TALLADEGA, Ala. — When rain stopped NASCAR’s playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway, a gaggle of Chevrolet drivers headed into a private room for a meeting about alliances.
That strategy session was a Sunday bonus in the battle of the manufacturers. NASCAR was able to get in 57 laps, all the way until the end of the first stage, before the rain began and teams were given a break.
The race was ultimately postponed and will resume on Monday, so the Chevy group must wait to exercise the plans it hashed out in an impromptu mid-race meeting. In completing the entire first stage Sunday, teams got a preview of who is fast, who works well together, and if the battle of the manufacturers will dictate the outcome.
The Chevy drivers were tight-lipped on their discussions — and the Ford camp met hours before the start on Sunday. Chase Elliott deadpanned the group discussed an updated Corvette under development.
William Byron won the first stage in a Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, with teammates Alex Bowman and Jimmie Johnson right behind him. Then Joey Logano dipped to the bottom lane to lead a pack of Fords in a challenge for the stage victory.
But the Chevy group held strong, and as they closed in on the finish line, non-playoff driver Johnson eased out of the gas to allow fellow Chevrolet driver Kyle Larson to gain a spot ahead of him for critical playoff points. Johnson said during the rain break the work being done between manufacturers at Talladega and Daytona is like nothing he’s ever seen before in NASCAR.
“But these are the only two places it works,” Johnson said.
Toyota got this movement rolling in the last five years when it convinced its teams to work together in an effort to win the Daytona 500. Ford figured out the plan worked through seven consecutive victories at Talladega, and Chevrolet got serious about the effort after Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing went 1-2-3 in the Daytona 500 with assistance from the Hendrick cars.
Chevrolet engineered its first win at Talladega since 2015 with an Elliott victory in April.
When racing resumes on Monday, the manufacturers are expected to be tighter than ever after the preview it saw on Sunday.
SUZUKA, Japan — Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas surged into the lead at the start and held on to win the typhoon-hit Japanese Grand Prix for his third Formula One victory of the season and first since April.
Bottas, who started third on the grid, pulled ahead of Ferrari drivers Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc almost immediately and then used an effective two-stop pit strategy to finish 11.376 seconds ahead of Vettel. Bottas’ teammate and championship leader Lewis Hamilton was third.
With Bottas holding a comfortable lead over the closing laps at the Suzuka Circuit, there was a fierce battle for second place between Vettel and Hamilton.
Hamilton made a desperate attempt to pass Vettel over the final two laps but was unable to pull ahead. But the podium finishes for Bottas and Hamilton ensured Mercedes won their sixth-consecutive constructors’ championship.
Vettel started from pole position but got off to a bad start. Race stewards investigated Vettel over a potential jump-start but ruled that he didn’t.
“The lights were on but it was my mistake,” Vettel said. “The Mercedes were difficult, they had more pace than us and Valtteri was flying.”
There was contact between Leclerc and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen at Turn 2 and Verstappen was sent into a spin before being forced to retire early in the race.
Bottas pitted from the lead on the 18th lap to switch to medium tires as Hamilton took the lead for the first time.
With Hamilton on soft tires, Bottas had better pace on fresher tires when he returned. Hamilton made his first pit stop on lap 22 and Bottas retook the lead.
When he came back out, Hamilton was 20 seconds behind Bottas and questioned his team’s tire strategy over the radio.
Bottas went in for his final pit stop on lap 37 and emerged into some traffic in second place behind Hamilton, who pitted with 10 laps remaining.
Bottas then held on for his first victory in Japan to slightly narrow Hamilton’s commanding championship lead to 64 points with four races left.
Organizers canceled Saturday’s qualifying session with Typhoon Hagibis set to hit Japan’s main island. Vettel led Ferrari teammate Leclerc in morning qualifying to secure the front row for Ferrari.
Qualifying at Suzuka was also moved to Sunday morning as a result of bad weather in 2004 and 2010.
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