As the NASCAR Cup Series reaches the semi-final round of the 2025 NASCAR Playoffs, the gloves have officially come off.
This weekend’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway marks the beginning of the ‘Round of 8’, meaning that a victory by a playoff-eligible driver in the next three events — Las Vegas, Talladega, or Martinsville — leads to an automatic berth to the Championship Race at Phoenix (November 2).
Still attempting to track down his maiden NASCAR Cup Series championship after two decades, Denny Hamlin will be leading the field to green in Sunday’s event at Las Vegas, after putting down a perfect lap to win the pole position.
With a lap time of 29.213 seconds (184.849mph), Hamlin was three one-hundredths of a second faster than his Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) teammate Chase Briscoe — who has been a dominant force in qualifying all season long. The pole is the 47th at NASCAR’s top level for the Chesterfield, Virginia-native.
Asked about his qualifying lap, Hamlin had a positive reaction, saying, “I felt good about it, truthfully. There wasn’t a whole lot left out there for it, but great job with this ampm team to get my car good. It was good in the short run in practice, as well. Gotta work on it in the long run for tomorrow. But Saturday has really been our Achilles heel at this racetrack. That’s a great way to turn that around.”
Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE, was denied his ninth pole of the season by the slimmest of margins and will start the race alongside Hamlin. It’s the fourth time the JGR duo have shared the front row this season — Nashville, Darlington, Kansas, and Las Vegas.
STARTING LINEUP: 2025 NCS South Point 400 at Las Vegas
Christopher Bell completed a sweep of the top-three positions for Joe Gibbs Racing, qualifying in third.
Hendrick Motorsports teammates occupied the next three positions, with Kansas winner Chase Elliott starting fourth, regular-season champion William Byron in fifth, and former Las Vegas winner Kyle Larson set to go from sixth in his specially-designed Zac Brown Band Chevrolet.
Less than one week after being eliminated from post-season contention at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL, 23XI Racing drivers Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick put up solid qualifying results for seventh and eighth.
Defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano qualified ninth after a dismal practice session, which saw him placed 28th overall. Ty Gibbs, the quickest driver in practice, rounded out the top-10.
Only Ryan Blaney, the winner of the New Hampshire event in the Round of 12, failed to qualify inside the top-10, placing his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse in a disappointing 14th. While not extremely far to drive forward, the Team Penske entries have seemingly lacked speed this weekend at Las Vegas.
