NASCAR ratings revealed for South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway drew 2.3 million viewers on NBC, per Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal.

The NASCAR Cup Series Round of 8 opener toppled the viewership of the Formula 1 race at COTA, which had 1.3 million viewers on ABC. Both dealt with some serious competition, mainly the Week 7 NFL slate.

Those who tuned into NBC were treated to a race which was dominated by Christopher Bell, however, won by Joey Logano. The two-time Cup Series champion continued his even year magic, clinching a spot in the Championship 4 at Phoenix for the sixth time in his career.

Logano did not have the best car at Las Vegas. That belonged to Bell, who led 155-of-267 laps. But Logano had the winning strategy in the third and final stage, saving enough fuel to outlast his playoff competitor.

Joey Logano clinches spot in Championship 4 at Phoenix

Not too shabby for a driver who nine days ago, saw his championship hopes come to an end before NASCAR disqualified Alex Bowman at the Charlotte Roval for failing post-race inspection, giving Logano the final transfer spot into the Round of 8.

“Oh my gosh,” Logano said after the race. “It’s an incredible turn of events coming from what was at the end of last weekend and what it was like Sunday night after a couple hours after the race and to this Sunday. This sport is just incredible. Things change, but what a team I’ve got. I stood out there at the start-finish line and it takes a total effort. Obviously, the car had to be pretty good. It was solid, but when you think about what it takes to win a fuel mileage race, you’ve got to have a good engine.

“You’ve got to have good engineers calculating stuff. You’ve got to have good communication communicating what they see and being able to make sure that I only gave up the right amount of spots on the racetrack and trying to get to the 99 in front and keep the 20 behind. Coleman, Paul, Joe, Nick Hensley, our gas man making sure it’s full. It takes everybody to do it, so we’re in the Championship 4 again. I’m so proud of this team. We just find a way and that’s what I’m most proud of. I said it as we entered this thing this week that we may be the underdogs, but I don’t think so anymore.”