Alex Bowman holds final NASCAR Cup playoff spot with 9 races left in regular season
Bowman fell a spot to just above the cutline in the standings. He entered Pocono three points ahead of Chris Buescher, who held the final playoff spot. Buescher finished fourth Sunday and scored 48 points to Bowman's 27 to leapfrog Bowman.
Buescher also passed Bubba Wallace in the playoff standings after Wallace finished 36th and scored one point after an accident.
Bowman holds a 20-point lead on Ryan Preece for the final playoff spot heading into Saturday night's race at EchoPark Speedway, the track formerly known as Atlanta Motor Speedway. Wallace is 29 points ahead of Preece. Buescher is 38 points ahead of Preece.
The playoff field will be set after the Aug. 23 race at Daytona International Speedway on NBC.
Dustin Long,
Chase Briscoe's victory Sunday at Pocono made him the 11th different winner this season. That leaves five playoff spots via points at this time.
Here is a look at the playoff standings. Those in yellow have scored a win this season.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
31 minutes ago
Venus Williams wins a doubles match at Washington in her first tournament in more than a year
WASHINGTON -- Competing at a tournament for the first time in more than a year, and in doubles for the first time in nearly three, Venus Williams hit a big serve on her initial delivery at the DC Open on Monday and, curiously, it was wiped out by a foot-fault call. The 45-year-old Williams, an owner of 21 Grand Slam titles across singles and doubles, smiled incredulously, as did the other three players involved in the match in front of a full crowd that eventually included NBA star Kevin Durant. And then Williams carried on, displaying her trademark power on some strokes while teaming with Hailey Baptiste for a 6-3, 6-1 victory against 2014 Wimbledon runner-up Eugenie Bouchard and Clervie Ngounoue. 'It's just nice to be able to play. Where I am at this year is so much different where I was at last year. It's night and day, being able to be here and prepare for the tournament as opposed to preparing for surgery a year ago,' said Williams, who spoke in an interview with NBC earlier this month about having a procedure to remove fibroids from her uterus. 'At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter if your health is not there. So it definitely put it in perspective for me and maybe made it easier to make the decision to maybe come back out here and maybe play even freer.' Her most recent match had been at the Miami Open in March 2024, and she said Sunday she had two goals in Washington: to have fun and to win. She did both — winning, yes, and contributing plenty to the cause, but also having a good time, high-fiving or fist-bumping Baptiste after some of their best points, laughing after others and waving to an appreciative group of fans that roared over and over for Williams. She and Baptiste hugged when it ended. 'The crowd was insane. From the moment we stepped out of the players area, you could kind of feel the buzz. Walking onto the court, just felt all the love for the both of us,' said Baptiste, a 23-year-old from Washington. 'I was obviously very nervous to play with her. I didn't want to let her down, first match back and everything." It was full at 3,000-seat John Harris Court, where Durant showed up late in the first set, while across the way at the 7,500-capacity main stadium, only a few dozen spectators were scattered in the stands for an all-American singles match in which Reilly Opelka defeated Murphy Cassone. Asked to comment about the court assignments, tournament director Daniel Vallverdú said: 'The tournament works to balance full singles and doubles ATP and WTA schedules, while coordinating with broadcaster requests for court assignments.' When Williams, wearing a white visor as she so often has, was introduced before participating in doubles for the first time since the 2022 U.S. Open — when her partner was younger sister Serena — the stadium announcer mentioned that Venus has 'one of the best serves in the history of the game,' that she 'turned pro in the last century' and 'has won everything.' That includes seven major singles trophies — five at Wimbledon, two at the U.S. Open — and an additional 14 in doubles with Serena, plus four Olympic gold medals. 'She's 14 years older than me and still plugging away,' said Bouchard, 31, a former top-five player who announced that next week's tournament in Montreal will be the last of her career. 'I have nothing but respect for her. She's such a legend. That was a pretty cool crowd for a doubles match.' They sure were into it Monday, standing with phone cameras raised high when Venus first appeared at the court — and again when it ended. There will be other opportunities to see her this week: In singles, Williams was scheduled to play Tuesday night against Peyton Stearns, a 23-year-old American currently ranked No. 35 who won NCAA singles and team championships at the University of Texas.
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Winner Takes All: Ty Gibbs, Ty Dillon Battle for $1M in NASCAR Tournament
Denny Hamlin earned the No. 1 seed for NASCAR's inaugural in-season tournament— and was promptly eliminated in the first race by Ty Dillon, the No. 32 seed. Now, Dillon faces Ty Gibbs this weekend at Indianapolis to decide the first winner of the tournament and the $1 million prize that comes with it. Hamlin said the five-race, bracket-style tournament overall was a success — but not without a few kinks. Some of the seeding was off, such as Shane van Gisbergen not qualifying for the field, then ripping off consecutive wins on the Chicago street race and Sonoma Raceway during the tournament races. And sure, everyone loves a Cinderella in March. But two in July isn't necessarily making the tournament the NASCAR story of the summer. "I think it has been unfortunate, right, you probably had a lot of the top seeds get knocked out pretty early in it, but overall, I thought the implementation of it has been good," Hamlin said. The other side of the argument is this: Would any fan or media outlet really care about a pair of winless drivers such as Gibbs (the sixth seed) or Dillon at this point of the season without $1 million at stake? "For a team like us, at this point in the season, we're not exactly where we want to be yet, but we're trending in a good direction," Dillon said Sunday at Dover. "Our story doesn't get told in years past. It's mainly the guys trying to fight for the points position. It's the guys running up front, trying to win the race. But our story and our growth in the year stops getting told. I'm grateful we've been able to show our personality as a team." Unlike the All-Star race where the winner pockets $1 million, the driver with the best finish earns the cash prize, a ring, jackets and a trophy. Dillon had luck on his side during his run, with his lone top-10 finish coming in the first race in Atlanta. He advanced in that race after Hamlin crashed out and finished 31st. Dillon twice has finished 20th, including at Dover. He has a best finish of 13th in five career races on the Indy oval. Gibbs, the grandson of team owner and football and NASCAR Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs, and Dillon have failed to win in a combined 374 Cup races. Dillon has only two career top-five finishes in a career that dates to 2014. The 22-year-old Gibbs has a much better pedigree, winning the 2022 Xfinity Series title, a series in which he was a 12-time winner. He has six top 10s already this season and could make NASCAR's playoffs on points. Gibbs has three straight top 10s in the tournament, including a fifth-place finish at Dover. Gibbs finished 23rd on the Indy oval last season. He's done enough to impress his grandfather. "There's some people there that we got off to a terrible start, it was awful, (but) I had people on that group that came to me encouraging me, ideas for me, after it. I think they care for Ty. It just was a huge deal," the 84-year-old Gibbs said. "This sport will really measure you. But those guys have fought back." Reporting by The Associated Press.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Venus Williams makes winning return to tennis aged 45
Venus Williams enjoyed a winning return to competitive tennis after 16 months away as she reached the quarterfinals of the women's doubles at the DC Open alongside Hailey Baptiste. The all-American pair defeated compatriot Clervie Ngounoue and the retiring Eugenie Bouchard 6-3, 6-1 in the round of 16 for Williams' first victory on the WTA Tour since August 2023, when she defeated Veronika Kudermetova in the opening round of the Cincinnati Open. Williams, 45, gave her signature twirl after the match as she took in the adulation of the capacity crowd. 'It's just nice to be able to play,' Williams said after the match, per the Associated Press. 'Where I am at this year is so much different where I was at last year. It's night and day, being able to be here and prepare for the tournament as opposed to preparing for surgery a year ago.' Williams told NBC earlier this month that she had undergone surgery to remove fibroids from her uterus, a condition she said had affected her career and life for years. 'At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter if your health is not there,' she added. 'So, it definitely put it in perspective for me and maybe made it easier to make the decision to maybe come back out here and maybe play even freer.' It was the first time Williams had stepped onto the court at all for an official match since an opening-round defeat to Diana Shnaider at the Miami Open in March 2024. Her last doubles match was almost three years ago. Williams, who is currently without a ranking in singles or doubles, has won seven grand slam singles titles and 14 in doubles alongside youngster sister Serena, as well as two mixed doubles titles in 1998. After the win, Williams joked that her and Baptiste should have partnered up much sooner. 'I think, from the first point, I could see that we were going to be a good team,' she said. 'We just should have started playing earlier, years ago, right? I think Serena was just in the way.' Williams, who accepted wild cards to compete in the singles and doubles, will make her return in the singles competition when she faces American Peyton Stearns in the opening round on Tuesday.
