Roger Diez: Championship round heating up as NASCAR heads to Miami

Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell have battled each other for years in midgets and sprint cars, but the closing laps of the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway may have been one of their closest finishes yet. Bell stalked Larson’s increasingly ill-handling Chevrolet, closing to his rear bumper on the last lap. Larson used all the race track to hold Bell off and praised his rival for racing him clean. That comment might have been a not-so-subtle dig at Bell’s teammate Denny Hamlin who ran Larson into the wall on the last lap at Pocono. Larson is now locked into the championship round in Phoenix, looking for his second Cup title. Ryan Blaney initially took a big hit in points when he was disqualified for a shock absorber issue. But on further inspection at NASCAR’s R&D Center, Blaney’s disqualification was rescinded. Blaney is still 10 points below the cut line, with Tyler Reddick and Bell both at minus-8, and Chris Buescher at minus-3. Points are still important, as at least one driver will make the championship round on points. And if Larson manages to sweep the Round of 8, three drivers will point their way in.

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Coming up this weekend is the 4Ever 400 Presented by Mobil 1 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Larson won at Miami last season and Hamlin has won there three times. Kyle Busch is the only other multiple Homestead winner among active drivers, with two victories. William Byron, Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr., and Kevin Harvick have one win apiece. The oddsmakers favor Larson at 11-4 odds based on his 2022 win where he led 199 of the 267 laps. Reddick is at 5-1, Martin Truex Jr. is 11-2, Hamlin is 7-1, and William Byron is 15-2. Other Playoff drivers are Bell at 14-1, Blaney 18-1, and Buescher 20-1. Today the Craftsman Trucks race at 9 a.m. on FS1 and the Xfinity series race airs on USA at noon. And NBC will broadcast Sunday’s 4Ever 400 Presented by Mobil 1 at 11:30 a.m.

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This weekend the stars of Formula 1 are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas. It is the second appearance for F1 in the United Stares this season. There’s one more U.S. visit to go, at Las Vegas in November. The Circuit of the Americas round is another sprint race weekend. The sprints seem to be more popular with fans and the press than with the teams and drivers, who see these short Saturday races as another opportunity to sustain damage to their cars. In any event, Sunday’s race promises to be the usual scramble for second through 20th place, behind the seemingly unstoppable Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. Based on recent results, the McLaren team may take over fourth place in the constructors’ championship, currently only 11 points behind Aston Martin. And it’s a bit of a stretch, but McLaren could even make up their 79-point deficit to third-place Ferrari. There are five races left in the season including this weekend’s round, so plenty of points are still on offer. And Daniel Ricciardo is back in the field, after sitting out the last five races with a broken hand. Today ESPNews will broadcast the Sprint Shootout at 10:30 a.m. and the Sprint race at 3 p.m. Sunday’s race will air on ABC.

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In other news, Kansas City football star Travis Kelce has bought a piece of a Formula 1 team. Kelce, Patrick Mahomes, golfer Rory McElroy, boxer Anthony Joshua, and actor Ryan Reynolds have all invested in a 200 million Euro fund that owns 24% of the BWT Alpine F1 team. And Kelce’s Taylor Swift deal isn’t bad, either.