LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY NOTES
Saturday, October 14 – NASCAR Xfinity Series, 3:30 p.m. ET (USA)
Sunday, October 15 – NASCAR Cup Series, 2:30 p.m. ET (NBC)
The playoffs heat up this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as the NASCAR Cup and NASCAR Xfinity Series both open the Round of 8. Ford’s Chris Buescher and Ryan Blaney continue their bid for a first Cup title while Cole Custer does the same on the Xfinity side.
CURRENT CUP PLAYOFF STANDINGS
The Round of 8 begins this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with Roush Fenway Keselowski’s Chris Buescher and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney still in the hunt for this season’s championship. Both drivers begin the three-race round below the cut line, but have manageable deficits to overcome as Buescher is only three points behind while Blaney is 10.
5th – Chris Buescher (-3)
8th – Ryan Blaney (-10)
NOTE: The Championship 4 field will be determined after Martinsville
Ryan Blaney: “It’s huge (winning the playoff race in Las Vegas). I mean, just having that prep time for two weeks with nothing else on your mind. Joey was able to do it with that group last year and you saw what happened, so it’s a huge advantage. I think Larson did it the year before. I think he won the first race of the Round of 8 and it just gives you so much more prep time for that race. It’s just all you’re thinking about, so that’s a big one. Obviously, everyone is gunning to do it and try to win that one and move on, but it was massive for our group last year and it would be the same big advantage for any group if a playoff car was to win.”
Chris Buescher: “We’ve made a lot of gains across the board and we’ve certainly been a lot more competitive at the last handful of mile-and-a-halves. We don’t have the best results to show for it. We had a tire go down at the end of Kansas and Texas certainly didn’t go the way we hoped, but we’ve had better speed. Going to Vegas, I know we’re gonna be a lot better off this time. Also, that was so long ago that we’ve made a lot of improvements as an organization. I know the garage probably has, but we’ve been able to measure our gains across a lot of different racetracks and mile-and-a-halves certainly being one of those styles. We’re looking at it as a great way to start our Round of 8.”
BLANEY AND BUESCHER AT LAS VEGAS
Ryan Blaney has made 14 career starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and is still looking for his first victory. The Team Penske driver has one pole, eight top-10 and five top-5 finishes during that time with his best result being fifth, which he’s done five times. Chris Buescher, on the other hand, has made 13 Cup Series starts with only one top-10 effort, that being a ninth-place run with RFK in the 2020 playoff race.
VEGAS IS STATISTICALLY LOGANO’S BEST TRACK
Joey Logano has three career victories at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and those wins have helped make the track his best statistically on the circuit. Logano sports an 8.1 average start and 9.9 finish in 20 career starts, including a victory in last season’s playoff race. In fact, it’s the only track in which he’s made more than 10 career starts where his average finish is in single digits. Besides his three victories, Logano has 7 top-5 and 12 top-10 finishes at LVMS since joining the circuit in 2009.
ROUSH RULES
There have been two RFK drivers who have posted consecutive NASCAR Cup Series victories at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Jeff Burton won in 1999 and 2000 while Matt Kenseth did it in his championship season of 2003 and 2004. In fact, RFK has been a force in both the NASCAR Cup and NASCAR XFINITY Series at the 1.5-mile facility. The organization has posted seven NCS wins and six NXS victories for a total of 13 overall, which includes back-to-back weekend sweeps in 1999 and 2000. In addition, RFK has three NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series triumphs.
SWEEP DELIGHT FOR KESELOWSKI
Brad Keselowski completed a weekend sweep in 2014 after taking the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series events on consecutive days. Even though Keselowski led the most laps in the NCS race, he needed a little bit of luck and got it on the final lap when Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was in conservation mode, ran out of gas on the back straightaway. That enabled Keselowski to win going away and post the first of his six victories that season.
CUSTER OPENS ROUND OF 8
Cole Custer is carrying the Ford postseason banner and heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Round of 8 opener with some ground to make up on the field. Custer is seeded fifth and finds himself two points below the cut line, but has a solid record at LVMS. In six career series starts, Custer has started on the pole three times (consecutively from 2018-19) and does not have a finish worse than 12th as he owns an average finish of 8.0. Custer qualified third and finished 12th on the first trip to Vegas earlier this year.
FORD’S LAS VEGAS CUP SERIES WINNERS
1998 – Mark Martin
1999 – Jeff Burton
2000 – Jeff Burton
2003 – Matt Kenseth
2004 – Matt Kenseth
2008 – Carl Edwards
2011 – Carl Edwards
2014 – Brad Keselowski
2016 – Brad Keselowski
2018 – Kevin Harvick (1) and Brad Keselowski (2)
2019 – Joey Logano (1)
2020 – Joey Logano (1)
2022 – Joey Logano (2)
FORD’S LAS VEGAS XFINITY SERIES WINNERS
1999 – Mark Martin
2000 – Jeff Burton
2002 – Jeff Burton
2005 – Mark Martin
2009 – Greg Biffle
2012 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2013 – Sam Hornish Jr.
2014 – Brad Keselowski
2017 – Joey Logano
2020 – Chase Briscoe (Sweep)
