Sports Benches presents this week’s sports news update as NASCAR has just wrapped up its regular season stage ahead of the upcoming Chase Playoffs with yet another first-time Daytona II Cup winner.
We’ll also have another week of Premier League action featuring on Liverpool v Nottingham Forest alongside NRL’s Grand Final re-match from last year between Brisbane Broncos v Melbourne Storm.
Sports Benches is your hub for weekly Monday sports updates throughout the NASCAR Cup Season with 10 weeks remaining this year. Also, check out our extra Sports Benches content such as General Hospital on Saturdays and our interview with Kaitlin Sandeno below.
NASCAR Cup Series: Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona
No surprise to see another new Cup winner being crowoned only at Daytona’s summer night race.
Now here comes Ryan Preece who drives the No.60 Ford Mustang for RFK Racing following his consistent front row performance throughout the night. He even used the cleanest draft lane on the inside giving enough momentum for Ryan to take the checkered flag and head to Victory Lane.
That also made him the 16th and final driver to qualify for the upcoming Chase Playoffs starting next Sunday in Darlington.
Gotta feel for Daniel Suarez inside the No.7 Chevy Camaro for Spire who also did well from the back, especially on larger tracks like his most recent win at the Coca Cola 600 in Charlotte.
Now avoiding chaos usually helps while he continues to make calculated risks whenever possible.
Danny probably wishes he received a bit more drafting help to spoil Ryan’s day on overtime, even if it means ending under caution. But Preece deserved that moment.
Finally, 23XI’s Tyler Reddick also made up from nothing after qualifying 17th whose No.45 Toyota Camry didn’t have the best car unlike his season-opening win from the Daytona 500.
However, he kept it clean where finishing 3rd wasn’t bad despite being a touch isolated with no other Toyotas around him.
2026/27 Premier League Matchday 2 of 38: Liverpool v Nottingham Forest
It was a fair contest between two Red teams at Anfield: Liverpool and Nottingham Forest sharing a 2-2 draw plus the point.
Nottingham scored one first before adding the 2nd half penalty while Liverpool settled into possession despite some hit and misses that could’ve been an easy win.
With Forest, they’re fortunate to still be in the PL following four manager changes last season by all means of beating the drop. They eventually finished 16th on 44 points.
Then Forest took the opportunity to make another change during the summer World Cup yet again by bringing in Oliver Glasner who’s brave enough to deploy front-foot football.
The back-three formation’s there, however, signing players that can at least target mid-table like marquee young No.9 Liam Delap remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Liverpool have a bit more unfinished transfer business, who also underwent a managerial change after their poor 2025/26 season. Like any reset, having Andoni Iraola onboard requires time and patience — just ask Ruben Amorim during his underwhelming spell at Manchester Utd.
It’s understandable they want to win PL again plus Champions League as this comes down whether if winning these weekly 100-minute performances turn out to be an upgrade on Arne Slot.
NRL Round 26 of 27: Brisbane Broncos v Melbourne Storm
With all Top 8 teams already confirmed for the upcoming Finals Series but not yet in order, Melbourne Storm were simply too good over the Brisbane Broncos by 26-40 at Suncorp Stadium.
Brisbane’s performance as always have been a huge fall from grace 12 months on following their Grand Final win over also against Storm where we will instead crown a new champion this year.
Their defense also looked wide open leaving the gate uninvited for opposition team to capitalise points with little to no fight unfortunately.
Even some consolation tries from scraps weren’t enough whenever Storm looked as though they had already finished their job each half ahead of time.
Yes, the players who no longer feel like they want to be there can go. However, it’s up to management to revamp the playing environment around Michael Maguire so they can win games again next year.
And Storm, despite falling short of Finals this year down in 11th, they’ve produced an expansive playing clinic.
Not only Storm were good at processing passage plays using width, they also unlocked inside gaps into tries that no one else saw this coming.
