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William Byron said he had nightmares coming to Martinsville Speedway this weekend, remembering his last visit when he struggled to a 13th-place finish.

He not only overcame those fears, he put a cherry on top of the weekend when Hendrick Motorsports celebrated the anniversary of its first win 40 years ago by picking up No. 305.

“It was one of the worst experiences as a team, but one of the best experiences to realize the resilience that our team has. And I think that that showed today,” Byron said of last October’s penultimate race of the season.

This Sunday was different. Electing to stay out on old tires for the two-lap overtime finish, Byron won for the third time this season in eight races and led an historic 1-2-3 finish for Hendrick.

“It’s awesome and it’s way bigger than me,” Byron said.

Byron took the lead with 73 laps to go and held on after a second straight race ended in overtime, outrunning teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott for the win.

Byron, the first of the contenders to pit under a green flag with 104 laps to go, moved to the front 31 laps later and was never threatened after getting the jump at the start of overtime. It was his second victory on the 0.526-mile, paper-clip shaped oval.

“It was a great call. It didn’t get us the track position right away, but we had a little bit more heat in our tires,” Byron said of the call to pit, which ultimately gave him the lead. “So, seemed like I fired off a little bit faster than those guys and was able to get ahead of them.”

He stayed out when John Hunter Nemechek crashed in turn three with three laps to go, as did Elliott and Larson, running second and third, and they produced the first 1-2-3 finish for any team in Martinsville’s long history hosting stock car races.

Larson rallied to finish second, Elliott third, Bubba Wallace fourth and Ryan Blaney, last fall’s winner here, fifth. The fourth Hendrick driver, Alex Bowman, finished eighth.

“This is a huge win for the organization,” four-time Hendrick series champion Jeff Gordon, now the vice chairman of the organization, said.

The race featured long green flag runs, with two of the five cautions pre-planned at the end of stages one and two. There were 13 lead changes among eight drivers.

The victory was the 29th for Hendrick at NASCAR’s smallest, oldest track, a record for an organization at any venue. Geoff Bodine had the first win at Martinsville on April 29, 1984. It convinced team owner Rick Hendrick not to fold his fledgling team.

All four Hendrick cars featured ruby red paint schemes, marking the anniversary.

The Hendrick organization hosted more than 1,000 current and former employees for the race, but the owner was not able to attend, having recently undergone knee replacement surgery.

“He’s super bummed out that he couldn’t be here,” Gordon said.

Larson, the defending race winner and pole-sitter, led all 80 laps in the first stage. Joey Logano gambled by taking right side tires only during pit stops after the stage and led the first 83 laps of green-flag racing in the second stage before Denny Hamlin passed him to win the stage.

Hamlin, a five-time winner at Martinsville, finished 11th.

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USC QB pulls off fake punt wearing No. 80 jersey

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USC QB pulls off fake punt wearing No. 80 jersey

LOS ANGELES — No. 20 USC pulled off a remarkable fake punt against Northwestern in Friday night’s 38-17 win by sending out third-string quarterback Sam Huard in the same uniform number as the Trojans’ punter.

Wearing a No. 80 jersey, Huard came on the field with the punt team in the second quarter and completed a 10-yard pass to Tanook Hines. The first down extended the Trojans’ second drive, which ended with a TD run by Jayden Maiava.

This bit of trickery was quite legal, apparently: Huard wore No. 7 earlier this season for the Trojans, but he is listed as No. 80 on the USC roster for this week after Lincoln Riley’s team quietly made the change.

USC punter Sam Johnson also wears No. 80. College football teams frequently feature two players wearing the same number.

Huard, who is a couple of inches shorter than the 6-foot-3 Johnson, grinned widely as he high-fived teammates on the way off the field. He is a former five-star recruit who began his college career at Washington.

Bowling Green pulled off a similar stunt in last season’s 68 Ventures Bowl in Mobile, Alabama.

Third-string Falcons quarterback Baron May switched his uniform number before the game from 8 to 18 — very similar to punter John Henderson‘s No. 19 jersey.

Late in the first quarter, May came on the field instead of Henderson and threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Malcolm Johnson Jr. — although Arkansas State overcame it for a 38-31 victory.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Missouri’s Norfleet (shoulder) ruled out vs. A&M

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Missouri's Norfleet (shoulder) ruled out vs. A&M

No. 22 Missouri will be without star tight end Brett Norfleet (shoulder) when the Tigers host undefeated No. 3 Texas A&M on Saturday in Columbia.

Norfleet, a junior from O’Fallon, Missouri, has started in each of the Tigers’ eight games this fall and enters Week 11 leading all SEC tight ends with five touchdown receptions. His 26 catches on the season rank third-most among Missouri pass catchers, trailing only wide receivers Kevin Coleman Jr. and Marquis Johnson.

Tigers coach Eli Drinkwitz told reporters that Norflett sustained a separated shoulder in Missouri’s 17-10 loss at Vanderbilt on Oct. 25. Drinkwitz later described Norfleet as “day-to-day” during the Tigers’ bye in Week 10, and the veteran tight end was listed as questionable in Missouri’s student-athlete availability report Thursday night.

Norfleet’s absence comes with Drinkwitz and the two-loss Tigers essentially facing a playoff elimination game against the Aggies on Saturday. Missouri will also be without starting quarterback Beau Pribula in Week 11 after the Penn State transfer dislocated his ankle at Vanderbilt. Freshman Matt Zollers, ESPN’s No. 6 pocket passer in the 2025 class, is set to make his first career start Saturday, facing Texas A&M coach Mike Elko and an Aggies defense that ranks 18th nationally in defensive pressures (137), per ESPN Research.

“For our team, it’s really about us focusing on helping Matt execute at the highest level possible,” Drinkwitz said this week. “We’re excited about Matt’s opportunity and what he’s earned. He has done a really good job in practice of leadership, stepping up, embracing the moment, embracing the opportunity.”

Missouri (6-2) kicks off against Texas A&M at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.

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Sources: Kansas State RB Edwards leaves team

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Sources: Kansas State RB Edwards leaves team

Kansas State running back Dylan Edwards has left the Wildcats and is expected to enter the transfer portal, sources confirmed to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

Edwards has been hampered by injuries this season and has played in just four games. He has only 34 carries for 205 yards.

In 2024, Edwards finished with 546 rushing yards while averaging 7.4 yards per carry with seven total touchdowns.

He began his career in 2023 at Colorado before transferring to K-State.

The Wildcats (4-5, 3-3 Big 12) are off this weekend.

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