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By the time the sun sets over Phoenix on Sunday, we will have a new NASCAR Cup Series champion, the last man standing after nine months, a 26-race regular season, a nine-race playoff and, finally, a 312-lap throwdown on the rugged 1-mile flat semi-roval that is the Phoenix Raceway.

Here they are. The 2021 NASCAR “Four Horsemen of the Car-pocalypse.”

For those of you unfamiliar with NASCAR’s title format, in stark contrast to the points system that gets us to this final event, what these four drivers need to do to win it all is shockingly simple.

Since 2014, four drivers have come to the season finale as the final four title contenders, hitting the reset button and starting at zero. When the checkered flag is flown on Sunday night, the highest finisher among those four wins stock car racing’s most coveted prize, the NASCAR Cup Series championship. No confusing bonus points or stage wins any of that. Just beat the other three cars.

History says for anyone wanting to be the champ, that result will have to be a win. Since the current Championship Four model started, the champion has also won the final race all seven times.

So, who are this year’s Championship Four, how did they get here and how have they run at Phoenix in years’ past? We’re so glad you asked, because we’ve already done the homework for you.


No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy
Championship Four appearances: 1
Best championship finish: 6th, 2019
2021 key stats: 9 wins, 19 top 5’s, 25 top 10’s, 2,474 laps led, 2 DNF
Career at Phoenix: 14 starts, 0 wins, 5 top 5’s, 8 top 10’s, 72 laps led, 1 DNF

Larson is on the cusp of finally delivering on the wunderkind promise that came with him when he arrived in the Cup Series full time in 2013, and it’s been an even more difficult climb than he could have imagined, having been exiled from the garage for an inexplicable dropping of the n-word on a live stream video game telecast during 2020’s pandemic lockdown.

He has made the most of the second chance given to him by NASCAR super team Hendrick Motorsports, posting one of the best individual seasons seen in the Cup garage in more than a decade. He’s won four of the nine playoff races, including three of the last four. If he wins at Phoenix on Sunday, he will become the first driver to earn double-digit victories in a season since Jimmie Johnson’s career peak performance 10-win season in 2007. For more on Larson’s comeback from exile, read this piece posted at the start of this year’s postseason.


No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy
Championship Four appearances: 2
Best championship finish: 1st, 2020
2021 key stats: 2 wins, 14 top 5’s, 20 top 10’s, 858 laps led, 3 DNF
Career at Phoenix: 11 starts, 1 win, 4 top 5’s, 7 top 10’s, 1 pole, 402 laps led, 1 DNF

While Hendrick Motorsports teammate Larson is still seeking to deliver on the “next great one” potential tagged him as a teenager, one year ago Elliott fulfilled the NASCAR prophecies that had been spoken about him since birth. The defending Cup Series champ was all over the place during the 2021 season, countering his nine top-two finishes with seven finishes of 21st or worse. Both of his victories came on road courses, but he did finish fifth at Phoenix back in March and won this race one year ago to clinch the Cup.

“I just go back to what my father told me last year when we were getting ready for the Phoenix finale and honestly, I was a nervous wreck,” the soon-to-be-25-year-old says, speaking of his father, NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, who was involved in some of the most memorable title bouts of the 1980’s and ’90s. “All I need to remember is that the goal is beat three other guys. That’s it. That’s not easy, but that’s also pretty dang simple when you boil it down.”


No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Championship Four appearances: 5
Best championship finish: 1st, 2017
2021 key stats: 4 wins, 12 top 5’s, 19 top 10’s, 793 laps led, 2 DNF
Career at Phoenix: 31 starts, 1 win, 5 top 5’s, 13 top 10’s, 2 poles, 187 laps led, 4 DNF

All this dude does is show up for the title fight at season’s end. His fifth appearance in the Championship Four is tied for most among all drivers, with 2021 absentees Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick. Truex has made the NASCAR playoffs seven straight years and finished in the top two in the final standings three years straight from 2017-2019.

His comeback story is one of the best in NASCAR history, his career seemingly broken and ended after being collateral damage in one of the greatest cheating scandals stock car racing has ever seen, a race-fixing effort by his team in 2013. Then the team he won the title with in 2017, Furniture Row Racing, shut down operations. But since his resulting jump to juggernaut Joe Gibbs Racing, he has won 12 races over three seasons and cemented his NASCAR Hall of Fame résumé. A win on Sunday night would guarantee him first-ballot status. That’s a long way from eight years ago, when he thought his career was up on blocks for good.


No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Championship Four appearances: 4
Best championship finish: 2nd, 2010
2021 key stats: 2 wins, 18 top 5’s, 24 top 20’s, 1,502 laps led, 0 DNF
Career at Phoenix: 32 starts, 2 wins, 15 top 5’s, 19 top 10’s, 2 poles, 854 laps led, 1 DNF

Speaking of first-ballot Hall of Famers, whenever Hamlin is eligible, he will roller skate into the Hall via his 46 career wins, tied for 17th all-time, including three Daytona 500 victories. But the clock is ticking on whether he can ever work his way off the very short list of drivers in the “greatest to never win the championship” debate. This will be his fifth real shot at the Cup, the first predating the current final four format, when his nerves ate up his chance to hold off Jimmie Johnson in 2010. A botched pit stop cost him in 2014, the first year of the Championship Four, and he finished last in that four in 2019 and even more painfully one year ago after he’d led all drivers with eight wins on the season.

Hamlin enters this year’s finale like a bull with a hangover, one week after angrily ruining Martinsville winner Alex Bowman’s celebratory burnout, calling Bowman “a hack,” blaming his Virginia home state track crowd’s booing of him on their allegiance to Chase Elliott, and warning the world — and presumably his Phoenix Cup Series title rivals — “Don’t poke the bear.” So, check that, he’s a bear with a hangover.

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Kelly yells at LSU player, gets yelled at by other

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Kelly yells at LSU player, gets yelled at by other

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — LSU coach Brian Kelly was caught on camera screaming at one player and getting yelled at by another.

The sideline scenes were clear signs of frustration for a program that was on its way to losing a third consecutive game, at unranked Florida on Saturday. Now, the Tigers (6-4, 3-3 SEC) will be the ones out of the polls following the 27-16 defeat.

And the LSU fan base might be out of patience with Kelly.

“This is a simple exercise of do you want to fight or not?” Kelly said after his team’s latest loss. “Do you want to fight and take responsibility as coaches and players that we’re not playing well and we’re struggling right now?

“There’s a rough spot here that we have to fight through, and we have to do it together.”

Kelly appeared to get into it with wide receiver Chris Hilton Jr. in the first half. Kelly got in Hilton’s face after a play, and online lip readers suggested Kelly eventually called Hilton “uncoachable.”

Late in the third quarter, cameras captured wideout Kyren Lacy yelling at Kelly on the sideline after an empty possession.

In the clip, Lacy could be seen apparently letting Kelly have it. The coach’s eyes widened as he seemingly realized what was happening. The ABC camera quickly cut away from the interaction.

LSU lost to Florida for the first time since 2018. This one came despite the Tigers running 92 plays and having the ball for more than 41 minutes.

“We’re going to put guys on the field that are going to fight and do everything they can do to correct where we are right now — and that is struggling with consistent execution,” Kelly said. “I think we’ve seen it enough to know we have to be better as coaches and players.”

Kelly’s streak of 10-win seasons will end at seven. Kelly won double-digit games in each of his last five seasons at Notre Dame and extended it with consecutive 10-win campaigns in Baton Rouge.

But losing three in a row, to Texas A&M, Alabama and Florida, makes it impossible to get past nine victories.

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Smart critical of CFP committee after UGA victory

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Smart critical of CFP committee after UGA victory

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia coach Kirby Smart wouldn’t say if being ranked 12th by the College Football Playoff selection committee motivated the Bulldogs to prove a point in Saturday night’s game against No. 7 Tennessee.

Coming off last week’s ugly 28-10 loss at Ole Miss, their second defeat of the season, the Bulldogs would be the first team left out of the playoff if the 12-team bracket was based on the current rankings. No. 13 Boise State would have received the automatic bid as the fifth-highest-ranked conference champion and have jumped them.

That’s probably not the case anymore, after Georgia manhandled Tennessee 31-17 at Sanford Stadium.

“I don’t know what they’re looking for. I really don’t,” Smart said of the CFP selection committee. “I wish they could really define the criteria. I wish they could do the eyeball test where they come down here and look at the people we’re playing against and look at them. You can’t see that stuff on TV, and so I don’t know what they look for. But that’s for somebody else to decide. I’m worried about our team.”

For the first time in a while, Georgia looked pretty good on both sides of the ball against Tennessee. The Bulldogs fell behind 10-0 in the first quarter but came back to tie the score at 17 at the half. Tennessee had only eight first downs and didn’t score in the final 30 minutes. It was the ninth time a Josh Heupel-coached team has scored fewer than 20 points; four of them came against Georgia.

The Bulldogs won their 29th consecutive game at home and defeated the Volunteers for the eighth straight time, all by double digits.

“Our kids showed resilience,” Smart said. “I’m proud of them. Look, it was a week ago, a couple of hours, that we were dead and gone. People had written us off. It’s hard to play in this league, week in and week out, on the road.”

After the Ole Miss loss, Georgia fell from third to 12th in the CFP rankings. Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, the chairman of the CFP selection committee, said the Bulldogs’ inconsistent offense and turnovers were reasons why.

“They’re not in that environment,” Smart said. “They’re not at Ole Miss in that environment, playing against that defense, which is top five in the country with one of the best pass rushers in the country, and they’re fired up. They got a two-score lead, and they’re coming every play. They don’t know. They don’t understand that.”

Georgia has played the most difficult schedule in the FBS, according to ESPN’s College Football Power Index, and has the third-best strength of record, which reflects whether an average Top 25 team would have a team’s record or better against its schedule.

The Bulldogs also lost 41-34 at Alabama on Sept. 28 after falling behind 28-0 in the first half. They defeated Clemson 34-3 in their opener and won 30-15 at Texas on Oct. 19.

Adding a dominant victory over Tennessee should help Georgia’s CFP chances. It closes the regular season with two non-SEC games at home, against UMass on Saturday and rival Georgia Tech on Nov. 29.

“It’s just the tale of each week, and we’re trying to be the cumulative, whole, really good quality team and not be on this emotional roller coaster that’s controlled by people in a room somewhere that may not understand football like we do as coaches,” Smart said. “We as coaches, look at people and say, ‘What can we do better? How do we get better?’ I respect their decision. I respect their opinion. But I mean, it’s different in our league.”

One of the big reasons for Georgia’s success against Tennessee was quarterback Carson Beck, who completed 25 of 40 passes for 347 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He had thrown 12 interceptions in the previous six games.

Beck also scored on a 10-yard run that gave Georgia a 24-17 lead with 5:32 left in the third quarter.

“I didn’t really feel any pressure, to be honest,” Beck said. “I stood up in front of the team on Monday and talked to them about how I felt about how our season has gone. I told them that whatever has happened has happened and that all we can control is what we can control moving forward.”

Georgia’s offensive line didn’t allow a sack, while the Bulldogs sacked Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava five times. Georgia had 453 yards and went 5-for-5 in the red zone.

“I think everybody understood the situation that we were in,” Beck said. “When our backs are against the wall, the only way out is through what is in front of you.”

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Sources: No. 2 ’25 QB Lewis decommits from USC

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Sources: No. 2 '25 QB Lewis decommits from USC

Julian Lewis, the No. 2 player and quarterback in the 2025 class, decommitted from USC on Sunday, sources told ESPN, sealing a seismic development for one of the nation’s top prospects in the closing weeks of the recruiting cycle.

Lewis’ decommitment, which had been expected, comes the day after the 6-foot-1, 195-pound quarterback took an unofficial visit to Georgia for the game against Tennessee. He also visited Colorado on Oct. 26 and expressed interest in Indiana throughout his recruitment.

The plan remains for Lewis to commit in the upcoming weeks and enroll early in school, according to sources. He’s the top uncommitted player in the class of 2025 and his choice looms as one of the biggest stories of the early signing period with Colorado, Georgia and Indiana expected to contend for his signature before the signing period opens Dec. 4.

Sources also told ESPN on Sunday that four-star Texas A&M quarterback pledge Husan Longstreet, No. 47 in the 2025 ESPN 300, has flipped his pledge to USC in the wake of Lewis’ departure from the Trojans’ incoming class.

USC quarterbacks coach Luke Huard attended Longstreet’s playoff game at Corona Centennial High School in California on Friday night, and ESPN’s No. 4 pocket passer visited the Trojans during their game against Nebraska on Saturday.

Lewis had been verbally committed to the Trojans since Aug. 22, 2023. Yet questions had swirled over his recruitment from the summer into the fall and all the way through to his decommitment from USC on Sunday.

Lewis’ move marks the latest blow to a USC class that has now lost six commitments from the 2025 ESPN 300 in this cycle.

That list of high-profile departures from Lincoln Riley’s incoming class includes five-star defenders Justus Terry and Isaiah Gibson, and Lewis’ exit stands as USC’s third recruiting loss in the past seven days following the flips of defensive lineman Hayden Lowe (Miami) and cornerback Shamar Arnoux (Auburn).

The Trojans sat ninth in ESPN’s latest class rankings for the 2025 cycle prior to Lewis’ decommitment.

With the move, Lewis instantly regains status as the one of nation’s most sought-after uncommitted prospects. He first entered that realm in 2022 when he burst onto the national scene with 4,118 yards and 48 touchdowns while leading Carrollton to the Georgia 7A state title game in his freshman season.

That debut campaign earned Lewis a place as the No. 1 prospect in the 2026 class before he reclassified into the 2025 cycle earlier this year, several months after his commitment to USC last August.

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