Posted on by Holly Cain

LAS VEGAS – Chase Briscoe left nothing to chance in the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday afternoon — the Joe Gibbs Racing driver sweeping both stage victories, leading a race best 175 of the 267 laps and ultimately besting the field by 1.376 seconds to take his second NASCAR Cup Series trophy of the season under temperatures in the mid-90s – one of the hottest race days of the season.

The dominating win over the series championship leader, Kyle Larson, comes a week after Briscoe just missed beating Larson in the closing laps at Kansas Speedway. It moves Briscoe up two positions in the Chase championship standings with five races remaining in the season. It was redemption for him and the team, he conceded.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

“I don’t think I’d be able to get on the [team] plane [if I didn’t win],” the 31-year-old Indiana native and driver of the No. 19 JGR Toyota said with a smile, referring to last week’s race outcome.

“So thankful to get this Toyota back in Victory Lane,” he added. “It’s been … not a rough year, but just not the results we necessarily want. So, glad to get all our partners back in Victory Lane.”

The margin of victory Sunday was larger and a bit misleading, as Larson and 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick had chased Briscoe down in the closing laps – cutting his lead to less than four-tenths of a second with a lap remaining, only to have Larson hit the wall directly in front of Reddick on the final lap, final corner push toward Briscoe for a victory.

Larson settled his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet enough to maintain his second-place position behind Briscoe. And after tagging Larson’s bumper in the incident, Reddick was also able to regroup and manhandle his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota after it slid across the infield grass onto pit road – ultimately maintaining his third-place position.

SHOP: Winner gear

“It was a fight,” said a smiling Larson, who increased his championship points lead from 26 points to 40 over Briscoe’s JGR teammate Denny Hamlin, who finished 16th. “I was surprised how far off we were that first run [of the race].

“My car got better but track position was so important, and we just chipped away at it all race long,” Larson added. “Just tried to stay patient, but my tires were pretty much burnt off by the time I got there [to Briscoe]. Just tried to do what I could to try to win. Felt like I moved up at the right time and did a decent job with it; just was trying to push hard in [Turns] 3 and 4 to build some momentum out, and I don’t know, and just got really loose and overcorrected in the wall. Thankfully, I was able to limp it home, and Reddick was able to come away third as well. That got exciting.

“I wish we could have won in this paint scheme honoring [Las Vegas native] Kyle [Busch],” Larson said of the first race back in Busch’s hometown after the late two-time series champion passed away in May.

Team Penske teammates Austin Cindric and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top-five. Hendrick Motorsports teammates William Byron and Chase Elliott were sixth and seventh, followed by 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace, Trackhouse Racing’s Shane Van Gisbergen and Team Penske’s Joey Logano. Van Gisbergen is the only top-10 finisher not Chase-eligible.

The JGR driver Hamlin, who won the previous two Las Vegas races and started Sunday from pole position, rallied from a mid-race spin and finished 16th. His teammate, Ty Gibbs – whose 24th birthday was Sunday – finished 17th after starting on the front row. An early pit penalty forced him into playing catch-up. Their teammate, Christopher Bell, who also led laps in the No. 20 JGR Toyota, finished 23rd, forced to wrangle his Camry without power steering the second half of the race.

READ: More on Hamlin’s issues

“Was just trying to get back track position that we lost and just went up there got into the marbles and spun out,” Hamlin said of his incident. “Obviously damaged the car, so it was nothing like it was before.

“Just got to go on to the next race and see if we can’t find a way to win. Charlotte will be good for us, but today certainly didn’t live up to what we expected.”

Bell maintained his third place in the championship standings, but is now 55 points off the reigning series champ Larson’s pace. Logano is fourth, 71 points back, and Blaney is fifth, 80 points off the pace.

Five races remain to settle the 2026 trophy. The series returns to action next weekend with the Bank of America 400 (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Charlotte Motor Speedway, marking the first time the fall event will be held on the oval since 2017, when Martin Truex Jr. won the race. Daniel Suarez won the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 on the oval in May.

Note: Post-race inspection was completed in the Cup Series garage with no issues, confirming Briscoe as the Las Vegas winner.

Stage 2 recap: Briscoe sweeps the stages

Chase Briscoe motored past Austin Cindric, Chase Elliott and William Byron — who all had much older tires — to win Stage 2 of Sunday’s Cup Series race at Las Vegas (live on USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The race — the South Point 400 — is the fifth of 10 in The Chase presented by Mobil 1.

Cindric finished second, followed by Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace. Joey Logano, Elliott, Byron, Chris Buescher and Kyle Larson completed the top 10.

Chase drivers made up 15 of the top 16 spots. Ryan Preece of RFK Racing was the only outlier in 28th. Notably, Denny Hamlin climbed back to 14th after a spin at the end of Stage 1.

After Stage 1 ended, the pit cycle was plenty eventful. Tyler Reddick pitted from fourth on a closed pit road after previously indicating radiator issues on his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota. Cindric’s No. 2 Team Penske crew had a slow stop after a trip-up by the jackman. Bubba Wallace and the No. 23 23XI Racing team were penalized for equipment interference with the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing team of Austin Dillon.

Briscoe returned to the lead early in Stage 2, prevailing in a pair of restarts with a debris caution sandwiched in between at Lap 93.

That yellow resulted in a mix of strategies. Fifteen cars stayed out, including Hamlin, as he hoped to regain track position after his spin at the end of Stage 1. He reported a tight condition after the second restart, running 20th at the time.

MORE: Full Stage 2 results | Briscoe wins Stage 2

Green flag pit stops began Lap 125 with Brad Keselowski, who announced earlier in the week that he is departing RFK Racing after 2026. Briscoe left the racing surface at Lap 129 for his scheduled service and cycled back ahead of the other cars that pitted.

Bell pitted one lap behind Briscoe and cycled to second. But moments after his stop was completed, he radioed to his team and said he was losing power steering and that it was fading “very quickly.” He hung on, though, to score key Stage 2 points as the rest of the frame stayed green.

Stage 1 recap: Briscoe wins opening frame

Chase Briscoe won Stage 1 of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, leading 35 of 80 laps.

Christopher Bell finished second, Ryan Blaney third, Tyler Reddick fourth and Austin Cindric fifth. Daniel Suárez, Bubba Wallace, Carson Hocevar, Alex Bowman and Michael McDowell completed the top 10 and points earners.

MORE: Full Stage 1 results

Denny Hamlin, who earned the Busch Light Pole Award on Saturday, fired to the lead on the initial start. All four Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas ran 1-2-3-4 after qualifying that way until they made pit stops at Lap 36 under green. After the cycle was complete, Hamlin returned to the lead. Ty Gibbs, who ran second before service, was penalized for speeding and returned to serve a pass-through.

After starting sixth, Kyle Larson dropped eight positions during the opening stint and was the first driver to dart for pit road. He spent 26 seconds stopped in his stall for massive adjustments and ultimately fell a lap down once the pit cycle completed.

The first caution came out at Lap 45, when Zane Smith spun from 28th after an apparent tire issue. He clipped the Turn 4 outside wall with his right-rear fender but continued after visiting pit road for repairs.

Seven lead-lap cars stayed out, including Briscoe and Bell. Hamlin and his 23XI Racing drivers Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace were the first drivers to pit road, and they rejoined the field ninth through 11th. Larson also stayed out, allowing him to wave around to the lead lap.

With three laps to go in the stage, Hamlin spun by himself in Turns 3 and 4, coming to rest on the apron after keeping his No. 11 Toyota off the wall. The race remained green and Hamlin stayed on the lead lap, finishing the frame 28th. He led 39 of the first 80 laps.

Contributing: Staff report

Posted on by Dustin Albino

LAS VEGAS — When Tyler Reddick exited Kansas Speedway in mid-April, he was sitting atop the NASCAR world, having won five of the first nine races of the 2026 season. Five months later, the No. 45 team departed the same intermediate track in a vastly different position, searching for answers as the season winds toward its conclusion.

Upon exiting his No. 45 Toyota following an 11th-place finish, Reddick was disgruntled. In the opening laps of last weekend’s Hollywood Casino 400, he plummeted from 15th to 34th, hanging on to the lead lap by the skin of his teeth when a Lap 35 competition caution was displayed. The Billy Scott-led bunch powered on, constantly improving and cycled to the top five, only to drop to 11th after a late pit-road miscue.

RELATED: Chase standings | At-track photos

“I mean, running [11th] on an intermediate race track isn’t really anything we should be proud of, honestly,” Reddick said following the race. “I mean, we fought to get back up in there, but we still just didn’t have the speed we need to have at these intermediate tracks here.”

“We got big problems. We’ve just got to figure our own (expletive) out right now and just not even be worried about that.”

With practice getting washed out at Kansas, the No. 45 team showed up off the hauler with the wrong balance. Tough conversations were had at 23XI Racing this week, as this year’s Daytona 500 winner looks to turn his four months of misfortune around, dating back to Michigan International Speedway in early June.

“I think everybody on our side at 23XI, we’re not happy with where our balances were,” Reddick said on Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “We definitely missed it [at Kansas] the most of our cars, finding that tight balance. We were able to have some takeaways from it.

“Certainly, it was very obvious at the start of the race how off we were. In some ways, it was nice that we were able to get within reason at the end of the race. We’ve been trying to understand how we can get that far off and make those adjustments to not show up the same.”

Reddick has slipped to a season-low seventh in the championship standings after three consecutive finishes outside the top 10. He now trails Kyle Larson by 111 points, with Larson gaining 50 points on the No. 45 team during his dominant Kansas outing.

Reddick refuses to give up on the 2026 season. He led the points after each of the first 17 races and knows the No. 45 team has the potential to catch fire at any moment. With consecutive races at intermediate tracks ahead, Reddick has an opportunity to chip away at the deficit, starting with Sunday’s South Point 400 (5:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). He believes he still has an outside shot of making a championship push in The Chase presented by Mobil 1.

“It is still possible, but we’ve got to run extraordinary and have things go our way, too, which you never want to be in that spot,” Reddick admitted. “For us, one race at a time to see if we can get our pace back to where we want to be on these intermediate tracks. If we get back on track, it’s a good way for us to end out the year. That’s what we’re focused on. If we run good, it will close back in; all the things we’re wanting will happen. But what starts all that is this weekend and this race and how well we perform.”

MORE: Starting lineup | Practice lap averages

The weekend began with Reddick stopping on track in practice due to a flat left-rear tire after having the best 15- and 20-lap averages in practice. The No. 45 car will take the green flag from fifth position.

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

LAS VEGAS — Team Penkse’s Austin Cindric was easily best in class last weekend at Kansas Speedway, turning in a second-place finish that marked his best yet on a 1.5-mile oval behind a dominant Kyle Larson performance.

Now it’s up to Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney to find their best 1.5-mile speed as Team Penske pivots to Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon (5:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) in the fourth race in The Chase presented by Mobil 1.

MORE: Starting lineup | Chase standings

Logano enters Sunday’s South Point 400 fourth in the championship standings, 67 points behind series leader Larson, with teammate Blaney behind him in fifth — another 24 points behind Logano and 91 points behind Larson. Cindric’s stellar Sunday at Kansas moved him up to ninth in points, but the 2022 Daytona 500 champion is still 140 markers back of Larson.

Yet Cindric was again the top Penske driver on track Saturday at Las Vegas, qualifying his No. 2 Ford in seventh place as the top Ford behind five Toyotas and Larson’s Chevrolet. Blaney qualified 20th with Logano 23rd — the only Chase drivers to qualify outside the top 14.

“Yeah, I definitely think it was our best intermediate qualifying of the year, You know, we were (31st) this time in the spring,” Cindric said. “Our guys did a great job. I mean, having having a good draw helps as well. Going out that late gives a lot of confidence to watch other cars and know what to do. But no, I thought we made a lot of progress in a short amount of time on our Autotrader Ford Mustang in practice and obviously showed in qualifying for them.”

Austin Cindric climbs into his Team Penske Ford at Las Vegas.
Chris Graythen | Getty Images

There is still optimism to be found in the Penske camp, albeit tempered through past 1.5-mile results. Blaney has a Penske-best average finish of 11.5 on 1.5-mile tracks this season while Cindric’s 16.5 ranks 12th of the 16 Chase drivers; Logano’s is a Chase-worst 20.3.

But Kansas was encouraging: Blaney rallied to a fifth-place finish at Kansas after starting 25th and Logano averaged an 8.1 running position before falling to 20th with a late tire issue.

“Definitely good momentum,” Blaney said. “I was very pleased with our performance at Kansas. Like you said, the 2 car was really fast. I thought Joey was good most of the day before he had a problem there at the end, but the mile-and-a-halfs have been a place we’ve been really wanting to get better, and I think we made a good gain to get closer to some of those guys. I don’t think it’s fully out of reach. So I thought Austin had a great shot to win that race if a couple things go his way. So that’s promising. Hopefully we’ve learned from last week and can apply them here.”

In a Wednesday teleconference, Logano said Cindric’s Kansas run impacted the team’s plans for Vegas immediately: “Hey, what do we want to try this weekend for setups and practice and how do we want to go about it?” That mindset was still in place Saturday in the moments ahead of Cup Series practice.

“Yeah, it definitely adds a lot of confidence,” Logano said. “It says the potential’s there, right? They had a really fast car — a car that probably could have won the race just with a couple little execution things being a little better. So the speed’s there. That means the potential’s there. It’s just a matter of us getting it all out of it.”

Vegas will offer the latest test of Penkse’s performance improvement. The organization has been incredibly successful since the summer, producing three wins for Logano and two for Blaney, bolstered by a few career days turned in by Cindric. But with previous disappointment on 1.5-mile race tracks, the question becomes whether its Kansas success is real or a flash in the pan.

“I think a few weeks ago or the last month or so, you could probably attribute (Penske’s recent success) to the track type, but we’ve kind of checked the box at least with one mile-and-a-half,” Cindric said. “But yeah, I think as you said, it’s a team. It’s a whole group effort. … It’s a year’s worth of work to get us to this point. So yeah, proud to have obviously that work pay off and hopefully be able to use that notebook to continue to excel for the remainder of the season.”

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

LAS VEGAS — Carson Kvapil reeled in Corey Day and put up one hell of a fight for the win in Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Unfortunately for the JR Motorsports driver, the spoils of Vegas victory fell Day’s way by 0.287 seconds instead after a thrilling exchange in the series’ third race of The Chase presented by Mobil 1.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Las Vegas 

Day and Kvapil exchanged the lead at the start/finish line four times across the final 11 laps, each pass appearing like a heavyweight punch. The closing circuits produced a stunning show worthy of a spot on the Las Vegas Strip: Kvapil and Day banged doors approaching the white flag to begin the final lap around the 1.5-mile circuit, with Day rocketing around the outside as Kvapil protected the bottom lane. Both drivers got sideways loose exiting Turn 2 with Day even smacking the outside wall before drawing back even with Kvapil.

The theatrics continued into Turns 3 and 4 and both took their preferred lanes. Day ricocheted off the wall again, and Kvapil could only watch as the No. 17 car drove away from him to score the win as Kvapil was forced to settle for second place.

“First things first, I’m bummed out, right?” Kvapil said. “It’s hard to run that good and be that close and lead a few of them towards the end and not win the race, but just part of it. I feel like all the guys on on this Bass Pro Shops Claire’s Technology Chevrolet with Hendrick Engines under the hood gave us a really fast car. And I felt like we never had the the lead position I guess to drive away or to defend, but we were always right there and in the top three once we got to race. And we seemed like we were always chasing people so it was apparent that it was going to be really hard to pass him.”

Day ultimately made it impossible for Kvapil’s advances to stick, but that didn’t stop Kvapil from trying. Still, Kvapil, a two-time winner this season, was left second-guessing his decision to stay low all race without giving the high lane a try late.

“At the end, I felt like for me, my bottom of 1 and 2 was our strong suit,” Kvapil said. “We would really gain wrapping the line down there and I could get back to the gas and get to his inside and have him have to have him make a decision in 3 and 4, but he did a really good job in 3 and 4 ripping the fence there. I didn’t know whether he was going to go to the fence or if he was just going to, I guess, run right beside my door and try to get me freed up on the bottom. But he did a good job running the top and didn’t make a mistake.”

Despite the disappointment of defeat, Kvapil was able to take a brief moment to acknowledge the fun he had racing Day after an intense, side-by-side battle lap after lap.

“I’m sure it was good,” Kvapil said. “From my seat, I didn’t like it as much as probably some others did. But no, this car that we have in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series really puts on a good show, and it’s so much fun to drive these cars. That whole last run there, I felt like I was just hanging on, and there was a few times where it almost looped around on me and sliding the back a bunch, and just a lot of fun racing these things. I’m sure it puts on a good show. Whenever the drivers have fun, everyone sitting in the stands or watching on the couch feels the same way about it. So really cool. Obviously, would have loved to come out of there with the win, but either way, good race and we kept it pretty clean. It was cool.”

Perhaps lessening the sting was Kvapil’s climb in the points standings, slicing his deficit to points leader Sheldon Creed by roughly half: Kvapil entered third in points, 37 points back; he leaves second in points just 19 points behind Creed. That jump was aided by issues for JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier, who was collected in a Lap 54 crash and fell from second to fourth in the standings.

“Obviously, having a good day is is the biggest thing, and whenever the people you’re racing for points don’t have the best days, that really helps too,” Kvapil said. “So obviously, don’t wish that upon them. But at the same time, it’s part of this Chase we have here. Some people are going to need to have bad days for you to be able to prevail and to fall back at that points gap or extend the points lead or whatever the situation it is.

“I mean we’ve got some wild cards coming up, especially with Talladega, Martinsville coming up. Just never know how those are going to go. So it’s hard to have a bad day before you get to one of those races. So for us and our 1 team, we’re just trying to have good consistent days and not make any mistakes to where we get to those races and we don’t have to worry so much about being super close on points.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

LAS VEGAS — In one of the most thrilling finishes of the season, 20-year-old Hendrick Motorsports rookie driver Corey Day prevailed in a final laps back-and-forth with 23-year-old JR Motorsports racer Carson Kvapil to claim his third career NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory in Saturday’s Focused Health 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Day and Kvapil exchanged the lead four times in the last 12 laps before Day made a daring pass – after brushing the wall multiple times – with two laps remaining to solidify a trophy hoist ultimately decided by a slight 0.287 seconds.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Vegas

“Oh man, I just was so tight there and so scared I was going to go down and plow on the bottom and let him get by me,” said a grinning Day, who started his No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet from pole position, won the opening stage and led a career-high 136 of the 201 laps. “Just a great car. We struggled over the summer, to tell you the truth. Won Talladega (in April) and then Dover pretty close and then just went dry. This feels really good. A dominant day for us for sure, great car.

“I knew we’d be a title contender from the start of the year,” added Day, whose win puts him fifth in the 12-driver championship rankings with five races remaining on the season. “Just had a dry summer there but we’re getting things rolling back in the right direction. We’ll just keep working.”

Kvapil, who like Day, also earned his first career series wins this season (at Indianapolis and Iowa), was understandably disappointed to lose out on Saturday’s victory, but also encouraged with the showing. It moved him into second place in the championship standings, now 19 points behind Haas Factory Team’s Sheldon Creed, who finished 13th.

“I feel like our stuff was really good around the bottom,” Kvapil said. “Had a really good car today. Props to those guys for making us a top-three car. There at the end, I thought the 17 [Day] was pretty stout. Some lapped traffic held him up there and I was able to find some speed at the bottom of [turns] one and two. Just never really tried the fence. I knew once I got in front of him what would be best for me was to run the bottom. He ran the top and just hit a perfect corner.”

Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love, the reigning series champion, finished just behind the duel up front in third place, followed by JGR teammates William Sawalich — one of four drivers among the top 10 not Chase eligible — and Taylor Gray.

Haas Factory Team’s Sam Mayer — another eligible driver in The Chase presented by Mobil 1 — finished sixth, having turned in an impressive comeback. He won Stage 2 and led 40 laps (second to Day) but had to rally from the rear of the field after a pit-stop penalty for an uncontrolled tire during the Stage 2 break.

Non-Chase eligible drivers Jeremy Clements, William Sawalich, and Anthony Alfredo finished seventh, eighth and 10th respectively with Chase driver Austin Hill taking ninth place.

It was an especially impactful race for former series champion and the season’s most productive team, JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier. He was collected in a melee on Lap 55 with a fellow Chase competitor, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brandon Jones.

Just after winning the race off pit road for the restart from the first stage break, Jones’ No. 20 Toyota had a problem and drifted up into Allgaier’s No. 7 Chevrolet in Turn 2, cramming both into the wall. Both cars were towed back to the garage. Allgaier was able to return to the track with 84 laps remaining and made a handful of laps to move up a position in the race’s finishing order. Still, his 34th-place result dropped The Chase’s top seed from second to fourth in the standings – 31 points off the leader Creed.

MORE: O’Reilly Auto Parts Series standings | Weekend schedule: Vegas

It was only the second DNF of the season for six-race winner Allgaier, who held an enormous 229-point advantage atop the regular-season standings before the points reset for the Chase run.

“I checked up and tried to be able to sneak by him [Jones] on the outside, but it just didn’t work out,” said Allgaier. “I hate it for everybody on the 7 team. Obviously, we’ve had lots of speed everywhere we’ve gone all year, but to start The Chase off like this has been pretty frustrating. But we’ll go next week and try to win another race. Disappointing end to a day I thought we were making some headway.”

The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series returns to action next Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway with the Blue Cross NC 300 (8 p.m. ET, The CW, ESPN Unlimited, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). This marks the first fall race on the 1.5-mile Charlotte oval since 2017, when Alex Bowman hoisted the series’ trophy driving for Chip Ganassi Racing.

NOTE: Post-race inspection is complete in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series garage. Corey Day’s win is confirmed. The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was disqualified for four or more lug nuts not safe and secure and will be credited with a last-place finish (originally 35th). The Nos. 88 (one lug nut not safe and secure) and 92 (inspection failures) will lose pit stall selection for next week’s race at Charlotte.

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

Track: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Track length: 1.5 miles
When: 5:30 p.m. ET
Where to tune in: USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Race purse: $11,233,037
Race distance: 267 laps | 400.5 miles
Stages: 80 | 165 | 267
Sunday’s starting lineup | Pit stall assignments

Contenders look to gap the pretenders at Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS — There is a clear divide atop the NASCAR Cup Series standings as The Chase presented by Mobil 1 approaches its midpoint.

Kyle Larson has overtaken Denny Hamlin for the points lead, and the two rival veterans now command the championship hunt after four of 10 races in the Cup Series postseason.

Will anyone else join them as the season reaches its title-deciding fever pitch?

MORE: Weekend schedule | At-track photos: Las Vegas

Entering Sunday’s South Point 400, the top four drivers in the standings are within one race’s worth of points of each other: Larson, Hamlin, Christopher Bell (50 points behind Larson) and Joey Logano (67 points behind Larson). Larson dominated last week’s race at Kansas Speedway, earning a maximum 76-point day — a race win, both stage wins and the Xfinity Fastest Lap. He and the No. 5 team have proven they are here to defend their title with a vengeance, posting two wins, one runner-up result and a fifth-place finish in the opening four races of The Chase.

“I would love to continue to put together weekends like we have where we gain a lot of points,” Larson said Saturday, “just to stretch out (so) that way, if we do have a blowout race, you can not fall down the order a lot. But yeah, I mean that’s not guaranteed. So yeah, I mean that’s really not on my mind when I’m out there. I’m just kind of treating it as just trying to get a good practice, qualify well, get a good first stage, get a good second stage and a good third stage and then you look at the points afterwards. But yeah, it’s been a good start to The Chase, obviously at this point, and would love to keep it going.”

Hamlin entered The Chase as the No. 1 seed and is firmly in the hunt — particularly entering Las Vegas as the winner of each of the last two races in the Nevada desert. But for the first time since June, Hamlin is no longer the points leader, trailing Larson by 26 points entering Sunday’s South Point 400. And in four Chase races, Hamlin has just one top-five finish. That won’t be enough if Larson is able to maintain anything close to his current pace of 59.25 points per race.

But the true championship threats still have a chance to separate themselves from the rest of the field — and perhaps already are.

“If you can separate yourself by putting really good finishes and wins together early in a Chase, then typically, yeah, you’re going to narrow the field down and narrow the competition down,” Hamlin said. “So that goes back into the ‘do the work now, and then you check out the results later’ type of mentality. But overall, yeah, it’s all just going to work itself out however it is, and there’s kind of peaks and valleys to this that some teams had a rough maybe week or two and I think that they could end up going on a run and winning a couple and putting themselves right back in it, too. You just never know.”

Behind the quartet up front sit other stars like Ryan Blaney (-91), Ty Gibbs (-94) and Tyler Reddick (-111). With the gap widening between them and the championship frontrunners, they see that time and points are already starting to slip away.

“We’ve got to win some,” Gibbs said. “I’m gonna bet on myself. We’re gonna do it this weekend.”

Even Larson isn’t ready to count most drivers out of championship contention yet, so a victory by someone like Gibbs could heavily impact The Chase standings.

“I don’t view my gap as anything, where I think a lot of media members, it sounds like, view it that way,” Larson said. “I also don’t consider as many people out of it as it seems like everybody else does. There’s just a lot of racing left. There’s a lot of points on the table. There’s a lot of things that can happen. There’s a lot of restarts left. There’s all sorts of things. So yeah, I think with that, you just stay focused on yourself and stay focused on your team and what you’re doing during the week to improve and prepare for the upcoming race.”

What lies ahead is The Chase’s most pivotal race yet — one that will set the tone for the rest of the 2026 championship chase.

NASCAR Cup Series racing at Las Vegas.
Patrick Vallely | For NASCAR Digital Media

Topping the charts on intermediate tracks

Denny Hamlin is in the midst of a historic run on 1.5-mile tracks, entering Las Vegas with eight consecutive top-five finishes on intermediates — a streak that ties him for seventh-longest all-time with Jimmie Johnson.

While Hamlin has flexed his muscle on intermediates, here’s a look at how all drivers in The Chase have fared on average this season, including their best 2026 finish at a 1.5-mile track, courtesy of Racing Insights:

DriverAverage 1.5-mile finishBest 1.5-mile finish
Denny Hamlin2.71st (Las Vegas)
William Byron6.33rd (Las Vegas)
Bubba Wallace10.05th (Kansas-1)
Chase Elliott11.21st (Texas)
Tyler Reddick11.51st (Kansas-1)
Ryan Blaney11.55th (Kansas-2)
Daniel Suárez12.01st (Charlotte)
Christopher Bell12.02nd (Charlotte; Chicago)
Chase Briscoe12.21st (Chicagoland)
Ty Gibbs13.55th (Las Vegas)
Kyle Larson13.81st (Kansas-2)
Chris Buescher15.55th (Texas)
Austin Cindric16.52nd (Kansas-2)
Ryan Preece18.510th (Kansas-2)
Carson Hocevar20.07th (Texas)
Joey Logano20.38th (Charlotte)

Speed reads

Race-day essentials:

• Las Vegas hub: Weekend information, pit stalls, additional results | Read more
• Sunday Setup: Kansas lessons inform crew chiefs for Las Vegas approach | Read more
• Paint Scheme Preview: Bright designs for the Las Vegas lights | View gallery
• Neil Paine: Can anything slow Kyle Larson’s roll? | Read more
• NASCAR Classics: Rewind with full-race replays from Las Vegas | Watch now
• Power Rankings: Christopher Bell plays crucial role in title fight | This week’s ranks

Posted on by Dustin Albino

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.

RELATED: Sunday’s starting lineup | At-track photos: Las Vegas

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.

MORE: Hamlin surges to Vegas pole | Weekend schedule

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.

Posted on by Staff Report

Chase contenders Justin Allgaier and Brandon Jones found early trouble in Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race, dealing a setback to their postseason hopes at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Jones lost control of his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the 55th of 201 laps in Saturday’s Focused Health 302, shortly after a restart that began Stage 2 at the 1.5-mile track. His sudden veer toward the outside wall collected the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet of Allgaier, wedging both cars against the barrier. Both drivers were evaluated and released from the infield care center.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Vegas

Allgaier finished 34th, initially one spot ahead of Jones, who was sidelined by the melee. Allgaier’s crew made extensive repairs to get his No. 7 Chevy back on track for two extra laps, gaining him an extra finishing position and one extra point in The Chase presented by Mobil 1. But Jones was disqualified after his No. 20 entry was found with four or more loose lug nuts after its departure from the race, relegating him to last in the 36-car field. The penalty not only gave him last-place points, but stripped Jones of the seven stage points he had earned for finishing fourth at the first break.

Jones began the second stage in the lead after quick pit work helped him gain three spots, but the JGR driver had voiced concerns that the left-front wheel may not have been fully fastened. Allgaier had restarted eighth.

Jones said the pit-stop miscue caused a major vibration as his No. 20 Supra tried to round Turn 1, and he lamented the lapse in execution after his care center check-up.

“Yeah, shoot, it’s just the pit stop,” Jones said. “I mean, they’re trying to get me out front, I guess, and it’s just right now every mistake like this is a detriment to the season. It’s like, give up a half-second to maybe just maintain. It’s like, you just don’t have to hit the home runs right now, and I don’t know, I don’t know what we need to do better other than just execute from the the team’s standpoint. Unfortunately, I’m not a finger-pointer at all. I mean, there’s always things that I could do better on all these races, but at the end of the day, it’s all these little decisions of staying out and not pitting, and then having mistakes like this on pit road with the loose wheels. It’s like constant, nonstop things that are out of my control that I can’t figure out how to get to stop.

“So it’s difficult when it’s like this. It’s really hard to stop the bleeding. You see it time and time again with other cars and other teams and drivers. It’s whoever can not make mistakes, and the guys that make mistakes end up not winning, and they end up falling out like we currently are, unfortunately. So we’ve just got to keep pushing, though. We got to keep going race to race, can’t be a quitter. You can’t give up in these moments.”

Allgaier said he’d hoped Jones would have slowed, rather than attempt to ride out the loose-wheel issue.

“I mean, in that scenario, like you’ve already had a couple corners, maybe you just pull down and get out of the way, right?” Allgaier said. “Because when you look at three- and four-wide all the way, I mean, I think we were three- and four-wide all the way through (turns) three and four. The instinct is that you want to stay in it and keep going and maybe it’ll get better, but the law of averages says it usually doesn’t, so I don’t know. It’s disappointing.”

Allgaier, the 2024 series champion, entered the nine-race Chase as the top seed. Four races in, the 40-year-old veteran has slipped to fourth place in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, including Saturday’s two-spot drop after his early exit. He now ranks 30 points behind series points leader Sheldon Creed, who placed 13th as the final driver on the lead lap.

Jones entered the postseason as the No. 6 seed. He’s now 11th, 137 points off the top — 23 points worse than before he started Saturday’s race.

“I just, I hate it for everybody involved,” Jones said. “I hate it for the partners, for the team. I mean, they’re not trying to mess up. I know that, right? They’re not trying to put me in these bad situations. It just seems like we just can’t ever make the right decision currently.”

Posted on by Dustin Albino

LAS VEGAS — After one of the most surprising developments of the 2026 NASCAR season, Brad Keselowski and RFK Racing president Chip Bowers offered insight into the circumstances surrounding their split on Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The 2026 season was the final year of a five-year driving contract for Keselowski, who joined the team as a driver and co-owner ahead of the 2022 campaign. Keselowski hoped to continue his driving career well into the future while RFK wanted him to move into the lead competition role more promptly.

RELATED: Sunday’s starting lineup | At-track photos: Vegas

Within the last month, discussions between the two sides broke down and Keselowski’s future became clearer. At the end of the 2026 season, he will be looking for his next opportunity.

“We wanted to make sure organizationally that not only we set ourselves up for near-term success, but really long-term sustainable success,” Bowers said to a room full of media members at Las Vegas. “And so, when we started looking at what the next three years look like for us and beyond, it was clear that we wanted Brad to start focusing more on his role in competition.

“For us, we wanted that to be a natural transition over the next two to three years for Brad. I think he wants to continue to drive much longer than that, and that’s fine. We applaud that. Like I said, we want to give Brad, because we have such immense respect and appreciation for Brad, every opportunity to do all the things he wants to do in his career. But that’s what makes it so hard, right? This is a business, and we just weren’t aligned with that, and that happens. We just wanted to make the competition side more of a focus. He wanted to focus more on the driving side. We get that, and that’s why it took us so long to get here.”

Keselowski wouldn’t delve into the specifics of his departure, though he remains appreciative of the opportunity to dip his toes into Cup Series ownership with RFK. He doesn’t consider himself sentimental, but knew the writing was on the wall that he wouldn’t be returning to the organization in 2027 over the past 30 days.

“It’s been a hell of a ride,” Keselowski stated in his opening remarks, swarmed by the media. “I’ve gotten to enjoy everything I’ve gotten to do with RFK – and my career is not over by any means. There’s still a lot of things to work out. I can’t really go into details of how we got to where we are at least at this time until a few more things develop.”

Bowers said he was surprised that the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement to extend Keselowski’s tenure within the organization. He acknowledged that there were zero arguments between the 2012 champion and Roush Enterprises and Fenway Sports Group over the direction of the company.

Keselowski wasn’t as perplexed, mentioning: “There’s a lot of things that surprise me, but this was not one of them.”

MORE: Weekend schedule | Projected results for Las Vegas

Keselowski remains interested in being part of an ownership group in the future, saying it’s “doubtful” this marks the end of his time as a team owner in the sport.

“I still love the sport and want to be around long after my driving days are done,” Keselowski said, defiantly.

Bowers stated a solid foundation was laid internally for RFK to succeed in the future. He credits that to Keselowski’s vision for the organization as he helped change the culture internally upon arriving in 2022.

“We feel we’ve gone to an area where we’ve become more competitive than we’ve been historically,” Bowers added. “Now it’s time to take the next step. We have a great deal of belief that we have the right people to do that and look forward to adding additional talent to help us get there.”

One of Keselowski’s key hires was driver Ryan Preece ahead of the 2025 season. Preece, who won his way into The Chase presented by Mobil 1 in the regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway, considers Keselowski a great teammate and someone who helped the New Englander find his voice. He’s not concerned about the upcoming change at RFK.

“This is an opportunity to keep building the house, man. It’s not going to get torn down,” Preece stated. “I see a lot of glass-half-empty things and I’m a glass-half-full guy. We have a really strong foundation at RFK and right now. I’m a racer; it’s taken me too damn long to win races and I feel like we want to keep going that way.”

Bowers, who leads a company of roughly 200 employees, said he isn’t concerned the change will fracture relationships within the organization. While he credits Keselowski for helping establish RFK’s new culture, he emphasized that changing the organization’s trajectory has been a collective effort.

“Culture is not led by one person; it’s led by many, and a lot of that credit goes to all the people in our organization who see the vision of what we’re trying to accomplish,” Bowers said. “It starts at the top. I’ve got a mentor in our business who always says the best recipe for success in professional sports is three ingredients: ownership, ownership, and ownership. And so, when you’ve got great ownership at the top, we trickle down the communication of we want to be great, and this is what greatness looks like in our eyes, and we want you to be a part of that.”

Keselowski says he’s received multiple phone calls from various industry members and was pleasantly surprised by the feedback he received on social media since the announcement on Tuesday. He has yet to sign anything for the 2027 season, believing there will be multiple options on the table.

“I’m open to everything,” Keselowski elaborated, admitting that running a full-time season in the Craftsman Truck Series would pique his interest, potentially becoming the first driver to win championships in all three national touring series. “I’m going to look at the best opportunity that comes at me and then make a decision.”

The 36-time Cup winner hopes to have his immediate future secured in the next two months. He’s not sweating his driving career, believing there is enough interest throughout the sport to find a new home.

As for the legacy Keselowski leaves at RFK, he’s proud of helping transform the organization from a “tier-three team” into one on the cusp of becoming a “tier one” operation within the Ford camp.

“I’m really proud about the things that we’ve done and the people that have been able to work with and see grow and develop and some of the turnaround from the company and team. It’s a thrill of a lifetime to be a part of,” Keselowski said. “You always hate to leave that, lose that, whatever that might be. It is part of life. It’s kind of like leaving high school, but that’s where we’re at.”

Keselowski will start 16th in Sunday’s South Point 400 (5:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on by Staff Report

Thirty-six aces are heading to Sin City this weekend. But only one will hit the jackpot.

The NASCAR Cup Series rolls to Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday (5:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) as The Chase presented by Mobil 1 reaches the halfway mark. Once the South Point 400 is completed, just five races remain to crown the 2026 champion. Las Vegas is the second of three consecutive races at 1.5-mile circuits, and like last weekend at Kansas Speedway, it could shake up the postseason.

RELATED: Starting lineup | At-track photos

But unlike the first three Chase races, Kansas wasn’t defined by chaos. Kyle Larson dominated, leading 235 laps and scoring a perfect 76-point day — the first in this points format. That elevated him 26 points ahead of Denny Hamlin for the series lead, and as evidenced by a trio of victories in Vegas, he’ll likely be a factor again on Sunday. A finish of fifth or better would give Larson five straight top fives to open the postseason, matching a feat Joey Logano accomplished in 2014.

Read on to see drivers worth monitoring over 267 laps, as well as Racing Insights’ full projections for the key Chase bout.

DRIVERS TO WATCH

DENNY HAMLIN: A Denny Hamlin victory at a 1.5-miler is seemingly a coin flip these days. The last two times the Cup Series has visited Vegas, that coin has landed on heads. The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver scored a key playoff victory there last fall, and backed it up again this spring with his first dub of 2026. For Hamlin to keep up with Larson, he’ll need another stellar Vegas showing. Hamlin has finished fourth or better in each of the last eight races on 1.5-mile tracks, with an average finish of 2.4. His last three Cup victories all came in succession at Nashville, Michigan and Pocono — three somewhat comparable tracks even though they all feature different sizes and characteristics. The Chase has been by no means dominant for the future Hall of Famer, but that could change this weekend as he continues pursuing his first title.

CHRISTOPHER BELL: With how well he’s historically performed at intermediates, it’s almost hard to believe that Bell hasn’t won at Las Vegas before. He led 155 laps in this race two years ago before pit strategy relegated him to runner-up, his second P2 finish in Sin City. Bell finished inside the top five in five of the last seven Las Vegas races, as well as three of the last four. Widening the scope, he’s placed inside the top 10 in nine of the last 11 1.5-mile races. Despite finishing sixth last weekend at Kansas, the Oklahoman dropped 33 points to Larson up top, now facing a 50-point deficit. A strong run for Bell could launch him back into the championship discussion.

TEAM PENSKE: All three drivers from the Roger Penske-owned organization are on here for different reasons, but the common denominator is that they need strong weekends to remain in the championship hunt. Austin Cindric is on a career heater, averaging an eighth-place finish over the last seven races and coming home second last weekend at Kansas — his first top five at a 1.5-mile track. He does, however, own a pair of P6 finishes at Las Vegas, and enters the race minus-140. Joey Logano is a machine in Sin City, winning four times — the most among active drivers — with two of them coming in 2022 and 2024 (remember the even-year thing?). However, Logano has generally struggled at 1.5-mile circuits this year with a 20.3 average finish, and is 67 points behind the lead after finishing 20th at Kansas. Finally, Ryan Blaney has had plenty of lost wages in Vegas, averaging a P30 over his last four trips here. He has just four top 10s in the last nine 1.5-mile events, and desperately needs to stop the bleeding after two DNFs in the first four Chase races. Blaney sits 91 points back of Larson.

MORE: What to Watch: Las Vegas

FULL PROJECTED RESULTS FOR SOUTH POINT 400 (5:30 p.m. ET, USA)

Rk#Driver
111Denny Hamlin
25Kyle Larson
320Christopher Bell
419Chase Briscoe
524William Byron
622Joey Logano
745Tyler Reddick
89Chase Elliott
954Ty Gibbs
1017Chris Buescher
117Daniel Suárez
122Austin Cindric
1323Bubba Wallace
1460Ryan Preece
1548Alex Bowman
161Ross Chastain
1712Ryan Blaney
186Brad Keselowski
1977Carson Hocevar
2016AJ Allmendinger
2143Erik Jones
223Austin Dillon
2371Michael McDowell
2421Josh Berry
2538Zane Smith
2697Shane van Gisbergen
2747Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
284Noah Gragson
2942John H Nemechek
3034Todd Gilliland
3135Riley Herbst
3241Cole Custer
3388Connor Zilisch
3410Ty Dillon
3533Austin Hill
3651Cody Ware