Bowman’s win fuels NASCAR tension
Alex Bowman was the only driver celebrating after NASCAR set its championship four — and he’s not even racing for the title.
Bowman picked up the victory Sunday at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in the final elimination race ahead of the winner-takeall season finale. Bowman wasn’t eligible to make the championship round and his overtime victory denied both Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski the final spot in the field.
The Cup will be decided next Sunday at sold-out Phoenix Raceway between favorite Kyle Larson and reigning champion Chase Elliott for Hendrick Motorsports, and Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. for Joe Gibbs Racing. It will pit a pair of Hendrick Chevrolets against two JGR Toyotas.
Ford was locked out of the championship when Keselowski and Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano failed to advance.
Busch finished second to Bowman and Keselowski settled for third after a frantic push through the third stage. Truex’s car was damaged in several incidents and both Busch and Keselowski were trying to bump Truex out of the final transfer position.
It led to spirited racing up and down the grid, especially from Keselowski as he tried to bulldoze his way into the championship round for his final race driving for Roger Penske. He and Busch had hard contact after the checkered flag that caused Busch to spin on the cooldown lap, and Busch seethed after that he should beat up Keselowski.
His verbal threats were a milder approach than the one taken by JGR teammate Hamlin after Bowman spun Hamlin from the lead with six laps remaining to send the race into overtime.
Hamlin had led 103 laps with victory in sight when Bowman spun him. Hamlin after the race drove his car to the frontstretch and parked in front of Bowman to prevent Bowman from a proper celebration on Bowman’s fourth win of the season.
Bowman insisted the contact with Hamlin was accidental.
“I just got loose in, I got in too deep, knocked him out of the way and literally let him have the lead back,” Bowman said. “For anybody that wants to think I was trying to crash him, that obviously literally wasn’t that case.”
Hamlin still advanced into the championship on points. But his JGR crew had to radio Hamlin to back off as he confronted Bowman, who gave Hendrick Motorsports its 16th win in 35 races this season and fourth in a row.
“He’s just a hack, just an absolute hack who gets his ass kicked every week by his teammates,” said Hamlin, a Virginia native who audibly did not have any homecrowd support.
Hamlin and Larson, the heavy favorite, have never won a NASCAR championship.
Golf
HERBERT WINS BERMUDA CHAMPIONSHIP >> Lucas Herbert had two birdies during the toughest, windblown stretch of Port Royal and held steady to the end for a 2-under 69 to win the Bermuda Championship in Southampton.
Herbert closed with four pars to hold off Danny Lee (71) and Patrick Reed.
His first PGA Tour victory sends him to the Masters for the first time.
Baseball
REMY, VOICE OF RED SOX, DIES OF CANCER >> Jerry Remy, a Boston Red Sox second baseman who went on to become a local icon as a television broadcaster, died of cancer. He was 68.
Remy had spent 10 seasons in the majors — the first three with the California Angels and the last seven with Boston — before retiring after the Red Sox released him on Dec. 10, 1985. Remy hit .275 with seven homers and 329 RBIs in 1,154 games.
College football
MICHIGAN STATE RISES TO NO. 5 IN AP POLL >> Michigan State moved up to No. 5 in The Associated Press poll and Wake Forest became a top-10 team for the first time in school history.
Georgia is a unanimous No. 1 for the fourth straight week in the AP Top 25. The rest of the top four was unchanged from last week, with Cincinnati at No. 2, Alabama at No. 3 and Oklahoma at No. 4.
The Spartans jumped three spots by beating Michigan in the weekend’s biggest game. The last time Michigan State broke into the top five was 2015, when the Spartans made the College Football Playoff.
The first CFP selection committee rankings will be released Tuesday.
Ohio State fell to No. 6 despite holding off Penn State and Oregon was No. 7. No. 8 Notre Dame, Michigan and Wake Forest rounded out the top 10.
PATTERSON OUT AS TCU COACH >> TCU and football coach Gary Patterson have mutually agreed to immediately part ways a day after the Horned Frogs (3-5, 1-4 Big 12) lost 31-12 at Kansas State, Patterson’s alma mater. It was their fifth loss in six games.
Patterson was 181-79 record in 21 years at TCU.
Tennis KONTAVEIT TOPS HALEP IN HER HOMELAND >>
Anett Kontaveit of Estonia secured a spot at the seasonending WTA Finals after beating Simona Halep 6-2, 6-3 in the final of the Transylvania Open in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Kontaveit won her fourth title in the last 10 weeks and fifth overall.
Her strong finish to the season with 26 wins from her last 28 matches secured the eighth and final place at the WTA Finals.
She will also enter the top 10 for the first time when the rankings are updated today.
ZVEREZ BEATS QUALIFIER FOR TITLE >> Alexander Zverev won his fifth ATP title of the season and 18th overall by defeating American qualifier Frances Tiafoe 7-5, 6-4 at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna.
The fourth-ranked German improved to 5-0 in finals this season, becoming the second player after Norwegian Casper Ruud with a tour-leading five tournament wins in 2021.
CILIC WINS ST. PETERSBURG CHAMPIONSHIP >> Marin Cilic won the St. Petersburg (Russia) Open final with a 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-4 victory over American Taylor Fritz.
The Croatian is the sixth active player to reach 20 tour-level titles after Roger Federer (103), Rafael Nadal (88), Novak Djokovic (85), Andy Murray (46) and Juan Martin del Potro (22).