LAS VEGAS — When Chase Briscoe left the Cup Series field in the dust during the opening stint of Sunday’s Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he thought it was going to be a repeat of August’s Southern 500. Ultimately, it was a gamble made by No. 19 crew chief James Small that dictated the outcome.
Briscoe passed Denny Hamlin on the opening lap and led the opening 35 circuits of the race before hitting pit road during the first cycle of green-flag pit stops. With the No. 19 team having a mediocre 13.6-second pit stop, Briscoe fell to third in the running order at the conclusion of the stage.
“The first run of the day, I was like, ‘my gosh, we’re going to murder them,’” Briscoe thought. “My car was unbelievable. We had that bad pit stop and lost control of the race and could never get the balance back to what it was.”
Throughout the race, Briscoe hovered around the top five, finishing fifth in Stage 2. But after bouncing off the backstretch wall on a restart during the final stage, he sank to eighth in the running order. But at a Lap 232 caution involving frontrunner William Byron and Ty Dillon, No. 19 crew chief James Small had a crucial decision to make. He was among four crew chiefs to gamble on taking two tires — along with fellow playoff contender Joey Logano — to get Briscoe track position.
The risk was worth the reward for the No. 19 team, already banking 14 stage points on the afternoon. But the danger was high, should Briscoe fall into the clutches of the rest of the field on four fresh tires.
“It could have ended up really bad,” Small stated. “I think the key with what we’ve seen before, the car on two tires that can get the lead can hang on. If you don’t, you’re going backwards in a hurry. Thankfully, it was still a giant gain from where we were.”
With another multicar pileup on the following restart, Briscoe gained a buffer with the drivers on four fresh tires having fewer laps to hunt down the No. 19 car. The final restart waved with 14 laps remaining, with four of the top five drivers on fresher tires. Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson, both on four fresh Goodyear tires, made quick work of Joey Logano and Alex Bowman, putting them in prime position to hunt Briscoe down.
When Hamlin cleared Larson, he hurried to the back bumper of Briscoe. The No. 19 car began losing considerable pace in the waning laps, as Hamlin took the lead coming to four laps remaining. Larson followed through, as did Christopher Bell.
Briscoe earned a fourth-place finish, his 14th top-five finish of the 2025 season.
“Wish it was [five] laps shorter or whatever it was,” Briscoe added. “I was so loose at the end; I had nothing left. That was all I had.
“I was so loose all day long if I ran the top. I was already that loose running the bottom, I was scared to death to go up there. With them having new tires, I felt like if I gave them the bottom, they would drive right by me anyway. I was trying to air block as much as I could.”
The venture to take two tires ultimately netted Briscoe an additional point or two, he believes. On sheer speed, he thought the No. 19 team should have placed around fifth.
“It could have been a lot worse, and we’re on the upside of points, which is something not to be mad about,” Briscoe said.
With two races remaining in the Round of 8, Briscoe sits above the cutline with a 15-point buffer over Byron for the final provisional Championship 4 spot. Next up is a trip to Talladega Superspeedway next Sunday (2 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where Briscoe finished 15th in April.
Denny Hamlin became the 11th driver to reach the 60-win mark in the NASCAR Cup Series, prevailing Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in a win that secured his spot in the Championship 4.
The victory, his sixth of the season, pulls Hamlin into a tie on the Cup Series all-time win list with Kevin Harvick, who retired after the 2023 campaign. He led just nine laps on Sunday, but completed a full bookend as he started the 267-lap event from the pole.
Hamlin has mentioned his goal of reaching the 60-win plateau multiple times as the season progressed and his win total grew. After his victory at Dover Motor Speedway in July, Hamlin indicated that he placed more value on accumulating wins than on chasing a Cup Series championship — an achievement that has eluded him so far in his 20-year Cup career.
“If we do, we do. If we don’t, we don’t. I care about wins,” Hamlin said. “Trust me, I want more trophies, more trophies, more trophies. When I’m done, I want to be in the top 10 of all-time winners. That will mean more than any other accomplishment I could have.”
That said, he’ll have at least one more opportunity to compete for a championship. His win at Las Vegas secured his fifth Championship 4 berth and first since the 2021 season. Unlike other years, he and crew chief Chris Gayle receive a two-week head start at preparing for the Nov. 2 finale at Phoenix Raceway. After all, the driver to win the opening Round of 8 race has gone on to win the championship in five of the last nine years.
Hamlin has reached all of his career milestones while driving the No. 11 for Joe Gibbs Racing, the team that brought him to NASCAR’s top division in 2006, when he won Rookie of the Year honors. JGR signed Hamlin to a two-year contract extension on July 25, all but ensuring that he will finish out his career with the organization.
Of the nine drivers ahead of Hamlin on the Cup Series’ all-time win list, eight are in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The only exception is former JGR teammate Kyle Busch, who is just ahead of him with 63 career wins, but remains active in the Cup Series and ineligible for Hall of Fame nomination.
LAS VEGAS — Denny Hamlin scored an emotional victory and claimed a significant career milestone with a dramatic NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 8 win in Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Hamlin passed two cars in the final 10 laps, ultimately taking the lead from his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe with four laps remaining and then holding off the day’s most dominant driver, Kyle Larson, by 1.533 seconds to claim a series-best sixth win of the season and 60th of his Cup career.
RELATED: Race results | At-track photos
The win secures the first of four positions for the Nov. 2 Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway — landing Hamlin his first title shot since 2021.
Hamlin was notably moved in the moments after climbing out of his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Instead of the typical playful banter the veteran normally delivers to the crowd after a win, the 44-year-old Virginian spoke more solemnly, mentioning his father Dennis, who has been ill.
“This win means a lot, this is the point where I kind of give the fans some [expletive], but not today, I appreciate you all so much,” said Hamlin, his eyes water-filled as he looked toward the crowded grandstands.
“Obviously, just want to say ‘hi’ to my dad and family back at home,” Hamlin added, his voice cracking with emotion. “We were hoping to get 60 [wins] today, but didn’t think we were. Just put the pedal down those last 10 laps and made it happen.”
A critical pit-stop during the race’s late running proved all the difference, with four fresh tires the winning hand.
“[Crew chief] Chris [Gayle] did an amazing job on that final stop, getting the car just right, and I just held it down,” Hamlin said. “That’s all I could do, just go for it. I felt like I had nothing to lose, just go for it and try to punch a ticket now, and it feels great.
“Just super proud of the team for making all the adjustments they did and the pit crew for doing a great job all day.”
It marked the eighth time Hamlin and fellow playoff contender Larson have finished in some combination of first and second place. Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was the class of the field for most of the day — leading a race high 129 of the 267 laps — but just unable to hold off Hamlin’s pole-winning Toyota heading to the checkered flag.
Logan Riely | Getty Images
“I thought we did everything that we could do,” said Larson, who now holds a 35-point advantage above the cutline. “The Toyotas were really fast for the short-run there. I saw the No. 11 (Hamlin) line up behind me, and I knew he’d be difficult to hold off. If any one of the Toyotas got clear and could get rolling, I knew it would be tough.
“He did a great job, though. He still had to make the right moves, which he did. I felt like I was doing all I could to stay in front of him, while also trying to track down the No. 19 (Briscoe). We just came up a little bit short, but overall, it was a great day for the No. 5 Chevrolet team.”
Larson, like Hamlin, took four tires on the final pit stop and lined up on the second row for the final restart with 14 laps remaining. Hamlin’s teammate Briscoe was out front, benefitting from a two-tire call that gave him better track position.
Hamlin restarted fifth and made his way forward, passing Larson with five laps remaining and then getting around his teammate Briscoe with four laps remaining. Larson and then Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell also got around Briscoe in the closing laps.
It marked the 15th time this year that Toyota had four of a race’s top-five finishing drivers. The effort gives Bell a 20-point advantage to the good in third place; Briscoe holds a 15-point edge.
“I was hanging on, but I thought I was in a really good spot there for that last three or four laps on that restart,” said Briscoe, who finished fourth. “My car drove really good, and as I ran, I was just absolutely sideways. Thought there for a while when they [Larson and Hamlin] were racing hard I’d be able to sneak one off, but just really, really loose there at the end. At least a JGR car won, but that’s going to sting for a while.”
While Briscoe didn’t win, his top-five finish certainly helped his playoff chances, too. Four of the top-six finishers — Hamlin, Larson, Bell and Briscoe — are among the current field of eight title hopefuls competing for a Championship 4 appearance with two races remaining in this penultimate round — next week at the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway and the following week at the half-mile Martinsville Speedway.
Team Penske’s Joey Logano, reigning series champion and current playoff driver, also gambled on a two-tire stop on that last caution period and managed a sixth-place finish. Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott was 18th, rallying from an early race pit miscue and penalty.
Elliott’s teammate, 2025 Regular Season Champion and Daytona 500 winner William Byron, finished 36th after a bizarre late-race collision when his No. 24 Chevrolet car slammed into the back of the No. 10 Chevrolet driven by Ty Dillon, who pulled down to pit, although Byron, running at full speed, said he had absolutely no signal of Dillon’s intention.
The incident cost Byron dearly in the standings, dropping him to 15 points below the cutoff line, followed by Elliott (minus-23), Logano (minus-24) and Ryan Blaney (minus-31).
As with Byron, who won Stage 1 and led 55 laps Sunday, Penske’s Blaney — the 2023 series champion — also had a tough outing, finishing last in the 38-car field and dropping from second in the points to eighth.
Blaney’s No. 12 Team Penske Ford had a tire incident late in the opening stage and slammed into the wall only 70 laps into the contest.
Blaney’s disappointment after getting out of his car was palpable. He’s finished 32nd or worse in the last three Las Vegas races. The upside for him, however, is that he has three wins at Talladega Superspeedway and has won the last two Martinsville Playoff races.
“I’m not very happy right now, but tomorrow morning I’ll be optimistic to go to the next race,” Blaney said. “We’ve had good success at the next two events, so hopefully we can come and bring the speed and try to overcome the hole we put ourselves in today.”
23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick was the lone non-playoff driver among the top five Sunday, finishing fifth. Hendrick’s Alex Bowman, Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch, and Roush-Fenway-Keselowski teammates Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top-10.
The NASCAR Cup Series moves to the Talladega Superspeedway high banks next Sunday for the Yellawood 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is the defending race winner.
NOTE: Post-race inspection in the Cup Series garage concluded without issue, confirming Hamlin as the race winner. The No. 6 RFK Racing Ford, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota and No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet will return to the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina, for engine dyno only.
LAS VEGAS — William Byron and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team were back in midseason form during Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
After taking command of a race for the first time in the 2025 Cup Series Playoffs, Byron won Stage 1 and led 55 laps total during his entire Sunday stint. And while Kyle Larson dominated Stage 2 and was ahead of Byron going into the final cycle of green-flag pit stops, Byron leapfrogged Larson in the running order and was in control of the race in the sprint to the finish after pitting one lap earlier than the No. 5 car.
Byron’s race began to unravel when he wiggled through Turns 1 and 2 on Lap 232, losing the lead to Larson. Five laps later, Ty Dillon was called to pit road, north of 25 laps after the cycle of stops began. Byron didn’t get the message that the No. 10 car was dropping to pit road and plowed into the rear of Dillon.
Just like that, Byron’s race was over, finishing 36th and tallying 19 points.
“If I would have known or had any indication, I would have hedged higher and I just ran full speed into the back of him,” a disappointed Byron said. “That was a huge impact. I’m fine, I just had no indication. Even as [Dillon] was coming off the bottom, I thought he missed the bottom a little bit, and by the time he started slowing down, I was in the back of him.”
Dillon was informed that his spotter, Joseph White, motioned to Byron’s spotter, Brandon Lines, that he was pitting. Dillon said he called off Byron going down the backstretch, though Byron never saw a hand wave out the window or a directional shift of the No. 10 car.
“That’s how we’ve operated all year — the spotter will let him know,” Dillon said. “Some people stick their hands out, and I do sometimes to let people know if I’m racing hard with somebody, but I feel like William — the part that I wave out is down the backstretch, William is so far back then that I don’t know if he could see or if I didn’t get it out far enough.
“Usually, I rely on the spotter to let everybody know, and my spotter said he let the 24 spotter know. I don’t know if it’s a lack of information getting relayed, but that’s a quick amount of time for that to happen. I don’t think I did anything egregious getting on pit road. I hate it for them and hate that it took him out. He was lining up to have a really good day, but I don’t know who that is on or if I could do much different there.”
Byron said he will stew for a few hours before checking his in-car camera to see if Dillon signaled that he was pitting. His mindset doesn’t shift, believing he will need to win at either Talladega Superspeedway or Martinsville Speedway to make the Championship 4 for the third consecutive season.
“I’m just bummed out,” Byron said of his emotions. “You know that these opportunities are few, and we had a really good car today, in contention to win. Everything has to go right in the Round of 8, and that’s something major that went wrong that was out of our control.”
Rudy Fugle, crew chief of the No. 24 car, was still dejected more than half an hour after Byron wrecked out. Even still, he was pleased with the performance.
“We answered all the questions that everybody was waiting for us to answer,” an upset Fugle said. “We had a top-two car, probably the best car that could compete in traffic and do all the things. That’s what we’re looking to do. It’s tough to take having a great car and not [finishing] well.”
Entering the middle race in the Round of 8 at Talladega Superspeedway (Sun., 2 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App), Byron is 15 points under, the first driver outside of the four-driver cutoff. The Round of 8 will conclude following Martinsville Speedway on Oct. 26, with the title bout held Nov. 2 at Phoenix Raceway.
Ryan Blaney, the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion, exited Sunday’s Round of 8 playoff opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway early after a tire issue toward the end of Stage 1.
Entering Turn 3 on Lap 72, Blaney went straight through the corner, his car never turning as his left-front tire appeared to go flat. He suffered heavy right-side damage, immediately radioing to his team, “Everything is [expletive] broken. Everything is [expletive] broken on it.”
Blaney limped his No. 12 Team Penske Ford to pit road, where he stopped in his stall and immediately exited. His team was unable to repair the No. 12 Team Penske Ford and Blaney will be credited with a 38th-place finish to start the penultimate round of the postseason.
“Blew as I lifted into [Turn 3],” Blaney said after being evaluated and released from the infield care center, explaining that he had no indication of a tire issue. “Destroyed right-front, right-rear. Destroyed everything.”
A three-time winner this season, Blaney clinched his spot in the semifinal round with a Sept. 21 win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Sunday marked his third consecutive Las Vegas race with wall contact as practice crashes both last fall and this spring relegated him to the rear at the start.
With Talladega Superspeedway and Martinsville Speedway up next, the 31-year-old’s title hopes are in peril as he plummets 31 points below the Cup Series Playoffs elimination line. But Blaney has come from behind before, as each of his last two Championship 4 appearances came via walk-off wins at Martinsville in the Round of 8 finale. Asked if this incident immediately placed him in must-win territory, Blaney said: “Yeah. No doubt.”
“I’m not very happy right now, but tomorrow morning, I’ll be optimistic to go to the next race,” Blaney said. “We’ve had good success at the next two events. Hopefully, we can come bring the speed and try to overcome the hole we put ourselves into today.”
LAS VEGAS — Ryan Blaney has had a string of bad luck at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, typically reserved for the casinos.
But with postseason stakes higher than ever in the Round of 8 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Blaney is back at the table and hoping he has the right cards in hand for Sunday’s South Point 400 (5:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
Vegas puns aside, Blaney’s recent history at the 1.5-mile track has been abysmal. The 2023 Cup Series champion crashed during practice for each of the last two Vegas races, starting in a backup car, then incurring damage during the race. Saturday seemed to be a turn of his fortune, escaping with a clean practice and qualifying session that set his No. 12 Team Penske Ford 14th on the starting grid.
What led to his prior mishaps was, in part, low tire pressure; an intentional setup decision to help find speed because cars with looser handling tend to race faster at tracks like Las Vegas. Blaney encouraged his crew chief, Jonathan Hassler, not to back down if it means making the No. 12 Ford fast.
“It’s, what are you willing to push it to?” Blaney said Saturday. “And I’ve never been a big fan of reeling something in. Like, I feel like if you’re trying to get the most out of your stuff and keep working on it and refine it — I mean, you can’t just keep doing the same thing, which we aren’t. So just refining what you think is fast and good.”
Blaney added he felt no hesitation or trepidation returning to the track or climbing inside the race car despite his previous sour luck, resiliently putting any errors in the rearview mirror and looking out the windshield instead.
“I don’t ever try to think of that stuff like being hesitant or anything like that in the back of your mind,” Blaney said. “It’s just some things that happen every now and then. Yeah, they stink when it happens for sure, not only for me, but for everybody, right? We have to get a new car ready, and it’s no fun for anyone. But no, we’ve had good discussions and a good kind of route to go.”
Playing to his benefit is that despite his dismal last two Vegas races, Team Penske or its affiliated team, Wood Brothers Racing, has won each of the past two, with Joey Logano winning in 2024 and Josh Berry scoring his first career Cup win in March. Those notes are excellent to look back on, but there’s one problem: Blaney has limited notes of his own.
“I finished in the fall last year. I was just eight laps down,” Blaney said with a laugh. “But hopefully, we can learn from what Josh had in the spring and build off of what we learned at Kansas. I thought we were decent at Kansas. I didn’t think we were the best. I thought we were kind of seventh-, eighth-place car at Kansas behind some Toyotas and a couple of Hendrick cars. But hopefully we learned a little bit there and we’re able to apply it for this weekend. So yeah, just relying heavily on previous races here, from our other teammates and then taking what we learned a couple weeks ago to hopefully be where you want to be.”
The NASCAR Cup Series’ Round of 8 begins with Sunday’s South Point 400 (5:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Updated NASCAR odds from FanDuel show Christopher Bell as the race favorite at +470, followed by Denny Hamlin (+550), Kyle Larson (+600), William Byron (+600) and Chase Elliott (+850).
From a NASCAR betting standpoint, I’m avoiding the outright market and pivoting to a plus-money prop as my best bet pick for Las Vegas.
Let’s take a look.
NASCAR Odds, Best Bet Pick for Las Vegas
*Odds as of Sunday morning
Toyota drivers Hamlin, Chase Briscoe and Bell posted the three fastest speeds in qualifying, so it’s not surprising to see the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) teammates with the best odds to win today’s race, and Briscoe not far off at +900.
But it’s not just those three Toyotas that were strong in practice and qualifying on Saturday in Vegas.
The 23XI Racing cars of Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick qualified seventh and eighth, respectively, with JGR’s Ty Gibbs clocking in at 10th fastest, giving Toyota six of the top 10 qualifiers for the South Point 400.
Five of the six fastest cars in practice, in terms of 10-lap average, were posted by Toyota drivers, suggesting that these cars have very solid race pace as well.
Instead of pulling out my hair (what’s left of it, anyway), I’m grabbing Toyota as the winning manufacturer at +120 odds via DraftKings to cover the entire stable of cars that appear to be the cream of the crop heading into Sunday’s race at Las Vegas.
NASCAR Best Bet Pick: Toyota Winning Manufacturer (+120) — DraftKings
Track: Las Vegas Motor Speedway Location: Las Vegas, Nevada Track length: 1.5 miles When: Sunday, 5:30 p.m. ET Where to tune in: USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App Race purse: $9,797,935 Race distance: 267 laps | 400.5 miles Stages: 80 | 165 | 267 Defending winner: Joey Logano, October 2024 Paint Scheme Preview: Sin City schemes set to shine
Starting lineup: Denny Hamlin on pole to start Round of 8
Viva Victory Lane: Vegas critical in journey to Championship 4
LAS VEGAS — Three races separate the eight remaining NASCAR Cup Series title contenders from the Championship 4. The first comes Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Sure, there are two other races in the Round of 8, which kicks off Sunday afternoon in the Nevada desert. But a win at Las Vegas to open the three-race round could light a golden pathway into the finale at Phoenix Raceway, where the title will be decided on Nov. 2.
“This is a big one,” Christopher Bell said Saturday. “This is the race that we’ve had circled since the schedule came out, really. I mean, you make it into the Round of 8, and the mentality changes at this point in the season, in the playoffs. The Round of 16, Round of 12, you’re just looking for points. It’s survival mode. And then whenever you get into the Round of 8, it’s about wins. And ultimately, you need to win in order to make that final four.”
Kyle Larson won the Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas back in 2023, propelling him into the title round. The advantages are plentiful, but he cautions about how significant they are.
“I think it’s definitely a benefit,” Larson said. “I think other drivers I’ve heard say it’s, like, everything. I don’t think it’s everything to win this first one, but it is nice to kind of look ahead a little bit. You know, I feel like in the playoffs, you don’t really ever get a chance to look ahead past the week in front of you. So if you win this first race, to take a little bit of focus off of the next couple and start digging through qualifying and practice and stuff like that at Phoenix is important. But again, it’s not everything.”
Last year, it was Joey Logano who locked his spot into the Championship 4 with a trip to Vegas’ Victory Lane. From Phoenix preparation to a relief from the mental anguish playoff stress can create, he reaped the benefits all the way to his third NASCAR Cup Series Championship last November.
“I think there’s something to do with the stress level as well,” Logano said. “Like, you have a moment to take a deep breath, right? Like, regain your thoughts again. The playoffs are tough, right? These 10 weeks are hard. It’s a grind on everybody. That gives you a couple weeks where you’re not taking them off because you’re still focused on Phoenix, but instead of working on three different things, you’re worrying about one thing. And all of us know if you do one thing, you’re gonna be better at it versus doing 10 different things halfway, right?
“I think that just narrows your focus when you’re able to do that. And it’s also tough. The race is in Phoenix, so you’ve gotta think, when you’re racing in Martinsville, your Phoenix car’s got to be ready to go already, right? Like the truck’s got to get out there pretty soon. So it’s not like you have much time to focus just on that one car because your tongue is hanging out just trying to get there first. That’s the first thing you’ve got to do is get there. So when you put all that together, yeah, it’s a pretty good size advantage to win here this weekend.”
What do crew chiefs have in focus to win Sunday’s race?
Since James Small took over the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team in 2020, his cars have finished outside the top 10 at Las Vegas just twice in 11 starts. Ten of those starts came with Martin Truex Jr. behind the wheel. Now, Chase Briscoe wheels the No. 19 Toyota into the Round of 8 in his inaugural season with JGR.
But Small’s focus remains the same: Qualify well and stay up front all day.
“It just seems like they’re never that straightforward here, especially in the Next Gen car,” Small told NASCAR.com Saturday.
The good news is that Briscoe accomplished that goal in Saturday’s qualifying session and will start second alongside JGR teammate Denny Hamlin. Small, though, pointed to the “chaos” that tends to unfold in the playoff race. Last year, the vehicle he prepped was involved in a spectacular multicar wreck that sent Tyler Reddick flipping onto his roof across the frontstretch. That race had five cautions for 32 laps. The spring race featured nine yellow flags for 53 laps. Part of that stems from car setup, which Small said requires teams to “generally run the car a little freer to be fast, so it’s more just more knife-edgy.”
“You just need to have a good handle on being balanced enough in traffic to then not be too free out front,” Small said.
His teammates on the No. 11 team rocketed to the Busch Light Pole Award by a mere 0.036 seconds. Hamlin was pleased by his short-run speed, placing sixth in 10-lap averages on Saturday, but expressed concern for the long run. A weather change from Saturday to Sunday will factor into how competitive Hamlin remains throughout the course of the race, with Sunday’s high of 79 degrees Fahrenheit set to be roughly 10 degrees cooler than Saturday’s, with wind gusts slowed to 13 mph from Saturday’s 31 mph.
“There’s a big wind-direction change tomorrow, and that’s probably one thing which we knew was coming potentially,” No. 11 crew chief Chris Gayle told NASCAR.com after winning the pole. “And then the second is just we weren’t good enough (on the) long run. We had really good short-run speed, but we got a little too free long run. So we just need to fix that for (Sunday), especially considering we’ll start on the pole and have clean air if we can have a good start.”
Gayle didn’t hesitate to say he would pick pit stall No. 1 for the No. 11 team on Sunday, setting up the team’s box closest to pit exit toward Turn 1. That decision isn’t always automatic at Las Vegas though. Last year, Christopher Bell and crew Adam Stevens — another set of JGR teammates — selected pit stall No. 6 because of the opening that sat in front of the box and a perceived lack of grip in pit stall No. 1. Small selected pit stall No. 6 with the second choice in pit-stall selections.
“There’s very few openings out here this weekend compared to normal, compared to Kansas,” Small said. “There’s so many openings in and out (at Kansas), it’s not as big of an issue. But here, it’s definitely a lot tighter. We’ve been trapped here before on pit road. You saw people run into a lot of issues last year [with] cars coming across them. There’s generally always so many cars on the lead lap here, it just seems like that even on a green-flag cycle, it can become pretty chaotic. So, yeah, anything to do to get priority selection there is going to be huge, especially as it comes down to the end there, especially if you’ve got two-tire calls at the end and things like that.”
This will come down to the wire. Seven of the last eight races at Las Vegas have had a margin of victory of less than one second, per Racing Insights, with the pass for the win coming inside the final six laps in four of the last seven Cup races here.
He may not be the favorite to win, but watch out for …
Ross Chastain. No, he’s no longer eligible for a championship after his heartbreak at the Charlotte Roval. But Chastain laid down the quickest lap in Group A of practice Saturday before contacting the outside wall. Chastain has a series-best five top fives at Vegas in the Next Gen car and has top 10s in six of his last seven Vegas starts. | See Chastain’s projected finishing position
Fantasy update
NASCAR Fantasy Live expert Dustin Albino provides insight for your Sunday lineup.
The Round of 8 playoff drivers came to play in the opener at Las Vegas, with the top six qualifying positions belonging to Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports. Team Penske was respectable, but Ryan Blaney, who is always a frontrunner on long-run pace, ranked just 19th on 10-lap averages. William Byron was dominant over the course of a multi-lap run in practice, ranking as the best on five-, 10-, 15-, 20-, 25- and 30-lap averages. The lone swap here this weekend is replacing Ross Chastain with Chase Briscoe, as he thought the No. 19 team had among its most balanced practice sessions of the entire season. Other notable Toyota drivers, Bubba Wallace and Ty Gibbs, also looked sporty on Saturday.
Lineup: William Byron, Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe.
Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles.
•NASCAR at Las Vegas: Key info, qualifying reports and more from doubleheader weekend | Read more
• Bubble Watch: Will anyone hit the jackpot at Vegas? | Read more • A common theme: Round of 8 drivers share same belief | Read more • Bell zeroes in on Vegas: Can No. 20 team return to Champ 4? | Read more
• At-track photos: Trackside sights, scenes from Sin City | View gallery
• Turning Point to Vegas: Is there a title favorite? | Read more • Neil Paine: Proof in pressure: Logano rises when doubted | Read more
• Byron chugging along: Check in with No. 24 driver | Read more
• Playoff Pulse: Who’s hot, who’s not ahead of Vegas | Read more
• Power Rankings: Sizing up where playoff drivers stand | This week’s ranks
No, those aren’t the winning numbers from a table game at South Point casino. But one of those numbers could represent the first driver to punch their ticket to the Championship 4 Sunday in the Mojave Desert, if the odds fall in their favor.
After Saturday’s practice and qualifying, Racing Insights projects William Byron to win Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Round of 8 race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (5:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) and clinch a spot in the title race next month at Phoenix Raceway.
Byron impressed on Saturday with his long-run speed and will start fifth. Byron’s recorded top 10s in each of the last five Vegas races, tying his active personal best clip at Talladega. He’s led in each of those five Sin City events and has averaged a whopping 42 points over his last 10 races at 1.5-mile circuits. As a whole, Hendrick has won five of the last nine races at Las Vegas.
But no matter which angle you look at Sunday’s 400-miler, everything leads back to his teammate, Kyle Larson. The 33-year-old from Elk Grove, California is a three-time Las Vegas winner, including the spring of 2021, when Larson earned his first of 26 victories and counting with the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team. His 426 laps led at 1.5-mile tracks are the most of all drivers this year, as is his 8.7 running position, and he’s led in 19 of the last 20 mile-and-a-half races. He’ll start sixth on the grid.
With as strong as Toyota has been this year, particularly in the playoffs, success at mile-and-a-half tracks has eluded them. The manufacturer is winless in six races in 2025, but it’s certainly not for a lack of speed. Denny Hamlin’s average finish of 20.33 at this track type is head-scratching, but he’s inside the top 10 in all five NASCAR Insights categories. He did, however, place 13th or worse in all five categories in the spring race at Las Vegas alone, as did Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe. Hamlin also won the pole on Saturday.
Don’t forget about Team Penske, either. At least one of their drivers has won a Round of 8 race in four of the last five years, and that’s paid off as the organization has scored three consecutive titles.
Las Vegas looks like just another stop on the schedule, but save for the championship race itself, Sunday’s 267-lapper is arguably the most important race of the season. A win in the city that never sleeps would allow for a playoff driver to rest soundly with a Championship 4 spot secured and prepare for Phoenix early, as the rest of the title contenders slug it out at Talladega and Martinsville.
CHRISTOPHER BELL: The four-time winner in 2025 has top fives at Las Vegas in three of the last five races, including runner-ups in the last two fall events. He’s been rock-solid through the playoffs thus far, earning 223 points, second-best only to teammate Chase Briscoe.
DENNY HAMLIN: Though he hasn’t earned the finishes at 1.5-mile tracks this year, Las Vegas has always been a solid track for the No. 11 team. He won the fall race in 2021 and has just one finish worse than 11th in the last six races in Sin City. His 12.78 average finish is ninth-best all-time.
JOEY LOGANO: The three-time champion has won at Las Vegas four times, and his Round of 8 wins in 2022 and 2024 have spearheaded two of the aforementioned titles. He’s earned the fewest points among remaining playoff drivers thus far, but the team’s survive-and-advance mentality can’t be quantified.
CHASE BRISCOE: The only playoff driver without a Championship 4 appearance, Briscoe’s statistically been the best driver this postseason with an average finish of 6.67 in six races. He’s won the pole at the last two 1.5-mile tracks the series has visited, so a strong Saturday could shape up well for Sunday.
ROSS CHASTAIN:Narrowly missing a Round of 8 spot, Chastain’s been sneaky good in the desert. His five top fives in seven Next Gen races are the most of all drivers, and he has the best average finish in that span, despite never scoring a win.
RACING INSIGHTS’ PROJECTIONS FOR SOUTH POINT 400:
Racing Insights’ advanced statistical formula incorporates current track, track type, recent performance, team data and pit-crew data to predict a projected winner and provide full race results. Updated on race day with practice and qualifying factored in.
LAS VEGAS — Jesse Love blames himself for losing Saturday night’s Round of 8 opener in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
But the driver of the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet also lent plenty of responsibility to Nick Sanchez after a heated exchange on the final restart of the race with 23 laps remaining.
Restarting third when the green flag waved for the last time in Saturday’s Focused Health 302, Love looked to the inside of the leaders to make it three-wide before settling into a heated battle with Sanchez’s No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet. Sanchez cleared Love and nearly passed Aric Almirola for second, but fell back to Love’s clutches. The two side-drafted each other aggressively, nearly leading to contact and a crash. After leading 22 laps, Love ultimately fell back to finish sixth while Sanchez finished fifth.
Love exited his car frustrated, but waited at his vehicle for two minutes before making his way angrily toward Sanchez for a conversation. Sanchez explained to Love: “We’re racing for the win, Jesse. Did you not see me almost wreck down there (in Turns 1 and 2) with (Almirola)? You’re side-drafting me. Everyone’s side-drafting me. We’re racing for the win.”
Love wasn’t in the mood to hear it, responding: “That’s why you’ve crashed half these [expletive] races. [Expletive] you, dude,” before shoving Sanchez in the chest and departing back to his race car.
After taking another minute to collect himself, Love explained what he took issue with.
“Yeah, three things,” he said. “One, his track record with how he races other people, our past experience and then tonight. I mean just putting it on my door, about crashing us every time we’re trying to side-draft each other. And then, yeah, that was about 1% of lack of talent away from crashing both of us. So that’s why I’m upset. There’s a very few amount of people that I feel like in the field, you’re always feeling like you’re gonna crash, you guys are both gonna crash or whatever. And Nick’s one of those people. So yeah, I take issue with that.”
Saturday’s discussion wasn’t their first about on-track decision-making. JR Motorsports’ Sammy Smith confronted Sanchez after an August race at Portland International Raceway in which Sanchez used an aggressive overtime move that resulted in contact with multiple cars. Sanchez’s reaction to the confrontation triggered another conversation with Love.
“I talked to him at Portland after he wiped out the field and explained to him, because he was like, laughing at Sammy,” Love said. “And I was like, hey, just so you know, you did screw up here and whatnot, because me and Nick are still good buddies. And then he laughed at Sammy, and then he laughed at me, laughed at my crew chief, so yeah, just obviously pissed off.”
Love is one of eight drivers still racing for an Xfinity Series championship and leaves Las Vegas 20 points above the provisional cutline. Sanchez was eliminated from the postseason after last week’s race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.
Sanchez, though, saw no fault in his on-track aggression.
“We were racing. We’re racing,” Sanchez said. “And you could be mad, you could whine, but we’re racing. And I didn’t wreck him. I’m gonna race the same way every time. And like I said, I’ve been telling everyone my boss hired me to race. And if I were to pull over and give him a top five, it’s not gonna sit well. So I race. I race for Big Machine Racing and I race for myself. And I try to do that respectfully, and when I make a mistake, I’ll own up to it. But that was just straight racing.
“I know I put it on his door, but some other people put it on my door for me to even get in the situation for him to be on my inside, right? And you know, he wasn’t exactly being cordial on the side drafts, right? So when you’re touching someone’s left rear on the straightaway, it’s game on. And like I said, I’m not gonna wreck him. He’s an alliance car, but I’m gonna race the piss out of him just like anyone else. If you don’t like that, go cry.”
He also has no interest in any further discussions with Love about their run-ins.
“It is what it is. I’m not gonna lose sleep about it,” Sanchez said. “I’m not gonna even have a conversation about it because we can talk about racing because I was racing right? The little act at the end, pushing me. If you’re gonna fight someone, fight it. You’ve seen the fights I’ve been in. The push doesn’t sit well with me, so I don’t want to donate any more to The NASCAR Foundation, so I’m just going to keep it to myself.”
Brittney Wilbur | NASCAR Digital Media
The flash of pit-road confrontation nearly eclipsed what was an excellent night for Love and his No. 2 RCR team. Love averaged a 3.13 running position, third-best of the night behind race-winner Almirola (1.96) and Connor Zilisch (2.62). He was leading just before the final caution flag waved at Lap 173, but he missed his entry to Turn 3 and allowed Zilisch to pounce to his left, dropping Love to second when Dean Thompson spun out.
Under yellow, Love then lost an extra spot on pit road and lined up for the final restart third.
“I think in hindsight that when me and Connor caught lap traffic, I was just so freaking loose,” Love said. “And he’s not going to drive around all of us on the top; he’s going to try to out-wrap me (on the bottom of the track). And instead, I missed the line. So I was in a hurry to go nowhere, as my driver coach Scott (Speed) would say, and gave Connor clean air. And obviously, I lost the lead there. Maybe we keep the lead off pit road if I don’t make that mistake.”
The sophomore racer lamented his own mistakes and allowed himself to see both the positives and negatives after a pivotal opening race in the Round of 8 as he pursues his first Championship 4 appearance.
“Definitely productive day on the points. Definitely a missed opportunity at the same time,” Love said. “Obviously, there’s the drama with the 48, but it’s not to overshadow (that) I feel like I lost that race myself. And I’m not too upset about it because I know that’s something that I can control and I can fix. I haven’t been in as many of these spots this year as I would have liked to get those reps. But yeah, I’m gonna go back and look at it and see what I could have done better.”
The NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs continue next Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway (4 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
