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KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Bubba Wallace won his second career NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday and denied the playoff field an automatic spot in the next round for the second straight week when he held off championship contenders Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell to prevail at Kansas Speedway.

Wallace, who is not among the 16 in the title hunt, got around Alex Bowman for the lead with 67 laps to go and then built a two-second lead over a parade of playoff drivers trying to earn a win and ensure their spot in the next round.

Hamlin was at the front of it. The co-owner with Michael Jordan of Wallace’s car at 23XI Racing managed to whittle about a tenth of a second off the No. 45’s lead over the closing laps. Hamlin ultimately ran out of time, and Wallace took the checkered flag in the same car that Kurt Busch won with at Kansas earlier this year.

“I knew Denny was going to be strong,” said Wallace, who stepped into the car while Busch deals with the effects of a concussion. “It’s cool to beat the boss, but it’s just cool to be lights out today and come away with the win.”

Bell finished third and Bowman fourth with playoff outsider Martin Truex Jr. in fifth. William Byron, Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney and Daniel Suarez — all in the playoff hunt — rounded out the top 10.

Bell clinched a spot in the next round of the playoffs on points. The other 11 spots are up for grabs heading to Bristol.

Wallace also won during last year’s playoffs at Talladega when he was likewise out of the title picture. And his win came after Erik Jones, who likewise missed out on the postseason, won a week ago at Darlington.

Wallace is the 18th driver to win this season.

“I was driving as hard as I could,” said Hamlin. “Nothing will ever come free when you’re driving for me. If you think I’m going to let you win, you better find another team.”

Kevin Harvick spent the week ruing an inferno that ruined his playoff opener and led to plenty of discussion on safety in the Next Gen car. But it was the aerodynamics of the car that ruined his Sunday and left his playoff hopes in peril.

The trouble began when Harvick was caught four wide shortly after a Lap 25 competition caution. Chastain drifted in front of him, took the air off Harvick’s nose and instantly made him loose. The three-time Kansas winner touched the wall out of Turn 4 and then hit hard again across the start-finish line, leaving him with heavy damage to the right side.

It’s the first time in a Cup career spanning 782 races that Harvick has failed to finish three straight races.

“It is what it is,” Harvick said. “We were racing to win anyway today, so that’s what we will do again next week.”

Tyler Reddick‘s brilliant weekend, which included his first pole on an oval, likewise ended in the first stage when his right rear tire went down. That sent his No. 8 sliding into the wall, breaking the upper control arm in the right front.

“We leave here with not a lot of points,” Reddick said, “so we’re going to fight hard at Bristol.”

Stage 2 was just as frustrating to playoff hopefuls. Many had problems on pit road, including Kyle Busch, who not only had a penalty for an uncontrolled tire but later spun into the grass and went a lap down. He finished 26th and dropped below the playoff cutline along with Harvick, Chase Briscoe and Austin Dillon.

Busch trails Reddick and Austin Cindric by two points heading to Bristol. Dillon is another point back.

Odds and ends

JTG Daugherty Racing learned that longtime team member JR Hollar died early Sunday. He was 57. The cause was not disclosed. … Ricky Stenhouse Jr. also had a right rear tire go down while running near the front, then Harrison Burton and Corey LaJoie wrecked on the restart.

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The final race in the round is Saturday night on the concrete at Bristol, where Kyle Busch won the Cup race on dirt in April.

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Collapse in Carolina: Isles blow lead, lose Game 2

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Collapse in Carolina: Isles blow lead, lose Game 2

The Carolina Hurricanes shocked the New York Islanders on Monday night, scoring the game-tying and winning goals just nine seconds apart in the third period, giving them a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference Round 1 series.

“This one’s long from over, but right now, this one hurts the gut,” Islanders captain Anders Lee said after the 5-3 loss in Raleigh, North Carolina.

With his team’s net empty, Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho deflected an Andrei Svechnikov pass to tie the game with 2:15 left in the third period, erasing a 3-0 lead the Islanders had built in the first 23:54 of the game.

“When you’re down three, it’s a once in a lifetime-type of game,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I’m just proud of the way they kept playing.”

Jordan Martinook gave Carolina the lead just nine seconds later, stealing the puck from defenseman Noah Dobson on the forecheck and tucking it behind Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov, who was looking in the opposite direction in anticipation of Dobson having moved the puck.

“The momentum of us tying the game and the energy that it sends … I don’t really know how to describe it,” Martinook said. “You have this juice that hits you.”

The Hurricanes set a new NHL record for the fastest game-tying and winning goals scored in the third period of a playoff game. It was the seventh time in NHL history that a team had tied and won the game in the final three minutes of a playoff game. Carolina was already on that list, having tied and beaten the New Jersey Devils in a conference quarterfinal game in 2009.

Teuvo Teravainen and Seth Jarvis had the goals before Aho’s, while Jake Guentzel added an empty netter to seal the win.

“We had a good start. We took a 3-0 lead,” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. “For some reason, we started losing those 1-on-1 battles. That was the biggest difference from the first half of the game to the second half.”

Carolina dominated possession against the Islanders, with a 110-to-28 advantage in shot attempts. That was never more evident than in the third period, when the Islanders were outshot 17-1.

“We have to be better there. We can’t just get a lead and try to hold on,” Dobson said. “They’re too good of a team for that. This stings right now. We’ve got to learn from it.”

Game 3 of the series is Thursday night at UBS Arena on Long Island.

“It’s a tough loss, no doubt about it. We had a chance to win that game,” Roy said. “But we’ve got to regroup, play well in our building and win game number three.”

The Hurricanes might be short-handed when the series shifts to New York. After the win, Brind’Amour addressed the lower-body injury that defenseman Brett Pesce suffered in the second period, saying it’s “not looking good,” and that the veteran was scheduled for further evaluation Tuesday.

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‘No second guesses’: Bruins start Ullmark, drop G2

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'No second guesses': Bruins start Ullmark, drop G2

BOSTON — On the heels of a 3-2 loss, coach Jim Montgomery stood behind his choice to start Linus Ullmark over Jeremy Swayman in Game 2 of the Boston Bruins‘ first-round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday night.

Ullmark, who finished with 30 stops, got the call in net even after Swayman was dominant making 35 saves for Boston in a 5-1 victory over the Leafs in Saturday’s Game 1.

“No second guesses,” Montgomery said. “He was terrific. Made multiple big-time saves.”

Montgomery had flat-out refused to name a starter leading up to Monday’s game while being peppered with questions about whether he’d keep the Bruins’ established rotation alive. Boston had strictly alternated between Swayman and Ullmark since February; Monday was the 28th straight game they’d employed the same tactic.

It just wasn’t something Montgomery was willing to comment on publicly, and the guessing game continued right until warmups of Game 2.

“I don’t know why we would divulge information,” Montgomery said earlier Monday. “If you’re preparing for a game, there are parts of a goaltender that are part of your pre-scout. So that’s an advantage for us, right? If [they] don’t know who’s starting.”

In the end, it was hard for Montgomery to go wrong. Ullmark is the NHL’s reigning Vezina Trophy winner, and both he and Swayman had strong stats in the regular season. Swayman was 25-10-8 with a .916 SV% and 2.53 GAA, while Ullmark was 22-10-7 with 2.57 GAA.

Swayman had been an obvious choice to tap in Game 1 given his 3-0-0 record against Toronto in the regular season. Ullmark was equally excellent in Game 2 and gave Boston every chance to take a commanding 2-0 lead over Toronto in the series.

The Bruins were in control early, taking a 2-1 over the Leafs after the first period with goals from Morgan Geekie and David Pastrnak. Boston would go down a defenseman in the second when Andrew Peeke exited, leaving the Bruins with a five-man rotation on the back end. Montgomery had no update on Peeke following the loss.

Toronto then tied the game with a power play goal from John Tavares in the middle frame to make it 2-2 heading into the third. The Leafs turned up the pressure there while Boston looked increasingly flat-footed, and Ullmark had to execute two exceptional glove saves — one in particular against Nick Robertson — to keep the score knotted.

It took Auston Matthews, the NHL’s Rocket Richard Trophy winner with 69 goals in the regular season, slipping behind Bruins’ defenseman Charlie McAvoy to finally beat Ullmark with a breakaway strike to give the Leafs a 3-2 advantage late in the third. It was the first time Toronto had led Boston in their past five meetings.

“There’s a reason he scored 69,” Ullmark said of Matthews’ winner. “[I’ll] try to get him next time.”

When that next opportunity comes for Ullmark, only Montgomery knows for sure. The series turns now to Toronto with Game 3 set for Wednesday. Montgomery’s focus isn’t immediately on who will be in the crease, but on improving how the Bruins play in front of whoever earns the next start.

“We’re not playing fast enough,” Montgomery said. “We’re slow in transition, which is not allowing us to possess pucks and not allowing us to get in on the forecheck well enough. I didn’t think our urgency was where it needed to be to prevail tonight.”

Maple Leafs forward William Nylander missed Game 2 with an undisclosed injury and has yet to appear in the series. While Toronto hasn’t revealed what Nylander is dealing with, it’s reported to have flared up for the winger sometime after the regular-season finale last Wednesday.

With the series tied 1-1, Game 3 is Wednesday in Toronto.

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Decertified agent, trying to rep MLB clients, denied

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Decertified agent, trying to rep MLB clients, denied

An arbitrator denied Rimas Sports’ request for a temporary restraining order that would have allowed its main baseball agent, William Arroyo, to continue representing clients while navigating an appeal of his decertification, according to a court document obtained by ESPN.

The decision was made by arbitrator Michael Gottesman on Friday. On Monday, the Major League Baseball Players’ Association made the procedural step of filing a motion with the Southern District of New York asking that the court uphold his decision.

Arroyo originally had his agent certification revoked on April 10 in the wake of an MLBPA investigation about improper benefits provided to players. Jonathan Miranda and Noah Assad, two prominent executives for the Bad Bunny-led agency, were also denied their applications for certification. Michael Velazquez, another certified agent who recently joined Rimas, must leave the agency by May 10 or face potential decertification, sources with knowledge of the situation said.

The MLBPA’s penalty against Rimas consists of a $400,000 fine and, according to sources, a five-year suspension for Arroyo. Additionally, the notice of discipline prevents Miranda and Assad from applying for agent certification for five years, sources said. If upheld, the ruling would essentially end Rimas Sports’ short-lived quest to represent baseball players in contract negotiations with major league teams. Rimas plans to file a full appeal of the decision through the American Arbitration Association by a May 10 deadline, sources familiar with the situation told ESPN. Spokespeople for the MLBPA and Rimas declined comment.

Within one week of Rimas’ official launch in mid-April 2023, the MLBPA received evidence the company had offered players cash and gifts to switch agencies, according to sources. Section 5 of the MLBPA’s agent regulations states that no agent “shall provide, cause to provide or promise to provide any money or any other thing of value to any player, or any person related to or associated with such player” for the purposes of persuading him to join or remain with an agency.

Bad Bunny, the world-famous Puerto Rican rapper and singer, launched the sports-management agency in April 2023 alongside his manager, Assad, who founded the independent record label Rimas Entertainment. Miranda was brought in as president. With the launch, Bad Bunny — the stage name of Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio — hoped to follow in the footstep of hip-hop icon Jay-Z, who launched Roc Nation’s sports-management division in 2013 and signed major clients across sports, such as the NBA’s LaMelo Ball, the NFL’s Saquon Barkley and MLB’s CC Sabathia.

Rimas Sports focused on young Latin American baseball players, bringing in New York Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez, Mets infield prospect Ronny Mauricio, Colorado Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar, Cincinnati Reds infielder Santiago Espinal and Los Angeles Dodgers catching prospect Diego Cartaya. Most of those players requested to be placed on the MLBPA’s Do Not Contact list, preventing other agents from recruiting them while Rimas’ standing is unsettled, a source said.

The company recently signed reigning National League MVP Ronald Acuna Jr. and is currently handling his marketing deals. The expectation, according to sources familiar with the situation, was that Rimas would eventually also represent Acuna in baseball matters. But the MLBPA’s investigation and subsequent penalties has cast that into serious doubt.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Jorge Castillo contributed to this report.

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