Kyle Larson dominates; Busch’s pit team disappoints
Kyle Larson won for the 24th time in his NASCAR Cup Series career, winning Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Larson drove his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro to a sweep of the first two stages and led 181 laps before holding off Tyler Reddick for the win.
Here are the winners and losers for the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiff Lube:
Winners
Ross Chastain: Chastain overcame his own racing blunder – speeding on pit road – and managed to recover thanks to pit strategy to finish in the top five. Chastain finished fourth and battled the race winner for the lead early in the last stage before slipping back.
Noah Gragson: Who needed this finish worse, Gragson or Stewart Haas Racing? Gragson finished sixth at Las Vegas, his second-best finish of his Cup career. It’s his second top-10 finish of the season after placing ninth in the Daytona 500.
Kyle Larson: Larson earned his first Cup Series win of the season in dominant fashion. It is the second consecutive win at Las Vegas for the Hendrick Motorsports driver. He also won in October. He also has three career Vegas wins.
Losers
Chris Buescher: Buescher was the recipient of bad luck. A crew member failed to get a lug nut tightened and it came off. He finished last and his day ended on lap 27. The worst part is Buescher finished with a top-10 finish at Atlanta a week prior. And he led a couple of laps at Vegas before wrecking.
Kyle Busch’s pit crew: Costly mistakes are becoming a trend for Kyle Busch’s pit crew. Busch slid past his pit box by inches during the NASCAR Vegas race. But his crew didn’t catch it and move him back before working on it. That led to a penalty on Busch. That also marked the fourth significant pit snafu for Busch this young season. Busch finished 26th.
Bubba Wallace: It’s hard to put the blame on Wallace’s 35th-place finish on him. A lug nut wouldn’t come off during a tire change, forcing his team to cut the lug nut from the wheel to make the change. It ruined a potential top-15 day. He finished 35th.