ARAB TIMES, TUESDAY, MAY 4, 2021 SPORTS 14

Harvick overcomes tire mishap to fi nish 2nd, Keselowski 3rd Busch celebrates birthday with win at Kansas Speedway

KANSAS CITY, Kansas, May 3, Even after he was beaten by Busch (AP): Kyle Busch thought he had a on that late restart, he had another third-place car. His crew chief, Ben chance when Bell got sideways in Turn Beshore, though it was good enough 4 to bring out another caution. But on for second. the restart with two laps to go, Larson Both of them turned out to be wrong. got trapped behind Ryan Blaney and Instead, Busch was perfect on a wound up getting him sideways while pair of late restarts and won a two-lap trying to give him a push, taking both sprint to the fi nish at Kansas Speed- of them out of contention. way, becoming the 10th different win- “I planned on pushing Blaney as ner through the fi rst 11 races of a top- hard as I could,” Larson said, “and I sy-turvy NASCAR Cup Series season. guess I was pushing too hard.” On his 36th birthday, no less. It was nearly a perfect fi nish for his “We ran up front all day,” Busch team owner, Rick Hendrick, whose said. “Just trying to make adjustments late son Ricky won his only Truck all day long to get it where we wanted. Series race at Kansas in 2001. Just as The fi nal adjustments were a positive Larson did in winning at Las Vegas, for us. Didn’t necessarily take us from he was driving the red, white and blue a third-place car to a winning car but paint scheme that was nearly identical the restarts did.” to the one Hendrick drove 20 years Busch had stalked Kyle Larson all ago. afternoon before beating him on a late Ricky Hendrick died along with restart to take the lead. Then, after an- nine others in a plane crash on Oct 24, other caution in the closing laps, Busch 2004, near Martinsville, Virginia. followed up his Truck Series win Sat- Denny Hamlin, also searching for urday night by earning another trip to his fi rst win, had a similarly frustrat- victory lane. ing fi nish. He had taken the lead on a “That’s a Kyle Busch win right restart with 32 to go before Larson ap- there,” he said with a smile. plied pressure from behind and Ham- lin wound up slapping the wall to bring CAR RACING out a caution. “He’s had a bunch of seconds, but It’s his 17th straight season with a this is a long, hard season,” said Coy Ricky Stenhouse Junior’s car catches fi re after wrecking during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas, on win, tying David Pearson for second on Gibbs, the vice chairman and chief op- erating offi cer at Joe Gibbs Racing, who May 2. (AP) the all-time list and moving him within one of Richard Petty’s record streak. It remains confi dent that the fourth car in also was his fi rst with Beshore calling his stable will reach victory lane soon. the shots from the pit box, and it gives “I think it’s important to get on a roll Joe Gibbs Racing three drivers quali- and carry that into the playoffs,” Gibbs fi ed for the playoffs along with Martin said. “That’s kind of what we’re look- O’Ward gets 1st IndyCar victory Truex Jr and Christopher Bell. ing at.” “I felt like we were a second-place car to the 5 car all day, to be honest,” Beshore said. “Kyle just did an amaz- ing job on the last couple of restarts there, taking the lead and then keeping after big fi rst-lap crash in Texas it on the last couple.” Kevin Harvick overcame a tire mis- hap on a late pit stop and took advan- tage of some chaos on the fi nal restart Newgarden settles for 2nd place, Rahal fi nishes 3rd to fi nish second. Brad Keselowski dominated the early laps before fol- FORT WORTH, Texas, May 3, (AP): lowing his win at Talladega last week by fi nishing third, and Matt DiBened- Pato O’Ward felt calm while he en- etto and Chase Elliott rounded out the 14 Kyle Busch celebrates in Victory joyed the ride in the closing laps in Brown races to win in top fi ve. Lane after winning a NASCAR Cup Texas, getting his fi rst IndyCar Se- Larson led a race-high 132 laps be- Series auto race at Kansas Speed- ries victory at the track closest to the COMMERCE, Ga., May 3, (AP): Antron Brown these (Wally trophies), it’s just so special. fore his day ended in 19th place and way in Kansas City, Kansas, on became the winningest Top Fuel driver in At- “Atlanta has just been so special to all of us.” bitter disappointment. May 2. (AP) Mexican-born driver’s hometown. lanta Dragway history, racing his to Bob Tasca III in , Greg Anderson “It’s really cool to do it in a place that’s very victory in the Lucas Oil NHRA Southern Na- in and Scotty Pollacheck in Pro Stock close to my heart, is very close to home,” said tionals. Motorcycle also won their categories in the third Overworked and poorly paid O’Ward, whose win came four days before his Brown got his fi fth career win at the facility, event of the NHRA Camping World 22nd birthday. “It’s a great place to do it. A lot beating reigning champion Steve Torrence in the Series season. of my family was here, so it’s really cool to Tasca earned his second straight Funny Car win, beating 16-time champion . Tokyo Games need 500 nurses; share this moment with them.” DRAG RACING Anderson raced to his fi fth victory at Atlanta O’Ward passed with 23 laps to Dragway, and 96th of his career by topping Vin- go Sunday and stayed in front the rest of the way in fi nal round with his 3.752-second lap at 325.22 cent Nobile in the Pro Stock fi nal round. nurses say needs are elsewhere the No. 5 for Arrow McLaren SP. The organization mph. Torrence fi nished in 3.794 seconds at Pollacheck beat Matt Smith in Pro Stock Mo- will now follow through with a promise to let O’Ward 323.81 mph. torcycle with a run of 6.921 seconds at 198.35 TOKYO, May 3, (AP): Some nurses lympic athletes and thousands of other test a car at the end of this year. “That’s Rocky Balboa right there,” Brown said mph on his EBR. in Japan are incensed at a request from offi cials, judges, sponsors, media and The race was the second in as many days at Texas, of Torrence. “And I’m Apollo. To get this win, it The NHRA season resumes May 14-16 at the Tokyo Olympic organizers to have 500 broadcasters. and was marred by the IndyCar’s second fi rst-lap was truly remarkable. We just built on it every NGK NTK NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX of them dispatched to help out with the In a statement from the Japan Fed- crash of the season. lap. Any time you can do this and get one of Dragway in Concord, . games. They say they’re already near eration of Medical Workers’ Unions, Six cars were done before they reached the green the breaking point dealing with the secretary general Susumu Morita said fl ag, when Pietro Fittipaldi hit Sebastien Bourdais coronavirus pandemic. the focus should be on the pandemic, from behind, knocking the four-time open-wheel McLaren told him at the start of the season that Olympic offi cials have said they will he could test the F1 car this year if he won in In- not the Olympics. champion into . The cars of Ed need 10,000 medical workers to staff “We must defi nitely stop the pro- Jones, and also were de- dyCar. Moments after the win, Zak Brown, head of the games, and the request for more McLaren’s F1 team, tweeted “A deal’s a deal ‘@ posal to send as Olympic volunteers stroyed in the crash that happened as they approached nurses comes amid a new spike in the those nurses, tasked with protecting the the start-fi nish line for fi rst time. PatricioOWard’ – what a win! See you in Abu Dhabi virus with Tokyo and Osaka under a later this year!” fi ght against the serious coronavirus Daly, who was starting at the back of the 24-car state of emergency. pandemic,” Morita said. fi eld, got knocked upside down after he got caught O’Ward made a strong push on the fi nal restart “Beyond feeling anger, I was stunned with 30 laps to go, trailing Newgarden for several “I am extremely infuriated by the between two other cars. He skidded along the front at the insensitivity,” Mikito Ikeda, a insistence of pursuing the Olympics stretch before the car planted into the rain-saturated laps before going around him in Turn 3. nurse in Nagoya in central Japan, told “I feel like we truly earned our win today. I knew despite the risk to patients’ and nurses’ infi eld grass and fl ipped back onto its wheels. the Associated Press. “It shows how hu- health and lives.” we had a very, very, very quick car. It’s just very, man life is being taken lightly.” very tough to pass. And then everybody kind of got A protest message saying that nurses CAR RACING The appeal for more nurses is typi- were opposed to holding the Olympics boxed into the same strategy,” said O’Ward, adding cal of the impromptu changes coming that he never felt in a defensive mode. went viral on Japanese Twitter recent- almost daily as organizers and the In- ly, being retweeted hundreds of thou- The aeroscreen on Daly’s car protected him while Daly said he wasn’t really sure what happened at ternational Olympic Committee try to sands of times. the car was upside down. The aeroscreen likely saved the start of the race, and that everyone had started to pull off the games in the midst of a Ryan Hunter-Reay’s life in the season opener at Bar- accelerate before the accordion effect created chaos. pandemic. ber when it defl ected a tire away from his helmet in “It just takes one person when everybody is nose The Olympics are set to open in OLYMPICS another fi rst-lap crash. to tail,” he said. just under three months, entailing the “I’m good, I’m all right,” Daly said afterward. Fittipaldi, who at Texas ran his fi rst IndyCar races entry into Japan - where international Newgarden, who started sixth, said he noticed a “a since 2018, said the fi eld suddenly showed down Even before the pandemic, Japanese borders have been virtually sealed for nurses were overworked and poorly small checkup” somewhere in front of him. ahead of him and, “I had nowhere to go.” a year - of 15,000 Olympic and Para- “The smallest checkup can turn into a really big “Watching that, I’m glad Conor is OK, glad eve- paid compared with their counterparts effect down the line. And I think that’s what hap- rybody is OK,” Rossi said when viewing a replay. in the United States or Britain. pened today,” Newgarden said. “I was able to kind Rossi was critical of IndyCar setting the start by Nursing is not only physically tax- of adjust, but I think they probably overreacted in the points rather than qualifying on speed, particularly ing but also emotionally draining, back. It’s unfortunate. ... It can get really tricky at with the early Sunday evening start and teams sitting said Ikeda, who has been a nurse for the back.” idle most of the day. It put cars of varying speeds 10 years. He said many nurses worry The two-day show in Texas concluded an exhaust- throughout the fi eld, a factor in the crash as the cars about getting infected themselves, with ing stretch of four races over three weekends to open tried to get up to speed heading to the green fl ag. vaccination rates in Japan reported at the season before going to Indianapolis for the rest of was able to keep racing despite some only 1-2%. Pato O’Ward holds the trophy as he celebrates “It’s hard for any hospital to go May. The road course race there is May 15, with the his victory at an IndyCar Series auto race at hard contact. had issues after driv- Indianapolis 500 on May 30. ing through the fray, and completed only 30 laps be- without even one nurse, and they want Texas Motor Speedway on May 2, in Fort Worth, 500,” Ikeda said. “Why do they think Newgarden fi nished 1.2443 seconds behind Texas. (AP) tween several extended stops before parking the car O’Ward, giving a 1-2 fi nish and its fi rst for good. that’s even possible?” victory this season. It was the fi rst IndyCar win for Scott McLaughlin second. Dixon’s fi fth win at Texas Foyt’s team had worked late into the night to re- Deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Chevy by a non- driver since 2016. was No. 51 for his career overall, moving within one build the No. 14 Chevrolet for Bourdais after he was In this March 8, 2021 fi le photo, a Japan have just passed 10,000. was third, in front of of Mario Andretti for the second-most behind A.J. hit from behind by Newgarden only 56 laps into Sat- nurse receives the fi rst dose of the The British Medical Journal last and . Foyt’s 67. urday’s race. Bourdais was running sixth then when Pfi zer COVID-19 vaccine at Fujita month said that Japan should “reconsid- Dixon led 163 of 248 laps Sunday at the 1-1/2-mile O’Ward, who grew up at times in San Antonio, he spun and the car backed hard into the outside wall. Health University Hospital in Toy- er” holding the Olympics, arguing that oval after being in front for 206 of 212 laps Saturday Texas, won in his 26th IndyCar start and second full Both Foyt cars (the other being Kellett) were in the oake, Aichi prefecture, central Ja- “international mass gathering events ... night in a 1-2 fi nish of New Zealanders, with rookie season. opening crash Sunday. pan. (AP) are still neither safe nor secure.”