Chastain surges late to take a surprise victory at Talladega

Ross Chastain surged into the lead as he closed in on the checkered flag Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway to steal his second career NASCAR Cup Series victory.

Chastain simply stayed in line over the final few laps as leader Erik Jones and reigning Cup champion Kyle Larson fought for the win. Larson made his attempt on the final lap and Jones moved for the defensive block.

Chastain just pointed his Chevrolet straight, slipped past the leaders and won for the second time in five races.

“Holy cow! We didn’t do anything! We just stayed down there!” Chastain screamed over his radio.

The eighth-generation watermelon farmer from Florida then climbed out of his winning Trackhouse Racing through the open roof flaps — like a sunroof — and smashed a watermelon from the roof of the Chevy in celebration.

Austin Dillon finished second for Richard Childress Racing in a 1-2 sweep for Chevrolet, while Kyle Busch was third in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Larson wound up fourth for Hendrick Motorsports, followed by JGR driver Martin Truex Jr. and then finally Jones, who fell all the way to sixth trying to save the win.

“It’s typical here. Been close here so many times,” Jones said. “It just felt good to be up front coming there in that last lap. We were single file. I felt pretty good about it. Looking back, I wish I would have stayed on the bottom and let (Chastain) push me. I didn’t realize they were coming with that much speed.

“Trying to defend on (Larson), you’re too far ahead already. And obviously the defense on (Larson) kind of (opens) the door to (Chastain). You’re just trying to win the race. You can only see so much that’s going on from the seat and make the best decision you can in the last 1,500 feet.”

Formula One

Formula One champion Max Verstappen dominated Sunday in a Red Bull rout of Ferrari at the Emilia-romagna Grand Prix in Imola, Italy.

Verstappen won from the pole, logged the fastest lap and picked up his second win of the season while leading teammate Sergio Pérez to the first one-two Red Bull finish since Malaysia in 2016.Lando Norris was third for Mclaren.

It was a disastrous race for Ferrari, racing on its home soil and hoping to celebrate a return to F1 dominance. Charles Leclerc came into Sunday as the championship leader with two wins in the first three races and Carlos Sainz Jr. celebrated a two-year contract extension this weekend in Italy.

But Leclerc couldn’t get the jump on Verstappen at the start and never contended. Sainz spun off course on the opening lap to ruin his race, and Leclerc’s bid to salvage the day for Ferrari ended when he spun racing Perez for second. He ultimately finished sixth.

NHRA

Houston native Erica Enders closed Houston Raceway Park with a victory, beating Camrie Caruso on Sunday in the final NHRA Springnationals in the first allfemale final in NHRA Pro Stock history.

Enders had a 6.568-second pass at 210.24 mph in a Chevrolet Camaro for her third victory in the first five races of the season and 36th overall.

Brittany Force won in Top Fuel, Matt Hagan in Funny Car and Steve Johnson in Pro Stock Motorcycle.