LAS VEGAS, NV – Kyle Larson earned this trophy the old-fashioned way. The No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driver led the most laps and swept both stage wins but still had to hold off a hard-charging, equally motivated Christopher Bell at the start/finish line to claim a dramatic victory in Sunday’s South Point 400 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The 31-year-old Larson blocked the final charge by fellow playoff driver Bell’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota as the two cars approached the checkered flag. Larson ultimately positioned his Chevy in front to claim a 0.082-second win and secure the first of four available positions in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 race at Phoenix in three weeks. It was a compelling afternoon ushering in this final three-race, eight-driver round of playoff competition to set up the four-driver title chase, with seven race leaders and 20 lead changes. Larson held off the field on a restart with 45 laps to go and never relinquished it despite quality challenges from Bell to close out the race and earlier, Roush Fenway Keselowski owner-driver Brad Keselowski, who led 38 laps himself. Larson led seven times and accumulated the most laps led — 133 of 267 — on the afternoon to top the 1,000 laps led mark on the season. His 1,031 total laps out front in 2023 are the most in the series. Not only did he have to hold off Bell, who made up half a second in the closing five laps to get to Larson’s bumper, the 2021 series champ Larson survived a close call mid-race, his Chevy getting loose and out of control. But the former dirt race champion dramatically corrected and calmly carried on. “Thankfully, Christopher [Bell] always races extremely clean. It could have gotten crazier than it did coming to the start-finish line, so thank you to him for racing with respect there,” Larson said. “What a job done by my team. Just a great race car. “I almost gave it away there in turns 1 and 2. Got sideways and hit the wall and had to fight back from there. I was happy to pull away as much as we did and was hoping that would be enough to maintain, which it was. But I didn’t think they’d be able to get as close as they did at the end. So nerve-wracking. “This is really cool to get to race for the championship in a few weeks, and really glad I don’t have to stress these next two races,” Larson continued. Despite the impressive afternoon, Bell, who started from the pole position and led 61 laps, now finds himself ranked fifth, three points below the four-driver elimination line heading into next week’s playoff race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. “I don’t know what else I could have done,” Bell said. “I feel like that was my moment, that was my moment to make the Final Four and didn’t quite capture it. Coming to the checkers there, I knew he was going to be blocking, so I’m like, I’ll try to go high, and he went high. I don’t even know if I had a run to get by him coming to the line. Just wasn’t enough, but a great day. Great day for sure to get those stage points and a second-place finish out of it. Puts us behind by two [points], so we’re not out of it by any means, but would have been nice to lock in.” The non-playoff cars of Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch, RFK’s Keselowski and Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain rounded out the top five behind Larson and Bell. Seven of the remaining eight playoff-eligible drivers finished inside the top 10. Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, JGR’s Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin, and RFK’s Chris Buescher finished sixth through 10th, respectively. Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney was disqualified in post-race inspection due to the left-front damper not meeting the overall specified length (Section 14.11.3.5). The race shook up the postseason picture. Beyond Larson’s automatic bid, Byron still holds the championship lead in what is now more tightly bunched standings. The No. 24 is 11 points up on Denny Hamlin (+4), who leads JGR teammate Martin Truex Jr. by one point (+3). Reddick is 15 points below the elimination line, followed by Buescher (-23), whose 10th-place finish represented a decent rally for his car, which ran 15th-20th place for much of the day. As a result of the No. 12 car’s disqualification, Blaney is 56 points below the elimination line. Hendrick Motorsports executive — and NASCAR Hall of Famer driver Jeff Gordon — smiled when asked about Larson’s day. “I don’t know where to begin,” Gordon said. “It certainly looked like they were the class or the field at one point, then Bell did, then Keselowski did. Great race, really.” Asked if Larson was potentially as “good” as the 93-race winner Gordon had been when competing, the former four-time series champion said, “You take a guy like Kyle and his capabilities and his talent, and he’s impressed me with his work ethic too. I wasn’t sure how he approached the Cup Series and [crew chief] Cliff [Daniels] and all the data that Cliff gives him in the meetings they have. .. it’s a lot of information you have to absorb. “But he’s stepped up to the plate and done absolutely everything the organization has asked of him and then some. It’s been a great relationship, and this year has been all about getting the car and team to align. “Seems like in the playoffs, they’ve been bringing fast race cars and stepping up to the plate.” The next race of this final three-race playoff round to set the championship field is next Sunday’s 4EVER 400 Presented by Mobil 1 at the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). Larson is the defending race winner. Note: Post-race inspection in the Cup Series garage concluded with confirmation of Larson as the race winner. The No. 12 Team Penske Ford of Ryan Blaney was disqualified after the left-front damper did not meet the specified length as noted in the NASCAR Rule Book. Race Results – South Point 400 – Sunday, October 15, 2023Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts1 2 5 Kyle Larson (P) HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 267 1 1 60 Running 7 133 72 1 20 Christopher Bell (P) Rheem/Smurfit Kappa Toyota 267 2 3 52 Running 5 613 6 8 Kyle Busch Morgan & Morgan Chevrolet 267 7 7 42 Running 4 21 6 Brad Keselowski BuildSubmarines.com Ford 267 3 5 47 Running 5 385 10 1 Ross Chastain Worldwide Express Chevrolet 267 2 41 Running 6 3 24 William Byron (P) Relay Payments Chevrolet 267 9 6 38 Running 1 17 8 45 Tyler Reddick (P) Jordan Brand Toyota 267 4 8 40 Running 8 4 19 Martin Truex Jr. (P) Bass Pro Shops Toyota 267 5 35 Running 1 99 15 11 Denny Hamlin (P) Mavis Tires & Brakes Toyota 267 6 4 40 Running 1 2310 5 17 Chris Buescher (P) Travel Centers of America Ford 267 27 Running 11 9 22 Joey Logano Pennzoil Ford 267 10 27 Running 12 7 23 Bubba Wallace DoorDash Toyota 267 10 9 28 Running 13 13 10 Aric Almirola IHOP Ford 267 24 Running 14 36 99 Daniel Suarez Tootsies Orchid Lounge Chevrolet 267 23 Running 15 24 4 Kevin Harvick Mobil 1 Ford 267 8 25 Running 16 18 34 Michael McDowell Love’s Travel Stop Ford 267 21 Running 17 16 3 Austin Dillon BetMGM Chevrolet 267 20 Running 18 28 7 Corey LaJoie NEGU Chevrolet 267 19 Running 19 33 21 Harrison Burton DEX Imaging Ford 267 18 Running 20 22 16 AJ Allmendinger Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet 267 17 Running 21 20 31 Justin Haley LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 267 16 Running 22 19 2 Austin Cindric Autotrader Ford 267 15 Running 23 27 77 Ty Dillon Gainbridge Chevrolet 267 14 Running 24 30 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Smith’s/Drumstick Chevrolet 267 13 Running 25 32 41 Ryan Preece HaasTooling.com Ford 267 12 Running 26 29 38 Todd Gilliland Frontline Enterprises Inc. Ford 266 11 Running 27 23 43 Erik Jones Allegiant Chevrolet 266 10 Running 28 26 51 JJ Yeley(i) ConectUS Ford 266 0 Running 1 229 34 15 Brennan Poole(i) MACC Door Systems Ford 266 0 Running 30 31 78 BJ McLeod(i) BretBaier.com Chevrolet 266 0 Running 31 35 9 Chase Elliott (P) LLumar Chevrolet 266 6 Running 32 17 14 Chase Briscoe Code 3 Associates Ford 263 5 Running 33 11 54 Ty Gibbs # Monster Energy Toyota 259 4 Running 34 14 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 144 3 Accident 35 25 42 Carson Hocevar(i) Sunseeker Resorts Chevrolet 110 0 Accident 36 12 12 Ryan Blaney (P) Menards/Tarkett Ford 267 1 Running Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 57 Mins, 10 Secs. Average Speed: 135.635 MPH Margin of Victory: 0.082 SecondsStage 1 Top 10: 5, 20, 6, 45, 19, 11, 8, 4, 24, 23Stage 2 Top 10: 5, 1, 20, 11, 6, 24, 8, 45, 23, 22 Caution Flags: 7 for 36 laps; Laps: 66-71 (#43 Incident on the Frontstretch [99]); 82-86 (Stage 1 Conclusion [43]); 112-117 (#42 Incident in Turn 2 [16]); 146-149 (#48 Incident on the Frontstretch [78]); 167-171 (Stage 2 Conclusion [None]); 211-215 (#14 Incident in Turn 2 [78]); 218-222 (#54 Incident in Turn 2 [14]). Lead Changes: 20 among 7 drivers; C. Bell (P) 1-2; K. Larson (P) 3-28; C. Bell (P) 29-39; K. Larson (P) 40-68; C. Bell (P) 69-72; K. Larson (P) 73-82; M. Truex Jr. (P) 83-91; D. Hamlin (P) 92-114; B. Keselowski 115-117; K. Larson (P) 118; B. Keselowski 119-145; C. Bell (P) 146; B. Keselowski 147-149; W. Byron (P) 150; B. Keselowski 151-154; K. Larson (P) 155-168; C. Bell (P) 169-211; J. Yeley(i) 212-213; K. Larson (P) 214-221; B. Keselowski 222; K. Larson (P) 223-267. (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Serice
