Posted in

NASCAR Cup Series News & Notes – Las Vegas Motor Speedway

0

NASCAR Cup Series

South Point Hotel & Casino 400, NASCAR Cup Series, Las VegasNext Race: South Point 400
The Place: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Track Length: 1.5 Mile Asphalt Oval
The Date: Sunday, October 12
The Time: 5:30 p.m. ET
The Purse: $9,797,935
TV: USA, 5 p.m. ET
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
Distance: 400.5 miles (267 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 80),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 165), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 267)

Where To Watch NASCAR This Week:

Saturday, Oct. 11

NXS Practice & Kennametal Pole Qualifying (CW App at 2 p.m. ET)

NCS Practice & Busch Light Pole Qualifying (truTV, PRN, SiriusXM at 4:30 p.m. ET)

NXS Race: Focused Health 302 (CW, PRN, SiriusXM at 7:30 p.m. ET)

Sunday, Oct. 12

NCS Race: South Point 400 (USA, PRN, SiriusXM at 5:30 p.m. ET)

Las Vegas Motor SpeedwayLas Vegas Motor Speedway Storylines and Insights:

  • This weekend marks the 36th running of a NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
  • This is the eighth Playoff race held at Las Vegas, with each race opening a round in the Playoffs (Round of 16: 2018-19, Round of 12: 2020-21, Round of 8: 2022-present).
  • Las Vegas is the first race of the Round of 8: Las Vegas, Talladega, Martinsville.
  • This is the first time Talladega has been in the round of eight.
  • Josh Berry became the first driver to earn his first Cup win at Las Vegas when he won in March.
  • Las Vegas in the Spring had a track-record 32 lead changes.
  • Seven of the last eight Las Vegas races had a MOV of less than one second.
  • The pass for the win came in the final six laps in four of the last seven Las Vegas races.
  • Three of the last five Las Vegas race winners swept the stages.
  • Joey Logano (four) and Kyle Larson (three) are the only repeat winners at Las Vegas in the last 15 races.
  • 10 of the last 11 Las Vegas races were won from a top-10 starting position.
  • Denny Hamlin, in September 2021, is the only Toyota driver to win at Las Vegas in the last 11 races.
  • The final green flag stretch was less than 16 laps in only two of the last nine Las Vegas races.
  • Kyle Larson won five of the last eight stages at Las Vegas.
  • The stage two winner went on to win 10 of the 16 races at Las Vegas with stages.
  • Four of the eight Playoff drivers are Las Vegas winners with a combined nine wins there (Logano-4, Larson-3, Hamlin-1, Byron-1).
  • Hendrick Motorsports drivers won five of the last nine Las Vegas races with three different drivers: Kyle Larson-3, Alex Bowman-1, William Byron-1.
  • Kyle Larson’s first of 26 wins with Hendrick Motorsports came at Las Vegas in March 2021.
  • Kyle Larson leads all drivers at Las Vegas with 690 laps led and seven stage wins, his average finish of 9.39 leads all drivers with more than three starts.
  • William Byron finished in the top-10 in the last five Las Vegas races, the longest active streak.
  • William Byron’s five race top-10 finish streak at Las Vegas is tied for his longest top-10 streak at a track with Talladega (also an active streak).
  • The driver won the opening race of the Round of 8 went on to win the Championship in three of the last four seasons.
  • This weekend’s race is the last of seven races in 2025 on a 1.5 mile track.
  • Toyota is winless in the six races on 1.5 mile tracks in 2025.
  • The race winner led less than 25 laps in five of the six races on 1.5 mile tracks in 2025.
  • Chase Briscoe won the pole for the last two races on 1.5 mile tracks.
  • The pass for the win came in the final seven laps in six of the last eight 1.5-mile races including two last lap passes.
  • Each of the last two races on 1.5-mile tracks had a driver sweep the stages, yet not win (Coca-Cola 600 – William Byron, Kansas2 – Denny Hamlin).
  • Ryan Blaney finished 24th or worse in four of the six races on 1.5 mile tracks in 2025 with an average finish of 23rd.
  • Kyle Larson finished top 10 in the last three races, his best streak since April and beginning of May.
  • All three races in the Round of 8 are on tracks that previously hosted a track in 2025, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott are the only drivers to finish top-10 in all three races (no one finished top-5 in all three but Larson, Elliott and Byron led all drivers with two).
  • Ryan Blaney earned a total of 39 points in the three races held on the Round of 8 tracks raced on prior in 2025, an average of 13 points per race.
  •  Chase Briscoe is the only Playoff driver that has never raced in the Championship 4, the other seven were all there at least twice.
  • The bubble to advance to the Championship 4 was less than 10 points in each of the last 6 seasons.
  • Current Round of 8 drivers won five of the last six races at Las Vegas.
  • Current Round of 8 drivers won the last seven races at Martinsville.
  • Since 2017, the last driver to advance into the Championship 4 has averaged 38 points per race during the Round of 8.
  • In each of the last two seasons, only one driver made the Championship 4 on points.
  • No driver has ever finished worse than 25th during the Round of 8 and pointed their way into the Championship 4.
  • The average finish of drivers to point their way into the Championship 4 is 8th – the average stage finish is also 8th.
  • Team Penske won in the Round of 8 in four of the last five seasons.
  • Since 2017, only two drivers have pointed into the Championship 4 from below the cutline (2021 Chase Elliott, -8 and 2021 Martin Truex Jr. -22).
  • A driver has won into the Championship 4 from below the cutline during the Round of 8 in 8 of 10 seasons of this playoff format.
  • The largest gap to the cutline entering the Round of 8 that failed to make the Championship 4 was +45 by Kevin Harvick in 2020.
  • Joey Logano enters the Round of 8 24 points below the cutline – the largest deficit in history entering this round.
  • The #1 seed Denny Hamlin enters the Round of 8 only 8 points above the cutline – the smallest gap in history for the #1 seed (Kyle Busch, +18 in 2019).
  • The average points scored of the last driver to advance from the Round of 8 is 7146 points. The projected cutline is lower, 7133 points, due to the Round of 8 drivers scoring less points historically at drafting tracks.

NCS Clinch Scenarios for Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Playoff Race #7):

Already Clinched

  • No drivers have clinched a spot in the 4-driver field of the next round.

Can Clinch Via Win

  • The following drivers would clinch on their win alone: Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano.

NASCAR & Las Vegas, Etc.

Historical & Significant Events at Las Vegas Motor Speedway:

  • In 1995, hotel/casino CEO’s Ralph Engelstad (Imperial Palace) and Bill Bennett (Circus Circus & Sahara), both racing enthusiasts, agreed that there was a market for a “state of the art” speedway in Las Vegas. Richie Clyne, an Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino executive who originally had the vision for the development was assigned to manage the project.
  • In April 1995, construction began on a 1600-acre site located on North Las Vegas Blvd. near Nellis Air Force Base.
  • The location had a long racing history dating to a drag strip in 1958. A road course was added in 1983 and a 3/8-mile paved oval in 1985. The site is now the location of a 1.5-mile speedway, an industrial park, a drag strip (3/00), a 1/2-mile dirt track (11/96), a 3/8-mile paved oval (4/00) and two road courses.
  • The speedway was completed in June 1996. The track had 12-degree banking in the turns, three degrees on the backstretch and nine degrees on the frontstretch. Total seating capacity was 130,000.
  • Building of the track was the largest excavation project in Nevada history. More than 600,000 tons of concrete and 10 million linear feet of steel were used to build the $200 million facility.
  • On June 22-25, 1996, the first drivers to test the superspeedway were Tony Stewart and Richie Hearn. Hearn went on to win the Inaugural IRL Las Vegas 500K on September 16, 1996, setting a fast time with a speed of 222.359 mph, a world record (since broken) for 1.5-mile tracks.
  • In December 1998, Speedway Motorsports agreed to purchase the track for $215 million. The purchase included the track for $150 million and $65 million for the real estate and warehouses. Chris Powell has headed the track since the SMI acquisition in early 1999.
  • Speedway Motorsports launched a multimillion-dollar renovation project at the beginning of 2006 to include the Neon Garage, track changes (progressive banking was added to the turns), relocated pit road and a state-of-the-art media center.
  • The centerpiece of the project was the new garage area for the Cup teams and an interactive fan area. The two-level, four-building garage area encompasses 32,000 square feet. A 52,000-square-foot roof deck allows fans to look directly down into the individual garage stalls. Windows on the lower level allow fans to watch the teams work. In addition to the close proximity, the Neon Garage has concession stands and an entertainment area.
  • The most dramatic change was to the track, as the banking was increased, and a new pit road was built. The turns changed from 12-degree banking to 20 degrees and each straight to nine degrees. The new pit road is 150 feet closer to the grandstands. Moving pit road allowed for construction of a quarter-mile oval in front of the main grandstand.
  • The new media center opened in 2007.  It can accommodate more than 500 media members and has room for drivers’ meetings and a full-service spa for the racers and their families. The 58,600-square-foot facility is equipped with meeting rooms, offices, interview rooms and a cafeteria. The Blackjack Club is on the third floor of the building.
  • Different tracks located within the Las Vegas Motor Speedway facility: Superspeedway, Drag Strip, Bull Ring, Dirt Track, Go-Cart Track, Inside Road Course (within the superspeedway), Outside Road Course, Off-Road Course, and Exotics Course.
  • In 2011, the Electric Daisy Carnival moved its flagship location to Las Vegas Motor Speedway from Los Angeles. The track has held the event annually since.
  • In 2012, Enrico Bertaggia, a former Italian Formula Three driver, started running the Dream Racing program at the track, a program where the general public can drive exotic cars around a road course on the track’s complex.
  • In 2013, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway hosted the World Long Drive Championship.
  • 2018 marked the first season where LVMS was part of the Playoffs hosting the first race, this was also the first season where LVMS hosted two Cup races. LVMS has hosted a Playoff race every year since.
  • In 2020, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the track held a graduation ceremony for Faith Lutheran High School, a private Lutheran school based in Summerlin.
  • Since 2023, the track has hosted a Las Vegas branch of the Foodie Land Night Market, a food festival.

Latest News at Las Vegas Motor Speedway:

  • The South Point 400 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, October 12, will feature an electrifying crossover between two worlds of entertainment as WWE Superstar Damian Priest takes the wheel as the official pace car driver for this year’s playoff race.
  • Known to fans worldwide as “The Archer of Infamy,” Priest will bring his trademark intensity, charisma and larger-than-life presence to the NASCAR stage as the former World Heavyweight Champion, setting the tone for one of the most anticipated playoff races of the year. Priest has earned the titles of former 2x Undisputed Tag Team Champion and former Señor Money in the Bank following his reign with Bálor and the Money in the Bank contract in 2023.
  • With magnetic charisma, an accomplished career, and a presence that commands attention beyond the screen, acclaimed actor, producer, and screenwriter Glen Powell has been named grand marshal of this year’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Oct. 12.
  • Powell’s career showcases both versatility and determination, establishing him as one of Hollywood’s most diverse talents. He gained international recognition in Top Gun: Maverick, went on to impress audiences in Anyone but You, and received critical acclaim and a Golden Globe® nomination for his performance and writing in Hit Man.
Views: 33

Leave a Reply