Diez: Reddick survives chaos, wins in front of owner Jordan

The NASCAR Cup race at Talladega was remarkably clean, with just a couple of minor pile-ups — until the last lap. Michael McDowell, who had started on the pole and led a race-high 36 laps, crashed while leading, causing the “big one.” McDowell was desperately trying to block both lanes when a radical move turned him sideways in front of the whole field. Tyler Reddick went high and avoided the melee, taking the win ahead of Brad Keselowski who scored his second runner-up finish in a row. Reddick’s car owner, basketball legend Michael Jordan, was on hand to celebrate with the team, his first time at the track to witness a 23XI victory.

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Out west, the NTT IndyCar series was at Long Beach, perhaps its most famous venue after the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Wily veteran Scott Dixon used his considerable skills to save fuel while holding off challenges from Will Power and Colton Herta. Dixon is decidedly the best driver in the series at saving fuel while still turning top lap times. Herta hung on for second ahead of Dixon’s Ganassi Racing teammate Alex Palou in third. Josef Newgarden was fourth with Marcus Ericsson rounding out the top five.

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Red Bull driver and reigning Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen got off to a slow start in last week’s Chinese Grand Prix, qualifying only fourth for the first sprint race of the season. But halfway through the sprint event his car came right, and he passed Lewis Hamilton for the lead. And that was it for the rest of the weekend. Verstappen won the sprint race by 13.04 seconds, went on to qualify on pole for the Grand Prix, and won the race with a 13.77-second margin of victory. McLaren’s Lando Norris managed to split the Red Bulls to take second, his best finish of the year. Formula  1 is back in action next weekend in Miami.

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This weekend, NASCAR races on the Monster Mile at Dover, Del. It’s a fast, one-mile, high-banked,  concrete oval that’s one of the most brutal tracks the series races on. Martin Truex Jr. leads the pack with four Dover wins, including last year. Kyle Busch has three, Chase Elliott two, and one-race winners are Alex Bowman, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, and Brad Keselowski. As usual, Larson is favored 9-2 in the opening odds, with Truex at 13-2. William Byron, Ross Chastain, and Hamlin share 15-2 odds with Christopher Bell at 10-1. Elliott is 11-1, Ryan Blaney and Ty Gibbs 13-1, and Bowman 16-1. Talladega winner Reddick shares 19-1 odds with Busch while Joey Logano and Chris Buescher are 20-1. FS1 will carry all the weekend’s racing action, with Cup qualifying at 8:30 a.m. Saturday followed by the BetRivers 200 for the Xfinity series at 10:30 a.m. Sunday’s Wurth 400 airs at 11 a.m.

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NTT IndyCar is at Barber Motorsports Park for the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix. Team Penske drivers have won seven of the 13 races held there and the team really needs a win this weekend. An example of the Penske “unfair advantage” was discovered in a technical inspection at Long Beach. A software anomaly in the team’s push to pass system allowed using push to pass on starts and restarts. An investigation led to Joseph Newgarden’s disqualification and loss of the win at the St. Petersburg season-opener. Team President Tim Cindric said the change was made during hybrid testing and mistakenly not removed. Scott McLaughlin was also disqualified from the St. Pete race and Will Power lost 10 championship points. Peacock will air Saturday’s qualifications 12:30 p.m. Peacock and NBC will broadcast Sunday’s race at 10 a.m.