Both times Larson has made the Championship 4, he’s done so by winning the opening race of the Round of 8. He did it at Texas on his way to winning the Cup title in 2021, and he did it again by winning the fall race at Las Vegas a year ago.
2
William Byron
Since Byron had three-straight top threes in the Round of 12 again, it’s worth revisiting his finishes in the Round of 8 last year. He ran seventh at Vegas and fourth at Homestead before near disaster at Martinsville, where his team missed the setup and he had to sweat out a 13th place finish to advance to the Championship 4.
3
Christopher Bell
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If last year’s Las Vegas playoff race is any indication, Bell should be a legitimate pick to be the first driver to earn a Championship 4 spot. Bell made a charge at Kyle Larson on the final lap a year ago and got beat to the finish line by only a carlength.
4
Denny Hamlin
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Ah, here it is: That point in the season that will decide if Hamlin can finally win the Cup championship or if he’ll remain one of NASCAR’s greatest drivers to never win a title. Hamlin has earned a Championship 4 spot via race win once, when he won the penultimate race at Phoenix in 2019.
5
Ryan Blaney
A major factor in Blaney’s push to winning the Cup title in 2023 was a lights-out Round of 8: Sixth at Las Vegas, second at Homestead, and a win at Martinsville.
6
Chase Elliott
How soon we forget that Elliott made the Championship 4 three years in a row from 2020 to 2022. Elliott’s streak was snapped a year ago when a dismal regular season where he missed many races caused him to miss the playoffs entirely.
7
Joey Logano
You know what might be fun to see now? Logano winning the championship after only making the Round of 8 because another driver got disqualified. Just to see how mad people in my timeline would get about the NASCAR playoffs.
8
Austin Cindric
The best thing anyone can say about Cindric’s 2024 season is that there’s a big “what if” of how far he could’ve gone in the playoffs if he didn’t crash at Kansas and then get crashed out of the lead at Talladega. A fourth place finish at the Roval put an exclamation point on how it might have been.
9
Tyler Reddick
Regardless of what happens in the final four races, crew chief Billy Scott deserves to be recognized for his call to bring Reddick to pit road for fresh tires before the final green flag run at the Roval. One of, if not the, best pit calls in NASCAR all season.
10
Alex Bowman
The response of Bowman’s team to being disqualified at the Charlotte Roval and subsequently being bounced from the playoffs bears monitoring. The season-altering penalty, which Hendrick Motorsports announced they would not appeal, is a bad look for Blake Harris and his crew.
11
Bubba Wallace
Another top 10 finish at the Roval gave Wallace 13 total for the 2024 season as he continues to build on a career-best mark in that category. A win in the final four races would certainly sweeten the deal.
12
Chris Buescher
Alas, Buescher did not seize his opportunity to become NASCAR’s King of the Road. That honor went to Kyle Larson, whose pair of road course wins at Sonoma and the Roval gave him the upper hand over the field.
13
Ty Gibbs
Ty Gibbs’ hot start to the 2024 season was spurred along by his performance in Las Vegas’ spring race. Gibbs picked up his first top five of the year there during a stretch where he had three top fives and five-straight top 10s in the first six races of the year.
14
Kyle Busch
As we near the event horizon of Busch potentially going winless in 2024, it’s worth noting that he only has one win at his home track of Las Vegas. Busch prevailed there in the spring of 2009.
15
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Las Vegas was the site of a major milestone for Stenhouse Jr. at JTG Daugherty Racing, a team with which he has made a home for himself in Cup. Stenhouse ran third at Vegas in 2020, his first top five as the driver of the No. 47.
16
Carson Hocevar
Hocevar earned his first top 15 of the year when he ran 15th at Las Vegas in March. He has had 12 total this season, and enters the return trip to Vegas coming off back-to-back top 15s at Talladega and the Roval.
17
Ross Chastain
Las Vegas presents Chastain with a major bounce-back opportunity after two straight weeks of poor finishes. Since moving to Trackhouse Racing in 2022, Chastain has finished inside the top five at Vegas all but once, with the lone exception being a 12th place finish in the spring of 2023.
18
Daniel Suarez
Now out of the playoffs, Suarez’s focus will turn to trying to get the best finish he can in this year’s standings before turning the page to 2025. Suarez’s best finish in the final Cup standings came two years ago when he finished 10th.
19
Brad Keselowski
Trips to Las Vegas are always good for a reminder of who christened the track for Cup cars back in 1998. Mark Martin won the inaugural Las Vegas Cup race in 1998 driving the No. 6 Ford that now belongs to Keselowski.
20
Martin Truex Jr.
The final four races of Truex Jr.’s career as a full-time Cup driver will offer him four races on tracks where he has won in the past. Truex has two Vegas victories in 2017 and 2019.
21
Chase Briscoe
Coinciding with the change in seasons, Briscoe and his team turned back into a pumpkin after their walk-off Southern 500 win put them in the playoffs. Briscoe finished 24th at Kansas and 30th at Talladega before a suspension failure at the Roval did his playoff hopes in.
22
Zane Smith
Five years ago, Smith made his Xfinity Series debut at Las Vegas in the first of 10 races he ran in a limited schedule for JR Motorsports. Smith started sixth but finished 24th after a late-race accident.
23
Justin Haley
For Spire Motorsports, their trip to Las Vegas earlier this year ended up being a memorable weekend for their Truck Series team. Rajah Caruth earned his first career win at Las Vegas in March, which has helped carry him all the way to the Truck Series Round of 8.
24
Michael McDowell
Interestingly, McDowell is credited with 46 laps led in his career at Las Vegas despite never having finished better than 17th there. McDowell led 11 laps in the spring of 2018, 16 in the fall of 2019, and nine in the spring of 2021.
25
Todd Gilliland
Gilliland played the role of bystander in the finish to last year’s Las Vegas playoff race. He gave Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell room to race on the final lap as he was being put a lap down, doing what he needed to do to be part of the highlight reel but not for the wrong reasons.
26
Ryan Preece
We’ll see which of the Stewart-Haas teams put their best foot forward in the final four races before the organization goes kaput. Preece is coming off a 25th place finish at the Charlotte Roval.
27
Daniel Hemric
The fact that Hemric straightened out Tyler Reddick when he was about to spin out under braking is probably of no consolation to him. Hemric got sent around instead and finished 24th as he continues to look for a ride for next year.
28
Corey LaJoie
LaJoie’s engine let go early at the Charlotte Roval, conjuring up some unpleasant memories from earlier in his career. Back in 2018, LaJoie’s first four starts with TriStar Motorsports saw him fail to finish with three different engine failures.
29
Harrison Burton
A nice 20th place outing for Burton at the Charlotte Roval gave him his first top 20 finish since going one-and-done in the playoffs. It was also his first top 20 since the upset win at Daytona that put him in the playoffs to begin with.
30
Josh Berry
Don’t overlook Berry this weekend, as he’s got a good feel for Las Vegas as demonstrated by his results there in the Xfinity Series. Of Berry’s five career Xfinity wins, two came at Las Vegas’ fall race in back-to-back years.
