Kyle Larson wins playoff race at Las Vegas

Here are some takeaways from the playoff race at Las Vegas.

A new focus for the 2021 champ

Kyle Larson won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and punched his ticket to the Championship 4. This doesn’t mean that he has an easy two weeks ahead of him as the other playoff drivers fight for spots in the Championship 4.

Larson addressed the possibility of winning at Las Vegas and moving on to the championship race during a media session. He explained that he could relieve some stress by kicking off the Round of 8 with a win. It would also create a new kind of stress.

“It was just nice for your head, winning that first race and not having to deal with the added stress of the next couple of weeks,” Larson said on Saturday. “Really, the stress comes from just trying not to get in the way or mess things up.

“Joey (Logano) kind of talked about that a lot last year after winning here was just the goal of not pissing anybody off between then and Phoenix.”

The stress of making other drivers angry stems from NASCAR’s unique nature. There will be 36 cars in the field at Phoenix. Only four will be racing for a championship.

If Larson makes enemies in the next two weeks, there is a scenario where one of these other drivers could use the final race to keep him from winning his second title in three seasons. Avoiding that will be key.

A close call for Christopher Bell

The emotion was evident during Bell’s post-race interview with NBC Sports. He had scored 52 points on the day and posted his ninth top-five finish of the season.

Those stats didn’t matter to Bell. He made it clear that he viewed Las Vegas as a missed opportunity for him and the No. 20 team.

“I feel like that was my moment. That was my moment to make the Final Four and didn’t quite capture it,” Bell said after the race.

At only two points below the cutline, Bell is not out of the hunt for a spot in the Championship 4. He has two more opportunities to lock up one of the remaining spots with a win or on points.

First up is Homestead-Miami Speedway, a track where Bell has three Cup starts. He finished eighth as a rookie in 2020 while driving for Leavine Family Racing. His two finishes with Joe Gibbs Racing are 20th and 11th.

The elimination race takes place at Martinsville Speedway. Bell has seven Cup starts at the historic short track. His average finish is 14.9. He has two top-10 finishes. This includes his win in last season’s playoff race that sent him to the Championship 4.

“I think I saw we’re minus two, so we’re not out of it by any means,” Bell added. “It would have been nice to lock it in.”

One Round of 8 race is complete. Seven playoff drivers are only going to feel increased pressure heading to Homestead-Miami Speedway next Sunday.

While Kyle Larson scored the win at Las Vegas and punched his ticket to the Championship 4, the other playoff drivers saw their point situations change.

William Byron is the most prominent example. He entered the weekend with a series-high six wins and was 20 points above the cutline. Now he is only 11 points above the cutline after finishing seventh with seven stage points.

Behind Byron are Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin. Hamlin is four points above the cutline after finishing ninth with 12 stage points. Truex is three points above the cutline after finishing eighth with six stage points.

Christopher Bell’s performance is the reason why Truex and Hamlin are so close to the cutline. He entered the weekend eight points below the cutline but scored the second-most stage points (17). Bell finished second and locked up 52 points. Now he is only three points below the cutline.

Tyler Reddick is 15 points below the cutline after a seventh-place finish with 10 stage points. He has ground to make up at Homestead. This is a track where he has two top-five finishes in three starts.

“You look at it — yeah, we lost ground on the cutline, but how our car drove today, it should have been a lot worse than it was,” Reddick said after the race.

Chris Buescher missed out on stage points at Las Vegas. He left with a top-10 finish but fell further below the cutline. He is now 23 points below heading to Homestead.

Ryan Blaney initially finished sixth after scoring eight stage points. This moved him to 17 points below the cutline.

However, NASCAR disqualified the No. 12 after post-race inspection. This dropped Blaney to a 36th-place finish. He is now 56 points below the cutline and in a must-win situation.

Six of the eight playoff drivers scored stage points at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Click here to see where everyone finished.

Click here for the penalty report.

Click here for the cumulative race report.

Kyle Larson can pursue another championship after winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and locking up a spot in Phoenix.

Larson delivered a dominant effort at the 1.5-mile tri-oval. He swept the first two stages and then held off all challengers during the final run to the checkered flag. He scored his fourth win of the season.

The final laps were the most intense of the afternoon. Christopher Bell had a very fast car, which he used to chase Larson down. He put himself on the bumper of the No. 5 after taking the white flag but couldn’t beat Larson on the final drag race to the checkered flag.

Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Ross Chastain, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin and Chris Buescher rounded out the top 10. Ryan Blaney originally finished sixth but was disqualified after the race.

Kyle Larson is well on his way to securing a spot in the Championship 4 for the second time in three seasons.

Larson continues to lead at Las Vegas with 20 laps to go. He has a lead of nearly two seconds over Christopher Bell in second. This sets him up to win his fourth race of the year.

If Larson can hold on, he will become the first driver to lock up a spot in the championship race at Phoenix. This will give his team a significant advantage.

The battle is not yet over. Bell is turning in faster laps than Larson as he continues to move closer. The only question is will he have enough time to challenge for the lead?

The caution has flown at Las Vegas for another tire issue. This time, it was Ty Gibbs.

The rookie took the green flag on Lap 216 after a caution for Chase Briscoe hitting the wall. Gibbs was running inside of the top 10 at the time but lost several positions after hitting the outside wall.

Gibbs continued to slow as the field went past him. His wheel then disconnected and headed toward the outside wall. His broken rim continued to roll down the track.

According to the NBC Sports broadcast, the lug nut was not tight on the No. 54. This was the cause for the disconnected wheel that led to the crash and a two-lap penalty.

The caution has flown again at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Chase Briscoe was the cause. He had a right-rear tire issue, which sent him into the outside wall. He made contact with Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s car and then he spun toward the middle of the track.

Briscoe was able to make his way back to pit road, which closed at the time of caution. He stopped for fresh tires while the rest of the drivers circled the track under yellow.

There were conversations taking place over the radio at the time of caution. Denny Hamlin’s team was one of those looking at when to make the final green flag pit stop.

The caution made the conversations irrelevant. All of the leaders headed down pit road under yellow.

Kyle Larson has swept the first two stages at Las Vegas on the strength of a fast car with fresh tires.

Larson took the lead from Brad Keselowski on Lap 155. He held on until the end of the stage and locked up 10 more points and another playoff point.

Ross Chastain was second. Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Keselowski, William Byron, Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace all scored stage points.

Chris Buescher finished 15th and missed out on stage points once again. Martin Truex Jr. finished 20th and missed out on stage points as well.

“I am so bad in traffic,” Truex told his team over the radio after the stage ended.

Truex finished fifth in stage 1. He lost all of his track position after staying out on older tires at the end of the stage. He continued to fall until the end of stage 2.

According to Racing Insights, the stage 2 winner at Las Vegas has won eight of the last 12 races. This includes this season’s spring race when Byron swept the first two stages and the 2021 playoff race when Hamlin won stage 2.

The caution has flown with 21 laps left in stage 2. Alex Bowman was the cause.

The Hendrick driver, who finished top three in his last two starts at Las Vegas, hit the wall in Turn 4. He then slid down toward the bottom of the track before coming to a stop against a tire barrier.

The replay showed that the back end had lost grip. Bowman over-corrected and turned the front end of his car into the ouside wall.

Bowman was able to exit his damaged car and climb over to the roof to the track safety crews. He ended the day 35th.

Bowman was not the only Hendrick driver to hit the wall. Kyle Larson started to spin while running in second. The rear of his car hit the outside wall, which straightened it back out.

Larson was able to continue racing but fell to fifth in the running order.

The second caution for cause has flown at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Carson Hocevar blew a tire in Turn 2. He made contact with the wall, bounced off and then spun back into the outside wall. Hocevar slid back into the center of the track but the other drivers avoided him.

The No. 42 sustained significant damage in the incident. Hocevar still tried to drive it back to his pit stall so the crew could get to work on the car. He ultimately took the car back to the garage after the team was unable to beat the DVP clock.

Both Legacy Motor Club cars caused cautions at Las Vegas. Erik Jones also hit the wall after blowing a tire on Lap 66. This led to a sprint to the end of stage 1. Jones was able to continue in the race after avoiding major damage.

A big gamble by Martin Truex Jr. has backfired early at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Truex stayed out after the end of stage 1 on 10-lap tires and inherited the lead while the rest of the lead lap drivers headed to their stalls for fresh tires and fuel. He then led the field to the green flag for the start of stage 2.

Truex initially took the lead from Denny Hamlin after taking the green flag. He did not hold this spot for very long. He began falling through the field as the other playoff drivers began passing him. Truex was completely outside of the top 10 by Lap 100.

Truex was not the only driver experiencing issues. Tyler Reddick also voiced concern over the radio about tire chatter. Though he was able to continue racing.

The first stage is complete at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Kyle Larson won it and scored 10 points and one playoff point.

Christopher Bell was in the lead on the restart with nine laps left in the stage. He had kept his spot at the front of the pack after a two-tire stop but lost it on the restart to Larson. He still finished the stage second.

Brad Keselowski, Tyler Reddick, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and William Byron all scored stage points. Reddick, in particular, went from 12th to fourth with a two-tire stop of his own.

Chris Buescher finished the stage in 16th. He was the only playoff driver to miss out on stage points.

The first caution has flown at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Erik Jones was the cause. He blew a right-rear tire and hit the outside wall. He was able to make it back to pit road for a fresh tire while the leaders prepared for their second pit stops of the day.

Daniel Suarez was the first car a lap down. He received the free pass from the 21st position after starting the race from the rear of the field.

The leaders all stopped for fresh tires after the Jones incident. Christopher Bell got two tires while Kyle Larson got four. Tyler Reddick jumped nine cars with his two-tire stop while Brad Keselowski moved up to fourth with a two-tire stop.

Kyle Larson took the lead from Christopher Bell on the third lap of the playoff race at Las Vegas. Bell took it back on Lap 29.

The pole-sitter dove to the bottom of the track on Lap 29 and used his momentum to clear Larson. He immediately put some distance between himself and Larson.

Martin Truex Jr. then used a similar move to pass Larson. The regular-season champion moved into second place as he continues his pursuit of his first top-15 finish of the playoffs.

The pit stops began four laps after Bell’s pass. Larson and Kyle Busch both stopped. Ryan Blaney then followed one lap later.

Bell and Truex ran six laps longer than Larson before they made their first pit stops of the day. This plan led to them blending back into the field more than five seconds behind Larson.

Chase Elliott started from the rear of the field after crashing in Saturday’s practice session. He was unable to crack the top 30 in the first 30 laps of the race. Daniel Suarez also started at the rear after crashing in practice. He moved up to 27th in the same number of laps.

The green flag has waved and the Cup Series drivers have started the pivotal playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Once the drivers crossed the start-finish line, Joey Logano dove to the bottom to the try to make some passes. He was not able to accomplish this, so he merged back into line next to Ryan Blaney.

Christopher Bell, who started from the pole, cleared Kyle Larson for the lead. He began running up against the wall while Larson and William Byron fought for second place.

This advantage only lasted three laps. Larson used the bottom to clear Bell, and he quickly began building his advantage. Truex then took third from Byron.

Chase Elliott hit the wall during practice on Saturday after blowing a right-rear tire. His team had to pull out the backup car due to the amount of damage sustained in the crash.

After an extensive amount of work, Elliott’s crew was able to get the car through inspection and ready for Sunday’s race.

The No. 9 team moved the backup car into the garage at 10 a.m. local time on Saturday. They did not leave the garage until 7 p.m. local time.

Elliott’s crew spent nine hours working to get the car ready so that he can continue pursuing points in the owner championship.

Elliott’s crew is not the only one that worked nonstop on Saturday.

Daniel Suarez also hit the wall during practice and had to go to a backup car. His Trackhouse Racing crew put in extensive effort and got the No. 99 ready to go through inspection this morning.

Where playoff drivers finish stands out on the stat sheets at the end of each week.

Other than first, the actual finishing order is less important than the number of points earned in the first two stages of the race.

Look at the Round of 16 opener at Darlington Raceway. Chris Buescher finished third in the race but only scored two stage points. He left the track with 36 points. Tyler Reddick finished second but scored 16 stage points. He left the track with 51 points.

The Charlotte Roval is another example. Reddick scored 17 stage points before finishing sixth. This includes a stage win. He left with 48 points.

This was 10 more than Kyle Busch who finished third with only four stage points. Christopher Bell finished 15th but only scored one fewer point than Busch due to his number of stage points earned.

The focus on Sunday will be on the drivers that will contend for the win at Las Vegas. It should also be on the drivers that lock up stage points early.

Another storyline to watch:

--Daniel Suarez did not make the playoffs this season. He could still have an impact on the playoff picture. He told NBC Sports this week that he won’t make Christopher Bell’s life easy after an incident at the Roval.

Bell hit Suarez from behind as they raced for 11th, causing Suarez to crash. Bell reached out to Suarez and said that it was not intentional. He also acknowledged that Suarez could be coming after him for the rest of the season. Bell remains one of the eight drivers eligible for a spot in the Championship 4.

“I didn’t come to Las Vegas thinking that I’m going to go after Christopher Bell,” Suarez told NBC Sports. “That’s not me. I’m going to do my thing, put my effort into the 99. I can tell you for sure, I won’t make his life easy. If I have the opportunity at one point to make his life very difficult, I will, just because I felt like what he did was not acceptable.”