Mar 3, 2018 4 min read

Larson wins Xfinity Series race at Vegas

Kyle Larson looks ready to make another memorable West Coast swing after kicking it off with another NASCAR Xfinity Series win.

Larson overcame strong wind and two late restarts Saturday to earn his ninth career Xfinity victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The 25-year-old Californian earned his first win on the 1 1/2-mile track in Vegas, where he finished second in both the Xfinity and Cup series races last year.

Larson claimed the lead on the opening lap and eventually led 142 of the 200 laps in his Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. He avoided any late-race fuel trouble when Ryan Reed blew a tire with 16 laps to go, allowing him to gas up for the final push.

Rookie Christopher Bell finished second in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, and Justin Allgaier was third. Ryan Blaney, the pole-sitter for Sunday’s Monster Energy Cup series race, came in fourth ahead of Elliott Sadler in fifth.

In golf

Florida teenager Nelly Korda shot a third-round 7-under 65 Saturday to take a one-stroke lead at the LPGA Tour’s Women’s World Championship after Danielle Kang made her first bogeys of the tournament to slip back into second place.

Korda had eight birdies and one bogey as she finished on 15-under 201 heading into the final round at the Sentosa Golf Club.

• Steve Stricker lost the Cologuard Classic lead when he drove into the water on the par-5 18th in a closing double bogey.

A year after losing a chance to win the event in his PGA Tour Champions debut when his 3-wood went left into the water on the final hole, Stricker did it again Saturday.

Stricker ended up with a 3-under 70, leaving him a stroke behind Tommy Tolles with a round left on Omni Tucson National’s Catalina Course. Tolles saved par on 18 for a 70 after following Stricker into the water

Tolles had an 11-under 135 total.

Scott Dunlap, tied for the first-round lead with Tolles, was tied with Stricker at 10 under after a 71.

W&J divers

compete at regionals

Washington & Jefferson’s Kaitlyn Pawcio and Theo Skoric each competed in the one- and three-meter events at the 2018 NCAA Division III Diving Regionals hosted by Ithaca College.

In her third consecutive trip to the regionals, Pawcio posted a 21st-place finish in both the events over the weekend and scored 40 points or better in two rounds on the one-meter board.

Skoric also also competed on both boards, placing 18th in the three-meter event Friday and finishing 17th at one-meter Saturday in his second appearance at the regionals. Like Pawcio, Skoric finished in the top 10 in three rounds over the weekend and had three scores total more than 48 points.

In the NBA

Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith has refused to say what led him to throw a bowl of soup at assistant coach Damon Jones.

Nor does he remember what kind of soup he flung.

Smith sat out Thursday night’s loss against Philadelphia after the Cavs imposed a one-game ban for detrimental conduct. Following Saturday’s shootaround, Smith said “nothing” when asked what he could share about the soup tossing.

Smith said he spoke to his teammates about it and “everybody seemed cool.”

His outburst led to a storm on social media Friday as Twitter filled with posts about him and his possible soup choice.

Smith said “some of them were actually pretty funny. I understand that everything I do is going to have a meme or whatever behind it. That’s just part of the day and age we live in.”