Fill-in-the-blank: Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas

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I’ll tell you what—Martin Truex Jr. sure is luckya talented driverunfortunate his win was overshadowedthe driver of the No. 78 car . It seems like so many times, he basically has the race wonleads the most laps in a racedoesn’t answer my textschanges his facial hair , only to fall short of the windisappoint meactually win the race sometimesrun into bad luckchange his facial hair again .

As a Martin Truex Jr. fanBrad Keselowski fanToyota fanFord fanperson who forgot to change the clocks an hour aheadfan with no vested stake in the race-deciding pass , Las Vegas was different, and I couldn’t be more excitedfuriousconfusedshockeddisappointed in myself . Truex won Stage 1, then Stage 2, and then looked poised to cap it off by bringing home the win, like usualrunning into bad luck, like usuallosing the race because a giant meteor fell to the earth .

Of course, a win couldn’t possibly come that easily. In the closing laps, Danica Patrick’s engine expiredRicky Stenhouse’s axle brokethe racing gods saw Truex was in position for a victory , so naturally, the caution came out and bunched the field up for a late-racethrillingTruex-robbinggosh-darned, heckin’ restart. The race, now turned on its head, looked like a surefire triumph for Brad Keselowski, who won last week’s race at Atlantawanted to continue Ford’s 2017 winning streakwanted to end his zero-race winless streakis a NASCAR driver, just like Martin Truex Jr.sort of looks like country singer Porter Wagoner when you think about it .

In a turn of events, however, the No. 2 car self-destructedgambled and lostdidn’t want to hear the “2 wins for the 2 car” jokes all weekfelt bad Truex wasn’t going to win and broke itself with two laps to go, handing the win to Truex. I couldn’t believe that Martin Truex Jr. actually wonBrad Keselowski still hung on for a fifth-place finishsomebody completed "the cycle" and won every stage of the raceJoey Logano got into Kyle Busch on the last lapKyle Larson finished secondClint Bowyer actually finished in the top 10 —it seems like such an unexpected thing to happen! The whole sequence made me feel flabbergastedlike I made a mistake in my fantasy racing picks this weekopinionatedlike putting all my money on ‘2’ in roulettebad for Brad Keselowskilike starting a fightlike bragging to all my friends who are Keselowski fans .

What shocked me most about the race at Las Vegas was when I saw Kyle Larson finished in second place againKevin Harvick blew a tire and exited the race earlytwo drivers had differing opinions following the race’s conclusion . I didn’t see that one coming!

Anyway, Las Vegas is in the history books, and it’s time to look forward to Phoenix, where Brad Keselowski will surely redeem himselfKevin Harvick will surely redeem himselfMartin Truex Jr. will repeat unless a tumbleweed gets stuck in his air intake or somethingKyle Larson will probably finish second againsomebody will surely crash while trying to cut the backstretch doglegI’ll remember to change my clocks an hour forward in time for the racethere are only desert puns, not gambling punsI can continue to shape this cactus in Kevin Harvick’s likenessmy Monster Energy doesn’t stay cold very long because it’s like 200 degreesI’ll miss Carl Edwards .