Vegas Recap

After a thrilling victory by Jimmie Johnson in Atlanta, NASCAR "Goes West" for the next 3 races, starting earlier today at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

After weather delayed the race start by 20 minutes, it was Kurt Busch who started on pole and led early on, until the 1st caution on lap 30 for a competition yellow.  The 2004 champion was caught speeding on pit road during his first stop and was never able to get back out front.  Then, it was Joey Logano & Jimmie Johnson who dominated the next 150 laps or so out front until when things got crazy.  First, Kyle Larson & AJ Allmendinger were involved in a crash with nearly 80 laps to go.  Larson was then involved in an incident with Regan Smith which brought out a yellow with over 65 laps remaining.  Leaders went onto pit road and strategy came into play with 2 and 4 tire stops.  After that restart, Kyle Busch was able to get from 6th to lead until the final caution came out with 43 laps to go.  This caution was a wreck that started off with Matt Kenseth getting loose, spinning out and collecting Chase Elliott (who ran in the top-10 all race), taking both drivers out of the race.  After the restart, Busch was able to hold off the Penske drivers (Logano & Brad Keselowski) until a right-tire vibration costed him the lead and the win, finishing 4th.  In the end, Keselowski had the faster Penske car and was able to collect his 1st win of the season, securing a spot in the 2016 Chase.  Logano finished 2nd, Johnson 3rd, Busch 4th and Austin Dillon 5th.

The series continues the NASCAR "Goes West" Tour next Sunday at Phoenix Int'l Raceway in Avondale, Arizona.