South Point 400: Hamlin chases 3rd straight win in huge duel
Twenty-six points separate Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin as the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for Sunday’s South Point 400, the fifth race of the Chase. Larson leads after a dominant win at Kansas, and Hamlin returns to a track where he has won the last two Cup races, according to NASCAR.com.
South Point 400 race information
- Date: Sunday, Oct. 4
- Time: 5:30 p.m. ET
- Track: Las Vegas Motor Speedway (1.5 miles)
- TV/Streaming: USA Network, HBO Max
- Chase race: No. 5, second of three straight 1.5-mile tracks (Kansas, Las Vegas, Charlotte)
Here are five numbers that frame the South Point 400.
76: Larson’s maximum-points day at Kansas
Larson swept both stages, earned the fastest-lap point and won at Kansas on Sept. 27 for 76 points, the most possible in one race under the current scoring system, NASCAR.com’s Pat DeCola wrote. He led 235 of 267 laps, per Bleacher Report. Austin Cindric finished second and Hamlin third, according to ESPN’s results.
It was Larson’s second win in four Chase races. His 2.25 average finish in the postseason is the best through four races since the Chase began in 2004, NASCAR.com reported.
The defending champion still sounded cautious. “I only have a 26, I think, point lead on Denny. That could be swallowed up in a hurry,” Larson said after Kansas. He added that Hamlin “could go have a max points day next week, and I could blow an engine.”
3: Hamlin’s shot at a Vegas three-peat
Hamlin won both Cup races at Las Vegas in the last year, including this spring, when he overcame a speeding penalty at the first stage break, took the lead on the final restart and scored 70 points. Larson finished seventh that day. A third straight win would make Hamlin only the second driver to win three in a row at the track, joining Jimmie Johnson (2005-07).
“We just gotta, I mean, do what we’ve been doing in Las Vegas,” Hamlin said, according to NASCAR.com. “That’s a track that, you know, I feel like I’ve got a great feel for, especially in the race, and so we’ll see how it all plays out.”
2.67: Hamlin’s 1.5-mile average this season
Hamlin’s six intermediate-track finishes in 2026 read first, fourth, second, third, third and third. That 2.67 average ties Johnson (2005) and Bobby Labonte (1999) for the best through six such races in a season, and he has an active streak of eight straight top-five finishes on 1.5-mile tracks.
Larson’s intermediate average is 13.8, but two 34th-place finishes at Texas and Chicagoland skew it. His other four results are seventh, second, fifth and first.
881: Larson’s laps led at Las Vegas
Larson is no underdog at this South Point 400. He has three Cup wins at Las Vegas and 881 laps led there, the most in track history. In 11 Vegas starts with Hendrick Motorsports, he has an 8.9 average finish and six top-two results, and in the Next Gen era he has led 657 laps at the track to Hamlin’s 232, per NASCAR.com.
He led 192 laps in last fall’s race before finishing second, FOX Sports noted.
About 50: The gap to the rest of the field
Christopher Bell is third in Bleacher Report’s post-Kansas standings, 49 points behind Larson. Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Ty Gibbs are within 100 points.
Stage points could matter more than usual for that group. “Fifth place without stage points isn’t that good of a day anymore,” Logano told The Associated Press before Kansas.
A Hamlin win in the South Point 400 could cut deep into Larson’s lead with Charlotte next. A Larson win would push his cushion further before the Chase leaves the intermediate tracks. Catch up on Larson’s wild Iowa doubleheader from August, and follow the rest of the Chase in our NASCAR coverage.