Rain postpones race in Talladega

William Byron and his fellow playoff contenders are getting an extra day of suspense at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.

NASCAR postponed the final two race stages until Monday after rain forced a halt after Byron won the first stage Sunday. It’s the middle race of Round 2 in NASCAR’s playoffs ahead of an elimination race at Kansas.

Byron, eighth in the standings, took the lead with three laps left in the first stage by passing Daniel Hemric. Threetime Talladega winner Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top five. They were followed after Stage 1 by Kyle Larson, the only driver to have already secured a spot in the round of eight.

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas surged into the lead at the start and held on to win the typhoonhit Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka for his third Formula One victory of the season. Bottas, third on the grid, pulled ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc right away and then used an effective twostop pit strategy to finish 11.376 seconds ahead of Vettel. Bottas’ teammate and championship leader Lewis Hamilton was third. Rugby: The United States lost to Tonga 3119 in Osaka, Japan, to finish last in Pool C at the Rugby World Cup. It was the Americans’ 10th straight defeat, equaling their worst run at the Rugby World Cup. The Americans have gone through two World Cups without winning a game. Boxing: Super welterweight Patrick Day suffered a traumatic brain injury during a fight in Chicago and is in critical condition in a coma. Manager Lou DiBella said on his website that Day (1741) had emergency surgery after being knocked out in the 10th round by Charles Conwell on Saturday.