OCTOBER 20, 2021

(Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Kyle Larson (No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet) clinched the first Championship 4 berth of his NASCAR Cup Series career Sunday, rolling to a convincing victory at Texas Motor Speedway. Larson led 255 of the 334 laps in the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 for his series-best eighth victory of the season and the 14th of his Cup Series career. Larson’s victory in the postseason’s Round of 8 opener sealed an automatic spot in the four-driver field that will compete for the Cup Series title in the Nov. 7 season finale. Teammate William Byron (No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet) was second and Christopher Bell (No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) placed third. Next up is the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App MRN, SiriusXM). Watch race highlights from Texas here. (Thank you to NASCAR.com.)

(Copyright: Ferdi Kräling Motorsport-Bild GmbH)
Christopher Haase, Markus Winkelhock and Patric Niederhauser (No. 25 Audi Sport Team Saintéloc Audi R8 LMS) won the 8-Hour Intercontinental GT Challenge race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday. Numerous incidents, penalties and caution periods characterized the race. The winning trio avoided accidents and endured a drive-through penalty after a pit stop that was too short due to a faulty measurement. The lead after eight hours of racing was 11.9 seconds over Raffaele Marciello, Daniel Juncadella and Timur Boguslavskiy (No. 89 Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP Mercedes-AMG GT3). Jordan Pepper, Andrea Caldarelli and Mirko Bortolotti (No. 3 K-PAX Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo) finished third. 

(Chevrolet)
From the "More Cowbell" File: Chevrolet Performance has introduced the ZZ632/1000 crate engine, "the largest and most powerful crate engine in the brand’s history," according to Chevrolet PR minions. The naturally aspirated 632-cubic-inch V-8 produces 1,004HP and 876 lb-ft of torque. “This is the biggest, baddest crate engine we’ve ever built,” said Russ O’Blenes, GM director of the Performance and Racing Propulsion Team. “The ZZ632 sits at the top of our unparalleled crate engine lineup as the king of performance. It delivers incredible power, and it does it on pump gas.” The Big Block V-8 reaches peak power at 6,600 rpm and revs to a recommended maximum of 7,000 rpm. Fuel is delivered by eight port injectors with the engine breathing through CNC-machined high-flow aluminum cylinder heads featuring symmetrical ports. While Big Blocks have traditionally been designed with variations in port shape from cylinder to cylinder, all eight intake ports of the ZZ632 have the same length, volume and layout. Similarly, all of the ZZ632’s exhaust ports are identical. This symmetry ensures individual cylinders all produce similar power. These RS-X Symmetrical Port cylinder heads are named for powertrain engineer Ron Sperry, who designed them as one of his final accomplishments in more than 50 years working on General Motors performance and racing engines. Sperry also introduced symmetrical ports to Chevy’s iconic Small Block V-8 with the Gen III LS1 engine that debuted in the 1997 Chevrolet Corvette. The ZZ632’s iron block shares a mold with Chevrolet Performance’s ZZ572 crate engines, but the castings are machined to accommodate the massive 632-cubic-inch displacement. The bore grows by 0.040 inch compared to the 572-cubic-inch V-8s, with most of the displacement gain coming from a stroke that’s 0.375 inch longer. To provide clearance for that long stroke, engineers modified both the block and the connecting rods. Four-bolt main caps and a forged rotating assembly ensure strength and durability. During development, a single engine endured more than 200 simulated drag strip passes on a dynamometer. The ZZ632/1000 crate engine will be on display at the 2021 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Nov. 2–5. Chevrolet Performance dealers will begin deliveries in early 2022. 

(Acura)
Red Bull Racing Honda and Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda Formula 1 cars will wear Acura branded livery for the 2021 Aramco United States Grand Prix this weekend. Acura logos also will appear on the driving suits and helmet visors of racers Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez, Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda.