Larson’s win is emotional

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Kyle Larson’s ninth points win of the year was his third straight in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, but it was the most meaningful to date in his first season with Hendrick Motorsports for another reason. Larson drove the No. 5 Chevrolet to victory lane at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, the 17th anniversary of a Hendrick plane crash that killed all 10 people aboard. The plane was traveling to a race in Virginia, and among those killed was team owner Rick Hendrick’s only son. Ricky Hendrick used the No. 5 during his driving career, and the 24-year-old was the heir apparent of NASCAR’s winningest team at the time of his death. Larson’s car is stylized to resemble Ricky’s scheme, and hours before Sunday’s race, the team owner texted Larson to stress what a win would mean to him on this date. “I didn’t ever get to meet Ricky or the other men and women who lost their lives that day,” Larson said. “But I felt the importance of this race.” Larson was already locked into a championship-contending spot in the the Nov. 7 season finale at Phoenix Raceway, and the remaining three spots will be settled next Sunday at Martinsville Speedway — where the Hendrick flight was headed on that 2004 race morning. Larson beat reigning Cup Series champion and Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott by 3.619 seconds for the win at Kansas. Elliott is second in the standings headed to Martinsville, with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin third and teammate Kyle Busch fourth, a single point above the elimination line.

› AUSTIN, Texas — Max Verstappen held off rival Lewis Hamilton over the final thrilling laps of the U.S. Grand Prix on Sunday at the Circuit of the Americas to post his eighth win of the Formula One season and double his lead in the championship standings. Verstappen, who started the day with a six-point edge over Hamilton in the standings, now leads the seven-time champion by 12 with five races remaining. Hamilton in his Mercedes was bearing down on Verstappen over the final 18 laps and cut the Red Bull driver’s advantage to less than 1 second by the final lap, but he couldn’t make the pass at the end and settled for second. Verstappen, a 24-year-old Dutchman chasing his first championship, now has some breathing room heading into the next race in Mexico City, a high-altitude stronghold for Red Bull, which put a second driver on the podium Sunday as Mexico’s Sergio Perez took third.