Good news, bad news for NASCAR Cup teams ahead of Las Vegas weekend

NASCAR remains in the West this weekend, competing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Five drivers are tied with the most top-10 finishes this season with three. They are Alex Bowman, Chris Buescher, Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch and points leader William Byron.

Here is a look at the good news and bad news for Cup teams heading to Las Vegas.

23XI Racing —Good news: Tyler Reddick has finished in the top 10 in five of the last seven Las Vegas Cup races. … Riley Herbst won the Xfinity race at Las Vegas in October 2023. … Bubba Wallace has scored 31 more stage points in the first four races of this season compared to the same time last year. Bad news: Wallace finished 29th at Phoenix after a brake failure. … Wallace dropped from sixth to 12th after Phoenix. … Herbst's streak of three consecutive 17th-place finishes ended at Phoenix when he was 37th due to an accident.

Front Row Motorsports — Good news: Zane Smith finished ninth at Phoenix. … Noah Gragson finished sixth in the spring Las Vegas race last year, his best Cup result at the track. Bad news: Gragson has two top-10 finishes in 16 start on 1.5-mile tracks. … Todd Gilliland has not finished better than 23rd in six Las Vegas starts.

Haas Factory Team — Good news: A new week and another race for this team to break its bad luck. Bad News: Custer placed 32nd at Phoenix due to an accident. … Custer has not finished in the top 20 yet this season. … He has been eliminated by an accident twice this season and also collected in a crash at Daytona that impacted his finish.

Hendrick Motorsports — Good news: The organization has won five of the last eight races at Las Vegas, including the past four spring races there. … William Byron continues to lead the points. … Byron is the only driver to lead in every race this season. … Kyle Larson has won two of the last three races at Las Vegas. … Larson has finished first or second in 41% of his Cup starts at Las Vegas. .. Chase Elliott has five top 10s in the last six races at 1.5-mile tracks. Including a win at Texas last April. … Alex Bowman has finished in the top 10 in each of the last five races on 1.5-mile tracks, tied for the longest active streak. Bad news: Elliott's average finish of 19.6 at Las Vegas is worse than than his average finish at every track but Daytona.

Hyak Motorsports — Good news: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is 14th in points after four races. He was 20th in points at this time last year. Bad news: Stenhouse has two top-10 finishes in 19 Las Vegas starts.

Joe Gibbs Racing — Good news: Christopher Bell seeks to become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to win four consecutive Cup races. … Bell also seeks to be the first driver to win four of the first five races of a season since Bill Elliott in 1992. … Bell has given JGR its last five Cup victories. … Bell has three poles in the last six races at Las Vegas. … Denny Hamlin has seven top 10s in the last nine races at Las Vegas. Bad news: Chase Briscoe has only one finish better than 14th in eight Las Vegas starts. … Ty Gibbs has finished 25th or worse in eight of the last nine races, dating back to last season. … Gibbs is 34th in the points.

Kaulig Racing — Good news: Ty Dillon has finished 16th or better in two of the first four races this season. … Dillon is making his 250th career Cup start this weekend. … AJ Allmendinger has started 16th or better in all four races this year. Bad news: Allmendinger has not started in the top 20 in the past six Las Vegas starts.

Legacy Motor Club — Good news: John Hunter Nemechek is one of five drivers to have completed every lap this season, joining Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick and Kyle Larson. … Nemechek finished ninth at Las Vegas last October. … Nemechek has won at Las Vegas in both the Xfinity and Truck Series. Bad news: Erik Jones has no top-10 finishes in the last nine races on 1.5-mile tracks.

Richard Childress Racing — Good news: Kyle Busch has scored three consecutive top-10 finishes. … Austin Dillon is coming off a season-best 12th-place finish at Phoenix. Bad news: Dillon has only one top-10 finish in his last nine starts at Las Vegas.

Rick Ware Racing — Good news: Cody Ware's 24th-place finish at Phoenix was his second top-25 result this season. … Ware finished 21st at Las Vegas last October, his best result at the track in seven Cup starts. … The organization had its best finish at Las Vegas last October when Corey LaJoie placed 14th. Bad news: Ware ranks 37th in points after four races.

RFK Racing — Good news: Chris Buescher has three top 10s in the first four races of the year. … Ryan Preece finished a season-best 15th last weekend at Phoenix. Bad news: Brad Keselowski, who has not finished better than 15th this season, is 33rd in points, tied for his worst start through four races since racing full-time in the series in 2010. … Keselowski has completed only 62.1% of the 874 laps run this year. … Buescher has only two top 10s in the last 11 races on 1.5-mile tracks.

Spire Motorsports — Good news: All three cars qualified in the top 10 at Phoenix. … Carson Hocevar started third, Michael McDowell started seventh and Justin Haley started eight. … McDowell is making his 300th consecutive start this weekend. Bad news: Despite the good starting spots, none of the Spire cars finished in the top 25 at Phoenix. … McDowell was 27th, Haley was 34th and Hocevar was 36th.

Team Penske — Good news: Joey Logano has led 207 laps, most this season. … Logano won last year's playoff race at Las Vegas. … Logano's four Las Vegas wins are tied with Jimmie Johnson for the most at the track. … Logano has scored 40 more stage points than he did in the first four races of last season. … Austin Cindric has led 112 laps this season, ranking only behind Logano and Christopher Bell (114 laps). … Cindric's average start at Las Vegas is 7.8, second all-time to Kyle Larson (7.2). Bad news: Logano is the first reigning champion not to score a top-10 finish in the first four races of the following season. … Engine failure at Phoenix for Ryan Blaney was his first mechanical DNF since Dover in October 2019 (190 races).

Trackhouse Racing — Good news: Ross Chastain has an average finish of 5.5 at Las Vegas, best among active drivers in the Next Gen car era. … Chastain has finished in the top 10 in three of the last four races on 1.5-mile tracks, including a win at Kansas last September. Bad news: Shane van Gisbergen finished 31st at Phoenix, giving him two finishes of 30th or worse in the first four races this year. … Daniel Suarez was running sixth when he was collected in Katherine Legge's incident at Phoenix and finished 23rd. … Suarez has not had a top-20 finish in the last three races.

Wood Brothers Racing — Good news: Josh Berry finished fourth at Phoenix, giving the Wood Brothers their best finish at that track. … He has started in the top five in two of the last three races. … Berry won two of his six Xfinity starts at Las Vegas. Bad news: Berry has only one top-10 finish on a 1.5-mile track and that was in the 2024 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.