8:50 pm - Friday Good Night - This concludes today's coverage from LVMS. Be sure to join us tomorrow for Cup Series qualifying, Xfinity Series qualifying and the Xfinity Series Rhino Pro 300. Good night!
8:35 pm - Austin Hill Records First LVMS Victory - Proving that it's never over until it's over, Austin Hill overcame what could have been a pit road miscue to win the Westgate 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The victory is Hill's first at LVMS and the third of his career in 70 series starts.
When the caution flew on Lap 80, Hill and his crew decided to stay on the track. When all the other leaders headed to pit road for fuel only, crew chief Scott Zipadelli made the decision to bring his driver in for tires and fuel.
That dropped Hill to 17th on the restart. With nothing to lose, Hill flew up through the field. When leader Ross Chastain wiggled with 12 laps to go, Hill was in the perfect position to take advantage of the bobble and take the lead. From there, it was no contest as Hill went on to beat Chastain to the checkers by 2.1 seconds.
"This was the hardest one I had to win," said Hill, who led six times for 29 laps. "We stayed out and everybody else pitted. So we decided we needed to pit or we were going to be screwed. Man, it stayed green. I had to drive all the way through the field. This truck was unbelievable."
Ross Chastain led 88 of 134 laps and won the first two segments but had to settle for the runner-up finish. Pole winner Christian Eckes finished third with Sheldon Creed and Todd Gilliland rounding out the top five.
Hill and Chastain both earned the right to advance to Round 2 of the Playoffs. They will be joined by Brett Moffitt, Stewart Friesen, Matt Crafton and Tyler Ankum.
ThorSport Racing teammates Grant Enfinger and Johnny Sauter were eliminated from title contention after engine failure put them behind the wall. Thorsport's third entry, the No. 88 driven by Matt Crafton also suffered engine failure but the points fell Crafton's way allowing his championship hopes to stay alive.
8:00 pm - Austin Hill Wins the Westgate 200 - Austin Hill cashed in on a big win in tonight's Westgate 200 to move on to Round 2 of the NASCAR Xfinity Series 2019 Playoffs. Hill battled back from a pit road miscue to take the lead with 11 laps to go and beat Ross Chastain to the checkers by 1.8 seconds.
7:55 pm - Update, Lap 112 - Austin Hill takes advantage of a small wiggle by Chastain and sweeps into the lead with 11 laps to go.
7:50 pm - Update, Lap 110 - Chastain continues to lead. He has about a 1.2-second advantage over Hill who flew up through the field after that pit miscue.
3rd-5th: Eckes, Creed, Moffitt.
7:35 pm - Back to Green - The drivers took advantage of that caution to come to pit road. Creed, Chastain, and Moffitt were among those that took on fuel only.
Hill had to make a second stop after a miscue. He'll drop to the rear for the restart.
Top 5 for the restart is Chastain, Moffitt, Creed, Ankrum, Rhodes
Green flag on Lap 87
7:27 pm - Under Caution, Lap 80 - We've slowed things down again. It's another engine issue and this times it's the No. 02 truck of Tyler Dippel. The Top 5, under caution, is Chastain, Creed, Moffitt, Rhodes and Burton.
7:20 pm - Lap 69 Update - Sauter is done for good this time. He rolls to the garage.
Back on the track: Moffitt, who has raced from last to first, chooses to restart on the inside lane. And we're back to green on Lap 73.
7:14 pm - Segment #3 - Green Flag - Brett Moffitt takes the lead on pit road. Behind him it's Eckes, Hill, Chastain, Poole, Gilliland, Creed, Rhodes, Ankrum, Burton
Sauter is back on the track. His crew thinks he had an oil leak. They're going to try to limp their truck along.
We're back to green on Lap 67. And just like that, smoke pours out of Sauter's truck and we're back under caution.
7:04 pm - Chastain Wins Segment #2 - Chastain hangs on to win the second segment. Chastain's strong performance thus far puts him into Round Two of the Playoffs. 2nd-10th: Hill, Moffitt, Rhodes, Poole, Eckes, Creed, Gilliland, Ankrum, Dean.
6:58 pm - Back to Green on Lap 46 - We're back to green flag racing with Hill leading the way. According to Crafton, the problem he and Sauter had was related to debris on the track. Sauter hit whatever it was first and then Crafton hit the same piece of debris.
6:47 pm - Under Caution, Lap 41 - We are under caution as the remaining two Thorsport Motorsports' trucks blow engines at exactly the same time. That will put Sauter and Crafton out of this race. Enfinger was already out of the race after blowing a rear seal.
Top 5 under caution: Hill, Chastain, Moffitt, Eckes, Rhodes.
6:45 pm - Segment #2, Green Flag - After pit stops Hill takes the lead, followed by Burton, Chastain (who had a slow stop), Eckes, Creed, Sauter, Crafton, Ankrum, Gilliland and Moffitt.
Stewart Friesen is the second Playoff driver to have trouble. Friesen's truck is down on power. The crew is replacing a plug wire, so he'll lose at least one lap on pit road.
Safety violation for No. 5 - Lupton will restart at the rear of the field.
Crew member over the wall too soon on the No. 9 truck. Burton will restart at the rear.
Back to Green on Lap 37
6:40 pm - Chastain Wins Segment #1 - This is Chastain's 6th stage win of the season. He has also won a stage in four consecutive races. 2nd-10th: Crafton, Hill, Sauter, Gilliland, Creed, Poole, Burton, Moffitt, Ankrum.
Enfinger has retired his truck and that will end his 2019 title hopes.
6:27 pm - Back to Green on Lap 13 - We are back to racing with Chastain on the point.
Lap 14 - Moffitt has battled from the back of the field up to 12th.
6:20 pm - Lap 5, Under Caution - Grant Enfinger brings out the first caution of the race as a huge plume of smoke erupts from his truck. Enfinger is a Playoff driver.
Eckes led the first 3 laps before he was passed for the lead by Chastain. Running 3rd through 5th under caution are Crafton, Hill and Creed.
Enfinger's truck was still running on pit road, so the engine's not dead yet. The crew is now trying to find the oil leak that caused the smoke and dampened the track.
6:05 pm - Westgate 200 - Green Flag - The engines are fired and we are ready to roll. Christian Eckes leads the field off pit road.
John Hunter Nemechek's truck fails to roar to life and instead of joining the field on the track, his crew is pushing the No. 8 Chevrolet behind the wall. Nemechek was slated to start 11th.
Moffitt is dropping to the rear of the field. His team had to change a flat tire. Moffitt gives up 4th on the grid to start last.
Eckes starts on the inside lane and Green Flag!!
Eckes gets a push from Gilliland and takes the lead.
Top 5, Lap 1: Eckes, Crafton, Chastain, Enfinger, Creed
5:25 pm - Kurt Busch Fastest in Final Cup Practice - The elder Busch brother saved his best effort for late in the final practice session and shot right to the head of the class with a 177.275 mph. Team Penske's Logano and Keselowski hung on to rank 2nd and 3rd, while Chase Elliott ended up 4th fastest overall. Rounding out the top 10 were Blaney, Kyle Busch, Harvick, Suarez, Truex and Newman.
4:50 pm - Cup Final Practice Halfway - We've got about 30 minutes left in this final Cup practice and Team Penske is 1-2-3 on the speed sheet with Joey Logano showing the way at 176.782 mph. lap. Brad Keselowski is 2nd fastest and Ryan Blaney 3rd. Behind Team Penske, it's Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex, Jr, Ryan Newman, Erik Jones and Denny Hamlin.
They'll go till 5:20 before giving way for tonight's main event.
4:45 pm - NGOTS Westgate 200 Preview - This evening's NGOTS event marks the end of this year's Playoffs Round 1 and will trim the championship field from eight to six. Brian Moffitt is the defending Series champion and took a big step toward making it two-in-a-row with victories in the first two races of this round (Bristol and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park). If Moffitt can take the checkers, he will become the first driver to sweep a round since the Playoffs were introduced to the series in 2016.
Christian Eckes earned the right to lead the field to green with his second pole in 10 Truck Series starts. This is Eckes' first start at LVMS but he does have the advantage of driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports, the team that took their boss to Victory Lane in March. Starting alongside Eckes is Ross Chastain, who is ranked 2nd in the standings coming into this race.
Todd Gilliland and Brett Moffitt will line up on the second row, in 3rd and 4th, respectively. Moffitt leads the points and is the only driver who is locked in for Round 2. Moffit's peace of mind comes courtesy of his current two-race winning streak. He won the first race of this playoff at Bristol and made it back-to-back at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
Moffitt's most recent race at LVMS ended with a runner-up finish to Kyle Busch in March. He finished 11th in this event last year.
Three drivers failed to qualify for tonight's event. They were Cory Roper, Justin Johnson and Tyler Hill.
The race will be run in three stages -- 30 laps, 30 laps and 74 laps for a scheduled distance of 201 miles. The green flag is scheduled to drop at 6:00 pm and we'll finish under the lights.
4:30 pm - Reddick Leads Final NXS Practice - Reddick's lap of 175.644 mph stood up as the fastest overall. Allgaier was second fastest at 175.119 mph, and no other driver broke the 175 mph mark. Rounding out the top five were Nemechek, Bell, and Gragson.
6th-10th were Jones, Cindrick, Briscoe, Justin Haley and Cassill.
Jeremy Clements ran into trouble with about 10 minutes left on the clock. Clements experienced an engine failure that sent his No. 51 Chevrolet into a spin. Luckily (or skillfully, depending on where you're sitting), Clements was able to keep his truck off the wall and avoid any kind of body damage. The session was on hold for about 7 minutes while crews clean sopped up the oil.
3:50 pm - Final Xfinity Series Practice Underway - The NXS drivers are getting a final look at the track before tomorrow's qualifying session and Rhine Pro 300. With about 30 minutes remaining in the session, Tyler Reddick leads the way at 175.644 mph. Justin Allgaier is 2nd, followed by John Hunter Nemechek, Christopher Bell, Noah Gragson, Chase Briscoe, Justin Haley, Landon Cassill, Brandon Jones, abd Ryan Truex. The session goes until 4:25 pm.
3:25 pm - Christian Eckes Wins Truck Series Pole - Christian Eckes drove the No. 51 SiriusXM Toyota to the pole with a fast lap of 178.077 mph. Eckes was the 24th driver to take to the track when grabbed the top spot from Brett Moffitt. Ross Chastain and Todd Gilliland were also able to beat Moffitt, pushing the points leader back to 4th on the starting grid.
Starting 5th-10th - Matt Crafton, Sheldon Creed, Austin Hill, Grant Enfinger, Harrison Burton, Johnny Sauter.
3:00 pm - Jesse Iwuji Crashes During Qualify - We are under a red flag condition for the second time in this qualifying session. Jesse Iwuji in the No. 34 Toyota got loose coming off Turn 4 and crashed hard into the pit wall. Jesse was able to get out of the car under his own power. We'll be on hold for a few more minutes while the track crew cleans up the debris and makes sure there is no serious damage to the pit wall.
2:50 pm - Qualifying on Hold - We are under red for an incident on the track. Tyler Hill lost control of his No. 56 as he came to the green and spun into the infield grass doing moderate damage to his truck.
2:35 pm - Truck Series Qualifying Begins - Cory Roper in the No. 04 Roper Racing Ford is the first driver on the track for qualifying. This will be single-truck qualifying with drivers getting one lap around the 1.5-mile speedway to earn a spot in the starting lineup for this evening's race.
2:30 pm - Clint Bowyer Leads the Way in Cup Practice - Byron held onto the fast lap for most of the session until Clint Bowyer took to the track for a mock qualifying lap and completed a circuit in 30.327 seconds at 178.059 mph to take over the first position. Bowyer was the only driver to break the 178 mph barrier. 2nd through 5th were Byron, Jimmie Johnson, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and Austin Dillon.
6th-10th: Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Ty Dillon, Suarez and Elliott.
The Cup drivers will return to the track at 4:40 pm for one final 50-minute practice session.
1:51 pm - Cup Cars on the Track - The Cup Series drivers are almost halfway through their 50-minute practice session. We're under caution right now for debris on the track. William Byron is fastest so far at 177.223 mph. Austin Dillion has the No 3 Chevy 2nd on the speed sheet at 176.551 mph. Roundind out the top-5 are Daniel Suarez, Chase Elliott and Clint Bowyer.
1:30 pm - Reddick Leads First NXS Practice - The first practice session is in the books for the Xfinity Series drivers and Tyler Reddick hung on to lead the session with an early lap at 176.130 mph. 2nd-5th fastest were Brisco, Cindric, John Hunter Nemechek, Brandon Jones. 6th-10: Noah Gragson, Ryan Truex, Cole Custer, Christopher Bell and Ryan Sieg.
12:45 pm - Xfinity Series Practice Underway - We are early into this first practice session for the Xfinity Series. Tyler Reddick is the early leader with a lap of 176.130 mph. Currently 2nd through 5th on the speed chart are Chase Briscoe, Brandon Jones and Ryan Truex.
10:05 am - Brief Break in the Action - The Truck Series teams have completed their one and only practice session of the day. They will spend the next four hours getting their vehicles through tech and ready for qualifying at 2:35 pm. Next on the track will be the Xfinity Series teams with a 45-minute practice session beginning at 12:35 pm.
10:00 am - Friesen Sets the Pace for Truck Practice - Stewart Friesen jumped to the top of the speed sheet with a 179.634 mph early in the session and he stayed there. Defending Series champion and current points leader Brett Moffitt posted a lap of 179.569 mph and Grant Enfinger rounded out the top-3 as the only other driver to break the 179 mph mark. Sheldon Creed and Matt Crafton rounded out the top five.
9:00 am - Truck Series Prac #1 Halfway - We are halfway through this practice session. We had a brief red flag for debris on the track but we're back to green. No one has been able to top Friesen's earlier lap, so he is still atop the speed sheet. In fact there was no change in the top three as Byron and Enfinger are still listed 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Sheldon Creed has joined the top-5 party as has Ross Chastain.
6th through 10th are: Crafton, Rhodes, Christian Eckes, Derek Kraus and Johnny Sauter.
8:35 am - Truck Series Prac #1 Update - We're about 30 minutes into this first practice session of the weekend and Stewart Friesen in the No. 52 Chevy is leading the way at 179.634 mph. 2nd through 5th right now are William Byron, Grant Enfinger, Matt Crafton, and Ben Rhodes.
7:45 am - Friday Hello - Good morning from Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where we are gearing up for full weekend of NASCAR Racing. We'll see all three series on track today.
The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series will kick off the action at 8:05 am with a single two-hour practice session. The Truck Series will cap off the day with the World of Westgate 200 scheduled for a 6 pm green flag start.
The rest of the schedule for today is as follows:
12:35 - 1:25 pm : NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) Practice #1
1:35 - 2:25 pm : Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) Practice #1
2:35 pm : NGOTS Qualifying
3:35 - 4:25 pm : NXS Final Practice
4:30 - 5:20 pm: MENCS Final Practice
If you can't join us live at the track keep it tuned here for updates throughout the day.
