Truex reaches final

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Martin Truex Jr. was celebrating the victory that locked him into NASCAR’s title race when he heard the crowd roar, looked up at the big screen and saw two championship contenders jawing at each other on pit road.

“Oh, look, winner said.

Indeed, Denny Hamlin was knocked to the ground in a confrontation with Joey Logano in the most intense action of an otherwise lackluster playoff Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.

Truex earned a spot in NASCAR’s championship race for the third consecutive year by leading 464 of the 500 laps. He’s the first driver to claim one of the four spots in the Nov. 17 title race at Homestead-Miami Speedway while leading the most laps in a win since Kyle Petty led 484 laps in 1992 at Rockingham.

There were just three lead changes, and Truex controlled the event from the first round of pit stops, when he beat Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Hamlin back onto the track for the lead. He was hardly challenged at all and his Toyota coasted to his first career victory at NASCAR’s shortest track.

“We’re going to Homestead again and that was what we tried to accomplish this weekend,” Truex said. “We don’t have to worry about points anymore. We can just get to work on our Homestead car.”

Martinsville marked the first of three races in the round of eight of the playoffs, where the field will be trimmed to a winner-takeall final four for the finale. Truex is locked in, while Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Logano are above the cutline. Kevin Harvick, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson are the bottom four.

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The next two rounds will be must-win situations for Elliott, NASCAR’s most popular driver, who suffered a catastrophic mechanical failure and finished 36th in the 38-car field. A victory earns a playoff driver an automatic berth into the final four.

For Truex, the win was redemption from a year ago at Martinsville when he raced Logano cleanly over the closing laps and Logano snatched the win away from Truex. Logano then won the championship.

“After last year, everybody wants to keep talking about last year, and I’m like ‘We’ve got work to do,’” said Truex, the 2017 champion who will race for the title for the fourth time in five years. He was runner-up to Logano last season.

As Truex celebrated, the crowd focus turned to pit road where Hamlin and Logano were having what appeared to be a civil conversation. Hamlin wagged his finger at Logano, then Logano placed his hand on Hamlin’s shoulder somewhat flippantly as he walked away. Hamlin chased after him, crew members got in the way and Hamlin was knocked to the ground.

Hamlin said after it how Logano typically dles confrontation.

“It was a discussion. I understand him coming over and talking, standing there and having a discussion with him, everything was fine,” Hamlin said. “I think he didn’t get me agitated enough. So he said something and then pokes a little bit and then runs away trying to get me to come so he could hide behind his guys. He’s just not that tough. And he won’t stand face-to-face. That’s just his style.

“It was civil and then like Joey does, he does a little push and then runs away. He said, ‘Do you want to go?’ I said ‘Yes, I’m here’ and then he runs away.”

W San Francisco 7 Seattle 6 L.A. Rams 5 Arizona 3

West L T 0 0 2 0 3 0 4 1

Pct 1.000 .750 .625 .438 was han

PF 207 208 214 170

Thursday, Oct. 24 Minnesota 19, Washington 9

Sunday’s Games New Orleans 31, Arizona 9

L.A. Chargers 17, Chicago 16 Seattle 27, Atlanta 20

Detroit 31, N.Y. Giants 26 Philadelphia 31, Buffalo 13

L.A. Rams 24, Cincinnati 10 Indianapolis 15, Denver 13 Jacksonville 29, N.Y. Jets 15 Tennessee 27, Tampa Bay 23

San Francisco 51, Carolina 13 Houston 27, Oakland 24

New England 27, Cleveland 13 Green Bay at Kansas City, 8:20 p.m. Open: Dallas, Baltimore

Monday’s Games Miami at Pittsburgh, 8:15 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 31 San Francisco at Arizona, 8:20 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 3 Houston vs Jacksonville 9:30 a.m. N.Y. Jets at Miami, 1 p.m. Washington at Buffalo, 1 p.m. Tennessee at Carolina, 1 p.m. Minnesota at Kansas City, 1 p.m. Chicago at Philadelphia, 1 p.m. Indianapolis at Pittsburgh, 1 p.m. Tampa Bay at Seattle, 4:05 p.m. Detroit at Oakland, 4:05 p.m. Green Bay at L.A. Chargers, 4:25 p.m. Cleveland at Denver, 4:25 p.m. New England at Baltimore, 8:20 p.m.

Monday, Nov. 4 Dallas at N.Y. Giants, 8:15 p.m.

PA 77 196 174 223

Sunday’s Sports Transactions By The Associated Press

BASKETBALL National Basketball Association NBA — Fined Phoenix F Kelly Oubre Jr. $10,000 for directing inappropriate lan

October 28

1939 — Kansas State’s homecoming contest against Nebraska is the second college football game ever televised, following the Fordham- Waynesburg contest in New York earlier this fall. The Cornhuskers spoil homecoming with a 25-9 triumph in Manhattan, Kan., before a limited Nebraska ETV audience in the surrounding area.

1950 — Nevada punter Pat Brady boots an NCAA record 99- yard punt in a 34-7 loss to Loyola Marymount.

1962 — New York Giants quarterback Y.A. Title passes for 505 yards and seven touchdowns, and Del Schofner catches 11 passes for 269 yards and a touchdown in a 49-34 victory over the Washington Redskins.

1973 — Gail Goodrich scores 49 points and seven- foot center Elmore Smith sets an NBA record with 17 blocked shots as the Los Angeles Lakers beat Portland 111-98.

1973 — With jockey Eddie Maple substituting for suspended Ron Turcotte, Secretariat concludes his racing career with a victory in the Canadian International Championship Stakes at Woodbine in Toronto.

1978 — Joe Delaney rushes for 299 yards and four touchdowns to lead Northwestern Louisiana to a 28-18 triumph over Nicholls State.

1989 — Tony Alford of Colorado State rushes for 310 yards on 28 carries to break a Western Athletic Conference record and scores three touchdowns as Colorado State beat Utah 50-10. 1989 — Central State crushes Lane 1010. Lane concedes with 11:26 to play in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Henderson Mosley runs for three touchdowns and passes for six.

1993 — Ron Francis becomes the 38th

Sunday

At LPGA International Busan Busan, South Korea

Purse: $2 million Yardage: 6,726; Par: 72

Final

Jang won on third playoff hole Ha Na Jang 69-67-68-65—269 -19 Danielle Kang 67-67-71-64—269 -19 Amy Yang 69-69-67-67—272 -16 In Gee Chun 70-69-67-70—276 -12 Somi Lee 68-68-67-73—276 -12 Nanna Madsen 70-69-71-67—277 -11 Min Sun5 Kim 69-70-69-69—277 -11 HeeJeong Lim 68-70-69-70—277 -11 Min Ji Park 72-70-69-67—278 -10 Sei Young Kim 68-71-68-71—278 -10 Jin Young Ko 67-69-71-71—278 -10 Seung Yeon Lee 67-68-68-75—278 -10 Yu Liu 68-69-71-71—279 -9 So Young Lee 72-67-68-72—279 -9 Su Oh, $30,512 68-70-67-74—279 -9 Nicole Broch Larsen72-71-69-68—280 -8 Charley Hull 73-69-69-69—280 -8 Minjee Lee 66-70-73-71—280 -8 Jeongeun Lee6 67-73-68-72—280 -8 Hee Won Na 68-67-73-72—280 -8 Jung Min Lee 69-71-72-69—281 -7 Hyun Kyung Park 70-68-71-72—281 -7 Lydia Ko 69-71-68-73—281 -7 Mi Jung Hur 70-69-69-73—281 -7 Jing Yan 70-69-69-73—281 -7

NHL player to score 1,000 points with a goal in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 7-3 loss to the Quebec Nordiques.

1995 — Cigar completes an undefeated season of 10 straight wins with a rousing 2½-length victory under Jerry Bailey in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Cigar, the 3- to-5 favorite, gives Bailey his third consecutive Classic win.

1997 — Dee Kantner and Violet Palmer are hired as full- time NBA referees, marking the first time in major pro sports in the United States that females will officiate regular- season games in an all-male league.

2006 — Oregon State capitalizes on four turnovers to upset the Trojans 3331, snapping USC’s 27- game Pac-10 winning streak.

2010 — Caroline Wozniacki wraps up the year-end No. 1 ranking after rallying to beat Francesca Schiavone 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 at the WTA Championships. The 20- yearold from Denmark is the 10th woman to end the season on top and the youngest since Martina Hingis in 1997.

2012 — Serena Williams beats Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-3 to win the WTA Championships for the third time and finish the year with another title. Williams ends the year with a 59-4 record. Since her first-round loss at the French Open, she is 31-1, winning Wimbledon, the Olympic gold medal and the U.S. Open. 2017 — J.T. Barrett caps the greatest game of his career with a 16- yard touchdown pass to Marcus Baugh with 1:48 left in the fourth quarter and No. 6 Ohio State rallies from 11 down in the final five minutes to hand No. 2 Penn State its first loss, 39-38. Barrett is 33 for 39 for 328 yards and four touchdown passes, three in the fourth quarter after the Buckeyes were down 35-20. Penn State led 38-27 with 5:42 left.

Ji Hyun Kim 73-68-72-69—282 -6 Ye Jin Kim 71-66-73-72—282 -6 Megan Khang 74-72-67-70—283 -5 Hye- Jin Choi 70-72-70-71—283 -5 Alena Sharp 71-70-71-71—283 -5 Nelly Korda 69-70-73-71—283 -5 Caroline Masson 71-68-72-72—283 -5 Carlota Ciganda 72-72-71-69—284 -4 Ariya Jutanugarn 74-72-68-70—284 -4 Jennifer Kupcho 72-73-69-70—284 -4 Azahara Munoz 70-72-72-70—284 -4 Gaby Lopez 72-70-67-75—284 -4 Hyo Joo Kim 71-73-73-68—285 -3 Hannah Green 73-73-70-69—285 -3 Ju Young Pak 73-69-74-69—285 -3 Ayean Cho 74-68-70-73—285 -3 Brooke Henderson 73-68-70-74—285 -3 Lizette Salas 71-75-72-68—286 -2 In-Kyung Kim 69-73-75-69—286 -2 Eun-Hee Ji 75-69-72-70—286 -2 J. Suwannapura 73-71-72-70—286 -2 Angel Yin 72-73-66-75—286 -2 Kristen Gillman 70-71-69-76—286 -2 So Yeon Ryu 69-70-70-77—286 -2 Brittany Altomare 71-74-71-71—287 -1 A Lim Kim 71-74-70-72—287 -1 Ji Young Park 71-70-72-74—287 -1 Marina Alex 69-71-76-72—288 E Sohye Park 71-72-72-73—288 E Gayoung Lee 73-69-73-73—288 E Celine Boutier 76-66-71-75—288 E Jeongmin Cho 72-69-72-75—288 E

Name

David Pastrnak James Neal Auston Matthews Alex Ovechkin Leon Draisaitl Brayden Schenn Erik Haula Anthony Mantha Reilly Smith Elias Lindholm T.J. Oshie Evander Kane Joel Armia Dougie Hamilton Nathan MacKinnon Connor McDavid Jack Eichel Jake Guentzel Adam Henrique Victor Olofsson Jakob Silfverberg Jeff Skinner Mark Stone Roope Hintz Filip Forsberg Artemi Panarin Travis Konecny Oskar Lindblom

Name Tuukka Rask Thatcher Demko Sam Montembeault Darcy Kuemper Pekka Rinne Alex Stalock Tristan Jarry Ryan Miller Mike Smith Thomas Greiss Connor Hellebuyck John Gibson Jaroslav Halak Carter Hutton Marc-Andre Fleury Matt Murray Ben Bishop

Utica Toronto Rochester Cleveland Laval Syracuse Binghamton Belleville

Stockton Ontario Tucson Colorado Bakersfield San Jose San Diego

Goal Scoring Team Boston Edmonton Toronto Washington Edmonton St. Louis Carolina Detroit Vegas Calgary Washington San Jose Montreal Carolina Colorado Edmonton Buffalo Pittsburgh Anaheim Buffalo Anaheim Buffalo Vegas Dallas Nashville N.Y. Rangers Philadelphia Philadelphia

EASTERN CONFERENCE

WESTERN CONFERENCE

GP G 10 11 11 9 13 9 13 9 11 8 11 8 11 7 11 7 12 7 13 7 13 7 8 6 9 6 11 6 11 6 11 6 12 6 12 6 12 6 12 6 12 6 12 6 12 6 13 6 6 5 8 5 9 5 9 5

Atlantic Division

GP W L OL SOL Pts GF GA Hartford 9 8 0 0 1 17 27 16 Springfield 10 6 4 0 0 12 32 24 Providence 10 5 3 0 2 12 32 27 Hershey 9 4 3 1 1 10 27 24 Lehigh Valley 7 3 1 1 2 9 19 18 WB/Scranton 9 4 4 1 0 9 26 34 Charlotte 8 4 4 0 0 8 27 28 Bridgeport 9 1 5 2 1 5 17 35

North Division

GP W L OL SOL Pts GF GA 7 7 0 0 0 14 36 13 8 6 0 2 0 14 28 18 9 5 2 1 1 12 27 28 9 5 3 0 1 11 32 23 10 4 5 1 0 9 24 29 7 3 2 2 0 8 25 30 9 3 4 2 0 8 24 31 8 3 5 0 0 6 22 32

Central Division

GP W L OL SOL Pts GF Iowa 8 5 1 1 1 12 26 Grand Rapids 8 5 2 0 1 11 29 San Antonio 8 4 1 2 1 11 25 Chicago 8 4 3 1 0 9 21 Milwaukee 8 3 2 1 2 9 18 Texas 9 3 4 0 2 8 23 Rockford 7 2 5 0 0 4 12 Manitoba 8 1 7 0 0 2 15 Pacific Division

GP W L OL SOL Pts GF GA 8 6 1 0 1 13 33 23 8 6 1 1 0 13 29 21 7 6 1 0 0 12 25 14 7 4 3 0 0 8 18 22 8 3 4 1 0 7 23 24 6 3 3 0 0 6 17 18 6 0 6 0 0 0 10 26

GA 21 23 21 22 21 27 26 30

Name

John Carlson Connor McDavid Aleksander Barkov Mitchell Marner Leon Draisaitl Ryan Ellis Brad Marchand Sidney Crosby Jack Eichel Patrik Laine Morgan Rielly Matt Duchene Nathan MacKinnon Cale Makar Rasmus Dahlin Hampus Lindholm Mark Scheifele Connor Brown Elias Pettersson Brent Burns Logan Couture Ryan Johansen Roman Josi Oscar Klefbom Jaden Schwartz William Karlsson Max Pacioretty Mark Stone

Assists Team Washington Edmonton Florida Toronto Edmonton Nashville Boston Pittsburgh Buffalo Winnipeg Toronto Nashville Colorado Colorado Buffalo Anaheim Winnipeg Ottawa Vancouver San Jose San Jose Nashville Nashville Edmonton St. Louis Vegas Vegas Vegas

Friday’s Games Milwaukee 2, Texas 1, SO Colorado 4, San Jose 2 Bakersfield 3, Stockton 2, SO Ontario 6, San Diego 2 Tucson 3, Iowa 1

Saturday’s Games Cleveland 5, Rockford 0 Lehigh Valley 3, Charlotte 2 Grand Rapids 6, Texas 4 Hartford 4, Bridgeport 1 Rochester 7, Syracuse 6, OT Utica 2, Hershey 1, SO Binghamton 3, Toronto 2, OT Laval 3, Providence 2, SO Springfield 5, Belleville 3 WB/Scranton 5, San Antonio 4, OT Chicago 4, Manitoba 0 Ontario 3, San Diego 2

San Jose 4, Colorado 0 Tucson 2, Iowa 1, OT Stockton 6, Bakersfield 3

Sunday’s Games Hartford 2, Bridgeport 1, OT Belleville 4, Providence 3 Toronto at Syracuse, 5 p.m. Springfield 2, Rochester 1, OT

Tuesday’s Games Texas at Milwaukee, 8 p.m. Chicago at Tucson, 9:05 p.m.

Wednesday’s Games Bakersfield at San Jose, 2 p.m. Binghamton at Utica, 7 p.m. Hartford at Laval, 7 p.m.

Iowa at Grand Rapids, 7 p.m. Providence at Rochester, 7:05 p.m. San Antonio at Rockford, 8 p.m. Chicago at Tucson, 10:05 p.m.

GP 13 11 10 13 11 11 10 12 12 12 13 10 11 11 12 12 12 10 10 11 11 11 11 11 11 12 12 12

A 16 14 12 12 11 11 10 10 10 10 10 9 9 9 9 9 9 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8

NOTE: Two points are awarded for a win, one point for an overtime or shootout loss.