Max Verstappen won in Monza and Denny Hamlin won at World Wide Technology Raceway (WWTR) in an F1 and NASCAR double header.
Verstappen shocked the Formula 1 community when he started on pole ahead of McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri who have been dominant all season in qualifying.
Before the race started, Nico Hulkenberg came to pit lane and retired his car for the day after the team found a hydraulic issue on the formation lap.
At the start of the race, Verstappen kept first place illegally when he cut the corner into turn one. He then had to give the place to Norris on lap two. Verstappen stayed close to Norris throughout the following two laps and on lap four, he overtook Norris for the lead.
On lap seven, Lewis Hamilton overtook Gabriel Bortoleto for sixth place as he made a miniature comeback after starting tenth on the grid. Hamilton’s starting position was due to a five- place grid penalty he received in Zandvoort the week prior.
On lap 28, Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson came together after fighting for seventeenth place, causing both drivers to miss the corner.
Verstappen pitted from the lead on lap 38 for hard compound tires, giving the lead to Norris for the time being.
On lap 41, Carlos Sainz and Oliver Bearman made contact causing both drivers to spin. Bearman received a 10 second penalty and two penalty points for his collision with Sainz. He is now two penalty points away from a race ban.
On lap 46, Piastri’s quick pit stop allowed him to get ahead of Norris, whose stop took twice as long.
McLaren then issued team orders immediately after the bad pit stop and Piastri switched places with Norris.
After the 53 laps, Verstappen won the Italian Grand Prix with Norris in second and Piastri finishing out the podium. Verstappen led 42 laps while Norris led 11.
At the NASCAR Cup Series race at WWTR, Hamlin started on pole with Kyle Larson, Chase Briscoe and Ross Chastain not far behind.
Hamlin led the first seven laps, but Larson took over on lap eight. Larson led until lap 29 when Hamlin retook the lead following a caution by Kyle Busch.
On lap 36, a second caution came out when Josh Berry spun and hit the wall, wrecking his car and ending his day on track.
After 45 laps, Briscoe won stage one followed by Larson and Hamlin.
Lap 61 had another caution come out for Ty Dillon after he got spun out by his brother Austin Dillon. Ty Dillon had damage to the rear of his car.
On lap 135, Larson got into the left rear of Ryan Blaney, causing Blaney to spin and bring out another caution.
Stage two was won by Bubba Wallace on lap 140 followed by Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.
On lap 209, Ty Gibbs got into the wall in turn two, bringing out a caution. The caution brought out a mixture of strategies for the end of the race with Larson, Wallace and others coming to pit lane for fresh tires and fuel.
On lap 217, Hamlin regained the lead from Keselowski and on lap 226, Hamlin led Briscoe by 1.4 seconds.
By lap 236, with five laps to go, Hamlin led Briscoe by 1.9 seconds and held onto that lead for the rest of the race.
On lap 240, Hamlin crossed the checkered flag, securing himself a spot in the round of 12 of the NASCAR Playoffs alongside teammate and second place finisher Briscoe with one race to go in the round of 16.