When all the smoke had cleared and all the fans had drifted out to the parking lots, not much had changed on Saturday night under the Richmond International Raceway lights.   The 16 drivers who would have made the Chase for the Sprint Cup—had the Federated Auto Parts 400 not been run—were the ones who actually qualified. Denny Hamlin won. Ten of the top 11 finishers made the Chase—sixth-place Kasey Kahne was the exception—and Hamlin and third-place finisher Martin Truex Jr. combined to lead 382 of the 407 laps. The yellow caution flag waved a ridiculous number of times (16) and used up a ridiculous number of laps (89). Unsurprisingly, Hamlin was exultant about the victory at his home track—Chesterfield, V...

Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa came from eighth on the grid to take a remarkable race victory in the San Marino Grand Prix at the Misano World Circuit on Sunday.  Home favourite Valentino Rossi and Movistar Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo could do nothing to hold off the flying Spaniard, but both managed to take points out of MotoGP leader Marc Marquez as they finished second and third, respectively. Marquez simply did not have the pace to compete at the front, but he did well to limit the damage to his championship lead by finishing fourth. Rossi was in a jovial mood after the race despite missing out on the win, per BT Sport MotoGP: Pedrosa's victory was an emphatic return to form after some recent struggles, and he is th...

Dirt Late Model racer Shane Unger died Saturday evening following a crash at Ohio's Eldora Speedway after a late restart in the World 100, according to the track's website. Unger was 35 years old. NASCAR star Tony Stewart owns Eldora Speedway, and Tony Stewart Racing expressed its condolences. Drivers in the final race of the evening lined up four-wide as a tribute: Unger was racing in the second heat in the World 100. During the restart, he was involved in a multicar crash in Turn 3. Emergency crews rushed to the scene and transported him in an ambulance to Mercer County Community Hospital in Coldwater, Ohio, where he was pronounced dead. According to the track's press release, "The Unger family has conveyed...

Daniil Kvyat's Formula One career is on life support, and you get the feeling the good doctor, in this case Helmut Marko, the de facto head of Red Bull's young driver programme, already has one hand on the plug, ready to pull it out. Ever since his midseason demotion from Red Bull to make room for Max Verstappen, Kvyat has been living his F1 life on borrowed time. That is why stories keep popping up like the one about current GP2 leader Pierre Gasly replacing Kvyat, even if they are not true. But, despite his struggles since rejoining Toro Rosso (who wouldn't struggle in those circumstances?), is it still possible that the young Russian could earn a reprieve and another year in F1? Has he done enough to deserve it? Ever since pulling the ru...

The final race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regular season is in the books after Denny Hamlin won the Federated Auto Parts 400 from Richmond International Raceway on Saturday night.  It also finalized the field of 16 racers who will compete for the chase, NASCAR's version of the playoffs.  Here are the final driver standings and the 16 competitors who will be moving on: Now with the playoff field set, here is the remaining NASCAR schedule and how the Sprint Cup will decide its winner: Hamlin ensured that he would head into the postseason as the No. 3 seed after taking the checkered flag in his home state of Virginia for his third victory of the season, via NASCAR on NBC: He, along with 11 other drivers, had already clinched ...

The final race before the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup was completed on Saturday night in the Federated Auto Parts 400 from Richmond International Raceway and Denny Hamlin was the one to take the checkered flag.  A Virginia native, Hamlin got his third win of the year and his third at Richmond as we take a look at the race results: It was the last chance for drivers on the cusp of the Chase to cement their spots. Here's how the drivers stand after Saturday's racing: The pole-sitter Hamlin led 189 laps on the night intermittently. He was in front for the first 56 laps before squandering it to Martin Truex Jr., who was coming off of a win last week at Darlington.  Truex went on to hold the lead for 193 laps and finish in secon...

Denny Hamlin captured the checkered flag in a caution-filled Federated Auto Parts 400 on Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway. He led 189 laps and held off a charging Kyle Larson in overtime on a night that produced a track-record 16 cautions to secure his third trip to Victory Lane this season in the Sprint Cup Series' regular-season finale. Hamlin's victory also finalized the field for the Chase for the Sprint Cup which will get underway next Sunday with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. Hamlin will be joined by race winners Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano, Kurt Busch, Kyle Larson, Tony Stewart and Chris Buescher. ...

Make no mistake, Felipe Massa knew the moment—the day he would announce his retirement from Formula One—was coming. As long ago as last November, he had hinted the 2016 season could potentially be his last, telling Brazil's UOL Esporte (h/t ESPN F1's Nate Saunders) he would only continue if he had a "competitive" car in a team who made him feel "loved." The competitive element faded away at a very early stage of the year as Massa, the only driver to score points in each of the opening six races, scored just one in the next six. And as that barren run continued—and Williams became increasingly aggressive in their pursuit of McLaren-Honda's Jenson Button and Force India driver Sergio Perez—it was obvious Massa was no l...

Kyle Busch dominated the field Friday at Richmond International Raceway, leading 197 of 250 laps en route to winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Virginia529 College Savings 250. Busch led all but two laps from lap No. 52 onward, and he ended the night with his eighth Xfinity Series victory of the 2016 season in 14 starts. Here is a look at how the rest of the top 10 shook out behind Busch with full results available at NASCAR.com: Elliott Sadler entered Friday's race with a comfortable 54-point lead over Daniel Suarez following last week's victory at Darlington. As seen in this rundown of the standings after Richmond, Sadler's advantage grew by virtue of a fourth-place result: The Virginia529 College Savings 250 marked the se...

The field for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' Federated Auto Parts 400 from Richmond International Speedway was set during Friday's qualifying, and it was Denny Hamlin who took the pole in his home state of Virginia, via Fox Sports: With the best time of 22.069, he will top the field, which looks like this: Hamlin, who has two wins at Richmond in his career, didn't hold back in qualifying. While most drivers waited until later in the rounds to wait for the coolest possible track temperature, Hamlin was the first out of the pits in the final round and posted the fastest time. But it's been almost six years since he's won the checkered flag at Richmond, with his last victory coming in September 2010. It was also Hamlin's first pole of the sea...