LAS VEGAS – He had to wait a little longer than he would have liked, but Chase Briscoe still got to celebrate a victory on Sunday evening at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

After rain forced the postponement of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Boyd Gaming 300 following the completion of the first stage on Saturday, Briscoe was able to storm to his first victory of the season when the race resumed on Sunday evening.

“This is something I feel like we can do all year long and I’m just thankful I’m the one driving it,” Briscoe said of his Ford Mustang. “With a lot of the big three (Cole Custer, Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick) moving up, it definitely creates an opportunity to kind of be that new guy. This is a good way to start off the season, especially on the West Coast.”

It looked as if it was going to be Briscoe’s friend and fellow Ford driver Austin Cindric who was going to be celebrating in in victory lane. Cindric took the lead from Justin Allgaier with 76 laps left and held the lead until a cycle of green flag pit stops started with 57 laps left.

Cindric was able to retain the lead during the pit stop cycle despite a valiant effort from Ryan Sieg, who ran as high as second during the race and challenged Cindric for position shortly after they both hit pit road.

Driving the No. 22 Ford Mustang for Team Penske, Cindric was still in the lead with Sieg and Briscoe following when the caution flag waved with 38 laps left after Myatt Snider spun following contact with Noah Gragson.

The resulting caution period allowed all of the leaders to hit pit road for fresh tires. Briscoe’s Stewart-Haas Racing team did their job, getting the Indiana native off pit road first ahead of Cindric and Sieg.

During the restart with 31 laps left Briscoe was able to hold serve over Cindric. Once in front he slowly pulled away, stretching his lead out to more than two seconds by the time the checkered flag waved.

“That was really a team win,” Briscoe said after the third victory of his career. “We were really good in the day light, but as soon as the sun went down it was just like in dirty air we weren’t very good. It’s so cool to get Ford Performance Driving School in victory lane.”

Cindric settled for second and acknowledged that track position was everything late in the race.

“Starting P1 on the restart definitely helps,” Cindric admitted. “It seemed like as it cooled off a little bit we got a little too tight and we didn’t quite keep up with the adjustments. Overall a great night for my MoneyLion Ford Mustang. Awesome to get Ford Performance a one-two.”

Briscoe and Cindric were driving the only Ford entries in the 36-car field.

Sieg finished third to earn the sixth top-five finish of his career and first on a 1.5-mile speedway. Gragson was fourth, followed by rookie Harrison Burton in fifth.

BUTTONWILLOW, Calif. – The Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA Super Tour wrapped on Sunday from Buttonwillow Raceway Park during a race weekend hosted by SCCA’s California Sports Car Club.

A couple tight races developed Sunday within classes for cars with fenders. In E Production (EP), Glen McCready and his Mazda MX-5 held the lead over Saturday winner Aaron Downey for the first part of the race.

Just past the halfway point, Downey got by McCready. However, the excitement was in no way over. McCready hounded Downey lap after lap, looking as if he could regain the lead at some point. But in the end, Downey repeated as the EP winner in his No. 75 G-Loc Brakes/Goodyear Tires/Wankelworks Mazda RX-3 racecar.

“That’s probably the best racing I’ve done in 17 or 18 years,” Downey said Sunday on the victory podium. “Glen got a good lead just after the start of the race. I just chased him for a little bit. There were a couple opportunities he gave me … and I was able to take advantage of one. Then I kind of stayed out front from there.”

B-Spec competitors Chris Taylor and Thomas Lepper were also embroiled in a great battle Sunday. Both piloting Mazda 2s, it was Lepper who first took the lead, but Saturday winner Taylor assumed the top position four laps in driving the No. 9 Harris Hill Raceway/G-Loc Brakes/Chris Taylor Racing Services/Winding Road Racing/Hankook car. Lepper, however, wasn’t done and regained the lead in his No. 6 T.O.A.S.T. B-Spec car with about five laps left. He then held off Taylor’s challenges for the remaining trips around the circuit and brought home a win in B-Spec.

“We had a great race,” Lepper said afterwards. “Chris is new to me, so I had to learn about him. Once he started slipping his tires over at the ‘Off Ramp’ turn, I knew I had him.”

Two chaps in Touring 4 (T4) also gave onlookers a thrill Sunday. Izzy Sanchez, Saturday’s winner who drives the No. 68 Hoosier Tires/Carbotech Brakes Toyota FRS, led most of the race Sunday. But filling Sanchez’ mirrors the entire time was Nick Leverone and his No. 115 Flatout Motorsport Mazda Miata. Near the race’s end, Sanchez encountered a problem and spun off the circuit, leaving the path clear for Leverone to claim victory.

“Izzy was real quick all weekend. There was no way I was going to get to him unless something big happened,” Leverone admitted after Sunday’s race. “Unfortunately for him, on the last lap, it happened.

“It was a great race the whole time,” Leverone continued. “We had a bunch of close racing between him and I and a couple of the STU cars. It was a blast. We had a real good race.”

After an eventful, wet Formula Enterprises 2 (FE2) race Saturday, FE2 took the track Sunday under clear, blue skies. The substantially different conditions allowed Brandon Aleckson, in the No. 33 Dan’s Upholstery/OP Consulting Formula Enterprises/Mazda, to secure the lead from the very beginning. Saturday winner TJ Acker, however, applied pressure to Aleckson the entire way. Lap after lap, Acker looked for a way around Aleckson. But it was not to be as Aleckson held Acker at bay, even while navigating traffic, to bring home a win Sunday.

“To be honest, man, I was just holding on for dear life,” Aleckson said after the race. “Running this counterclockwise configuration makes it hard to pass. I knew TJ was eating me alive down in the backside of the track. I just ran low, kept him behind me and I knew in the fast stuff I could gap TJ enough to stay ahead of him. So, I just held on for 17 laps and here we are.”

One SCCA road racing competitor departed Buttonwillow Raceway Park on Sunday with more Hoosier Super Tour trophies than any other. That driver was Michael Lewis, who managed to win four races, over two classes, in two days.

The GT-1 class victory went both days to Lewis, running the No. 12 Goodyear Jaguar XKR. He also swept the GT-3 class, which was unique this weekend at Buttonwillow as it represented the GT-3 Challenge presented by MPI opening round for this year.

The GT-3 Challenge is a series boosting participation in the GT-3 class and supported by Mazda, Max Papis Innovations, Penske Racing Shocks, AiM Sports and Hoosier Racing Tire, with new partners Goodyear Tire, Carbotech Performance Brakes and Bell Racing Helmets jumping aboard this year. There are five scheduled GT-3 Challenge rounds in 2020 — the others taking place at Hoosier Super Tour events at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta and Watkins Glen Int’l, as well as Road America in July, and finally SCCA’s National Championship Runoffs in October. Thanks to his dominant performance this weekend in the No. 32 Goodyear Mazda RX-7, Lewis is now the West Coast representative for that final GT-3 Challenge event.

Several drivers also managed to sweep both Saturday and Sunday races at Buttonwillow Raceway Park in their respective classes. For starters, Carl Young swept Super Touring Under (STU) in the No. 24 El Dorado Motorsports Honda CRX, but not without some heavy pressure at times from fellow STU racer Dominic Starkweather in a Scion FRS.

After a scrappy performance Saturday to claim the Super Touring Lite (STL) victory, Nathan Pope showed dominance Sunday as he stormed away for a second STL win in his No. 42 El Dorado Motorsports Honda Prelude.

Other drivers who managed two wins in a single class at the Buttonwillow Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA Super Tour include:
– Formula X driver William Weaver in the No. 67 James G. Parker Insurance Associates Star Formula Mazda
– Prototype 2 racer Joe Moran in the No. 7 Ford Carbir CS2
– H Production’s Ben Valentine in the No. 24 MG Midget
– Spec Miata ace Steven Powers in the No. 145 Mazda Miata
– American Sedan’s Christopher Qualls in the No. 173 Ford Mustang
– GT-2 driver Darren Dilley in the No. 80 Cheap Fast Racing Mazda RX-7
– Touring 1 competitor Sean Whitwood in the No. 6 FFP Racing Corvette Z06
– Spec Racer Ford Gen3 racer T.J. Acker in the No. 62 MBI Racing/Cindescency racecar
– Formula Vee stalwart Dennis Andrade in the No. 87 D & D Racing Vortech Caracal

The Montreal Canadiens have traded forward Ilya Kovalchuk to the Washington Capitals for a 2020 third-round pick. The move puts Kovalchuk on his third team in the 2019-20 season. He started the campaign with the Los Angeles Kings before they waived him and his $18.25 million contract in December, then he landed with the Canadiens in January on a veteran's league minimum of $700,000. The Canadiens agreed to pick up 50 percent of Kovalchuk's remaining salary and cap hit.

How did each GM do in this trade?

The deal:

Capitals get: F Ilya Kovalchuk

Canadiens get: 2020 third-round pick

Washington Capitals: A-

After surrendering a late lead and watching Patrick Reed clip him by a shot Sunday at the WGC-Mexico Championship, Bryson DeChambeau quickly sought out the newest champion at Chapultepec Golf Club.

Reed's victory was certainly a controversial one, not for what happened this week on the golf course but rather the lingering effects from what happened with Reed at last December's Hero World Challenge, where cameras caught Reed improving his lie in the sand, another blow to Reed's already damaged reputation.

While DeChambeau hasn't faced the cheating accusations that Reed has, he can still relate, being no stranger to heavy criticism himself. At this event a year ago, DeChambeau was recorded damaging a practice green with his putter just a week after he apologized for taking a chunk out of one of Riviera's bunker lips.

And so back to Sunday evening's meeting of the two embattled golf stars.

"[I congratulated him] because he's a great player," DeChambeau told Golf Channel's Todd Lewis. "There's been a lot of stuff said in the past years, I guess you could say, with him – and even with me – and I feel like unfortunately sometimes we get quite a bad rap. And yeah, there's things that we've done that hasn't been right, but we haven't got really got the best rap and we're still trying to provide great entertainment for everyone. You know what, he's a great player, and he'll be a great player for a long time, and yeah, I have respect for his game."

Lewis then followed up by saying, "It kind of sounds like you're brethren in this ..."

"We're co-workers, right?" DeChambeau interjected. "And we understand each other's pain sometimes."

MEXICO CITY – As a general rule, putting on poa annua greens normally doesn’t bring out the best in players, but you can count Patrick Reed’s performance at the WGC-Mexico Championship as the exception to that rule.

For the week at Chapultepec Golf Club, Reed ranked first in strokes gained: putting, picking up a statistically stunning 11.82 shots on the field, and recorded 45 one-putts for the week, including 11 in the final round.

“I feel like I had 45 one-putts today because I missed every green,” laughed Reed, who closed with a 67 for a one-stroke victory over Bryson DeChambeau.

Reed, who made 454 feet of putts for the week, said he was comfortable on the greens all week and that poa fits his style of putting.

“I've always been pretty good at playing the high side and kind of softer speeds, and I feel like when you get on poa, it all comes down to speed,” said Reed, who had fewer than 100 putts in 72 holes for the second time this year (98 this week; 99 at Kapalua, where he lost in a playoff).

“You need to have a very short-term memory when you putt on poa because you're going to hit some great putts that are going to miss and you're going to hit some bad putts that go in.”

MEXICO CITY – Rory McIlroy started the final round at the WGC-Mexico Championship four strokes back, and he finished his week at Chapultepec Golf Club in the same spot.

McIlroy, who led by two strokes after a first-round 65, struggled on Chapultepec’s greens and finished fifth for his second consecutive top-5 finish. Not that his consistency was much solace for the Northern Irishman.

“Frustrating. I don't feel like I got the best out of myself,” McIlroy said following a final-round 68. “Obviously started the week well, and then I hit some loose shots, and I didn't putt as well as I needed to over the last three days. I just let a few shots get away.”

McIlroy moved to within a shot of the lead with a birdie at the par-5 sixth hole but played his final 12 holes in even par to finish four strokes behind champion Patrick Reed.

Despite his finish McIlroy, who isn’t playing next week’s Honda Classic, will remain atop the world ranking for at least one more week.

MEXICO CITY – Patrick Reed had been studying the leaderboard carefully, but he still wanted to know what happened.

“I asked [Bryson DeChambeau], ‘What happened on 18?’” Reed said following a final-round 67 and a one-stroke victory over DeChambeau Sunday at the WGC-Mexico Championship.

DeChambeau’s bogey at the par-3 17th hole, along with Reed’s birdie on the same hole, set up a two-stroke advantage for Reed going down the 18th, a cushion that Reed needed following a wayward tee shot and bogey at the last.

DeChambeau birdied four consecutive holes, starting at No. 9, to build a two-stroke lead, and he added another birdie at the 14^th hole to move to 18 under before disaster struck at No. 17.

“Unfortunately, 17 happened today. I hit a good shot up there, I didn't try to do anything, it just got caught by in the wind and spun off the hill, and I ended up having a long putt in,” said DeChambeau, whose tee shot at the 17^th hole set up a 63-foot putt. “My speed was off today, and that's the tournament right there. If I don't three-putt I win.”

DeChambeau didn’t have a three-putt for the first three rounds at Chapultepec Golf Club, but on Sunday he three-putted the first, eighth and 17^th holes to finish second at 17 under.

“It seemed like it was coming off pretty hot, and then a couple putts came out where it just didn't roll," he said. "I've got to rethink what's going on with the putting a little bit, with the speed, and figure out what's going on.”

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson reserved special praise for his team's fast-bowling trio of Tim Southee, Trent Boult and debutant Kyle Jamieson after their win against India in Wellington.

The three quicks took 18 of the 19 wickets taken by the home side in the Test, not allowing India to touch 200 in either innings, and they even contributed 88 runs with the bat in New Zealand's first innings, leading to a 183-run lead.

"Kyle Jamieson was brilliant," Williamson told the broadcasters at the post-match presentation. "Through the summer... In white-ball cricket, he's come in and made valuable contributions. So great debut for Kyle, contributed in a number of ways [four-for in the first innings and 44 with the bat]. A great experience for him to come into a somewhat established bowling unit.

"Southee's mindset wasn't of one with a point to prove [he was dropped in Sydney, New Zealand's last Test before Wellington]. He just wanted to operate the best way he does.

"Having his good mate Boult at the other end would've been a nice thing for him too. The left-arm, right-arm combination has been so successful for us for a long time. They showed it today, especially with the older ball. We know India can bat for days, so the patience and energy they both showed was great."

"Outstanding effort over the space of four days. We know how strong this Indian team is all around the world, so the effort that went into that first innings, to put the ball in the right areas for long periods of time and then get a competitive total with the bat on a surface that was offering something [was good]."

India struggled to stitch together lower-order partnerships in both their innings, while New Zealand reached 348 in their first innings despite being reduced to 225 for 7 at one stage. Those stands at the back end added a lot of value, Williamson said.

"Even the lower-order runs are important to get a bit of a lead because, as we saw, that if you did pick up a wicket, you could take a couple more," Williamson said. "That's why it's an all-round team effort. [We] didn't know what to expect from the pitch on the day before the Test and the morning of [it]. Because it wasn't as windy this week, there was a bit more swing on offer. The bowlers were brilliant, but overall, a real collective team effort."

Southee, who finished with a nine-wicket haul and collected the Player-of-the-Match award, also mentioned the relative lack of breeze as having an impact on this Test. "To beat a quality India team was very pleasing," Southee said. "[After Australia,] we were back to conditions we were familiar with. The effort from everyone was outstanding.

"Today morning was a massive time in the game. We were trying to get a couple of wickets before the new ball was available because we knew India were trying to get through that period with the set batsmen [Ajinkya Rahane and Hanuma Vihari].

"To take 20 wickets as a bowling unit was very pleasing. The pitch had a little bit more there than usual. It usually gets pretty good [to bat] as the Test goes on, but when the wind goes down you see more swing."

LOS ANGELES -- LeBron James might have made the go-ahead turnaround jumper with 30.4 seconds left in the Los Angeles Lakers' 114-112 win over the Boston Celtics on Sunday, but he worked the defense the first 47½ minutes before that to get that shot.

"I had been setting him up all night with the back down, to the drop step, to the baseline, so I figured he would sit on it thinking I would try it again," James said of Celtics forward Jaylen Brown guarding him. "So, went to my back down, gave a little 'Dream Shake' to the baseline and was able to open up middle and get my fadeaway."

James might have referenced Houston Rockets legend Hakeem Olajuwon for his clutch shot, but the day was decidedly Lakers-Celtics. Former Lakers luminaries Magic Johnson, Michael Cooper, Robert Horry and A.C. Green were in the building, while Celtics cult heroes Kevin Garnett, Cedric Maxwell, Brian Scalabrine and the greatest winner in NBA history, Bill Russell, cheered on Boston.

Russell donned a white No. 24 Lakers uniform in honor of the late Kobe Bryant, putting aside the rivalry to salute the man who won two Finals MVP trophies that bear Russell's name.

"Just respect. That's all," James said of Russell's ode to Bryant. "That's the first thing that went through my mind. At the end of the day, both teams throughout the years are going to battle, push, fight, scratch, curse each other out. At the end of the day, when you give it all to the floor, you have that mutual respect. That's what it all boils down to."

What Sunday's game boiled down to was a baseline, out-of-bounds possession for the Lakers with 36.4 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter while trailing 110-109.

Lakers coach Frank Vogel drew up a play that would give James the ball in the pinch post, with the option to curl and look for Anthony Davis rolling to the basket. Boston employed a zone defense, however, that made the Davis wrinkle moot. James was able to draw Brown out of the zone to defend him one-on-one, and he was able to find his rhythm on a 15-foot fadeaway to give L.A. a late lead it never relinquished.

"It was no question that we were going to give it to him right there in his sweet spot," Davis said. "He had the whole side of the floor.

"He got to his money shot, the shot he always makes, a shot he always takes in practice and in games, and he did what he does best and made the shot."

The triumphant moment for James was preceded by a scary one earlier in the fourth quarter when he collapsed to the floor after a collision with Boston's Daniel Theis. Play was stopped, and several teammates sprung from the bench to surround James as he laid down near the baseline, but it all looked worse than it actually was.

"I didn't have much breath left," James, who finished with 29 points, eight rebounds, nine assists and just two turnovers, explained afterward. "Got the wind knocked out of me; been a while since I felt that happen."

And it might have been even longer since the Lakers-Celtics rivalry felt so alive. Vogel said games like Sunday's will help his relatively new group, with players steeling themselves for their first playoff run together in the spring.

"The more that you're in that environment of a close game, of an intense game like that, I think everybody just gets a chance to grow together," Vogel said. "I mean, one of the weaknesses of our team is our continuity. We just haven't been in a lot of those situations as a group ... It's all been put together this year.

"I'm super impressed with our guys' ability to work together and still win games throughout the season. Each time we get into a close game like that, win or lose, you learn lessons, you get a better feel for each other that stuff is going to be beneficial for us in the playoffs."

And while the Lakers' win ended their regular-season series with Boston in a 1-1 tie, James allowed for the possibility of there being a postseason series awaiting the two foes.

"Just on the simple fact it's two teams that have aspirations of holding that trophy up at the end of the season," he said. "So we knew what we were getting ourselves into, they knew what they were getting themselves into and it was a great game for both of us."

The Milwaukee Bucks have clinched the earliest playoff berth in at least 15 years, according to the Elias Sports Bureau research. The postseason is not set to begin for another 55 days.

The Bucks clinched Sunday despite not playing because the Wizards lost to the Bulls.

Milwaukee is 48-8 as of Sunday night and on pace to win 70 games -- a feat only accomplished by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls (72 wins) and the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors (73 wins).

The Bucks' success this season has been buoyed by what is shaping up to be another MVP season from Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The "Greek Freak" is averaging 30 points, 13.6 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.1 blocks in just 30.9 minutes per game. His 32.49 player efficiency rating (PER) is the highest in history, according to basketball reference.