Larson celebrates return with 1st win since suspension
LAS VEGAS >> Kyle Larson is back in NASCAR and back in victory lane.
On Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Larson raced to his first NASCAR victory since he was reinstated from a nearly yearlong suspension. He ran just the first four races last season, then lost his job for using a racial slur while playing a video game early in the pandemic.
He worked all last year on rebuilding his image and was hired by Hendrick Motorsports when NASCAR said the suspension would lift at the start of this year.
“Thanks Mr. H. for believing in me,” Larson radioed to boss Rick Hendrick after crossing the finish line.
He then celebrated his first career on an intermediate track with a smoke-filled burnouts. Bubba Wallace, NASCAR’s only Black fulltime driver, was the first competitor to congratulate Larson at his car.
Larson’s move to Hendrick was expected to be electric.
Larson is considered one of the top talents in NASCAR but won just six times in six seasons with Chip Ganassi Racing. Paired with mighty Hendrick, everyone suspected Larson would at last reach his full potential.
The victory came in his fourth race in the No. 5Chevrolet and gave Hendrick back-toback victories. William Byron won last week at Homestead-Miami Speedway, so Hendrick has two of its four drivers locked into the playoffs just one month into the new season.
It was the first win for crew chief Cliff Daniels, and first for that crew since 2017with Jimmie Johnson.
“He knew deep down inside that he could get back to this level,” Daniels said of Larson.
Larson’s last victory was October 6, 2019, at Dover.
His seventh career win made him the third driver so far who was not part of the 16-driver playoff field last season to grab one of the spots. The season opened with three consecutive surprise winners in Michael McDowell, Christopher Bell and then Byron.
Larson isn’t exactly a surprise and Las Vegas was supposed to be the track in which the large teams finally took control. The 1.5-mile intermediate is the bread-and-butter of the NASCAR schedule and the top organizations have the depth and resources to dominate the circuits.
The top-nine finishers Sunday all represented NASCAR’s elite teams, with Erik Jones for single-car Richard Petty Motorsports the only surprise with a 10th-place finish.
Brad Keselowski of Team Penske was second in a Ford and followed by hometown driver Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin in Toyotas for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Ryan Blaney was fifth for Penske and then Martin Truex Jr. and Bell put all four JGR cars in the top seven. Byron was eighth and defending race winner Joey Logano was ninth for Penske.
Golf
DeChambeau makes big putts to outlast Westwood at Bay Hill
ORLANDO, Fla. — The long ball helped Bryson DeChambeau outlast Lee Westwood on Sunday to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational, only the key shots were as much with his putter as his driver.
DeChambeau holed a 40-foot birdie putt on the front nine and a 50-foot par putt early on the back nine. He closed it out with a nervy 5-foot par putt for a 1-under 71and a one-shot victory over the 47-year-old Westwood.
It matched the low score of the day, one of only three rounds under par in the toughest final round at Bay Hill in 41years.
DeChambeau and Westwood were never separated by more than one shot over the final 15holes, a fascinating duel of generations that came down to the last shot.
UFC
Blachowicz, Nunes keep belts at UFC 259; Sterling wins on DQ
LAS VEGAS — Israel Adesanya learned that holding two UFC title belts simultaneously is not nearly as easy as Amanda Nunes makes it look.
And Petr Yan learned that even a momentary lapse in discipline can dearly cost a champion.
Jan Blachowicz defended his UFC light heavyweight title with a unanimous decision over the previously unbeaten Adesanya at UFC 259on Saturday night, thwarting the reigning middleweight champ’s bid to claim a second belt.
Two-division champion Nunes defended her featherweight belt with ease, beating Megan Anderson by submission 2:03into the first round at the Apex gym on the UFC’s corporate campus. Aljamain Sterling also won the UFC’s bantamweight title when Yan was disqualified for an illegal knee strike in the fourth round.
The 38-year-old Blachowicz (28-8) made his first title defense in impressive style by outworking Adesanya (20-1), the fearsome 185-pound champion moving up for a shot at history. The Polish champion used his size advantage and veteran savvy, taking control of their fight with two huge takedowns and subsequent ground control in the fourth and fifth rounds.
Blachowicz won 49-46on two judges’ scorecards and 49-45on the third. The Associated Press scored it 48-47for Blachowicz.
Blachowicz ended the fight in full mount while raining down punches on Adesanya, who had never lost in a mixed martial arts career that began in 2012. The charismatic Nigerianborn New Zealander failed to join Nunes, Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier and Henry Cejudo as the UFC’s only simultaneous two-belt champions.