For the fifth race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, the greatest drivers in the world continued their abbreviated west coast swing by trying their luck on the strip of Las Vegas. One of the major storylines heading into today’s race was whether or not Christopher Bell could extend his winning streak. He had some hurdles to overcome today as post-qualifying adjustments meant that he had to start the race at the rear of the field. It was interesting to see how he worked his way up through the pack.
In qualifying, it was Michael McDowell who scored the first-ever Busch Pole Award for Spire Motorsports. And though he was bad fast early on, the Penske duo of Joey Logano and Austin Cindric snatched the lead away early. With all of that in mind, let’s talk about this race. Who had Lady Luck in their corner, who was the high roller, and who lost it all? Let’s break it down. Here are the 3 biggest takeaways from the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway!
Like the truck race on Friday night, there really wasn’t a dominant driver of the day. There were a ton of comers and goers, and, in the end, the ones who finished the race up front were just the ones who made the fewest mistakes. Drivers who were fast all day but not necessarily dominant include Austin Cindric, Joey Logano, Josh Berry, Daniel Suarez, and Kyle Larson.
It looked as though it was going to come down to fuel strategy in the closing laps. Joey Logano and Josh Berry were leading, and it looked as though they might be trying to stretch it to the end. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson pitted and gave up a ton of track position. He and the drivers who pitted with him could make it to the end. However, that strategy was thrown out the window when Noah Gragson blew a right front tire and plowed into the wall, triggering a caution. With the tire issues of the day fresh in everyone’s minds, everyone came down pit road for fresh Goodyear rubber.
Upon the restart, Daniel Suarez and Josh Berry were the two drivers out front. As the 99 and 21 cars battled hard, Ross Chastain and William Byron managed to creep up into contention. But, as they ran, Josh Berry cleared the 99 of Suarez, and Byron and Chastain faded. As the laps wound down, it was written on the wall. Josh Berry pulled away from the rest of the leaders to score his first NASCAR Cup Series victory today at Las Vegas!
Chase Briscoe had a lot on his shoulders heading into the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season. Following the retirement of Martin Truex Jr., he was tapped as the replacement in the number 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota. And though he started hot by scoring the pole in the Daytona 500, the weeks that followed weren’t so kind. He finished 4th in the Daytona 500 but was penalized 50 driver points for failing post-race inspection. His crew chief, James Small, was then suspended for 4 races. The team appealed and shockingly won, regaining their points. But, while all of that controversy was going down, Briscoe’s on-track performance was waning.
He finished 21st at Atlanta, 14th at COTA, and 35th after being involved in an incident at Phoenix. Unfortunately, his bad luck continued today in Phoenix. In the first green flag pit stop cycle of the race, his left rear tire changer failed to get the lug nut tightened before Briscoe drove away. This resulted in the tire coming off as he exited pit road, triggering a caution. As a result, Chase Briscoe went 2 laps down and then was held two more by NASCAR. He ended up going a total of 4 laps down. Subsequently, both the rear tire changer and the jackman were issued suspensions.
In terms of his 2025 season, it seemed as though things were going from bad to worse.
Today, a big story was about issues on pit road. Aside from the Chase Briscoe issue, many other heavy contenders were slapped with penalties on pit road. Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott were both running up front when they were slapped with penalties for speeding on pit road. They had to start the race in the back of the pack on their respective restarts. But the biggest penalties of the day all had to do with loose wheels, strangely enough. We’ve already discussed Briscoe’s issue above, but he was hardly the only one. Alex Bowman, who was running in the 2nd position at the time, had to abruptly pit on Lap 90 due to a vibration caused by a loose wheel. This nearly caused a disastrous accident on track.
Briscoe’s teammate, Christopher Bell (who was looking for his 4th straight win), also suffered a loose wheel. This happened during a caution triggered by a spinning Shan van Gisbergen. Bell, running second at the time, came down pit road for service. However, the jackman let the car down prematurely before the tire changer could get the left-side lugs tightened. Thankfully for them, they were thinking enough ahead that they could stop in Briscoe’s pit stall to tighten the lugs. Sure, the team was given a penalty, but it was not the two-lap penalty Briscoe suffered. He had to restart from the tail-end of the longest line.
Not so lucky was the number 8 of Kyle Busch. Following pit stops, Busch restarted in the top 10. And, as the pack raced down the backstretch, the right rear wheel slid off the car. Busch slammed hard into the outside wall. He was subsequently held for two laps, not that it mattered much. After the race restarted once again, Busch pulled his RCR Chevy behind the wall to receive further repairs.
Though his TrackHouse Teammates ran pretty decently, the same cannot be said for Shane van Gisbergen. The driver of the number 88 Red Bull Chevy had a number of on-track problems, starting on Lap 108. SVG spun on the backstretch, triggering a caution. He didn’t hit anything or collect any other drivers in the incident. However, he did flat spot his tires and had to limp back around to pit road, losing several laps in the process.
His tire issues didn’t stop there. On lap 127, he blew yet another tire, this one being a right front. He was running in the 33rd position at the time. This incident did not trigger a caution, and he was able to limp it back down to thepit road in order to make repairs.
What ultimately did the driver of the number 88 Trackhouse Chevy in was when he blew yet another tire, this time making significant contact with the Turn 2 outside wall. He was able to get his car out of the racing groove and along the apron of the track. The caution did not fly, and he slowly crawled back to pit road. Subsequently, he retired from the race, citing mechanical issues.
It has been a rough start to the year for SVG. Save for a 6th place run at COTA, his best finish on the year thus far was a 23rd place finish at Atlanta. The rest of his finishes have been down in the low-to-mid-30s. It certainly seems to be a rude awakening for him when it comes to his full-time NASCAR Cup Series career.
That does it for our coverage of the races out in Las Vegas, NASCAR fans! What did you think of this race? How did your favorite driver do? Were you pulling for C. Bell to make it 4 in a row, or were you rooting against him? What about the winner? Josh Berry is officially a NASCAR Cup Series winner! And he won it straight up! Thoughts? Let us know what you’re thinking by commenting on all of our social media accounts.
On to Homestead Mami for yet another triple-header weekend! In the meantime, though, be sure to keep tuning back in here at DailyDownforce.com throughout the week! Here, we have all the latest news and rumors fresh out of the NASCAR garage!
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