CUP CONTENDERS EYE WIN IN TEXAS

Chase Elliott insists he has worried less about the points situation during this NASCAR season than ever before, and that might just be the right approach for those Cup drivers still with championship hopes.

Elliott will start today at Fort Worth, Texas, just below the cutoff line for the top four that will race for the title next month, even though he currently has the fourth-most points.

“It’s not that I don’t care,” Elliott said. “It does matter, but I just think the more that you understand that winning is paramount and that’s the only guarantee that moves you on.”

Like Joey Logano did last weekend at Kansas to start the final three-race playoff round, holding off Kevin Harvick for the final 40-plus laps to get a victory that took him from outside the top four to knowing he will get to race for the title Nov. 8 at Phoenix.

Of the remaining seven playoff contenders, nine-time 2020 winner Harvick is in the best spot, leading by 21 points over Denny Hamlin, 33 over Brad Keselowski and 41 over Elliott. Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr. and Kurt Busch, the rest of the top eight, likely have to win at Texas or Martinsville for a championship shot.

“You count points as a second move, as your backup plan, just because of the fact the thing that you can control the most of moving forward is to win the race,” Harvick said.

Harvick has won the last three fall races at Texas, which like Kansas is a 11⁄2-mile track but has a much different configuration, and starts on the pole today.

Logano is also on the front row, ahead of Keselowski and Elliott.

Power takes pole

Will Power won his fifth pole of the season and flirted with the St. Petersburg (Fla.) track record Saturday in qualifying for the Indycar season finale.

Power will start from the pole today on the downtown temporary street course for the ninth time in his career. Power is in a three-way fight with Colton Herta and rookie Pato O’ward for third in the final standings.

The championship will be decided between Scott Dixon

and Josef Newgarden.

Dixon needs to finish only ninth or higher to wrap up a sixth championship. Newgarden is seeking a second consecutive title and third overall.

Neither had a strong qualifying day. Newgarden will start eighth and needs to win today to have any chance at stopping Dixon.

Notable

Harrison Burton

stormed past Noah Gragson

in the final turn Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway to win the Xfinity Series race and deny Gragson a spot in the championship round.

Gragson was one turn away from earning an automatic berth into the title-deciding finale but instead had to settle for a second-place finish.

Jimmie Johnson and Chip Ganassi Racing announced Carvana — the company known for multistory car vending machines — as the sponsor for the No. 48 Honda that Johnson will drive in road and street course Indycar races.