Busy motorsports Sunday: Records, titles and playoffs

On Sunday, a Formula 1 driver and team set records, the NTT IndyCar championship was settled, and a driver locked himself into NASCAR Cup’s next playoff round.

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Max Verstappen won his 10th race in a row and 12th of the season last Sunday at Monza. It was also the 15th consecutive win for Red Bull, dating back to last season’s final race at Abu Dhabi. No team in F1 history has accomplished that. Monza was also the sixth 1-2 finish of the season for Red Bull. At the start, there was hope that another team might finally prevail as Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari set pole time and led the first 14 laps. But at the end, Sainz had to settle for third. Verstappen now leads teammate Sergio Perez by 145 points, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso a further 49 points back, just six ahead of Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. Singapore is next on the schedule on Sept. 17, with no reason to think that Verstappen and Red Bull won’t win again.

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Alex Palou cruised to an easy victory at Portland’s Bitnile.com Grand Prix, with closest rival and teammate Scott Dixon in tow for a Chip Ganassi Racing 1-2 finish. Heading into the final race of the season at Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca, Palou leads Dixon by 91 points, clinching the championship before the green flag even waves. Dixon can’t be caught for second in the final standings, but Pato O’Ward can overtake Josef Newgarden for third by making up 10 points on the Penske pilot. The closest battle will be for ninth in season points; Alexander Rossi has 349, Colton Herta 348, and Kyle Kirkwood 347. Watch for a fierce battle among those three on Sunday. Peacock will broadcast qualifying today at 2 p.m. with Sunday’s race airing on both NBC and Peacock starting at 11:30 a.m.

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There was not one Chevrolet in the top 10 starters at Darlington’s Cook Out Southern 500 last Sunday. Kyle Larson started 18th but was in third by the end of the first stage. Larson held off Tyler Reddick in the final laps to take the win, with Chris Buescher and William Byron only an eyeblink behind. A number of drivers earned their Darlington stripe, ricocheting off the wall. But the Gen 7 cars shrugged off damage. Larson’s win locks him into the Round of 12 with Byron, Reddick, Buescher, and Denny Hamlin all in good shape, points-wise. Drivers currently below the cut line are Bubba Wallace at -1, Kevin Harvick -2, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -4, and Michael McDowell -19.

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This weekend, the NASCAR circus is at Kansas Motor Speedway. Hamlin won there earlier this year, his fourth Kansas victory. Wallace and Larson were winners last season, the first for both. Harvick has three Kansas wins, most recently in 2018, while Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, and Martin Truex Jr. have two victories each. The opening odds on Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 seem to reflect that Toyotas have won nine of the last 15 Kansas races, with three each for Ford and Chevrolet. Four-time Kansas winner Hamlin is the favorite in opening odds at 9-2 with Truex and Larson next at 11-2. Byron is 15-2, while Reddick and Christopher Bell are tied at 9-1. Wallace is the highest he’s ever been ranked at 12-1, just ahead of Busch at 14-1. Buescher and Ross Chastain share 16-1 odds with Harvick at 20-1. My dark horse pick is Chase Briscoe at 250-1. USA will broadcast Xfinity qualifying at 7:35 a.m. today, with Cup qualifying at 9:45 a.m. The Kansas Lottery 300 airs on NBC at noon. Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 is on USA at noon.