For one NASCAR Cup team, Las Vegas could not have come at a better time

Up until Ryan Blaney's heroic drive to win Sunday's Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway, Tyler Reddick and Toyota were the only ones to visit Victory Lane through the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season's first three races.

While Blaney's Phoenix win does not guarantee him a playoff spot under the current Chase format, his multiple drives from the back to the front highlighted NASCAR's new horsepower package and showed some promising signs in a race that tied a track record for lead changes with 23.

Two drivers who benefited from the improved racing product were the Hendrick Motorsports duo of Kyle Larson and William Byron. Larson dealt with handling issues during the first half of the race, but he survived the attrition and made his way up to third, while Byron overcome a flat right front tire during a caution on lap 159 and finished seventh.

Until then, Larson's sixth place finish at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) was the only top 10 finish of the season between the two drivers. Although Chase Elliott is the best of the four Hendrick Motorsports drivers in the point standings (fourth), he has lacked race-winning pace so far, while Alex Bowman has finished 23rd or worse in his three starts and is set to miss his second consecutive race due to vertigo.

Despite the uncharacteristic start to the season, there is reason to believe that Sunday's race at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway could present a much-needed turnaround for the entire organization.

Las Vegas has been a strong track for Hendrick Motorsports

Larson and Byron have combined for four wins at the Sin City track and led a total of 184 laps in the 2025 fall race, despite coming away empty-handed. According to NASCAR Insights, the two rank first and second in laps run inside the top five at Las Vegas in the Next Gen era (since 2022), more than 200 laps ahead of the next closest driver, 2025 October winner Denny Hamlin.

These stats may not always translate to wins each race there, but the consistency from both drivers is clear. The only question going into the weekend, and one that has been a prevailing theme so far this season, is related to the overall performance for Chevrolet with its new body for 2026.

The manufacturer's 143 laps led are its fewest through four races since its rough start to 2018 (129), when it also introduced a new body. It also marks just the third time this century that Chevrolet has led fewer than 200 laps through four races of any season.

While Elliott has experienced mix results at Las Vegas and the writing could already be on the wall for Bowman's tenure with Hendrick Motorsports, Larson and Byron will likely give the team and manufacturer their best chance to win their first race of the season this weekend. However, it will not be easy and won't be a given with the car's new body.

After all, it is not uncommon for manufacturers and teams to struggle out of the gate as they get acclimated to a new body. With four-time Las Vegas winner Joey Logano, two-time winner Denny Hamlin and several other strong drivers in search of their first Sin City win, such as Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe, Reddick, and Blaney, there is a lot standing in the way of Hendrick Motorsports continuing their recent Las Vegas dominance.

Even if the win does not come this weekend, upcoming races at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, March 22, Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, March 29, and Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, April 12 are just a few of the races in which the team have historically been strong.

Still, the team's recent track record at Las Vegas suggests that they should be a factor on Sunday. Whether the new body forces them to make some adjustments and puts them behind remains to be seen, but for an organization used to running at the front and contending for wins, this will be a good indicator of where they are five races into the 2026 season.