Allmendinger picks up road win
Road-course ace A.J. Allmendinger from Los Gatos survived the NASCAR Xfinity Series' wet and wild Portland International Raceway debut with a victory Saturday.
Allmendinger raced to his Xfinity-record eighth victory on a road course and 12th overall series win. He crossed the finish line in the Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 2.879 seconds in front of Myatt Snider.
The 75-lap race on the 12-turn, 1.97-mile permanent road course north of downtown started in heavy rain, resulting in slippery conditions. It was first NASCAR event in the region in 22 years, and a rare standalone event for the second-tier national series.
There were nine caution flags and eight lead changes in the race that looked at times like a demotion derby with several spinouts, bumps and wrecks.
Snider led in his Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet going into the third and final stage of the race as a break in the rain dried the course somewhat and drivers switched out their wet tires.
Allmendinger briefly took the lead with 13 laps to go after coming out of a caution — but the rain started to fall anew and he went to the pits to go to wet tires for the rest of the race. Jade Buford went to the front.
Coming out of the ninth caution with four laps to go, Snider led but Allmendinger was close behind and quickly moved ahead on the inside, making light contact with Snider. Austin Hill finished third.
Allmendinger was set to leave Portland shortly after the race to head to the Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway outside of St. Louis.
BRISCOE EARNS HIS FIRST CUP POLE >> Chase Briscoe finally has a pole to go with his first NASCAR Cup Series victory earlier this season.
The second-year driver for Stewart-Haas Racing drove through a bobble at the end of the backstretch and turned a lap of 138.274 mph, giving himself the best starting spot for the first time in his 51st career start.
Austin Cindric gave Ford the front row with a lap of 137.775 mph for Team Penske, while Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick will start in the second row and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top five in qualifying.
Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Aric Almirola and Ross Chastain also made the final round of qualifying.
NEWGARDEN WINS POLE FOR FINAL
DETROIT GP >> Josef Newgarden became the seventh different pole winner through seven IndyCar qualifying sessions this season when he put Team Penske at the front for today's final Detroit Grand Prix on Belle Isle.
Newgarden won the pole on the temporary street course for the third time in his career as time expired on Saturday's qualifying session.
The race today is the final Detroit Grand Prix to be run on Belle Isle; Roger Penske's promotion group is returning it to a downtown Detroit race next season.
Golf
NA QUITS PGA AFTER JOINING SAUDI LEAGUE >> Kevin Na became the first player to publicly resign from the PGA Tour, four days after the Saudifinanced LIV Golf Invitational listed him in the field for next week's debut of the new series.
Na is one of six players to have resigned, according to a person with knowledge of their decisions. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the players have not said. Na announced his decision on social media.
Na is No. 33 in the world and among four players from the top 50 who have signed up for Saudi riches to play in Greg Norman's new league of 48-man fields over 54 holes and as much as $25 million in prize money for each event.
The first is Friday outside London. “I would like the freedom to play wherever I want and exercising my right as a free agent gives me that opportunity,” he wrote. “However to remain a PGA Tour player, I must give up my right to make these choices about my career.”
College baseball
SANTA BARBARA BEATS BINGHAMTON AT STANFORD >> Kyle Johnson hit a two-run home run in the second inning, Blake Klassen added a threerun shot in the third and UC Santa Barbara breezed to a 9-4 victory over Binghamton in an elimination game at the Stanford Regional.
The Gauchos (44-13) will play the loser of Saturday's late game between No. 2 overall seed Stanford and Texas State today.
NFL
BROWNS BRINGING BACK D'ERNEST JOHNSON >> Running back D'Ernest Johnson agreed to terms on a oneyear contract with the Cleveland Browns worth up to $2.43 million, his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said.
Johnson, who did a nice job filling in last season when Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt were out injured, will get $900,000 guaranteed.
The 26-year-old Johnson rushed for 534 yards and scored three touchdowns last season.
Soccer
ENGLAND PLAYERS BOOED TAKING A KNEE IN HUNGARY >> England players were jeered while taking the knee ahead of a Nations League loss at Hungary where the crowd of 30,000 was mainly filled with children.
The youngsters were allowed into the stadium despite Hungary being ordered to play the game without fans as a punishment for racially abusing opposing players and holding up anti-gay banners at the European Championship last year. One adult accompanies every 10 children under the regulations.
“How that aligns with the decision is difficult to understand,” England coach Gareth Southgate said after losing 1-0 at Puskas Arena.
“The atmosphere when we arrived at the stadium, there were kids lining the streets, it was really friendly. They were waving when we were walking out to warm up. I thought there were sort of pantomime boos when our team came out to warm up.
“That was different with the taking of the knee but that felt like inherited thinking to me. We do it (taking the knee) to try to educate and I think young people can only be influenced by older people.”
England players started taking a knee last year as part of calls to eradicate racial injustice in society following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.