Denny Hamlin surges late to win South Point 400, advance to Championship 4

Denny Hamlin rocketed past teammate Chase Briscoe Sunday afternoon to win the opening race of the NASCAR Cup Series' Round of 8 playoff, the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Round of 8 win made Hamlin the first participant of the four drivers who will compete for the title in the Championship 4 race at Phoenix next month.

After a restart wreck for the fifth caution involving Ty Gibbs, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver's No. 11 restarted sixth, worked through traffic, and passed Kyle Larson then Briscoe to notch his series-best sixth win this season by 1.533 seconds over Larson's No. 5 Chevrolet.

The Toyota driver's second Vegas win was the 60th of his career, tying him with Kevin Harvick for 10thon the all-time Cup list.

Christopher Bell, Briscoe and Tyler Reddick completed the top five.

Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron crashed late in the race and ended up 36th.

Championship disaster struck with nine laps to go in Stage 1 as 2023 series champ Ryan Blaney cut a tire near Turn 3 and struck the wall hard, forcing him out of the No. 12 Ford and putting him immediately in playoff peril by finishing last in the 38-car field.

After pit work, Byron restarted at the point and claimed the 80-lap first segment. Larson, Briscoe, Hamlin and Chase Elliott earned the top five stage points. But Elliott's crew had an uncontrolled tire roll into the pit stall in front of the Chevrolet, handing the No. 9 a penalty.

In Stage 2, Larson grabbed the lead from Byron and dominated the race's middle portion. The 2021 champ, who led a race-high 129 circuits, pocketed the top points followed by Reddick, Byron, Hamlin and Briscoe.

The final stage, which started on Lap 173, had Larson at the front being hounded by Reddick's No. 45 Toyota, yet the No. 5 Chevrolet held on and watched as teammate Byron moved into second with 75 laps to go.

Another huge title hit occurred with 31 laps left as Byron, who led 55 laps, did not realize Ty Dillon was pitting and smashed into the No. 10 Chevrolet while on the track coming to the entrance to pit road.

--Field Level Media