Buescher eliminates Elliott with a victory

Chris Buescher won the NASCAR Cup Series regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, eliminating Chase Elliott from the playoffs and sending Bubba Wallace into the postseason.

Buescher and teammate Brad Keselowski finished 1-2 for RFK Racing, with Buescher winning for the third time in the last five races. Because Buescher already had won, Wallace got the 16th and final playoff spot on points.

Ryan Preece flipped about a dozen times after sliding into the infield grass with six laps to go and came to a halt in his mangled No. 41 Ford. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver was able to get out with help before emergency personnel put him on a gurney and into an ambulance for a quick trip to the infield care center.

Preece’s crash with SHR teammate Chase Briscoe sent the race into overtime. Buescher was out front for the restart and Keselowski stayed in line to keep them 1-2 at the checkered flag.

■ Red Bull driver Max Verstappen produced a typically strong final lap to take pole position at the Dutch Grand Prix for the third straight year. The runaway Formula One leader beat McLaren driver Lando Norris’ leading time in qualifying on for his 28th career pole.

Baseball: California will take on Curacao in the Little League World Series championship on Sunday after both teams worked their way into the title game from the elimination bracket. Jay-Dlynn Wiel and Nasir El-Ossais got back-to-back singles off Taiwanese ace Fan ChenJun and later scored, leading Curacao to a 2-0 victory over Taiwan on Saturday. Louis Lappe homered, drove in five runs and gave up just three hits as California beat Texas 6-1.

Track and field: Sha’Carri Richardson and Noah Lyles anchored the U.S. to back-to-back victories in the 4x100 relays, giving the Americans a sweep of the relays at world championships for the first time since 2007.