NASCAR Update: Oct. 14

The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season is down to its final few weeks.

This past weekend’s race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course saw longtime driver A.J. Allmendinger take the win, becoming the first non-playoff winner in this postseason. The win was the third of Allmendinger’s Cup Series career and first since 2021.

Eliminated were Kyle Busch, Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain and Brad Keselowski. Busch came particularly close to getting the win he needed to advance, but his eventual third-place result was not enough.

As such, the remaining list of championship contenders consists of William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Chris Buescher, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney.

The schedule ahead sees races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway and Martinsville Speedway, three tracks dissimilar in shape.

With Las Vegas being this week’s challenge for the eight contenders, two of them look strong.

Byron won the track’s spring race, and Larson finished second. More recently, Byron has finished no lower than second in the past three races, which included a win at Texas.

With Larson also a winner in these playoffs, both Hendrick drivers are carrying momentum into Vegas.

Truex was the 2023 Regular Season Champion, with three wins throughout the year. However, his No. 19 Toyota hasn’t finished higher than 17th throughout the past seven races.

Las Vegas presents a reasonable chance for Truex to regain his success, as he has two career wins there. Now in the Round of 8, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver will have to finish better to advance any further.

Tyler Reddick might also have a chance this weekend, coming off a 6th-place finish at Charlotte. The only remaining 23XI driver in the playoffs has had mixed results as of late, but he did win at Kansas, a recent race at a 1.5-mile track.

Reddick also finished seventh and sixth in last year’s Vegas races. With his recent pace, he will attempt to put his No. 45 Toyota into further championship contention.

Elsewhere in the garage, Truck Series regular Carson Hocevar announced a move to the Cup Series in 2024, driving for Spire Motorsports. The 20-year-old will replace Ty Dillon in the No. 77 Chevrolet.

Additionally, Richard Childress Racing and Xfinity Series driver Sheldon Creed will part ways after this season, with Creed’s plans for 2024 yet to be announced.

The end of the season is in sight at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend, and those competing for the Cup championship have their chance to lock themselves into the Championship 4 at Phoenix for the first time this year.

Logan Groeneveld-Meijer is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism at Penn State. To contact him, email lsg5237@psu.edu