Busch barely makes finish in OT win at Talladega
TALLADEGA, Ala. — Running low on fuel and unsure he could make it to the end of a double-overtime finish, Kyle Busch and his new Richard Childress Racing team debated their late-race Talladega Superspeedway strategy.
If he stopped for a splash of gas, Busch would surrender valuable track position and essentially concede any chance at racing for Sunday’s win.
Not stopping meant he’d be at the front of the field for the final restart, but with zero guarantee he had enough gas to complete two laps or challenge for the victory. As the debate raged, crew chief Randall Burnett called Busch in for fuel at the last second.
“Too late,” replied Busch, who couldn’t make the pit road entrance when he finally received the message.
The gamble and miscommunication paid off when Busch won under caution and in double overtime for his second win of the season and second at Talladega — 15 years after his other victory on NASCAR’s biggest and fastest track.
“In my own mind, I was like there’s no way you come to pit road and just throw away your day. Like, your day is done,” Busch said. “So I was just like, ‘Why not just take the chance?’ And so he said, ‘Pit, pit, pit’ and it was too late, anyway.
“But also, I wouldn’t have anyway. I would have just taken the chance and said, ‘You know what? Roll the dice. Let’s go.'”
Busch, who spent 15 years driving for Joe Gibbs Racing before an offseason move to Richard Childress Racing, gave car owner Childress his 13th victory at Talladega. The bulk of those wins came from the late Dale Earnhardt, but Childress had last won at Talladega with Clint Bowyer in 2011.
Childress entered the postrace news conference carrying an open bottle of champagne from his vineyard.
“I think my stomach was in knots, but not as bad as the crew chief,” Childress said. “Kyle said, ‘Look, we done made this deal, we done made our decision, let’s ride it out no matter what.’ He just stayed out. We were on the border of running out of fuel. I was just holding my breath. It wasn’t going to be fun if we run out of fuel.
“But Talladega has been so great to RC. I raced here in 1969. One of the biggest breaks I got. I left here with about $1,500, $2,000, thought I’d never have to work again. Here I am still racing.”
Busch won under caution when Bubba Wallace surged into the lead but tried to block good friend Ryan Blaney three times — and the third block caused the race-ending wreck.
“Sometimes you’ve got to be lucky. Some of these races come down to that,” Busch said. “You’ve got to take them when they come to your way.”
NASCAR had to examine the final finishing order as Busch celebrated at the finish line. There were 57 lead changes.
Blaney for Team Penske was scored second and seemed frustrated with Wallace’s blocks.
“In my mind you kind of triple move like that, triple block, and you can’t block three times,” Blaney said. “Runs are just so big, and as the leader with Bubba, he’s trying to block which is the right thing to do, but I think he kind of moved three times. You don’t really get a lot of those. I’ve got to go somewhere.”
Wallace, who had team owner Michael Jordan watching from his pit stand, accepted responsibility.
“Close, close, close block,” he said. “Not [Blaney’s] fault. I honestly thought that he would leave me high and dry coming back around. Hate it I caused that one. Man, I thought it would play out a little different, obviously not getting wrecked.”
Chase Briscoe from Stewart-Haas Racing was third, followed by Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski of RFK Racing as Ford drivers were second through fifth.
Erik Jones of Legacy Motor Club was sixth in a Chevrolet, followed by William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports and finally Christopher Bell, the highest-finishing Toyota driver, at eighth.
The race was fairly clean and the first multicar accident didn’t occur until 48 laps remaining when Noah Gragson ran into the back of Harrison Burton, the leader at the time, to trigger a five-car crash.
The next caution was with five laps remaining when Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. gave Corey LaJoie a big push that rammed Lajoie into Joey Logano and sent Logano spinning into the wall.
That sent the race to its first overtime, which was an immediate disaster.
Ross Chastain shoved his car into the middle for a third lane and his car bounced off Gragson, who hit the wall to trigger the crash. Kyle Larson was knocked into the grass and his car shot back into the middle of traffic for a full-contact hit of Ryan Preece.
“Definitely probably one of the hardest hits that I’ve ever taken in my racing career,” said Preece, whose visor on his helmet was knocked open with the hit.
Larson said he was fortunate he was not injured.
“Thankfully, I’m OK,” Larson said. “My car is absolutely destroyed. The cockpit’s a mess.”
That seventh caution sent Kevin Harvick, pole sitter Denny Hamlin and Chastain to pit road for fuel to ensure they could compete in second overtime. When the race went green, it was Ty Gibbs who was out of gas and he immediately pulled out of line. Busch surged into the lead. Wallace briefly pushed ahead until he was spun by Blaney, and Busch got his second win of the season.
NASCAR races next Sunday at Dover International Speedway. Chase Elliott is the defending race winner.
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Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff Writer
On the penultimate day of the regular season, the New York Yankees and Pittsburgh Pirates met on a cloudy afternoon at Yankee Stadium for a game of little consequence. The Yankees had already clinched the American League East title. The last-place Pirates were 24 hours from another long offseason.
But the game featured an intriguing matchup within the matchup: two starting pitchers with vastly different backgrounds and histories who happened to be leading contenders for the Rookie of the Year Award in their respective leagues to the mound opposite each other.
For the Pirates: Paul Skenes, the hyped generational talent 14 months removed from college. For the Yankees: Luis Gil, a 26-year-old revelation two-plus years removed from Tommy John surgery.
Nearly two months after that meeting, the two right-handers were recognized Monday as the best rookies in their leagues. Skenes was voted the National League’s Rookie of the Year, beating out a loaded field headlined by outfielders Jackson Merrill and Jackson Chourio after posting one of the best rookie seasons for a pitcher in major league history. Gil edged out teammate and catcher Austin Wells and Baltimore Orioles outfielder Colton Cowser to win the award in the American League in a tight race.
Skenes, who debuted less than a year after being selected with the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft, surpassed expectations in his first taste of the big leagues to become the second Rookie of the Year award winner in Pirates history (Jason Bay, 2004) with 23 of the 30 first-place votes. With the honor, he earned a full year of service time despite not being called up to the majors until May, making him eligible for free agency after the 2029 season.
“Our goal, first and foremost, was to make all my starts,” said Skenes, a former two-way star at Air Force who became a full-time pitcher his junior season at LSU in 2023. “And then, beyond that, it was basically to see the best version of me that I can be out there. So I felt very good about that this year. Stayed healthy and felt really good the entire year. And then the results, I think, speak for themselves.”
Skenes, 22, went 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA in 23 starts across 133 innings. His 1.96 ERA was the lowest for any rookie with at least 20 starts in the live ball era, dating to 1920, and the lowest in baseball in 2024 among pitchers with at least 130 innings pitched. His 0.95 WHIP was tied for best in the National League. His 170 strikeouts were a franchise rookie record. His 4.3 fWAR ranked 10th among major league pitchers. With the performance, he was selected one of the three finalists for the NL Cy Young Award along with veterans Chris Sale and Zack Wheeler. That winner will be announced Wednesday.
On Monday, Merrill finished second with the other seven first-place votes and Chourio in third. Merrill, a shortstop in the minors through last season, was the San Diego Padres‘ starting center fielder on Opening Day at just 20 years old. He excelled in all facets, finishing the season with a .292/.326/.500 slash line, 24 home runs, 90 RBIs and 16 steals in 156 games while playing above-average defense. His 5.3 fWAR led all rookies.
Chourio, who doesn’t turn 21 until March, signed an $82 million extension last offseason before making his major league debut and, after a slow start, lived up to the investment. Chourio went on a tear after carrying a .201 batting average and .575 OPS through June 1, batting .305 with 16 home runs and an .888 OPS over his final 97 games.
In the American League, Gil tallied 15 of the 30 first-place votes, narrowly topping Cowser, who finished with 13 first-place votes and five points behind Gil. Oakland A’s closer Mason Miller and Cleveland Guardians reliever Cade Smith each earned one first-place vote. The five-point differential marks the second-closest election in an AL Rookie of the Year race since the three-player ballot was introduced in 2003.
“I was focused on having a good year, on helping the team win as much as I could and being focused on my career,” Gil said.
Gil entered spring training an afterthought in the Yankees’ plan, slated to start the season in the minors after being sent to minor league camp in early March. The Yankees had their starting rotation set. Gil had electric stuff but command was a concern and he logged only four innings in A-ball in 2023 after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2022. Then Gerrit Cole, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, was shut down because of an elbow injury shortly thereafter, opening a spot for Gil. He did not relinquish it.
Gil went 15-7 with a 3.50 ERA in 29 starts. He led all AL rookies in wins, innings pitched (151⅔) and strikeouts (171). His 1.82 ERA through 12 starts helped the Yankees navigate the club’s 2½ months without Cole to start the season and solidified his place in the rotation for the remainder of the season. He gave up one or fewer hits in five outings, tied for the most by a rookie since the mound was moved to 60 feet, six inches in 1893, according to ESPN Research. He didn’t giver up an earned run in six of his starts, the most by a Yankees rookie since 1913.
Signed by the Minnesota Twins out of the Dominican Republic in 2015 and traded to the Yankees three years later, Gil is the 10th Yankees player to win the honor. He is the first Yankee to win it since Aaron Judge in 2017 and the first Yankees pitcher since Dave Righetti in 1981. He is the fifth Dominican-born player to win the award.
“He worked so hard to put himself in a strong position heading into spring training after coming back from Tommy John surgery,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said in a statement. “Without a guarantee of a major-league spot, he absolutely kicked in the door this spring and went on to have a phenomenal rookie season. Luis continued to mature and develop all year and was one of the pillars of our rotation.”
Unlike Gil, there was little doubt Skenes was a major league-caliber pitcher out of spring training, but the Pirates chose to not include him on their Opening Day roster. The rationale was simple: Skenes logged just 6⅔ innings as a pro in 2023 after he accumulated 122⅔ innings for LSU. So Skenes was sent to Triple-A for more seasoning and dominated on a limited workload. In seven starts, Skenes posted a 0.99 ERA with 45 strikeouts across 27⅓ innings.
Finally, on May 11, Skenes made his major league debut against the Chicago Cubs. He gave up three runs with seven strikeouts over four innings. He would give up three or more earned runs only twice more over his final 22 starts.
His first 11 outings were so dominant (1.90 ERA, 89 strikeouts to 13 walks in 66⅓ innings and seven no-hit innings in his final start of the first half against the Milwaukee Brewers) that he was named the starting pitcher for the NL All-Star team, setting the stage for an electric first inning in Arlington, Texas, against four of the sport’s best hitters. Skenes, the fifth rookie to ever start the exhibition, threw 16 pitches to Steven Kwan, Gunnar Henderson, Juan Soto and Aaron Judge. He walked Soto in an otherwise clean inning. He touched 100 mph and showcased his splinker — a splitter-sinker hybrid. The sequence, like every one of his starts, was must-watch television.
He pitched into the ninth inning for the first time as a pro in his first start after the All-Star Game, taking a hard-luck 2-1 loss against the St. Louis Cardinals after giving up a run in the ninth. But Pittsburgh, despite adding players at the trade deadline, fell out of the wild-card race down the stretch.
The Pirates, cautious to not overwork Skenes, had him pitch on extra rest — either five or six days — in all of his starts. But he logged at least six innings in 16 of his 23 starts. He threw at least 100 pitches in nine of them. He closed his season strong, giving up only two runs in five September starts. His final outing was brief but spectacular: Two perfect innings at Yankee Stadium, one of the sport’s grandest stages, opposite one of his most talented peers.
The goal next year? To pitch deeper into games more often from Opening Day.
“I think just being able to stay out there for seven or eight innings rather than five or six innings every outing, that’s going to be the biggest thing,” Skenes said. “We’re starting with the end in mind. We’re going to figure out how to do that.”
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Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
UMass has fired coach Don Brown, ending his second stint leading the program and the third overall, with two games to play this season.
Brown went 6-28 at UMass over the past two-plus seasons. He went 43-19 there from 2004 to 2008, reaching an FCS national championship game and a national quarterfinal. Brown, who grew up in the state, also served as UMass’ defensive coordinator in 1998 and 1999.
“I am extremely grateful to Coach Brown for returning to UMass three years ago to help us build back a program he once coached to a national title game,” athletic director Ryan Bamford said in a statement. “Don should have immense pride in the outstanding contributions he has made to advance Massachusetts football during his three stops in Amherst.”
Offensive coordinator Shane Montgomery will serve as UMass’ interim coach for the final two games, this week at No. 12 Georgia and then at home against UConn. Montgomery is the former head coach at Miami (Ohio).
Brown, 69, came to UMass after spending the 2021 season as defensive coordinator at Arizona. He also held coordinator roles at Michigan, Boston College, UConn, Maryland and other stops, spending much of his career in New England.
Bamford credited Brown for helping UMass, an FBS independent, earn conference membership again, as the school will begin play in the MAC in 2025.
Brown also was head coach at Northeastern (27-20) and Plymouth State (25-6).
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