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Bubba Wallace holds final playoff spot with 5 races left in NASCAR Cup regular season

Bubba Wallace holds final playoff spot with 5 races left in NASCAR Cup regular season

NBC Sports4 days ago
Bubba Wallace continues to hold the final playoff spot, but he saw his advantage expand after Sunday's race at Dover Motor Speedway.
Wallace finished seventh at Dover and holds a 16-point lead on Ryan Preece for the final playoff spot. Wallace entered Dover just three points ahead of Preece, who finished 19th Sunday.
Twelve drivers have won this year to claim playoff spots. Four spots remain available via points with five races left in the regular season.
Those four drivers in a position position without a win are Tyler Reddick (156 points above the cutline), Alex Bowman (+63), Chris Buescher (+44) and Wallace (+16).
Those below the cutline are Preece (-16), Kyle Busch (-39), Ty Gibbs (-52), Michael McDowell (-77) and AJ Allmendinger (-80). No other drivers are within 80 points of the cutline.
Here is a look at the playoff standings heading into Sunday's Cup race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (drivers in yellow have won this season):
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Host Pressure, Dynasty Runs, And Debut Dreams: Women's AfroBasket 2025 Preview
Host Pressure, Dynasty Runs, And Debut Dreams: Women's AfroBasket 2025 Preview

Forbes

time2 hours ago

  • Forbes

Host Pressure, Dynasty Runs, And Debut Dreams: Women's AfroBasket 2025 Preview

LILLE, FRANCE - AUGUST 04: Ezinne Kalu #23 of Team Nigeria celebrates victory during the Women's ... More Group Phase - Group match between of Team Canada and Team Nigeria on day nine of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Pierre Mauroy Stadium on August 04, 2024 in Lille, France. (Photo by) Getty Images Today marks the beginning of Africa's largest women's basketball tournament, where twelve national teams will compete for the AfroBasket title in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. In addition to continental pride, the winner will secure a direct spot in the 2026 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup. Furthermore, the top four teams will qualify for the global qualifying tournaments. Côte d'Ivoire will host the Women's AfroBasket for the first time, with all games taking place at the Palais des Sports de Treichville in Abidjan. They have been drawn alongside Egypt and Angola in Group A and will begin their campaign against Egypt on July 26. 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Defending champ Kyle Larson returns to Brickyard seeking turnaround
Defending champ Kyle Larson returns to Brickyard seeking turnaround

Hamilton Spectator

time8 hours ago

  • Hamilton Spectator

Defending champ Kyle Larson returns to Brickyard seeking turnaround

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Kyle Larson raced to his third NASCAR Cup victory of the season at Kansas in mid-May then turned his attention to his second and perhaps final attempt at racing's double — completing all 1,100 miles of the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. Instead, he was hit with a double whammy. A crash on Lap 92 knocked him out of the 500, relegating him to 24th, and two crashes — the second on Lap 245 — knocked him out in Charlotte, where he finished 37th. Not much has gone right for Lason since then. He posted just one top five finish over the next eight races before finishing fourth at Dover last weekend. Now, the defending Brickyard 400 champion is back at Indianapolis Motor Speedway trying to recharge his season. 'It's great to be back here in Indy and back at the track, hopefully I'll do a much better job than I did in May,' he said Friday. 'It's a privilege to get to run here and I would love nothing more than a good run and hopefully kind of put the bow on the double stuff.' Only three drivers in race history own back-to-back Brickyard wins — Jimmie Johnson in 2008-09, Kyle Busch in 2015-16 and Kevin Harvick in 2019-20. Larson's won last year on Indy's historic 2.5-mile oval instead of the road course used the previous three years. Most if not all drivers including Larson prefer running the oval. 'There's so many people from all over the world here whether it be May or our events or, really for that matter, any events,' Justin Allgaier said. '... It's just there's nothing quite like it;' Larson understands having driven an IndyCar on the oval each of the last two Mays and now back in a Cup car, his fourth start in 14 months at the Brickyard. The difference this year: Larson wants to change directions after some sub-par results. But they haven't dashed his championship hopes. The 2021 Cup champ is tied for second in wins this season, already has accrued 23 playoff points and trails only Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott, the 2020 Cup champ, and William Byron in points. Neither Elliott or Byron has won the 400, though. Neither has Denny Hamlin, who sits just behind Larson in points despite winning a series-best four times including last weekend at Dover. He also signed a two-year contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing on Friday. If he can add a win Sunday to the three he's had in the Daytona 500 and Southern 500 and the one Coca-Cola 600 title, Hamlin would join the short list of drivers who have won all four Cup crown jewel races in their career. 'It certainly would mean a lot to me,' said Hamlin, who has started 16 Brickyards. 'We've come close. We were actually as close on the road course as we were on ovals although I don't know — you could argue whether that (road race) was actually a crown jewel or not. So, yeah, highly motivated.' But things already are off script for Larson, Hamlin and everyone else in Indy. Friday's scheduled practice was rained out, making the second week in a row practice was washed out. Qualifying is scheduled for Saturday when temperatures are forecast to be in the mid to upper 80s with rain in the forecast most of the afternoon. The forecast for Sunday looks almost identical to Saturday. That's not what Larson wanted to hear even though race organizers rescheduled a short practice for Saturday afternoon. 'Hopefully, our car is good again,' he said before the scheduled practice. 'I believe it should be fast, if not better than it was last year. So, you know, hopefully we'll have a good practice, good qualifying (Saturday) and execute a good race on Sunday.' Larson's goal is simple — qualify up front, stay up front and stay out of the trouble he's found far too routinely lately. 'When (Christopher Bell) spun (at Dover), I thought I was going to get collected and be like 'Uh, oh, just continuing our bad luck here,' he said. 'So, hopefully, this is the beginning of us to kind turn things around. We'll see.' ___ AP auto racing:

Defending champ Kyle Larson returns to Brickyard seeking turnaround
Defending champ Kyle Larson returns to Brickyard seeking turnaround

Fox Sports

time8 hours ago

  • Fox Sports

Defending champ Kyle Larson returns to Brickyard seeking turnaround

Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Kyle Larson raced to his third NASCAR Cup victory of the season at Kansas in mid-May then turned his attention to his second and perhaps final attempt at racing's double — completing all 1,100 miles of the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. Instead, he was hit with a double whammy. A crash on Lap 92 knocked him out of the 500, relegating him to 24th, and two crashes — the second on Lap 245 — knocked him out in Charlotte, where he finished 37th. Not much has gone right for Lason since then. He posted just one top five finish over the next eight races before finishing fourth at Dover last weekend. Now, the defending Brickyard 400 champion is back at Indianapolis Motor Speedway trying to recharge his season. 'It's great to be back here in Indy and back at the track, hopefully I'll do a much better job than I did in May,' he said Friday. 'It's a privilege to get to run here and I would love nothing more than a good run and hopefully kind of put the bow on the double stuff.' Only three drivers in race history own back-to-back Brickyard wins — Jimmie Johnson in 2008-09, Kyle Busch in 2015-16 and Kevin Harvick in 2019-20. Larson's won last year on Indy's historic 2.5-mile oval instead of the road course used the previous three years. Most if not all drivers including Larson prefer running the oval. 'There's so many people from all over the world here whether it be May or our events or, really for that matter, any events,' Justin Allgaier said. '... It's just there's nothing quite like it;' Larson understands having driven an IndyCar on the oval each of the last two Mays and now back in a Cup car, his fourth start in 14 months at the Brickyard. The difference this year: Larson wants to change directions after some sub-par results. But they haven't dashed his championship hopes. The 2021 Cup champ is tied for second in wins this season, already has accrued 23 playoff points and trails only Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott, the 2020 Cup champ, and William Byron in points. Neither Elliott or Byron has won the 400, though. Neither has Denny Hamlin, who sits just behind Larson in points despite winning a series-best four times including last weekend at Dover. He also signed a two-year contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing on Friday. If he can add a win Sunday to the three he's had in the Daytona 500 and Southern 500 and the one Coca-Cola 600 title, Hamlin would join the short list of drivers who have won all four Cup crown jewel races in their career. 'It certainly would mean a lot to me,' said Hamlin, who has started 16 Brickyards. 'We've come close. We were actually as close on the road course as we were on ovals although I don't know — you could argue whether that (road race) was actually a crown jewel or not. So, yeah, highly motivated.' But things already are off script for Larson, Hamlin and everyone else in Indy. Friday's scheduled practice was rained out, making the second week in a row practice was washed out. Qualifying is scheduled for Saturday when temperatures are forecast to be in the mid to upper 80s with rain in the forecast most of the afternoon. The forecast for Sunday looks almost identical to Saturday. That's not what Larson wanted to hear even though race organizers rescheduled a short practice for Saturday afternoon. 'Hopefully, our car is good again,' he said before the scheduled practice. 'I believe it should be fast, if not better than it was last year. So, you know, hopefully we'll have a good practice, good qualifying (Saturday) and execute a good race on Sunday.' Larson's goal is simple — qualify up front, stay up front and stay out of the trouble he's found far too routinely lately. 'When (Christopher Bell) spun (at Dover), I thought I was going to get collected and be like 'Uh, oh, just continuing our bad luck here,' he said. 'So, hopefully, this is the beginning of us to kind turn things around. We'll see.' ___ AP auto racing: recommended Item 1 of 3

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