Ryan Blaney will race for his first Cup championship after qualifying for NASCAR’s title-deciding finale with a Sunday win at Martinsville Speedway.

William Byron, who led the Cup Series with six wins this season, earned the fourth and final slot in the championship by limping to a 13th-place finish. Byron had padded his position with bonus points earned all season and edged Denny Hamlin, who finished third at Martinsville on Sunday, by eight points to qualify for NASCAR’s championship.

Blaney and Byron will race Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson next Sunday at Phoenix Raceway, where the Cup championship will go to the highest-finishing driver.

Larson and Byron gave Hendrick Motorsports a pair of Chevrolets in the final four, Bell is in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing and Blaney drives a Ford for Team Penske. Blaney can give Team Penske back-to-back titles following Joey Logano’s win for Penske last year.

Larson is the only driver in the field with a Cup title and returns to the final four for the second time in three years. Bell is back in the championship for the second consecutive year; Blaney and Byron have never raced for the Cup title.

Verstappen dominates >> Max Verstappen split the Ferrari front row of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz at the start to snatch the lead of the Formula One Mexico City Grand Prix by the first corner, then drove off to his record 16th victory of the season.

Red Bull’s three-time season champion collected his third consecutive win at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and broke his own season victories record set last year.

Hockey

american player dies >> American hockey player Adam Johnson, who appeared in 13 NHL games with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2019 and 2020, has died after his neck was cut by a skate blade during a game in England on Saturday, his team said. He was 29.

Johnson was playing for the Nottingham Panthers in a Challenge Cup game against the Sheffield Steelers when he suffered the skate cut during the second period of the Elite Ice Hockey League game at Sheffield’s Utilita Arena.

College football

Oklahoma plummets in poll >> Oklahoma dropped four spots to No. 10, the top five teams held their places and Kansas and Kansas State both entered The Associated Press college football poll.

Georgia is No. 1 for the 20th straight week, receiving 48 of 63 first-place votes, distancing itself from No. 2 Michigan after the Bulldogs walloped Florida on Saturday.

This is the 50th consecutive week that either Georgia or Alabama has been No. 1.

Golf

Boutier wins playoff >> Celine Boutier closed with an 8-under 64 and then had to go nine extra holes to outlast Atthaya Thitikul and win the Maybank Championship for her fourth LPGA Tour title of the year.

Thitikul birdied the 18th hole for a 68 to force a playoff at 21-under 267.

In the marathon playoff, both players made nearly identical shots on several holes and saw potential winning putts lip out as they stayed tied through eight tense holes, which included sitting out a 90-minute storm delay at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club.

Valimaki wins in Qatar >> Sami Välimäki of Finland shot 3-under 69 and beat Jorge Campillo on the first playoff hole to win the Qatar Masters for his second career title on the European tour.

Campillo, who had a one-shot lead going into the final round, birdied the 18th hole to close with a 70 and force a playoff at 18-under 270. But the Spaniard could only manage a par on the first extra hole at the par-5 18th, and Valimaki won with a birdie.

His other European tour title, the 2020 Oman Open, also came in a playoff.

Soccer

Game postponed after bus attack >> Lyon coach Fabio Grosso suffered a head injury as the team bus came under attack from fans throwing projectiles, forcing the postponement of the French league soccer game at Marseille.

The team bus was hit on the way to Stade Velodrome, shattering some windows. Grosso was injured by falling shards of glass and needed medical treatment with his face bleeding heavily. Lyon assistant coach Raffaele Longo was also injured.

Grosso suffered a deep cut above his left eye that required stitches and a large bandage wrapped around his head.

fan banned for life >> A soccer fan was arrested and issued with a lifetime ban after appearing to make a racially offensive gesture during an English fourth division match.

Gillingham said it had banned a supporter for life after a video widely shared on social media showed a man make what the club described as a “racist” gesture to Newport striker Omar Bogle.

Horse racing

Derby winner out >> Kentucky Derby winner Mage won’t run in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, his trainer said.

Mage had yet to travel to California for the world championships next weekend at Santa Anita.

“He presented a feverish state this morning and we have noticed symptoms of loss (of) appetite,” trainer Gustavo Delgado posted on social media.

College basketball

player ok after collapse >> West Virginia forward Akok Akok has been released from a hospital where he was taken after collapsing on the court during an exhibition game.

“Akok is recovering at his home in Morgantown,” West Virginia interim coach Josh Eilert said in a statement. “He will continue to be monitored and evaluated by our medical team.”

Pan Am Games

world record denied >> Peru’s Kimberly García thought she set the world record in the women’s 20 kilometers walk race at the Pan American Games. She later found out she didn’t.

Organizers of the largest multi-sports in the continent said in a statement that the times of the race were annulled due to “a measuring problem” in Santiago’s O’Higgins Park. They blamed the Association of Pan American Athletics for the mistake.

Athletes believe the distance they ran in Chile was about 3 kilometers (almost 1.9 miles) shorter.

The gross mistake adds to Santiago’s woes in the organization of the Pan American Games.