NASCAR Cup Series
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube
Team Chevy Post-Race Report
March 15, 2026
Elliott, Byron Lead Chevrolet with Podium Finishes at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
- Chase Elliott wrapped up the west coast swing by picking up his best finish of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season – leading Chevrolet with a runner-up finish in the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Putting together a 40-point day, Elliott now sits in the fifth position of the points standings with five races complete.
- Hendrick Motorsports saw three of its entries take home top-10 finishes at the 1.5-mile Nevada oval, with William Byron and Kyle Larson driving their Chevrolet-powered machines to third and seventh-place results, respectively. The results were accompanied by a strong points day for the trio – each earning top-10 points in both stages of the race.
Race Recap:
Stage One:
With sights set on a weekend sweep, Kyle Larson took the green flag from the fifth starting position Sunday afternoon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. While the leaders quickly settled into a single-file formation, Larson maintained a top-five running position throughout the first green flag run. With a good-handling report from the cockpit, Cliff Daniels called the reigning champion to pit road on Lap 34 for the team’s first stop of the day for four tires and fuel. With the green flag pit cycle complete just past the halfway mark of the opening stage, Larson found his way up to the third position and just 1.2-seconds behind then-race leader, Denny Hamlin. As the Joe Gibbs Racing teammates battled it out for the lead, Larson was able to progressively close the gap to the leaders – ultimately making the pass for the runner-up position with 7 laps to go in the stage. The caution-free Stage One saw Larson lead Chevrolet to the first green-white checkered flag to collect second-place stage points.
Stage Two:
A satisfied driver behind the wheel reported that his No. 5 Chevrolet was slightly tighter racing in traffic after the green flag stop. Maintaining the second position in the race off pit road, Larson elected the outside lane of the front-row to lead the field to the green flag for Stage Two. An intense side-by-side battle with Christopher Bell on the opening laps of the second stage saw Larson’s teammate, Chase Elliott, enter the podium picture. Settling into the top position, Larson inched his way into a half-second lead with 60 laps to go in the stage. As the long green flag run continued, Larson gave up the lead just before the halfway point of the stage to hit pit road for his third stop of the day. Cycling back to the top of the leaderboard, Larson climbed to his largest lead at that point of the race – sitting 2.6-seconds ahead of Bell with 30 laps to go in the stage. But the approach to lap traffic saw a hard-charging William Byron eyeing a shot for the lead – making the pass on his teammate with 7 laps to go in the stage to lead his first laps of the race. Never looking back, Byron went on to take the stage win to lead the Hendrick Motorsports pair to a one-two finish.
Final Stage:
Under the final stage break, Byron reported that he had good long-run speed in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Taking the green flag with 94 laps to go in the race, a masterful restart by Byron saw the No. 24 team reclaim the top position. Despite losing the lead to the track’s defending winner, Hamlin, Byron was able to keep him in striking distance as the field approached its next scheduled pit stop. Making another shot at the lead, Byron edged his Chevrolet-powered machine over Hamlin at Lap 211 just as the caution flew. A trip to pit road saw Byron lineup in the fourth position for the restart with his teammate, Elliott, in tow. Taking the green flag with 50 laps to go, it was Elliott that jumped into the top position among the Bowtie brigade when he made the move up into the third position on the restart. Elliott navigated his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to the runner-up position, and with his long-run speed coming to light, the Dawsonville, Georgia, native closed in on then race leader, Hamlin, to just a one-second gap with 20 laps to go. With the race continuing under green until the end, Elliott went on to take the checkered flag to earn his season-best finish.
Team Chevy Unofficial Top-10 Results
Pos. Driver
2nd – Chase Elliott
3rd – William Byron
7th – Kyle Larson
Chevrolet’s season statistics with five NASCAR Cup Series races complete:
Wins: 0
Poles: 1
Top-Fives: 10
Top 10s: 17
Stage Wins: 2
The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season continues at Darlington Raceway with the Goodyear 400 on Sunday, March 22, at 3 P.M. ET. Live coverage can be found on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
Post-Race Driver Quotes:
Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Finished: 12th
“It was a good, solid day for our BREZTRI AEROSPHERE (budesonide, glycopyrrolate, and formoterol fumarate)® team. Our Chevrolet was tight for most of the race but Richard Boswell and everyone on this team kept working on it every chance that we had. The last adjustment we made was the best and helped us take off on the restart. I wish we had one more stop to make the same adjustment again. This group is capable of these results and we will keep building off this.”
Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Finished: 7th
“In the second stage, we were getting really loose. And then to start the final stage, I just didn’t get the launch I needed or the push I needed. I was side-by-side with them and then (Christopher) Bell had a big run behind me and it was going to be hard to block. They got by and I fell back to fourth, and then my balance was just kind of tight that run. I was hoping to get to a green flag stop, that way we could be in traffic and maybe my balance would be in a good spot and we would have a shot to race for the win. We had that caution just before the cycle was about to start. On the next run, I was just really loose, and I was just kind of hanging on.
Overall, it was good to get another top-10 finish for this No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet team. I wish we would have had the balance in a little better place, but it was back and forth every run. All-in-all, it was a good day and I’m happy with it. Chase (Elliott) did an awesome job and William (Byron) was really fast. We had our moments of being fast, so we can look at it and keep building on it.”
Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Finished: 28th
“It was a tough afternoon here at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but the enter No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet team never gave up. We had a Top 15 car in practice, but qualified lower than we’d have hoped and started deep in the field. We went down a lap early and were never able to make that track position up. We learned a lot on the West coast and will now head back east and look to rebound next weekend in Darlington.”
Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Finished: 2nd
“I felt like our No. 9 NAPA Chevy was a little better there on the longer run. I thought Denny (Hamlin, race leader) was starting to fall off, and I was just trying to be as tidy as I could and give myself an opportunity. We just came up a little bit short. But honestly, with where we’ve been to how we ran today, it was not even comparable. As bummed as I am, I have to check myself back to reality and understand how big of an improvement that was from past races out there (at Las Vegas Motor Speedway). Just proud of this team. It’s a lot of fun to be right there in the mix with those guys that have won a lot of races out here. Excited about that and hopefully we can keep building on it.”
William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Finished: 3rd
“Overall, I was really happy with today. It was more of what we expect from ourselves. I was just pleased, really, from Stage One on. The balance was similar to what we’re used to. It had some differences, but it wasn’t anything that we couldn’t work through. Just really excited for the future mile-and-a-half races and just kind of dialing in that balance to get it a little bit closer. I’m proud of everyone on his No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet team. Everyone has really gone to work on this new Chevrolet car. It’s just a new season and we’re trying to get our balance right. I’m happy with it so far.”
Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Finished: 32nd
“It was just a tough day for this No. 88 Jockey 150th Anniversary Chevrolet team. We didn’t really fire-off great. I felt like we could be good on the long run and make ground up, and then on the restart, we would just fall back and loose all the ground we would make up. I don’t know what happened with Ricky (Stenhouse Jr.). He was pitting and I didn’t see him wave us off. It just caught me by surprise when he checked-up in the middle of the corner and that kind of ended our day from there.”
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