Christopher Bell aims to turn Las Vegas promise into a Chase payoff
LAS VEGAS – Four races into the NASCAR Cup Series 10-race Chase to decide the 2026 championship, the gap between positions in points standings have spread out significantly heading into Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (5:30 p.m. ET on USA, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Reigning series champion, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson snapped a season-long winless drought with victories in two of the four Chase races – at Gateway, Ill. and last weekend at Kansas Speedway – and now holds a 26-point edge over Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin.
Both have three wins at Las Vegas, with Hamlin the two-time defending winner in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. The gap between Hamlin and third place in the title standings – his JGR teammate Christopher Bell is 50 points. Fourth place, Team Penske’s Joey Logano is 67 points back, his teammate Ryan Blaney, 91 points off the pace and JGR’s Ty Gibbs, 94 behind.
Bell is a two-time runner-up at Las Vegas and considers it one of his better tracks on the circuit and hopes he can make some gains with four drivers now separated by less than a single race.
“Winning just means a lot, winning is a good way to recover points, to separate yourself,” Bell said. “I think depending on who you are, it’s important for me to close the gap on Kyle and for Kyle important to get away from the field.
“We’ve got to stop going negative here and get some positive points on the five-car,” he added. “I’m really happy with where we’re at. We’re still in the hunt and not many of us can still say that. I’m happy with where we’re at, just need some positive traction on the vibe.”
“It’s about it all coming together at the right time. Here at Vegas I’ve had a lot of different runs throughout the race where I’m able to lead the race and be in position to win, it just hasn’t together in stage 3, the closing run of the race. It’s one of my favorite tracks, and probably the place I’ve led the most laps but haven’t won. We’ve been close and in contention every time, hopefully this week’s the week.”
Kyle Busch honored in his hometown of Las Vegas
The weekend’s NASCAR stop in Las Vegas in the first since two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and Las Vegas native Kyle Busch passed away in May at the age of 41 from severe pneumonia and sepsis.
A hugely popular and beloved racer – especially here in his hometown – there have been several notable honors from re-naming of a street outside Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s Bullring to “Rowdy Road” – a nod to Busch’s nickname. It intersects with “Busch Brothers Drive” a little farther away.
Just outside the Bullring grandstands, a tribute marker to Busch was unveiled this week as part of the Kyle Busch Classic. His older brother Kurt will drive the pace car Sunday.
Kyle Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – the same number Busch drove for the team from 2003 to 2007 – is carrying a tribute point scheme reminiscent of the Kellogg’s colors Busch once drove for the team.
Busch’s signature will be prominently displayed above the passenger-side window and “Tiny Kyle,” a playful nickname Busch gave Larson will be on the opposite side.
Busch was formally inducted into the West Coast Stock Car Motorsports Hall of Fame this week at the South Point Hotel in Las Vegas. His wife, Samantha and son 11-year-old Brexton were there to accept the honor on his behalf. In an emotional speech Samantha reminded that Busch never allowed his immense talent “to be an excuse for not working hard.”
“Because he wanted the next generation to go further. .. and there are so many drivers racing today because Kyle believed in them,” she continued.
As she spoke about his great talent on the track, she smiled and recalled how people would think, “only Kyle Busch could do that,” – to which Brexton leaned into the microphone and declared with a smile, “only Kyle Busch would do that” as the room erupted in laughter and applause.
“Kyle’s legacy is in the people he made better,” Samantha added. “It’s in the drivers he mentored, the mark he left on the sport, the opportunities he created, the fans that still call themselves ‘Rowdy Nation.’ It’s in every young driver that says, ‘I want to be like Kyle Busch one day.’”
Looking into the audience Samantha reiterated how she wished Kyle could be the one there accepting this honor, but promised for their children Brexton and four-year-old Lennix, “I hope they will always know this, their dad did not just win races, he changed the sport.”
Roush Fenway transition, Brad Keselowski exit
Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing and owner-driver Brad Keselowski announced this week that they would be parting ways at the end of the season. On Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway both entities spoke about the situation.
The 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski was guarded but optimistic and RFK President Chip Bowers said the team was equally optimistic about moving forward repeatedly reiterating the team has nothing but good will for Keselowski, even as the team pursues a third charter.
Keselowski, who owns, drives, and serves as competition director at RFK, formally addressed the media Saturday at Las Vegas after releasing a statement for social media earlier this week saying, in part, he wished the team well and was proud of the progress he shared in since buying into the company in 2021 and moving into those roles for the 2022 season.
“This is not acrimonious,” RFK’s Bowers stressed of Keselowski’s situation. “If Brad would like to go race somewhere else, if Brad would like to be an owner somewhere else, or if Brad would like to lead competition somewhere else, he is more than happy to do so. There are some things we’ll need to work out privately in terms of his equity, but we’ll do that privately and it make take some time.
“Brad is an above-board pro, so we have no concerns he’s going to take information from us. We want Brad to be highly successful. So, whatever it is he wants to do, we want him to be able to pursue it. It’s just unfortunate we couldn’t figure out a way to make it work here. But it’s nobody’s fault. These things happen.”
Shortly after qualifying his No. 6 RFK Racing Ford 16th on the grid for Sunday’s race, Keselowski spoke with the media for the first time since announcing the news. He reminded that he was finishing the fifth and final year of his contract with the team.
He said he was open to a lot of alternatives from competing fulltime in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series where a title would make him the first to win championships in all three NASCAR premier series. He also said he’s open to pursuing ownership with a different team. But he was definitely not ready to stop driving.
“You know, go through these kind of road bumps and it’s part of the process, and I understand that,” Keselowski said of the situation. “But you know, I’ve grown through this process. I’m super comfortable with my abilities to own and operate a team. Feel like I can do it at the highest levels. Bullish on the future to do it. So that wouldn’t have been possible without this experience.”
He said he was hopeful that he would be in some race car come the 2027 season-opening Daytona International Speedway Speedweeks.
“When I’m in a vehicle in Daytona I’ll be confident of that, but right now I think there’s enough interest where I’m not sweating it,” Keselowski said. “There are things to work through, but there’s enough interest to where I’m confident that I’ll be somewhere next year.”
What comes next remains very much unknown not only to Keselowski but also his RFK teammates, Chase-qualified drivers Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher. They both expressed support for Keselowski and desire for the team to move forward in a positive way. They credit much of RFK’s recent success to Keselowski’s presence there.
“I’m not a part of those conversations,” Preece said of any awareness in Keselowski’s decision and the impending impact on the team’s ownership group, which also includes NASCAR Hall of Famer Jack Roush and the Fenway Sports Group.
“I think I was surprised for sure, but this is racing and this can happen,” Preece said, adding. “Just because something changes doesn’t mean you can’t still try to win races and build a lot of fast cars.”
Buescher also insisted any details of the situation weren’t his own to be addressed.
“I certainly have a great friendship with Brad as a team owner, a boss and a mentor, so a loss from my point, but I want the best for him going forward, whatever that looks like,” Buescher said. “I feel confident RFK will keep after it and working to improve ourselves and be involved in more Chases and more race wins.
“Brad has brought so much into RFK and we owe a lot of the resurgence to him and his input and the things he’s been able to implement and push us towards. He’s helped lay a great foundation to keep moving that ball forward.”
As an owner-driver himself, Denny Hamlin was asked Saturday about where he saw the Keselowski situation from a distance. Hamlin drives for Joe Gibbs Racing and is a co-owner in the 23XI Racing team.
“I just couldn’t imagine taking on both [roles] and I’ve got a pretty high tolerance for workloads,” Hamlin said of Keselowski serving as driver and competition director.
“So, it’ll be something that certainly is going to be a pretty big change over there. Obviously, there was a jump in performance, when he went over there, and whether that be through – could that be manufacturer stuff? Could that be technical stuff? Very wide range of reasons why teams run better after certain times or not, but, you know, the proof will be in what happens years down the road, right? And so, it certainly is going to be a big reset for the whole Roush Fenway group.”
O’Reilly Series title contender Creed to new team in 2027
The current NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship leader, Californian Sheldon Creed, announced Saturday before the Focused Health 302 (7:30 p.m. ET on CW, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) race green flag, that he will be moving from his current Haas Factory Team ride to Sam Hunt Racing in 2027 in a multi-year deal.
Creed goes into the weekend with three wins on the season, including two in the three Chase races to date – giving him an 11-point advantage on JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier atop the championship standings.
The move – with six races still remaining on the schedule – is especially notable, considering his position in the title run.
“Obviously announcing this this morning, and then we’re right back to work, and just trying to run as good as we can every week,” said the former NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champion Creed. “And I think Sam’s (Hunt, owner, Sam Hunt Racing) a big supporter of our 00 [Haas] team, and trying to finish strong.”
“I’ve had the privilege to race, obviously, for RCR (Richard Childress Racing), JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing), now Haas, run good with all of them, but finally found Victory Lane this year, and numerous times now, being the points leader, is massive for us,” Creed continued.
“I think, for the 00 group, for my team, but yeah, looking down the road, obviously, haven’t gotten a Cup opportunity, and obviously, that’s still my end goal. But if I don’t ever get that call, I felt like Sam’s (Hunt Racing) is somewhere I can race for the next 15 years and make a good living and be able to raise my family and just try to build a good life.”
— NASCAR News Wire —