Oh, that sneaky Jimmie Johnson. The nerve of him and his diabolical, scheming crew chief, Chad Knaus! Johnson, the six-time Sprint Cup champion, won the Bank of America 500 and officially advanced into the Chase's Round of 8 for the first time since the current format was adopted. This isn't Dale Earnhardt in the Daytona 500. Nor is it Arnold Palmer in the PGA. This is the third year of the elimination format. To the extent that this convoluted path to a championship is something of a game show, Johnson has so far made the right moves. His bid for a record-tying championship—Richard Petty and Earnhardt won seven—is successfully through Door No. 2. Johnson is free to play around now for the next two weeks on house money&md...

After flirting with several drivers over the course of this season, it seems Renault have finally found the one to lead them back to the summit of Formula One. Although they have had a season to forget in 2016, Renault—one of the few full-blown factory operations in F1—remain one of the most attractive teams on the grid. And after years of plodding around in the midfield for the likes of Williams, Sauber and Force India, Nico Hulkenberg is reportedly ready to take a chance on Team Enstone. While one German driver's future is set to be resolved, another's was plunged into doubt over the Japanese Grand Prix weekend. Maurizio Arrivabene's unflattering—but not exactly outrageous—pre-race comments about Sebastian Vettel h...

A late pass on a restart gave Joey Logano a first-place finish Sunday at the Drive for the Cure 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Logano was pulling double duty in the XFinity racing after competing in the Bank of America 500 earlier in the afternoon. He only finished in 36th place due to a crash in the Sprint Cup race, but he was much better in the second session as he earned his first-place finish. Elliott Sadler was the top driver in the Chase for the Cup with his second-place finish, although he had already secured his spot with his earlier playoff win. Daniel Suarez ended up in third place, while Kyle Larson finished in fourth at the end of what had been a dominant performance throughout most of the day. Here is a final look at the top ...

Jimmie Johnson stormed to victory Sunday in the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway after the race was postponed Saturday thanks to adverse weather conditions in Concord, North Carolina. Hurricane Matthew didn't stop Johnson powering his way to victory, however, as he recorded the ideal start to the Round of 12 and kept alive his hopes of winning the 2016 Chase for the Sprint Cup with his 78th career win. There were major hazards that needed to be avoided in Charlotte, too, namely after No. 3 Austin Dillon was at the heart of an 11-car wreck following a restart on the 259th lap, taking himself and Chase Elliott out of the action, along with others. Dillon was slow off the mark in the mind of Martin Truex Jr., who...

Jimmie Johnson took a big step toward a seventh NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title on Sunday, winning the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The Hendrick Motorsports veteran led for more than 150 laps and survived a race filled with incidents. Heavy rains meant the race got moved to Sunday and took place without any practice sessions. A major crash with some 100 laps to go decimated the pack, taking out several Round of 12 contenders. With two more races left in the Round of 12, those who survived Sunday's carnage find themselves in an excellent position to advance to the Round of 8. Here's a look at the results from Sunday's race: The current Chase standings: As NASCAR's official Twitter account shared, the start was clean...

Lewis Hamilton's poor start—yes, another one—at Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix may end up being one too many for the defending champion to handle. As the red lights blinked out, Hamilton, starting second, barely moved off the line and was immediately swarmed by the cars behind him. By the exit of Turn 1, he had fallen to eighth place, his championship hopes slipping away as his team-mate and rival, Nico Rosberg, disappeared down the road. Shortly afterward, the television broadcast picked up his team radio. "Sorry, guys," Hamilton said, the disappointment evident in his voice. For all the fuss made after the Malaysian Grand Prix about Hamilton's engine problems and the squawking from conspiracy theorists who believe Mercedes ...

Nico Rosberg claimed his ninth victory of the 2016 Formula One season in Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. The German came out on top in a tense qualifying session on Saturday and, after Lewis Hamilton's poor start from second on the grid, was left to secure the win that sealed Mercedes' third consecutive constructors' world championship. Joining Rosberg on the podium were Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who produced a solid drive to claim second, and Hamilton, who recovered from eighth to third at the end of a strange, confrontational weekend for the three-time world champion. After another strong weekend for Force India and another day to forget for the likes of Ferrari, McLaren-Honda and Carlos Sainz Jr., here are the main winners and l...

Nico Rosberg won the 2016 Japanese Formula One Grand Prix after dominating the race from start to finish at the Suzuka circuit on Sunday. Rosberg took full advantage of a nightmare start for Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who still finished on the podium after taking third, following a tough battle with runner-up, Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen. It means Rosberg is now 33 points ahead in the championship standings with just four races left, per Formula One: Rosberg's win in Japan means it's also a third-straight constructors' championship for Mercedes. Here's the provisional classification for the race:        Recap Hamilton was sluggish off the start line and soon absorbed into the main chasing pack. A pote...

Nico Rosberg kept the pressure on Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the race for the Formula One world championship on Saturday, qualifying in pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix. Rosberg, who leads his rival by 23 points with five races remaining, posted a time of one minute, 36.647 seconds to go top of the standings, with Hamilton just 0.013 seconds back. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen will begin the race in third. Earlier in the day, Rosberg topped the third and final practice session, while Hamilton was only able to come home in seventh position. Here’s a reminder of how things panned out on Saturday, including the results in full from final qualifying and practice.      Qualifying Recap This is how it's sha...

Never before had a Formula One driver's downfall been celebrated with such unbridled joy. Little more than a year after McLaren chose him—not Nico Hulkenberg, not Paul Di Resta—to lead them into life after Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Perez was gone, deemed to have less ultimate potential than a driver without a single grand prix appearance to his name. The confirmation of Kevin Magnussen's promotion alongside Jenson Button in November 2013, a matter of weeks after securing the Formula Renault 3.5 championship, had left Perez with precious little time to find a race seat for the following season. And as he faced the end of his F1 career at the tender age of 23, everyone—spectators, observers and, most despicably, his f...