Haley earns 3rd superspeedway victory with Talladega win

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Justin Haley stormed into the second round of the Xfinity Series playoffs with a win Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway, his third superspeedway victory of the season.

Haley, who in 2019 won the Cup race in July at Daytona, has three career Xfinity Series victories, all this season, all on superspeedways.

He won at Talladega in June, Daytona in August and then again Saturday at Talladega.

Haley joined Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. as the only drivers in NASCAR to win three consecutive superspeedway races. The Earnhardt’s did it in the Cup Series.

Haley, in a Chevrolet for Kaulig Racing, joined Chase Briscoe as the only two drivers locked into the second round of the playoffs.

TRUCKS

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Raphael Lessard, a 19-year-old Canadian rookie, won his first career NASCAR national series race in overtime under caution at Talladega Superspeedway.

Lessard was racing side-by-side with Trevor Bayne on the final lap of the two-lap overtime shootout when a pack of trucks running four wide triggered an accident that froze the field.

Lessard won in a Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the first win of the season for the organization from a driver other than Busch.

The race was the first elimination race of the Truck Series playoffs and Christian Eckes, one of the contenders to race for the championship, was eliminated in a mixed day for Busch’s race team.

INDYCAR

INDIANAPOLIS — Will Power won the pole, then led every lap of the Harvest GP on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and held off hard-charging Colton Herta by 0.839 seconds.

The Australian driver earned his fourth win for Team Penske on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile course. He’s won two of the last four IndyCar races and now has 39 in his career, tying Al Unser for fifth on IndyCar’s all-time list.

Herta closed to within 0.5597 seconds with six to go but never got any closer after Power’s former teammate, Helio Castroneves, let the top two cars go by for the final duel.

Rossi finished third while points leader Scott Dixon struggled again.

GOLF

JACKSON, Miss — Sergio Garcia made it look as simple as closing his eyes and waking up to a share of the 54-hole lead, keeping a clean card on his way to a 6-under 66 and a three-way tie at the top in the Sanderson Farms Championship.

In his debut at the Country Club of Jackson with its pure, fast greens, Garcia stuck to his routine of closing his eyes over putts to get a better feel. He converted most of his chances to share the lead with J.T. Poston and Cameron Davis.

They were at 14-under 202 going into a final round in which 10 players were separated by four shots.

Davis opened with five straight birdies, and the Australian’s biggest highlight was a fairway metal into 10 feet for eagle on the par-5 14th hole that carried him to a 9-under 63.