Kyle Larson opens the third round of the NASCAR playoffs as the title favorite

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Kyle Larson has been lucky lately in Las Vegas, where he opens the third round of the NASCAR playoffs as the Cup Series points leader and the favorite to win Sunday's race.

Larson enters the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this season as both the defending champion and the winner of the spring race there. A win on Sunday would be Vegas' third straight win, a win on the season, but most importantly, it would give Larson an automatic berth in the championship final.

The playoff field began with 16 drivers and the three-race round of eight begins in Las Vegas to determine the final of the four winner-take-all championships. The third round next heads to Homestead-Miami Speedway and Martinsville Speedway in Virginia before the finale in Phoenix.

“Las Vegas was one of our better tracks,” Larson said of his chances on Sunday. “On paper, all three tracks are doing pretty well in the round of eight… but we still have to go out and execute. I would like to run well and win.”

Larson has already picked up two wins in the first two rounds of the playoffs, at Bristol Motor Speedway in the first round and last week in the elimination race at the hybrid/road track at Charlotte Motor Speedway. This win was his best sixth win of the season in the Cup Series.

Larson exited the winning streak at Charlotte and picked up a Hendrick Motorsports win as teammates William Byron, Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott all advanced, taking four Chevrolet teammates to the third round. But NASCAR ruled that Bowman's car had failed post-race inspection and he was disqualified, knocking Bowman out of the final eight.

Team Penske's Joey Logano advanced in place of Bowman, joining teammate and reigning Cup champion Ryan Blaney in the round of eight. They are the only two Ford drivers.

Toyota has the remaining three spots with Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin, as well as regular season champion Tyler Reddick of Hamlin and Michael Jordan-owned 23XI Racing.

Larson said the entire Hendrick organization felt the pain of Bowman's disqualification and Logano can now no longer be overlooked. Logano is the only two-time Cup winner in the playoff field and a three-time winner in Las Vegas.

“Of course I would like to have Alex in the last eight. Joey is dangerously good,” Larson said. “You can’t count him out anywhere. So when he's the one who benefits from the disqualification, you think, 'Damn, he's a tough competitor.'”

suit update

NASCAR earlier this week filed a motion to dismiss the expedited discovery motion filed by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, saying the two Cup organizations were trying to “extort” a better deal in the charter system.

23XI and Front Row are the only two organizations out of 15 that refused to sign extensions to the new charter agreements last month. The teams have instead filed a federal antitrust lawsuit and are seeking to be recognized as eligible teams while the case goes through the courts.

NASCAR said in its response: “Plaintiffs have filed a baseless lawsuit against NASCAR asserting baseless antitrust claims in order to obtain commercial agreements they had previously rejected and to attempt to extort more favorable contract terms.”

According to NASCAR, the charter contracts the teams signed at signing are no longer available.

“The deadline for plaintiffs to sign charter agreements for 2025 passed weeks ago, and NASCAR, consistent with its contractual obligations to other charter teams, has taken steps to schedule a season with only 32 charter agreements,” NASCAR wrote. “Plaintiffs don’t need these. “I have made charter arrangements to race and have actually publicly stated that they will still race in NASCAR.”

A court hearing is scheduled for November 4th in Charlotte, North Carolina, at which 23XI and Front Row will be recognized as incorporated teams in 2025.

No place like home

Kyle Busch has one month left to extend his NASCAR record winning streak to 20 consecutive seasons with at least one win.

“Yeah, I mean time is running out,” Busch said Saturday. “We are approaching the end of the year.”

He would ideally like to do it Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his home track where Busch has only one career win but finished third in the playoff race last year.

“I think this place is probably one of our best chances to go out and get the win this year,” Busch said.

Busch has 63 career Cup Series victories and joins Logano as the only active drivers with two Cup titles.

Busch won in his second race with Richard Childress Racing last year when he took three wins and made the playoffs.

But his last victory came in June 2023 at Gateway outside St. Louis, and his losing streak through Sunday stands at a career-worst 53 races. He didn't qualify for the playoffs and is now just trying to maintain his winning streak this season.

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