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By Zach Sturniolo NASCAR.com October 13, 2022, at 10:16 AM
After 32 races, the NASCAR Cup Series rolls into Las Vegas with just eight drivers left contending for the 2022 championship.
Sunday’s South Point 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway makes the opening race of the Round of 8 with all sights ahead on the title.
A busy round awaits. Prepare for the penultimate postseason round with all the info you need here:
RELATED: Weekend schedule | Cup Series standings
LINING THEM UP
Teams will be broken into Groups A and B for 20 minutes of practice (12:05 p.m. ET, NBC Sports App; USA Network at 12:30 p.m.) for each group, respectively. Following practice, the series will roll into two rounds of single-car, single-lap qualifying set to begin at 12:50 p.m. to set the starting lineup.
With the postseason underway, playoff drivers and teams will be ordered by their previous race metrics and assigned to Group A or B by the usual odd/even metric procedures. Playoff teams will be the final cars to qualify in their respective groups.
Each driver will post one lap during their time trial. The fastest five drivers from each group will advance to the final round of qualifying, where those 10 drivers will set one more circuit to fight for the Busch Light Pole Award. The driver who sets the quickest lap in the session will start first on Sunday.
MORE: Paint Scheme Preview | Qualifying order
LAS VEGAS STORYLINES
— The 2022 Round of 8 field is the youngest in playoff history while also combining for the fewest wins of all postseason fields.
— Joey Logano (2018) and Chase Elliott (2020) are the only remaining past champions in the playoffs. They have the two worst average finishes in playoff races among the eight remaining drivers in the 2022 postseason at 15.8 and 17.0, respectively, but rank first and second in points after the reset due to playoff points.
— Nineteen different drivers have won this year, tied for the most all time.
— The last nine races have each been won by different drivers — Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson, Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, Bubba Wallace, Chris Buescher, Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell.
— Denny Hamlin (610) and Joey Logano (503) have more Cup starts than the four drivers making their first Round of 8 appearances combined (Christopher Bell, William Byron, Ross Chastain and Chase Briscoe with a combined 495).
— William Byron won the last race at two of the three tracks in the Round of 8 (Martinsville Speedway in April and Homestead-Miami Speedway in February 2021).
Source: Racing Insights
GOODYEAR TIRES
Cup teams return to Las Vegas with a different tire than what they utilized in March, but that doesn’t mean they are unfamiliar with this tire compound. Goodyear will provide the same tire setup that was used at recent mile-and-a-half facilities, Kansas Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway.
Air pressure became a key topic of discussion after numerous issues in the Sept. 25 race at Texas, but Goodyear notes discussions with teams and manufacturers in the weeks since have produced fruitful feedback.
“This has been an exciting year of change for NASCAR as we all work with the Next Gen car,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “We understood very early on the balance of this car was directed much more to the rear than previous, and as setups have continued to evolve over the season, the benefits of maximizing the effectiveness of the rear diffuser have become apparent, particularly on the speedways.
“These setups, obviously, can have a significant impact on tires, so integrating the latest information from the teams and OEMs into our predictive simulations is critical. Those simulations enable us to provide the teams with the key tire information each week to make informed decisions and responsibly get maximum performance out of the tires at Las Vegas this week and moving forward.”
Scott Miller, NASCAR Senior VP of Competition, said in a Wednesday appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that no resin or traction compound would be applied to the asphalt surface. “We haven’t gone the track-treatment route at all at Las Vegas over the years, and it’s provided some great racing,” Miller said. “So no, that’s business as usual.”
