Larson beats out late Buescher to claim victory
Kyle Larson beat Chris Buescher to the line at Kansas Speedway on Sunday in the closest finish in NASCAR Cup Series history.
After a caution flag forced a green-white-checkered finish, Larson pulled behind Buescher on the backstretch of the final lap, then came around him through the final corner.
The two cars banged doors as they headed for the stripe, and it was so close that both teams began to celebrate — though only Hendrick Motorsports was able to keep the party going.
The official winning margin was a thousandth of a second and Buescher was left both dumbfounded and dejected.
So was the Ford contingent, which has yet to win a Cup Series race this season.
Martin Truex Jr. finished fourth and Denny Hamlin, who had the lead on the final restart, faded back to fifth.
More auto racing
Lando Norris needed 110 starts and a mistake by Max Verstappen to earn his first ever Formula 1 race and end Verstappen’s dominance at the Miami Grand Prix.
Verstappen, who started from the pole and won Saturday’s sprint race, was out front when he hit a chicane and knocked a cone out of place on the circuit.
It forced the three-time reigning F1 champion to pit and gave Norris the lead.
Golf
Taylor Pendrith took advantage of Ben Kohles’ finalhole meltdown to win the CJ Cup Byron Nelson in Texas for his first PGA Tour title. Kohles overtook Pendrith with birdies on Nos. 16 and 17 for a one-shot lead, then bogeyed the 18th after hitting his second shot into greenside rough. After having to chip twice from the rough and already looking stunned, Kohles missed a 6foot putt that would have forced a playoff.
• Adrian Otaegui overturned a five-shot deficit to win the China Open, the Spanish golfer’s fifth tour title.
• Scott Dunlap was declared the 36-hole winner of the Insperity Invitational in Texas when rain washed the final round, giving Dunlap his first PGA Tour Champions title in nearly 10 years.
• Brooks Koepka shot a 3under 68 to win the LIV Golf tournament in Singapore, his fourth victory on the circuit.
Tennis
Despite sleepless nights struggling with a fever, Andrey Rublev found a way to fight back and win the Madrid Open for the first time. Rublev was feeling sick all week but rallied to beat Felix Auger-Aliassime in three sets and clinch his second Masters 1000 title.
Rublev won, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, after Auger-Aliassime doublefaulted on the last point of the
final at the clay-court tournament in the Spanish capital.
College lacrosse
The Penn State men’s lacrosse team was given an atlarge bid for the NCAA Division I lacrosse tournament and will face No. 10 Georgetown on Sunday in Washington, D.C. The women’s lacrosse team was also awarded an at-large bid and will face James Madison on Friday.
• The Robert Morris women’s lacrosse team will face No. 4 Maryland in a first-round matchup of the NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse tournament on Friday.
Cycling
Tadej Pogačar swiftly made his way back to the peloton and then attacked on his own 2.5 miles from the end to secure victory on the top-category uphill finish to Santuario di Oropa and the leader’s pink jersey. Pogačar raised his arms and screamed in delight as he crossed the line, finishing 27 seconds ahead of Daniel Martínez and Geraint Thomas at the end of the undulating 100-mile route from San Francesco al Campo, that featured three categorized climbs.
College volleyball
Twin sisters Nicole and Audrey Nourse won the deciding match for a second straight season and topranked Southern California won its fourth straight women’s beach volleyball championship with a 3-0 sweep against No. 2 UCLA.
It was the first championship — since the NCAA recognized the sport in 2016 — where all five matches went to a third set.
Hole in one
EDGEWOOD COUNTRY CLUB - Derf Goss, No. 3, 148 yards, 8-iron, fourth career ace.