Denny Hamlin won the NASCAR Cup race at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday, advancing to the Round of 12 and possibly on his way to his first championship. It was a good day for Toyota, marking their 200th NASCAR Cup victory. Six Toyotas finished in the top 10 including all four Joe Gibbs Racing cars.

Kyle Larson clearly had the fastest car, leading 52 laps early, but a freak accident knocked his diffuser loose. A long pit stop for repairs dropped him back to 12th place at the finish. Larson (plus-60 points) and Bubba Wallace (plus-50) are both safe to advance to the Round of 12 on points but drivers below the cut line and in danger of elimination are: Austin Dillon 11 points below; Shane Van Gisbergen at minus-15; Alex Bowman minus-35; and Josh Berry minus-45.

In an effort to get Bowman above the cut line, Hendrick is switching out four pit crew members after mistakes at Darlington and Gateway cost him good finishing positions. Saturday is the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol, where anything can happen. Racing there has been likened to flying a jet fighter in a gymnasium.

Kyle Larson is the defending winner with three Bristol wins. Kyle Busch leads all active drivers with seven wins there but hasn’t won since 2019. Hamlin has four Bristol victories, Brad Keselowski three, Joey Logano two, and Chris Buescher one. All but Busch and Keselowski are in the playoff field.

Saturday’s race airs on the USA network at 4:30 p.m.

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Max Verstappen must be thinking of that old Mark Twain quote, “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated,” after winning the Italian Grand Prix from the pole in convincing fashion. It was a remarkable result after a so far disappointing season by Red Bull standards.

Commentators attributed much of his speed to a low-downforce setup, reducing drag on the straights, while the McLarens with more downforce were unable to keep up. Lando Norris finished second, 19.207 seconds behind Verstappen with teammate Oscar Piastri a further 2.144 seconds back.

There was some controversy about the finishing order, as the McLaren team ordered Piastri to let Norris by after Norris had a bad pit stop. Once he got by, they told both drivers they could race, but Norris held his teammate off for a McLaren 2-3 result.

The Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were fourth and sixth with the Mercedes of George Russell between them.

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McLaren now has 617 constructor points and have nearly locked up the championship with eight races to go. Ferrari is second with 280 and would have to finish 1-2 in every remaining race while McLaren was scoreless to take the championship. So, McLaren will clinch the constructors title if they finish ahead of Ferrari at the next race. Mercedes is third with 260 points and Red Bull has 239 with the rest of the teams in double digits.

Piastri leads Norris 324 to 293 in the drivers’ championship standings. with Verstappen’s win advancing him to 63 points behind Norris in third. The series is dark this weekend, with Azerbaijan on Sept. 21.

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Off the track, a movement is brewing to return NASCAR to the old scoring system, before the advent of the playoffs.

Mark Martin and seven-time champion Richard Petty both weighed in on the subject, arguing that consistency throughout the season ensured a deserving champion, questioning whether the playoff system selected the best team and driver of the entire season. They’re also against stage racing, preferring one checkered flag per race.

NASCAR is highly unlikely to change back, but Mark and Richard have a valid point in my humble opinion.