Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

LAS VEGAS — Kyle Busch earned his 57th career NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series win in Friday night’s Strat 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Per usual, the Victory Lane trip for “Rowdy” in the Gander Truck Series’ 600th race came with virtual boos from fans on social media, even NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson chimed in with an emoji that indicated Busch is “cherry-picking” the competition.

Despite the backlash, Busch had an unlikely competitor come to the rescue and defend his truck efforts – fellow NASCAR Cup Series driver and former rival Kevin Harvick.

Then Harvick put his money where his mouth is – literally – offering up a $50,000 bounty for any full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver who can find a truck ride and beat Busch in one of his next four events.

The ante was raised when Gander RV & Outdoors CEO Marcus Lemonis committed to matching Harvick’s bounty, putting a full total of $100,000 on the table. Busch didn’t hold back with his thoughts on it in the media center on Saturday morning.

“Well, there just better be an asterisk on it because if somebody crashes me, it doesn’t count,” Busch said. “Put money on a bounty on somebody and then bad things tend to happen. I don’t know. Make it whatever y’all want. It don’t matter to me.

“I’ve got great stuff, I’m a good driver. Bring it.”

Fellow drivers Austin Dillon, Corey LaJoie, Brendan Gaughan, Landon Cassill and Timmy Hill all replied with interest to put up a fight.

Friday night’s race is one of only five races Busch is allowed to compete in during the 2020 Gander Truck Series season; others on his schedule include Atlanta Motor Speedway (March 14), Homestead-Miami Speedway (March 20), Texas Motor Speedway (March 27) and Kansas Speedway (May 30).

Posted on by Staff Report

The No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Chase Elliott failed pre-qualifying inspection twice at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday.

As a result, car chief Matt Barndt has been ejected for the weekend. Elliott will also lose 15 minutes of practice time next weekend at Auto Club Speedway.

RELATED: Rain impacts Saturday on-track Las Vegas schedule

The No. 9 car passed inspection on its third try, meaning Elliott avoided having to start from the rear in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX/FOX Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The NASCAR Cup Series is scheduled to qualify Saturday at 2:35 p.m. ET (FS1/FOX Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Elliott finished 17th in last week’s season-opening Daytona 500.

LAS VEGAS: Full schedule | At-track gallery | NASCAR on TV

Also, the No. 51 Petty Ware Racing Chevrolet of Garrett Smithley failed Saturday’s pre-qualifying inspection three times and will drop to the rear to start Sunday’s race. A crew member will be ejected, too. The entry will then be docked a total of 30 minutes next weekend at Auto Club.

Posted on by Staff Report

LAS VEGAS – A persistent drizzle at Las Vegas Motor Speedway forced cancellation of Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session for Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The qualifying session for the Xfinity Series was also canceled, and rain interrupted the Boyd Gaming 300 Xfinity Series race, delaying the start and forcing a red-flag hold with 50 of a scheduled 200 laps complete.

As a result, the starting field has been set by the rule book, with the cars set to line up according to final 2019 owner points. That puts Kyle Busch on the pole, with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. on the outside of the front row.

MORE: Full Las Vegas lineup | Photos of each car

Because of inspection issues, however, Busch will drop to the rear for the start of the race. Racing to the front could be a huge issue for the reigning series champion, given handling issues that plagued the No. 18 Toyota during Friday’s practice sessions.

Joining Busch at the rear of the field will be teammate and Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, as well as Christopher Bell of Leavine Family Racing. The Toyotas of those three drivers failed pre-qualifying inspection for attempting to manipulate the noses of the cars, which did not fit specifications.

MORE: Three Toyotas to start from rear

NASCAR levied L1 penalties on the three teams, resulting in the loss of 10 owner and driver points for each.

The Camrys of Busch, Hamlin and Bell, along with those of JGR teammates Truex and Erik Jones, were docked practice time Friday for attempting to change the shape of the front fenders with bondo.

Truex’s car failed inspection once Saturday because of what the driver termed an issue with the “toe” (tire angle) but passed on the second attempt. Truex will retain his second-place starting spot Sunday.

LAS VEGAS: Full schedule | At-track gallery | NASCAR on TV

Kevin Harvick will inherit the pole position when Busch drops to the rear. Hamlin would have started fourth but for his infraction. Bell was slated to start 22nd.

The No. 9 Chevrolet of Chase Elliott failed pre-qualifying inspection twice, leading to the ejection from the track of car chief Matt Barndt. Elliott will retain his 10th-place starting spot but lose 15 minutes of practice time next weekend at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.

Busch said his team would try to incorporate aspects of Truex’s setup into the No. 18 car to try to improve the handling after the frustrating practice Friday.

“We rolled out there first in final practice, and I was wide open for 15, 16 straight laps,” Busch said. “Kevin Harvick started probably a half straightaway behind me, and he ran me down, and he ran the fastest lap average in those laps he was running me down. My laps were only 15th on average, and he was first, but then he couldn’t pass me – he couldn’t do anything to pass me.

“I don’t know what that says for the race and what’s going to happen in the race. We were definitely not as fast as we wanted to be, and the car was not driving near what it needed to. When we got back in traffic, it was a real handful. We’re going to have our work cut out for us.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

LAS VEGAS — It’s easy to spot a trend where Kyle Busch is concerned.

Put Busch in one of his own Kyle Busch Motorsports trucks, and he’s all but certain to win. That’s been the case for seven straight starts in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series, counting Friday night’s victory in the Strat 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his home track.

LAS VEGAS: Official results | At-track gallery

Busch led seven times for 108 of the 134 laps in the 200-mile race. About the only difficulty he had was clearing Sheldon Creed on consecutive restarts in the final stage of the race. But five laps into a run, Busch was gone.

Busch started his seven-race streak in 2018 at Pocono. He won all five of his Gander Trucks starts last year and started 2020 with the hometown victory.

After the last restart on Lap 96, Busch pulled out to a lead of more than 7.8 seconds over polesitter and race runner-up Johnny Sauter. His winning margin over Sauter was 5.958 seconds. The victory was Busch’s 57th, extending his own record in the series, and his second straight at LVMS.

RELATED: Derek Kraus spins | Christian Eckes tags wall | Late-race double wreck 

“I don’t know why but we just couldn’t fire off on the restarts,” Busch said. “We just didn’t have any speed. Once we got about 10 laps in, we started to check away from everybody. This Tundra was awesome — it really had great long-run speed.

“It was the first win for (crew chief) Danny Stockman at KBM, and it’s cool to have him on board. My guys worked their butts off. We unloaded and we really weren’t that close. We worked on it a lot with this new tire, and we got it a lot better.

“We kind of showed that with the (last) long run.”

Creed challenged Busch after the final restart, running side-by-side with the race winner and leading Laps 96 and 97, But Creed got loose under Busch’s No. 51 Toyota on Lap 98, surrendered the top spot and fell to 10th at the finish.

Sauter passed eventual eighth-place finisher Tanner Gray for second on Lap 101, and Austin Hill followed into third a lap later. Reigning series champion Matt Crafton came home fourth, with his ThorSport Racing teammate Ben Rhodes securing the fifth spot.

“We were way too loose at the start there,” Sauter said of his initial run from the pole. Adjustments during the first two pit stops helped matters, but not enough to gain equal footing with Busch.

Last week’s Daytona winner, Grant Enfinger, fell out early after Raphael Lessard’s Toyota broke loose in the bottom lane and carried both trucks into the outside wall. Lessard and Enfinger finished 30th and 31st, respectively.

Zane Smith, Todd Gilliland, Gray, Stewart Friesen and Creed completed the top 10.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

Team Penske driver Joey Logano noted significant differences in the driver compartments of NASCAR’s Next Gen car — scheduled to be on track in 2021 — compared with the current Gen-6 edition.

Logano tested the Next Gen car at Phoenix and found immediately that he sat lower in the car than in the current version, and that suited the 6-foot-1, 180-pound 2018 NASCAR Cup Series champion just fine.

RELATED: Logano runs laps at Next Gen at Phoenix | Scenes from Miami Next Gen test

“It’s no secret,” Logano said on Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, site of Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). “There’s zero advantage of being tall as a race car driver. From the weight aspect or even the safety aspect, you’re higher in the car, your legs are cramped up more. Obviously, you need all the space that’s in the cockpit. 

“One of the things when I was in the meetings about the Next Gen car that I brought up is that we need to make sure we have enough room in the cockpit for a taller driver. Obviously, it’s important to me, and when I drove that thing at Phoenix, just initially sitting in it, I sit quite a bit lower in that car. I have more headroom to the roll cage, which is really important.  Obviously, we see from last week (Ryan Newman’s accident) why it’s important to have some room up there. I was able to see plenty fine.”

Given his height, Logano thinks it may be a bonus to sit lower in the car.

“That may be the advantage is that I can see a little bit more being taller, but if you’re shorter, you just raise the seat up and you can see as well. Visually, no issues. I think we’re sitting a little bit more toward the center of the car, which is a good thing, and then also being lower, your head is being lowered to what the roll cage is — it’s also a huge positive, so those are all good things.”

Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

As the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series celebrates its 600th race with Friday night’s Strat 200 (9 p.m. ET on FS1/FOX Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), there has been only one individual who has worked every single one of them.

Chris Showalter, truck chief on the No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota Tundra, has been wrenching on trucks since the series’ inaugural race on Feb. 5, 1995 at Phoenix Raceway.

“It’s hard to believe it’s already been 26 years,” Showalter told NASCAR.com Friday afternoon in the Gander Trucks garage. “There’s been days where I’ve thought that I’ve had enough, but then the family atmosphere that we have here, especially truck racing, is what has brought me back all the time.”

LAS VEGAS: Full schedule | At-track photos | NASCAR on TV

Showalter’s focus was more on tires in the first two years of his Truck Series career, starting off his career with the Ohio-based Liberty Racing and driver Butch Miller in 1995. Showalter quickly moved up the ranks to serve as a truck chief, moving to ThorSport Racing for a year before making the move to North Carolina to work for Joe Gibbs Racing and drivers J.D. and Coy Gibbs.

Showalter was also the truck chief for Travis Kvapil’s 2003 championship-winning season.

Although some might get annoyed with Kyle Busch’s winning ways, it has been the opposite for Showalter and at the top of his list of best moments throughout his storied career. Busch is the driver of the No. 51 truck this weekend.

“Winning with Kyle is fun,” Showalter said. “Yeah it’s Kyle … we all know how demanding he is, that little bit of extra pressure that you have … you know he’s going to do it, so you don’t mess up.”

The talent Showalter has been able to work with through the years is another meaningful highlight, witnessing a number of drivers move up to become stars in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series.

“I’m happy to say there’s probably five or six guys over there that win a lot of races that I worked for,” Showalter said. “That’s a sense of pride for me, for sure.”

Showalter has enjoyed every second of his tenure, and although he doesn’t think he has another 600 races in him, he’s not looking to change the life he has become accustomed to the past 599 Gander Trucks events.

“I’m not sure that I will be able to walk away anytime soon,” Showalter said, “because I know in my heart that I’m going to miss it.”

Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

LAS VEGAS — After the checkered flag waved over the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Daniel Hemric locked up the Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors, but it also signified his last race at the highest level for the foreseeable future.

Despite the situation that saw back-to-back NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Tyler Reddick move up and take over the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet in the Cup Series, Hemric turned lemons into lemonade by securing JR Motorsports’ No. 8 Xfinity ride for 21 races before the close of last season.

Hemric is set to compete in the first of those 21 events for team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. in Saturday’s Boyd Gaming 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (4 p.m. ET on FS1/FOX Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

LAS VEGAS: Full schedule | At-track gallery | NASCAR on TV

The 29-year-old driver is ready to prove himself once again, but this time it will be with a slight chip on his shoulder.

“I’m not content by no means,” Hemric said Friday morning. “But I’m somewhat settled knowing it’s up to me to get myself back to that level and that’s what these 21 races are about.”

Controlling one’s own destiny serves as a mantra for all drivers in the NASCAR garage, but it’s more of a privilege and less of a right in this sport. That’s why Hemric has chosen to view the upcoming opportunities a little differently than one might think.

“I look at it as, yeah, it’s 21 chances, but every week is going to be like my last one,” Hemric said. “That’s the way I’m treating it.”

Sounds like a massive amount of pressure, right? But that’s actually opposite of what Hemric is feeling, noting he knows who he is as a person now more than ever. The situation he was forced to go through last year had a way of building character, which gives Hemric a peace of mind rather than a sense of panic, knowing it all rests on his shoulders.

Hemric’s objective is clear: achieve success that will force everyone to notice him.

“One hundred percent I know what’s riding on me on pressure and all that stuff to go out and do my job,” Hemric said. “If I do that, my goal is to make these owners have to put me in a race car at the Cup level.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson led the circuit’s final practice Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, pacing the field at 179.432 mph. The No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driver turned 46 laps overall at the 1.5-mile oval in Nevada.

After Johnson, five Fords dominated the leaderboard, starting with Clint Bowyer’s No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing car at 179.271 mph. Teammate Aric Almirola was then third in his No. 10 entry at 179.170 mph. Kevin Harvick (179.015 mph) and Matt DiBenedetto (178.814 mph) rounded out the top five.

RELATED: Practice 2 results | Lap averages | Las Vegas weekend schedule

Ross Chastain, who is filling in for Ryan Newman this weekend in the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, came in sixth at 178.660 mph. Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, rookie John Hunter Nemechek and Alex Bowman completed the top 10.

Defending race winner Joey Logano checked in at 13th at 177.930 mph.

Last weekend’s Daytona 500 winner, Denny Hamlin, was further back in 19th at 177.526 mph.

Busch Pole Qualifying is set for Saturday at 2:35 p.m. ET on FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

PRACTICE 1

Aric Almirola set the pace in opening NASCAR Cup Series practice Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, leading a 1-2 sweep by Stewart-Haas Racing Fords.

Almirola turned in a best lap of 178.654 mph on the 1.5-mile track in the No. 10 Ford. The 35-year-old driver edged SHR teammate Clint Bowyer’s No. 14 (178.383 mph) in the 50-minute tune-up session before Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX/FOX Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“I’ve been so impressed with our race car from the time we unloaded,” said Almirola, who also was fastest in the consecutive 10-lap averages category. “First laps on the race track, it was driving really good. (Crew chief Mike Bugarewicz) and all the guys on this team have done a great job, everybody back at the shop. We licked our wounds a lot last year and everybody went to the drawing board on figuring out what we need for race cars. This is our first stab at a mile-and-a-half race track with a new build and a lot of new stuff that we’ve learned over last season, and I feel really good about it.”

RELATED: Practice 1 results | Lap averages | Las Vegas weekend schedule

Ty Dillon was third fastest in the No. 13 Germain Racing Chevrolet. Defending race winner Joey Logano was fourth, with Alex Bowman completing the top five.

Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin logged the 25th-best lap (175.12 mph) in an abbreviated session for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver. Hamlin and four other Toyota teams (for drivers Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch, Erik Jones and Martin Truex Jr.) were penalized with 15-minute practice holds for using unapproved body filler on a fender. Hamlin’s team had previously drawn a 15-minute penalty for failing Daytona 500 pre-race inspection twice, so the No. 11 was only eligible for 20 minutes of practice.

Ross Chastain posted the 18th-fastest speed (176.022 mph) in a substitute role for Ryan Newman in the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. The organization announced Wednesday that Chastain would fill in this weekend as Newman recovers from a final-lap crash in Monday’s conclusion of the Daytona 500.

Posted on by Staff Report

Austin Dillon picked the perfect weekend to announce the name of his soon-to-be son, with NASCAR in Las Vegas for Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX/FOX Sports App, PRN, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio).

The Richard Childress Racing driver announced Friday on Instagram he and expectant wife Whitney will bring “Ace RC Dillon” into the world this June.

RELATED: Austin Dillon, wife Whitney expecting first child

https://www.instagram.com/p/B81abDjH2ty/?igshid=ccf4wkjcfo29

Dillon was asked about the naming choice Friday at the Nevada track.

“Yeah, we got a name. It’s Ace RC Dillon. I’m pumped about it,” Dillon said. “‘RC’ obviously is for my grandfather. My logo has always been the Ace of Spades and my grandfather always said ‘ace in the hole’. So, I was like this is a good time to make my kid the ace in the hole and hopefully he’s better than me.”

Dillon will look to ride a 12th-place finish at last weekend’s Daytona 500 into his first top 10 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway since finishing fifth in this race in 2016.