A Sports Filled Weekend It Was

This couldn’t have been any better for Monster Energy, the new sponsor of NASCAR’s championship racing series.

The driver sponsored by Monster, Kurt Busch, won the Daytona 500 on Sunday with a daring pass on the final lap.

There were a ton of wrecks and that only encouraged Busch to take more chances.

“The more that I’ve run this race, the more that I just throw caution to the wind, let it rip and just elbows out. That’s what we did,” Busch said.

Monster, of course, is an energy drink. How fitting that Chase Elliott, who seemed in prime position to win the race, Kyle Larson, who also led, Martin Truex Jr. and Paul Menard all ran out of gas.

GOLF: Rickie Fowler hadn’t won a tournament since September of 2015 but he did not fade dwn the stretch of the Honda Classic. A couple of consecutive birdie putts boosted his lead from one stroke to three and he won by four over Gary Woodland and Morgan Hoffman, who tied for second.

“I didn’t play great,” said Fowler, who played the final round at 1-over 71 because of bogeys on the final holes. “It wasn’t a pretty round. But we got the job done. A win is a win.”

College Basketball: The last undefeated team in Division I was defeated on Saturday night. No. 1 Gonzaga fell 79-71 at home to BYU, possibly jeopardizing its status as one of the top four seeds in the NCAA Tournament. In other Saturday upsets, Miami put the clamps on No. 10 Duke 55-50 and Iowa State beat stumbling No. 9 Baylor 72-69. On Sunday, Michigan State dumped No. 16 Wisconsin 84-74.

Elsewhere: Deontay Wilder successfully defended his heavyweight boxing title for the fifth time, knocking out Gerald Washington in the fifth round Saturday night. Wilder is 38-0 with 37 KOs…Manny Pacquiao says he will defend his welterweight title against Amir Khan on April 23…The Tampa Bay Lightning traded goalie Ben Bishop to the Los Angeles Kings… LeBron James (strep throat) missed Saturday night’s game against the Chicago Bulls, which the Cleveland Cavaliers lost 117-99. They’re 0-4 this season without King James.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman