NASCAR at Las Vegas: Odds, how to watch, stream and listen as Cup Series heads west
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday.
After a three-wide photo finish capped a remarkable Atlanta race and Charlotte native William Byron emerged victorious at Daytona after a massive late wreck, auto racing’s highest circuit will be back at a 1.5-mile tri-oval.
Las Vegas is this season’s first non-drafting track, which means that drivers rely less on the rest of the field and really have to control their cars themselves, as superspeedways like Daytona and Talladega often see cars travel faster together than they normally would independent of one another.
Both of last year’s races at Las Vegas were won by drivers who reached the Championship 4 — Byron and Kyle Larson.
“Vegas is our first true test of where we stack up,” said Noah Gragson, the 25-year-old Las Vegas native in his first season with Stewart-Haas Racing. “A majority of the schedule is mile-and-a-halves, short tracks — you’ve got Vegas and Phoenix, those two especially. But Vegas will be our first test as to where we’re at as a company, speed-wise.”
The season’s first two races have produced 377 green flag passes for the lead. That marks the most through the first two races since the inception of this statistic in 2005, surpassing the previous record of 277 green flag passes for the lead through the first two races set last season.
While Byron and Daniel Suarez are the only drivers who’ve taken the checkered flag and are locked into the 2024 playoffs, Kyle Busch currently leads the Cup Series standings in points.
This is the first time Busch, who currently holds scant leads over Byron and Austin Cindric, has led the field in points since winning his second Cup Series championship in 2019. The Las Vegas native has made 25 starts at his home track, including five top-five finishes in his past six races there.
Who’s the favorite to win Sunday’s race?
Kyle Larson, who’s won twice in three years at Las Vegas, is favored to defend his recent victories at +450 odds, according to DraftKings Sportsbook, followed by William Byron (+900), Kyle Busch (+900), Christopher Bell (+1000), Ryan Blaney (+1000), Ross Chastain (+1000) and Denny Hamlin (+1000). Sportsbooks will go live on March 11 in North Carolina.
How to watch the NASCAR race at Las Vegas
Race: Pennzoil 400 Presented by Jiffy Lube
Place: Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Clark County, Nevada, about 15 miles from the Las Vegas Strip)
Date: Sunday, March 3
Time: 3:30 p.m. (Green flag at 3:49 p.m.)
Purse: $9,386,054
TV: FOX, 3 p.m.
Streaming: FOX Sports
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 400.5 miles (267 laps)
Stages: Stage 1 ends on Lap 80; Stage 2 ends on Lap 165; and the Final Stage ends on Lap 267.