NHRA great John Force was alert and talking to safety workers immediately after a fiery, 300-mph crash Sunday in the Virginia Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park.

John Force Racing said the 75-year-old Force was examined at the track by the NHRA Medical Team before being transported by medical helicopter to a facility for further evaluation.

During the first round of Funny Car eliminations, the engine exploded Force’s car at the finish line, with the vehicle going across the center line and striking the left concrete guard wall, then careening back across into the right wall.

Three weeks ago in New Hampshire, Force raced to his record 157th NHRA victory and second of the season. In 2007 at age 58, Force was seriously injured in a racing crash in Ennis, Texas.

“We’re keeping our pal John Force in our thought and prayers. He’s one tough cookie,” Tony Stewart, the former NASCAR star who now races in NHRA’s Top Fuel class, said on social media.

On Sunday, long after Force’s accident, teammate Austin Prock won the Funny Car division, topping Bob Tasca III in the final round.

“(The trophy) is going straight to the hospital to John Force,” Prock said from the winners’ circle.

“It’s just tough to see somebody go through that, especially when it’s somebody you really care about, but I know he’ll be back. We’re race car drivers and we have to flip the switch. I know John wanted us to be out here, going rounds and I’m glad we did our job.”

NASCAR

Christopher Bell mastered the NASCAR Cup Series’ first race ever that ended with cars running on rain tires and pulled away after a 2-hour, 15-minute weather delay to beat darkness and the field and win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Bell won his third Cup race of the season and swept the weekend at New Hampshire following Saturday’s win in the Xfinity Series.

On Friday, Bell spoiled the reveal that Chase Briscoe is joining him at Joe Gibbs Racing in 2025. Then he ruined Briscoe’s best shot at his first win of the season, holding him off over the final two laps of the overtime finish.

With darkness falling at New Hampshire, Bell cruised past Josh Berry and Briscoe and remained the driver to beat at New Hampshire. He has four wins in the Xfinity Series at Loudon and won a Cup race at the track for a second time.

“I love adverse conditions,” Bell said. “It felt like the normal Loudon groove was really, really slippery.”

Bell was used to the rain — he won last month’s rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 with 151 laps left in the race.

New Hampshire actually needed four extra laps.

Even with the start of the race bumped up a half-hour, New Hampshire was a mess about from the moment the green flag was dropped. The race was marred by wrecks that wiped some of NASCAR’s biggest stars out of contention — all while the rest of the field tried to remain in contention and beat the looming rain that hovered over the entire weekend.

Tyler Reddick, who finished sixth, held the lead when the race was red-flagged because of rain with 82 laps left in the scheduled 301-lap race.

Briscoe was second followed by Berry. Kyle Larson and Chris Buescher.

IndyCar

Two-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou reclaimed the lead in the championship standings by winning from the pole at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey.

Palou, now a two-time winner on the permanent road course, has finished on the podium in all four of his career starts there.

His win there in the 2022 season finale was believed to be the catalyst for him changing his mind to leave Chip Ganassi Racing for a move to Arrow McLaren Racing.

It is the second win of the season in the No. 10 Dallara-Honda car for the Spaniard, not counting his victory in the $1 million exhibition race in March. He wasn’t able to explain his dominance on the 11-turn, 2.238-mile jewel of a road course.

“I wish I knew, that way hopefully I could try and analyze and see if I could do the same in other tracks where I’m not as fast,” Palou said.

With nine races remaining, Palou leads by 19 points over Will Power in the standings.

Colton Herta finished in second place for Andretti Global and Alexander Rossi of Arrow McLaren finished third to earn his first podium of the season.

Formula 1

Max Verstappen steered his Red Bull to victory at the Spanish Grand Prix to increase his lead in the Formula 1 drivers championship.

Verstappen started from second on the grid behind pole-sitter Lando Norris. But the three-time champion whipped past the McLaren driver by the first turn and then overtook George Russell on lap three of 66 and never looked back.

Verstappen has 219 points, Norris is next with 150.