Briscoe’s emotional win
Chase Briscoe capped a heartbreaking week by winning the Xfinity Series’ raindelayed return to action at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway on Thursday.
Briscoe was in the Darlington infield Tuesday awaiting the race’s original start when he digitally joined wife Marissa for a 12week exam for their expected baby. The couple heard the tragic news: There was no fetal heartbeat. “The worst news I could’ve heard,” Briscoe posted on Instagram on Wednesday.
Still, Briscoe was in the lineup for the series’ first action since March 7 and used two strong restarts and a quick pit stop to finish on top. He got the lead out of the pits during the final caution, then pulled away from Kyle Busch and Justin Allgaier on the subsequent restart with seven laps to go for his fourth career win and second this season.
“This is the biggest day of my life after the toughest day of my life,” Briscoe said.
Colleges: Vanderbilt removed the interim title, making Candice Storey Lee the first woman to become an athletic director in the SEC. Lee, 41, a former Commodores basketball captain, is among only five women and the second black woman in charge of a Power Five program.
Boxing: Promoter Bob Arum said he plans to stage a card of five fights without fans on June 9 at the MGM Grand, the first of a series of fights over the next two months at the Las Vegas hotel. A second fight card will be held two nights later, with ESPN televising both cards, kicking off twiceweekly shows at the hotel in June and July.
Hockey: The NHL Players Association’s executive board voted on a 24team playoff proposal as a format for the return to play, a person with knowledge of the situation told the Associated Press. Results of the vote were not expected until Friday night. A vote of approval would not seal the deal for the season resuming. The league and players union still need to negotiate other details, including health and safety protocols. Baseball: The baseball players’ union gave management a wideranging response to a 67page proposed set of protocols for a season to be played during the coronavirus pandemic. Players viewed many of the concepts in the original draft as overthetop, such as arriving in uniform at the ballparks, a prohibition on them leaving without team permission and a ban on guests other than immediate family members. Players also objected to a ban on the use of showers and hydrotherapy. Obituary: Marty McNeal, a longtime Kings beat writer for the Sacramento Bee, died Thursday in Dallas, that newspaper reported. McNeal was 64 and had been battling leukemia.