Ryan Blaney won his way into the NASCAR Championship 4 on Sunday in Martinsville, and William Byron rode his six wins from earlier in the 2023 season in through the backdoor.

Blaney, Byron, Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell will duel it out on Sunday in Phoenix for the 2023 Cup Series championship.

Chesterfield County native Denny Hamlin, undone by his early exit last week, finished third on Sunday in Martinsville, and was left on the outside looking in.

Rod Mullins breaks down the weekend in Martinsville, and gives us his favorite this coming Sunday in the Valley of the Sun.

It seemed to me back in the spring that Tony Bennett wasn’t thinking Reece Beekman was coming back. I say that because Bennett went out and found a second point guard, Andrew Rohde, on the transfer portal, to go along with his other transfer, former Georgetown point guard Dante Harris, who came in mid-year last year.

A sample ballot mailed out to Republican voters in Augusta County by the Republican Party of Virginia last week notably left out the lone Republican candidate in a contested Augusta County Board of Supervisors race: yes, that would be Scott Seaton, who has been a bit of a thorn in the side of the local political establishment of late.

Virginia dominated the line of scrimmage, but a Tony Muskett third quarter picksix would prove crucial, and Miami, despite being outplayed by the 19-point road ‘dogs, rallied to win in OT, 29-26, on Saturday in front of an announced crowd of, ahem, 58,503 in Hard Rock Stadium.

The Cavaliers (2-6, 1-3 ACC) led most of the way, and a look at the postgame stats will get you to scratch your head wondering how this one turned out the way it did.

You’re not supposed to be able to lose the turnover battle, and have your two turnovers take away possible TDs, and still be able to pull the upset on the road over an undefeated Top 10 team.

Outside of the turnovers, Virginia, a 31-27 winner over #10 North Carolina on Saturday night, did everything right.

The Cavaliers, 120th nationally in rushing coming in, rang up 228 yards on the ground, which keyed a huge edge in time of possession – 37:06 to 22:54.

These are your numbers of the game: 228, and 37:06.

If you want to beat a team that averages 500-plus yards a game on offense, you’re going to want to keep the ball away from them as much as possible.

Check.

Former Top 100 hoops recruit Rodney Rice is leaving the Virginia Tech basketball program and intends to hit the transfer portal.

“Rodney Rice recently shared with me his desire to step away from our program. While his departure is unfortunate, we wish Rodney and his family all the best in the future,” Tech coach Mike Young said in a statement released by the school on Tuesday.

Moderate Republicans had a brief moment in the sun when they made sure Trump loyalist and election denier Jim Jordan wouldn’t be elected House Speaker.

The MAGAs are back to flexing their muscles now with one of their own in the Speaker position.

Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson was elected Speaker on Wednesday, ending more than three weeks of manufactured drama pretty much where it started.

Christopher Bell took the lead for good with 15 laps to go on his way to punching a ticket to the NASCAR Championship 4 with a win at Homestead on Sunday.

Bell joins Kyle Larson, who won last week in Las Vegas, as the two playoff drivers who have clinched spots in the Championship 4 race in Phoenix next week.

Bell outraced Ryan Blaney to the finish line on Sunday by 1.651 seconds.

Blaney’s second-place finish moved him to the four spot in the playoff chase with just one more chance for the playoff eight to win their way to Phoenix.

Rod Mullins joins AFP editor Chris Graham to break down the action from Sunday, and preview the action in Martinsville coming up this weekend.

Virginia is a 23.5-point ‘dog in Saturday’s game against #10 North Carolina, which is what it is. Tony Elliott is reminding his guys what happened when the two teams met last year.

“For us, it’s about opportunity and having confidence that they return a lot of guys, we return a lot of guys, we got some new additions, and last year this was a three-point ballgame, and it was a possession-for-possession ballgame,” said Elliott, describing the 31-28 loss in Charlottesville about as well as he could.

More online: https://augustafreepress.com/news/elliotts-message-ahead-of-game-at-10-unc-this-is-what-you-dream-about/

Vegas has Florida State a double-digit favorite over Duke on Saturday, but don’t sleep on the Blue Devils.

That one, and a sorta, kinda elimination game between Clemson and Miami highlight the ACC Football weekend slate.

I had Scott German, the keeper of our weekly ACC Football Power Rankings, on for a podcast today to preview Saturday’s action.

Quick hits

• FSU-Duke: Duke’s lone loss was a last-minute setback at home to a good Notre Dame team. Don’t be surprised if the Blue Devils pull the upset.

Also on the show

• Scott comes hard with the observation that the success at Duke under Mike Elko and UNC under Mack Brown is a sign that Virginia can have success with the right coach.