After a pair of wild-card races to open the season, NASCAR is rolling the dice in Sin City.
Last week, Daniel Suárez won at Atlanta in a three-wide photo finish. Before that, William Byron claimed the Daytona 500 by narrowly holding off his teammate.
What’s in store for Las Vegas? It could be a return to normalcy.
Las Vegas Motor Speedway will be the first non-drafting track of the season, where drivers rely less on others and are forced to wheel their own cars to the best of their abilities. The results in Nevada will likely be more indicative of the rest of the season than what we saw in Daytona and Atlanta – each of the Championship 4 drivers last year won at a 1.5-mile track comparable to LVMS.
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Here’s everything you need to know for the 2024 Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas:
NASCAR at Las Vegas starting lineup
Thirty-seven drivers will race in Las Vegas – the 34 full-timers, plus three others.
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Kaz Grala will drive the No. 15 for Rick Ware Racing as he continues his part-time effort this season. Elsewhere, veteran J.J. Yeley is teaming up with NY Racing to race the No. 44 for the first time this year. Then there’s 22-year-old Derek Kraus, who will make his Cup debut in the No. 16 for Kaulig Racing.
Here’s the full starting lineup for Las Vegas after Saturday's qualifying session:
Starting position | Driver, car number | Team name | Sponsor | Qualifying speed (mph) |
1 | Joey Logano, 22 | Team Penske | Pennzoil | 184.357 |
2 | Kyle Larson, 5 | Hendrick Motorsports | HendrickCars.com | 184.225 |
3 | Austin Cindric, 2 | Team Penske | Discount Tire | 184.093 |
4 | William Byron, 24 | Hendrick Motorsports | Z by HP | 183.911 |
5 | Bubba Wallace, 23 | 23XI Racing | Columbia Sportswear | 183.648 |
6 | Chase Briscoe, 14 | Stewart-Haas Racing | Mahindra Tractors | 183.486 |
7 | Martin Truex Jr., 19 | Joe Gibbs Racing | Reser's Fine Foods | 183.169 |
8 | Ty Gibbs, 54 | Joe Gibbs Racing | He Gets Us | 183.150 |
9 | Chris Buescher, 17 | RFK Racing | Fastenal | 182.927 |
10 | Christopher Bell, 20 | Joe Gibbs Racing | Interstate Batteries | 182.556 |
11 | Chase Elliott, 9 | Hendrick Motorsports | LLumar | 183.943 |
12 | Michael McDowell, 34 | Front Row Motorsports | Love's RV Stops | 183.592 |
13 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 47 | JTG Daugherty Racing | Smith's/Tree Top | 183.611 |
14 | Carson Hocevar, 77 | Spire Motorsports | Premier Security | 183.181 |
15 | Ryan Blaney, 12 | Team Penske | Menards/Pennzoil | 183.436 |
16 | Daniel Suárez, 99 | Trackhouse Racing | Freeway Insurance | 182.840 |
17 | Corey LaJoie, 7 | Spire Motorsports | USANA | 183.418 |
18 | Tyler Reddick, 45 | 23XI Racing | Monster Energy | 182.513 |
19 | Austin Dillon, 3 | Richard Childress Racing | BetMGM | 183.063 |
20 | Ross Chastain, 1 | Trackhouse Racing | Kubota | 182.482 |
21 | Kyle Busch, 8 | Richard Childress Racing | BetMGM | 182.716 |
22 | Erik Jones, 43 | Legacy Motor Club | Dollar Tree | 182.309 |
23 | Alex Bowman, 48 | Hendrick Motorsports | Ally Financial | 182.587 |
24 | Zane Smith, 71 | Spire Motorsports | Focused Health | 182.309 |
25 | Brad Keselowski, 6 | RFK Racing | Solomon Plumbing | 181.886 |
26 | Josh Berry, 4 | Stewart-Haas Racing | Mobil 1 | 182.143 |
27 | John Hunter Nemechek, 42 | Legacy Motor Club | Albertson's | 181.635 |
28 | Denny Hamlin, 11 | Joe Gibbs Racing | Sport Clips | 182.100 |
29 | Harrison Burton, 21 | Wood Brothers Racing | Motorcraft/Quick Lane | 181.080 |
30 | Noah Gragson, 10 | Stewart-Haas Racing | Fanttik | 181.238 |
31 | Todd Gilliland, 38 | Front Row Motorsports | gener8tor | 180.699 |
32 | Kaz Grala, 15 | Rick Ware Racing | N29 Capital Partners | 181.238 |
33 | Derek Kraus, 16 | Kaulig Racing | Western States Flooring | 178.968 |
34 | Daniel Hemric, 31 | Kaulig Racing | South Point Hotel & Casino | 180.385 |
35 | Justin Haley, 51 | Rick Ware Racing | Ohanafy | No lap taken |
36 | Ryan Preece, 41 | Stewart-Haas Racing | Haas Tooling | No lap taken |
37 | J.J. Yeley, 44 | NY Racing | Urban Youth Racing School | No lap taken |
What time is the NASCAR race today?
The Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas is set for Sunday, March 3, at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Before the race, there were practice and qualifying sessions. The 37-car field was split into two groups (found here), with each group practicing for 20 minutes on Saturday.
Qualifying began immediately after practice. Each car from the two groups made one lap in the first round, with the five fastest cars on single-lap speed in each group advancing to the final round. In the final round, the remaining drivers each got one lap to set the top 10 starting order, with positions 11 through 37 were set based on first round times.
What channel is the NASCAR race on today?
Saturday, March 2 (FS1 and streaming online)
- Practice: 2 p.m. ET, FS1, FOXSports.com
- Qualifying: 2:50 p.m. ET, FS1, FOXSports.com
Sunday, March 3 (FOX, FS1 and streaming online)
- NASCAR RaceDay: 2 p.m. ET, FS1, FOXSports.com
- NASCAR RaceDay: 3 p.m. ET, FOX, FOXSports.com
- Pennzoil 400: 3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, FOXSports.com
NASCAR Las Vegas past winners, race history
There are eight former Las Vegas winners who will race on Sunday, including defending spring LVMS winner William Byron. Kyle Larson is the most recent winner at LVMS, taking home the checkered flag in last October’s playoff race.
While both of those drivers have had success in Sin City, several former champions have dominated in the desert. Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano each have three Vegas wins apiece, while Martin Truex Jr. joins Larson as a two-time winner.
The other Las Vegas past winners include Kyle Busch (2009), Denny Hamlin (2021) and Alex Bowman (2022).
NASCAR at Las Vegas favorites, drivers to watch
As you could see from the past winners, it takes an elite driver to win at Las Vegas. Six of the eight active winners are former champions, and the two non-champions are perennial contenders (Byron and Hamlin).
When looking at the spring Las Vegas race, though, two organizations have typically commendeered victory lane: Team Penske and Hendrick Motorsports.
A Penske or Hendrick driver has won the last five spring races and six of the last eight. Hendrick is on a run of three straight with three different drivers (Larson ‘21, Bowman ‘22, Byron ‘23), while Logano won the two years before them. It's not a coincidence that the first four starting spots will be occupied by two Penske and two Hendrick drivers after both organizations showed speed in qualifying.
The active drivers with the best career average finish at LVMS include Larson (9.9 in 15 starts), Truex (10.0 in 24 starts), Logano (10.0 in 21 starts) and Busch (10.6 in 25 starts). For non-winners, Ryan Blaney (12.0 in 15 starts), Tyler Reddick (15.0 in eight starts) and Austin Dillon (15.9 in 17 starts) lead the way.