The NASCAR Cup Series stays out West this weekend for Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and if last year’s spring race was an indication, perhaps a first-time winner is in order at the 1.5-mile desert track.
After Tyler Reddick swept the season’s first three races, Ryan Blaney was a first-time winner of sorts last weekend. He became the initial driver to keep the surging 23XI Racing star out of Victory Lane in 2026 and shifted the headlines to another organization for a change.
So what’s in store for the campaign’s fifth race?
Maybe a genuine first-timer like a year ago.
Last March, driving one of the sport’s true legendary cars, Josh Berry surprised the stock-car racing world by scoring his inaugural Cup victory and handing the Wood Brothers a second straight season with a win, following former driver Harrison Burton outdueling future Hall of Famer Kyle Busch in Daytona’s 2024 summer race.
A native of Hendersonville, Tenn., Berry played the part one season ago that Blaney reprised in Phoenix, using the No. 21 Ford to snap Christopher Bell’s hot start that also produced three straight wins – at Atlanta, COTA and Phoenix.
Oddly, the last five drivers to win in the No. 21 scored their first career victories: Elliott Sadler (2001, Bristol), Trevor Bayne (2011, Daytona 500), Blaney (2017, Pocono), Burton and Berry.
Maybe this week one of the Chevrolets belonging to Spire Motorsports, which has been a fast group thus far, provides a new winner.
Spire drivers Daniel Suarez and Michael McDowell have two wins each in careers that have combined for 868 starts, leaving the organization’s third driver — 23-year-old Carson Hocevar — as the only remaining hotshoe who has not taken the checkers.
However, the prevailing feeling in the NASCAR world is, “It’s coming.”
Ross Chastain has widely been regarded as the toughest driver in the Cup Series to pass, but Hocevar, a native of Portage, Michigan, is definitely taking away some of those votes.
Riding 14th in the current standings with 103 points, 122 behind leader Reddick, Hocevar was strong in the first half of 2025 in search of that initial victory but fizzled in the second half.
Hocevar was 30th one year ago at Vegas and 32nd the last time the series visited Nevada in October — certainly poor numbers — but he has been the focus of discussion recently because of his hard-nosed, give-no-quarter, no-apologies racing style.
“While I think we show speed and can compete up front anywhere, we proved last year we really excel at the intermediates, including the mile-and-a-halves,” said Hocevar, who has positioned himself inside the top 16 thanks to 27 stage points. “We won the pole at Texas, started on the front row at Charlotte and had good speed at Vegas last year.”
Added Hocevar, one of only two drivers to earn stage points in all four races: “They are my favorite tracks, and I am expecting to be really competitive come Sunday.”
That kind of optimism may be worth a gamble this weekend in Vegas.
On Saturday, Toyotas were fast in the qualifying session, and it was Joe Gibbs Racing’s Camrys leading the charge.
Bell scored his 15th career Cup Series pole and fourth in Las Vegas by turning a lap of 187.156 mph in his No. 20 as JGR claimed the top three spots.
Teammates Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs will start second and third, respectively, while Bubba Wallace grids fourth in the No. 23 Toyota of 23XI Racing.
Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson and his No. 5 Chevrolet will start fifth.
Formula One
Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli said it was just the beginning after he set a pole record in China at Shanghai with Mercedes predecessor and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton lavishing praise on him.
At 19 years, six months and 17 days Antonelli became the youngest Formula One driver ever to take pole position for a full grand prix.
“A great record. It’s going to take a while for someone to ever get close to that one,” Ferrari driver Hamilton, whose seat Antonelli took in 2025, told a news conference after qualifying third.
The previous record was set by now-retired German driver Sebastian Vettel when he put Red Bull-owned Toro Rosso (now Racing Bulls) on pole at the age of 21 and 72 days at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix.
Big question marks hung over Antonelli when he arrived at Mercedes as a rookie alongside George Russell, the current championship leader, after Hamilton shocked the sport by moving to rival Ferrari.
Pundits questioned whether the then-18-year-old could live up to Hamilton’s legacy, even as Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff consistently touted the Italian as a top-tier talent.
“He took my seat! And he hit it hard from the get-go, so it’s really great to see him progressing and he really deserves it,” a beaming Hamilton said while seated next to Antonelli.
The Italian was his country’s first polesitter since Giancarlo Fisichella for Mercedes-powered Force India, the team that is now Aston Martin, in Belgium in 2009.
“I’m very happy because at the end, you know, it’s just the beginning,” said Antonelli, who had a sprint pole in Miami last year but has yet to win a race.
“Obviously there’s a lot more to come. And, yeah, really looking forward to tomorrow … the car is feeling really good, the car is strong so, yeah, a lot to play for tomorrow.”
Antonelli was helped by Russell having no battery and getting stuck in gear at the start of the final phase and then getting only one flying lap for pole, which he converted into second place on the grid.
“Many said the kid was too young to be in a Mercedes, we should have prepared him otherwise. He did good today,” Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said.
“It’s a shame that George couldn’t do the lap.”
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Motors roundup: Winless drivers look to change luck in Las Vegas
Reporting by Michael Eggert, Detroit News wire services / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
