SONOMA, Calif. — Kyle Larson celebrated NASCAR approving his participation in the playoffs with his third Cup victory of the season — a Sunday win at his home track.
The victory for Larson, who grew up 80 miles away from Sonoma Raceway in Elk Grove, was his second on the rolling road course in picturesque wine country. It is the fifth win on a road course for NASCAR’s 2021 Cup champion and moved him to the top of the current series standings.
He wasn’t entirely sure how he got to victory lane after coming out of the pits in eighth after his final service stop of the race with less than 30 laps remaining. He had to drive his way to the front and didn’t regain the lead until eight laps remaining.
“I didn’t know what we were doing as far as strategy. I was just out there banging laps away,” Larson said. “I don’t know, we study all the strategy, but it’s like doing homework: I don’t really know what I’m looking at.
“So I was like, ‘Well, man, these guys are going to have to pit another time, maybe?’ Then we said we had to go race and pass these guys, I got a bit nervous.”
Despite his early season dominance, it took until Tuesday of this week for NASCAR to grant Larson the waiver he needed to compete in this year’s playoffs because he missed the Coca-Cola 600 last month. Larson became the fifth driver to attempt to run the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s longest race of the season on the same day, but rain in both Indiana and North Carolina ruined the attempt.
The Indy 500 was delayed four hours by rain, which forced Larson to miss the start of the Coca-Cola 600. By the time he arrived in North Carolina, the race had been stopped for rain there, never resumed and Larson never turned a lap. Because of that, it took NASCAR a week of internal debate to decide if one of its biggest stars would be given the pass required to remain eligible for playoff participation.
His win at Sonoma only showed how foolish NASCAR would have looked had it ruled against the Hendrick Motorsports driver.
Larson led 19 of the 110 laps and passed defending race winner Martin Truex Jr. with eight laps remaining to uphold the win in his No. 5 Chevrolet. It is his 20th win since joining Hendrick in 2021 which ranks third in the organization behind Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson.
Truex was going to finish second in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing but ran out of gas before he reached the finish line. He was scored 27th as a pair of tow trucks followed him to the finish.
That gave second to Michael McDowell in a Ford for Front Row Motorsports. Chris Buescher was third in a Ford for RFK Racing and Chase Elliott of Hendrick was fourth. He was followed by Ross Chastain of Trackhouse, who had last-lap contact with Kyle Busch that dropped Busch from fifth to 17th.
Hamlin out early
Denny Hamlin, the Cup Series points leader at the start of the race, had his day come to an abrupt end just two laps into the event when his Toyota engine failed, sending him to a last-place finish at Sonoma for the second consecutive year.
Hamlin said he had zero warning the engine was about to blow. He started 25th and was 29th when his engine failed.
“No. Nothing. It’s just the gearing is a little weird for the track,” Hamlin said. “It’s a lot of high-end RPM stuff, but the same as everyone else and I’m just not really sure. They’ll look at it and figure it out, but certainly not ideal.”
Hamlin, who was scored with a 38th-place finish, has finished outside the top 30 at Sonoma for three consecutive years.
It wasn’t much better for Ty Gibbs, his teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, who hit the wall 16 laps into the race and finished just one spot better than Hamlin in 37th.
“I just made a mistake and took us out of this day,” Gibbs said.
Up next
NASCAR takes the Cup Series to Iowa Speedway for the first time in track history.
NASCAR began using the track in 2006 for lower level series and then some national series events in 2009, but never the Cup. NASCAR stopped using the track after the 2019 season.
IndyCar made the track an annual stop in 2007 and has been there every year since except 2021.
ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the L.A. Rams for ESPN from 2016 to 2018 and the L.A. Angels for MLB.com from 2012 to 2016.
NORTH PORT, Fla. — Ronald Acuña Jr. met with the Atlanta Braves’ medical staff on the afternoon of May 26 and burst into tears when he was told he had suffered a complete tear of the ACL in his left knee. But by the time his Venezuela-based trainer, Juan Aular, heard from him later that night, Acuña was composed. He had accepted his fate, taken comfort in knowing precisely what to expect and was convinced a better version of himself was waiting on the other side. “We’re gonna do this again,” Acuña told Aular, the man who guided him through the torn ACL on his right knee less than three years earlier. “We’re gonna win MVP again.”
Said Aular: “I got goosebumps.”
Acuña tore his ACL for the first time in 2021, so when Aular saw the clip of him crumbling to the ground last year in Pittsburgh, he worried that the thought of another arduous rehab might crush the player. That initial phone call provided encouragement. And as they began to train together again this winter, Aular noticed a vastly different Acuña from the last rehab. He was more mature, more focused, but he was also grappling with his identity like never before. Acuña initially declared he would no longer steal bases, and Aular spent the better part of 10 weeks convincing him he didn’t have to take it that far.
They worked on stabilization and changing direction, but also on shaping mindset. Changing his style of play was unnecessary, Aular repeatedly told Acuña. Toning down his level of intensity might actually be dangerous. He simply needed to pick his spots. The first ACL tear happened while Acuña sprinted toward the warning track and attempted to make a leaping catch near the fence. But the second was the result of unnecessarily forcing action, attempting to steal third base in the first inning of an early-season game, then hurting himself while changing direction and retreating to second.
“He needs to learn how to play to the situation in the game,” Aular said in Spanish. “That is what’s key for Ronald.”
Acuña, 27, has played seven seasons in the major leagues but has only been fully healthy for two of them. In the first, 2019, he hit 41 homers, stole 37 bases, posted an .883 OPS and finished fifth in National League MVP voting as a 21-year-old. In his second, 2023, he put together the first 40/70 season in major league history and was a unanimous choice for MVP.
Acuña emerged from that year looking like the best, most electrifying player in the sport — outside of Shohei Ohtani, perhaps — but there’s no telling what he’ll look like coming off a second major knee operation. Acuña believes the combination of good health and more seasoning will make for “an even better player than I was in 2023.” He’s also striving to be slightly different.
“I’d rather steal 30 and play the whole season as opposed to trying to steal 70, injuring myself and missing the whole year,” Acuña said in Spanish.
But striking the proper balance between aggression and control can often be difficult on players, and Acuña’s attempt seems especially delicate. What the Braves want most is to have him healthy, but they also know the best version of him plays with a hint of reckless abandon. They don’t want to lose Acuña, but they also don’t want him to lose himself.
They’re hoping time will help.
The Braves haven’t announced a return date for Acuña, but if all goes well, he is expected to rejoin their lineup at some point in May. By then, his rehab will have lasted about 12 months, two more than the last time. His return won’t come with any artificial restraints, either. He’ll play his customary position of right field when he starts, as opposed to getting rest days at designated hitter, and will maintain a green light on the bases. Any limits will be self-imposed.
“We’re gonna make sure when he’s back, he’s full go, and that he can be himself and play the game he plays,” Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos said. “He’s very competitive, he’s a tremendous base-stealer, and we’re not gonna have any restrictions on him at all.”
Anthopoulos has heard talk about Acuña’s desire to be more cautious on the bases, though he hasn’t heard that from Acuña himself.
His response: “I’ll believe it when I see it.
“And I don’t mean that in a bad way,” Anthopoulos added. “He’s just such a good base-stealer. From a medical standpoint, if he’s cleared and he’s fine, I think he’ll find a sweet spot that makes sense for him. But we haven’t told him anything specifically. Once he’s back, the plan is that he’s back with no restrictions.”
Anthopoulos noticed Acuña being more “apprehensive and tentative” in the outfield when he returned from a nine-and-a-half-month rehab in 2022. There was fear of a repeat incident, but Acuña also hadn’t spent enough time strengthening his lower half. Intermittent off days were needed to combat continual discomfort. Acuña didn’t feel as if he had a strong enough base, and his numbers — a .764 OPS and 15 homers while being caught stealing an NL-worst 11 times in 119 games — showed it.
That shouldn’t be the case this time.
Said Aular: “He’s much stronger now.”
Acuña spent June, July, August and most of September navigating through the initial stages of his rehab at Elite OrthoSport, the Los Angeles-based training facility recommended by his surgeon, Dr. Neal ElAttrache. Aular then trained Acuña in his hometown of La Sabana from the middle of November until the end of January. The Braves’ training staff sent a detailed plan, and the two followed it six days a week, in five-hour sessions, taking off only on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve.
By January, Acuña said he’d started to feel like himself again. Once spring training began, he dazzled teammates continually with prodigious home runs during batting practice. At times it seemed as if he never left.
“He just looks like himself,” Braves center fielder Michael Harris II said. “Still having fun, still being a goofball, still hitting balls over the scoreboard.”
Acuña is a naturally gifted runner, having starred as a 400-meter sprinter during his early teenage years. As he rose through the Braves’ system, he racked up 82 stolen bases in 265 minor league games. He followed with 196 steals in the majors from 2018 to 2024 — second-most in the sport despite missing 30% of the games in that stretch. Stealing bases has always been a major part of Acuña’s identity. Few seem convinced he will let up, even if just a little.
“I don’t think he’ll ever give it up,” Braves first baseman Matt Olson said with a laugh. “It’s the player he is. Yeah, you can choose when you run and stuff, but I bet once he gets back out there, he gets his legs under him, back into playing speed, he’s gonna be the same ol’ Ronald.”
The Braves had their string of six consecutive division titles snapped last season, winning 89 games and just barely sneaking into the playoffs. The New York Mets have since added Juan Soto, and the Philadelphia Phillies continue to be a force, but the Braves will be getting their two best players back: Spencer Strider, who succumbed to elbow surgery after only two starts last spring, should return to the top of the rotation before the end of April; Acuña will return to the top of the lineup shortly thereafter.
Acuña won’t play in any Grapefruit League games, but he has been taking at-bats against Braves pitchers to hone in on his timing. Soon, he’ll be cleared for cutting drills. A rehab assignment will soon follow. The reality of playing actual baseball games again has noticeably lifted his spirits.
“You appreciate things more when you have something like that happen,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “You realize how blessed you are to have this opportunity to play this game.”
Asked what he learned having gone through this process before, Acuña said, “Patience. Not getting too anxious.”
He hopes he’ll be better for it.
“I know the type of player I can be,” Acuña said. “I still don’t feel like I’ve gotten to, like, my prime-prime. The most important thing is health.”
NEW YORK — Calgary forward Connor Zary was suspended two games without pay Thursday for elbowing Vancouver defenseman Elias Pettersson during the Canucks’ 4-3 shootout victory over the Flames.
Zary, 23, was assessed a minor penalty for interference on the play at 11:19 of the first period Wednesday night. The suspension will cost him $8,993 in salary.
After Pettersson knocked Calgary center Nazem Kadri off his skates just as Kadri unloaded the puck and crossed the blue line, Zary retaliated with a blindside hit that led to the penalty.
Pettersson had the tying goal with 6:44 remaining in regulation and scored in the first round of the shootout. Conor Garland added the winner in the fourth round of the shootout.
New Jersey Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton will miss the remainder of the regular season and “possibly” the playoffs due to a lower-body injury, general manager Tom Fitzgerald said.
When pressed if Hamilton could return if the Devils reach the second round of the postseason, Fitzgerald wasn’t too optimistic on Wednesday.
“We’re not planning on it, how’s that?” Fitzgerald said during an appearance on the “Krackin’ Canuckleheads” podcast.
Hamilton has been sidelined since he was tangled up with Stars forward Mason Marchment in the first period of a 4-3 loss to Dallas on March 4.
Hamilton, 31, has 40 points (nine goals, 31 assists) in 63 games this season. He is competing in the fourth campaign of his seven-year, $63 million contract.