Las Vegas 101: History, tire info, story lines and more
After 32 races, the NASCAR Cup Series rolls into Las Vegas with just eight drivers left contending for the 2022 championship. Sunday's South Point 400 is the opening race of the Round of 8.
Teams will be broken into two groups for 20 minutes of practice. The qualifying for the series starts at 12:50 p.m. ET. Playoff teams will qualify in their respective groups. Five drivers from each group will advance to the final round of qualifying.
The 2022 Round of 8 field is the youngest in playoff history. It has the fewest wins of all postseason fields. 19 different drivers have won this year. The last nine races have each been won by different people. Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano have more Cup starts than the four drivers making their first Round. William Byron won the last race at two of the three tracks in the Round in 2021.
Goodyear will provide the same tire setup that was used at recent mile-and-a-half facilities, Kansas Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway. Goodyear notes discussions with teams and manufacturers in the weeks since Texas produced fruitful feedback. No resin or traction compound will be applied to the asphalt surface at Las Vegas. NASCAR Senior VP of Competition Scott Miller says no track-treatment will take place. He says Las Las has provided great racing in recent years.
The 30th race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is Sunday. The track's original layout featured 12 degrees of banking in the corners, 3 degrees on the backstretch and 9 degrees in frontstretches. A reconfiguration in 2006 changed the racing significantly, with 20 degrees banking on corners and on each of the straightaways. Christopher Bell won the pole at Vegas in spring race. Chevrolet has won three of last four races at the track.
Denny Hamlin is the favorite this weekend with 11-2 odds. Kyle Busch is listed at 10-1 odds and has just one home win on his resume. Joey Logano is a longer shot at 16-5 odds but he won back-to-back spring races in 2020-21.
The 2022 Fantasy Live points leaders are Chase Elliott (1,094), Ryan Blaney (981) and Joey Logano (972). NASCAR.com is offering the Playoffs Grid Challenge during the playoffs.
NASCAR has partnered with LiveLike to add fan engagement in the NASCAR Mobile App. Log in to the app during the race for polls, quizzes, the cheer meter and more.
