Date: March 15, 2026
Event: Pennzoil 400 (Round 5 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Las Vegas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 267 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/85 laps/102 laps)
Race Winner: Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
RWR Finish:
● Cody Ware (Started 33rd, Finished 35th / Running, completed 263 of 267 laps)
RWR Points:
● Cody Ware (33rd with 52 points)
Race Notes:
● Denny Hamlin won the Pennzoil 400 to score his 61st career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his first of the season and his third at Las Vegas. His margin over second-place Chase Elliott was .502 of a second.
● Hamlin’s victory puts him in sole possession of 10th on the all-time NASCAR Cup Series win list.
● There were three caution periods for a total of 20 laps.
● Only 20 of the 36 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Tyler Reddick remains the championship leader after Las Vegas with a 61-point advantage over second-place Bubba Wallace.
Sound Bites:
“We were tight all race long, but we kept working on it and we did make some gains, but we just never got the balance quite where it needed to be. And then I sped on pit road and that didn’t help things. Just gotta put it all behind us and get ready for Darlington.” – Cody Ware, driver of the No. 51 Yeego Chevrolet
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Goodyear 400 on Sunday, March 22 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. The race begins at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
