray gained three positions to ninth in the series standings.
As it turned out, Creed also had plenty of reasons to celebrate. By finishing first among four eligible drivers, he earned a $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus for the first time in his career. It was Creed’s fifth attempt to win the Dash 4 Cash prize money.
“It was a great day for us after starting in the back,” said Creed who dropped to the rear of the field at the beginning of the race after his No. 00 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet failed pre-race inspection. “I kind of knew right away my car was really fast, and I was able to drive to the front, and I just had a lot of fun today…
“It’s just really cool to be able to bring a hundred grand back to the Haas Factory Team. I definitely wanted to win and add to it, but the 54 (Gray) did a really good job short-pitting us. He ran a really good last 40 laps there and got through traffic quick and made it where I never really got close enough.”
Allgaier came home third, followed by defending series champion Jesse Love and Brent Crews. William Byron, Cole Custer, Jones, Sam Mayer and Ryan Sieg completed the top 10 in a race that featured 11 lead changes among eight drivers.
Allgaier finished third in both stages and added one point to his series lead over second-place Creed. The margin is now 131 points.
Long before Gray took the checkered flag, there was plenty of action in the first stage.
The race wasn’t two laps old when an accident on the backstretch launched the No.1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet of Carson Kvapil into the air and sent it flipping down the backstretch.
Contact from Byron’s Chevy turned Kvapil’s car sideways near the front of the field. Parker Retzlaff piled into Kvapil’s car near the outside wall. The impact knocked the rear of Kvapil’s Camaro airborne, and the car proceeded to barrel-roll down the backstretch, coming to rest on its roof.
With the use of tethers and a tow truck, safety workers righted the car, and Kvapil climbed out before a mandatory trip to the infield care center.
“Maybe on dirt, I’ve flipped a few of them, but definitely never asphalt racing or a big stock car race,” Kvapil said after being evaluated and released from the care center. “It was actually not as bad as I thought it was going to be, once I realized I was going over, but it just sucks.”
On Lap 38, Jesse Love crowded Richard Childress Racing teammate Austin Hill down toward the apron as the two raced side-by-side in Turn 4. Hill spun sideways, and as he fought to control his No. 21 Chevrolet, the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of William Sawalich plowed into Hill’s car.
“I’ll remember this,” Hill promised on his radio, referring to racing from his teammate he thought was unnecessarily close.
Hill fell out of the race in 34th place. Corey Day saw his streak of eight straight top 10s end with a 12th-place finish after rallying from an accident on Lap 101 and subsequent flat tire.
Gray, Creed, Allgaier and Love qualified for the third Dash 4 Cash race of the season, Saturday’s Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega Superspeedway (4 p.m. ET on CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Race – Kansas Lottery 300
Kansas Speedway
Kansas City, Kansas
Saturday, April 18, 2026
1. (10) Taylor Gray, Toyota, 200.
2. (4) Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 200.
3. (3) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 200.
4. (9) Jesse Love, Chevrolet, 200.
5. (5) Brent Crews #, Toyota, 200.
6. (2) William Byron(i), Chevrolet, 200.
7. (36) Cole Custer(i), Chevrolet, 200.
8. (14) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 200.
9. (19) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 200.
10. (12) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 200.
11. (22) Dean Thompson, Toyota, 199.
12. (6) Corey Day, Chevrolet, 199.
13. (16) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 199.
14. (24) Patrick Staropoli #, Chevrolet, 199.
15. (18) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 199.
16. (11) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 199.
17. (30) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 199.
18. (27) Lavar Scott #, Chevrolet, 198.
19. (17) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 198.
20. (7) William Sawalich, Toyota, 198.
21. (13) Rajah Caruth, Chevrolet, 198.
22. (29) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 198.
23. (21) Blaine Perkins, Chevrolet, 198.
24. (32) Nathan Byrd, Chevrolet, 197.
25. (25) Kyle Sieg, Chevrolet, 197.
26. (23) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 196.
27. (33) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 194.
28. (20) Harrison Burton, Toyota, 190.
29. (28) Dawson Cram, Chevrolet, Engine, 120.
30. (31) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, Accident, 65.
31. (37) Blake Lothian, Chevrolet, Brakes, 62.
32. (35) Austin Green, Chevrolet, Engine, 61.
33. (34) Mason Maggio, Chevrolet, Engine, 51.
34. (15) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, Accident, 37.
35. (26) Luke Baldwin(i), Ford, Suspension, 4.
36. (8) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, Accident, 2.
37. (1) Carson Kvapil, Chevrolet, Accident, 1.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 116.946 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 33 Mins, 55 Secs. Margin of Victory: .718 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 7 for 37 laps.
Lead Changes: 11 among 8 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C. Kvapil 0;C. Day 1-23;B. Jones 24-48;A. Alfredo 49-54;W. Byron(i) 55;B. Jones 56-70;J. Love 71;B. Jones 72-98;S. Creed 99-146;C. Day 147-149;R. Sieg 150-152;T. Gray 153-200.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Brandon Jones 3 times for 67 laps; Sheldon Creed 1 time for 48 laps; Taylor Gray 1 time for 48 laps; Corey Day 2 times for 26 laps; Anthony Alfredo 1 time for 6 laps; Ryan Sieg 1 time for 3 laps; Jesse Love 1 time for 1 lap; William Byron(i) 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 20,17,7,2,96,54,00,19,27,88
Stage #2 Top Ten: 20,00,7,2,17,8,54,24,41,26
–By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.
Sports
Rockets open series vs. Lakers without star Kevin Durant (knee)
Apr 10, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant (7) warms up before the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images Houston Rockets star Kevin Durant was ruled out for the playoff series opener against the host Los Angeles Lakers because of a right knee injury, coach Ime Udoka said before the game on Saturday.
“He bumped a knee in practice on Wednesday,” Udoka said. “Hopefully, it’s a one-game thing, but he tried it out just (a) short (time) ago and didn’t feel good enough.”
At age 37 and in his 19th season, Durant averaged a team-high 26.0 points as well as 5.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists. Perhaps most impressive of all was his 78 regular-season games played, his most since 2018-19.
The teams play Game 2 of the Western Conference first-round, best-of-seven series in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The Rockets started forward Jabari Smith Jr., center Alperen Sengun and guards Josh Okogie, Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard in Game 1. When Durant last started a game on April 10 against Minnesota, Sheppard came in off the bench.
Udoka said that no structural damage was revealed in medical imaging on Durant’s knee after he was hurt.
“It’s very tender, tough to bend certain ways,” Udoka said of Durant’s knee. “He hit it in a very awkward spot, I guess, more than anything. If he had a regular bumped knee, I think he could kind of play through that. But right above the knee, the patellar tendon area, up there, it’s just very tender and sore.
“Pain tolerance is one thing, but actually limited movement is more the cause (of Durant being out).”
Durant is a 16-time All-Star, the 2013-14 NBA Most Valuable Player, the 2007-08 Rookie of the Year and a six-time first-team All-NBA selection with two league championships (Golden State in 2017 and 2018) to his credit.
He has career averages of 27.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 1.0 steals, 1.1 blocks and 36.7 minutes in 1,201 regular-season games (1,198 starts).
–Field Level Media
Sports
Nashville SC maintains early East lead with road shutout of Atlanta
Apr 18, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Nashville SC forward Cristian Espinoza (7) kick the ball towards the goal against Atlanta United defender Enea Mihaj (4) during the first half at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images Cristian Espinoza and Abdul Shakur Mohammed each scored second-half goals – both assisted by Hany Mukhtar – for Nashville SC, who defeated host Atlanta United 2-0 on Saturday night.
Despite missing leading scorer Sam Surridge (seven goals) to a hamstring injury for the second straight match, Nashville (6-1-1, 19 points) extended its win streak to three matches across all competitions while maintaining its lead atop the Eastern Conference standings. It also improved to 3-1-1 on the road in MLS play.
Atlanta (1-6-1, 4 points) saw its winless streak in MLS play reach four matches (0-3-1).
Nashville pulled ahead in the 61st minute after Atlanta’s Emmanuel Latte Lath lost possession in the attacking half.
After the ball reached Mukhtar on the resulting counterattack, his pass near the scoring area found the foot of Espinoza, whose shot sailed past Lucas Hoyos and just inside the left post to make it 1-0. It was Espinoza’s third goal of the season.
Nashville grabbed an insurance goal in the first minute of second-half stoppage time when Mohammed made it 2-0, his first goal in MLS.
Atlanta and Nashville played an even first half, though Nashville had a couple of opportunities to pull ahead late in the period.
In the 39th minute, Hoyos turned aside a header from Daniel Lovitz. Then, in the 41st minute, Mukhtar found himself one-on-one with Hoyos, but was denied by the goalkeeper for the go-ahead goal.
Ultimately, Nashville SC pulled away in the second half while keeping its fourth clean sheet in MLS play. Brian Schwake was credited with three saves in the win. Hoyos finished with six saves.
Atlanta United fell to 1-3-1 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium with the loss. They also entered Saturday’s match without Miguel Almiron, who was dealing with a knee injury sustained during the team’s win over Chattanooga FC in Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup Round of 32.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Sean Johnson sharp as D.C. United draw with Union
Apr 18, 2026; Chester, Pennsylvania, USA; DC United forward Tai Baribo (9) and Philadelphia Union defender Olwethu Makhanya (29) jump for a header in the first half at Subaru Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images Sean Johnson made four saves to keep his third clean sheet and D.C. United held on for a 0-0 draw at the Philadelphia Union on Saturday night.
Rookie defender Nikola Markovic blocked three shots and was a consistent disruptor of Union attacks in his first start for D.C. (2-4-2, 8 points), which snapped a two-match league losing run but is now winless in its last four in MLS and last five overall.
The Black-and-Red, the last-place finishers in MLS in 2025, remain above a Philadelphia (1-6-1, 4 points) side that won the 2025 Supporters’ Shield in the 2026 Eastern Conference standings.
Andre Blake kept his first clean sheet without having to make a single save for the Union, who outshot D.C. 17-6 overall.
Philadelphia also led D.C. 13-1 in corner kicks, and failed to score for a second consecutive match against D.C. following a 1-0 away loss to open the season.
Former Philadelphia Union striker Tai Baribo started for D.C. in his first return to his former club after he was questionable with a thigh injury coming into the match.
But he had scant opportunities as the home side dominated the task of creating chances, particularly before halftime.
Jesus Bueno’s long-range effort from outside the box struck the near left post in the 12th minute.
In the 40th, Bueno connected well on a tricky volley inside the box, but Markovic sprawled to block it before it could test Johnson.
Then in the 42nd, Johnson reacted excellently to deny Bruno Damiani’s low, first-time effort off Milan Iloski’s feed from the right.
The hosts still enjoyed most of the ball after the break but were less threatening with it.
Iloski’s 76th-minute effort from long range nearly found the net, but only because Johnson mis-timed his dive and played it into a more difficult save.
Jovan Lukic and Damiani each missed the target in the 82nd minute. But otherwise, Johnson was comfortable during the dying stages.
–Field Level Media
Rockets open series vs. Lakers without star Kevin Durant (knee)
Nashville SC maintains early East lead with road shutout of Atlanta
