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  • Kyle Larson Hits the Jackpot and Wins the Xfinity Race at Las Vegas

    Kyle Larson Hits the Jackpot and Wins the Xfinity Race at Las Vegas

    Kyle Larson, driving his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Chevy, brought home the prize in the Xfinity Series Boyd Gaming 300 Saturday afternoon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He dominated the field and would lead the most laps, 142-of-200, before finally capturing the checkered flag.

    This is his first win at the track after his runner-up finish last year. It’s also his ninth career victory at eight different tracks.

    After the race, Larson commented, “It was an awesome day for DC Solar. I think this is their first win so I’m glad to get them their first win here in the Xfinity series.” Larson would go on to say, “This race car is so fast, it was really fast last year, but you never really know. This is my first time with this body and it performed well. I’m happy about that, it’s a great day.”

    Stage 1 would only have one caution caused by a spinning Dylan Lupton. The rest of the stage we saw a great battle from the drivers, especially between Larson and Christopher Bell. Bell and Larson would swap the lead so often they were putting on a great race for the fans. However, it would be Bell who would become the winner of Stage 1.

    Stage 2 would go caution free but there was still plenty of action. After a bad pit stop, Bell would fall back a little giving Ryan Blaney the chance to vie for the lead with Larson. Another great battle would ensue between the two but this time Larson would take the Stage 2 win.

    The final stage of the race saw Bell back up front once again battling with Larson for the lead. It started to look like it was going to be a fuel mileage race. This had teams scrambling to see if they could make it to the finish without pitting and it seemed that Larson was going to be a little short. You could almost hear the sigh of relief when a caution with 16 laps to go came out. Once the race got back underway Larson would get the lead and not look back until he took the checkers.

    Bell would bring his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota home in second place. He battled with Larson hard but it just wasn’t enough today.

    Bell who had given Larson a shove to the lead told reporters, “It would have been nice to get up to the lead but I knew if I could put Kyle out there we’d be able to race it out. It was a lot of fun racing and I hope it was a lot of fun watching.”

    Justin Allgaier finished his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet in third place. He will be celebrating his 12-year Anniversary with wife Ashley, tomorrow.

    Allgaier commented, “At the end of the race we got ourselves good track position, led laps, and there I probably burnt up the right front a little bit too much on that long run and started fading. I was glad to see that caution at the end, but you’re never really sure how those are gonna go.”

    Ryan Blaney and Elliott Sadler would round out the top five. Daniel Hemric, Brandon Jones, Tyler Reddick, Cole Custer, and Spencer Gallagher finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

    Reddick leads the Xfinity Series standings with 123 points, by virtue of a win, over Sadler, who also has 123 points. Bell is in third, 23 points behind, with Allgaier in fourth and Gallagher rounding out the top five.

    The Xfinity Series heads next to ISM Raceway (formerly Phoenix International Raceway) on March 10.

     

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Las-Vegas-Xfinity-Series-Unofficial-Results-3-3-18.pdf” title=”Las Vegas Xfinity Series Unofficial Results 3-3-18″]

  • Blaney Fastest at Las Vegas in Final Cup Series Practice

    Blaney Fastest at Las Vegas in Final Cup Series Practice

    Ryan Blaney topped the chart in final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford with a time of 28.963 and a speed of 186.445 mph.

    While Blaney put a Ford on top of the leaderboard for the first time this weekend, outside of taking pole position, the blue ovals didn’t dominate the Top-10, as they had all weekend. Instead, the fastest 10 cars were relatively evenly distributed among the manufacturers, with four Chevrolet’s claiming the top spots.

    Following Blaney was Kyle Larson, with a time of 29.011 and a speed of 186.136 mph, Martin Truex Jr. with a time of 29.018 and a speed of 186.091 mph, Chase Elliott with a time of 29.023 and a speed of 186.059 mph and William Byron with a time of 29.032 and a speed of 186.002 mph.

    Ryan Newman, Brad Keselowski, Daniel Suarez, Joey Logano and Erik Jones rounded out the Top-10.

    Larson posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average of 183.935 mph.

    First practice results

    Second practice results

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  • Christopher Bell Edges Kyle Larson for Xfinity Pole

    Christopher Bell Edges Kyle Larson for Xfinity Pole

    Christopher Bell runs a speed of 183.686 mph at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to claim his second consecutive NASCAR Xfinity Series pole, the third of his career.

    The front row for the Boyd Gaming 300 will feature a veteran and a rookie. Bell edged Kyle Larson, Daniel Hemrick, Cole Custer and Kyle Busch, who rounded out the top 5 starting positions.

    “Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) is the best in the business, and I’m lucky to drive for him and the whole organization at Joe Gibbs Racing,” Bell shared after his qualifying round. “That was a lot of fun. The Rheem Camry got better and better with each run, and I got my confidence up.”

    While the No. 20 Toyota won the pole position, Chevrolet dominated the final round with eight cars in the top-12. Elliott Sadler and Tyler Reddick, JR Motorsports teammates, will start sixth and seventh, respectively. The last four positions of the top 12 were swept by Chevrolet teams with Matt Tifft, Austin Dillon, Spencer Gallagher and Justin Allgaier. Yesterday’s Camping World Truck Series winner, Kyle Busch, will roll off the grid from the fifth position. Ryan Blaney, who won the pole for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race, starts eighth.

    Some notables who missed the final round of qualifying include Austin Cindric, Ryan Truex and Brandon Jones, who will start 13th, 16th and 18th, respectively.

    Earlier, Bell was in the media center discussing the popular racing simulator, iRacing.

    “I’m a big believer in iRacing,” Bell said during the interview. “It doesn’t give you any feel obviously because it’s all visual. But whenever you go to places you haven’t been to in a while like Las Vegas – last time we were here was last year – you have the visuals of what Turn 1 looks like, what Turn 3 looks like, and you’re still getting put in race situations.”

    Fox Sports 1 will air the 200 lap Xfinity Series race at the 1.5-mile speedway beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET. Stages 1 and 2 will last 45 laps each, and the final stage will run for 110 laps. The green flag is set to drop at 4:16 pm ET.

     

  • Larson Fastest in Second Practice at Las Vegas

    Larson Fastest in Second Practice at Las Vegas

    Kyle Larson topped the chart in second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The driver of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet posted a time of 28.791 and a speed of 187.559 mph.

    While not his first time on top of the leaderboard this weekend, it was the first time the Ford’s didn’t occupy the majority of the spots in the Top-10. That distinction went to the Chevrolet’s.

    Trailing Larson was Ryan Newman with a time of 28.807 and a speed of 187.454 mph, Jimmie Johnson with a time of 28.941 and a speed of 186.587 mph, Kevin Harvick with a time of 29.089 and a speed of 185.637 mph and Alex Bowman with a time of 29.125 and a speed of 185.408 mph.

    Ryan Blaney, Darrell Wallace Jr., Clint Bowyer, Michael McDowell and Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the Top-10.

    Harvick posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 184.663 mph.

    Denny Hamlin took his car to the garage after a parts failure. He returned to the race track, after repairs.

    First practice results

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/C1803_PRAC2.pdf”]

  • Busch One Step Closer to Tying Hornaday’s Record with Truck Series Win at Las Vegas

    Busch One Step Closer to Tying Hornaday’s Record with Truck Series Win at Las Vegas

    The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series headed out west to the desert Friday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the third race of the season. A familiar face was on top of the scoring pylon at the end of the night. Busch earned his 50th Truck Series career win. It was the first time he competed in a truck since the 2001 season driving for Jack Roush.

    Kyle Busch and Stewart Friesen set the front row in qualifying mid-afternoon on Friday. It was Busch’s 20th career pole in the series.

    The race got out to a great start before an early caution on Lap 16 was brought out by Justin Marks in the No. 54, spinning off Turn 4. Friesen regained the lead and led for five laps until Noah Gragson took the lead on Lap 21 and went on to win the first stage which ended on lap 32. Spencer Davis, Busch, Friesen, Myatt Snider, Ben Rhodes, Johnny Sauter, Brett Moffit, Cody Coughlin and Matt Crafton rounded out the top 10 positions in Stage 1.

    The green flag came back out on lap 37 for Stage 2. Stage 2 saw no incidents but some exciting action taking place. Busch, Grant Enfinger and Friesen swapped the lead multiple times before Friesen ultimately took the lead on Lap 43 and held on to the top spot for the remainder of the stage to collect 10 Playoff points. Crafton, however, went to the garage on Lap 40 due to brake problems, which left him with a 29th place finish, leaving the two-time champion winless in 18 starts at the 1.5-mile speedway.

    The final stage got back underway on lap 68 with Moffit in the lead. It didn’t take long for a caution to come out as three trucks were involved in an accident in Turn 2. The drivers involved included Justin Haley, Stage 1 winner Gragson and Snider. They finished 28th, 15th and 12th, respectively.

    The race resumed on Lap 78 and was green until the final caution of the race which took place on Lap 120 for Michael Disdier spinning in Turn 4. Before the caution, the lead swapped four times before Busch regained the top spot after the restart on lap 120 and held on to win his 50th career truck series win.

    Busch led six times for  55 of 134 laps. There were five cautions for 25 laps. This was Busch’s 50th career truck series win. He is now one win away from tying NASCAR Hall of Famer Ron Hornaday Jr.

    He spoke about the significance of the victory.

    “It means a lot,” Busch said. “We’ve had some great runs in the races that we’ve had at Kyle Busch Motorsports. We’ve raced and won all across the country, but I’ve just never been able to get back to Las Vegas to run a race.

    “This one’s pretty cool to be able to win in my hometown and finish my list of Truck Series facilities that I’ve raced at and I’ve won at. I couldn’t be prouder to do it with this Cessna Beechcraft Toyota Tundra – just a phenomenal race truck.”

    Johnny Sauter finished second, followed by Moffitt, Enfinger and Friesen to round out the top five. Sauter retains the lead in the series standings, 39 points ahead of Moffitt.

    Next Up: The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will take a couple of weeks off before heading to the “Half-Mile Mayhem” of Martinsville Speedway on March 24.

     

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Truck-Series-Las-Vegas-Unofficial-Results.pdf” title=”Truck Series Las Vegas Unofficial Results”]

  • Blaney Takes Pole Position at Vegas

    Blaney Takes Pole Position at Vegas

    Donning his Pennzoil cap with a smile on his face, Ryan Blaney proceeded to shake hands with his crew and debrief with crew chief Jeremy Bullins, after winning the pole for the Pennzoil Las Vegas 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. If 2018 is going to be a down year for Ford, Blaney didn’t get the memo, nor did the other seven Ford drivers in the Top-12.

    “I thought our Ford was pretty good over three rounds,” Blaney said. “The second and third round were really good. They made really good changes to our race car and got us where we needed to be. It is nice to know we have some good speed and now it is about getting it racing well. We will work on that tomorrow. Hopefully we will be set up for Sunday.”

    Blaney will lead the field to the green flag on Sunday, in his No. 12 Team Penske Ford, after posting a final round time of 28.200 and a speed of 191.489 mph.

    Kevin Harvick will start second with a time of 28.384 and a speed of 190.248 mph.

    “You never heard us complain about our Fords. I gotta thank everyone from Ford and Stewart-Haas Racing for giving me a fast Fusion,” Harvick said. “I knew I kind of blew it coming to the green. I had to lift off the throttle late around the corner just trying to get to the green and I wound up getting the car too tight and it was where it was needed to be the rest of the lap, on the edge. All in all it was a great qualifying effort. This isn’t a place we have qualified well in the past. That will definitely help our day on Sunday.”

    Kurt Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson will round out the Top-Five.

    “I was hanging on for those three laps,” Busch said. “One of our first times starting out in just Q trim. When you go after it hard right away in practice, it hit me on the loose side. We had nothing to loose in that third round and we are still a little on the loose side but that is a good trend for race trim. Once you get into those long runs you build up toward tight on the air pressures. How about those three Fords up top again.”

    Chase Elliott, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Brad Keselowski, Erik Jones and Joey Logano will round out the Top-10.

    Clint Bowyer and Paul Menard will round out the 12 that made the final round.

    After the first round of qualifying, Truex’s team reported that the inner-liner of his left-rear tire had sprung a leak, causing the pressure of it to equalize with the rest of the outer layer (the inner-liner runs at a higher pressure).

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/C1803_STARTROW.pdf”]

  • Early Performance of Ford

    Early Performance of Ford

    Kevin Harvick strolled into the Las Vegas Motor Speedway deadline room a few minutes early for his media availability. Sporting a hoodie and a jovial attitude, and despite his run a year ago in Nevada, his confidence was sky-high coming off his victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

    “Yeah, last year didn’t go well here with the blown tire but our performance here has been really good since I came to SHR, getting to victory lane here,” he said. “Obviously last week was really the way we have run in Atlanta the last five years, it is just we finally got to victory lane. I am looking forward to the weekend and hopefull, we continue the momentum.”

    But perhaps it’s the folks at Ford Motor Company who are breathing the biggest sigh of relief. The blue oval’s led a combined 278 of 325 laps (181 by Harvick alone), swept the podium and claimed half of the spots in the top-10 finishing order in the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500.

    This surprised many who, through the offseason, predicted Ford — outside the restrictor plate races — would struggle to compete, especially at the mile and a half tracks, which have been the bread and butter of Martin Truex Jr. and Toyota Racing. Even drivers in the Ford camp, most notably Brad Keselowski, thought Ford could “take a drubbing” in 2018 (ASIDE: When asked if his thoughts had changed on the matter, Keselowski said during the media tour that he believed NASCAR’s new inspection system for 2018 might level the playing field).

    Also, if practice speeds are a quality measure, the Ford’s occupied four of the top-10 fastest speeds in the first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice session.

    So is the strong run by the Ford’s at Atlanta indicative of what’s to come in 2018? It’s unlikely for a myriad of reasons: Atlanta’s racing surface is on the right-hand side of the racing surface bell-curve, while Las Vegas is right in the middle, and there were no major changes from last season to this season, aside from the inspection process and pit stops.

    Harvick says at this point, it’s too early to guage.

    “I think it is a moving target at this particular point because of all the changes we had last year,” Harvick said. “I think from last year to this year with the inspection process and the difference in the splitter, the rules, just a lot. There are no real rule changes other than the splitter but everything is difference because of the way the car is inspected. I think everyone is trying to get their arms around where they are at. I think this weekend will be a pretty good indicator of where everybody stands and stacks up from one manufacturer to another, team to team, all those things. I know Kyle Larson was really fast when they came out here and tested. As we get done with this weekend, you will see where you need to go to work and the things you need to work on for your typical 1.5-mile program. Atlanta is just way different than anywhere else we go as far as the way you drive the track, the way the car falls off. This track has a fair amount of fall-off but still far different than last week.”

    Teammate Kurt Busch gave a similar answer when asked the same question.

    “I was really surprised by the Ford dominance. My car felt great. We were really good on the short run and I am hoping that plays out with our Haas Automation Ford this weekend,” Busch said. “The track surface is a little different. I always tell fans and media and sponsors alike that we need to just wait and look at the first five races as a core group. Once we are done with the west coast swing, lets evaluate trends. Atlanta is somewhat similar to Fontana and Auto Club Speedway with the asphalt being worn out. We will see if we can backup what we did at Atlanta at Fontana. This one here, this 1.5-mile is very similar to Texas, Kansas, Charlotte with the asphalt grip level and the tire that we are using. With this being a playoff race later in the year, this weekend is a great way to judge things once the checkered flag falls on Sunday night.”

  • Larson Fastest in First Practice at Las Vegas

    Larson Fastest in First Practice at Las Vegas

    Kyle Larson topped the chart in first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet was the fastest with a time of 28.323 and a speed of 190.680 mph.

    Behind him were Kevin Harvick, Paul Menard, Kyle Busch and William Byron rounding out the top-five.

    Erik Jones, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-10.

    Nobody posted a 10 consecutive lap average. All 37 cars entered for the Pennzoil Las Vegas 400 posted a lap. There were no incidents during the session.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/C1803_PRAC1.pdf”]

  • Full Weekend Schedule for Las Vegas

    Full Weekend Schedule for Las Vegas

  • Pair of No. 4 Teams, Others Facing Post-Atlanta Penalties

    Pair of No. 4 Teams, Others Facing Post-Atlanta Penalties

    The action and on-track drama at Atlanta Motor Speedway caused some teams to face post-race penalties across all three major NASCAR touring series.

    In the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, the race-winning team of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford driven by veteran Kevin Harvick had one unsecured lug nut in post-race inspection. Crew chief Rodney Childers was fined $10,000 for the safety violation. No further fines or suspensions were placed on the team.

    Childers stated on Twitter his focus was on the win. While he knew his pit crew missed one lug nut, he understood what was on the line with that final pit stop.

    In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, two teams faced penalties for the same actions as Harvick’s team. The No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet and the No. 52 Means Motorsports Chevrolet were caught with one unsecured lug nut during post-race inspection on Saturday. Crew chiefs for both teams, Mike Shiplett and Tim Brown respectively, were each fined $5,000 with no further penalties. John Hunter Nemechek made his Xfinity series debut in the No. 42, finishing in the fourth position, while David Starr drove the No. 52 car to a 28th place result.

    However, it seems Kyle Busch received the most attention from the weekend. In the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, his No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota received the biggest penalty across all three series.

    With six laps to go in the Active Pest Control 200 at Atlanta, Josh Reaume hit the wall, bringing out the yellow flag and sending the leaders to pit road in preparation for a two-lap overtime. Busch’s pit crew had trouble on the right-front tire, causing a delay with the pit stop. The rear tire changer came around to the left side and loosened the lug nuts already, as the team had already prepared to change all four tires. However, once the issue was corrected on the right front and the jack dropped, Busch and his crew chief called an audible for just right-side tires, leaving his pit box to keep his lead. He pulled away before the crew could place lug nuts back on the left rear tire. Ultimately, the tire came off while Busch was on the apron of turns 1 and 2, and had to back up onto pit row with sparks flying from underneath the truck. Busch ended the race in the 21st position, one lap down.

    Busch’s misfortune resulted in Brett Moffitt’s improbable win Saturday.

    According to the NASCAR Camping World Truck series, the rulebook states: “Any loss or separation of an improperly installed tire(s)/wheel(s) from the vehicle after exiting the team’s assigned pit box will result in a three-race suspension of the crew chief, tire changer of the lost wheel(s), and the jack man.”

    While Busch’s crew chief, Marcus Richmond, is an employee of Kyle Busch Motorsports, the jackman and rear tire changer were both from Stewart-Haas Racing. Coleman Dollarhide is a rear tire changer on Cole Custer’s Xfinity team and Kurt Busch’s Cup team. Jackman Ernie Pierce services Clint Bowyer’s Cup car at SHR. The main concern was how the penalty would affect Dollarhide and Pierce for their responsibilities to the other teams in the other NASCAR series.

    To Dollarhide’s and Pierce’s relief, NASCAR announced Wednesday morning that they both would still be eligible to perform their duties in both the Xfinity and Cup series and that their penalty would only affect the Truck series.

    When asked about the penalties issued to the various crew members, Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s chief racing development officer, shared in an interview on Monday the process they took to reach this conclusion.

    “I think that’s really the discussion, not so much will they be penalized; it’s should it just apply to the Camping World Truck Series. I think that’s where we’re leaning but (series officials) wanted to take the time to get through the weekend and have that dialogue internally.

    “We want to be as fair as we can. We want the penalty obviously to have some teeth into it. We think it does in terms of the suspension. We want to make sure it possibly just applies to that series and who is working on that race.’’

    Marcus Richmond, who was also suspended and faced fines, shared his disappointment in himself in a tweet on Wednesday morning.

    All three major touring series return to racing action this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Tickets are still available and can be purchased through the speedway’s website at http://www.lvms.com/tickets/pennzoil_400/.