Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway marks the fifth race of the 36-race NASCAR Cup Series season, and there are plenty of storylines to keep an eye on heading into the race, which will be televised on FS1 beginning at 3:30 PM ET.
Key Details for the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas
Track: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Track Length: 1.5 miles
TV: FS1
Streaming: FOX Sports App (with valid cable subscription login)
Radio: PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Race Distance: 267 laps | 400 miles
Stages: 80 | 165 | 267
Starting Lineup: Michael McDowell on Pole at Las Vegas
Race Purse: $11,055,250
Christopher Bell Seeking Fourth Consecutive Victory
Christopher Bell is on a heater heading into this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as he has claimed victory in each of the last three races. After a photo finish victory over his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin last weekend at Phoenix, Bell heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a track where he led 155 laps last Fall, with a chance to become the seventh driver in the modern era of NASCAR (since 1972) to win four consecutive races.
“I mean, I’m just excited about it,” Bell said during a media availability on Friday. “One thing is for sure – nothing that has happened the last three weeks means anything for this week. Everything is still ahead of me and no thing is set, and we have to go out there and perform as soon as the green flag drops in practice, we have to qualify well, and we have to execute the race. I’m optimistic on how we are going to perform, because this has been a strong track for us in the past, but I’m just trying very hard to not get ahead of myself and understand it is a new week. It’s a different race, and everyone is going to be bringing their best stuff to try to beat me. I’m optimistic about how we are going to perform, but I know it is a tall task.”
Bell’s words on Friday turned out to be prophetic, as a fourth straight win will be quite the tall task Sunday at Las Vegas.
While the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry XSE qualified a respectable 13th, he’ll be one of three drivers, who will have to drop to the rear of the field prior to the green flag of Sunday’s race. Bell’s car was found to have issues with its throttle body, and his team opted to change the part out following Saturday’s qualifying session, which is an unapproved adjustment.
Kyle Busch Hopes Homecooking Can Lead to End of Winless Drought
With 63 career victories in NASCAR Cup Series competition, two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch is one of the most decorated drivers in NASCAR history. However, he heads into this weekend’s race on a 61-race winless skid.
The Las Vegas native has had several close calls on the road to his current losing streak, including a couple of weeks ago at Circuit of the Americas, but maybe a return to his hometown track, where he won in 2009, will be just what he needs to break through again.
Busch says he has struggled recently with keeping his emotions in check when in position to capitalize for a victory.
“It is [hard]. I would say, you know, when I was winning a lot, you were doing it quite often. You were in position quite often. And so you could harness those emotions and those feelings; be able to go out there and just do your job and kind of let it come to you,” Busch said in a Saturday media availability.
Busch thinks back to a foiled attempt at a win at Kansas Speedway last Fall as an example of how tough things are these days, even for him, when trying to close out a race win.
“Kansas, last fall, I felt rushed. I felt hurried. I felt like I needed to get through the traffic as fast as I could, and I put myself in a bad spot; we hit the wall and lost the race,” Busch explained. “So, you know, those things are certainly on your mind as you come to them, especially with as close as the competition is today.”
Defending Pennzoil 400 Winner Kyle Larson Looking to Get 2025 Season on Track
It’s been a roller coaster start to the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season for 2021 champion Kyle Larson. While the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has two third-place finishes (Atlanta and Phoenix), he also has two finishes outside of the top-20. He comes into Las Vegas, the fifth race of the season, with a trend of alternating bad, and good finishes each week.
If the trend holds true, Larson is slated for a sub-20th-place finish this weekend after a third-place result last weekend. However, Larson could buck the trend as he is the defending winner of the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and he’s won three times at the track since moving to Hendrick Motorsports in 2021.
Larson undoubtedly knows what it takes to win at the 1.5-mile speedway in Sin City, but he also knows it’ll take a full team effort to pull off his first win of the season on Sunday.
“I think as far as getting around the track and being fast, your car’s got to obviously be fast, have a lot of grip, but get through the bumps, I feel like, really well in (turns) one and two to just kind of carry momentum around the whole track. Three and four are really slick corners, as well. And then to win, you got to have all of that, but your team has to execute. I feel like when we have won the races here, our team’s done a really good job, on pit road especially. So more of all that and hopefully we’ll have a good shot,” Larson explained on Saturday.
Other Storylines Heading Into Sunday’s Pennzoil 400
Michael McDowell captured the first-ever NASCAR Cup Series pole for Spire Motorsports on Saturday, marking the second consecutive weekend that the organization has brought very fast race cars to the track. While they didn’t get the finishes last week as Carson Hocevar and Justin Haley were eliminated in a hard crash, and McDowell’s day went south after a cut tire early in the race. This week, Spire Motorsports will look to close out their strong day in qualifying with an equally strong day in the race.
Chase Briscoe is driving hurt this weekend after he sprained his wrist in the same crash, which eliminated Hocevar and Haley last weekend at Phoenix Raceway. According to Jeff Gluck of The Athletic, Briscoe debated utilizing a splint on his wrist this weekend, but ultimately decided to tape his wrist if he needs some relief heading into Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was mired deep in the championship standings after a 100-point penalty following the season-opening Daytona 500, but the points were restored a few weeks ago following an appeal with the National Motorsports Appeals Panel. Briscoe sits 20th in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings heading into Sunday’s race.
Denny Hamlin came up heartbreakingly short to his first win of the 2025 season last weekend in a photo finish with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell. It was a bit of tough luck for the 44-year-old, but perhaps his luck has changed this week in Las Vegas.
Hamlin has hit several big wins in the casino this weekend, the biggest of them being a $126,150 haul from the Buffalo video slot machine on Friday.
Hamlin shared on X that he had additional wins of $85,825 and $65,300 on the same slot machine on Saturday.
If the luck in the casino can translate to the race track this weekend, there’s a good chance Hamlin could walk out of Las Vegas with his first NASCAR Cup Series win since last April. Hamlin will start from the 15th position in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400.
