THE FASTEST NEWS ROUND-UP

Kevin Harvick sealed a place in the last round of the NASCAR Cup playoffs after taking victory at Texas last weekend. He capitalised on a rare error from points leader Martin Truex Jr late on. Second place for Truex was enough to secure his place in the playoffs, alongside Kyle Busch leaving just one place up for grabs. Elsewhere, 2003 champion Matt Kenseth has announced he won’t be competing in the series next year after struggling to find a drive… Formula 2 will run an expanded 12-round calendar in 2018 with all of its races being part of F1 Grands Prix weekends. The series will not retain its standalone round at Jerez and will instead add F1-supporting races at Sochi and Paul Ricard – for the returning French Grand Prix… Tom Blomqvist has taken the final remaining 2017-18 Formula E seat after replacing Robin Frijns at the Andretti squad. The AngloSwede is a factory BMW driver in the DTM and Alexander Sims may need to be drafted in if there is any calendar clashes when the DTM schedule is revealed… Strakka Racing has decided to ditch its Mclaren 650S GT3 cars for next season and will instead run Mercedes machinery in the Intercontinental GT Challenge. After quitting the World Endurance Championship to enter Blancpain with the Mclarens this year, the team has had a disappointing season…