Logano earns a title shot with Martinsville victory

When the reigning series champion slipped past him with one lap to go at Martinsville Speedway, Joey Logano figured he had lost his shot at racing for NASCAR’s title.

A win would earn Logano one of the four spots in the winnertake-all championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway. So if he didn’t try something, his chance at a Cup championship might slip away.

Logano used an old fashioned bump-andrun on Martin Truex Jr. on Oct. 28 to snatch one of the four tickets to the finale. Truex slid sideways across the finish line and promptly declared Logano won’t take his title from him this year.

“He may have won the battle, but he ain’t winning the damn war. I’m not going to let him win it (the championship.) I’m going to win it,” Truex fumed.

Logano took Truex’s warning in stride.

“OK. That’s expected,” Logano said. “This was our shot, maybe our only shot, so we had to make it happen.”

NFL

TRUBISKY THROWS TWO TDS » Mitchell Trubisky threw for two touchdowns, and the Bears (4-3) came out on top after dropping two in a row with a 24-10 victory over the Jets. Trubisky was shaky but did enough to help the Bears come out on top. He was 16 of 29 for 220 yards. He also ran for 51 on six attempts.

Soccer

EPL OWNER MOURNED» The Thai billionaire owner of English Premier League team Leicester City was among five people who died after his helicopter crashed and burst into flames shortly after taking off from the soccer field, the club said Sunday.

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, a 60-yearold entrepreneur who owns Thai duty-free retail giant King Power, bankrolled Leicester’s improbable league title triumph in 2016.

“The world has lost a great man,” Leicester said in a statement. “A man of kindness, of generosity and a man whose life was defined by the love he devoted to his family and those he so successfully led.”

Two members of Vichai’s staff, Nursara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare, also died along with pilot Eric Swaffer and passenger Izabela Roza Lechowicz.

College football

PLENTY OF CHANGE IN POLL » No. 22 Syracuse and No. 23 Virginia broke long runs of being unranked and were among a record seven teams to move into The Associated Press college football poll after a season-high 11 ranked teams lost this weekend.

The top of the ranking was mostly unchanged. No. 1 Alabama, No. 4 LSU and No. 5 Michigan were idle and unchanged. No. 2 Clemson and No. 3 Notre Dame won easily.

The back end of the AP Top 25 was overhauled after nine of the 11 teams ranked Nos. 1525 lost. Seven teams going from unranked to ranked is the most since the AP poll expanded to 25 in 1989.

Eleven ranked teams overall losing is the most since the weekend of Nov. 26, 2016. And eight ranked teams losing to unranked teams is also a record for the Top 25 era.