After the seventh race of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs concluded at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, here’s a quick look at the playoff picture.
WINNER
Kyle Larson not only led 133 laps but also earned max points on the day and held off Christopher Bell to the checkered flag by 0.082 seconds. After just skating by in the Round of 12, Larson definitely put on a heater in the desert. He won the first two stages of the race and has a lot of positives to take away from his Chevrolet’s performance as he heads into the next two races with full steam.
Denny Hamlin. After hitting a few bumps last week in Charlotte, Hamlin surged back to competing up front at Las Vegas after qualifying the worst out of the eight playoff drivers. Hamlin certainly has the race craft to be in the mix every weekend.
Christopher Bell. It was a hard-fought day for Bell, with his battle with Larson in qualifying continuing right over to the final laps of Sunday’s race. Bell flat-out had the speed to win, but his last pit stop before the checkered flag was just a bit slower than Larson’s and may have been a factor in keeping him out of Victory Lane.
WHO’S NOT?
Tyler Reddick. After roaring back last week to put himself in the Round of 8, Reddick was quiet all day in Vegas and sits 16 points below the elimination line. On the bright side, Reddick will be eager to head to Homestead-Miami Speedway as it is one of his best tracks, with two top-five finishes in three starts.
Chris Buescher. While Buescher has looked the best out of the two Fords overall in the playoffs, the intermediate tracks have not been the No. 17’s friend. A mix of slow pit stops and not gaining any track positions during the race leave him looking way outside of being in the hunt.
NEXT RACE
The Round of 8 continues at Homestead-Miami for the 4EVER 400 Presented by Mobil 1 on Oct. 22 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
LAS VEGAS — Kyle Larson earned this trophy the old-fashioned way. The No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driver led the most laps and swept both stage wins but still had to hold off a hard-charging, equally motivated Christopher Bell at the start/finish line to claim a dramatic victory in Sunday’s South Point 400 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The 31-year-old Larson blocked the final charge by fellow playoff driver Bell’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota as the two cars approached the checkered flag. Larson ultimately positioned his Chevy in front to claim a 0.082-second win and secure the first of four available positions in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 race at Phoenix in three weeks.
It was a compelling afternoon ushering in this final three-race, eight-driver round of playoff competition to set up the four-driver title chase, with seven race leaders and 20 lead changes. Larson held off the field on a restart with 45 laps to go and never relinquished it despite quality challenges from Bell to close out the race and earlier, Roush Fenway Keselowski owner-driver Brad Keselowski, who led 38 laps himself.
Larson led seven times and accumulated the most laps led — 133 of 267 — on the afternoon to top the 1,000 laps led mark on the season. His 1,031 total laps out front in 2023 are the most in the series.
Not only did he have to hold off Bell, who made up half a second in the closing five laps to get to Larson’s bumper, but the 2021 series champ Larson survived a close call mid-race, his Chevy getting loose and out of control. But the former dirt race champion dramatically corrected and calmly carried on.
“Thankfully, Christopher [Bell] always races extremely clean. It could have gotten crazier than it did coming to the start-finish line, so thank you to him for racing with respect there,” Larson said. “What a job done by my team. Just a great race car.
“I almost gave it away there in turns 1 and 2. Got sideways and hit the wall and had to fight back from there. I was happy to pull away as much as we did and was hoping that would be enough to maintain, which it was. But I didn’t think they’d be able to get as close as they did at the end. So nerve-wracking.
“This is really cool to get to race for the championship in a few weeks, and really glad I don’t have to stress these next two races,” Larson continued.
Despite the impressive afternoon, Bell, who started from the pole position and led 61 laps, now finds himself ranked fifth, two points below the four-driver elimination line heading into next week’s playoff race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“I don’t know what else I could have done,” Bell said. “I feel like that was my moment, that was my moment to make the Final Four and didn’t quite capture it. Coming to the checkers there, I knew he was going to be blocking, so I’m like, I’ll try to go high, and he went high. I don’t even know if I had a run to get by him coming to the line. Just wasn’t enough, but a great day. Great day for sure to get those stage points and a second-place finish out of it. Puts us behind by two [points], so we’re not out of it by any means, but would have been nice to lock in.”
The non-playoff cars of Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch, RFK’s Keselowski and Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain rounded out the top five behind Larson and Bell.
Seven of the remaining eight playoff-eligible drivers finished inside the top 10. Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick and JGR’s Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin finished sixth through 10th, respectively. Blaney was initially disqualified in post-race inspection due to the left-front damper not meeting the overall specified length (Section 14.11.3.5). However, the penalty was rescinded on Monday.
The race shook up the postseason picture. Beyond Larson’s automatic bid, Byron still holds the championship lead in what is now more tightly bunched standings. The No. 24 is nine points up on Truex Jr. and Hamlin, who both are two points above the elimination line.
Reddick (-16), Blaney (-17) and Buescher (-23) round out the playoff driver’s positioning. Buescher’s 11th-place finish represented a decent rally for his car, which ran 15th-20th place for much of the day.
Hendrick Motorsports executive — and NASCAR Hall of Famer driver Jeff Gordon — smiled when asked about Larson’s day.
“I don’t know where to begin,” Gordon said. “It certainly looked like they were the class or the field at one point, then Bell did, then Keselowski did. Great race, really.”
Asked if Larson was potentially as “good” as the 93-race winner Gordon had been when competing, the former four-time series champion said, “You take a guy like Kyle and his capabilities and his talent, and he’s impressed me with his work ethic too. I wasn’t sure how he approached the Cup Series and [crew chief] Cliff [Daniels] and all the data that Cliff gives him in the meetings they have. .. it’s a lot of information you have to absorb.
“But he’s stepped up to the plate and done absolutely everything the organization has asked of him and then some. It’s been a great relationship, and this year has been all about getting the car and team to align.
“Seems like in the playoffs, they’ve been bringing fast race cars and stepping up to the plate.”
The next race of this final three-race playoff round to set the championship field is next Sunday’s 4EVER 400 Presented by Mobil 1 at the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). Larson is the defending race winner.
Note: Post-race inspection in the Cup Series garage concluded with confirmation of Larson as the race winner.
Editor’s Note: Projections have been updated after Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions:
The next two races in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs are taking place on 1.5-mile tracks, the first time all season that the schedule features back-to-back 1.5-milers. By now, we’ve enjoyed an ample sampling of who does well on these tracks and can therefore, get a good handle on who might end up in Victory Lane after Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). Plus, Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions did little to alter the favorites projected earlier in the week.
According to Racing Insights, William Byron leads with 218 points scored in the five races on 1.5-mile tracks this season. Byron is also the only driver with two wins on 1.5-mile tracks this year, including one in the spring at Las Vegas. Denny Hamlin is second in points with 183, followed by Tyler Reddick with 178, Ryan Blaney with 167 and Kyle Larson rounding out the top five with 164 points. In addition, Blaney, Hamlin and Reddick each have one win on a 1.5-mile track this year.
With that many Round of 8 drivers among the leaders in points and wins on 1.5-mile tracks, Sunday’s race figures to be quite the battle to gain the early edge for what many will say is the most important win of the year. How important is that edge? The driver who wins on Sunday gets two weeks to prepare for Phoenix, and that advantage has paid off three of the last five years with a championship at Phoenix.
PLAYOFF PICTURE
KYLE LARSON: The driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has a lot going for him at Las Vegas: He won there in March of 2021, finished in the top 10 in nine of his last 11 Vegas starts and has five career 1.5-mile wins. Look for Larson to be battling among the leaders all day.
MARTIN TRUEX JR.: Regular-season bonus points have helped carry Truex Jr. this far, but many, including Kyle Petty, wonder when he’ll flip the switch. It could happen this week at Las Vegas, where the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota is a two-time winner and is the only driver to finish in the top 10 in all three races with the Next Gen car.
CHRIS BUESCHER: The driver of the No. 17 RFK Racing Ford enters Las Vegas three points beneath the elimination line and will need to go against the statistical trends in order to make up ground. Buescher has just one top-10 finish in 13 Las Vegas starts and has never finished in the top five on a 1.5-mile track.
DENNY HAMLIN: Hamlin comes to Vegas just 11 points above the elimination line, but he scored the second-most combined points in the spring at Las Vegas and Martinsville with 79. The only driver better during those two races was Larson. Plus, Hamlin is one of four drivers in the Round of 8 with wins at all three of the tracks in this round.
RYAN BLANEY: Blaney is bringing up the rear in the standings, 10 points behind, and is known more for his superspeedway racing, but don’t overlook him on the 1.5-mile tracks. The driver of the Team Penske No. 12 Ford already has a win this year on a 1.5-mile track in the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Projections as of Sunday, Oct. 15:
RACING INSIGHTS’ PROJECTIONS FOR THE SOUTH POINT 400
Racing Insights’ advanced statistical formula includes current track, current track type, recent performance, team data and pit-crew data to arrive at a projected winner and full race results.
All season long, it’s been a battle between Hendrick Motorsports and Toyota for who is the best at intermediate tracks. It feels like we’ve got another case of that on our hands this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, though a couple of other teams could sprinkle in their speed. For the fourth time in seven playoff races this season, Christopher Bell will lead the field to the green flag and is a worthy addition to your fantasy lineup.
NEXT IN LINE: Denny Hamlin, Chris Buescher, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain
RISING: I’ve learned my lesson from earlier in the playoffs: Larson is needed for your lineup this weekend, no matter how many uses you have left with him. I’m not making the same mistake that I did at Bristol, where I opted not to use the No. 5 car, and he went out and scored the third most points in the race. Larson was quickest on 10-lap averages and looked to have among the best cars on the short run as well.
If the second half of the season has taught us anything about Buescher, it’s to leave any of his past trends in the rearview. Once again, he looked to have the best Ford in the field and will start fifth. Of the two Ford teams remaining in championship contention, this is the manufacturer’s best shot. Buescher ranked fourth on 10-lap averages.
FALLING: Sin City continues to plague Chase Elliott. His trajectory was moving in the right direction in the opening minutes of practice, ranking fourth on overall speed. But the No. 9 car cut a right-rear tire after running 15 laps — in which Elliott had the best 15-lap average in the field — and backed into the Turn 3 wall. With no laps in his backup car, you would be hard-pressed to use Elliott this weekend. However, there is only one direction to go from his 35th-place starting position.
With how consistent the No. 11 team has been over the last handful of months, it’s a weird site to see Hamlin struggle in practice and qualifying. Remember, though, earlier this week in Fastlane, I noted that Hamlin stated it takes him time to get the correct feel for his car at Las Vegas. That was likely the case on Saturday, but Hamlin was 30th on the speed chart and 18th for 10-lap averages.
FEATURED MATCHUPS:
Tyler Reddick vs. Ryan Blaney
Since the latter part of the 2022 season, Toyota has found a knack for finding maximum speed on intermediate tracks. That is where the manufacturer stands out, with five of its six drivers making the final round of qualifying on Saturday. Blaney looked decent, but I pulled him from my lineup because the No. 12 car doesn’t have the pace of Toyotas or Hendrick Motorsports. Meanwhile, Reddick might win the race outright.
Christopher Bell vs. Chris Buescher
This one has gotten a lot tougher from earlier this week because Buescher unloaded off the hauler fast. Bell was just a touch better, winning his sixth pole of the season. It wouldn’t be surprising if Buescher is a top-five threat, but Bell’s past success at the track makes me lean in his direction.
Kyle Larson vs. Denny Hamlin
This matchup has flipped, however. Two of the best crew chiefs in the garage work on the Nos. 5 and 11 teams. It’s safe to assume that Chris Gabehart will dial in on Hamlin’s car overnight and make the necessary adjustments to contend for the win. That’s what the No. 11 team does better than most teams. But this seems to be the perfect weekend for Larson to lock himself into the championship race in Phoenix via a victory. At least, that’s where I stand.
Martin Truex Jr. vs. William Byron
Here’s the battle of the second row. Byron bettered Truex by one position in qualifying and was two spots better on single-lap speed in practice. The No. 24 Chevrolet stood out on the long run, trailing only Larson. Clearly, I’m high on Toyotas at 1.5-mile tracks, but this could be setting up for a duplicate race that we saw from the spring with Byron and Larson dominating. With this matchup, I’m also leaning in Hendrick Motorsports’ direction.
LAS VEGAS — Riley Herbst’s charge to a dominant win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday left an unclaimed spot available in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4.
John Hunter Nemechek’s runner-up finish led the eight racers eligible in the Round of 8 ahead of fellow playoff participants Cole Custer, Chandler Smith, Sam Mayer, Justin Allgaier and Austin Hill, who finished third through seventh, respectively. Sheldon Creed finished 15th, one lap down, while Sammy Smith was scored 17th, two laps down.
Four drivers will advance to Phoenix Raceway to fight for the 2023 championship. With Herbst’s victory, at least two of those spots will be filled based on points standings.
Nemechek, who owns a series-best seven wins this year, was forced to rally from the rear of the field for the second week in a row after an oil leak sprung during Friday’s practice session. The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota gained a whopping 19 positions within the first four laps of the race and maximized the day, extending his cushion above the provisional elimination line to 47 points.
“What makes a championship team is how you overcome things like that,” Nemechek said. “We had a fast Toyota GR Supra. (Sponsor) Pye-Barker colors looked good again. Sucks that we couldn’t get them into Victory Lane, but we finished second, so solid day. Solid points day for us, and we’re just gonna continue to push forward onto Homestead next week.”
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Studios
Custer appeared to have one of the fastest cars in Saturday’s race, but the vehicle’s balance shifted too far loose, with its rear end slipping through the corners. He netted a race-best 19 stage points after leading 62 laps with a third-place finish and heads to Homestead on the bubble — but with a smile on his face.
“It’s awesome. I mean, we had a really fast car today,” Custer said. “Our guys did a great job. Just got loose on the long run and as the run went there. I thought the ‘track will tighten up here eventually,’ but it didn’t. So I would just stay free the whole time. And, you know, wish we had one more run there, maybe.”
Behind him on the track was Chandler Smith, who has embraced the underdog role throughout the course of these playoffs. The Kaulig Racing driver led 118 laps at Vegas in the spring before finishing third and nabbing fourth after leading 23 laps Saturday, his most since Nashville Superspeedway in June. Yet despite a strong finish and a second-best 14 stage points in Las Vegas, Smith lost four points to the elimination line, sits fifth and trails Custer by 15 points entering next week’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“That’s the sucky part is … you feel like you had such a good day today, then I go look at the point standings,” Smith said. “I was minus (11) going in, now minus 15. So that sucks, for sure. But it’s nobody’s fault but ours. We did a horrible job in the regular season and are paying (for) that now.”
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Studios
Mayer was busy celebrating one week ago with a clutch victory at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course to advance into the Round of 8. But an ill-handling car early set the No. 1 JR Motorsports team behind before he rallied for a fifth-place finish after failing to score stage points. The result in standings? Sixth, 16 points beneath the line to advance.
“We worked our tails off today,” Mayer told NASCAR.com. “We obviously finished well but did not give ourselves a good outlook on the next two races. But I have confidence in all our guys. I mean, we clutched up to get here in the first place. So the silver lining is we’re here, but obviously, we want to make the most of it. So we’ll have to go to Homestead, I think more than anything there to make something happen because we’re obviously in the hole right now. So we’re gonna have to dig deep.”
Allgaier, his JRM teammate, seemed poised for a better day than sixth place but told NASCAR.com that nose damage suffered on an early restart — combined with missing the balance transitioning from Friday’s sessions to Saturday’s race — factored into a mid-top-10 run. The good news is Allgaier sits second in points, 26 markers behind Nemechek, but up 21 on the elimination line.
“I think yesterday’s conditions versus today’s conditions,” Allgaier said. I probably would’ve adjusted a little more yesterday had we known, but on the other side of it, you don’t want to overadjust when conditions aren’t the same. Today was just off. We battled. We got stage points. We did all the right things. Are we safe by any means on these playoff points? No, but a non-playoff car winning today definitely makes that a little bit better.”
Hill was victorious in Vegas back in March by virtue of a late-race pass on Chandler Smith, but the No. 21 Richard Childress Chevrolet never truly factored into the fight for the lead, netting six stage points in the first stage but none in Stage 2, the team hindered by a loose wheel in the early goings of the contest.
“We definitely had to dig deep for today. It didn’t come easy,” Hill told NASCAR.com. “You know, we got through Stage 1 and thought we just needed to tighten up some. I didn’t think we needed a ton; we just needed to be a little tighter overall. Had a loose wheel on that stop. My guys have been awesome all year, so I can’t get mad at them about it. You know, nobody’s perfect. Everybody’s human. So things are gonna happen.
“So I just put my head down and tried to dig deep through there through Stage 2 and try to put ourselves back in a good spot. And you know, we were able to get back up there inside the top 10 and we really just need a few more cautions to fall our way and I think you would have seen us get back in the top five. I thought we had a top-five car. Not sure we had a winning car, but I thought we had a good, solid top-five car.”
Hill holds the third spot in the title standings for now, 19 points above the elimination line heading into Homestead.
His teammate Creed struggled through Saturday’s event and scored no stage points en route to his 15th-place run. JGR’s Sammy Smith suffered two loose wheels, including one during a green-flag pit cycle that forced him back to pit road a second time. Smith sits seventh in the standings, 35 points beneath the elimination line, while Creed enters Homestead eighth, 41 points out.
LAS VEGAS — It was a fitting venue, a perfect scenario for Riley Herbst to earn his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series race – a dominating 14.9-second victory in the Alsco Uniforms 302 at his home track, Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Herbst’s No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford led 103 of the 201 laps of the playoff race, leaving no room for error in this career-making day for the 24-year-old Las Vegas native. It was the most significant margin of victory in the series this season and nearly seven seconds better than the previous best margin of victory for an Xfinity Series race at this track – 8.4 seconds set back in 2002.
More than 60 of Herbst’s close friends and family members were trackside for this standout showing, and Herbst was understandably emotional as he climbed out of his Ford – earning his first trophy in his 139th series start.
“Oh my goodness, I love this town and I love this team,’’ Herbst said, effusively thanking the people – family, team owners and corporate sponsors – who had stuck by him as he made his way up the ranks.
“Oh my goodness, you don’t know what this means, what this takes off my chest. I can’t believe it. I love you, Las Vegas. Let’s go.’’
“I’ve been working on myself and everything I can control and all I can do is all I can do,’’ he added. “If there was a caution, there was a caution and we would race them straight up.’’
But he didn’t need to – leading the last 57 laps of the race and extending his lead with each circuit around the 1.5-mile Vegas high banks. Although he did not qualify for the 2023 playoffs, he led six of those championship challengers across the finish line.
Championship points leader Joe Gibbs Racing’s John Hunter Nemechek finished a distant runner-up to Herbst, followed by Herbst’s SHR teammate Cole Custer. Kaulig Racing’s Chandler Smith and JR Motorsports Sam Mayer rounded out the Top-5. Mayer’s teammate Justin Allgaier was sixth, followed by Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill rounding out that top-finishing playoff group.
JR Motorsports Brandon Jones, Kaulig teammates Daniel Hemric and Layne Riggs completed the Top 10. It was an especially impressive day for the 21-year-old Riggs, who was starting his second career Xfinity Series.
Only two of the eight playoff drivers finished outside the top 10. RCR’s Sheldon Creed was 15th and JGR’s Sammy Smith was 17th, rallying from mid-race pit road issues.
“I’m really disappointed,’’ Allgaier said. “A great points day and the guys did a great job. We got behind at the beginning, and hard to get it back. … Proud of the effort all day. Hats off to Riley. That was a demonstration right there.’’
The runner-up showing was Nemechek’s fifth Top-3 finish in the last six races. The series-leading seven-time race winner now holds a 47-point lead atop the playoff standings with two races – at Homestead-Miami and Martinsville, Va. – remaining to set the Championship 4 field for the Nov. 4 season finale in Phoenix.
“Congrats to Riley, I know he’s been trying to win one of these things for a long time,’’ Nemechek said, adding, “We got stage points. .. solid points day just have to keep on with it.’’
The sixth-place finishing Allgaier is second to Nemechek in the playoff standings, up 21 points on the cutoff line. Hill is ranked third, 19 points up, and Custer’s third-place effort (and stage win) was enough to move him into the Top-4. He holds a 15-point advantage over Chandler Smith for that final position.
Mayer is 16 points back, followed by Sammy Smith (-35) and Creed (-41).
The series moves to the 1.5-mile oval at Homestead-Miami Speedway for next Saturday’s Contender Boats 300 (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Note: Post-race inspection in the Xfinity Series garage concluded without issue, confirming Herbst as the race winner.
LAS VEGAS — Eight drivers are still eligible to win the NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2023. Four of them drive Toyotas.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell, Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin are joined by 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick as the manufacturer’s last daggers in the title hunt. Toyota hasn’t won a Cup championship since Kyle Busch netted his second triumph in 2019, and with only six full-time Toyotas on the grid, Toyota typically gets outnumbered on the race track.
Now, it has strength in numbers as Bell, Truex, Hamlin and Reddick chase a championship.
“They (Toyota) apply their resources to less cars, and obviously, they’ve been pretty successful doing that,” Hamlin said Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “And really, over the last 10 years, they’ve been solid when it really counts at the end, right? It’s a one-third or two-thirds disadvantage, but when you get down to the final eight and you got half the field, it’s pretty good, right? So certainly, I think that the way they do things has been really successful, so it’s hard for me to second guess that.”
Heading into Sunday’s race at Las Vegas (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App), Bell is the last man standing from last season’s 2022 Championship 4. The fourth-year Cup driver needed clutch walk-off wins last year to advance through the postseason. This year has been far less stressful, advancing to this round by a 27-point margin. Entering sixth after the round reset, eight points beneath the provisional elimination line, Bell carries valuable experience into this year’s title run.
“I know that from last year, my Round of 8 didn’t go well because I wrecked out here (at Vegas) and didn’t have a good Miami, but I was still able to win at Martinsville,” Bell said Saturday after scoring the Busch Light Pole Award in qualifying. “That will be in the back of my head that it can be done all the way to the last minute.”
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Reddick was third, quickest of the Toyotas, in Saturday’s practice session in Sin City before qualifying eighth for the South Point 400 in his No. 45 entry. This year marks his first under the Toyota Racing Development banner after spending the bulk of his young career with Chevrolet.
“They’ve been very beneficial to me as a driver and certainly the team this year,” Reddick said. “I’m new to it – my first year with Toyota. I’ve just been extremely pleased about what they bring to the table and how they operate. It has been a lot of fun. Personally, that would be really cool if the four Toyotas that are left can execute in this Round of 8 and we can lock that thing out. That would be great.
“Obviously, I can’t do anything about the other three, but if we do our job and if Denny, Martin, and Christophe execute as well, I think that is something that is very possible. I think it is going to take some wins, but we have the speed to go out there and win.”
Truex, the 2017 champion, weighed that possibility and surmised: “I wouldn’t say it’s impossible. Four great teams, great drivers. The competition is stiff, though. Just focused on getting ours in there.”
Truex is one of four drivers who have won at each of the remaining four tracks on the schedule, joining Hamlin along with Chevrolet’s William Byron and Kyle Larson. So, how do these tracks stack up for Toyota?
“I mean if you look at our history, they’re great,” said Truex, who qualified fourth. “But I think you could say the same for all the other guys that are left. There’s a lot of guys that are good in the next three races and three race tracks. It’s going to be tough. Everybody’s close, and it’s closer than ever. You’re going to have to be good and consistently running up front to get there.”
Such is the nature of a round with eight drivers separated by a mere 27 points ahead of Sunday’s green flag.
“I just feel like everything’s tighter than normal,” Truex said. “There’s less room for error. The speeds of the cars are tighter. The pit stops are closer. Just everything is just magnified I feel like.”
LAS VEGAS – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell got back in his pole-qualifying good mojo mode Saturday morning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway – claiming the pole position for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 – his series-best sixth of the year and fourth in just the last eight races.
His No. 20 JGR Toyota turned a lap of 186.335 mph around the 1.5-mile Las Vegas high banks, securing the sixth pole for Toyota in the season’s seven NASCAR Cup Series Playoff races to date.
Bell will start alongside fellow Playoff driver Kyle Larson, whose No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was just a slight .010-second off the top speed.
“Qualifying has been really fun, really since the introduction of the Next Gen car – especially on the intermediate stuff — because it’s just right on the verge of holding your foot down and going wide open,’’ Bell said. “It’s right on the edge and it’s what I look for.’’
Bell’s posted three top-10 finishes in seven Las Vegas starts, with a best showing of fifth place just this March. A member of the Championship 4 in 2022, he knows a win at Vegas on Sunday would give him an automatic second chance at the sport’s top prize.
“I know we may not be the championship favorite,’’ Bell added. “But I know we have everything we need to do it.’’
“We’re in a good place.”
Six of the current eight playoff drivers advanced to final round qualifying on a coolish Saturday morning at the track. Current NASCAR Cup Series championship leader William Byron – who won at Las Vegas this March – will start his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy third, alongside Regular Season Champion Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 19 JGR Toyota. Byron holds a five-point edge on Truex atop the standings after a reset for this three-race round.
Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher – also a playoff driver – was fifth fastest in the No. 17 RFK Ford, followed by Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch, 23XI Racing teammates Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick – the latter also playoff-eligible.
Defending race winner and reigning series champion Joey Logano will start ninth and Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain rounded out the top 10 drivers who advanced to final round qualifying.
Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney and JGR’s Denny Hamlin were the only playoff drivers who did not advance to that second round of time trials. Blaney will start 12th and Hamlin will start 15th on the 36-car grid.
JGR’s Ty Gibbs was the fastest qualifying rookie in 11th place.
Chastain fastest in Practice
Ross Chastain topped NASCAR Cup Series practice Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Chastain drove the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet right to the top of the single-lap speed chart, clocking in at 186.858 mph at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas track. Chastain soared right to the top of the practice charts on his third lap, punching in a lap time of 28.899 seconds.
Playoff driver Chris Buescher showed great speed, being the second-fastest in practice in the No. 17 RFK Racing Ford. Tyler Reddick boasted a strong showing in practice as well, after claiming pole position last weekend in Charlotte. Reddick was fastest in his respective group and was third fastest overall.
Hendrick Motorsports drivers Chase Elliot and William Byron rounded out the top five in practice. Elliot suffered a blister on his right rear tire on Lap 15 of practice and ran hard into the wall out of the exit of Turn 3. He did not set a time for qualifying and will roll off 35th.
Daniel Suárez also found trouble in the practice session when he lost air in the right rear tire before spinning out. The No. 99 Trackhouse Racing driver did not set a time in qualifying and will start in the back with No. 9 of Elliott.
LAS VEGAS — Sheldon Creed heads into Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs race as a title contender in the Round of 8. He also heads in knowing he won’t be returning to the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet in 2024.
Creed announced his departure from the team on Wednesday, days after clinching his spot in the penultimate round of the postseason. His plans for the new year remain undisclosed, but ultimately felt ready for a new environment after two years of driving the No. 2 car.
“I don’t know, I think a lot of things play a role,” Creed told NASCAR.com Friday ahead of practice at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “I’ve been happy. We’ve had OK runs, but I felt like it was time for a change for me just to switch things up a bit.”
Creed, the 2020 Craftsman Truck Series champion, can earn another national series title in three weeks time at Phoenix Raceway if he advances to the Championship 4 round for the Nov. 4 contest. The Alpine, California native is still seeking his first Xfinity victory and aims to do so before leaving crew chief Jeff Stankiewicz and Co.
“We really want to finish really strong together,” Creed said. “And that’s important for not only myself, but for all the guys. Like, someone’s going to step into this car and have a good shot at winning with these guys and running well. And I want to help them prove how good they are and finish strong. If we can go and win one of these next three (races) and get ourselves in the final four and give ourselves a shot at the championship then yeah, I think everyone would be happy.”
That the announcement comes during the playoffs — and particularly with just four races remaining in the 2023 campaign — isn’t ideal for either party. But Creed’s next opportunity came quickly, he explained.
“Honestly, I thought I was going back to RCR if you had asked me four weeks ago,” Creed said. “Just an opportunity came up to make a change. I don’t know. We bonded on it for a while. RC (Team owner Richard Childress) and everyone at RCR are great people. They gave me my first shot out of trucks. So it’s not an easy decision. If we do make this jump, is it worth it? All those little things go through your head.
“I would have loved to have this behind us in August and then everyone could move forward. But here we are at the beginning of October, later than we all wanted.”
Despite a run-in at Bristol Motor Speedway in September, Creed said his relationship with teammate Austin Hill has been strong for years and enjoyed working alongside him. Both drivers are still eligible for the Xfinity championship, with Hill seeded second, 21 points above the provisional elimination line thanks to four victories this season. Creed is seventh, 12 points beneath the line.
“Austin and I were kind of buddies in the Truck Series,” Creed said. “We raced for different teams and manufacturers obviously. We raced each other really hard. And then I feel like we hit it off like as soon as we became teammates. We both have young families, hanging out. We hang out outside the race track a lot. And me and him were talking the other day actually. There’s a lot I’m gonna miss about just working with Austin and our families being around — which I’m sure we’re gonna hang out outside of this again, but it was super cool to to have a teammate like Austin and I feel like we worked really well together with the simulator and just things that we thought we needed in the cars. It was a fun experience.”
Hill and Creed both came into RCR and the Xfinity Series at the same time to run full-time schedules. Hill has netted six wins in his time at RCR while Creed is still seeking that first checkered flag. Creed said he has grown “so much” as a driver over the past two years as he’s adapted to the Xfinity car.
“The truck doesn’t prepare you well for the Xfinity car. It’s just a totally different deal,” Creed said. “So I felt like the first maybe half of last year was learning and getting used to it and just trying to better at my race-craft. Trying to get more and more and then I make mistakes and stuff. So I’ve tried to clean that up the second half of this year, and we’ve been good at finishing lately.”
