The 2021 South Point 400 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on September 26, 2021, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas. Contested over 267 laps on the 1.5 mi (2.4 km) asphalt intermediate speedway, it was the 30th race of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, the fourth race of the Playoffs, and the first race of the Round of 12.
| Race details[1][2][3][4][5][6] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 30 of 36 in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series | |||
 | |||
| Date | September 26, 2021 | ||
| Location | Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 1.5 mi (2.4 km) | ||
| Distance | 267 laps, 400.5 mi (640.8 km) | ||
| Average speed | 144.643 miles per hour (232.780 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 43,000[7] | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Hendrick Motorsports | ||
| Grid positions set by competition-based formula | |||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | |
| Laps | 137 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | NBCSN | ||
| Announcers | Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr. | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | PRN | ||
| Booth Announcers | Doug Rice and Mark Garrow | ||
| Turn Announcers | Rob Albright (1 & 2) and Pat Patterson (3 & 4) | ||
Report
editBackground
edit
Las Vegas Motor Speedway, located in Clark County, Nevada outside the Las Vegas city limits and about 15 miles northeast of the Las Vegas Strip, is a 1,200-acre (490 ha) complex of multiple tracks for motorsports racing. The complex is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Entry list
edit- (R) denotes rookie driver.
- (i) denotes driver who are ineligible for series driver points.
Qualifying
editKyle Larson was awarded the pole for the race as determined by competition-based formula.[4]
Starting Lineup
editRace
editKyle Larson started on the pole for the race. Four cars (#10, #19, #24, #66) dropped to the rear for multiple inspection failures. Larson won stage one. Following an incident with Joey Gase only five laps into the run, most cars pitted with the four Hendrick Motorsports cars choosing to stay out. The Hendrick cars thought they were on the outside of the fuel window, but due to an extended caution the cars that pitted were able to make it to stage two. This forced the Hendrick cars to pit under green, forcing them a lap down. Chase Elliott was able to un-lap himself, and William Byron earned the lucky dog pass. Denny Hamlin won stage two and went on to win the race, beating Elliott by 0.442 seconds.
Stage Results
editStage One Laps: 80
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 10 |
| 2 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 9 |
| 3 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 8 |
| 4 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Ford | 7 |
| 5 | 24 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 6 |
| 6 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 5 |
| 7 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 4 |
| 8 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 3 |
| 9 | 21 | Matt DiBenedetto | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 2 |
| 10 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 1 |
| Official stage one results | |||||
Stage Two Laps: 80
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 10 |
| 2 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 9 |
| 3 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 8 |
| 4 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 7 |
| 5 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 6 |
| 6 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 5 |
| 7 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 4 |
| 8 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 3 |
| 9 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 2 |
| 10 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | 23XI Racing | Toyota | 1 |
| Official stage two results | |||||
Final Stage Results
editStage Three Laps: 107
| Pos | Grid | No | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 267 | 58 |
| 2 | 11 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 267 | 40 |
| 3 | 10 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 267 | 52 |
| 4 | 4 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 267 | 41 |
| 5 | 2 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Ford | 267 | 39 |
| 6 | 13 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 267 | 43 |
| 7 | 8 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 267 | 35 |
| 8 | 20 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 267 | 33 |
| 9 | 5 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 267 | 34 |
| 10 | 1 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 267 | 37 |
| 11 | 9 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 267 | 32 |
| 12 | 14 | 21 | Matt DiBenedetto | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 267 | 27 |
| 13 | 15 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 266 | 26 |
| 14 | 19 | 14 | Chase Briscoe (R) | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 266 | 23 |
| 15 | 26 | 99 | Daniel Suárez | Trackhouse Racing Team | Chevrolet | 266 | 22 |
| 16 | 21 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | 23XI Racing | Toyota | 266 | 22 |
| 17 | 22 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 266 | 20 |
| 18 | 3 | 24 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 266 | 25 |
| 19 | 17 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 266 | 18 |
| 20 | 29 | 6 | Ryan Newman | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 266 | 17 |
| 21 | 23 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 266 | 16 |
| 22 | 7 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 265 | 15 |
| 23 | 18 | 42 | Ross Chastain | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 265 | 14 |
| 24 | 12 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 265 | 13 |
| 25 | 25 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 265 | 12 |
| 26 | 16 | 43 | Erik Jones | Richard Petty Motorsports | Chevrolet | 265 | 11 |
| 27 | 32 | 38 | Anthony Alfredo (R) | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 265 | 10 |
| 28 | 24 | 37 | Ryan Preece | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 265 | 9 |
| 29 | 28 | 41 | Cole Custer | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 265 | 8 |
| 30 | 27 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 264 | 7 |
| 31 | 35 | 51 | Cody Ware (i) | Petty Ware Racing | Chevrolet | 260 | 0 |
| 32 | 33 | 77 | Justin Haley (i) | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 260 | 0 |
| 33 | 34 | 78 | B. J. McLeod (i) | Live Fast Motorsports | Ford | 257 | 0 |
| 34 | 36 | 00 | Quin Houff | StarCom Racing | Chevrolet | 255 | 3 |
| 35 | 30 | 53 | Garrett Smithley (i) | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet | 254 | 0 |
| 36 | 31 | 52 | Josh Bilicki | Rick Ware Racing | Ford | 252 | 1 |
| 37 | 37 | 15 | Joey Gase (i) | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet | 84 | 0 |
| 38 | 38 | 66 | J. J. Yeley (i) | MBM Motorsports | Toyota | 76 | 0 |
| Official race results | |||||||
Race statistics
edit- Lead changes: 21 among 10 different drivers
- Cautions/Laps: 4 for 21
- Red flags: 0
- Time of race: 2 hours, 46 minutes and 8 seconds
- Average speed: 144.643 miles per hour (232.780 km/h)
Media
editTelevision
editNBC Sports covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr. called the race from the broadcast booth. Dave Burns and Kelli Stavast handled the pit road duties from pit lane.
| NBCSN | |
|---|---|
| Booth announcers | Pit reporters |
| Lap-by-lap: Rick Allen Color-commentator: Jeff Burton Color-commentator: Steve Letarte Color-commentator: Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
Dave Burns Kelli Stavast |
Radio
editPRN had the radio call for the race, which was also simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Doug Rice and Mark Garrow called the race from the booth when the field raced through the tri-oval. Rob Albright called the race from a billboard in turn 2 when the field raced through turns 1 and 2 & Pat Patterson called the race from a billboard outside of turn 3 when the field raced through turns 3 and 4. Brad Gillie, Brett McMillan and Wendy Venturini handled the duties on pit lane.
| PRN | ||
|---|---|---|
| Booth announcers | Turn announcers | Pit reporters |
| Lead announcer: Doug Rice Announcer: Mark Garrow |
Turns 1 & 2: Rob Albright Turns 3 & 4: Pat Patterson |
Brad Gillie Brett McMillan Wendy Venturini |
Standings after the race
edit
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References
edit- ^ "2021 schedule". Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
- ^ "Las Vegas Motor Speedway". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. January 3, 2013. Archived from the original on April 28, 2017. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
- ^ "Entry List" (PDF). Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. September 20, 2021. Retrieved September 20, 2021.
- ^ a b "Starting Lineup". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. September 22, 2021. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
- ^ "South Point 400 Results". NASCAR.com. NASCAR. September 26, 2021. Retrieved September 26, 2021.
- ^ "Points standings" (PDF). Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. September 26, 2021. Retrieved September 26, 2021.
- ^ "Las Vegas flexes its sports muscle, hosting 4 pro events in one day". Las Vegas Review-Journal. September 27, 2021. Retrieved September 30, 2021.