Meanwhile ...

Time now to check in with motorsports, because the Blob is a motorsports zone, dammit, and, yes, there is still stuff going on in motorsports, even if you didn't know because of football and, you know, football.

("Wait, what about the World Series?" you're saying. The Blob's response: "What about it?")

Anyway, a couple of things happened in motorsports yesterday, and I know this because both were actually on TV, which is kind of amazing when you think about it. Those things were, in order:

1. Kimi Raikonnen won the U.S. Grand Prix down in Texas. It was his first Formula One win in five years and a record 100-something starts. Also, Lewis Hamilton almost finished second, which would have clinched his fifth F1 title, except it wouldn't have because Sebastian Vettel passed Valtteri Bottas for third on, like, the last lap, keeping him in the hunt. So now Hamilton will have to clinch in Mexico.

2. Chase Elliott won the NASCAR race in Kansas. It was the second win in three races for Bill Elliott's kid, which sends him on to the next round of the playoffs, which is good for NASCAR because Chase Elliott is an extremely marketable young man. He's smart, he's personable and he's all kinds of photogenic. NASCAR needs that, because the current generation of stars is aging and the sport needs new stars to sell.

Case in point: The eight drivers left in the playoffs. They include a few of the usual suspects -- Kevin Harvick, both Busches, Clint Bowyer and Martin Truex Jr., the defending champion. But Elliott's in there, and Aric Almirola, and Ryan Blaney, another second-generation rising star, just missed getting into the final eight.

Among the missing, meanwhile, are Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman. Johnson and Newman, in particular, have been eliminated for awhile.

The future is coming, in other words. And if it looks like Chase Elliott, it's in good hands.