South Point 400Date: Oct. 15, 2023Event: South Point 400 (Round 33 of 36)Series: NASCAR Cup SeriesLocation: Las Vegas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)Format: 267 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/85 laps/102 laps) Race Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) SHR Race Finish: ● Aric Almirola (Started 13th, Finished 14th / Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)● Kevin Harvick (Started 24th, Finished 16th / Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)● Ryan Preece (Started 32nd, Finished 26th / Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)● Chase Briscoe (Started 17th, Finished 33rd / Running, completed 263 of 267 laps) SHR Points:● Kevin Harvick (14th with 2,144 points)● Aric Almirola (22nd with 588 points)● Ryan Preece (24th with 566 points)● Chase Briscoe (30th with 453 points) SHR Notes: ● Almirola earned his ninth top-15 of the season and his seventh top-15 in 21 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Las Vegas.● The South Point 400 marked Harvick’s 28th career NASCAR Cup Series start at Las Vegas, the most all-time among NASCAR drivers.● This was Harvick’s fifth straight finish of 16th or better at Las Vegas. He finished ninth in September 2021, 12th in the series’ two races at the track last year, and ninth in the series’ prior visit to the 1.5-mile oval in March.● Harvick finished ninth in Stage 1 to earn two bonus points. Race Notes: ● Kyle Larson won the South Point 400 to score his 23rd career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his fourth of the season and his second at Las Vegas. His margin over second-place Christopher Bell was .082 of a second.● There were seven caution periods for a total of 36 laps.● Twenty-six of the 36 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.● This was the first race in the penultimate Round of 8 of the NASCAR Playoffs. Larson secured his spot in the Championship 4 via his win. William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., and Denny Hamlin are above the top-four cutline while Bell, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney and Chris Buescher are currently below the cutline with two races remaining before the final, winner-take-all Championship 4 Nov. 5 at Phoenix Raceway. Sound Bites:“It was a solid day for us. I’m happy with the effort. We ran top-15 all day. We honestly ran eighth to 15th all day. I know that’s not great, but, honestly, for where we’re at in our program, that’s a solid day for us. I’m proud of Drew (Blickensderfer, crew chief) and all the guys on the team. They’re working hard and keep on trying to find speed in our racecars. We’ll take that, learn from it and, hopefully, be better at Homestead.” – Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 IHOP Ford Mustang Next Up:The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the 4EVER 400 presented by Mobil 1 on Sunday, Oct. 22 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It is the eighth race of the 10-race NASCAR Playoffs and the second race in the Round of 8. The 4EVER 400 presented by Mobil 1 starts at 2:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. -SHR-
