MADISON, Ill. — Austin Cindric emerged as the surprise winner of the NASCAR Cup series race Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway when teammate Ryan Blaney ran out of gas while leading on the final lap.
Blaney, the reigning NASCAR Cup series champion, appeared to be on his way to his first win of the season after fighting off a challenge from Christopher Bell, who had his own car trouble in the closing laps.
Cindric, who had pitted just one lap after Blaney, took advantage of the situation and notched his second career victory. The other came in the 2022 Daytona 500.
“It was like my first time all over again,” Cindric said. “It’s been so long. Even just standing up on the roof of my car, I about fell over in Victory Lane.”
Cindric said he didn’t find out until he reached Victory Lane that Blaney had run out of gas — or that it might have been an issue for him.
“Probably the two best cars at the end of that race both had an issue, and the third-place car wins the race. That’s the way I see it,” Cindric said. “I mean, it’s not like I went out there and I took the lead away but we were in position, and this is one of our best-executed races so far this year with probably our best speed.”
The three Penske cars — Cindric, Blaney and Logano — did not pit in the break between the second and third stages, and that put them in position to go for Team Penske’s first win of the year.
“It’s been miserable to be in our shop here lately. We expect to win,” said Logano, a two-time series champion who entered the race 17th in points. “We got used to winning and when you’re fighting for 20th, it’s quite the kick in the you-know-what.”
Bell, the winner of last week’s rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600, had been the dominant car for much of the day in suburban St. Louis, leading 80 of the 240 laps.
Blaney and Bell dueled for the lead for several laps before Bell — just after finally squeezing ahead of Blaney briefly — let up and reported motor issues to his crew. Bell wound up seventh, getting a push by teammate Martin Truex Jr. on the straightaways in the final laps.
“I have no idea what happened — some sort of motor issue — and I’m surprised that it made it to the end,” Bell said. “So glad that we were able to salvage something out of it.
“But you don’t get race cars like that very often. And whenever you do, you need to take advantage of them.
Blaney settled for 24th, coasting around as the last finisher on the lead lap.
“Just one lap short,” Blaney said. “Really happy with our showing today, just I don’t know what I’ve got to do to get some luck on our side.”
Cindric’s crew chief, Brian Wilson, said the Penske team coordinated during the week on the decision to keep all three cars out at the start of Stage 3, but they didn’t share strategy on the final pit stop as they were competing for the win.
“I would have preferred to pit the same lap as him,” Wilson said. “They did a great job of disguising that.”
Pole sitter Michael McDowell led the first 40 laps before Bell maneuvered his way inside to take the lead for the first time.
DEFENDING CHAMP CRASHES
Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson were battling side-by-side for seventh on the final lap of Stage 2 when they got together in an incident that took the defending race champion out.
After the two rubbed on the front stretch, Larson tried to dive inside Busch going into Turn 1, but he got loose in the process. Larson’s car slid up the track and forced Busch into the wall. Busch’s race was over, but Larson was able to pit and return to the race in 29th place.
“Trying to race for a playoff spot and, you know, gradually falling there a little bit,” said Busch, who was the runner-up in the track’s inaugural Cup series race in 2022 before winning last year. “He got loose and wiped us out.”
On their radio communications, Larson and his spotter accused Busch of causing the crash by giving him no room on the inside.
ARMSTEAD GIVES BACK
Miami Dolphins offensive tackle Terron Armstead, who is from nearby Cahokia, Illinois, brought 20 area kids to the race as part of his foundation’s growing efforts in the community.
Armstead hosted his second annual charity basketball game Friday and his 10th annual football skills camp on Saturday.
“The overall goal for everything this weekend is really exposure and introduction to different industries, different paths, a lot of different walks of life, different sports, networking, meeting new people, connecting dots, relationship building,” said Armstead, who recently restructured his contract in hopes of helping the Dolphins win the Super Bowl.
“That’s the goal — and for memories. Maybe spark a fire in the youth.”
College football reporter; joined ESPN in 2008. Graduate of Northwestern University.
Wisconsin fired offensive coordinator Phil Longo on Sunday, a day after the Badgers’ 16-13 home loss to No. 1 Oregon.
In a statement, Badgers coach Luke Fickell thanked Longo for his two seasons with the program, while adding, “We are not where we need to be and believe this decision is in the best interest of the team.”
Wisconsin ranks 97th nationally in scoring and 102nd in passing while operating an Air Raid-style offense that Longo brought with him from North Carolina and other stops.
The Badgers, who lost starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke to a season-ending injury Sept. 14, had only three points and 88 yards in the second half against Oregon, which rallied from a 13-6 deficit entering the fourth quarter.
Wisconsin ranked 101st nationally in scoring in Longo’s 23 games as coordinator and failed to eclipse 13 points on its current three-game losing streak. Quarterback Braedyn Locke had only 96 passing yards against the Ducks.
Fickell did not immediately announce an interim coordinator for Wisconsin’s final regular-season games against Nebraska and Minnesota.
Fickell had long targeted Longo for a coordinator role, going back to his time as Cincinnati’s coach. Longo, 56, oversaw productive offenses at Ole Miss, North Carolina, Sam Houston State and other spots but never consistently got traction at a Wisconsin program that had operated dramatically differently on offense before his arrival.
“This team still has a lot in front of us and I am committed to doing everything we can to close out this season with success,” Fickell said in his statement.
Eli Lederman covers college football and recruiting for ESPN.com. He joined ESPN in 2024 after covering the University of Oklahoma for Sellout Crowd and the Tulsa World.
Four-star quarterback Tramell Jones Jr. has committed to Florida, he told ESPN on Sunday, joining the Gators’ 2025 class four days after pulling his pledge from Florida State.
Jones, a four-year starter at Florida’s Mandarin High School, is ESPN’s No. 9 dual-threat passer in the Class of 2025. After multiple trips to Florida throughout his recruitment, Jones returned to campus Saturday, taking an official visit with the Gators during the program’s 27-16 win over LSU. A day later, Jones stands as the lone quarterback pledge in a 2025 Florida class that includes five pledges from the ESPN 300.
“I pretty much saw everything I needed to see when I visited last spring — I just love everything around the campus,” Jones told ESPN. “And then hanging out with the guys yesterday, seeing the camaraderie with each other, that really just sealed it for me.”
Jones was the longest-tenured member of Mike Norvell’s 2025 class at Florida State before his decommitment from the Seminoles on Thursday morning.
Jones’ exit came days after Norvell announced the firings of three assistant coaches on Nov. 10, including offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Alex Atkins. Jones was the first Florida State commit to pull his pledge in the wake of the staff shakeup but marked the Seminoles sixth decommitment since the start of the regular season, joining five ESPN 300 recruits who have left Norvell’s recruiting class across the program’s 1-9 start.
Jones’ commitment follows a key late-season victory for Billy Napier on Saturday and marks the Gators’ first recruiting win since athletic director Scott Strickland announced on Nov. 7 that Florida would stick with the third-year coach beyond the 2024 season.
Uncertainty over Napier’s future had weighed down Florida’s recruiting efforts in the 2025 class as the Gators began November with the No. 39 class in ESPN’s latest team rankings for the cycle. But Jones’ pledge comes as a boost for Florida one day after the Gators hosted a handful of high-profile flip targets, including five-star offensive tackle Solomon Thomas (Florida State pledge) and four-star wide receiver Jaime Ffrench (Texas pledge).
When Jones signs with Florida, he’ll arrive on campus flanked by fellow in-state offensive talents in four-star wide receivers Vernell Brown III (No. 44 in the ESPN 300) and Naeshaun Montgomery (No. 115), as well as four-star running back Waltez Clark (No. 223). Florida is also set to sign a pair of in-state defenders from the 2025 ESPN 300 between four-star defensive end Jalen Wiggins (No. 68) and four-star cornerback Ben Hanks Jr. (No. 121).
With Jones’ commitment, Florida has another jolt to its momentum on the recruiting trail as the Gators seek to chart a strong finish in the 2025 cycle next month. More imminently, Florida will host No. 11 Ole Miss on Saturday.
A rare souvenir postcard picturing Hank Aaron as a rookie with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro Leagues sold for nearly $200,000 at a baseball memorabilia auction that also included Ted Williams’ 1946 AL MVP award, which went for $528,750.
The Aaron postcard from the scrapbook of scout Ed Scott, who discovered Aaron, went for $199,750 following a bidding war that soared past the pre-sale estimate of $5,000-$10,000, Hunt Auctions said.
The auction included 280 items from Williams’ personal collection that had been held by his daughter, Claudia, who died last year. Among the other items were a silver bat awarded for his 1958 batting title, which sold for more than $270,000, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom presented to him by fellow naval aviator George H.W. Bush, which went for $141,000.
The sale also included items from the collection of Rutherford Hayes Jones, the business manager of the Washington Giants, one of the earliest Black baseball teams. The trove was discovered in 2001 in a suitcase, where it had been unseen for 40 years.
A first batch of items from Claudia Williams’ collection went up for auction in 2012 at Fenway Park and garnered more than $5 million.