Logano prevails in dust and OT
Somewhere under the thick red haze floating over Bristol, Tenn., Joey Logano took the checkered flag for NASCAR’s first Cup Series race at a dirt track in 50 years.
He couldn’t see much — visibility was next to nothing during this Monday dust storm — but Logano clung to the familiar bottom lane around the bullring to collect the checkered flag on this NASCAR experiment.
Logano got a jump on Denny Hamlin on the overtime restart to earn his third career victory at Bristol Motor Speedway. But this was not the Bristol of old, the track had been covered with 2,300 truckloads of red Tennessee clay so that NASCAR could add a dirt track to the Cup schedule for the first time since 1970.
“How about Bristol on dirt, guys! This is incredible,” Logano said to the crowd, a reduced capacity sellout of about 30,000 fans.
“There’s nothing like winning at Bristol, but putting it on dirt and being the first to do it is very special.”
Logano became the seventh race winner through seven races this season and gave Team Penske backtoback victories. Ryan Blaney won in a Penske Ford last week.
NFL: The league is expected to add a 17th game and cut preseason to three games when the 32 team owners meet Tuesday and Wednesday. Both are nearly certain to be approved.
⏩ Ryan Switzer’s 9monthold son was stable after surgery to stop internal bleeding in a Boston hospital. “This nightmare is over with,” the Browns’ receiver tweeted.
⏩ The Cowboys signed freeagent safety Damontae Kazee, adding another player from new defensive coordinator Dan Quinn’s time as head coach in Atlanta. Kazee joins Keanu Neal, an Atlanta teammate the past four seasons. Neal is likely to play safety and linebacker. Kazee led the NFL with seven interceptions in 2018.
⏩ The Vikings signed cornerback Mackensie Alexander (a secondround pick by Minnesota in 2016) and safety Xavier Woods to oneyear contracts.
College baseball: Matt Smith’s tworun double tied the game in the seventh inning and then his RBI single with one out in the bottom of the ninth gave Sacramento State (186) a 32 victory over Stanford (144).
Golf: Pebble Beach Company announced the retirement of chief executive officer Bill Perocchi, effective July 1. Perocchi ran Pebble for 22 years. Cal alum David Stivers will succeed him.
Tennis: World No. 1 Ash Barty reached the Miami Open quarterfinals, holding off 14thseeded Victoria Azarenka, a former World No. 1, 61, 16, 62. No. 2 women’s seed Naomi Osaka of Japan ran her winning streak to 23 matches and moved into the quarters by topping No. 16 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium 63, 63.
Swimming: Texas men’s coach Eddie Reese, 79, retired after his 43rd season and with his 15th national title. He coached the U.S. men’s Olympic team three times.