The list of problems for drivers in The Chase presented by Mobil 1 on Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was long, but that wasn’t the case for Chase Briscoe, who swept the stages en route to winning the South Point 400 and scoring 75 points on the day. It was Briscoe’s second win of the 2026 season, with both coming on 1.5-mile tracks, and with one more 1.5-mile track left in this all-important three-race stretch.
Here’s where we stand in The Chase after the NASCAR Cup Series left Las Vegas last night and before Sunday’s Bank of America 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
RELATED: Las Vegas results | Cup Series standings
Chase Changer
Even on what started out as a bad day, Kyle Larson had a good day, and that’s bad news for the rest of The Chase competitors. Larson rebounded from a 26-second pit stop in Stage 1 at Las Vegas and overcame an ill-handling car at times to finish second despite tangling with Tyler Reddick on the final lap and needing his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet to be towed away from the race track. In other words, the door seemed to be open for someone to close the gap in the standings, but Larson just wouldn’t let it happen.
Now the field is left hoping just to hold serve against Larson at Charlotte, the final 1.5-mile track in this three-race stretch, before better opportunities to gain ground at Phoenix, Talladega and Martinsville come along. What his Las Vegas performance showed was that Larson can be a legitimate threat to win a race even when his equipment and setup might not be optimal. And that’s just the sign of a great driver, which we all knew Larson was, but sometimes need a reminder of from time to time to know just how great.
When Chase Briscoe’s crew chief James Small was asked after the Las Vegas win what his driver needs to do to catch Larson, he said it was simple, win more races. Except as Small and everyone else in NASCAR knows, it’s not that simple. And that’s especially true when you’re chasing someone as versatile, as resilient, and as seemingly unshakable as Larson.
The Chase Board
Denny Hamlin just keeps losing ground to Larson, and those who witnessed Hamlin’s dominance throughout the season are wondering when he’s finally going to take a stand. After a 16th-place finish at Las Vegas, Hamlin lost another 14 points to Larson and the gap is now 40 points heading to Charlotte. That margin is getting dangerously close to being unreachable in one race, so the time is now for Denny to do something. Hamlin has one win in 35 races at Charlotte, but it came in the Next Gen car in the 2022 Coca-Cola 600. He also had top-five finishes at Charlotte in 2024 and earlier this season. The last time the Bank of America 400 was on the oval track (2017), Hamlin finished fourth.
Christopher Bell was headed for a good day at Las Vegas until power-steering issues relegated him to a 23rd-place finish. Before that, Bell was running up front, finishing second in Stage 1 and third in Stage 2. It was those 17 stage points that kept him afloat on a 31-point day at Las Vegas, but he still dropped five points to Larson in the standings and is 55 points behind heading to Charlotte. On the bright side, Bell has been great in the Next Gen car at Charlotte, with a win and three other top 10s in five appearances. So he might not be done yet.
Austin Cindric led another banner day for Team Penske with a fourth-place finish at Las Vegas, this following a second-place run at Kansas. Ryan Blaney (fifth place) and Joey Logano (10th) joined Cindric in the top 10 as Team Penske has found something for the 1.5-mile tracks. Cindric gained 12 points on Larson but still sits 128 points back and likely out of contention. Blaney gained 11 points to pull to within 80 points back while Logano lost four points to drop 71 points back. But if Blaney and Logano can gain ground at Charlotte, then they will be in good shape heading to favorable tracks in Phoenix and Talladega for the organization.
| Rank | Driver | Points Behind | Gain/Loss to Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kyle Larson | -- | Gained 14 |
| 2 | Denny Hamlin | -40 | Lost 14 |
| 3 | Christopher Bell | -55 | Lost 5 |
| 4 | Joey Logano | -71 | Lost 4 |
| 5 | Ryan Blaney | -80 | Gained 11 |
| 6 | Chase Briscoe | -84 | Gained 39 |
| 7 | Tyler Reddick | -106 | Gained 5 |
| 8 | Ty Gibbs | -110 | Lost 16 |
| 9 | Austin Cindric | -128 | Gained 12 |
| 10 | Bubba Wallace | -137 | Gained 3 |
| 11 | Carson Hocevar | -158 | Lost 8 |
| 12 | William Byron | -160 | Lost 2 |
| 13 | Chase Elliott | -163 | Lost 2 |
| 14 | Daniel Suárez | -195 | Lost 8 |
| 15 | Chris Buescher | -196 | Lost 10 |
| 16 | Ryan Preece | -200 | Lost 27 |
Source: Racing Insights
Next Up
Charlotte Motor Speedway ends a stretch of three straight 1.5-mile tracks, and we’ve already talked about how some of the main competitors have done there in the past. This is the first time the oval will be in play for the fall race since 2017, so in a sense, everyone is coming in not knowing completely what to expect. Hopefully, the teams can get practice and qualifying in on Saturday to hone in on their setups for what will be another pivotal race in The Chase.
As one might expect, Hamlin is the top laps leader at Charlotte with 543, but he’s also the one with the most races there (35) by far. William Byron is next with 485 laps led (in just 10 races), followed by Larson with 447, Chase Elliott with 342 and Logano with 340. The mantle of most wins among active drivers belongs to non-Chase driver Brad Keselowski with two. After that, seven Chase drivers have one win at the track, including Elliott, Logano, Larson, Hamlin, Suárez, Blaney and Bell.
In average finish, it’s Tyler Reddick at the top at 9.5 (in eight races), Bell at 11.8 (in eight races), followed by Hamlin (11.8), Logano (13.1) and Byron (13.2). Expect The Chase contenders to be running up front and for all of them to have their eyes on Larson. And like Las Vegas, how teams react to the unexpected could be a big factor, as well as how many unforced errors they can avoid themselves.