LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - OCTOBER 20: A general view of the grandstands during the NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 20, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images) | Getty Images
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - OCTOBER 20: A general view of the grandstands during the NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 20, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images) | Getty Images
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NASCAR Cup Series News & Notes – Las Vegas Motor Speedway

October 8, 2025 at 10:42 AM

NASCAR Cup Series
Next 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)

NASCAR Cup Series

Las 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 —