Sports
NASCAR wants to race again in Southern California, but when will it happen?
NASCAR won’t visit Southern California next year and there’s no certainty when the stock-car racing series will return with construction on a new track in unincorporated San Bernardino County slowed.
NASCAR, which moved its 2025 season-opening event from the Coliseum to Winston-Salem, N.C., after three years, had hoped to race in Fontana next year, but the planned half-mile oval track being built on the site of the Auto Club Speedway won’t be completed in time — and there’s no timeline for when it will be done.
“What that looks like in the future remains to be seen,” Ben Kennedy, NASCAR’s executive vice-president and chief venue & racing information officer, said when the 2025 schedule was released this year. “Unfortunately we weren’t able to have it on the 2025 schedule, but bullish about getting it back on the schedule.”
With the exception of 2021, when the schedule was hampered by the pandemic, NASCAR has run at least one race in Southern California every year since 1997, when the Fontana superspeedway opened on the site of the old Kaiser steel mill.
“It’s a massive market for us,” Kennedy added. “No. 2 in terms of the quantity of NASCAR fans, a huge media market for us. Strategically it makes a lot of sense for us to be in Southern California.”
The absence of the race also will take a bite out of the local economy. The UC Riverside Center for Economic Forecasting and Development, which was shuttered last year, estimated that the NASCAR race had an economic impact of $148.7 million in its last survey in 2017. Adjusted for inflation, that would be nearly $192 million today.
The two-mile, low-banked, D-shaped oval drew 85,000 fans for its first NASCAR event, but when the series added a second annual race at the track in 2004, attendance fell and in 2014, the grandstands were reconfigured to lower capacity to 68,000. NASCAR did not release attendance figures for its final race at the track last year but said it was sold out.
Ten days after that race, NASCAR sold 433 of the 522 acres of the track’s footprint to Ross Perot Jr.’s Dallas-based Hillwood Development company and CBRE Investment Management for approximately $569 million, reported to be a record price for an industrial land deal. The site will be converted into a logistics facility and industrial park with 6.6 million square feet of warehousing spacing, with NASCAR retaining ownership of approximately 90 acres for a planned half-mile short track.
The main grandstands, front straight, pit road and pit road suites, which are all that remain of the old raceway, are to be incorporated into the new racing venue. But definitive plans on what the track will look like have not been released.
Construction began at the site last year with the build time on the track estimated at between 12 and 18 months. That timeline has proved overly optimistic.
“We have no updates on that effort at this time,” James Fuller, a spokesman for Hillwood and the Perot Group, said last month. In the meantime, traffic around the site on Cherry Avenue, sandwiched between the 10 and 210 freeways, has snarled.
NASCAR has been looking to transition part of its racing series from large superspeedways to half-mile oval tracks like the ones at Bristol, Tenn., Martinsville, Va., and North Wilkesboro, N.C. The resized Fontana facility is part of that transition.
“Our goal is really to be in Southern California long term,” Kennedy said. “We’ve continued to work on our plans for Fontana. We have a number of different configurations and variations the team has been working on for what that track might look like [and] what are the other activities that could happen on that parcel of land that we have there.”
In the meantime, NASCAR is looking at other opportunities in Southern California, Kennedy said, with reports last spring saying the possibilities of a street race in San Diego were being explored.
The headwinds appear to be pushing the other way, however. It was recently announced that the Irwindale Speedway, home to a variety of lower-tier NASCAR racing series for a quarter-century, will host its final race on Dec. 21.
IDS Real Estate, which bought the site in 2022, plans to bulldoze the track and build an industrial park in its place.
Sports
Conor McGregor’s long-awaited Octagon return cut short by apparent knee injury seconds into UFC 329
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Nearly five years after his last walk to the Octagon, Conor McGregor made his long-awaited UFC return Saturday night against fellow MMA star Max Holloway in the main event of UFC 329 in Las Vegas.
McGregor opened aggressively, attempting a running kick before throwing a head kick moments later. He appeared to slip on both tries. Holloway quickly capitalized after the second, taking top position and landing a right hand before McGregor was able to work his way back to his feet.
Moments later, McGregor hit the canvas again after trying to throw a kick with his right leg, which appeared to buckle underneath him.
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Conor McGregor of Ireland participates in the walkout before facing Max Holloway of the United States in their welterweight bout during UFC 329 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. (Ian Maule/Getty Images)
The official inside the Octagon waved off the fight moments later, giving Holloway a TKO victory.
During the broadcast, UFC CEO Dana White pointed to a first-round replay that appeared to show the moment McGregor suffered the injury. The apparent injury was not to the same leg McGregor broke during his 2021 fight against Dustin Poirier, which led to a lengthy absence from the Octagon.
The loss extended McGregor’s long winless drought, with his last UFC victory coming by first-round TKO against Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in January 2020.
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McGregor earned a unanimous decision over Holloway in a featherweight clash in 2013, when neither was an MMA megastar. In the blink of an eye, McGregor’s star rose.
Conor McGregor and Max Holloway face off during the UFC 329 ceremonial weigh-in at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on July 10, 2026. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
On Wednesday, he admitted he got caught up in his own stardom after winning UFC belts in two weight classes and becoming one of the biggest names in combat sports.
“I launched an Irish whiskey,” McGregor said. “I didn’t drink heavily, if at all, at that time of my life. I was an athlete at the top of my game. Next thing you know, thousands upon thousands of bottles (are) in my garage.
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“‘Sell this, Conor.’ OK, I’d leave my property with two bottles under my arm, and that was it. I was caught. And I wasn’t used to it. And that’s it. God gave me these lessons. That’s it. I was trapped and caught, and it is what it is.”
Conor McGregor jumps into the air for a kick as he fights Max Holloway in a welterweight bout at UFC 329 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (John Locher/AP)
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Easier said than done, perhaps, as the controversial former champion has been embroiled in multiple controversies and legal issues over the past several years.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
LAS VEGAS — The door opened for Arthur Kaluma to show his worth for the Lakers in the NBA Summer League on Saturday night.
He did so in a big way.
Kaluma had 34 points and five rebounds during the Lakers’ 91-70 win over the Dallas Mavericks at the Thomas & Mack Center.
He was 11 for 16 from the field and six for 10 from three-point range.
With Lakers rookie guard Cameron Carr unable to play because of a right thumb contusion, Kaluma took over the scoring role. Carr, the 24th pick in the NBA draft, is averaging 17 points per game.
“Cam doesn’t play tonight, so he gets a little bit more minutes, gets a couple more touches,” said Lakers Summer League coach Ty Abbott about Kaluma. “But he’s done a really good job of making the most of it when he doesn’t have actions run for him. So the way that he’s been able to stay ready, find windows for himself has kept him in a rhythm. So, on a night like tonight, when we can run some actions for him, he knocks them down and just plays out of his mind. It was great.”
Kaluma said he was “a little nervous” but his three-point shooting said otherwise.
“When [teammate] Jon Elmore came down and he pitched it back to me for a three … I just knew when it came off my hand it was cash,” Kaluma said. “So I said, ‘Yeah, I’m hot.’ It went on from there.”
Late in the fourth quarter, Kaluma lined up a three-pointer, setting his feet and scoring from 29 feet out. He flashed three fingers and smiled. His teammates on the bench stood and cheered, as did the fans.
“We have such a great group of guys this year at Summer League and going through this it’s hard to get that camaraderie with a group,” Kaluma said. “But I feel like everybody wants to see everybody succeed and I felt that tonight. I’m not going to lie to you. They tell me to shoot the ball. I passed up a couple of shots and they were mad at me the other day.”
Kaluma played for the South Bay Lakers in the G League last season. He averaged 14.6 points per game, 4.9 rebounds and shot 55% from the field, 37% from three-point range.
“The G can get grimey, you know what I’m saying? It’s a time where everybody is trying to fight for a position and there is a certain hunger that you have to have in order to be successful in the G,” Kaluma said. “And I feel like that drive that I had my first year in it pushed me into this summer to really get better and work on my game and come here and have the opportunity to perform.”
Kaluma wasn’t alone in helping the Lakers improve to 2-0 in Summer League play.
Adou Thiero ran the court, took a lob pass from Chris Mañon and threw down a two-handed dunk. He had another solid outing with 15 points and four rebounds. He shot just four for 12 from the field, but was a plus-15.
But the night belonged to Kaluma.
“I pride myself on the defensive end,” he said. “I know I got hot offensively, but the shot was just falling today, you know what I’m saying? My game is three-and-D. I lock-up on defense and I know I can hit open shots. I just got hot today and I’m not going to try to let it get to my head.”
Sports
Golf star records lowest round in LPGA major history with astounding performance at Evian Championship
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There are good days on the golf course, and then there is what Haeran Ryu just did on Saturday.
Ryu, 25, recorded the lowest round in LPGA major history on Saturday with an 11-under 60 at the Evian Championship. With the South Korean golfer’s historic round, she holds a three-stroke lead.
Ryu’s round comes just two weeks after winning her first major at the Women’s PGA Championship. On the 18th hole, Ryu left a 30-foot eagle putt a few inches short, and instead settled for a birdie.
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Haeran Ryu of South Korea reacts on the 18th green after the third round of The Amundi Evian Championship at Evian Resort Golf Club in Evian-les-Bains, France, on July 11, 2026. (Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
She said after the round that she had no idea what she had done until she counted up her scorecard.
“But after the putt and I counted my score with my caddie,” she said. “Oh my God, it’s 11-under par today. It was so amazing. My caddie says, ‘Yep.’ I’m so happy right now.”
If Ryu had made the eagle putt on the 18th hole, she would have been just the second player to shoot a 59 in LPGA history.
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Haeran Ryu of South Korea celebrates a birdie on the 15th green during the third round of The Amundi Evian Championship at Evian Resort Golf Club on July 11, 2026, in Evian-les-Bains, France. (Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
Her 60 broke the record for the lowest round in an LPGA major by one shot. Leona Maguire and Jeungeun Lee6 in 2021, and Hyo Joo Kim in 2014, each shot 61 at the Evian Championship, which was designated as an LPGA major in 2013.
The lowest round in a men’s major is 62, which is shared by four players — Branden Grace at Royal Birkdale in the 2017 British Open, Xander Schauffele and Rickie Fowler in the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club, and Schauffele and Shane Lowry in the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla.
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Haeran Ryu of South Korea and Lottie Woad of England interact after their round on the 18th green during the third round of the Amundi Evian Championship at Evian Resort Golf Club in Evian-les-Bains, France, on July 11, 2026. (Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
Ryu hopes her historic third round can help propel her to a second major win in three weeks.
“That is amazing, amazing dream,” Ryu said. “So I just want that one to come true, but we have one more day.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Lakers’ Arthur Kaluma erupts for 34 points in breakout Summer League performance
