It was an action-packed day at the United States Grand Prix, featuring both the Sprint race and qualifying. Max Verstappen delivered a dominant performance to win the Sprint, while the intense midfield battle heated up as teams fought for crucial points in the Constructors’ Championship. Lando Norris secured a sensational pole position, outpacing Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, with Ferrari showing strong form ahead of Sunday’s race. Mark Mann-Bryans and Jon Noble dive into all these key moments and more.

0:00 Lando Norris’ pole lap

1:11 Mercedes qualifying woes

3:50 Alonso vs Lawson

5:55 Sprint race recap – Can Ferrari win?

6:54 Final verdict on the bib debacle

8:29 Midfield battles

Abt Audi driver Kelvin van der Linde moved into the lead of the championship with victory in the penultimate DTM race of 2024 at Hockenheim, as Mirko Bortolotti could only salvage fifth place.

Starting from pole position, van der Linde was able to outduel Winward Mercedes driver Lucas Auer to claim his third victory of the season and overturn a 12-point deficit to Bortolotti into a two-point advantage ahead of the title decider on Sunday.

Ayanchan Guven completed the podium spots for Manthey EMA Porsche, while Auer’s team-mate Maro Engel kept his slim championship hopes alive by finishing fourth ahead of SSR Lamborghini rival Bortolotti.

At the start of the race, van der Linde pulled away cleanly from pole position, with Auer consolidating second place after securing his first front-row start in the DTM since 2022.

Bortolotti and Engel had qualified out of position in seventh and ninth respectively, but both were able to climb up the order on the opening lap, rising up to fourth and fifth behind Guven.

When the pit window opened at the 20-minute mark, Engel immediately pulled into the pitlane, with Winward sending him back out after servicing his car in just six seconds.

Bortolotti followed him on the next lap, but a sluggish 8.2s stop – down to a slow front-left tyre change – left him vulnerable to his Mercedes rival.

Mirko Bortolotti, SSR Performance Lamborghini Huracán EVO GT3

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

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Although the Italian managed to rejoin the track in front despite being delayed, Engel already had his tyres up to temperature and muscled his way past at Turn 8, taking fourth position away from him.

At the end of the same lap, van der Linde finally peeled into the pits from the lead of the race, with Auer – who had been on his tail in the first stint – covering him next time out.

Winward’s decision to delay Auer’s pitstop initially appeared to pay off as he rejoined the track at the front, but a lap later the Abt driver was able to pass him into Turn 2 to reinstate the status quo.

The Austrian kept the pressure up on van der Linde for the remainder of the race, with the two drivers even making contact at the hairpin on lap 30.

Ultimately, van der Linde was able to do enough to fend off his Mercedes rival, taking the chequered flag by 0.508s to put himself in the best position to win the 2024 DTM title in Sunday’s finale.

Guven had a lonely race en route to third in the lead Porsche, while Engel held off Bortolotti to put himself 20 points behind van der Linde in the championship standings.

Jules Gounon, substituting for Luca Stolz at HRT Mercedes, rapidly closed in on Bortolotti in the closing stages of the races, but ultimately had to settle for sixth place on his DTM debut.

The top Schubert BMW driver on Saturday was Rene Rast in seventh, ahead of HRT driver Arjun Maini and team-mate Marco Wittmann. Nicki Thiim completed the top 10 for SSR Performance.

Emil Frey Ferrari’s Jack Aitken was the only retirement from the race, as 19 of 20 drivers made it to the finish.

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NASCAR has graced the tarmac of Las Vegas Motor Speedway since 1998 with Mark Martin winning the inaugural event. In recent years, Chevrolet’s been a dominant force, collecting six of the last eight victories, with Hendrick Motorsports winning three straight — so the drivers with the lowest odds shouldn’t really come as a surprise.

Leading the way is Kyle Larson at +300. Even before looking at betting odds, the driver of the No. 5 is the clear favorite. He’s won the last two Cup races at Las Vegas and currently sits atop the playoff standings after the reset.  In 12 starts, he holds the best average finish among active drivers at 9.3, along with three checkered flags.

Race winner Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports, HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro

Photo by: John Harrelson / NKP / Motorsport Images

Right behind Larson is another Hendrick driver — this year’s Daytona 500 victor William Byron at +750. Then there’s Christopher Bell, who has never won a Cup race at Vegas, but he was a single car length away from changing that fact in last fall’s dramatic finish. With how strong he has consistently been throughout the playoffs, it makes plenty of sense for him to be near the top of the betting sheet at +800.

Denny Hamlin at +850 and Tyler Reddick at +900 are also solid choices for the win on Sunday. 2022 Vegas winner Joey Logano is at +1000 who is facing an unlikely second chance in the playoffs following Alex Bowman’s shock DQ. A three-time winner at the 1.5-mile oval, Logano managed to parlay his 2022 victory into the championship, noting then that winning the opening race of the Round of 8 helped the team to better focus all efforts towards the title-decider in the weeks that followed. He showed just how important winning this race cold be for the eight remaining title hopefuls in their quest to become the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series champion.

Joey Logano, Team Penske, Pennzoil Ford Mustang wins.

Photo by: Rusty Jarrett / NKP / Motorsport Images

The playoff drivers with the worst odds entering Vegas are defending series champion Ryan Blaney at +1100 and Chase Elliott at +1200. Neither driver has ever won at LVMS, and both are in need of points as they enter this round below the cut-line. Chasing stage points will make it harder for them to go all-out for the win, with Logano facing a similar predicament. 

But what about the spoilers? Non-playoff drivers have won three of the first six races in the postseason, and that trend could definitely continue this weekend. Las Vegas native Kyle Busch leads this group at +1400. He has won at his home track, but that was 15 years ago. Richard Childress Racing has also struggled this year, but they have seen a recent seen an uptick in performance. Just a couple weeks ago at Kansas — another intermediate track — Busch was in contention for the win win before spinning from the lead with just over 30 laps to go.

The driver who ended up winning that Kansas race instead is also a good bet for a possible spoiler on Sunday. At +1600, Ross Chastain has four top-fives in the last five Cup races at Vegas, and was on the front row for the final restart earlier this year. He ended up fourth, but with older left-side tires than all of those around him, one has to wonder how strong he could have been on equal ground.

Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro; Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing, Kubota Chevrolet Camaro

Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images

Now, what about the drivers who made the playoffs, but have since been eliminated? There’s some very fast drivers among that group, including Martin Truex Jr. The soon-to-be (partially) retired Joe Gibbs Racing driver is at +1400, still remaining winless this year. He is always a threat at Las Vegas where he has two Cup wins there. Perhaps more impressively, he enters Vegas with eight straight top-ten finishes.

Looking at long shots, there are a couple solid options for the real gamblers out there. After scoring more points than any driver in the opening round, Bowman’s playoffs came to an abrupt end when he was disqualified after failing inspection last weekend. That doesn’t change the fact that the No. 48 has been very fast, and without having to worry about collecting points, he could be a real threat despite his +2800 odds. He is also a former race winner at Las Vegas, winning the 2022 spring race.

At +3000 odds, there is the likely to be overlooked Brad Keselowski. He, along with Larson and Logano, are the only active drivers with three wins at the track. Yes, all of Keselowski’s wins came between 2014 and 2018, but he was a contender in last fall’s race too, finishing fourth after 38 laps in the No. 6 RFK Racing Ford.

Here’s a look at how the entire field stacks up for the NASCAR Cup race at Las Vegas, per the oddsmakers:

Marco Bezzecchi has been declared fit to race in the Australian Grand Prix, but also issued with a long lap penalty following his high-speed MotoGP crash with Maverick Vinales in Saturday’s sprint.

The VR46 Ducati rider was taken to hospital for additional checks following the late-race incident at Doohan, for which Vinales laid the blame squarely at the Italian’s door.

The 25-year-old was declared fit to continue with his weekend on Sunday morning, but will have to serve a long lap penalty for his part in the crash.

Bezzecchi will start the race in fourth position on the grid. He made a strong getaway on Saturday and was running second early on, before dropping back on the medium rear tyre.

He had just lost fifth place to Vinales when the accident happened. Bezzecchi misjudged the slipstream effect after being overtaken and slammed into the back of the Aprilia.

Bezzecchi lay motionless in the gravel for a short while but was conscious when taken away on a stretcher.

Vinales did not suffer any major injury in the crash, despite not being able to feel his hand in the initial aftermath.

Maverick Vinales, Aprilia Racing Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

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Another rider set to serve a long lap penalty on Sunday is Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez. This follows the Spaniard taking out countryman Joan Mir (Honda) at the Japanese Grand Prix two weeks ago.

Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda) has also incurred the wrath of the stewards in Australia. He will start the race last after earning a three-place grid penalty for failing to respond to a black flag with orange disc during FP2.

Riders are expected to leave the track immediately when this flag is shown, but Nakagami continued to circulate.

Meanwhile, Tech3 GasGas rider will not take part in Sunday’s race after being declared unfit due to a shoulder injury he picked up in the sprint. He was due to line up 15th on the grid.