NASCAR’s preseason Clash race is rolling back to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 2023. NASCAR said Sunday it will return the exhibition race to the Southern California sports landmark next season. The Clash’s highly successful debut there four months ago was part of the launch of NASCAR’s Next Gen car and NASCAR received some of its most positive reviews in years for the race. The Clash took place on a temporary 0.25-mile track inside the venerable Coliseum. Joey Logano won the exhibition, which included a halftime show by Ice Cube as part of a six-hour entertainment extravaganza that pleased both the teams, sponsors, and fans. “It was really an easy decision to come back for 2023 after the success of this year,” NASCAR executive Ben Kennedy said before the Cup Series race at Sonoma. “A ton of fans came out for that event. A lot of first-time fans. A lot of young fans. You saw the USC student section, and it was packed. Really just a fun day overall.” The upcoming race likely will take place shortly after the 100th birthday of the Coliseum, which opened in January 1923. The asphalt on the short temporary oval on the Coliseum field held together well in the first edition, and crews were able to quickly fix any damage to the walls from the tight racing in close quarters. The first 43 editions of the Clash had been held at Daytona International Speedway from its inception in 1979, but NASCAR relocated it to the West Coast in a bid for excitement and attention in an eye-catching venue. NASCAR hadn’t raced in a traditional sports stadium since 1956 at Chicago’s Soldier Field. The Coliseum, which has hosted two Olympics and the first Super Bowl, is still the home of the USC Trojans football team. The arena also hosted the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams until they moved into SoFi Stadium in 2020.
Newgarden captures $1 million bonus
Josef Newgarden earned a $1 million bonus for winning at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis., where his third win of the season completed a trifecta of victories on IndyCar’s different circuits. Newgarden won on the oval at Texas and the street course in Long Beach this season. The reward for Sunday’s victory was a $1 million payout from The PeopleReady Force for Good Challenge, which split the bonus between Team Penske and charities of Newgarden’s choice. It was the first year of the challenge and was won before the halfway point of the IndyCar season; Newgarden is the only driver with multiple wins through eight of 17 races. Newgarden beat Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson of Chip Ganassi Racing by 3.371-seconds following two late restarts, but Ericsson reclaimed the points lead with the runner-up finish. It’s the seventh time the points lead has changed hands this season . . . Max Verstappen extended his Formula One championship lead by winning the Azerbaijan Grand Prix — his fifth victory of the season — following yet another early retirement by Charles Leclerc. Leclerc started from pole, immediately lost the lead in the first corner to Sergio Pérez, then used smart strategy to cycle his Ferrari back to the front. Leclerc seemed poised to challenge for the win, but the Monaco driver’s car started spewing smoke on Lap 20 of 51 and he had to pull into the pits as his engine had failed . . . Toyota won the 24 Hours Le Mans in the classic endurance race for the fifth straight time in another dominant performance. New Zealander Brendan Hartley had clinched pole position and was at the wheel as Toyota Gazoo’s No. 8 completed the race in sunny and warm conditions, with teammates Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa watching from the team garage. American Josh Pierson became the youngest driver to participate at 16 years old, 188 days. Pierson drove 97 laps as he shared duties on the United Autosports USA team with Oliver Jarvis and Alex Lynn, finishing sixth in the LM P2 category.
BASEBALL
Notre Dame upsets Oklahoma on way to College World Series
Freshman Jack Findlay threw five shutout innings in relief and back-to-back home runs by David LaManna and Jack Brannigan in the seventh sparked Notre Dame (40-15) to a stunning 7-3 victory over No. 1 overall seed Tennessee in the championship game of the Knoxville Super Regional for their first College World Series appearance in 20 years. The CWS begins Friday in Omaha, Neb. . . . Stanford roughed up Connecticut ace Austin Peterson for seven runs in 1⅓ innings and forced a deciding Game 3 Monday with an 8-2 victory. Ryan Bruno and Quinn Mathews held UConn to one hit over five shutout innings of relief . . . Tanner Tredaway hit two solo home runs and two doubles, Cade Horton pitched six strong innings, and Oklahoma rolled to an 11-2 victory over Virginia Tech on Sunday to win the Blacksburg (Va.) Super Regional and advance to the CWS. Oklahoma (41-22) will open against No. 5 overall seed Texas A&M in the double-elimination portion of the CWS. The Sooners will be making their 11th appearance, winning the event in 1951 and 1994 . . . Hunter Elliott struck out 10 in 7⅓ shutout innings as Mississippi (37-22) won the Hattiesburg Super Regional with a 5-0 victory to advance to the CWS for the first time in eight years . . . Eighth-inning home runs by Jeter Downs and Jarren Duran lifted Worcester over host Buffalo, 4-3, in Triple A action at Sahlen Field . . . In Double A play, Tyler Hill’s seventh-inning grand slam power Hartford over Portland, 6-3, completing a six-game sweep by the Yard Goats at Hadlock Field.
TENNIS
Shades of Wimbledon in Matteo Berrettini’s win
Matteo Berrettini showed signs of recapturing the form which took him to the Wimbledon final last year as he beat Andy Murray, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, to win the Stuttgart (Germany) Open in his first tournament for three months. Berrettini hadn’t played since Indian Wells in March because of a hand injury which forced him to miss the entire clay-court swing and, in Murray, faced an opponent whose own injury issues hampered him in the deciding set. Murray collided with one of the players’ seats at courtside in the first point of the decider and called for treatment on his left leg and hip. He took another timeout when he appeared to indicate a problem with his abdominal muscles at 4-2 down . . . Beatriz Haddad Maia captured her first WTA title by winning the Nottingham (England) Open thanks to a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 victory over Alison Riske. Haddad Maia beat top-seeded Maria Sakkari on the way to the final and became the first Brazilian title winner on the WTA tour since Teliana Pereira in 2015. In the men’s event, top-seeded Dan Evans beat third-seeded Jordan Thompson, 6-4, 6-4, in the final to win the title for the second time, after his victory here in 2019.
BASKETBALL
Ionescu makes history in defeat
Courtney Vandersloot hit a 3-pointer from the wing with 0.9 seconds left to help the Chicago Sky overcome Sabrina Ionescu’s second career triple-double and beat the host New York Liberty, 88-86. Vandersloot finished with 20 points, 10 assists, and 6 rebounds for the Sky (9-4), who have won five of six. Ionescu finished with 27 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 assists. It still wasn’t enough for New York (5-9). “I don’t care about triple doubles, we lost, I’m really bummed about that,” said Ionescu, who tied the WNBA record for triple-doubles with her second; there have only been 13 triple-doubles in WNBA history. Ionescu, who scored 13 points in the fourth quarter, joined Candace Parker, Vandersloot, and Sheryl Swoopes as the only players to have two triple-doubles in their WNBA careers.