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  • No. 4 Monster Energy Series team receives L1-penalty post-Las Vegas

    No. 4 Monster Energy Series team receives L1-penalty post-Las Vegas

    By Staff Report | NASCAR.com

    The No. 4 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series team from Stewart-Haas Racing received an L1-level penalty for two violations found during teardown at the NASCAR R&D Center stemming from Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

    The team was found to have violated Sections 20.4.8.1 (dealing with rear window support) and 20.4.18 (rocker panel extensions), specifically. A brace that supports the rear window failed and did not meet specifications for keeping the rear window glass rigid in all directions, at all times. Additionally, the rocker panel extension was not aluminum.

    The No. 4 team with driver Kevin Harvick won the race, but will not get the benefits of that win for the NASCAR Playoffs (a total of seven playoff points for winning the race and both stages). Harvick also won at Atlanta, which means he still is qualified for the postseason on the basis of that Atlanta win.

    Additionally, crew chief Rodney Childers has been fined $50,000. Car chief Robert Smith has been suspended for the next two Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races. The team also was docked 20 driver points and 20 owner points.

    With this specific infraction, NASCAR officials felt the best sanction for the violation was suspending the car chief, not crew chief, due to the prominent role the car chief plays in setting up the car throughout the weekend.

    The No. 4 team has the right to appeal the penalties to the National Motorsports Appeals Panel.

    In other penalties, the No. 55 team in the Monster Energy Series received a safety violation for one lug nut that was not secure in post-race inspection. Crew chief Todd Parrott has been fined $10,000.

  • Menard Off to Promising Start with Wood Brothers Racing

    Menard Off to Promising Start with Wood Brothers Racing

    Paul Menard brought his No. 21 Ford Fusion home in ninth place Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, earning his second top-10 of the year.

    It’s a new beginning of sorts for Menard as he joined Wood Brothers Racing this season after seven years with Richard Childress Racing. In only three starts with the new team, he has hit the ground running, finishing sixth in the season-opening Daytona 500 and capturing 11 stage points along the way. Although a 17th place at Atlanta was not the result they wanted, owner Len Wood characterized it as due more to circumstance than performance.

    “The car was set up for hotter weather, and we were off a little on handling mid-race, but it got better as the race went on,” Wood said. “And the pit crew did a good job. They never had a bad stop and were better every time.”

    With Sunday’s ninth-place finish, Menard is encouraged by how quickly the team is coming together.

    “It’s a bit early but the Fords are fast coming out of the gate this year,” he said. “I think we’ll be good in Phoenix next week as well. I feel really good with where our program is at right now.”

    Menard also received two additional stage points after finishing 10th in Stages 1 and 2 and is currently ninth in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series points standings.

    “Earning stage points is big,” he acknowledged, “and you need to take advantage when you can. We did that today. It wasn’t much but it all counts.”

    He is also encouraged by how effectively they were able to make adjustments and the quality of their pit stops at Las Vegas with crew chief Greg Erwin leading the way.

    “Just a solid day for the Motorcraft Ford Fusion,” Menard said, “a great weekend for us. We unloaded fast on Friday and fell behind a bit on Saturday. We all got together last night and talked about what we needed to do and it worked out for us. A solid car all day.

    “They (the pit crew) made great stops all day which helped me keep track position. We made some good adjustments and Greg (Erwin) called a great race. A good two weeks for the crew guys.”

    The Cup Series heads to ISM Raceway (formerly Phoenix Raceway) next week where Menard has three top 10 finishes in 22 starts.

    Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.

     

  • Harvick Cleans Out House in Sin City

    Harvick Cleans Out House in Sin City

    It’s a clichéd statement in the sports world, but the term “woodshed whooping” perfectly sums up Kevin Harvick’s run in the Pennzoil Las Vegas 400. How else would you describe a race in which a driver led 214 of 267 laps, on his way to winning back to back Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races to open the season?

    “Yeah, just proud of everybody on our Jimmy John’s Busch Ford for just doing a great job with the race cars,” Harvick said. “These last two weeks, we’ve just hit on what we needed to. This stems back to last year when (our) mile and a half program got so much better at the end of the year and they’ve done their homework on a number of things.”

    Harvick powered by Ryan Blaney on the highside, exiting Turn 2, to take the lead on the second lap. He surrendered it to pit on Lap 38. It cycled back to him, after a few laps in the reigns of Michael McDowell, and he drove on to win the caution-free first stage.

    The race went back to green on Lap 89. Just as it was in the first stage, the second was broken up by green flag stops halfway through. Harvick pitted from the lead on Lap 121, handing it to Kyle Busch (the first non-Ford driver to lead all day). He pitted three laps later, and the lead cycled back to Harvick, who completed a sweep of the stages.

    Harvick squandered the lead, as a result of a slow stop during the stage break. Joey Logano exited with the lead.

    The race went back to green with 101 laps to go. Caution flew for the third time with 91 to go when Jamie McMurray suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall in Turn 2. Martin Truex Jr. opted not to pit and took over the race lead.

    Back to green with 85 to go, Joey Logano shot past Truex exiting Turn 2 to retake the lead. Before the lap concluded, Kurt Busch got loose, came up and across the nose of Chase Elliott, hooking him into the Turn 4 wall, which brought out the fourth caution.

    The race restarted with 74 to go. Logano got the jump on Harvick at first, but he couldn’t fend off Harvick on just two new tires, going into Turn 1, and Harvick reclaimed the race lead with 73 to go. Harvick pitted from the lead for the final time with 42 to go, handing the lead to Kyle Busch. He pitted with 38 to go, and the lead cycled back to Harvick.

    Kyle Busch attempted to spice up the finish in the closing 20 laps, after passing Brad Keselowski for second with ease, but didn’t close the gap to Harvick in time.

    “Our M&M’s Camry was really strong there the last 100 laps of the race. Early on, just having to start the race on our qualifiers (tires) was just really bad for us and then we overtightened, overadjusted for the second run. From there, we were just kind of making small tweaks to it to get it back, and she was really fast, rolling really good the last 100 laps or so. Five of those guys would kind of short-pit, and we’d go on the long side of it, and I think that kind of helped us, too, be able to drive back up through those guys a little bit easier.

    “The M&M’s Caramel Camry was really good. Adam (Stevens, crew chief) and the guys did a great job this weekend. We came here. We prepared well. Did a good job through practice, getting a great race car. Just no catching that 4 (Harvick). They were just on rails today and they were lights out. I don’t know what we need to do to catch up, to get better to those guys, but we got some homework to do and need to get a little bit better, especially here at Vegas.

    “Overall, great day for us, and we’ll go to Phoenix.”

    Larson, Truex and Blaney rounded out the Top-five.

    Keselowski, Logano, Erik Jones, Paul Menard and Aric Almirola rounded out the Top-10.

    NUTS & BOLTS

    The race lasted two hours, 49 minutes and 31 seconds, at an average speed of 141.756 mph. There were 11 lead changes among six different drivers and four cautions for 29 laps.

    Harvick leaves Las Vegas with a three-point lead over Logano.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/C1803_UNOFFRES.pdf”]

  • Kyle Larson Dominates to Win Boyd Gaming 300

    Kyle Larson Dominates to Win Boyd Gaming 300

    Kyle Larson paced the field for 142 laps to earn his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the Boyd Gaming 300.

    The final restart resembled closely that of the first start, as Larson pulled away from pole-sitter Christopher Bell after a late race caution for the final seven laps with a margin of victory of 0.881 seconds. The victory was Larson’s first of the season, ninth of his career and first at the speedway.

    “It was an awesome day,” Larson mentioned during his Victory Lane interview. “This car was so fast. It was really fast last year, but you really never know, and this was my first time racing with this new (composite) body, and it performed well.”

    The driver of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet overcame a pit road issue that dropped him to eighth for a restart on Lap 139, but it didn’t take long to find his way to the front, pushing the issue three-wide to fight his way through the field quickly.

    “Normally my guys are some of the best on pit road,” Larson said. “They said the left-rear (tire) just wouldn’t come out (of the wheel well). I had been fighting a tight issue all day and then finally we got our car to turn better.

    “It allowed me to get to the lead fairly easily, and then I was saving fuel in case the race stayed green.”

    Larson and Bell have found themselves in this position before. They frequently battle each other on dirt tracks. During the off-season, Bell was the driver in Victory Lane in last November’s Turkey Night Classic and January’s Chili Bowl, one of the biggest midget races of the season. Bell was excited to see the friendly face extend their close competition into the stock car series.

    “That was really cool, and there will be a lot more of that,” Bell hinted, who beat Larson earlier in the event at the end of Stage 1. “We were close, running second to Kyle – if I’m going to run second to anyone, I guess I would rather it be him.

    “Special day, we were able to win a stage and get a Playoff point. We need to keep racking those up and get some race wins here.”

    As Bell mentioned, he did win a playoff point and becomes only the second Xfinity driver to earn any playoff points. As for Larson, his feelings about the competition with Bell were mutual.

    “It’s always fun to get to race Bell,” Larson said. “He seems to beat me all the time in the dirt stuff, and he edged me out there in qualifying. That first stage kind of felt like we were dirt-track racing there, swapping lanes and stuff. I was trying to take the air off him, and he got by, and yeah, it was fun.”

    As for the rest of the field, JR Motorsports had a strong showing with three of their four drivers finishing in the top eight with Justin Allgaier (third), Elliott Sadler (fifth) and Daytona 500 winner, Tyler Reddick (eighth). Kyle Busch, yesterday’s Camping World Truck Series winner, struggled all day with an ill-handling race car and faced a pit road penalty on his final stop when his gasman grabbed a tire. This year, the new rule states that they are only allowed to ‘kick’ a tire and fuel the car, and no other service is allowed to be done on the car or in the pit box. His No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota finished in a disappointing 14th position.

    Ryan Blaney, who will start on the pole for tomorrow’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race, led 33 laps and finished in fourth. Cole Custer, who makes his Monster Energy Cup series debut tomorrow, finished in the ninth position. Daniel Hemric, Brandon Jones, and Spencer Gallagher also finished the weekend with top-10 results.

    Tyler Reddick and Elliott Sadler are tied at the top of the Xfinity Series points after three races. The Xfinity series will continue their west coast swing at ISM Raceway in Phoenix, Arizona next weekend on March 10. Tickets are still available for purchase on the track’s website at http://www.ismraceway.com/Buy-Tickets/NASCAR-Ticket-Prices.aspx.

  • Cole Custer to Make Monster Energy Series Debut in Vegas

    Cole Custer to Make Monster Energy Series Debut in Vegas

    Cole Custer will make his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debut Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He will run double duty for the weekend, driving the No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford Fusion in the Cup series and competing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race for Stewart-Haas Racing in the No. 00 Ford Mustang.

    “This is a dream come true to compete in the Cup Series,” said Custer. “I can’t thank Rick Ware Racing and Haas Automation enough for the opportunity to race at Las Vegas.”

    Some of Custer’s NASCAR resume includes becoming the youngest Truck Series pole winner ever at Gateway Motorsports Park in 2014. Later that season, he became the youngest winner in the history of NASCAR’s national touring series at 16 years, 7 months and 28 days when he won at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. His first career Xfinity Series win came in the 2017 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, leading 182 of 200 laps.

    Rick Ware Racing has an honorable reputation for bringing new talent into the sport. Just this year, the team has given debut rides to Harrison Rhodes and Justin Marks, finishing 33rd and 12th respectively. Ware has been involved in motorsports competition for 27 years. He talked about scouting Custer and what led him to the decision to hire the up and coming driver to pilot the Cup series Ford car.

    “I’ve been watching Cole a long time and he’s a fine young man,” Ware said. “I’ve been friends with the Custer family for a while now and they are truly are amazing people. Over the last couple years, Cole has grown into a stout race car driver with a fine finesse for speed and rhythm.

    “The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is home of some of the greatest race car drivers in the world, and Cole definitely fits into that category. I think our expectations as a team are realistic and achievable. Getting Cole to the checkered flag is our top priority as a race team.”

    Custer has some experience at Las Vegas in NASCAR’s top three touring series. He finished third in the 2016 Truck Series race, 11th in the 2017 Xfinity Series race and ninth in Saturday’s race.

    “It’s going to be a new experience for me,” Custer responded, “but I feel that we can have a productive day by completing all the laps and seeing the checkered flag.”

    This will be Rick Ware’s 33rd race in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup series as an owner.

  • 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

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/C1803_PRACFINAL.pdf”]

  • 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”]