Today's NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Aug. 4, #315

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Today's Connections: Sports Edition is a bit tricky. Hope you know your car-race details! Read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That's a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn't show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic's own app. Or you can continue to play it free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Here are four hints for the groupings in today's Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: H-town.

Green group hint: Grab your bat.

Blue group hint: Young signal-callers.

Purple group hint: Racing supporters.

Yellow group: Houston teams.

Green group: Hitting statistics.

Blue group: NFL rookie QBs.

Purple group: NASCAR Cup Series sponsors, over time.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

The theme is Houston teams. The four answers are Astros, Dash, Dynamo and Texans.

The theme is hitting statistics. The four answers are average, home run, RBI and run.

The theme is NFL rookie QBs. The four answers are Dart, Sanders, Shough and Ward.

The theme is NASCAR Cup Series sponsors, over time. The four answers are Monster Energy, Nextel, Sprint and Winston.