StatChat 2025 - Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas

By Adam Carabine

Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend NASCAR travels to Las Vegas, Nevada for the Pennzoil 400!

Las Vegas Motor Speedway is a 1.5-mile tri-oval. The track opened in 1971, though NASCAR didn’t start racing there until 1998.  Mark Martin won the inaugural NASCAR Cup race at the track.

Tomorrow’s race will be 267 laps long (for a total of 400.5 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 80 – 165 – 267.  Pit road speed is 45 mph, and the caution vehicle runs at 55 mph.  The fuel window is between 62-67 laps.

This year, the NASCAR Cup Series has run 874 laps, for 1,447.96 miles so far this season.  Only 5 drivers have completed all of them – Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick and John Hunter Nemechek.

Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Vegas:

Kyle Larson	9.41 over 17 races (3 wins)
Joey Logano	9.52 over 23 races (4 wins)
Kyle Busch	11.30 over 27 races (1 win)
Denny Hamlin	12.31 over 26 races (1 win)
Ryan Blaney	12.65 over 17 races

Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Vegas:

Cody Ware	29.57 over 7 races
Shane Van Gisbergen	29.00 over 1 race
Michael McDowell	28.73 over 22 races
Todd Gilliland	26.83 over 6 races
Zane Smith	26.00 over 2 races

Las Vegas is an Intermediate Track.

Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Intermediate Tracks:

Denny Hamlin	11.99 over 335 races (27 wins)
Kyle Larson	12.21 over 173 races (16 wins)
Kyle Busch	12.37 over 351 races (29 wins)
Joey Logano	12.49 over 281 races (18 wins)
Chase Elliott	12.51 over 154 races (6 wins)

Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Intermediate Tracks:

Ryan Preece	22.70 over 87 races
Ty Dillon	22.43 over 121 races
Riley Herbst	22.25 over 3 races
Shane Van Gisbergen	22.10 over 5 races
Josh Berry	21.83 over 22 races

Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano are tied for the title of winningest driver at Las Vegas.  They each have 4 wins.  Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson all each have 3.

Notable drivers who have not won at Las Vegas:

Chase Elliott	(has won at 15 other tracks)
Christopher Bell	(has won at 10 other tracks)
Ryan Blaney	(has won at 9 other tracks)
Tyler Reddick	(has won at 8 other tracks)
Chris Buescher	(has won at 6 other tracks)

No current driver has scored their first ever Cup Series win at Las Vegas.

Based on average finish, no driver lists Vegas as their BEST or WORST track.

Based on their point pace, let’s have a look at how this season is comparing to last season for drivers:

Drivers Faring Better than in 2024

Tyler Reddick	+793 pts
Chris Buescher	+538 pts
William Byron	+480 pts
Christopher Bell	+430 pts
Bubba Wallace	+395 pts

Drivers Faring Worse than in 2024

Ty Gibbs	-602 pts
Brad Keselowski	-515 pts
Cole Custer	-299 pts
Josh Berry	-292 pts
Daniel Suarez	-266 pts

Here is the current battle for Rookie of the Year:

Shane Van Gisbergen	69
Riley Herbst	61

The Manufacturer Standings are calculated by awarding points to the highest finisher for each manufacturer according to their finishing position.  (40 for 1st, 35 for 2nd, 34 for 3rd, etc.)  No stage points or playoff points count.

Manufacturer Standings        

Toyota	155
Chevrolet	144
Ford	126

Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:

Chartered Team Standings

Joe Gibbs	153
Hendrick	143
23XI	114
Trackhouse	110
RFK	108
Penske	105
RCR	105
Spire	99
Legacy Motor Club	97
Front Row	93
Hyak	86
Kaulig	76
Wood Bros	57
Haas Factory	36
Rick Ware	33

At each stage break, the Top 10 drivers are awarded points based on their finishing positions.  Here are the leaders this year:

Stage Point Leaders

Ryan Blaney	43
Joey Logano	40
William Byron	40
Tyler Reddick	33
Bubba Wallace	31
Christopher Bell	25
Austin Cindric	24
Chase Elliott	22
Ryan Preece	18
Kyle Larson	17

Milestone Watch

Chase Elliott	Looking for his 20th Career Win
Kyle Larson	Looking for his 30th Career Win
Ty Dillon	This will be his 250th Career Start
Zane Smith	This will be his 50th Career Start
Carson Hocevar	This will be his 50th Career Start
Christopher Bell	Looking for his 50th Career Top 5
Ross Chastain	Looking for his 60th Career Top 10
Noah Gragson	Looking for his 10th Career Top 10
John Hunter Nemechek	Looking for his 10th Career Top 10
Alex Bowman	Looking for his 100th Career Top 10

Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:

Winless Streaks

Justin Haley	145 races
Cole Custer	98 races
Bubba Wallace	83 races
Erik Jones	83 races
Kyle Busch	61 races
Michael McDowell	52 races
Daniel Suarez	38 races
Chase Elliott	31 races
Denny Hamlin	29 races
Brad Keselowski	27 races

The race begins Sunday, March 16th at 3:30 pm EST (12:30 pm PST) – Enjoy the race everyone!

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @RacingRefresh

Is there an error? Is there a stat missing that you’d like to see? Let us know!