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LAS VEGAS — Kyle Larson used a spectacular mid-race save, got a lightning fast final pit stop from his Hendrick Motorsports crew, then held off Christopher Bell at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway finish line to become the first driver locked into NASCAR’s championship finale.

The 2021 Cup champion earned the first of four spots in the Nov. 5 title-deciding finale with his win in Sunday’s opening race of the round of eight of NASCAR’s playoffs.

“Glad we don’t need to stress in the last two races,” Larson said.

Larson’s fourth win of the season was the most important: Hendrick Motorsports could theoretically coast through the next two weeks and focus mostly on preparing for the finale at Phoenix Raceway. Joey Logano won Las Vegas last year and parlayed the two weeks of prep time into a championship-clinching win at Phoenix.

There won’t be any rest for the No. 5 team, though.

“If we just say, ‘Hey, we’re going to cruise for the next two weeks,’ then you are not operating with the edge that I think you’re going to need to win it in Phoenix,” crew chief Cliff Daniels said. “There’s two more races to win, and the way I see this now is that we’re in the position, we get to play those races to win.”

Larson led 133 laps and beat Bell by 0.082 seconds.

He needed a pretty remarkable save in the second stage when his Chevy wiggled and Larson somehow escaped with only denting the rear corner of the car into the wall. It was a save that Daniels believes only Larson could pull off.

“I just tried to take a deep breath and really forget about that as quickly as possible and get refocused,” Larson said.

It kept him in contention and Larson claimed the lead on pit road when his crew had the fastest stop following a caution with 57 laps remaining. Bell had control of the race at that point but Larson was first off pit road.

Bell, who started on the pole in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, was third after the pit stop. Passing seemed particularly difficult Sunday at Las Vegas, and Bell was sort of stuck following Larson for the rest of the race.

But he made a run at Larson over the final handful of laps, closing the gap each time by the flagstand. As they closed in on the checkered flag, Bell gave it one furious push inside of Larson but couldn’t beat him to the line.

“I don’t know what else I could have done,” a dejected Bell said. “I feel like that was my moment. That was my moment to make the final four and didn’t capture it. It would have been nice to lock in.”

Larson praised Bell, his longtime sprint car rival, for racing him cleanly to the finish line.

“I could see him coming in my mirror, for sure,” Larson said of Bell’s closing rate. “Thankfully, Christopher always races extremely clean. Could have got crazier than it did coming to the start/finish line. Thank you to him for racing with respect there.”

Kyle Busch, a Las Vegas native, finished third in a Chevrolet. He was followed by Brad Keselowski in a Ford and Ross Chastain in a Chevrolet. All three were eliminated from the playoffs last Sunday at Charlotte.

The next five spots went to playoff drivers as Ryan Blaney was sixth for Team Penske but was disqualified after the race because the left front shock on his Ford did not meet the overall specified length.

That moved Larson teammate William Byron to sixth and he was followed by Tyler Reddick in a Toyota for 23XI Racing, JGR drivers Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin. Chris Buescher, in a Ford for RFK Racing, was the lowest-finishing playoff driver in 10th.

Blaney dropped to last in the race.

A win in any of the three playoff races this round earns an automatic berth into the championship finale. The remaining slots are filled based on the points standings.

Bell, Reddick, Blaney and Buescher are the four drivers below the cutline.

NASCAR goes to Homestead-Miami Speedway next Sunday for the middle race in the round of eight. Larson is the defending race winner.

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Ex-Arkansas OT Chamblee commits to SMU

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Ex-Arkansas OT Chamblee commits to SMU

One of the top offensive linemen in the transfer portal has found a new home.

Former Arkansas tackle Andrew Chamblee has committed to SMU, he told ESPN. He’s the No. 6 overall player in ESPN’s transfer portal rankings. At Arkansas in 2023, he earned freshman All-SEC honors.

Chamblee was an ESPN 300 recruit and ranked as the No. 2 overall prospect in Arkansas in 2022. He’s 6-foot-6, 300 pounds and started eight games last season as a redshirt freshman. He’ll have three years of eligibility remaining.

Chamblee marks the 20th power conference transfer that SMU has taken since the opening of the December transfer portal and is arguably the most decorated of all of them. He’s the second offensive lineman from Arkansas, as interior lineman Paris Patterson committed to SMU in recent days.

SMU is coming off an 11-3 season that saw them finish the year ranked No. 22 in the Associated Press postseason poll. SMU enters the ACC next season, a move powered by the school’s wealthy boosters and ambitions to stay relevant in the changing college football landscape.

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Rapper’s delight: Snoop sponsors Arizona Bowl

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Rapper's delight: Snoop sponsors Arizona Bowl

Snoop Dogg is getting into the college football bowl business with a historic sponsorship that recognizes his 1993 hit song and recent beverage line with Dr. Dre, “Gin & Juice.”

The rapper on Monday revealed the new Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin & Juice By Dre and Snoop, announcing his intent “to bring the juice back to college football.” The game, previously sponsored by Barstool Sports, will take place Dec. 28 in Tucson, Arizona, and pair teams from the Mountain West and Mid-American conferences.

The partnership marks the first with an alcohol product as the presenting sponsor of an NCAA-sanctioned bowl game. In February, the new beverage company introduced “Gin & Juice” as their first ready-to-drink product — a nod to Snoop Dogg’s hit from the album “Doggystyle,” produced by Dr. Dre and Death Row Records.

“The Arizona Bowl is bringing sports, libations and entertainment into a singular bowl game, and we are changing the definition of what a brand partnership is in the NCAA,” Kym Adair, executive director of the Arizona Bowl, said in a statement.

PlayFly Premier Partnerships, a sports media and marketing company that has worked with the Arizona Bowl since 2021, finalized the agreement between Snoop Dogg and the bowl game.

“College football fans are exhausted by the constant talk around NIL, conference realignment, coach movement, transfer portal and super conferences, so it’s time that we get back to the roots of college football,” Snoop Dogg said in announcing the partnership on social media. “When it was focused on the colleges, the players, the competition, the community, the fan experience and the pageantry. … So it’s only fitting that I step up and get this thing right.”

Snoop Dogg has long been involved in football, launching the Snoop Youth Football League in 2005 and often attending USC practices and games. His son Cordell Broadus initially signed to play wide receiver at UCLA but ended up stepping away from the sport.

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Biden honors Army for beating Navy, Air Force

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Biden honors Army for beating Navy, Air Force

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday recognized the U.S. Military Academy with the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy for besting other service academies in football.

Army beat the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Air Force Academy during last year’s season. The college, based in West Point, New York, posted an overall win-loss record of 6-6, including a 57-point victory over Delaware State University, one of Biden’s favorite schools.

With Biden in the White House’s East Room on Monday were 48 cadets who are set later this month to receive their diplomas and their military commissions.

“Everyone on this stage stepped up to serve, to lead, to join a long line of American servicemen, each a link of chain of honor,” Biden said to the Army football team players who gathered around him.

The Air Force Falcons have won the trophy 21 times, compared with 16 for the Navy Midshipmen and 10 for the Army Black Knights.

The competition among the service academies began in 1972. The trophy, topped by three silver footballs, weighs 170 pounds.

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