Month: March 2026

St. Petersburg, Fla. — Mick Schumacher’s INDYCAR debut was over after three turns. The former Formula 1 driver saw Sting Ray Robb and Santino Ferrucci locked up ahead of him and he had nowhere to go as they slammed into a tire barrier in the opening lap Sunday of the season-opening St. Petersburg Grand Prix. Schumacher’s car ended up on top of the rear of Ferrucci’s car, ending both of their days. Robb was able to continue but was issued a 30-second penalty for avoidable contact. [MORE MICK: Inside Schumacher’s Prep for Rookie INDYCAR Season] The 26-year-old former Formula 1 driver was disappointed but philosophical after his last-place finish. “That’s racing,” Schumacher told me and other reporters outside the INDYCAR medical unit. “So it’s very unfortunate. As a team, we’re really needed that race to kind of get everything sorted and not have doubts going into the next event. “But hey, we’ve got 16 or 17 more races to go. It’s just the first one. It’s just the start of it. And I’m very excited for the rest of the season.” Schumacher said he saw Ferrucci lock up and just had no time to react. “Sting Ray seemed like he went a little deeper than what’s supposed to be and that kind of chain-reactioned the whole scenario” Schumacher said. “Unfortunately, our real target was to finish the race, get all the laps in. We got even less than that. So very unfortunate.” Although Schumacher had started 21st in the 25-car field, his Rahal Letterman Lanigan team seemed pleased with his weekend up to the start of the race. He didn’t get a clean lap in qualifying, something that can be difficult to manage. The tough part for Schumacher — son of seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher — is now he heads to the March 7 race at Phoenix Raceway, a 1-mile oval. He has never competed on an oval in any form of motorsports. Schumacher has had tests at the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway and Phoenix in the last month. “I’m still happy all the knowledge that we gained throughout this weekend, and things we can definitely take forwards and take it to Phoenix,” Schumacher said. “I’m looking ahead, not looking back, going to try to understand what we could have done better on our end. [ST. PETE HIGHLIGHTS: Alex Palou Begins Year With a Win] “Qualifying maybe being one of them — we were blocked, [in qualifying] so we kind of lost our bit of a momentum and kind of being in a better pack. When you’re starting in the back, things end up being quite difficult and tough anyways, but I think this just made it extra difficult for us.” Robb told me he didn’t really know what happened but agreed with the penalty that he could have avoided the situation. “I deserved it, I think,” Robb said. “I’m sorry to the 47 crew [of Schumacher], the 14 crew [of Ferrucci]. It’s just one of those days where it’s a shame to be a part of it. … Lap 1 – you’ve got to get through. We didn’t.” Ferrucci was frustrated that his day ended and Robb was able to continue. “We all sit around and talk about it at driver intros — it’s taking easy Lap 1,” Ferrucci told me and other reporters. “And for whatever reason, there’s a few of us that do that, and then there’s a couple of us that just forget where the brake zone is. “It’s a bummer.” Ferrucci and Schumacher know the one thing they potentially could have done came well before Sunday. “For us, the key takeaway here is qualify higher up,” Schumacher said. “Simple as that.” Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Meet the orchestrator of UCLA’s dominance: Kiki Rice The women’s college basketball season is ramping up with high-stakes games every night and the NCAA Tournament just around the corner. In those key regular-season games, March Madness stars introduce themselves to the nation with magical moments and Cinderella runs. We’re teaching you about them before they become national heroes. Ahead of No. 2 UCLA facing rival USC on Sunday afternoon (at 6 p.m. ET on FS1), let us help you get to know Rice: 1. Player Build Rice is a 5-foot-11 point guard who plays with patience, always seeking to make the right decision. She averages 15.3 points, 4.5 assists and 6.3 rebounds  per game. 2. Loyal Soldier In an era defined by transfers, Rice has played all four seasons at UCLA, staying with the program when it went to the Big Ten in 2024 and helping it develop into a national contender. She has also started 130 of 133 total games, showing that she was ready for the spotlight as a freshman 3. Power Couple Rice’s boyfriend is NBA champion and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Cason Wallace. Rice proved she knows all there is to know about Wallace’s basketball career in a viral TikTok video. In the video, Rice also says she beats Wallace one-on-one every time and that he would hope to have her driving ability, while she wants his defensive prowess. 4. Documentary Star Rice appeared on “Full Court Press,” a 2024 docuseries highlighting her, Caitlin Clark and Kamilla Cardoso’s journeys through women’s basketball. 5. Making Waves Rice became the first women’s college basketball player with a personal edition shoe on the Jordan Brand. She debuted them during UCLA’s game against Maryland last season. The shoes are a beautiful blue because, Rice said, of her love for the ocean and UCLA.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

The Minnesota Vikings appear set to undergo a roster overhaul that could see them bring in a veteran quarterback to compete with J.J. McCarthy for the starting job in 2026. Tua Tagovailoa (Miami Dolphins), Kyler Murray (Arizona Cardinals), Geno Smith (Las Vegas Raiders) and Kirk Cousins (Atlanta Falcons) are all being considered by the Vikings as a possible addition to their quarterback room this offseason, ESPN reported Sunday. Minnesota is also planning to move on from running back Aaron Jones and defensive tackle Javon Hargrave this offseason, according to ESPN. Cousins is the only quarterback in that group that’s set to become a free agent as of Sunday. The Falcons said last week that they will release Cousins when the new league year begins on March 11. Of course, Cousins previously played in Minnesota before signing with Atlanta in 2024. He enjoyed a decent amount of success in his six seasons with the Vikings, playing under Minnesota head coach Kevin O’Connell for two of those years. He helped the Vikings make the playoffs in 2022 before an Achilles tear ended his 2023 season early. Tagovailoa, Murray and Smith, meanwhile, are all candidates to be cut or traded in the coming weeks. Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan suggested that the team was open to all options with Tagovailoa when he met with reporters at the combine this past week, including a release. If Tagovailoa is cut, the Dolphins could potentially take on a record $99.2 million dead cap hit, depending on when they release him. Murray is seeking to be cut by the Cardinals this offseason, a league source told FOX Sports’ Ralph Vacchiano and Henry McKenna this past week. The Cardinals have also “grown frustrated” with Murray, a team source told Vacchiano and McKenna. Finally, Smith appears to be on the outs in Las Vegas with Klint Kubiak taking over as head coach and the team presumably taking Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Of those four quarterbacks, Cousins might have the strongest season in 2025. He went 5-3 as a starter, throwing for 1,721 yards, 10 touchdowns and five interceptions. Tagovailoa threw for 2,660 yards, 20 touchdowns and 15 interceptions before getting benched for the final three games of the season. Murray threw for 951 yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions to go with 173 rushing yards and a rushing score in five games before suffering a foot injury. Smith led the league in interceptions (17) to go with 3,025 passing yards and 19 passing touchdowns in 15 games. As for Jones and Hargrave, Minnesota will save over $18 million by releasing the two veterans. They could still reportedly trade the two players, though. Jones rushed for 548 yards in 2025, which was the second-fewest he’s had in his nine-year career. His 4.2 yards per attempt were also the second-fewest of his career. Jones also had two rushing touchdowns, 199 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown last season. Hargrave had 52 total tackles and 3.5 sacks this past season. He also had 31 total pressures, per Pro Football Focus, as he was in the first year of a two-year, $30 million deal.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

St. Petersburg, Fla — The more things change, the more they stay the same. While several organizations had changes in the offseason as far as their driver lineup, the driver who has dominated the series over the last year continued to blister the competition. Alex Palou, who won eight races in 2025 on the way to his third consecutive INDYCAR title (and fourth overall), won the 2026 season-opening St. Petersburg Grand Prix. And he didn’t just win, he won by a record 12.4948 seconds. Here are my takeaways: 1. Palou Pounds Them When a driver has a big lead, it sometimes feels prudent not to push the car to the limit. Even Palou made a mistake last year at Mid-Ohio while leading. So did Palou win by more than 12 seconds to send a message to the remainder of the field that he’s out to pound them again? The Chip Ganassi Racing driver indicated there was more to it than that. “Especially on street courses, it’s not good to relax for the tires [with] the bumps, how they feel,” Palou said in his post-race news conference. “You might just start feeling even worse if you go at lower speeds. “I try and keep my pace, try and keep a pace that’s good for the car and my driving. Every time that I try to stay calm or to drop the pace, it’s been bad. I was just trying to push.” 2. Power Wrecks, Is Disappointed Will Power had battled brake issues in his debut weekend with Andretti after a 17-year career at Penske. But he said his hitting the wall on Lap 21 was his fault. Power’s team got the car back out but he finished 45 laps down in 22nd, saying that was not what they needed as they looked to run all the laps. “The issues we had early in the weekend were true issues. That one was a slight issue, but I could have prevented that,” Power told me. “That was on me. We were doing really well on fuel, the car felt great. “The potential is really good. I’m feeling good about potential with the car. I think I learned a lot about this car this weekend. And obviously fixed some teething issues.” 3: Fun Battles Behind Palou Scott McLaughlin (second), Christian Lundgaard (third) and Kyle Kirkwood (fourth) had a spirited battle during the race. McLaughlin might have had flashbacks to 2023 when he and Romain Grosjean wrecked while battling for the lead at St. Pete. The Team Penske driver said the battles with the other cars up front, as well as at one point Marcus Ericsson, were clean. “They’re the guys that I have raced with in the past and very fair, very clean and hard,” McLaughlin said in his postrace news conference. “What you sort of expect.” Kirkwood, whose tires were fading fast, told me: “I figured [McLaughlin] would be a little bit more hesitant. Hye was not more hesitant. Kudos to him. We barely touched, caused no damage between us. It was just good, hard racing between us, and once I destroyed my tires, I think we raced very admirably. … They play clean, they play smart. You can trust them on a pass like that, on the street course around the outside.” 4: Pato Pleased Pato O’Ward said prior to this week that he wanted to keep his bad days from being too bad. And after a bad start, he rallied to finish fifth. Last year, he qualified 23rd and finished 11th at St. Pete. With McLaren teammate Lundgaard in third, it was a solid day for the McLaren team. “This was a good recovery,” O’Ward told me. “I don’t think the car was really there to fight super, super hard. So I think a lot of that was actually strategy and in the pits. “A P5 day in INDYCAR is a good day. But when another guy keeps winning races, it’s obviously making it very tough for everyone else. But much better start than last year. So pretty pumped about that.” 4 ½: What’s Next INDYCAR heads to Phoenix for a race Saturday, part of a doubleheader with the NASCAR O’Reilly Series and a day before the NASCAR Cup Series takes to the track. It is the first INDYCAR race at Phoenix since 2018. It will be Palou’s 100th career start. “Do I get a present or something?” Palou said when that was mentioned during the post-race news conference. Guess a win by 12 seconds is not enough.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

David Montgomery wants to leave the Detroit Lions, or does he? The standout running back questioned an ESPN report that stated he’s requested to leave Detroit this offseason. “Damn, Dmo told you that ?” Montgomery replied in a post about the report on X, seemingly referring to himself as “Dmo.” While Montgomery disputed ESPN’s report, the Lions have reportedly begun assessing the running back’s value on the open market. Detroit is hoping to get a “decent Day 3 pick” in exchange for Montgomery, ESPN added in its report. Montgomery is on a seemingly reasonable contract for a player of his caliber. His two-year, $18.25 million extension kicks in for the 2026 season, but he’s owed $6 million for the upcoming year. The Lions are also over the salary cap by just over $12 million, a week before free agency starts. So, trading Montgomery would help them shed some money, opening up $3.5 million in cap space, per Over The Cap. However, Detroit would eat $4.8 million in dead money if it dealt Montgomery prior to June 1. Montgomery, who joined the Lions in 2023, had a productive 2025 season, although his numbers took a bit of a dip from his first two years in Detroit. His 716 rushing yards were actually a career low, but he did it on a respectable 4.5 yards per carry. He also rushed for eight touchdowns, adding 192 receiving yards. In his first two seasons in Detroit, Montgomery rushed for 1,790 yards and 25 touchdowns in 28 games. He also had 458 yards receiving over that stretch. The emergence of Jahmyr Gibbs as a three-down running back might also make Montgomery expendable. Gibbs was top-10 in all-purpose yards again this past season, and he’s also up for a contract extension this offseason. If Gibbs ends up getting a deal that makes him one of the highest-paid running backs, it might make even more financial sense for Detroit to move on from Montgomery.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports