NASCAR race at Las Vegas live updates: Joey Logano passes Ross Chastain late to earn win

NASCAR reporter Alex Zietlow will be passing along live updates from the Cup race today at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the section below. Refresh this page for the latest news. Full results will be posted after the race.

Unofficial results

Lap-by-lap live updates in NASCAR Cup playoff race

Stage 3

Lap 267: Joey Logano is your winner at Las Vegas!

Lap 264: Logano hot on Chastain’s tail pipe here as they battle for the lead!

Lap 259: 10 to go! Chastain, Briscoe and Logano dueling at the top. All of them playoff drivers, and all of them can punch a ticket to the Final Four with a win here.

Lap 247: Another few laps, another caution as teams start to fight for important positioning here in Las Vegas. Chase Briscoe maintains the lead under caution. Justin Haley, Chase Briscoe, Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain, Kevin Harvick, William Byron, Erik Jones, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Noah Gragson, AJ Allmendinger, Corey LaJoie stay out; Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott, Landon Cassill, Todd Gilliland, Cole Custer, Michael McDowell, Daniel Suarez, Ty Gibbs, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Harrison Burton pit. Landon Cassill two tires all others four

Lap 242: Another race-changing caution! Daniel Suarez gets turned around and slides into the infield grass. The TrackHouse Racing driver was running in the Top 5 all day. He’ll now have to do a lot of work to salvage a Top 10 with 25 laps to go. A few playoff drivers hit pit road as the caution comes out to get new tires. Among them: Joey Logano and Chase Elliott.

Lap 233: Green again! Thirty five laps to go. Blaney’s spin and Joey Logano’s troubles on pit road have foiled what started as a great day for Team Penske. The new transformed field: Justin Haley leads, then Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain, Daniel Suarez and William Byron follow closely behind.

Lap 230: Kyle Busch, during the caution, maintains good position coming off of pit road but soon-after sees his left-front tire pop off and go rolling outside of him. The crowd erupts. That’ll be an extension to the caution and an impending penalty from NASCAR.

Lap 229: Ryan Blaney gets loose on his own, knocks himself into the wall and the No. 12 car sustains a lot of damage. Another caution. That likely ends his chances at a win; his crew is working to make the car able to run right now.

Lap 223: Ross Chastain still leads. He’s built a 1.3-second lead on the rest of the field. Ryan Blaney running P2, then Aric Almirola, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch. Denny Hamlin is in sixth after restarting third — but his day is still going quite well considering starting outside the Top 20.

Lap 202: The caution gives these Cup cars a chance to recharge. Ross Chastain emerges off pit road faster before everyone else. He does well on the restart. Ryan Blaney, Aric Almirola, William Byron, Denny Hamlin closely following. Joey Logano is in P8 now. Blaney is told over the radio that he’ll need to find ways to conserve fuel. Sixty-five laps to go!

Lap 195: We have another caution! JJ Yeley, running 11 laps down, spins out on his own on a turn and prompts another caution.

Lap 168: Stage 2 has made this one particularly exciting. Some cumulative stats thus far: 12 lead changes, eight different leaders and three cautions for 18 laps. (Also of note: Ryan Blaney loses a few spots on his pit stop under caution.)

Stage 2

Lap 165: Ryan Blaney — the guy who hasn’t yet won a race in 2022 and yet is still in the championship chase — takes the Stage 2 win. He’s immediately followed by his Team Penske teammate Joey Logano. Others earning points on that Stage 2 finish (in order): Daniel Suarez, Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr., Austin Cindric and Kyle Busch.

Lap 131: At last, some substantial running under green. Checking in: Ryan Blaney passes Ross Chastain for the lead, then Joey Logano passes Chastain for second. Team Penske is dominating this Cup race with Blaney and Logano; TrackHouse Racing is doing well, too — Chastain in P3 and Daniel Suarez in P4 — but is fading quickly.

Lap 110: We’re green again, with Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez leading. TrackHouse Racing staying solid in this dramatic day. Also worth noting: NASCAR hasn’t yet levied any penalties for anything that has happened thus far.

Lap 99: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. gets loose on the restart, and another caution comes out. This race has escalated quite quickly.

Lap 98: Christopher Bell’s team couldn’t rectify the issues the No. 20 car sustained after getting damaged in the Bubba Wallace-Kyle Larson wreck in the 10-minute window. His day is done. He was running consistently in the Top 10 before then — Bell is at his best at an intermediate racetrack, so this one is brutal.

Lap 96: Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson collide! Larson nudges Wallace into the wall, and then Wallace appears to retaliate by knocking into Larson’s right rear panel. The days of Larson and Wallace are done. Christopher Bell gets caught up in the carnage. Wallace immediately hops out of his car and marches up to Larson’s car and starts shoving Larson. Some fighting at the NASCAR race! A caution comes out.

Lap 86: And we’re green! Daniel Suarez, Ross Chastain and Bubba Wallace are 1-2-3 on the stage restart. TrackHouse Racing is having another great showing at an intermediate track.

Lap 83: Some Stage 1 stats: five different leaders (Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace, Daniel Suarez, Austin Cindric, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.); six lead changes and one caution (Kyle Busch).

Stage 1

Lap 80: Stage 1 ends under caution. Bubba Wallace wins. Others earning stage points (in order): Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Tyler Reddick, William Byron.

Lap 77: Kyle Busch, running sixth, gets loose on Turn 4 and skids into the field grass. His right rear tire goes flat. Now two laps to go in Stage 1. Busch’s spin sees his rear bumper knock into the wall.

Lap 64: We have a nice battle for first among Bubba Wallace (P1), Joey Logano (P2) and Daniel Suarez (P3). The leading drivers have all adopted a similar strategy: build speed on the outside line, then make a move on the inside to clear the opposing car. Logano uses that maneuver to leap-frog Suarez.

Lap 39: Drivers have begun entering pit road under green. Among them: Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano and William Byron. Most take four fresh tires. Denny Hamlin and Ross Chastain do, too. As the field cycles through pit road as of Lap 44: Daniel Suarez, Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano and then Kyle Busch.

Lap 27: Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson battling it out for the 9th position. It’s strange to see these two drivers not in the championship chase anymore. Busch didn’t make it out of the first round, and Larson got squeezed out on points after a broken toe-link caused a bad finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway last weekend.

Lap 13: Ryan Blaney says over the radio that he feels a vibration on the front of his 12 car, a concern considering the stress that tires are under at intermediate tracks like Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Denny Hamlin, who started in 31st, is moving up through the field. Now in the mid-20s. Chase Briscoe, conversely, is going the wrong way, falling in the field.

Lap 4: Austin Cindric is on the preferred outside line, but Tyler Reddick maintains a lead and eventually clears Cindric on Lap 4. William Byron not far behind in P3.

Green flag! 2:57 p.m.: Let’s make it happen!

2:48 p.m.: In an in-car pre-race interview with Christopher Bell, Dale Earnhardt Jr. asked Bell what a win at Las Vegas would mean for him and his career. “It would be like last week,” Bell responded, “that’s for sure.” (Bell notched a “walk-off” win at the Charlotte Roval last week, the latest milestone in a comeback season for the ages.)

2:39 p.m.: Engines have fired, and we’re almost ready to roll!

2:03 p.m.: Las Vegas is one of those venues on the NASCAR Cup circuit that can attract a celebrity-laden crowd. Las Vegas Raider Davante Adams is driving the honorary pace car for today’s race and ... wait, Vince Vaughn is there?!

1:42 p.m.: Some of the biggest headlines coming into Sunday? Kurt Busch is still recovering from a concussion he sustained in July and announced on Saturday that he’d be stepping away from full-time Cup racing in 2023, paving the way for Tyler Reddick to join 23XI Racing a year earlier than originally planned. Alex Bowman is still out with a brain injury of his own and will miss at least the next three weeks of racing. And half of the remaining Round-of-8 playoff field — Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe and William Byron — is comprised of drivers making their first Round-of-8 appearances.

1:34 p.m.: Some race-day housekeeping: No cars will drop to the rear for today’s race, per NASCAR. Also here’s the timing for pre-race festivities (local times, PT):

• Invocation: 11:33:20 a.m. (2:33 p.m. ET)
• National Anthem: 11:34:00 a.m. (2:34 p.m. ET)
• Command: 11:41:00 a.m. (2:41 p.m. ET)
• Green Flag: 11:52:00 a.m. (2:52 p.m. ET)

1:30 p.m.: Tyler Reddick took the pole in qualifying on Saturday. The driver of the No. 8 car notched his fourth pole in 107 Cup races and his third pole in 2022. He’ll start alongside rookie Austin Cindric, and William Byron (P3) and Ryan Blaney (P4) will lineup behind them.

NASCAR at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

• Race: South Point 400
• Place: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
• Date: Sunday, Oct. 16
• Time: 2:30 p.m.
• Purse: $7,352,089
• TV: NBC, 2 p.m.
• Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
• Distance: 400.5 miles (267 Laps)
• Racetrack: 1.5-mile tri-oval
• Stages: Stage 1 ends on Lap 80, Stage 2 ends on Lap 165, Stage 3 ends on Lap 267

Starting lineup for South Point 400

No cars were dropped to the rear, per NASCAR.

This story was originally published October 16, 2022 at 1:28 PM.

Alex Zietlow

The Charlotte Observer

Alex Zietlow writes about the Carolina Panthers and the ways in which sports intersect with life for The Charlotte Observer, where he has been a reporter since August 2022. Zietlow’s work has been honored by the Pro Football Writers Association, the N.C. and S.C. Press Associations, as well as the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) group. He’s earned six APSE Top 10 distinctions for his coverage on a variety of topics, from billion-dollar stadium renovations to the small moments of triumph that helped a Panthers kicker defy the steepest odds in sports. Zietlow previously wrote for The Herald in Rock Hill (S.C.) from 2019-22. Support my work with a digital subscription