Sports News this week Australia: NASCAR and Bathurst 1000 also NFL

It was a huge weekend of sports news this week Australia and also motorsports too from the Bathurst 1000 to NASCAR plus NFL.

From the start of green to those edge-of-your-seat finishes at full-time, we got everything here for you.

NASCAR Cup Series from Las Vegas

Sports News this week Australia – Tyler Reddick knows how to bounce back from his second 12 Playoffs disappointment with a Top 7-8 qualifying car into a 5th placed finish for 23XI.

Credit to these fast Toyota Camrys that helped Tyler earn his own Championship 4 opportunity last season where he won one of the previous three semi-final races (Round of 8) against his boss Denny Hamlin if I recall at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Now the boss (Denny) will be up next in three races time in a bid to finally end long-running search for his first-ever drivers’ championship. This comes following his late-move win over his Joe Gibbs Racing team-mate Chase Briscoe whose two-tire gamble choices were backfired with only a few laps to go. 

Meanwhile, unlucky from Hendrick Motorsports (Chevy) whose 1st half dominance went up into smoke starting with Stage 1 winner William Byron into the wall.

His team-mate in the No.5 Kyle Larson also done well with the Stage 2 win but again late cautions put the pressure back on him where he just couldn’t quite protect his good momentum at the finish line.

Not only Denny’s got a great crew chief right behind him in Chris Gayle, he also has top qualifying speed with patience for the race car to dominate at the right time — despite his own mistakes at restarts.

It’s not easy being the best JGR Toyota driver when Kyle Busch won the championship twice back in 2015 and 2019 while Christopher Bell has always been consistently solid anywhere between Top 3-5 — and don’t forget Chase Briscoe gave him a tough time also when it comes to the battle for 1st. 

Better still, Denny Hamlin is still standing and sure he’s not done just yet. 

All he has to do now is just win the rest if he can before he can finally be the best of both things: No.1 driver for Gibbs and also the No.1 driver ahead of everyone at Cup level.

It’s anyone’s race to win but also anyone’s race to lose when there’s always next week for the other seven Round of 8 Playoff drivers to try again in semi-final No.2 of three at Talladega Superspeedway.

What a homecoming Top 10 run by Kyle Busch after he finished 8th in the No.8 RCR Chevy, especially where he benefitted a lot under green flag gains and leverage throughout the first half before he got away with the result he wanted.

Sure he still has something to offer off the back of his crew chief change lately since Randall Burnett is Trackhouse bound next season for the rising Xfinity Series championship leader Connor Zilisch.

At the same time, he’s hoping to get the best out of his green flag performances more often, particularly under extended spells so his No.8 Camaro stretch the distance alongside new crew chief Andy Street.

And can’t discount these RFK Fords every time they show up post-race – sometimes from mid-pack to out of nowhere – in the Top 10 where Ryan Preece & Brad Keselowski both played their team roles in 9th & 10th.

Sure the car may not be as consistent or strong as the Top 5-7 frontrunners as they would’ve liked if you look the other way with the 23XI Toyotas.

However, cleaner air when others ahead of them drop off due to Stage 3 yellows saw huge upticks of progress along the way — and that sums up your usual Top 10 RFK Racing weekend right there.

2025 Bathurst 1000

Sports News this week Australia – What a compelling race at the 2025 Bathurst 1000 where strategy/tire choices with the rain factor came into play. There was also heartbreak and yellow flags along the way before the race ended with goosebumps, time penalties & post-race emotions over the long six 1/2 hours at Mount Panorama.

Lots to look back as will pick the highs and lows in a nutshell.

A bit like the Daytona 500 with “The Big Ones” but in endurance mode that also has human-made errors on such a tricky circuit like Bathurst.

Happy for Kiwi Matt Payne who held his nerve till the very end against the two Chevys with his first career Bathurst 1000 alongside Garth Tander and Garth’s last 1000km wins was with SVG!! Not easy to defend under difficult conditions but boy he just made it at the checkered flag.

So close by David Reynolds on the back of Payne’s No.100 Ford Mustang within the ballpark on the final lap but just not quite got it unfortunately with gutted emotions from the Team 18 garage. 

Second best is better than nothing though as said when one driver mistake can blow up everything in a ticking time bomb. 

Saw both Walkinshaw Andretti Ford’s got unlucky where their own Mustangs broke down which was unfortunate. Same with the Erebus Chevys when one or the other couldn’t maintain their lead before things got so worse while Richie Stanaway’s promising build-up from the back to upfront ended abruptly into the wall.

Yes, James Golding in the other PremiAir Chevy did finish as the lead lap driver but he also bumped Cooper Murray (Erebus) out wide — and he was penalised by five seconds where James eventually settled with 3rd.

Could not believe Garth Tander got the best out of another Kiwi (Matt Payne, he’s from Wellington and SVG has Auckland roots) as he is now set to wrap up his decorated racing career on a high.

He’s got six Bathurst 1000 wins plus the 1x Supercars title that goes back almost 20 years in 2007 with the former HSV Dealer Team.

Unforgettable day with forever memories if your name is Matt Payne today & look out for Austin Cindric when he will be driving the wildcard Tickford Mustang entry at the Adelaide Grand Final next month.

NFL: Monday Night Football

Sports News this week Australia – Commanders got KO’ed at the death by the Bears and Falcons were oh so good left, right and centre v the Bills.

Atlanta were blessed with their flying start such as good throws turned into catches which leads to good yard gains and also explosive run meters towards the end zone for touchdowns.

All of this goes to show that the Atlanta Falcons came out swinging courtesy of Bijan Robinson’s supercharged running game.

While the Falcons 2nd half performance was a bit more challenging to stretch their lead, at least they were quick to notice the Buffalo Bills’ half-hearted offensive passage of play.

Did like that Bills 2nd TD though on the far right not long after half-time as shoutout to Ray Davis who reminds me of Cheslin Kolbe the world-class Springbok on the wings for South Africa & they both have similar height also.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2oU0iaP_fw

With Bijan, he’d be more at Centre or full-back like one of our Wallabies and Waratahs players in Joseph Suaalii. 

But yeah, Bills just disorganised and unplayable other than an okay defense as final score was 24-14 to the Falcons.

Now this next one between the Commanders v Bears was another close one like last week’s Monday Night Football episode on ABC where the Jacksonville Jaguars surprised the Kansas City Chiefs.

We saw the same thing this time for the Bears to derail the Commanders almost comeback bid on their home turf in Washington DC by one point, 24-25.

Unlucky from the Commanders who got away with answered points following their poor 1st half performance. 

Shame these tiny bit of handling errors and inconsistent defense could’ve been any better when it was just so hard to maintain that small lead under pressure in the end and yeah, that really hurts.

Meanwhile Chicago, they were relieved to shut down that improved Commanders side in the dying minutes — with a field goal enough to bring take out the win right on full-time thanks to Jake Moody.

Their offensive structure was set in stone from kick-off starting with D’Andre Swift who loves beating opposition defenders including that 4th quarter TD with pace to stay in this fight. Maybe D’Andre should get a good shout like imagine him in a rugby field with him at centre, Bijan alongside Swift or behind him at full-back and Davis on one of the outside backs.

At the end of the day, Chicago’s tactics were spotless where a good enough lead safeguards your result as long as they stay disciplined compared to Washington.