LAS VEGAS, Nev. – After one other dramatic NASCAR Cup Collection Playoff elimination race final week, eight drivers transfer on to vie for the championship because the title chase strikes ahead with Sunday’s South Level 400 on the at all times thrilling 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
And whereas Workforce Penske’s Joey Logano could have been the “final” to dramatically switch into that group of eight nonetheless racing for the 2025 title, the three-time and reigning sequence champion is extra typically the “first” in relation to the Las Vegas excessive banks. Not solely is driver of the No. 22 Ford the defending race winner of this Playoff race, however he additionally has 4 wins on the observe – two within the Fall Playoff portion of the schedule and two within the springtime go to – most among the many championship group.
The final 4 Fall races have been received by present Playoff drivers, together with Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson who has three wins right here together with the 2023 Playoff race and joins Logano as the one different multi-time Las Vegas winner within the final 15 races on the observe.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, who now leads the championship standings following the re-set for this penultimate three-race portion of the schedule, scored his solely win on the observe within the 2021 Playoff race.
Going into the weekend, Hamlin – who’s competing in a file nineteenth Playoff – holds an eight-point benefit atop the standings. He leads Workforce Penske’s Ryan Blaney by two factors. Hendrick Motorsports’ teammates, Larson and Common Season Champion William Byron are 4 factors above the cutoff line.
JGR’s Christopher Bell (-4), Hendrick’s Chase Elliott (-14), JGR’s Chase Briscoe (-14) and Logano (-24) are all beneath the elimination line heading into this three-race stretch with races at Vegas, the two.66-mile Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway subsequent week and the half-mile Martinsville (Va.) Speedway the next weekend.
Of word, Kansas winner Elliott, his teammate Larson and JGR’s Bell are the one drivers among the many Playoff eight to complete top-10 in all three races of the latest spherical. Bell’s 4.0 common end within the spherical was tops within the sequence. Within the final three seasons, Hendrick’s Byron has probably the most top-five (11) and top-10 (15) finishes on 1.5-mile tracks.
“The following spherical is the one we’ve put our give attention to, it’s what determines should you race for a championship,” stated Byron, driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. “Everybody particularly goes to place lots of give attention to this weekend’s race. It’s the simplest option to lock your self in. Talladega is a little bit of a crap shoot, and actually, Martinsville hasn’t been our strongest within the fall.
“That is the chance we’ve been ready for although and hopefully we’re one of many 4 racing for a championship in Phoenix.”
This spring’s Vegas 400-miler – received by Wooden Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry (a satellite tv for pc staff for Workforce Penske) – included a observe file 32 lead modifications and marked the fourth time within the final seven races that the go for the victory got here within the last six laps.
It’s Hendrick Motorsports’ Chevrolet staff, nonetheless, who has been particularly trophy-prone of late on the observe, its drivers successful 5 of the final 9 races on the Las Vegas – Larson (2021, ’23, ’24), Byron (spring, 2023) and Alex Bowman (spring, 2023).
Toyota has solely a single win within the final 11 races there – Hamlin’s 2021 Playoff victory. Present Playoff drivers have hoisted seven of the final 10 Vegas trophies.
Bell is the defending race pole winner. The final time this race was received from pole place was 2009 with Vegas native Kyle Busch claiming the win at his hometown observe. Three of the final 5 races have been received from the skin pole place.
