The NASCAR Cup Series roared into Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the South Point 400 — a pivotal Round of 8 Playoff race that promised high drama and delivered precisely that.
Pole-sitter Denny Hamlin led the field to green alongside Chase Briscoe for the opening 80-lap stage. Behind them, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano, and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top 10 starters.
New Zealand’s Shane van Gisbergen once again impressed in qualifying, putting his No. 88 Trackhouse Chevrolet 13th on the grid — the best of the Trackhouse trio. Teammates Ross Chastain and Daniel Suárez started 15th and 17th, respectively.
At the drop of the green, Briscoe edged ahead of Hamlin to take the early lead, while Hamlin came under pressure from Bell for second. Van Gisbergen didn’t get away cleanly, slipping six spots to 19th on the opening lap before recovering to 17th by Lap 7.
By Lap 22, Briscoe had built a 1.4-second cushion out front. Van Gisbergen reported through the radio that his car’s balance wasn’t quite right — “not bad, but affecting throttle commitment through Turns 3 and 4,” he explained.
Lap 25 saw the Kiwi claw his way past Michael McDowell for 15th, while teammate Chastain dropped like a stone, falling from 15th to 33rd with a very loose car.
“Tighten it everywhere,” he told his crew. Suárez ran just behind Van Gisbergen in 16th.
Up front, Hamlin complained of a lack of rear grip as Byron moved past him for second, with Briscoe extending his lead to three seconds.
By Lap 34, green-flag pit stops began. Van Gisbergen pitted along with Logano, Larson, Reddick, Chastain, Suárez, Wallace and others over Laps 34–36.
Once the pit cycle was completed, Briscoe briefly lost the net lead to Byron, Reddick and Larson but quickly cycled back among the frontrunners. Van Gisbergen emerged in 18th place.
With nine laps left in the stage, the first caution of the day flew when Ryan Blaney suffered a left-front puncture and hit the wall hard.
“The steering isn’t working, everything feels broken,” Blaney reported over the radio.
During pit stops under yellow, Byron won the race off pit road, followed by Larson, Briscoe, Elliott, Reddick, Hamlin, Bell, Wallace, Gibbs, and Logano. Van Gisbergen restarted in 15th.
On the three-lap dash to the green-and-white chequered flag, Byron held firm to claim the Stage 1 win, while Van Gisbergen crossed the line a solid 12th, steadily working forward.
Stage 2 (85 laps) went green with Byron and Larson leading the way. Larson jumped ahead early, while Van Gisbergen went on the attack, passing Chris Buescher for 11th and then Bell to crack the top ten.
The opening half of the stage ran cleanly, with the next pit cycle kicking off around Lap 115 (35 laps into the segment). After stops cycled through, Van Gisbergen found himself running eighth, ahead of Logano and Buescher.
Larson was in a league of his own, dominating the stage and leading every lap. As the run wore on, Van Gisbergen began to slide backward slightly, losing ninth to Logano with 16 laps to go.
With eight laps remaining, Alex Bowman slipped past the Kiwi, who reported that he was “losing rear grip and having to lift on entry.”
Another late pass from Carson Hocevar dropped him to 11th by the stage end.
Larson swept to a commanding Stage 2 victory, followed by Reddick, Byron, Hamlin, Briscoe, Bell, Gibbs, Bowman, Logano, and Hocevar. Van Gisbergen crossed in 11th and remained upbeat over the radio.
“Just lost the rear tyres toward the end there. Sorry about that — the car’s really good though, it’s awesome.”
The final 102-lap stage began with Byron and Larson leading the field to green. Larson quickly grabbed the advantage, while Reddick and Bell slotted into second and third.
Van Gisbergen restarted ninth but slipped backward on the restart, losing spots to Brad Keselowski, Hocevar, Buescher, Busch, Austin Dillon, Allmendinger, and Logano to sit 16th.
“It’s really bloody tight,” Van Gisbergen told his crew, frustrated by an air-pressure adjustment made during the previous stop.
“Way too big of a change, completely different race car.”
Once the team reverted the setup, SVG found more balance and pace, running 15th after green-flag stops cycled through with 50 laps remaining. Byron led Larson by a second at the front.
But with just over 25 laps to go, chaos struck. Byron slammed into the back of Ty Dillon, who had slowed to pit, destroying both cars and triggering a caution.
Trackhouse rolled the dice for Van Gisbergen, taking only two fresh tyres during the stop, a bold call that vaulted him into the top five, restarting in fifth place with 23 laps to go.
The field came to green with Briscoe and Logano leading, followed by Keselowski, Larson, and Van Gisbergen.
Then came disaster.
On the restart, contact from Ty Gibbs sent Van Gisbergen spinning, collecting multiple cars in a chain reaction that smashed the Kiwi’s Chevrolet into the wall.
His car suffered heavy damage to both left corners, forcing him to retire from the race, cruelly ending what had been one of his best oval performances yet.
Once racing resumed with 14 laps to go, Briscoe led Logano and Larson. The closing laps saw an intense three-way fight as Hamlin stormed back into contention.
With four laps remaining, Hamlin swept past Briscoe for the lead, fending off a late charge from Larson to claim his 60th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, and secure his place in the Championship 4.
Larson finished second, Bell third, Briscoe fourth, and Reddick rounded out the top five.
For Van Gisbergen, it was a day of “what could have been.” The Kiwi showed pace, control, and composure on another oval, only for misfortune to strike in the closing stages.
He’ll look to rebound next weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, with the race scheduled for Monday, October 20, 7am NZST.
Header Image: Trackhouse Racing
