By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
Shake-ups in NASCAR Cup Series won’t be a surprise at Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Four races into the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, it’s tempting to jump to conclusions as the top division heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube (4 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Let’s resist the urge, however, to concede the driver that finishes atop the standings at the end of the regular season will be Tyler Reddick, even though the driver of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota built an enormous lead in the standings with three straight victories to open the season.
On the flip side, let’s avoid the conclusion that those who are mired in the 30s in the standings are hopelessly out of contention.
The hallmark of the first four events this year has been volatility. With a second-place finish last Sunday at Phoenix Raceway, Christopher Bell climbed 18 positions in the standings, from 24th to sixth.
Even before he won Sunday’s race, Ryan Blaney was fourth in the standings, despite finishes of 27th, 10th and eighth—thanks to 34 stage points accumulated in the first three events.
“I think stage points are going to be super important,” Blaney said. “If you’re leading the race in Stage 1, do you flip it? Do you take the stage points? Those are the hard decisions you’ve got to make, if you’re leading or running second…
“I think it’s going to play a huge factor in this points system. I think it’s really important, especially early, when everyone’s super-close. But even later in the year, it’s going to be really important, for those guys especially that are around the Chase cut line, guys that are battling for the top two spots.
“Stage points have always been important, but I think it’s ratcheted up this year the way the format is.”
Likewise, volatility has been a significant characteristic of recent races at 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Last year’s spring race produced a record 32 lead changes, before Josh Berry became the first driver to win his first Cup race at the track.
In five of the last eight Las Vegas races, the winning driver has made the decisive pass in the final six laps.
With Reddick winning the first three races in a Toyota and Blaney taking the checkered flag last Sunday in a Ford, Chevrolet has yet to win a Cup race with the new body style introduced this season.
Kyle Larson hopes to remedy that, and he has the credentials at Las Vegas to do so. Winner of three of the last 10 races in Sin City, Larson tops all drivers with 819 laps led and eight stage wins at the track.
“Las Vegas is always a track I look forward to, because it’s our first real chance in the season to see where we stack up on a mile-and-a-half,” said the reigning series champion. “With the new Chevy body, there’s still a lot we’re learning, so getting laps at a place like Vegas will be really valuable for our No. 5 (Hendrick Motorsports) team.”
Three-time Cup champion Joey Logano comes to Las Vegas as the leading active winner at the track with four victories. Denny Hamlin, with wins in 2021 and last fall, is the only Toyota driver to win at LVMS since Martin Truex Jr. triumphed in the fall race of 2019.
In the last 12 races at Las Vegas, only one winner has started outside the top-10. That was Alex Bowman, who will miss his second straight event after being diagnosed with vertigo. Bowman started 12th in the spring race of 2022 and beat Larson to the finish line by 0.178 seconds.
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series veteran Justin Allgaier will substitute for Bowman in Sunday’s race.
Cup drivers will provide formidable competition in O’Reilly Auto Parts Race
In marked contrast to the NASCAR Cup Series, the first four events in the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series have produced four different winners.
With a field salted with full-time NASCAR Cup Series drivers, that trend is likely to continue in Saturday’s The LiUNA at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (5:30 p.m. ET on CW, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Kyle Larson, favored by oddsmakers in both races this weekend, will take a turn in the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, but Larson won’t be the only significant Cup competitor in the field.
Chase Briscoe is scheduled to drive the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota that carried part-timer Aric Almirola to victory in last year’s fall race at the 1.5-mile track. Connor Zilisch, a 10-time O’Reilly winner last season, will be behind the wheel of the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, as series regular Carson Kvapil rotates to the No. 9.
Zilisch finished second behind Almirola in the fall.
If there’s a candidate to get a second O’Reilly victory this season, Justin Allgaier would be most likely to succeed. Allgaier took the checkered flag last Saturday at Phoenix Raceway after a late charge and vaulted into the series standings lead with the victory.
Allgaier is the defending winner of the spring O’Reilly Auto Parts race at LVMS.
“I’ve always enjoyed racing in Las Vegas,” said Allgaier, who has won at least one race in the series for a record 10 straight years. “It’s a track that has really suited my driving style and is somewhere that I know we will have a great chance to battle for the win at each time we come here.
“(Crew chief) Andrew (Overstreet) has given me great cars all year long and I know that will be the case again this weekend. If we can just go out and execute the way we are capable of, I see no reason why we can’t replicate what happened last week in Phoenix. This group is ready to go.”
Allgaier, however, has a full plate this weekend. He is competing in the NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday as a substitute for Alex Bowman, who will miss his second straight event after being diagnosed with vertigo.
As with the Cup Series, qualifying will be important to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series drivers. Only four times since 2008 has a winning driver at Las Vegas started outside the top 10.
