A look at the winners and losers from Sunday’s Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
WINNERS
Josh Berry — Nearly 10 years after Dale Earnhardt Jr. put Berry into a JR Motorsports car in the fall Xfinity Richmond race, hoping to attract sponsors to run Berry more often, Berry won his first Cup race Sunday at Las Vegas. It was not the more direct path to Cup Victory Lane, but Berry’s talent and determination helped him climb the sport’s ranks. Berry and his team used some strategy Sunday after he had to pit a second time to tighten a loose wheel but when it mattered, Berry made the moves to win.
Wood Brothers — The team scored its second win since Daytona in August. In the last 17 Cup races, only Team Penske (four wins), Hendrick Motorsports (three) and Joe Gibbs Racing (three) have more wins than the Woods.
Hendrick Motorsports — Placed all four cars in the top 10 for the second race in a row. William Byron was fourth, Alex Bowman was seventh, Kyle Larson led the most laps, won a stage and finished ninth and Chase Elliott was 10th.
Daniel Suarez — His runner-up finish helped him climb 10 spots to 19th in the standings. Sunday marked the first time he’s finished in the top 10 this season.
Ryan Preece — His third-place finish tied his Cup career high. This was his first top 10 of the season. He gained six spots to 18th in the season standings.
AJ Allmendinger — His eighth-place result marked his third consecutive top 10 on a 1.5-mile track.
LOSERS
Ryan Blaney — He had to start at the rear after an incident in practice that forced repairs. An ill-timed caution in the first stage put him two laps down. He got back on the lead lap on Lap 108 and eventually worked his way into the top 10 before a crash with about 70 laps remaining that left him with a 35th-place finish.
Kyle Busch — Saw his streak of three consecutive top 10s end after a wheel came off and he crashed. He finished 33rd and will lose two pit crew members for the next two races.
Drivers who sped on pit road — Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch (twice), Chase Elliott, Ty Gibbs, Michael McDowell, Alex Bowman, Shane van Gisbergen and Riley Herbst (twice) were penalized for going too fast on pit road. This was the second race in a row that McDowell and Gibbs had been caught speeding on pit road.
