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Daytona Duels 2021: Austin Dillon wins Duel 2 at Daytona after downpour delay

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As racing continued at Daytona International Speedway following a two-hour-in addition to rain postpone Thursday night, there was a complete need to keep moving in the field for the Bluegreen Vacations Duel 2 at Daytona as the clock passed 12 PM.

While the Toyota contingent of Martin Truex Jr., Bubba Wallace and Kyle Busch pushed to the front on the restart with two laps staying in additional time, it was Austin Dillon – with an all around planned push from previous colleague Kevin Harvick – who mobilized to the front. Dillon dropped low on Wallace and afterward won the drag race to the checkered flag for his first career Duel victory – a simple .057-seconds over Wallace.

Dillon won leading the only two laps on the night, lap 33 and afterward the last lap (63). It was like what he did in winning the 2018 Daytona 500 in the popular Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevrolet when he drove just the last lap – completing a quarter-second in front of Wallace at that point, as well.

“I was talking to our spotter before the restart and he was like, ‘We’ve got the 4 (Harvick) behind us and he’s been pushing well all night.’ He had the 12 (Ryan Blaney in a Ford, like Harvick) so I knew the manufacturer thing was going to be tough,” Dillon said.

“I made a decent block on the backstretch and just a heckuva push through three and four. I knew Bubba was going to try and block, but I just whipped the wheel and it worked out well.”

The race denoted the presentation of Wallace’s 23XI Racing group, the No. 23 Toyota co-possessed by three-time Daytona 500 champ Denny Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan. Wallace was fourth quickest in shaft qualifying and wrapped sprinter up in the 2018 Daytona 500 – this is a setting where he is especially idealistic about conveying for the new activity.

“A lot of mistakes,” Wallace said after climbing out of his Toyota. “Good debut but nothing to be really happy about for myself. It’s OK for drivers to be hard on themselves, that’s how we motivate ourselves to go out there and be better.

“Hats off to my guys at 23XI for a great DoorDash Toyota Camry. I tried to do all I could to help (Martin) Truex there get Toyota a win. I appreciate Kyle (Busch) for cutting me a lot of breaks.

“I know I have a lot to learn here, but all in all it was a good night. I’ve got some learning to do.”

A five-car accident with four laps of regulation staying forced the extra time period. Garrett Smithley – who expected to race his way into the Daytona 500 field – connected with previous NASCAR Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski, setting off a chain-reaction accident.

Outside pole-sitter William Byron, who drove a race best 35 of the 63 laps, was additionally trapped in the scuffle and his Hendrick Motorsports group should utilize a back-up variant of his No. 24 Chevrolet in Sunday’s Daytona 500.

Harvick, a previous arrangement champion who won an arrangement high nine races a year ago, helped push his previous RCR partner Dillon to the front. He completed third, trailed by Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch and ruling NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott.

Veteran David Ragan completed eighth – best among the Open vehicles, expecting to procure a situation in the Daytona 500 field. Kaz Grala completed fourteenth and took the last vacant situation in the 40-vehicle field.

The NASCAR Cup Series will have two additional practices preceding the Daytona 500 – a couple of meetings on Saturday. The Daytona 500 is set for Sunday (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Multiple times already a victor from the Duel qualifying race has proceeded to win the Daytona 500. Denny Hamlin is attempting to win a record third continuous Daytona 500.

NASCAR Cup Series Race — Bluegreen Vacations Duel 2

Daytona International Speedway

Daytona Beach, Florida

Thursday, February 11, 2021

  1. (4) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 63.
  2. (2) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 63.
  3. (3) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 63.
  4. (8) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 63.
  5. (5) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 63.
  6. (9) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 63.
  7. (17) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 63.
  8. (6) David Ragan, Ford, 63.
  9. (7) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 63.
  10. (15) Chris Buescher, Ford, 63.
  11. (13) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 63.
  12. (14) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 63.
  13. (20) Joey Gase, Ford, 63.
  14. (10) Kaz Grala, Chevrolet, 63.
  15. (11) Chase Briscoe #, Ford, 61.
  16. (18) Garrett Smithley(i), Ford, 61.
  17. (21) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 59.
  18. (22) Noah Gragson(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 56.
  19. (1) William Byron, Chevrolet, Accident, 56.
  20. (12) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, Accident, 56.
  21. (16) Anthony Alfredo #, Ford, Accident, 35.
  22. (19) BJ McLeod(i), Ford, Accident, 35.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 158.071 mph.

Time of Race: 0 Hrs, 59 Mins, 47 Secs. Margin of Victory: .057 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 2 for 8 laps.

Lead Changes: 14 among 6 drivers.

Lap Leaders: B. Wallace 1;W. Byron 2-11;K. Harvick 12-15;B. Wallace 16-17;K. Harvick 18;W. Byron 19-32;A. Dillon 33;K. Harvick 34-37;R. Blaney 38-41;W. Byron 42-51;M. Truex Jr. 52-53;K. Harvick 54-55;M. Truex Jr. 56-62;A. Dillon 63.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): William Byron 3 times for 34 laps; Kevin Harvick 4 times for 11 laps; Martin Truex Jr. 2 times for 9 laps; Ryan Blaney 1 time for 4 laps; Bubba Wallace 2 times for 3 laps; Austin Dillon 2 times for 2 laps.

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Dodgers Unveil Plans for Friday Parade and Stadium Celebration

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The Dodgers announced Wednesday night that they would celebrate their World Series victory on Friday with a parade in Downtown Los Angeles and a special ticketed event at Dodger Stadium. The full broadcast of both tournaments will be available on AM 570, local television stations, and Spectrum SportsNet LA. Fans will not be able to attend both events due to scheduling conflicts, transportation, and logistical issues.

The parade will start at Gloria Molina Grand Park on Spring Street in front of City Hall at 11 a.m. PT. The procession will begin with an official kickoff by Mayor Karen Bass and go for 45 minutes from 1st Street to Grand Avenue to 5th Street, ending at the corner of 5th and Flower Street. Dodgers players will ride double-decker buses during the parade. Due to extensive street closures and a shortage of public parking, those who desire to join the parade are strongly recommended to use public transportation.

At around 12:15 p.m., a special ticketed event at Dodger Stadium will start after the procession. The stadium’s entrance gates will open at 9 a.m., and parking gates for attendees will open at 8:30 a.m. There will be food and merchandise for sale. Before the team arrives, there will be entertainment inside the stadium, including DodgerVision scoreboards that will show the parade. This event will be subject to all Dodger Stadium policies and procedures, including the reminder that signs, bags, and other objects that are prohibited by our policies are not allowed.

At 9:30 a.m., SportsNet LA and local networks CBS 2, NBC 4, KTLA 5, ABC 7, KCAL 9, and Fox 11 will start airing coverage of every event on Friday. On AM 570, there will be radio coverage.

The Los Angeles Dodger Foundation, which is working to address the most important issues confronting Los Angeles with a mission to enhance social justice, health care, education, and homelessness for all Angelenos, will get a part of the stadium event’s earnings.

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Tuten Leads the Hokies with 4 Touchdowns and 266 Running Yards in a Blowout Victory

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Thursday night, Virginia Tech defeated Boston College 42–21 thanks to a school record 266 yards and four touchdowns from Bhayshul Tuten.

For the Hokies (4-3, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), who scored touchdowns on their first three possessions and never trailed en way to a second straight victory, Kyron Drones added two rushing scores and a touchdown pass.

Tuten completed 18 carries while also scoring on 83 and 61-yard touchdown runs, the latter of which came with 8:28 remaining to win the game. And he caught a touchdown pass from Drones that was 20 yards in length.

Tuten declared, “Every game is a special game.” “That’s how I look at it. I just felt a little better today. We had a bye week. I felt great throughout practice. I took the knee brace off (for a sore knee). I felt fast, I felt good, I felt fluid. I just came out and balled today, and that’s what we needed.”

After trailing 28-0 at the half, Boston College (4-3, 1-2 ACC) got within 28-21 on a 5-yard run by Kye Robichaux with 2:55 remaining in the third quarter, and they were on the drive early in the fourth. However, Robichaux was stopped on a fourth-and-1 at midfield, and Virginia Tech took advantage of the next play. With 11:02 remaining, Tuten scored on a 6-yard run to give Virginia Tech a 35-21 lead.

“That’s a good team that we beat tonight,” stated Brent Pry, the coach of Virginia Tech. “And we beat them soundly.”

With his 266 rushing yards, Tuten eclipsed the previous school record of 253 established by Darren Evans in 2008 versus Maryland. After removing Tuten from the game because of his proximity to the record, the Virginia Tech coaching staff decided to put him back in to break it. During the Hokies’ last drive, Tuten set the record with a 17-yard run.

“I normally don’t like that, but a school record at a place like Tech with so many great running backs, and he was deserving with his performance,” Pry stated.

Drones completed 14 of 18 passes for 164 yards and ran for 40 yards. Drones scored on runs of 11 yards and 1 yard on the Hokies’ opening two possessions. The Hokies finished with a season-high 533 yards, trailing just Tuten and Drones.

The Eagles finished with 372 yards, led by Thomas Castellanos, who passed for 205 yards and two touchdowns.

“I felt really good about the preparation for the game,” Boston College head coach Bill O’Brien remarked. “Obviously, I was wrong. We’ve got to prepare differently, better, whatever it might be. We’ve got to figure it out. … We’ve got to coach better. We’ve got a good coaching staff. We do. We have a lot of experience. But we didn’t play well tonight, so that’s on the coaching. We’ve got to coach better and hopefully we’ll get it turned around.”

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Shohei Ohtani Gets Standing Ovation After Achieving 50-50 Milestone, Then Hits 52-52

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After securing the first 50-50 season in MLB history on Friday, Shohei Ohtani made a triumphant homecoming to Dodger Stadium. He continued doing what he does best after that.

The Los Angeles Dodgers player began the 52-52 club with a home run and a steal against the Colorado Rockies, after the teams reached 50-50 and 51-51 in the same game. In the fifth inning, Ohtani faced Rockies starter Kyle Freeland. He worked the count full before taking a pitch at his armpits to deep center field.

Few batters possess the ability to hit a pitch that high and blast it 423 feet in the opposite direction.

After a double and a single two innings later, Ohtani advanced to second base on Mookie Betts’ first pitch.

Ohtani broke Rickey Henderson’s record of 13 home runs in a single game set in 1986 by recording both a stolen base and a home run for the 14th time this season.

After going 9 for 10 with four home runs, two doubles, three steals, six runs, and 12 RBI in his last two games, Ohtani is now one home run behind Aaron Judge for the MLB lead. The majority of that output occurred on Thursday night against the Marlins, when Ohtani not only reached 50-50 with style, but he also had one of the best offensive outings in MLB history.

Ohtani combined an incredible season-long feat with the 16th 10-RBI game in MLB history in the same game that he hit his 49th, 50th, and 51st home runs of the year and stole his 50th and 51st bases. In addition, it was the first three-homer, two-steal game in MLB history, all on the anniversary of Ohtani’s unbelievable—that he didn’t have Tommy John surgery—on September 19, 2023.

The only downside of that magical night was that it happened on the road. Still, Ohtani received a curtain call at LoanDepot Park in Miami. Dodgers fans made an effort to show their support by giving him a standing ovation before his first at-bat on Friday, which earned him a wave in return.

Though it’s unclear how far into untested terrain Ohtani can go in homers and steals, he may have reached 50-50.

In addition, there’s the playoff issue. With eight games remaining, the 92-62 Dodgers have a four-game lead over the San Diego Padres for the NL West championship. They also secured their spot in the playoffs on Thursday. They’ll need to get beyond a string of pitching injuries if they hope to give Ohtani a ring, regardless of where they finish in his debut postseason.

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