Denny Hamlin claims 60th NASCAR Cup win to clinch Championship 4 spot
LAS VEGAS — From pole position to victory lane, Denny Hamlin became the first driver to clinch a spot in the Championship 4 in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Hamlin claimed the elusive spot with his sought-after 60th career NASCAR Cup Series win. He tied Kevin Harvick for tenth on the all-time wins list.
“[The win] Definitely means a lot,” Hamlin said immediately after getting out of his car. “I put the pedal down those last ten laps and made it happen. Chris [Gayle] did an amazing job on that final stop getting the car just right, and I held it down… I tried to punch the ticket now and man this one feels great.”
Hamlin also had his father on his mind today.
“This is the point where I give the fans some s**t, but not today. Thank you to the fans,” he said.
Hamlin set off from the pole Sunday but his car only seemed to run around the edges of the top five. He finished fourth in the first stage and followed that up with a third in stage two.
The opening event in the Round of 8 produced some woes for the playoff drivers. Ryan Blaney kicked off the troubles when he blew a left-front tire and slammed into the outside wall coming off of turn four during stage one.
Blaney now finds himself in a virtual must-win situation – sitting eighth in the standings, 31 points back from the cutline.
Chase Elliott had a good run going until an uncontrolled tire penalty shook his day up in the second stage.
Elliott clawed his way back and grabbed the free pass at the end of the stage but that was not enough to recover to the top ten. He was involved in a wreck on lap 244 that rendered his finish to 18th, now 23 points away from the cutline.
Stage one winner William Byron found himself in the lead after the final cycle of green-flag pit stops. Then, a few laps after a bobble that gave the lead to Kyle Larson, an incident with Ty Dillon ended his day.
Byron finished 36th and is 14 points below the cutline after what could have been a fantastic start to his Round of 8.
Chase Briscoe and Joey Logano gambled late, taking right-side tires only on their final stop to improve their track position with 15 laps to go.
While Joey Logano slid back to finish sixth, Briscoe made great use of his tires. Briscoe maintained the lead until Denny Hamlin passed him coming to three laps to go. Eventually, Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell made their way around the gambling Briscoe – who went on to finish fourth.
Kyle Larson finished runner-up to Hamlin after a strong day. He won stage two and was setting sail before the Byron and Dillon incident.
“I would have liked the issue with the 10 and 24 to not happen because we were just cruising,” Larson said. “I thought I had a big enough run on the back to get him [Hamlin], but Toyota had really good speed today… I can’t be mad, he got up on the wheel there, rarely do you see him do that and he did a great job.”
Larson and the remaining Round of 8 drivers have another shot to lock themselves into the Championship 4 next Sunday, Oct. 19, at Talladega.
NASCAR Cup Series playoff points standings after Las Vegas
- Denny Hamlin (W)
- Kyle Larson (+35)
- Christopher Bell (+20)
- Chase Briscoe (+15)
- William Byron (-15)
- Chase Elliott (-23)
- Joey Logano (-24)
- Ryan Blaney (-31)
Who won the Stages during the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway?
William Byron won stage one, followed by Larson, Briscoe, Hamlin, Elliott, Wallace, Bell, Reddick, Gibbs and Logano.
Kyle Larson won stage two, followed by Reddick, Byron, Hamlin, Briscoe, Bell, Gibbs, Bowman, Logano, and Hocevar.
Here is a live race update archive on the South Point 400 NASCAR Cup Series playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
FINAL STAGE
FINISH – Denny Hamlin wins the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and claims a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4! Hamlin now has 60 career wins which ties himself with Kevin Harvick for 10th on the all-time wins list.
Larson comes in second, Bell gets third before the line over Briscoe, Reddick, Logano, Bowman, Busch, Preece, and Brad Keselowski comes home tenth.
LAP 267 – Denny Hamlin comes around to claim the white flag ahead of Kyle Larson by over a second now. Joey Logano, also on to tires, sit sixth.
LAP 264 – Here comes Denny! He takes the high side in turn 1 and 2 and takes the lead from Briscoe coming to 3 laps to go.
LAP 263 – 5 laps to go. Denny Hamlin makes his way through back to second! He chases his teammate for the win now.
LAP 261 – Larson is back to second! He slides off of turn 2 and into second again.
LAP 260 – Briscoe maintains his lead as Hamlin fights Larson on the High side off of turn 4.
LAP 258 – 10 laps to go. Briscoe is in the lead as Larson and Hamlin chase after him. They both get great runs off turn 4.
LAP 257 – Hamlin is going anywhere Logano is not and overtakes for third.
LAP 256 – Larson is up to third! Hamlin is loosing positions as his lane is getting aero blocked. Larson then takes second place from Logano out of turn 4.
LAP 253 – Briscoe and Logano get off cleanly. Denny Hamlin jumps to the way high line and gets a huge run down the front stretch. Briscoe leads at the line.
LAP 252 – Chase Briscoe chooses the lower lane as we prepare to get back green after this long caution period.
The previous incident on lap 244 with 11 cars involved has broken the Las Vegas Motor Speedway record for largest wreck.
LAP 249 – The incident that took out Round of 8 driver William Byron on lap 236 seemed to have been a communication error. Ty Dillon said “It was up to my spotter to tell William’s that I was pitting”.
LAP 248 – The pack has been sorted now. Chase Briscoe is your leader followed by Joey Logano. Then its Bowman who is the first car on four newish tires. Larson, Keselowski, Hamlin, Bell, Busch, Reddick, and Buescher are your top ten.
LAP 245 – Briscoe retains the lead with Logano still alongside him on the front row.
Cars involved in the Lap 244 incident: 54,20,45,88,77,3,16,17,9,4 and 51
LAP 244 – Caution as we go back green! Ty Gibbs shoots up the middle three-wide and gets ping ponged around in the middle of turn 1 and 2!
Shane Van Gisbergen is involved, so is Austin Dillon among others taking some damage.
LAP 243 – Briscoe chooses the inside lane as he and Logano roll through the restart zone and back green coming to 23 to go!
LAP 239 – Pit road is open and the leaders come down. Chase Briscoe wins the race off pit road after taking only right sides! He is joined by fellow Round of 8 driver Joey Logano in second, as Keselowksi also rolls the dice late in Vegas with two tires as well. Larson is fourth as the first competitor who took four tires.
SVG takes two tires and comes out fifth, Bowman with four new boots in sixth, Bell, Gibbs, Reddick, and Denny Hamlin round out the top ten.
LAP 237 – Huge playoff implications as a second Round of 8 driver finds himself out of the race where he led 55 laps and gained 18 stage points.
Byron is out of the racecar, okay, and taken to the medical center. Ty Dillon has also brought his car to the garage and is out as well.
LAP 236 – Caution with 31 to go! William Byron is out of this race! He slams into Ty Dillon as Byron’s car comes to a rest in the pits. John Hunter Nemechek also involved.
LAP 234 – New Leader is Kyle Larson! William Byron snaps loose off of turn 2 which puts Larson back in control of this race.
LAP 231 – William Byron Radio “Take care of your tires”. Kyle Larson missed his cue to pit the first time around. That allowed Byron to pit before him and gain the lead.
LAP 227 – 40 laps to go now. Kyle Larson is starting to close his gap to Byron. Further in the pack, Logano now sits 14th and Elliott 17th as the farthest back Round of 8 competitors.
LAP 224 – Byron leads by .8 tenths now. Alex Bowman has had one of the best long run cars as the sun has started to set and currently is fourth.
LAP 221 – Brad Keselowksi is in for his stop as the cycle does as well. William Byron is your new race leader with Larson, Bell, Bowman, Reddick, Gibbs, Briscoe, Hamlin, Buescher, and Austin Dillon comprising the top ten.
LAP 218 – Now Hamlin and Elliott are in. Hocevar takes the lead momentarily.
LAP 217 – Denny Hamlin is the leader. He along with Hocevar, Keselowski, and Chase Elliott have yet to pit.
LAP 216 – William Byron leap frogs Larson on the pit cycle! He makes up a two second deficit to take the net lead away.
LAP 214 – Leader Kyle Larson pits. Denny Hamlin stays out.
LAP 213 – Most of the top five pit. Reddick, Bell, and Byron come down to pit.
LAP 211 – Joey Logano begins the pit cycle a lap prior. Chase Briscoe brings his Bass Pro Shops Toyota down pit road for a much needed set of tires and wedge adjustment.
Bowman locks up heading to pit road and hits Ty Gibbs straight in the rear. They both continue mostly undamaged.
LAP 210 – Chase Elliott now has Joey Logano about two seconds ahead of him. He just passed Noah Gragson for 18th, who is having a decent day himself.
LAP 208 – Kyle Larson leads with 60 laps to go. He has stretched his lead to nearly two seconds over teammate William Byron.
LAP 204 – Briscoe’s slide continues. Carson Hocevar is closing in on the Round of 8 driver for eighth.
LAP 202 – After a few laps of battling, Reddick now loses a spot to Bell. He sits fifth.
LAP 199 – Denny Hamlin goes low into turn three and makes it stick to pass Tyler Reddick for third.
LAP 198 – Joey Logano has been in dog fights in the middle of the pack. He’s lost two positions since our last update. He sits 17th.
Meanwhile, Chase Elliott has only gained on spot and is 20th.
LAP 197 – Briscoe now sits eighth as Alex Bowman gets by.
LAP 194 – Kyle Larson still leads. He has now led over 100 laps on the day.
Larson has had all 3 wins at Las Vegas when leading over 100 laps.
LAP 193 – Chase Briscoe now falls the seventh after teammate Ty Gibbs gets passed him at the line.
LAP 189 – Just under 80 to go. The top five are all under 1 second from the leader Kyle Larson. Byron, Reddick, Hamlin, and Bell run in that order.
LAP 187 – Chase Briscoe Radio “Can you check the right side I scrubbed the wall… I think the toe is knocked out” This is the first time the 19 team sits outside the top 5 all day.
LAP 186 – Back in the pack, Joey Logano has only recovered one spot to 15th and Chase Elliott only to 21st.
LAP 183 – Richard Childress Racing has had a quietly decent day so far. Kyle Busch is running his home race in 12th with teammate Austin Dillon right behind in 13th.
LAP 181 – Denny Hamlin uses his momentum off of turn 4 to get around Bell for fourth. William Byron is in Kyle Larson’s shadow right now.
LAP 180 – William Byron find his way around the battling Reddick and Bell for second as Larson starts to drive away.
LAP 178 – The top four are under a blanket heading into turn 1. Reddick is looking to play playoff spoiler today.
LAP 175 – Christopher Bell now sits third. His fire-off speed has been tremendous as the field sorts itself out.
LAP 174 – Reddick returns the shove to Denny Hamlin from the restart! Hamlin shuffles back to fifth as Kyle Larson regains the lead.
LAP 172 – Kyle Larson chose the inside lane with Tyler Reddick to his outside on the front row. Denny Hamlin with a mega restart and leads at the stripe.
LAP 171 – Round of 8 driver update, from outside the top ten, as the sun now is firmly in the drivers eyes. Joey Logano with a slower stop, he restarts 16th. Chase Elliott now sits 25th after gaining the free pass. Ryan Blaney is out of the race and last.
LAP 167 – Pit road opens and all lead lap cars come down. Kyle Larson retains his lead off of pit road. Reddick, Hamlin, Briscoe, Byron, Gibbs, Bell, Bowman, SVG, and Brad Keselowski are your top ten.
How the standings look after stage two:
- Kyle Larson (+24)
- Denny Hamlin (+17)
- William Byron (+15)
- Christopher Bell (+3)
- Chase Briscoe (-3)
- Joey Logano (-26)
- Chase Elliott (-29)
- Ryan Blaney (-30)
STAGE TWO WINNER: Kyle Larson
LAP 166 – Kyle Larson wins stage two! Reddick finishes second around three seconds behind. Byron, Hamlin, Briscoe, Bell, Gibbs, Bowman, Logano, and Carson Hocevar rounds out the top ten.
Chase Elliott recovers from his pit road penalty. He get the free pass and is back on the lead lap now.
LAP 163 – Larson has now ran away from Reddick and Byron. Bowman has shown great improvement throughout the race as he is the fastest on the track.
LAP 161 – Alex Bowman passes Joey Logano for eighth. Logano radio “the right rear is gone”.
LAP 159 – Elliott has now passed Cindric for the free pass position. Larson does not seem to have the pace to catch up and lap McDowell.
LAP 158 – Larson has now stretched his lead to just under two seconds. Further back, Bowman passes SVG for ninth.
LAP 156 – 10 to go in the stage. Larson still leads by around the same one second margin over Reddick. Larson has now found his way around Austin Cindric as Chase Elliott needs to gain more and more spots for the free pass.
LAP 152 – Chase Elliott fought Todd Gilliland hard enough to nearly lose the car! He slips back behind Reddick and, more importantly, farther back from the other lapped cars.
LAP 149 – Larson is now fighting three lap cars as Chase Elliott closes in to try and unlap himself.
LAP 146 – 20 laps to go in the stage. Kyle Larson leads by over a second over Reddick. Byron, Hamlin, Briscoe, Gibbs, Bell, Logano, SVG, and Alex Bowman round out the top ten currently.
LAP 143 – Christopher Bell has cycled up to seventh from 11th. Undercutting the pack by pitting early has its benefits today.
LAP 142 – Larson is starting to lap more competitive cars. Chase Elliott has made his way around Reddick but must compete with the newly lapped cars ahead.
LAP 139 – Chase Elliott remains in position for the free pass as Kyle Larson extends his lead over Reddick to over half a second now.
LAP 134 – Using his high arching line, Tyler Reddick has closed within a few car lengths of Larson for the lead.
LAP 132 – Kyle Larson has now surpassed 1,000 laps led this season. He has led 40 today. William Byron still holds the most laps led today with 45. Chase Briscoe has the third most with 35 lead today.
LAP 127 – Now past midway through the stage and the pit cycle has come to a close. Kyle Larson retains the lead. He sits half a second up on Reddick in second. Byron third and then followed by Hamlin, Gibbs, Briscoe, Bell, SVG, Logano, and Buescher
Bubba Wallace get a pit road penalty. Too fast entering after apologizing to his crew about a brake bias issue.
LAP 125 – Bubba Wallace is in the lead now. Only he and Cole Custer have yet to come down for their stops.
LAP 124 – Elliott comes out ahead of his teammate Byron, a net lap down.
LAP 121 – Huge mistake for Chase Elliott! He gets called for a pit road penalty for an uncontrolled tire and comes down for his pass-through penalty.
LAP 120 – The leader is in as Larson rolls into his box. He takes a chassis adjustment, four tires, and fuel as Reddick and Byron are nose to tail.
LAP 119 – Byron, Briscoe, and Logano come down to cover. Kyle Larson remains in the lead and on the track.
LAP 118 – Reddick, Hamlin, and Elliott come down pit road.
LAP 117 – Denny Hamlin is side by side with Chase Briscoe for fourth as both cars continue on the racetrack.
LAP 116 – Christopher Bell is the first taker for this cycle of green flag stops.
LAP 115 – Pit stops not too far away now as Logano gets by Wallace for eighth.
LAP 113 – The “Reddick line” is in full effect. He clears Briscoe for third the next lap.
LAP 112 – Tyler Reddick has a great run off of four and clears Denny Hamlin into turn 1 for fourth. He is running the lane closest to the wall and inspires Hamlin to follow.
LAP 109 – Larson now leads by around two seconds over Byron.
Ryan Blaney “not too much of a warning… it went down as I entered three”.
LAP 107 – Two non-playoff Toyotas fight for seventh as Ty Gibbs gets around Bubba to claim the spot.
LAP 104 – Chase Briscoe has second place in his sights. Byron might have used too much of his tires early in the run recovering from clipping the grass. Meanwhile, Reddick claims fifth place from Elliott.
LAP 102 – Kyle Larson now has around a second lead over Byron.
LAP 100 – Christopher Bell has been battling a loose racecar as he runs in 11th.
LAP 97 – Ten laps into the run and the field has settled down. Larson lead Byron by under half a second. Briscoe, Hamlin, Elliott, Reddick, Wallace, Gibbs, Logano, and Shane Van Gisbergen in his unique New Zealand scheme rounds out the top ten.
LAP 87 – William Byron with a chaotic restart! He goes into the grass through the front stretch and everyone escapes cleanly. He only loses two positions as teammate Kyle Larson charges to the lead.
LAP 82 – Few takers on pit road as the highest positioned driver of Todd Gilliland pits from 18th.
How the points look after stage one:
- William Byron (+21)
- Denny Hamlin (+15)
- Kyle Larson (+15)
- Christopher Bell (+1)
- Chase Briscoe (-1)
- Chase Elliott (-6)
- Joey Logano (-26)
- Ryan Blaney (-27)
STAGE TWO
Kyle Larson takes the lead after Chase Briscoe bumped William Byron on the restart. Byron got back up to second but Briscoe is really aggressive on Byron. Briscoe thoroughly believes he can win if he can get out in front… Lap 94.
STAGE ONE WINNER: William Byron
LAP 80- William Byron wins stage one! He’s followed by Larson, Briscoe, Hamlin, Elliott, Wallace, Bell, Reddick, Gibbs, and Logano who fights off a three-wide attempt off the restart to capture a stage point.
LAP 78 – Byron gets off to a clean lead as Briscoe and Larson fight for second place.
LAP 77 – 11 cars wave around to get back on the lead lap. Byron selects the inside lane alongside his teammate Kyle Larson for the restart.
LAP 74 – William Byron retains his lead off of pit road. Everyone elects four tires as the rest of the top ten is as follows: Larson, Briscoe, Elliott, Reddick, Hamlin, Bell, Wallace, Gibbs, and Logano.
LAP 73 – Pit road opens as the leaders come down.
With Ryan Blaney out, he will have to find victory lane at either Talladega or Martinsville (where he is the two-time defending winner of the event)
LAP 72 – Caution for one of the Round of 8 drivers! Pop goes Ryan Blaney’s left front tire as he tries to pass Ty Gibbs for 11th.
Heavy damage to his steering column and he is out of his race car after brining it down pit lane.
LAP 71 – 10 to go in the stage. Bell has gotten past teammate Hamlin for sixth as Ryan Blaney has now joined Logano and Gibbs in the battle for the final point in the stage.
LAP 68 – Logano continues to fend off Gibbs for tenth. Logano is reporting tight conditions inside his racecar.
LAP 66 – Byron has extended his lead over Reddick to nearly three seconds with 15 to go in the stage.
LAP 63 – Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson are entangled for third. With lap traffic in their way, Larson remains ahead for now.
LAP 61 – 20 to go in stage one. Joey Logano holds tenth as Ty Gibbs closes in to steal a crucial point from him.
LAP 59 – The spring winner, Josh Berry, has gone a lap down as William Byron has lapped up to 27th.
LAP 57 – Briscoe gets tight out of turn 2 and Elliott takes advantage of it to claim fourth into turn 3.
LAP 55 – Chase Elliott takes fifth from Denny Hamlin into turn 1. Briscoe is about another half a second up the road for fourth.
LAP 53 – Ryan Blaney is still the furthest back of the Round of 8 competitors. He is nearly side by side with Ty Gibbs for 11th.
LAP 50 – Briscoe and Larson is the closest battle in the top ten currently. Larson is just now pulling away from the Indiana native.
LAP 47 – Just over midway through the first stage now. Byron extending his lead over Reddick by just over a second. Larson, Briscoe, and Hamlin battle for third about 3.5 seconds behind the leader.
LAP 43 – Michael McDowell, who came down on lap 41, gets a pit road penalty for hitting the commitment box. He has served his drive through penalty.
LAP 42 – The first pit cycle has come to a close with William Byron having a half second lead over Tyler Reddick. Larson, Briscoe, Hamlin, Elliott, Bell, Wallace, Bowman, and Logano round out the top ten.
LAP 39 -Six cars have yet to pit with Carson Hocevar in the lead and his two other Spire teammates behind him as well.
LAP 36 – Leader Chase Briscoe has come down for his stop. He has trouble on the left rear and now will lose the net lead to William Byron after holding a 3.5 second lead prior to the stops.
LAP 35 – The majority of the field has come down pit road for their stops.
LAP 32 – Green flag pit stops now underway for the first time today as Suarez and Reddick come down for service.
LAP 29 – Tire fall off has now been reported out of the Toyota camp. Hamlin has dropped to third behind Byron and Bell now down to seventh.
LAP 27 – Reddick get by Bell into turn 1 as Kyle Larson gets alongside Bell into turn 3.
LAP 25 – The groove has started to widen out to the top side. Tyler Reddick has been running up top and now finds himself on the back of Christopher Bell for fifth.
LAP 23 – Chase Briscoe has stretched the lead to just over two seconds over Hamlin.
LAP 21 – Ryan Blaney has picked up 2 spots since the start. He sits 12th and is last among his fellow Round of 8 drivers. He has 10th in his sights.
LAP 18 – The battle for sixth is a close one as Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick tango.
LAP 15 – Hamlin and Briscoe are playing a little cat and mouse with each other. Hamlin appears to have the slight edge right now.
LAP 12 – The field has fanned out now. Briscoe has a .3 tenth lead over Hamlin in second. Local driver Noah Gragson is the biggest mover, up nine positions since the race start.
LAP 6 – Denny Hamlin is now two car lengths back on Briscoe for the lead.
Hamlin radio “I had trouble getting into 5th gear” – Could be a gearbox issue.
LAP 3 – Bell gets tight off turn 2 which allows Hendrick teammates Chase Elliott and William Byron to pass.
LAP 2 – Christopher Bell draws in Hamlin as the battle for 2nd heats up. Briscoe now has half a second on 2nd.
LAP 1 – The field fans out as Chase Briscoe takes the lead into turn 3.
Denny Hamlin chooses the inside lane as we are underway in the Round of 8 here at Las Vegas!
RACE START
Joe Gibbs Racing teammates of Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe find themselves alongside each other on the front row for another intermediate race. Hamlin starts on the pole looking to become the first driver to lock himself into the Championship 4 and have two precious weeks to prepare for Phoenix.
Ross Chastain made contact with the outside wall in practice and made repairs in time to qualify so no cars to the rear to start this event.
- USA, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
- 267 Laps / 400.5 miles
- Stages: 80 / 165 / 267
- Average time of race: 2:58.200
- Pit road speed: 45mph
- Caution vehicle speed: 55mph
- Fuel Window: 60-64 laps
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Ryan Kemna View All
Ryan Kemna is a photojournalist for The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2025.
Currently residing in the Minneapolis, MN, area, Kemna brings his passion for motorsports, photography, and a good story to readers.