Many of the drivers in the Chase for the NASCAR Cup Series championship felt every one of the 98 degrees Las Vegas Motor Speedway warmed up to Sunday.
LAS VEGAS -- Many of the drivers in the Chase for the NASCAR Cup Series championship felt every one of the 98 degrees Las Vegas Motor Speedway warmed up to Sunday.
The top three in the championship standings after the South Point 400 experienced issues before the second stage ended. Only one of them emerged from it at the end.
Kyle Larson finished second to Chase Briscoe after being the first Chase driver to have issues Sunday. He dropped from sixth to 14th with a No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet that was "edgy" enough to require a long pit stop to try and fix it.
"Was that stop supposed to be that long?" Larson asked crew chief Cliff Daniels who said, "That pit stop was meant to be that long. Front end adjustment. Let me know how it feels."
The stop put Larson one lap down to Hamlin, who led 38 of the first 45 laps. The sequence also saw Ty Gibbs get a speeding penalty but his issues ended there, while Larson's continued.
"I just can't turn my hands, I just feel like I am just bouncing the rear. I just have no grip to hold the yaw. We're not lacking the front," Larson told Daniels.
A caution put Larson in position to take the wavearound, only if Hamlin pitted from the lead. He did, putting him back to eighth on the restart.
With Larson outside of the top-20 and not in position to earn stage points, Hamlin rallied to fourth and was set to earn seven stage points.
That was until he spun in turn four with three laps to go in the stage and no caution for it.
"----! Nothing's damaged," Hamlin said when the stage ended on lap 165.
The first stage ended with Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, Bubba Wallace and Carson Hocevar sweeping the top-eight spots for Chase drivers, ahead of non-Chase drivers Alex Bowman and Michael McDowell.
Reddick was the next driver to have an issue. He immediately pitted to change a battery, which dropped him to the rear of the field to start the second stage. Teammate Bubba Wallace joined him after getting a penalty for equipment interference.
The second stage started with Briscoe, Suarez and Blaney in the top-three spots; Hocevar, Chris Buescher, Bell and Joey Logano in fifth through eighth, Chase Elliott and William Byron in 10th and 11th, Gibbs in 16th, Larson in 18th, Hamlin in 23rd, Wallace in 30th and Reddick in 31st.
After a quick caution with 70 laps to go in the stage, on lap 95, the race shuffled again. Larson pitted and saved heavily to earn stage points.
Among others, Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, Hamlin, Reddick and Wallace stayed out. Hamlin struggled in traffic with a splitter they believed was pushed up after the spin.
"----ing awful," Hamlin said over the radio.
By this point in the race, Hamlin had fallen to third in the standings behind Bell. However, Bell wasn't immune from issues either.
During the first stage break, Christopher Bell heard a noise with the steering but didn't notice a difference. Then, with about 30 laps to go in the stage, Bell's power steering started going away.
"I'm losing power steering in a hurry. I thought I noticed a sound under the last caution, now I'm losing assist," Bell said on the radio.
The situation worsened with 21 laps to go in the stage when he "lost it all." Although he earned seven stage points, Bell said under caution, "no way could I run the race" with the steering the way it was and had an extensive pit stop.
Wallace and Larson also recovered to earn stage points, earning five points and one point respectively. Meanwhile, Reddick, Gibbs and Hamlin recovered to 11th, 12th and 14th with Reddick and Hamlin showing speed before the stage caution.
Everything seemed right for Hamlin to have a strong final stage, set to roll off 11th. However, a fuel pressure right before the restart dropped him to 24th. He could only recover to finish 16th.
It was better than what Bell had. Bell finished 23rd, one lap down, after his team found a power steering cooler busted and leaked water that boiled into the steering fluid.
In the end, Larson got the better of everyone who had issues, coming from ninth to second in the closing laps. He now leads the standings by 40 over Hamlin and 55 over Bell after Las Vegas.
