NASCAR

1:43 AM ET Associated Press AVONDALE, Ariz. — Daniel Hemric made the first victory of his career one of the biggest NASCAR upsets — a championship-winning overtime stunner against the reigning champ. Hemric beat Austin Cindric in a door-to-door sprint across the finish line Saturday night at Phoenix Raceway to give Joe Gibbs Racing its

11:08 PM ET Associated Press AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kyle Larson was the driver to beat all season in his comeback with Hendrick Motorsports. With only the NASCAR Cup Series championship race left, the three other contenders will chase Larson one more time. Larson nipped defending champion Chase Elliott for the pole Saturday at Phoenix Raceway

11:01 PM ET Associated Press AVONDALE, Ariz. — Ben Rhodes opened the NASCAR season with back-to-back wins and closed it Friday night by winning the Truck Series championship. Rhodes finished third at Phoenix Raceway behind race winner Chandler Smith and Stuart Friesen. But he was the first championship contender to cross the finish line and

5:40 PM ET Associated Press AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kyle Larson was the best of NASCAR’s four title contenders Friday in the final practice before the championship is decided in the season finale at Phoenix Raceway. Larson turned in the top speed of 135.293 mph among the four finalists and was second-fastest overall in 10-lap average

6:57 AM ET By the time the sun sets over Phoenix on Sunday, we will have a new NASCAR Cup Series champion, the last man standing after nine months, a 26-race regular season, a nine-race playoff and, finally, a 312-lap throwdown on the rugged 1-mile flat semi-roval that is the Phoenix Raceway. Here they are.

4:54 PM ET Associated Press With a 14th NASCAR Cup Series championship on the line this weekend, team owner Rick Hendrick on Tuesday defended his decision to extend his sponsorship deal with Liberty University as the school faces scrutiny over its handling of sexual assault allegations. Hendrick Motorsports last month reached a new five-year agreement

5:58 PM ET Associated Press MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch should not have used a slur referring to the mentally disabled during a post-race interview and NASCAR was right to order the tempestuous driver to undergo sensitivity training, team owner Joe Gibbs said Tuesday. Busch apologized on social media for

7:15 PM ET Associated Press MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Alex Bowman was the only driver celebrating after NASCAR set its championship four — and he’s not even racing for the title. Bowman picked up the victory Sunday at Martinsville Speedway in the final elimination race ahead of the winner-take-all season finale. Bowman wasn’t eligible to make

9:45 PM ET Associated Press MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Noah Gragson said he’d win at Martinsville Speedway to earn a spot in the Xfinity Series championship and did just that Saturday night in NASCAR’s most compelling title race. Gragson, the confident 23-year-old from Las Vegas, had to win at Martinsville to make the winner-take-all Xfinity finale

3:54 PM ET Associated Press MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Zane Smith raced his way into the Truck Series championship finale with a Saturday victory in overtime at Martinsville Speedway, where a three-wide scramble to the finish vaulted him into title contention. Smith was last in the eight-driver field at Martinsville and had to win to earn

7:14 PM ET Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Kyle Larson drove to yet another victory, his ninth of the year and most meaningful to date in his new job with Hendrick Motorsports. Larson drove the No. 5 Chevrolet to victory lane at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, the 17th anniversary of a Hendrick plane crash

7:49 PM ET AUSTIN, Texas — Daniel Ricciardo’s show run in Dale Earnhardt’s 1984 car prompted a tweet of appreciation from the NASCAR legend’s son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., on Saturday. The tweet left Ricciardo slightly lost for words. On Saturday morning at the Circuit of the Americas, host of this weekend’s U.S. Grand Prix, Ricciardo

6:30 PM ET Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Ty Gibbs upset the field again, racing to his fourth Xfinity Series victory of the season Saturday and stopping title contenders AJ Allmendinger and Austin Cindric from advancing to the championship round. Gibbs, 19, passed reigning champion Cindric with 10 laps remaining at Kansas Speedway and

6:51 PM ET Associated Press FORT WORTH, Texas — Kyle Larson claimed the first of four championship-contending spots in NASCAR’s season finale with a dominating victory at Texas on Sunday to start the round of eight in the playoffs. Larson led 256 of 334 laps at the 1 1/2-mile track and got his eighth win

6:38 PM ET Associated Press FORT WORTH, Texas — All four spots in the championship round of the NASCAR Xfinity Series are still up for grabs after non-playoff qualifier John Hunter Nemechek overcame a late penalty Saturday to win at Texas Motor Speedway. Nemechek won the first of three races in the round of eight,

1:54 PM ET Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It only took about a day after Chase Elliott wished Kevin Harvick “a merry offseason and Happy Christmas” for NASCAR’s reigning champion to get the zinger on merchandise on his official website. The holiday-themed gear even has a tab in the online store. It’s the kind of

5:46 AM ET Associated Press CONCORD, N.C. — Kevin Harvick was going to get his revenge on Chase Elliott, believing somewhere and somehow, he’d even the score after Elliott cost him a win last month. When Harvick delivered his payback, it nearly knocked the reigning NASCAR champion out of the playoffs. But karma then flipped

6:42 PM ET Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Kyle Larson rallied from early electrical issues Sunday to win for the seventh time this season and storm into the third round of NASCAR’s playoffs. Larson’s victory on The Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway ended a topsy-turvy day for Hendrick Motorsports. Larson and reigning Cup champion Chase