Kyle Busch’s impressive showing Saturday night at Richmond Raceway earned the 32-year-old his third straight Cup win (Texas and Bristol were the first two). Kevin Harvick accomplished the feat a month ago, winning consecutive races at Atlanta, Las Vegas and Phoenix. He finished a disappointing 35th the next week in California at Auto Club Speedway, ending his streak. Busch and Harvick account for six wins in nine races this season, but also four runner-up finishes (Busch has three, Harvick has one)....

Larson dominated the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500, holding the lead for the majority of the race at Texas Motor Speedway. The first-place finish in the Round of 8 opener advances Larson to the season-ending Championship 4 race at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 7. The race got ugly quickly as Bubba Wallace started a series of crashes and wrecks in Stage 1. Wallace spun out, which caused Ross Chastain to crash and briefly block the entire backstretch of Texas’ 1....

NASCAR made the change Tuesday and it will be in effect for qualifying Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway, a tight 0.533-mile bullring. To make qualifying more exciting, NASCAR changed the qualifying procedure this year from single-car qualifying with one car on the track at a time to group qualifying with all cars on the track and then another one or two sessions to determine the pole and the starting order among the fastest cars....

MORE: Biggest sports stars in the Carolinas | Which NASCAR team has best driver lineup? In honor of the legend, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver John Hunter Nemechek will don a special, neon-colored helmet that features a portrait of Flair on the back. Flair, who is still active as a manager and character in the WWE, became a star in the 1970s and ’80s with Mid-Atlantic Championship Wreslting and later Ted Turner’s WCW....

Jim Cassidy, NASCAR senior vice president of racing operations, told NASCAR.com the revised system did not stem from any specific incident, but one of the new penalties addresses an issue that sounds like an incident during the Chase last year, when Matt Kenseth intentionally wrecked race leader Joey Logano at Martinsville. The revamped conduct rules would ban “premeditatedly removing another competitor from championship contention in a dangerous manner when not racing for position based on the available evidence and specific circumstances of the incident....

The Sprint Cup entry list for the Quaker State 400 on Saturday has only 42 cars. Inspection for Cup cars begins at noon Thursday at Kentucky Speedway, so any late entries likely would have to be at the track at that time. MORE: Obama: Jimmie like Mike | Who’s the best? Jimmie or Junior | Earnhardt’s bloody nose | Jr. calls Kenseth The 42 cars entered for Kentucky are the 42 cars that have been entered for every race this year....

Born Elzie Wylie Baker Jr., he was the first driver to exceed 200 mph on a closed course in 1970 at Talladega Superspeedway. It was revealed in early July that he had an inoperable tumor in his lung. MORE: NASCAR’s famous families | Notable sports deaths in 2015 He immediately resigned from his NASCAR radio show after receiving the prognosis from doctors. Baker made his NASCAR debut in 1959 and won 19 races during his 34-year career....

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – As one of early stock car racing’s most successful car owners, it is appropriate that Raymond Parks captured the first two championships offered by the fledgling National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, an organization Parks helped form in 1947. Parks and his driver, Red Byron, won NASCAR’s modified title in 1948. The pair, along with mechanic Red Vogt, became the sanctioning body’s 1949 Strictly Stock champions – the initial season of what is now the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series....

The starting grid for Saturday’s race at Bristol, scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. ET and broadcast live on NBCSN, features some of this season’s top drivers at the front of the field. It is the result of a relatively new formula that takes into account finishing position from the previous race, team owner points standings and the fastest lap from the previous race to set the lineup. MORE: Updated 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule...

Instead, the starting grid for Sunday’s race at Talladega, the YellaWood 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBC), was the result of a formula that took into account finishing position from the previous race, team owner points standings and the fastest lap from the previous race. This was the eighth time a version of the formula was used to determine the starting lineup for a race without qualifying. MORE: Updated 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule...

Speaking Thursday, NASCAR CEO Brian France said while the governing body may not be able to grant a waiver for Busch to be part of the Chase, he did say that the sanctioning body would like to “accommodate” him. MORE: In-car audio from Bristol | Power rankings “Depends on when he comes back of course, but it’ll be more likely than not that we’re going to try to figure out how to accommodate him, which is the beauty of our playoff system,” France said Thursday via the Associated Press....

There really isn’t a favorite from an oddsmaking standpoint at any of the four restrictor-plate races (two each at Talladega and Daytona). The edge power teams have on the other tracks don’t apply. Since Daytona, Kevin Harvick’s odds have been in the 9-to-2 range, and he’s led 952 laps through nine races. He’s one of the best plate-racers in the series, but he has still won only once over his career at Talladega (2010) and he’s yet to win a plate race in five chances with Stewart Haas Racing....

LaJoie had previously raced with a small rectangle bearing the phrase “Trump 2020” on the side of his car. The new deal with a more prominent display was facilitated by the Patriots of America PAC, which supports President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign. MORE: NASCAR will finally choose a cone rule It’s possible LaJoie carries mixed feelings about his team’s explicit support of Trump, who opposes the Black Lives Matter movement that LaJoie’s competitor and friend Bubba Wallace supports....

Lap length: 2 miles (Car number in parentheses) (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 206.558 mph. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 206.381. (99) Carl Edwards, Ford, 206.115. (55) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 205.685. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 205.644. (4) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 205.438. (27) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 204.58. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 204.464. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 204.354. (17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 204.174. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 203.822. (31) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 203....

Officials announced it Thursday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, adding other "significant changes" to the Hall of Fame selection process and eligibility rules will be revealed during Champions Week in Las Vegas next month. The addition brings the total number of voters to 56. The group includes Hall of Famers, NASCAR officials, track representatives, retired drivers, crew chiefs and team owners and media members. Points leader Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth or Kevin Harvick will get to cast a vote in May....

The club stopped operations just two days after claiming the NASL title with a 2-0 win over the New York Cosmos in front of a sold-out crowd at San Francisco’s Kezar Stadium. Despite the title, the club suffered terribly low attendance throughout the season, drawing around 20,000 fans over 10 home matches in a stadium with a listed capacity of over 9,000. The Deltas struggled early in the NASL season, winning just once in five matches, but picked up six wins in 10 down the stretch to earn a playoff spot....

The NASL filed suit Monday in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn as part of ongoing antitrust litigation between the league and the United States Soccer Federation. According to court filings, the NASL alleges the marketing arm, Soccer United Marketing (SUM), attempted to purchase the Cosmos, their intellectual property and memorabilia, among other assets, for $5 million, “with the intention to close (the club) down.” GALARCEP: USSF’s Gulati needs to go after USMNT failure The NASL further alleges that SUM demanded that “New York Cosmos LLC and its owners shall not own or operate a soccer team in the New York metropolitan area under any name” for a decade after the sale’s closing....

Pep & Chelsea in tunnel bust-up Ake was recalled from his loan deal in January after he put in a string of impressive performances for Bournemouth in the first half of the season. However, since his return to Stamford Bridge, Ake has made just two appearances due to the intense competition for places in Chelsea’s defence. Ahead of the Premier League leaders’ weekend trip to Bournemouth, though, Conte still thinks he made a good decision in bringing back the 22-year-old....

The quest for the coveted Mustard Belt returns to its iconic location at Surf and Stillwell avenues on Brooklyn’s Coney Island. Major League Eating is sanctioning the contest for the 22nd time. Joey Chestnut will defend his title as MLE’s No. 1-ranked eater after downing a record 74 hot dogs in 10 minutes in 2018 to win the $10,000 top prize. It was his 11th victory in the contest....

Acknowledged annually on August 9, National Book Lovers Day encourages people to celebrate their favorite pieces of literature. Along with paying tribute to some of the books that captured a place in a person’s heart, people are encouraged to take a break from their smartphone and enjoy a new story or reconnect with one of their favorites. A Pew Research poll in 2018 found that 24 percent of adults hadn’t read a book in the past year....