Roger Diez: NASCAR Round of 8 kicks off in Las Vegas

The Charlotte Roval was the venue for the elimination race of the Round of 12 and there was desperation among drivers on or near the bubble.

Kyle Larson once again put on a dominating performance, leading 62 of the 109 laps and winning his sixth race of the season and 29th of his Cup career. It was also the 312th victory for Hendrick Motorsports.

Shane Van Gisbergen started on the pole in both the Cup race and Saturday’s Xfinity round, but finished third on Saturday and sixth on Sunday, one place behind A.J. Allmendinger in both races. Tyler Reddick had a fraught race with multiple stops for repairs after jumping a curb and colliding with team owner Denny Hamlin. Reddick put on a show in the closing laps, passing enough cars to advance to the Round of 8, bumping Joey Logano. But Logano was back in after Alex Bowman’s car came up underweight in post-race inspection and he was disqualified. His team did not appeal the ruling, so Logano will join Reddick, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Christopher Bell, and Larson vying for a spot in the championship race at Phoenix.

This weekend the Round of 8 kicks off at Las Vegas, where eight active drivers have posted wins. Larson, Logano, and Brad Keselowski have three Las Vegas wins each, Martin Truex Jr. has two, and one-time winners are Byron, Bowman, Hamlin, and Kyle Busch.

Cup practice and qualifying airs on the USA channel at 1:30 p.m. Saturday with the Xfinity series’ Ambetter Health 302 on the CW at 4:30 p.m. NBC will broadcast Sunday’s South Point 400 at 11:30 a.m.

•••

This weekend Formula 1 returns after a three-week layoff. They will be at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas for the Pirelli United States Grand Prix. Formula 1 has visited COTA 11 times since the inaugural race in 2012, with no race in 2020 due to COVID. Among active drivers, Lewis Hamilton took his Mercedes to victory in five of the first six F1 races there, Valtteri Bottas won in 2019, and Max Verstappen has won the last three years.

•••

With six races and two sprints left in the season, Red Bull’s Verstappen is in danger of losing the drivers’ championship for the first time in three years. McLaren driver Lando Norris has closed to within 52 points and has momentum. Only Verstappen’s early season performance has him in the lead, winning seven of the first 10 races. But he is now riding an eight-race losing streak while Norris has scored a pair of wins, a second, and two thirds during the same period. And with the help of two wins and two seconds from teammate Oscar Piastri, McLaren leads the constructors’ championship, ahead of Red Bull by 41 points with Ferrari another 34 points back.

This is a sprint race weekend, where drivers can add points on Saturday. The sprint race airs at 11 a.m. Saturday with qualifying for Sunday’s GP at 3 p.m., both on ESPNews. Sunday’s race airs on ABC at noon.

•••

Finally, here’s speed comparison for various series that have raced on the 3.426 mile, 20 turn COTA course. Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari set the fastest official lap in 2019 at 1:36.169 seconds. The same year Colton Herta set the record for the IndyCar series at 1:48.895 in a Dallara Honda. Christopher Bell’s Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota leads the NASCAR Cup cars at 2:11.459 with the Craftsman Truck series fast time of 2:13.440 going to Cory Heim’s Toyota Tundra and Shane Van Gisbergen setting the record for Xfinity series at 2:13.985, all in 2024.