Next Race: Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy LubeThe Place: Las Vegas Motor SpeedwayThe Date: Sunday, February 23The Time: 3:30 p.m. ETTV: FOX, 2:30 p.m. ETRadio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR RadioDistance: 400.5 miles (267 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 80), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 160), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 267)2019 Race Winner: Joey Logano Chastain to pilot No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford in Newman’s absence Roush Fenway Racing has tabbed popular NASCAR competitor Ross Chastain to drive the team’s No. 6 Ford Mustang while their fulltime driver Ryan Newman recovers after an accident Monday on the last lap of the Daytona 500. Newman was released from Daytona Beach’s Halifax Medical Center on Wednesday. Chastain is contending for the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship this year driving the No. 10 Chevrolet for Kaulig Racing. He is a three-time winner in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series and finished runner-up in the 2019 championship. He has a pair of Xfinity Series victories – his first coming at Las Vegas in the fall of 2018, driving for Chip Ganassi Racing. His second came last summer at Daytona in while driving a partial series schedule for Kaulig Racing. The 27-year old Alva, Florida, native has made 72 Cup Series starts with a best showing of 10th-place in the 2019 Daytona 500. He raced in Monday’s rain-delayed Daytona 500, finishing 25th in a car prepared by Chip Ganassi Racing and Spire Motorsports. In four previous Cup starts at Las Vegas, Chastain’s best finish is 20th coming in the 2018 fall race. “No one could ever take the place of Ryan Newman on the track and I can’t wait to have him back,’’ Chastain said on Twitter Wednesday afternoon. “As we continue to pray for a full and speedy recovery, I’ll do my best to make him and everyone at Roush Fenway Racing proud.’’ Hamlin playing with a full house in Vegas Denny Hamlin shows up at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) understandably liking his odds for a first career victory at the 1.5-mile track. The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota is coming off a win in Monday’s rain-delayed Daytona 500, making him the first back-to-back winner in the race since Sterling Marlin accomplished the feat in 1994-95. It is Hamlin’s third Daytona 500 win in the last five years. Only one other driver has won that many Daytona 500s in that short of a time frame – NASCAR Hall of Famer and the sport’s winningest driver, Richard Petty, who won in 1971 and back-to-back in 1973-74. Hamlin led a race-best 79 laps and won in a photo-finish – only 0.14-seconds ahead of Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney – the second closest finish in the history of the Great America Race. In 16 starts at Las Vegas, Hamlin has earned only two top-five finishes – the best of those, a third-place effort, came in only his second Las Vegas start in 2007. The 39-year old Virginian has seven top-10 finishes, including a 10th-place showing in this spring race last year. Toyota has won two of the last six races, the only manufacturer other than Ford to win during that time. Both of those victories (spring, 2017 and fall, 2019) were by Hamlin’s current Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. The last time a driver won the first two races of a season was 2009 when former JGR driver Matt Kenseth won at Daytona and then at Fontana, Calif. “Our team is picking up where we left off last year and really clicking so far,’’ Hamlin said. “I’m very happy with our performance, but we still have a lot of work to do and a lot more challenges coming our way. We’ll be ready to get back at it this weekend in Las Vegas and hopefully take the checkered flag.’’ Team Penske playing the odds Joey Logano has plenty of reason to like his chances this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He is the defending winner of the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube and his No. 22 Team Penske Ford will be donned in the Pennzoil yellow. He and teammate Brad Keselowski have won three of the past six races at the 1.5-mile track. And Logano is statistically-speaking best in class at Las Vegas. The 2017 Cup champion boasts the best average starting position (8.9) and best average finishing position (8.5) in the field. And his average running position is also tops among the competition at 9.162. Logano has five top-five and nine top-10 finishes – only Kevin Harvick (10 top 10s and seven top fives) has more. And a very telling statistic, Logano has never suffered a DNF in 13 starts. The 2018 Cup Series champion had a difficult Daytona 500 – starting third and finishing 26th after a late-race accident. He’ll be buoyed, no doubt, by the past performance of his Team Penske team which shows up undoubtedly as a pre-race favorite. Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford has three victories at Las Vegas – second all-time to Jimmie Johnson’s four wins. His seven top-five finishes tie Harvick and Kyle Busch for most all-time. He is one of only five drivers to win from the front row, earning the 2014 Vegas trophy from second. As with Logano, Keselowski was fast all day in Monday’s Daytona season-opener only to be collected in a multi-car accident. His 30 laps out front was second only to race winner Denny Hamlin. But his day ended early when he was caught in a 19-car accident with 16 laps remaining in regulation. Vegas, however, should give him reason to believe in redemption. He was runner-up to his teammate Logano is this race last year and answered that with a third-place finish in the fall Playoff race. Keselowski has not finished worse than seventh in the last nine races, including three wins, a runner-up and a pair of third-place finishes in that time. Certainly, feeling capable of running with his veteran Penske teammates will be 26-year old Ryan Blaney, whose finish in the Daytona 500 was his second runner-up showing in the sport’s biggest race in the last four years. He’s coming off a career 2019 season, when he scored a personal best 11 top-five and 18 top-10 finishes. His win at the Talladega Playoff race marked the third consecutive season he’s celebrated in Victory Lane and his seventh place in the Cup Series championship was an all-time high mark for him as well. Las Vegas Motor Speedway has been a productive venue for Blaney, who has an impressive three top-five and five top-10 finishes in seven starts. Busch brothers are hometown Vegas heroes Las Vegas natives Kurt and Kyle Busch are unquestionably the fan favorites this weekend. For the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle, it’s about adding to his winnings. He’s already won a Cup Series race, two in the Xfinity Series and a pair of Gander RV & Outdoor Truck Series races at the track. Unfortunately for Kyle Busch, 34, he suffered another early exit from the Daytona 500 – making the two-time Cup champion 0-for-16 in the sport’s biggest race. He couldn’t be more motivated to get back on track at his hometown track, where in 2009 he won from the pole position to become its youngest Cup Series winner (23 years, nine months, 27 days). He remains the only driver to win from pole position at Vegas. He’s finished seventh or better in four of the last six Cup races at Las Vegas, including third-place in this race last March. Twice he’s finished runner-up (in 2005 and 2018). His seven top-five finishes are tied for tops among those on the grid this week. He’s entered in a Late Model race Thursday night at Las Vegas’s famed “Bullring” and will compete in the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race on Friday night as well. “Vegas always means a little bit more pressure – more pressure on myself – just because it’s the hometown and you want to win there,’’ Busch conceded. “Thankfully, I have won there, and I’ve knocked that one off the list, but certainly you want to win there every year. “I love Vegas, the atmosphere and everything going on around that place.’’ For older brother Kurt, 41, the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion, it’s about finally finding a way to Las Vegas Motor Speedway Victory Lane. He has won a pair of pole positions (2010, 2016), but his best finish in 20 starts is third-place in 2005. Busch scored his only other top-five in this race last year, finishing fifth and leading 23 laps in his Vegas debut for Chip Ganassi Racing. After leaving the Daytona 500 last week in the 19-car crash on Lap 184 of the race, Kurt Busch comes to Las Vegas eager to turn his fortune around. “Lady Luck was not on our side,’’ Kurt Busch said at Daytona. “That’s a roulette wheel people. The roulette wheel spins, and it grabs your number and it grabbed my number. Maybe Vegas will be a little better.’’ Harvick happy to be heading to Vegas Although “Happy” has long been Kevin Harvick’s nickname, it was very fitting for him Sunday in the Daytona 500 when after a busy day that included overcoming a damaged race car, he persevered to earn a fifth-place finish. The driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford won at Las Vegas in March of 2018 and was the Busch pole winner in this race last year, finishing fourth. He scored his second career runner-up showing at Vegas in the Cup Series Playoff opener last September. Harvick’s 10 top-10 finishes at Las Vegas puts him in a five-driver tie for most all-time. And his seven top-five finishes are also best – tying him with Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch. Ford has won four of the last six races on the 1.5-mile track. In just the last seven trips to Las Vegas, Harvick has two wins (2015 and 2018), a runner-up finish (2019-2) and a pole position (2019-1). Truex trying for trio of Vegas wins Martin Truex Jr. is also among those NASCAR Cup Series drivers happy to move Westward this week after suffering another DNF in the Daytona 500 on Monday – his second consecutive DNF in NASCAR’s biggest race. He has only a pair of top fives and four top-10 showings in 30 race starts at Daytona International Speedway. The 2017 Cup champion has a markedly different record at Las Vegas Motor Speedway; however, he is one of only four drivers on the grid with multiple wins at the track. He won in 2017 en route to his first Cup title and is the most recent winner as well – taking the trophy in last year’s September Playoff opener, one of a series-best seven wins in 2019. He hasn’t finished worse than eighth in the last five races at Las Vegas, including the two victories and a third-place finish in the 2018 Fall race. Truex has proven to be particularly adept at the 1.5-mile venues such as Vegas. Just going back three years, the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota has 10 wins, 22 top-fives and 29 top-10 finishes in 33 races on 1.5-mile tracks – an impressive 87.8 percent top-10 showing on 1.5-milers in that time frame. “I think overall, as a company, we feel really good about where we ended last season with the 550 (horsepower) package,’’ Truex said of the engine package used at the 1.5-mile venues. “With us winning Vegas in the fall, Denny (Hamlin) winning Kansas and then Kyle (Busch) at Homestead, all of our cars were really fast at those places at the end of the year, so that gives me a lot of confidence going back to Vegas this weekend. “Everyone has had a few months to work on their stuff and get better so it will be a challenge to keep that advantage we felt like we had late in the season and continue that as we get going with the heart of our season now that Daytona is out of the way.’’ Next Race: Boyd Gaming 300The Place: Las Vegas Motor SpeedwayThe Date: Saturday, February 22The Time: 4 p.m. ETTV: FS1, 3:30 p.m. ETRadio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR RadioDistance: 300 miles (200 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 45), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 90), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 200)2019 Race Winner: Kyle Busch Bright lights of Las Vegas are next for NASCAR Xfinity Series Just north of all the casinos and bright lights sits one of the jewels in the desert, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a 1.5-mile facility set to host this weekend’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race – the Boyd Gaming 300 (Saturday, 4 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90). Las Vegas Motor Speedway has hosted 25 NASCAR Xfinity Series races, one race per season from 1997 to 2017 and two races per season since 2018. The 1.5-mile oval has 20 degrees of banking in its four turns and nine degrees of banking on the front and backstretch. This weekend’s Boyd Gaming 300 will be 200 laps broken up into three stages. The first two stages will be 45 laps each with the final stage 110 laps. Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s 25 Xfinity races have produced 17 different pole winners and 18 different race winners. Five drivers are tied for the series lead in poles at Las Vegas with two each – Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth and Cole Custer. NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin leads the series wins at Las Vegas with four victories (1999, 2005, 2008 and 2011). None of the former 17 pole winners are entered this weekend, guaranteeing an 18th different pole winner on Saturday. However, two of the former Xfinity Vegas race winners are entered this weekend. Joe Nemechek won in the Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas back in 2003. This weekend Nemechek will be piloting the No. 47 Mike Harmon Racing Chevrolet. Ross Chastain is the other former winner active this weekend at Las Vegas. Chastain grabbed his first Xfinity Series career win at Las Vegas in 2018 driving for Chip Ganassi Racing. This weekend he will wrestling the No. 11. Las Vegas’s Noah Gragson locks up Playoff spot with Xfinity season-opening win Atop the NASCAR Xfinity Series standings and locked into the Playoffs for the first time in his career, JR Motorsport’s Noah Gragson comes swinging into his hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada for the Boyd Gaming 300 on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 4 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “I always look forward to coming back to Las Vegas because it allows me to visit with family and friends.,” said Gragson. “It adds a little pressure because I want to perform in front of my hometown crowd, but coming off the win in Daytona and our streak of runs here, I feel like the No. 9 Camaro could be celebrating in Victory Lane for the second straight week.” Following his first Xfinity Series career win at Daytona International Speedway last weekend the 21-year old is looking to become just the fourth different driver to win the first two races of a Xfinity season; joining Dale Earnhardt (1986: Daytona, Rockingham), Chad Little (1995: Daytona, Rockingham) and Tony Stewart (2008: Daytona, California). Gragson has made two series starts at Las Vegas posting one top five (third in this race last season) and two top 10s. His average finish at LVMS is a stout 4.5 – series-best among drivers entered this weekend. Next Race: Strat 200The Place: Las Vegas Motor SpeedwayThe Date: Friday, February 21The Time: 9 p.m. ETTV: FS1, 8:30 p.m. ETRadio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR RadioDistance: 201 miles (134 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 30), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 60), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 134)2019 Winner: Kyle Busch Viva Las VegasThe NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series heads West from Daytona Beach, Florida to compete under the lights at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada for the Strat 200 this Friday night, February 21 at 9 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Kyle Busch took home last season’s victory at the first Las Vegas Motor Speedway race weekend for the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series starting from the pole and leading a race-high 110 laps. Brett Moffitt finished in second, while Matt Crafton finished third, Stewart Friesen finished fourth and Harrison Burton finished fifth. This weekend Busch returns to the series and is set to pilot the No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota Tundra. This will be his fourth start in the series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. His first was in 2001 for Roush Fenway Racing, where he started third and finished ninth. In his last two Gander Truck starts at Las Vegas (2018 and 2019 spring Truck races), Busch started from the pole and won each event. Hattori Racing Enterprises driver Austin Hill won the most recent Gander Trucks race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Sept. 2019) in a career-best season for the driver of the No. 16 Toyota. He will compete again this weekend in hopes of making it two in a row on the 1.5-mile track. No driver in series history has ever won back-to-back Gander Truck Series races at LVMS. Enfinger wins in wild finish at DaytonaThe NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway did not disappoint. If you wanted to see action, three-wide passes, emotions and wrecks all at one time, then that’s exactly what you got. Plus, the race set the third highest green flag passes for the lead (110) stat at Daytona since the inception of Loop Data in the series in 2007 – behind only 2016 (129) and 2018 (103). Grant Enfinger ended up grabbing the checkered flag on Friday night, his third career victory and first since the 2018 season. Enfinger battled until the very last second (literally) with a margin of victory of .010 seconds – making it the closest finish in series history at the historic track. The victory automatically puts Enfinger in the 2020 Playoffs, a sweet feeling for the driver of the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford who had to battle his way in last year based on points. All eyes on Decker: Making history at DaytonaNiece Motorsports driver Natalie Decker was over the moon on Friday night at Daytona International Speedway following her strong performance. The 22-year old finished fifth in the NextEra Energy 250, marking the highest-ever finish for a female competitor in series history – surpassing the previous record of sixth at Daytona (2011) held by Jennifer Jo Cobb. The finish was Decker’s first top five, first top 10 and her best showing since last season’s 13thplace at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in her rookie season. Decker hadn’t had the best of luck at the historic Daytona track in the past, crashing on the opening lap of last year’s race, but this season she has redeemed herself. She started 20th last Friday in the No. 44 Chevrolet with a strategy to ride in the back till the closing laps, and she executed her plan to perfection. With momentum already on her side from the historic run at Daytona, Decker heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway feeling even more confident since the 1.5-mile speedway was home to her prior career-best finish. In her two starts at Las Vegas, both in 2019, Decker finished 13th and 25th (due to electrical issues). Happy 600th, Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series!On Friday evening at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series will celebrate their 600th race dating back to its first season in 1995. The inaugural race took place on February 5, 1995 at Phoenix Raceway, where Mike Skinner started 16th and took home the trophy. Since then, there have been 25 champions crowned. Matt Crafton, Ron Hornaday, Jr., Jack Sprague and Todd Bodine are drivers that have multi-championships to their name. Crafton is the only driver to have ever done it back-to-back (2013-2014) and is also the current Gander Truck champion. Toyota has won 11 of the 25 championships with Chevrolet winning nine, Dodge winning three and Ford winning two. Tune in Friday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Strat 200 (9 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) to help celebrate 600 Truck Series starts. Everyone loves an underdog: Career-best finish for AndersonJordan Anderson is no stranger to Daytona International Speedway, and he is no stranger to disappointing finishes and tough breaks. But, on Friday night at the track, things played out a little differently. Anderson, who drives his own hauler to the races, gets his own sponsors and runs his own small team, made it through a wild night at Daytona unscathed and in the process captured a career-best finish of second. The 28-year old from South Carolina couldn’t have been more ecstatic. He went door-to-door with Enfinger on the final lap of NASCAR Overtime but was just .010 seconds short. That margin of victory is the closest in series history at Daytona. “This finish tonight hopefully is for every underdog in America, every kid that stays up late and works on his dirt Late Model or his Legends Car and dreams of coming here to Daytona. Hopefully this finish tonight encourages them to never give up on their dreams that you can come here and compete in NASCAR without having million-dollar sponsors, you can come here and fight and claw and dig and tell everybody that says you can’t do it, to prove them wrong and be here. This is for all those kids that are out there fighting for it.” Anderson will be making his seventh start at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend. His most recent finish of 14th also marked a career-best at the track.
