Bryon avoids wreck to win at Darlington

William Byron avoided a wreck between Ross Chastain and Kyle Larson on a restart six laps from the end and held on to win the Goodyear 400 in overtime at Darlington Raceway on May 14.

Byron, who got pushed out of the way by winner Joey Logano two laps from the end here a year ago, drove away from Kevin Harvick during a greenwhite-checkered finish for his third victory of the season and the seventh of his career.

“It’s pretty amazing,” Byron said. “Things have a way of working out.”

Harvick was second and Chase Elliott third, his best finish since returning to NASCAR from a broken leg while snowboarding.

Brad Keselowski was fourth, followed by Bubba Wallace, Harrison Burton, Kyle Busch, Justin Haley, Ryan Blaney and Chris Buescher.

It was the 100th win for Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 24 car and the organization’s first victory at Darlington since Jimmie Johnson won the 2012 race.

It looked like 2021 champ Larson or points leader Chastain had the strongest cars and figured to be there at the end. Instead, Chastain was alongside Larson during a restart and admitted trying to squeeze his competitor against the wall in turn two. Both wound up wrecking.

Larson finished 20th and Chastain, who punched Noah Gragson in a pit-road confrontation a week ago at Kansas, was 29th.

“I wanted to squeeze him, I wanted to push him up, we’ve been trading back and forth all day. I wanted to push him up for sure,” Chastain said.

Larson moved into the lead when Denny Hamlin went to the pits with 30 laps remaining and was in prime position for victory until tangling with Chastain.

Martin Truex Jr. started from the pole and led 146 of the first 151 laps before he was clipped by Chastain at the end of stage.

Golf

DAY WINS BYRON NELSON >> Jason Day has his first PGA Tour victory in five years at the Byron Nelson. The Australian shot a 9-under 62 for a one-shot victory over Austin Eckroat and Si Woo Kim. Hometown favorite Scottie Scheffler finished three shots back. Day broke a tie with Scheffler with a chip-in birdie at the par-4 12th. Day finished at 23 under playing on Mother’s Day a little more than a year after losing his mom to cancer.

NBA

GRIZZLIES SUSPEND MORANT >> Memphis guard Ja Morant has been suspended by the Grizzlies after another social media video in which he appears to be holding a gun. The NBA is looking into the matter. The Grizzlies say Morant is suspended from all team activities “pending league review.” The video shows Morant in the front seat of a vehicle, appearing to hold the gun while someone filmed him and broadcast it live over Instagram. Morant was suspended by the NBA for eight games this season after the All-Star guard was seen on video holding a gun at a club in the Denver suburbs. The league said the March suspension was for “conduct detrimental to the league.”

SUNS FIRE COACH >> The Phoenix Suns fired Monty Williams on Saturday, two years after reaching the NBA Finals and a year after he was the overwhelming choice as the coach of the year. Williams had great success in his four regular seasons in Phoenix, winning 63% of his games.

MLB

PHILS’ HARPER EJECTED >> Phillies star Bryce Harper was ejected from their game against Colorado after charging at the Rockies’ dugout following the last out of the top of the seventh inning, setting off an altercation that cleared both teams’ benches and bullpens. Harper appeared to respond to Colorado reliever Jake Bird, who clapped a hand against his glove and said something toward the Philadelphia dugout.

Hockey U.S., CANADA WIN

The United States had to come from a goal down to outclass newcomer Hungary 7-1 for its second win at the ice hockey world championship. Canada had to do the same on the way to a 5-2 victory over Slovenia, the other team newly promoted to the top division.