Day: November 8, 2026

Homestead-Miami Speedway (Homestead, Fla.) — Kyle Larson, mired in a winless streak that would eventually reach 51 races, sat in a Hendrick Motorsports meeting listening to the other drivers and crew chiefs and team leadership discuss how they could get out of their funk. When it came to Larson’s turn to speak, a driver who previously was known to be relatively quiet delivered a powerful message. “Listen, nobody can beat us if we work together,” Larson said, according to his team owner Rick Hendrick. Hendrick pointed to that moment as a sign that Larson could lead Hendrick back to the front. The team was coming off a race where all four of the Hendrick drivers struggled to run in the top 20. The weight of trying to figure out the new Chevrolet body design had beaten the organization to one of the most down periods in recent years. Only Chase Elliott had won among the three drivers. “I remember it being just really sad in the room … and it was just sadness and everybody talking about how their confidence was down and decision-making isn’t where it needs to be because we’ve just been getting beat up on the race track,” Larson explained in his championship news conference. “It was getting close to my turn and I was like, ‘I still believe.’ We’re Hendrick Motorsports, whether it happens now or next year or whatever, I know we’ll eventually get to where we want to be, we’ve just got to trust ourselves.” Larson was right. The 34-year-old Larson earned his third NASCAR Cup Series title Sunday night, eight weeks removed from snapping that 51-race winless streak. He won three races — the 33rd, 34th and 35th Cup wins of his career — on his way to earning his third Cup title. The Hendrick Motorsports driver explained that the comment was rooted in him having competed at Chip Ganassi Racing for six-plus years with six wins. Since joining Hendrick in 2021, he has now won 29 races and three titles (2021, 2025, 2026). Larson didn’t think that he would emerge from that meeting to hoist the championship trophy. But he had the confidence they would get their mojo back — not from having been there, done that but more from having seen it and been beaten by it. “Living on the other side of the fence and competing against them, they’ve been in slumps before, they know the recipe to get out of it,” Larson said. “That’s just what I wanted to remind everybody. It might not be right now, but we have to have the belief we can get out of this.” The seventh seed entering the Chase, Larson performed so well that he just needed to finish 28th in the race Sunday to clinch the title. While other drivers and teams stepped on their feet and tripped over themselves over the 10-week Chase, Larson only had one bad race, which was a 34th at Phoenix. In addition to the three victories and the frustration at Phoenix, Larson posted two seconds, a fifth, a sixth and a ninth before finishing 12th at Homestead to capture the 10-race Chase. They worked together — with crew chief Cliff Daniels as the glue — and won the title with one of the best talents in the sport, one that is getting more comparisons to seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson. Larson’s 10-race Chase run included an epic win at Talladega where he led when taking the white flag, fell back to 11th and then rallied to win the race all in one lap. “He’s just an exceptional talent, this generation’s Jimmie, right?” regular-season champion Denny Hamlin told me and other reporters after the race. “That’s the only way you can kind of describe it. When it comes to playoff time, they perform their best, and that’s something that Jimmie used to do. “Jimmie was a guy that could get tons of speed out of the car. Kyle’s the same way. You could argue even more speed. There’s a little bit more variance in the results because of how hard he pushes it. But he reaps benefits because he gets lots of wins.” For Larson, he saw the fifth-place finish at Darlington as the key. “I really had no confidence, zero, before The Chase,” Larson said Thursday. “Hope, but no confidence. But I would really look at Darlington as the turning point of my confidence. I know we didn’t win, but I feel like we executed a really good day. We maximized what we had going for us that weekend and that day. “And I remember leaving that race thinking, man, that’s the first time it’s felt like the [No.] 5 team in forever. We were calling a race to win. I didn’t feel like we had been in that position for a long time. ” There was no stopping Larson after that. He won the following week at World Wide Technology Raceway (Gateway), as the team pulled together and found the speed. Just as Larson said. “That wasn’t Kyle Larson two years ago,” Hendrick said during the post-race news conference. “He wouldn’t have had that input to all the crew chiefs and the drivers. … Kyle actually took a leadership role.” Daniels remembered that well. His recollection during the post-race news conference was that Larson said something like, “‘Hey, just so everyone knows, we aren’t the fastest right now, but we’re still Hendrick Motorsports, so I have full confidence that we can come back and win this thing.” Just like Larson often makes the right move at the right time, he chose the right words for the right time. “That kind of hung with me and kind of resonated with a lot of folks that I think heard that message from him at the time of acknowledgment. We’re not good, things aren’t going well, but also the belief that we could pull together as the people, the team,” Daniels said. And the response is something that made Larson proud. “I could feel we were OK, but I definitely didn’t think we would go on the run we did in this final 10 weeks,” Larson said as he accepted the championship trophy. “To get three wins, be as consistent as we were, it’s just a true testament to Cliff’s leadership. … I knew whenever it came together, we would be ready. I just didn’t know it would be this year and at the time that it was.”​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

In Week 3, the Green Bay Packers were embarrassed at home by the Atlanta Falcons in a nationally televised Thursday night game. Quarterback Jordan Love looked like the only thing going right for the Packers. Head coach Matt LaFleur looked like a long shot to survive the contract extension he had just signed. Six weeks later, everything has changed. Now, Green Bay is the team nobody wants to play. The Packers proved that again on Sunday by dismantling the Patriots, 45-27, in New England. It was the Pack’s fifth win in six games and improved their record to 6-3. While they remain in last place in the arduous NFC North, they’re demonstrating why they’re one of the most dangerous teams in the NFC. That’s mostly, but not solely, because of Love, who is starting to look like a real MVP contender. He torched the Patriots for 372 yards and three touchdowns while completing 79.3% of his passes (23 of 29) — his fourth time over 70% in the past six games. But there is so much more to the Packers. For years, they had struggled to get consistent play out of an injury-prone, underperforming receiving corps. But this year they look like they have two No. 1s. In fact, Christian Watson (7-171-1 on Sunday) and Matthew Golden (10-164-1) are the best 1-2 receiving punch in football. With 102 catches for 1,662 yards and 12 touchdowns on the season, they’re even more productive than the Bengals’ dynamic duo of Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. What makes the Packers really dangerous, though, is the way they’re starting to play on defense, which figured to be a struggle after last year’s coordinator Jeff Hafley left for Miami and with All-Pro linebacker Micah Parsons still on injured reserve. But they’ve turned it into a strength. They’ve smothered teams on the ground over the past five weeks, giving up an average of just 84.8 rushing yards, including 94 in New England. And they’ve held five of their nine opponents under 300 passing yards this year. The Packers also boast the most turnover-happy defense in football. After picking off Drake Maye four times and forcing a Rhamondre Stevenson fumble, they’ve increased their league-leading total to 19. Their 26 sacks, after four more against the Patriots, put them among the league leaders in that category too. And now Parsons is about to come back. Green Bay is not perfect, of course. Its running game is pathetic, and not even Josh Jacobs’ return has helped. With Jacobs missing most of Week 9 with a broken finger, the club ran for a season-high 129 yards on Sunday, but that just boosted its league-worst average to 68.2 yards. The Packers’ passing game is becoming nearly unstoppable, though. And the defense is strong enough to help them overcome any other flaws. They’re already clearly better than the Vikings, who beat Green Bay way back in Week 1 but have been essentially operating without a quarterback. And the Packers probably should have beaten the Lions two weeks ago, and maybe would have if it weren’t for a couple of questionable calls. And while it’s too early to say they’re better than either the Chicago Bears or the San Francisco 49ers, they’re playing as they belong in that tier. That’s remarkable, considering where the Packers were back in Week 3, with only an overtime win over the Jets to show for their efforts. It just took a while for them to get going. Now, there may be no stopping them. The Kansas City Chiefs might have made the best move of the offseason when they splurged on RB Kenneth Walker III, who did not receive an offer from the Seahawks just weeks after winning Super Bowl MVP. The Chiefs’ move did more than give them a chance to extend their dynasty. It also gave Andy Reid the most dangerous team he’s had in Kansas City. Walker had another big game on Sunday against the Jets, rushing for 102 yards, catching four passes for 41 yards, and scoring three touchdowns in a 35-12 win. It was his fifth 100-yard rushing game and fifth multi-touchdown game in nine games this season. He’s second in the NFL with 872 rushing yards and tied for the current lead with 11 total touchdowns. Reid hasn’t had a running back like this since Kareem Hunt was a rookie in 2017. That was his last 1,000-yard rusher, too, and it was back when Alex Smith was still his starting QB. Since then, Reid has built a dynasty around Patrick Mahomes, one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, but he’s never developed a running game to help him balance the Chiefs offense. Until now. It shows in the stats, where the Chiefs are averaging 137.8 rushing yards per game — 22 more than the best rushing seasons of the Reid-Mahomes era. And Walker is equally dangerous as a receiver out of the backfield (26-172), giving KC another way to keep defenses on edge. The ability to consistently run the ball has been missing for years in Kansas City, and it’ll be huge when the weather turns. In the postseason, it’ll also help the Chiefs slow down juggernaut offenses such as the Bills’ or grind out tough wins against teams such as the Broncos. There’s a long way to go, of course, and considering Reid has led KC to five Super Bowls, winning three, it’s hard to say this is his best team yet. But the potential is there, because of Walker. Reid’s never had a Kansas City offense quite like this. Shedeur Sanders may have lost his first start of the season, but he won the right to be the Cleveland Browns’ starting quarterback the rest of the way. At least he should have, after the way he played in the Browns’ 23-22 overtime loss to the Saints. He was 19 for 31 for 297 yards with two long touchdown passes, and he ran for 28 yards. He was also brilliant in overtime, going 6 for 8 for 72 yards and hitting tight end Harold Fannin with a last-minute touchdown pass, before he just missed a two-point conversion pass that would have won the game. Rookie WR KC Concepcion called Sanders “a game-changer,” and that’s what he was. He took an offense that had been maddeningly and frustratingly low-scoring and inefficient under Deshaun Watson and turned it into a big-play machine. Sanders’ two completions of at least 60 yards doubled the amount Watson had in the first eight games of the season. And his four completions of 30 or more yards were half as many as Watson had in those eight starts. Those big plays have been missing from coach Todd Monken’s attack, and he needs to see if Sanders can keep it going. Watson was fading anyway. The Browns had averaged just 14.6 points in the four games before he missed Sunday with a concussion. The Browns still lost, but Sanders gave the offense the kickstart it needs if they’re going to have any shot at keeping up with the Steelers and Bengals in the AFC North. And even if they can’t, the Browns need to take a good look at Sanders and how he runs this team before they get to the 2027 NFL Draft. He’s shown flashes that he can be their quarterback of the future. He’s at the very least the quarterback they need right now. I was told by multiple NFL sources this past week that the Los Angeles Chargers aren’t even engaging teams in trade talks. They are showing no inclination to deal their most expendable players. And they are telling teams they are generally happy with their core. So here’s my question for them: Are they out of their minds? If any team should be willing to sell pretty much anything that’s not cemented to the foundation of their stadium, it’s the still-winless, horribly inept Chargers, who fell to 0-8 on Sunday with a 44-22 loss to the Houston Texans. If you’re scoring at home — and why would anybody be? — they’ve topped 20 points just twice this season now. And thanks to two garbage-time touchdowns on Sunday, they’ve now scored 37 points over their past three games. That’s less than both the Packers and the 49ers scored on Sunday alone, by the way. Yet the Chargers don’t seem willing to trade 35-year-old edge rusher Khalil Mack, disappointing former first-round WR Quentin Johnston or struggling cornerback Donte Jackson — all of whom will be free agents in March and have some value on the market, those sources told me. The Chargers have given every indication that they plan to do nothing at all. And that’s just nuts. At this point, general manager Joe Hortiz should be trading every asset he has for whatever picks he can get. And he should listen to offers for everyone, even if he gets calls about quarterback Justin Herbert. Especially, perhaps, if he gets calls about Herbert. No one on his roster should be safe. If they really do stand pat at the trading deadline, though, that’s just malpractice. The Chargers look like they’re years away from being competitive at this point. They’re much closer to a mass firing and a total rebuild. They’re way too awful to spend the next few days sitting on their hands. They should know they have plenty of work to do and get it started now. No team has been pursuing Indianapolis Colts RB Jonathan Taylor more strongly than the New York Giants, but that pursuit has eased up over the last week. According to FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer, the Giants pulled their offer of a second- and fifth-round pick after it was rejected. An NFL source told me they would still be interested only if the asking price came down. They shouldn’t be, though, because unless that price comes way down, Taylor isn’t worth it for the Giants. They’re good enough to win the flawed NFC East without him. And Taylor isn’t enough to help them on a long postseason run. The Giants have too many other issues for that, starting with an offensive line that was atrocious on Sunday in their 19-11 win in Philadelphia. They couldn’t get anything out of running back Devin Singletary, who amazingly gained just 31 yards on 21 carries. The way he was constantly hit in the backfield, it’s even more absurd to think Taylor would’ve gotten much more. New York would be better off spending future draft capital on a defensive tackle that can boost its defense, or some interior line help that will power the running game no matter who is back there while also helping keep its quarterbacks from getting drilled. Even with that, though, the Giants are probably still a year away at least from being good enough to do much more than win a bad division. They’d be smarter to keep their draft picks and continue to build. That doesn’t seem to be what John Harbaugh wants to do, though. He seems intent on going for it in his first year with the team. That’s noble and certainly will be appreciated by everyone who has suffered through a decade of mostly losing in New York. But the Giants still have to be smart about this, and spending a second-round pick and then some on a 27-year-old running back wouldn’t be wise. The Giants aren’t one piece away from a run at a championship. That makes Taylor a luxury they just can’t afford. In NFL Fallout, Ralph Vacchiano breaks down the impact of the biggest events every Sunday.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Green Bay Packers safety Evan Williams had quite the day against the New England Patriots, as he racked up five tackles (four solo) and his third interception of the season. But Tom Brady had an interesting way of describing Drake Maye’s three first-half interceptions. Williams was named Brady’s LFG Player of the Game after intercepting Drake Maye in a 45-27 win over the New England Patriots on Sunday. Safety Xavier McKinney had the other two of Maye’s three interceptions, and Brady, who called his first game back in Foxborough on FOX alongside Kevin Burkhardt, joked about the turnovers. “There was some deli meat given out by Drake Maye today,” Brady said. “I’m not gonna say that, but he was giving us some gifts for sure,” Williams replied. “There was a few out there, and you made him pay,” Brady said back to Williams. Maye’s three interceptions put the Patriots in a hole they couldn’t get out of. McKinney got the first and third picks, while Williams’ was sandwiched in between. And Williams’ pick might have been the play of the day, making an impressive toe-tapping grab that kept the Packers’ lead at 17-0. Maye wound up completing 21 of 38 passes for 299 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions, finishing with a stat line that looked better than what his performance indicated. As for Williams, he helped Tom Brady’s return to Foxborough come full circle. Williams’ mother, Dani Williams, babysat Brady in the Bay Area when he was 5 years old, a connection Brady shared during the broadcast. Brady said he was shocked when he realized the babysitting connection. “I don’t get shocked very often, but I was shocked,” Brady said. “Evan Williams grew up in the Bay Area, and his mom babysat me when I was five.” Brady then turned to Dani Williams, who was shown on the broadcast during the game. “We got your mom on the camera today. It was really sweet,” Brady said. “I’m gonna get ahold of you, and I’m gonna figure out if I was a good kid or not.” “Yeah, we gonna see, because I heard no stories, which might be a bad thing, but I’m not too sure,” Williams said. Brady opened his conversation with Williams by asking what it meant to win on the road against the Patriots. “It means a lot. It just means that all the preparation that goes into it, it’s well worth it,” Williams said. “We put a lot of hours in just to be as prepared as we can, and everybody on this team, we trust each other like nothing else. And so you get that belief going, a little confidence in yourself, and guys are flying around making plays. Nothing like it.” And as Brady couldn’t get the story of Williams’ mother babysitting him out of his head, made one request before signing off. “Give her that football. Send it my way. Let’s autograph, and we’ll both give it to her,” Brady said. Green Bay improved to 6-3 and hosts the Minnesota Vikings next Sunday.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports