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CONCORD, N.C. — NASCAR champion Kyle Larson has emerged as a candidate for an Indianapolis 500 ride and said Saturday he has permission from Hendrick Motorsports to run the iconic race if a deal can be completed.

Larson told The Associated Press he has spoken to both team owner Rick Hendrick and vice chairman Jeff Gordon about his desire, and Hendrick’s only caveat was that Larson not run the Indy 500 this season.

If he does land a ride, though, Larson said he’d run “The Double” and compete in both the Indy 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. Only four drivers have previously attempted to run the 1,100 miles in two different states on the same day, and Tony Stewart in 2001 was the only driver to complete all the laps.

Kurt Busch in 2014 was the last driver to attempt the feat.

“Nothing’s changed. I would love to do it,” Larson told AP. “It’s just timing and I want to be in the best equipment possible. But I’ve told Jeff and Rick that I’d like to do it and it’s kind of up to them to find something.”

Kyle Busch also has permission to run the Indy 500 when he joins Richard Childress Racing next season, but conversations with McLaren to run a fourth car for Busch have fizzled over the limited budget offered by potential sponsor Menard’s for the effort.

Seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, who last month retired from full-time racing after two seasons in IndyCar and his own Indy 500 debut, also wants to run The Double next season.

But for it to work for Larson, Busch or Johnson, they’d all likely need to partner with a Chevrolet team, and the options are limited. Team Penske has been reluctant to run a fourth car at Indy, which would leave Arrow McLaren SP as the best viable Chevy choice. The McLaren lineup finished second, fourth and 11th in this year’s race.

Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan, who finished third this year, has also emerged as a candidate for a seat with McLaren. The team is expanding next year to three full-time entries with the addition of Alexander Rossi to the lineup, and team head Zak Brown has so far remained undecided on if he wants to field a fourth car in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

Grassroots racing fans are eager to see Larson at Indy, as his dirt background and dominance in smaller series across the country has made him a popular figure. Although his name is now being mentioned in IndyCar circles for a potential seat next May, Larson said he was unaware of any ongoing negotiations involving his participation.

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D-backs lose Gurriel to season-ending ACL tear

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D-backs lose Gurriel to season-ending ACL tear

The Arizona Diamondbacks placed left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. on the 10-day injured list due to a torn right ACL injured the previous night in a 7-5 loss to the Texas Rangers.

Gurriel was hurt in the sixth inning after he jumped awkwardly out of the way to avoid center fielder Blaze Alexander, who made a diving catch on a line drive by Rowdy Tellez for the third out of the inning.

Alexander was playing his first game in center field as a big leaguer.

Gurriel stayed on the ground for several minutes while medical staff attended to him. The 31-year-old eventually got up and walked to a cart before being driven off the field.

Additional tests confirmed the torn ACL.

Gurriel is batting .248 this season with 19 homers and 80 RBIs.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Buckeyes seize No. 1; LSU, Canes rise as Tide fall

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Buckeyes seize No. 1; LSU, Canes rise as Tide fall

Ohio State climbed to No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 college football poll on Tuesday, LSU and Miami moved into the top five, and Florida State jumped back into the rankings at the expense of Alabama, which plummeted to its lowest spot in 17 seasons.

The defending national champion Buckeyes received 55 of 66 first-place votes to move up two spots after their win over preseason No. 1 Texas. Ohio State is at the top of a regular-season poll for the first time since November 2015.

The Longhorns dropped to No. 7 as the media voters shuffled the rankings following a topsy-turvy Labor Day weekend. It was only the second time — and first since 1972 — that two top-five teams lost in Week 1 and the first time that four top-10 teams lost.

Only three teams in the Top 25 are in the same spot they were in the preseason poll.

Penn State got seven first-place votes and remained No. 2. LSU, which received three first first-place votes, was followed by Georgia and Miami to round out the top five.

Oregon got the other first-place vote and was followed by Texas, the Clemson Tigers, Notre Dame and South Carolina.

LSU jumped six spots after winning at Clemson and Miami got a five-rung promotion for its victory over Notre Dame.

The biggest movers in the poll were Florida State and Alabama after the Seminoles’ 31-17 victory in their head-to-head matchup.

The Seminoles, who were 15 spots outside the Top 25 in the preseason, are now No. 14. The Crimson Tide fell all the way from No. 8 to No. 21 — their lowest ranking since Bama was No. 24 in the 2008 preseason poll. That was the second of Nick Saban’s 17 teams in Tuscaloosa.

It’s been quite a turnabout for Florida State. The Seminoles were No. 10 in the 2024 preseason, lost their first two games, finished 2-10 and weren’t ranked again until now.

Utah, at No. 25, joins Florida State as the only newcomers to this week’s poll. The Utes are ranked for the first time since last October, when they were at the front end of a seven-game losing streak.

Utah had received the second-most points, behind BYU, among teams outside the preseason Top 25, but the Utes got more credit for beating UCLA on the road than the Cougars received for hammering FCS foe Portland State.

Boise State, which had been No. 25, received no votes following its 34-7 loss at South Florida. The Broncos had appeared in 14 straight polls.

The other team to drop out of the poll was No. 17 Kansas State, which followed up its season-opening loss to Iowa State with a last-minute home win over FCS team North Dakota.

Ohio State is the first team to take over the top spot in the first regular-season poll since Alabama in 2012. It was the biggest jump to No. 1 in the first regular-season poll since USC was promoted from No. 3 in 2008.

Texas’ fall was the biggest for a preseason No. 1 since Auburn dropped to No. 8 in the first regular-season poll of 1984.

LSU has its highest ranking after Week 1 since it was No. 3 in 2012, and Miami has its highest ranking after Week 1 since it was No. 5 in 2004.

South Carolina is in the top 10 in the regular season for the first time since it was No. 8 in December 2013.

CONFERENCE CALL

SEC: 10 (Nos. 3, 4, 7, 10, 13, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)

Big Ten: 6 (Nos. 1, 2, 6, 11, 15, 23)

ACC: 4 (Nos. 5, 8, 14, 17)

Big 12: 4 (Nos. 12, 16, 24, 25)

Independent: 1 (No. 9)

RANKED VS. RANKED

No. 15 Michigan at No. 18 Oklahoma: This weekend’s game will be the first meeting since Oklahoma beat the Wolverines in the Orange Bowl to win the 1975 national championship. Wolverines freshman QB Bryce Underwood gets put to the test in his second start.

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Hold that, Tiger: Kelly asks if Dabo saw 2nd half

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Hold that, Tiger: Kelly asks if Dabo saw 2nd half

While Dabo Swinney isn’t inflating LSU‘s grade for beating his team in Saturday’s season opener, Brian Kelly is ready to give the Clemson coach an incomplete for his evaluation.

Both coaches weighed in Tuesday on how LSU’s 17-10 win at Clemson should be viewed. After trailing 10-3 at halftime, LSU outscored Clemson 14-0 in the second half and finished with significant edges in both total yards (354-261) and first downs (25-13).

LSU rose six spots to No. 3 in the AP Top 25 poll Tuesday, while Clemson dropped four spots to No. 8.

“It was a helluva game, down to the last play,” Swinney said in his weekly news conference. “Right out of the gate. It’s like getting the final exam [on] Day 1 of class. They made a 65; we made a 58. Neither one of us were great.”

Kelly had not won a season opener at LSU before Saturday, and the victory was his first with the Tigers against an AP top-5 opponent.

“I thought we dominated them in the second half, so he’s really a really good grader for giving himself a 58, or he’s a really hard grader on us,” Kelly said in his news conference when told about Swinney’s comment.

“Or he didn’t see the second half, which, that might be the case. He might not have wanted to see the second half.”

Kelly added that LSU is moving on to this week’s game against Louisiana Tech.

“Clemson is a darn good football team,” Kelly said. “That’s a top-notch team, and they’re going to be a team in the hunt for [the] playoff picture. We hope we are, too. But it was only one game. So I don’t know if he’s a hard grader or an easy grader, but I like the way that we played in the second half.”

Clemson visits LSU to open the 2026 season.

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