Kyle Larson has been lucky of late in Las Vegas, where he opens the third round of NASCAR’s playoffs on top of the Cup Series standings and the favorite to win today’s race.

Larson heads into the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as both the defending race winner and the victor of the spring race there this season. A victory would be three straight at Vegas, a season sweep, but most importantly, give Larson an automatic berth into the championship finale.

The playoff field started at 16 drivers and the three-race round of eight begins in Las Vegas to set the winner-take-all championship four finale. The third round next goes to Homestead-Miami Speedway and Martinsville Speedway in Virginia before the finale at Phoenix.

“Las Vegas has been one of our better tracks,” Larson said of his chances. “On paper, all three tracks in the round of eight stack up pretty well ... but we still have to go out and execute. I would like to run well and win.”

Larson already has two wins through the first two rounds of the playoffs, at Bristol Motor Speedway in the first round and then last week’s elimination race on the hybrid/road course at Charlotte Motor Speedway. That victory was his Cup Series-best sixth win of the season.

Larson will start in fifth after Christopher Bell earned poll position in qualifying Saturday.

Bell turned a lap at 185.344 mph in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing to take the top starting spot Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He is one of eight drivers attempting to earn a spot in the Cup Series championship finale.

“I feel really good. I feel really comfortable,” Bell said. “I know we’re going to have a shot at it.”

Tyler Reddick, the regular season champion, qualified second in a Toyota for 23XI Racing. Alex Bowman, who lost his spot in the playoff field when his car failed post-race inspection last Sunday at Charlotte and he was disqualified, qualified fourth.

Denny Hamlin, teammate with Bell at JGR, qualified third as Toyotas took three of the top four qualifying positions.

A win by any of the playoff drivers at Las Vegas on Sunday, or the next two weeks at Homestead-Miami Speedway or in Martinsville, Virginia, will earn an automatic berth in the finale. The fourth slot will go the highest ranked driver in the Cup Series standings.

allmendinger’s first xfinity win of season

AJ Allmendinger won a two-lap sprint to finish Saturday night for his first victory of the season and an automatic berth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship finale.

Allmendinger won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway by leading a race-high 102 laps in the No. 16 Chevrolet for Kaulig Racing, then holding off Ryan Sieg in a final sprint.

A caution with six laps remaining gave Sieg a late chance to snatch the win from Allmendinger, but he got a huge shove from Justin Allgaier on the restart and pulled away to beat Sieg by 0.156 seconds.

Allmendinger started the race — the opener of the semifinal round of the Xfinity playoffs — seventh out of eight and below the cutline.

The veteran, who will make a full-time return to the Cup Series next year, was in need of either a victory or three good finishes to make the championship finale. Allmendinger raced for the Xfinity title in 2021.

“It’s good to get to Phoenix after the year we’ve had,” Allmendinger said. “Let’s go win a championship! Let’s go!”

He dedicated the win to team owner Matt Kaulig, saying he had promised his boss he’d win the race as a birthday gift for Kaulig.

Sieg, who is not in the playoffs, finished second in a Ford and was followed by playoff-driver Allgaier in a Chevrolet for JR Motorsports.