Jason Leffler won the first NASCAR Busch Series race of his career early Sunday morning in a wild ending to the Federated Auto Parts 300 following a nearly three-hour rain delay.
Leffler won under caution at Nashville Superspeedway, caused when Kyle Busch ran out of gas with four laps to go. He had led 60 laps and looked ready to run away with his third victory of the year, but wound up spinning into the infield grass.
That allowed Leffler to inherit the lead, and he was able to nurse his Chevrolet through the final laps under caution for his first victory in his 56th start.
Crew chief Bootie Barker advised Leffler to save his gas because Busch wouldn't be able to make it to the end.
"I thought Bootie was crazy," Leffler said. "It's not the way I wanted to win, but I knew I couldn't catch the five [Busch]."
Busch wound up 17th, failing to finish in the top 10 for the first time in 11 races and lost the points to Martin Truex Jr.
Polesitter Truex finished second in his Chevy and leads Busch by 45 points. Third was Clint Bowyer, followed by Mike Bliss and Ron Hornaday, giving Chevy a top-five sweep.
"It was just my fault. I ran out of gas," Busch said. "It was just a matter of time until Jason Leffler got to Victory Lane."
Truex led 39 laps, but struggled after the heavy rain washed the track clean and left his car loose. That left him very happy with his finish.
"It's funny. We've been joking the last two weeks between me and Kyle that if you don't win the race, you can't leave with the points lead ... Tough break for him," Truex said.
Leffler, a three-time USAC midget champ, hadn't finished better than fourth this year. He wound up leading 61 laps, including the final laps for the victory.
"I've won a lot of dirt races slowing down. When the track gets slick, sometimes you have to slow down to go faster. I've never had a crew chief tell you, `You're going too fast. Slow down.' I'm just glad it all worked out," Leffler said.
It was a fitting end to a race that waited out a 2-hour, 48-minute rain delay at the 2.14km concrete oval.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
THRILLER: Raphinha gave Barca a 3-2 lead with two minutes remaining of regular time, but Francesco Acerbi equalized the game in the second minute of added time Davide Frattesi on Tuesday fired Inter into the UEFA Champions League final with an extra-time winner that gave the Italians a stunning 4-3 triumph over Barcelona, 7-6 on aggregate. Italy midfielder Frattesi won a tie for the ages under a downpour in Milan when he lashed home in the 99th minute, sending a packed and rocking San Siro wild with joy. Simone Inzaghi’s team will face either Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain at the end of this month in Munich, Germany, where they would feel they have a great chance to be crowned kings of Europe for a fourth time after
RSS