The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend where 16 drivers will face off against each other in Round 1 of the Playoffs. Brad Keselowski is the defending race winner.
Las
Vegas is the last chance to make the Playoffs for the Xfinity Series drivers
and where the 12-driver field will be set. Ross Chastain won the event last
year.
The
Gander Outdoors Truck Series will close out their first championship round and
narrow their playoff field from eight to six drivers. Grant Enfinger will
return to defend his 2018 win.
Please
see the complete schedule below. All times are Eastern.
Friday, Sept. 13
11:05 a.m.: Truck
Series Final Practice – No TV
3:35 p.m.: Xfinity
Series First Practice – NBCSN/NBC Sports App
4:35 p.m.: Cup Series First
Practice – NBCSN/NBC Sports App
5:35 p.m.: Truck
Series Qualifying – Impound/Single Vehicle/One Lap All Positions – FS1
6:35 p.m.: Xfinity
Series Final Practice – NBCSN/NBC Sports App
7:30 p.m.: Cup Series
Final Practice – NBCSN/NBC Sports App
9
p.m.: Truck Series World of Westgate
Las Vegas 200 – (Stages 30/60/134 Laps = 201 Miles) FS1/MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Saturday, Sept. 14
2:35 p.m.: Xfinity
Series Qualifying – Impound/Single Vehicle/One Lap All Positions – NBCSN/NBC
Sports App
4:05 p.m.: Cup Series
Qualifying – Impound/Single Vehicle/One Lap All Positions – NBCSN/NBC Sports
App/PRN
7:30
p.m.: Xfinity Series Rhino Pro
Trucks Outfitters 300 – (Stages 45/90/200 Laps = 300 Miles) NBCSN/NBC
Sports App/PRN/SiriusXM
NASCAR Radio
Sunday, Sept. 15
7
p.m.: Cup Series South Point 400 – (Stages 80/160/267 Laps = 400.5 Miles) NBCSN/NBC
Sports App/PRN/SiriusXM
NASCAR Radio
Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and
feature stories.
The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series gets back on track Friday night at the 1.5-mile track known as Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It will be the third and final race in the Round of 8 and one final chance for Truck Series drivers to get a win before the Round of 6 begins at Talladega Superspeedway in October.
Flashing back to when the Truck Series last raced, it was Brett Moffitt winning once again and scoring his third victory of the season and his second win in the Round of 8. Moffitt and his No. 24 GMS Racing will be looking for a sweep this weekend in the final race of the Round of 8.
There are currently 36 drivers entered on the preliminary entry list for 32 spots in Friday night’s World of Westgate 200.
Here are five drivers to keep an eye on.
Grant Enfinger – It would be hard to count out last year’s winner Grant Enfinger. The Alabama native has six starts with a win in the 2018 fall race, 47 laps led, two top fives and four top-10 finishes. Enfinger and his No. 98 team also have an average finish of 7.8. In the March race, the ThorSport driver started fourth and finished 11th after two laps led. The Alabama native hopes to recapture last years magic and hopes to move on to the Round of 6.
Brett Moffitt – Speaking of Moffitt’s strong dominance in the past two races, it may continue this weekend at Las Vegas. The GMS driver finished runner up in the March race and finished second and 10th in both stages. In the other two races, Moffitt has one finish outside the top-10 which came in the 2018 fall race. Moffitt’s other finish was third. He has 45 laps led and an average finish of 5.3. While Moffitt already has two wins in this round, he’ll be looking for the third one Friday night and keeping everyone else on edge.
Ross Chastain – It’s hard to imagine that Chastain could be a sleeper with how strong he has run this year, but he might be one this Friday night. In the March race, the Florida native started 16th and finished 10th while driving for Niece Motorsports, but that was not his best finish at Vegas. His best finish came in last year’s race when Chastain drove to a seventh place finish driving for Jay Robinson. The Niece Motorsports driver has been on a small winless streak having last won at Pocono in July, but still has been solid week in and week out.
Harrison Burton – After a disappointing outing at Canada, Burton and his No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports team is looking for a rebound. Burton has just one start that came in the March race. In the March race, the KBM driver started third and finished fifth, and finished fourth and sixth in both stages.
John Hunter Nemechek – Nemechek may be a surprise this week when he returns to the No. 8 NEMCO Motorsports Chevrolet. However, his Vegas outings haven’t been that kind to Nemechek. The North Carolina native has a best finish of fourth which came in 2015 in his first start at Vegas. Since then, Nemechek’s outings have been rocky with finishes of 16th, eighth, 21st and 22nd. The NEMCO Motorsports team will hope for a better outing this time around.
Playoff drivers
Stewart Friesen – Friesen sits third in the playoff points standings, just 44 points behind Moffitt. The Halmar Racing driver does not have a win yet but has a little bit of a buffer above the cut line. At Vegas, Friesen’s stats have been so-so with five starts. His best finish was fourth in the March race of this year after 20 laps out front. Other finishes include 19th, 25th, fifth and 17th. Friesen has led 68 laps and has an average finish of 11.6 with one DNF that occurred in 2017.
Matt Crafton – Crafton sits fourth in the standings and will likely need a good run in order to continue on. The ThorSport driver has no wins dating back to his first outing since 2001, but has eight top-fives and 12 top-10 finishes with 140 laps led. His best finish was second three times, but Crafton’s last second-place finish was in 2012. In last year’s race, however, the ThorSport driver finished fifth after starting 29th.
Austin Hill – Hill is placed fifth in the standings just a few points above the cut line. If he wants to race in the Round of 6, he’ll have to pick it up. Hill has two DNFs out of his three Vegas starts. The only time he has finished a race was the March 2018 race, where Hill finished 10th. He’ll have to do more than that if he wants to continue on.
Johnny Sauter – Hard to imagine that Sauter is below the cut line by two points in what has been an inconsistent year for his No. 13 ThorSport team. As he has stated in Canada, “it’s win or go home” and he most certainly could do that. Sauter has 12 starts dating back to 2009 where he won in his first outing. In the past couple of races, he has finishes of eighth and second twice. Overall, the Wisconsin native has six top fives and nine top-10 finishes with 121 laps led and an average finish of 7.1. It would be hard to imagine a Championship 4 without Sauter after he has made it the past few years.
Tyler Ankrum – Hoping to be a wildcard, Ankrum and his No. 17 DGR-Crosley team will have to win in order to advance to the Round of 6. It will be a challenge for him as Ankrum has no starts at Vegas.
Other drivers on the entry list include the No. 0 of Daniel Sasnett, Tyler Dippel returns to the No. 02 after his short suspension, Cory Roper is back with his No. 04, Dylan Lupton in the No. 5, Justin Johnson in the No. 08, Codie Rohrbaugh in the No. 9, Spencer Davis in the No. 11, Derek Kraus in the No. 19, Mason Massey in the No. 33, Jesse Iwuji in the No. 34, Colin Garrett in the No. 38, Angela Ruch in the No. 44, Natalie Decker in the No. 54, Tyler Hill in the No. 56 and Tony Mrakovich in the No. 87.
Since 1996, Las Vegas Motor Speedway has hosted 24 Truck Series races and since 2018 the series has raced twice a year.
The list of winners is a who’s who with drivers like Jack Sprague who won the first outing in ’96, and others that include Joe Ruttman, Greg Biffle, Ted Musgrave, David Starr, Brendan Gaughan, Shane Hmiel, Todd Bodine, Mike Skinner, Travis Kvapil, Sauter, Austin Dillon, Ron Hornaday, Nelson Piquet Jr., Timothy Peters, Erik Jones, John Wes Townley, Tyler Reddick, Ben Rhodes, Kyle Busch and Enfinger.
Eight times a winner has come from the pole with the most recent set by Busch back in March. The lowest a winner has ever started from was in 21st set by Hmiel in 2004.
The Truck Series drivers will only have one practice session that takes place early Friday morning at 8:05 a.m. PT with no live TV coverage. Qualifying is scheduled later in the day at 2:35 p.m. PT live on Fox Sports 1.
The World of Westgate 200 is slated to get underway shortly after 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET, live on Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio.
1. Joey Logano — Logano dashed to the win at Las Vegas, holding off Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski for his first Cup win in Vegas.
“I knew Brad was going to make a run,” Logano said. “He’s so good at making those race-winning passes. I saw him in my mirror and though, ‘Uh oh.’ Anytime you look in the mirror and see Brad Keselowski, it’s bad news, especially if you’re Brad Keselowski.”
2. Brad Keselowski — Keselowski, looking for his second straight win, finished second at Las Vegas to Penske teammate Joey Logano.
“That’s right,” Keselowski said. “I finished second. So, for the second consecutive week, I ‘went No. 2’ in my car.”
3. Kyle Busch — Busch’s quest for a weekend sweep ended with a third in the Pennzoil 400.
“I blew any chance of winning when I was caught speeding on pit lane,” Busch said. “I’ll tell you this, though, the penalty for breaking the 45 miles per hour speed limit is much less severe when it happens on pit lane as opposed to a highway in Iredell County, North Carolina.”
4. Denny Hamlin — Hamlin finished 10th at Las Vegas.
“Other than those for the ends of stages,” Hamlin said, “there wasn’t a single caution during the race. And that made for a very boring race. Just ask television viewers. The TV ratings are in, and Sunday’s race rolled ‘snake eyes.’”
5. Kevin Harvick — Harvick led a race-high 88 laps and finished fourth in the Pennzoil 400.
“We dominated Stage 1,” Harvick said. “After that, the handling just went south. And with NASCAR’s new rules package, my battle with my steering wheel may have been the best action of the day in Vegas.”
6. Martin Truex Jr. — Truex finished eighth at Las Vegas, recording his second top-10 of the year. He is eighth in the Monster Energy Cup points standings.
“I’m not sure if NASCAR’s new rules package made that much of a difference,” Truex said. “But it’s a start. Now what the rules need is just some fine-tuning, or small adjustments. That’s why NASCAR should bring in the Mayfield family, because they can ‘tweak’ anything.”
7. Kurt Busch — Busch finished fifth at Las Vegas and is 10th in the points standings.
“I’m a Las Vegas native,” Busch said. “So it’s always hard to leave this place. When I leave Vegas, it’s like I leave a little piece of me behind, which was also the case when I had ear-reduction surgery in 2006.”
8. Kyle Larson — Larson took 12th in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas and is now sixth in the Monster Energy Cup points standings.
“Those guys from Hendrick Motorsports are at it again,” Larson said. “They’re ‘playing games.’ Only this time, it’s in the casino.”
9. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. — Stenhouse finished eighth at Las Vegas, posting his first top-10 of the year.
“Erik Jones and I had a heated battle for position at one point in the race,” Stenhouse said. “Over the radio, he told me to ‘stop being a dumb ass.’ I responded by saying, ‘I dated Danica Patrick. You can use real profanity.’”
10. Erik Jones — Jones finished 13th in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas.
“My Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch just signed a contract extension,” Jones said. “Kyle’s had some big wins in his illustrious career, but this is his latest ‘signature’ win.”
Joey Logano wins the first west coast race in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
“I said we’re going to do donuts on that giant infield logo after the race, and we were able to do it,” Logano shared after winning for the first time in his career at Las Vegas.
With over 3,300 green flag passes and 47 green flag passes for the lead, NASCAR’s new aero package saw much more competitive racing. The leaders could not get further than a couple seconds out front before being reeled back in, and a lot of draft was being manipulated. Logano shared that it really was more of a mental game.
“What a great race. Brad and I were so evenly matched, and you just can’t drive away (with the lead). In the last five or six laps, Brad was catching me so quick, and I got stuck behind a lapped car. Man, it was so close. Lots of fun – my heart’s still running hard.”
Teammate Brad Keselowski put on a couple late run charges, even coming to the checkered flag. Out of Turn 4, he came up one spot short of going back to back to win two of the first three races of the season. Team Penske finished 1-2.
“It was a good battle,” Keselowski said. “We were both running really hard on the top. It seemed to come down to what the lapped cars were going to do. The lapped cars screwed the leader, and the second-place guy got a really good run. It happened over and over again. First, Joey got hosed by a lapped car, and I got by him. Then I got hosed by a lapped car, and he got by me. But it was definitely a good event.”
Kyle Busch was able to recover from a pit road speeding penalty and a six second deficit to the leaders to pass Kevin Harvick for third. Time ran out and Busch was three spots short of the weekend sweep across all three NASCAR touring series.
“I certainly screwed up our day coming to pit road,” Busch said disappointed after a green flag pit road speeding penalty during Stage 2. “Trying to make up time and just ruined it for us.”
Stage 1 winner Harvick finished fourth with Kurt Busch utilizing some late race pit road strategy rounded out the top five. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Aric Almirola, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott and Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin completed the top 10.
Harvick Begins His West Coast Swing in Stage One
Harvick and Hamlin started side by side on the front row at the initial start of the race. Landon Cassill and Ty Dillon moved to the rear of the field after both a gear change and an engine change. Hamlin, inside, pulled out to a brief lead on the back stretch, but Harvick marched his way through Turns 3 and 4 to lead the first lap as the crossed the start finish line. Harvick ended up leading virtually all the laps, aside from the green flag pit stops cycle. Daniel Hemric started in the fifth position, but quickly dropped through the field and lost a lap deeper into the stage.
Unique penalties were handed out during green flag pit stops. Austin Dillon, who was running inside the top five most of the first stage was caught with too many crew members over the wall. The call came from NASCAR after two crew members retrieving tires from the tire changers fell over the wall after reaching too far for a tire. Kyle Larson, who also was running in the top 10, had a penalty with too many crew members over the wall. For his pit stop, the crew member also responsible for retrieving a tire swept their hand over the pit stall and made contact with pit surface. After some social media controversy, FOX Sports Bob Pockrass posted on Twitter the rule that states the following.
Ryan Blaney had an extra unscheduled pit stop for a tire that lost a valve stem on his original pit stop.
During the green flag pit stops, Joey Logano led for six laps before his pit stop. Daniel Suarez led his first career laps on a 1.5 mile oval before taking two tires to gain some track position. Harvick reclaimed the lead and led the final 19 laps to the green-checkered flag that signifies the end of the stage.
Team Penske Working Together During Stage Two
Keselowski led the field to the green on the restart, but because he elected to take two tires, he was quickly overtaken by Kyle Busch and Joey Logano, and the two battled for the lead for most of the stage.
Blaney visited pit road early, and quickly caught the leaders. At this time, he was three laps down and passed the leaders to get one of his laps back the old school way. Logano saw his speed, and the No. 22 team elected to pit for fresh tires. That brought all the lead lap cars to the pits.
As Busch came to pit road, he locked up the brakes and sped during the first segment. He immediately served his penalty per instructions from his crew chief before his car got up to full speed.
“There’s no f****** way…” Kyle dejectedly stated over the radio, knowing he had gone too fast during the first section.
William Byron played a similar strategy as Suarez in the first stage and led for 21 laps before his pit stop. Logano reclaimed the lead for the final 11 laps to win Stage 2.
Team Penske Puts on a Show in the Final Stage
A variety of strategies shuffled the running order as the green flag flew for the start of the final stage, including Kurt Busch staying out during the stage caution. Eventually, the two drivers that showed strength in the early parts of the final stage were Logano and Harvick. The two were at the front during the stage before the last set of pit stops.
The biggest trouble Harvick had was on pit road. Throughout the day, his team constantly gave him fast pit stops, but Harvick’s car had no traction as he left his pit stall. Comparing to the others, Harvick kept spinning his tires before being able to leave pit road.
After final pit stops, it became a four-way battle for the lead between Logano, Keselowski, Harvick and Kyle Busch. Keselowski was able to briefly get by Logano to lead a couple laps before Logano reclaimed the lead and won the second stage. Harvick closed the gap to start becoming involved, and Kyle Busch fought from over a six second deficit. However, time ran out for everyone as Logano crossed the line first after a close battle with teammate Keselowski.
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series continues their west coast swing next weekend in Phoenix, Arizona at ISM Raceway, Sunday, March 10 at 3:30 p.m. ET.
LAS VEGAS – Kyle Busch recovers from an early race issue to win the Boyd Gaming 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Since winning Friday night’s NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Strat 200, Busch will now go for the triple sweep at Vegas in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“It was really tough to come back from one of those setbacks,” Busch said after an eventful day in his No. 18 Extreme Concepts / iK9 Toyota. “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.”
John Hunter Nemechek tried everything he could with the late race position he had, but came up just 0.192 seconds short of victory.
“We gave him a run for his money,” Nemechek said. “I’ve been beaten by Kyle (Busch) 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.”
Noah Gragson was the highest finishing rookie in his No. 9 Switch Chevrolet after an aggressive three-wide pass on the final lap to finish in third. Austin Dillon helped Kaulig Racing earn their best career finish of fourth in the No. 10 Stitched Chevrolet. Daytona 500 champion Michael Annett rounded out the top five.
Ryan Sieg, Ross Chastain, Chase Briscoe, Cole Custer and Justin Haley (one lap down) completed the top 10.
Custer Sets the Pace in Stage One
Qualifying was rained out, so the field was set by the order of owners’ points. Stephen Leicht and Christopher Bell started at the rear of the field for unapproved adjustments to their cars prior to the start of the race. Cole Custer started on the front row and led the opening eight laps. Austin Cindric, for a brief moment was out front on Lap 9, but Custer reclaimed the top spot for the rest of the first stage.
On Lap 3, Donald Theetge spun through Turn 3 and slowly drifted up the track, collecting Joey Gase. A few drivers did elect to come down pit road, but all the leaders stayed out.
Tyler Reddick leads Brandon Jones and John Hunter Nemechek on the front stretch at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Photo by Rachel Schuoler for Speedway Media.
After 15 laps into the race, Kyle Busch, who was working on his triple sweep at Vegas, came down pit road after feeling a vibration. He went a lap down early, and faced an uphill battle early in the race as a few others were already a lap down. This also put him at a disadvantage as he was down a fresh set of tires. Tyler Reddick radioed in saying that something might be breaking, and had trouble getting onto pit road as he was stuck in the outside lane. However, he stayed out on track to keep the lead lap position.
The rest of the stage finished under green with Custer collecting the stage points. At this point, four cars retired from the race and one had not yet joined the race. During pit stops, Custer lost three spots while Tyler Reddick gained the lead leaving pit road. Three penalties were handed out during this pit cycle. Jeff Green’s crew members were over the wall too soon, and both Timmy Hill and Josh Williams had uncontrolled tire issues.
Stage Two Dominated by Dirt Racers
As the field restarted the race, Tyler Reddick wasted no time and pulled away from the field to lead all the laps in the second stage. Christopher Bell had also worked his way up toward the front after starting at the rear of the field to finish in second at stage end, as the two dirt racers put on a great show racing together.
The one notable event that was a major turning point was on Lap 60 when the yellow was displayed after Austin Cindric and Zane Smith collided on the exit of Turn 2. Cindric went for a long slide, and barely made contact with the outside wall, if any. Both were able to continue the race, but this allowed Kyle Busch to put on the scuff set of tires from the first stage, putting him on the same tire strategy as the rest of the field. He was still a lap down, but it put him in much better position for either a lucky dog or a wave around.
Two drivers received penalties during pit stops. Ryan Sieg was caught speeding on pit road, and Vinnie Miller had a crew member over the wall too soon.
Kyle Busch Surges Back to the Front in the Final Stage
Most of the third stage was uneventful, aside from Busch charging through the field toward the front. He first claimed the lead from Tyler Reddick on Lap 112, and kept the top spot until 20 laps remaining.
Bell and Reddick worked together to reel in Busch, and Bell eventually was able to get by Busch. He led for a lap, but brushed the wall in Turns 3 and 4, giving the lead back to Busch. Bell and Reddick also collided a few times, allowing Busch to pull a gap. On Lap 190, Ja Junior Avila spun off Turn 4 into the infield grass to bring out the caution flag. All drivers had one set of fresh tires, and elected to come to pit road with only six drivers on the lead lap. Before the yellow flag, Busch, Jones and Reddick had over a 20 second lead on the fourth place driver. The top three positions stayed the same after pit stops, but Brandon Jones gained two spots to start in the fourth position.
On the restart, Bell and Reddick attempted to work together to get by Busch who didn’t have quite the perfectly handling car at this point in the race. Bell had briefly stepped out in front before, and Reddick was attempting to do the same.
Before the leaders could take the white flag, Cole Custer had a run on Brandon Jones out of Turn 2. Jones attempted to block, and the two made contact on the back stretch. Jones over-corrected and turned hard into the outside wall. His window net went down and he was able to walk away uninjured, and was evaluated and released from the infield care center shortly after.
Most of the leaders crashed during the first overtime attempt on the exit of Turn 4. Photo by Rachel Schuoler for Speedway Media.
The first overtime attempt had many unknowns, including who would push who and if there would be a four-wide pass going into the first turn. Many of the other drivers had better handling cars, as more started to charge for the win. Going into Turn 3, Reddick lost control of his car as he was to the inside of Busch. As he slid up the track, he collided into Bell and the two went spinning on the exit of Turn 4. Both Austin Cindric and Zane Smith crashed into the sides of both cars heavily, ending the day for all four drivers. The yellow flag was displayed before Busch could take the white flag.
Kyle Busch chose the outside lane on all the final restarts, including the one for the last overtime attempt. John Hunter Nemechek stayed to Busch’s inside until Turn 4 when Busch could clear his car. Noah Gragson made a 3-wide pass in Turns 1 and 2 to recover from an early ill-handling race car, but Busch had too much of a lead for anyone to get a run on him. This was Busch’s second career NASCAR Xfinity win at Vegas, and made him one win away from completing the triple sweep.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series competes next at ISM Raceway in Phoenix, Arizona on March 9.
Race Results for the 23rd Annual Boyd Gaming 300 – Saturday, March 2, 2019, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Johnny
Sauter has not visited victory lane at Las Vegas Motor Speedway since 2009, his
first NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series start at the track.
Friday
night he was looking to add to that lone win and get his second victory at the
track. Unfortunately, Sauter had handling issues with his No. 13 ThorSport Ford
truck and as a result, he wound up eighth. It was the 159th top-10 finish of
his career.
“We
just struggled with our Tenda Ford tonight,” Sauter told FOX Sports 1. “You
know after yesterday’s practice, I would have never dreamed we would be that
far off today. So, we will have to go back and look at it and see what’s up.”
“We
started off sideways and made some pretty substantial changes and just got too
tight, and just got on the splitter,” the 2016 Truck Series Champion said.
“I
don’t know what is going on, but obviously not the night we wanted. I hate it
for all the guys at ThorSport, busting their tails and to come out here to run
like that is not cool.”
“We
salvaged a decent night out of it, but we got some work to do for sure.”
Sauter finished 17th
in the first stage, 11th in the second stage and now sits sixth in the
standings, 15 points behind leader, Grant Enfinger
“We just struggled with our Tenda Ford tonight,” Sauter told Fox Sports 1. “You know after yesterday’s practice, I would have never dreamed we would be that far off today. So, we will have to go back and look at it and see what’s up.”
“We started off sideways and made some pretty substantial changes and just got too tight, and just got on the splitter,” the 2016 Truck Series Champion said to Fox Sports 1. “I don’t know what is going on, but obviously not the night we wanted. I hate it for all the guys at Thorsport, busting their tails and to come out here to run like that is not cool.”
“We salvaged a decent night out of it, but we got some work to do for sure.”
SSauter finished 17th in the first stage, 11th in the second stage and now sits sixth in the standings, 15 points behind leader, Grant Enfinger.
LAS VEGAS – Kyle Busch obliterates the field for the Strat 200 win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series.
This was Kyle Busch’s 196th career win across all three top series, so naturally the conversation quickly turned to when and where he would earn his 200th win.
“It doesn’t matter where it’s at. I don’t need that extra pressure,” Busch shared when asked if he had a preference as to which track he wanted that win.
Busch led 110 of 134 laps, and really only fell behind on some various pit strategies after the first stage. This win is also the first of three that he needs to complete the triple sweep.
“We fought it in practice a little bit. We worked on it an awful lot to make it better. Rudy [Fugle, crew chief] 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.”
Brett Moffitt finished second and was clearly the only other truck capable of running with Busch, but just wasn’t able to get a way around him.
“It’s frustrating because we were the only ones able to run with him,” Moffitt said dejectedly on pit road after the race. “I think if we were able to run up front and not use up all our stuff coming from the back, we would have had a better shot and I could have played around with a few different runs and try to learn how to pass him. No one else could run with us speed-wise.”
Hattori Racing Enterprises announced in December that they were letting go of Moffitt due to a lack of funding. The 2018 Truck Series champion didn’t miss a beat. He quickly joined with GMS racing, and starts the 2019 season strong with consecutive top five finishes.
“My confidence is at an all-time high. I guess it’s kinda fun being upset with a second place finish to Kyle Busch. Jerry Baxter [crew chief] and everyone at GMS, they work so damn hard and Maury Gallagher and the Gallagher family, they want to be the best out there, week in and week out. We qualified sixth at Daytona and they were upset with that, so that just speaks to how good they want to be. As a driver, that’s all you can ask for.”
Matt Crafton rallied from early rear end damage during the first and only yellow flag incident to run third. Stewart Friesen led 20 laps during the second stage, and finished fourth. Harrison Burton was the last truck in the top five. Sheldon Creed, Todd Gilliland, Johnny Sauter, Ryan Reed and Ross Chastain completed the top 10.
Busch Leads Opening 30 Laps
Kyle Busch chose the inside line for the initial start. As the field was finishing Lap six, Sheldon Creed chased the truck up the hill on the exit of Turn 4 to keep off another truck. He turned hard left and spun into the grass to bring out the first caution. Matt Crafton also had some rear-end damage along with Cory Roper getting some front end damage.
“I just caught that group and I was three-wide in the middle,” Creed shared with some optimism. “I tried to give the No. 4 [Todd Gilliland] space because he popped out on the bottom, just slid up into the No. 17 [Ryan Reed] and he wasn’t gonna give me room because he was just holding his ground. It just pulled the side air off the truck and making me real loose. One of those learning deals where you’d just back out of it; if I were in that situation again, I’d just let the two of them have it and then get them back. I caught that group in two laps.”
Brett Moffitt had a brief battle for second with Harrison Burton, but once he cleared his truck, the defending series champion powered his way within a few tenths of a second behind the leader. Busch’s late-run setup allowed him to gap Moffitt, and won the first stage by leading the first 30 laps.
Most pit stops went smoothly, but Moffitt’s team called for four tires. As the right side tires were finished, the hose for the lug nut gun was pinched under the right rear tire, adding a tremendous amount of time to their pit stop. Moffitt visited pit road a second time under caution for a vibration. Four penalties were handed out. Tyler Dippel’s crew had an uncontrolled tire, Austin Wayne Self had a crew member over the wall too soon before he turned into his pit stall, Angela Ruch was too fast on pit road in one section and the pit crew of Jennifer Jo Cobb was penalized for improper fueling.
Kyle Busch Sweeps Both Stages
Stewart Friesen and Sheldon Creed restarted the race from the front row to start off the second stage. Grant Enfinger, who started from the rear, battled his way into the top five.
The entire stage was under the green flag. Friesen led most of the laps until Busch was able to get by and win the second stage.
Three penalties were handed out during pit stops. Dippel, Self and Ruch all received their second penalty of the night. The only truck retired from the race was Scott Stenzel
Final Stage and Race Belonged to Kyle Busch
Racing started wild at the restart with many instances of four-wide racing. Drivers like Ross Chastain and Grant Enfinger took advantage of passing three trucks in one move.
Tire smoke surrounds Kyle Busch as he celebrates in front of the fans on the front stretch at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Photo by Rachel Schuoler.
Around 30 laps to go, some drivers got pit road penalties during green flag pit stops, including Brennan Poole and Tyler Dippel, who was penalized during each of his three stops of the race. Ross Chastain stalled his truck during his final pit stop, losing valuable time. Jesse Iwuji was caught speeding on pit road, and Ben Rhodes had too many crew members over the wall.
Out front, it was a similar battle to the first stage. Once Moffitt was able to clear some trucks and put himself into the second position, he started to hunt down Busch. And again, as he got within a few tenths of a second behind Busch, the No. 51 Toyota Tundra found another gear and pulled out to a comfortable lead to win the Strat 200 by 1.211 seconds.
All trucks officially cleared NASCAR’s post race inspection, and no trucks went to the R&D center. Three trucks were taken to the wind tunnel (Nos. 18, 13, and 2).
Gander Outdoors Truck Series Race Number 3 Race Results for the 2nd Annual Strat 200 – Friday, March 1, 2019 Las Vegas Motor Speedway – Las Vegas, NV – 1.5 – Mile Paved Total Race Length – 134 Laps – 201. Miles
Brett Moffitt and Matt Crafton both collected top-five finishes in Friday night’s NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Strat 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Moffitt has not been to victory lane since his championship winning race at Homestead-Miami Speedway last November. It looked like he had a good shot to win Friday night after starting on the outside pole.
He ran strong throughout Stage 1, where he finished second. However, troubles came early for the No. 24 GMS Racing team during the pit stop when an air hose got stuck underneath his truck, which cost them a lot of positions.
This saw Moffitt and company restart in the 25th position for
Stage 2. It didn’t take them long to move through the field and he was up to
14th with 10 laps to go in Stage 2. Eventually, Moffitt was able to earn one
stage point by finishing 10th.
After
pitting for four tires and adjustments, Moffitt went to third with 59 to go and
then to second with 47 to go. He made his final pit
stop of the night with 24 to go. He got close to race leader Kyle Busch, in
fact right at his back bumper, but Busch made a block on Moffitt causing him to
fall back.
Ultimately, that’s all she wrote for Moffitt and the No. 24 GMS
Racing team as they came up 1.21 seconds short of winning.
“I was just trying to back air on him (Kyle Busch),” Moffitt told
MRN Radio. “That was going to be my one chance of getting to his bumper. Only
taking two tires there, they would fall off after about five or six laps and
get tight. So, when I had a run, I knew (Turns) 3 and 4 would be a one groove
track, but I was trying to pack some air and get him loose off the bottom. I
felt like that was my only shot and went for it, and I felt like that was going
to be a make or break move.”
“Unfortunately, it was break,” last year’s defending champion said.
Moffitt finished second and 10th in Stage 1 and 2, respectively.
For Matt Crafton, it was a similar night as he rebounded to a third place finish in Friday night’s Strat 200 after barely missing a wreck off Turn 4 and receiving damage to the left rear.
But he will have to wait at least one more race to snap his long winless streak. His top-five finish, however, didn’t come without effort.
“That was hard fought for sure,” Crafton told MRN Radio. “Earlier, we had a great truck in the first few laps and then, the 2 (Sheldon Creed) spun and I checked up to miss him, and the 4 (Cory Roper) ran in to the back of me.”
The driver of the ThorSport Racing No. 88 truck, continued, saying, “We fought all night. We had great restarts, got shuffled back at one point and drove back inside the top 10 and top eight there at the end. It was amazing on how fast it was with the left-rear quarter panel as bad as it was. So, I would say the No. 88 is back.”
Crafton finished 13th in Stage 1 and ninth in Stage 2. He scored the
111th top five finish of his career at Las Vegas.
Stewart Friesen and Harrison Burton claimed top-five finishes in Friday night’s NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Strat 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
After a decent qualifying run of seventh, Friesen was looking for
his first win Friday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway especially after having
so many strong runs last year only to come short.
Friesen was quiet in Stage 1 as he finished in the seventh
position, but when Stage 2 began Friesen made some noise.
He took the lead on Lap 39 from Kyle Busch and led until Lap 54
for 16 laps. Friesen held Busch up the best he could, but it wasn’t enough as
Busch took the lead away and Friesen finished second in Stage 2.
He restarted fourth for Stage 3 and had a battle with Ross
Chastain, Matt Crafton, and Brett Moffitt for second. Friesen made his pit stop
with 25 to go, but it was too much ground to make up and finished fourth for the
12th top-five of his career.
“We just got mixed up on tires, mixed-match sets there after the
04 (Cory Roper) drive on the side of us,” Friesen told MRN Radio. “Gotta be
aggressive, but too aggressive on the start. Probably should have given him
more room, but solid run for us tonight. We’ll take it. We raced with the best
of the best there for a while.”
“So it was pretty cool, but just lost a little bit of handling at the end of the night,” the No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing driver explained to MRN Radio. “Just happy to be here.”
Friesen will be looking to carrying this momentum to Martinsville, where he may collect his first win of his career.
Harrison Burton, driver of the Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota Tundra made his first Las Vegas start tonight at the 1.5-mile speedway. Needless to say it was a great night for the No. 18 team, after who finishing fifth.
“We were a little bit too tight, center off and both ends of the corner,” Burton told MRN Radio. “(Turns) 3 and 4 were a little worse, then 1 and 2. I’m still learning, some of its me and I’m still trying to get myself better as well. So, came out here with a good night and a good finish, so had some good stage points all the way through I feel like.”
“So, we will build on that and have a good night, move on and work on our truck for Martinsville.”
Burton finished fourth and sixth in both stages, respectively.
LAS VEGAS – Kevin Harvick will start out front for the 26th time of his career in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a time of 29.914 seconds at 180.517 mph.
Harvick’s time was briefly third on the speed charts during the final round of qualifying, as Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott were initially first and second respectively. However, they did not cross the start-finish line before time expired after their first lap, so their second laps around did not count, handing the pole to the third place driver.
“The fastest car in qualifying trim is fourth,” Harvick said. And he was correct. Austin Dillon was fastest in practice, but ended up fourth in the qualifying order.
“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.”
Qualifying for this race was a big mind game, as drivers waited until the last second to go out for their timed run. In the final round, this cost Bowman and Elliott who will start 11th and 12th.
Hamlin will start second and was the only other driver in the 29 second bracket. Kyle Busch, Dillon, and Daniel Hemric rounded out the top five. Hemric was the only rookie in the final round of qualifying. David Ragan, Kyle Larson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano completed the top 10 of the starting spots.
The Pennzoil 400 will start on Sunday, March 3 at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, or listen live on PRN.
