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LAS VEGAS — One way or another, a Hendrick Motorsports driver figured to win Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas.

Kyle Larson nearly won the Pennzoil 400 in regulation, but a late caution put teammate William Byron in position to capture the checkered flag in overtime.

Byron took the lead on the second-to-last lap of OT to put an exclamation mark on a dominant day for Hendrick. The top three drivers were from Hendrick, with Byron, Larson and Alex Bowman pushing their Chevrolets across the finish line in that order.

Bowman won last year’s March race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Byron led 176 laps and won for the fifth time in his six Cup seasons.

“I’ve led a lot of laps in a couple of races, but to be this good with this team is definitely a good sign,” Byron said. “It’s a different feeling for me having a team around me that can execute that well. That’s just a team effort.”

Larson appeared headed for victory when when Aric Almirola hit the wall in turn four on lap No. 264, leading to the second caution of the day.

“I feel like I could have eight or 10 more Cup wins if it wasn’t for cautions in the last five laps,” Larson said. “I don’t remember many of those working out in my favor.”

Most of the leaders pitted a lap later, with only Martin Truex Jr. in his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota choosing to stay out. Byron, in the No. 24 Chevy, came out of pit road ahead of Larson and then easily overtook Truex after the restart.

Byron, who started in the first row with Joey Logano, swept both stages for the first time in his career. Truex in 2017 and Kevin Harvick in 2018 also won both stages in Las Vegas and went on to win.

Chase Elliott, the 2020 Cup Series champion, will begin physical therapy Monday, his team owner Rick Hendrick told Fox Sports.

Elliott had surgery Friday to repair a fractured tibia, and Hendrick said Elliott has returned to his home in Dawsonville, Georgia. Elliott was injured in a snowboarding accident Friday. He and his family own a home in Vail, Colorado.

Elliott joked on Twitter “that the formal request I submitted for a slight edit to the March section of my script was indeed… declined.”

“In all seriousness, the support I’ve received over the last couple of days is far greater than I deserve,” he posted in a follow-up tweet. “I want to thank everyone who has lended it over in any form!”

Josh Berry took Elliott’s seat in the No. 9 Chevy and finished 29th. Hendrick general manager Jeff Andrews said a decision would be made on who drives that car next weekend at Phoenix.

Logano, the defending Cup champion who won the Las Vegas race in October, hit the wall in in turn four on lap No. 183, ending his day. He was running three-wide with Brad Keselowski in the middle and Kyle Busch on the apron when Logano bumped into Keselowski, sending his Team Penske No. 22 Ford into the wall.

“I’m sure [Keselowski] didn’t mean to do it,” Logano said. “What are you going to do, right? We got fenced.”

It was a tough day all around for Logano, who was running 15th after starting on the pole.

“Considering how we’ve been here in the past, you kind of expect it a little bit more performance today than what we had,” Logano said. “Just off on overall speed. We had the balance somewhat close, just not fast.”

Bubba Wallace, who drives the 23XI Racing No. 23 Toyota, finished fourth. He was the top finisher not part of the Hendrick garage.

“It was right there in the top seven or eight the whole time,” Wallace said. “I was going to settle for sixth and the caution came out. My car fired off really, really good [on the restart], the best it had all race.”

Sunday’s first stage wasn’t kind to Las Vegas drivers Busch and Noah Gragson. Busch bumped the wall, and Gragson twice was penalized for speeding on pit road. Gragson later was docked a third speeding penalty.

Struggles in his hometown are nothing new for two-time Cup Series champion Busch, whose only top-level win at Las Vegas was in 2009. He was 14th Sunday.

Gragson, a Cup Series rookie, finished 30th.

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SEC outlines discipline for fake injury ‘nonsense’

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SEC outlines discipline for fake injury 'nonsense'

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey sent a memo Friday to league athletic directors and head football coaches outlining punishment if players continue to fake injuries in games.

“As plainly as it can be stated: Stop any and all activity related to faking injuries to create time-outs,” Sankey wrote in the memo, a copy of which was obtained by ESPN.

He ended the memo by writing: “Play football and stop the feigned injury nonsense.”

Increasingly over the past few years, coaches have repeatedly accused opposing teams and coaches of faking injuries to disrupt the rhythm and flow of offenses, especially those that are up-tempo and rarely huddle. Broadcasters have pointed out several obvious cases this season when players flopped to the ground near the sideline claiming to be injured just as the opposing offense was about to snap the ball.

Each play where a fake injury might have occurred must be submitted to the SEC for review. Steve Shaw, the national coordinator of football officiating, will determine what constitutes a fake injury. According to Sankey’s memo, those guidelines will range from Shaw determining that a feigned injury has occurred, that it is more likely than not that a feigned injury has occurred, that a player attempted to feign an injury or any other general statement from Shaw establishing the probability of a feigned injury.

Sankey wrote that creating injury timeouts, on offense or defense, is “not acceptable and is disrespectful to the game of football.”

Punishments laid out in Sankey’s memo include the following: for the first offense, a head coach receives a public reprimand and a $50,000 fine; for the second offense, another reprimand and a $100,000 fine; for a third offense, another reprimand and the coach will be suspended for his program’s next game.

Any staff member found to be involved in signaling or directing a player to feign an injury will face the same measures, including financial penalties and a suspension. A player cited for feigning an injury also may be subject to a public reprimand.

Sankey told reporters a few weeks ago at the Oklahoma-Texas game that he was concerned about the growing accusations of faking injuries.

“If somebody’s injured, we need to take that seriously,” Sankey said. “But creating the questions — and I mean this all across the country — needs to stop.”

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Sources: Top Michigan CB Johnson out vs. Oregon

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Sources: Top Michigan CB Johnson out vs. Oregon

All-American Michigan cornerback Will Johnson is out against No. 1 Oregon on Saturday, sources confirmed to ESPN, leaving the Wolverines without their top defensive player.

Johnson left the Illinois game on Oct. 19 with a lower-body injury and missed the Michigan State game last week. He’s still recovering from that lower-body injury, and his timeline to return is uncertain.

Michigan coach Sherrone Moore said this week that Johnson is expected back at some point this season “for sure” but didn’t specify when.

Johnson is considered the top cornerback prospect for the upcoming NFL draft. He has delivered two pick-sixes this year for the Wolverines, returning interceptions 86 yards against Fresno State and 42 yards against USC.

Last season, he snagged four interceptions for the Wolverines and earned defensive MVP honors for the 2023 national championship game.

247 Sports first reported Johnson’s expected absence.

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Baffert’s horses 1-2 in Breeders’ Cup Juvenile

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Baffert's horses 1-2 in Breeders' Cup Juvenile

DEL MAR, Calif. — Citizen Bull won the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile by 1½ lengths and Gaming was second at Del Mar on Friday, giving Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert a 1-2 finish and his record sixth career victory in the race for 2-year-olds.

Ridden by Martin Garcia, Citizen Bull ran 1¹⁄₁₆ miles in 1:43.07. He paid $33.80 at 15-1 odds.

Citizen Bull earned 30 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby, where Baffert will return next year for the first time since 2021. His three-year ban by Churchill Downs ended in July.

Gaming was the 6-1 third choice. Baffert’s other entry, Getaway Car, named for the Taylor Swift song, finished fourth at 25-1 odds.

“It’s exciting when your horses show up,” Baffert said. “I was hoping they’d run 1-2-3.”

It was Baffert’s 19th career Cup win and he broke a tie with D. Wayne Lukas for most Juvenile victories. Jockey Martin Garcia earned his fifth career Cup win.

“He always comes through. He’s a big-time rider,” Baffert said of Garcia. “He told me, ‘I’m going to win it.'”

East Avenue, the 8-5 favorite, stumbled out of the starting gate and nearly went down to his knees. He finished ninth in the 10-horse field. Chancer McPatrick, the 5-2 second choice, lost for the first time in four career starts and was sixth.

Racing resumes Saturday with nine Cup races, highlighted by the $7 million Classic.

In other races:

– Immersive won the $2 million Juvenile Fillies by 4½ lengths, giving trainer Brad Cox at least one Cup win in each of the past seven years. Ridden by Manny Cox, Immersive ran 1¹⁄₁₆ miles in 1:44.36 to remain undefeated. Sent off as the 2-1 favorite, she paid $6 to win.

– Lake Victoria overcame a challenging trip to win the $2 million Juvenile Fillies Turf by 1¼ lengths. The 2-year-old filly ran 1 mile in 1:34.28 and paid $3.40 as the 3-5 favorite. Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien and jockey Ryan Moore earned the win.

– Magnum Force rallied to overtake leader Governor Sam and win the $1 million Juvenile Turf Sprint by a quarter-length. The 12-1 shot ran five furlongs in 56.36 seconds and paid $27 to win. Irish trainer Ger Lyons and jockey Colin Keane earned their first Cup victories. Governor Sam, co-owned by Houston Astros free agent Alex Bregman, finished third.

– Henri Matisse won the $1 million Juvenile Turf, with Moore and O’Brien teaming for their second win of the day. Moore won his 16th career Cup race. It was O’Brien’s 20th career Cup win and seventh in the race. Sent off as the 7-2 favorite, Henri Matisse ran 1 mile in 1:34.48. Iron Man Cal was second and Aomori City third. There was a lengthy steward’s inquiry involving New Century, who finished fourth, and Dream On, who was fifth, but there was no change to the order of finish.

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