Josh Berry raced to the first Cup Series victory of his career, taking NASCAR’s oldest team to victory lane Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Berry, in his first season driving the famed No. 21 for Wood Brothers Racing, had the first victory for a Ford team through five races this season. William Byron opened the year with a Daytona 500 victory in a Chevrolet and Christopher Bell in a Toyota won the next three races.

Berry, meanwhile, had to run down Daniel Suarez following a restart with 19 laps remaining to take control. Although Harrison Burton won at Daytona last summer for the Wood Brothers, Berry’s victory is the first not at a superspeedway since Ryan Blaney won for the team in 2017 at Pocono.

It was the 101st victory for the organization spanning 20 drivers.

Suarez in a Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing finished second, followed by Ryan Preece in a Ford for RFK Racing. Byron was fourth for Hendrick Motorsports, followed by Ross Chastain of Trackhouse, Austin Cindric of Team Penske and Alex Bowman of Hendrick.

AJ Allmendinger of Kaulig Racing was eighth and Hendrick drivers Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott rounded out the top 10.

Joey Logano had late control of the race until Las Vegas native Noah Gragson hit the wall with 25 laps remaining to bring out the ninth caution of the race. Berry was in second when the caution came out and second behind Suarez on the restart.

Berry won in his 53rd Cup race and just his fifth race with the Wood Brothers, the team that signed him when Stewart-Haas Racing shuttered at the end of last season.

McLaren’s Lando Norris won a chaotic rain-affected Australian Grand Prix, his first victory at Albert Park, with the British driver just managing to stay ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen following a third safety car late in Sunday’s season-opening Formula 1 race in Melbourne.

Lewis Hamilton had a miserable Ferrari debut. The seven-time champion finished 10th and was annoyed by constant radio messages from his pit team.

Verstappen finished 0.895 behind Norris after starting from third on the grid, and took advantage of Piastri’s misfortune and the final safety car and tire stops. Mercedes’ George Russell closed out the top-three.

NHL

Quinton Byfield scored at 3:20 of overtime, Darcy Kuemper made 24 saves for his second straight shutout and the Kings beat the Nashville Predators 1-0 late Saturday night in L.A. for their fifth victory in a row.

Byfield ran his goals streak to six games, beating goalie Justus Annunen off a cross-crease pass from Adrian Kempe.

Kuemper, coming off a 3-0 home victory over Washington, has four shutouts this season and 35 overall.

Alex Ovechkin scored his 887th career goal Saturday to move within eight of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record and the Washington Capitals beat the San Jose Sharks 5-1.

Ovechkin deflected a shot from Martin Fehervary past Georgi Romanov with 9:06 remaining in the third period. Romanov is the NHL-record 182nd goalie that Ovechkin has scored on.

The 39-year-old Russian star has 34 goals on the season. He remains on pace before the end of this season to pass Gretzky’s mark of 894 that long seemed unapproachable before the end of this season.

Ovechkin also had an assist on Dylan Strome’s game-opening goal to help Washington win for the sixth time in seven games.

NFL

The Rams agreed to one-year contracts with reserve running back/special teams mainstay Ronnie Rivers and defensive lineman Larrell Murchison, the team announced Sunday.

The San Francisco 49ers traded running back Jordan Mason to Minnesota in exchange for a 2026 sixth-round pick.

HORSE RACING

Trainer Richard Baltas’ fifth win in the past eight runnings of the Santa Ana Stakes was a surprise as Lady Claypoole and jockey Tiago Pereira rallied from last on the far outside to win at 11-1 odds Saturday at Santa Anita.

A 5-year-old mare bred in Ireland, Lady Claypoole ($25.40) won her third race in a row and first at the stakes level, taking the $100,000, Grade III Santa Ana by 2 1/2 lengths over Mrs. Astor, with Starry Heavens third and heavy favorite Kathynmarissa fading to fifth in a field of seven fillies and mares.

The 1 1/4-mile race, starting on the turf hillside, was clocked in 2:01.40, the slowest of six runnings of the Santa Ana at this distance.

Baltas won the Santa Ana with favorites Goodyearforroses in 2017, Madam Dancealot in 2018 and Elysea’s World in 2019 and second betting choice Going to Vegas in 2021. The Santa Ana wasn’t run in 2020.

“She has been getting good,” Baltas said of Lady Claypoole in a TV interview. “(Pereira) gets her to settle. He’s (given) three perfect rides. You have to give a lot of credit to him.”

— Kevin Modesti

BASEBALL

Joey Gallow, a two-time All-Star and two-time Gold Glove outfielder, is planning to try pitching after he was released by the Chicago White Sox.

Gallo went 2 for 20 in nine Cactus League games with Chicago in spring training, striking out 11 times.

After his release, Gallo, 31, posted on social media that he was done with the outfield and he was going to start pitching.

Gallo hit .161 with 10 homers, 27 RBIs and 102 strikeouts in 223 at-bats with Washington last season. Gallo’s $8 million mutual option was declined by the Nationals in November.

Chicago also announced that Sean Burke will start its March 27 opener at home against the Angels. The 25-year-old right-hander made his big league debut in September, going 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA in three starts and one relief appearance with the White Sox.

Framber Valdez will start for the Houston Astros on opening day, Manager Joe Espada said Sunday.

The left-hander will face the New York Mets on March 27 as he makes his fourth consecutive opening-day start. The 31-year-old Valdez went 15-7 with a 2.91 ERA in 28 starts for the AL West champions last year. He finished seventh in balloting for the AL Cy Young Award.