By Roy J. Akers — www.skyviewsports.net
With just four races left in the 2025 NASCAR season, three Chevy’s, three Toyota’s and two Fords have a chance to crown their drivers, teams, and owners as the Cup champion. There are no pretenders left. Every driver has won at least one race this season. One driver, SVG won five races but is still a work in progress on most of the tracks on the CUP circuit and will take a great season as one to expand his portfolio.
NASCAR Manufacturer News: Chevy
| For the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series, the first ticket into the Championship Four is officially up for grabs as both divisions return to Las Vegas Motor Speedway to kickoff the Round of Eight. |
| Chevrolet’s dominate Xfinity Series season continues with a commanding presence of five drivers remaining in the title hunt with JR Motorsports’ Connor Zilisch, Justin Allgaier, Sammy Smith and Carson Kvapil and Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love. In NASCAR’s top division, a trio of Hendrick Motorsports drivers are one step closer to the opportunity to hoist the Bill France Cup including former champions, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott, with William Byron setting his sights on his third-straight Championship Four appearance. |
| Chevrolet in the NASCAR Cup Series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway:Chevrolet is a 13-time winner in NASCAR’s top division at Las Vegas Motor Speedway – a history that dates back to a win by NASCAR Hall of Famer, Jeff Gordon, in just the series’ fourth appearance at the track (March 2001). But it was the Next Gen era where the Bowtie brand boosted strong results at the Nevada circuit with the manufacturer leading the way with wins in four of the seven races, including the car’s competition debut at the track in March 2022 with Alex Bowman. Following suit of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, William Byron (March 2023) and Kyle Larson (Oct. 2023; March 2024) drove Chevrolet to three-straight trips to victory lane at the track. Despite missing victory lane in the other three Next Gen events at the track, Chevrolet has placed no worse than four drivers in the top-10 in each race, including an impressive seven drivers representing three different Chevrolet organizations in this season’s spring date. |
 TEAM CHEVY TRIO CONTINUES ON IN TITLE CHASEA strong second round for Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, William Byron and Chase Elliott led the trio to spots in the final three-race stretch that leads to the chance to compete for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series championship. Locking-in a Round of Eight berth prior to the drop of the checkered-flag at the Charlotte ROVAL, Larson and Elliott are two of the four remaining title contenders that already have a championship title under their belts. For the 2025 regular season champion, consistency was the name of the game for Byron and the No. 24 team throughout the last round – building a points cushion that took them one step closer to a third-straight Championship Four appearance. |
| Larson Heating Up:Kyle Larson and the No. 5 team drove to a true championship-caliber performance during the Round of 12 to further prove they’re a title threat. Despite a disappointing opening round, the 33-year-old Elk Grove, California, native turned the second three-race stretch into the ultimate rebound – earning a streak of top-seven finishes to carry into the Round of Eight. With the playoff rankings restacked, Larson will lead Team Chevy to Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the third position and four-points above the cutline. With momentum on his side, the 2021 champion will take on a trio of tracks that fares very well for the No. 5 team – two of which they have found victory lane. Las Vegas Motor Speedway will forever hold a special place in Larson’s Cup Series career – being the site of his first win with Hendrick Motorsports (March 2021). Since then, the No. 5 team has found their footing at the 1.5-mile Nevada oval – tallying three wins and a pair of runner-up finishes over a nine-race timespan. With a series-best average finish of 9.389 at the track, Larson is arguably one of the leading contenders to grab the first ticket into the Championship Four this weekend. |
| Round of Eight Tracks:With just a single-digit points cushion for the series’ top-four drivers in the playoff rankings, a win in one of the next three races is more important than ever to solidify the opportunity to compete for the Bill France Cup. For the Team Chevy playoff contenders, the Round of Eight sets up a strong group of tracks for the trio with each driver owning a victory at two of the three upcoming venues. In addition to his three wins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Kyle Larson is also a winner in the Next Gen era at Martinsville Speedway – conquering “The Paperclip” to capture his first grandfather clock in April 2023. Chase Elliott’s championship-earning career also includes triumphs at two of the three tracks in the Round of Eight, including two wins at the round’s “wild card” stop, Talladega Superspeedway, as well as his win at Martinsville Speedway in Nov. 2020 that led the driver to his first career Cup Series championship. Following suit of his teammates, William Byron’s Cup Series resume includes one win at Las Vegas and a pair of Martinsville triumphs – all of which have been recorded in the Next Gen era. |
NASCAR Manufacturer News: Ford
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “We’ve got to go win. That’s the bottom line. We got to the next round, but we’ve got no playoff points. We’ve got to go win.” DO YOU HAVE ADDED CONFIDENCE HAVING WON AT VEGAS BEFORE? “Yeah. We proved it last year. Just let us get in the game and anything can happen.” HOW DID YOU HAVE TO ADJUST AFTER STAGE ONE AND MAXIMIZE YOUR DAY? “When you realize you’re gonna get beat, you’ve got to go do something and we were kind of tanking there pretty hard, so we were gonna be in trouble. Paul, you’ve got to make the call before it’s too late, and he made a good call there.” DID YOU TRUST THE CALL TO COME DOWN? “I trust Paul Wolfe.” WHAT’S IT LIKE KNOWING YOU’VE GOT A GUY LIKE PAUL ON THE BOX TO MAKE THOSE CALLS? “Yeah, he’s gonna make those calls. He’s gonna man up and do it and there’s no one better than Paul to do it.” WHAT’S IT LIKE AS YOU GET DOWN TO THE FINAL LAPS AND IT’S LITERALLY EVERY POSITION? “It’s tight. Every spot. If you don’t think regular season races matter, look at that. One point is the difference in making it.” YOU’VE GOT ANOTHER LIFE. “We’re still alive, baby. Now we’ve got to win. We’ve got to win from here.” THEY CAN’T KILL YOU IN THIS FORMAT. YOU FIND A WAY. “I don’t know if that’s the case, but everyone does a good job on this race team of just grinding and fighting. We’re just a bunch of fighters. We’re scrappers. We’re not the fastest car all the time, but a group of scrappers that are able to manufacturer some stuff.” PAUL CALLED YOU IN AND THEN WERE YOU THINKING ATTACK MODE? “Oh yeah, I had to. At that point it’s just kind of go. I was going as hard as I can, but I kind of burnt it up. I’m pretty sure those were my scuffs at the end, so they really weren’t that fast. It was kind of just falling off, but obviously the 1 was falling off a little harder there at the end and we were making up that difference.” IN THE FINAL TWO LAPS DID YOU KNOW HOW CLOSE IT WAS WITH CHASTAIN? “Yeah, everybody was telling me how close it was gonna be there. We’re still in. We’re still alive, baby. I’m so excited. It was such a close finish there. I knew it was within a point there and I knew we were gonna be tied there at the end and Ross was gonna do whatever he had to do to make it happen. I just wasn’t quite fast enough today with our car, but, overall, it’s the drama of the playoffs. If you want drama, the playoffs bring it every time. What an entertaining finish there. To come down to, like I said, a tie there basically at the end before the wreck. I’m proud of Paul Wolfe. He made some really hard calls today. Three-stopping the end there. That was kind of an audible at the because our fall off was a little bit too much. Making that call there at the end was ultimately what kept us in the game with just a few left, so that’s a championship performance from the team. I wish I was a little faster, but, overall, I couldn’t be more proud of the team. We’ve still got a shot.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “That was not a bad day. We had a pretty solid day. It was nice to get a stage win out of it with our Ford Mustang and we finished fairly decent. I’m proud of the effort today and I’m looking forward to getting to Vegas.” YOU SAID EARLIER THAT YOU GOT TO LOOK AT VEGAS A LITTLE EARLIER BECAUSE OF THE LOUDON WIN. “Yeah, I’m just excited to get there and excited to see what we’ve got when we unload. We’ll see where practice goes and then the race. I don’t really know until we get there, but I’m looking forward to it.” DO YOU GET CAUGHT UP IN WHAT’S GOING ON OUT THERE IN A RACE LIKE TODAY. WERE YOU AWARE OF JOEY’S SITUATION? “Not really. I was kind of aware of the scenario after the second stage, but that’s about it. The rest of the race I wasn’t really sure, but it was definitely wild, I guess. I’ve got my own stuff going on.”
NASCAR Manufacturer News: Toyota
NASCAR National Series – NCS/NXS
Joe Gibbs Racing trio continue title push … Three Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) drivers – Denny Hamlin,Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe – remain in contention for the Cup Series championship with the Playoffs now down to eight drivers. Hamlin begins the Round of 8 as the top seed, eight points above the cutline, while Bell (fifth) and Briscoe (seventh) begin the round under the cutline, four and 14 points below, respectively. A win for either Hamlin or Bell will punch their tickets to another Championship 4 appearance in their careers, while Briscoe seeks his first.
Bell continues strong surge … With a third-place finish at the Charlotte ROVAL last weekend, Bell now has five consecutive top-10 finishes, as well as two straight third-place results. The driver of the No. 20 Toyota Camry XSE for JGR heads back to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend after finishing second in each of the last two fall races. Bell looks to break through Sunday night and lock himself into the title race with a victory.
Toyota still alive for Xfinity Series championships … In the Xfinity Series, Team Toyota has two opportunities to bring home a championship trophy with the series now onto the Round of 8. Brandon Jones remains alive in the drivers’ championship, beginning the round in the third position, four points above the cutline. In the owners’ championship, JGR has two teams remaining with the No. 20 team of Jones as well as the No. 19 team with the victory by Aric Almirola at Bristol in September. The No. 20 team starts the round in fourth, while the No. 19 team begins in seventh.
Bayne to pilot No. 24 GR Supra … Trevor Bayne will step into the No. 24 Toyota GR Supra for Sam Hunt Racing this Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his first Xfinity Series start since Texas Motor Speedway in 2023 with JGR. This weekend will be Bayne’s 55th career Xfinity Series start with Toyota. Las Vegas Motor Speedway has also been a place of success for Bayne in the Xfinity Series, where he’s finished inside the top-10 in all six previous starts at the mile-and-a-half oval.
