Ryan Blaney finished fifth in the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday. Blaney’s top-five finish added 46 points to his season total.
Blaney started in 26th position and led one lap in the race. The eighth-year driver has piled up four career victories, with 39 top-five finishes and 77 results inside the top 10.
In his career at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Blaney has compiled four top-five finishes and his fifth-place result marks the seventh top-10.
The High Point, North Carolina native began the race 13 spots behind his career mark of 13.2, but finished 13 places ahead of his career average of 18.5.
Blaney’s fifth-place finish was against a field of 38 drivers. The race endured six cautions and 30 caution laps. There were 27 lead changes.
Kyle Larson brought home the win in the race, and Brad Keselowski finished second. Kyle Busch placed third, with Denny Hamlin bringing home fourth place. Blaney rounded out the top five.
After Keselowski won the first stage, Larson grabbed control and won Stage 2 before earning the checkered flag.
Martin Truex Jr. finished sixth in the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday. The top-10 finish for Truex added 35 points to his season total.
Truex started in fourth position and led six laps in the race. The 18th-year driver has collected 27 career victories, with 117 top-five finishes and 230 results inside the top 10.
Victory Lane at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is a familiar place for Truex, who has two career wins at the track. He has also compiled six top-five finishes at Las Vegas and his sixth-place result marks the 10th top-10.
The Mayetta, New Jersey native’s starting and finishing positions compared favorably to his career averages, starting 11 spots higher than his career mark of 15.4 and completing the race 11 places ahead of his 16.8 career average finish.
Truex’s sixth-place finish was against 38 other drivers. The race endured six cautions and 30 caution laps. Prior to the checkered flag there were 27 lead changes.
Kyle Larson earned the checkered flag in the race, and Brad Keselowski finished second. Kyle Busch placed third, Denny Hamlin secured fourth, and Ryan Blaney finished off the top five.
After Keselowski won the first stage, Larson took control and won Stage 2 before earning the checkered flag.
Cliff Daniels’ path to becoming a winning NASCAR Cup Series crew chief has been quite the journey, a trail that began as a promising race engineer for Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team. When Daniels took over, Johnson illustrated his new crew chief’s devotion to the team by saying that “he truly bleeds the 48.”
In a turnabout, that team is now the No. 5, and the suggestion that his circulatory system still courses with Ally purple may no longer apply. That team’s driver is now Kyle Larson, who brought the group back to Victory Lane for the first time since 2017 with his win Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“It’s been a hell of a journey for all of us,” Daniels told his crew over the team radio after Larson drove under the checkered flag. “Really proud of you guys. Great work. Long time coming.”
Daniels’ win came in his 55th start as a big-league crew chief, but even in that relatively brief time, he’s been through a gauntlet of changes. Suddenly thrust into calling the shots for Johnson midstream in the 2019 season, Daniels took over with the goal of revitalizing the playoff hopes of a seven-time series champion before his ride into semi-retirement.
No pressure, right? His midseason efforts two years ago weren’t quite enough to salvage an 11th-hour postseason spot, and the unusual 2020 campaign — when Johnson missed a race because of a COVID-19 diagnosis and was disqualified from the Coca-Cola 600 for a technical violation — also came up just short at the end of the regular season.
Through it all, Daniels remained largely unflappable as he led with his radio communications, but the feelings from those two seasons lingered, even as his pairing with Larson was about to connect.
“Kyle coming onboard has just been a nice spark for this team because it was tough to see Jimmie retire,” Daniels said after Sunday’s win. “We wanted to win with him so bad, and we had some great runs last year that just never materialized for one reason or another.
“So, yeah, I mean, it was tough on our team to learn those lessons and fight those battles and to have Jimmie go retire. A lot of us had won not just one race but a lot of races or even championships with Jimmie. To end without getting a win, to see him kind of move on was so bittersweet.”
Brian Lawdermilk | Getty Images
So while the backbone of the team remained intact for 2021, Daniels entered a new chapter with a new driver and a new car number this season. Any doubts about how quickly the pairing might click might be understood, especially with pre-race on-track time limited this year as COVID protocols continue. But just four races into the Cup Series season, Hendrick Motorsports has a modest two-race win streak rolling, with both victories produced by its newest driver-crew chief combinations.
William Byron and crew chief Rudy Fugle set the tone with their first win together the previous week at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Sunday, the time was primed for Larson and Daniels.
“Cliff has a really good team,” team owner Rick Hendrick said. “I didn’t really expect for it to come this quick because I just thought it would take more time to jell. But our cars are fast. He’s a champion really. I’m so lucky to have him. Cliff is just a great young man. To win in the fourth race, especially when you don’t have any practice, you just show up and race, it’s really been awesome. I think they’re going to have a lot of success together this year.”
Credit the extra levels of preparations by both driver and crew chief, a foundation that began in the offseason and continues today, for offsetting the lack of practice and qualifying at a majority of the races so far.
“You have to be right when you unload for the race,” Daniels says. “We knew it was going to take a lot of prep work to get here. We’ve done that every week. Kyle is in the shop three days a week just poring through notes with us, looking at video, looking at data. Our guys have done a nice job to help get him prepared, and likewise he’s done a nice job of just giving us sensations he needs to feel, things he’s felt in the past and how he would like the car to respond in certain situations.”
Daniels had his own response down the stretch at Las Vegas, drawing on lessons from longtime team leader Chad Knaus, who has hung up his crew-chief headset to take the helm as vice president of competition at HMS this year.
Daniels says he learned long ago to always think ahead as the race progressed. To that end, he said he had two contingency plans in place in the event that a caution period interrupted the final stage and forced his hand with pit strategy. When the race went the final 83 laps under green-flag conditions, those alternate plans weren’t needed.
Even when Larson initially missed his pit entry ahead of his final stop, he was met with steady reassurance over the team radio. The pit-stop exchange cycled the revived No. 5 back to the lead and its 28-year-old driver did the rest.
“Kyle is so good and so confident in himself that he doesn’t need a lot of cheerleading,” Daniels says. “We’re just trying to make sure we have all the pieces around him set up the right way so he can go get the job done. He was on it today.”
Kyle Larson powered to his first victory of the NASCAR Cup Series season Sunday, pulling away during the final green-flag stretch at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Larson became the fourth different winner in four Cup Series races this season, leading a race-high 103 of the 267 laps in the Pennzoil 400. The driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet netted his first win at the 1.5-mile Nevada track and the seventh of his Cup Series career.
Brad Keselowski placed second with his No. 2 Team Penske Ford scored 3.156 seconds behind at the checkered flag. Las Vegas native Kyle Busch came home third with points leader Denny Hamlin fourth and Ryan Blaney closing up the top five.
Keselowski and Larson divided the stage wins, with Larson securing his first stage victory since September 2019 at the second break. Larson recovered after missing his pit entry 44 laps from the finish and wound up leading 50 of the last 62 laps.
“That was some fun racing on the restarts, so I hope everybody enjoyed it. I know I did,” Larson said. “I had fun racing Brad and Denny and everybody and tried to give it away there coming to a green-flag stop, but thankfully we were able to have a good enough car to hold them all off.”
The triumph — his first with team owner Rick Hendrick — also broke a dry spell dating back to his most recent win, October 2019 at Dover International Speedway. Larson competed in just four races last season before his suspension by NASCAR and firing by Chip Ganassi Racing for use of a racial slur during an iRacing event. He signed with Hendrick Motorsports last October and was officially reinstated effective Jan. 1.
The victory was the first in the Cup Series for crew chief Cliff Daniels, who made his 55th appearance atop the pit box. It also marked the first victory for car No. 5 since Kasey Kahne’s last Cup Series win, which came at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July 2017.
Keselowski led 27 laps as he registered his best finish of the season. Post-race, he ran across the infield grass to shake Larson’s hand and congratulate him.
“He was really fast – had a lot of speed in all the lanes which was really impressive, usually you have to make a compromise, but they were really good,” Keselowski said. “If Kyle Larson wasn’t here, we would have had a dominant day.”
It was a highly competitive race from green to checkered flag with 27 lead changes among 12 different drivers. Five drivers led at least 20 laps.
Kevin Harvick started from the Busch Pole, but lost the lead in Lap 1 and dropped further back after a fender rub and a flat tire near the Stage 1 midpoint. He battled the handling of his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford and finished 20th, one lap down.
Defending series champion Chase Elliott led three times for 22 laps, but his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet sustained damage in a spin exiting Turn 2 with 99 laps remaining. Elliott recovered to place 13th.
The NASCAR Cup Series’ next race is the Instacart 500, scheduled Sunday, March 14 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM) at Phoenix Raceway.
Note: Post-race inspection in the Cup Series garage was clear, with no major issues reported. The No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford of Cole Custer was found with two unsecured lug nuts, which will likely result in a one-race suspension for crew chief Mike Shiplett. In addition, the Nos. 4, 17, 18, 19, 21 all had one lug nut not safe and secure.
Kyle Busch has had plenty of his better moments in his hometown thanks to six NASCAR wins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but if he gets to Victory Lane in Sunday’s Cup Series race, it will be with another Las Vegas native featured on his car. That’s because Ethel M Chocolates, the craft chocolate division of Mars Wrigley that is based in Nevada, is celebrating its 40-year anniversary with a primary paint scheme featured on Busch’s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Ethel M Chocolates is teaming up with Busch, the two-time Cup champion, in a campaign to create better moments and smiles. If Busch does get his first Cup win at his hometown track since 2009, then it would fit right in with the uplifting theme. The weekend already provided some big smiles when Kyle Busch Motorsports finished 1-2 in Friday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race. John Hunter Nemechek took home top honors, with owner/driver Busch coming in second place.
What might also put a smile on your face is Busch happens to have a personal connection to Ethel M Chocolates. When he was growing up in the area, he was a frequent visitor to its flagship store, factory and three-acre Cactus Garden in Henderson, Nevada, and his car was on display there Saturday before the Cup race in a socially distanced environment.
“When I was a kid, my grandma used to bring me out to the Ethel M Factory and Cactus Garden, and it was one of my favorite places to visit in Vegas,” Busch said. “Even during a difficult time, we’re glad to bring a better moment to fans by giving them a chance to connect with the new car in a safe way.”
These have been difficult times due in large part to the COVID-19 pandemic and, in addition to sponsoring the paint scheme, Ethel M Chocolates is donating 40,000 meals to Three Square Food Bank in Las Vegas, using its involvement in the race weekend to help those in the Las Vegas community who are most in need.
“We’re so excited to honor the Ethel M legacy by kicking off 40th-anniversary celebrations in our own backyard alongside fellow Las Vegas legend, Kyle Busch, during this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race,” said William Clements, vice president of Mars Wrigley sponsorships. “More importantly, we’re honored to be able to give back to those who need it most through a donation to the Three Square Food Bank, who do fantastic work across our community.”
Said Three Square Food Bank president and CEO Brian Burton: “In true Ethel M style, they are marking their 40th anniversary by giving an amazing gift to Southern Nevada — the gift of food!. As one in five individuals in our community are now struggling with hunger, we rely on gracious and ‘sweet’ partners like Ethel M to help us realize our vision that no one in our community should be hungry.”
Besides the flagship store, Ethel M Chocolates also has an establishment at Town Square, just south of the Las Vegas Strip and Las Vegas’ McCarran Airport, among its other store offerings. Therefore, race fans in the Las Vegas area should never be too far from their favorite chocolates.
However, if you aren’t in the Las Vegas area, you can purchase these unique Las Vegas made chocolates, such as Bourbon Liqueurs, Pecan Brittle and KONA Espresso Truffles, at ethelm.com and then tune in to FOX on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET for the race and enjoy watching Busch battle the top NASCAR competitors in his sweet ride. In 19 Cup Series races at Las Vegas, Busch has compiled 10 top-10 finishes with seven top fives.
Monday, March 8 Midnight, NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube (re-air), FS1
3 a.m., NASCAR Race Classic: The 1987 Winston 500 (re-air), FS1
3:30 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub Best of Radioactive: Las Vegas (re-air), FS1
4:30 a.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (re-air), FS1
10:30 a.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: Bucked Up 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (re-air), FS2
12:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: Alsco Uniforms 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (re-air), FS2
2:30 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (re-air), FS2
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
7 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive — Phoenix, FS1
Wednesday, March 10 2 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive — Las Vegas (re-air), FS2
3 a.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (re-air), FS2
6 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive — Phoenix (re-air), FS2
Thursday, March 11 5 p.m., Dale Jr. Download: Jerry Punch (re-air), NBCSCN
6 p.m., Dale Jr. Download, NBCSN
Friday, March 12 7:30 p.m., ARCA Menards Series: General Tire 150 at Phoenix Raceway, TrackPass/MAVTV On MRN: 7:30 p.m., ARCA Menards Series: General Tire 150 at Phoenix Raceway
Saturday, March 13 5 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay: Xfinity Series at Phoenix Raceway, FS1
5:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: Call 811 Before You Dig 200 at Phoenix Raceway, FS1 (Canada: TSN 2)
8 p.m., Blink of an Eye, FS1
On MRN: 5 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: Call 811 Before You Dig 200 at Phoenix Raceway
Sunday, March 14 12:30 a.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: Call 811 Before You Dig 200 at Phoenix Raceway (re-air), FS2 3:30 a.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series: Call 811 Before You Dig 200 at Phoenix Raceway (re-air), FS1
9 a.m., Blink of an Eye (re-air), FS1
Noon, NASCAR Xfinity Series: Call 811 Before You Dig 200 at Phoenix Raceway (re-air), FS1
2 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay: Cup Series at Phoenix Raceway, FS1
3 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay: Cup Series at Phoenix Raceway, FOX
3:30 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Instacart 500 at Phoenix Raceway, FOX (Canada: TSN 5)
10 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Instacart 500 at Phoenix Raceway (re-air), FS1
On MRN: 2:30 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series: Instacart 500 at Phoenix Raceway
AJ Allmendinger took the lead and held off the field on a final race restart with 12 laps remaining to earn his fourth NASCAR Xfinity Series win in the last 16 races – taking the victory in the Alsco Uniforms 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in his first race at the track in three years.
Allmendinger’s No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet had to hold off the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driven by Daniel Hemric, who led a race-best 74 of the 200 laps and came 0.978 seconds away from his first career victory.
It was an emotional win for the veteran Allmendinger, who climbed out of his car at the finish line and leaned against it, eyes closed for a moment before doing his live television interview.
This is the 39-year-old Californian’s first full-time season racing in NASCAR since 2018, when he competed in the NASCAR Cup Series ranks. He earned three wins driving part-time for Kaulig Racing the last two seasons.
“First of all, it’s awesome to have you all back in the grandstands,” a smiling Allmendinger said, motioning toward the cheering but socially distanced and limited-size crowd.
“It’s emotional because you don’t know when you’re going to do this again,” Allmendinger continued. “You never know. This could be the last one (win), you never know, I hope it’s not. I think we can do a lot more.”
“Even though I’m back full-time,” he added, “this is fun, but I want to win so bad for [team owner] Matt [Kaulig] every week. It’s hard to put into words what he means to me. Truly how bad I want to win for him … it means that much to me that he believes in me.”
For Hemric, who now has 11 career runner-up showings in NASCAR’s three national series, it was a tough final outcome considering the strong showing up front for his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota all race long. He led eight different times and won Stage 2. Tonight was Hemric’s eighth runner-up finish in his NASCAR Xfinity Series career. NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett holds the Xfinity Series record for the most runner-up finishes before his first victory with 10 second-place finishes.
“You hate to have one get away like that, but we came here and wanted to try to have more speed to lead laps and win stages and we did that today,” Hemric said. “We lined up with a shot there and just got beat. Congratulations to AJ. We just got beat.”
Hemric’s teammate Brandon Jones finished third followed by 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Austin Cindric, who led 43 laps and won Stage 1.
Cindric had a tire go down on his No. 22 Team Penske Ford just 55 laps into the race. A crash involving Ty Dillon and Riley Herbst one lap later prompted the race’s third yellow flag, allowing Cindric to regain his lost lap as the caution period’s beneficiary, though the misfortune dropped him to 36th in the 40-car field before his mid-race comeback.
With his inspired rally, he finished 10th in the second stage and broke into the top five by Lap 117. He made contact with Harrison Burton in the closing laps and his fourth-place showing is his fourth top five in as many races.
Las Vegas native Noah Gragson finished fifth – his best showing of the season. Michael Annett, Josh Berry, Justin Haley, Harrison Burton and Jeb Burton rounded out the top 10. The performances by Haley and Jeb Burton gave Kaulig Racing a top-10 sweep.
Cindric holds a 21-point lead over Hemric in the series driver standings entering next Saturday’s Call 811 Before You Dig 200 at Phoenix Raceway (5:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Note: Post-race inspection in the Xfinity Series garage was clear, with no major issues reported. The race-winning No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevy of Allmendinger was found with one unsecured lug nut in a post-race check.
NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas (⏰ 3:30 p.m. ET | 📺 FOX | 📻 PRN, SiriusXM)
Everything you need to know for Sunday’s race, the fourth points-paying NASCAR Cup Series event of the 2021 season.
Where: Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a 1.5-mile layout located in Las Vegas Green flag: 3:49 p.m. ET TV/Radio: FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Forecast: Partly sunny with a high near 78, according to NOAA.gov National anthem: Jessie James Decker Grand marshal: Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr Race Distance: 267 laps, 400.5 miles Stages: 80 | 160 | 267 Pit-road speed: 45 mph Caution car speed: 55 mph
Starting lineup: Kevin Harvick on Busch Pole
Pit stall assignments: See where cars line up | Why Rodney Childers didn’t pick first stallJonathan Ferrey | Getty Images
Five to watch
Here are five big story lines we’ll be following.
1. Does this weekend mark the start of Martin Truex Jr.‘s impending 2021 dominance? It just might. The 6-1 favorite to win Sunday, Truex is the only multi-time Cup Series winner for Toyota at Las Vegas. Intermediate tracks have been the 2017 champ’s meat and potatoes for the past half decade, and it’s possible — if not likely — he flexes on the field this weekend for his second victory with second-year crew chief James Small. Both of his Vegas wins have come since the start of 2017. “I feel good about our team and where we’re at,” Truex said. “We had a really strong run in Miami last weekend and led some laps. We’re really close.”
2. Chris Buescher muscled his way to the front of the field at Homestead-Miami Speedway, spending 57 circuits leading the pack and looking like a boss while doing it. He eventually faded as the race wore on, but teammate Ryan Newman landed a seventh-place finish — his best non-superspeedway finish since the 2019 finale. It’s clear Roush Fenway Racing had speed at Miami, the only question is if it’ll carry on to the rest of the season, starting with similarly configured Vegas. I lean toward yes, but time will tell.
3. Chase Briscoe‘s rookie season has very much not gone according to plan thus far, with a best finish of 18th through three races and a points position of 25th. Last year’s Xfinity Series stalwart came into 2021 with high expectations, which have not been met thus far. It’s early, however, and this weekend could be just what the super-talented Briscoe needs — two of his series-best nine wins in 2020 came at the Nevada track.
4. You could pretty much say all of the same things about Briscoe’s veteran Ford stablemate in Matt DiBenedetto, as the veteran’s season has been a nightmare so far, but Sunday should offer some respite. Matty D notched a pair or runner-up finishes at Las Vegas last year, which has to be helping to keep his head up rolling into the weekend. Through three races so far, the playoff hopeful DiBenedetto has accumulated just 14 total points and an average finish of 32.7.
5. Kurt Busch is the most recent winner at the track, having finally captured the checkered flag at his home digs last fall. In no way would we rule out the former champion this weekend — especially given how strong he has looked through three races thus far — but that win certainly stands as an anomaly on his racing resume. His previous 10 Vegas races netted just two top 10s and eight finishes of 21st or worse.
Race-day staples
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Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles.
•Power Rankings: Michael McDowell rides season-opening hot streak into top 10 | See the ranks •Paint Scheme Preview: 2021 Las Vegas tripleheader spring weekend | See the schemes •Fantasy Fastlane: See which drivers to use, avoid | Full Fantasy advice |Set your roster •Preview Show: Jonathan Merryman and Alex Weaver preview the race | Watch the show
Get in on the action
Think you know NASCAR? Put your mettle to the test with gaming, fantasy.
• Betting odds for today’s race | See the odds • For bettors, Las Vegas is no longer special — and that is fantastic for NASCAR fans | Full betting preview • Take a shot at winning cash prizes with the free-to-play Jackpot Races app. | Hit the jackpot • Full guide to 2021 NASCAR Fantasy Live game | Get the FAQ • Analysis: Starting position can pay off big at Vegas | See the stats
Track history
NDM
Every track has a story to tell. Here’s what we’ve seen go down at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the past.
• Memorable moments at Las Vegas | See the moments • All-time track winners | See the list • Top 10 lap leaders at Las Vegas Motor Speedway | See the list • Throwback: Kyle Busch, Joey Logano tangle on Vegas pit road in 2017 | Watch the video • Relive Jeff Gordon’s 2001 UAW-Daimler Chrysler 400 win | Watch the race
Fast facts
Hard-hitting, race-relevant statistics, brought to you by the experts at Racing Insights.
• Team Penske driver Brad Keselowski is a three-time Las Vegas winner with a top-10 finish in 10 of the last 11 races at the track. • Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson is a nine-time runner-up on 1.5-mile tracks, two of which came at Las Vegas. • Roush Fenway Racing’s Ryan Newman finished seventh last week at Miami, his first top 1o on a 1.5-mile track in more than a year. •Bubba Wallace of 23XI Racing finished sixth at Las Vegas last spring in his best-ever finish on a 1.5-mile track. • Joe Gibbs Racing driver and Las Vegas native Kyle Busch has just one win at his home track in the Cup Series but a total of six spread across all three national series.
Catch the pack
Read up on all the headlines from the week leading up to Sunday’s race.
• Backseat Drivers: Do top teams have to worry after early chaos? | Hear the debate • NASCAR reveals procedures, details for inaugural Bristol Motor Speedway dirt-track weekend | Read more • Drivers offer impressions of Circuit of The Americas at Goodyear tire test | Read more • Penalty report: 10 teams fined for lug-nut violations at Homestead-Miami Speedway | Read more
Say what
Notable quotes from the stars of the sport heading into Sunday’s race.
“I think momentum is a big part of our sport. Momentum and confidence is hard to fabricate. You can’t just make it up. You either have it or you don’t and you only have it with results and performance, so I do think that. I do think that we have more confidence and, like I said, it affects every area from the shop to the pit stops to myself..” — Michael McDowell
Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
“I was surprised. I thought there would be cobwebs and rust. But maybe because I raced so much last year in Sprint cars and open-wheel cars and dabbled in some Late Model stuff, I felt as fresh as ever in a race car. Your body just gets into a rhythm of even buckling in the car each week. When I got in the car and put my head and neck restraint on and buckling up and all that, everything just felt normal. It didn’t feel like I had been out of the car in long time.” — Kyle Larson
“We can be more aggressive now. At the same time, we know what it takes to win and be successful, so we don’t have to do anything much different, either. We can be a little more aggressive with the calls on pit road and the strategy calls to get track position and hold it. I feel like at Las Vegas we can be strong. We just need to go there and execute similarly to how we did last weekend in Homestead.” — William Byron
John Hunter Nemechek earned his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win in four years, holding off his boss Kyle Busch by 0.695-seconds for the victory in Friday night’s Bucked Up 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
It was a 1-2 finish for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Nemechek, 23, of Mooresville, North Carolina, led a race-best 94 laps in the No. 4 Toyota – the pair combined to lead a dominating 110 of the 134 total laps with each taking a Stage victory.
And while Nemechek held the point for most of the race, it was a typically thrilling Las Vegas show turned in by the Vegas native Busch, who has won the last three spring races at the track.
Busch started 29th and raced his way inside the top 10 by the 10th lap. A blown tire on his No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota put him down a lap with about 50 laps remaining and again, he turned in a dazzling performance – restarting 25th with 31 laps to go and breaking into the top 10 just 10 laps later.
The two Kyle Busch Motorsports drivers were lined up first and second on the race’s final restart with six laps to go, but Nemechek was able to pull ahead and pull away to his first series victory driving for the series all-time winningest driver Busch.
“Coming back to the Truck Series, that was the plan, that was the goal, we came into the year with the hashtag ‘here for wins’ and we are here for wins,” said Nemechek who has seven career series wins. “I definitely think experience paid off tonight.”
Disappointed not to win, Busch was still encouraged for his team after the race.
“It’s perfect, it’s all you can ask for, it’s everything,” the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Busch said of his team after the race. “It’s cool to see the four-truck in Victory Lane and see John Hunter have a shot and get back in Victory Lane.
“Having Eric Phillips back and all the guys that have come on board this year doing all the stuff that we’re accustomed to doing and getting back to running up front, seeing both of us sharing in that and having that speed, that four-truck was fast.
“Even on those short runs I couldn’t run with him. After about eight or 10 (laps) I had a better shot at running with him but we just didn’t have the laps there at the end.”
Austin Hill, a two-time Las Vegas winner, finished third followed by Stewart Friesen and Matt Crafton. Zane Smith, Grant Enfinger, Parker Kligerman, Christian Eckes and Ben Rhodes – a two-time winner already this season – rounded out the top 10.
Enfinger and Kligerman both collected an extra $25,000 bonus check from series sponsor Camping World for their top-10 efforts. The series sponsor offered an incentive program this week with an extra payday available for the 10 trucks that carried the Camping World name on it, as Enfinger and Kligerman did. There was a bonus for winning, finishing among the top five and finishing among the top 10.
With the win, Nemechek takes a 14-point advantage atop the championship standings over the season’s two-time winner Rhodes. The series next race is the Fr8Auctions 200 on March 20 at Atlanta Motor Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR).
The biggest incident of the race occurred on Lap 96. A seven-car pileup at the entrance of Turn 1 after the No. 24 Chevrolet of Raphael Lessard came across the nose of David Gilliland’s No. 17 Toyota, sending both drivers for a spin. The crash also collected Hailie Deegan, Sheldon Creed, Austin Wayne Self, Bret Holmes and Ryan Truex. Holmes and Truex were forced to retire from the race.
Notes: The No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota of race winner John Hunter Nemechek passed post-race technical inspection at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which means his victory is official. The No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota of Stewart Friesen had one lug nut not safe and secure. NASCAR officials will take the No. 4 of Nemechek, the No. 21 GMS Racing Chevrolet of Zane Smith and the No. 15 David Gilliland Racing Ford back to the R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina for a full teardown and inspection.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. took his father’s newly restored Chevrolet Nova racer out for a spin Friday as the black and silver No. 8 rumbled back to life. The sound should be sweet music when the car takes a more public drive in two months, right back at home at Darlington Raceway.
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Earnhardt indicated Friday that the vintage car is set to be part of NASCAR Throwback Weekend on May 7-9 at the South Carolina track, leading the pace laps for the May 8 race for the Xfinity Series. Dale Earnhardt Sr. was a three-time Darlington winner in the series, and twice drove a GM Goodwrench-sponsored No. 8 to Victory Lane there.
The No. 8 Nova has undergone a painstakingly thorough restoration at the JR Motorsports fabrication shop, a process that Earnhardt Jr. has documented in great detail on social media. He indicated that the car was once bodied as a Pontiac Ventura, and confirmed its authenticity through the use of archival photos.
Earnhardt Jr. won 24 times in his Xfinity Series career and was the tour’s champion in consecutive years (1998-99). His father is credited with 21 victories on that circuit since its rise to a national series in 1982.
The car’s planned Darlington appearance won’t be the first time a NASCAR Hall of Famer has presided over the pace laps in a historic car. Richard Petty was a memorable part of the 2017 Throwback Weekend, when he was black-flagged for taking one pace lap too many in his No. 43 Plymouth Belvedere.
