South Point 400 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Las Vegas, Nev. - October 12, 2025
AUSTIN CINDRIC No. 2 AUTOTRADER FORD MUSTANG DARK HORSE
START: 31ST
STAGE 1: 28TH
STAGE 2: 29TH
FINISH: 11TH
PLAYOFF POINTS: 14TH
RACE RUNDOWN: Austin Cindric and the No. 2 Autotrader Ford Mustang Dark Horse team turned in a steady performance in Sunday's South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, rallying late to earn an 11th-place finish and close out the weekend on a solid note. After starting 29th, Cindric gained five positions by Lap 13 and reported that his car was too free as Stage 1 progressed. The team made an early green flag stop on Lap 32 for four tires, fuel and an adjustment, but the balance remained loose. Despite the persistent condition, Cindric kept the No. 2 car under control through a late-Stage caution and ended Stage 1 in 28th position. The team made further adjustments during the stop to help tighten up the car. The Autotrader Ford Mustang maintained pace through the middle portion of the race, though Cindric still described the handling as "a touch on the free side." After an additional green flag stop on Lap 117, Cindric went on to finish Stage 2 in 29th position. A late-race caution for a multi-car crash with 31 laps remaining slowed the field, and Cindric took the wave around to rejoin the lead lap. An ensuing caution allowed the No. 2 team to pit for fresh tires and fuel, and the orange and blue Autotrader car lined up 20th for the restart with less than 15 laps to go. From there, he put together a determined charge, picking off positions in the closing laps to secure an 11th-place result.
CINDRIC'S THOUGHTS: "I'm proud of the fight from everyone on our No. 2 team today. We learned a lot throughout the race, kept working on it, and had some really solid stops on pit road. It was good to get a solid result and build some momentum heading into Talladega next week, where we obviously had a great run in the spring."
RYAN BLANEY No. 12 MENARDS/CARDELL FORD MUSTANG DARK HORSE
START: 14TH
STAGE 1: 38TH
STAGE 2: 38TH
FINISH: 38TH
PLAYOFF POINTS: 8TH (-31)
RACE RUNDOWN: Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 Menards/Cardell Ford Mustang Dark Horse team faced an early end to their opening race of the Round of 8 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. A flat left front tire sent Blaney into the outside wall in Turns 3 and 4 in the closing laps of Stage 1. After taking the green flag from 14th position, Blaney worked his way into the top 10 by lap 30 before hitting pit road during the green flag cycle as he settled into 12th once pit stops were completed. On lap 72, Blaney entered low into Turn 3 and shot up the track due to a flat left front tire, resulting in terminal damage that signaled the end to the 12 team's day. Blaney and the No. 12 team enter the second race of the Round of 8 eighth in the playoff standings, 31 points below the elimination line.
BLANEY'S THOUGHTS: "You've got to be optimistic. I'm not very happy right now, but tomorrow morning I'll be optimistic to go to the next race. We've had good success at the next two events, so hopefully we can come and bring the speed and try to overcome the hole we put ourselves in today."
JOEY LOGANO No. 22 SHELL-PENNZOIL FORD MUSTANG DARK HORSE
START: 9TH
STAGE 1: 10TH
STAGE 2: 9TH
FINISH: 6TH
PLAYOFF POINTS: 7TH (-31)
RACE RUNDOWN: Joey Logano and the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse team came away with a sixth-place finish in Sunday's Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. A key strategy call put Logano on the front row for the final restart with 14 laps to go in the top 10 effort. Logano maintained top 10 pace from the onset of the 400-mile race, posting a 10th-place result in Stage 1 before crossing the line ninth in Stage 2. After taking the restart of the final segment from 15th, Logano fought a loose-handling condition in the corners prior to a scheduled stop at the start of the green flag cycle with 57 laps to go. A caution with 31 laps remaining brought the leaders to pit road one final time as crew chief Paul Wolfe made the call for right side tires only, allowing Logano to gain 11 spots as the Shell-Pennzoil Ford lined up to restart from the outside of row one as one of four cars on the two-tire strategy. A multi-car incident in turn one on the opening lap of the restart reset the field one last time as Logano again took the green from the front row but, ultimately, did not get pushed down the backstretch to keep pace with the leaders and settled for a sixth-place finish. Logano and the No. 22 team enter the second race of the Round of 8 seventh in the playoff standings, 24 points below the elimination line.
LOGANO'S THOUGHTS: "We had nothing to lose. We were kind of at the spot where we scored only a couple stage points, I think we were eighth and ninth in both stages and that's not enough points to points race I didn't think, so Paul made a good call and put us on the front row. That's all you can hope for and you hope the two tires are decent. You hope that you can get clean air and maybe block your butt off to where you can do something. I didn't get the push down the backstretch. The 48 had the option of who to push and he went with the 19, unfortunately, and that was enough to shove him ahead into three and be able to clear me. At that point, it was just kind of trying not to bleed very many spots there at the end. I was just trying to hang on to what I had there to get as many points as possible, so, overall, there were points in the race where I thought we were good enough to go up there and run with those guys on the long haul, and then the third stage we just got really loose and lost a ton of track position and it took us a minute to get the balance back."
The NASCAR Cup Series continues the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Playoffs at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, October 19. Live coverage of the YellaWood 500 begins at 2:00 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN, and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.