A twist of fate has touched Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin over the past two weekends, and it has resulted in a shakeup at the top of the NASCAR Cup Series standings.

Over that span, Reddick has been transformed from points leader to runner-up to Hamlin with more drama expected on Sunday night (7 p.m. ET, TNT) for the Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Ga.

At the Sonoma road race to close out June, power steering issues plagued Reddick and the 23XI Racing team, putting him six laps down and leading to a 36th-place finish.

Hamlin was involved in a spin with Carson Hocevar but finished 26th at Sonoma, good enough for a one-point lead over Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota that Hamlin co-owns with Michael Jordan.

Reddick’s misfortune continued on Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway, coming in stark contrast to his success early in the season when he won the first three races and five of the first nine.

Instead of power steering, debris ruined Reddick’s day last weekend. A splitter stay off Zane Smith’s No. 38 Ford ripped through Reddick’s radiator and put a hole in the oil cooler, sending fluid onto the track during Lap 131.

Reddick went 30 laps down this time and ended up in 36th place to trail Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota by 44 points.

Reddick led by 129 points after Watkins Glen two months ago and appeared in complete control as teams raced toward the regular-season’s conclusion at Daytona on Aug. 29. But a massive 173-point swing has changed all that.

“I guess the year is balancing itself back out, but we’ve got all the right things that we need to succeed,” said Reddick, who won at EchoPark the week after his Daytona 500 triumph in February. “We’ve just got to survive some of these races, I guess.”

Second to Reddick with four victories, Hamlin said on his podcast this week that it is important for him to win one more over the next seven races after going winless in three straight.

“I just want to win,” he said. “That’s 10 races. That’s a dry spell.”

Chase Elliott started 15th in this race last season and beat Brad Keselowski by 0.168 seconds, with Reddick running fourth and Hamlin in 31st after crashing.

Like Chicagoland, EchoPark is listed as another intermediate track but is unique in that drafting has become a major factor on the 1.54-mile layout. It has quickly emerged as a fan favorite because of the tight racing and even tighter finishes.

EchoPark’s racing lends reminders of superspeedways like Daytona or Talladega, while the exciting finishes could be straight out of a touring short-track series around the country on a hot Saturday night.

The flip-flop at the top of the standings will reveal its next chapter in a setting just as dramatic.

–Field Level Media

Michigan named Mike Boynton Jr. as its new head coach on Friday.

Boynton, 44, agreed to a two-year contract with the Wolverines. He was named interim coach by athletic director Warde Manuel on June 23 after Dusty May accepted the head coaching role with the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks.

“I’m grateful to Warde for his confidence and thankful for the opportunity to lead this program,” Boynton said in a statement. “We have built a championship culture and a standard that everyone associated with this program takes great pride in. We have an outstanding group of players, and I’m excited to get to work and continue the success we’ve established together.”

Boynton spent seven seasons as the head coach at Oklahoma State before spending the last two as an assistant at Michigan. He helped guide the Wolverines to a school-record 37 wins and a national championship last season.

“Mike is a veteran assistant with strong head coaching experience and a clear understanding of the standard we expect at Michigan,” Manuel said in a statement. “Over the past two seasons, he has been an invaluable member of our staff, bringing stability, leadership and perspective during an important period of success. Our players and staff believe in his vision, are committed to his leadership and are excited for the opportunity to pursue great success together this season.”

Boynton left Stillwater with a 119-109 record that included 20-win seasons in 2017-18, 2020-21 and 2022-23.

The Cowboys made the 2021 NCAA Tournament as a No. 4 seed before losing in the second round. They played in the NIT in 2018 and 2023.

At Michigan, Boynton burnished his reputation as a top player-development coach by mentoring three of the top 12 picks in the 2026 NBA Draft: Morez Johnson Jr., Yaxel Lendeborg and Aday Mara.

–Field Level Media

The get-in ticket price for UFC 329 has soared above $1,000 and UFC president Dana White is projecting a UFC record gate for Saturday night’s card in Las Vegas featuring Conor McGregor’s return against Max Holloway.

McGregor (22-6 MMA) will return to the Octagon for the first time in more than five years to face Holloway (27-9 MMA) in a five-round welterweight main event at T-Mobile Arena. The get-in price had increased 14% over the past three days to $1,038 as of 1:30 p.m. ET on Friday, according to ticket-tracking service TicketData.com.

The price peaked at $2,377 back on May 17 but fell as low as $887 on Monday night. Perhaps related, that was about an hour before the United States men’s national team kicked off in a World Cup knockout match against Belgium. Had the USMNT won, they would have played Spain in a quarterfinal game in Los Angeles on Friday.

Since the U.S. was eliminated from the World Cup, the get-in ticket price for UFC 329 steadily rose throughout the week and surpassed $1,000 early Friday morning.

McGregor is returning to the Octagon for the first time since suffering a broken left tibia and fibula in a fight against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021. White said Saturday night’s event, which closes out International Fight Week, will produce the biggest gate in UFC history at $25 million.

The current record is $21.8 million for UFC 306 at the Sphere in Las Vegas.

McGregor, 37, was originally scheduled to return against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 in June 2024 to conclude their Ultimate Fighter 31 rivalry after the show aired in 2023. However, a McGregor toe injury forced a postponement, and the match was never rescheduled. He now returns to the welterweight division for the first time in six years.

The Irishman scored a unanimous decision victory over Holloway in August 2013 at a UFC Fight Night event in Boston in McGregor’s second UFC appearance.

Meanwhile, the 34-year-old Holloway is making his official welterweight debut after a historic run at 145 and 155 pounds over the last decade-plus. He is coming off the loss of his “BMF” title to former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira at UFC 326 in March.

–Field Level Media