2 months agoOn Sunday evening, Ross Chastain finished fourth in the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Sunday's victory marks the Watermelon Man's fourth top-five finish in the last five trips to the Nevada desert, which will make him a driver to keep an eye on when the Cup Series returns here in the fall. Despite the strong finish, fans of Trackhouse Racing have to be a bit frustrated with this result given that Chastain was issued two penalties in the race. The first penalty, which was issued before the race started, required Chastain to start from the back of the field for unapproved adjustments. After rebounding from this penalty, The No. 1 car was penalized for speeding on pit road on lap 121, erasing the deficit he had previously overcome. While it is unlikely anyone would have caught Kyle Larson yesterday, the fact that Chastain was able to bounce back from two setbacks suggests he may have been the one driver who could have contended for the win at the Diamond in the Desert.
--Adam Erhardt - RotoBallerSource: Racing-Reference.info
2 months agoMartin Truex Jr. ends Las Vegas with another solid top-10 finish. After starting seventh, Truex remained in the Top 10 most of the day and finished in the Top 5 at the end of the first two stages. Truex would lead four laps, have a day with no mistakes on pit road, and steadily run in the Top 5 before returning to seventh, his eventual finishing position. The seventh-place result was the 16th top-10 finish of his Cup career at Las Vegas, his seventh in a row, and he now becomes the sole leader of most Vegas top-10 finishes of active drivers. After a decent start to the season with three consecutive top-15 finishes, Truex heads to Phoenix, where he struggled recently with only one top-10 finish in the last four Cup events at the track.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com
2 months agoDuring Sunday's race at Las Vegas, Tyler Reddick arguably had the fastest car in the field but fell just short of victory. Despite starting 18th, Reddick would make his way through the field methodically multiple times in the race towards the front but failed to pass Kyle Larson several times for the lead and, eventually, for the race win. Reddick placed second at the end of each stage, but pit road miscues and slow stops during the race caused Reddick to lead one lap and finish second. The second-place finish is Reddick's best career Cup finish at Las Vegas and his fifth top-10 finish in the last six races at the site. As the Cup Series heads to Phoenix, Reddick will look to use the momentum from his best finish of the year so far to capitalize on another solid run.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com
2 months agoWilliam Byron finished 10th in Sunday's Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. While a 10th place finish for a guy who was considered among the favorites to win the race may not seem noteworthy, in Byron's case it is. After a piece of debris (reported to be a trash bag) covered the nose of his No. 24 Chevy Camaro, the temperature in the engine skyrocketed to over 300 degrees, requiring the Daytona 500 champion to pit on lap 49. This unexpected pit stop put the 26-year-old down in laps, causing him to have to work his way back up through the field. The fact that he was able to end the race on such a strong run, after rebounding from such a bizarre incident, should give fans of Hendrick Motorsports tremendous optimism moving forward.
--Adam Erhardt - RotoBallerSource: Jayski.com
2 months agoLast October at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, it was Kyle Larson who qualified second and then went on to lead 133 laps and win both Stages en route to a dominating race victory. This past weekend, it was much of the same, as Larson qualified second and then went on to lead 181 laps and win both Stages en route to a dominating race victory. It's Larson's first win the 2024 season and the third straight victory for Chevrolet to start out the year. Larson had to hold off a hard-charging Tyler Reddick near the end of the race on Sunday but the No. 5 Chevrolet was really in its own ZIP code for much of the Pennzoil 400. After the race, Larson told PRN, "Just an awesome day, an awesome race car... It's so fun to come out and dominate a race like this." Larson was the heavy favorite to win according to sportsbooks all week long in Las Vegas.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: PRN
2 months agoBubba Wallace looked to have a great race car to work with in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but his day went south soon after the green flag waved. Despite starting up in fifth-place, Wallace wasn't able to stay up there for very long and finished outside of the top 10 at the end of Stage 1. It went from bad to worse after that. During a pit stop in Stage 2, the No. 23 pit crew was unable to remove a lug nut from one of the wheels during green flag pit stops. The team had to then call Bubba back to pit road, and were eventually able to get the lug nut off, but the damage was done: the No. 23 Toyota was already 10 laps down. Wallace ended the once-promising day with a 35th-place finish.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: 23XI Racing X Account
2 months agoCarson Hocevar had a day at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday. The Rookie of the Year candidate overcame a fire in his pit box, a broken pit sign, a flat tire during the race, and the jack dropping with a tire off during the final pit stop of the day to still finish in 15th-place in the Pennzoil 400. As Hocevar wrote on X after the race, "P15 day that had potential for much more!" Looking at the loop data from Sunday's race, Hocevar was 14th-fastest in terms of Green Flag Speed and ranked 14th-best when it came to Average Running Position. The 15th-place result is the best finish of the season for Hocevar this season, but the upside is definitely there for him to compete for top 10s in the future.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Carson Hocevar's X Account
2 months agoCorey Lajoie may have walked away from the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a 32nd-place finish, but it was still a statement race for the Spire Motorsports driver. There were questions as to whether the Spire organization could reach the next level of speed this season, and Lajoie showed that they are well on their way. The No. 7 Chevrolet finished seventh in the first Stage at Las Vegas on Sunday and Lajoie was later legitimately running inside the top five. However, he later spun out the tapped the wall with a flat tire. Corey Lajoie has always been a solid fantasy pick in the lower tier of Cup Series drivers, and it's looking like that trend is going to continue this season as the Spire Motorsports driver gets more equipment support behind him.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Essentially Sports
2 months agoNot many people leave the city of Las Vegas as winners, but Noah Gragson had to feel that way after this weekend. The Stewart-Haas driver is getting a second lease on life in the Cup Series this year after his controversy last season, and it's already off to a good start. Gragson has opened the 2024 Cup Series season with two top-10 finishes in the first three races after posting a career-best sixth-place result at Las Vegas on Sunday. Gragson had a great car during practice but chose to take his lap extremely conservatively during qualifying after a dust storm hit the track and started back in 30th for the Pennzoil 400. He ranked 10th-fastest in Green Flag Speed despite the bad starting spot. After the race, Gragson told Fox Sports, "This is good for our confidence, but we're not going to get content, we're going to keep working hard each and every day."
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Fox Sports
2 months agoTy Gibbs endured an odd sort of race but wound up fifth at Vegas on Sunday. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver had a bad pit stop on Lap 158, blew a tire, but was able to cycle up the field. However, by the time he got into the top five, it was too late. Gibbs did not have the speed to challenge any further. Toyota seemed to have an issue with tires and pit stops all day. It hurt Tyler Reddick, ended Bubba Wallace's hopes to contend, and more. The good news for Gibbs was the ultimate result and he has won at Phoenix before in the Xfinity series.
--Chris Wassel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com
2 months agoRyan Blaney and his Team Penske car never quite could get into the lead on Sunday. However, he managed to finish third after 267 laps in Las Vegas. The No. 12 Ford could not maintain speed and seemed to get slower during the final laps. Once Blaney got up to fourth after Stage 2, he never could challenge Tyler Reddick or Kyle Larson. Blaney never led a single lap but the result netted him 41 points toward the NASCAR Cup Standings. The driver could be a favorite at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday as he has five top-five results in his last six races there.
--Chris Wassel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com
2 months agoDespite winning his second pole in three races at Las Vegas this past weekend, Joey Logano had a lackluster race at one of his best tracks, finishing ninth and ranking eighth in speed. Logano led only the first two laps of the race before getting steamrolled by Kyle Larson, who led most of the rest of the race. The Fords were slow throughout the Pennzoil 400, although Logano's teammate, Ryan Blaney, ran in the top five for most of the second half, en route to a third-place finish. Noah Gragson in his No. 10 Ford finished a surprising sixth. Logano, by contrast, spent much of the race in midpack near his other teammate, Austin Cindric, and far behind Blaney. Logano typically overachieves when he has fast cars and underachieves when he has slow ones, while Blaney usually does a much better job of elevating slower cars.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 months agoDenny Hamlin recovered from an extremely disappointing 28th-place starting position to finish eighth at Las Vegas. Despite a mediocre start, a cagy call from crew chief Chris Gabehart for two tires during the second caution propelled Hamlin from 21st to 8th and he was never again outside of the top ten except on pit stop exchanges. Hamlin took the lead from teammate Martin Truex, Jr. at the start of Stage 2 but faded in the second half after Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick proved to have the overwhelmingly fastest cars. Regardless, Hamlin and Kyle Busch stand as the only drivers to make an on-track pass for the lead in all three 2024 races. Hamlin ranked fifth in speed on Sunday. He ranks second in the Cup Series with a speed percentile of 93.24, only barely behind his teammate, Truex's 94.29.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 months agoKyle Larson entered the Pennzoil 400 race weekend as the heavy favorite to take the win according to all sportsbooks, and nothing has changed after practice and qualifying on Saturday. Larson didn't get the pole for this weekend's race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but he will start
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2 months agoWilliam Byron is the defending Pennzoil 400 race winner, and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team has picked up right where they left off a year ago at Las Vegas. In that race, Byron went to victory lane after starting second, leading 176 laps along the way and posting 59 fastest laps as well. He ranked best in both Green Flag Speed and Average Running Position during that race. This weekend, Byron qualified fourth for Sunday's race, and his practice times were second-fastest to his teammate, Kyle Larson, who won the race here at Las Vegas last fall. All sportsbooks have Larson as the favorite to win this weekend's Pennzoil 400, but Byron is right there in terms of speed as well. They both make great DFS picks on Sunday.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: ifantasyrace
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