Gibbs paces Cup practice in Vegas; Byron shows long-run speed

Ty Gibbs led an eventful NASCAR Cup Series practice at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as the series shifts focus to the start of the Round of 8 in the postseason.

Gibbs clocked in at 181.733mph (29.714s). He ran 36 laps.

William Byron (P) was the fastest playoff driver and appeared to have the best long-run speed. His fastest overall lap was 181.172mph and was fastest in the five, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30-lap averages.

Chase Elliott (P) was the third fastest at 180.953mph, Denny Hamlin (P) fourth at 180.741mph, Bubba Wallace fifth at 180.560mph, Tyler Reddick sixth at 180.475mph, Chase Briscoe (P) seventh at 180.385mph and Ross Chastain eighth at 180.288mph.

Chastain scrapped the wall once. The Trackhouse Racing driver was running in one of the higher lanes around the 1.5-mile track when the car slipped away from him.

Kyle Larson (P) was ninth fastest at 179.922mph and Christopher Bell (P) rounded out the top 10 at 179.874mph. Bell finished second in the Las Vegas playoff race the last two seasons.

The two playoff drivers outside the top 10 were Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano. Blaney was 17th (179.104mph) and Logano was 28th (178.094 mph).

Logano is the defending winner at Las Vegas.

There are 38 teams entered in the South Point 400 – JJ Yeley in the NY Racing Team car and Katherine Legge driving for Live Fast Motorsports are entered in addition to the 36 chartered cars.