Posted on by Zack Albert

LAS VEGAS — A jumbled final practice at Las Vegas Motor Speedway offered an indication of what sort of race to expect in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). What it didn’t deliver: A clear prediction of a pre-race favorite with the 2019 Monster Energy Series rules package in effect.

Favorites and long-shots typically play well in the mecca of gambling, but even with the on-track time of a two-day test, practice and qualifying with the new package, the 1.5-mile facility remains a cauldron of unpredictability.

The final practice leaderboard wasn’t much help. Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon and Daniel Hemric led the way, going 1-2 in both practices to back up their strength at the January test here. But other anomalies abounded: Kevin Harvick won the Busch Pole in Friday qualifying, but his best lap in Saturday practice ranked just 29th. Martin Truex Jr., another former Vegas winner and another third of last year’s Big 3 dominators, was one spot worse in 30th.

“There is a certain level of that because the ultimate speed is situational on the race track,” said Adam Stevens, crew chief of Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, suggesting that less credence be given to practice speeds. “I am sure (Austin Dillon’s No. 3 team) didn’t run the lap they did and didn’t get some amount of help. We didn’t run some of the best laps we were running without some type of help. It’s all about who can stay in the gas the longest and navigate through traffic and get out front. The relativity of the speed chart is a bit like a superspeedway.”

Other characteristics of superspeedway racing — once reserved to two annual races each at Daytona and Talladega — may well apply in portions of Sunday’s 400-miler with the intention of tightening the competition.

RELATED: Las Vegas odds for Sunday’s race | Las Vegas 101

The rules package that NASCAR officials introduced for this season contains a tapered engine spacer designed to limit horsepower to a target level of 550. Aerodynamic devices take it a step further, adding downforce with the use of a larger spoiler and splitter, plus a wider radiator pan. Another apparatus in effect this weekend that wasn’t last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway: ducts up front that transfer air to the side of the car away from the front tires to create a larger, more beneficial aerodynamic wake for cars behind the leader.

The effect thus far in Las Vegas: Drivers have been able to hold the gas pedal wide open for parts of a green-flag run until tire wear forces off-throttle time to navigate the turns. But they’ve also had to manage how well they run in traffic, using momentum and the aerodynamic forces of drafting in a pack to gain ground.

“I think that even though we’re on a grippier race track, it still looked like some cars were grip-limited and having to let out of the gas,” said Denny Hamlin, who will start second. “So I would suspect that Sunday, you’re still going to have to have a good handling car similar to what you had in Atlanta.”

The Las Vegas learnings thus far, however, may be tempered by the fact that tests, qualifying and practice do not equal full-field race conditions — a scenario that played out in Daytona’s Speedweeks with an intense Daytona 500 that didn’t resemble the tamer Clash exhibition or qualifying races.

MORE: Five key story lines for Sunday | See every car in Sunday’s field 

The full 2019 rules setup will make its next appearance in two weeks at Auto Club Speedway, then two weeks later at Texas Motor Speedway. It’s early, but the referendum on the package’s impact has already begun.

“If the fans like it, I’m into it,” said Jimmie Johnson, a four-time Vegas winner. “We’re here to put on a show and entertain the fans and represent our sponsors. It is difficult with this rules package in general, it’s kind of different than the way we all grew up in wanting more power and to go faster and faster. Sure, there’s some of this that isn’t what we expect to see at the Cup level, but it doesn’t take away the challenge, it doesn’t take away the hard work that goes into it, and they still pass out a trophy at the end of the day. I’m down for whatever, and if the fans buy into it and the fans like it, then that’s what I’m going to race.”

Posted on by Zack Albert

LAS VEGAS — Kyle Busch will aim for a tripleheader weekend sweep with a hometown flavor Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Busch completed the first two legs of the trifecta by scoring a dominating win in Friday’s Gander Outdoors Truck Series event, then surviving a pair of overtime attempts in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race. His attempt at the triple will come in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM) for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

RELATED: Full schedule for Las Vegas

“I thought this would be the toughest of the three,” Busch said from Victory Lane after Saturday’s Xfinity Series event. “We had a fast race car but we could never get the balance even in the race right there. I was either way too tight or way too loose, I could never find a happy medium. Overall, I feel like the Cup car is pretty good. The M&M’s Chocolate Bar Camry got some speed to it as well and we ran a lot out there in traffic and the pack. So it will be interesting tomorrow.”

Busch is the only driver in NASCAR history to have won races in three national series at the same track in the same weekend. Both of those came at Bristol Motor Speedway, first in 2010 and most recently in 2017.

Busch’s triumph in Saturday’s Xfinity event gave him a total of 197 wins in NASCAR national series competition. Five of those have come at 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway — one in the Monster Energy Series (2009), two in Xfinity (2016, ’19) and two in Trucks (2018, ’19).

RELATED: Drivers with most all-time national series wins

Posted on by Reid Spencer

LAS VEGAS – It took successful a gamble, a serendipitous caution and a couple of overtimes for Las Vegas native Kyle Busch to win a second NASCAR Xfinity Series race on his home track, but Busch beat the odds in Saturday’s Boyd Gaming 300.

A lap down at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after an unscheduled pit stop for a loose wheel, Busch rallied to win his 93rd Xfinity race, extending his series record and bringing his victory total across NASCAR’s three national series to 197.

RELATED: Race results

Having also won Friday night’s NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series event, Busch will now go for the third three-race weekend sweep of his career in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

After a wreck in the first overtime ruined the chances of reigning champion Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Austin Cindric and Zane Smith, Busch held off John Hunter Nemechek in the second overtime, clearing the No. 23 GMS Racing Chevrolet off Turn 4 on Lap 212 and beating Nemechek to the checkered flag by .192 seconds a lap later.

But it was an early caution in the second stage of the race that put Busch in position to win. Busch had come to pit road with the loose wheel on Lap 15 and lost a lap to the frontrunning cars. At the end of Stage 1, won by Cole Custer, Busch’s crew chief, Ben Beshore, took a gamble in keeping the driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota on the track under caution for the stage break.

Busch returned to the lead lap with a wave-around but had to fight through traffic on old tires. A caution on Lap 59, however, gave Busch the opportunity he needed to pit for tires, and after restarting 17th on Lap 63, Busch charged to third by the end of the stage on Lap 90.

Passing Reddick for the lead on Lap 111, Busch was out front for a total of 98 laps, as the race went 13 laps beyond its scheduled distance.

“It was really tough to come back from one of those setbacks,” Busch said. “I wasn’t sure how we were going to be able to do it down a set of tires. We got a lucky break with a caution during the second stage.

“That kind of got us back on cycle, and we were able to put the first set (of tires) back on with fresh wheels so we didn’t have any more issues there.”

With Bell winning last week at Atlanta, the new Toyota Supras have won two straight races.

“It’s cool to be able to back up Christopher’s win last week and get the Supra back in Victory Lane with me,” said Busch, who won in his first of seven Xfinity starts this season. “I wanted to be the first one, but he had to show me up a little bit last week.”

Busch is the only driver to sweep three national-series events in the same weekend, a feat he accomplished twice at Bristol, in 2010 and 2017. But a sweep at his home track would be all the more meaningful.

RELATED: Busch eyes weekend sweep at Las Vegas

“I thought this was going to be the toughest of the three (races), because we could never get the balance right,” Busch said of the Xfinity event. “I was either way too tight or way too loose. I could never find a happy medium.

“Overall, I feel like our Cup car is pretty good. The car has some speed. We ran a lot out there in the pack and in traffic, and it’s going to be an interesting race (on Sunday). Make sure everybody tunes in.”

Las Vegas native Noah Gragson ran third, followed by Austin Dillon and Daytona winner Michael Annett.

Ryan Sieg, Ross Chastain, Chase Briscoe, Custer and Justin Haley completed the top 10.

Nemechek ran side-by-side with Busch but couldn’t keep up off Turn 4 on the penultimate lap.

“We gave him a run for his money,” Nemechek said. “I’ve been beaten by Kyle too many times, in late model races and now in the Xfinity Series. Hopefully, we can come out on top and build momentum off of this.”

Bell grabbed the lead from Busch on Lap 181 but brushed the outside wall soon thereafter, and Busch regained the top spot on Lap 182. Busch was a quarter-lap away from the white flag when contact between Custer’s Ford and the Toyota of Brandon Jones caused the sixth caution and forced overtime.

On the first attempt, Reddick spun beneath Busch’s Toyota in Turn 4, knocked Bell’s Toyota sideways, and triggered a wreck that also collected Smith and Cindric.

That accident set up Busch’s winning dash and primed him for a possible sweep on Sunday.

“To do it here in Las Vegas at my home track would be huge,” Busch said.

The Xfinity Series is back on track on March 9 at for the race at ISM Raceway (4 p.m. ET, FS1).

 

Posted on by Staff Report

Richard Childress Racing flexed its muscle again in Saturday’s final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with Austin Dillon and Daniel Hemric topping the leaderboard.

Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet, which also topped Friday’s opening practice, laid down a fast lap of 178.224 mph, while Hemric’s No. 8 came up at 177.072 mph. A trio of Fords completed the top five, with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. coming up third in his No. 17 and Aric Almirola and Brad Keselowski ranking fourth and fifth, respectively. Keselowski won the Las Vegas race in the 2018 Playoffs and was last weekend’s winner at Atlanta.

MORE: 10-lap averages from final practice | Full practice results

Reigning race winner and polesitter Kevin Harvick came up 29th on the speed charts.

MORE: Starting lineup for Sunday | See all the cars in the field

The afternoon session marked the final practice for the Monster Energy Series at Las Vegas; the morning session was canceled due to rain in the area.

Cars hit the track once again Sunday for the Pennzoil 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on by Staff Report

The second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Las Vegas Motor Speedway has been canceled due to inclement weather.

Officials put the session on hold roughly 20 minutes prior to the start of practice, which was slated to run from 11:30 a.m. – 12:25 p.m. ET. NASCAR elected to cancel the session several minutes later.

With persistent wet conditions in the area, NASCAR also canceled Xfinity Series qualifying (slated to begin at 12:40 p.m. ET). The lineup will be set by the rule book.

Final Monster Energy Series practice will begin when the track is deemed ready and will continue until 3:30 p.m. ET.

MORE: Full Las Vegas schedule

Posted on by Reid Spencer

LAS VEGAS – Little would make Kyle Busch happier than a three-race weekend sweep in his hometown. The driver of the No. 51 Toyota took the first step on Friday night, winning the Strat 200 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

For the second straight week, Busch swept both preliminary stages before taking the checkered flag. In his 2019 series debut last Friday at Atlanta, Busch broke a tie with NASCAR Hall of Famer Ron Hornaday Jr. for most career victories. On Friday, he extended the record to 53.

RELATED: Official race results 

Despite leading 111-of-134 laps, Busch complained of a tight handling condition throughout much of the race.

“We fought it in practice a little bit,” said Busch, who now has 196 victories across all three of NASCAR’s national series combined. “We worked on it an awful lot to make it better. (Crew chief) Rudy (Fugle) and these guys did an amazing job on this Cessna Tundra. It was really, really fast. Just kept working on it all night long – every pit stop.

“It’s cool to win here in your hometown, being in Las Vegas, starting off a triple weekend. Hopefully, we can keep it going.”

Busch, who finished 1.211 seconds ahead of runner-up and reigning series champion Brett Moffitt, will compete in Saturday’s Boyd Gaming 300 Xfinity Series race before trying for his second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win at Las Vegas on Sunday.

Busch already has two weekend sweeps to his credit, both at Bristol Motor Speedway, in 2010 and 2017.

RELATED: All-time NASCAR national series wins

Moffitt had one shot at Busch in the closing laps after gaining ground on the race winner during the last cycle of pit stops. When Busch came to pit road under green on Lap 114, four laps after Moffitt, he lost most of a three-second lead as Moffitt ran those four extra laps with new right-side tires.

Moffitt got close to Busch’s rear bumper on Lap 119, but his No. 24 GMS Racing Chevrolet got loose behind the No. 51 Toyota and fell back. Nevertheless, the second-place finish was a victory of sorts for Moffitt, who recovered from a pit road mistake – the rear air gun hose was trapped beneath the rear tire during a stop under caution on Lap 33 – and worked his way back through the field.

“We had to use our stuff up getting back to the front – another pit road mistake,” Moffitt said. “I had one chance to get to (Busch’s) bumper. I knew it was going to be a make-or-break move. Unfortunately, it was ‘break.’”

Matt Crafton rallied from early rear end damage to run third. Stewart Friesen, who battled Busch during the second stage and led 20 laps, finished fourth, followed by Harrison Burton. Sheldon Creed, Todd Gilliland, Johnny Sauter, Ryan Reed and Ross Chastain completed the top 10.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

LAS VEGAS – Friday’s opening Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was not yet over, and other drivers already were turning a jealous eye toward the Richard Childress Racing Chevrolets of Austin Dillon and Daniel Hemric.

Brad Keselowski had the No. 3 and No. 8 RCR Chevrolets as the fastest cars on the track, and the speed chart backed up that assessment. Dillon, the 2018 Daytona 500 winner, put up the fastest lap at 180.294 mph in preparation for Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Hemric was second on the board at 180.078 mph.

And where other organizations, particularly those that field four cars, hooked up in drafting practice to try to elevate their collective speeds, the RCR Chevrolets didn’t need help to top the speed chart. Following a year in which Dillon’s victory in the season-opening race was the organization’s only win, the grandson of team owner Richard Childress was justifiably proud.

“Well, I’m very proud of RCR,” Dillon said. “(Chief Technology Officer) Eric Warren has put a ton of work and effort together working with (Vice President of Competition) Andy Petree, working with our guys in the aero department, to really put a big effort into this new package, to come out as the guys to beat.

“And I felt like we left the Vegas test (Jan. 31-Feb. 1) as the fastest car, and I wondered how we would come back, and I felt like we brought the exact same speed back. The guys definitely closed in on us. I felt like they learned some stuff from us at the test.”

MORE: Dillon, Hemric lead opening practice

Las Vegas wasn’t the only place where the Childress cars showed speed. Hemric, in particular, was fast at both Daytona and Atlanta, though his finishes of 34th and 20th didn’t do justice to the quality of his car.

At Las Vegas the Cup drivers will compete with the second variation of NASCAR’s new higher-downforce, lower-horsepower competition package, and there are still many unknowns.

“I think there’s still some variables on what is the best way to go about this racing,” Dillon said. “I think that’s the one thing everybody doesn’t know. I think in our minds, we’ve put a lot of work into simulation and wind tunnel and just trying to combine it all to figure out what direction you should go mechanically or aero-wise, to figure out how it’s going to race the best.

“So that’s the variable we don’t know. We saw at Atlanta some guys were really good for a little while and then they faded. We’re just trying to figure out the best way to race around each other, because we know we’re going to be closer together more often.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

LAS VEGAS – Kevin Harvick knew he didn’t have the fastest car for Friday’s knockout qualifying session at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. 

But Harvick also predicted that the fastest car wouldn’t win the pole for Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at the 1.5-mile track (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

He was right. When the cars crossed the stripe as the seconds ticked down in the final round, it was Harvick who had the pole-winning lap at 180.517 mph (29.914 seconds), edging Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin for the top starting spot by .010 seconds.

Austin Dillon had the fastest car in practice, and in Harvick’s estimation, the fastest car for qualifying, too. But Dillon could do no better than fourth in the 12-car draft that constituted the money round.

MORE: See every car in Sunday’s field | Complete lineup

“The fastest car in qualifying trim is fourth,” said Harvick, who won his first pole at Las Vegas, his first of the season and the 26th of his career. “I told them before we qualified today that the fastest car would not get the pole today. In the final round it was going to come down to where you were at. 

“It’s definitely different. It’s one of those situations where you don’t really know where you need to be. I had never drafted, really, in these cars. They’re a lot faster than they were in the All-Star Race (last year), and the close-up rate was so fast.

“We were able to run the bottom coming to the start of the second lap (in the final round), and that got us to the start/finish line in time to make it (before time expired). Definitely a little bit of luck involved there, but the guys have done a great job, really advancing in the last two weeks in getting what we need in these race cars.”

With NASCAR’s new competition package in play, this was no ordinary single-car qualifying session. In the final round, all 12 of the pole-eligible cars waited until the last possible second in the five-minute period to start their runs.

That cost Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott, who didn’t make it to the start/finish line to start a second lap before time ran out. Both Bowman and Elliott were faster than Harvick, but their times were not allowed, with Bowman missing the five-minute deadline by a half-second and Elliott getting to the stripe just over a second too late.

Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford was the last car to make it to the line under the wire.

Las Vegas native Kyle Busch (179.706 mph) qualified third, followed by Dillon and Richard Childress Racing teammate Daniel Hemric. David Ragan, Kyle Larson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano claimed starting positions six through 10, respectively.

Bowman and Elliott were 11th and 12th after failing to make a second lap before time ran out.

“It got a little crazy, but it’s the games that you’re going to play through the whole thing of just trying to put yourself in the right position, be the right distance behind and still have your car handling properly,” Hamlin said of the new qualifying format.

“It will be interesting going forward. Certainly will be some attrition here and there, but as long as it’s more exciting, we’re all for it.”

Posted on by Zack Albert

LAS VEGAS — Embedded in Kyle Busch’s post-race interview after his Gander Outdoors Truck Series victory last weekend was a commentary on one of his young drivers, 18-year-old Todd Gilliland. His remarks suggested that the time to perform was now. 

But two drivers who have successfully matriculated through the Kyle Busch Motorsports pipeline — Christopher Bell and Noah Gragson, both with multiple KBM wins to their names — said that the pressure on drivers still in their teenaged years is immense. But both said that’s largely owed to the system and the brief window available for drivers to establish themselves as competitive regulars.

RELATED: Busch scores landmark Gander Outdoors Truck Series win

“I think if you would’ve asked this question 20 years ago to a guy in my position, coming into the Cup Series, it’d be, ‘yeah, these guys are too young. They need to develop your skills,’ ” said Noah Gragson, who now drives in the Xfinity Series for JR Motorsports. “But that’s all you have these days is young guys and there’s 20 more behind me, so if I don’t get the job done, there’s 20 more that can. That just gives me more motivation and hunger and drive to be the best that I can be and work hard.

“Twenty years ago, you could have a guy who could develop his skills, spend three or four years in Cup, and then he starts winning races. Now if you don’t go into Cup your first or second year and win races, you’re out.”

RELATED: Gragson on differences between Busch, Dale Jr. as a boss

Gilliland, an alum of the NASCAR Next youth initiative, sits winless in 28 Truck Series races despite competing in top-flight equipment. Busch indicated that on at least two occasions, Gilliland should have prevailed but that the chance to capitalize slipped away.

Bell shares the same developmental path as Gilliland when it comes to NASCAR’s national tours, honing his skills at Kyle Busch Motorsports. But Bell was a relative latecomer, with his Truck Series debut coming at age 20 in 2015.

“I don’t know. It’s hard to say. It is crazy seeing how young people are,” Bell said. “I’m 24 years old and I feel like I’m one of the older guys in the Xfinity Series right now, so there’s a lot younger guys who are running Cup. I think Chase (Elliott) is younger than me and he’s been in Cup for a number of years now. It’s very interesting to see the younger guys come up. They keep getting younger and younger as well.”