FORT WORTH, Texas — Kyle Larson claimed the first of four championship-contending spots in NASCAR’s season finale with a dominating victory at Texas on Sunday to start the round of eight in the playoffs.
Larson led 256 of 334 laps at the 1 1/2-mile track and got his eighth win this season, staying in front through seven restarts in the final stage. Three of those restarts came after incidents involving other playoff contenders in the closing laps.
“This is unreal. I knew we’d have a good shot to win and our car was amazing. That was probably the best 550 package, intermediate package we’ve had all year,” Larson said. “We’re going to race for a championship. This is crazy.”
This was the first chance for anyone to guarantee a shot at racing for the Cup title in Phoenix on Nov. 7.
Already with a significant points lead, and coming off a win on the road course at Charlotte Motor Speedway a week earlier to close out the second elimination round, Larson left no doubt about the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet being part of the championship four.
There were two laps remaining on the final restart, and Larson was able to stay out in front of teammate William Byron.
“Kyle really deserves it, they’ve been awesome all year, flawless on pit road and they do everything right,” Byron said.
The seven remaining playoff contenders leave Texas with two more chances to get into the championship four, with Kansas and Martinsville left before the finale. Texas had always been the eighth of the final 10 races, and the middle race of the third and final elimination round, before this season.
Larson’s first appearance in NASCAR’s championship four comes in the same season that Rick Hendrick gave him an opportunity to get back into the Cup Series. He also won at Texas in the $1 million, non-points All-Star race in June.
The 29-year-old Larson, who made his Cup debut in 2013, also won in his previous All-Star race, in 2019 with Chip Ganassi Racing. But he missed the 2020 big-money exhibition and the rest of that season while serving a six-month suspension. He was suspended after using a racial slur during a livestream while in a virtual race when NASCAR was on pause during the pandemic. That cost him nearly every sponsor, his seat with Ganassi and nearly his career before Hendrick signed him before this season.
Keselowski, whose fourth-place finish was the best among the other playoff drivers, provided the push from behind for Larson on the final restart.
“Well, we didn’t need all those yellows,” Keselowski said. “We needed the long runs to be able to keep them honest. We had long-run speed, but the 5 and 24 were just blistering fast on the restart and drove away from me. I just wanted some laps to let their stuff wear down.”
Hamlin was on the outside of a three-wide situation with 20 laps remaining when Blaney made contact with the No. 11 Toyota. The tire rub eventually blew and sent Hamlin into a spin, though he was able to get to pit road and stay on the lead lap. Hamlin had more contact later that damaged his splitter.
“We just didn’t have a fast enough car, I thought we were probably fifth at best, honestly, and then two wrecks at the end,” Hamlin said. “This car is destroyed.”
Truex, the Joe Gibbs Racing teammate of Hamlin, was later done after contact with Daniel Suarez that sent him hard into the wall.
Logano, who was already eighth in points, was the first of the playoff drivers out at Texas, when his engine blew with 34 laps to go.
“Now we know what we have to do the next two weeks. … We’ve got to go find a way to win,” said Logano, 43 points under the cutline.
Busch was the only playoff contender in the vicinity of a huge backstretch crash only 31 laps into the race, though he took only some minimal contact on the back of the No. 18 Toyota when scooting through the melee. He was back in the field after serving a penalty for speeding on pit road during the competition caution. He took more new tires as a precaution, then went on to win the first stage.
“I mean we probably missed four or five points there at the end of the day, but we missed four or five points at the stage as well too. So that’s what we missed out on,” Busch said. “Certainly the 5 and the 24 were the class of the field again. You know, we’re just slow.”
A BIG ONE IN TEXAS
Bubba Wallace was in the middle while three-wide going onto the backstretch when he got loose and went sideways, triggering a big crash. NASCAR listed 12 cars being involved, not including Busch, on a the restart from the competition caution. The 12 cars were among the most ever involved in a single incident at Texas, which hosted its 41st Cup race, since the 1997 debut with a 13-car crash at the start of the race.
UP NEXT
The middle race in the round of eight at Kansas, where Logano was the winner last October when that was the opener in the round of eight. Eight of the last nine Kansas races have been won by one of the remaining playoff contenders, with six of those drivers combining for those wins.
Bobby Jenks, a two-time All-Star pitcher for the Chicago White Sox who was on the roster when the franchise won the 2005 World Series, died Friday in Sintra, Portugal, the team announced.
Jenks, 44, who had been diagnosed with adenocarcinoma, a form of stomach cancer, this year, spent six seasons with the White Sox from 2005 to 2010 and also played for the Boston Red Sox in 2011. The reliever finished his major league career with a 16-20 record, 3.53 ERA and 173 saves.
“We have lost an iconic member of the White Sox family today,” White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said in a statement. “None of us will ever forget that ninth inning of Game 4 in Houston, all that Bobby did for the 2005 World Series champions and for the entire Sox organization during his time in Chicago. He and his family knew cancer would be his toughest battle, and he will be missed as a husband, father, friend and teammate. He will forever hold a special place in all our hearts.”
After Jenks moved to Portugal last year, he was diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis in his right calf. That eventually spread into blood clots in his lungs, prompting further testing. He was later diagnosed with adenocarcinoma and began undergoing radiation.
In February, as Jenks was being treated for the illness, the White Sox posted “We stand with you, Bobby” on Instagram, adding in the post that the club was “thinking of Bobby as he is being treated.”
In 2005, as the White Sox ended an 88-year drought en route to the World Series title, Jenks appeared in six postseason games. Chicago went 11-1 in the playoffs, and he earned saves in series-clinching wins in Game 3 of the ALDS at Boston, and Game 4 of the World Series against the Houston Astros.
In 2006, Jenks saved 41 games, and the following year, he posted 40 saves. He also retired 41 consecutive batters in 2007, matching a record for a reliever.
“You play for the love of the game, the joy of it,” Jenks said in his last interview with SoxTV last year. “It’s what I love to do. I [was] playing to be a world champion, and that’s what I wanted to do from the time I picked up a baseball.”
A native of Mission Hills, California, Jenks appeared in 19 games for the Red Sox and was originally drafted by the then-Anaheim Angels in the fifth round of the 2000 draft.
Jenks is survived by his wife, Eleni Tzitzivacos, their two children, Zeno and Kate, and his four children from a prior marriage, Cuma, Nolan, Rylan and Jackson.
ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.
NEW YORK — The New York Yankees, digging for options to bolster their infield, have signed third baseman Jeimer Candelario to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the affiliate announced Saturday.
Candelario, 31, was released by the Cincinnati Reds on June 23, halfway through a three-year, $45 million contract he signed before the start of last season. The decision was made after Candelario posted a .707 OPS in 2024 and batted .113 with a .410 OPS in 22 games for the Reds before going on the injured list in April with a back injury.
The performance was poor enough for Cincinnati to cut him in a move that Reds president of baseball operations Nick Krall described as a sunk cost.
For the Yankees, signing Candelario is a low-cost flier on a player who recorded an .807 OPS just two seasons ago as they seek to find a third baseman to move Jazz Chisholm Jr. to second base, his natural position.
Candelario is the second veteran infielder the Yankees have signed to a minor league contract in the past three days; they agreed to terms with Nicky Lopez on Thursday.
Snell and Treinen each faced hitters Saturday, and Snell pitched two innings. Each could begin a rehab assignment after the All-Star break.
The 32-year-old Snell has pitched in two games for the Dodgers following his five-year, $182 million free agent deal after spending last season with the San Francisco Giants and three before that with the San Diego Padres. He is a two-time Cy Young Award winner.
“(Snell) looked good. He looked really good,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I don’t know what the velo was but the ball was coming out really well. He used his entire pitch mix. I thought the delivery was clean, sharp, so really positive day.”
The Dodgers’ starting rotation has been injury-prone this season but is starting to get a boost from Shohei Ohtani, the two-way superstar who is working as an opener in his return from elbow surgery.
Treinen is looking to get back to his role in the back end of the bullpen. He threw one inning Saturday.
“Blake Treinen I thought was really good as well,” Roberts said. “Both those guys should be ready at some point in time shortly after the All-Star break.”
