In two of the three years that Las Vegas Motor Speedway has opened up the round of 8 of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, the winner of the South Point 400 has gone on to win the championship at Phoenix Raceway. On both occasions, it was Team Penske's Joey Logano who pulled it off.
Logano is one of eight remaining championship contenders entering this Sunday's 267-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Las Vegas, Nevada oval. These eight drivers are all set to qualify at the end of the order in Saturday's qualifying session, ordered by the qualifying metric.
The qualifying metric, which was also responsible for lining up the 30 non-playoff drivers from spots 1 through 30 in the qualifying order, is a two-variable formula which NASCAR introduced this year as a much more straightforward alternateive to the four-variable formula that was used from 2020 to 2024.
A full breakdown of the current metric can be found here.
Unlike in previous years, the qualifying format itself is quite simple. Each of the 38 drivers is set to make a single-lap qualifying run in the single-car session, and those speeds are all stacked up to determine the full 38-car starting lineup.
There is no second round shootout for pole, nor are there any groups or any sort of row-by-row lane designations like we've seen in the past. It's as simple as it gets.
Follow along with our Las Vegas qualifying updates.
Full NASCAR Cup Series starting lineup at Las Vegas
1st - Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
2nd - Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
3rd - Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
4th - Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
5th - William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
6th - Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
7th - Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
8th - Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
9th - Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford
10th - Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
11th - Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford
12th - Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
13th - Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
14th - Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford
15th - Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
16th - Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford
17th - Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
18th - Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
19th - Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
20th - A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
21st - Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford
22nd - Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
23rd - Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford
24th - Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet
25th - Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
26th - John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
27th - Justin Haley, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
28th - Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford
29th - Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford
30th - Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford
31st - Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford
32nd - Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
33rd - Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota
34th - Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford
35th - Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
36th - Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford
37th - J.J. Yeley, No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet
38th - Katherine Legge, No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet
The South Point 400 is set to be shown live on USA Network from Las Vegas Motor Speedway beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET this Sunday, October 12. If you have yet to start a free trial of FuboTV, do so now and don't miss any of the action!