5:53 PM ET Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS — Jimmie Johnson wants to keep things simple this weekend. Win and he’s back in the playoffs. Anything else complicates his strategy. The seven-time NASCAR champion heads into Sunday’s regular-season finale two spots and 18 points out of the 16-car playoff, putting him in danger of sitting it out

3:48 PM ET Associated Press HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — Erik Jones has signed a contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing for the 2020 season. The 23-year-old Jones has two career Cup victories in three-plus seasons and 100 starts. He won the July race last year at Daytona International Speedway and took the checkered flag last week

9:19 PM ET And just like that, the last off weekend of the Cup Series season has come and gone, and we’re on a no-timeout run to the championship. But there are oh so many subplots to the next 11 weeks, starting this weekend at Indianapolis, when the final two playoff spots for the 16

2:05 AM ET Associated Press DARLINGTON, S.C. — Erik Jones held off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch over the final 50 laps to win the rain-delayed Southern 500 that ended Monday morning. The 23-year-old Jones passed Kyle Larson for the lead at Darlington Raceway and held strong through a final series of green-flag pit

6:11 PM ET ESPN News Services DARLINGTON, S.C. — A joyful Dale Earnhardt Jr. returned to the racetrack Saturday, finishing fifth in the Xfinity event at Darlington Raceway two weeks after he and his family escaped a plane in flames in Tennessee. The race was a welcome relief from thinking about the crash for Earnhardt

2:23 PM ET Associated Press DARLINGTON, S.C. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. is grateful to be back at Darlington Raceway preparing to drive two weeks after he and his family escaped a plane in flames following a crash in Tennessee. Earnhardt, set to drive the Xfinity Series event here Saturday, said he and his wife Amy

6:18 PM ET Associated Press BOWMANVILLE, Ontario — Brett Moffitt led 45 of 64 laps of Sunday’s Chevrolet Silverado 250 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on his way to a second straight win in the NASCAR Truck Series playoffs. Moffitt won last weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, and the back-to-back victories give him four for

7:59 PM ET Associated Press ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — Christopher Bell knows he must master the art of road course racing to make the jump to the next level of NASCAR, even if it might never be his favorite kind of track. Bell took a big step in that direction Saturday, surging ahead on a

4:30 PM ET ESPN News Services ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. — The National Transportation Safety Board says part of the landing gear collapsed and a section of the right wing hit the runway as the plane carrying Dale Earnhardt Jr. touched down a third time during its crash in East Tennessee last week. The NTSB released a

5:20 PM ET I’m sorry, Denny Hamlin, but on Saturday night, most of the NASCAR world was rooting against you. (Note: Not including people with money on Hamlin, or those with No. 11 tattoos or immediate members of the Hamlin family). Heck, after hearing his comments after getting out of the car, I’m not completely