INDIANAPOLIS – After clinching the regular-season championship a week early at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, Kyle Busch officially secured the No. 1 seed for the Monster Energy NASAR Cup Series playoffs on Sunday.

Despite an engine failure that took him out of the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard and left him with a 37th-place finish at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Busch collected the 15 playoff points that came with earning the most points during the first 26 races of the Cup Series season.

As such, he’ll start next week’s playoff opener at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway with 2,045 points – most in the 16-driver postseason field – on the strength of four race wins and 10 stage victories.

Both of those marks lead the league in their respective statistical categories.

While Busch, who will carry a 15-point lead over second place, enjoys a healthy margin atop the standings for now, he’ll have two of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates chasing him early on.

Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. earned the second and third seeds, respectively, for the 10-race playoff run. Both had four race wins during the regular season, though neither could match Busch’s prowess in stages over the first 26 rounds of the 2019 campaign.

Hamlin will head to Las Vegas with 2,030 points, while Truex sits just one point behind Hamlin at 2,029.

Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano tied for the fourth seed, with Harvick getting the nod by having more wins than Logano.

Each has 2,028 points, but Harvick’s third win of the year Sunday lifted him over Logano’s two.

Sixth-seeded Brad Keselowski sits on 2,024 points, six more than Chase Elliott, the seventh seed who earned two wins during the regular season.

Kentucky winner Kurt Busch rounds off the top half of the playoff field, with 2,011 points and the No. 8 seed to his name. Ninth and 10th seeded Alex Bowman and Erik Jones were both single winners during the regular season, the lowest among the drivers to guarantee their postseason berths with victories.

Both Bowman and Jones will start the playoffs with 2,005 points.

Kyle Larson earned the 11th playoff seed, with four stage wins during the regular season and also having a reset value of 2,005 points thanks to being 10th in points after 26 races, while double stage winner Ryan Blaney ranks 12th in the adjusted standings at 2,004.

William Byron and Aric Almirola sit 13th and 14th with 2,001 points apiece, while the final two drivers to make the playoffs on points – Clint Bowyer and Ryan Newman – will roll from the base value of 2,000.

Both Bowyer and Newman will have just a two-point hole to dig out of to get above the cut line, with the top 12 in points escaping the first elimination round following race 27 of the season at the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway ROVAL on Sept. 29.

This year’s playoff lineup is notable in that it doesn’t contain seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson for the first time in the 16-year history of the playoff format.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs begin on Sept. 15 at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway.

Updated Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Point Standings

1. Kyle Busch – 2,045
2. Denny Hamlin – 2,030
3. Martin Truex Jr. – 2,029
4. Kevin Harvick – 2,028
5. Joey Logano – 2,028
6. Brad Keselowski – 2,024
7. Chase Elliott – 2,018
8. Kurt Busch – 2,011
9. Alex Bowman – 2,005
10. Erik Jones – 2,005
11. Kyle Larson – 2,005
12. Ryan Blaney – 2,004
13. William Byron – 2,001
14. Aric Almirola – 2,001
15. Clint Bowyer – 2,000
16. Ryan Newman – 2,000

MILLVILLE, N.J. – Cameron Beaubier will need a little help in the final round of the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship at Barber Motorsports Park, but he at least has a chance at the title.

Beaubier won the second EBC Brakes Superbike race in the Championship of New Jersey on Sunday at New Jersey Motorsports Park, elevating himself back into the conversation.

After finishing second on Saturday and winning on Sunday to claw back into championship contention with just the two races at Barber left on the schedule, Beaubier trails Toni Elias by 16 points.

Yoshimura Suzuki’s Elias had an off-weekend and finished fourth in both races, giving up 19 points to Beaubier and his Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing YZF-R1.

On Saturday, Beaubier lost out to his teammate Garrett Gerloff and on Sunday he had his hands full with Attack Performance Estenson Racing’s JD Beach.

Gerloff, meanwhile, was declared unfit to race after a big crash in the morning warm-up session that left him concussed.

Beaubier and Beach were joined up front by Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, but the South African ended up finishing third, some seven seconds behind Beaubier.

Beaubier was also able to gap Beach in the closing laps, besting Beach by 1.44 seconds after 23 laps for his fourth win of the season and the 36th of his Superbike career.

“At the beginning I was pretty confident going in just because I felt like I had pretty good pace there at the beginning of the race yesterday, and then after latching onto (Garrett) Gerloff he kind of pulled us three away from the field,” Beaubier said. “Then at the end it was us two. I was pretty confident that my bike was going to be better than it was yesterday, but I was struggling pretty bad at the beginning when the tires were new. I felt like I couldn’t really take advantage of the grip I had with the previous setup we had yesterday. But it felt okay at the end of the race. I was able to manage the tire decent.

“JD (Beach) was riding awesome. Then I saw my pit board when I was in second. I didn’t know who it was, but I saw that gap close right back up onto us,” he added. “I was like, ‘Oh man. I’m in for a long last 10 laps.’ I’m really happy we got this win and kind of the monkey off of our back, type of thing. I’m more relieved than anything. Today feels good.”

M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Jake Lewis finished fifth, one spot better than on Saturday, and ahead of sixth-placed Kyle Wyman on the Lion Fuel/Cyclance/KWR Ducati.

Yoshimura Suzuki’s Josh Herrin was seventh, with Scheibe Racing BMW’s Jake Gagne ending his weekend with an eighth-place finish.

FLY Racing/ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony and Omega Moto’s Cameron Petersen rounded out the top 10.

With Beaubier now trailing Elias by 16 points, Gerloff holds on to third, though he’s dropped to 41 points behind after missing Sunday’s race.

Sunday’s Supersport race two was another good one for New Yorker PJ Jacobsen as the Celtic HSBK Racing Yamaha rider held off hard-charging and determined championship leader Bobby Fong aboard his M4 ECSTAR Suzuki.

Jacobsen and Fong diced with each other as the laps wound down, and Jacobsen bested Fong at the checkers by .028 of a second.

With a double win at NJMP, Jacobsen now trails Fong in the championship by just 10 points.

Rocco Landers, who clinched the Liqui Moly Junior Cup class championship on Saturday, celebrated his title in the best way possible.

Aboard his Ninja400R.com/Norton Motorsports/Dr. Farr Kawasaki, Landers won Sunday’s race with a gap of nearly seven seconds over Quarterly Racing/On Track Development Kawasaki’s Damian Jigalov.

Former Liqui Moly Junior Cup Champion Alex Dumas has been on a roll in the latter half of the Twins Cup season, and on Sunday, the Roadracing World Young Guns Suzuki rider won his fourth race in a row and fifth out of the past six races.

Dumas withstood a staunch challenge from RBoM Racing/Blud Lubricants/HJC Suzuki rider Jackson Blackmon, who raced in both Liqui Moly Junior Cup and Twins Cup this weekend and made the podium in both classes.

Last year’s Stock 1000 Champion Andrew Lee successfully defended his title when he clinched the 2019 Stock 1000 Championship by winning Sunday’s race.

Lee, aboard his Franklin Armory/Graves Kawasaki, started from the pole, but the race was red-flagged and had to be restarted. Despite the drama, Lee stayed in front and kept title rival Stefano Mesa behind him.

INDIANAPOLIS – Kevin Harvick’s victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway during Sunday’s Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard was a win for more than just himself.

It marked a score for the racing legends who helped to shape Harvick’s career.

One of the first people Harvick referenced during his frontstretch winner’s interview, and then again during his media center press conference, was four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears – the open-wheel icon who was raised in Harvick’s hometown of Bakersfield, Calif., as a youth.

“Man, I can’t tell you how much coming to Indianapolis means to me,” Harvick noted. “As a kid, I grew up watching Rick Mears win Indy 500s and got to be around him as a kid … and he was my hero, so coming here and winning here where he did so many times is pretty awesome.”

That Harvick looked up to Mears and wanted to go into auto racing because of him came as no surprise.

What was, perhaps, more of a surprise was that Harvick’s initial desire to pursue a racing career didn’t involve full-fendered cars. Instead, he wanted to follow Mears into Indy car racing.

“When I was young, I wanted to race Indy cars, because at that point Indy car racing was more popular than stock cars,” Harvick recalled. “It took a drastic turn over the next 10 or 12 years, but at that particular point, if you wanted to race at the top level, you needed to race Indy cars. You didn’t want to race stock cars. And then all that changed.

“For me, I had a dad who I could have went and raced midgets with at 13, 14 or 15 years old, but at that particular point he wanted nothing to do with open-wheel racing and liked stock cars,” Harvick continued. “He was a firefighter and worked on cars on the side and went to the race track on the weekend, and that’s what I did. I went to the local short track and watched, and when I turned 16, that’s what we did.

“That was just the path. There was really no choice. I didn’t really have a say in that, and we raced go‑karts and then went straight to late model stock cars, and then from there it was just a progression of getting an opportunity to go to the next level, and I went all the way through the whole ranks of the NASCAR system at that particular time all the way to the top.

“It was really not my choice, but it worked out pretty well.”

Harvick’s win on Sunday was his second in the Brickyard 400, following a win 16 years ago, during the 2003 season in his early years with Richard Childress Racing.

That puts him halfway to matching Mears’ total of four Indianapolis 500 victories, “and hopefully we can get a little closer before we’re done,” Harvick smiled.

But Mears wasn’t the only great who Harvick honored with his victory on Sunday.

The 2014 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion also won for car owner Tony Stewart – a two-time Brickyard 400 winner as a driver in his own right – who Harvick raced against for many years.

Stewart, who will be formally inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2020, had won the Brickyard 400 before as an owner in 2013, but Harvick wanted to make sure he gave Stewart another PPG Trophy.

“I know how much this place means to Tony, and you can just see that in the way that he walks around here. He’s got a little more pep in his step when he walks around here than he does anywhere else,” noted Harvick of his boss. “He walked up to the car (after qualifying), and he said, ‘Yep, you’ve done a good job so far this weekend. Congrats on the pole. Now go out there, and I want you to destroy them today, and then after you’re done we’re going to climb the fence.’”

Harvick lived up to those wishes, leading five times for a race-high 118 laps and winning by more than six seconds over Joey Logano at the hallowed 2.5-mile oval.

It also meant he got to get Stewart to pay up on his request – which Stewart did jubilantly.

“I did remind him after the race that he said we were going to the climb the fence,” Harvick grinned. “I just wanted to see him climb the fence. That was his tradition, so that was kind of fun to be able to help him relive some memories, and I’m sure it was exciting for him. But there’s still nothing like driving the car and being able to enjoy those moments from a driver standpoint, and I think he’d tell you that too.

“Today was a lot of fun, because I know how much the Brickyard means to him, and those are the two things that he told me to do, so that’s what we did today,” Harvick added. “I’m glad it worked out, because he was happy and celebrating out there. I raced against him for a long time, but I respect him as an owner and it’s cool to do this together as a team.”

So was Harvick’s win for his own celebration at the famed Indianapolis grounds on Sunday? Absolutely.

But it was also a hearkening back to two Indiana heroes who left indelible imprints on both the sport and a veteran who has taken their lessons to heart and added his own.

Spain homed in on Euro 2020 by easing past the Faroe Islands 4-0 on Sunday for a sixth straight qualifying win that featured two goals each from Rodrigo and Paco Alcacer and moved them further clear at the top of Group F.

Sergio Ramos equalled Iker Casillas' record of 167 appearances for Spain on an emotional night at Sporting Gijon's El Molinon stadium, which paid tribute to the late Spain and Sporting forward Quini before kick off.

A minute's silence was also held in memory of former Spain coach Luis Enrique's daughter Xana, who passed away last month.

There followed a straightforward win that took Spain on to a maximum 18 points after six games and leaves them seven ahead of second-placed Sweden, who drew 1-1 at home to Norway.

Romania beat Malta 1-0 with a goal from George Puscas to leapfrog Norway into third place on 10 points.

Valencia striker Rodrigo tapped into an empty net to put Spain in front in the 13th minute despite being in an offside position when he received a pass from Mikel Oyarzabal.

But with video technology not in use in the qualifying phases, the goal stood.

Rodrigo doubled Spain's lead in the 50th minute on coach Robert Moreno's home debut by cutting in from the right wing and firing a left-footed shot towards goal which took a heavy deflection off a visiting defender on its way into the net.

Alcacer then furthered his reputation as a highly productive substitute by further stretching Spain's advantage with simple strikes in the 89th minute and deep in stoppage-time. Midfielder Thiago Alcantara said the team had not played as well as they would have liked due to the visitors' negative tactics.

"It was very tough at first, you expect a team like them to close you down and sit back and that's what happened and we struggled to break them down," he said.

"They had three players marking one of ours although once we got the first goal it was slightly easier. We still weren't completely comfortable but we're happy with the result."

With the top two sides in each group guaranteed a place at Euro 2020, Spain need only win two of their remaining four games to qualify for the tournament, but Thiago said his side were determined to win every match.

"We are focused on getting all the points, it doesn't matter to us when we qualify, we want every point, from the first to the last," he added.

Italy maintained their perfect record in Euro 2020 qualifying when a harsh penalty converted by Jorginho gave them a 2-1 win in Finland on Sunday.

Jorginho scored the spot kick with 11 minutes left after Nicolo Barella's shot hit Sauli Vaisanen's arm just above the elbow at point-blank range when the Finnish player had his arm across his chest.

Ciro Immobile had earlier headed Italy in front in the 59th minute with his first international goal for two years before Teemu Pukki levelled for Finland with a penalty in the 72nd minute.

"We suffered a little but we caused it ourselves by losing the ball where we shouldn't lose it," said Italy coach Roberto Mancini, who has been given the job of rebuilding the team following their failure to qualify for last year's World Cup.

"On the other hand, there were lots of things that I liked. It's very positive that we dominate games away from home. Our nature is always to attack and I've seen that again tonight, giving very little of the ball to our opponents."

Finland started aggressively, pressing Italy and causing them to make some mistakes in defence, with Emerson Palmieri pulling a muscle as he chased back to stop a Pukki run.

Italy began to assert themselves and Stefano Sensi brought a flying save from Lukas Hradecky with an exquisite volley on the turn from the edge of the area.

Francesco Acerbi had a shot deflected for a corner, another Sensi effort fizzed wide of the post and Hradecky saved with his legs to deny Federico Chiesa from a tight angle.

Finland had a chance at start of the second half when Pukki was released on the left but he skewed his shot wide.

Italy took back control and went ahead when Chiesa made space on the right and delivered a pinpoint cross for Immobile, who powered his header past Hradecky for his first Italy goal since September 2017 when he scored against Israel.

Shortly afterwards, Pukki burst into the Italy penalty area and went down under a challenge from Sensi, who also marred his fine performance by starting the move when he lost possession in midfield.

The Norwich City striker comfortably converted for Finland's first goal against Italy since 1977.

Yet Italy replied with a penalty of their own which is bound fuel the controversy over the new handball rules.

Italy lead Group J with 18 points from six games, six ahead of Finland who still remained on course for their first-ever major tournament appearance despite the defeat.

There is a scene in the film The Edge which might capture the moment England started building the side that took them to No. 1 in the Test rankings.

It centred on a team meeting just after England had been bowled out for 51 in Jamaica in early 2009. In that meeting, for the first time in a while, the players were encouraged to be honest with one another; to criticise one another; to try to pinpoint the exact reasons why they were underperforming.

The conclusion, in short, was that England weren't as good as they thought they were. They weren't training as hard as they should be; they weren't living the lifestyles they should be. And only by acknowledging their short-comings could they understand where they needed to change and improve. Diagnosis is the very step towards recovery.

Might England be in a similar place now? Yes, we know some of this team have excellent records in white-ball cricket. And yes, we know some of them are hugely talented. But it increasingly seems several of them are living on the promise of what they might achieve rather than what they have. Eventually, such promises must be kept.

Also Read: Root wants to carry on as captan despite Ashes defeat

There is a danger, perhaps, that England may focus on positive moments in this series - their admirable resilience under pressure; their stubborn refusal to accept they are beaten; the glimpse of victory offered at Lord's and the miracle of Leeds - and allow it to obscure their weaknesses. But if they're really honest with themselves, they will admit that their batting unit - a unit that has lost 10 wickets within a single session four times in three years - has been painfully fragile for several years and that their faults this series were, for a while at least, simply obscured by Ben Stokes' brilliance at Headingley.

Certainly that seemed to be a theme of Joe Root's post-match media conference. It focused a little too much on the positives - and yes, his side is engagingly hard to kill off - without acknowledging that good sides don't get themselves into the position where they have their backs against the wall this often. It was hard to avoid the impression that Root is increasingly in denial about the holes within his England side. Only one man in the team averages as much as 36. They're not as good as they think they are.

Now, it may be that there is no combination that England could have selected which would have won this series. Australia have been, by some distance, the better side. Steve Smith has been exceptional and Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins not far behind. Without the Stokes-inspired miracle of Leeds, the scoreline in this series might be 3-0 already.

But England's selection requires attention. For asking players to fulfil at Test level roles they do not fulfil at county level is irresponsible and foolish. The failure of Jason Roy, a man who has never batted for two sessions in his entire first-class career, as opener was not just predictable but raises questions about the judgement of the selection panel. His technique - his hands pushing in front of his pad offering the hope of an edge to the slips and a gate onto the stumps - was apparent long before it was exposed so brutally by this Australian attack. It's both weird and worrying that the selectors couldn't see it.

And it's not as if Roy is a one-off. Ollie Pope, who had never come in before the 20th over of a first-class game and batted No. 6 for Surrey, was asked to come in at No. 4 - and in the first 10 overs of the innings - when he represented England last year. Joe Denly, who gave up opening years ago, has been asked to take up the role once more at the higher level.

Remember Sam Curran being preferred to Stuart Broad in Barbados? Dom Bess being preferred to Moeen Ali last year? The grim refusal to accept that Keaton Jennings wasn't up to it or that Denly wasn't the spin-bowling all-rounder England required ahead of the World Cup? Increasingly, the judgement of Ed Smith is looking suspect.

And then there's the captain. Root now averages 40.87 as captain of this side, compared to 52.80 when not captain. All of which provides compelling evidence that the leadership is compromising his ability to perform his primary role in the side: run scorer. At the same time, England have won 16 and lost 13 of his matches at the helm. Having inherited a side that seemed to have the potential to build into something special, he has instead presided over what increasingly looks like its disintegration. Moeen Ali has already gone, Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler may not be far behind. There's not much evidence to suggest he has the tactical or rhetorical skills to lift this side.

Most of all, England should acknowledge that this disappointment was the result of choices made long ago. When Andrew Strauss was appointed as director of cricket, he made a clear decision to prioritise white-ball cricket. The coach was chosen with that in mind, the domestic schedule was changed with that in mind and players were selected with that in mind. The entire landscape and language of English cricket was altered and, without it, England would not have won the World Cup.

But there were also negative consequences. And they have been increasingly apparent in this series. If England do still value Test cricket, there has to be some recalibration of the balance between the formats. The white-ball window that dominates the 2020 season schedule suggests the ECB's talk is not matched by their actions. While they have that window, they have a problem.

Too many players in this England side are doing just enough to retain their places but nowhere near enough to shape games. Take Bairstow, who is averaging 20.57 this year (and 26.38 since January 1, 2018), Denly, who averages 24.92 after seven Tests and could have been caught at deep mid-wicket - yes, deep mid-wicket - as he batted for a draw on Sunday, and Buttler, who has now played 35 Tests and scored only one century. None of them are improving in this England set-up. None of them are doing enough to shape games for their side.

Indeed, it may be Buttler who most exemplifies this team. Yes, he's talented. Yes, he can hit a white ball as well as anyone in the world. But he goes into the final Test of this series as a specialist batsman coming in at No. 7 and averaging just 16.25. Various other players - the likes of Pope, Moeen, Bairstow and Stokes - have been moved to accommodate him. But the return on the investment is modest and the reputation, in Test cricket at least, is bigger than the achievement.

His returns shouldn't surprise us. He averages just 32.12 in first-class cricket. He's made only five first-class centuries in his entire career of 99 games. But his raw talent - his ability to hit balls to the boundary, really - has seduced the selectors into thinking he's something he's not and concluding that he can turn those figures around at the higher level. It's poor logic. He's been living off promise for years.

That's, basically, the story of this England side. It's full of batsmen with big reputations and small averages. Batsmen who can impress for an hour or two but lack the old-school skills required to build match-defining innings. And bowlers who, while honest, were put in the shade by the sustained excellence of Cummins and Hazlewood. Yes, England did wonderfully well to win the World Cup. But in Test cricket, at least, they're not as good as they think they are. They need an honest appraisal of where they are - much like Jamaica in 2009 - if they are to move forward.

Guyana Amazon Warriors 180 for 4 (Hemraj 63, Pooran 61*, Rutherford 32*, Primus 2-35) beat Barbados Tridents 133 (Nurse 40, Shepherd 4-13, Shadab 2-39) by 47 runs

Guyana Amazon Warriors kept pace with Trinbago Knight Riders on the opening weekend of CPL 2019, as a fiery half-century from Nicholas Pooran helped them score 72 off the final four overs at Providence, putting a total on the board in the process that was well out of reach of Barbados Tridents. It gave them a 47-run win, which meant that Amazon Warriors ended their initial home slate with three wins from three to equal the Knight Riders on six points, while the rest of the teams remained winless.

Pooran struck 61 off 30 balls with five sixes to light up the ground. Romario Shepherd then lit up the stumps in the chase, sitting on a hat-trick at one stage in the process of taking 4 for 13 in just 2.4 overs, as Tridents were bowled out for 133 in just 16.4 overs.

A rough night for Nurse

Ashley Nurse had a rough night. Having to go solo after his legspinning wingman Sandeep Lamichhane left the field after one over due to a bad reaction from a tropical cream, Nurse went wicketless for 38 runs in his four overs. But worse, he spilled Chandrapaul Hemraj on a fairly straightforward chance off a full toss spliced to extra cover on 37. It allowed the opener to sustain momentum after a pair of early setbacks.

Jason Holder had bounced out Brandon King in the second over while Shimron Hetmyer's sliced drive was intercepted by a brilliant effort diving left at backward point by USA's Hayden Walsh Jr., on as a sub for Lamichhane. Shoaib Malik was the third batsman to fall for a single-digit score when he edged Roshon Primus behind attempting to run a single to third man, and the tenth over ended on 63 for 3.

But the home side scored 117 off their last ten overs, aided in part by the platform laid by Hemraj. Nurse atoned for his error in the 16th, running back from point to claim a skier off of Raymon Reifer's bowling, but Hemraj had made 63 by that stage, and done a solid job laying the platform for Pooran and Sherfane Rutherford to launch from.

Pooran turns it on

The wicketkeeper-batsman put on a sensational hitting display in the waning overs. Rutherford had provided an appetiser with four sixes muscled over the leg side and long-off in a stretch from the 17th through the first ball of the 19th. But Pooran came on strike and provided fans with the main course to lap up when he creamed five sixes off the last eight balls of the innings. He started with a pair of flicks over long-on before working his away around to long-off and finally cover. Almost every ball was pitched on off stump, but his clever use of the crease allowed him to spray the ball at will over different parts of the boundary. The pair left the Tridents shell-shocked heading into the innings break.

Striking gold

Hemraj's night wasn't done after his first-innings half-century. He began the chase wiping out prized CPL recruit Alex Hales for a golden duck with a delivery that kept low and Tridents failed to get the wheels going after that. Shoaib continued to cycle through his spinners for the first eight overs as more breakthroughs followed.

Shadab Khan struck twice - Johnson Charles caught at deep midwicket and debutant Leniko Boucher at mid-off - before Jonathan Carter dragged Shoaib on defending away from his body. Holder then committed a blunder with a slow response to a drive over cover by JP Duminy, allowing Keemo Paul's relay to Chris Green to catch him short. Duminy soon dragged on to Paul as well, leaving the score 75 for 6 at the strategic time-out.

Shepherd then wiped out the tail in quick time. Nurse's aggressive counter-attack ended when he was brilliantly caught down the leg side by Pooran, who anticipated an attempted scoop to pull off a fantastic diving catch to his left. Reifer lost track of his stumps shuffling across and was bowled behind his legs first-ball to put Shepherd on a hat-trick. He ended the match in his next over. Primus flat-batted a slog to long-on before Lamichhane was yorked to send everyone home early.

GLENDALE, Ariz. - Kyler Murray did Kyler Murray-like things in the fourth quarter of his NFL debut Sunday against the Detroit Lions.

And it led to a dramatic 27-27 tie.

Murray led the Cardinals back from an 18-point deficit to tie the game with 43 seconds left in the fourth quarter to force overtime. Once in the extra period, Murray led the Cardinals quickly down the field but the offense stalled at the 10, settling for a field goal. Detroit matched the kick, setting Murray up for a potential game-winning, which did not develop.

Murray, who finished with 308 yards, two touchdowns and an interception on 29-for-54 passing, orchestrated the comeback with a dazzling fourth quarter that included his first two NFL touchdown passes, a display of his renowned accuracy, impressive footwork and a command of coach Kliff Kingsbury's much-anticipated offense.

He was much less effective through the opening three quarters, throwing for 100 yards and an interception on 9-for-25 passing.

Then Murray turned it on. He went 15-for-19 passing for 154 yards and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, leading the Cardinals back from a 24-6 deficit.

He hit running back David Johnson for a 27̄-yard touchdown pass with 6:04 left in regulation to bring Arizona within 24-16. On the game-tying drive late in the fourth quarter, Murray hit wide receiver KeeSean Johnson on a nearly side-armed throw. On the next play, Murray ran out of the bounds, gaining nine yards, but showcasing the extent of his quick and nimble his footwork.

Murray relied on both Larry Fitzgerald and David Johnson heavily late in Sunday's game.

Johnson had 58 all-purpose yards in the fourth quarter, including 40 receiving, while Fitzgerald had five catches for 59 yards, including the game-tying touchdown catch on a rollout by Murray. The Cardinals all but replicated the play on the two-point conversion to Christian Kirk that tied the game at 24.

But for the first three-and-a-half quarters, Murray was unable to lead the Cardinals into the end zone.

He got close a few times.

With 1:19 left in the second quarter, the Cardinals had possession at the Lions 2, but Murray couldn't turn the corner on a run right and then threw an incompletion to force the Cardinals to settle for a field goal, their first points of the game. At that point, they trailed 17-3.

Murray also led the Cardinals to the Lions 24 and 16 in consecutive drives at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth quarters, but both resulted in a field goal.

Murray said earlier in the week that he had heard regular-season football was different than the preseason. He figured it out quickly. He had four passes batted down, including one late in overtime, and was sacked three times in the first half and five overall.

He tried to use his mobility to escape pressure but wasn't able to evade defenders for long. He was sacked in the second quarter on a second-and-seven play after outrunning two Lions. But he couldn't avoid the third, Lions linebacker Devon Kennard, who got the sack.

They went three-and-out four times in the first half and five times overall, gaining just 58 yards in the first half.

The offense showed much of what was expected: three, four and five receiver sets; no-huddle; tempo; designed runs for Murray. But early in the game, none of it was effective.

Murray was 1-for-6 on throws more than 10 yards downfield for 12 yards with an interception, according to ESPN Stats & Information. He had two drop backs against the blitz in the first two quarters. He was sacked on one and intercepted on the other. And when the Cardinals went with an empty set, meaning no running back on the field, Murray was 0-for-6 without a sack.

It got to a point where fans inside State Farm Stadium began booing each subsequent three-and-out.

NEW YORK -- Rafael Nadal's 19th Grand Slam trophy went from inevitable to suddenly in doubt in a thrill-a-minute US Open final.

What had all the makings of a crowning morphed into a real contest Sunday thanks to Nadal's opponent, Daniil Medvedev, a man a decade younger and appearing in his first major title match. Down by two sets and a break, Medvedev shifted styles, upped his level against a rattled Nadal -- and even received an unexpected boost from Arthur Ashe Stadium spectators.

Truly tested for the only time in the tournament, the No. 2-seeded Nadal managed to stop Medvedev's surge and hold off his historic comeback bid, pulling out a 7-5, 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4 victory in 4 hours, 50 minutes of highlight-worthy action and Broadway-worthy drama to collect his fourth championship at Flushing Meadows.

"An amazing final. Seems that I had, more or less, the match under control," said Nadal, who covered his face with his hands while crying when arena video boards showed clips from each of his Slam triumphs. "One of the most emotional nights of my tennis career."

Now at 19 majors -- a total Medvedev called "outrageous" -- Nadal is merely one away from rival Roger Federer's record for a man.

But this one did not come easily. Not at all.

Sure seemed it might, with Nadal ahead by two sets and a break in the third at 3-2.

At that moment, the No. 5-seeded Medvedev would joke afterward, he figured the match was about 20 minutes from ending, and so this is where his thoughts were: "OK, what do I say in the speech?"

But the 23-year-old from Russia did not go gently into the night. He broke right back to 3-all, then again to claim that set and yet again to end the fourth.

"The nerves were so high," Nadal said. "A crazy match."

Not since 1949 had a man won the US Open final after trailing by two sets to none. Never before had Medvedev won a five-set match. Only once before had Nadal lost a Grand Slam match after taking the opening two sets.

And yet the tension was real.

Even at the very end -- or what appeared to be the very end -- Nadal couldn't close it out. After breaking to lead 3-2 in the fifth, in a game Medvedev led 40-love before flubbing an easy forehand, Nadal broke again and served for the championship at 5-2.

The way this back-and-forth tale was spun, though, it probably was inevitable that Medvedev would break there. And so he did, because Nadal double-faulted on break point after he was docked a serve for his third time violation of the evening, which elicited loud boos from the stands.

In the next game, Nadal held a pair of match points, but Medvedev, of course, avoided defeat yet another time, erasing one of those with a backhand winner, the other with a service winner, earning a standing ovation.

With Nadal's backers screaming, "Close it out!" at the ensuing changeover, he once more stepped to the baseline to try to serve it out, this time at 5-4. Naturally, he was forced to deal with another heart-in-throat break point, but came up with a stinging forehand that drew a long forehand from Medvedev.

Two points later, it was over, and Nadal was splayed on his back on the court, the victor at Flushing Meadows for the fourth time.

Add the Spaniard's haul in New York to his 12 titles at the French Open, two at Wimbledon and one at the Australian Open, and the 20-19 gap between Federer and Nadal is the closest it's been in 15 years. Federer led 1-0 after his breakthrough triumph at the All England Club in 2004, and he had four by the time Nadal got his first at Roland Garros in 2005.

Federer, who lost in the quarterfinals at the US Open, is 38, while Nadal is 33 -- making him the oldest male champion at Flushing Meadows since 1970. He's also the first man to win five majors after turning 30.

Nadal says he wants to finish his career at No. 1 in the Grand Slam standings -- ahead of Federer and Novak Djokovic, in third place currently with 16 -- but also insists he won't base his happiness on how it all shakes out in the end.

This particular match ended the way he wanted it to. The journey just took more detours than anyone could have anticipated.

When Medvedev sensed the loss approaching, he turned into a trickier foe. He alternated serve-and-volley surprises with a penchant for outhitting Nadal at the baseline. For a stretch, it felt as if Medvedev simply could not miss, and he finished with a 75-62 edge in winners

It was the kind of ballstriking Medvedev showed while going 20-2 during the North American hard-court circuit, reaching four finals in a row. But he also switched tactics, winning 22 of 29 serve-and-volley points.

"The way that he was able to fight, to change the rhythm of the match, was just incredible," Nadal said.

The Flushing Meadows fans who jeered Medvedev in Week 1 because of his on-court behavior -- he trolled his detractors by sarcastically thanking them and telling him their vitriol was why he won -- were pulling for him.

Or, as he noted during the trophy ceremony, pulling for more bang for the bucks they spent on tickets.

They certainly got that.