AUTO RACING THIS WEEK
NASCAR CUP SERIES YELLAWOOD 500
■ Site: Talladega, Alabama.
■ Schedule: Sunday, race, 2 p.m.
■ Track: Talladega Superspeedway
■ Race distance: 188 laps, 500.8 miles.
■ Last year: Denny Hamlin won from the pole position.
■ Last race: Hamlin led 137 of 267 laps at Las Vegas and opened the second round of the playoffs the same way he opened the first: by winning.
■ Fast facts: Hamlin was winless until the playoffs began . ... Kyle Larson still leads in the point standings, but three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers are closing in. His lead has shrunk to 14 points over Hamlin, 22 over Kyle Busch and 26 over Martin Truex Jr. Ryan Blaney is fifth, 33 behind . ... Eight of the top 10 finishers at Las Vegas are playoff contenders . .... Kevin Harvick had a postrace lug nut violation, which means crew chief Rodney Childers will be fined $20,000 and suspended from the race in Alabama.
■ Next race: Oct. 10, Concord, North Carolina.
NASCAR XFINITY SERIES SPARKS 300
■ Site: Talladega, Alabama.
■ Schedule: Saturday, race, 4:30 p.m.
■ Track: Talladega Superspeedway
■ Race distance: 113 laps, 300.58 miles.
■ Last year: Justin Haley won after starting eighth.
■ Last race: Josh Berry, substituting for the injured Michael Annett, led a 1-23 finish for JR Motorsports at Las Vegas, his second victory of the season.
■ Fast facts: Justin Allgaier was second and Noah Gragson third. Gragson’s finish came despite two pit road penalties . ... Eight of the 12 drivers in the playoffs finished in the top 10 . ... Defending series champion Austin Cindric leads A.J. Allmendinger by seven points in the title chase.
Allgaier and Gragson are 28 and 29 points behind, respectively, and Daniel Hemric is 32 behind.
■ Next race: Oct 9, Concord, North Carolina.
NASCAR TRUCK SERIES CHEVROLET SILVERADO 250
■ Site: Talladega, Alabama.
■ Schedule: Saturday, race, 1 p.m.
■ Track: Talladega Superspeedway
■ Race distance: 94 laps, 250.04 miles.
■ Last year: Raphael Lessard won after starting 15th.
■ Last race: Christian
Eckes led a 1-2-3-4 finish for ThorSport Racing at Las Vegas, taking the lead on a restart with four laps remaining for his first career victory.
■ Fast facts: Ben Rhodes, Matt Crafton and Johnny Sauter followed Eckes across the finish line . ... John Hunter Nemechek won his series-best 11th stage, but mechanical problems relegated him to 33rd and cost him the series points lead. Rhodes leads him by six with Stewart Friesen 25 back, three-time champ Crafton 29 behind and defending series champ Sheldon Creed 34 behind.
■ Next race: Oct. 30, Martinsville, Virginia.
FORMULA ONE
■ Last race: Seven-time series champion Lewis
Hamilton rallied from seventh place to win in Russia — his 100th career victory — and reclaim the series points lead from runner-up Max Verstappen.
■ Next race: Oct. 10, Istanbul, Turkey.
INDYCAR
■ Last race: Colton Herta won at Long Beach and Alex Palou finished fourth to become the first Spaniard to win IndyCar season championship.
■ Fast facts: Palou and Herta were the only threetime winners in the 16-race season. Herta won the last two races but finished just fifth in the standings . ... Two-time series champion Josef Newgarden finished second in the standings, followed by Pato O’Ward and six-time and defending series champion Scott Dixon . ... The 2022 schedule has 17 races.
■ Next race: Feb. 27, St. Petersburg, Florida.
NHRA DRAG RACING
■ Last event: Steve Torrence won in Top Fuel and Matt Hagan won in Funny Car at the NHRA Midwest Nationals in Madison, Illinois.
■ Next event: Oct. 7-10, Ennis, Texas.
WORLD OF OUTLAWS
■ Next events: Oct. 1-2, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.