Busch win sets up title duel

Kyle Busch won for the eighth time this season to tie Kevin Harvick for the most Cup victories and set up a head-to-head matchup for the championship.

Busch’s victory at ISM Raceway outside of Phoenix on Sunday was the final qualifying event for next weekend’s finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where it will be winner-take-all for NASCAR’s so-called Big Three and the driver once called “Sliced Bread.”

Busch, Harvick and reigning series champion Martin Truex Jr., coined the Big Three because of how they dominated the regular season, advanced into the championship round as expected. Joey Logano, nicknamed “Sliced Bread” before his NASCAR debut at age 18 because he was predicted to be “the best thing since ...,” has the fourth spot.

Busch and Harvick have gone win-for-win all year, and Busch could have controlled Harvick’s fate late in the race when he was lined up against Harvick teammate Aric Almirola on a restart. An Almirola victory would have eliminated Harvick from the playoffs, which Busch acknowledged considering.

“I did think about it,” Busch said, “but I’m here to win the race. They always want it to play out naturally.”

Formula One: Ten years after securing his first F1 title in Sao Paulo, five-time world champion Lewis Hamilton won the Brazilian Grand Prix and helped his Mercedes team take the constructors’ title for the fifth straight year.

Mercedes has an insurmountable 620 points against Ferrari’s 553. Hamilton won the driver’s title two weeks ago at Mexico City. Sunday’s win was his 10th of the season and 72nd overall.