Advance to Victory Lane: Hendrick Motorsports can apply more pressure on the rest of field at Las Vegas

Editor's note: Projections updated after Saturday's practice and qualifying. The playoff field shrunk to eight drivers after the Charlotte Roval, with three Hendrick Motorsports drivers still in title contention. The next two events take place on 1.5-mile tracks, allowing the organization -- that excels on intermediates -- to solidify more than one driver into the Championship 4. Sin City has become Hendrick's second home, as the organization has won the last three races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with its drivers sweeping both stages in each of those victories. Sunday's South Point 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) is an opportunity for the organization to become the first to win four straight there and Racing Insights believes it has two drivers who can get to Victory Lane yet again. RELATED: Set your Fantasy Live lineup | Weekend schedule Kyle Larson and William Byron are projected to finish in the top five (updated after Saturday's sessions), and both have looked primed throughout the playoffs to make title bids for a second straight year. Larson enters as the defending race winner and the only driver in the Cup field with multiple wins on 1.5-mile tracks this season (Las Vegas and Kansas in the spring). The No. 5 driver has had unfortunate luck in the two round-opening races this year (wreck at Atlanta; blown tire at Kansas). Still, with Vegas being one of his bread-and-butter tracks, there's a good chance he will further assert his dominance as championship frontrunner. Since joining Hendrick, Larson has led 602 laps at Las Vegas with 404 of those laps being in a Next Gen car. In his last 13 starts at Vegas, Larson has 11 top-10 finishes, including five in the top two in the previous seven. As for Byron, he won at Las Vegas in last year's spring race and boasts the second-best average finish (7.2) and 200 laps led in the Next Gen era at the track. The No. 24 driver also escaped the Round of 12 with the best average finish among playoff drivers at 2.67. Plus, Byron has scored a series-best 190 points on intermediates so far this year. Four times the driver that has won the Round of 8 opener has gone on to win the championship, proving Sunday's race is crucial for the remaining eight drivers. A win in the desert oasis gives a team two weeks over the competition to prepare for the season finale at Phoenix Raceway, bettering their chance of being crowned champion. DRIVERS TO WATCH DENNY HAMLIN: Hamlin will be making a ninth Round of 8 appearance -- tied for most with Joey Logano. He owns a single Vegas win and finished eighth there in the spring, and with wild-card tracks in the rearview, look for the No. 11 team to be challenging for a win as it has scored 189 points on intermediates this year. CHRISTOPHER BELL: Bell was breathing down Larson's neck in the closing laps during this race last year. He also now leads all drivers in points scored in the playoffs with 211 after Alex Bowman's Roval DQ. Bell has found a well-balanced blend of speed and consistency this year as he scored 20 top 10s this year. RYAN BLANEY: Blaney will have to start from the rear after a practice wreck and going to a backup car. As a result, he dropped from seventh to 15th in our projections. Before the practice wreck, things were trending in the positive direction for him. He finished sixth in this race last fall and came back to Vegas in the spring this year to finish third. JOEY LOGANO: The even-year enigma lives on as Logano can still make it to the Championship 4 for a sixth time. The best way to do it? Win. Both times Logano won the championship he won the opening Round of 8 race, including this race two years ago. MARTIN TRUEX JR.: Only a handful of races remain for Truex to find Victory Lane before ending his full-time career. He's a two-time Vegas winner and has posted top 10s in the last eight races at the LVMS. A spoiler isn't out of the question and he's one of the best bets to play as one. RACING INSIGHTS’ PROJECTIONS FOR THE SOUTH POINT 400 Racing Insights’ advanced statistical formula includes current track, current track type, recent performance, team data and pit-crew data to arrive at a projected winner and full race results.  [table id=270 /]