LAS VEGAS — Toyota has reigned supreme at intermediate race tracks in recent seasons and that continued in Busch Light Pole Qualifying for Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The automaker swept the top five positions, led by Denny Hamlin.
That history of Toyota dominance made Kyle Larson’s performance in Chase race No. 4 all the more impressive at Kansas Speedway last weekend.
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Not far behind – .565 seconds to be exact – was Austin Cindric, scoring Team Penske’s best finish at a 1.5-mile track in 2026. The No. 2 Ford was planted inside the top five for the duration of the race, finishing the race with a 3.39 average running position, Cindric’s best in 181 career Cup Series starts.
The performance was notable, but Cindric applied lessons from the previous intermediate race at Chicagoland Speedway, nearly three months earlier. A 50-minute practice session in the Windy City allowed Cindric’s crew chief Brian Wilson to make some swings.
“Last week in Kansas, it was great to see that [progress] continued,” Wilson, crew chief of the No. 2 car told NASCAR.com, with teammate Ryan Blaney also banking a top five. “What do you take from Kansas and apply to Vegas? There’s like three or four things that we’ve done since the last time that we raced here in Vegas that we think adds some potential to the car.”
Sin City presents an entirely different challenge for Sunday’s South Point 400 (5:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Not only is the ambient temperature nearly 30 degrees warmer this weekend than Kansas, but the bumps over the tunnel through Turns 1 and 2 can unsettle a car, while the opposite end of the track is considerably smoother. Still, despite the stark differences between Las Vegas and the Midwest track, Wilson believes that strength could translate to another strong showing for the No. 2 team this weekend as the powerhouse organization continues to hone in on bettering its 1.5-mile program.
“Where we started the year is not where anyone in the group wanted to be,” Wilson admitted of Penske’s intermediate effort. “So, everyone’s been working really hard to close the gap. I think these next [two] weeks are really going to tell the tale. It was great to see that we were closer.
“I don’t know that we’re necessarily where we want to be, but I do feel like the last week was any indication we’ve closed the gap.”
One notable difference between Chicagoland and Kansas was the addition of struts to the front splitter, a change competition officials implemented ahead of the mid-July race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Coupled with Joe Gibbs Racing’s four entries combining to lead just 25 laps, it was enough to raise questions about whether the adjustment had altered the competitive landscape.
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Chris Gayle, crew chief for Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota, says to hold the phone. While acknowledging that Larson’s No. 5 team put together a flawless race and executed at every turn at Kansas, Gayle isn’t willing to declare that Toyota has taken a step back at intermediates based on such a small sample size. Hamlin, after all, brings an eight-race top-five streak at 1.5-mile tracks into Las Vegas, tied for the seventh-longest such streak in Cup Series history.
“That same rule was applied for Darlington. I think it’s implied that it has been because last week the storyline was the Toyotas aren’t quite as strong as they’ve been,” a fiery Gayle said, “and that’s the first intermediate we’ve been to since Indy.
“I feel like it’s, you go to all these short tracks and things where the industry goes, ‘These are not as important aero tracks.’ And then the first time we go back to what we deem an aero track — even though we kind of excluded Darlington from that judgment — I think you need a bigger sample size than one to say that. We do understand how it affected us, but we never understand how it affects others. And it would be naïve of us to assume it doesn’t affect others, too.”
With the No. 11 team entering Las Vegas 26 points behind Larson for the top spot, Gayle knows it’s critical to have track position throughout the South Point 400. Hamlin has won the two most recent events in the Mojave Desert, rebounding from a pit-road penalty to still lead more than half the race in March.
“We need points relative to [Larson],” Gayle noted. “So, we need to start up front and stack all the stage points and potentially win if we can. I think we’ll know after this race and Charlotte – we’re going to know who’s really in the thick of this thing and probably the number of cars that have a shot. I think we need two very strong runs to feel like we’re still in the thick of it.”
The weekend started with a bang, as Hamlin won his fifth pole of the season, tying his most for a single season (2013 and 2025). There were multiple tire failures in practice, including Chase drivers Tyler Reddick and Ty Gibbs, both of whom rebounded for top-five qualifying efforts. Josh Berry and Noah Gragson each wrecked hard after having a tire let go.