Two-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano won Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, punching his ticket into the series championship. This was Logano’s fourth NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) victory at Vegas, 35th career, and the driver of the No. 22 Pennzoil Ford Mustang is in Championship 4.
Logano finished eighth in Stage 1, remaining within the top five positions to finish fifth in Stage 2. Logano passed Daniel Suarez for the lead on lap 262 and held off a hard-charging Christopher Bell to score the victory.
“So proud of our race team all the way through. This group of guys they’re truly incredible. They’re good people, which is one of the things I’m most proud of, but they’re really smart. In the playoffs, they’re able to really be able to keep a level head and maximize the races no matter what’s dealt with them.” Logano said.
Bell’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the dominant car of the day, but Logano held him off by 0.662 seconds in the final few laps.
“Today, we had a solid car. We were not as good as the No. 20 team, but we were a top-five car. In the long run, we were probably the best car. When there’s an opportunity like that at the end of the race, where there’s a long run, you’re able to make good mileage, that’s one of our strengths that we have with the Ford, so there’s an opportunity there to run it long.” Logano added.
The NASCAR Cup Series standings and statistics after the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Make | Points | Behind | Starts | Wins | Top-5 | Top-10 | DNFs | Lap Led | Stage Wins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Toyota | 4086 (242) | 0 | 33 | 3 | 13 | 21 | 6 | 999 | 11 |
| 2 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 4079 (296) | -7 | 32 | 6 | 13 | 16 | 5 | 1615 | 12 |
| 3 | 24 | William Byron | Chevrolet | 4071 (230) | -15 | 33 | 3 | 12 | 18 | 4 | 287 | 2 |
| 4 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 4061 (177) | -25 | 33 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 6 | 307 | 2 |
| 5 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 4044 (263) | -42 | 33 | 3 | 10 | 16 | 4 | 922 | 6 |
| 6 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | Toyota | 4041 (216) | -45 | 33 | 2 | 11 | 19 | 3 | 500 | 5 |
| 7 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 4024 (247) | -62 | 33 | 2 | 9 | 15 | 7 | 476 | 4 |
| 8 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 4018 (209) | -68 | 33 | 1 | 9 | 16 | 2 | 214 | 1 |
Race Notes
- 13 lead changes among ten drivers in the South Point 400 at Las Vegas.
- Five caution flags for 32 laps.
- The average speed of the race winner was 139.385 mph.
- The South Point 400 at Las Vegas race lasted 2 Hrs, 52 Mins, and 24 Secs.
- The margin of victory was 0.662 Seconds.
- Christopher Bell led four times for 155 laps, the most laps led in the race.
- Tyler Reddick won stage 1.
- Bell won stage 2.
What went down behind Logano in the South Point 400 at Las Vegas
Polesitter Bell won the pole, led 155 of 267 laps, and finished second in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry XSE. With this second-place finish, Bell leads the overall NCS standings.
Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, and Chase Elliott are below the top-four cutline with two races remaining before the final take-all Championship 4 Nov. 10 at Phoenix Raceway.
Virginia native Hamlin moved up to fifth and is now 27 points out.
“Not a clean day. That certainly sums it up. You’ll have that. We did the best we could to get the best finish.” Hamlin said.
Reddick led nine laps and won the first stage before being involved in an early stage two incident. Reddick is sixth, 30 points below the cutline.
“You just have to be aggressive on restarts. It’s how the Next Gen racing has been from the beginning. I kind of saw them both have a moment, and I just had to split second to make a decision. You have to be aggressive on the restart. It is hard to pass after a while. Being myself on a mile and a half, being aggressive – by the time I realized I was in trouble, the 19 (Martin Truex Jr.) started sliding, and the 9 (Chase Elliott) was coming up, and I was pretty much already on their outside at that point, with nowhere to really go. I needed to make the decision earlier when I saw them sliding to be more conservative to avoid an incident – just not who I am, but it is unfortunate. It took us out of the race.” Reddick said.
Elliott and the No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet team finished 33rd after a stage two accident with Reddick.
“The No. 45 was coming with a really big run on the top. I don’t think Martin knew that, and he was kind of running as if we were two-wide. Once I recognized that there wasn’t going to be enough room, I bailed, and there was just nowhere to bail.. it was too late. I need to sit down and take a look at it. I was, personally, just trying to get out of the situation, and it was just a little too late at that point.” Eliott said. “It sucks. Our No. 9 NAPA Chevy was really, really good there at the start. It was the best we’ve been out here in this new car, so it was just a bad day for that.”
Blaney finished 32nd.
“We’re still alive. It’s definitely not the best of days. It was just a rough weekend overall. I don’t know what to do about it, to be honest with you, running over something and having a hole in it in practice. And then just getting clipped by the 6 there. I thought I could get around him and didn’t know if he’d come up the racetrack, and then by the time he was kind of on the track it was too late. I got clipped and bent everything all to hell, so it was just a rough weekend. We still have two more weeks, so we’re definitely not out of it.” Blaney said.
What’s Next
The NASCAR Cup Series will head to Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, October 27, for the Round of 8 at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
