South Point 400
Location: Las Vegas, Nev.
Course: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Format: 1.5-mile oval
Laps: 267
NASCAR Cup Series Race Preview
The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Chase for the Championship is now four races old and Kyle Larson has taken a firm grip on the lead. With two wins from the first four races of the championship showdown, Larson is hitting his best form at the perfect moment. After breaking his lengthy winless streak at Gateway, he went on to finish second at Bristol, and then won again last week at Kansas. This week, he could be tough to stop again. Las Vegas Motor Speedway has been a great track for the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet teammates and the rest of the garage has it all to do to stop Larson’s progress. Denny Hamlin could be one candidate to do it, though. After entering a minor lull before The Chase kicked off, Hamlin scored his best finish in more than a month last week at Kansas. He is also the winner of the last two Las Vegas stops. The margin atop the standings currently sits at 26 points between Hamlin and Larson, and both drivers could make the championship even more of a two-horse race if they live up to their potential in this week’s South Point 400.
Key Stats at Las Vegas Motor SpeedwayNumber of races: 37Winners from pole: 2Winners from top-5 starters: 16Winners from top-10 starters: 24Winners from 21st or lower starters: 5Fastest race: 154.849 mphPrevious 10 Las Vegas Winners
2026 spring – Denny Hamlin
2025 fall – Denny Hamlin
2025 spring – Josh Berry
2024 fall – Joey Logano
2024 spring – Kyle Larson
2023 fall – Kyle Larson
2023 spring – William Byron
2022 fall – Joey Logano
2022 spring – Alex Bowman
2021 fall – Denny Hamlin
Las Vegas Motor Speedway is a 1.5-mile oval with steep progressive banking, a smooth surface, multiple grooves, and plenty of opportunities for side-by-side racing, but starting near the front remains a clear advantage. Alex Bowman owns the deepest winning start with the current car at 13th, while Denny Hamlin is the only recent pole winner despite several other victories coming from the front row, inlcuding Hamlin’s latest track in this past spring. Four of the last six Las Vegas races were won from the front row, and only one of the last seven winners started outside the top 10, reinforcing the tendency for drivers who start up front to finish there. Cautions are common, but long green-flag runs also make tire management important, especially with higher horsepower and more delicate tires. Fuel saving and two-tire gambles can shape pit strategy, but track position remains the priority, and drivers who preserve grip over long runs should have the advantage, which is very similar to what fans witnessed last week at Kansas.
RotoWire NASCAR DFS Tools
DraftKings Value Picks for the South Point 400
Based on Standard $50k Salary Cap
DraftKings Tier 1 Values
Kyle Larson – $11,500
Denny Hamlin – $11,000
Christopher Bell – $10,700
Ryan Blaney – $10,200
DraftKings Tier 2 Values
Chase Briscoe – $9,900
Joey Logano – $9,500
William Byron – $9,200
Ty Gibbs – $8,900
DraftKings Tier 3 Values
Chase Elliott – $8,500
Bubba Wallace – $8,200
Austin Cindric – $7,900
Alex Bowman – $7,300
DraftKings Long-Shot Values
Brad Keselowski – $7,000
Josh Berry – $6,900
Daniel Suarez – $6,600
Zane Smith – $6,200
Optimal DraftKings Lineup for the South Point 400
Chase Briscoe – $9,900
Joey Logano – $9,500
William Byron – $9,200
Chase Elliott – $8,500
Daniel Suarez – $6,600
Zane Smith – $6,200
Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson are the two favorites to win this week’s race, but both come with expensive price tags and some reasons to suggest other drivers may offer better value. If Hamlin wins Sunday, it would be his third Las Vegas victory in a row. If Larson were to win, it would be his first back-to-back race wins since 2021. In other words, both scenarios are statistically rare, which make going with value choices the right direction to head this week. That makes Chase Briscoe (DK $9,900, FD $12,500) an excellent option this week. Not only did he directly challenge Larson for last week’s victory, he exhibits similar Las Vegas trends as he did at Kansas. Since joining Joe Gibbs Racing, Briscoe has scored his best Las Vegas series of finishes. He was fourth in this race last season, leading 57 laps, and he finished eighth this past spring. Look for Briscoe to take another shot at the race win this week.
Joey Logano‘s (DK $9,500, FD $9,500) form since The Chase began has been impressive. Last week’s 20th-place finish is his only Chase blemish thus far, and he sits fourth in points after opening the championship hunt with three straight top-10 finishes, including victory at Bristol. Logano has also been very good at Las Vegas. The Team Penske driver is a four-time winner at the track, and in this race last season, he finished sixth. If Logano can deliver a better qualifying result this week versus the spring race, he should be a confident selection to bag a top-10 finish for fantasy rosters.
William Byron‘s (DK $9,200, FD $11,500) quietly productive Chase continued at Kansas with a seventh-place finish. It was his third top-10 finish in a row and he now ranks 12th in the championship standings. With the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets now seemingly on equal footing as the Toyotas, Byron stands a good chance of continuing his run of success with race wins within reach. This is the first time Byron has had three consecutive top-10 finishes since a stretch of four in a row the start of the season that included the spring Las Vegas race. He finished third that day. That was also his third top-five at Las Vegas from the last four races. Byron is at the top of his 2026 form right now, which makes him a valuable fantasy option this week.
Las Vegas has also been a happy hunting ground for Chase Elliott (DK $8,500, FD $8,500). Though he has never won at the oval, Elliott has claimed four top-fives and seven top-10s from 18 tries. One of his best finishes there as this past spring when he finished second from the 15th starting spot. Elliott should be even more optimistic about repeating that performance this week after his eighth-place finish last week at Kansas. With Chevrolet now much more on par with Toyota, Elliott is a confident choice to replicate his impressive spring performance at this track, making him another value selection for fantasy rosters.
There are a few things to like about selecting Daniel Suarez (DK $6,600, FD $6,800) this week. He enters the weekend last among The Chase contenders, but this is a track he has found some recent success. Last spring, he finished second and the fall race before that, he came home third. In a three-race stretch from the start of 2024 to 2025, Suarez also led a total of 84 laps at Las Vegas. The team has also started building positive momentum with back-to-back top-15 finishes leading up to this week’s race. Leveraging his past Las Vegas success, along with those top-15 finishes, he and his Spire Motorsports team should be able to pull themselves off of the bottom of the standings as these final races wind down.
One deep longshot option worth a look this week is Zane Smith (DK $6,200, FD $6,200). Though he has been relatively quiet recently, Smith can still deliver impressive results. This week’s trip west to Las Vegas could be his best chance to end his slide of five consecutive finishes of 25th or lower. From five series starts at this track, he finished in the top 20 twice. His best finish came in this year’s spring race, too. Three times of those five races, he also qualified inside the top 15. If Smith can continue that qualifying trend, he should be well positioned to turn in another top-20 result with upside potential of a top-15 if things go his way.
NASCAR Best Bets for the South Point 400
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook as of 6:00 PM ET Friday
Race Winner – Denny Hamlin +400
Top-Five Finish – Chase Briscoe +120
Top-10 Finish – Brad Keselowski +170
Driver Matchup – Ryan Blaney -125 vs. Ty Gibbs -105
Despite the trends that have to persist from one of the two favorites to win this race, either driver remains quite likely to visit Victory Lane this week. To get better-than-average odds for Denny Hamlin to pull it off is a nice opportunity for fans to take advantage of. Yes, he has to win three races in a row at the track, but he also took a step back toward his top form last week at Kansas with a third-place finish. That was his best result since North Wilkesboro, and it extended what is now a three-race run of improving finishes. Usually, if Hamlin is a favorite to win, wagerers are getting much less favorable odds, which make this week’s number worth taking, especially before qualifying.
Just as above, Chase Briscoe could be a dark-horse contender for this week’s victory. Taking the victory out of the picture and just looking at a top-five finish, positive odds are certainly attractive. Briscoe has had his best Las Vegas finishes since joining JGR. He finished fourth and eighth in the last two visits to the track, and this week should be more of the same. He nearly won last week’s race at Kansas, and that also adds some extra fuel to his fire to get the job done this week.
This week it was surprisingly announced that Brad Keselowski would be parting ways with RFK Racing at the end of the 2026 season. The team has bared his name since joining in 2021, but in 2027 he will move on, and he has insisted that he has no plans to retire. Despite that news, Keselowski remains competitive. In fact, he was one of only two Ford drivers to finish in the top 10 at Las Vegas earlier this season. That finish was his third straight finish of 11th or better at the track he won at three times, too. While Keselowski may be on his way out of the squad, fans can be assured that he will continue hunting a win, and a top finish should be within his reach again this week.
Ryan Blaney versus Ty Gibbs is a match-up wager for fans to look at this week. While Gibbs has undoubtedly shown promise at Las Vegas, that promise hasn’t yet come to fruition. From eight series starts, he has just two top-five finishes. Yes, one of those was his fifth-place finish in the spring. However, last week, at a similar circuit, Gibbs was not a factor. Ryan Blaney continues to make his presence felt, though. After starting just 25th at Kansas, he roared to stage points and a top-five. Blaney has 10 top-10 finishes from 20 Las Vegas starts, but has been on a poor run of finishes at the track with four races outside of the top 15. However, after several weeks of artificially low starting positions, Blaney will be hungry to get back to championship-contending form, which gives him an advantage over Gibbs.
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The author(s) of this article may play in daily fantasy contests including – but not limited to – games that they have provided recommendations or advice on in this article. In the course of playing in these games using their personal accounts, it’s possible that they will use players in their lineups or other strategies that differ from the recommendations they have provided above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire. C.J. Radune plays in daily fantasy contests using the following accounts: DraftKings: cjradune, RaceDayScore: cjradune.