See where your favorite NASCAR Cup Series and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series drivers will pit this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
NASCAR Cup Series
NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube on Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (4 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The NASCAR Cup Series and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series head to the Nevada high desert with the first of two trips to Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2026. Bookmark this page and come back often for your race-week essentials — from links to qualifying order, average practice speeds, results and more.
Ty Gibbs, driver of the No. 54 NASCAR Cup Series Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, suffered a scary flip during a High Limit Racing sprint car event Thursday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Battling for third in his heat race, Gibbs got a run on the outside of NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series full-timer Corey Day, but the two made contact in the middle of the corner. The 23-year-old barrel rolled multiple times before striking the catchfence, finally coming to rest on its side. Gibbs climbed out of his Monster Energy car uninjured. It’s the second year in a row Gibbs has flipped at Las Vegas on the dirt side.
“I’m fine. I think Corey just got super loose in the slick there,” Gibbs told FloRacing. “We’re good. Just unfortunate. We’ll come back up [Friday] and go get ’em.”
Thursday night’s SugarBee Blackjack Bash at Las Vegas served as the season opener for High Limit Racing, a series owned by two-time Cup champion Kyle Larson and Brad Sweet. Larson won the main while Day finished second. Brent Crews, another O’Reilly Series regular, finished fourth.
High Limit Racing spends two more nights at Las Vegas, part of the lead-up to Sunday afternoon’s Cup Series race in Sin City (4 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The following column appears on NASCAR’s Substack and is being shared in full on NASCAR.com this week. Subscribe to our Substack to read Nate Ryan’s weekly column, NASCARCASM’s fake texts, chat live each week with writers Zach Sturniolo and Cameron Richardson, and much more.
With Alex Bowman’s status again indefinite as NASCAR heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, it’s a good time to note this track is another mark of his redoubtable resilience.
Bowman was racing a midget car on the slick LVMS Dirt Track in February 2010 when his left front caught a big tractor tire used to mark the course’s inside boundary. His car flipped several times, leaving the 16-year-old with a few broken ribs, punctured lungs, two broken collarbones and burst blood vessels in his eyes.
He spent roughly a week in intensive care.
“I just remember waking up in the hospital and wondering if there was another race the next day,” Bowman said during a 2017 episode of the NASCAR on NBC Podcast. “I was like, ‘Can we fix the car?’ ‘No, they cut you out of it with the JAWS of life.’ Oh. Can we get another car?”
Bowman admittedly rushed his recovery, returning in five weeks rather than the doctor’s recommended 10.
“It wasn’t that scary, because I don’t remember the crash,” Bowman said. “It doesn’t really bother me. I feel it might if I remembered it, but I got knocked out pretty quickly as it was flipping. That probably helped me out a little bit. It was interesting.”
Many descriptors would encapsulate Bowman’s racing journey, and “interesting” certainly would be one.
Others that might fit (aside from “generally successful” ): Adverse. Eventful. Unlucky.
Perhaps the simplest way to put it: Bowman, 32, is the most star-crossed Cup Series winner of his generation.
In eight seasons at Hendrick Motorsports, he has seven playoff appearances and eight victories, but also a notable string of misfortune that consistently seems to overshadow his success in NASCAR’s premier series.
“I called my manager, and he’s like, ‘What are you talking about?'” Bowman told The Athletic in 2020. “I’m like, ‘Twitter says I’m fired, man! Call people!’ It took hours to get ahold of anybody. I didn’t go to the shop, obviously, because I was like, ‘Well, this is going to be super awkward if I just walk in there.'”
Bowman turned it into a positive by using his extra time to become the simulator driver at Hendrick Motorsports. Six months later, when Dale Earnhardt Jr. was benched by a concussion, Bowman was in the No. 88 Chevrolet for 10 of the final 17 races of the season. He drove well enough to win the ride when Earnhardt retired after 2017.
He steadily improved with the best team in NASCAR. By his fourth season, Bowman had a personal-best four victories in 2021.
But his last win that season was tainted by a run-in while racing for the lead with six laps remaining at Martinsville Speedway. He made contact with Denny Hamlin, who spun and called the No. 48 driver “an absolute hack” (reinforcing the stereotype that Bowman backs into his victories).
The 2021 season would be a competitive peak for Bowman, who would miss five races with a concussion during the 2022 playoffs and then be benched for three more in 2023 because of a fractured vertebra in a sprint car crash.
Logan Riely | Getty Images
Amid rumblings that his No. 48 Chevrolet ride was on the line in 2024, he scored a victory in the Chicago Street Race that quieted the speculation until it began to pick up again entering this season.
Which is a shame, because in many ways, Bowman is a great fit at Hendrick Motorsports, an organization that at times has struggled to find the perfect dynamic since expanding to a fourth car 22 years ago.
During that span, it seemed as if one driver – whether Earnhardt, Casey Mears, Kasey Kahne or Brian Vickers – was an outlier whose lagging results got juxtaposed with the sterling performance of current and future Hall of Famers.
Teamed with NASCAR’s most popular driver (Chase Elliott), one of the world’s most versatile stars (Kyle Larson) and a likely future Cup champion (William Byron), Bowman has managed to hold his own by winning races while being happy with a relatively low profile.
An introvert with an appealingly acerbic and deadpan sense of humor (“I like dogs more than people”), he’s the perfect fourth driver for Hendrick.
Many would take that as a backhanded compliment, but it’s just reality for Bowman, who rarely takes anything personally. He’s the self-deprecating sort who turned Hamlin’s “Hack” dig into a popular T-shirt and never seems discouraged or distracted by the rumors he’s on the edge of losing his job.
His mantra is that “every year is a contract year,” and it’s a survival instinct that has served him well over the years of never-ending curveballs to his NASCAR future.
“It doesn’t really matter the situation, I’ve never felt 100% secure,” Bowman said.
Until he returns to the No. 48 – and very likely afterward – there undoubtedly will be whispers again about what’s next. This is a contract year for a driver who has made a career of proving himself amid difficult circumstances.
It might be his toughest comeback yet … but don’t bet against Alex Bowman.
Even when the odds are stacked against him, he’s shown a stubborn persistence in always beating them.
The first four races of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season included two drafting tracks, a high-speed, technical road course, followed by a 1-mile oval with an emphasis on tire conservation. All told, that creates many variables where, if they don’t play their cards right, drivers could face a significant early-season points deficit.
As outlined by Neil Paine, several competitors are off to rocky starts and could be on the verge of smashing the early panic button. But conversely, a group of seven in the Cup Series are off to significantly better starts compared to this point last year — on the same set of tracks, too.
Courtesy of Racing Insights, see which much-improved drivers are already in solid spots ahead of the first 1.5-mile race of the season Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (4 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Reddick pretty much goes without saying, but his three straight wins to open the 2026 season — including the Daytona 500, of course — position him incredibly well for a deep run through the 2026 Chase. His eighth-place finish last weekend at Phoenix Raceway dropped his average finish on the campaign to a whopping 2.8, but in comparison, his start to 2025 certainly wasn’t bad. Reddick earned a pair of top threes over the first four races last year, averaging out to 11.2 after Phoenix (8.2 spots better).
The No. 45 23XI Racing driver has a 60-point lead in the Cup Series standings, down from 70 after Ryan Blaney’s win last weekend. But surviving three “wild card” races and adding a strong run in the desert makes him the early championship favorite, and he’ll be afforded some slip-ups down the road.
“[We] scored the fourth most amount of points on the day. That’s kind of what we need to keep doing all year to keep the lead that we have and try and hang on to it,” Reddick said after his win streak was snapped Sunday. “If we’re not going to win, these are the kind of days we need to have.”
Ryan Preece
Preece got the proverbial monkey off his back with his first Cup Series win of any type in February’s Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. And while it’s still early, it certainly seems like that momentum has carried over to the regular season. The No. 60 RFK Racing driver has three top 20s through four races, including a ninth-place finish at EchoPark Speedway. That averages out to a 16.3 finish, 8.2 spots better than last year through Phoenix.
For reference, Preece missed the playoffs by 67 points in 2025 after starting 24th in points through four races (although he earned the 16th most points through the regular season). He’s currently 18th in points, but with several short tracks coming up — as well as Las Vegas, where he finished third in the spring — Preece’s early gains could prove worthy toward his first Chase bid.
Ty Gibbs
The opening two drafting tracks didn’t go to plan for Gibbs, but a pair of fourth-place finishes at Circuit of The Americas and Phoenix the last two weeks have quickly turned the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota’s misfortunes around. Gibbs got off to a miserable start in 2025, scoring just one finish better than 22nd over the first six weeks. But compared to the first four races, the 23-year-old is 9.2 spots better than 2025, averaging a 17.0 average finish through Phoenix to open 2026.
Similar to Preece, Gibbs’ rough start last year ultimately took him out of contention for a playoff spot, but with the Chase format — and already sitting 15th in points — the fourth-year driver has his sights set on a bounce-back year.
“I’m with the right guys. That makes a difference. So we’re running good because of that,” Gibbs said Sunday at Phoenix. “Really happy with my team, everybody has done a great job, everybody believes in me, we all believe in each other.”
Meg Oliphant | Getty Images
Shane van Gisbergen
Watch out, folks. The king of the road course is starting to get this oval thing figured out.
Through four races, SVG sits fifth in points, and the way he’s gotten there is nothing short of impressive. After crashing in the Daytona 500 and finishing 30th, the Kiwi ripped off three consecutive finishes of 11th or better, highlighted by a runner-up at COTA — his bread and butter. But at both EchoPark in February and Phoenix last weekend, the No. 97 Trackhouse Racing driver spun twice in each race, yet still recovered for strong points days. His average finish thus far is 12.3, 11 spots better than last year, and is a remarkable 14 spots better in points.
Phoenix started a stretch of seven consecutive races that are featured again on the schedule during The Chase, and SVG clearly improves exponentially each time he revisits an oval. If this trend continues, the Cup Series field could be in trouble.
AJ Allmendinger
Speaking of road-course kings, Allmendinger is off to his own stellar start in 2026, amplified by Kaulig Racing’s current state. With the organization adding a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series program under Ram’s support, Kaulig is without a technical alliance for its two Cup Series Chevrolets — but you couldn’t tell. Allmendinger hasn’t finished worse than 19th through four races, averaging a result of 14.8 — 12 spots better than 2025. He’s 13th in points, while teammate Ty Dillon sits a respectable 21st.
Allmendinger doesn’t instantly come to mind as a contender to make The Chase, but his ability to survive attrition-filled races and maximize days — especially at road courses — gives the No. 16 driver a chance to remain in the mix. The next five races on traditional ovals will tell us more about how much speed the 44-year-old has in his third full-time season in the team’s Cup program.
Bubba Wallace
Consistency is often key for Wallace, but so far, so good. The No. 23XI Racing driver hasn’t finished worse than 11th all season, and that includes conquering his road-course demons two weeks ago at COTA. Compared to teammate Reddick, Wallace’s results are unheralded — but by all means impressive. His average finish sits at 8.8, 13 spots better than 2025 through Phoenix. He ranks third in points.
Recognizing the youth of the 2026 season, it leads to wonder: Is this finally Wallace’s breakout season? His results have always been stout since joining 23XI in 2021, but the Mobile, Alabama, native has never won more than one race a season. It seems like all the ingredients are finally there for the series veteran, and his strong start positions Wallace well for what could be a deep, championship-contending run.
Brad Keselowski
Considering the circumstances, Keselowski’s off to an extraordinary start this season, and comes home as the most improved driver through four races. He’s battled the lingering effects of a broken femur in December, an injury that forced him to miss The Clash and put the start of his 2026 season in jeopardy.
But the 42-year-old has raced seemingly unfazed, despite a noticeable limp and walking cane. He nearly won the Daytona 500 before coming home fifth, but over four races, he has finished no worse than 20th — despite a practice crash last Saturday at Phoenix that set the No. 6 team back. Keselowski’s average finish is 14.3, a whopping 14 spots better compared to this point last year. It took the RFK Racing driver and co-owner 12 races to earn a top five in 2025, a difficult stretch that ultimately led to Keselowski missing the playoffs. But Keselowski’s solid run out of the gate could prove meaningful long-term as the 2012 series champion regains full health.
“Driving the race car is a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because it provides the motivation for me to really push my rehab and do things faster than normal, which is not a bad thing. But it’s a curse because, yes, when I get in the car, it does hurt, it does pull me backwards,” Keselowski said in a Wednesday teleconference, explaining the recovery from his injury. “The long airplane flights to the West Coast and the crash on Saturday were not my friends, so I’ll spend most of this week trying to get back to where I was before I left for Phoenix, and hopefully by Thursday or Friday, before I leave for Vegas, I’ll be ahead of where I was last week.”
Editor’s Note: Keep tabs on this page for lineup advice following qualifying, including changes you should consider.
Fantasy Update: Toyota made a statement during practice and qualifying at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, unloading with similar speed to what it showed at the end of the 2025 season on intermediate tracks. No matter the featured matchup, I’m banking on the Toyota driver. I have replaced Bubba Wallace for Chase Briscoe, both in my lineup and their head-to-head battle. I also added October winner Denny Hamlin — who had the fastest five- and 10-lap averages in practice — over Ross Chastain. The No. 1 car has dropped completely from my fantasy roster as Christopher Bell is the way we’re leaning in 36 for 36.
My lineup: Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace.
Garage: William Byron.
All eyes turn to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend for the Cup Series’ first intermediate race of the 2026 season. In recent Sin City races, the race for the victory has come down to the wire, with the pass for the win coming in the final six laps in five of the last eight races. Meanwhile, track position is of the essence, as the Stage 1 winner has won the race six times and the Stage 2 winner has won 10 of 17 Vegas races with stages, the greatest amount at any venue.
Returning to Fastlane this year is my weekly NASCAR 36 for 36 pick, where you can come play along. It’s a season-long points battle introduced in 2024 where strategy is the primary emphasis. With 36 chartered cars and 36 races on the 2026 schedule, players can choose each car once for the duration of the season.
Driver:Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports, No. 5 Chevrolet Selections remaining: 10 Comment: Larson hasn’t won a Cup race in over 10 months, and it feels like an eternity. He’s the standard at Las Vegas, though, leading the most laps in half of his starts with Hendrick (five out of 10), and he has led the most laps in track history (819). He has five top-two finishes in eight Next Gen starts.
Driver:William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports, No. 24 Chevrolet Selections remaining: 10 Comment: It’s been three years since Byron scored his lone Las Vegas victory, but he’s constantly in the mix. The No. 24 car has led laps in six straight Vegas races, and 10 of the last 11 overall. His average finish of 9.82 on 1.5-mile tracks ranks as the best in the Next Gen car.
Driver:Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing, No. 45 Toyota Selections remaining: 9 Comment: Reddick has the hot hand to start 2026, even though his historic three-race winning streak came to an end at Phoenix Raceway. He is typically a factor at high-speed tracks, which LVMS certainly is. This year’s Daytona 500 champion has two top fives in the last four Vegas races.
Meg Oliphant | Getty Images
DRIVERS TO AVOID
Driver:Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports, No. 9 Chevrolet Selections remaining: 9 Comment: While Elliott’s HMS teammates have won big in Sin City, he is still looking to hit the jackpot. In 17 starts, Elliott has a trio of top fives and six top 10s. His 18.9 average finish is his worst among non-drafting circuits.
Driver:Ty Gibbs, Joe Gibbs Racing, No. 54 Toyota Selections remaining: 10 Comment: Gibbs is fresh off scoring consecutive top-five finishes and has jumped to 15th in the regular-season championship standings, only 15 points out of fifth. But Vegas is arguably his worst track on the schedule with only one finish better than 22nd in seven starts (fifth in 2024). Three of his last five attempts have ended in 30th or worse.
Chris Graythen | Getty Images
SLEEPERS OF THE WEEK
Driver:Ross Chastain, Trackhouse Racing, No. 1 Chevrolet Selections remaining: 9 Comment: Chastain is borderline must-start territory this weekend, earning five top-five finishes in eight Vegas races with Trackhouse. In that span, he holds an average finish of 7.6, tops in the league.
Driver:Ryan Preece, RFK Racing, No. 60 Ford Selections remaining: 10 Comment: Preece earned 179 points at 1.5-mile tracks in 2025, tied with his RFK teammate Chris Buescher for 11th best in Cup. A bulk of those came in the two trips to the Vegas desert, earning finishes of third and ninth, respectively. He has six top-10 finishes in the last eight 1.5-mile races.
Samuel Corum | Getty Images
FEATURED MATCHUPS
Josh Berry vs. Ty Gibbs Pick: Berry Comment: If you throw away Berry’s upset victory last year, neither driver’s numbers jump off the page. More concerning is that Gibbs scored the second-fewest points of all drivers in 2025 at intermediate venues. Berry gets the nod, even though four of his five starts here are finishes in the 20s — but he does have a pair of O’Reilly Auto Parts Series wins here.
Ryan Blaney vs. Tyler Reddick Pick: Reddick Comment: Blaney has been all or nothing in Las Vegas, tallying top 10s in more than 50% of his starts. The last three visits, though, are finishes of 32nd or worse. Reddick can’t miss to start 2026 and it’s likely that continues on Sunday.
Daniel Suárez vs. Carson Hocevar Pick: Hocevar Comment: With multiple engine woes at intermediate tracks in 2025, it’s understandable why Hocevar scored the fewest points in the series at 1.5-mile tracks last year. The potential for a solid outing is always available, though, due to his raw speed. On the flip side, Suárez has a pair of top fives in the last three starts.
Chase Briscoe vs. Bubba Wallace Pick: Briscoe Comment: With three finishes of 36th or worse in the first month of the 2026 season, Briscoe needs a clean day. He nearly won at Vegas in the fall, though his 20.3 average finish is his worst at any 1.5-mile track. Wallace has only earned a pair of top 10s through 16 Vegas tries.
MY LINEUP
Starting five: Kyle Larson, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe. Garage: Ross Chastain.
36 FOR 36
Pick: Ross Chastain, Trackhouse Racing, No. 1 Chevrolet Comment: That Blaney pick at Phoenix worked out, huh? Not overthinking this weekend, either, as Las Vegas is among Chastain’s best tracks on the schedule. The No. 1 team also has six top-10 finishes in the last 11 intermediate races, including a pair of triumphs. Chastain needs a solid result, tanking to 23rd in the standings.
SOUTH BOSTON, Virginia — To say that Trevor Ward has a lot on his plate is a huge understatement.
Even with a stack of responsibilities, there is no mistaking his excitement as he returns to South Boston Speedway to compete for a track championship he narrowly missed last year.
“I’m really looking forward to ramping it up and trying to pick up where we left off last year at South Boston Speedway and try to put another good year together,” Ward said. “We’re going to come in battling hard the first race on March 21.”
Ward returns to full-time competition in South Boston’s Hitachi Energy Late Model Stock Car division.
While he saw a ton of success last year, his 2026 campaign will be a different season for Ward. For the first time he has a partner, Mike Bledsole, a partnership he feels can elevate the efforts of his Trevor Ward Motorsports team.
“Mike Bledsole and I have gone in together and built a car,” Ward explained. “This is something I’ve never done before. We’re going to race at South Boston Speedway with it. I can’t thank Mike enough. We have been friends a long time and we believe in each other. I’d like to get us in Victory Lane at South Boston Speedway.”
Ward had an outstanding 2025 season at South Boston Speedway with six wins and 14 Top-5 finishes in his 17 starts. He was the runner-up in the 2025 title chase, finishing one position and two points behind champion Peyton Sellers in the final points race of the season.
“That was the first track championship I ever tried to tackle in my career,” Ward pointed out. “Sometimes you’ve got to figure out how to lose one (a championship) before you can win one. We’ve gotten that out of the way now and we can try to tackle the next one.”
While there was a lot of success through the 2025 season there was also disappointment. Ward appeared to be on his way to winning the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville for the second time but a penalty for jumping a late-race restart derailed that effort.
“I feel like I failed and came up short,” Ward said of the misfortune. “I put the team behind on the restart and it was upsetting because I knew we had the car, I knew we had the driver, I knew we had everything in place to do it and the strategy to do it. I wanted to cap off that big season we had at South Boston Speedway with a really good finish or win at Martinsville. I’m ready to rebound from that, get back in gear, and do it all over again.”
Trevor Ward (black car at the right) inches ahead of Peyton Sellers (26, left) as they speed into the second turn during last season’s Davenport Energy Race Night event on August 9, 2025. (Photo: Joe Chandler/South Boston Speedway
He made two starts on the CARS Tour after that with Nelson Motorsports, qualifying on the outside pole for the event at Tri-County Motor Speedway and finishing sixth at North Wilkesboro.
“The 2025 season was one of the biggest seasons I’ve ever had in racing,” Ward pointed out. “I ran 28 or 30 races last year. That was the first time we had ever tackled that kind of mission.”
The off-season was tremendously busy and sometimes stressful for Ward and his Trevor Ward Motorsports organization as his success brought new and additional work to his business, including housing and supporting driver Brandon Lopez who competes on the CARS Tour.
“From a team and branding standpoint we’ve had a really successful off-season as far as our business and customer base goes,” he pointed out. “We put together a deal to house the cars that Brandon Lopez drives on the CARS Tour. We will do the whole CARS Tour season with them. There are four races that conflict with South Boston’s schedule, which is a nail right now that is driving into my foot. We’re still working on trying to figure out what we’re going to do to organize that and run the season for me at South Boston. We’ll get through it when the time comes.”
Playing a key role in Ward’s success on the track and on the business-side is Corbin Mackie who serves as Ward’s car chief at the track.
“The two of us put a lot together to make this all happen,” Ward said. “It’s hard to beat a life-long friendship like I’ve had with Corbin. He’s been a super-big part of my success along the way. Corbin has been my right-hand man since Day One. He’s learned with me and failed with me and has had success with me.”
The pair have worked together since 2018. They went to school together and have been friends since they were in the second grade.
“We’ve had a lot of success and a lot of ups and downs,” Mackie remarked. “I think the years of struggle have put us where we are today.”
As far as the off-season work is concerned, Mackie said he and Ward have been “wide open.”
Trevor Ward celebrates one of his several victories at South Boston Speedway in 2025. (Photo: Joe Chandler/South Boston Speedway)
“We’ve put ourselves in a position to be able to take the customer work in, and it’s really been a blessing that we have a lot of teams including some of the bigger teams like Nelson Motorsports trust us. I think we’ve hung something like nine bodies for customers. We built a new car for ourselves, and we built a new car for Brandon Lopez. I think it’s all a testament to the time and work we put into the cars.”
As if all of this wasn’t enough, Ward was one of the participants in Kaulig Racing’s reality TV competition “Race for the Seat.” It was a good experience, and Ward learned some valuable things from it, but it could have been more.
“It was very hard for me to adapt, and I didn’t do so well on the show as far all of the things that were involved,” Ward explained. “I learned a lot of things to work on to be better even in my world of racing. I wish I could have been better, but I think it made me a better person, a better spokesman.”
Ward admitted that during the time he was involved with the competition his mind was on other things.
“The whole time I was on that deal I was thinking how far behind I was getting on my personal work,” he noted. “I really didn’t get to enjoy it as much as I wish I could have because I was thinking the whole time I was getting behind and I wasn’t doing what I needed to be doing at the house.
If I get to do it again, I’ll definitely make it more enjoyable and put more things in place to be done before I go.”
For Ward and Mackie, the focus now is on the 100-lap race for the Hitachi Energy Late Model Stock Car Division that will be part of the Saturday, March 21 season-opening URW Race Day King of the Modifieds event.
The URW Race Day King of the Modifieds event will be headlined by a 125-lap race for the SMART Modified Tour that pays $20,000 to win and the 100-lap Late Model Stock Car race. A 35-lap race for the competitors of the Southern Ground Pounders Vintage Racing Club will round out the season-opening event.
Advance tickets are priced at $20 each. Tickets at the gate on race day will be $25 each. Seniors age 65 and older, military, healthcare workers and students (with ID) can purchase tickets at the advance ticket price at the gate only on the day of the event.
In marked contrast to the NASCAR Cup Series, the first four events in the 2026 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series have produced four different winners.
With a field salted with full-time Cup Series drivers, that trend is likely to continue in Saturday’s The LiUNA at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (5:30 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Kyle Larson, favored by oddsmakers in both races this weekend, will take a turn in the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, but Larson won’t be the only significant Cup competitor in the field.
Chase Briscoe is scheduled to drive the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota that carried part-timer Aric Almirola to victory in last year’s fall race at the 1.5-mile track. Connor Zilisch, a 10-time O’Reilly winner last season, will be behind the wheel of the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, as series regular Carson Kvapil rotates to the No. 9.
Zilisch finished second behind Almirola in the fall.
If there’s a candidate to get a second O’Reilly victory this season, Justin Allgaier would be most likely to succeed. Allgaier took the checkered flag last Saturday at Phoenix Raceway after a late charge and vaulted into the series standings lead with the victory.
Allgaier is the defending winner of the spring O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Las Vegas.
“I’ve always enjoyed racing in Las Vegas,” said Allgaier, who has won at least one race in the series for a record 10 straight years. “It’s a track that has really suited my driving style and is somewhere that I know we will have a great chance to battle for the win at each time we come here.
“(Crew chief) Andrew (Overstreet) has given me great cars all year long and I know that will be the case again this weekend. If we can just go out and execute the way we are capable of, I see no reason why we can’t replicate what happened last week in Phoenix. This group is ready to go.”
Allgaier, however, has a full plate this weekend. He is competing in the Cup Series on Sunday as a substitute for Alex Bowman, who will miss his second straight event after being diagnosed with vertigo.
As with the Cup Series, qualifying will be important to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series drivers. Only four times since 2008 has a winning driver at Las Vegas started outside the top 10.
Legacy Motor Club owner Jimmie Johnson revealed during Thursday’s episode of “The Morning Drive” on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that the organization will expand to a three-car stable for the 2027 Cup Series season.
Legacy, which currently runs two full-time chartered cars driven by John Hunter Nemechek (No. 42) and Erik Jones (No. 43), rebranded in 2023 to the current name after previously being known as Richard Petty Motorsports and Petty GMS Motorsports. Johnson took majority ownership in the team in January 2025.
“Without question, we will have a third car on the grid next year,” Johnson told co-hosts Mike Bagley and Pete Pistone. “Very excited about that. Our commitment to growth will be able to attract and recruit the right individuals to help come in and really grow the workforce for this third car. All the benefits that come with running an additional car will help speed up our process.”
Johnson did not reveal additional details regarding a driver or number for the third team.
Legacy Motor Club is still seeking its first victory since the rebrand. Nemechek currently sits 22nd in Cup standings heading to Sunday’s race at Las Vegas (4 p.m. ET, FS1, FOX One, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) while Jones is 28th, but coming off a top-10 run at Phoenix Raceway last weekend.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>📈 "Without question – we will have a third car on the grid next year."<a href=”https://twitter.com/JimmieJohnson?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@JimmieJohnson</a> speaks on the expansion of <a href=”https://twitter.com/LEGACYMotorClub?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@LEGACYMotorClub</a> for 2027 and which drivers they're possibly targeting for the new seat.<br><br>More with the 7X champ and <a href=”https://twitter.com/NASCARHall?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@NASCARHall</a> of Famer → <a href=”https://t.co/MKhd9eLpQA”>https://t.co/MKhd9eLpQA</a> <a href=”https://t.co/e147A4QQss”>pic.twitter.com/e147A4QQss</a></p>— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) <a href=”https://twitter.com/SiriusXMNASCAR/status/2032111318057054227?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>March 12, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
When NASCAR Cup Series drivers converge on Naval Base Coronado in June, they won’t just be racing for their teams — they’ll be racing for the Navy.
Hosted by Ryan Fitzpatrick, Cup Series stars Christopher Bell, Ryan Preece and Ty Dillon visited the San Diego base Wednesday to select drivers to represent different Naval commands for the inaugural Anduril 250 (June 21, 4 p.m. ET, Prime Video, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The squadron assignments add another “Hell Yeah” twist as NASCAR’s premier series returns to Southern California on a brand-new street course.
Upon arrival, Fitzpatrick — a longtime NFL quarterback and analyst for Prime Video — visited the legendary I-Bar at the Base before greeting Bell, Preece and Dillon on-site. He hosted an NFL-style draft with several guest pickers, including members of the Navy and part-time NASCAR driver Jesse Iwuji, who’s also a Naval Reserve Officer. The draft — which took place at the North Island Club — also featured a performance from the Navy Band.
Between now and race weekend, drivers will begin visiting the base to participate in immersive experiences with their assigned commands and capture behind-the-scenes content. The goal of the squadron assignments is for drivers to build authentic relationships with service members in the lead-up to race weekend, a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States of America.
In addition to the Cup Series, both the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and Craftsman Truck Series will “Race the Base,” making it a can’t-miss tripleheader around the 16-turn, 3.4-mile temporary circuit.
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series The LiUNA! on Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (5:30 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
