Kyle Larson opens the third round of NASCAR's playoffs as the title favorite

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Kyle Larson has been lucky of late in Las Vegas, where he opens the third round of NASCAR's playoffs on top of the Cup Series standings and the favorite to win Sunday's race.

Larson heads into the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as both the defending race winner and the victor of the spring race there this season. A victory on Sunday would be three straight at Vegas, a season sweep, but most importantly, give Larson an automatic berth into the championship finale.

The playoff field started at 16 drivers and the three-race round of eight begins in Las Vegas to set the winner-take-all championship four finale. The third round next goes to Homestead-Miami Speedway and Martinsville Speedway in Virginia before the finale at Phoenix.

“Las Vegas has been one of our better tracks," Larson said of his chances Sunday. “On paper, all three tracks in the round of eight stack up pretty well ... but we still have to go out and execute. I would like to run well and win.”

Larson already has two wins through the first two rounds of the playoffs, at Bristol Motor Speedway in the first round and then last week's elimination race on the hybrid/road course at Charlotte Motor Speedway. That victory was his Cup Series-best sixth win of the season.

Larson left victory lane at Charlotte celebrating a Hendrick Motorsports sweep because teammates William Byron, Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott all advanced to put four Chevrolet teammates in the third round. But NASCAR ruled that Bowman's car failed postrace inspection and he was disqualified, which knocked Bowman out of the final eight.

Joey Logano of Team Penske advanced instead of Bowman to join teammate and reigning Cup champion Ryan Blaney in the round of eight. They represent the only two drivers from Ford.

Toyota has the remaining three spots with Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin, as well as regular-season champion Tyler Reddick of Hamlin and Michael Jordan-owned 23XI Racing.

Larson said the entire Hendrick organization felt the sting of Bowman's disqualification, and now Logano can't be overlooked. Logano is the only two-time Cup champion in the playoff field and a three-time winner at Las Vegas.

“Obviously I'd love to have Alex in the round of eight. Joey is dangerously good,” Larson said. “You can never count him out anywhere. So when he's the guy who gets the benefit of the disqualification, it's like, ‘Dang, he’s a tough competitor.'”

Lawsuit update

NASCAR earlier this week asked for the expedited discovery motion filed by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to be denied, alleging the two Cup organizations are trying to “extort” a better deal in the charter system.

23XI and Front Row are the only two organizations out of 15 that refused to sign extensions last month on the new charter agreements. The teams have instead filed a federal antitrust lawsuit, and they are seeking to be recognized as chartered teams as the case winds through the court system.

NASCAR said in its response: “Plaintiffs have filed a meritless suit against NASCAR alleging baseless antitrust claims in order to obtain commercial agreements they previously rejected, and to attempt to extort more favorable contract terms.”

NASCAR says the charter agreements the teams passed on signing are no longer available.

“The deadline for Plaintiffs to sign 2025 Charter Agreements expired weeks ago, and NASCAR has taken steps, consistent with its contractual obligations to other Charter Teams, to plan for a season with only 32 Charters," NASCAR wrote. "Plaintiffs do not need these Charter Agreements to race, and indeed have stated publicly that they will be racing in NASCAR regardless.”

There is a Nov. 4 court date scheduled in Charlotte, North Carolina, for 23XI and Front Row's motion to be recognized as chartered teams in 2025.

No place like home

Kyle Busch has one month remaining to extend his NASCAR-record winning streak to 20 consecutive seasons with at least one victory.

“Yeah, I mean, time is running out,” Busch said Saturday. “We're getting closer to the end of the year.”

He'd love nothing more than to get it out of the way Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his home track where Busch has only one career victory but was third in last year's playoff race.

“I feel like this place is probably one of our best chances of being able to go out there and get that win this year,” Busch said.

Busch has 63 career Cup Series victories and joins Logano as the only active drivers with a pair of Cup titles.

Busch won in his second race with Richard Childress Racing last year, when he notched three victories and made the playoffs.

But his last win was at Gateway outside St. Louis in June 2023, and his losing streak is at a career-worst 53 races headed into Sunday. He didn’t qualify for the playoffs, and now he is just trying to keep his season winning streak intact.

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