The Cup Series will continue their playoffs at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend. I wish NASCAR would add more 1.5-mile intermediates to the schedule because the Gen-7 car has produced some of the best racing on these types of tracks. We had the closest finish in NASCAR history at Kansas Speedway. What are we going to get this week with so much on the line in Las Vegas? It is going to be fun to see how it all plays out. The South Point 400 can be seen Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
NASCAR was back to its regular schedule this week. The teams had 20-minutes to shake down their cars for the South Point 400 before they lined up for group qualifying. Most of the drivers were able to make at least one long run in practice. Eight of the drivers who finished in the top-10 at Las Vegas in March also posted top-10 practice speeds in practice. The two that did not practice in the top-10 were Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. They have a history of performing better in the race from where they were on the speed chart in practice. We should be able to learn a lot from practice this week.
Here is my starting lineup for the South Point 400…
KYLE LARSON (3): Larson is coming off a win last week at COTA and he has a good chance to start a hot streak heading into the championship race at Phoenix. Larson has won half of the races he has started on the 1.5-mile tracks this year and he won the last two races in dominating fashion at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The No. 5 car looks fast again, so I will use an allocation with Larson Sunday.
* WILLIAM BYRON should be really good too. You can take a chance with Byron to be different from the rest of your league, but I am playing it safe and using KYLE LARSON.
ROSS CHASTAIN (4): Chastain has been at his best on the 1.5-mile tracks this year. He just won the race at Kansas and the No. 1 car looks fast again this weekend. Chastain posted the 4th-fastest speed in practice and qualified 7th for the race. There are four races left and I have four allocations with Chastain. I may use the No. 1 car a lot over the final month of the season.
ALEX BOWMAN (3): I was worried about how the No. 48 team would react after having their playoff spot taken away from them. Bowman was one of the best drivers in the first two rounds of the playoffs. It looks like the penalty at the Charlotte Roval did not slow them down at all. Bowman posted the 10th fastest speed in practice and qualified 3rd for the race. The No. 48 car should have a good chance to finish in the top-10 Sunday.
I would use TYLER REDDICK over ROSS CHASTAIN if I could, but I only have one allocation left with Reddick and I want to save him for Homestead next week. I would also use TY GIBBS over ROSS CHASTAIN if you have any allocations left with Gibbs.
CARSON HOCEVAR (6): Hocevar has been one of the surprises of Group C this year and it looks like he is ready to finish his rookie season on a high note. Hocevar posted the 5th-fastest speed in practice and qualified 6th for the race. The No. 77 car finished 15th at Las Vegas in March. Hocevar should be able to finish in the top-15 again Sunday.
* If you are out of allocations and need to know which driver to use Sunday, simply look at the Driver Rankings for the South Point 400
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