NASCAR

Tyler Reddick opened the round of 12 in NASCAR's playoff with a victory Sunday at Texas, winning a week after being one of the first four Cup drivers ...

Ware escaped serious injury, even though he was put on a stretcher and into an ambulance after first being tended to for several minutes after getting out of the car. “I went to the high groove where I was making time in the spray and the sticky stuff, but it is not so sticky apparently. Drivers got a chance to get out of the cars for a break on a day with record heat. There was then an even bigger hit when the car slammed hard just past a cutout in the pit wall. But when there was lightning in the vicinity, the cars were brought to park on pit road with 220 of 334 laps completed. It came a week after the two-time champion was eliminated from title contention in his final season with Joe Gibbs Racing before going to Richard Childress Racing. He hasn’t won since, but has finished seventh or better in the last three playoff races. Since he couldn’t keep pace after going into the grass, Hamlin had to restart 22nd instead of near the front. “Goodyear always takes the black eye, but they’re put in a really tough position by NASCAR to build a tire that can survive these types of racetracks with this car. When pressed after the race, Byron admitted that he intentionally did it, upset about being pushed up against the wall by Hamlin during green-flag laps just before that. Bell, the Oklahoma native who considers Texas his home track, couldn’t recover from a second tire issue that led to his race-ending crash after finishing only 136 laps. … I was just trying to maximize and use the gap that I built over (Logano) just in case.”