Blaney breaks dry spell with victory at Iowa Speedway
Ryan Blaney finally found his way into the win column this year by leading a career-high 201 laps Sunday night, taking the inaugural Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway in Newton.
The reigning series champion broke a 17-race winless streak by taking two tires on his No. 12 Ford on the final pit stop while most of the field took four, including runner-up William Byron.
But in the season’s 17th event, the 30-year-old Blaney became the 10th different winner by beating Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet by 0.716 seconds.
The Team Penske driver went winless in 2022 and now has 11 victories — two on a short track.
Following Byron were Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
The tire problems that surfaced in Friday’s practice, when a few cars blew tires and hit the wall, finally showed up with 19 circuits to go in the 70-lap Stage 1.
As polesitter Kyle Larson topped the field around the 0.875-mile track, AJ Allmendinger’s
No. 16 Chevrolet popped a right front tire and smacked the Turn 1 wall.
Larson emerged from the ensuing pit stops in third as Daniel Suarez and Brad Keselowski stayed out on their original tires to win stage points.
But that strategy largely failed as Larson and Blaney easily passed the duo. Blaney beat Larson for the top playoff bonus points in the 70-lap segment, while Suarez managed third and Keselowski eighth.
SOCCER
Inter Miami adds executive: Inter Miami announced the hiring of Raul Sanllehi as president of football operations. He was director of football at FC Barcelona from 2008 to 2019.
NFL
AFC North on ‘Hard Knocks”: The in-season version of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” is taking a different tack this season, featuring an entire division, the AFC North, instead of an individual team, the Associated Press reported. The quarterbacks alone —
Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Deshaun Watson and Russell Wilson, now with Pittsburgh — should provide plenty of storylines. The series will begin Dec. 3 and run through the rest of the regular season and playoffs.
Chiefs player arrested: Kansas City defensive lineman Isaiah Buggs was booked on a domestic violence/burglary charge Sunday in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. Last month, he was charged with animal cruelty in Tuscaloosa after two dogs under his care were found to be negelected and severely malnourished, AL.com reported. One of the dogs had to be euthanized. Buggs, 27, played college football at Alabama. He played three seasons for Pittsburgh and two for Detroit before joining Kansas City this offseason.
LPGA
Three-way playoff: Lilia Vu birdied the third playoff hole to defeat Lexi Thompson and Grace Kim and win the Meijer LPGA Classic on Sunday in Belmont, Mich.
Vu, Thompson and Kim all finished at 16-under 272 after 72 holes at Blythefield Country Club. After they replayed the par-5 18th hole twice, with each player making birdie both times, the trio went to the par-5 fourth hole.
Vu was the only player to put her drive in the fairway, and Thompson and Kim could merely punch out for their second shots. Vu’s second shot landed in a greenside bunker, but she escaped and left herself roughly 6 feet for birdie. After her competitors missed longer birdie tries, Vu, 26, sank her putt to claim her fifth career LPGA win and her first of 2024.
Thompson — the 11-time LPGA Tour winner who announced last month that she will retire from fulltime competition at season’s end at age 29 — came up just short of ending her five-year title drought.