Practice Results: 2025 NCS South Point 400 at Las Vegas

After a long regular season and an intense opening six races of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, we’ve finally made it to the semi-final round of the postseason.

Starting this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, it’s crunch time, as a victory in any of these next three events (at Las Vegas, Talladega, or Martinsville) for a playoff-eligible driver means that driver/team will advance into the Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway.

Non-playoff driver Ty Gibbs paced Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice from the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada, posting a fast lap time of 29.714 seconds (181.733mph). Gibbs drives for Joe Gibbs Racing, which has three of the final eight drivers remaining in the championship fight.

William Byron and Chase Elliott, teammates from Hendrick Motorsports, ranked second and third overall in Saturday’s multi-group practice session from Las Vegas. The winningest organization in the history of the NASCAR Cup Series also has three of its four drivers still eligible for the championship.

Denny Hamlin was fourth fastest in Saturday’s practice session, with two of the three NASCAR Cup Series entries that he co-owns with Michael Jordan (23XI Racing) sitting fifth and sixth with Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick. Both the No. 23 and No. 45 teams were eliminated from the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs following last weekend’s event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL.

Chase Briscoe was ranked seventh in the practice session, with non-playoff driver Ross Chastain sitting eighth (as the fastest driver in the first group of practice). Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell, both playoff-eligible members of the series’ two four-car superteams, rounded out the top-10 in practice, sitting ninth and 10th.

Only two of the eight NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs drivers failed to post a lap time fast enough to be inside the top-10 during Saturday’s session, those being the two teammates from Team Penske — the organization that has won the last three NASCAR Cup Series titles.

Ryan Blaney was 17th-quickest in the 25-minute session, with defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano sitting a dismal 28th.

There was only one small incident in Saturday’s practice session, when Ross Chastain, driving the No. 1 Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge Chevrolet, scraped the outside wall in Turn 3 in the final minutes of Group 1 in NASCAR Cup Series practice.

Qualifying for the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will immediately follow the completion of the NASCAR Cup Series practice session on TruTV. The event itself will take place Sunday, October 12, at 5:30 PM ET on USA Network, Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Practice Results: