The NASCAR Cup Series heads home to North Carolina for its third consecutive race on an intermediate track at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The Bank of America 400 will be the sixth of 10 races in The Chase presented by Mobil 1 and the 32nd points-paying event overall in 2026. This will be the first fall race on the 1.5-mile Charlotte oval since October 2017, after using the Roval configuration from 2018 through 2025.
After Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson gutted out a runner-up finish at Las Vegas, he extended his championship lead at the halfway mark of The Chase to 40 points over Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin entering Charlotte.
Three non-chartered entries will compete in the Charlotte fall race — Corey Heim in the No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota, Gray Gaulding in the No. 66 Garage 66 Ford and NY Racing Team’s No. 44 Chevrolet.
Thirty-nine cars are entered into this weekend’s Chase race.
LAS VEGAS — If there’s one thing the NASCAR Cup Series garage unequivocally agreed on Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, it’s that Kyle Larson is the standard right now.
Through five races of The Chase presented by Mobil 1, Larson has yet to finish outside the top five, with a mind-melting 2.2 average finish and 54.6 points per race.
Sunday was Larson’s grittiest performance yet for the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team. With crew chief Cliff Daniels leading the rally, Larson charged back from a 26-second pit stop, falling off the lead lap and wading through abysmal early handling to contend for the win before finishing second.
Just when it seemed like Larson was due for his first day of postseason trouble, he, Daniels and Co. found a way back toward the top of the mountain all over again — spelling further trouble for his fellow Chase contenders behind him.
“We’vedoneitbefore,soit’snotlikeasurprise,” Larson said of his rally. “Becauseofthat,Iwasconfidentthatwecoulddigourselvesoutofitandpotentiallygetawinoutoftheday,andwealmostdidthat. Soyeah.Iwishourbalancehadbeenclosertofireoff justbecauseweleftsomanystagepointsoutthere.We’replus-40,anditcouldeasilybeplus-50.Soalittlebitofamissedopportunity,butdefinitelyagreatrebound,soyeah,happywiththefight.”
Another man satisfied with Larson’s resilience was Jeff Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports’ vice chairman, legendary four-time Cup champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer.
“Justsoproudofyouguys,man,” Gordon told Larson on pit road. “Thatwasahellofabattle.Iknowthatwasn’t funatthebeginning, but …”
“Itwasnot,” Larson said, “butitwas fun at the end.”
“That’schampionship-caliber effort right there, man,” Gordon said.
Gordon knows exactly what that looks like.
The NASCAR Hall of Famer exuded it for a decade before his own protégé, Jimmie Johnson, joined Hendrick Motorsports with crew chief Chad Knaus in 2002 and began rewriting NASCAR history. During Johnson’s unprecedented stretch of five consecutive Cup Series championships from 2006 through 2010, his best five-race start in The Chase was a 3.2 average finish in 2009. But something about how Johnson’s No. 48 team operated always stood out: even in the throes of adversity, Johnson and Knaus could overcome anything.
A prime example came during the 2008 edition of The Chase. On a day when Johnson was penalized and lapped early, Carl Edwards led 98 laps and stormed to the win at Atlanta Motor Speedway (now EchoPark Speedway), putting his elation on display in Victory Lane as he looked to chip into Johnson’s point lead. But mid-interview, Edwards learned Johnson had rallied all the way back to second place — and the dejection that crossed Edwards’ face summed up the No. 48 team’s peak.
The same sentiment was shared nearly 18 years later by Sunday’s race winner, Chase Briscoe. Briscoe swept both stages en route to the win, collecting 75 points and slicing 39 points from his deficit to Larson. He leaves Las Vegas 84 points behind the championship leader. But there in his shadow was the No. 5 car anyway — a team that has direct roots to the old No. 48 team, on which Daniels served as a race engineer from 2015 through 2018.
“Icouldseelikeaglimmeroflikeneonyellow (in the rearview mirror),andIcouldn’ttellifitwasBlaneyorLarson,” Briscoe recalled. “Ikeptthinking, ‘man,ifthat’sLarson,he’sgottobereally,reallygoodtobeabletogofromtheback,driveallthewaybacktothefield.’ Andyeah,obviouslyIsawkindofapeekofhimatlike10togo.I’mlike, ‘yep,that’sthe5.’ Andyeah,Imeanthey’reachampionship-caliberteam.Imean,theywonthechampionshiplastyear.They’ve wonthem inthepast,andthat’swhatultimatelychampionshipteamsdo.Theycanrallyfromstufflikethat.”
This time, the comeback began with a Stage 1 setback. Larson qualified sixth but quickly dropped to 14th in the first 33 laps. Daniels, in his ever-diligent, never-panic demeanor, crafted a plan for significant adjustments under green-flag conditions that ultimately led to a 26-second pit stop as the team adjusted the front ride heights and crossweight of the vehicle.
Larson admitted he didn’t think the stop or fix would take that long and worried the team had found something broken during the stop. Instead, while he did lose a lap in the process, he was able to take the wave around when the caution flag waved at Lap 45 for a crash by Zane Smith. Larson got back onto the lead lap, stayed there through another pit stop and eventually had a car capable of competing for the win.
“It took so long that, yeah, we came out behind the leaders, and I was like, ‘Damn, this is not good,’ ” Larson said. “But that caution coming out with minimal laps on our tires to do the wave really kind of saved our day.”
And in the process, Larson and Co. delivered dejection to the rest of his competitors.
Tyler Reddick, a five-time winner this season, has battled plenty of issues with his 23XI Racing team through the second half of the season. That continued Sunday at Las Vegas as the No. 45 Toyota dealt with voltage gremlins and the team had to swap out its battery during the Stage 1 break. This time, though, Reddick was able to storm back to a third-place finish — even after Larson bounced off the wall and contact between the two sent Reddick spinning coming to the checkered flag.
Christopher Bell ran the final half of the race without power steering. Crew chief Adam Stevens speculated that the power-steering cooler was cracked, allowing water into the system and boiling the power-steering fluid out of the car.
“Neverfunrunningwithoutpowersteering,” Bell said. “ButIdon’tknow,IgotintoaprettygoodrhythmwhereIcouldjustkindofrollaround,andmycarwashandlinggoodenoughthatIcouldjustrollaroundanddoOK.Justdisappointingtohaveagreatopportunityinfrontofusandnotcome awaywithit.”
Sitting third in points, Bell is still very much in contention for the championship, trailing Larson by 55 points. But a 19th-place finish at Gateway and a 23rd-place finish Sunday hinder those title hopes.
Briscoe has climbed to sixth and whittled his margin to 84 points, but he sees time running out.
Larson, meanwhile, has no intention of letting off the gas, seeking to continue his historic start to The Chase. He has gained 95 points on Hamlin through five races, transforming a 55-point deficit as the No. 7 seed into a 40-point championship lead.
Patrick Emerling, a Modified Tour winner at Thompson, enters the finale with a comfortable, 30-point advantage on Austin Beers in the race for the title. He’ll look to put the finishing touches on his first championship with a strong performance.
Saturday night’s event will mark the 161st Modified Tour race held at historic speedway dating back to 1985. Mike Stefanik leads all drivers with 15 Modified Tour wins at the track, with Justin Bonsignore right on his heels with 14 victories. Other notable winners include Ted Christopher, Jeff Fuller, Tony Hirschman, Doug Coby, Rick Fuller and the most recent Tour winner at the track, Matt Hirschman, among others.
Tickets to Saturday’s World Series 150 are available trackside. Below is everything you need to know about the 2026 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season finale.
No track has hosted more NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour races than Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park. (Photo: Jaiden Tripi/NASCAR)
World Series 150 at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park
In his ninth full season of Modified Tour racing, Patrick Emerling is on the verge of his first championship.
Emerling, a five-time winner this season in NASCAR’s oldest division, enters the finale at Thompson with a 30-point margin in the battle for the championship. A finish of 25th or better will clinch the championship for Emerling no matter what second-place Austin Beers does.
A win at Thompson would simply be icing on the cake for Emerling, but there’s a stout field of competitors who will look to deny Emerling that satisfaction.
Chief among them is Matt Hirschman, the most recent Thompson winner in Modified Tour competition. Hirschman also leads the FloRacing Connecticut Challenge, which concludes at Thompson. The four-race miniseries featuring the four Modified Tour events in the state of Connecticut will pay $7,500 to the champion.
Beers, who has gone winless thus far in 2026 with KLM Motorsports, will look to close the season with his first win at Thompson. While the championship seems unlikely, Beers can still end the season in Victory Lane if things go according to plan Saturday.
Justin Bonsignore and the Ken Massa Motorsports should also be among the contenders. Bonsignore enters the event with 14 Thompson victories, one shy of the record held by NASCAR Hall of Famer Mike Stefanik. A win Saturday would put Bonsignore in rarified air.
Another notable entry is that of Eric Goodale, who will make his 250th Modified Tour start Saturday. His most recent series victory came at Thompson in 2022, something he’d like to replicate this weekend.
Other notable entries include Stephen Kopcik, Teddy Hodgdon, Doug Coby, Jon McKennedy, Tyler Rypkema, Mike Christopher Jr., Chase Dowling and Paulie Hartwig III, among others.
Austin Beers (64) leads Matt Hirschman (60) during the Thompson 150 earlier this season at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park. (Photo: Jaiden Tripi/NASCAR)
SCHEDULE: Saturday, Oct. 10: Practice at 5 p.m. … American Racer Pole Award qualifying at 6:30 p.m. … Start of the World Series 150 (150 Laps / 93.75 Miles) at 8 p.m. ET.
QUALIFYING: Two consecutive qualifying laps. (EIRI) Faster lap determines qualifying position. Adjustments or repairs may not be made on the vehicle after the vehicle has taken the green flag at the start/finish line. NASCAR reserves the right to have more than one vehicle engage in qualifying runs at the same time. Starting field for the World Series 150 presented by FloSports.com is limited to 30 starters including Provisional Positions.
TIRE ALLOTMENT: The maximum tire allotment available for this event is eleven (11) tires per team. All tires used for qualifying and the race must be purchased at the track and scanned by NASCAR Officials, unless otherwise approved in advance by the Series Director. The same four (4) tires must be used for qualifying and to begin the race. The remaining tire allotment may be used for change tires. Maximum of three (3) tires of the allotment may be used as change tires. The tire change rule is two (2) tires per stop. This includes “swapping” tires front to back.
The list of problems for drivers in The Chase presented by Mobil 1 on Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was long, but that wasn’t the case for Chase Briscoe, who swept the stages en route to winning the South Point 400 and scoring 75 points on the day. It was Briscoe’s second win of the 2026 season, with both coming on 1.5-mile tracks, and with one more 1.5-mile track left in this all-important three-race stretch.
Here’s where we stand in The Chase after the NASCAR Cup Series left Las Vegas last night and before Sunday’s Bank of America 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Even on what started out as a bad day, Kyle Larson had a good day, and that’s bad news for the rest of The Chase competitors. Larson rebounded from a 26-second pit stop in Stage 1 at Las Vegas and overcame an ill-handling car at times to finish second despite tangling with Tyler Reddick on the final lap and needing his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet to be towed away from the race track. In other words, the door seemed to be open for someone to close the gap in the standings, but Larson just wouldn’t let it happen.
Now the field is left hoping just to hold serve against Larson at Charlotte, the final 1.5-mile track in this three-race stretch, before better opportunities to gain ground at Phoenix, Talladega and Martinsville come along. What his Las Vegas performance showed was that Larson can be a legitimate threat to win a race even when his equipment and setup might not be optimal. And that’s just the sign of a great driver, which we all knew Larson was, but sometimes need a reminder of from time to time to know just how great.
When Chase Briscoe’s crew chief James Small was asked after the Las Vegas win what his driver needs to do to catch Larson, he said it was simple, win more races. Except as Small and everyone else in NASCAR knows, it’s not that simple. And that’s especially true when you’re chasing someone as versatile, as resilient, and as seemingly unshakable as Larson.
The Chase Board
Denny Hamlin just keeps losing ground to Larson, and those who witnessed Hamlin’s dominance throughout the season are wondering when he’s finally going to take a stand. After a 16th-place finish at Las Vegas, Hamlin lost another 14 points to Larson and the gap is now 40 points heading to Charlotte. That margin is getting dangerously close to being unreachable in one race, so the time is now for Denny to do something. Hamlin has one win in 35 races at Charlotte, but it came in the Next Gen car in the 2022 Coca-Cola 600. He also had top-five finishes at Charlotte in 2024 and earlier this season. The last time the Bank of America 400 was on the oval track (2017), Hamlin finished fourth.
Christopher Bell was headed for a good day at Las Vegas until power-steering issues relegated him to a 23rd-place finish. Before that, Bell was running up front, finishing second in Stage 1 and third in Stage 2. It was those 17 stage points that kept him afloat on a 31-point day at Las Vegas, but he still dropped five points to Larson in the standings and is 55 points behind heading to Charlotte. On the bright side, Bell has been great in the Next Gen car at Charlotte, with a win and three other top 10s in five appearances. So he might not be done yet.
Austin Cindric led another banner day for Team Penske with a fourth-place finish at Las Vegas, this following a second-place run at Kansas. Ryan Blaney (fifth place) and Joey Logano (10th) joined Cindric in the top 10 as Team Penske has found something for the 1.5-mile tracks. Cindric gained 12 points on Larson but still sits 128 points back and likely out of contention. Blaney gained 11 points to pull to within 80 points back while Logano lost four points to drop 71 points back. But if Blaney and Logano can gain ground at Charlotte, then they will be in good shape heading to favorable tracks in Phoenix and Talladega for the organization.
Rank
Driver
Points Behind
Gain/Loss to Leader
1
Kyle Larson
--
Gained 14
2
Denny Hamlin
-40
Lost 14
3
Christopher Bell
-55
Lost 5
4
Joey Logano
-71
Lost 4
5
Ryan Blaney
-80
Gained 11
6
Chase Briscoe
-84
Gained 39
7
Tyler Reddick
-106
Gained 5
8
Ty Gibbs
-110
Lost 16
9
Austin Cindric
-128
Gained 12
10
Bubba Wallace
-137
Gained 3
11
Carson Hocevar
-158
Lost 8
12
William Byron
-160
Lost 2
13
Chase Elliott
-163
Lost 2
14
Daniel Suárez
-195
Lost 8
15
Chris Buescher
-196
Lost 10
16
Ryan Preece
-200
Lost 27
Source: Racing Insights
Next Up
Charlotte Motor Speedway ends a stretch of three straight 1.5-mile tracks, and we’ve already talked about how some of the main competitors have done there in the past. This is the first time the oval will be in play for the fall race since 2017, so in a sense, everyone is coming in not knowing completely what to expect. Hopefully, the teams can get practice and qualifying in on Saturday to hone in on their setups for what will be another pivotal race in The Chase.
As one might expect, Hamlin is the top laps leader at Charlotte with 543, but he’s also the one with the most races there (35) by far. William Byron is next with 485 laps led (in just 10 races), followed by Larson with 447, Chase Elliott with 342 and Logano with 340. The mantle of most wins among active drivers belongs to non-Chase driver Brad Keselowski with two. After that, seven Chase drivers have one win at the track, including Elliott, Logano, Larson, Hamlin, Suárez, Blaney and Bell.
In average finish, it’s Tyler Reddick at the top at 9.5 (in eight races), Bell at 11.8 (in eight races), followed by Hamlin (11.8), Logano (13.1) and Byron (13.2). Expect The Chase contenders to be running up front and for all of them to have their eyes on Larson. And like Las Vegas, how teams react to the unexpected could be a big factor, as well as how many unforced errors they can avoid themselves.
LAS VEGAS — The steady progress made behind the scenes at Team Penske is finally translating on intermediate tracks. Its trio of teams reaped the rewards at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, putting all three entries inside the top 10 and keeping the organization’s championship hopes firmly intact.
Despite Austin Cindric and Ryan Blaney cracking the top five in last week’s showdown at Kansas Speedway, questions remained about whether Team Penske had truly turned the corner at the 1.5-mile tracks in the heart of The Chase presented by Mobil 1. Was Kansas merely a blip, or could the organization sustain its upward trajectory in Sin City?
The two champion teammates of Blaney and Joey Logano wasted little time climbing up the leaderboard from mid-pack starting spots in Sunday’s South Point 400. Blaney raced to third in the opening stage, with Cindric two positions behind. Logano narrowly missed out on stage points, taking the green-and-checkered flag in 12th place.
While championship hopefuls stumbled throughout the 267-lap affair, all three Penske cars remained steady. The lone misstep came from the No. 2 team, which fumbled its pit stop at the conclusion of Stage 1. A Lap 94 debris caution gave crew chief Brian Wilson an opportunity to get ahead of the strategy, however, calling Cindric to pit road while the bulk of the field stayed out. Cindric then stretched his fuel mileage to the end of the stage, finishing runner-up to Chase Briscoe.
“We didn’t start the race necessarily as close as we needed to and didn’t start practice as close as we needed to, but the guys worked on it all day and gave us some strengths that we didn’t have before,” Cindric said after the race, earning consecutive top-five finishes for the first time in his 182-race career. “It takes a great team.”
Blaney scored 15 stage points Sunday afternoon, tied with Cindric for third-most in the race. During a caution-free final segment, Cindric passed his teammate to finish fourth, giving both drivers top-five finishes in consecutive weeks. Logano rounded out the top 10.
With Kyle Larson’s early woes, Blaney gained 11 points on his championship deficit, now 80 markers behind the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Logano surrendered only four points to the championship lead, merely a net positive for the No. 22 team at an intermediate track.
“Our mile-and-a-half stuff has definitely been getting better and better,” Blaney told NASCAR.com. “Props to everybody for that. That’s encouraging. Just try to keep going; try to take little chunks at a time.
“I think we’re definitely on the right path. I do think there’s a little way to go for raw speed, especially early in runs — [Briscoe] was lights out early in runs. He faded but built the gap to where we couldn’t quite make it up. We’re getting there, but definitely not where we want to be, but you’ve got to start somewhere.”
Logano was pleased with the progress from the Las Vegas race in March, when he took the checkered flag in 15th. That makes consecutive strong performances at 1.5-mile tracks for the No. 22 team, though he corded a tire in the waning laps at Kansas and limped to 20th in the final rundown.
“There were moments where we were good on the short run and moments we were good on the long run, but having both, it was hard to have that,” Logano said. “Just an OK day. But OK on a mile-and-a-half is improvement for us.”
Cindric remains ninth on the Chase grid and needs to convert a few Hail Marys to erase a 128-point deficit with five races remaining in the 2026 season. Logano (minus-71) and Blaney (minus-80), meanwhile, still believe they are within striking distance, particularly with the way the back half of the postseason schedule is shaping up.
“We’re close enough to say we can do it,” Logano said. “We’re right on the edge, though. We can race with nothing to lose because we’re right on that edge of being able to win the championship.”
Said Blaney: “Still doable. I would have rather gained 11 today than lose 11.”
The swing of intermediate races concludes on Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where Penske earned a pair of top 10s (Blaney seventh, Logano eighth) during the Coca-Cola 600 in May.
Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick tangled on the last lap of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race, going for wild rides but ultimately holding their positions at the finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Larson was running second as he pursued eventual winner Chase Briscoe, and his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet clanged against the outside retaining wall as he rode the high groove at the end of Sunday’s South Point 400. He slowed after the contact, and Reddick’s No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota piled in before it veered sharply into the infield grass.
Larson kept his Kyle Busch tribute car rolling with sizable right-side damage and ended up second, 1.376 seconds behind Briscoe’s No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota at the checkered flag. Reddick ended up third.
“I was just trying to push it through (Turns) 3 and 4 to build some momentum at him and try to get by him down the straightaway,” said Larson, who has now finished first or second in the last four Cup Series races. “I just got really loose and overcorrected it into the wall. Thankfully, I was able to limp it home. It got exciting, for sure. I wish I could have won in this paint scheme while honoring Kyle because that would have been in very Kyle Busch fashion, but again, it was a great fight by this team.”
Larson, who recovered from early handling woes that left him a lap down to eventually contend in the late going, expanded his lead in the Cup Series standings to 40 points over second-place Denny Hamlin in The Chase presented by Mobil 1 postseason. He described Sunday’s showing as “a fight all day long.”
Reddick, who rallied after mechanical trouble early on, gained five points on the leader but sits 106 points out. He equaled his best finish in this year’s Chase, a third-place finish from the pole in the postseason opener last month at Darlington Raceway.
“That pretty much sums up what today was like,” Reddick said of the closing laps. “Just one thing after another for us. Just really proud of everyone’s effort on this Jordan Brand Toyota Camry. We didn’t lose a lap changing the battery there, and we were able to drive back to the front — it just took too long. It put us in a spot where we had to be perfect on that final run, and unfortunately, we had some more mistakes and we came out behind the 5 (Larson) after we got by him in the first part of that run.
“I think ultimately that was the difference. If we could have stayed ahead of him leaving pit road, I think we get to those cars first and maybe don’t burn up as much. I think we could have won today.”
LAS VEGAS – This was supposed to be the week Denny Hamlin quelled all concerns and fought back into definitive championship contention. Instead, his title hopes may have dimmed … again.
Starting from the Busch Light pole position, Hamlin had ample speed in Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. But by the end of the opening stage, the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was coming from behind.
Hamlin spun from fourth place while chasing Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney with three laps remaining in Stage 1, costing himself crucial stage points. Cutting across the apron damaged the splitter on the No. 11, and his car was never the same afterward.
“Just trying to make up track position that we lost and trying to push to get it back,” Hamlin told a group of reporters after taking the checkered flag in 16th position. “Evidently, there was marbles or something up there – it was quite odd. I went up there to try to get a run and just spun out and obviously damaged the car.
“They are telling me every point matters, and I was trying to get the spots back that we lost.”
The damage to Hamlin’s track position was done well before the Lap 77 spin. When Zane Smith spun on Lap 43, Chris Gayle, crew chief of the No. 11, called Hamlin to pit road for two fresh Goodyear tires. It proved to be a double whammy: Kyle Larson’s No. 5 team had taken a major gamble during the opening stage and lost a lap after a 26-second pit stop for mass adjustments, but the caution allowed him to take the wave-around. Eight cars stayed on the track, putting Hamlin ninth for the restart.
Hamlin worked his way back to fourth with relative ease, but closing the gap to the two cars ahead proved far more difficult. In hindsight, Gayle admitted he would like a mulligan on the decision, opting instead to keep Hamlin on the track rather than send him to pit road and drop the No. 11 back through the field.
“I worry more about the part of it that I can control and the part of it I can control is, I probably should not have pitted there,” a fiery Gayle said post-race. “That’s what took us from the lead — the 19 and 20 stayed behind us and a few guys after the green-flag cycle that stayed there. That’s where we pit, I knew five or six guys would stay out — we had a couple more better cars with the 19 and 20 staying out.”
After dropping into the low 20s, Hamlin rallied to 14th by the end of Stage 2. His race took another major hit on Lap 170 when the No. 11 lost fuel pressure while preparing for a restart, costing him another 12 positions. Hamlin clawed back a handful of spots over the final 96-lap run to finish 16th, second among the Joe Gibbs Racing entries after the organization had its cars running first through fourth in the opening laps, seemingly setting the stage for a Toyota runaway.
Instead, Larson holds the championship lead by 40 points over Hamlin with five races remaining in the 2026 campaign.
“You just have to play the ball where it lies,” Hamlin said, “and where it lies is we have a little gap we’ve got to make up so we’ve got to perform at our best.”
Gayle was even more frustrated to have surrendered 14 points on a day when the No. 11 team appeared poised to gain momentum.
“It sucked. It don’t matter, what did we finish 16th? I didn’t even look at it, I was so mad,” a blunt Gayle stated. “Great that we’re only 40 out, so we gave up 14. Great that we didn’t give up more than that because we probably deserved to.”
Through the first five events in The Chase presented by Mobil 1, Hamlin has an average finish of 10.8, scoring a best of third last week at Kansas Speedway. Compare that to Larson’s heater of a 2.2 average finish in those same races — all top fives — and the No. 5 team has gained 95 points on the No. 11 bunch in that timeframe.
Hamlin and the JGR brass know that, despite the speed bumps that have dotted the first half of the postseason, there is still plenty of racing left before the championship is settled.
“We haven’t had any [catastrophic] days but certainly had our fair share of not performing,” a subdued Hamlin said. “Today, leaving a bazillion points on the table considering where we were before the wreck.”
But team owner Joe Gibbs has seen this story before and isn’t willing to give up hope yet.
“I think it’s pretty miraculous considering everything that’s happened in these first five races,” Gibbs acknowledged. “Everybody can see, you win a race and have a day like Chase [Briscoe] did today, you get 70-something points – I think that’s where we are with the 11. We need a win, and I think we will be right on top of it. We’ve got five races. I only go off of the first five and it’s been wild. I think the next five will be the same way.”
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.
“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.
“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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.”
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.
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.
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,Idefinitelythinkitwasourbest intermediatequalifyingoftheyear,Youknow,wewere(31st)thistimeinthespring,” Cindric said. “Ourguysdidagreatjob.Imean,havinghavingagooddrawhelpsaswell. Goingoutthatlategivesalotofconfidencetowatchothercarsandknowwhattodo.Butno,IthoughtwemadealotofprogressinashortamountoftimeonourAutotrader Ford Mustanginpracticeandobviouslyshowedinqualifyingforthem.”
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.
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,itdefinitelyaddsalotofconfidence,” Logano said. “Itsaysthepotential’sthere,right?Theyhadareallyfastcar — a car thatprobablycouldhavewontheracejustwithacouplelittleexecutionthingsbeingalittlebetter.Sothespeed’sthere. Thatmeansthepotential’sthere.It’sjustamatterofusgettingitall 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.
“Ithinkafewweeksagoorthelastmonthorso,youcouldprobablyattribute(Penske’s recent success)tothetracktype, but we’ve kind of checked the box at least with one mile-and-a-half,” Cindric said. “Butyeah,Ithink as you said,it’sateam.It’sawholegroupeffort. … It’s a year’sworth of worktogetustothispoint.Soyeah,proudtohaveobviouslythatworkpayoffandhopefullybeabletousethatnotebooktocontinuetoexcelfortheremainderoftheseason.”
In his ninth full season of Modified Tour racing, Patrick Emerling is on the verge of his first championship.
