Oscar Piastri won at Zandvoort, Josef Newgarden won at Nashville and Chase Briscoe won at Darlington to wrap up the final IndyCar, NASCAR and Formula 1 triple header of the year.
Sunday’s racing started early with the 71-lap Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix taking place at 9 a.m. with Championship leader and McLaren driver Piastri on pole position, followed by teammate Lando Norris in second, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen in third, Racing Bulls rookie driver Isack Hadjar in fourth and Mercedes driver George Russell in fifth.
Norris ceded a place to Verstappen to mark a challenging start for the British driver as Piastri was able to keep his lead through lap one.
On lap 23, seven-time champion and Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton crashed into the barriers after losing control of the car, causing the first safety car of the day to come out. During the safety car, the leaders were able to pit without losing any time.
Green flag racing resumed on lap 27, but Carlos Sainz and Liam Lawson made contact. Lawson lost his back right tire while Sainz suffered a front right tire puncture and front wing damage. Both drivers pits to get new components. Sainz received a 10-second penalty for the incident.
The next incident came on lap 53. Mercedes rookie driver Kimi Antonelli attacked the inside of Charles Leclerc in turns two and three then understeered into Leclerc at the top of the corner. Leclerc did not finish the race, and the safety car came out until lap 58.
The final incident took place on lap 65 when Norris’ McLaren car started smoking. He retired that lap due to engine failure.
Piastri finished in first place and stretched his championship lead to 34 points with nine races to go. To round out the podium, Verstappen finished second and Hadjar finished third for his first podium in Formula 1.
IndyCar hosted their final race of the season, the Music City Grand Prix in Nashville, Tenn. Arrow McLaren driver Pato O’Ward took pole position by two-tenths of a second. The rest of the top five was A.J. Foyt driver David Malukas in second, Arrow McLaren teammate Christian Lundgaard in third and Chip Ganassi teammates Alex Palou and Scott Dixon in fourth and fifth.
On lap one of 225, Ed Carpenter Racing driver Christian Rasmussen, who started 27th, made up four places before losing the back end of the car, causing him to hit the wall and end his day before it even got started. Rasmussen left the care center with no issues.
Following that crash, the caution flag came out and Meyer Shank Racing driver Felix Rosenqvist was sent to the back of the field for jumping the race’s start.
On lap 83, second-place Malukas hit the wall after trying to overtake Louis Foster in 18th place. Foster received a drive-through penalty for the incident.
On lap 122 Lundgaard’s car suffered a mechanical issue and his race ended prematurely. On lap 127, race leader O’Ward crashed into the wall, ending his day after leading 116 laps.
On the final lap, Newgarden took the checkered flag for his first win of the season. Palou finished second and Scott McLaughlin edged out Kiffin Simpson for third place.
Finally, the NASCAR Cup Series held their first playoff race at Darlington Raceway. On lap one, Wood Brothers Racing playoff driver Josh Berry crashed into the wall after having contact with fellow playoff and 23XI driver Tyler Reddick. Richard Childress Racing driver Kyle Busch also spun during the lap one incident.
Berry made it back down pit road, but the car went to the garage for repairs and he was out of the race until lap 123.
RFK co-owner and driver Brad Keselowski was penalized on lap 47 for service outside the box when he pulled into another pit stall to tighten his front left tire.
Stage one ended on lap 116 with Briscoe in the lead, taking 10 points for his playoff total along with eight other playoff drivers taking points as well.
The racing started back up on lap 123 and Berry returned to the field 119 laps down in 38th place. Berry finished the race 128 laps off the lead.
Stage two would end on lap 231 with only one caution with Cody Ware and Ryan Preece making contact. Briscoe won stage two in convincing fashion and was also first off of pit road.
On lap 313, NY Racing Team driver Derek Kraus’s car caught fire, ending his race for the day. Briscoe and Reddick exited the pit lane first and second for the win.
Briscoe crossed the checkered flag for the win with Reddick four-tenths behind him. Briscoe finished leading 309 out of the 367 laps and he is guaranteed a spot in the round of 12 in two weeks.